Funny and NOT political

The ruling class deserves the BEST

Ugh. Congress. Read it at Sweetness and Light:

Members and staffers regularly grab free food at the continual receptions down the hall or across the street. They live on canapés, cheese and crackers, prime rib, chocolate mousse. Their waistlines expand, but they just buy new clothes, and besides, nobody notices or mentions the result. We’re doing important work here!

The few members inclined to be healthy have access to a House or Senate gym with showers and cut-up fresh fruit. If they need to stay late at work, a cafeteria with a whole crew must, by law, stay to feed them (subsidized by taxpayers). If they travel beyond this tiny and exclusive universe, they are driven, flown and “handled.” And if, heaven forbid, members fall ill, they have access to the best medical care and health insurance in the country. There are even medical offices in the Capitol where members and staffers have access to doctors or nurses as needed at no cost to them. Of course, they work hard and deserve this kind of care.

Joe Biden said WHAT?

Yes, it's true. There's a new blog celebrating the sayings of Joe Biden, gaffe king of the world.

Guess that private dinner with Obama didn't make Krauthammer a fan

As always, Charles Krauthammer remains an articulate and intelligent voice amidst the current chaos. Follow this link to read it here:

The reason we are in this stew is because the dogs won't eat the dog food. You can sell it and have a pretty can, as people learn about it — that's the reason it's [failing].

It's not because of tactics—it is not because Obama stayed out of it or he is overexposed or underexposed. It's not because of personalities—it's not because Teddy Kennedy isn't there or Tom Daschle.

It is because of the numbers and the facts. And when the CBO, the non-partisan budget office, came in with the real numbers, the plan died.

Why were charges against the Black Panthers dropped?

So apparently, even though the case was won AGAINST the Black Panthers, the charges were not only dropped, but the offending parties will be allowed to "poll watch" again at the same locations where they terrorized voters with paramilitary outfits, billy clubs and offensive name-calling.

Mr. Welch claimed one reason the charges against Mr. Jackson were dropped was that "he was a resident of the apartment building where the polling place was located," and thus allowed to be there. Mr. Wolf wrote back that Mr. Jackson "has never resided" at that address, which is a senior living facility called Guild House. At a fit and trim age 53, Mr. Jackson hardly qualifies for a retirement home.

Mr. Jackson's MySpace page still lists one of his main "general interests" as "Killing Crakkkas." Four days after the Justice Department dropped the complaint against Mr. Jackson, he again was named an official election poll watcher for the Democratic primary in Philadelphia's municipal election. How convenient.

Black panthers case dismissed by DOJ official

Watch the video (linked in this article) and try to understand why this case of blatant voter intimidation was dismissed--after having been won--and it came straight from the top.

[Obama] and his appointees are turning out to be motivated by a benighted view of America which has not changed since 1960, even though American society — in a way unseen in the history of the world — has indeed fundamentally changed. The regressive views of those who style themselves “progressive” are patently absurd and surely will contribute to the president’s falling popularity. He is not what voters were led to believe.

But his post-racial claim is not the only thing being discredited this week. The high-minded civic posture of PFAW, the ACLU, and the NAACP also are undercut by their inaction in the face of this politically motivated failure to punish a clear violation of the Voting Rights Act — an act that will surely lead to more such conduct by similar groups in Democratic controlled areas of the country.

Crowley to take lawyer to beer summit

Good for him! This is a public relations railroad job, the only possible result being a lecture from the perp to the cop about being more "enlightened," having nothing to do with the fact that the cop was trying to protect the life and property of the property owner. So Crowley does not go alone to the so-called beer summit:

Crowley will be joined at the White House by Dennis O’Connor, president of the Cambridge Police Superior Officers Association, and Alan McDonald, the attorney for the Cambridge Police Superior Officers Association, the Cambridge Police Patrol Officers Association and the Massachusetts Municipal Police Coalition.

Creepy...when did conformity become appealing?

And where is the revolutionary generation? Everyone wearing the same clothes, jumping together and doing the same thing. Ugh. 

Gates & Obama vacationing at Martha's Vineyard

Wow. Never thought of it this way. Good catch. 

Imagine: a distinguished Ivy League professor arrives home by chauffeur driven limousine to his digs in an exclusive Cambridge neighborhood. Within minutes of his arrival a police officer, in an attempt to protect his property, shows up to investigate a possible burglary in progress (good luck getting that rapid response in your neighborhood).

Now, rather than thank the good officer for his dedication and timeliness you accuse him of racism? Better yet, stand on your front porch and yell at the top of your lungs how he “doesn’t know who he’s messing with!”

U2 band's eco-footprint

Yeah, sure, you like the band. But aren't they cognizant of the amount of CARBON they burn with their world concerts? Just askin.' 

But U2 managers said the protests meant more than 50 trucks carrying much of the band's 390-ton stage, TV screens, lighting and sound equipment missed their intended morning ferry.

Some trucks did depart the stadium several hours late as protesters stood aside. But tour organizers said it was too soon to determine whether any of U2's tightly scheduled concert dates in Sweden, Germany and Poland would be affected.

[SNIP]   Berry said singer Bono, guitarist The Edge, bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. were told of the Dublin disruption about 5 a.m. Tuesday as their private jet landed in Nice, France, where they are staying in between European gigs.

He said the band felt "pure disappointment. It's just really put a damp squib (sponge) on something that was a fantastic experience and fantastic show."

African American cops support Crowley

Disapprove of Obama. 

Press compromises itself-meets its Waterloo

Read it at Town Hall:

But the day after the Post canceled — postponed, really — its fund-raiser/Democratic schmooze-a-thon, about 30 White House correspondents frolicked as special guests of President Obama's Independence Day barbecue. Blogging, Twittering and reporting on the event were prohibited, the invitation said, because the White House didn't want the public to find out it was trying to subvert the First Amendment. "If you feel that you cannot agree to abide by these ground rules, please don't claim a ticket." The list of left-wing outlets that swore the Obama Oath of Secrecy reads like the who's who of the elite media: The Post, The New York Times, Newsweek, Time, ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN. Their correspondents left the party that much more beholden to their host and that must less impartial and trustworthy in the eyes of the public.

"Retarded" term agitates populace

The health care bill was apparently written by brilliantly sensitive staffers, just like the brilliantly sensitive automatons who will be in charge of our doctors. Read about it here:

The proposed health-insurance bill from the House of Representatives refers to mentally disabled people as "retarded" -- a term advocates, relatives and physicians find outdated and offensive.

The bill refers to: "A hospital or a nursing facility or intermediate-care facility for the mentally retarded . . ."

The American people are waking up

Read Ben Stein here:

Now, the American people are starting to wake up to the truth. Barack Obama is a super likeable super leftist, not a fan of this country, way, way too cozy with the terrorist leaders in the Middle East, way beyond naïveté, all the way into active destruction of our interests and our allies and our future.

The American people have already awakened to the truth that the stimulus bill -- a great idea in theory -- was really an immense bribe to Democrat interest groups, and in no way an effort to help all Americans.

Now, Americans are waking up to the truth that ObamaCare basically means that every time you are sick or injured, you will have a clerk from the Department of Motor Vehicles telling your doctor what he can and cannot do.

Obama below 50%

At last, reality catches up. And it bites. 

Overall, 49% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President's performance, RASMUSSEN will report later this morning.

This marks the first time his overall approval rating has ever fallen below 50% among Likely Voters nationwide. Fifty-one percent (51%) disapprove. 

Eighty-three percent (83%) of Democrats continue to approve of the President'’s performance while 80% of Republicans disapprove. Among those not affiliated with either major party, 37% offer a positive assessment. 

Obama overexposed? Nah....

Read it at The New York Times: 

Past presidents have been more exclusive in giving exclusives, believing they would have more impact. In their first four months, Mr. Clinton gave 11 interviews and Mr. Bush gave 18, compared with 43 by Mr. Obama, according to Martha Joynt Kumar, a presidential communications scholar at Towson State University. That has accelerated in recent days as Mr. Obama popped up in venues like“Anderson Cooper 360” on CNN and “Dr. Nancy” on MSNBC.

Now hot dogs are offensive!

The nanny police are out again. This time it's hot dogs.

Now even the all-American hot dog isn't safe from the health wienies.

A vegetarian group that thinks you may be taking your life into your hands the next time you go to a barbecue or the ballpark is suing to put cigarette-style warning labels on franks.

The Washington, DC-based Cancer Project filed the lawsuit yesterday in Superior Court in Newark, naming several sausage manufacturers.

Bizarre: toys given police escort in Detroit

Okay, so Detroit is flat, busted broke. But the police take the time and effort to "escort" toys that have been sitting outside to "graves" at a cemetery because they were left in memory of Michael Jackson. Read the whole thing. It's bizarre. Especially crying more for somebody you don't know than your own family. 

Detroit -- Two hearses jammed with stuffed animals left in memory of Michael Jackson were given a two-car police escort Friday to the toys' burial at Woodlawn Cemetery, leaving police officials highly critical of the decision afterward.

"There's no way to defend it," Detroit Police 2nd Deputy Chief John Roach said. "It's unacceptable. Clearly, this is not something that ever should have happened."

Detroit Police officials said they couldn't say how much the escort cost the city. The escort guided the hearses from the funeral procession through red lights.

The natives are restless

Watch this remarkable video (while it's still available) of Mike Castle's town hall meeting. Apparently some people do not believe The One was born in the US of A. Regardless of what you think about that issue, the video indicates the frustration level of citizens of this country. 

Obama then and now

Heh. Taking pleasure in the misery of others

Unbelievable video!

ABC15 has a report on the $770,000 Social Security Administration "retreat" we reported on a few days ago. Also be sure to watch the video. It's pretty incredible, in this recession, and considering that the SSA is almost BROKE.

PHOENIX -- Members of Congress are giving the Social Security Administration just two days to turn over all records about a $700,000 management conference at the Arizona Biltmore Resort and Spa.

The call from Congress comes on the heels of an ABC15 investigation.

ORIGINAL STORY: Social Security spends $700,000 on Phoenix conference

Our hidden cameras captured hundreds of federal employees dancing in Phoenix on your dime, private dance recitals and paid motivational....

Protest Friday!

Health care protests this FRIDAY JULY 17 from 12-1PM at all local offices of Senators and Representatives.  This is a NATIONWIDE simultaneous protest organized by Tea Party Patriots to register our opposition to govt run healthcare.  Be there!

RISEUP!

Against Government

Run Health Care

Friday, July 17, 2009

Noon to 1 PM Eastern

9 AM to 10 AM Pacific

and

SIMULTANEOUSLY

IN ALL TIME ZONES

from New York to Hawaii

Protests will be held at the home offices

of every US Representative and Senator,

including yours. We need you there.

Check http://teapartypatriots.org/ for more.

Heh. Faking it

From NRO: 

Fake Umpire Hiding Behind Fake Love of Baseball?   [Ed Whelan]

Pardon the baseball fan in me:

 

President Obama says he’s a longtime fan of the Chicago White Sox, but he callsComiskey Park “Cominskey.”  And Judge Sotomayor, in her testimony yesterday, asserted that “Few judges could claim they love baseball more than I do” and that she “grew up … watching baseball.”  But a March 28, 1995, story in USA Today, titled “U.S. District judge not a baseball fan,” stated that Sotomayor “grew up a few miles from Yankee Stadium but says she knows little about the sport.”  And yesterday she said that “many residents of Washington, D.C. have asked me to look at the Senators” as her new team.  But as even a casual baseball fan would know, the D.C. team is the Nationals, not the Senators. 

The Obama road trip

Hundreds of terrorists traded for journalist

Too ugly to comment upon. Read it here: 

But then Roxana Saberi was thrown into Evin Prison in Tehran, and the Obama Administration started negotiations with the mullahs.  I have been told that the key office in the American Government was Vice President Joe Biden’s, and that the Swiss Government (our official liaison to Tehran) played an active role.  In early May, the deal was arranged:  more than thirty Iranian “VIP” detainees would be released (first to the Iraqis, then to the Iranians), and then, in the fullness of time, several hundred (repeat, several hundred) others of less importance.  Within days, Iraqi leader Maliki flew to Iran to work out the details.  Saberi was quickly released, and the triumphal return to Iran for the Five was scheduled for shortly after the Iranian elections.

Secret plan to kill terrorists! (Jack Bauer, where are you when we need you?)

Gasp! What have we come to? The administration is thinking of appointing a special prosecutor to find out if there was a secret plan, which was never carried out, to kill Al Qaeda terrorists, er, extremists, er, disrupters. Have we become pantywaists who can't own up to fighting an actual WAR? Read about it in the WSJ: 

One former senior intelligence official said the program was an attempt "to achieve a capacity to carry out something that was directed in the finding," meaning it was looking for ways to capture or kill al Qaeda chieftains. The official noted that Congress had long been briefed on the finding, and that the CIA effort wasn't so much a program as "many ideas suggested over the course of years." It hadn't come close to fruition, he added.

And so let it be written: Those days are over

President Barack Hussein Obama:

"We need to end the practice of denying coverage of the basis of pre-existing conditions," said Obama. "The days of cherry picking and who to cover and who to deny, those days are over.

On corporate extravagance: "Those days are over."

“Building Sprawl Forever, Those Days Are Over,” Obama Declares

"I would love nothing more than to have a leisurely week in Paris, stroll down the Seine, take my wife out to a nice meal, have a picnic in Luxembourg gardens. Those days are over for the moment," he added.

"The United States has sometimes fallen short of meeting our responsibilities," Obama said. "Let me be clear, those days are over."

Obama to Congress: "Those days [of liberty] are over."

Obama: Days Of Credit Card Abuse Are Over

Obama said: "What we need to do is examine: What are the projects where we're going to get the most bang for the buck? ... You know, the days of just pork coming out of Congress as a strategy, those days are over."

There was a time when Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin could shape the world in one meeting," Obama said. "Those days are over. The world is more complex today."

This time, CEOs won’t be able to use taxpayer money to pad their paychecks or buy fancy drapes or disappear on a private jet.  Those days are over. 

There's no time for delay. We need durable and successful flows of credit in our economy, but we can't tolerate profits that depend on misleading working families. Those days are over.

"The days when we are going to be able to grow this economy just on an overheated housing market or people maxing out on their credit cards, those days are over," he said.

We need a durable and successful flow of credit in our economy, but we can't tolerate profits that depend upon misleading working families. Those days are over."

All San Franciscans commanded to eat healthier

Ha ha ha. Yeah. Notice the part at the end of the article where everyone's standing in line for the regular hot dogs, not the tofu ones. Yum. Tofu hot dogs.

Newsom on Wednesday issued an executive directive he hopes will dramatically change how San Franciscans eat.

All city departments have six months to conduct an audit of unused land - including empty lots, rooftops, windowsills and median strips - that could be turned into community gardens or farms that could benefit residents, either by working at them or purchasing the fresh produce. Food vendors that contract with the city must offer healthy and sustainable food. All vending machines on city property must also offer healthy options, and farmers' markets must begin accepting food stamps, although some already do.

Billions on jungle gyms, bike paths

Yeah. Here's Ted Kennedy, that slim paragon of workout virtue who has access to more jungle gyms than anyone in the world, who wants to spend billions on stuff to aid our "health infrastructure." Looks like he's done that all his life. Whaddya think the likelihood is that obese Americans are going to change their ways and start going to a new training circuit at, say, Hood Park on weekends? What? You say, you haven't seen them at the Frank School training circuit? I thought so. EXTRINSIC motivation, rather than INTRINSIC motivation, when it comes to working out, tends to peter out after one pulled muscle. Let's blow billions we don't have. Read at Red State:

But advocates, including Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, defend the proposed spending as a necessary way to promote healthier lives and, in the long run, cut medical costs. “These are not public works grants; they are community transformation grants,’’ said Anthony Coley, a spokesman for Kennedy, chairman of the Senate health committee whose healthcare bill includes the projects.

“If improving the lighting in a playground or clearing a walking path or a bike path or restoring a park are determined as needed by a community to create more opportunities for physical activity, we should not prohibit this from happening,’’ Coley said in a statement.

Michelle O flashes $6000 purse

What you spend your money on reveals what you value. Hey. A purse. Cool. Look at it at New York Daily News: 

Talk about luxury in the woods! Michelle Obama showed off her more expensive taste in fashion by carrying a $5,950 VBH black alligator manila clutch while strolling the wooded landscape outside ofMoscow,Russiathis week.

Business climate of fear

A must-read concerning the climate of fear the administration is creating in numerous fields. Read it at Business and Media: 

“The new and proposed regulations will remove every competitive advantage of the community bank, and make every bank identical, forced to operate exactly as does Bank of America,” he explained. “Then, absent competitive opportunity, all of the independent banks will be greatly de-valued and handicapped. They’ll be vulnerable and easily rolled up into the handful of remaining giants … the small bank’s wealth made into fresh food for the insatiable hunger of the big banks’ deficits and losses. This is, I and others believe, the next step in Obama’s plan to take total control of the financial system and money supply, a requirement of dictatorship. “

 

What is most significant about these statements is the person making them. This is not some freak like the fellow Mel Gibson portrayed in the movie “Conspiracy Theory.”. He’s not somebody stockpiling food in a cabin hidden away in the woods, to escape to when anarchy erupts. Not anybody you would expect to hear express such thoughts. And he’s not a lone voice.

 

Another friend is the CEO of a mid-sized company that had been on an impressive trajectory of growth for the past three years but is now stalled. He and his advisers have reversed their viewpoint in the last few months. They are eager to sell the company if possible now rather than later. Why? They believe Obama is deliberately, systematically destroying the economy as a whole and is specifically targeting small business for extinction – because it’s too difficult to exercise dictatorial control over millions of small enterprises.

Common sense

Even the WaPo has got wind of some pretty awful "change" taking place in our economy. Read Michael Gerson's article here: 

To pass his health proposal this year, Obama would first need to violate his word. As a presidential candidate, he pledged that "no one making less than $250,000 a year will see any type of tax increase" -- the most memorable number of the 2008 campaign. Taxing health benefits would certainly cross this very bright line and add to the public stock of cynicism.

Second, Obama would need to abandon economic common sense -- adding debt to debt or new taxes to a struggling economy. Either way, it would be a sad story.

Hope and change!

Read here about hope and change at Commentary Magazine: 

The storm clouds that have been amassing on the horizon are beginning to move overhead. The second most worrisome consideration for the President is that things may well get worse before they get better, particularly when it comes to unemployment. Such a development would not, by itself, be debilitating. After all, Ronald Reagan had to endure a very bad year in 1982 as he and Paul Volcker wrung stagflation out of the economy.

No, the most worrisome consideration for Obama is that his policies, rather than making things better, make things a good deal worse. The most harmful results of Obamaism are only now beginning to be felt. Once more times passes and Obama’s mistakes become more evident, we will see, I suspect, more and more trends similar to what we are seeing in Ohio. And concern among Congressional Democrats, which right now is fairly muted, will become vocal.

Global warming causes freak snowstorm?

Heh. Global warming. Heh. Read about it at the NY Post.

Obamas traveling meet Italian pygmies

Cap & trade going "green"

Burdensome cap and tax bill exposed

PowerLine has some interesting comments about the cap and tax bill. Also be sure to read "The Garden of Piggish Delights" at NRO for details of the bill: 

The cap-and-tax bill combines incredibly burdensome and intrusive regulatory mandates and taxes in one gargantuan monstrosity. The bill is an outrage. The July 4 tea parties chronicled by Glenn Reynolds yesterday are a fitting sign of the times. The bill needs to be exposed -- thanks to Spruiell and Williamson for beginning the job -- and killed.