Are you following me on Twitter?

05/23/09

If you're not already, you can follow my much more pithy and concise rants (because Twitter apparently see the "genius" in limiting us to 140 characters) on Twitter.

permalink, comment or share this

On the humble nature of Joe Biden

05/01/09

Question: What keeps Joe Biden humble?

Answer: His unadulterated greatness.

What's even more mindboggling about this response is that it came in direct response to a direct question as to what keeps our Veep humble. 

“Everywhere I go, crowds spontaneously assemble.  They start to cheer, whether I go to a play on Broadway or I’m going home to Wilmington, Delaware. I walk on the train, people stand up and clap.”

Someone may need to buy him a dictionary.

permalink, comment or share this

Let's all laugh at Keith Olbermann

04/24/09

Keith Olbermann hosts what is without a doubt the most self-important, least watched and intellectually vapid program ever aired.  And that includes Hee Haw.

Much to my amazement, Ben Affleck does a perfect send-up of Olbermann's self-loving nonsense.  Enjoy today's Friday Funny:

permalink, comment or share this

Chicago Tea Party Pictures

04/15/09

permalink, comment or share this

Praise for Senate Republicans. No, really.

04/03/09

In a most surprising development - particularly following the defection of Sens. Specter, Collins and Snowe on the "stimulus" package - the Senate Republicans held together to unanimously oppose Obama's tripling down on the federal deficit and the further mortgaging of our future:

The House and Senate approved competing $3.5 trillion Democratic budget plans Thursday night, each tracking the priorities of President Barack Obama but also falling short of the bold mandate he could need to move his ambitious agenda through Congress.

No Republican in either chamber backed the president, but the 233-196 House vote surpassed the size of budget victories for either party over the last decade. And Democrats lost only two of their members on the 55-43 vote in the Senate.

For those that recalled Obama's consternation - justified consternation - over the decificts racked up during the Bush years, you'll be interesting to see this projection of where we're going under his plan:

Jonah Goldberg has an interesting take on the peculiarity of Obama's argument in favor of racking up the debt through deficit spending:

Here’s the basic story President Obama wants to tell. The last eight years were an economic disaster because President Bush and the Republicans ignored necessary government regulations and “investments.” The economic crisis has discredited “market fundamentalism,” as some liberals call it. Now, thanks to Bush’s hands-off approach to the economy, Obama has no choice but to get government much more involved. “To kick these problems down the road for another four years or eight years,” Obama sighs, “would be to continue the same irresponsibility that led us to this point.” ...

What if they’re looking at the economy through the wrong end of the telescope? For starters, Bush was hardly a laissez-faire president who ignored Obama’s oft-stated domestic priorities. Sure, Bush was more laissez-faire than Obama. But that’s not a very high bar.

Education spending under Bush rose 58 percent faster than inflation. Medicare spending, thanks largely to Bush’s prescription-drug benefit (the largest expansion in entitlements since the Great Society), went up 51 percent during the Bush years. Spending on health research and regulation rose 55 percent. Spending on highways and mass transit went up by 22 percent.

Maybe that’s too little in Obama’s eyes, but it hardly validates Obama’s fictions about the last eight years. Let us also recall that Bush’s Wall Street bailout efforts were largely indistinguishable from Obama’s. Indeed, Obama’s Treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, was the co-pilot for Bush’s Treasury secretary, Hank Paulson. Now that Geithner’s in the captain’s chair, there haven’t been many course corrections.

It won't be too long before this speech from Great Britain's Danniel Hannan will apply as much over here as it does currently over there:

permalink, comment or share this

Certainly NOT what they were expecting

04/03/09

Assuming they have blood coursing through their veins - and we'll just go ahead and make that assumption - I'm sure this was the last thing on these reporters minds when they dialed into this conference call:

Journalists who dialed in to a White House conference call Thursday hoping for a media-friendly reception got a far friendlier response than they were counting on.

Instead of hearing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and National Security Advisor Jim Jones on the other end laying out foreign policy and security threats, reporters were greeted by a recording on a phone sex line.

"Do you have any hidden desires? If you feel like getting nasty, then you came to the right place," said a suggestive-sounding woman.

The White House says an aide merely mistyped the 800-dial in number — a mistake not likely to happen again.

Having observed Hillary Clinton for a while now, "getting nasty" would certainly be an apt description for much of what she's done and as endeavored to do.

Just absolutely not in this way.

I'm going to put the over/under at 50% as to the number of reporters to dial in that subsequent had sex-line inspired, Hillary related nightmares.

Now they must know what it's like to be Bill...

permalink, comment or share this

Things I did not know: Jimi Hendrix... conservative

04/01/09

Prompted by a segment in the must-read Best of the Web Today from the Wall Street Journal's James Taranto, Christopher Alleva at the American Thinker brings to light some information on Jimi Hendrix of which I was heretofore unaware:

Those fussing over Hendrix should know he was an avowed conservative. In arguably the most definitive biography of Hendrix, Harry Shapiro and Caesar Glebbeek recount the words of  Hendrix as well other musicians on the scene in the late 60s that document conclusively his deeply held conservative beliefs.

Oddly enough, the authors suggest that his self induced psychosis on LSD didn't even cause him to give up his conservative principles. In a 1967 interview with a Dutch magazine, Hendrix defended America's involvement in Vietnam commenting that if America bugged out of Vietnam they (the Vietnamese) will be at the mercy of the communists (page 387).

Additionally, as noted in today's Best of the Web column:

Hendrix enlisted in the Army in 1961, trained as a paratrooper, and was honorably discharged in 1962.

Rock on.

permalink, comment or share this

And this, your Royal Highness, is what we call "technology"

04/01/09

Over in the land of fish and chips, President Obama's amateurism continues:

Barack Obama met the Queen at Buckingham Palace today and gave her a gift of an iPod loaded with video footage and photographs of her 2007 visit to the United States. In return, the Queen gave the President a silver framed photograph of herself - apparently a standard present for visiting dignitaries.

The Queen already has an iPod, a 6GB silver Mini version she bought in 2005 at the suggestion of Prince Andrew.

Please don't tell me he also greeted her with a high-five.

From DVDs for Gordon Brown that were unplayable on British-made DVD players to presenting the Queen of England in iPod.  Are the ideas for gifts to foreign dignitaries being vetted by the same person who handles cabinet nominees?!

permalink, comment or share this

At least these people are honest

04/01/09

Oh, how I wish I could be in Los Angeles for this certifiable, circus freak-show:

The tease on their website is even more laughable.  My snark is in italics.

Join us on April 25 in Los Angeles for a Socialism Conference & Workshops hosted by the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Find out what socialism is, what we aim for, and why socialism is the only answer to the misery created by capitalism.

And the upside is, if you don't like this final solution only answer, we'll probably just throw you in prison as a political dissident or throw you in a mass grave.  Because, after all, oppression and murder is what socialism does best.  Go with what you know, they say.

Capitalism is a form of organized crime.

As opposed to the organized crimes against humanity committed by such noted socialists like Lenin, Stalin, Chairman Mao, etc.  Totally different.  And after all, what has capitalism and free markets and free trade ever done but lift innumerable peoples out of poverty and misery.  But hey, who's counting? 

The U.S. government is greasing the system's wheels to ensure that banks and big corporations get trillions in bailout funds.

Dear God, they actually have a point on which we agree.  The government shouldn't be fueling these big corporations through these ill-advised and endless bailouts with our money.  Unfortunately and unsurprisingly, this is where said agreement ends.

Meanwhile, millions of workers are losing their jobs and homes in California and the rest of the U.S. Deep cuts are gutting public education, making health care even less accessible and decimating much-needed social programs.

Really?  That line about public education is patently laughable.  We have the same debate every single year about education: "Should we spend X amount more or should we spend Y amount more?"  And it always ends with the same results: more spending the begets no improvement.

More racist cops are on the streets, and business for the military- and prison-industrial complexes are booming. Working-class people are being hit from all sides.

Did Louis Farrakhan write this?

Washington and Wall Street want to keep this oppressive system afloat. That's why the White House allowed AIG to grant multi-million dollar bonuses to top execs, all of whom should be in jail.

Do they mean all of the White House or all of AIG?

It doesn't have to be this way. If you want to build a fight back movement against racism, bigotry and capitalist exploitation, join us for the April 25 Conference & Workshops in L.A. Be part of the struggle for socialism!

It doesn't have to be this way!  We could all be equally miserable.  We could be all be living in awesome government housing like this:

And driving even more awesome cars like this:

Brings a tear to your eye, doesn't it?

And, like we said, if you don't like it... we'll probably just kill you off anyway.  So, no worries.

And aren't you just jazzed about the opportunity to take reeducation classes:

* Fight for workers in the economic crisis
* What is socialism? Why do we need revolutionary change now?
* Build a revolutionary party in the United States
* Fight layoffs, evictions, foreclosures, union busting & education cuts
* Capitalism must go: stop racism, sexism & homophobia--equality for all!
* Win full rights for all immigrants
* Stop police brutality and racist oppression
* Organize a youth and student fight back movement
* Socialism in Cuba, revolution in Venezuela

Awesome.  But you've got to hand it to them for being completely up front about what they want...

Revolution and the decimination of everything on which this country was founded.

permalink, comment or share this

Breaking News: Sebelius pays back taxes

03/31/09

Just into my in box from Politico:

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has paid back taxes of more than $7,000 stemming from "unintentional errors" revealed during her accountant's review of recent tax returns.

Are you serious?  Are you really serious?

Is there anyone with a prominent role in this administration who hasn't shirked their tax bill while subsequently advocating for higher taxes on, more or less, everyone under the sun?

The hypocrisy is deafening.

permalink, comment or share this

Deconstructing Eric Zorn: Caving to community pressure

03/31/09

I should begin by disclosing that I regularly read Eric Zorn's Change of Subject blog, and I usually find it to be very interesting.  Outside of basic principles, I don't surmise that Mr. Zorn and I agree on much more than intrinsic superiority of the forename "Eric".  Today in his "Change of Subject" column, Mr. Zorn sets about trying to demonstrate the wrongheadedness of Naperville North High School canceling an appearance by one, Bill Ayers.  Included below is Mr. Zorn's column, with my comments in italics.

+++++

Should officials have invited Vietnam-era radical Bill Ayers to speak to a student group at Naperville North High School next month?

I believe the most comprehensively descriptive term for Mr. Ayers is "domestic terrorist".  And the answer is, "no".  See, I could have saved Mr. Zorn the labor of the 536 words that follow.  Alas, he doesn't have on some Eric-to-Eric hotline.  Thus, we soldier on.

Maybe not. At this point, Ayers is famous primarily for being a controversial figure in last year's presidential election.

To an extent, yes, he's famous for being a hot topic in the 2008 presidential election.  But that completely belies the reason he was such an enduring central figure.  He never would have been worth much of a mention if he wasn't truly primarily famous for using terroristic tactics to attempt to drive home his and the Weather Undergrounds points about the unnecessary brutality and senseless violence stemming from America's involvement in Southeast Asia.  Using a violence and terrorism visited upon numerous innocents that matriculated at Chicago's Haymarket Riot Memorial, New York Police Headquarters, the US Capitol and the Pentagon as a methodology to protest the horrors of war is a distinction that could only be understood by a leftist radical.

Republicans tried loudly but without much success to highlight a minor association between Ayers and Barack Obama to suggest to voters that Obama was himself a radical with terrorist sympathies.

Minor associations like their work together on several boards, a long documented association between the two that was common knowledge here in Chicago and David Axelrod's admission that they were still exchanging communications as late as 2005, when Obama was a US Senator.  Beyond that, there was the problem of Obama's ever-evolving story of their relationship, beginning with Ayers being just a guy he saw walking his dog in his Hyde Park neighborhood to someone he'd collaborated with a number of boards toa  guy who he "thought had been rehabilitated".  Furthermore, the implication was never that Obama was himself a radical to the degree of a Bill Ayers with similar terrorist sympathies, and to suggest so is a wholly to construct a straw man.  The point was that this association, combined with Obama's long-running associations with other more-than-questionable radical figures like Jeremiah Wright and Rashid Khalidi posed some serious and substantive questions about the primary characteristic for which we elect a commander-in-chief: their judgment.  Inasmuch as Obama was campaigning on the message that his judgment was superior to that of Sen. McCain, his judgment as to his willing associations with these figures was most certainly relevant.

Prior to that, Ayers was well-known only among education experts who followed his work as a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. His words and deeds more than 35 years ago as co-founder of the Weather Underground were a fading memory, even though he'd published a provocative book on the subject in 2001.

So, they were a fading memory until Ayers willing resurrected them by publishing an unrepentant memoir ostensibly lauding himself for his past actions?  They were dissipating into the ether until Ayers was quoted in the September 11th, 2001 edition of the New York Times as saying, "I don't regret setting bombs" and "I feel we didn't do enough", and, when asked if he would "do it all again," as saying "I don't want to discount the possibility."  But outside of that, yes, he was mostly known for his Marxist/socialist education theorizing.

So I can see administrators deciding against the idea. Since Ayers probably wouldn't have merited an invitation to speak at Naperville North a year ago, his appearance on campus now would amount to a celebrity stunt without enough educational value to be worth the inevitable community uproar.

Yeah, pretty much.

But they went the other way. Supt. Alan Leis OK'd the unpaid appearance for April 8 and publicly defended it as an opportunity for students to meet a genuine historical figure. Such an event "makes textbooks come alive," he told reporters.

So, vis-a-vis the above paragraph, the implication made here is that it's better to stick to one's guns in a wrong decision than to correct the course?

And I can see that, too. Ayers' story raises provocative questions about the limits of acceptable protest in a free society, the informal statute of limitations on serious youthful transgressions and the relationship between repentance and forgiveness. Listening to him and questioning him could be quite a learning experience.

Ayers has been rather unwavering in his lack of regret or repentance over his past actions.  Is there any question that the Naperville North crowd could have posed to him that hasn't already answered and that one would have reason to expect that he would somehow, now, answer different?  Do they think he would break down, Oprah style, weap and confess regret for his past transgressions after decades of taking some sort of sick pride in them?

To try to mute controversy, the school made the lecture optional and limited attendance to students enrolled in certain classes who had parental consent.

It didn't work. They got trouble right there in Riverwalk City. Every last inflamed allegation and accusation against Ayers that we remember from last fall resurfaced on local online bulletin boards. You'd have thought Naperville North had renamed itself in Ayers' honor, not merely invited him to make a presentation in an academic setting.

Inflamed allegation and accusation?  The man is (at the risk of repeating myself) an unrepentant domestic terrorist.  He's a left-wing Timothy McVeigh or Eric Rudolph.  To suggest that there's academic value in bring Ayers to the school to "make a presentation in an academic setting" is to also suggest there would be merit in hearing a similar presentation from McVeigh or Rudolph.  The only substantive differences between the Ayers that the latter pair are the latter's "success rate" in their terrorism and motivating political bent, and the former's ability to sing gleefully, "guilty as hell, free as a bird—America is a great country". 

So the question on the table now is, Should officials have caved to community pressure, as they did Monday, and disinvited Ayers?

That answer is no.

Again, after admitting this event had little more value than a celebrity stunt, Mr. Zorn's suggestion is to find rationalization to stick with the celebrity stunt because they'd already made a poor decision to green light the freak show?

Once administrators scheduled the event, for better or worse, they planted a flag on top of an important hill. That hill, which is always under attack, stands for the principle that we shouldn't be afraid to expose teenagers to difficult or even wrongheaded ideas, and that we should challenge them to think for themselves, not quake at the thought that they might.

Again I ask, is there really anything to be gained by actually hosting the man as opposed to just discussing his case and his history and the same ideas absent providing him another forum?  What new understanding is going to be gleaned from hosting Ayers that hasn't arisen at any previous time about these past transgressions that were "a fading memory".

In disinviting Ayers, they've allowed an angry mob to overrun that hill and rip down their flag.

The communities that support and whose children are educated by the school should have no voice whatsoever in what individuals and views the school is going to countenance?  Again, it's not as if Ayers views on his past actions are a big secret.  He's rather proud of what he did.  Local parents' and community memebers' opinions about the school inviting a man who once planted bombs in public places at government buildings has no weight here?

"It is clear that any value [of the Ayers lecture] to our students would be lost in such a highly-charged atmosphere," wrote Leis in his surrender statement Monday. "Any debate of issues or viewpoints would be overshadowed by media coverage and anger over the event itself."

He's completely wrong.

The more highly charged the atmosphere, the more anger raging in the community that the old radical was allowed to speak, the more students would have learned. About courage. About the occasional discomforts of freedom. About the raw power of ideas.

And perhaps about how wrong Bill Ayers was to try to use the weapons of fear and intimidation to get his way.

Something that could just as easily have been discussed, debated and weighed without that tacit validation of Ayers' views that comes with hosting him as a speaker for a group of high school students.

permalink, comment or share this

Fascist fashion betrays it's own point

03/30/09

While on my way to grab some lunch in Chicago's Ogilvie Train Station, I came across not one, but two different individuals with the appropriate number of firing synapses to think that these t-shirts were clever.

The first was adorned with this logo:

And the second was even less subtle:

Now that we're 50+ days in the age of "hopechange", I'm glad to see that these individuals have discovered the wherewithal to move on.  Oy vey...

What is probably most entertaining to me about these t-shirts is that their very existence and the fact that I came across the individuals wearing them in a public place like a train station manifestly proves just how incorrect and illogical they are.

It's precisely because George W. Bush was not a malevolent Hitlerian dictator that such fashion was so en vogue on the left for so much of the last eight years.  There weren't too many people to be found in 1933 Berlin with "Hitler is a warmonger" bumper stickers or hoodies.  Throngs of people didn't congregate in front of the German halls of power to protest the nation's military buildup to be greeted only by a fawning media eager to fall all over themselves to give their cause press.  And that's precisely because any individual daring to do so would have been snatched up by the aforementioned SS and imprisoned, most likely never again to be heard from.

These people can make these positively asinine, historically and politically inaccurate statements exactly because George W. Bush really was not a frightening and malevolently all-powerful, iron-fisted rule.

The points these t-shirts are making are so backwards, they actually serve to disprove themselves.

And that really says a lot about level of understanding and comprehension of those sporting them.

permalink, comment or share this

Can I take my chances with GM?

03/30/09

From Obama's remarks today concerning the US government intervening in GM:

Because starting today, the United States government will stand behind your warrantee.

Despite being trading about 20% lower today (gee, I wonder why...), GM's market cap is still about $1.73 billion.

And here's the sum total of the US national debt:

Not to mention, thanks to our federal government's Enron-like methodology of bookkeeping...

The federal government keeps two sets of books.

The set the government promotes to the public has a healthier bottom line: a $318 billion deficit in 2005.

The set the government doesn't talk about is the audited financial statement produced by the government's accountants following standard accounting rules. It reports a more ominous financial picture: a $760 billion deficit for 2005. If Social Security and Medicare were included — as the board that sets accounting rules is considering — the federal deficit would have been $3.5 trillion.

...it's much more difficult to calculate just how horrendous our national financial status really is.

So... can I take my chances with GM?  That strikes me as a much safer bet.

permalink, comment or share this

Obama as universal marketing concept

03/30/09

One can't go anywhere in Chicago without coming across some piece of egregious Barack Obama merchandise.  The 7-11 down the street from my office has been hawking Obama t-shirts, Obama hats, Obama pictures, Obama wall calendars other other similar kitchy items since January.  And they show no sign of stopping.

Slapping Obama's image on any product seems to be the latest one-size-fits-all marketing ploy.

As for the most laughable Obama product I've seen yet, I present to you two offerings.  First comes courtesy of Goodman Political's Brad Goodman:

His comment seems to be the only appropriate one I can muster.  "Wow.  Ok..."

For our second and final offering (at least for now), I present this gem that I discovered at the Sam's Wine & Spirits in Chicago's South Loop.  Though this is clear enough for you to get the idea, please excuse my shoddy iPhone photography:

Yes.  That's Obama, photoshopped to be drinking a snifter of fine, fine 44-year aged Hennessy Cognac.  I shall restrain myself from commenting further.

permalink, comment or share this

GM: A new name and new logo

03/30/09

With yesterday's announcement that President Obama demanded and received the resignation of General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner, we can now brace for the inevitable government-dictated "change of course" at the big automaker.  First step, they'll need to reposition their brand relative to new chain of command.  Fortunately for them, they won't need to change waste any money reprinting anything that carries only their acronym.

From now on GM will stand for Government Motors.  (Subsequent hat-tips to the myriad of other folks that thought of this before and around the same time I did.  I don't claim to be completely original.)

And of course, with that name change, they'll need to modify their logo.  At his Powers That Be Blog, Doug Powers has an excellent offering:

Outstanding.

Subsequently, following a my Tweet/Facebook update yesterday musing that I has heretofore unaware that we had elected an extortionist-in-chief, fellow blogger Jordan Snow and I had what I thought to be a very insteresting exchange on this event and what it means.  It's posted below for your enjoyment.

Snow: So, arguably one of the least successful companies in America's history, too large to fail, that asked for government money should not be touched by the government?

"We need your money to keep making shitty cars and expect no outside interference after we run with it." I just don't see that happening. Call it extortion, that's fine with me, but if they didn't want to be controlled maybe they should have tried a successful business plan on for size while the going was good.

Illinois Review Editor Fran Eaton: The question is -- who does Obama find acceptable to run GM? Can you imagine? If it can happen to GM, it will happen to Ford, AIG, any company with a government contract ...

Snow: I can imagine that, and I love it. The very people who made the decisions that have tanked the global economy are being taken to task for it. We should not shed tears for them but focus on trying to make it better.

And don't gripe about "What happened to CAPITALISM?" because most of the money promised to the auto companies and financial sector came from our last administration. If it can happen to GM I HOPE that it happens to AIG and Ford. Fran, these companies don't have government contracts, they have taxpayer money for their terrible decisions. Big difference.

Me: Jordan - A couple points.

Calling GM "one of the least successful companies in America's history" is wholly disingenuous. For decades, it was one of the pillars of the American production economy. It's recent decline has been precipitous, disappointing and unfortunate, but it marks only a portion of it's history.

To your other point, this represents the dangers of these "too big to fail" companies accepting government funds: they'll come with big strings attached to them. In this case, government command and control of private sector business.

And while you're correct that much bailout money was promised and delivered from the last administration, you're making a straw man argument in making out the Bush administration to be some Milton Friedman-esque promoter of pure capitalism. They were a Republican administration. That doesn't de facto make them capitalists.

Also, that gas-guzzling rolling bunker that's moving Obama around is custom made by Cadillac, a brand model of GM. Most government vehicles are GMC Yukons. They are all produced through contracts with GM. So, they're getting taxpayer dollars to make cars for the government, and getting more taxpayer dollars in these unconscionable bailouts.

This is merely a harbinger of things to come in terms of government exerting it's will on private sector companies who either begged for or accepted bailout money. And those kind of partnerships have a history of ending very, very poorly.

Snow: Least successful was probably a bad choice of words. Recently unprofitable might have been better? I'm not sure. I am sure that I am in complete agreement with you that both rounds of failouts (Bush Fall '08 and Obama Winter '09) were ridiculous and undeserved. I would have much rather seen one tenth of that money recycled into school programs and just let the companies themselves realize, "Hey, if I don't change something I'm probably not going to make money ever again, shoot."

The unfortunate but unavoidable side-effect of these companies accepting money from the government is that they will have to answer to those who gave them their money. It is no different from a investor/board relationship traditionally seen in market economies. The main difference is that the "investor" party has the force of law behind it and can't usurped by flimsy by-laws or increased dividends.

The bailouts were unfortunate (necessary? I don't even know anymore) but to let all of that money go and turn the other cheek would be something far worse than "extortion". I would rather see failing CEO's extorted than taxpayers fully fleeced and not even given a chance to have the companies they have unwillingly invested in make them some money back.

Me: I'm glad we agree that we should be in the business of dumping tax dollars into private companies that are allegedly "too big to fail". Nothing is too big to fail. Failure is a necessary part of life and economics. I don't agree that dumping down the vacuous black hole that is public education would be a more successful or wiser use of the money...  Read More. We continue to pour more and more money into the same broken system, year after year, with out any introspection as to whether the construct of the system is the problem. But, I digress.

Having to accept the strings that come with the bailout money they begged to receive is an expected condition of the evils that are these bailouts. But these are not like normal investor relationships as this is the government providing funds that are conscripted from the taxpayers. These aren't private benefactors choosing to invest their private funds in the rehabilitation of company. The latter is part of the American free market economic design.

The former is the another step down the same path of government controlled economics that has repeatedly doomed nations to stagnant productivity and halted profitability.

If these incident serves to accentuate the tribulations and inherent dangers of accepting or begging for this bailout money, they it will a sad situation that serves a good end. But the simple concept of an American president demanding the resignation of the CEO of a private company as a condition of federal aid is most certainly a bridge too far. And it's a very dangerous precedent to set.

permalink, comment or share this

ShamWow probably also excellent for mopping up blood

03/30/09

While he's no Billy Mays - and let's face it... who else could ever put together that fashionable combination of logo-adorned blue dress shirts and never-ending yelling - I must confess to getting quite a kick out of that Britney Spears-microphone wearing ShamWow pitch guy, Vince:

As it turns out, a Miami stripper didn't get a kick out of him.  She got a several punches:

ShamWow pitchman Vince Shlomi was arrested Feb. 7 on felony battery charges for allegedly punching a stripper, according to the Web site TheSmokingGun.com.

Police reports obtained by the site claim that Shlomi met 26-year-old prostitute Lenea Harris at a Miami nightclub, and subsequently brought her back to his room at Setai Hotel. Shlomi allegedly paid Harris $1,000 for "straight sex."

That's went things took a turn.

Shlomi told police "that he kissed [Harris] when all of a sudden [Harris] bit his tongue and would not let go," according to the report.

Shlomi then punched Harris several times until she released his tongue, and then ran to the lobby to call police. Harris suffered several cuts and fractures to her face. Pictures obtained by the celebrity gossip Web site TMZ.com show what appears to be Harris battered and bruised following the incident.

I actually own some ShamWows.  I don't say wow every time I use them, but it's a pretty decent product.  It doesn't live up to it's infomercial hype, but hey, what really does.

No word yet on whether Shlomi used his favorite product to mop up the blood.

permalink, comment or share this

Pot holes and chicken bowls

03/30/09

If you're a fellow Chicagoan, you'd undoubtedly traversed the rocky terrain that we locals refer to simply as "the street".  Pot holes the size of moon craters are everywhere, and those crackerjack, get-er-done types at the Department of Streets and Sanitation don't exactly seem to be jumping to the alleviate sizable and systemic problem.  That could be because they continue to get paid whether they actually do their jobs or not, but one can't be sure of these things.

But, never fear!  Colonel Sanders is here!

KFC, the fried chicken franchise, is offering itself as a corporate sponsor for pothole repair. An actor dressed as KFC founder Colonel Sanders and a road repair group got started this week in the franchise’s hometown of Louisville, Ky., filling up hundreds of holes.

Many of the repairs are decorated with a white stencil saying the spot was “Re-freshed by KFC” — a play on KFC’s ad campaign stressing the freshness of their chickens. KFC spokesman Russell Dyer said the crew is using “regular asphalt,” not day-old biscuits.

Seems like a novel idea, no?  While the Transportation Department officials have not rejected the proposal out of hand, they have raised some concerns:

Department spokesman Brian Steele said the city has a lot of questions about KFC’s program, like what type of asphalt is used. The city also doesn’t allow ads in the public way, because they could create a distraction and safety hazard.

Maybe this is just me, but I consider those mini-grand canyons that rough up my ride down Lake Street to be a pretty decent safety hazard.

I think most Chicagoans would prefer to take their chances battling their ADD with some white-stenciled asphalt than risk plummeting to the center of the earth down one of these massive crevasses or swerving to and fro to avoid these pitfalls as if they were Gary Busey after an all-night bender.

permalink, comment or share this

A time-sucking boondoggle by any other name...

03/27/09

At the New York Port Authority, symbolism has given way to practicality:

Freedom is so passe at Ground Zero.

Once hailed as a beacon of rebirth in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, the Freedom Tower's patriotic name has been swapped out for the more marketable One World Trade Center, officials at the Port Authority conceded today.

But more than seven years after the terror attacks and amid an effort to market the iconic tower to international tenants, sentiment gave way to practicality.

Whatever.

At this point in time, I don't care if they call it the Wal-Mart/Macy's/Chevrolet Tower at One World Trade Center and adorn it with corporate logos as if it were a vehicle in a NASCAR race.  I don't care if they cede the project to Donald Trump, with construction to be overseen by the "tallest midget" surviving this embarrassing season of "The Celebrity Apprentice", with the name "TRUMP" emblazoned at the top.

Just BUILD the damn thing.

That we are now over 7 years removed from the attacks of September 11th and "Ground Zero" still looks like this...

...is sad, pathetic and enraging.

And, it's a testament to just how poorly projects proceed when they're overseen by the government.

permalink, comment or share this

Stossel's Bailouts & Bull: A Must See

03/27/09

If you missed John Stossel's 20/20 special "Bailouts & Bull" that aired about two weeks ago, it's really a must see:

permalink, comment or share this

Breaking News: Obama the warmonger

03/26/09

Breaking news from Politico:

President Obama plans to announce a huge escalation in Afghanistan in a speech at the White House on Friday morning, committing 4,200 more troops and hundreds more civilians, and embracing a new system of benchmarks to measure progress.

Boy, what a warmonger!

You know, I wonder if this proposal could possibly be described as a "surge".  I guess that depends on whether Obama's on record today as supporting or opposing the surge.  We'll ask Robert Gibbs so he can tell us, "ummm... ummm... ummm... I'll have to get back to you on that."

permalink, comment or share this

Let the sunshine in. Or not.

03/26/09

Anyone familiar with former IL Congressman and current Obama Chief of Staff Rahm "Rahmbo" Emanuel will not be in the least bit surprised by this story:

Before its portfolio of bad loans helped trigger the current housing crisis, mortgage giant Freddie Mac was the focus of a major accounting scandal that led to a management shake-up, huge fines and scalding condemnation of passive directors by a top federal regulator.

One of those allegedly asleep-at-the-switch board members was Chicago's Rahm Emanuel—now chief of staff to President Barack Obama—who made at least $320,000 for a 14-month stint at Freddie Mac that required little effort.

Not so surprising for those that know the ways of Illinois politics.

While the story notes that Emanuel brandishes this bullet point on his resume with great pride, one has to wonder about what he has to be proud:

The board met no more than six times a year. Unlike most fellow directors, Emanuel was not assigned to any of the board's working committees, according to company proxy statements. Immediately upon joining the board, Emanuel and other new directors qualified for $380,000 in stock and options plus a $20,000 annual fee, records indicate.

On Emanuel's watch, the board was told by executives of a plan to use accounting tricks to mislead shareholders about outsize profits the government-chartered firm was then reaping from risky investments. The goal was to push earnings onto the books in future years, ensuring that Freddie Mac would appear profitable on paper for years to come and helping maximize annual bonuses for company brass.

The accounting scandal wasn't the only one that brewed during Emanuel's tenure.

During his brief time on the board, the company hatched a plan to enhance its political muscle. That scheme, also reviewed by the board, led to a record $3.8 million fine from the Federal Election Commission for illegally using corporate resources to host fundraisers for politicians. Emanuel was the beneficiary of one of those parties after he left the board and ran in 2002 for a seat in Congress from the North Side of Chicago.

The board was throttled for its acquiescence to the accounting manipulation in a 2003 report by Armando Falcon Jr., head of a federal oversight agency for Freddie Mac. The scandal forced Freddie Mac to restate $5 billion in earnings and pay $585 million in fines and legal settlements. It also foreshadowed even harder times at the firm.

Many of those same risky investment practices tied to the accounting scandal eventually brought the firm to the brink of insolvency and led to its seizure last year by the Bush administration, which pledged to inject up to $100 billion in new capital to keep the firm afloat. The Obama administration has doubled that commitment.

Yikes.  Is there anything in there to be proud of other than the copious income total?

What is truly notable is this:

The Obama administration rejected a Tribune request under the Freedom of Information Act to review Freddie Mac board minutes and correspondence during Emanuel's time as a director. The documents, obtained by Falcon for his investigation, were "commercial information" exempt from disclosure, according to a lawyer for the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Ahhh, the openness of our hopeychangey new government.

It would be particularly interesting to hear the Obama administrations reasoning as to why they felt it necessary to deny this FOIA request.  Especially if they - and Emanuel - have nothing to hide.  And especially since Democrats spent the last several years ritualistically carping about the positively devious nature of the Bush administration's secretive practices and policies.

permalink, comment or share this

Stroger bumbles on budget questions. No one is surprised.

03/24/09

This is almost certainly, without a doubt, one of the worst interview appearances ever made by a politician.  If you're Todd Stroger and you're the much maligned, lowly regarded President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, and you know you're going on a program to discuss the county's much discussed and debated budget, you might want to come prepared to appear hawkish on fiscal management.

You should at least know some hard, specific examples of good things in the budget to rebut the questions on the pointless pork projects in there that you'd have to know where coming.

But, that would be to give Todd Stroger too much credit.  Here's how it actually went down:

And for all you reformist, good-government Democrats out there... this was a man endorsed as a "good, progressive Democrat" in 2006 by then-Senator Barack Obama.  Toss in Obama's endorsement that year of incumbent Gov. Rod Blagojevich the same year, and he's two-for-two.

permalink, comment or share this

Friday Funny: The Official Seal of the TelePrompter of the United States

03/20/09

And, for more insight into the real dictator of policy in this nation at the moment, please check out Barack Obama's TemePrompter's Blog.

permalink, comment or share this

Special Olympics Blowler to Obama: Game on!

03/20/09

By now, you've undoubtedly heard that the first sitting President ever to appear on the Tonight Show used said appearance to open his mount and insert his foot:

It began with the president joking about how bad a bowler he is.

Toward the end of his approximately 40-minute taping on the "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno," Obama talked about how he'd gotten better at bowling and had been practicing in the White House bowling alley.

"I bowled a 129," he told Leno.

"That's very good, Mr. President," Leno said sarcastically.

But then came the foot-in-mouth moment: "It's like the Special Olympics or something," the president said.

In all fairness, he really didn't know any better because his TelePrompter wasn't there to tell him what to say.

The program hadn't even aired yet before Obama was hard at working undoing his dismal performance:

“He expressed his disappointment and he apologized, in a way that was very moving,” Shriver said on ABC's “Good Morning America.” “It’s important to see that words hurt, and words do matter. And these words that in some respect can be seen as humiliating or a put-down of people with special needs do cause pain, and they do result in stereotypes."

Obama told Shriver he wants to have some Special Olympics competitors over to the White House for basketball or bowling.

It appears that one Special Olympics bowler is already up to take on the President:

The top bowler for the Special Olympics looks forward to meeting President Barack Obama in an alley.

"He bowled a 129. I bowl a 300. I could beat that score easily," Michigan's Kolan McConiughey told The Associated Press in an interview Friday. ...

McConiughey, who is mentally disabled, is just the bowler for the job. He's bowled five perfect games since 2005.

The 35-year-old McConiughey has been bowling since he was 8 or 9. His advice for Obama? Practice every day.

In related news, the screw-up made number one in this British journalists Top 10 Obama/Biden Gaffes in the 2 month old administration.

permalink, comment or share this

Really? Are you sure?

03/19/09

This gem is from the AP story on the passage of the House bill to tax the AIG bonuses at 90%:

But Obama added, "The buck stops with me."

The Obama "Stimulus" Package: $787 billion in spending

The Obama Omnibus Spending Bill: $410 billion in spending

The proposed Obama Budget:  $3.552 trillion in spending

And, to top it off, there's this Obama promise of fiscal hawkishness...

President Barack Obama on Thursday pledged to ensure every dollar of his 787 billion dollar stimulus plan is well spent, as he rallied state officials charged with implementing the package.

... that's already met it's end...

The chief auditor overseeing the spending of the $787 billion in stimulus funds is warning that some waste or fraud is regrettably inevitable.

So, would anyone like to tell me exactly what "bucks" are "stopping" with President Obama?

permalink, comment or share this

This just in: Damn the Consitution

03/19/09

This just dropped into my inbox:

POLITICO Breaking News:
   
The House has approved a bill to impose a 90 percent tax AIG bonuses on a 328-93 vote.

Not that I doubted Congress' willingness to outwardly flaunt the Constitution to this point, but here's the language of Section 1, Article 9 of the US Constitution that expressly prohibits this kind of action:

No bill of attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.

Again, not that a fancied this Congress to be all that bullish on following the Constitution.  I guess I shouldn't find this all that surprising.

Perhaps if Congress and the Obama Administration didn't want something like this to occurr, they should have spoken to Sen. Chris Dodd (D-AIG) when he put in the language to protect these bonuses.

And I'd like to once again reiterate that the source of this entire consternation represents not even one tenth of one percent of the AIG bailout.  There are plenty of much more worthwhile things about the AIG debacle over which to get our righteously indignant panties in a bunch.

This is moronic AND unconstitutional.  We're letting populist outrage to rule the day, which is certainly a sure path to disaster.

Congress should be ashamed of themselves.  And they went and did this.

UPDATE: From the AP story on the unconstitutional, ex post facto AIG bonuses tax:

Said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: "We want our money back and we want our money back now for the taxpayers."

Yes, Madame Speaker.  If you want to work on reclaiming the whole $180 billion of this debacle of a bailout, I'd be forced into the awkward position of having to agree with you.  Let what happens to AIG happen to AIG.

But - I will again reiterate - this whole hubub about these bonuses is absolutely a red herring.

permalink, comment or share this

In honor of the NCAA Tournament starting today

03/19/09

In the transcendent, syntax challenged words of Barry Obama...

Yes, Mr. President.  We go play hoop.

permalink, comment or share this

One brief point on the AIG/bonuses kerfuffle

03/17/09

As you hear all of these politicians on both sides bellowing about the bonuses being received by the AIG officials who, for the most part, did indeed run the company into the ground, keep one thing in mind:

With the AIG bailout of around $170 billion, we now own an 80% stake in AIG, which insures around the world.  These bonuses, totaling $165 million (that's million, not billion) represents less than 1% of the total bailout.

If you want something to be righteously angry about, then you should take a look at how many other nations we bailed out with American taxpayer money through our nationalizing (read: socializing) of AIG.

This hubub over these bonuses is one giant red herring.

permalink, comment or share this

The wisdom of Justice Clarence Thomas

03/17/09

I've had the privileged of hearing Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas speak in person.  He's a remarkable man with a remarkable story and is one of the stalwart defenders of the Constitution on the Supreme Court today, along with Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Samuel Alito and Justice Antonin Scalia.

As this news report notes, Justice Thomas doesn't make frequent public appearances.   If you have the opportunity to hear him speak, you should most certainly take it.

The quality of reporting here is almost painfully bad (surprise, surprise... it's local news...), but the themes that Justice Thomas hits upon are exceptionally important today.

permalink, comment or share this

Don't get the Bernie Madoff scandal? Never fear! Sesame Street is here!

03/17/09

The Bernie Madoff scandal explained so simply that even a child could understand it.

Which means the US Senate is probably still baffled by this, but so be it.

permalink, comment or share this

A solution to our boring Presidential debates

03/17/09

During the election season, I was in the rather large collection of individuals who found our current system of Presidential debates to be both tedious and uninformative.  Something needs to be done.  Disbanding the Commission on Presidential Debates would be a good start.

Fortunately for us, the good people who produce Mountain Dew have provided another example, by way of this ... odd... take on the famous Lincoln/Douglas debates:

Tell me you wouldn't tune in if they were more like that!

permalink, comment or share this

News of the disturbing and the entertaining

03/16/09

In some news highlights you may have missed, Reuters has provided one of the most disturbing and unintentionally funny ledes you've ever read:

BEIJING (Reuters) - Only two memories brought tears to Sun Yaoting's eyes in old age -- the day his father cut off his genitals, and the day his family threw away the pickled remains that should have made him a whole man again at death.

I have a funny feeling that laughter was not the emotion attempting to be elicited by this story.

In other news, a vivid picture is painted here in what would otherwise be a dull story about a fire at a gas station:

Fire Chief Craig A. Pedercini said a clerk at the store was waiting on a customer when he looked across the store and saw the potato chip rack engulfed in flames.

In my mind, I have the image of the clerk leaping from behind the counter for the fire extinguisher, screaming "NO!!!! THE DORITOS!!!! SAVE THE LAYS!!!!!"

Priceless.

permalink, comment or share this

Cricket, cricket

03/09/09

I'll be rather quiet this week, but I promise to be back in full force next week.

Cheers!

eric

permalink, comment or share this

The fierce urgency of Just For Men

03/05/09

You can't fault the New York Times for not having their finger on the pulse of America.  A front page story today:

Well, that didn’t take long. Just 44 days into the job, and President Obama is going gray.

It happens to all of them, of course — Bill Clinton still had about half a head of brown hair when he took office but was a silver fox two years later, and George W. Bush went from salt and pepper to just salt in what seemed like a blink of an eye.

But so soon? “I started noticing it toward the end of the campaign and leading up to inauguration,” says Deborah Willis, who, as co-author of “Obama: The Historic Campaign in Photographs,” pored through 5,000 photographs of the first head over the last year.

FREAK OUT!!!!!!

And they've got the photograph to prove it:

I'll be a ripe, old 27-years-young in 10 days, and I've already got gray hairs.  I've had them for a little while now.  And I'm not even the President of the United States.   My wife tells me that it makes me look "distinguished".

Perhaps this is happening because Obama is stressing so much, worrying about how he's going to pay for that massive "stimulus" plan and the omnibus budget with all those earmarks now before Congress?

Naaaahhhhh.... I doubt he concerns himself with much of that at all.

Perhaps he's squaring up a deal to be the spokesman for the Hair Club for Men?  Remember, he's not just a member... he's the President!

permalink, comment or share this

The Stimulus Plan: It'll have you saying "wow" every time!

03/04/09

From Penn Jillette on Fox News' Glenn Beck discussing the financial mess:

Obama said we had to act now, before it was too late, to save the economy.  The last time I was told to "act now, before it was too late", I ended up with 5 boxes of ShamWows.

Tremendous...

permalink, comment or share this

Quigley Democrats vs. Stroger Democrats, and where the two might meet

03/04/09

Mike Quigley is probably useless to me now.

During his time as a Commissioner on the Cook County Board, he has been one of the stalwarts of the small bloc of reformers once dubbed "the four horsemen".  They regularly sought to reduce the onerous level of taxation on Cook County residents, or at least hold it steady at it's already outrageous level.  And, they fought to pare down the bloated and patronage-laden monolith that is Cook County government as much as was humanly possible.  Put simply, Quigley wasn't the typical "tax and spend" Democrat that we see, well, pretty much everywhere.

Yet, Mike Quigley could still be slippery snake in the grass.  In the 2006 campaign for Cook County Board President, he lent his chief of staff to aid Todd Stroger's campaign.  While Quigley's constant reformer companion Forrest Claypool would make no endorsement in the race between Todd Stroger and Tony Peraica, Mike Quigley unashamedly endorsed Stroger.  While surely no one would have fathomed a Cook County Democrat endorsing a Republican, it's certainly questionable why the man who postured for so long as a reformer would choose to get in bed with a nefarious, milquetoast, punch-line of a candidate like Todd Stroger.

But now, Mike Quigley is heading to Congress.  With all apologies to Rosanna Pulido, the erstwhile foe of illegal immigration and the GOP nominee for the 5th District slot, Quigley is most certainly a shoe-in in this heavily Democrat district.  In all honest expectation, he'll become a member of the House Democrat voting bloc driving us ever faster down the road towards socialism.  My hope of hopes is that he'll at least apply some of those reformist principles he exhibited on the Cook County Board to the US Congress and not become the typical "tax and spend" Democrat that my cynicism and/or intuition suggest he will.

Cook County Board President Todd Stroger certainly believes that he will, though.  After offering Quigley a cold reception at today's board meeting, Stroger had this to say about Quigley:

Stroger predicted that Quigley’s tone and voting style will have to change, should be become a member of the Democratic caucus in the U.S. House.

“His whole manner will change now,” he said. “‘We can’t tax people’ will stop.”

Not that we needed that clear of a statement to believe that Todd Stroger is fully committed to the idea that we can always tax people more and more, but now, at least, we have it.  There ya go.  Clear as day.

Todd Stroger went on to further elucidate us on the mind of the Democrat:

“I hope the person to replace him will be more of a Democrat,” he said. “He really turned his back on the system and was trying to use a ‘if we just hide and close our eyes mentality, everything will be alright.’ That’s not going to work when you’re trying to get services out.”

permalink, comment or share this

And he will govern from upon a throne in the heavens...

03/04/09

This... is a bit much...

Please don't tell me that his Lt. Governor would be seated on his right-hand side...

permalink, comment or share this

More on the evolving Michael Steele disaster

03/04/09

For the sake of the Republican Party, the Michael Steele experiment might need to end very, very soon.  Politico has quite the summation of the cacophony of rather peculiar verbal offerings from Steele as of late:

Steadily becoming a dependable punch line, Steele has brushed back Rush Limbaugh, threatened moderate Republican senators, offered the “friggin’ awesome” Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal some “slum love,” called civil unions “crazy” and promised more outreach to “urban-suburban hip-hop settings” via an “off the hook” public relations campaign.

He even threw a shout-out to “one-armed midgets.”

You can't overlook the vital importance of the "one-armed midgets" constituency.

Steele's PR strategy seems to be trying to act as a caricature of one who's "hip" and "with it" and knows what's "straight up booty" and is "down with the peeps in the streets".  When he could, you know, be clearly articulating both the opposition to the Obama plan to transform American into a unsustainable socialist welfare state and offering a clear choice and a different path to a brighter future where based in personal liberty and freedom where the government doesn't decide what kind of car you can drive because they don't care for the vehicle's emissions standards.

Intelligence is going to win the day.  Not kitsch.

And apparently, while he's been flailing in public, Steele has been flailing and failing to build any Party infrastructure as well:

On the organizational side, Steele does not have a chief of staff, a political director, a finance director or a communications director. Last week, one of the two men sharing the job of interim finance director was forced to resign.

For now, “the fourth floor,” as the RNC’s executive suite is known, is being run by a pair of consultants.

If this choice right now is between Rush Limbaugh and Michael Steele as the leader of the Republican Party (which I would like to note that I wholly demarcate and differentiate from the conservative movement), then I'm going with El Rushbo every day of the week and twice on Sundays.

permalink, comment or share this

The Obama Administration: Taxpayers need not apply

03/04/09

Second verse, same as the first:

Ron Kirk, nominated as U.S. Trade Representative in the Obama administration, owes an estimated $10,000 in back taxes from earlier in the decade and has agreed to make his payments, the Senate Finance Committee said Monday.

The committee said the taxes arise from Kirk's handling of speaking fees that he donated to his alma mater, and for his deduction of the full cost of season tickets to the Dallas Mavericks professional basketball team.

If you're currently serving in the Obama administration, and you've done your "patriotic duty" by paying your taxes, would you stand up please?

And, for all the carping during the campaign about how John McCain's campaign supposedly failed to properly vet Sarah Palin before choosing her as Veep... did these guys vet ANYONE before their subsequent nominations?!

permalink, comment or share this

Steele & Hughley Lack Any Historical Context On Nazi Germany

03/04/09

RNC Chairman Michael Steele made a fool of himself during his recent appearance on CNN's "D.L. Hughley Breaks The News".

As an aside... D.L. Hughley has a show?  Really?  When did this happen?  I'm not sure how Hughley's past theatrical roles in blockbusters like "Soul Plane" and "Scary Movie 3", and voicing the Gadgetmobile in the big-screen adaptation of "Inspector Gadget" really parlayed into a gig analyzing or "breaking" the news on CNN.  But hey, goofy home run calls and sports puns landed Keith Olbermann a job hyperventilating and reciting tired left-wing talking points on MSNBC.  So why should we be that surprised?  You can be anything in America!  Isn't this a great place?

On Hughley's show, there was this very, very peculiar and uncomfortable exchange - first with Chuck D, about where they respectively grew up and the cultural relevancy of and Steele's appreciation for hip-hop, and then Hughley's take on the 2008 Republican National Convention:

A brief transcript, just for posterity's sake:

I'm telling you, if it were the sign alone -- in other words, the tenets of the Republican Party are amazing and they seem warm and welcome. But when I watch it be applied -- like you didn't have to go much further than the Republican National Convention."

"Agreed," replied Steele.

"It literally look like Nazi Germany. It literally did. I make that point, not only are we not welcome -- not only are we not welcome, but they don't even care what we think," explained Hughley.

Now, much of the consternation is that it somehow seemed Steele was in agreement with Hughley's point, as shown through his nodding in agreement at the likening the RNC to a Nazi rally.  First and foremost, for not openly challenging and quashing Hughley's assertion, Steele has demonstrated why he has, so far, been a rather poor practitioner of his post as RNC Chair.  But frankly, despite some of the particularly and stupendously dopey things Steele has had to say over his short term as RNC Chair - see: bashing of Limbaugh, Rush and subsequent retraction - I watch this and think the "nodding" controversy could easily be attributed to simple projection, over-analyzation and possibly even to just a simple satellite delay between Hughley and Steele in the midst of the broadcast.  The nodding is much being made over nothing.  I find it near incomprehensible that Michael Steele would ever agree that the RNC had the appearance of Nazi Germany.

That, though, is not to apologize for Michael Steele's embarrassing performance on what should be a completely irrelevant program.

And besides, if anything from the 2008 Presidential campaign had the appearance of a Nazi rally, wouldn't it have to be this:

For those not sufficiently up on their German history, that giant monument in front of which Obama gave his now-famous Berlin speech is the Berlin Victory Column.  The column, originally located in Königsplatz and constructed to commemorate and celebrate Prussian military dominance and victory in the Danish-Prussian War, was relocated to Berlin by the Nazis in 1939, in full accordance with their public symbolism of their military might.  To this day, it is still widely viewed as a Nazi symbol.

Barack Obama speaks to throngs of people in Berlin, Germany with the Berlin Victory Column as his backdrop, and it's the Republican National Convention that's compared to Nazi Germany?  Really?

Perhaps D.L. Hughley forgot the necessary "go go Gadget brain function and concept of historical context" before he made that comparison.  Just a thought.

permalink, comment or share this

Podcast of tonight's #dontgomovement radio show

03/03/09

If you missed tonight's broadcast with Andrew Kretschmar and the #dontgomovement's Blog Talk Radio Program, you can listen to the podcast here:

permalink, comment or share this

Eric Kohn joins #dontgomovement's Blog Talk Radio Program tonight at 6:15pm

03/03/09

I'll be joining host Andrew Kretschmar and the #dontgomovement's Blog Talk Radio Program tonight at 6:15 for some witty and entertaining banter on a myriad of topics.

You can listen in here:

For those unaware, it was the #dontgomovement that was the driving force behind last week's Chicago Tea Party to protest the levels of confiscatory taxation, the waste of our tax money in the "stimulus" bill and the new omnibus spending bill and the Obama administrations push towards socialism in general.  Deserved kudos to all involved.

permalink, comment or share this

Best line from tonight's "24"...

03/02/09

Jack Bauer to that timorous senator:

And you, sir, are weak, unwilling and unable to look evil in the eye and deal with it.

Huzzah...

permalink, comment or share this

Suggested title for Blago's upcoming book

03/02/09

Breaking "news" about former Gov. Blago, although it's more like the continuation of a exceptionally protracted car crash:

Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich today signed a six figure book deal with one of the largest independent book publishers in the U.S., the PR firm representing Blagojevich announced today.

Blagojevich, who vehemently denies he tried to sell President Obama's senate seat, will write about the discussions, the considerations and the factors involved in picking Obama's successor to the U.S. Senate. Blagojevich maintains he was hijacked from office because of politics. In the book, he will write about his journey that led up to the twice-elected governor and former congressman being ousted from office. He also plans on exposing the dark side of politics that he witnessed in both the state and national level.

Here's a suggested title for Blago's new book:

Rod Blagojevich: If I Did It

Has a good ring to it, doesn't it?  And it doesn't conjure up any unpleasant images of other unscrupulous villains:

permalink, comment or share this

The fierce urgency of market free-fall

03/02/09

Well, we must be eternally grateful that we got that "stimulus" bill rushed through Congress at the speed with which Lindsay Lohan plows through "ladies night" drink specials at whatever be the posh, must-be-seen club de jour.  And after having read as much of it as has Lindsay Lohan.

So far, the markets are just loving our multi-trillion dollar spending binge that we called "stimulus" and the new multi-billion dollar pork-package that Obama is current hawking:

The Dow Jones industrial average plunged below 7,000 Monday for the first time in more than 11 years as investors grow even more pessimistic about the health of banks, and in turn the economy.

In short, it's going down faster than Paris Hilton in... well, you get my drift.  Enough with the bad faux-celebrity potshots.

So what's driving the markets down?  Here's one thought:

Investors are fleeing financials after the government said it would give AIG another $30 billion in loans, besides the $150 billion it has already injected into the company.

More government money means more uncertainty, more panic and thus a plummeting Dow.  Fascinating.

And now for the uplifting news:

As bad as things are, they can still get worse, and get a lot worse," said Bill Strazzullo, chief market strategist for Bell Curve Trading. Strazzullo said he believes there's a significant chance the S&P 500 and the Dow will fall back to their 1995 levels of 500 and 5,000, respectively.

Here's where I'm going to violate my William F. Buckley rule of prognostication (that is, I do not predict things which I do not wish to happen):  In one month's time, the Dow will be at 6000 with no signs of any turnaround.  And this will be mainly driven by the insanity of the newly proposed multi-billion dollar omnibus spending bill, that will most likely - as was the case with the "stimulus package" - will be monitized.  Meaning that we're just going to print the money to pay for it.  Further devaluing our currency.

I can't help but ponder the irony that, in the 1980s, President Reagan helped to expedite the end of the Soviet Union by spending them into oblivion.  And now, here we are today, spending ourselves into oblivion.  And in doing so, we're moving towards a form and system of government more similar to that of the Soviet Union.

It's enough to make one mad.  Kind of like we saw last Friday as irate Americans tea partied across the country:

permalink, comment or share this

Remembering William F. Buckley, Jr. - 1925-2008

02/27/09

Sadly, it was one year ago today that the man who played such an instrumental role - if not the ultimate role - in the building of the conservative movement passed away at the age of 82.

That man is, of course, William F. Buckley, Jr.

It might have been George Will who said it best of Buckley's vital importance as the impetus of the modern conservative movement:

"All great biblical stories begin with Genesis,” George Will wrote in National Review in 1980. “And before there was Ronald Reagan, there was Barry Goldwater, and before there was Barry Goldwater there was National Review, and before there was National Review there was Bill Buckley with a spark in his mind, and the spark in 1980 has become a conflagration.”

Here now, for your entertainment, are just a couple of priceless Buckley moments:

Buckley on a 1988 Ted Koppel special on drugs in the America.  Watch, not only for the brilliant point on the importance of freeing ourselves from the idea that what is legal is also thus moral, but for the delightful shot he takes at Jesse Jackson.

Buckley from a series of debates on ABC with Gore Vidal during the tumultuous 1964 Democrat National Convention in Chicago, during which Buckley (quite justifiably) threatens to "sock" Vidal in the face for his fallacious and putrid comparisons of Buckley to a "crypto-Nazi".

Buckley delightfully deconstructing the feux-intellectual that is Noam Chomsky

An excellent, hour-long retrospective on Charlie Rose, composed of a collection of interviews with Buckley over the years, finishing with a touching tribute to Buckley by Rose.

And finally, because PutFile's video embedding is inconsistent, is a link to a three-part series of Buckley on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In.  Hilarity ensues.

Enjoy!  And remember the importance of William F. Buckley, Jr. to the vitality of American conservatism.

permalink, comment or share this

A picture speaks a thousand unfunded welfare dollars

02/27/09

Brilliant:

(Hat tip to the indelible Mr. Stump)

permalink, comment or share this

Obama whitewashes his earmark history

02/26/09

Spending, spending, spending. Congress is just fresh off foisting on the American people a whopping $789 billion "stimulus" bill that included funding for, among other universally agreeable, vital investments such as:

> $24 million for United States Department of Agriculture buildings and rent
> $176 million for renovating Agricultural Research Service buildings
> $295 million for administrative expenses associated with food stamp programs
> $650 million for the digital TV converter box coupon program
> $300 million to purchase scientific instruments for colleges and museums
> $400 million for equipment and facilities at the National Science Foundation
> $3.7 billion to conduct "green" renovations on military bases
> $375 million for Mississippi River projects
> $2 billion to develop advanced batteries for hybrid cars
> $5.5 billion for "green" federal buildings
> $300 million for "green" cars for federal employees
> $20 million for IT upgrades at the Small Business Administration
> $200 million to design and furnish Department of Homeland Security headquarters
> $98 million earmarked for a polar icebreaker
> $125 million to restore trails and abandoned mines
> $146 million for trail maintenance at National Park Service sites
> $600 million for the Environmental Protection Agency Superfund environmental cleanup program
> $25 million for the Smithsonian Institution
> $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts
> $1.2 billion for "youth activities" (for "youth" up to 24 years old)
> $32 million for home-delivered nutrition services
> $160 million for volunteer programs at the Corporation for National and Community Service
> $220 million for the International Boundary and Water Commission, U.S. and Mexico
> $1.3 billion for Amtrak

And, the House yesterday passed through it's august chamber a $410 billion spending bill.  Because, after spending a preposterous amount of money and exponentially devaluing our currency, what flows more naturally and comfortably than spending another astronomical sum of other people's money?  

If you'll recall, back during the campaign, earmarks were occasionally a debating issue.  Just occasionally.  They might have been mentioned a few times, here and there.  For what it's worth, here's what Obama had to say during the first Presidential debate about earmarks:

Absolutely we need earmark reform. And when I’m president, I will go line by line to make sure that we are not spending money unwisely.

Yes, you can just picture him now: ensconced in the Oval Office, shirt sleeves rolled, Stevie Wonder playing on the sound system, some aromatic candbles lit and President Obama pouring over every single page and every single line of the "stimulus" bill (that no one read actually did read before passing), and now this new mountain of financial commitments and pet projects and earmarks to the tune of $400 or so billion.  And, while doing so, he's most likely encountered one provision that seemed very familiar, inasmuch as it has his name attached to it:

Obama’s name jumped out on a list of many earmark cosponsors because he and his staff have been so emphatic about his no-earmark stance....

The $7.7 million earmark — for Tribally Controlled Postsecondary Vocational Institutions — is cosponsored by a long list of other members of both chambers. The program appeared in Senate report language last year but its sponsors were not identified at that time.

Being the stealthy, Chicago politician that he is, Obama then chose the course of action that came most naturally to him.  Just make it vanish.  Gone.:

Congress will scrub President Obama’s name from a list of earmark cosponsors in the $410 billion omnibus spending bill. ...

The provision itself is still considered an earmark, and it’s staying in the bill (HR 1105) — but it’s losing the Obama brand.

Flaunting already the promise to allow five days of public consideration of any bill to cross his desk - let alone time for any member of Congress to read the copious volumes - why should it now surprise anyone that Obama would engage in earmarking, even after making such a fuss about it to echo McCain during the campaign.

His name is gone.  The earmark stays.  The waste of all the money that we don't have continues.

permalink, comment or share this

Joe Biden screws up. The sun rises in the east. The world keeps on spinning.

02/26/09

Ahhh, Joe Biden.  Have they banished him to Cheney's bunker in that "hidden location" yet?

It's like he's the decidedly dour, depressing, pessimistic Obama administration's comic relief.  While Obama pontificates about impending disaster and castrophes in the offing in we don't act immediately - and do exactly what he wants to do, of course - Biden is out there turning to ask an aide (all while on camera) for the "number" to direct you down the precise internets tube to bring you to the website that provides you all the information on the "stimulus" debacle that Team Obama deems worth for public consumption.

And then there's this... which is just flat out incorrect information:

"But what I don't understand from Governor Jindal is what would he do?," asks Joe Biden while on the Early Show.

That rhetorical question to Governor Jindal on the Early Show, was followed with this: "in Louisiana there's 400 people a day losing their jobs, what's he doing?" asks Biden.

But that claim is wrong, if you look at the numbers from the Louisiana Workforce Commission.

"In December, Louisiana was the only state in the nation besides the District of Columbia, according to the national press release that added employment over the month," says Patty Granier with the Louisiana Workforce Commission. According to her, not only is Louisiana not losing jobs. "The state gained 3,700 jobs for the seasonally adjusted employment," Granier said of the most recent figures.

And for something else nifty, you can even navigate your way down those tubes of the internets to reach laworks.net, where even someone like VP Biden can go to get, ya know, real data.

As for his thoughts on this most recent episode of making a fool of himself:

[KSLA] called the White House press office today and left a message for the vice president's office, but have not received a call back.

Biden was unavailable for comment because at the time, he was dining at Katie's Restaurant.  And since he had to hop into his time machine and travel back 20 or so years, it'll be a while before we can officially hear form him on this issue.

permalink, comment or share this

That's the Arne Duncan we know and don't love at all

02/26/09

Over at National Review, Jonah Goldberg has completely captured the essence of the man who formerly stood watch over the rickety assembly line that is Chicago Public Schools - a performance so pitiful it earned him a promotion to Secretary of Education in the Obama Administration.

Although, in all fairness, it was also greatly because Arne regularly hoops it up with President Cool.  I'm sure while they face down each other in a game of HORSE, they have deep discussions on educational philosophy and how to best shuffle children through the factories that pass as educational institutions on their way to minimum paying jobs where their highest duty will be to ask the question, "Would you like something to brink with the DigMac?"

But I digress...

Goldberg on Duncan:

On the domestic front, Education Secretary Arne Duncan has decided that Bush’s signature No Child Left Behind Act should be retained and moderately reformed. His boldest suggestion so far? “Let’s rebrand it. Give it a new name.” Now that’s change even cynics can believe in.

Ladies and gentlemen: the Left's approach to education in America.  It's a federal cookie-cutter designed for the benefit of people like Arne Duncan and the other troglodytes that administrate the bureaucratic monolith that is public education, all while forsaking the children they are supposed to be educating and imparting to skills like how to learn, how to think and how to succeed in the real world.

I guess this is where that "hope" part comes in.  "Hope" is all the victims of CPS and people like Arne Duncan have.

permalink, comment or share this

Find out more at 1-800-RECOVERY@JOEBIDEN.TV

02/25/09

It's reasons like this that are why I expect the grand design of the Obama administration is to have Joe Biden spend as much time in Dick Cheney's "undisclosed location" as humanly possible:

Oh yeah, what was that website number?  I think it's 1-800-RECOVERY@JOEBIDEN.TV  That's it, right?

Oh well, no big deal, I suppose.  I'm sure that it just got lost somewhere in that labyrinthical "series of tubes" that is the internets.

We have a President that won't give up his Blackberry and we have a Vice President that won't give up his abacus.

Hilarious...

permalink, comment or share this

Obama offering "Free Government Money". And free cookies, too!

02/25/09

I came across this Google ad while surfing the "internets":

Free government money.  From his Highness, Barack Obama.  He's just giving it away.  And at no consequence to anyone!  It's just free!  And you never have to pay it back.

Did you get that!?!  IT'S FREE!!!

This is perhaps why I'm increasingly getting that "we're so completely doomed" feeling... 

Cross-posted at EricKohn.com

permalink, comment or share this

The Quigley/Feigenholtz trist that'll give you nightmares

02/25/09

In the special election race to replace former Cong. Rham Emanuel, the increasingly irrelevant Chicago Sun-Times - rather than delving deep into the nuance of their candidacies, their guiding principles, their legislative and political accomplishments or the like - has opted instead to take a turn towards an US Weekly style of journalism.

That is, to the extent that the Chicago Sun-Times isn't already US Weekly.

Actually, that's an unfair shot at US Weekly.  They have FAR better circulation a greater journalistic integrity than does the Chicago Sun-Times.  And to my recollection, US Weekly is plummeting down the pit of financial despair.

But I digress...

Today, the Sun-Times offers this deep-digging, probing, investigative reporting on the romantic relationship between Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley and State Rep. Sara Figenholtz - now both candidates for Congress:

The two candidates leading the polls to replace Rahm Emanuel in the U.S. Congress — Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley and State Rep. Sara Feigenholtz — have been taking hard rhetorical swipes at each other in recent days.

But their relationship was not always so acrimonious.

Years ago, before they met their eventual spouses, they dated for a few months when they were active in the 44th Ward Democratic organization.

The relationship ended on good terms, Quigley said.

“Somehow we remained friends afterwards because I ran her first campaign,” Quigley said.

My apologies to those of you who will now be spending the rest of the day trying to extricate from your minds this image of "a hunk, a hunk of burning love".

And major kudos to the Chicago Sun-Times for once again showing their in-depth dedication to stories that have absolutely no relevance to, well..., anything at all.

permalink, comment or share this

Obama doesn't believe in "big government"? Did I miss something?

02/25/09

Cutting through all of the (generally expected) pomposity surrounding President Obama's speech last night, one line in particular jumped out at me, as I imagine it did for a good many other right-thinking people:

As soon as I took office, I asked this Congress to send me a recovery plan by President's Day that would put people back to work and put money in their pockets. Not because I believe in bigger government - I don't.

From the first days of his presidency, I've been willing - perhaps through a suspension of disbelief usually reserved for Michael Bay movies - to at least endeavored myself to take Obama at his word.  Here, he seems to suggest that a believer in bigger and the ever-expanding role of government he is not.  Ok, yeah, sure, right.  Yet, it was only recently that Obama was irresponsibly preempting, precluding and ostensibly quashing the potential for any true "clash of ideas" - the presentation of some serious, freedom-expanding, free market, limited government solutions that empower individuals to control their economic destiny as opposed to the largess of the state - in debate over the nature, content and direction of the ironically named "stimulus package".  Take this gem for example:

President Obama said Monday that "only government" can shake the country out of recession, as he tried to settle doubts about his administration's costly economic recovery package during a prime-time press conference. ...

"It is absolutely true that we can't depend on government alone to create jobs or economic growth," he said. "But at this particular moment, with the private sector so weakened by this recession, the federal government is the only entity left with the resources to jolt our economy back into life. It is only government that can break the vicious cycle where lost jobs lead to people spending less money which leads to even more layoffs."

And yet here we are left begging the question: If, as Obama doth protest, that he does not believe in bigger government as the end-all, be-all solution to problems social and economic, than why the incessant proclamations such as the above that served little more purpose to shut out an honest, historical and serious debate over this stimulus boondoggle and those who believe (and are back by copious facts) that policies of diminished government interventionism and, generally, smaller government have proven clearly beneficial to the success not only of the United States, but also a plethora of former Soviet satellite states and a host of other free-market embracing nations?

In short, in what rhetoric does he truly believe?  And what rhetoric are we left to believe?  Does Obama really not believe in bigger, expansive, controlling government?  Or does he believe, as he previously stated, that government and government alone is the sole solution to our current economic woes?

Over at National Review Online, Rich Lowery has a slightly different take: a concerted effort on the part of Obama's to redefine the vital thrust of the recent governmental mass-overreach:

He’s trying to redefine extensive government activism as simple pragmatism, and if he succeeds, might well shift the center of American politics for a generation.

Redefinition of the perceived pragmatic purposes of government activism aside, Obama has yet to square this with his own recent "Chicken Little" rhetoric as compared to last night's drivel.  Does he believe that the expansion of government is a good in-and-of-itself, manifested in the sense that "only government" can solve or economic woes?  (For more on how this most distinctly does not work, as demonstrated through the misanthropic, ad hoc, spendthrift approach to bloating government, please see The Forgotten Man, Liberal Fascism, and/or New Deal or Raw Deal - all of which consider the largely detrimental effects of the original New Deal and the extension and deepening of the Great Depression which it caused, and the clear similarities with the current Obama-initiated government interventionism and binge-spending we are currently suffering.)  And, as such, in essence, to preclude anyone with a free-market based solution to what ails us as a nation, national economy and international economy?  Or is this the Obama that professes to believe that he, indeed, does not believe in bigger government, bloating the size of the welfare state beyond the point of even hypothetically sustainability?

So, even still, I might be willing to take Obama at his word on this.

But first he needs to decide exactly what "that word is and how he would like to communicate said ideas to us, the American people.

Is this the "government as the end-all and be-all" Obama?  Or is this the "I don't believe in big government" Obama?

As such, we are now left with two unavoidable conclusions: that Obama is a contradiction-in-terms and has personally invested himself fully in his own clearly contradictory rhetoric, or that he's simply duplicitous - as Rich Lowery noted - in redefining government interventionism and the unabated bloating of the welfare state as the only "logical" alternative for our economic crisis that will detrimentally obfuscate the big picture nature of America's political debate into the foreseeable future.

permalink, comment or share this

The operative question here...

02/24/09

From a Politico breaking news report:

Sen. Dick Durbin has told Sen. Roland Burris he should resign. "If I were in that position, I would resign," Durbin said Tuesday afternoon.

So now the question becomes, "how do we get Dick Durbin in 'that position' so that he'll be compelled to resign"?

Your thoughts and suggestions are welcome...

permalink, comment or share this

Buckley on Laugh In

02/19/09

The line at the end of the second video is the best:

permalink, comment or share this

The Russians are coming! And they're scoring goals!

02/19/09

Not that I was unaware of Alexander Ovechkin's affinity for the mind-boggling preposterous goal, but this only serves as a reminder of why hockey is the greatest sport not enough people are watching:

permalink, comment or share this

More Brilliance From Buckley

02/19/09

I find it remarkable that this passage from William F. Buckley, Jr.'s 1952 essay Commonweal strikes me as so fully applicable and descriptive of this very moment in time.

That and I just find it rhetorically delightful.

One thing we know: in the past we have temporized with collectivism, and we have lost. And after 'the campaigns were over, we were left not with the exhilaration and pride of having done our best to restore freedom, but with the sickening humiliation of having failed to seduce the American people because we were pitted against a more glib, a more extravagant, a more experienced gigolo.

permalink, comment or share this

What's that line about repeating history?

02/18/09

And now for a little prognostication from Robert Morganthau, who served as Secretary of the Treasury to Franklin D. Roosevelt.  Given, Morganthau was clearly here speaking of Roosevelt's New Deal programs, but to be truly honest, how one can read this passage and not have spendthrift President and Congress come to mind is simply beyond my cognition:

"We have tried spending money. We are spending more money than we have ever spent before, and it does not work. … I want to see the country prosperous. I want to see people get a job. I want to see people get enough to eat. We have never made good on our promises. I say, after eight years of this administration, we have just as much unemployment as when we started … and an enormous debt to boot."

Behold: our future is our past.

permalink, comment or share this

It's Obama! Freak out!

02/11/09

And the Obama obsession keeps getting creepier and creepier...

Now ask yourself... are you really surprised that this guy's been working part-time at McDonalds for the past 4 years?

permalink, comment or share this

Smart people disagree with Obama. Who knew?

02/10/09

That's a lot of economists that don't seem to think this whole "massive government intervention" thing is such a good idea:

You can click here to view a PDF of this ad.

permalink, comment or share this

Brillance and snark from Radiohead at the Grammys

02/09/09

First, Radiohead (actually just Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood) along with the USC Trojan Marching Band (who get all the good gigs) blew away the Grammy awards last night:

And to top it off, Johnny Greenwood took a delightful swipe at the Grammys:

"Everything I know about pop culture I know from 'The Simpsons,' and they say the Grammys aren't very good."

To quote Homer, "Awwww... it's a Grammy".

Beautiful!

permalink, comment or share this

A good rule of thumb...

02/05/09

Beware the political leader pressing the fierce urgency of now:

President Barack Obama warned on Thursday that failure to act on an economic recovery package could plunge the nation into a long-lasting recession that might prove irreversible, a fresh call to a recalcitrant Congress to move quickly. In an op-ed piece in The Washington Post, the president argued that each day without his stimulus package, Americans lose more jobs, savings and homes.

Dare I be the first to say it:  President Barack Obama is a fearmonger.

Apparently the only kind of legislation that Democrats have a problem with passing with exponential speed are measures targeting at insuring our physical safety.

permalink, comment or share this

The Obama Administration's full circle of "unpatriotic" tax cheats

02/04/09

The pathetic episodes of Tim Geithner, Tom Daschle, Rep. Charles Rangel, Nancy Killefer and their respective tax cheating should have everyone furious.  What's remarkable here is not only that all of these instances have occurred recently and are - with the exception of Rangel - all by supposedly vetted nominations made by President Obama, but that the roles each does or would have played in the government represent a full circle on the ethos of taxation, tax policy and use of tax dollars.

Rep. Charles Rangel still presides over the House Ways and Means Committee which writes the preposterosly complicated tax code.

Tim Geithner is now the Treasury Secretary, overseeing every American's favorite love-to-hate government entity: the IRS.

Tom Daschle would have served as the driving force behind Obama's nationalized/socialized health care plan; something that would have been an exceptionally large - and foolish - commitment of our tax dollars.

And, Nancy Killefer would have been the White House's performance officer, obviously overseeing the relative performance of the government programs funded by our tax dollars.

To these points, this excerpt from Jonah Goldberg's column today strikes me as exceptionally well said...

When moralizing conservatives get caught, say, cheating on their wives or challenging stall mates to robust Greco-Roman wrestling in airport bathrooms, liberals justifiably howl at the hypocrisy of it all. When liberals fail to pay taxes it’s merely, to borrow an old catchphrase from Daschle, “sad and disappointing,” but ultimately not that big a deal. If Democrats are serious about their arguments for raising taxes, shouldn’t they be downright giddy about paying what they already owe? And shouldn’t they loathe tax cheating more than anything?

With Democrats like Vice President Joe Biden moralizing to Americans about the patriotism paying ones' taxes...

...this kind of rank hypocrisy should not only have everyone outraged, it should have completely precluded the service of any of these individuals in the federal government.

Democrats spent near the entirety of the past eight years carping that any criticism amounted to the questioning of their patriotism.  By the definition of their own Party's Vice President, are not these four Democrats distinctly unpatriotic?

permalink, comment or share this

Numbers really aren't Speaker Pelosi's strongsuit

02/04/09

The Office of the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, has some very distinct messaging problems.  Like, for instance this gem from spokesman Brendan Daly that I posed yesterday:

The speaker has said many times that the members are representative of their district . . . Many of the districts are more conservative, and they campaigned on fiscal responsibility, and we understand that.

And then there's this from Speaker Pelosi herself:

When you're trying to pump up a crisis to justify a completely unjustifiable, pork-laden spending bill, why should you let little things like facts and figures stand in your way?

You know, 68% of all statistics are completely made up.

permalink, comment or share this

Listen to the podcast of Eric Kohn on the #dontgo Movement's Blog Talk Radio Program

02/03/09

If you weren't able to catch my appearance on Andrew Kretschmar's #dontgo Movement Blog Talk Radio Program, you can listen to the spirited discussion on the the preposterous spending bill posing as a "stimulus package" in the US Senate, IL Gov. Pat Quinn and the 2010 IL Governors race here:

permalink, comment or share this

This just in: Daschle out

02/03/09

From the Chicago Tribune:

Tom Daschle has withdrawn his nomination to be Health and Human Services secretary.

That's according to a joint White House statement from President Barack Obama and his former nominee.

Obama said today he accepted the withdrawal "with sadness and regret."

Daschle has been battling for his nomination since it was disclosed he failed to pay more than $120,000 in taxes.

He said he's withdrawing because he's not a leader who has the full faith of Congress and will be a distraction.

But where are they ever going to find another tax cheat fill this office?

permalink, comment or share this

Wide-spread ignorance compels Ben Stein to cancel commencement speech

02/03/09

Ben Stein is truly a man of many talents.

He is most popularly remembered for his bit role as the droll history/economics professor in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and as the host of the hit Comedy Central game show Win Ben Stein's Money.  In addition to his numerous other media forays, Stein has also taught at several universities, penned speeches for Presidents Nixon and Ford and authored a slew of books on finance, economics and politics.

Most recently, Stein produced a documentary film, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, aimed at exposing that academic blacklisting of scientists who dare question the sacred dogma of Darwinian evolutionary theory.  As a consequence of speaking up for the theory of intelligent design - which is not the same as creationism; something presciently evident to anyone willing to take even a cursory look at the subject - and questioning the theory of evolution, many of these scientists have been either ostracized or fired from their universities or foundations.

Recently, Stein was chosen to deliver the commencement speech at the University of Vermont.  All seems rather harmless, right?  Well, not to mental midgets who took to their keyboards to voice this disgust with this choice:

After UVM announced Stein's selection Thursday, Fogel said in a written statement, "profound concerns have been expressed to me by persons both internal and external to the university about his selection." Fogel said he received hundreds of e-mails beginning Saturday -- including only about a half-dozen from people at UVM -- contending, generally, that Stein's views of science were "affronts to the basic tenets of the academy."

"Once I apprised Mr. Stein of these communications, he immediately and most graciously declined his commencement invitation," Fogel's statement said.

Since when did honest and sincere questioning become an "affront to the basic tenets of the academy"?  Oh yeah, when the elites don't like you questioning their secular religion.  That's when.

Among those outside UVM who took issue with the choice of Stein was Richard Dawkins, an eminent British evolutionary biologist, who had an e-mail exchange with Fogel.

Gee, I wonder if this has anything to do with Stein's airing of Dawkins' foolishness in his documentary?  Bitter much, Mr. Dawkins?

The hypocrisy of modern academia is well documented, but just for entertainment, here's a just few recent controversial commencement speakers deemed worth to address the huddled student masses:

> Jerry Springer at Northwestern University Law School
> Al Gore at Carnegie-Mellon University
> NAACP Chairman Julian Bond (who once opined that "the Republican idea of equal rights is the American flag and Confederate swastika flying side by side") at George Washington University

If you give a public forum to inbred white-supremacist prostitutes who smoke crack, you're an acceptable speaker.  If you feed the mass frenzy over and stir up crisis over global warming, you're an acceptable speaker.  If you're a racial demagogue, you're an acceptable speaker.

If you dare challenge a scientific theory and pull back the curtain on the blacklisting of high-minded academics who do the same, well... then you're just not welcome in American academic circles.

permalink, comment or share this

The Washington definition of a "gaffe"

02/03/09

It is said that the Washington definition of a "gaffe" is anything uttered by now-Vice President Joe Biden.

Wait... that's not right.  Let me try that again.

It is said that the Washington definition of a "gaffe" is when a politician accidently tells the truth.

Enter Brendan Daly, spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, explaining why 11 House Democrats defected and joined the Republican caucus in opposition to the "stimulus" package:

The speaker has said many times that the members are representative of their district . . . Many of the districts are more conservative, and they campaigned on fiscal responsibility, and we understand that.

So there are only 11 House Democrats who have an interest in fiscal responsibility?  Good to know.

permalink, comment or share this

Even the New York Times thinks Daschle is an embarrassment

02/03/09

You can file this under "even the stopped clock is right twice a day".  From a New York Times (!) editorial today:

When President Obama nominated former Senator Tom Daschle to be his secretary of health and human services, it seemed to be a good choice. Mr. Daschle, as the co-author of a book on health care reform, knew a lot about one of the president’s signature issues. As a former Senate majority leader, he also knew a lot about guiding controversial bills through Congress, where he remains liked and respected by former colleagues.

Unfortunately, new facts have come to light — involving his failure to pay substantial taxes that were owed and his sizable income from health-related companies while he worked in the private sector — that call into question his suitability for the job. We believe that Mr. Daschle ought to step aside and let the president choose a less-blemished successor.

Although, on second consideration, having a tarnished voice pushing for nationalized (socialized) health care might greatly assist in derailing the plan.

Hang in there, Mr. Daschle.

permalink, comment or share this

Blog Archives