theblogprof

The End

2011-09-28T21:00:00.077-04:00

UPDATE: Due to yet anther media inquiry by a lefty 'journalist' pretending to be middle-of-the-road, let me just be clear that I work for the best employer there is, and this will help me do my job better. I made this decision on my own. And that's all there is to it.
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I love my career and what I do, my time with students, and the mental challenges I face every day in my field of study. I truly love my job in the same way that a teenager loves video games. It is literally fun for me, and I leave work every evening with more energy than when I entered earlier in the day. It appears to be a rare thing.

This blog started in resistance to the bailouts, overspending, the subversion of the US Constitution by the ruling class, and then the march of radical liberalism after the election of Obama. To that end, many of us bloggers expanded our spheres of influence through writing and made a small difference. And the tea party formed. And liberalism is being beat back. That will not end.

However, this blog must. I like blogging, but I love my day job.

I want to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for reading, commenting and encouraging me to continue. Thank you all for your messages of support of my efforts, which will now be at the grass roots level only. I want to make it clear that in no way am I burned out (almost 3 years now I have kept a consistent pace). In fact, I am more energized than ever. I also do not blame my employer. Nor should anyone connect this action with them.

Incidentally, Glenn Reynolds had this link just the other day (thanks for all the Instalanches Glenn!): 5 Ways To Screw Up Your Life With The Internet. I didn't actually screw up my life. Quite the opposite. But with an expanding sphere of influence comes an increased level of visibility.
As for the struggle to right the ship (my last pun!), I will leave you with this regarding the resistance against the corrosive effects of liberalism:

Thank you, and God bless you all.

-theblogprof

Limousine Liberal: Actress Susan Sarandon Attends Wall Street Protest On Way To Airport For Italy Vacation

2011-09-28T19:00:00.011-04:00

Perhaps Sarandon is creating something new - the drive-by protest! From the NY Daily News: Wall Street protests get a boost of star power, Susan Sarandon shows up at demonstration

A week-old Wall St. protest got a little star power Tuesday in the form of activist actress Susan Sarandon.

This isn't a good sign for Sarandon:

"I'm just here to be educated," the "Bull Durham" star said as some of the young demonstrators in the crowd asked each other, "Who is she?"

But this is the part of the story that raised eyebrows:

Sarandon, 64, stopped by the Occupy Wall Street encampment in Zuccotti Park on her way to catch a flight to Italy.

The protesters peppered her with questions about climate change, consumerism and the economy.

What would a moonbat actress know about any of those outside of what she's been told? The video with the story:

More predictable behavior by the Hollywood elite: Alan Cumming Rails Against ‘Hatred’, ‘Homophobia’ And ‘Racism’ In Tea Party

Actor Alan Cumming appeared on CNN's "Piers Morgan Tonight" to promote his new CBS Show "The Good Wife." Insulting such a huge part of the American public is a really interesting way to promote your show.

Video: Berkeley Students Condemn 'Diversity Bake Sale'

2011-09-28T18:00:00.000-04:00

Note that the liberal students don't have a single rational thought here as to why they oppose it:

From the SF Chronicle via memeorandum: UC Berkeley student senators respond to bake sale

UC Berkeley student senators voted Sunday to condemn discriminatory behavior on campus - even if done in satire - in response to a Republican student group's plans for an "Increase Diversity Bake Sale," with pastries labeled according to race and gender.

The vote was 19-0.Why don't they vote to condemn the same exact thing in college admissions and government hiring? The hypocrisy in voting against racial discrimination in cookie sales, but not in far more life-impacting areas hasn't dawned on them:

...another student, Devonte Jackson, said the bake sale was inappropriate and hurtful, "attacking underrepresented communities by reducing their communities to a cheaply priced good."

The bake sale - which the Berkeley College Republicans still plan to hold Tuesday - is an effort to denounce a bill now on Gov. Jerry Brown's desk that would allow the University of California and California State University to consider race, ethnicity and gender in student admissions.

...Hundreds of students opposed the bake sale on Facebook, and many sent letters of complaint to campus administrators. Alfredo Mireles, Jr., a UCSF nursing student who sits on UC's Board of Regents, issued a statement condemning "a common stunt performed by college Republican groups to protest affirmative action policies."

...Shawn Lewis, the president of the Republican group, said his members had been harassed and threatened online. The bake sale will go on, he said, "if we can do it safely."

The equal protection clause of the 14th amendment guarantees against discrimination based on race. How do opponents of the bake sale reconcile their view on affirmative action? If the above student responses are any indication, they don't.

Video: Thousands Line Up In Philadelphia For Food Stamps

2011-09-28T17:00:00.016-04:00

Why the shock that when you throw other people's money on the street that thousands show up to stuff their pockets? From CBS Philly: Thousands Line Up In Philadelphia For Food Stamps

Thousands of Philadelphia residents gathered in long lines, citywide, waiting hours outside of 12 County Assistance Offices, hoping to apply for relief following Hurricane Irene.

The residents, many confused and lacking official information, hoped to receive a month of food stamps for food ruined by floods and power problems caused by the hurricane.

The program, called Disaster SNAP (supplemental nutrition assistance program), was created by the federal government and is administered by the State Department of Public Welfare.

Because of unexpectedly large turnouts, the application process was moved from Disaster Recovery Centers in Philadelphia to the 12 state offices in neighborhoods citywide.

The video report:

It's going in the direction of Greece, no? Speaking of, via Instapundit, a revolt:

AS WELFARE STATE COLLAPSES, GREEKS SUFFER AND FEAR FUTURE: “Sitting in the modest living room of the home she shares with her parents, husband and two teenage children, Stella Firigou fretted about how the family would cope with the uncertainties of an economy crashing all around them. But she was adamant about one thing: she would not pay a new property tax that was the centerpiece of a new austerity package announced this month by the Greek government. . . . Critics say the country has failed to adequately crack down on tax evasion among the wealthiest segments of society — and failed to carry out more focused cuts because it is reluctant to take on some public-sector unions that protect a small, powerful cadre of workers who have deep ties to the governing Socialist Party.”

Plus this:

“WE WON’T PAY:” Greek Middle Class Revolts Against Higher Taxes. “Small business owners in Greece have long been the backbone of the economy and reliable taxpayers in a country where tax evasion is rampant. That, though, is now changing. Self-employed workers like Angelos Belitsakos have had enough of rising taxes and have begun to revolt.”

And this:

DAN MITCHELL: The Tea Party Goes Global: Revolt Of The Greek Tax Slaves. “The fiscal turmoil in Greece is not about fiscal balance. It’s a fight between looters and moochers such as Olga Stefou, who think taxpayers should endlessly subsidize everything, and the shrinking group of productive people who are pulling the wagon and keeping Greece’s economy from total collapse. Not surprisingly, the Greek government has tried to prop up its uncompetitive welfare state by pillaging that group of productive people. But it appears that the kleptocrats may have gone too far and triggered a Tea Party-type revolt. . . . These two stories underscore the message that I’ve been repeating for years. Greece’s problem is not deficits and debt. Red ink and imminent default are bad, but they are symptoms of the real problem of a bloated public sector and the dependency culture created by too much government.”

UPDATE: Speaking of Philly, perhaps Sodom and Gomorrah is a better analogy than Greece: Flash Mob Home Break-In Edition: Philly Mob Busts into “White Mother-F**ker’s” House – Beats Him With Pipes

Video: Maddow gets it wrong on GOP debate audiences

2011-09-28T16:00:00.002-04:00

To liberals, audience reaction at the GOP debates is like a Rorschach test - they make of it whatever they want. In this case, they insist that tea party members for instance booed a gay service member, never imagining that they were really booing the repeal of DADT or the using of the gay soldier as a prop to try and make the GOP look bad. Maddow sees only bad in her view of course, which is wrong:

More Maddow moonbattery: Maddow sees Perry as Psycho Killer

Video: Megyn Kelly Responds to Joy Behar Attacks on Fox Debate Panel!

2011-09-28T15:00:00.016-04:00

Liberals have been coming out of the woodwork trashing Megyn Kelly's debate performance. For example: Barely Employed David Shuster Trashes Bret Baier And Megyn Kelly’s Debate Performances

"There are a lot of folks at Fox News who bring a certain level of sophistication to their understanding of politics. And I think when Fox News goes to the Megyn Kellys, the Bret Baiers, and people who don’t have much experience who haven’t covered campaigns, the result is sometimes you have these inane questions that come out and, frankly, waste everybody’s time."

Megyn Kelly responds: Megyn Kelly Responds to Joy Behar Attacks on Fox Debate Panel!

Irony: Joy Behar To Morbidly Obese Michael Moore On Chris Christie: ‘Do You Think the Country Will Tolerate a Fat President?’

2011-09-28T14:00:00.008-04:00

Michael Moore is getting so big that he's going to have smaller big people in orbit around him any day now. Which makes this exchange ironic to say the least:

What exactly is Joy Behar's BMI by the way? Moore, by the way, is bailing on hopey changey: Moore Turns On Obama; Praises Huntsman

UPDATE: It’s Official: MSNBC Thinks Chris Christie’s Weight Is Funny

Serious journalist Martin Bashir spends quite a bit of time making jokes about Chris Christie's weight on Monday's mid-day news report.

UPDATE #2: Here She Is The Joyless Behar (aka) The Liberal Yenta Talking About Krispy Kreme Christie

Bad Visual: ‘Solar Decathlon’ Sign Powered by Gas Generator

2011-09-28T13:00:00.004-04:00

For the record I am a big fan of photovoltaics. There are no moving parts so if the system is installed properly you won't have to touch it for a couple of decades. It's simple. And it works. At least when the sun shines, which is why this just looks bad: ‘Solar Decathlon’ Sign Powered by Gas Generator

In the case of D.C. this weekend, we received a this picture from a PR event … where a pro-solar sign was literally powered by a gas generator.* How’s that for a metaphor?

A bit hard to tell in the pic, but if you want a sign to light up on demand, you need a controllable source.

Solyndra Scandal Becoming Killer Bunny For Democrats

2011-09-28T12:00:00.009-04:00

When Solyndra questions come up in interviews, Democrats run away:

Via BreitbartTV: OMB Director Runs From Questions On Solyndra

Wash Times: Director of the United States Office of Management and Budget Jack Lew refused to answer questions about Solyndra on Tuesday when he was asked by the Washington Times' affiliated radio show, America's Morning News, if he let Energy Secretary Steven Chu know that there were concerns from OMB about loaning more tax payer money to the now defunct solar panel maker company Solyndra.

Other Solyndra updates via Instapundit:

MEGAN MCARDLE: Solyndra Was Just a Bad Bet From the Beginning. Do tell.

And this:

L.A. Times: Obama advisors raised warning flags before Solyndra bankruptcy. “Long before the politically connected California solar firm Solyndra went bankrupt, President Obama was warned by his top economic advisors about the financial and political risks of the Energy Department loan guarantee program that boosted the company’s rapid ascent.”

Freedom of Speech: Sheila Jackson Lee Tells ‘Right-Wing Bloggers’ To ‘Shut Up’

2011-09-28T11:00:00.004-04:00

Democrats love the freedom of speech. Except when they don't.

Untitled from Naked Emperor News on Vimeo.

In reality, liberals only like their speech.

"If you liked Gov. Granholm's Michigan, you'll love President Obama's America"

2011-09-28T10:00:00.021-04:00

"Jennifer Granholm was Barack Obama before Barack Obama was Barack Obama." - former MI Senate Majority leader Mike Bishop

Via Henry Payne at The Michigan View: McGurn: Granholm's bad example

As we've been reporting here at The Michigan View (and I've been reporting at National Review since 2008), Michigan has been doomed to relive Jennifer Granholm's failed Democratic Socialist experiment in Michigan via her Washington twin, Barack Obama.

Wall Street Journal columnist Bill McGurn has taken notice. He picks up on the theme in his column this week, "Granholm's Perfect Bad Example: What Governor Jennifer Granholm's Michigan tells us about President Barack Obama's America." Excerpt:
In the end, Ms. Granholm's argument is simply a form of the same economic narcissism that animates people who never lose the charming faith that they know best how to spend other people's money. In some ways, she intimates, her leadership was the precursor to hope and change. "It's remarkable how in sync we are," she quotes her communications director saying of the governor and Barack Obama.

Yes, indeed. If you liked Gov. Granholm's Michigan, you'll love President Obama's America.

That's kind of funny, because Granholm admitted on tv that the nation is going through what Michigan went through under her:

To her credit though, she didn't take the chance to criticize the current Governor Snyder (who would she be to criticize any Governor of any state?):

Full Granholm interview here (if you can stomach 30 minutes of it):

Pic of the Day: Obama White House Geogrpahy FAIL! Mistake Wyoming for Colorado

2011-09-28T09:00:00.012-04:00

If Sarah Palin had done this, it would be front-page news for weeks and months, and endless fodder for those insisting she's a dumb bimbo unfit to hold any office altogether. But being this is the Obama White House, it's back page news. Nothing to see here, folks. Just move along. Via Instapundit: White House Fails Basic Geography Test. See anything wrong with this pic (states Obama is to visit in white)?

Yeah - that whited out one on the right isn't Colorado. It's Wyoming. Thus the appropriate analysis: "To be fair, both states are rectangular, nearly identical in size, and stacked next to each other. But we doubt our third grade teachers would buy that!" Not for a second. The media however, just might.

Coke CEO: China Friendlier To Business Than Obama’s America

2011-09-28T08:00:00.006-04:00

Sad, but darned right:

Coke CEO Muhtar Kent told the Financial Times that U.S. states don’t fight one another for investment opportunities, while Chinese provinces clamor to compete for foreign investments. “In the West, we’re forgetting what really worked 20 years ago. In China and other markets around the world, you see the kind of attention to detail about how business works and how business creates employment,” he said.

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Kent isn't the only CEO either: Ex-Amex CEO: My Grandson Knows More About Capitalism Than Obama

Harvey Golub: "His understanding of capitalism and free markets and how free people operate in free markets is less than my oldest grandson's. It is evident in almost everything he does."

And remember this recently:

TALK ABOUT YOUR JOB-KILLING REGULATORY POLICIES: CEO Tells Congress He Was Fined For Hiring Too Many People. “I incurred more than $500,000 in legal bills to mitigate a more severe regulatory outcome as a result of hiring too many workers. I have also been prohibited from opening up additional offices. I had a major expansion plan that would have resulted in my creating hundreds of additional jobs. Regulations have forced me to put those jobs on hold.”

Video: Agenda 21 Creeps Into California Land Use Policy

2011-09-27T20:00:00.005-04:00

The creep towards a one-world government via liberalism continues:

Video: 'Army Wives' star Kim Delaney goes full-bore Obama, gets yanked off stage

2011-09-27T19:00:00.000-04:00

Kim Delaney having a teleprompter malfunction:

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From The UK Mail Online:

'I've seen soldiers come home with painful life-altering injuries borne of their time and service,' she said, stuttering.

'I've attended numerous military funerals, including that of my best friend’s son. And my heart has been broken on numerous occasions.'

She then paused, saying, 'Ummm', before continuing: 'As I try to comfort wives, husbands, family members, fathers, children... loved ones made good, what I've learned is the Constitution Center.

'Knowing no words, no talk or anything can ever bring back their people.'

How come the media is making her out to be a space case, but say absolutely nothing about episodes that our own community organizer-in-chief has?:

Detroit Free Press: Fight childhood poverty by fully funding preschool programs that don't work with money we don't have

2011-09-27T18:00:00.000-04:00

From The Detroit Free Press: Fight childhood poverty by fully funding Great Start program

Rising poverty, coupled with the state's changing demographics, poses a daunting challenge for public policy and Michigan's future. Michigan's population is becoming more diverse, with whites expected to become the state's largest minority group in just over 30 years.

Of course, everything is due to racism, not on liberal Democratic hegemnic domination where there is poverty (read: Detroit):

Unless politicians and policymakers invest more in children's programs that alleviate racial inequities in education and health care, Michigan will become poorer, less educated and increasingly uncompetitive.

Michigan's poverty rate in 2010 -- 16.8% of state residents -- was the highest in at least four decades. The state's child poverty rate rose to 23.5%, including an unconscionable 53.6% in Detroit, according to the 2010 American Community Survey.

Uh - excuse me but just who has been running Detroit and its education system for the last 2 1/2 generations?

More than half of African-American children and 44% of Latino children under 5 live in poverty, compared to 19% for white children, according to a new report from Michigan's Children, "Michigan's Changing Demographics and the Future."

The #1 predictor of poverty isn't race of course. Rather, it's whether mom and dad are raising the kids. Around 80% of Detroit births are to single moms. It's kind of what happens when Democrats insisted on replacing the father with Big Government via welfare, with predictable results. The solution to the problem that they themselves created? More taxpayer money laundering (funneling taxpayer money to unionized teachers unions that always tithe back to the Democratic Party) via programs that are proven not to work:

...Early childhood and preschool programs are especially important, given that researchers can spot achievement gaps emerging in children as young as 9 months old. Children who don't read proficiently at the end of third grade are four times more likely to fail to graduate from high school on time.

...Michigan's Great Start Readiness Program, a full- or half-day preschool program for more than 47,000 at-risk 4-year-olds, improves school readiness, raises reading scores and boosts high school graduation rates.

The problem is the freep's continued ignorance that full-day pre-school programs don't work. The evidence has been out, but the Free Press editorial board is so wrapped up in their liberal echo chamber that the message isn't getting through. From almost exactly a year ago:Detroit Free Press: Hey - let's get our kids into pre-kindergarten programs that are PROVEN FAILURES! Science has been co-opted by the liberal movement. Data is unnecessary any more either through experimentation or through observation. Any data that contradicts liberal orthodoxy is fudged to show something that is the opposite of what the raw data has said. None-existent global warming, anyone? Check. Early childhood indoctrination? Big check. Even though such programs are proven failures, and costly ones at that. And statists never call such things "spending." It's always an investment. From Pajama's Media via Instapundit: ‘Head Start’: The $166 Billion Fed Ed Failure.

“Head Start,” the flagship pre-kindergarten program introduced in 1965, has been a $166 billion failure. That’s the upshot of a sophisticated multi-year study just released by the Department of Health and Human Services.

An earlier iteration of the study, published in 2005, had found a few modest improvements in the language skills of participating students while they were enrolled in the program. But by the end of the first grade, even those few effects have disappeared, according to the follow-up released this month. Out of 44 separate cognitive tests given to former Head Start students at the end of the first grade, only two showed even marginally significant effects. The other 42 showed no statistically significant effect at all.

In short, it was an utter waste of taxpayer money. Yet not only did the MSM not report this, they instead reported just the opposite (US DHHS: Pre-K Program is a $165 Billion flop. Detroit News and liberals: We have a fever and the only prescription is more pre-K!!!). The entirety of public schools have been co-opted by the liberal movement and basic skills like math and reading have been replaced with environmental propaganda, cultural sensitivity, self-exploration exercises, deviant alternative lifestyle studies, and singing devotional songs to dear leader:

Indoctrinating children at an even younger age will worsen the problem, not make it better. The NMU provost also threw this bait out without any justification whatsoever: "From a long-term perspective, high-quality early learning programs can save as much as $16 for every $1 invested because children who participate in these programs grow up to become better-educated and more productive workers." Those theoretical numbers are utterly contradicted by the Head Start experimental data - 45 years worth! As usual, data doesn't matter. Only that pie in the sky does.

Previously:

Video: Rep John Sarbanes Advocates Brainwashing Children With Radical Green Agenda

Video of John Stossel: How was school for you?

Wellesley, MA Public School Apologizes To Parents For Teaching Students to Pray As Muslims In Mosque

Local MI elementary school launches War On Cupcakes, bans classroom tradition of bringing in cupcakes to celebrate a child's birthday

Video: Valedictorian Uses Graduation Speech To Rail Against Public Schooling, "Indoctrination"

Colorado High School Tells Student to Remove US Flag From Truck Because It Coul "Disrupt Diversity"

Granholm backs keeping children in failed public schools longer

Video: Teachers Protest Their Own Students Who Choose To Join Military At High School Assembly

High School test slams Christianity, lauds Islam

Missouri elementary school bans "Happy Birthday" song because some students might be "offended"

Video: Interview with Director of School Choice Documentary "The Lottery" Madeline Sackler

Great News: Pole Dancing Being Taught To Kids As Young As 5

Video: A Conversation with Former Assistant Secretary of Education Bill Evers On Obama's Education Initiatives

Video: California 6th grader denounces liberal bias in the classroom

Maine 'Human Rights' Commission Moves to Ban Gender Specific Bathrooms, Sports Teams in Schools

US DHHS: Pre-K Program is a $165 Billion flop. Detroit News and liberals: We have a fever and the only prescription is more pre-K!!!

Another symptom of the problem: Detroit school board President Otis Mathis can't write (seriously!)

Indoctrination! 11 More Videos Show School Children Singing Praises to Dear Leader Obama

News: Old-school educational methods still work better in teaching our kids

Oakland Charter School Teaches Discipline, Basics, Hard Work. Test Scores Go Through The Roof!

Michigan Schools Dumbing Down The Math Curriculum To Eliminate Algebra 2
Dumbing Down The Curriculum: Michigan Lawmakers To Replace Algebra II With "Renewable Energy," Other "Technical Education" Courses
Michigan students behind in math. What to do? Why lower the standards of course!
Indoctrination In Action: One in Three Children Fear Earth Apocalypse
How to make young drivers better in MI? Why push global warming junk science in drivers ed of course!
Indoctrination: Students Being Scared With Mandatory Environmental Video

Detroit News: Homeschoolers are like child abusers or something

Statist Hell: Parents Lose Right To Opt Elementary Kids Out Of Gay Indoctrination Classes
Totalitarian Hell: Parents in the U.K. lose right to withdraw children from sex education lessons

Schools District To Employ Race-Based Discipline
African-American Student Suspended For Claiming To Be African-American
Cal School District Segregating Students By Race! Call it "Heritage Assemblies"
Proof: Public Schools Being Run For Benefit Of Unions, Not Students
Because Public Schools Need This: GAY DAY!

NC Gov Beverly Pudue (D) calls for suspending democracy

2011-09-27T17:00:00.001-04:00

I'm not kidding in the headline either. Nor was it implicit. From The Daily Caller: NC governor recommends suspending democracy to focus on jobs

As a way to solve the national debt crisis, North Carolina Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue recommends suspending Congressional elections for the next couple of years.

Told ya!

“I think we ought to suspend, perhaps, elections for Congress for two years and just tell them we won’t hold it against them, whatever decisions they make, to just let them help this country recover,” Perdue said at a rotary club event in Cary, North Carolina, according to the Raleigh News and Observer. “I really hope that someone can agree with me on that.”

Perdue said she thinks that temporarily halting elections would allow members of Congress to focus on the economy. “

Congress IS THE PROBLEM! Not the solution!

This follows exactly what another Democratic Governor - Deval Patrick of MA - said recently: Audio of MA Gov Deval Patrick: ‘It’s a Free Country. I Wish it Weren’t’

Democrats pay lip service to democracy when they win. When they don't get their way, though, they actively work to subvert it. If you doubt me, answer why the Democratic Senators in Wisconsin and Assembly Democrats in Indiana fled their respective states specifically to prevent a democratically-elected majority to pass bills.

UPDATE: Obama's former budget director Peter Orszag: "we need to counter the gridlock of our political institutions by making them a bit less democratic." All the statists in unison.

Reason #34,878 why pensions need to be eliminated; State lawmakers fleecing taxpayers to enrich themselves

2011-09-27T16:00:00.000-04:00

Promising employees, and themselves, taxpayer money to not work isa concept doomed from the beginning. It was made worse since the politicians didn't fund their promises knowing they would be long gone by the time the bill came due.In essence, they bought votes with IOUs. And to make matters even worse, they vote themselves money in the same sense that crooks simply steal it. Via Instapundut: HOW STATE LAWMAKERS pump up their pensions in ways that you can’t.

At age 55, South Carolina state Sen. David Thomas began collecting a pension for his legislative service without leaving office.

Most workers must retire from their jobs before getting retirement benefits. But Thomas used a one-sentence law that he and his colleagues passed in 2002 to let legislators receive a

taxpayer-funded pension instead of a salary after serving for 30 years.

Thomas' $32,390 annual retirement benefit — paid for the rest of his life — is more than triple the $10,400 salary he gave up. His pension exceeds the salary because of another perk: Lawmakers voted to count their expenses in the salary used to calculate their pensions.

No other South Carolina state workers get those perks.

Since January 2005, Thomas, a Republican, has made $148,435 more than a legislative salary would have paid, his financial-disclosure records show. At least four other South Carolina lawmakers are getting pensions instead of salaries, netting an extra $292,000 since 2005, records show.

Pension perks aren't unique to legislators in South Carolina.

More than 4,100 legislators in 33 states are positioned to benefit from special retirement laws that they and their predecessors have enacted to boost their pensions by up to $100,000 a year, a USA TODAY investigation found. Even as legislators cut basic state services and slash benefits for police, teachers and other workers, they have preserved pension laws that grant themselves perks unavailable to voters they serve or workers they direct.

Outside of government, people go to jail for doing any such thing. These lawmakers are thieves. Related: Rush Limbaugh - I Think What Is Called For Ladies And Gentleman Is A Brief History Of Pensions

Video: Chris Wallace Calls Out David Plouffe Over "Budget Gimmicks"

2011-09-27T15:00:00.018-04:00

Plouffe couldn't answer the 'pay your fair share' canard when Wallace pointed out that eth bottom 47% don't pay any federal income taxes at all:

Turbotax Timmy was out there spewing Democratic Party talking points as well:
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on the Presidents effort to reform the tax system in order to reduce the deficit. Deficit reduction is not debt reduction. In fact, the so-called 'deficit reduction' will still add to the debt at unprecedented levels. Thanks, but no thanks.

Video of Maxine Waters: "Maxine Waters Does Not Complain"

2011-09-27T14:00:00.007-04:00

What is it with politicians referring to themselves in the third person? Click on pic for vid:

UPDATE: via memeorandum: Waters: Obama got ‘fired up’ and a little ‘carried away’ in Black Caucus speech

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) said President Obama got carried away in an address to a Congressional Black Caucus dinner where he said supporters should "stop complaining" and start fighting.

"I think [Obama] got carried away. He got fired up," Waters said Monday in an interview with MSNBC. Obama "got off script and got a little bit beside himself, but I certainly don't believe that he thinks the Congressional Black Caucus is sitting around in house slippers and bed slippers and whatever those things are — I don't own them and I don't understand the image that was described there."

Waters added that Obama just went off his planned remarks in his speech.

"I think he just got a little bit off the teleprompter," Waters said.

Waters's comments were in reference to a speech Obama gave to the CBC on Saturday, where he told the crowd to "take off your bedroom slippers. Put on your marching shoes," and to "shake it off. Stop complaining, stop grumbling, stop crying."

Sarah Palin Threatens To Sue Random House Over ‘Literary Hoax’

2011-09-27T13:00:00.010-04:00

From just a few days ago, Breitbart broke the news: Email Shows Anti-Palin Author McGinniss, Random House Likely Published Literary Hoax. The email was from McGinniss himself, admitting that the juiciest charges he made are without basis. The aftermath of Random House still publishing the garbage may be quite expensive: Palin Threatens To Sue Random House Over ‘Literary Hoax’ Uncovered By Big Journalism

Andrew Breitbart and Joel Pollak appear on The Victory Sessions to discuss the latest news surrounding the Joe McGinniss book "The Rogue" and Sarah Palin's attorneys threatening a lawsuit over it.

UPDATE: Exclusive Interview: ABC News’ Sushannah Walshe Breaks Palin Lawsuit Threat Story

Stephen Bannon interviews Sushannah Walshe, the ABC News reporter who broke today's story about Sarah Palin's threatened lawsuit over Random House and Joe McGinniss' controversial book.

UPDATE #2: More over at memeorandum: Sarah Palin Threatens to Sue ‘Rogue’ Book Publisher. Additional commentary from The Other McCain, Hot Air, Patterico's Pontifications, Big Government, Conservatives4Palin, Don Surber and The Right Scoop

Solyndra's creditor: California Democratic Party!

2011-09-27T12:00:00.000-04:00

The money laundering operation continues. Democrats vote money to unions that tithe back to the Democratic Party that use that taxpayer money for political campaigning and crony capitalism. This is a story of the latter, via memeorandum: California Democratic Party among Solyndra's creditors

Out of the hundreds of out-of-work employees, vendors, investors and other creditors in the bankruptcy of government-backed solar-panel maker Solyndra LLC, one name stands out: the California Democratic Party.

Why California Democrats would be creditor to a company that received more than a half-billion dollars in federal loans to build a solar-panel plant isn’t clear. Even party officials say they’re not sure.

What do they mean they're 'not sure?' And then more laundering:

According to campaign-finance records, Solyndra donated $7,500 to the California Democratic Party in October 2010. It’s legal in California for corporations to make donations. But that doesn’t explain why the company would identify the Democratic Party as a creditor in its bankruptcy filing a year later.

Perhaps they can ask the Solyndra execs. Then again, they would only get one answer: Video: Solyndra Execs Take The Fifth

More from The Heritage Foundation and Sweetness & Light. More Solyndra news: So, Who's Heard of Scandal-Engulfed Solyndra?

MRCTV decided to conduct an experiment in Washington, D.C. and ask people on the street if they've heard about (what should be) a pretty big deal: Solyndra. We were also curious which news outlets they frequented to get a gist of how informed they were on the issue. Of the few people that have heard about it -except for one- Fox News informed them. The other person says he heard about it on The Colbert Report. Some people even thought it was medication, which is a good guess.

And via Instapundit:

SOLARGATE UPDATE: Waxman Says Energy and Commerce Dems Would Support GOP Subpoena of Solyndra Execs. “But Waxman drew a bright line between a potential subpoena of the company and a July edict that Republicans issued to the Office of Management and Budget for emails related to its review of the Solyndra loan guarantee.” Executives must testify, White House to keep silent? Hmm.

Related: Revealed: Intense lobbying, “alarming” negligence in loan approvals led to Solyndra loan.

Obama Forces Ford To Pull Anti-Bailout Ad

2011-09-27T11:00:00.026-04:00

The only place I can find the bailout ad (Ford Runs Anti-Bailout Commercial) anymore is within this news story via Mediaite:

From The Detroit News: Ford pulls its ad on bailouts

For the only Detroit automaker that "didn't take the money" of the federal auto bailouts, Ford Motor Co. keeps paying a price for its comparative success and self-reliant turnaround.

...As part of a campaign featuring "real people" explaining their decision to buy the Blue Oval, a guy named "Chris" says he "wasn't going to buy another car that was bailed out by our government," according the text of the ad, launched in early September.

...Ford pulled the ad after individuals inside the White House questioned whether the copy was publicly denigrating the controversial bailout policy CEO Alan Mulally repeatedly supported in the dark days of late 2008, in early '09 and again when the ad flap arose. And more.

With President Barack Obama tuning his re-election campaign amid dismal economic conditions and simmering antipathy toward his stimulus spending and associated bailouts, the Ford ad carried the makings of a political liability when Team Obama can least afford yet another one. Can't have that.

The ad, pulled in response to White House questions (and, presumably, carping from rival GM), threatened to rekindle the negative (if accurate) association just when the president wants credit for their positive results (GM and Chrysler are moving forward, making money and selling vehicles) and to distance himself from any public downside of his decision.

In other words, where presidential politics and automotive marketing collide — clean, green, politically correct vehicles not included — the president wins and the automaker loses because the benefit of the battle isn't worth the cost of waging it.

There's your hopey changey for you. Ford didn't take the bailout money but is still liable to Obama for it. Change you can't refuse...

Obama: "I,I,I, I Need You Guys To, To, To Decide Right Here And Now"

2011-09-27T10:00:00.000-04:00

The greatest speaker in the history of history speaks:

Reminds me of Eddie Murphy in The Golden Child:

Video: Heckler Calls Obama " The Antichrist". Pro-Infanticide Obama: "l, I, I, I, I agree Jesus Chris is the Lord. I believe in that"

2011-09-27T09:00:00.011-04:00

Obama's not the anti-Christ, but he is anti-Christian and certainly pro-Muslim. Those are his liberal biases. But that doesn't stop him from using his fake faith to push his failed agenda. The same guy that is purging God from America 'by design', has banned prayer at military funerals, leaves "By their Creator" Out of the Declaration of Independence, that Snubs ‘In God We Trust’ as the US Motto, that made sure to thank other people in his Thanksgiving proclamation in 2009, but not Almighty God, and dropped "Year of Our Lord" from another proclamation, the same one that by executive order disallowed faith-based organizations to conduct worship services while providing social programs funded with federal money, and the same guy that defended infanticide (not abortion but the murder of crying born babies left to die in soiled linen closets) as an Illinois Senator not once but 4 times claims once again to commune with God: Obama: ‘I Do A Lot Of Praying’

And he invoked the Bible to push for amnesty for illegal aliens:

"Immigration reform is a moral imperative, and so it's worth seeking greater understanding from our faith. As it is written in the Book of Deuteronomy [10:19], 'Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.' To me, that verse is a call to show empathy to our brothers and our sisters; to try and recognize ourselves in one another."And that has what to do with rewarding those that broke our laws? Since he mentioned empathy, he seems to have less than zero for unborn children, or even those that were born and left to die alone in soiled linen closets in Chicago. Since Obama used the Bible to push his radical agenda, let's not forget this: Flashback Video: Obama mocks the Bible in 2006. By his actions, Obama is a false prophet:

¹⁵"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. ¹⁶By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. ¹⁹Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. - Matthew 7 (NIV)

Watering The Plants: Retired Google Millionaire That Told Obama: "Would You Please Raise My Taxes!" Is Democratic Party Donor

2011-09-27T08:00:00.001-04:00

The big fail in this is that the guy was later outed as a plant:

From Michele Malkin: Latest Obama stage prop: Retired mega-Dem donor/former Google asks prez to raise his taxes

At a LinkedIn town hall/campaign rally forum with President Obama today, a questioner picked “randomly” from the audience just happened to beg the president to raise his taxes...

The questioner is one Doug Edwards, an early Google employee who is retired and who has given gobs and gobs of cash to the Democratic party via Tim Carney:
It seems relevant to point out that this rich liberal is Doug Edwards from the Obama-friendly and regulation-friendly Google.

Edwards has given $300,000 to politicians since 2000 — every single dime to Democrats. He specifically said he wanted his higher taxes to cover Pell Grants.

Every. Single. Dime.

Good News: Many speed limits in MI are illegal

2011-09-26T19:00:00.007-04:00

An update on a post from a year and a half ago: Stimulus? Michigan speed limits set illegally low to generate speeding ticket revenue. To 'serve and protect' has become 'serve and collect.' 5 years ago Public Act 85 was passed that required all municipalities in Michigan to conduct studies to set proper speed limits. Most Michigan municipalities from cities to villages to townships have not complied. Thus, there are plenty of speed limits that are themselves unlawful. Why would municipalities do this? One word: money.

If anyone in Michigan gets a speeding ticket, it can actually be successfully thrown out in a court of law if the speeding occurred on a road with a speed limit not set by study. It's already been done and more Michiganders need to be aware of this. Turning public safety on its head and converting that directive into a money maker for local communities isn't anything new. Last March, I posted about how tickets have skyrocketed in some Michigan communities that just so happened to go in the red: Another Tax on MI Drivers. In other states, red light cameras that automatically generate tickets are facing pushback from citizens as they are nothing but a money generating scheme are are proven to increase accidents, not prevent them.

Persecution: Bible Banned From Christian Café

2011-09-26T18:00:00.014-04:00

While the bureaucrats in Britain are busy promoting radical Islam as the country teeters on the brink of societal suicide, they're not too busy to simultaneously crush the faith that made Britain a great civilization in the first place: Bible Banned From Christian Café

It’s official: Britain is no longer a free country in any meaningful sense. A private café run by Christians in Lancashire is not even allowed to display Bible verses lest they offend militant perverts who have rejected God:

Some Brits may be wondering if a totalitarian regime under Hitler in the 1940s might have been preferable to the totalitarian regime under liberalism today. 100 years ago, England was the financial center of the entire planet. Today, it's a warning against letting liberalism metastasize and rot the country from the inside out.

Video:More Education Spending Doesn't Mean Better Grades

2011-09-26T17:00:00.006-04:00

As I have opined many times on this blog, government run schools have devolved into pension, healthcare and union lifestyle management entities that teach on the side, badly, and at a financial loss to the taxpayer. Nationally, the cost of K-12 ed vs student test scores:

Q.E.D. Ironically, Obama crushed the hopes of DC public school students that were given vouchers to escape the failing system. Thus the question I have asked many times in this blog: why keep this corrupt, deficit-ridden, no value added system running at all? Just dismantle it with a stroke of the pen and give the kids a voucher to let them go to whatever school they want. Nope. Have to keep kids shackled to failed public schools to keep the victim class alive. Vouchers were a proven success in DC. Obama and his education secretary Arne Duncan were the architects that betrayed the children in Washington DC that was running a successful voucher program that proved to be both effective and cost only a quarter of what the public schools were taking in. Duncan and Obama had the data showing the success of the program before they decided to kill it off at the behest of the teacher unions. I have posted on that shameful act several times in this blog, such as these:

There is a big difference between supporting public education and supporting public schools and that gulf is widening by the day. Time to MAN UP!

Poll: Majority Rates Obama Same or Worse Compared With Bush

2011-09-26T16:00:00.011-04:00

It took Bush 8 years to run up $4 trillion in debt and lose his support. Obama did both in less than 3 years. From Gallup via memeorandum: Majority Rates Obama Same or Worse Compared With Bush

Asked to compare Barack Obama with George W. Bush, Americans are more inclined to say Obama has been a better (43%) rather than a worse (34%) president, with 22% seeing no difference between the two. Obama compares much less favorably to Bill Clinton, with half saying Obama has been worse than Clinton and 12% saying better.

The relevant demotivator:

Apparently, a whole many do. More from Don Surber and Weasel Zippers

UPDATE: Michael Moore: Those Who Voted For Obama Will Not Be "Excited About Voting Again"

Good Grief: ‘Lewis And Clark’ Descendants Apologize To Indians For Stolen Canoe.

2011-09-26T15:00:00.020-04:00

From USA Today via Story Balloon: Descendants of Lewis and Clark seek to right wrong over stolen canoe

Generational guilt?
Descendants of William Clark of the Lewis and Clark expedition to explore the West will try to make amends Saturday for a 205-year-old theft committed by their ancestors, the Associated Press reports from Long Beach, Wash.

Clark and Meriwether Lewis, after completing their journey west and spending a miserable winter at the mouth of the Columbia River in 1806, found themselves short a canoe for the journey home. So they stole one from the Chinooks who had kept them alive all winter.

Carlota Clark Holton of St. Louis, Mo., seven generations removed from William Clark, will be among the descendants who will present the Chinook Indian Nation with a 36-foot, custom built replica of the stolen canoe during a ceremony Saturday.

"I think everyone acknowledges that it was wrong, and we wanted to right a wrong," she said. "The family was very much behind it."

7 generations removed? The Chinooks had to have this reaction: who the hell are you?

NBC's Chris Hayes: Obama Has ‘Super Powers’ Or Something

2011-09-26T14:00:00.005-04:00

In a way he's right - who else could have taken the world's greatest economy and turned it via dreadful mismanagement and burdensome regulations?

Pro-infanticide Obama fancies himself a god: Asks CBC for Biblical faith in himself

2011-09-26T13:00:00.030-04:00

Via memeorandum, from the same guy that defended actual infanticide (murder of a baby after birth) 4 times with his vote as an Illinois State Senator: Obama asks CBC for Biblical faith in his agenda

President Obama made an appeal to the religious faith of black voters at a Congressional Black Caucus rally, likening Biblical prophets who had faith in God -- and so refused to worship an idol -- to the black voters who "keep the faith" by supporting him and his policies - and, he hopes, his reelection campaign.

This is right in line with this prior post: Obama Fancies Himself a god: “My People, You Continue to Have My Blessing”

Obama opened the speech by mentioning the Biblical story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, three captive Jews who were thrown into a fiery furnace because they would not worship a golden idol. Obama quoted a pastor who referred to the three men as "good crazy" for having that faith. He added that the pastor had attributed the same "good crazy" to him when he decided to run for president.

Obama continued that analogy, equating the Jews' "faith in the things not seen" to the more mundane "belief that if you persevere a better day lies ahead."

Obama added, "you and me, we're all a little bit crazy, but hopefully a good kind of crazy...We’re a good kind of crazy because no matter how hard things get, we keep the faith; we keep fighting; we keep moving forward."

Obama then explained how he had "kept the faith" through various acts as president -- by responding to the economic crisis with the Dodd-Frank Wall Street regulations bill, through certain tax credits he had passed and through Obamacare...

And funding abortions with taxpayer dollars. Plus, he threatened to shut down the US government if Planned Parenthood were defunded. Some faith...

"It’s never easy," Obama concluded, "and I never promised easy. Easy has never been promised to us. But we’ve had faith. We had that good kind of crazy that says you can't stop marching." Obama then promised to "press on" for "jobs" and "equality" and "struggling families," before finally telling the CBC to "march with me and press on."

Good grief. More from Pundit & Pundette, Right Wing News and Weasel Zippers

The same guy that is purging God from America 'by design', has banned prayer at military funerals, leaves "By their Creator" Out of the Declaration of Independence, that Snubs ‘In God We Trust’ as the US Motto, that made sure to thank other people in his Thanksgiving proclamation in 2009, but not Almighty God, and dropped "Year of Our Lord" from another proclamation, the same one that by executive order disallowed faith-based organizations to conduct worship services while providing social programs funded with federal money, and the same guy that defended infanticide (not abortion but the murder of crying born babies left to die in soiled linen closets) as an Illinois Senator not once but 4 times claims once again to commune with God: Obama: ‘I Do A Lot Of Praying’

And he recently invoked the Bible to push for amnesty for illegal aliens:

¹⁵"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. ¹⁶By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. ¹⁹Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. - Matthew 7 (NIV)

UPDATE:The Detroit Free Press thought it totally important to pen a piece dedicated to Obama's reading Psalm 46: Psalm 46 from the Bible, read by President Barack Obama at Ground Zero on Sunday. The one verse that Obama muffed reads "He breaks the bough and cuts the spear in two." What translation is that from? "Bough" is the front of a tree. It's not that way in any translation I am aware of. In any case though, the liberal media continues to try to paint Obama as a Christian, and continues to fail miserably.

Related posts on Obama and his (lack of) Christian faith:
Predictable: Obama Still Banning Prayers
Irony: Pro-Infanticide Obama Invokes Bible to Push Immigration Policy
Flashback Video: Obama mocks the Bible in 2006
Irony: Pro-Infanticide Obama Says ‘I Do A Lot Of Praying
Obama purging God from America 'by design'
Video: Obama Snubs ‘In God We Trust’ as US Motto
Typical: Obama Leaves "By their Creator" Out of Declaration of Independence at Hispanic Caucus Speech
Irony: Pro-Infanticide Obama Going Public With His Faith
Awww: Pro-infanticide Obama says "I pray every night, read the Bible"
MSNBC 'Journalist': "I KNOW" Pro-Infanticide Obama Looks at Taxes as Moral Issue
Irony: Pro-abort, pro 'separation of church and state' Democrats pray on steps of Capitol
Irony: Pro-infanticide Obama calls his Christian faith a ‘sustaining force’
Video: Obama’s Spiritual Advisor Jim Wallis Trashes the US in the UK
Obama is no Christian: By executive order, faith-based organizations may no longer conduct worship services while providing social programs funded with federal money
White House: Pro-abort, pro-infanticide Obama is Christian
Video of Rev. Franklin Graham: President Obama was "Born a Muslim"
Video: Pro-Abort Obama cites Bible scripture for Pro-Abort Robert Byrd: "making life better here was his only agenda." 50 million dead babies beg to differ
Obama spiritual adviser Jim Wallis' wheel is spinning, but the hamster's dead...
Obama drops "Year of Our Lord" from proclamation
Video of Obama Spiritual Advisor Jim Wallis: Social Justice, Economic Justice and ObamaCare "Are At The Heart Of The Gospel"
Video Of Obama Spiritual Advisor: Redistribution of wealth is in the Bible, the DNC platform, and Obama's budget
Obama Celebrates Halloween After Snubbing National Day Of Prayer
Obama: Gays At Easter YES! National Day Of Prayer NO!
Obama to rabbis: “We are God’s partners in matters of life and death.” Unborn not impressed.
Obama To Snub National Day Of Prayer!
Evangelical on Obama’s faith council: It’s as if he’s paying lip service to the unborn
Obama Picks Winners/Losers: Gays - Yes! Jesus - No! Part 2
Obama Picks Winners/Losers: Gays - Yes! Jesus - No!

Maxine Waters: Obama Would Never Tell Jews Or Gays To Stop Complaining, "I'm not sure who the president was talking to"

2011-09-26T12:00:00.011-04:00

More trouble in paradise. From this morning: Video: Obama Tells Blacks to ‘Stop Complainin’ and Fight. The video was complete with Obama going into a fake black dialect at the end. Apparently, Waters had no problem with the fake dialect, but did have a problem with Obama calling out blacks for complaining, probably some of that directed at her: Maxine Waters: Obama Would Never Tell Jews Or Gays To Stop Complaining

Predictable: Most CBC Conference attendees believe Tea Party is racist

2011-09-26T11:00:00.000-04:00

Ironically, I had this recently on the very same CBC: Congressional Black Caucus: Yes we're racists and we're proud to say so! And it's true - they did. From The Media Research Center:

MRCTV visited the 41st Annual Legislative Conference of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and found that most of those we met up with believe the Tea Party is racist, and some even questioned the "identity" of Herman Cain and Rep. Allen West.

In psychology, they call this phenomenon 'projection.'

DNC Bumper Sticker: "It Could Have Been Worse"

2011-09-26T10:00:00.001-04:00

That's pretty much the best they've got for 2012. Wasserman-Schultz gets handed her ample arse here by the RNC chair:

Video: Obama Tells Blacks to ‘Stop Complainin’ and Fight

2011-09-26T09:00:00.013-04:00

If you watch towards the end, Obama breaks out the fake black dialect in his closing remarks:

Via memeorandum: Obama Tells Blacks to ‘Stop Complainin’ and Fight

In a fiery summons to an important voting bloc, President Barack Obama told blacks on Saturday to quit crying and complaining and "put on your marching shoes" to follow him into battle for jobs and opportunity.

And though he didn't say it directly, for a second term, too.

Obama's speech to the annual awards dinner of the Congressional Black Caucus was his answer to increasingly vocal griping from black leaders that he's been giving away too much in talks with Republicans -- and not doing enough to fight black unemployment, which is nearly double the national average at 16.7 percent.

"It gets folks discouraged. I know. I listen to some of y'all," Obama told an audience of some 3,000 in a darkened Washington convention center.

A fake dialect by a fake President...

UPDATE: Via Instapundit:

FEET OF CLAY: Obama asks CBC for Biblical faith in his agenda. “President Obama made an appeal to the religious faith of black voters at a Congressional Black Caucus rally, likening Biblical prophets who had faith in God — and so refused to worship an idol — to the black voters who ‘keep the faith’ by supporting him and his policies – and, he hopes, his reelection campaign.” Uh huh.

UPDATE #2: The "fight" scene from The Abyss:

Video of Obama: "A Billionaire Should Pay Same Tax Rate As A JEW..."

2011-09-26T08:00:00.000-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, Weiner's old seat got handed to the GOP for the first time since the 1920s in a district that is 3-1 Democratic particularly because of the Jewish vote that Obama is losing over his anti-Israel stance. Must be on his mind because watch watch he says at the 0:30 mark of this video:

HT: HotAirPundit

Video: National Geographic’s “In the Womb” Snippet

2011-09-25T19:00:00.000-04:00

Footage and excerpts from National Geographic’s documentary, In the Womb, via Jill Stanek:

How can liberals possibly be party to murdering these babies, but show outrage when a cop killer in Georgia is put to death?

BBC bans 'AD' - 'year of Our Lord': 2,000 years of Christianity jettisoned for politically correct ‘Common Era’

2011-09-25T18:00:00.020-04:00

The most important question anyone can be asked:

"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" - Jesus (Luke 9:20)

It's a question liberals don't want to be asked. So much so that they are banning Jesus altogether from dating system that's been in place for some 2000 years. Today is September 25, 2011 AD - in the year of Our Lord. But not to the BBC. Via memeorandum: BBC turns its back on year of Our Lord: 2,000 years of Christianity jettisoned for politically correct ‘Common Era’

The BBC has been accused of 'absurd political correctness' after dropping the terms BC and AD in case they offend non-Christians.

The Corporation has replaced the familiar Anno Domini (the year of Our Lord) and Before Christ with the obscure terms Common Era and Before Common Era.

Some of the BBC's most popular programmes including University Challenge, presented by Jeremy Paxman, and Radio 4's In Our Time, hosted by Melvyn Bragg, are among the growing number of shows using the new descriptions.

The BBC's religious and ethics department says the changes are necessary to avoid offending non-Christians.

It states: 'As the BBC is committed to impartiality it is appropriate that we use terms that do not offend or alienate non-Christians.

In line with modern practice, BCE/CE (Before Common Era/Common Era) are used as a religiously neutral alternative to BC/AD.'

But the move has angered Christians, mystified other faith leaders and been branded unnecessary by the Plain English Campaign. ...

So even using the new dating system, what happened that we went from BCE to CE? One word - Jesus! No matter what liberals try, they are still faced with that one question that they dare not consider. More from Biased BBC and Vox Popoli

Obama Promise Kept: Ocean Levels Decrease

2011-09-25T17:00:00.013-04:00

Obama in 2008 promising that if he got elected he would stop the rising oceans:

This could possibly be the only campaign promise that he's actually kept. Via Climate Depot: Planet Healer Obama Calls It: In 2008, he declared his presidency would result in 'the rise of the oceans beginning to slow' -- And By 2011, Sea Level Drops!

Earlier this month, the European Space Agency's Envisat monitoring, global sea level revealed a “two year long decline [in sea level] was continuing, at a rate of 5mm per year.”

In August 2011, NASA announced that global sea level was dropping and was “a quarter of an inch lower than last summer.” See: NASA: 'Global sea level this summer is a quarter of an inch lower than last summer'

The global drop in sea level followed NASA's announcement that sea level around the U.S. was declining in February 2011.

Most surprising, despite the fact that Obama said he would only “slow” the rise of the oceans, his presidency has presided over what some scientists are terming an “historic decline" in global sea levels. Obama appears to have underestimated his own powers to alter sea level.

Even more impressive for President Obama is the fact that just six months into his presidency, sea level started its historic reversal. In July 2009, sea level was already showing a “slowdown and was “still flattening.” See: Sea Level Rise: An Update Shows a Slowdown & See: Global Sea Level Updated at UC – still flattening'

So we are no longer in danger of increasing sea levels due to Mann-made global warming. Hurray for Obama! I'm glad that global warming is no longer going to be an issue and we can move on to more important things like fixing the US economy.

Pic Of The Day: The Best Detroit Free Press Headline Ever

2011-09-25T16:00:00.005-04:00

Via moonbattery:

And yes the paper has a fold in it. The real headline: UAW talks shift to Ford. The above folded headline is more representative of reality though. After all, the UAW negotiated its contract with itself (part-owner of GM) and is imposing those terms onto Ford. How that is not racketeering is beyond me...

Video Report: TN School District Orders Coaches Not to Bow Heads During Prayer

2011-09-25T15:00:00.018-04:00

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Our educrats have line-item vetoed that first amendment guarantee against prohibiting the free expression with the help of activist judges that insist that 'Congress' doesn't really mean Congress but rather anyone in a government job. And it's now been taken to an absurd level. You can't look down. Seriously. Don't look at the ground to see if your shoe is untied. From WSMV via Gateway Pundit:

Some football coaches are in trouble for something they did with their players. They said a prayer.

That has the school district taking action.

And the policy, while it may be the law, has plenty of people up in arms.

Every school district has a responsibility to follow the law, and separate private faith from public school. It can be a fine line at times. One crossed in Sumner County, it seems, when the coaches didn’t say a word during a student-led prayer, but they did bow their heads.

In a town like Westmoreland, faith and football seem to matter.

“We’re just respectful, God-fearing people up here,” resident Tony Bentle said.

Bentle called games for Westmoreland High School for 42 years.

“A lot of history. A lot of changes. A lot of football,” he said.

So when he, like a lot of people, heard what happened after a recent game at the middle school.

“It actually blew my mind, that we had come to that point,” he said. “Nobody in this town is offended if you pray. Nobody.”

During a student-originated, student-led prayer, four coaches bowed their heads. They didn’t say a word.

How is this not persecution again? And against Christianity no less, the foundation of this nation. Other religions are not only not persecuted but promoted in public schools. Case in point, via memeorandum: Father upset over homework promoting polygamy, Islam

A father's complaint that his daughter's homework promotes the Muslim faith could lead to a lesson change in Cobb County.

Channel 2's Tom Regan talked to the father who showed him where his daughter’s homework which said there's nothing wrong with having multiple wives.

More from Right Wing News and Jihad Watch

Video: IN Gov Mitch Daniels On Obama & The Economy

2011-09-25T14:00:00.002-04:00

In 3 parts: Daniels: Not Good Enough Just for GOP to Win Presidency -- Must "Enact Major Changes"

Mitch Daniels: "Is Our Democracy Up To This?"

Obama Has "Wrong Set of Biases" for Dealing with Economy, Indiana Gov. Daniels Says

Video: Former Dem Rep Jane Harmon Rips Bill Maher For Calling Fox’s Megyn Kelly ‘Blonde Twink’

2011-09-25T13:00:00.000-04:00

I have no love for the ousted Jane Harmon, but she's right on the money here in calling out a sexist Bill Maher who's only response to Fox News' Megyn Kelly is to misogyny (I have yet to see Kelly get taken down in a debate on her show):

Video: Barack Obama is an Intercontinental Genius

2011-09-25T12:00:00.006-04:00

Brilliant!:

And here I thought he only made the gaffe twice:Obama Repeats 'Intercontinental Railroad' Gaffe. That's what happens when the lazy, sycophantic Obama media ignore his many misstatements.

Video of Bill Maher: Sarah Palin Would F**k Rick Perry If He Was Black

2011-09-25T11:00:00.009-04:00

This must be that 'new tone' the Democrats pushed back in January in the aftermath of the Giffords shooting:

Even when the basis of his joke is a discredited hack job (Figures: Email Shows Anti-Palin Author McGinniss, Random House Likely Published Literary Hoax), liberals will use it against a private citizen while ignoring the multiple scandals of the Obama regime.

Obama Weekly (Weakly) Address: My Anti-Jobs Jobs Bill Is Really An Educatuion Bill

2011-09-25T10:00:00.006-04:00

In a sense Obama is partially correct here, but not how he sees it. The 'jobs' bill that he proposes (why do Democrats insist on naming the bills the opposite of what they actually do?) is indeed education - it educates Americans as to how out of touch Obama is:

Even RINOs like Susan Collins get it that we need to focus on the economy, and essentially do the opposite of what Obama has been doing: Weekly GOP Address: Damaging Gov't Regulations

In the weekly Republican message, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine is calling for a "timeout'' on federal regulations that many in her party say are hurting the economy. Collins promoted ideas for taming what she called a "regulatory behemoth.''

Obama banning medical devices he can't pronounce (asthma inhalers banned over 'environmental concerns')

2011-09-25T09:00:00.031-04:00

I must have posted this video several dozen times already, usually associated with his propensity for gaffes:

And it's not just medical devices. Banned next will be the words 'intercontinental,' 'corpsman,' and the Austrian language. But there's real news here too - Obama, in what I can only guess is a pretext to saving money when ObamaCare is fully implemented, wants to kill of asthmatics: Obama Administration to Ban Asthma Inhalers Over Environmental Concerns

Remember how Obama recently waived new ozone regulations at the EPA because they were too costly? Well, it seems that the Obama administration would rather make people with Asthma cough up money than let them make a surely inconsequential contribution to depleting the ozone layer:
Asthma patients who rely on over-the-counter inhalers will need to switch to prescription-only alternatives as part of the federal government's latest attempt to protect the Earth's atmosphere.

If you are caught in a flood, and you go out on your porch and piss into it, you are technically contributing to said flood. This doesn't even come close to that because the ozone depletion scaremongering of decades past was an utter hoax. in essence, there is no flood here to even piss into.

The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday patients who use the epinephrine inhalers to treat mild asthma will need to switch by Dec. 31 to other types that do not contain chlorofluorocarbons, an aerosol substance once found in a variety of spray products.

The action is part of an agreement signed by the U.S. and other nations to stop using substances that deplete the ozone layer, a region in the atmosphere that helps block harmful ultraviolet rays from the Sun.

But the switch to a greener inhaler will cost consumers more. Epinephrine inhalers are available via online retailers for around $20, whereas the alternatives, which contain the drug albuterol, range from $30 to $60.
The Atlantic's Megan McArdle, an asthma sufferer, noted a while back that when consumers are forced to use environmentally friendly products they are almost always worse:
Er, industry also knew how to make low-flow toilets, which is why every toilet in my recently renovated rental house clogs at least once a week. They knew how to make more energy efficient dryers, which is why even on high, I have to run every load through the dryer in said house twice. And they knew how to make inexpensive compact flourescent bulbs, which is why my head hurts from the glare emitting from my bedroom lamp. They also knew how to make asthma inhalers without CFCs, which is why I am hoarding old albuterol inhalers that, unlike the new ones, a) significantly improve my breathing and b) do not make me gag. Etc.

And the regulatory state continues to grow bigger, eating liberties and freedoms along the way. No matter what, the regulatory state just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Video: Rick Perry Speech to Michigan GOP at Mackinac Island

2011-09-25T08:00:00.001-04:00

Decent speech, but what's with his stance on illegal immigration the other night?

UPDATE: Nolan Finley of The Detroit News: Perry speech at Mackinac conference just OK

Shock: Herman Cain wins Florida Straw Poll

2011-09-24T20:00:00.008-04:00

Wow, Rick Perry really paid for the illegal immigration gaffe:

Cain also earlier commented on Morgan Freeman losing his mind: Herman Cain: Morgan Freeman Never Has Been To A Tea Party Event

From yesterday: Video: Actor Morgan Freeman Attacks Tea Party As Racist

Video Report: Wisconsin Law School Discriminates Against Whites

2011-09-24T19:00:00.001-04:00

What is the difference between discriminating based on race - explicitly forbidden by the 14th amendment - and affirmative action? If you figure it out, let me know, because activist judges have said that this is AOK:

Study finds school admits more blacks and Hispanics than whites and Asians with same or better credentials

Bill "The Prophet" Clinton: GOD May Not Want Peace In The Middle East

2011-09-24T18:00:00.010-04:00

Now I sure don't want to dismiss people that propagate evil in the yes of God actually hearing God in dramatic ways. Saul of Tarsus persecuted Christians before he was struck blind on the road to Damascus and would go on to be one of the greatest authors of the New Testament. Bill Clinton, however, underwent no such conversion and still fight for the 'right' to dismember babies at will. Yet he pretends now and again to be a prophet: Bill Clinton: God May Not Want Peace In The Middle East

...Clinton said this via Foreign Policy:
“The two great tragedies in modern Middle Eastern politics, which make you wonder if God wants Middle East peace or not, were [Yitzhak] Rabin’s assassination and [Ariel] Sharon’s stroke,” Clinton said.
It’s interesting that Clinton would mention the tragedy of Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination and then imply that God allowed him to be killed because he doesn’t want peace between Israel and Palestine.

Because, you know - what other explanation could there possibly be to The Zipper failing to achieve peace while in office? Recently, Presidential candidate Rick Perry was ripped by the media for mentioning God when he declared he would protect Israel. No such outrage from the MSM regarding Clinton. Via Instapundit

UPDATE: Love the caption to the pic that went along with the above piece:

"In case you were wondering, that’s not God standing in between Yitzhak Rabin and the terrorist on the right."

Heh!

The 'New Civility' (Cont'd): Swarm Of Leftists Wish Death On Michelle Malkin

2011-09-24T17:00:00.004-04:00

This week a cop killer was executed in Georgia. It outraged pro-abortion leftists that saw fit to protest the execution, but never the death of the police officer that was murdered. One of the leftists that blew a gasket over the incident is Alec Baldwin who targeted Michelle Malkin: Alec Baldwin Sics Swarm of Psychopathic Moonbats on Michelle Malkin. Baldwin's tweet:

And the 'new tone' followed:

More of that new civility here: Village Voice Critic Calls For Mass Murder of NY Billionaires… To Feed Poor & Pay for Repertory Theater. And via Instapundit: Stephen Carter on civility

All your record are belong to us: Obamacare HHS rule would give government everybody’s health records

2011-09-24T16:00:00.007-04:00

Once again, the obligatory reminder of how we got here:

It just gets worse and worse for us (and US) regarding ObamaCare. The ruling class loves this but it is another theft of liberty and freedom from the serfs to the ruling class. From The Washington Examiner:

...This time, America is learning about the federal government’s plan to collect and aggregate confidential patient records for every one of us.

In a proposed rule from Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the federal government is demanding insurance companies submit detailed health care information about their patients.

(See Proposed Rule: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; Standards Related to Reinsurance, Risk Corridors and Risk Adjustment, Volume 76, page 41930. Proposed rule docket ID is HHS-OS-2011-0022 http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-07-15/pdf/2011-17609.pdf)

The HHS has proposed the federal government pursue one of three paths to obtain this sensitive information: A “centralized approach” wherein insurers’ data go directly to Washington; an “intermediate state-level approach” in which insurers give the information to the 50 states; or a “distributed approach” in which health insurance companies crunch the numbers according to federal bureaucrat edict.

It’s par for the course with the federal government, but abstract terms are used to distract from the real objectives of this idea: no matter which “option” is chosen, government bureaucrats would have access to the health records of every American - including you.

And as soon as the government gets their hands on your records, rest assured that it will find it's way into the wrong hands for political purposes. More ObamaCare news over at drudge:

The 'New Civility' (Cont'd): Michael Moore Threatens Violence Against ‘Rich’

2011-09-24T15:00:00.005-04:00

Uh um:

"The smart rich know they can only build the gate so high. And, sooner or later history proves that people, when they've had enough, aren’t going to take it anymore. And much better to deal with it nonviolently now, through the political system, than what could possibly happen in the future, which nobody wants to see."

At least his consistent with his rhetoric: Video of Michael Moore: Wealthy Americans’ Money is Not Theirs it’s ‘Ours’; ‘National Resource’, We Need to Take It From Them. But that is countered by his actions. Fact is, Moore enjoys vulgar displays of wealth, as indicative of this account from Mark Hemingway over at the Corner at NRO: Anti-Capitalist Filmmaker Enjoys Vulgar Displays of Wealth.

Video: Solyndra Execs Take The Fifth

2011-09-24T14:00:00.008-04:00

Over and over and over again:

Now there is some good 'ol campaign fodder. Of course, the Obama media is going into defense mode: ‘Morning Joe’ Panel On Solyndra: ‘No There, There’

Irony: Planned Parenthood umbilically attached to Obama

2011-09-24T13:00:00.018-04:00

And visa versa: Obama Hopelessly Devoted to Big Abortion

The Susan B. Anthony List made this video that really sums up perfectly the relationship between Planned Parenthood and President Obama.

This umbilical cord transfers blood money (of the taxpayer variety no less): Obama Administration Restores Funding To NH Planned Parenthood Centers

Planned Parenthood of Northern New England (PPNNE) announced yesterday that the Obama administration is restoring funding to six New Hampshire health centers that were denied funding by that state three months ago.

...In June, New Hampshire's five-member Executive Council voted 3-2 to terminate the state's nearly 40-year-old contract with Planned Parenthood. Executive Councilor Daniel St. Hilaire, who cast the deciding vote on the all-male, all-Republican board, cited as his reason the fact that Planned Parenthood offers abortion services. Under New Hampshire law and federal law, tax dollars may not be used to pay for abortions.

...this week the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services determined that, by New Hampshire not funding these clinics, the state was effectively violating its federal mandate to provide Title X services statewide. Because New Hampshire didn’t have enough health care providers to take PPNNE’s place, Krowinski explained, it was in default of its obligations as a Title X grantee.

But Executive Councilor David Wheeler described the Obama administration's decision as one of "arrogance" for subverting the will of New Hampshire officials. As he told the Monitor, "Even though the state of New Hampshire turned down Planned Parenthood as a contractor, the Obama administration says you’re going to take it anyway, whether you like it or not."

Does anyone really believe that taxpayer money given to Planned Parenthood does not go towards abortions?

The 'New Civility' (Cont'd): TX Teacher calls local Tea Party leader 'Nazi'

2011-09-24T12:00:00.017-04:00

The 'new tone:'

At a gathering to discuss what to do about illegal alien students and the DREAM Act in San Antonio -- a public school government teacher calls the local Tea Party President a Nazi. Video is courtesy of Eric Adam at http://www.teapartyproductions.com

The video:

More from News 4: Teacher calls local Tea Party president a Nazi

Tempers flared during a town hall meeting on the Dream Act Tuesday night. During the meeting a high school government teacher from John F. Kennedy called the local Tea Party president a Nazi.

..."When you get to name calling that just shows that there is no logic to your argument any further. It's all emotion, " said George Rodriguez, President of the San Antonio Tea Party.

The teacher's emotion came from a panelist's comment that school administration should deport undocumented students.

"So you would have students in this room deported?" asked the teacher.

The panelist replied, "Yes, I would if they were illegal. You bet."

Rodriguez also told the teacher if the person is here illegally, they are breaking the law.

"You know what I would have? I would have you teach more balanced - conservative," added Rodriguez.

After those remarks is when the teacher made the Nazi comment saying, "You can just say what you are - a Nazi."

Did Hitler deport illegal immigrants or something?

Video of NBC News Anchor: GOP Thinks ‘Slavery Was Cool’

2011-09-24T11:00:00.009-04:00

This is actually quite funny from the party that has been institutionalizing the black population in this country, no different than slave masters did many decades ago. The same party that fought for slavery, not against it, segregated schools and filibustered the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 now has shackled the black population to another form of slavery - slavery to the state. And yet, they continue to project their own racism onto others: NBC News Anchor: GOP Thinks ‘Slavery Was Cool’

MSNBC's Thomas Roberts doesn't hold anything back in his opinion of the Republican Party. Mr. Roberts is a news anchor, not the host of an opinion show.

Video: Actor Morgan Freeman Attacks Tea Party As Racist

2011-09-24T10:00:00.003-04:00

This is just too bad. Morgan Freeman is one of my all-time favorite actors.

From The Politico via memeorandum: Morgan Freeman: Tea party is racist

During an interview that airs Friday, CNN’s Piers Morgan asked the actor, "Has Obama helped the process of eradicating racism or has it, in a strange way, made it worse?”

“Made it worse. Made it worse,” Freeman replied. “The tea partiers who are controlling the Republican party ... their stated policy, publicly stated, is to do whatever it takes to see to it that Obama only serves one term. What underlines that? Screw the country. We're going to do whatever we can to get this black man out of here."

So when black Democrats committed to making Bush a one-term President, what underlined that? What's the difference?

On the strength of the tea party, he said: “It just shows the weak, dark, underside of America. We’re supposed to be better than that. We really are.”

More from The TrogloPundit and Weasel Zippers. It's a shame that Morgan Freeman has been stricken with Tea Party Derangement Syndrome. Not that many years ago, he made a whole lot more sense on race relations: Flashback Video: What Great Actor Morgan Freeman Think Of Black History Month

Perhaps most ironically, Freeman himself has now been institutionalized within the liberal plantation:

UPDATE: More evidence that Freeman has become Slaveman and abandoned reason for Hollyweird depravity: Morgan Freeman to marry his step-granddaughter

A few weeks ago, a disturbing story broke that Morgan Freeman was maintaining a 10-year relationship with his step-granddaughter with whom he had a questionable sexual encounter when she was young. Yes, they are not related through blood, but Freeman is 72 and E’Dena Hines is now 27, which means she would have been 17 when they first... um... got together. Once Freeman's wife found out about their secret affair she filed for divorce, and now the Enquirer is claiming that once proceedings go through, he and Hines are set to wed.

The 'New Civility' (Cont'd): Bristol Palin fights back heckler called hermother "whore," "devil"

2011-09-24T09:00:00.010-04:00

More of that 'new tone' we were promised by Democrats in the aftermath of the Giffords shooting in January (an obvious strong language warning): Bristol Palin verbally attacked by heckler ‘YOUR MOTHER’S A WHORE’

You know Bristol Palin is one tough cookie and instead of just ignoring this scumbag who called her mom a whore, she engages him and tries to find out exactly what her mom did to so upset this human piece of trash. Turns out, he’s got nothing and she makes him look ridiculous. But that doesn’t stop him from saying the most horrible things to her face. And no matter how awesome I think she might have handled herself, in all honesty what this degenerate said at the end just really pissed me off.

The video:

UPDATE: More Palin Derangement Syndrome: O’Donnell Makes Levi Johnston Read Sexual Passage From Palin Tell-All Book

Obama Repeats 'Intercontinental Railroad' Gaffe

2011-09-24T08:00:00.017-04:00

In July I wrote this post that was really about Obama and the sycophantic media minions: Video: Dimwitted bimbo Sarah Palin claims Abraham Lincoln Built the "Intercontinental Railroad" (No Such Thing!). It was followed by this: Obama's Intercontinental Railroad Gaffe - Part 2. There is no such thing as an intercontinental railroad connecting either the US to Europe or Asia. Or South America for that matter.

And if Sarah Palin made such a gaffe, she would immediately be labeled a stupid bimbo unfit for any office. Months later, Obama repeats the gaffe. Via memeorandum, Andrew Malcolm gets the first part wrong: New gaffe: Obama hails America's historic building of ‘the Intercontinental Railroad’

"We’re the country that built the Intercontinental Railroad," Barack Obama.
That's what the president of the United States flat-out said Thursday during what was supposed to be a photo op to sell his jobs plan next to an allegedly deteriorating highway bridge.

A railroad between continents? A railroad from, say, New York City all the way across the Atlantic to France? Now, THAT would be a bridge!

It's yet another humorous gaffe by the Harvard graduate, overlooked by most media for whatever reason. Like Obama saying Abraham-Come-Lately Lincoln was the founder of the Republican Party. Or Navy corpseman. Or the Austrian language. Fifty-seven states. The president of Canada. Etc.

If you talk as much as this guy likes to talk instead of governing, if you believe you are a Real Good Talker as much as this guy does, you're gonna blow a few lines. But this many?

No doubt, we'll see a collection of Obama's Best Bombs on 'Saturday Night Live' this weekend, one right after the other. No doubt.

Don't hold your breath. Instead, there will probably be a skit making more fun of Sarah Palin- a private citizen. More from Michelle Malkin, Weasel Zippers, Outside the Beltway, Cold Fury and Pirate's Cove

Video: How to Make a Camera Trap

2011-09-23T21:00:00.003-04:00

Just in case you ever wondered:

Want to catch your roommate sneaking into your room? Or snap a photo of the rabbit in your freshly planted veggie garden? Here's how to build a camera trap!

Video: Sen Tom Harkin (D-IA) Encourages Citizens To Riot, ‘Get Arrested’ To Save Welfare

2011-09-23T19:00:00.000-04:00

The predictable result of coerced government dependency: "Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) spoke at a rally in Washington DC and said "we need some of you probably getting arrested for doing things you shouldn't be doing" to save Medicaid."

It wasn't just Harkin either: SEIU Honcho Calls For Mass Civil Disobedience To Create & Spread Crisis Across US

'Never let a crisis go to waste.' Especially one that you yourself create.

Video of Grassley: Heads Should Roll Over $16 Muffins

2011-09-23T18:00:00.012-04:00

You may or may not have noticed that the ruling class throws around our money like wedding attendees throw rice. Case in point: Injustice Department Flings Our Money to the Four Winds

They've spared no expense
...the leftist ideologues running the rogue Justice Department — who help drug cartels smuggle weapons and will not investigate civil rights abuses if the victims are Caucasians — pay $16 apiece for muffins to munch on while they sit around conference tables bloviating uselessly.
[An Inspector General audit released Tuesday] found that DOJ employees attended or participated in 1,832 conferences with a total cost of $121 million in fiscal years 2008 and 2009. The Inspector General analyzed 10 specific conferences which cost $4.4 million.

The report revealed, “one conference served $16 muffins while another served Beef Wellington hors d’oeuvres that cost $7.32 per serving. Coffee and tea at the events cost between $0.62 and $1.03 an ounce. At the $1.03 per-ounce price, an 8-ounce cup of coffee would have cost $8.24.”
...This from the same government that has been leaning on restaurants to serve us less tasty food for the sake of our body mass indexes.

Ironic, no? Scaling back is for the little people. Grassley's comment is a good one as long as it's Holder's: Heads Should Roll Over $16 Muffins

Figures: Email Shows Anti-Palin Author McGinniss, Random House Likely Published Literary Hoax

2011-09-23T17:00:00.019-04:00

Turns out, it was likely all lies. Shocker, no? Via memeorandum, Andrew Breitbart lifts the lid off the trash can: Explosive Email Shows Anti-Palin Author McGinniss, Random House Likely Published Literary Hoax

The awful launch week for the over-hyped, expected bestseller The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin, by controversial author Joe McGinniss, just got worse. Much worse.

After a week of universally scathing pans from the reflexively anti-Palin establishment media, McGinniss now faces the fight of his literary life: the accusation that he seems to have knowingly submitted a book to his publisher, Crown/Random House, that was filled with unproved “tawdry gossip” and rumors that lacked “factual evidence.”

Click over to the link to read the full email. It's quite devastating. More from Power Line, The Other McCain, Conservatives4Palin, Big Journalism, Don Surber, All American Blogger and The Right Scoop. Turn out, this may be just the tip of a very large iceberg: Breitbart Promises More Bombshells In McGinnis Palin Book Investigative Report

Columnist and author Mark Steyn appeared on the Hugh Hewitt Show and found great irony in the fact that NBC News would feature Joe McGinniss to discuss his discredited book about Sarah Palin, but won't offer an interview to him because he is "too extreme."

UPDATE: Slime Merchant Joe McGinniss Dabbles In ‘Triggerism’ On ‘The View’

Disgusting Joe McGinnis stoops so low that he praises Andrew Sullivan for his work on the ridiculous Trig Palin conspiracy stories. Then, incredibly, McGinniss claims he doesn't actually believe any of the claims.

UPDATE #2: Rush Uses Breitbart Investigative Report To Hammer Palin Author McGinniss

UPDATE #3: Levin Hammers Palin Slime Merchant McGinnis Over Big Government Investigative Report

Of Course: Tax Cheat Charles Rangel's portrait to be unveiled on Capitol Hill

2011-09-23T16:00:00.017-04:00

Creative Minority Report has the portrait:

Via memeorandum: Rangel's portrait to be unveiled on Capitol Hill

He may have been censured by his House colleagues, but Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) will have his visage permanently displayed on Capitol Hill.

The House Ways and Means Committee, which Rangel chaired until he lost his gavel following accusations of ethics violations, is hosting a ceremony and reception Thursday to unveil Rangel’s official portrait in Longworth House Office Building.

The ceremony comes less than a year after the full House voted 333-79 in a public rebuke after Rangel was found guilty by a House ethics panel of 11 counts of ethics violations. Allegations included charges that he improperly solicited money from corporate officials and lobbyists for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at City College of New York, did not disclose hundreds of thousands of dollars of income, kept a rent-stabilized apartment in New York as a campaign office, and did not pay income taxes on a villa in the Dominican Republic.

They just love building monuments unto themselves, no? Once again, here's to you Mr. tax-cheating lying sac of crap Harlem Congressman:

City of San Juan Capistrano, CA Fines Christians $300 For Holding Bible Study In Their Home, Part 2

2011-09-23T15:00:00.025-04:00

More on the story of continued depravity in California, the leading persecutor of Christians in the nation: City of San Juan Capistrano, CA Fines Christians $300 For Holding Bible Study In Their Home. A video report from CBS LA (via Instapundit): OC Couple Threatened With $500-Per-Meeting Fines For Home Bible Study

An Orange County couple has been ordered to stop holding a Bible study in their home on the grounds that the meeting violates a city ordinance as a “church” and not as a private gathering.

Homeowners Chuck and Stephanie Fromm, of San Juan Capistrano, were fined $300 earlier this month for holding what city officials called “a regular gathering of more than three people”.

That type of meeting would require a conditional use permit as defined by the city, according to Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), the couple’s legal representation.

The Fromms also reportedly face subsequent fines of $500 per meeting for any further “religious gatherings” in their home, according to PJI.

...After city officials rejected the Fromms’ appeal, PJI, which represents other Bible study participants, will appeal the decision to the California Superior Court in Orange County.

“This is also about a city trying to get a family to pay fees – to pay fees and pay money to them – just to be able to have friends over to read the Bible,” attorney Brad Dacus of PJI told CBS2.

As with everything liberal, slavery is freedom, and freedom slavery. This is perhaps the biggest irony in the whole story though:

The city of San Juan Capistrano was founded as a mission in the late 1700s by Catholic priest Junipero Serra, who established a local chapel that remains the oldest standing building in California.

Irony: Anti-Death Penalty Protesters Call For Execution Of George Bush

2011-09-23T14:00:00.009-04:00

Irony, and the 'new civility' (cont'd):

via BreitbartTV

Video of VA Dem State Senator: I don't plan to support Obama for re-election

2011-09-23T13:00:00.000-04:00

Wow:

DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz: Democratic Party "Natural Home For Jewish Voters"

2011-09-23T12:00:00.021-04:00

Democrats telling their Jewish golf balls to get in their hole:

Oh wait. Wrong clip. Here it is;

From The Politico:

The chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee says President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party will own the Jewish vote in 2012.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) on Thursday pushed back hard against the claim that Democrats recently lost a House seat in a traditionally blue district in New York as a result of Obama’s weak policy on Israel.

”That is absolutely not the case, and it will be demonstrated in the election next year that the natural home for Jewish voters, both domestically in terms of policy and in our Israel policy, is the Democratic Party and President Obama as our candidate,” Schultz said on Fox News.

Jewish voters “overwhelmingly” support Obama, the congresswoman said, arguing that Jewish-Americans have no problems with the president’s position on Israel.

Jews have no problem with throwing Israel under the bus? Really? What exactly is 'natural' about Jews voting Democrat? Is Schultz stereotyping here?

It begins: Fort Worth, TX, Honor Student Suspended For Saying Homosexuality Is Wrong

2011-09-23T11:00:00.013-04:00

Want ti see true intolerance? View the left.

Student Suspended for Saying Gay Is Wrong: MyFoxDFW.com

Why is it that these educrats see fit to suspend a kid out of fear that he may have offended someone,when the suspension itself offends far more people? It's almost like it's all about ideology, rather than doing what's right. Barely a month ago, this news broke: Good Grief: FL "teacher of the year" to be fired for Facebook entry opposing NY gay-marriage law. On the plus side, at least the kid wasn't arrested. Good thing he doesn't live in Britain: In Britain, they arrest you for speaking out the Bible out loud: Video: Cops arrest preacher for saying homosexuality a sin.

Related:
While Rome burns: CA Gov signs bill mandating homosexual indoctrination
CA elementary school castrates Nemo the Clownfish, indoctrinates kids about being transgendered
Change! Books By Ex-Gays Banned From Public School Libraries, But Pro-Gay Books AOK!
All your child are belong to us: CA lawmakers to force schoolchildren to honor sexual predator, enabler of Jim Jones of cyanide kool-aid fame
Judge rules in favor of LA City College student called "fascist bastard" by Professor for defending traditional marriage
Video: School board meeting over MI teacher suspended for bullying students into gay agenda on national "Anti-Bullying Day" goes pretty much as expected
Because Public Schools Need This: GAY DAY!
More Gay Indoctrination in California's Public Schools

Eastern Michigan University: Endorse Homosexual Lifestyle or NO SOUP FOR YOU!

Coming to an Indoctrination Center Near You

It's that pesky 1st Amendment thingy...

Film alleging gays silence opponents gets silenced by gays

Irony: Pro-Abort Al Sharpton Slams US Human Rights Record on ‘Today Show’

2011-09-23T10:00:00.007-04:00

Because of the execution of a convicted cop killer no less:

NBC News can't just hide behind the fact that Al Sharpton is over on that cable station MSNBC. He was propped up as an analyst on the influential "Today Show" with Matt Lauer this morning for a serious interview on last night's execution of Troy Davis. During the interview, Sharpton unfavorably compared the United States record on human rights with the rest of the nations of the world currently visiting the UN.

Video: The State Of The Economy Is Your Responsibility, Mr President

2011-09-23T09:00:00.002-04:00

Via Publius Forum on YouTube:

Detroit Free Press blasts GOP Prez field for not being able to save people, ignore Obama's real record of economic destruction

2011-09-23T08:00:00.013-04:00

Want t know what the Detroit Free Press thought of the GOP field in the debate last night? It can be summed up in one picture that the freep ran in their editorial by Stephen Henderson: Will any candidate rescue the millennials?

Which reminds me of this great Perry line (via Instapundit): “I am actually for gun control: Use both hands.” But I digress. The entire editorial is chock full of the liberal worldview. What will the government to for this person, what will the government do for that person, blah, blah, blah. And every now an then a potshot at Perry. Did you know that Perry wants to poison your water table? Henderson insists that simply lowering taxes and reducing burdensome regulations won't work because the problem is more "complicated." How it's more complicated Henderson never says, but he insists it is. Never mind that Reagan simply lowered taxes, and dramatically at that, and the economy proceeded to create 20 million jobs, and tax revenue to the government actually increased, not decreased.

But it's the insistence by Henderson that young people won't vote for the GOP candidate because the GOP Presidential field isn't promising to lift the young out of mom and dad's basement is laughable. Why? Because the current community organizer in chief put them there. Youth unemployment is at a record high never before seen, and they will vote for the guy that made it that way rather than someone else- anyone else. Um, yeahhhh - that makes perfect sense. So here we see the media's Obama campaign strategy - don't even mention Obama. Just keep plugging away at blasting the GOP for what they might do (or not do), and ignore the disaster that Obama did do.

Speaking of the debates last night, BreitbartTV has a roundup of vid highlights:
Romney: 'I Want Everybody To Be Rich'
Cain On Romney Tax Plan: 'That Dog Won't Hunt'
Paul And Johnson Delight Crowd With Libertarian Red Meat
Cain: I'd Eliminate 'Out Of Control' EPA
Bachmann On Immigration: Build The Fence Cut-Off Benefits For Illegals
Newt: 'Outsource E-Verify To AMEX Or Visa'
Perry: If You Don't Favor Scholarships For Kids Of Illegals You Haven't Got A Heart
Ron Paul Frets Over National Database Containing American's Personal Information
Cain: If You Mess With Israel, You're Messing With The USA
Johnson: Cut Military By 43%, Flights To Cuba OK
Cain Explains How He Would Have Been Dead If ObamaCare Had Been In Place When Stricken With Cancer
Candidates Answer Who On Stage Would Be Best Running Mate

Romney vs Perry was heavyweight bate of the night though: Romney Vs. Perry: Montage Of Head-To-Head Confrontations

Pic of the Day: Technology and the wealthy

2011-09-22T20:00:00.001-04:00

Sure don't remember this:

Writes Darrin Moore on facebook:

Ludwig von Mises wrote, “Every advance first comes into being as the luxury of a few rich people, only to become, after a time, the indispensable necessity taken for granted by everyone. Luxury consumption provides industry with the stimulus to discover and introduce new things.”

HT: Tom McMillin

Video Report: Bureaucrats Raid Farm, Execute All Animals Because Owner Lacked Permit

2011-09-22T19:00:00.006-04:00

That soft tyranny that we have been living under is coalescing into a hard one real quick: Animals killed because owner lacked permits?

No appeals. No justice. No liberty. Exit question: where's PETA?

Irony: Pro-Abortion Liberals Shocked And Saddened That Cop Killer Is Put To Death

2011-09-22T18:00:00.012-04:00

Which of these do you suppose is pro-abortion? (My guess: all of 'em)

I don't get it. A convicted cop killer growing old on death row for a college kid's entire lifetime, after many appeals and reviews of evidence, gets a painless lethal injection and liberals are outraged. These same liberals have absolutely zero compassion or empathy for babies being dismembered while conscious and in fact will vehemently defend the procedure even though the baby's only crime is existing at all. What the heck? Guess where the Detroit Free Press fell on the issue: Editorial: Troy Davis case highlights flaws in application of death penalty

Barring a minor miracle, inmate Troy Davis of Georgia will die by injection today, despite high-profile support from the pope, former President Jimmy Carter, a former FBI director and many others who believe Davis was wrongly convicted of killing an off-duty Savannah police officer in 1989.

It was iffy after the Pope and FBI director came out. But with Jimmy Carter, well- now there's a reason not to execute a convicted cop killer.

On Tuesday, Georgia's pardons board rejected a last-ditch clemency plea. Now, the state may well execute an innocent man -- or at least one whose guilt is subject to reasonable doubt.

For the record, the Detroit Free Press editorial board is stacked top to bottom with pro-aborts that have no problem with the physical tearing apart of innocent babies limb from limb, which makes this next part especially ironic:

...Given the circumstances, Davis' execution will be especially barbaric. It will further discredit the entire criminal justice system and the death penalty itself, which is imposed disproportionately on poor people, African Americans and Latinos.

They're correct about the death penalty being imposed disproportionately on poor people and blacks, but it is done so via abortion, not capital punishment. One million babies will lose their lives this year alone, disproportionately poor and black. Compared to a few dozen criminals that perpetrated most heinous acts against their fellow man. More from John Hawkins via memeorandum: Why Do Liberals Have Such a Soft Spot for Cop Killers Like Troy Davis?

Mumia Abu-Jamal killed Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. Leonard Peltier murdered FBI agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams. Liberals enthusiastically supported both of them. Now, the latest liberal cause célèbre is Troy Davis, who shot police officer Mark MacPhail to death in a crowded Burger King parking lot.

We have a justice system that is already ridiculously slanted against the death penalty. It usually takes decades of appeals and retrials to put anyone to death, no matter how ironclad the evidence is against him. Despite farfetched claims that large numbers of innocent men have been put to death, there's actually no solid evidence that an innocent man has been executed in this country in the last fifty years. Of course, that doesn't stop people from making unproven claims to the contrary and backing it up with deliberately deceptive evidence. The only thing that proves is that if there's a market for anything, somebody will step up to provide it. Liberals don't like the death penalty; so they are desperate to find proof that innocent men have been executed and there are people who are willing to make money providing that evidence, no matter how far they have to stretch to deliver it.

Very few bloggers out there today are pointing out the utter depraved hypocrisy in demanding life for murderers, but death for innocent babies. Why is that?

UPDATE: Over at drudge:

Video: Director Ron Howard Wants To Pay More In Taxes. SO WHY DOESN'T HE???

2011-09-22T17:00:00.000-04:00

Indeed there is a provision in the tax code for any taxpayer to send in any amount they want to the treasury earmarked for debt reduction. If these rich liberals are upset that their taxes are too low, they can increase it on themselves literally with the stroke of their own pen. Like right now. Instead they do no such thing and are content trying to tax everyone else:

We already have a minimum tax on the rich. It's called the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), and was passed in the 60's to tax the 200 richest people in the nation. But because it's not indexed for inflation, everyone in the middle class feels it's shadow in April. Rest assured that any changes Obama proposes will eventually hit everyone. More from Don Surber. Related: Video: Solution for Warren Buffett and Matt Damon’s Concern About Low Taxes

By the way, AP FACT CHECK: Are rich taxed less than secretaries? NO!

Predictable: MA Welfare Recipients Spent Money On Resorts, Nail Salons

2011-09-22T16:00:00.000-04:00

Why be surprised when those that get other people's money simply piss it away?

A WCVB Investigation found more than $2.3 million in Massachusetts welfare money, meant to help the needy buy food, pay their rent and clothe their children, has been spent in locations outside the state in a three-month period, including pricey vacation destinations like Hawaii, Las Vegas, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Via BreitbartTV

Elizabeth Warren: All Money Is The Government's

2011-09-22T15:00:00.004-04:00

Marxist BS of the day:

She's essentially saying that all the money you earn is the governments, and we are lucky the government lets us keep any of it at all. This is the opposite of what the Founding Fathers set up for us. Implicit is that all money is the governments, and therefore anything they don't confiscate is somehow a benevolence towards us. It is OUR money - the fruits of OUR labor. That liberal mindset was perhaps best exemplified in August, for which I wrote this: Paul Krugman: All money is government's money

I have said many times in this blog that one of the more insidious mindsets out there right now is the notion that a tax cut is equivalent to giving people money. Except that the government doesn't have any of its own money. It is all taxpayer money. When a tax cut is enacted, the government doesn't give you money, you simply give less of your own to the government. That has not sunk in yet to Paul Krugman and those like him. ...(Krugman) wrote:
But these [Republicans] are eager to cut checks averaging $3 million each to the richest 120,000 people in the country. … And where would this $680 billion go? Nearly all of it would go to the richest 1 percent of Americans, people with incomes of more than $500,000 a year. … How can this kind of giveaway be justified …?
Earth to Krugman - it's their earned money, not yours and not the government's. The above is the mindset of the statist believing all wealth to be the government's and anything not confiscated is a giveaway to the earners. So much for the federal government being a limited one, no? Based on the above quote, one last point I'd make is that the 'rich' that keeping more of their own money tend to do something with it. They tend not to just stuff it in the mattress, but rather invest it in stocks, bond, mutual funds, etc. That's a whole lot more value added than what the government ends up doing with it by rewarding non-productivity.

Judge Napolitano hits this mentality straight on in this segment:

UPDATE: Via moonbattery:Socialist Elizabeth Warren to Run Against Scott Brown in Taxachusetts

Video of Charles Krauthammer On Obama's Deficit Plan: "It's A Campaign Premise... Pretending To Be A Plan"

2011-09-22T14:00:00.012-04:00

Krathammer on fire:

And for the tip of the iceberg vid: Sessions' Opening Statement Details Inaccuracies In President's Plan

At a hearing today in the Budget Committee, Sen. Sessions delivered an opening statement to lay out his concerns with the deficit plan that the president presented yesterday. A Budget Committee staff analysis (http://1.usa.gov/qjrnOP) found that total deficit reduction is only $1.4 trillion, less than half what the White House had claimed. What's more, the deficit reduction relies entirely on tax increases, and net federal spending will actually increase rather than decrease.

Shocker, no?

Related, via Instapundit:

MORE ON OBAMA’S BUDGET PROPOSALS FROM KEITH HENNESSEY: A Fundamental Fiscal Deception.

UPDATE: David Freddoso: The Math Is In, And It Says Obama’s Speech Was Just Class Warfare. “If Obama was serious about tax reform, he would present a reform plan that isn’t just a tax increase in disguise. And if he was at all serious about reducing the deficit, he would at least avoid presenting his tax hikes alongside massive new deficit-spending proposals.”

Video:The Worst Car Commercial Of All Time?

2011-09-22T13:00:00.002-04:00

I don't know about the worst, but this is pretty darned bad:

Via Pajamas Media via Instapundit

Over at Autoextremist, Pete DeLorenzo thinks that this new Fiat 500C commercial, which had it broadcast premier during football games this past weekend, is “quite possibly the worst automotive spot of the last decade, hands down.” He calls the ad, which features Jennifer Lopez driving, driving and singing, singing and dancing, “absolutely disastrous”. I’ll go DeLorenzo one step beyond and say that the video is quite possibly the worst automotive spot of all times. I dare you to watch it and not cringe as it makes everyone involved with the ad, Fiat, Chrysler, Lopez, and the people who actually made the commercial, look like idiots. What makes this trainwreck go even farther off the rails is that the ad was conceived by marketing shop Impatto which was in charge of the 500C’s launch. That’s “was” because Impatto has since been fired by Fiat USA in the wake of rumors about a personal relationship between Fiat brand manager Laura Soave and Impatto head Michael D’Antonio.

Ouch.

Video: Watch How Obama’s NLRB Killed Job Growth In America

2011-09-22T12:00:00.007-04:00

Via BreitbartTV:

It's all about him: Obama hijacks UN group photo

2011-09-22T11:00:00.002-04:00

Yo O - you're not supposed to wave to attract attention to yourself and simultaneously coverup the face of the guy right next to you:

The video:

It's always about him. And from Gateway Pundit: YES IT’S REAL – Obama Waves During Pictures at the United Nations …Here’s the Video

Obama: ‘I Wear That (Class Warfare) Charge As Badge Of Honor’

2011-09-22T10:00:00.001-04:00

As Mark Levin said: Someone Could Come In And Say, Mr President There Is A Meteor That Is Going To Wipe Out New England. What Shall We Do? His Answer Would Be Raise Taxes On The Wealthy. With that: Obama The Class Warrior: ‘I Wear That Charge As Badge Of Honor’

"Now, you’re already hearing the Republicans in Congress dusting off the old talking points. You can write their press releases. “Class warfare,” they say. You know what? If asking a billionaire to pay the same rate as a plumber or a teacher makes me a warrior for the middle class, I wear that charge as a badge of honor."

Uh um: AP FACT CHECK: Are rich taxed less than secretaries? NO!

Uh um: The "Buffett Rule" Is Based On Flawed, Anecdotal Evidence; National Data Show That "Super-Rich" Pay Avg. Tax Rates 2-3X Higher Than a Secretary.

Bottom Line: We now have a proposal for a tax policy - the "Buffett Rule" - based on Warren Buffett's anecdotal "evidence" of his and his employees' tax burdens. But that "evidence" seems pretty far-fetched and not consistent with: a) average federal income tax rates available from the IRS, nor b) average tax rates for all federal taxes paid, from the CBO. Buffett's anecdote has to be an outlier or exception, because under the current federal tax system, the average "super-rich" taxpayer pays taxes at a rate 2-3 times the average secretary. Instead of raising tax rates, we should probably figure out what kind of loopholes allow Warren Buffet to pay taxes of only 17.4% on his $40 million income last year.

UPDATE: I, I, I, I, I'm, I'm a warrior for the middle class.

Good Grief: Obama Invokes George Washington To Defend Tax Increases

2011-09-22T09:00:00.000-04:00

Ugh:

When you pay your taxes so that the local government can hire police officers for public safety, you are happy to do so because it is a legitimate function of government. When you pay your taxes so that the local government can hire fire fighters for public safety, you are happy to do so because it is a legitimate function of government. As long as those entities don't metastasize into lifestyle, pension and healthcare management entities that do public service on the side, poorly and at a loss, you are happy to pay your taxes. But when the government takes taxes from you simply to give that money to someone else, it is theft. They are simply stealing your money because that is not a legitimate function of government. George Washington was arguing for legitimate functions of government. Obama is not.

Bill Clinton: Obama’s deficit plan ‘confusing,’ slams tax raises

2011-09-22T08:00:00.026-04:00

The deficit problem is so bad right now that even you you simply confiscated all of the income of the wealthy with a 100% tax, you wouldn't make up the deficit for more than a few months, the debt would continue to increase, not decrease, and you would lose those rich people you have stolen from making the problem even worse in the future. Even Bill Clinton gets it (kind of). From Yahoo!News: Bill Clinton calls President Obama’s deficit plan ‘confusing,’ slams tax raises

If Barack Obama is going to turn around the nation's economy, he'd better avoid raising taxes, former President Bill Clinton warned this week.

Bill Clinton goes Obama 2009:

"I personally don't believe we ought to be raising taxes or cutting spending until we get this economy off the ground," Clinton told the conservative site Newsmax. "If we cut government spending, which I normally would be very inclined to do when the deficit's this big, with interest rates already near zero you can't get the benefits out of it.

...A blog for House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) on Wednesday touted the interview under the headline "Clinton: No Tax Hikes, No New Regulations"

"And look who else is coming out against President Obama's plan," Brian Walsh, National Republican Senatorial Committee Communications Director, wrote in a blast email touting Politico's coverage of the Newsmax interview.

"Former President Bill Clinton says now is not the time to hike taxes: http://is.gd/J2UVz2 #demsindisarray" the Republican National Committee tweeted.

Overall, Clinton told Newsmax that he believes the president's plan is "a little confusing" and hopes Republicans and Democrats can reach a bipartisan deal that begins with payroll tax cuts, which he says yield the biggest returns:
What I would like to say to the president and Speaker [John] Boehner is, O.K., you both have your deal. Go work it out. Meanwhile focus on putting American back to work because it just confused Americans. Americans lost the fact that whatever you feel about this millionaire surcharge, it won't solve the problem.

Fact is, for the first time in our history just entitlement spending by itself is greater than all federal tax revenues combined:

So if entitlement spending isn't cut and cut significantly, forget about erasing the deficit or not increasing the debt as it will be mathematically impossible.

The Onion: Tom Brady Questionable For Sunday's Game After Waking Up Ugly

2011-09-21T21:00:00.002-04:00

I don't post too many Onion spoofs, but this one was just too funny not to post (IMO the funniest was the Peyton Manning neck piece after the Brady bit):

Finally! Heinz reinvents the ketchup packet

2011-09-21T20:00:00.012-04:00

Via the WSJ via Instapundit:

Here's the most important question though: will the new packets still work on the Dumb and Dumber 'cut your throat shaving' goof?

Video: The smartes thing Maxine Waters (D-CA) has ever said

2011-09-21T19:00:00.001-04:00

Ironically, Fox News' Jesse Watters confronted Maxine Waters over her insisting the Tea Party go to hell (he left out the part where she said "I intend to help them get there" but anyway), and as you might suspect, the conversation didn't, err...flow well. But in fact, Maxine Waters sounded smarter here than any video I have ever seen of her:

Rangel of course went sexist again, and walked away.

Video Ad: Do The ‘Math’, Mr. President

2011-09-21T18:00:00.006-04:00

Heh:

It's too bad they didn't include a slide of the need for 150,00 0 jobs each month just to keep up with population growth as teen age into the workforce. In that regard, the employment rate might have been more useful than the unemployment one. Then again, it is short and right to the point.

Plus, another ad: Dramatic New Perry Ad Hammers Obama Economy

Video: Sen Chuck U Schumer's Niece Tells Racist Joke at Sheen Roast.

2011-09-21T17:00:00.005-04:00

The only reason to bring this up of course is not to point out that Schumer's niece is racist (no indication that she is. This is after all comedy), but rather that the media would be going banana's if this exact same thing would be said by Sarah Palin's nieces or daughters, or those of Michele Bachmann:

Via Adam Sharp

Video: Rappers joke about receiving welfare $$$

2011-09-21T16:00:00.006-04:00

The logical result of handing out other people's money to those that refuse to be productive (language warning):

And from moonbattery: "To be honest that wasn’t exactly inspired. We’ve seen better:"

ReasonTV: Penn Jillette about his best-selling new book, 'God, No!:' Signs You May Already Be an Atheist ad Other Magical Tales, his friendship with Glenn Beck, skepticismn versus cynicism, the role of religion in terrorism, and why he's a libertarian

2011-09-21T15:00:00.005-04:00

I don't agree with a chunk of this of course (albeit many libertarian principles are pretty close to conservative ones), but it makes for an interesting interview anyway:

I bet you dollars to doughnuts that on his death bed, Penn Jillette will be no atheist.

Rep Gary Peteres (D-MI): "We Need To Thank President Obama For What He Did For This Great State"

2011-09-21T14:00:00.023-04:00

Starting at the 0:42 mark:

Um - didn't Michigan lose jobs since Obama got in? Isn't this kind of like thanking Granholm for what she did for Michigan after losing jobs every single one of her 8 years in office? Afterwards, Peters went with the usual talking points, GM would have been liquidated without the bailouts (wasn't Bush President when that got started?), which is 1) false -they would have went through bankruptcy which is not the same thing - and 2) which they did anyway but with the proverbial 800 pound government gorilla on their backs. The UAW won our. Bondholders and American taxpayers lost.

Looks like the auto bailouts must be polling well in the new district 14 that Peters is campaigning in since he bailed on district 9 that he currently serve in knowing darned well that the running against Sander Levin in the new 9 was a no win scenario. Instead, he will go up against a popular rookie: Rep. Gary Peters will challenge Rep. Hansen Clarke in new 14th District. Peters has Pontiac, Hansen Clark Detroit. I think the D will win. Not many vanilla white guys get elected in Detroit.

NYT Rube David Brooks Admits "I'm an Obama Sap"

2011-09-21T13:00:00.019-04:00

Another rube dumb enough to have been taken in by hopey changey id off the Hopeium and now has buyers remorse: Obama Rejects Obamaism

Brooks - another rube self identifies
I’m a sap, a specific kind of sap. I’m an Obama Sap.

When the president said the unemployed couldn’t wait 14 more months for help and we had to do something right away, I believed him. When administration officials called around saying that the possibility of a double-dip recession was horrifyingly real and that it would be irresponsible not to come up with a package that could pass right away, I believed them.

I liked Obama’s payroll tax cut ideas and urged Republicans to play along. But of course I’m a sap. When the president unveiled the second half of his stimulus it became clear that this package has nothing to do with helping people right away or averting a double dip. This is a campaign marker, not a jobs bill.

It recycles ideas that couldn’t get passed even when Democrats controlled Congress. In his remarks Monday the president didn’t try to win Republicans to even some parts of his measures. He repeated the populist cries that fire up liberals but are designed to enrage moderates and conservatives.

He claimed we can afford future Medicare costs if we raise taxes on the rich. He repeated the old half-truth about millionaires not paying as much in taxes as their secretaries. (In reality, the top 10 percent of earners pay nearly 70 percent of all income taxes, according to the I.R.S. People in the richest 1 percent pay 31 percent of their income to the federal government while the average worker pays less than 14 percent, according to the Congressional Budget Office.)

This wasn’t a speech to get something done. This was the sort of speech that sounded better when Ted Kennedy was delivering it. The result is that we will get neither short-term stimulus nor long-term debt reduction anytime soon, and I’m a sap for thinking it was possible.

And it only took him some 4 years since Obama began his campaign to figure this out? Brooks isn't just a rube, he's a dense one to boot. Via memeorandum. More from Michelle Malkin, The Heritage Foundation, Hugh Hewitt, Betsy's Page, Campaign 2012, Ann Althouse, The Other McCain, Maggie's Farm, Ben Smith, Left Coast Rebel and American Spectator

Truther Tony Bennett claims to be a pacifist, but

2011-09-21T12:00:00.015-04:00

Something else occurred to me after writing this post yesterday: Tony Bennett Goes Truther - Blames America For 9-11. It was in a section of the piece that I left out regarding Bennett's pacifism: Tony Bennett on 9/11 Attacks: ‘They Flew the Plane in, But We Caused It’

...Beginning with his service in World War II, Bennett said that his experiences as a teenager in combat forever changed his position on war.

“I’m anti-war,” he said. “It’s the lowest form of human behavior.”

Drafted by the U.S. Army in November 1944, Bennett served as an infantryman in Europe, moving across France, and later into Germany.

“The Germans were frightened. We were frightened. Nobody wanted to kill anybody when we were on the line, but the weapons were so strong that it overcame us and everybody else.”

Bennett credited the Army with allowing him to study singing under the GI Bill. He also admitted that his two years of service gave him enough time to witness the horrors of war.

“The first time I saw a dead German, that’s when I became a pacifist,” he said.

He told Stern that he was left forever shaken by the sight of death.

“It was a nightmare that’s permanent,” he said. “I just said, ‘This is not life. This is not life.’”

Apparently, pacifist Tony Bennett doesn't extend the same empathy he had for German Nazis to unborn babies. Turns out, Bennett is a supporter of Obama - who not only has never come out against any form of abortion whatsoever, but with his vote defended outright infanticide as an Illinois Senator, 4 times protecting what is termed live birth abortion where crying babies were left in soiled linen closets to die. Just a few months ago: Tony Bennett on Obama: ‘Can’t Blame Him For Anything’

The National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) isno pro-life organization by any means either. So what's up Tony? You heart bled for a dead Nazi but dismembered babies don't bother ya? Say it ain't so!

UPDATE: Good grief: Rosanne Brings Truther Nuttery To ‘Day Of Rage’ Protest

Rosanne Barr attended the leftist march on Wall Street this past weekend and had an interesting answer to a question about the truth behind the 9/11 attacks.

UPDATE: Tony Bennett Apologizes Again For 9/11 Remarks

On his Facebook page, Bennett wrote “My life experience… made me a life-long humanist and pacifist, and reinforced my belief that violence begets violence and that war is the lowest form of human behavior.”

Um - abortion? The war against the unborn?

Howard Dean: Employers will drop coverage under Obamacare

2011-09-21T11:00:00.013-04:00

I's the central feature of ObamaCare, not a bug. Incentivize businesses to drop coverage for employees, run insurers out of business via burdensome regulation, then turn around and fix the 'problem,' entirely created by the federal government, by enacting a single-payer system run by that same federal government. This is how it begins: Dean: Employers will drop coverage under Obamacare

Former Democratic National Committee Chairman, and doctor, Howard Dean backed a McKinsey & Co. survey today that found that almost a third of private-sector employers will drop their employee health insurance coverage when Obamacare's government-managed insurance exchanges come online.

Dean told Morning Joe, "The fact is it is very good for small business. There was a McKinsey study, which the Democrats don't like, but I do, and I think its true. Most small businesses are not going to be in the health insurance business anymore after this thing goes into effect."

The reason Democrats fought so hard to dismiss the McKinsey survey when it was released is because its conclusion undermines two major claims Obama made during health care debate: "If you like your health plan, you can keep it" and "It will not add one penny to the deficit."

Fellow Morning Joe guest former New York Gov. George Pataki immediately hit the first point: "The only way its a help is if they drop coverage and their employees would all of a sudden have to go on the exchange, which is what of course the president promised wouldn't happen."

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) premised their Obamacare score on the assumption that only 7 percent of employers would drop their employee health plans. If the percentage is closer to the 30 percent, as the McKinsey survey results predict, Obamacare's price tag would rise by almost $1 trillion.

All lies:

UPDATE: Massachusetts should have been a lesson: Report: ‘Romneycare’ a jobs killer

The Bay State’s controversial 2006 universal health-care plan — also known as “Romneycare” — has cost Massachusetts more than 18,000 jobs, according to an exclusive blockbuster study that could provide ammo to GOP rivals of former Gov. Mitt Romney as he touts his job-creating chops on the campaign trail.

“Mandating health insurance coverage and expanding the demand for health services without increasing supply drove up costs. Economics 101 tells us that,” said Paul Bachman, research director at Suffolk University’s Beacon Hill Institute, the conservative think tank that conducted the study. The Herald obtained an exclusive copy of the findings.

“The ‘shared sacrifice’ needed to provide universal health care includes a net loss of jobs, which is attributable to the higher costs that the measure imposed,” said David Tuerck, the institute’s executive director.

Well DUH! More from Michelle Malkin, Cato Institute, GOP 12, Weasel Zippers and National Review