What really happened at the Beer Summit

Thanks to Jim Treacher we now know.

In honor of Milton Friedman's birthday...

Friedman schools Phil Donahue on greed.



Still very relevant today !!!

UPDATE: Crap !! Should have known that Mark Perry would beat me to it!!

Cash-for-clunkers might get additional $2 billion

It's got the House's approval and is waiting action in the Senate. Regardless of merits of the program (or the administration's bungling of it's implementation) doesn't it just make the argument that the best way to stimulate the economy is to put cash in people's pockets. Tax cuts anyone ???

Is Jon Corzine toast ???

New Jersey can only hope. But Stuart Rothenberg seems to think so.

The raid last week in New Jersey that resulted in the arrest of 44 people, including a number of officeholders, probably is the straw that breaks Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine's back in November.

When I asked one longtime Democratic insider about the race, it took him all of two words to assess Corzine's prospects: "It's over." Another Garden State Democrat was more cautious, saying only, "It's almost over."
......

For months, polls have shown Christie holding anywhere from a 6-point to a 12-point lead over Corzine, who served five years in the Senate before winning the governorship in 2005. Polls have shown the governor draws 38 percent to 41 percent in ballot tests, a sign of his weak position, and he is losing too much support among blue-collar Democrats and independent voters.

"Independents," one veteran New Jersey Democrat told me, "have stopped listening to the governor. He is well-known to them, and they are ready to move on."

Christie is perfectly positioned to benefit from growing voter embarrassment with the state's reputation as an ethical cesspool. He recently added Monmouth County Sheriff Kim Guadagno, a 50-year-old former federal prosecutor, to his ticket as lieutenant governor.

Of course, the Dems could always pull a Bob Toricelli. After all, they are Democrats and we are talking about NJ.

Scare Force One follow up

The most transparent administration EVAH!!! made yet another late Friday document dump. This time about the Air Force One flyby of lower Manhattan on April 27th. Fortunately, Jim Geraghty has reviewed so we don't have to.

Cash-for-clunkers headed to scrap heap

What a fine mess this will be.

The Transportation Department called congressional offices late Thursday to alert them to the decision to halt the program, which offered owners of old cars and trucks $3,500 or $4,500 toward a new, more fuel-efficient vehicle.

The congressional officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Through late Wednesday, 22,782 vehicles had been purchased through the program and nearly $96 million had been spent. But dealers raised concerns of large backlogs in the system, prompting the suspension.

From all reports there are plenty of dealers who have already made deals and are waiting to receive their rebates from Washington. And you can bet that a large number won't get them.

And of course Dems never think about the unintended consequences of their feel-good policies.

Worse, Democratic demands that the guzzlers be permanently shredded means that already hurting used-car and -parts businesses will suffer. By insisting that the cars not only be crushed — but also that their engines be disabled — Congress’s decree will penalize the industry at time when a dozen U.S. parts suppliers have filed for bankruptcy this year.
.....

The victims will be lower-income Americans who typically buy only used parts and vehicles. “Now you’re removing cars people could afford, and they’re not available anymore,” says Norm Wright, a Denver recycler. “There will be fewer cars to pull from, so the price of parts will go up.”

The Beer Summit

Looks like Sheriff Joe got an invite. Now you know that there is no chance anyone will say anything stupid.

Tax Fairness ???

Carpe Diem links a Tax Policy Blog posting analyzing recent IRS data. The finding suggest that the rhetoric coming out of Washington about the rich not paying their fair share of taxes is "not properly calibrated" .

Indeed, the IRS data shows that in 2007—the most recent data available—the top 1% of taxpayers paid 40.4% of the total income taxes collected by the federal government. This is the highest percentage in modern history. By contrast, the top 1% paid 24.8% of the income tax burden in 1987, the year following the 1986 tax reform act (see chart above).

Remarkably, the share of the tax burden borne by the top 1% now exceeds the share paid by the bottom 95% of taxpayers combined. In 2007, the bottom 95% paid 39.4% of the income tax burden. This is down from the 58% of the total income tax burden they paid twenty years ago.

To put this in perspective, the top 1% is comprised of just 1.4 million taxpayers and they pay a larger share of the income tax burden now than the bottom 134 million taxpayers combined.
Some in Washington say the tax system is still not progressive enough. However, the recent IRS data bolsters the findings of an OECD study released last year showing that the U.S.—not France or Sweden—has the most progressive income tax system among OECD nations. We rely more heavily on the top 10% of taxpayers than does any nation and our poor people have the lowest tax burden of those in any nation.

Obama likes to throw around the word "unsustainable". A society in which a majority of citizens pay no taxes while reaching deep into the pockets of the very few is unsustainable. In fact, it is tyrannical and the antithesis of the founding principles of this republic.

Dan Rather slides further into incoherence (and irrelevancy)

Gunga Dan wants Obama to form a White House commission to save the press.

Such a commission on media reform, Rather said, ought to make recommendations on saving journalism jobs and creating new business models to keep news organizations alive.

At stake, he argued, is the very survival of American democracy.

“A truly free and independent press is the red beating heart of democracy and freedom,” Rather said in an interview yesterday afternoon. “This is not something just for journalists to be concerned about, and the loss of jobs and the loss of newspapers, and the diminution of the American press’ traditional role of being the watchdog on power. This is something every citizen should be concerned about.”

What could go wrong?!

Two points. First, Rather is talking about what has been referred to as the main stream media or, more accurately, the dinosaur media. You know the media that covers itself in glory with questions like the most enchanting thing about the White House, or it's failure to vet Obama with any serious level of scrutiny. And people have noticed. There is a reason that circulation continues to drop. Ironically, this is the media that Dan himself helped to kill off with the National Guard memo story. "Fake but accurate" is not exactly the greatest premise for credibility.

What Rather has failed to realize is that alternative media has filled the void and, in fact, is thriving.

Second, Rather concludes that a "free and independent" press is vital to our very democracy. Since Dan was always very big supporter of "speaking truth to power" (whatever the hell that means), I think it's fair to assume that he believes it is up to the media to hold the government accountable. So, Dan now believes that somehow having the press dependent upon the government for its very livelihood is not going to effect the reporter's objectivity ?? Really, Dan??

Actually, in Dan's defense this would work for most of the MSM (especially MSNBC and Newsweek) as they have long ago given up any pretense of objectivity.

Blue Dogs prove they are not really conservative after all

Seems they have caved on ObamaCare. No real surprise here. "Blue Dog" is really just political cover in swing jurisdictions. When necessary, they will carry water for liberals.

6 months into the "post-partisan" presidency...

and Obama's still blaming Bush.

Sorry pal, you own Porkulus, cap-and-tax and ObamaCare.

Arlen Sphincter sucks up to his new Dem overlords

His defense of Sotomayor's "wise Latina" remark is laughable.



Ethnic pride ??? Really, is this the best he can do ??? Believing that a particular ethnicity or gender makes superior judges is beyond ethnic pride you dickweed!!!

Below are some other firm believers in ethnic pride:





And of course, the obligatory reference to Mr. Ethnic Pride himself:




Please Pennsylvania, get rid of his wrinkly old ass.

ObamaCare vote shelved ???

It's sure looking that way based upon this Bloomberg report.

U.S. House Democratic leaders, struggling to reach an accord with party dissidents on health care, said they’re likely to miss President Barack Obama’s August deadline for legislation overhauling the medical system.

“It doesn’t look like it to me,” House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel said in an interview. “I really hoped that we could have gotten a bill out of here by now,” he said, adding that he has a “heavy political heart.”

Well than goodness if these charts referenced at Hot Air are even close to accurate:

Let's not gloat yet as this is far from over. There will be immense pressure for the Dems to pass some reform bill. The media will also jump in to carry water for the Great Orator who somehow can't convince even half the population that this is a good idea.

Slacker science update: Hammers up your butt will NOT relieve constipation

Someone should have mentioned that to the Romanian man referenced in this story.

A deeply inebriated Romanian man put two hammerheads up his butt to alleviate a case of constipation. Guess what? It didn’t work... Supposedly, he tried rectifying (heh) the rectal matter with one hammerhead. It got stuck. So, he tried another.

I know it says he was " deeply inebriated" but ...

The x-ray is a keeper though.

Edited to add attribution to Instapundit

Krauthammer notes more improperly calibrated words from Obama

This time on health care.

What happened to Obamacare? Rhetoric met reality. As both candidate and president, the master rhetorician could conjure a world in which he bestows upon you health-care nirvana: more coverage, less cost.

But you can’t fake it in legislation. Once you commit your fantasies to words and numbers, the Congressional Budget Office comes along and declares that the emperor has no clothes.

President Obama premised the need for reform on the claim that medical costs are destroying the economy. True. But now we learn — surprise! — that universal coverage increases costs. The congressional Democrats’ health-care plans, says the CBO, increase costs in the range of $1 trillion plus.

In response, the president retreated to a demand that any bill he sign be revenue-neutral. But that’s classic misdirection: If the fierce urgency of health-care reform is to radically reduce costs that are producing budget-destroying deficits, revenue neutrality (by definition) leaves us on precisely the same path to insolvency that Obama himself declares unsustainable.

Barack's really bad week

After our post-racial President threw gasoline on the Gates fire, he continues to push for a government take over of health care. Seems most folks aren't keen on the idea as his poll numbers go down quicker than a $5 crack whore.

His Presidential approval index hit double digits in negative territory at -11.


Also, it seems that some people are finally coming to the realization that Barack Obama is a liberal:

The President is now seen as politically liberal by 76%. That’s up six points from a month ago, 11 points since he was elected, and the highest total to date. Forty-eight percent (48%) now see him as Very Liberal, up 20 points since he was elected

Did they even listen to the guy during the campaign or just the press summary that he's "a rock star"? Now will they figure out that he's an inexperienced lightweight in waaaaay over his head??

5 freedoms lost under ObamaCare

From Fortune

In promoting his health-care agenda, President Obama has repeatedly reassured Americans that they can keep their existing health plans -- and that the benefits and access they prize will be enhanced through reform.

A close reading of the two main bills, one backed by Democrats in the House and the other issued by Sen. Edward Kennedy's Health committee, contradict the President's assurances. To be sure, it isn't easy to comb through their 2,000 pages of tortured legal language. But page by page, the bills reveal a web of restrictions, fines, and mandates that would radically change your health-care coverage.
.....

In short, the Obama platform would mandate extremely full, expensive, and highly subsidized coverage -- including a lot of benefits people would never pay for with their own money -- but deliver it through a highly restrictive, HMO-style plan that will determine what care and tests you can and can't have. It's a revolution, all right, but in the wrong direction.

Read the whole thing.

It appears that President HopenChange hasn't been quite honest. In fairness, he admits he is not familiar with what is in the bill. But hey -- neither is Congress.

Lobbyists as the "silver lining"

That's AP's take on health care reform Obama's plan to seize about 15% of the private sector.

A strong force, perhaps as powerful in Congress as President Barack Obama, is keeping the drive for health care going even as lawmakers seem hopelessly at odds.

Lobbyists.

What could go wrong ???

Last week's Dow rally ...

Obama "rescued" the economy. Or....

my take ...relief that ObamaCare may be circling the drain!!!

CBO doubles down

Despite the trip to the White House, the CBO still thinks ObamaCare is a stinker.

For the second time this month, congressional budget analysts have dealt a blow to the Democrat's health reform efforts, this time by saying a plan touted by the White House as crucial to paying for the bill would actually save almost no money over 10 years.

A key House chairman and moderate House Democrats on Tuesday agreed to a White House-backed proposal that would give an outside panel the power to make cuts to government-financed health care programs. White House budget director Peter Orszag declared the plan "probably the most important piece that can be added" to the House's health care reform legislation.

But on Saturday, the Congressional Budget Office said the proposal to give an independent panel the power to keep Medicare spending in check would only save about $2 billion over 10 years- a drop in the bucket compared to the bill's $1 trillion price tag.

"In CBO's judgment, the probability is high that no savings would be realized ... but there is also a chance that substantial savings might be realized. Looking beyond the 10-year budget window, CBO expects that this proposal would generate larger but still modest savings on the same probabilistic basis," CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf wrote in a letter to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer on Saturday.

Isn't the CBO worried about destroying his presidency??

Maybe our next Speaker ???

She also from California and has about the same grasp of reality as Granny McBotox.



"Vegetable trees"?? "Perfect pesticides" ?? "We need the food because it's food and stuff" ?? "On the east coast, they have slaves" ?? "Food's free"??

But wow !!! Just wow !! But think about it. Would you rather watch listen to her or this...

Back from vacation

Good to see that our post-racial President was able to transcend race.

"Hey, I don't know all the facts but let me say the cops acted stupidly" -- Moron!!

Still haven't had a chance to actually watch the health care presser. By all accounts it was a real stinker and I really want to soak it all in before commenting. But here is one thought, from Ace, that sums up the disconnect of Obamacare. We are somehow going to expand insurance coverage from 90% of the population to 97% of the population and it will cost less. In other words, we are going to insure tens of millions more people at a lesser total cost than we are currently paying??

Maybe, just maybe, we elected a not-ready for prime time lightweight.

Hillary Clinton sprung from Gitmo

Blue dogs don't bite; hell, they don't even bark!!

The so-called "blue dog" democrats are a fraud. It's nice to call yourself a fiscal conservative when you run in a red state but they still follow a democrat agenda that is anything but fiscally conservative. The White House is delaying the release of economic data; data that should be crucial if even considering passing Obamacare.

Every single member of Congress should be demanding the release of this information as it effects their ability to do their job. While the blue dogs continue to claim dismay regarding the costs of the Obama agenda, they have still rolled over to have their bellies scratched. Frauds.

Democrats learn that Obama promises have expiration dates

This time, it's about signing statements. Bush signing statements were evil and unconstitutional. Obama is a former constitutional law professor; so his signing statements are ...?

Four senior House Democrats on Tuesday said they were "surprised" and "chagrined" by Obama's declaration in June that he doesn't have to comply with provisions in a war spending bill that puts conditions on aid provided to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

In a signing statement accompanying the $106 billion bill, Obama said he wouldn't allow the legislation to interfere with his authority as president to conduct foreign policy and negotiate with other governments. Earlier in his 6-month-old administration, Obama issued a signing statement regarding provisions in a $410 billion omnibus spending bill.

"During the previous administration, all of us were critical of (Bush's) assertion that he could pick and choose which aspects of congressional statutes he was required to enforce," the Democrats wrote in their letter to Obama. "We were therefore chagrined to see you appear to express a similar attitude."

They are soooo naive.

I took a 3 day weekend...

what's Obama's excuse?

I decided to decompress and take a week of vacation -- in vacation mode right now as a matter of fact. I acknowledge a propensity to slack right in the title of this blog. Also, I am not the chief executive of this nation.

Apparently, Obama has gone slacker too since the administration is delaying reports on spending cuts, a Congressionally mandated mid-year economic report, and, a matter of "fierce moral urgency"; the review of Gitmo.

Credit Jim DeMint for putting it all into perspective:

"The last time the president made grand promises and demanded passage of a bill before it could be reviewed, we ended up with the colossal stimulus failure and unemployment near 10 percent," said Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.). "Now the president wants Americans to trust him again, but he can't back up the utopian promises he's making about a government takeover of health care. He insists his health care plan won't add to our nation's deficit despite the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office saying exactly the opposite. And today we learn that the president is refusing to release a critical report on the state of our economy, which contains facts essential to this debate. What is he hiding?"

Stimulus or stabilization ???

Obama explains:

Joe Biden: The gift that keeps on giving

Sheriff Joe has decided that if we are going to avoid bankruptcy we need to keep spending.

Vice President Joe Biden told people attending an AARP town hall meeting that unless the Democrat-supported health care plan becomes law the nation will go bankrupt and that the only way to avoid that fate is for the government to spend more money.

“And folks look, AARP knows and the people with me here today know, the president knows, and I know, that the status quo is simply not acceptable,” Biden said at the event on Thursday in Alexandria, Va. “It’s totally unacceptable. And it’s completely unsustainable. Even if we wanted to keep it the way we have it now. It can’t do it financially.”

“We’re going to go bankrupt as a nation,” Biden said.

“Now, people when I say that look at me and say, ‘What are you talking about, Joe? You’re telling me we have to go spend money to keep from going bankrupt?’” Biden said. “The answer is yes, that's what I’m telling you.”

Of course Joe is also telling us the stimulus stabilization package is working.

"To those who say that our economic decisions 'have not produced jobs, have not produced and simply have not worked' I say, take a look around," Biden will say while visiting Cantor's home district.

"I say, 'Don't let your opposition to the Recovery Act blind you to its results. Come see what I see everywhere I go: workers rehired, factories reopened, cops on the street, teachers in the classroom, progress toward getting our economy back on the move.'"

Looks like we have to break out the chart -- again highlighting the administration's own estimates with and without porkulus. It also looks like economic reality is messing with Sheriff Joe.

Will Al Gore give back his Nobel prize ??

The science is settled still undetermined on global warming. At least according to Science Daily.

No one knows exactly how much Earth's climate will warm due to carbon emissions, but a new study suggests scientists' best predictions about global warming might be incorrect.

The study, which appears in Nature Geoscience, found that climate models explain only about half of the heating that occurred during a well-documented period of rapid global warming in Earth's ancient past. The study, which was published online July 13, contains an analysis of published records from a period of rapid climatic warming about 55 million years ago known as the Palaeocene-Eocene thermal maximum, or PETM.

"In a nutshell, theoretical models cannot explain what we observe in the geological record," said oceanographer Gerald Dickens, a co-author of the study and professor of Earth science at Rice University. "There appears to be something fundamentally wrong with the way temperature and carbon are linked in climate models."

During the PETM, for reasons that are still unknown, the amount of carbon in Earth's atmosphere rose rapidly. For this reason, the PETM, which has been identified in hundreds of sediment core samples worldwide, is probably the best ancient climate analogue for present-day Earth.

Whoops !!! So what caused all that rapid carbon increase all those years ago. The crack staff here at RadicalSlacker has found the answer:

Senator Boxer questions the authenticity of a black businessman ...

and learns the hard way that opinion is not monolithic in the black community. Hilarity ensues.



And he called her "Ma'am" !!

iowahawk for car czar

If for nothing more than the most brilliant campaign slogan of our generation.



Besides, there is a track record of brilliance on automotive issues as previously noted here and here.

Top tax rate to hit 57% in NYC

And The New York Post is freaking out.

New York's top income bracket could reach as high as 57 percent -- rates not seen in three decades -- to pay for the massive health coverage proposed by House Democrats this week.

The top rate in New York City, home to many of the state's wealthiest people, would be 58.68 percent, the Washington-based Tax Foundation said in a report yesterday.

That means New York's top earners, small-business owners and most dynamic entrepreneurs will be facing new fees and penalties.

At some level there is some sense of poetic justice to this. New York is as blue a region as a blue state can get. With it's steep tax it should be a progressive paradise. Elect the Clintons and Shumers and Obamas and this is what you get. The Times editorial board should be thrilled.

It also means Obama is breaking yet another campaign promise. This time the one that no family would pay any higher than their rates in the 1990's.

But beware, these types of taxes never are restricted to only the "rich". Look at the current income tax which was to be limited to the top 1% or the AMT which was supposed to snare just a handful of people.

I hope his jumpshot is better

We are constantly told that our own Dear Leader is quite the athlete and have been blessed with recounting of his hoops prowess. But baseball is clearly not Barry's game. Witness the girly throw when he bounced the ceremonial first pitch to the plate:

And I call shenanigans on those who claim the boos were because of his White Sox jacket. A Cubs jacket would have set them off. But the Cardinals fans don't give a damn about the ChiSox. That boos was because they realize we have an inexperienced lightweight about to drive the US economy off a cliff.

By the way, if you want to see how a first pitch should be done...



Also exposing President Urkel as a sports-fraud is his reference to the White Sox home as "Cominskey Field". That's Comiskey (c-o-m-i-s-k-e-y) Park, jackass!!! You would think he knows where his team plays. Any baseball fan knows that.

Quiz for Barry -- where do the Cubs (also in your hometown) play ?? Ringling Park ??

He can walk on water....

he's just not so good with doorways:

Cool photo of the day: F-18 flyby

Imagine being the guy on the balconey.

(H/t Hot Air)

Justice Sotomayor

Get used to hearing that because there is zero chance that the "wise Latina" will not be confirmed. The salt in the wound is that there really is a strong case to be made that she is not qualified to sit on the highest court given her penchant for identity politics. The woman has acknowledged that race and "empathy" play a role in her decisions and has arguably violated judicial ethics by trying to bury the Ricci case when it was before her court.

But the Republicans dropped the ball at the outset and have never risen to the challenge. They were afraid of the bad press they would get from the MSM (is there any other kind of press Republicans get from the MSM ??) if they challenged a justice of Hispanic heritage.

Dems didn't seem to have the same fears in attacking Miguel Estrada.

So now we will be subject to the likes of Lindsey Graham predicting that, absent a "meltdown" she will be confirmed and the embarrassment from Minnesota (Franken) calling her the "most experienced Supreme Court nominee in 100 years.

Obama Justice Dept. to criminalize policy disputes

Apparently Barry has decided to junk yet another campaign promise (i.e. looking forward, not back) and prosecute Bush officials for "torture".

Of course, Newsweek is quick to spin this as Eric Holder's decision.

It's the morning after Independence Day, and Eric Holder Jr. is feeling the weight of history. The night before, he'd stood on the roof of the White House alongside the president of the United States, leaning over a railing to watch fireworks burst over the Mall, the monuments to Lincoln and Washington aglow at either end. "I was so struck by the fact that for the first time in history an African-American was presiding over this celebration of what our nation is all about," he says. Now, sitting at his kitchen table in jeans and a gray polo shirt, as his 11-year-old son, Buddy, dashes in and out of the room, Holder is reflecting on his own role. He doesn't dwell on the fact that he's the country's first black attorney general. He is focused instead on the tension that the best of his predecessors have confronted: how does one faithfully serve both the law and the president?

Alone among cabinet officers, attorneys general are partisan appointees expected to rise above partisanship. All struggle to find a happy medium between loyalty and independence. Few succeed. At one extreme looms Alberto Gonzales, who allowed the Justice Department to be run like Tammany Hall. At the other is Janet Reno, whose righteousness and folksy eccentricities marginalized her within the Clinton administration. Lean too far one way and you corrupt the office, too far the other way and you render yourself impotent. Mindful of history, Holder is trying to get the balance right. "You have the responsibility of enforcing the nation's laws, and you have to be seen as neutral, detached, and nonpartisan in that effort," Holder says. "But the reality of being A.G. is that I'm also part of the president's team. I want the president to succeed; I campaigned for him. I share his world view and values."

These are not just the philosophical musings of a new attorney general. Holder, 58, may be on the verge of asserting his independence in a profound way. Four knowledgeable sources tell NEWSWEEK that he is now leaning toward appointing a prosecutor to investigate the Bush administration's brutal interrogation practices, something the president has been reluctant to do. While no final decision has been made, an announcement could come in a matter of weeks, say these sources, who decline to be identified discussing a sensitive law-enforcement matter. Such a decision would roil the country, would likely plunge Washington into a new round of partisan warfare, and could even imperil Obama's domestic priorities, including health care and energy reform. Holder knows all this, and he has been wrestling with the question for months. "I hope that whatever decision I make would not have a negative impact on the president's agenda," he says. "But that can't be a part of my decision."

Got that? It's not anything Obama wants or even anything Holder wants to do; he's obligated to do it. Obligated to seek criminal prosecution against people over policy disputes. If nothing else, this will cause the targets to lawyer up and begin the process of depleting their wealth in legal defense fees. And that is what this is really about -- punishment. Not "fierce moral outrage". Especially since Team Obama has adopted, and even extended, many of the Bush policies they so despised.

Frank the Firefighter

New Haven fireman, Frank Ricci, is about to get the Joe the Plumber treatment.

Supporters of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor are quietly targeting the Connecticut firefighter who's at the center of Sotomayor's most controversial ruling.

On the eve of Sotomayor's Senate confirmation hearing, her advocates have been urging journalists to scrutinize what one called the "troubled and litigious work history" of firefighter Frank Ricci
......
On Friday, citing in an e-mail "Frank Ricci's troubled and litigious work history," the liberal advocacy group People for the American Way drew reporters' attention to Ricci's past. Other advocates for Sotomayor have discreetly urged journalists to pursue similar story lines.

Specifically, the advocates have zeroed in on an earlier 1995 lawsuit Ricci filed claiming the city of New Haven discriminated against him because he's dyslexic. The advocates cite other Hartford Courant stories from the same era recounting how Ricci was fired by a fire department in Middletown, Conn., allegedly, Ricci said at the time, because of safety concerns he raised.

Ricci will now be savaged by left-wing political operatives. The Obamamedia will join the chorus. The only question will be the extent to which government employees join the fray in attacking a private citizen (remember hearing all about Joe the Plumber's tax lien?) who's sole transgression is being the prevailing party in a lawsuit that has become an embarrassment to the "wise Latina".

Conventional wisdom is that Sotomayor's confirmation is a lock. Democrats have a huge majority on the Judiciary Committee as well a filibuster-proof 60 votes in the full Senate. But, as is becoming far too common an occurrence, they are not simply satisfied with victory. They feel compelled to personally destroy their opponents.

Some on the left are trying to justify this treatment by invoking the cause of Anita Hill such as the McClatchy article attached.

Nor is he the only Supreme Court confirmation witness to receive sharp elbows. In 1991, for instance, then-Senate Minority Leader Alan Simpson of Wyoming warned that witness Anita Hill would be "injured and destroyed and belittled and hounded and harassed" if she testified against nominee Clarence Thomas. Hill was preparing to testify that she'd been sexually harassed by Thomas.

Hill's subsequent testimony threw into question Thomas's confirmation, during a hearing he likened to a "high-tech lynching." A closely divided Senate ultimately confirmed him.

However, there are no real parallels between Frank Ricci and the left's St. Anita. Hill was a last-minute witness with an unsubstantiated and unverifiable claim whose behavior in continuing to work for Clarence Thomas appeared to contradict her charge. As did her actual testimony to the Senate.

Ricci, by comparison, had his claim in the public domain, via his lawsuit years before Sotomayor was even a consideration. A claim which was ultimately supported by a majority of the Supreme Court. But more importantly, Ricci did not impugn Sotomayor. Instead, it is the judge's handling of the case in conjunction with her "wise Latina" comments and Obama's calls for judicial empathy that have raised concerns. In fact, her handling of the case drew sharp criticism form one of her colleagues on the bench, Jose Cabranes; a Clinton-appointee.

So brace yourselves, especially you Frank Ricci, because the left still relishes the "politics of personal destruction" despite their public lamentations to the contrary.

Open-minded, tolerant lefties open to detaining political opposition ??

Here's something to ponder from the editorial board of the WashingtonExaminer :

...legislation quietly making its way through Congress would give the White House power to categorize political opponents as hate groups and even send Americans to detention centers on abandoned military bases.

Rep. Alcee Hastings - the impeached Florida judge Nancy Pelosi tried to install as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee until her own party members rebelled - introduced an amendment to the defense authorization bill that gives Attorney General Eric Holder sole discretion to label groups that oppose government policy on guns, abortion, immigration, states' rights, or a host of other issues. In a June 25 speech on the House floor, Rep. Trent Franks, R-AZ, blasted the idea: "This sounds an alarm for many of us because of the recent shocking and offensive report released by the Department of Homeland Security which labeled, arguably, a majority of Americans as 'extremists.'"

Another Hastings bill (HR 645) authorizes $360 million in 2009 and 2010 to set up "not fewer than six national emergency centers on military installations" capable of housing "a large number of individuals affected by an emergency or major disaster." But Section 2 (b) 4 allows the Secretary of Homeland Security to use the camps "to meet other appropriate needs" - none of which are specified. This is the kind of blank check that Congress should never, ever sign.

Thomas Sowell on why government health care will fail

From National Review's Uncommon Knowledge:

What urgent reason is there to believe that the government of all institutions can make healthcare less expensive? If you want something cheaper, you can always get something cheaper. It is just that you are not going to get the same quality. In order for them to bring down the cost of healthcare, the government would have to operate the system more efficiently than the market does. I cannot think of anything that the government operates more efficiently than the market does

Specter primary challenge now official

Or so says Jim Geraghty.

Regardless of party affiliation, a Sestak - Toomey race would much better benefit Pennsylvania, and the nation as a whole, than any race involving Specter. Specter, the democrat-turned Reagan republican- turned Obama democrat is the worst type of politician; an opportunist with no coherent ideology other than his own political survival.

UPDATE:
Oh it gets sooooo much better. Specter challenges the Dem bona fides of his primary opponent on the basis that Sestak is not really committed to the democrat party because.... wait for it... he[Sestak] has only recently become a democrat. According to Specter, this makes Sestak a " flagrant hypocrite".

On Thursday, Specter's campaign sought to bring into question Sestak's roots to the Democratic Party. Specter's campaign sent out a list of Sestak's voting history in Delaware County, which the senator's campaign said showed that Sestak registered as an Independent in 1971, didn't vote in any primary elections from 1971-2005 and that he officially registered as a Democrat in February of 2006. Sestak was elected as a Democrat to the House in 2006.

"Congressman Sestak is a flagrant hypocrite in challenging my being a real Democrat when he did not register as a Democrat until 2006 just in time to run for Congress," Specter said in the statement. "His lame excuse for avoiding party affiliation, because he was in the service, is undercut by his documented disinterest in the political process."

The fallout from Obama's ogling a 16 year old Brazilian

This is what he will now have to face for the rest of the trip...



Jay Mohr was right; "that's one big dude".

Stimulus ?!?!

UPDATE: Damn!! Drudge beat me to the punch with the headline.

Senate Dems agree that cap-and-tax is a real stinker

Obama's climate bill is sent to a secure, undisclosed location; at least until September.

The leading Senate committee responsible for developing the climate change legislation has delayed by at least a month its crafting of a bill, leaving less time for Congress to fulfill Obama's desire to enact a law this year.

"We'll do it as soon as we get back" in September from a month-long break, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer announced.

Earlier this week, Boxer, a Democrat, said her committee had planned to complete work on a bill by early August.

My take: the closer this gets to the 2010 elections, the less likely this ever again sees the light of day.

Chicago on the Potomac ???

Most of the porkulus is going to areas that backed Obama.

Billions of dollars in federal aid delivered directly to the local level to help revive the economy have gone overwhelmingly to places that supported President Obama in last year's presidential election.

That aid — about $17 billion — is the first piece of the administration's massive stimulus package that can be tracked locally. Much of it has followed a well-worn path to places that regularly collect a bigger share of federal grants and contracts, guided by formulas that have been in place for decades and leave little room for manipulation.
......

Counties that supported Obama last year have reaped twice as much money per person from the administration's $787 billion economic stimulus package as those that voted for his Republican rival, Sen. John McCain, a USA TODAY analysis of government disclosure and accounting records shows. That money includes aid to repair military bases, improve public housing and help students pay for college.

Same politics as a local alderman. Is this really a surprise with a "community-organizer" in the White House?

AP's lucid moment

They have suddenly come to the conclusion that Obama's tax pledge is "unrealistic".

President Barack Obama promised to fix health care and trim the federal budget deficit, all without raising taxes on anyone but the wealthiest Americans. It's a promise he's already broken and will likely have to break again. Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress have already increased tobacco taxes — which disproportionately hit the poor — to pay for extending health coverage to 4 million children in working low-income families.

Now, lawmakers are looking for more revenues to help pay for providing medical insurance to millions more who lack it at a projected cost of $1 trillion over the next decade.
......
The federal budget deficit is projected to hit an unprecedented $1.8 trillion this year — on top of a national debt that has already topped $11 trillion. Obama insists that any bill on health care or climate change not add to the debt.

Obama says much of the $1 trillion needed for his health care overhaul will come from cutting costs. So far, drug companies and hospitals have agreed to provide 10-year savings of $235 billion.

Health care experts say cost cutting alone won't produce enough money to insure the nearly 50 million Americans who lack coverage. Moreover, Congress is obligated to follow budget rules that might not recognize many of the promised savings.

"The administration has an extremely difficult educational problem on its hands," said Henry J. Aaron, a health care expert at the Brookings Institution. "They understand that at some point tax increase are going to be necessary across the board.

"Yes, for the middle class, too," he added.

Obama made a firm tax pledge during the presidential campaign, repeating it numerous times in the weeks and months leading up to Election Day: no tax increases for individuals making less than $200,000 a year or couples making less than $250,000.

"Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes," Obama told a crowd in Dover, N.H., last year.

Global financial crisis caused by government's "affordable housing" policies

That's the conclusion by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform yesterday. The following excerpt is blatantly stolen from Mark Perry at Carpe Diem.

The housing bubble that burst in 2007 and led to a financial crisis can be traced back to federal government intervention in the U.S. housing market intended to help provide homeownership opportunities for more Americans. This intervention began with two government-backed corporations, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which privatized their profits but socialized their risks, creating powerful incentives for them to act recklessly and exposing taxpayers to tremendous losses. Government intervention also created “affordable” but dangerous lending policies which encouraged lower down payments, looser underwriting standards and higher leverage.

Finally, government intervention created a nexus of vested interests – politicians, lenders and lobbyists – who profited from the “affordable” housing market and acted to kill reforms. In the short run, this government intervention was successful in its stated goal – raising the national homeownership rate. However, the ultimate effect was to create a mortgage tsunami that wrought devastation on the American people and economy. While government intervention was not the sole cause of the financial crisis, its role was significant and has received too little attention.

The real tragedy of the government’s affordable housing policy is the impact on average Americans, particularly those of modest means. Millions of these borrowers, who were supposed to have been helped by federal affordable housing policy, have now been forced into delinquency and foreclosure, destroying their asset base, their credit, and in some cases their families. For example, Latino homeowners, who once appeared to be among the most frequent beneficiaries of affordable housing policies, are now the victims of the policies that their political representatives in Washington once championed.

The consequences of these policies have also brought the entire global financial system to the brink of collapse, destroying trillions in equity and untold numbers of lives. It is essential to reexamine the borrow-and-spend, high-leverage policies that became prevalent in the mortgage market as a result of well-intentioned-but-reckless decisions made by elected officials on behalf of the American people.

And remember, it is the same people who brought this crisis (such as Bawney Fwank, who are telling you that only they can fix it -- given a few trillion dollars.

Obama: Indefinite detentions, even if found not guilty

This should send leftists at home and abroad into convulsions.

The Obama administration said Tuesday it could continue to imprison non-U.S. citizens indefinitely even if they have been acquitted of terrorism charges by a U.S. military commission.

Jeh Johnson, the Defense Department's chief lawyer, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that releasing a detainee who has been tried and found not guilty was a policy decision that officials would make based on their estimate of whether the prisoner posed a future threat.

Like the Bush administration, the Obama administration argues that the legal basis for indefinite detention of aliens it considers dangerous is separate from war-crimes prosecutions. Officials say that the laws of war allow indefinite detention to prevent aliens from committing warlike acts in future, while prosecution by military commission aims to punish them for war crimes committed in the past.

Johnson said such prisoners held without trial would receive "some form of periodic review" that could lead to their release.

Personally, I have no problem with this position. But how will the whole "Bushitler" crowd handle that their messiah is taking a position that they should find even more morally repugnant. If Bush is equivalent to Hitler, where does that put Obama ??

Of course the answer will be that they are comfortable with hypocrisy. We'll see if this makes the editorial page of tomorrow's New York Times or the Washington Post --- but I wouldn't hold my breath. I wouldn't count on much moral outrage from Europe either. And will anyone ask if this policy creates new terrorists. Again, I am good with this policy and have no problem if they never see the light of day again.

And Bush should not get a free pass here either. By bowing to the left and establishing the whole military commission structure he acted irresponsibly. Since when do prisoners of war have a right to trial. And how is evidence supposed to be procured from the battlefield ?? It's a battlefield, not a crime scene.

Hey, did you know Michael Jackson died ???

I am sure you can find a link somewhere.

UPDATED:
I forgot to add the obligatory Al Sharpton "tribute" grind.



Stay classy Al!!

Al Gore: fighting global warming skeptics is like fighting Nazis

And Al is like, what's the word I am searching for....an asshole. Here is the video of manbearpig in action.

The politics of body language

Over at National Review David Satter comments on early observations of Obama's Russia trip; including this:

President Obama’s visit to Moscow has begun and a few observations are in order.

Russian audiences don’t care much about the details of nuclear-arms reductions but they are watching the body language of Obama and Medvedev to see who is the demandeur and who is the boss. So far, it’s not looking too good for the U.S. Obama slaps Medvedev on the back and looks at Medvedev while Medvedev looks away.

I don't think it's just the Russians. In truth, it was also my first reaction when I saw this picture:



Obama continues to grow as the anti-Reagan. And that is not a good thing.

Did Biden tip a looming middle-class tax hike ???

Sheriff Joe admitted to George Stephanopoulos that the administration badly "misread the economy".

The truth is, we and everyone else misread the economy," Biden told me during our exclusive "This Week" interview in Iraq.

Biden acknowledged administration officials were too optimistic earlier this year when they predicted the unemployment rate would peak at 8 percent as part of their effort to sell the stimulus package. The national unemployment rate has ballooned to 9.5 percent in June -- the worst in 26 years.

"The truth is, there was a misreading of just how bad an economy we inherited," said Biden, who is leading the administration's effort to implement it's $787 billion economic stimulus plan.

"Now, that doesn't -- I'm not -- it's now our responsibility. So the second question becomes, did the economic package we put in place, including the Recovery Act, is it the right package given the circumstances we're in? And we believe it is the right package given the circumstances we're in," he told me.

The vice president argued more time is needed for the stimulus to work.

"We misread how bad the economy was, but we are now only about 120 days into the recovery package," he said. "The truth of the matter was, no one anticipated, no one expected that that recovery package would in fact be in a position at this point of having to distribute the bulk of money."

The conventional wisdom is that this was the beginning of a push for porkulus v2.0. And Jim Geraghty has a great post on how this admission doesn't square with the President's rhetoric as well as a video clip of Biden himself bashing McCain during the campaign for being "profoundly out of touch" with economic reality".

But this also lays the groundwork for the slow walk back from Obama's promise not to increase taxes on those making under $250,000 a year. Just like Bill Clinton, who ran on a middle-class tax cut (sound familiar ??) who weeks into office sought the largest tax increase in US history on the basis that the deficit, that he inherited, was worse than anticipated --- even though he cited an even higher anticipated deficit than the actual deficit in an interview during the campaign! (Again, sound familiar??)

We can just envision the re-play. "I didn't want to raise taxes. But the evil Boooosh has forced me to because of the rotten economy I inherited -- which also made me quadruple the deficit."

Also --after spending 30 years in the Senate Biden should not get a pass when he whines about "the economy we inherited".

Dumbest woman in the world today

The title goes to Shelley Sawers, wife of Britain's top spy.

The wife of the new head of MI6 has caused a major security breach and left his family exposed after publishing photographs and personal details on Facebook.

Sir John Sawers is due to take over as chief of the Secret Intelligence Service in November, putting him in charge of all of Britain’s spying operations abroad.

But entries by his wife Shelley on the social networking site have exposed potentially compromising details about where they live and work, their friends’ identities and where they spend their holidays. On the day her husband was appointed she congratulated him on the site using his codename “C”.

Lady Sawers had put virtually no privacy protection on her account, making it visible to any of the site’s 200m users around the world who choose to be in the open-access London social network on Facebook.

Colin Powell: Hey, maybe Obama's not all that !!

The general now has doubts about the scope of the Obama agenda and its resultant deficits.

Hey jackass, did you listen to what the man said during the campaign?? Anyone listening isn't really that surprised. Or maybe someone was just sooooo excited to get their Sunday talk show invites by being a prominent Republican supporting Obama.

Happy Independence Day !!!

Try to take a few minutes to remember the ideals set out in Philadelphia 233 years ago. Especially the pinheads in DC.

Saracuda resigns

Effective July 26th.

She is done as a national candidate. The fact that she failed to fulfill a single term as governor will be a major talking point for every opponent.

However, I guess there is only so much savaging of an infant (particularly one with Down Syndrome) that a mother can take.

Does WaPo have a new editor ???

I am just wondering as it appears that the Washington Post has taken up pimping. Then again, since newspaper revenues are plummeting it is probably good to find side jobs; especially as unemployment heads toward 10%.

For $25,000 to $250,000, The Washington Post is offering lobbyists and association executives off-the-record, nonconfrontational access to "those powerful few" — Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and the paper’s own reporters and editors.

The astonishing offer is detailed in a flier circulated Wednesday to a health care lobbyist, who provided it to a reporter because the lobbyist said he feels it’s a conflict for the paper to charge for access to, as the flier says, its “health care reporting and editorial staff."
.....
"Underwriting Opportunity: An evening with the right people can alter the debate," says the one-page flier. "Underwrite and participate in this intimate and exclusive Washington Post Salon, an off-the-record dinner and discussion at the home of CEO and Publisher Katharine Weymouth. ... Bring your organization’s CEO or executive director literally to the table. Interact with key Obama administration and congressional leaders …

“Spirited? Yes. Confrontational? No. The relaxed setting in the home of Katharine Weymouth assures it. What is guaranteed is a collegial evening, with Obama administration officials, Congress members, business leaders, advocacy leaders and other select minds typically on the guest list of 20 or less. …

Captured by the Taliban

It looks as if an American soldier has been captured in Afghanistan.

A U.S. soldier missing from his base in eastern Afghanistan since Tuesday is believed to have been captured by Taliban militants, the military said Thursday.

In a statement issued from U.S. military headquarters in Kabul, officials said "we are exhausting all available resources to ascertain his whereabouts and provide for his safe return."

While we can only hope for his safe return, this does not sound promising:

Agence-France Press reported that a commander of the Taliban's hard-line Haqqani faction claimed Thursday that his militia had captured the soldier in the Yousuf Khail district of Paktika province. The area is along the porous border with Pakistan. That report could not be independently confirmed.

"Our leaders have not decided on the fate of this soldier." the AFP quoted the Haqqani commander, identified only as Bahram, as saying. "They will decide on his fate and soon we will present video tapes of the coalition soldier and our demand to media."

It seems highly unlikely that he will be given counsel, access to courts, culturally sensitive meals, etc. Unfortunately, I think the torture this soldier will face is on a level beyond what are sense of niceties will allow us to comprehend. It will make sleep deprivation, exposure, stress positions, and even waterboarding look like a walk in the park. And I don't think his treatment will be modified by our intention to close Gitmo.

I apologize if this seems snarky as this is a situation that is far too sober. But we do need to be realistic about what we are confronting and it is truly evil. And for you morons on the left, just because George Bush said it doesn't make it any less true.

Schadenfreude post of the day

Arlen Specter jumped ship back to the Democrat party to avoid having to wage a primary fight with Pat Toomey. Since Democrats (like commies) never lie, he was reassured when Harry Reid suggested that he wouldn't have to worry about such things if he came over to their side of the aisle. Of course Arlen also believed that Harry told him that he would be able to keep his seniority and got played. Which begs the question, is he the junior or senior senator from PA ??

But guess what -- Arlen will now still have to fight off a primary challenge.

A congressman from the Philadelphia suburbs will challenge U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter in the Democratic Senate primary.
In an interview with The Wayne Independent Wednesday morning, U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, D-Pa.,confirmed his intention to run against Specter, a long-time Republican who switched to the Democratic party earlier this year.

Karma's a bitch!

Jihadis have dreams of martyrdom fulfilled

Compliments of the US military. War porn via Weasel Zippers. (H/t Ace.)

Openness and transparency in the age of Obama

White House mouthpiece/buffoon Robert Gibbs tries to defend the administration's practice of pre-selecting who gets to ask questions at events. Hilarity ensues.

Is the Ricci case bad news for the wise Latina ??

A Rasmussen polls suggests it might be.

A heavily publicized U.S. Supreme Court reversal of an appeals court ruling by Judge Sonia Sotomayor has at least temporarily diminished public support for President Obama's first Supreme Court nominee.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey, conducted on the two nights following the Supreme Court decision, finds that 37% now believe Sotomayor should be confirmed while 39% disagree.

Glenn Reynolds take on Senator Franken

Via Instapundit:

"Caligula sent a horse to the Senate. Minnesota is just sending part of the horse."

Another 473,000 jobs lost in June

Bloomberg carries the ADP Employer Services report here. Plus this added bit from the report:

The 473,000 drop in the ADP Employer Services gauge followed a revised reduction of 485,000 workers in May that was smaller than previously estimated.

Job losses may mount as the bankruptcies of General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC ripple through manufacturing. Increased firings threaten to further restrain consumer spending at a time when the world’s largest economy is showing signs of stabilizing.

“This is a weak number,” Joel Prakken, chairman of Macroeconomic Advisers LLC, said on a conference call with reporters. “It’s a pretty clear indication that, while we’re not shedding jobs as rapidly as the first part of the year, the labor market is still in a state of decline.”

Hey, but cap-and-tax is a "jobs bill" so we should be sitting pretty, right ??

UPDATE:
CNN sucks up again by headlining this news: "Job market shows some improvement". I think it is safe to say we would not have seen this headline during a Republican administration.