For those with 80's nostalgia...

Devo action figures. Hey, if Obama has one, why not??

A poor choice of words

That's how Robert Gibbs tries to characterize Judge Rosannadanna's "wise Latina" comment.

The One also agrees:

President Barack Obama on Friday personally sought to deflect criticism of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, who finds herself under intensifying scrutiny for saying in 2001 that a female Hispanic judge would often reach a better decision than a white male judge. "I'm sure she would have restated it," Obama flatly told NBC News, without indicating how he knew that. [Me - because he's The One, duh]

I call shenanigans as this was not an off the cuff remark but rather from a prepared text. That imprecise use of language does also not explain membership in La Raza.

Off our bender...

and just in time for the Stanley Cup finals. Our fearless prediction -- the Red Wings in six. I actually think the Pens are better and, more importantly healthier. But I just can't root for Sindy Crosby.

Shocker: Biden blasts President's Supreme Court nomination

God love 'im. He says the only reason she was nominated to the court is that she is Hispanic. Calls it a "cynical ploy" by the President.

Whoops, my bad. He was talking about Pappy Bush nominating Clarence Thomas.

I think that the only reason Clarence Thomas is on the Court is because he is black. I don't believe he could have won had he been white. And the reason is, I think it was a cynical ploy by President Bush

A thousand pardons.

No word yet from Sheriff Joe on Obama's demographic ploy.

Evaluating the Sotomayor nomination

In an effort to be fair, I spent a good chunk of yesterday (ignoring my day job) reading the reaction from the left side of the blogosphere. As expected, all things Obama are, by their nature, simply brilliant beyond all human comprehension. However, I read their take to get a feel for their response to legitimate concerns raised by the right; i.e. that she is a liberal, activist, frequently over-turned jurist who firmly believes in quotas/identity politics, who while intelligent and competent, falls far short of exceptional.

The response, in summary, is as follows:

"Blah, blah, blah, female, blah, blah, Hispanic, blah, blah, empathy, blah, blah, diversity on the court, blah, blah, blah."

Much like Obama, the left finds her personal narrative as the most persuasive argument for her appointment. Which would easily explain why she is Obama's choice. Since he can't name himself, she is the next best choice. His own personal community organizer on the bench. Clearly the type of choice one would expect from a left wing hack like Obama.

So how should the Republicans respond? There have been media shots across the bow speculating that they wouldn't dare take on a Hispanic woman. And of course since most of the party has gone wobbly, they probably won't. But why not? The Dems paid no political price for scuttling Estrada (albeit at the Circuit Court level) despite even noting that "he is Latino". Nor did the Republican nomination of Estrada help the Republicans. Identity politics is a sucker's game that the Republicans would be best to avoid. Rather they should emphasize that any opposition is strictly on merit; not gender or nationality. Beside, there is no monolithic women's vote or Hispanic vote.

Another argument that has been floated among the Republicans is that Obama could have chosen somebody far worse. In particular it has been suggested that her disposition will fail to win any converts on the court to her positions and that, accordingly, she will be a lone vote. No doubt she is clearly lacking the intellectual firepower of Scalia, Roberts or Alito. So what? Republican need to lay down a marker about who is acceptable for the court. If the best the left can do is point to gender and national origin, so much the better. Republicans need to make the argument that there are only 9 seats on the court; is it too much to ask for exceptionalism regardless of the personal narrative??

Finally, there is the tired argument that the Republicans simply don't have the votes to stop her. True. Again, so what? This is a golden opportunity for the Republicans to illustrate who they are and what they believe. And, more importantly, who Obama is and what he believes?

So, why am I so afraid they will squander it?

Sotomayor gets the nod

Barry gets has made his first Supreme Court nomination. Can't say I really know much about her -- but I am sure we will learn a lot in the next few days.

UPDATE: Meant to add that what I have read so far is far from promising -- (in fact, I think it sucks) a liberal, and while intelligent, her main selling point seems to be that she is Hispanic. (I always thought Cardozo was Hispanic too but I guess not.) In any case, I want to read the lefty talking points before weighing this nomination.

UPDATE: Looks like the President who transcends race was very comfortable with a pick that is all about identity politics:

In her speech, Judge Sotomayor questioned the famous notion — often invoked by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her retired Supreme Court colleague, Sandra Day O’Connor — that a wise old man and a wise old woman would reach the same conclusion when deciding cases.

“I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life,” said Judge Sotomayor, who is now considered to be near the top of President Obama’s list of potential Supreme Court nominees.

Kim pokes stick in Obama's eye

The Norks have tested another nuke.

North Korea on Monday appeared to have detonated a nuclear device, its second such test in three years.

The U.S. Geological Survey said it detected a magnitude-4.7 earthquake in the region, and South Korea's Cabinet convened in an emergency session, according to Yonhap, South Korea's semi-official newswire.

Yonhap also said the North had confirmed the test.

The Guardian reports that the device was on par with the Hiroshima bomb.

But this time the Norks have really stepped in it. That Bush guy is no longer around and The One is gravely concerned. If they are not careful this could lead to more talks and maybe even UN sanctions. And besides Obama is working on health care and doesn't need such distractions.

Bebe to Barry: STFU !!

From Reuters:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rebuffed U.S. calls to impose a freeze on all settlement activity in the occupied West Bank, setting the stage for friction with President Barack Obama.

"We do not intend to build any new settlements, but it wouldn't be fair to ban construction to meet the needs of natural growth or for there to be an outright construction ban," Netanyahu told his cabinet, according to officials.

The note of defiance came less than a week after Netanyahu held talks in Washington with Obama, who wants Israel to halt all settlement activity, including natural growth, as called for under a long-stalled peace "road map".

Netanyahu's comments reaffirmed a position he took in his bid for the premiership in a February election. By natural growth, Israel refers to construction within the boundaries of existing settlements to accommodate growing families.

Guess that charm offensive isn't working so well beyond the US press corps.

Obama v. Palin - who is the dummy now??

Obama: Closing Gitmo is easy.

Palin: These are difficult issues.

As Byron York notes in the link above; governing is different than campaigning.

It’s often said that Obama is learning what it means to be commander in chief, now that he bears the burden of the nation’s security. Governing, it is said, is different from campaigning. But do you really believe Obama didn’t know what was involved in closing Guantanamo back when he was giving all those campaign speeches? It is simply not credible to argue that Obama, during the campaign, didn’t know that our foreign allies would not take Gitmo prisoners, didn’t know that transferring them to our domestic prisons would involve significant risks and didn’t know that American communities would not welcome terrorists as neighbors.

But he glossed over it all. Now, he’s in office and he’s running out of time. The Senate’s ban on funding will remain in effect until Sept. 30, the end of this fiscal year. That means Obama can’t do anything before Oct. 1 and will have very little time to shut down Guantanamo before his self-imposed deadline of Jan. 22, 2010.

In 2007, Obama said, “That’s easy. Close down Guantanamo.” On Thursday, he said, “Let me be blunt: There are no neat or easy answers here.”

Since President Obama agrees with Governor Palin; can't we all now agree that Candidate Obama was flat out wrong ?!

Thank you Captain Obvious

Obama says we're busted. From a C-Span interview with Steve Scully:

SCULLY: You know the numbers, $1.7 trillion debt, a national deficit of $11 trillion. At what point do we run out of money?

OBAMA: Well, we are out of money now. We are operating in deep deficits, not caused by any decisions we've made on health care so far.

But wait, it gets better. The problem, you see, isn't that The One has been on a spending bender. Noooo, the problem is we don't have socialized health care (and, of course, the obligatory "it's Bush's fault", . In the very next part of that interview Obama says:

This is a consequence of the crisis that we've seen and in fact our failure to make some good decisions on health care over the last several decades.

So we've got a short-term problem, which is we had to spend a lot of money to salvage our financial system, we had to deal with the auto companies, a huge recession which drains tax revenue at the same time it's putting more pressure on governments to provide unemployment insurance or make sure that food stamps are available for people who have been laid off.

So we have a short-term problem and we also have a long-term problem. The short-term problem is dwarfed by the long-term problem. And the long-term problem is Medicaid and Medicare. If we don't reduce long-term health care inflation substantially, we can't get control of the deficit.

So, we are out of money and still spending like crazy, Medicare and Social Security are going broke quicker than expected, and O says the only solution is more government spending on health care. Anyone is still not convinced that government-run health care won't come with severe rationing is a moron.

Hope and change !!!

Oh yea, the other guy gave a speech too.

Andy McCarthy with a very good summary.

The need to castigate his predecessor, even as he substantially adopts the Bush administration’s counterterrorism policy, is especially unbecoming in a president who purports to transcend our ideological divisions.

This was perhaps best exemplified by the president’s attack on the very military commission system he has just revived. The dig that the system only succeeded in convicting three terrorists in seven years conveniently omits the fact that the delay was largely attributed to legal challenges advanced by lawyers who now work in his own administration.

Be grateful for Dick Cheney

At least someone on the Republican side has the balls to set the records straight. The full text of Cheney's speech is here. Some of the highlights:

So we're left to draw one of two conclusions - and here is the great dividing line in our current debate over national security. You can look at the facts and conclude that the comprehensive strategy has worked, and therefore needs to be continued as vigilantly as ever. Or you can look at the same set of facts and conclude that 9/11 was a one-off event - coordinated, devastating, but also unique and not sufficient to justify a sustained wartime effort. Whichever conclusion you arrive at, it will shape your entire view of the last seven years, and of the policies necessary to protect America for years to come.

.....

Our successors in office have their own views on all of these matters.

By presidential decision, last month we saw the selective release of documents relating to enhanced interrogations. This is held up as a bold exercise in open government, honoring the public's right to know. We're informed, as well, that there was much agonizing over this decision.

Yet somehow, when the soul-searching was done and the veil was lifted on the policies of the Bush administration, the public was given less than half the truth. The released memos were carefully redacted to leave out references to what our government learned through the methods in question. Other memos, laying out specific terrorist plots that were averted, apparently were not even considered for release. For reasons the administration has yet to explain, they believe the public has a right to know the method of the questions, but not the content of the answers.

.....

This might explain why President Obama has reserved unto himself the right to order the use of enhanced interrogation should he deem it appropriate. What value remains to that authority is debatable, given that the enemy now knows exactly what interrogation methods to train against, and which ones not to worry about. Yet having reserved for himself the authority to order enhanced interrogation after an emergency, you would think that President Obama would be less disdainful of what his predecessor authorized after 9/11. It's almost gone unnoticed that the president has retained the power to order the same methods in the same circumstances. When they talk about interrogations, he and his administration speak as if they have resolved some great moral dilemma in how to extract critical information from terrorists. Instead they have put the decision off, while assigning a presumption of moral superiority to any decision they make in the future.

There is much, much more. It is definitely worth the time to read the whole thing.

We're #1 in NJ - at exploiting motorists

The list ranking all 50 states is listed here.

And that doesn't even factor in insurance rates.

House Dems don't care if the CIA committed crimes

The house votes to against an investigation into Granny McBotox's claim that the CIA lied to Congress.

House Democrats on Thursday defeated a Republican push to investigate House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's claims that the CIA misled her in 2002 about whether waterboarding had been used against terrorism suspects.
The House voted 252-172 to block the measure that would have created a bipartisan congressional panel. Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, sponsored the resolution.

Democrats have always had a fondness for Congressional investigations. For eight years they called for investigating everything under the sun. They still call for "truth commissions" as well as probing every business sector that makes a profit.

And now the Speaker has accused the CIA (always a target of the left) of serial criminality and the House has no interest in investigating. Hmmm.

So Pelosi is probably pissed that her dem colleagues won't back her up, right?? Eh, not so much:

"This is partisan politics and an attempt by the Republicans to distract from the real issue of creating jobs and making progress on health care, energy and education," said Pelosi spokesman Nadeam Elshami.

Or maybe, just maybe, they are of the same opinion as everyone else; that SanFran Nan's accusations are a pant load.

This time they have gone too far !!!

The One now wants to tax beer to pay for health care.

Joe Six-Pack may have to hand over nearly $2 more for a case of beer to help provide health insurance for all.

Details of the proposed beer tax are described in a Senate Finance Committee document distributed to lawmakers before a closed-door meeting Wednesday. Senators are focusing on how to pay for expanding health insurance for an estimated 50 million uninsured Americans, a cost that could range to some $1.5 trillion over 10 years.

You can't raise that from beer money alone.

Nope. Try as we might, we simply can't drink enough beer to ring up $1.5 trillion in taxes -- even in our college days we couldn't; but we would have been willing to give it a go out of patriotism.

Not to fear, Barry will also tax wines and soda.

Taxes on wine and hard liquor would also go up.

And there might be a new tax on soda and other sugary drinks blamed for contributing to obesity. A tax of 3 cents per 12-ounce drink would raise about $50 billion over 10 years, according to congressional estimates. Diet drinks, however, wouldn't be taxed.

But what should be most unsettling is the philosophy behind these tax hikes: "The idea behind the proposed increases is to tax lifestyle choices that contribute to rising medical costs." Personal liberty continues to be eroded at an ever increasing rate to ensure compliance with a socially accepted lifestyle. If you think political correctness has severely limited free speech, you haven't seen anything yet because it will pale in comparison to the limitations on lifestyle imposed by the nanny state. And remember, this will be for your own good because the elites know better than you.

Disturbing news from NY

The FBI has arrested three Americans and a Haitian immigrant who plotted to blow up synagogues and shoot down a plane.

The suspects - three U.S.-born citizens and one Haitian immigrant - at least three of whom were said to be jailhouse converts to Islam, were angry about the deaths of Muslims in Afghanistan, sources told The News.

"They wanted to make a statement," a law enforcement source said. "They were filled with rage and wanted to take it out on what they considered the source of all problems in America - the Jews."

The group's alleged ringleader, James Cromitie, according to the complaint, discussed targets with an undercover agent. "The best target [the World Trade Center] was hit already," he allegedly told the agent. Later, he rejoiced in a terrorist attack on a synagogue.

"I hate those motherf-----s, those f---ing Jewish bastards. . . . I would like to get [destroy] a synagogue."

First, a word of thanks to the FBI and other anti-terror and law enforcement assets for rounding up these vermin. But the incident does touch on what I see as at least two areas of ongoing concern.

As the article notes, these terrorists were jailhouse converts to Islam. This should emphasize the stupidity of transferring Gitmo detainees to US prisons.

Second, and more controversial, I think that the left's continuous Israel-bashing has too often crossed over the line to blatant anti-Semitism which gives tacit approval to the attitudes adopted by these wannabe terrorists.

Has Obama given up on Iran ??

That's what the boys at Powerline wonder. John Hinderaker ponders whether Obama has come to accept a nuclear Iran.

For what it's worth, my sense is that Obama isn't much concerned about Iran, is more or less sympathetic to Iran's view that if Israel can have nuclear weapons, it can too, wouldn't particularly mind if Iran carried out Ahmadinejad's oft-repeated threat to "wipe Israel off the map," and has no intention of doing anything controversial in the Middle East that could derail his domestic agenda.

PAUL adds: I agree with all of this except for the proposition that Obama wouldn't particularly mind if Iran wiped Israel off the map. I think he would. But I do believe that Obama is more hostile to Israel than to Iran.

My take - I wouldn't be surprised a bit. The Obama method seem to be to focus on an issue or office, take action and move on to the next issue or higher office with no regard to consequences.

More good news from Iran

As President HopenChange continues to talk and talk and talk, Iran successfully test fires a new surface to surface missile. one with the capability to hit Israel.

Iran test-fired a missile capable of striking Israel, U.S. Mideast bases and Europe on Wednesday—a show of strength touted by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as he battles for re-election next month against more moderate opponents.
The U.S. responded by saying Iran must choose between destabilizing the Middle East or accepting the dialogue offered by President Barack Obama. The U.S. leader threatened earlier this week that Iran could face further international sanctions if it does not respond positively by year-end to U.S. attempts to open negotiations on its nuclear program.

Can we please see some of that "smart power" soon??

California's budget intiative: epic fail!!

Didn't even win a single county.

The sun smiles on Barack Obama -- at least that's what Barry thinks.

Seriously. During his press statement today announcing his knee-capping of the auto industry, The One started out with this:

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Thank you. Please, everybody have a seat -- have a seat. What an extraordinary day. The sun is out because good things are happening.

Again, as a useless exercise, imagine the press response if these words were uttered by Bush.

Sandy Berger alert

Sensitive data goes missing from the National Archives. Quick, somebody check Sandy's socks.

Gitmo becomes a quagmire

One of Obama's first acts as President, showing that he favors rhetoric over substance, was promising to close Gitmo in one year. As the clock keeps ticking, he insists that he will keep that promise.

However, now the Congressional dems, who preened before the cameras about their moral outrage regarding Bush's policies are also discovering that responsibility is much more difficult than whining. Faced with bearing a political price they suddenly find that Gitmo may not be so bad after all and have declined to fund its closure.

President Barack Obama's allies in the Senate will not provide funds to close the Guantanamo Bay prison next January, a top Democratic official said Tuesday.

With debate looming on Obama's spending request to cover military and diplomatic operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the official says Democrats will deny the Pentagon and Justice Department $80 million to relocate Guantanamo's 241 detainees.

"The administration has not come up with a plan at this point," said Durbin, who is the whip, or No. 2 Democrat in the Senate. He added that Democrats are likely to address the issue on later legislation. "I think Guantanamo should be closed and we have to wait for the president's direction on what happens to the detainees."

With debate looming on Obama's spending request to cover military and diplomatic operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, says Democrats will deny the Pentagon and Justice Department $80 million to relocate Guantanamo's 240 detainees.

The administration has yet to develop a plan for what to do with the detainees, and Obama's promise to close the facility is facing strong GOP opposition.

Even Harry Reid is taking a hard line.

President Barack Obama's allies in the Senate will not provide funds to close the Guantanamo Bay prison until the administration comes up with a satisfactory plan for transferring the detainees held there, top Democrats said Tuesday.

And in a further break with Obama, the Senate's top Democrat said he opposes transferring any Guantanamo prisoners to the United States for their trials or to serve their sentences. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has said 50 to 100 Guantanamo detainees may be transferred to U.S. facilities.

"I can't make it any more clear," Reid said. "We will never allow terrorists to be released in the United States."

Change you can believe in !!

GM = Government Motors

So now it is revealed that GM's bankruptcy plan calls for a quickie sale of its healthy assets to the government.

General Motors Corp's (GM.N) plan for a bankruptcy filing involves a quick sale of the company's healthy assets to a new company initially owned by the U.S. government, a source familiar with the situation said on Tuesday.

The source, who would not be named because he was not cleared to speak with the media, did not specify a purchase price. The new company is expected to honor the claims of secured lenders, possibly in full, according to the source.

The remaining assets of GM would stay in bankruptcy protection to satisfy other outstanding claims.
......
The government's plans include giving stakes in the new company to GM's union and bondholders, although the ownership structure of the company is still being negotiated, said the source who is familiar with the company's plans.

In addition, the government would extend a credit line to the new company and forgive the bulk of the $15.4 billion in emergency loans that the U.S. has already provided to GM, the source said.

Maybe it's more than coincidence that team Obama rolled out new auto standards today. Regulating that only certain types of vehicles are permitted may be the only way to ensure a government run program (i.e. GM) is competitive. Think about it, is there any area where a government entity runs more efficiently and cost-effectively than a private one ??

We're baaaack !!!

Brief hiatus due to the demands of the day job. Just as the Obama socialism experiment continues to grind forward.

Pelosi alibi v3.0

In the last episode of "As the Speaker Turns:

Q: Madame Speaker, just to be clear, you are accusing the CIA of lying
to you in September 2002?

A: Yes, of misleading the Congress of the United States. Misleading
the Congress of the United States.

This defense fell as flat as her Sergeant Schultz "I know nothing". So on to the next lame excuse: she was mislead by the Bush administration.

"We all share great respect for the dedicated men and women of the intelligence community who are deeply committed to the safety and security of the American people," she said in a statement issued by her office. "My criticism of the manner in which the Bush Administration did not appropriately inform Congress is separate from my respect for those in the intelligence community who work to keep our country safe.

"What is important now is to be united in our commitment to ensuring the security of our country; that, and how Congress exercises its oversight responsibilities, will continue to be my focus as we move forward."

So did the Speaker "mis-speak" when she accused the CIA of serial criminality ?? If she cannot tell the difference between the CIA and the White House maybe she shouldn't keep the post.

So the press had their panties in a wad in fear that some hick from Alaska might be a heart beat from the Presidency (as if Sheriff Joe is a genius) but has no reservations about this partisan hack being second in the line of succession.

Also in the news: Steny Hoyer seen entering the Speaker's office to measure the drapes.

Just wondering ...

Since Speaker Granny McBotox has publicly declared that the CIA committed a crime (lying to Congress) when can we expect Eric Holder to begin a criminal investigation; and more importantly, why isn't she calling for one. Or can we expect it to be part of a truth-commission ???

Fascist Bush -- whoops, I mean Obama -- to keep militarily tribunals

This will not be well received on the left.

Of course the true Obamaniacs will go to great length to explain that these commissions are the same but different. Obama tribunals will somehow be "fairer". And of course there will be the occasional trial inside the US to show how open-mindedness and flexibility of the Obama plan.

The decision, to be announced Friday, could set off more criticism from civil libertarian and liberal groups that have increasingly complained that Mr. Obama has not made a sharper break from former President George W. Bush’s terrorism policies. During last year’s presidential campaign, Mr. Obama called the military commission system put in place by Mr. Bush “an enormous failure” and vowed to “reject the Military Commissions Act.”

But aides pointed out Thursday that he never rejected the possibility of using military commissions altogether if they could be made fairer, and they pointed to legislation he supported as a senator in 2006 intended to do just that. They noted that some defendants would continue to be tried in American civilian courts and said they were trying to create a “durable, multilayered option,” as one put it.

The bottom line is that campaign rhetoric has run headlong into reality. When governing (note "governing, not "ruling" you socialist punks) the administration has the burden of protecting the nation and has clearly come to understand that the terrorist threat must be resolved on the battlefield, not the court room. The are far too many evidentiary hurdles. Our troops have enough of a burden without playing CSI and trying to preserve a crime-scene while under fire.

But that reality will not register with nutroots. And hopefully, Obama will pay a price for such recklessly irresponsible and shameful campaign conduct.

More schadenfreude -- enviro-division

A self-proclaimed, "completely independent solar house has gone dark.

It was supposed to be a shining example of the green movement -- a completely independent solar-powered house with no gas or electrical hookups.

Seven months ago, officials gathered for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the $900,000 house owned by the city of Troy that was to be used as an educational tool and meeting spot.

But it never opened to the public. And it remains closed.Frozen pipes during the winter caused $16,000 in damage to floors, and city officials aren't sure when the house at the Troy Community Center will open.

"It's not safe right now, and there's no estimated opening time because it depends on when we can get funding," said Carol Anderson, director of the city's Parks and Recreation Department.

Chutzpah !!

After spending trillions of dollars, PrezBO has come to the conclusion that US deficit spending is unsustainable.

“We can’t keep on just borrowing from China,” Obama said at a town-hall meeting in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, outside Albuquerque. “We have to pay interest on that debt, and that means we are mortgaging our children’s future with more and more debt.”

Wasn't that one of the rally cries of those deranged, racist "teabaggers"??

But the President/GM CEO/Overlord of the financial sector blames consumers:

The president said Americans have been hooked on their credit cards and share some blame for the current system. “We have been complicit in these problems,” he said. “We have to change how we operate. These practices have only grown worse in the midst of this recession.”

Of course he hasn't exactly been frugal with taxpayer dollars. Time to break out this deficit chart again before we hear how it is all Bush's fault.



And we still have to finance health-care "reform".

Dog bites man; hypocrisy from the MSM

This time from The Chicago Tribune.

"Money for nothing?" blared a Chicago Tribune editorial in mid-March, responding to news that American International Group Inc. planned to give $450 million in bonuses to its top executives during a very public federal bailout.

But this week, the Tribune Co. - which owns the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, the Baltimore Sun, the Hartford Courant and other dailies, along with 23 TV stations - received permission from a Delaware bankruptcy judge to pay out $13.3 million in bonuses to some 700 local and corporate managers.

The payouts come as $2.7 million in severance pay to 68 employees who lost their jobs last year remains frozen.

Nuance !!!

Party of science ??

Any time a democrat says "the science is settled" you can be sure the science is trending in an unfavorable direction for their argument. Remember that the science was settled that the sun revolved around the earth or that the laws of Newtonian physics were absolute.

Now the party of science is also seeking to implement a massive tax under the guise of "cap-and-trade" to help limit greenhouse gases. Anyone opposed to such measures is a Luddite on a moral par with Holocaust-deniers. Except that even the EPA admits that there is no proof that carbon dioxide is harmful.

In the nine-page memo, the "Bush holdover" voices "a concern that EPA is making a finding based on (1) 'harm' from substances that have no demonstrated direct health effects, such as respiratory or toxic effects, (2) available scientific data that purports to conclusively establish the nature and extent of the adverse public health and welfare impacts are almost exclusively from non-EPA sources, and (3) applying a dramatically expanded precautionary principle."

If the EPA goes forward with a finding of endangerment for all six greenhouse gases, the official warns in the document, "it could be establishing a relaxed and expansive new standard for endangerment. Subsequently, EPA would be petitioned to find endangerment and regulate many other 'pollutants' for the sake of the precautionary principle (e.g., electromagnetic fields, perchlorates, endocrine disruptors, and noise)."

More good news from the Obama recovery

Retail sales fall again. We will be told this is actually a good sign - again.

Retail sales fell in April for a second straight month, dashing hopes that consumer spending was starting to revive and would help end the recession.

Economists said families who are worried about layoffs and unpaid job furloughs are saving more and spending less, delaying the start of a sustained recovery.

The disappointing report helped send stocks down on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones industrial average slid 184 points -- more than 2 percent. Other major indexes fell even more sharply.

Retail sales fell 0.4 percent last month, worse than the flat performance many economists had expected, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.

Obama to fight release of "torture" photos

He was for it before he was against it. And the ACLU is not amused.

The following can be attributed to Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU:

"The Obama administration's adoption of the stonewalling tactics and opaque policies of the Bush administration flies in the face of the president's stated desire to restore the rule of law, to revive our moral standing in the world and to lead a transparent government. This decision is particularly disturbing given the Justice Department's failure to initiate a criminal investigation of torture crimes under the Bush administration.

"It is true that these photos would be disturbing; the day we are no longer disturbed by such repugnant acts would be a sad one. In America, every fact and document gets known – whether now or years from now. And when these photos do see the light of day, the outrage will focus not only on the commission of torture by the Bush administration but on the Obama administration's complicity in covering them up. Any outrage related to these photos should be due not to their release but to the very crimes depicted in them. Only by looking squarely in the mirror, acknowledging the crimes of the past and achieving accountability can we move forward and ensure that these atrocities are not repeated.

"If the Obama administration continues down this path, it will betray not only its promises to the American people, but its commitment to this nation's most fundamental principles. President Obama has said we should turn the page, but we cannot do that until we fully learn how this nation veered down the path of criminality and immorality, who allowed that to happen and whose lives were mutilated as a result. Releasing these photos – as painful as it might be – is a critical step toward that accounting. The American people deserve no less."

So Obama has not adopted yet another Bush policy. And, for what it's worth, I think he is right that it will flame anti-American sentiment; while also providing no benefit. But does this mean that the endless photos of Abu Grhaib were also a risk to US security ??? If I recall correctly, Senator Obama was part of the Amen-chorus extolling the virtues of publishing the photos.

Schadenfreude alert

From a reliable source: CNBC scroll states that "the Sultzberger family has lost 90% of its net worth"

Good thing McCain's not President...

he wanted to tax a portion of employer-provided health benefits. And Obama chastised him for it during the debates. So we don't have to worry about that anymore.

Except, now the Senate is considering a tax hike to pay for health care "reform" and is considering ... wait for it ... a tax on employer-provided health benefits .

Of course, AP tries to give political cover to their boyfriend:

On the controversial question of taxing health benefits, Baucus is staking out a position that could put him at odds with Obama.

The president adamantly opposed such taxes during the campaign, arguing they would undermine job-based coverage. Obama's aides now say he's open to suggestions from Congress, even if he criticized Republican presidential rival John McCain for proposing a sweeping version of the same basic idea.

Poor Barry O. He's adamantly opposed to the idea but what can he do? If only there were some sort of constitutional provision that would allow him to put some checks on the power of Congress. Something that would allow him to "veto" something that he was adamantly opposed. Oh well, governing is hard.

CEO Obama decides Chrysler's advertising budget is just too high

He, of the historic budget deficits, has decided that Chrysler is spending too much.

Chrysler wanted to spend $134 million in advertising over the nine weeks it's expected to be in bankruptcy -- the U.S. Treasury's auto-industry task force gave it half that.

So if GM, which is wrestling with the possibility of a Chapter 11 filing itself, is wondering how much influence the task force will have over marketing, the answer is: plenty. However, transcripts from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Southern District of New York, where the Chrysler case is being heard, proved for the first time that the task force at least understands that advertising is a necessary expense -- even if it doesn't think Chrysler needs $134 million for nine weeks of car ads.

Robert Manzo, executive director of Capstone Advisory Group and a consultant to Chrysler, testified at a May 4 hearing that the task force "believed that it was not feasible to not spend anything on marketing and advertising for fear of eroding the image of the brand," during the company's planned nine weeks in bankruptcy. However, Mr. Manzo also testified that this "hotly discussed" matter resulted in the task force basically slashing in half the amount Chrysler wanted for advertising in the period.

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Arthur Gonzalez then asked the witness: "Idle plants, why market?" referring to Chrysler's shutdown of its factories for nine weeks. "The belief on all sides was that it was essential for Chrysler not to lose its brand image in the marketplace," Mr. Manzo testified. "Advertising and marketing dollars are critical to make sure the right message is out there about Chrysler, what's happening to Chrysler during this interim period and why Chrysler will be a brand going forward that is one that a consumer should continue to look at as one of their purchase opportunities."

So is the proposed advertising expenditure too high ?? I dunno -- I am not in the car business. But neither is Obama. For a guy who has really done nothing but campaign for office he sure is an expert on everything.

On the road...

so blogging will be light; or maybe even non-existant.

So to pass the time, a musical interlude ...

Barack Obama is a tool of big oil and wants to kill all the polar bears

Well that's what the headline would say if a certain Texan, with swagger (not to be confused with "swagga") were still in office. But Obama has kept the same policies.

The Obama administration on Friday let stand a Bush-era regulation that limits protection of the polar bear from global warming, saying that a law protecting endangered species shouldn't be used to take on the much broader issue of climate change.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said that he will not rescind the Bush rule, although Congress gave him authority to do so. The bear was declared threatened under the Endangered Species Act a little over a year ago, because global warming is harming its habitat.

Salazar said rescinding the Bush rule "would provide no more protection for the polar bear and result in uncertainty and confusion about the management of the species."

The iconic polar bear was declared a threatened species because global warming is causing a severe decline in Arctic sea ice. But the Bush administration rules limit that protection, saying no action outside the Arctic region could be considered a threat to the bear under the law.

Arlen Sphincter continues to make friends on the other side of the aisle

Once again, Karma's a bitch.

Now it's MoveOn that has the democrat-turned-republican-turned-back-to-democrat in their sights.

One of the nation’s largest liberal advocacy organizations, MoveOn.org , is resisting efforts to clear the Democratic primary field for Republican-turned-Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter.

The political arm of MoveOn flexed its muscle Friday by releasing the results of an online poll that showed the vast majority of the group’s roughly 170,000 members in Pennsylvania — 85 percent — would consider supporting a Democratic challenger against Specter.

The group expressed concern over Specter’s vote against President Obama’s $3.4 billion budget just one day after defecting to the Democratic Party. MoveOn also cited comments Specter made in an appearance on “Meet the Press” last weekend suggesting he would oppose a public health insurance option that some Democrats would like to see included in any health care reform proposal.

Now that the gauntlet has been thrown down, expect Specter to begin tacking left; er, uh -- further left.

Our objective, independent press

Obama helpfully "suggesting" how the press present the story.

the news that the cuts totaled $17 billion "landed with a bit of a thud" in the media. Reporters stressed that the cuts made up "a tiny fraction" of the total budget and that they would be hard to push through; USA Today noted that the "proposed cuts are about one-fiftieth the size of this year's $787 billion economic stimulus package — all of which was added to the deficit."

In his remarks today, the president sought to change that tenor of that coverage. He mocked the notion that smaller savings are considered "trivial" in Washington and stressed that "these savings, large and small, add up."

And he told journalists directly that they should stress the fact that the cuts are "significant" – a surprisingly direct appeal to reporters concerning which angle they should take in their coverage.

"It is important, though, for all of you, as you're writing up these stories, to recognize that $17 billion taken out of our discretionary, non-defense budget, as well as portions of our defense budget, are significant," he said. "They mean something."

Imagine Booosh trying to dictate the story line. I guess that "speaking truth to power" only applies to Republican administrations. But hey -- it is change.

Currahee !!!

With people of such character and courage in the service of our country we can withstand any foreign enemy.

Watch the video at This ain't hell.

H/t - Ace

Barack Soprano revisited

Michael Barone on Obama's gangster government.

Think carefully about what's happening here. The White House, presumably car czar Steven Rattner and deputy Ron Bloom, is seeking to transfer the property of one group of people to another group that is politically favored.

In the process it is setting aside basic property rights in favor of rewarding the United Auto Workers for the support the union has given the Democratic Party. The only possible limit on the White House's power is the bankruptcy judge, who might not go along.

Michigan politicians of both parties joined Obama in denouncing the holdout bondholders. They point to the sad plight of UAW retirees not getting full payment of the health care benefits the union negotiated with Chrysler.

But the plight of the beneficiaries of the pension funds represented by the bondholders is sad, too. Ordinarily you would expect these claims to be weighed and determined by the rule of law. But apparently not in this administration.

Maybe they meant it literally when they said he was ready to "rule" rather than ready to govern.

Dems, Obama: Closing Gitmo is hard !!

As previously referenced on this blog, Obama's bluster in announcing an intent to close Gitmo was an act of political immaturity. While it was fun to paint Boooosh as the bogey-man, there were no grownups in the room to note that there was no better alternative.

It looks like the Obama plan was to simply have other countries fall all over themselves to take these fanatics to demonstrate their fealty to The One. But apparently there was no plan B. Ever the masters of political expediency, the dems in Congress are now criticizing Obama's lack of planning.

Now Democrats are ganging up on President Barack Obama’s plans to shut down the Guantanamo Bay prison. Or rather, the president’s lack of planning for how to shutter the prison and how to handle the detainees.

“They say, ‘We’re going to close Guantanamo.’ OK, fine. How are you going to do that? That’s the question,” Rep. Neal Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) told POLITICO Thursday. “They should have had that worked out from the get-go.”

“There’s this vague game plan that now we’re going to leave Guantanamo,” Abercrombie said. “It’s allowed it to become a political football.”

I feel no compulsion to defend BO (that's what MSNBC, CNN, NYT etc. are for) but didn't he do exactly what the left wing of Congress has been demanding. And Congress' plan is ______ ??

But even more outrageous is that despite acknowledging that there might not be a better solution than Gitmo, they still want to shut it down anyway.

But while Democrats don’t deny that the White House has provided few specifics on how they plan to transfer the detainees, Democratic leaders still back the idea of closing the facility.

“Personally, I feel pretty good about where we are on the issue,” Reid said. “I think that the vast, vast majority, if not every Democratic senator feels the same way and many Republicans feel the same way.”

Morons!

A picture's worth a million words.

But this one is worth $357,000 -- of taxpayer money.

Irrefutable proof that Arlen Specter is a douche

Why the dems can have him.

Later I heard a revealing story from one of his squashing-playing aides. The fitness club had replaced all the lockers, requiring members to buy new combination locks. Specter had assigned this task to the aide, but, as became clear as they started their regular game, it had completely slipped his mind. “Did you buy me a lock?” Specter asked as they stood side by side on the squash court, racquets at the ready. “Oh no, Senator, I’m so sorry, I forgot.” Specter’s eyes grew dark and hooded as he said slowly and loudly. “YOU DIDN’T BUY ME A LOCK? I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO BUY ME A FUCKING LOCK!” The aide drew back. “We can’t play today, you’re too mad,” the underling said, and left the court—and within a week, had left the senator’s employ.

As they say in blog circles: read the whole thing.

Europe's "tolerance" is increasingly becoming anti-Semitism

Like all nations, Israel is not perfect and has made mistakes and has enacted policies that could invite criticism. And, such criticisms, in the context of serious debate are legitimate. However, the anti-Israel movement seems to increasingly be a home for anti-Semites. As outright anti-Semitism is socially unacceptable, it has been masked by railing against the Jewish state.

The whiff of anti-Semitism has arisen here in the US but seems to be much more prevalent in Europe; particularly in areas with large numbers of Muslim immigrants. Making matters worse, the state, despite much lip service, continues to turn a blind eye to such activity in the name of diversity and cultural sensitivity. In other words, they are gutless appeasers who have been cowed.

For the most recent example, here is video (h/t Powerline) of a "boycott" of Israeli goods at a French supermarket. As you can see, theft and thuggery have now become accepted protest.

Arlen Specter becomes the biggest ass-hat in the Senate

Senator Principle has managed to poop the bed on both sides of the aisle.

Since declaring himself a Democrat last Tuesday, Specter has defied Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and the White House on virtually everything that’s come down the pike: the budget, mortgage reform, the Al Franken-Norm Coleman race, even President Barack Obama’s appointment of Dawn Johnsen to head the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel.

All while quibbling over whether he said he’d be a “loyal Democrat” — and insisting that he had an “entitlement” to transfer his Senate seniority from one side of the aisle to the other.

The blowback came Tuesday night: On a voice vote, the Senate voted to strip Specter of his 29 years of seniority, effectively transforming him in a blink-and-you-missed-it-moment from one of the most senior senators in the body to a lowly freshman on most committees.

Will Snarlin' Arlen drop the dems a second time and return to the Republicans some are speculating?? Let's hope not. The dems can have him and the Republicans are better off without him.

And he's not doing Pennsylvania any favors either. One of Specter's frequent campaign themes is premised on the benefit his seniority brings. That's gone and, hopefully, soon he will be as well.

Scare Force One photos

The official explanation was that the pictures taken during the low altitude pass over Ground Zero were to update their publicity photos. After the incident turned into a PR disaster we are told that they will not be released.

Your tax dollars at work -- $328,835 (and serious anxiety in lower Manhattan) for publicity photos that are not to be released to the public. there is clearly a steady hand at the rudder of this nation.

Arlen Specter gets played

After essentially handing the dems a veto-proof majority, the senior senator from PA now has junior status on the committees on which he sits.

Despite promises from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) that Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.) would retain his seniority after switching parties, Specter will be put at the end of the seniority line on all his committees but one under a resolution approved on the floor late Tuesday.

Under the modified organizing resolution, Specter will not keep his committee seniority on any of the five committees that he serves on and will be the junior Democrat on all but one — the chamber’s Special Committee on Aging. On that committee, he will be next to last in seniority.

As a result, Specter — who as a Republican was ranking member on the Judiciary Committee and a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, as well as ranking member of the panel’s Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education — will now rank behind all the other Democrats, at least until the end of this Congress.

Karma's a bitch!

Trojan Jackass

There are some indications emerging that AG Eric Holder will not pursue criminal charges against authors of the "torture" memos. While this appears to be good news there is still serious cause for concern.

There really is no basis for criminal prosecutions of lawyers drafting a legal analysis and all but the bat-shit crazy on the left know it. Any prosecution is a dead end.

But to exact their vengeance, the left intends to take away the livelihood (as well as the reputations) of their prey.

Investigators initially recommended professional sanctions against Bybee and Yoo, but not Bradbury, according to the person familiar with the matter. That would come in the form of recommendations to state bar associations, where the most severe possible punishment is disbarment.

So instead of fighting an almost impossible battle to prosecute, the condemned will be stripped of their jobs and future career paths as professors and judges. And make no mistake, state bar associations are very political and will not feel constrained by law or due process.

This is becoming a far too typical ploy of the left. Not content to merely defeat their enemies at the ballot box, they seek to destroy them.

And I wouldn't bet on Mr. Reach-across-the-aisle to apply the brakes. Instead, he will be seeking our adulation for his thoughtful compromise of dropping the criminal charges.

More good news from the most ethical Congress - Evah !!!

No bid contracts for Halliburton were the mark of pure evil (even if originating from the Clinton administration. No bid contracts for John Murtha's nephew"; no problem.

Yet last year, Murtech received $4 million in Pentagon work, all of it without competition, for a variety of warehousing and engineering services. With its long corridor of sparsely occupied offices and an unmanned reception area, Murtech's most striking feature is its owner -- Robert C. Murtha Jr., 49. He is the nephew of Rep. John P. Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat who has significant sway over the Defense Department's spending as chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee.

Robert Murtha said he is not at liberty to discuss in detail what his company does, but for four years it has subsisted on defense contracts, according to records and interviews. He said Murtech's 17 employees "provide necessary logistical support" to Pentagon testing programs that focus on detecting chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats, "and that's about as far as I feel comfortable going." Giving more details could provide important clues to terrorist plotters, he said.

Murtha said he does not advertise being the nephew of John Murtha and considers it "unfortunate" that some will unfairly assume Murtech received its federal contracts because of his uncle's influence at the Pentagon.

Obama botches Cinco de Mayo address

Trying to employ a little Spanish lingo, our super-cool , just totally awesome President wishes everyone a happy "five of four".

Didn't Obama say during the campaign that it was important to know other languages; how we should teach our kids to be multi-lingual ?? Maybe he would have gotten it right if it were in Austrian.

I also seem to remember a certain prior occupant of the White House who could Habla Espanol. Who was that again ?? Hmmm??

R.I.P. Jack Kemp

One of the early supporters of supply-side economics.

Dumb cowboy right again??

As posted earlier on this site keeping Gitmo open was probably not a favored strategy but rather the best of a bunch of bad options.

Now that reality has collided with campaign rhetoric, His Barry-ness is coming to the same conclusion .

The Obama administration is moving toward reviving the military commission system for prosecuting Guantánamo detainees, which was a target of critics during the Bush administration, including Mr. Obama himself.
.....
Officials who work on the Guantánamo issue say administration lawyers have become concerned that they would face significant obstacles to trying some terrorism suspects in federal courts. Judges might make it difficult to prosecute detainees who were subjected to brutal treatment or for prosecutors to use hearsay evidence gathered by intelligence agencies.
.....
But in recent days a variety of officials involved in the deliberations say that after administration lawyers examined many of the cases, the mood shifted toward using military commissions to prosecute some detainees, perhaps including those charged with coordinating the Sept. 11 attacks.

“The more they look at it,” said one official, “the more commissions don’t look as bad as they did on Jan. 20.”

Is Bill Clinton a war criminal ??

There has been much made about whether Harry Truman was a war criminal for dropping a pair of nukes on Japan to hasten its surrender.

But has everyone forgot that Bill Clinton authorized a cruise missile strike on what turned out to be an aspirin factory -- resulting in the loss of life of an innocent civilian. There is no dispute that Clinton ordered the attack; more than sufficient culpability under the left's logic.

So, off to the Hague with Bubba!!!

Has the press corps "inadvertently" become Obama's brownshirts??

This report by Jake Tapper should raise concerns.

A leading bankruptcy attorney representing hedge funds and money managers told ABC News Saturday that Steve Rattner, the leader of the Obama administration's Auto Industry Task Force, threatened one of the firms, an investment bank, that if it continued to oppose the administration's Chrysler bankruptcy plan, the White House would use the White House press corps to destroy its reputation.
......
Perella Weinberg Partners, Lauria said, "was directly threatened by the White House and in essence compelled to withdraw its opposition to the deal under the threat that the full force of the White House press corps would destroy its reputation if it continued to fight. That’s how hard it is to stand on this side of the fence."

Perella Weinberg Partners, which owned Chrysler debt through its Xerion Fund, was one of Lauria's clients in this bankruptcy, but no longer is. Before the Thursday deadline, Joseph Perella and Peter Weinberg tried to join the larger creditors -- JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs -- who are owed roughly 70% of Chrysler's debt and had already agreed to participate with the administration's plan.

All four financial institutions are recipients of up to $100 billion in federal government bailout funds, though the Obama administration insists the matters were kept completely separate.

Imagine the howls from the left if the Bush administration were involved.

ABC = Scooter Libby - outs CIA interrogations designers

Actually, worse than Scooter, because it wasn't really Scooter; it was Richard Armitage. But anyway, in yet another example of shameless hypocrisy, ABC news identifies the "architects" of the CIA's interrogation program.

Not content with revealing their identity, ABC also posts pictures of their faces. Next week they will give out addresses with turn-by-turn directions.

And get ready for much to be made about their "$1,ooo per day" rate. It's $125 per hour if they work an eighth hour day.