Tea Party at Perrysburg

The eligibility issue....again

2012-01-28T08:04:00.001-05:00

Something's been brewing down in Georgia. Fear of being labeled a "birther" keeps bloggers from reporting on it, but this is hard news.
Several groups, including hardcore birther Orly Taitz, have filed filed in Georgia to have President Obama answer questions about his social security number, his father's country of birth and consequently Obama's eligibility to be POTUS.
POTUS's lawyers have fought against the group's suit but Wednesday and Thursday of this week may have changed the landscape.
From two American Thinker writers who were there:

Van Irion of the Liberty Legal Foundation presented his case first, followed by J. Mark Hatfield and Orly Taitz. Irion's argument focused on the definition of "natural born" citizen in the holding of Minor v Happersett and the principle of "statutory construction" in the interpretation of the 14^th amendment. Hatfield added the fact that the Interpretations of the Immigration and Naturalization Service recognize the delineation between "natural born" and "native-born" citizenship.

Briefs are expected to be filed by February 5. More here from AT:

Rumors began flying around the blogosphere almost immediately -- primarily one that the judge had informed the attorneys, in the pre-hearing conference, that he intended to enter a default judgment against Obama. If true, that would essentially mean that yet another action against Obama's eligibility has resulted in no decision on the merits.

The fact that Obama and his attorney failed to appear in court makes this situation quite interesting, though the press is not covering this story. The Georgia SoS warned Obama et al that to ignore the state's legal guidelines in this case is to do so "at your own peril." Still, Obama's people ignored it.

Another eye witness account can be found at The National Patriot:

After being subpoenaed to appear and after an endless stream of excuses as to why he shouldn’t, neither Obama nor his attorney were at the hearing.

This means, all the evidence and all the expert testimony was entered into the official record without a response, a peep, or a rebuttal from Obama or his attorney.

At this point, all of it remains unchallenged. All of it.

This begs the question; Can a sitting President be commanded by subpoena, to appear in court? Many claim Executive Privilege prevents it.

They would be wrong.

Fitsnews doesn't make much of it but wonders why no media outlets are interested.

What do we make of this drama?

Again, not much … however by refusing to appear at the hearing Obama’s attorneys did open the door to the possibility that Malihi could rule against them by default. More importantly, they once again stoked conspiracy theories regarding the validity of Obama’s birth certificate – giving those inclined to buy into “birtherism” a reason to believe that they have something to hide.

Do they?

We don’t think so … however the startling lack of national mainstream media coverage is likely to further fuel those theories.

I'll tell you why they're not interested in it. There are several reasons. One is that no one wants to appear to be a wacky conspiracy theorist. Another is that there seems to be something very mysterious going on when it comes to the history of Barack Hussein Obama. Why doesn't anyone remember him from college? Why are his records sealed? Why do so many of the fragments connecting his past seem to vanish and then appear again in a different form?
And what do we do if we have had an ineligible POTUS for the last term? So many pols want to ignore the Constitution that it would cause a crisis in the country if we had to face down such a dilemma.
And what if he isn't eligible? Would we throw him off the ballot? Would Congress try to rewrite laws? Certainly Republican RINOs wouldn't have the cajones to go against so many crazy Obamabots. It would be the 2000 election all over again and for years people would accuse the right wing of cheating.
No matter that cheating to get on the ballot would be exposed.
Drag out the victimhood.

Richard Mourdock Struggles To Raise Funds

2012-01-28T05:15:00.001-05:00

Indiana Secretary of State Richard Mourdock continues to struggle to raise campaign funds in his fight to unseat Senator Richard Lugar in the may primary. Mourdock raised just $386,000 in the last quarter and managed to bank just $362,000. He had $291,000 on hand compared to Lugar's $4 million. Mourdock has received endorsements from national Tea Party groups but no financial backing as they seem to doubt if he is up to defeating Lugar.

Obama's Do as I Say; Not as I Do Energy Policy

2012-01-27T23:19:00.001-05:00

On January 26, 2012, President Obama visited a Las Vegas UPS plant. Stimulus subsidy for said UPS plant to purchase natural-gas-powered trucks: 5.6 million dollars. Stimulus subsidy for North Las Vegas green energy plant that laid off 200 workers yesterday: 5.9 million dollars. Using taxpayer dollars to leave an event promoting clean-energy vehicles in a motorcade of twenty-two fossil-fueled vehicles: Priceless. Add in the carbon foot print of Air Force One, its decoy sister plane and the jet transport needed to transport his limo and we're talking about some serious carbon emissions.

Is Spencer Bachus Really the Face of Greed?

2012-01-27T22:59:00.002-05:00

Thanks to Peter Schwizer's book, Throw Them All Out, Rep. Spencer Bachus is in the process of being thrown out of his chairmanship of the House Financial Services Committee. Having read the book I have to say I wasn't especially outraged by Congressman Bachus' trading behavior. I will admit to lacking a scintilla of moral rectitude which I attribute to a hereditary defect from my mother's side of the family but even setting aside that encumbrance that chapter of the book left my blood pressure normal. There was only one incident in the book that Schwizer cited that I found questionably unethical and that was the Congressman's trading in General Electric stock. The rest of the trades were in SPDR's, exchange traded index funds. Without getting into the mechanics of exchange traded sector funds let me just say the individual is as detached from actual ownership of the stock as he would be in any mutual fund, the now prescribed remedy to congressional insider trading. Yes, Bachus could have known better than the public that the banks were going to take a hit but it didn't take a genius on the outside to arrive at the same conclusion. There are far more egregious examples of corrupt behavior. Bachus began to stake out a short position in July of 2008 and continued to go short until well after the TARP bailout. Yes, he made huge profits on a percentage basis but his net worth according to Schwizer is still less than a million dollars. When I was single I dabbled in options and I can personally say that I, without benefit of insider knowledge, did on a few occasions reap a 100% return virtually over night. There are far worse examples in the book such as Senator John Kerry, Nancy Pelosi, and Dennis Haster where public money was spent to improve property values of the legislators by building a highway or a light rail spur, or in Kerry's case when he invested in drug companies effected by Obamacare while he was writing the legislation. A small player like Bachus, who seemed to be ahead of the rest of Congress and the county does not deserve to be the poster child for congressional corruption.

Criticize Newt, but be honest

2012-01-27T10:11:00.000-05:00

I haven't been enjoying the cannibalism going on in the Republican party. Way too many debates.
What's the purpose of so many debates, particularly moderated by left wing journalists who take great joy in centering the attention on themselves or asking stupid leading questions like when was America last great.
Always starting with the negative, the press wants only to agitate and further roil the base.
Here's a great example of a hair sprayed bimbo asking a really really stupid question with great solemnity, as if the weight of the world is on his shoulders.
So the whole Newt brouhaha is pretty nauseating. He's sure a helium balloon but Romney really is a robot.
We've gone way beyond "vetting" for the actual presidential contest to something that not only isn't healthy, but is doing the work of the Obama slash team.
Without favoring any particular candidate, we might point out that Professor Jacobsen, who is in full blown Newt mode, is tired of conservatives bashing Newt as anti-Reagan. He has a number of columns dedicated to the subject; for example, the video that was pulled out by Drudge was selectively edited.
So the admonition is, hey, put the truth out there. Put it all out there.
But be honest about it. Don't lie. Don't selectively edit. Don't play games.
Here's a link to Legal Insurrection, where it's pointed out that the video of Newt was really not what it was edited to be:

There is something truly obscene about the full blown assault on Newt Gingrich’s strong Reagan conservative history from and on behalf of Mitt Romney, who unabashedly ran away from the Reagan legacy and conservative principles in his 1994 Senate campaign and 2002 gubernatorial campaign. Truly obscene.

The latest iteration comes from Elliott Abrams writing in National Review, quoting pieces of a single speech Newt apparently gave on the floor of the House on March 21, 1986, in which Newt criticized certain foreign policy decisions of the Reagan administration. Abrams does not link to the full speech or to other speeches of Newt at the time.

This dishonesty is the part that makes us sick.
To be a political wonk is one thing.
To be dishonest is another.
They don't have to be the same thing.

Grassley Demands Pow Wow With FCC Staffer

2012-01-27T03:22:00.003-05:00

Maybe we do toughen with age. I never thought Senator Chuck Grassley was much of a fighter but recently the senior Senator from Iowa has become mean as a snake. He is the only senator investigating Fast and Furious and he has been a terror on LightSquared. Yesterday I reported he was mad as hell about someone representing LightSquared trying to bribe him with the promise of a call center in Iowa. Grassley latest show of temper is his demand to meet with
Paul de Sa, chief of the Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis of the FCC before he leaves his job at the end of the month. De Sa was the impetus behind the apparently now abandoned "net neutrality" policy but what seem to aroused Grassley's curiosity and ire is the fact that De Sa has met privately with LightSquared officials, including billionaire investor Phil Falcone, earlier this month. Now de Sa apparently doesn't have time to talk to Grassley. Grassley has pledged to block the two nominees to the FCC until he gets an answer as to how the LightSquared waiver moved so quickly through the FCC. If he sticks to his guns Obama will have to wait until he leaves for the evening so he can make recess appointments.

Comparing MF Global to Watergate

2012-01-27T02:07:00.006-05:00

The adjective competent is seldom applied to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Probably the public perception of the SEC is that it is a great place to work, a pleasant place, where lawyers can download and view porn while Wall Street and Washington anguish over financial meltdowns and collapsing credit markets, an institution that sustained a benign view of Bernie Madoff for 12 years, almost until his arrest, where a shoulder shrugs suffices as an explanation of the flash crash. Alas, the SEC may be about to judged worse than incompetent it may be corrupt.

Under law MF Global was compelled to file an Annual Audited Report on Form X-17-A-5 with the SEC. In the normal course of events this document is scanned by the SEC and uploaded to its site where the public can view it. This is usually done in two to four weeks from receipt of the document. In the case of MF Global the time stamp shows it was received on September 2, 2012. In fact MF Global filed the report in May. When the report was released astute investors began to run from MF Global as if it were radioactive.

A clerical error? If it was it was a $300 million dollar clerical error? From the time the report was filed in May until it was posted in September several things happened. Let me set the time line.

The SEC acknowledged receiving the report on May 31.

On August 2 MF Global sold $300 million worth of worthless bonds.

When the report was released in September it revealed Global's exposure to European sovereign debt and investors began to leave the firm. This eventually culminated in a run on MF Global.

On December 14, 2011 the SEC removed the report from its web site.

On January 3, 2012 the document reappeared with a different time stamp.

It's understandable that the popular media would describe the MF Global bankruptcy as "complicated" and move on. Even with the best of motives that segment of the media is only able to deal with uncomplicated events such as shootings, rapes, and rowdy Tea Party members at town halls but the financial press is not so encumbered. In the financial press there are no angels and certainly Jon Corzine is not portrayed as a kindly civil servant caught up in the snares of greedy capitalists. This is not Corzine's first ethical lapse. As CEO of Goldman Sachs he pioneered the bundling of toxic and non-transparent mortgage debt instruments to professional investors. When the chairwoman of Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Brooksley Born tried to bring transparency to these debt instruments she lost her job. That was during the Clinton years. An Obama administration probably would have jailed her.

Corzine used confidential information from the New York Federal Reserve Bank, Timothy Geithner's former employer, to view Long Term Capital Management's market position and then played the opposite side of the trade. He lied to both LTCM and to the Fed for his personal gain. Richard Lowenstein of the New York Times wrote about Corzine’s Goldman Sachs, “Brazenly playing both sides of the street [Corzine's ] Goldman represented investment banking at its ugliest.”

The document tampering raises some pointed questions about the cozy relationship between Jon Corzine and the SEC but after a one day appearance before the Senate, former Senator Corzine is looking for Wall Street office space while his customers, whose money he stole, languish in bankruptcy court and Eric Holder sits on his hands.

Not everyone in commodity futures is wealthy. Farmers and rancher use commodity futures to lock in the price of their beef or wheat by purchasing or selling future contacts to deliver that product. Being street savvy, Corzine knew who he could screw and who he couldn't. The big players with plenty money for lawyers and political clout seemed to have been taken care of as MF Global sunk into insolvency. There is speculation that the accounts of less affluent customers were raided for the purpose of paying off the heavy hitters. They face a long hard fight. The Sentinel Management Group has been in bankruptcy court since 2007 and its customers have yet to be compensated.

Now enters the surprising character, Louis Freeh, the former Federal Bureau of Investigation director who was appointed bankruptcy trustee of MF Global. Freeh is probably just whoring his reputation for competence and integrity, the memories of Ruby Ridge and the Waco siege no longer fresh in the public mind. He was brought into Penn State's own investigation of the recent Sandusky sex scandal to convey seriousness, integrity, and competence. Now Freeh is impeding investigators with some notion of lawyer client privilege. While Freeh's role has gone unnoticed in most of the press one can expect he will draw attention when this case makes it back to the front page.

In the video below Mark Melin of Opalesque Futures Strategies likens the MF Global bankruptcy to Watergate. Whether he is proven correct or not keep in mind that if you think people should be sitting in jail right now your opinion is shared by many Wall Street insiders and a few good journalists. Evidently getting tired of hearing his rancher constituents complain Senator Max Baucus has requested an investigation in a letter to CFTC Inspector General Roy Lavik. The CFTC? WTF? This is not some regulatory snafu. This is felony fraud. One hopes that by November the public will realize that no brokerage account, no bank account, no IRA or 401K is safe in this atmosphere of lawlessness that is the Obama administration.

Jan Brewer's Book Sales Spike After Tarmac Tiff

2012-01-26T18:16:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was Governor Jan Brewer's lucky day. The President with the thin skin and big ears picked a fight with the Governor, unhappy at Brewer's account of a meeting they had. Displaying the sort of chivalry and deference to the opposite sex we have come to expect from Democratic politicians, Obama threw a temper tantrum. Prior to the "great communicator's" visit Scorpions for Breakfast had was ranked 276,665 in sales at Amazon. Presently it is ranked 20th with and still climbing. Update: It's now number 5.

Another old sex assault accusation

2012-01-26T15:43:00.002-05:00

Here we go again.
Herman Cain. Sarah Palin. Newt.
Someone has gone to the police and accused a prominent individual of assaulting her.
How long ago was it?
October 8.
In late January, we learn that she's so upset she can't function; her current boyfriend claims the individual ruined her life.
It's not inconceivable that the 10 year Marine veteran and Lt. Colonel is guilty of the deed; in fact, nothing is inconceivable.
But to accuse someone of "sexual assault" long after the fact can be proven in any way ruins the life of the accused.
But then, if you're not a Kennedy, who cares.
AP and Century Link:

The woman said she had drinks with him on Oct. 8, then went back to her office, where she was assaulted, the person familiar with the case told The Associated Press.

She went to police Tuesday, according to the person, who was not authorized to speak publicly and did so on condition of anonymity. It's not clear why she went to police weeks later or how long they knew each other before the encounter, though she said they had met on the street at some point.

Greg Kelly is a Fox Channel host and son of Ray Kelly, NYPD commissioner.
Naturally.

EPA Rejects Palm Oil in Biofuels-Thank God

2012-01-26T14:13:00.000-05:00

Just yesterday I reported in a post that Chesapeake Energy would curtail natural gas production. It is doing that because not only are prices soft the country is running out of room to store the stuff. With a mild winter the country is a wash in cheap, clean, natural gas. So what is the focus of the EPA? Palm oil of course. The good news is palm oil flunks the EPA's test so it won't be mandating that we import this loser. Has the EPA never heard of natural gas?

EPA’s analysis of the two types of biofuel shows that biodiesel and renewable diesel produced from palm oil have estimated lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions of 17% and 11% respectively for these biofuels compared to the statutory baseline petroleum-based diesel fuel used in the RFS program. This analysis indicates that both palm oil-based biofuels would fail to qualify as meeting the minimum 20% GHG performance threshold for renewable fuel under the RFS program.

Do we really need the EPA to tell us that we don't want use this buy this junk?

Ener1 Goes Belly Up. Taxpayers Lose $118 M

2012-01-26T12:58:00.000-05:00

Another one bites the dust. Ener1 has filed for protection under chapter 11. Ener1 received $118.5 million in Department of Energy loans's. Reporting assets of $73.9 million and debts of $90.5 million in its Chapter 11 petition, the company blames it failure on competition from Korea and China. Of course news of General Motor's Chevy Volt and the fire caused by the battery probably won't improve the demand for any company's battery. In October, NASDAQ delisted the company due to non-compliance with Securities and Exchange Commission filing requirements. A month later, the company’s president, chief executive, and top financial officer were fired. The company operates its sole domestic plant in Mount Comfort, Indiana

Issa Warns Holder More Subpoenas May Be Issued

2012-01-25T18:31:00.003-05:00

Congressman Darrell Issa is questioning Eric Holder why Patrick Cunningham of the US Attorney Phoenix office who has invoked the fifth amendment was allowed to work in the DOJ if he had in fact committed crimes that warranted his protection from self incrimination. In a letter to Holder Issa wrote;

"Mr. Cunningham’s broad assertion of his Fifth Amendment privilege raises the specter that the Department has allowed him to continue in his position as Chief of the Criminal Division knowing that he might have criminal culpability himself."

“I have reserved the right to authorize another subpoena for his testimony at a future date … Due to Mr. Cunningham’s recent actions, the Committee will be making further document requests of the Department,” he continued.

Holder is scheduled to testify in front of the committee on February 2, 2012

The Cato Institute Fact Checks Obama's State of the Union Speech

2012-01-25T16:58:00.000-05:00

I turned the speech off and played solitary so I'm hearing most of this for the first time.

Manufacturing Tax Breaks? Gimme a Break!

2012-01-25T16:39:00.002-05:00

Hang on to your hats! The White House has provided details to its manufacturing tax breaks announced with much ado in last night's State of the Union Speech. It would be going to far to call them breath taking. Probably "exciting" would be a reach. Actually "ho hum" is about right.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce said that the breaks taken with the corporate tax reform outline would actually hurt U.S. businesses but no plan is perfect. The intent of this plan is not to spur manufacturing it's to punish business and drive up energy prices. The six point plan would:

Remove tax deductions for moving costs associated with relocating abroad. The money saved from this change would be used to provide a 20 percent income tax credit for the expenses of moving operations back to the United States.

The second change would target an existing domestic production incentive on manufacturers who create jobs in the United States and double it for “advanced manufacturing"

Another welfare give away. The plan would provide $6 billion to help local communities deal with job loss from relocation.

Provide $5 billion in green energy tax credits. I'll bet that left you breathless!

Occasionally an objet d'art is found in the flotsam and jetsam of Democratic legislation and here it is. It would provide 100 percent expensing on plant and equipment. Too good to be true from this administration. There must be a catch.

Close a loophole that exempts profits on “intangible property,” such as patent royalties, when those properties are transferred overseas.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce chief tax counsel Caroline Harris said that the change to domestic production credits is actually a punishment for oil-and-gas companies, which will make energy prices increase. Same old whore just a new dress.

Gingrich Has Huge Lead In Minnesota

2012-01-25T13:03:00.002-05:00

Newt Gingrich has a commanding lead in Minnesota with the caucuses only two weeks off. According to Public Policy Polling (PPP). The breakdown is; Gingrich, 36% Romney, 18% Santorum, 17% and Paul with 13%. Should Santorum drop out Gingrich would lead 44% to 20%.

Romney's Moderate Instincts May Do Him In

2012-01-25T08:22:00.001-05:00

Newt Gingrich may be a pain in Mitt Romney's neck but he is not the only problem Romney has in Florida. Part of Mitt's problem is the help he's hired. If I expect to win in Florida I'm going to hire the people who ran Marco Rubio's campaign not those who ran Charlie Crist's but not Mitt. Romney has hired Stuart Stevens. Stevens and partner Russ Schriefer are the principals in the high-profile Stevens & Schriefer Group. These are the moderate consultants who offered Crist clever advice when he hugged Obama. Okay, maybe the hug was an ad lib the the general tone of Crist's administration which saw him lose to Rubio was pure Steven & Schiefer. Even moderation should be practiced with moderation.

Stevens & Schriefer specialize in helping Republican candidates running in blue states by flaking off the moderate voters from the Democrats. Guess what? Florida isn't a blue state and this is a Republican primary not a general election. Gingrich has fired up the conservative base and Romney's people are preaching "moderation". Florida political junkies are comparing this race to the Crist-Rubio race and if they are correct Romney may follow Crist into political oblivion.

Obama rep: We're not supporting American values

2012-01-25T08:16:00.000-05:00

This excerpt is from the SOTU speech last night. I confess I was already asleep in my chair, mouth open and dreaming of an island in the sun but here it is:

Or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules. What's at stake are not Democratic values or Republican values, but American values. We have to reclaim them.

Now read this, which the newly appointed US ambassador to Russia said publicly:

The new U.S. ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, said that in dealing with the former Soviet Union, he and the Obama administration would be advocating “universal values” and “not American values.” [SNIP]

“And we -- as President Obama has said many, many times -- we’re not going to get into the business of dictating that path,” McFaul said. “We’re just going to support what we like to call ‘universal values’ – not American values, not Western values, universal values.”

Okay, so is it just me, or do these statements seem contradictory?
As always with these weasels, you have to actually observe what they do and not just what they say.
Lying is a way of life.

Chesapeake To Curtail Drilling But Not In Ohio

2012-01-25T07:42:00.003-05:00

As natural gas prices have fallen Chesapeake Energy announced it would reduce the number of working drilling rigs and delay pipeline construction. That comes as bad news for the Marcellus shale in northeastern Pennsylvania, the Haynesville shale in Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas and the Barnett shale in Texas but it's good news for Ohio. Chesapeake will focus on liquid-rich plays, including Ohio’s Utica shale that “offer superior returns in the current strong liquids price environment.” It's an ill wind that blows no good and what Chesapeake is saying is that it is shifting its resources to where it can get the greatest return on its investment and that place is the Utica Shale. The Utica is a hybrid play. It yields liquids with its natural gas so while natural gas prices may be in a free fall due to the short term glut; the liquid portion of the play continues to be very profitable. Utica wells produce oil, propane, ethane and butane, all of which are lucrative because they have a wide variety of uses. As rigs are idled in other shales some of them will be shifted to Ohio and he Utica.
.

It's ironic that as Obama announces his long delayed endorsement of the natural gas boom it would go into a stall that probably will not restart until after the 2012 election. As natural gas prices remain low and gasoline prices increase this summer his decision on the Keystone XL pipeline will provide political fodder to Republicans. As export facilities are developed, gas fired power plants constructed, and more vehicles, especially heavy trucks, shift to natural gas it will again be a hot play. As Keynes once said, "In the long run we are all dead." Some may be politically dead in both the short and long run.
Update: The Dayton Daily News has more on this story and it a good read.

Palin; Chris Christie Got His Panties in a Wad

2012-01-24T23:54:00.002-05:00

Sarah Palin says Chris Christie " Got his panties in a wad". We don't know how big of a fan she is of Newt Gingrich but she is no Mitt Romney groupie.

Gingrich Leads In Gallup Poll

2012-01-24T23:40:00.002-05:00

In the latest Gallup daily tracking poll Newt Gingrich has pulled ahead of Mitt Romney. He has erased a 23 point lead and now leads Romney by 4.

LightSquared Attempted to Bribe Senator Grassley With A Call Center

2012-01-24T22:48:00.005-05:00

This blog was one of the first blogs to report the LightSquared scandal. At the time it seemed that the administration was the sole culprit in the case when it pressured Air Force Major General William Shelton to change his testimony about the adverse effect LightSquared's proposed 4G LTE network would have on GPS. Later it was learned that the waiver granted by the FCC which was chaired by Julius Genachowski, a law school buddy of President Obama was tantamount to a $10 billion gift to LightSquared if it could successfully build out its wireless network. Further digging revealed that many in the Obama administration were invested personally in LightSquared and that one Obama crony,
Donald Gips had reaped a $500,000 profit when he sold his stock options and that Senator Obama had once purchased $50,000 worth of Skyterra stock, the company that owned the broadband spectrum which was acquired by Harbinger Capital and renamed LightSquared.

Okay, team Obama got caught with its hand in the cookie jar and unless it can come up with another retirement plan soon they may have to live out the rest of their lives in the middle class. Now a new wrinkle to the case is emerging and this case may turn toxic. Sen. Chuck Grassley has been a consistent and persistent critic of LightSquared and now he is charging that LightSquared is attempting to use "improper influence" to silence him. If one wants to bribe a Senator one should know the Senator's price and in this case it seems LightSquared missed big time. Senator Grassley is hopping mad and has written a letter to Harbinger Capital's CEO Philip Falcone expressing his outrage. Grassley states that twice his staff has been contacted urging him to "pull punches" in his investigation. If the Senator would agree to not rough up LightSquared too much Iowa, Grassley's home state, would be rewarded with a "call center".

On January 6, 2012, at approximately 12:45 p.m., a member of my staff who is investigating the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) decision to grant a waiver to LightSquared, a company owned by your hedge fund, Harbinger Capital Partners, received a phone call from Mr. Todd Ruelle of Fine Point Technologies. Mr. Ruelle indicated that he “only gets paid if this deal goes through” and that “there will be a call center in the Midwest, possibly in Iowa, if this deal goes through.” This statement is of particular concern in light of your e-mail to my staff on October 5, 2011, which read in part, “The last thing I want to do is to make this more political than it already is. It doesn’t belong in that arena. However, since we are already there, I believe I can make this into a win for the Senator, Lightsquared and the consumer.” Taken together, these two statements implied an invitation to pull punches in my investigation. I won’t be a part of that. …

In the course of his phone call to my staff, Mr. Ruelle indicated that while he had not yet been paid by you or Harbinger Capital Partners, he had been offering you advice regarding LightSquared’s negotiations with me and the FCC. Mr. Ruelle stated that he did not appreciate the involvement of lawyers and suggested that you directly ask to meet with me, which you then did.

In addition to this comment, he also told my staff that he had booked you for an appearance on Fox News. A recent FOIA request made public by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) yielded an e-mail from Mr. Ruelle to a federal employee forwarding his e-mails to Fox News bookers where he arranged for you to appear on the Fox News Channel. In this e-mail chain, Mr. Ruelle writes to the federal employee, in reference to your appearance in which you rebutted charges of political influence with the Obama administration and the FCC. Mr. Ruelle wrote: “I have arranged to hit back HARD!” After that email, the government employee asked Mr. Reuelle not to contact him in the future

Grassley has referred the matter to the Senate Ethics Committee which is a pretty savvy thing to do. As of now, since he does not chair a committee Grassley has been hamstrung in his investigation by the majority party but the Ethics Committee is composed of an equal number of senators from each party. Meanwhile LightSquared and team Obama must tread water since the FCC had better not act while LightSquared is stymied in a Senate investigation.

Don't get lipstick on me!

2012-01-24T21:38:00.001-05:00

Obama says. Gateway Pundit.

US Attorney To Take Fifth But Did Nothing Wrong. Video

2012-01-24T20:10:00.002-05:00

Let me make sure I've done my research correctly. I want to get this right. Attorney General Eric Holder says that no one in the DOJ knew about Fast and Furious until he read about it in the newspaper. Strike that. Eric Holder was the only one in the DOJ who didn't know about it until he read about it in the newspaper because everyone else in the DOJ sent him memos that he didn't read. In any event, there was no wrong doing in the DOJ that all we need to know. Now we are hearing that an Assistant US Attorney in the Phoenix office, Patrick Cunningham is resigning, has lawyered up, and intends to invoke the fifth amendment protection against self incrimination rather than speak on the record about wrong doings that never occurred while he was working at DOJ. As I have stated before when US Attorneys start taking the fifth something must be wrong. Right? Congressman Darrell Issa lays it out in the video below. It's getting close to special prosecutor time!

SOTU check list

2012-01-24T19:59:00.001-05:00

Let me be perfectly clear.
Fair.
Millionaires and billionaires.
Green energy.
Fair.
Unprecedented.
Inherited.
Deficit.
Fairness.
For the children.
Health care.
New technologies.
We've only just begun. Ha.
Bin Ladin. Been there. Done that. Ha.
Bringing troops home.
We're all safer now. Ha. Not.
Public service.
College for everyone. Free.
Fiscally responsible. Maybe that'll include a budget for the first time.
Fair share.
Deficit.
Increase revenue.
The wealthiest among us.
Tax the rich.

Mark Oxner Ad: Children Depicted as Galley Slaves on the USS Obamaboat

2012-01-24T15:52:00.002-05:00

Talk about a hard hitting ad. No, this ad which pictures children as galley slaves on the ship of state, formerly the USS Constitution renamed the Obamaboat, is not put out by former loud mouth Florida Congressman Alan Grayson it's being run by his opponent Mark Oxner. It could not have happened to a nicer guy.

Crony Capitalism Spreads to DOD

2012-01-24T15:35:00.003-05:00

Surely it's just coincidence that an American company would be denied a chance to bid on a Department of Defense contract that was shipped off shore to a George Soros affiliated company. Of the twenty green energy loans doled out by the Department of Energy 16 of them went to Obama campaign contributors which is also coincidence. The latest bit of Obama malfeasance is the contract for a new attack aircraft which went to Brazilian company Embraer which is currently under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Justice Department, for possible violations of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Embraer is accused of engaging in bribery in three countries, none of which have been identified publicly. If found guilty, the company could be banned from doing any business with the US government at all. The SEC’s investigation of Embraer went public about three weeks before the Air Force disqualified Hawker Beechcraft without explanation. The Air Force refused to let the American competitor, Hawker Beechcraft, even bid on the project even though there were several advantages to allowing it to have the bid.

The AT-6 is designed and manufactured in the US to be used by the US and its allies.

Keeping this contract in the U.S. will help preserve 1,400 domestic jobs at 181 companies in 39 states.

The AT-6 draws its heritage from the airframe of the number-one training aircraft in the world, the Beechcraft T-6. The company has built more than 725 T-6 aircraft, which are used to train every fixed-wing military pilot in the United States and are successfully operated by six allied air forces around the world. The graduation to the AT-6 light attack airplane would be a natural progression.

The AT-6 is the sum of the Air Force's proven T-6, A-10C mission system and MC-12W sensor suite, which offers the Department of Defense logistics and cost efficiencies that no other aircraft in the competition can match.

The weapons and avionics systems included on the AT-6 are familiar to NATO allies and have been proven effective on many continents and in other NATO aircraft.

Not going quietly Hawker Beechcraft has filed suit in the Court of Federal Claims following notification late last week that the Government Accountability Office has declined to review its protest of the decision by the U.S. Air Force to exclude the company's Beechcraft AT-6 from the Light Air Support competition.

Rep Trey Gowdy; Washington Does Not Have Special First Amendment Rights

2012-01-24T13:32:00.002-05:00

Congressman Trey Gowdy from South Carolina is one of the best Tea Party finds in the 2010 election. Billing himself a just a simple country prosecutor Gowdy grills a Park Service supervisor about his refusal to enforce the law at McPherson Square in Washington.

"Just let me tell my constituents who want to visit DC this summer that they can come to any park they want to and they bring their tents as long as they say they're protesting."

"So you're not drawing a separate first amendment rule for insomniacs versus narcoleptics?"

Another Democrat revealed as liar and leaker

2012-01-24T07:45:00.000-05:00

It's not that Republicans don't lie.
They do.
But to lie in a way that endangers the lives of others is particularly despicable. It ain't just politics anymore. These are crimes.
Yesterday we had the revelation of a Democrat consultant/operative who tried to steal the identity of the Iowa Republican Secretary of State to make it look as if he had committed a crime.
Today the story is of a CIA agent who endangered the life of a fellow CIA operative in an attempt to discredit the Bush administration.
Remember all those notorious leaks to the New York Times during the Bush years? Leak after leak after leak?
It has now been revealed that the leaks originated from former CIA official and former John Kerry staffer John Kiriakou.
If you read the bland Washington Post article yesterday, as I did, you might wonder just how guilty Kiriakou is and how wrong he is.

In an interview with FBI officials last week, Kiriakou denied disclosing the names of covert officers and expressed dismay that defense attorneys, let alone detainees, had learned CIA officers’ names, according to the Justice Department complaint.

The document also cites an e-mail that Kiriakou allegedly sent to the CIA interrogator after the New York Times story was published, denying that he had talked except to warn the reporter that naming the interrogator “might not be illegal” but “would certainly be immoral.”

But Powerline has read the criminal complaint and calls Kiriakou's behavior "sickening."
Kiriakou is alleged to have provided to the New York Times (and the WaPo) extremely personal information about another CIA operative named Martinez who interrogated Al Qaeda members at Guantanamo.
This personal information enabled the NY Times reporter to stalk Martinez and his family; the information was also given to other reporters, who photographed Martinez and passed those photos on to Al Qaeda in Guantanamo.
Hinderaker at Powerline praises Obama's DOJ for doing the right thing in the case of these leakers but also asks why the New York Times editor and publisher are not also charged.
Kiriakou claims he asked the Times not to reveal the name and then lied to the FBI that he himself had given the name and personal information to the Times. All three men knew and acknowledged that the release of Martinez's name would endanger himself and his family.
This didn't stop them.
Theirs, apparently, was the higher moral authority, of getting the Bush administration.

The State Of The Union Mess

2012-01-24T07:44:00.002-05:00

Ever since the glory days of Lyndon B. Johnson days like today, the day of the State of the Union Address had an almost Christmasy feeling. Eager cabinet secretaries giggled in the glee that new federal largess would soon be visited on the many deserving project under their purview. New rights and new freedoms were constantly being discovered in budgetary esoterica. There was "freedom from want" and a "right to a job". Then the "right to affordable healthcare" was discovered and while not a favorite of the public it was loved by the political class who would be exempt from it so it was duly ordained as a natural right, passed into law and then the music died. The president is obligated by law to present a budget not to give a speech but President Obama is better a talking than he is at budgetary concerns so the country will get a speech but no budget and like it. Showing up with an empty sack on a traditional day of giving can be a little awkward especially to blue state legislators so what will the president serve? In the past he has served red meat to his adoring buffoons by attacking the members of the Supreme Court. That's not a good idea this year. The Supremes have been rather testy lately. They have handed the Obama administration two 9-0 losing decisions in recent weeks and during oral arguments in Sackett v EPA the justices all but bitch slapped Deputy Solicitor General Malcolm L. Stewart across the courtroom. The administration may even lose the vote of its own Elena Kagan.

Now Obama, with no money to give must cast about for a new target for his demagoguery or face the wrath of discontented Democrats. Oh, for the glory days of 2009 when then Speaker Nancy Pelosi jumped up and down like a wound up toy, applauding every inanity. Vice President Biden elected to forgo his nap and joined the Speaker in the almost erotic bliss that filled the chamber as Democrats anticipated a near trillion dollar stimulus slush fund. But now as the great orator Jeremiah Wright would say, "the chickens have come home to roost." Probably the Tea Party and its adherents will be called on to sate the blood lust of the party that puts people first. Although thought to be dead by the popular media, the Tea Party can still be vilified as the awful enemy that destroyed so many political careers. It hit the Democratic party like a plague in 2010 and the landscape is still littered with political corpses of the brave men and women of the party that only wanted the best for their friends and allies in business and labor. So if I were to bet, I would bet that tonight the Tea Party and House Republicans will be demonized far more than Ahmadinejad has ever been.

Where Is The Outrage At MF Global

2012-01-24T05:55:00.002-05:00

Since no one else is asking when will the DOJ investigate the MF Global theft of customers' funds I will. Jon Corzine, a former head of Goldman Sachs, former United States Senator, and former Governor of New Jersey has presided over grand larceny to the tune of $1.2 billion dollars yet the mainstream media has allowed this story to slip from public view. The fact that $1.2 billion dollars is missing absent an immediate excuse is prima facie evidence that a theft has been committed yet no grand jury has been convened and no arrests have been made. The video below in which Terry Duffy of the CME Group, the parent of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange is six weeks old. In that video Duffy flat out tells the Senate committee that a senior employee of MF Global stated that segregated funds had been transferred out of the customer accounts and that Jon Corzine was aware of it. Contrast the treatment of MF Global to that of Gibson Guitar where federal agents with guns drawn herded production employees into the parking lot then forced them to leave their personal affects and go home so the feds could investigate some allegedly illegally imported wood. Where is the outrage and where is the justice? BTW where is Occupy Wall Street when the corruption is real?

MF Global Money Still Missing

2012-01-23T17:34:00.001-05:00

Two and a half month after the collapse of MF Global the $1.2 billion in customer accounts has not turned up. The money has been stolen and there is no nice way to say it. By law money in customer accounts must be segregated from the company's money but it wasn't and now it's gone and the most ethical administration with its inept regulators and corrupt Department of Justice has yet to offer the victims of this theft or the public an explanation. There is a theory on Wall Street that the customer funds were Madoff -ed. In other word the trades were never made but the profits from the fictional trades were posted in customer accounts as if they had been made. Why would MF Global do this? Here is CNBC's reasoning;

" The answer might be quite simple. The firm was in dire financial straits. It may have felt pressure to keep customers on board by showing how ably the firm managed their money. A scheme like this need not involve the entire firm—or even the senior management. If this is indeed what happened, a small group of rogue traders at MF Global may have been able to carry off the rouse for quite some time. Perhaps perpetually—if not for the bankruptcy at MF Global".

In any event if this were Halliburton it's a safe bet we would be hearing about this 5 nights a week on all three channels.

TSA; Senator Rand Paul Not Detained

2012-01-23T16:54:00.000-05:00

TSA now says Senator Rand Paul was not detained. I guess the Senator just made the story up. Speaking on Hannity Paul says that he has been told that the beep the scanner emitted was not a machine error but rather it is programmed to beep randomly so TSA agents can do a full body pat down. Paul makes the point that frequent flyers who have a history of flying without incident could be given an id card that let them pass through without a scan.

Senator Rand Paul Detained by TSA

2012-01-23T11:03:00.004-05:00

This sounds like something the late Jim Croce would warn against. There are some things that smart people just don't do. Probably if you are a TSA agent you don't detain a United States Senator especially one named Rand Paul. Senator Paul has been detained by the TSA in Nashville. I'll bet there is weeping and gnashing of teeth in Washington after the libertarian senator arrives. There was an "anomaly" when he walked through the scanner. He offered to walk through again but TSA insisted on a full body pat down which he refused.

video platform video management video solutions video player

Update: The detention was both illegal and unconstitutional. The U.S. Constitution actually protects federal lawmakers from detention while they’re on the way to the Capital.

“The Senators and Representatives…shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same….” according to Article I, Section 6.

The Senate is back in session today at 2 p.m., with votes scheduled at 4:30 p.m.

Hey, Newt! You're not an outsider! Go with it...

2012-01-23T08:41:00.001-05:00

Watching the debates and controversy swirl around the Republican race for the nomination has gotten pretty intense.
It's hard to figure what's going to happen next, which is really good for the process, imho, considering that for Republicans it's usually just the next old white guy in line who gets the establishment nod and nomination.
So Newt's sudden surge has many people perked up; if he can win or not we don't really know although it's pretty stupid that people are comparing money raised and popularity on the Republican side with the current administration considering we DON"T HAVE A CANDIDATE YET and considering the money that's been pouring in has been spread out over LOTS OF CANDIDATES.
But the wonks are eager to get on with the fight, to crown Romney and then declare it impossible for him to win against The Prince.
Newt's, wow, interesting, to say the least.
But it's totally phony for the bombastic Gingrich to claim he's an outsider. He's not and it's foolish and errant and dishonest for him to claim that he's anything BUT an insider:

Toward the end of his appearance, Gingrich positioned himself as an outsider candidate, willing to cut spending and take on the establishment, much like, he said, former President Ronald Reagan. It was a tricky move, considering Gingrich’s long-time residency in Washington and his former leadership role in Congress.

“I represent the largest amount of change of any candidate,” he said. “I’m not representing Wall Street or the politicians in Washington.”

So here's a personal letter to Newt Gingrich, which surely he'll read:

Dear Newt:
You know how the system works. In that sense, you are an insider. But you could play that to an advantage, if you're smart, and claim that your insider knowledge will help you work through the changes that this country needs to make to avoid default.
You've walked the walk of a leader and should play on that. You made real change happen before; you have that experience and can do it again.
Be honest. Don't prevaricate. We've had enough of that.
Quit attacking Mitt, especially on the Bain issue. You REALLY made a whole lot of us mad on that. Throw Mitt off by complimenting and then ignoring him.We're sick of the cannibalism.
Acknowledge your quixotic tendencies. Accusations have been made that you're too chaotic, that a Gingrich administration would be too unorganized.
Surround yourself with calm, decisive people. Just as Mitt has the flamboyant Chris Christie out there to contrast with his own milquetoastism, you need someone phlegmatic to balance your own excitability.
If we're seriously going down the Newt road, you need to start turning positive.
You need to quit attacking the media so directly and instead do it with humor (do you have a sense of humor?) You know, like Reagan did.
You need to start building consensus and good will.
You've taken so many different paths to get where you are now; please consider becoming the voice of reason and not just the voice of dissent. Oh, we love the voice of dissent.
But this election will be a lot more than debates; it will be a lot more than just dissenting with the current administration.
If you're serious about winning, look ahead.
Claiming you're an outsider just won't do it.

Cardinal Dolan; Obama Has Drawn a Line in the Sand

2012-01-23T03:13:00.002-05:00

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), said the Obama administration had “drawn an unprecedented line in the sand” with the decision. Bishop Dolan was referring to the recent HHS ruling that will force many Catholic institutions to include contraceptives including abortion inducing medications as no co- pay benefits in their healthcare insurance plans. While the decision has not attracted much media attention expect this issue to be heard loudly and often during the fall campaign.

“In effect, the president is saying we have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences,” the cardinal-designate said in a separate statement. “To force American citizens to choose between violating their consciences and forgoing their health care is literally unconscionable. It is as much an attack on access to health care as on religious freedom. Historically this represents a challenge and a compromise of our religious liberty.”

Arizona to Investigate ATF, DOJ

2012-01-23T01:02:00.001-05:00

They investigated Sheriff Joe Arpaio for racial profiling. They sued the State of Arizona to prevent enforcement of it tough new immigration law and now it's time for Arizona to investigate the Department of Justice. In a nasty tit for tat the DOJ and the ATF will find themselves the target of an Arizona state investigation to determine if federal officers broke Arizona law in Operation Fast and Furious.

Sopa Smopa, Fix it Yourselves

2012-01-23T00:10:00.003-05:00

Chris Dodd the former senator from Connecticut and present head of the
Motion Picture Association of America is having a hissy fit because the lawmakers he bought won't stay bought. Gee, is there no honor among thieves anymore? I recalled a particularly harsh assessment of Mr. Dodd's character during the dust up surrounding the AIG bonuses. That caustic evaluation of the good senator' character appeared in his hometown paper, the New Haven Register and began;

"We’re not going to mince words. Chris Dodd is a lying weasel.

It is hard enough to swallow that the senator had no idea that he got preferential treatment on his home mortgages that saved him thousands of dollars. Or that, simply out of friendship, a wealthy New York man, who was later convicted in a huge stock swindle, picked up much of the cost of a condo Dodd bought in Washington; or that the stock swindler’s business partner out of a love of Ireland did the same for Dodd when the senator bought a waterfront house in Ireland.

Now, Dodd flat-out has lied about his role in legislation that is allowing employees of American International Group to receive $400 million in bonuses despite receiving $173 billion in taxpayer money to keep the failed financial giant alive."

Suffice it to say, Dodd seems to have acquired a reputation for not always being Boy Scout honest. Now the New Haven Weasel is threatening the legislators and the White House whom he thought he had bought with this unvarnished threat right on national television.

"Those who count on quote 'Hollywood' for support need to understand that this industry is watching very carefully who's going to stand up for them when their job is at stake. Don't ask me to write a check for you when you think your job is at risk and then don't pay any attention to me when my job is at stake."

Hear that Barack? Don't ask him to write a check when your job is on the line.

Now a fair minded president would tell Dodd to fight his own fights and leave the taxpayers out of it. How exactly does the taxpayer benefit from the protection of copyrighted material. If a building contractor should egress on your easement don't bother to call Eric Holder. He will tell you that its civil law and that's what courts are for. Oh, but when the property is intellectual property not only the federal government but Google, FaceBook, Reddit, Wikipedia, and every web master should put aside their personal concerns and be about the very serious business of protecting the soft core porn pushed by the clients of the New Haven Weasel. I am sorry that Avatar sold 21 million pirated copies but how did the originals get into the hands of the pirates? Has anyone noticed that Broadway plays don't have this problem? Why? Because they keep their intellectual property indoors. They protect their content. The internet may facilitate the piracy problem but the movie and music industries have only themselves to blame for the loss of anticipated income. Not content to live on the income from theaters and concert halls these industries push their products through live streaming and DVD's then it becomes the public's obligation to protect their rights. The public has a pretty accurate opinion of Mr. Dodd and his clients and has neither the time or inclination to surrender their individual freedom to make greed pay.

Shreveport: The Auto Capital of the World?

2012-01-22T22:52:00.002-05:00

This blog has focused on the development of the Utica Shale from a more or less provincial perspective, essentially documenting what the potential good it can do for Ohio. From time to time the Marcellus Shale is mentioned when it effects Ohio such as being the chief reason for the incipient rebirth of Youngstown's steel industry. The Utica is at newborn age, and the Marcellus a toddler but the venerable Hayneville has been prominent since 2008. The Hayneville Shale, located in northern Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas is the largest shale gas field yet developed and it is in its infancy but its impact has been so profound that a major producer of methanol announced that it had secured land in Louisiana and was weighing moving an idle plant in Chile to the site, a pending decision driven in large part by the state's record gas production and steady shale reserves.

As the industry eyes the export market for the sudden surplus of natural gas work has begun on two new ocean transports. When these ships are completed in Gulfport, Mississippi they will be the only natural gas powered ships in the US merchant marine. Fearing that drilling will decline if the price of gas drops further the gas industry is busy trying to find domestic uses for this cheap and abundant fuel. The idea of producing natural gas powered automobiles in Louisiana is gaining attention although no concrete proposals have yet appeared.

Sure, you say Shreveport will be the next Detroit and Bobby Jindal will be the next Henry Ford. First, Bobby Jindal probably won't be a player unless he puts up his own money. Second the participants in the conference where thinking along regional lines for the launch of the automobile. They imagine they can put enough service stations in place in Louisiana and increase auto production as natural gas fuel stations move across the country. Presently a ten gallon fill up of the natural gas equivalent of gasoline would cost $21.50 compared to $35. for ten gallons of gasoline. At present only Honda produces a natural gas powered vehicle which was reported here. If other automakers do not want to compete in this market the free market dreamers in Louisiana could find a niche that has an awesome upside potential as natural gas becomes abundant in the midwest. Henrik Fisker was an European auto designer who owned no production facilities and had never manufactured so much as a Vegematic but with a $529 million DOE loan did eventually manage to produce an electric car. A group of wealthy investors could hire the expertise and find the idle industrial capacity for much less, not to produce a bauble for the rich and famous but rather to produce a economical car or truck suitable for individual use in a limited locality. There are eight natural gas fueling stations in Louisiana, including three open to the public, and plans under way for 15 more. "If you build it, they will come."

As wild and futuristic as this idea sounds, people in Ohio and Pennsylvania may soon be dreaming the same dreams.

Gabby Giffords says goodbye. For now

2012-01-22T17:48:00.000-05:00

Even though I disagree with some of her political positions, I find this an amazing woman. Her recovery is remarkable but what is most admirable is her desire to do what she thinks is right for the people of her district, and that includes stepping down because she needs to focus on her recovery.
Kudos, Ms. Giffords.

Obama operative arrested trying to frame Republican SoS

2012-01-22T14:56:00.002-05:00

You'll recall that Dems are violently opposed to requiring any kind of ID to vote, even though to vote in unions or even their own primaries, voters are required to produce a government picture ID.
You might also recall that George Soros funded an ACORN operation to put into place as many ACORN secretaries of state as possible, Ohio being a target.
Now we learn that an Obama operative has attempted to get a Republican SOS charged with a crime; the Obama operative attempted to steal the identity of the Republican SOS.
The Washington Examiner has all the links to the important sources today:

It's probably going to be lost in coverage of today's South Carolina GOP presidential primary but the biggest story of the day - and maybe much more than that even - could prove to be the arrest of a former Obama campaign staffer in a scheme to impersonate Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz.

Zachary Edwards was arrested for attempting to steal the identity of the SOS. Edwards performed numerous services for Obama in numerous states; somehow the link to his resume at the Democrat consulting services has been wiped, but not forgotten.
Is there more to come? Is this what we are to expect nationwide from Obama operatives, the Examiner wonders.

WaPo: someone write one negative story about Obama PLEASE

2012-01-22T14:08:00.000-05:00

So the Washington Post feels a little guilty about how they favor Obama, slobbering over him every chance they get.
The liberal media has been in a quandary; we are closing in on another election and what do we do?
Obama's record is so pathetic there's nothing to tout; the only path to his success is to tear down any opponent, aggrandize Obama's record and pretend that their friends represent the majority of the voters.
Meanwhile they hurl invectives at Republican audiences for being blood lusty for being angry with the MSM.
The ombudsman at the WaPo referring to Obama:

I think there was way too little coverage of his record in the Illinois Senate and U.S. Senate, for example, with one or two notably good exceptions. But there were hard-hitting stories too, even a very tough one on Michelle Obama’s job at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

And that’s what The Post needs to do in covering his reelection campaign this year: be hard-hitting on his record and provide fresh insight and plenty of context to put the past three rough years into perspective.

So in pursuit of inoculation and readers, who springs to the forefront?
Why, Maureen Dowd, of course! She's a good party liner, if nothing else.
Dowd mentions that Obama thinks the reason the press corps doesn't like him is because he doesn't attend (or apparently throw) enough parties. In fact, Obama himself says:

My suspicion is that this whole critique has to do with the fact that I don’t go to a lot of Washington parties. And as a consequence, the Washington press corps maybe just doesn’t feel like I’m in the mix enough with them, and they figure, well, if I’m not spending time with them, I must be cold and aloof.

Yeah. Not enough parties. That's his problem.
Dowd goes on to complain that the Obamas are too isolated and, maybe, well, too stuck up.

As Michelle said to Oprah in an interview she did with the president last May: “I always told the voters, the question isn’t whether Barack Obama is ready to be president. The question is whether we’re ready. And that continues to be the question we have to ask ourselves.”

They still believed, as their friend Valerie Jarrett once said, that Obama was “just too talented to do what ordinary people do.”

But Dowd can't help herself.
Though she acknowledges the Obamas feel like victims, she can't resist taking a shot at Newt, who she claims is playing the perpetual victim by slamming the press:

The Obamas truly feel like victims. But Newt Gingrich, who campaigns by attacking the culture of victimization, plays one on stage. He soared at the Charleston CNN debate by brazenly proclaiming himself the victim of “the elite media protecting Barack Obama” (the same Obama who told Time he was victimized by the press). Newt’s gambit was a calculated way of deflecting attention from a charge by his second wife, Marianne, that the family values he preaches are hypocritical platitudes, given his cheating ways with two wives he divorced when they were ill.

The news isn't that the Obamas feel like victims.
What we have to look forward to is a smattering of stories about Obama's faults and a whole buttload of stories about how bad whoever the Republican nominee is.
Like a single "tough" story about Michelle Obama breaking the law. Then let it go.
How about this, MoDo.
How about you actually report on Barack Obama like he's a real politician. How about you actually report on his narcissism, his roots in Marxism, his lack of records.
How about we start with this report, from the Daily Mail that Barack Obama never felt like people appreciated him? That everyone was inferior to him? Maybe that isn't news.

Though she had thrown herself into the campaign, she had been sceptical from the outset about the very notion of her husband running for president.Barack Obama had been constantly dissatisfied with where he was in life. When he was elected to the state senate in Illinois, he immediately began complaining that the body was not serious and referred to his colleagues as idiots.

As soon as he entered the U.S. Senate, he felt frustrated.At his first hearing on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he sat listening to a long-winded address by Senator Joe Biden — later to become his vice-president — and passed a note to an aide that said: ‘Shoot. Me. Now.

That's right. Everybody's an idiot but you, Barack Obama.

Republican "bloodlust," Part Deux

2012-01-22T07:42:00.000-05:00

Again with the "Republican audience bloodlust," now a meme, this time from Politico.
We discussed this yesterday.
Once again the dinosaur and liberal media, this time in the form of Roger Simon of Politico, have called a Republican audience responding to "bloodlust in the air," while at the same time saying Newt was "arrogant, condescending and dismissive" by appealing to the audience's lower instincts.
Why? Because they feel passionately about an issue and somehow the press is trying to twist their reasons as being racist.
Here's video from MRC:

Here's a classic example of the reason that Republican audiences despise the MSM.
In pumping the story on Newt's infidelities as ABC decided to do a retrospective of philandering politicians; their retrospective includes the thinly sourced Thomas Jefferson (whose connection is familial, not necessarily direct), Grover Cleveland and a couple contemporary politicians like Spitzer and some guy named Vito.
Nowhere in the ABC report is the most famous recent philanderer whose actions caused him to lose his law license because of misleading testimony regarding his philandering.
Yes, that's right.
Bill Clinton isn't a more famous philanderer than, say, Thomas Jefferson.
Here's the offending "report." ABC.
In fact, ABC didn't care about European reports about any interest Obama may have had in one Vera Baker. Or John Edwards.
ABC also didn't appear to care about reports that Marianne Gingrich is unstable and that she had boasted years ago that she planned to dash his presidential aspirations with a "single television interview."

Just What the Country Needs, a "Reasonable Profits Board"

2012-01-22T06:36:00.000-05:00

It just what the country needs, a "Reasonable Profits Board". So says Congressman Dennis Kucinich. The board would be made up of three members appointed by the president and it would impose a tax on oil companies that earned above a "reasonable profit" by apply a windfall profits tax to range from 50 to 100 percent of earnings beyond what the board deems a reasonable profit. Why do Rep. Kucinich and the cosponsors think gasoline prices may rise. Primarily because the administration has done everything in its power to drive up energy prices. It has allowed the Iranian government to maintain a credible threat to shut off one quarter of the world's oil supply by blockading shipping in the Persian Gulf. It has refused to allow the construction of the Keystone XL pipe line for reasons at odd with its original environmental evaluation and it has brought oil and gas drilling on federal lands to a near 20 year low. Under the Kucinich plan, The Gas Price Spike Act, H.R. 3784 money raised from the windfall profits would be funneled into more useless green transportation projects such as high speed rail and subsidies in the form of rebates to people who buy cars the normally would not want. Fortunately Congress is in the hands of saner people so this bill is going nowhere but to cynically drive up gas prices to extract higher taxes is a new wrinkle we haven't seen before. Joining Kucinich in this lunacy as cosponsors are; Reps. John Conyers Jr. (Mich.), Bob Filner (Calif.), Marcia Fudge (Ohio), Jim Langevin (R.I.), and Lynn Woolsey (Calif.).

Gingrich Does Well Among Women Voters

2012-01-22T04:39:00.003-05:00

The question was asked ad nauseam since Newt Gingrich blew up at John King. Sure Gingrich won that encounter but what about the women vote? Turns out Gingrich did better among women than Romney. Romney pulled 30 percent of the women vote. Gingrich got 36 percent. How did Gingrich with his three marriages do among the Christian right? Voters who identified themselves as evangelical or born-again Christians, gave Gingrich 42 percent of the vote to Romney's 22 percent. One gets a sense her that among Republican voters that the ability to trounce Obama trumps all other matters. Ninety-seven percent of all respondents said they were worried about the economy and 79 percent they were extremely worried.

Newt wins SC!

2012-01-21T19:49:00.000-05:00

Wow. This is pretty remarkable.
~~37% to 33~~
41% to 26 @ 39%

Hey, OBAMA, life will never be FAIR for everyone

2012-01-21T18:37:00.001-05:00

Man, same old same old in the upcoming SOTU. Green jobs. Economy's gonna pick up. My focus is good paying jobs that will be FAIR and not just for the FEW. Everyone's going to work hard and get great pay and nobody will have stuff other people won't have.
Yeah.
Here's a preview.

Conservative band rocks Occupiers

2012-01-21T17:31:00.003-05:00

From Big Hollywood, it's good to know there are a few people in entertainment who are conservative.

In a story you will NOT hear or read about in the mainstream media, it appears Madison Rising truly did “occupy” the Occupiers and those in attendance were completely oblivious to the fact that they were being entertained by a pro-American, pro-military, pro-capitalism (you get the picture) band. In fact, they absolutely loved the music; they were dancing to it, cheering them on, and even tweeting how “tight” this band was as they performed songs like American Dream, Honk if You Want Peace, Before the Hyphen Came, and Where Was The Media Then. Perhaps they were too stoned to pay any attention to the lyrics or could it be they are just that clueless? My guess is both!

Buffett benefits from Keystone stalling

2012-01-21T17:23:00.002-05:00

Don Surber has the story of how Obama shill and tax dodger Warren Buffett benefits from the delay or eradication of the Keystone pipeline. Crony capitalism, again, destroys jobs in the US:

The Keystone pipeline would create thousands of union jobs and reduce U.S. dependency on Saudi oil, Venezuelan oil, and Nigerian oil.

But the man who pays the piper calls the tune, and Warren Buffett is paying the piper. He will rake in millions, if not billions, by eliminating a potential rival for his oil customers in North Dakota.

More here.

The "bloodlust" of right wing audiences

2012-01-21T11:13:00.001-05:00

I guess I don't have a problem with the press exploring the questions about Newt.
I probably don't have a problem with the press exploring Romney's finances.
To be honest, the moralizing about politics and people's personal lives gets old. We've all been sort of broken when it comes to morality after the whole Clinton debacle.
It's not that character doesn't matter; it does. That's really not a question.
All the excuses Moveon.org tried to push when Clinton was exploiting a 20 something intern were phony and trumped up to excuse inexcusable behavior.
But the whole impeachment thing wasn't about sex. It was about lying under oath and it was about trying to force an innocent person, Linda Tripp, into testifying falsely.
We also know that everyone has problems, suffers pain, makes mistakes, although some of Newt's mistakes are pretty awful.
So liberals broke the sexually problematic candidacy with their guy Clinton.
Now they're trying to drudge up the whole sexual picadillo thing , using opposite arguments to their advantage and it's not working.
It seems pretty naive for Newt to just proclaim, "I asked God for forgiveness, but the truth is that you reach a certain age when you realize that people commit some pretty awful deeds against one another and hide some pretty awful stuff.
So back to the whole Romney's money/Newt's temperament issues.
So why did the audience when Newt laid into John King? Why did the audience cheer in September when Rick Perry approved the death penalty when asked if he had trouble sleeping by the as always left wing so-called "moderator."
Why?
IF THE MEDIA TREATED BOTH SIDES OF THE AISLE THE SAME, WE WOULDN"T FEEL THIS IS SO UNFAIR, BIASED AND PARTISAN.
If the media were doing its job, we'd be disgusted with them and their sex stories, but at least we'd know that they were doing their jobs, searching for truth and clarity, no matter what road we go down.
But they're not doing their jobs.
Thus the other side of the aisle is just going to have to get used to the "bloodlust" of right aisle audiences when it comes to excoriating the media and ripping on Obama.

Thirty-One Percent of South Carolina GOP Prefer Tebow to Romney

2012-01-20T23:03:00.003-05:00

Public Policy Polling likes to ask odd questions. They are a Democratic leaning organization so keep that in mind. That said, 31 percent of Republicans favor Tim Tebow over Mitt Romney.

Gingrich Lead Expands In Wake Ex's Interview

2012-01-20T22:40:00.002-05:00

This is a remarkable statement from Public Policy Polling (PPP): "Gingrich's lead has actually increased in the wake of his ex-wife's controversial interview with ABC. Although one night poll results should always be interpreted with caution, he led the final night of the field period by a 40-26 margin. One thing that continues to work to his advantage are the debates. 60% of primary voters report having watched the one last night, and Gingrich has a 46-23 lead with those folks." I'm sure this isn't what the ex intended.

The poll finds Gingrich surging in South Carolina. In the final week, PPP finds Gingrich going from 24% to 37% while Romney has remain practically unchanged, going from 29 % to 28%. Santorum gets 16 % while Paul gets 14%.

Obamism; Close to Marxism

2012-01-20T20:40:00.000-05:00

The various speakers discuss Obama's unsavory past and his party's plan to win the next election with the aid of Occupy Wall Street and the Department of Justice.

Let's crawl into the mind of a couple occupiers

2012-01-20T20:02:00.001-05:00

What am I gonna pass down to my kids, man? What? (toke) I mean, a living wage? I need it to be happy, man! (toke)

Sen. Boxer Coast Guard Should Train Cruise Ship Passengers

2012-01-20T18:13:00.001-05:00

Since Lincoln Davenport Chafee lost his Senate seat in 2006 Senator Barbara Boxer has been the dumbest United State Senator by even the most charitable estimates. "Please call me Senator" Boxer's latest foray into leftist la la land is the notion that the Coast Guard, in light of the sinking of the cruise ship, Costa Concordia, should train cruise ship passengers on emergency evacuation procedures before they head out to sea. Actually cruise ships do give this training but under current regulations are permitted to delay this tedium until after the ship is asea. Atta girl Babs, the country isn't going broke fast enough and with the proposed defense budget cuts the DOD can always lop off another battalion or two to protect passengers against a once in a generation risk.

Dr. John Drew Exposes Obama's Marxist Past

2012-01-20T17:34:00.004-05:00

Hiding in plain sight all during the 2008 election was Dr. John C. Drew. He wasn't truly hiding but rather was ignored by all of the popular media. Dr. Drew was a student at Cornell and visited Occidental College where he met Barack, "just call me Barry," Obama. Like Obama he was a Marxist. He outgrew his adolescent naivete but Obama instead became president. He described his first meeting with Obama in an American Thinker post:

The taller of the two was Obama, then only 19, who towered over his five-foot-five companion, Mohammed Hasan Chandoo - a wealthy, 21 year old Pakistani student. Chandoo had a full dark black, neatly trimmed moustache, and was dressed in expensive clothes. Nevertheless, Obama was the more handsome of the two. At six foot two, Obama carried himself with the dignity and poise of a model. The diminutive Chandoo, in contrast, came across as more of a practical, businessman type. Obama displayed a visible deference to Chandoo when they were standing together at the vehicle.

Chandoo was vaguely familiar to me as a participant in the earlier anti-apartheid rallies on the Occidental College campus. In David Remnick's book, The Bridge, Chandoo's bona fides as a committed Marxist were well-known to those close to him. Chandoo's girlfriend at the time, Margot Mifflin, told Remnick that "In college, Hasan was a socialist, a Marxist, which is funny since he is from a wealthy family. Young Obama, on the other hand, was completely new to me.

"This is Barack Obama," Boss said.

Since I was not much taller than Chandoo, I remember I looked up at Obama as we shook hands. I was completely mystified by the pronunciation of his name. He did not put up a fight over it, however.

"You can call me Barry," Obama said.

During the introduction, Boss and Chandoo were eager to let me know that Obama was a graduate of the prestigious Punahou Academy, an elite prep school in Honolulu. I vividly remember that Chandoo was intensely proud of Obama's ties to Punahou. This prestige, however, was wasted on me. I had never heard of the school and did not have a clue about what it meant to be one of its graduates. Obama seemed embarrassed by the fuss. Boss, I remember, wanted to make sure I understood that young Obama was not merely an attractive socialite dabbling in Marxist theory. "You've worked with us," she observed. "You've been at our DSA meetings. You've been active in the anti-apartheid movement."

In another long video Dr Drew relates that they walked so closely that he thought they were a gay couple.

In the video linked above Drew maintains that Obama's mother's name, Stanley should be a tip off to the nuts in the Obama family tree. He describes young Obama as a red diaper baby, that is one raised from childhood to be a Marxist. Certainly we will see more of Drew during the upcoming campaign. With a phd in political science, Drew has the gravitas to discuss Obama with dispassionate objectivity and can more than hold his own with the media. The video below is long but well worth the time spent listening.

Top DOJ Official Will Take The Fifth In Fast & Furious Probe

2012-01-20T15:00:00.002-05:00

Oh this looks bad! A senior Department of Justice official will take the fifth when he testifies before congress next week. As I reported earlier Patrick Cunningham from the Arizona US attorney office has been subpoenaed to testify before Congressman Darrell Issa's House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Now Cunningham has indicated his intention to invoke the fifth amendment protection against self incrimination. Congressman Issa has released this statement;

“The assertion of the fifth amendment by a senior Justice official is a significant indictment of the Department’s integrity in Operation Fast and Furious. The former head of the ATF has previously told the committee that the Justice Department is managing its response to Operation Fast and Furious in a manner designed to protect its political appointees. This is the first time anyone has asserted their fifth amendment right in this investigation and heightens concerns that the Justice Department’s motivation for refusing to hand over subpoenaed materials is a desire to shield responsible officials from criminal charges and other embarrassment.

“Coming a year after revelations about reckless conduct in Operation Fast and Furious were first brought to light, the assertion of the fifth amendment also raises questions about whether President Obama and Attorney General Holder have made a serious and adequate response to allegations raised by whistleblowers. Did Attorney General Holder really not know a senior Justice Department official fears criminal prosecution or is this just another example of him hiding important facts? The committee will continue to demand answers.”

Cunningham is making a compelling case for the appointment of a special prosecutor. When a prosecutor takes the fifth amendment something is very wrong. As I said, this looks bad.

Obama Loses Another 9-0 Court Decision

2012-01-20T14:07:00.001-05:00

For the second time in as many weeks the Obama administrator has been slapped down 9-0 by the Supreme Court. Last week the Court sent the EEOC packing by upholding "ministerial privilege" and today the Court threw out the judge drawn reapportionment plan in the Texas redistricting battle. In an earlier post this blog reported that a DOJ employee working on the Texas case had been caught lying under oath but still retained her position. Today in an unsigned opinion that drew no dissent the Court sent the Texas case back to the district court. I'll bet the administration can't wait to argue the constitutional merits of Obamacare.

SOPA begins...1,2,3, retaliation

2012-01-20T08:48:00.001-05:00

As millions of people protest the SOPA and PIPA laws, Lamar Smith, who has taken numerous dollars from the motion picture industry and who was guilty himself of committing copyright infringement, refuses to withdraw the bill.
Republican presidential candidates are lining up to reject it, as Obama has vowed also. At least for now.
But the hacker group Anonymous last night took down a number of websites after the government shut down a peer sharing website called megaupload.
Websites taken down by Anonymous include the RIAA, DOJ, MPA, EMI, the FBI and Universal.
I'm thinkin' this wasn't such a good fight to pick.Woe to be Lamar Smith.
How do these people honestly think they're going to shut down offshore websites. In addition, seriously, these digital immigrants need to learn that the digital natives do NOT see things the way they do.
As of this writing, it appears that many of the links that describe the Anonymous activities are also *inexplicably* down.

This is scary stuff and an ominous foretelling of the future.

Dems: voter fraud is SOP for us

2012-01-20T08:32:00.002-05:00

It's a "normal political tactic" for Dems to participate in voter fraud.
And that's a quote.

Skinny man sings

2012-01-20T08:18:00.000-05:00

I'm just hoping he can find himself a new career.

Top US Attorney Official Subpoenaed By Issa

2012-01-20T03:21:00.005-05:00

Darrell Issa will call his House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to order next week as the investigation into Fast and Furious resumes. It's know that a subpoena has been issued to a top official in the US Attorney’s Office District of Arizona, Chief of the Criminal Division, Patrick Cunningham. It's unknown what Cunningham has to tell the committee but the US Attorney Dennis Burke has already resigned. Apparently Cunningham has been something less than cooperative judging from the tone of Congressman Issa's letter;

“Yesterday, you canceled your interview scheduled with the Committee for Thursday, January, 19, 2012. As recently as last Friday, both your attorney and the Department of Justice had assured the Committee that you would submit to a voluntary interview and that you intended to cooperate with our investigation,” the letter said.

“It is of paramount importance that you appear before the Committee….As a result of your recalcitrance and inflexible position, the Committee is now forced to engage in compulsory process to obtain your testimony,” he wrote, explaining the subpoena.

In the letter, Issa expressed concern about Cunningham’s role in the Fast and Furious case.

“[Senior Justice Department officials] told us that even after Congress began investigating Fast and Furious, you continued to insist that no unacceptable tactics were used,” he wrote.

“Given that the Attorney General has labeled these tactics as unacceptable and Fast and Furious as ‘fundamentally flawed,’ this position is startling.”

Cunningham is scheduled to testify on January 24.

Newt Wipes Up The Floor With John King

2012-01-20T00:46:00.002-05:00

John King should have known better. Newt Gingrich had all day to think of a response to a question he knew would come. He was waiting for that pitch and when he got it the crowd was on its feet. Hell, I stood up and clapped and I was at home. We here at this blog have not been kind to Newt but when we see that he is the only alternative to Romney we are forced to rethink our opinions. Having said that, let me state further that I have not seen another politician display the force that Gingrich possesses. He speaks to the press as if he were lecturing a rambunctious school boy and gets away with it. True, he always has either the facts or popular sentiments on his side but when he speaks ex cathedra he crushes the questioner with brute force. Herman Cain tried to do this without success. He lacked the moral authority in which Gingrich has some how managed to clock himself. I thought it was extraordinary that the archdiocese of Washington saw fit to post a video of one of his debate responses where he accused the Obama administration of bigotry on its web site.

Here in this video Newt wipes up the floor with CNN's John King.

More emerges about Marianne Gingrich

2012-01-19T15:22:00.004-05:00

Let the "vetting" begin.

Marianne Gingrich started her affair with Newt when he was married.

Now she's shocked that Gingrich broke up with her to marry someone else.

She complains that he had a 6 year affair with Callista but doesn't mention that she and Newt were separated for 6 years. ABC:

She said when Gingrich admitted to a six-year affair with a Congressional aide, he asked her if she would share him with the other woman, Callista, who is now married to Gingrich.

Newt asked for the divorced 8 months after she was diagnosed with MS, a fact described as "just months" in the ABC article. From ABOUT:

Bill Sanderson: "Gingrich asked Marianne for the divorce by phoning her on Mother's Day, 1999."
Source: Bill Sanderson. "Newt's Ex Wife Aiming to Pen Book." New York Post.7/18/2000.
Mickey Porter: "Gingrich's most recent ex-wife says he ditched her eight months after finding out she had multiple sclerosis. Marianne Gingrich, 48 ... says the ex-speaker of the House told her on Mother's Day 1999 that he wanted a divorce, after learning she had a neurological condition that could lead to MS [multiple sclerosis]."
Source: Mickey Porter. "Newt's a Beaut." Akron Beacon Journal. 7/25/2000.

Professor Jacobsen at Legal Insurrection has this:

There’s more to the story than you are hearing in the media. Marianne Gingrich is no innocent, and she was the one who broke the marriage and cleaned out the house, via Robert Costa via AP report from 1999 (h/tBurke):

Documents related to the divorce filed Friday in Cobb County Superior Court include a separation agreement signed by the couple and notarized in December 1987. There is no indication it was ever filed.

Gingrich’s divorce attorney, Thomas Browning, said Marianne Gingrich called her husband on his birthday in June 1987 to tell him she was leaving him.

Gingrich, he said, came back to Georgia to find his home emptied out.
Browning said the pair maintained separate residences for six years before reconciling in late 1993 or early 1994.

Suddenly character matters

2012-01-19T12:36:00.003-05:00

It didn't with Clinton because none of his acolytes expected anything of him.

Now there is shock and awe as yet another bimbo comes forward. Ok, that was unfair. An ex-wife is more than a bimbo.
But seriously. Isn't it time we stopped with all this old sex stuff?
And the excuses these women have for "coming forward"?
Marianne Gingrich, who's currently making the rounds shopping her story, maximizing the heart rending details which seem to be clear as day even though it was 12 years ago, explained herself this way, just as the first Mrs. Gingrich did when claiming she had cancer when he told her goodbye.

“Truthfully, my whole purpose was to get out there about who I was, so Newt couldn’t create me as an evil, awful person, which was starting to happen,” she said.

Ginger White, who claimed Herman Cain had an affair with her wanted to get out in front of it too.

White was worried a political tsunami was headed her way. So, she decided to head it off, by confessing she was involved in a 13-year-long affair with presidential hopeful Herman Cain.

“It was pretty simple,” White said. “It wasn't complicated. I was aware that he was married. And I was also aware I was involved in a very inappropriate situation, relationship.”

Sharon Bialek, who claimed she was squealing on Cain because it was the "right thing to do," also claimed this was her reason for coming forward:

“I actually did it because I wanted to help him,” Bialek said in an interview with CBS’ "The Early Show." “I wanted to give him a platform to come clean, to tell the truth.”

So now we have another woman coming forward with horrendous claims saying all kinds of things, including that Newt wanted an open marriage. These claims are inflamed by the press and the Drudge Report and we're supposed to believe every word that comes out of this woman's mouth.
Newt's no angel.
But I'm sick and damn tired of the bimbo eruptions and the press's salivating over trying to destroy every single Republican or conservative on the field except Romney. Oh, they'll move on to Romney when and if he gets the nomination.
But they'll stay clear of all the crooked stuff Obama's done. They'll only report lovey dovey stuff about their dream candidate.
They'll put somebody on the beat to dig up the history of Romney's grandfather's polygamy charges, but Obama's connections with Marxists and a father who obviously had issues with polygamy:

Obama Sr. may have had three wives at one time and was working on No. 4 and oh, by the way, he may have impregnated a high-school exchange student living in Boston while he was in Boston.

Yeah, I'll trust a Marianne Gingrich's determination on who should be president of the United States. She seems look a great gal.
Not.

Rep. Allen West; War is Hell!

2012-01-19T11:03:00.002-05:00

For those who thought Governor Rick Perry's comments on the Marines who are accused of urinating on Taliban bodies are off the mark read Congressman Allen West's view. Written in an email to the Weekly Standard:

“I have sat back and assessed the incident with the video of our Marines urinating on Taliban corpses. I do not recall any self-righteous indignation when our Delta snipers Shugart and Gordon had their bodies dragged through Mogadishu. Neither do I recall media outrage and condemnation of our Blackwater security contractors being killed, their bodies burned, and hung from a bridge in Fallujah.

“All these over-emotional pundits and armchair quarterbacks need to chill. Does anyone remember the two Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division who were beheaded and gutted in Iraq?

“The Marines were wrong. Give them a maximum punishment under field grade level Article 15 (non-judicial punishment), place a General Officer level letter of reprimand in their personnel file, and have them in full dress uniform stand before their Battalion, each personally apologize to God, Country, and Corps videotaped and conclude by singing the full US Marine Corps Hymn without a teleprompter.

“As for everyone else, unless you have been shot at by the Taliban, shut your mouth, war is hell.”

Let's hope that someday Colonel West develops presidential ambitions.

Indiana Democrats Continue Walkout

2012-01-19T10:31:00.001-05:00

Democrats rushed to court in Marion County after Indiana House Speaker Bosma began levying $1000 per day fines on Wednesday. They aren’t disputing Bosma’s authority to impose those fines, but they are challenging his authority to order the money to be taken from their expense pay. Thursday was the seventh day Democrats have shut down business in the state's lower house.

“The judge made it clear that he couldn't’t interfere with our fining mechanism,” Bosma says. “There was just a question about how the deduction was made and we’re moving forward the same way we did last year. We collected it all last year; we’re going to collect it again this year.

Possession is nine tenths of the law! A very bad argument was put forth by Minority Leader Pat Bauer who says the fines are an impediment to free speech. Give me a break!

Congresswoman Kristi Noem To Graduate in May

2012-01-19T10:13:00.001-05:00

Congresswoman and Tea Party favorite Kristi Noem is on track to graduate from South Dakota State University in May. She dropped out of college and came home to work the family farm/ranch when here father was killed in a farming accident. She and her brothers found themselves owing $600,000 in estate taxes which forced them to secure a loan. They did eventually pay off the loan and built a hunting lodge on the ranch and Noem resumed her education. Notable members of Congress who did just fine without a degree are Barry Goldwater, Robert Byrd, and Sonny Bono. Noem rides a horse named Lexus!

Buffalo teachers get free cosmetic surgery

2012-01-19T07:58:00.003-05:00

Botox, liposuction, lip plumpers.
Almost all cosmetic surgery is paid by the taxpayers for teachers in Buffalo.
There's a story over at The Atlantic covering the machinations of why this is so. Once upon a time, teachers really weren't paid well; they continued to negotiate benefits until they received the free cosmetic surgery one.
Then when finances went south, there was no incentive or reason to dump the benefit, even though everyone agreed it was ridiculous. Under New York state law, there are rules and regulations for negotiating which include that once a contract has expired, workers continue to work under the old contract until a new one is negotiated, explained here:

"The urgency of negotiating a new contract isn't really there," said Amber Dixon, interim-superintendant for Buffalo's schools. "You get to keep your benefits. You get to keep your cosmetic rider. You get to keep your 2.5% step increase. It makes getting back to the table difficult."

Collective bargaining only works if both sides have an incentive to deal. That's not conservatism. It's realism. And New York's dysfunctional system is Exhibit A. It's created a trap for cities by requiring them to keep paying out indefinitely on old contracts negotiated in flusher times. Without the ability to work out new terms, local governments are left to resort to layoffs.

Such was the case in Buffalo, where at one point the school board offered to avoid 100 layoffs if the union suspended the cosmetic surgery rider for a year. As Dixon explained to me, the union declined. It only wanted to deal with the rider during a full contract negotiation.

This is why governments need the ability to determine what is healthiest for schools, for cities and for states. Unions, which are admittedly necessary and part of a healthy work environment, need to be reined in.

Marianne dumps on Newt yielding what?

2012-01-19T07:26:00.001-05:00

So we learn that Marianne Gingrich, second wife of Newt, has entertained ABC News to spill forth all the bile she can spew from her 18 years of marriage to the Newt.
Of course, the last year she was married to him was 1999 and one wonders what new there is that she hasn't already said.
Every time these things happen, you wonder how much lower politics can go. A friend recently said that the person who benefited most from Cain's withdrawal from the race was Newt. This made sense. If we were to find out this were true, would it make a difference? It certainly would be hypocritical, considering Newt's history with women.
Marianne Gingrich has done this before. She's made it quite clear that she will control Newt's political aspirations if she has the opportunity.
Today's NY Post:

In 1995, when Vanity Fair magazine asked Marianne what would happen if Newt ran for president, she boasted she could derail the bid with a single TV interview.
“He can’t do it without me,” she said.
“I told him if I’m not in agreement, fine, it’s easy.
“I just go on the air the next day, and I undermine everything . . . I don’t want him to be president, and I don’t think he should be.”

Gee. I wonder why they divorced.
Of course, Newt says he'll fight back.
Who knows what this will yield.
Everyone knows Newt Gingrich is a hot air balloon, perhaps ready to burst. He's highly intelligent and bombastic. In contrast, Mitt Romney seems like a statesman, quiet, bland and uninteresting.
We get who we get.
It can't be worse than what we have now.
We hear constantly that Barack Hussein Obama is such a popular president that he'll be impossible to beat, partly because of the threatened billion dollar campaign, partly because of the personal magnetism and mostly because of the Chicago thuggery that surrounds BO.
In contrast, once BO is off script, things don't go so well. His approval rating stinks and whether unemployment sinks below 8% or not, it will still be high by November, much of it because of the onerous regulations and stranglehold this administration and congress has put on business.
Newt's a bit scary. But he's also less malleable than Romney.
Do we want that? Or is that why the Republican establishment prefers Romney?
Will the Marianne dump hurt Newt?
Probably.
How much?
That will pretty much be up to the Republican voter to determine.
In this nation's crisis, the evangelical voter may be willing to overlook personal flaws and moral failings in a candidate, primarily because times are so desperate and people are pretty much fed up with scandal as political tool, race and class baiting.

Introducing the Honda Civic Natural Gas

2012-01-18T18:06:00.002-05:00

If one wanted to buy a car for commuting and local use the Honda Civic Natural Gas is a far better buy than any electric hybrid. Honda used to call this model the Civic GX and it was only available in four states; California, New York, Utah and Oklahoma. Honda is expanding the dealerships now to 200 in 39 states. One can imagine how this news will hit the White House. The Government Motors Chevy Volt sells for around $39,000 and the taxpayers have to shell out another $8,000 in a tax credit rebate scheme. The Civic gets the gasoline equivalent of 27/38 mpg and you can also fill it up at home if you elect to have that equipment installed instead of a goofy charging station. At the current prices it's about one third cheaper to use natural gas than gasoline and the Civic will sell for $26,155. Okay, I always was partial to the 1958 Buick Limited and the Civic lacks those creature comforts and esthetic appeal but it's far and away better than the obsolete Chevy Volt.

We Are Killing SOPA!

2012-01-18T17:33:00.002-05:00

Five key senators have dropped their support of Protect IP as a result of today's protest and hats off to two Democratic Congresswomen, Zoe Lofgren and Anna Eshoo both of California who blacked out their own web sites in sympathy to the protest. Dropping their support in the Senate were Marco Rubio and Roy Blunt. John Cornyn said the legislation should be put on hold, while Sen. Orrin Hatch, a sponsor and the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, retreated from the bill. Sen. John Boozman also withdrew his sponsorship. In the House co-sponsors Ben Quale and Lee Terry are trying to forget that they ever heard of SOPA. We are winning!

Congressman Mike Pence Raises $ 5 Million for Governor Race

2012-01-18T17:10:00.002-05:00

Tea Party favorite Congressman Mike Pence has an almost three to one fund raising advantage over his Democratic opponent, former Indiana House Speaker John Gregg. Pence has raised $5 million since entering the race in May of 2011 while Gregg has managed to put together only $1.7 million. Pence’s donations came from 5,337 individuals with donations of $100 or less from 3,457 which seems to indicate strong grass roots support. I would be amazed if Pence does not pull 60 percent of the vote this fall. He makes me proud and not many politicians do that.

There are only three people in Indiana politics that enjoy statewide Tea Party support and no Richard Mourdock is not one of them. Aside from Pence, Congressman Marlin Stutzman of the third Congressional district will probably replace Senator Dan Coates when he retires and chances are Coates will retire again at the end of his term. Jackie Waloski is one tough woman and a Tea Party heart throb. She ran unsuccessfully against Joe Donnelly in the second district; losing by only a few thousand votes. Republicans fixed that seat so well in reapportionment that Donnelly must run for senate to survive politically and against Lugar his career will be on life support. With Pence as governor and Stutzman and Waloski in congress Indiana can begin building a strong Tea Party farm team.

Absentee Indiana Dems Face $1,000 Per Day Fines

2012-01-18T14:16:00.002-05:00

Beginning today Indiana state representative who skip work will be fined $1,000 per day. After attempting to cobble together a quorum, Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma levied the $1,000 fines against 35 absentee Democrats. This was followed by some weird political theater where Democrats dragged chains into the rotunda while their supporter chanted "One more day" which I suppose is better than " Shame! Shame! Shame! but still not up to "yes we can" or my personal favorite, "resist we much". A group calling themselves "lunch pail Republicans" charge Governor Mitch Daniels with a double cross. This group is headed by an office holder in the Brotherhood of Operating Engineers who backed Daniels and who feels betrayed. As I have written before this issue does divide loyalties and Republicans.

Drama at Wisconsin state house

2012-01-18T08:46:00.004-05:00

The state of Wisconsin had a big event yesterday. Hundreds of people gathered to form a sort of victory tunnel for union members to carry boxes and boxes of ~~phony~~ signatures on recall petitions.
There's been monkey business in Wisconsin. Red State has a report on all the suspicious activities unions have perpetrated on the public to get these recall petitions in on time. Here's a bit. The entire article is worth reading:

Perhaps the most egregious example was discovered when one man admitted signing a recall petition 80 times because he thought President George W. Bush cheated in the 2000 election. He seemed to have no problem rationalizing his abuse of the process and the petition carriers were happy to let him do it. It wasn’t just one bad apple that signed multiple times. Liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now actively encouraged people to sign recall petitions more than once. Presumably, many other opponents of Governor Walker followed One Wisconsin Now’s advice in signing multiple times. This tactic could affect thousands of signatures.

There have also been many reports of people signing on behalf of others. One woman was quoted as saying “I signed for my parents” who were outside of the country. Another person said they saw Vicki McKenna’s name on a recall petition. Vicki McKenna is a conservative talk radio host and when contacted about this incident she, of course confirmed that she did not sign. Additionally, conservative talk radio show host Mark Belling reported a Milwaukee Public School teacher admitted to her friend that she had signed 10-12 other people’s names.

Here's the dramatic video of Bugs Bunny's 1000 signatures arriving, in addition to about a million others by Daffy Duck and Brunhilda.

Tens of millions of dollars poured into the state of Wisconsin from outside to get this going. Lies have been told. People have been bused in from all over. Money from DC has been dumped into the state.
This is the standard MO. Unions aren't trying to hide it anymore. When the Occupiers held a protest in DC, professionally acquired tents were set up. Buses arrived from all around the country.
Monday in Michigan the same thing happened. Hundreds of people arrived from various places on buses to protest Gov. Snyder's consideration of an emergency fiscal manager for the city of Detroit which is 12 billion dollars in debt, which is racist.
Or something.
Those who attend claim attendance is voluntary, a sort of springing up of action and that may be true for, oh, 10 of the people who attend.

"The power and the commitment of people is pretty surprising," said Myke Gonzalez, 24, of Bay City, who drove in with about a dozen others from the Occupy the Tri group, based in the Saginaw-Midland-Bay City area.

As with all these "spontaneous" protests, here is evidence. People are being paid, in how many numbers it's unclear, to attend these protests.

Bus after bus after bus, lined up from around the country.
Who paid for that, we wonder?
When you see what's at stake in Wisconsin--union dues being voluntary rather than forced--you can see why all this money is being poured into the state.
Spend while you got it, I guess.

Mother of all the Occupoopers is, well, overpaid

2012-01-18T08:22:00.002-05:00

Elizabeth Warren, who is running for the Scott Brown "Kennedy" seat, considers herself the mother of the Occupy movement.
Not unlike Al Gore who created the internet, she says she provided the "intellectual foundation" for the Occupoopers, who yesterday threw smoke bombs onto the White House lawn.
Warren, who seems to be suffering some class confusion, made a helluva lot of dough last year as a professor at Harvard. We're waiting for the Occupoopers to protest their tuition rates because Warren is paid $429,000 a year as a Harvard professor. Tuition at Harvard is over $50,000 a year.
Democrats don't have a problem with 1%ers who claim to be 99%ers; what always follows that complaint is a long teary diatribe about how she/he worked their way up from nothing, life was so hard, everybody's prejudiced and all she/he ever wanted is to give back to society and help small children.
Huh. Well, hard work is the reason a lot of people want to keep the money they earn. Not sure if sitting on boards and teaching a couple classes at Harvard a week is worth that kind of dough, but if that's what they're willing to pay, so be it.
Just don't complain, please.
Boston.com:

Elizabeth Warren, the Harvard Law School professor and consumer advocate challenging Republican Senator Scott Brown, took home more than $700,000 in compensation from teaching and consulting fees over a two-year period from 2010 to 2011, according to her her most recent financial disclosure form.

Not only that, but Warren had to revise how much she said she was paid for advising on TARP.
One might suspect there's been some prevaricatin' goin' on, in more ways than one.

Reddit Shuts Down

2012-01-18T08:06:00.000-05:00

Reddit shuts down. How will the proponents respond? By locking movie theaters, shutting down television station, and blacking out iTunes?

Occupy DC. (White) House Pets?

2012-01-18T07:41:00.004-05:00

Two smoke bombs were thrown over the White House fence by Occupy DC protestors. The President was not at home at the time as he had taken Michelle to a Washington steak house to celebrate her 48th birthday. There were no arrests reported, but the Secret Service warned that could change.
Regular readers will know that the intellectual foundation for this movement comes from Harvard professor and senatorial candidate, Elizabeth Warren so it should come as no surprise that 1000 people can demonstrate outside the White House, and hurl smoke bombs on the lawn without worry of arrest. The National park Service actually has the gall to posture a the defender of the first amendment. Juxtapose this laissez faire law enforcement to the speedy arrest of these peaceful libertarians who knowingly and willfully sold lemonade.

Obama Will Conclude Convention From Bank of America Stadium

2012-01-18T06:05:00.002-05:00

I think the Greek word hubris denotes the overweening pride that did in so many bad actors, not only in Greek mythology, but throughout history. It's something like getting an A+ in self esteem while getting an F in basic math. The Roman poet Ovid played on this theme and created Narcissus, the little lad with the positive self-esteem who fell in love with his reflection in a pool of water and drowned and the pride that goeth before that fall is called narcissism which brings us to Obama. It would be a come down, more of a come down than he apparently can bear, to deliver his acceptance speech from a mere basketball stadium so his speech, on the concluding night of the convention, will come from Bank of America stadium. The greatest orator of our time, with the aid of teleprompter, electronic echo, and probably plastic columns, will attempt to recreate the rocky mountain high of Invesco Field four years previous. Surely the Democrats can round up 80,000 Obamabots to serve as a backdrop while the one percent view him from their private sky boxes.

All great men have had their critics but it should give one pause when the criticism comes from friends.

“God almighty, I can’t believe it.” said one top Democratic fundraiser when he learned of the decision to move the speech to Bank of America stadium, where the NFL Carolina Panthers play their football games. “This is an amateur’s mistake.”…

“It’s a surprising and disappointing choice,” said Mary Boyle, vice president of Common Cause. “Bank of America is the poster child for corporate greed and corporations out-of-control. The president would be better served by choosing a large public space with no corporate logo attached to it.”

Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, a group that lobbies against corporate influence, added: “Speaking at a stadium named for one of the financial firms that plunged our country into deep recession, we can only hope that Barack Obama will counter the optics by laying out a meaningful plan to control the Wall Street giants.”

Right Mr. Weissman it would be the perfect time to bring up Dodd-Frank 2.0 and maybe Michelle can tell us about the fun she had on her Hawaiian vacation since none of this makes any political sense anyway.

Why Bipartisan Support for SOPA But Not For Deficit?

2012-01-18T04:05:00.001-05:00

Reddit Founder Alexis Ohanian : "Why is it that when Republicans and Democrats need to solve the budget and the deficit, there's deadlock, but when Hollywood lobbyists pay them $94 million dollars to write legislation, people from both sides of the aisle line up to co-sponsor it?" That a good question? If we contributed $94 million to congressional campaigns would we get a balanced budget?

Wikipedia Has Gone Black

2012-01-18T03:10:00.002-05:00

Wikipedia has alresdy shut down. See for yourself.

Reddit to go Black at 05:00

2012-01-18T02:56:00.002-05:00

The Reddit black out will begin at 05:00. Here is the text from Reddits web page. Call Congress now.

The freedom, innovation, and economic opportunity that the Internet enables is in jeopardy. Congress is considering legislation that will dramatically change your Internet experience and put an end to reddit and many other sites you use everyday. Internet experts, organizations, companies, entrepreneurs, legal experts, journalists, and individuals have repeatedly expressed how dangerous this bill is. If we do nothing, Congress will likely pass the Protect IP Act (in the Senate) or the Stop Online Piracy Act (in the House), and then the President will probably sign it into law. There are powerful forces trying to censor the Internet, and a few months ago many people thought this legislation would surely pass. However, there’s a new hope that we can defeat this dangerous legislation.

We’ve seen some amazing activism organized by redditors at /r/sopa and across the reddit community at large. You have made a difference in this fight; and as we near the next stage, and after much thought, talking with experts, and hearing the overwhelming voices from the reddit community, we have decided that we will be blacking out reddit on January 18th from 8am–8pm EST (1300–0100 UTC).

Instead of the normal glorious, user-curated chaos of reddit, we will be displaying a simple message about how the PIPA/SOPA legislation would shut down sites like reddit, link to resources to learn more, and suggest ways to take action. We will showcase the live video stream of the House hearing where Internet entrepreneurs and technical experts (including reddit co-founder Alexis “kn0thing” Ohanian) will be testifying. We will also spotlight community initiatives like meetups to visit Congressional offices, campaigns to contact companies supporting PIPA/SOPA, and other tactics.

We’re as addicted to reddit as the rest of you. Many of you stand with us against PIPA/SOPA, but we know support for a blackout isn’t unanimous. We're not taking this action lightly. We wouldn’t do this if we didn’t believe this legislation and the forces behind it were a serious threat to reddit and the Internet as we know it. Blacking out reddit is a hard choice, but we feel focusing on a day of action is the best way we can amplify the voice of the community.

As we have seen yet again in the fight against PIPA/SOPA, the best ideas come from our community. We all have just over a week to figure out exactly what to do with our extra cycles on January 18th. Please join us in the discussion in the comments here and in /r/SOPA.

— the reddit tea

Perrysburg's Willard & Kelsey Solar lays off employees

2012-01-17T22:17:00.002-05:00

Solar company Willard & Kelsey, the company Joe Biden and Hilda Solis visited recently in Perrysburg, has received millions of dollars in loans from various sources, including the Ohio Department of Development, the Ohio Air Quality Development Authority, and some federal grants; the company has announced layoffs, like many other solar companies.
Total grant money appears to be about about $20 million.
From today's Toledo Blade:

Willard & Kelsey Solar Group LLC laid off about 40 people indefinitely at the beginning of January until changes to its production line are completed, a company official said Monday.Michael Cicak, the company's chief executive officer and chairman of the board, would not say when the changes would be completed or when the laid-off employees could return to work.

"We have some technical people in here improving the efficiency of the assembly line," Mr. Cicak said, adding that the Perrysburg-based facility still has about 30 employees.

Willard & Kelsey was sued by a Luxembourg limited liability association in 2011.
Perrysburg has several solar companies. Ohio:

Ohio was second in the nation for solar-panel manufacturing during the first quarter of this year, in part because of the start of production at Willard & Kelsey Solar Group LLC in Perrysburg, according to a solar-industry trade group.

Romney Supported Stimulus, and Most Of The Obama Agenda, Video

2012-01-17T12:40:00.002-05:00

Romney's not pro-choice or non-choice; he's multiple choice. Hear him say he supports Roe v Wade and gay rights and he believes global warming is caused by humans. In the video, from about the 3:29 mark to about the 4:10 mark, you hear Romney endorse the stimulus bill. I don't know who put this video together but it's damning.

Feeling twisted about Newt

2012-01-17T07:46:00.002-05:00

Feeling sort of detached from the hundred debates the Republicans have conducted has both advantages and disadvantages.
One by one, favored candidates blow it, are attacked and fall away.
Winning the debates and being articulate aren't the only important aspects to defeating Barack Obama. Though Obama is an eloquent spokesman, particularly with his teleprompter, his machine is fearsome and thuggish.
Newt did great in the debate last night again, it appears.
His tenacity, his bullishness and, dare I say it, his honesty are refreshing in contrast with the other candidates, including Barack Hussein Obama.
Tired of hearing the same drivel, voters are looking for someone who will actually stand up to the bullsh%t that this administration repeatedly offers by way of explanation, justification or governance.
Newt is saying things a Romney candidate won't say. Just as Chris Christie bluntly answers treacly or politically correct traps liberals set for Republicans, Newt's in-your-face response to Juan Williams' accusation of racism for the food stamp remarks.
Here it is.

Newt is a flawed vehicle.
But aren't they all.
And if they aren't, they surely will be by the time the media gets done with them.
It's hard not to say bully for you, Newt.
There's been a great deal of moaning about Mitt Romney as candidate, which has become quite vicious lately. Is Mitt worse than McCain? Is Mitt as bad as Obama? Do we have to give up on the fight against government health care if Mitt wins? Mitt's too nice. Mitt's too moderate.
I suppose this is the nature of the rough and tumble of politics.
Liberals and conservatives will always disagree, just as they disagreed thousands of years ago.
Political wonks will always moan and wail about this problem or that problem.
It will not be a utopia, however we imagine this country.
We understand the importance of this moment in history.
Is Newt the man? He organized and led the Congress out of the wilderness before; he certainly isn't very popular with some members of Congress right now for that act.
We'll just have to see.
I know one thing.
I'm sick of moderation. Sick of pandering while the country fails. Sick, sick, sick of lies, falsehoods and fabrications that benefit only the politician. Sick of RINOs. Sick of liberal violence, accusations and dependencies.

Corning's " A Day Made of Glass"

2012-01-17T00:43:00.001-05:00

In know sometimes Obama makes the Book of Revelations seem like modest speculation compared to the things he has in mind for this planet but take five minutes and view what Corning Glass has in its near visage. Yes, it's the same Corning Glass, named for its hometown in New York that made your mother's CorningWare but it's an uncommonly agile company that ventured in fiber optics cable and flat screens for televisions and monitors. This is a little off the usual subject of politics but it paints a bright future.

Reddit & Others To Go Black Wednesday

2012-01-17T00:17:00.002-05:00

A vote on the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) has been delayed indefinitely. The Hill is quoting Congressman Darrell Issa as saying,

“While I remain concerned about Senate action on the Protect IP Act, I am confident that flawed legislation will not be taken up by this House, Majority Leader Cantor has assured me that we will continue to work to address outstanding concerns and work to build consensus prior to any anti-piracy legislation coming before the House for a vote."

This may be the well earned death of SOPA but not taking any chances with the Senate bill Protect IP several sites will go black Wednesday. They are to name a few; Reddit, BoingBoing, Mojang, Destructoid, Anonymous, IHeartChaos.com and all sites of the Cheezburger Network which include, I Can, Haz Cheezburger, The Daily What, Know Your Meme, and others.

Ron Paul Catches Obama In Poll

2012-01-16T19:42:00.002-05:00

I've written here before in agreement with Sarah Palin that Ron Paul and his people cannot be ignored. While personally, I find Paul's people harder to take than Paul himself, Republicans have a brand new reason to embrace the "big tent" theory so dear to the heart of John McCain. After years spent as a voice crying in the wilderness of progressive thought, the apostle Paul is in no mood to take the road to Damascus. Today in a CNN poll Paul trails Obama by only two points, within the margin of error. Yes, Romney does beat Obama by one point but if that gives Obama a reason to worry what about Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, and Rick Santorum. Santorum does the best of these three losing to Obama by six points. No matter what Bill O'Reilly and TeaParty@Perrysburg think the voters prefer Paul to every Republican except Romney. Paul reaches this height by attracting independents and Democrats and he does it without pandering or compromise. Unlike the other four candidates Paul has adhered to his principles without wavering even when they were anathema to both parties and the voters are choosing to reward that consistency of opinion. Many of us have romanticized about Paul's libertarian ideas and dismissed them as daydreams, of little practicality in the real world of cynical voters but now we seem to be the cynics. It's almost as if someone had taken the Tea Party ideals, doubled the voltage and we are shocked.

Most likely Romney will go on to win and we'll swallow hard and support him as we did John McCain and maybe many of us will find enthusiasm in the down ballot candidates but we all know we will never be enthusiastic about Romney. Win or lose we'll be about the business of picking our next nominee and most likely if Romney loses we'll hear about the inevitability of Santorum. Then we can vote for the man who lost to the man who lost to the man, McCain. I have no idea how to deal with Paul and his supporters should he run a strong second to Romney. They could insist on such a strong libertarian plank in the party platform that many congressional candidates would run away from it. If the Republicans refuse to grant that, the Paulists could walk and go third party and who could really blame them? These are uncertain times!

Gore Vidal Raises Funds For Kucinich

2012-01-16T13:43:00.002-05:00

With the Ohio primary only two month off congressmen in contested districts have to cast a wide net to rake in campaign cash. Gore Vidal had slipped from my memory but now he turns up raising funds for Congressman Dennis Kucinich. Kucinich is going to need all the help he can get and I suppose Vidal does have the heft to bring in the cash.

BTW don't buy a mail order bride from Amazon Com.

Rats take over DC

2012-01-16T13:23:00.001-05:00

Washington DC has an abundance of rats.
Concern over the rat population prompted the DC city council to write and pass a law that rats in DC have to be relocated in families rather than killed or sent to a wildlife rehabilitator.
The Virginia AG is concerned that the rats will be crossing the river to Virginia in droves; since there are so many rats occupying DC, this is a real problem.

“As for the rat infestations at the Occupy DC camps, treatment of those problems is also made more difficult by new EPA restrictions prohibiting the use of rodenticide products further than 50 feet from buildings,” he told CNSNews.com by e-mail. “The new EPA restrictions also limit the use of rodenticides to commensal rodents, so the only [way] pest management professionals can legally manage non-commensal rodents, such as deer and white-footed mice in the District, is to live-capture them or build a completely rodent-proof structure."

We have always known there are many rats occupying Washington DC.
On a related note, unlike some parties, we do not regret Congress having a futilely unproductive year.
It seems that the more they're in town, the more rules they dream up to protect rats, feather their own nests and such.
But I repeat myself.

Occupiers march on Mich Gov Snyder's home

2012-01-16T09:51:00.001-05:00

Well, the activists are out in Michigan, with Jesse Jackson, John Conyers and Al Sharpton descending from on high into Ann Arbor to protest the possible institution of a state appointed emergency manager for the city of Detroit.
The Occupy activists aren't very happy, as Republicans have taken the governing reins recently.
So what do they do?
They send out a flyer saying, "Alert: Gov. Rick Snyder is stealing your vote, busting your union, and turning Michigan into a dictator state!!"
So while the government is telling us to get in line for a possibly radioactive scan at the airport, has taken over health care which will undoubtedly discriminate against the elderly and is trying to control every aspect of our lives, even down to what we eat and what we WEAR, these activists are angry that the state may have to temporarily take over Detroit to right the ship of state.
The occupiers will this time be marching on Governor Snyder's HOME.
Oddly, they call this "Occupy for Democracy."
Unions are heavily supporting this event. FORTY unions run the city of Detroit, which is a major reason the city is financially bankrupt.
The usual tropes of minorities being disenfranchised.
The activists say they want help.
By help, one assumes that he$p includes a transfer of funds to them with no strings.

Tuskegee: whites to the right.....

2012-01-16T09:37:00.000-05:00

The Freep has done a great job with this video of interviews with the Detroit area Tuskegee airmen. Most disturbing is one vet's comment that he had flown for his country, served 9 months as a POW and returned to the states only to be told as he got off the boat, "Whites to the right, Niggers to the left."
Unspeakable.
Watch their interviews here in a moving description of their views on the new movie Red Tails and what it was really like.
The writer is encouraging contributing donations to the Tuskegee airmen's museum.

Kudlow: maybe our govt should hire Bain

2012-01-16T09:24:00.001-05:00

Ha. Great editorial by Larry Kudlow:

There's a very troubled company out there called U.S. Government Inc. It's teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. And it badly needs to be taken over and turned around. It probably even needs the services of a good private-equity firm, with plenty of experience and a reasonably good track record in downsizing, modernizing, shrinking staff and making substantial changes in management. Yes, layoffs will be a necessary part of the restructuring.

A quick look at the income statement of this troubled firm tells the story. Just in the past year (FY 2011), the firm spent $3.7 trillion, but took in only $2.2 trillion in sales revenues. Hence its deficit came to $1.5 trillion.

More here.

TSA: gee, do those scanners leak radiation?

2012-01-16T09:20:00.002-05:00

The TSA scanners are of great interest to us at this blog.
They should be for anyone who flys, considering the numerous concerns that have been reported about the possibility of radiation exposure, from both the backscatter and millimeter-wave scanners.
One problem in dealing with the TSA is that they are arrogant and unyielding when outsiders question their procedures. No one gets in, no one gets out. In addition, the TSA has increasingly encroached in our lives in other forms of transportation such as bussing and even cars. That new branch is called the VIPR unit.
Imagine running those scanners, day after day. The sour face, the "alert" attitude that every passenger is a criminal, the authoritarian commands you get to give to everybody, who has to comply or be kicked out of the airport. Great job.
But wouldn't you wonder if you were being exposed to radiation? Wouldn't you have doubts?
So government does what it does best.
Rather than FIX a problem by actually letting outside sources test their politically connected machines to verify their safety, they are going to test the scanner operators for radiation exposure.
LA Times:

After years of rebuffing health concerns over airport scanners, the Transportation Security Administration plans to conduct new tests on the potential radiation exposure from the machines at more than 100 airports nationwide.
But the TSA does not plan to retest the machines or passengers. Instead, the agency plans to test its airport security officers to see if they are being exposed to dangerous levels of radiation while working with the scanners.

Once again, government does not seek the source of a problem. Instead, it throws money and bureaucracy at a symptom.
Why do we have confidence that this, too, will not work.
You can sign a petition here to stop the use of the scanners proposed by New Jersey legislators.

Wednesday website blackout day

2012-01-16T08:44:00.002-05:00

In protest of SOPA, Reddit has decided to go dark for 12 hours on Wednesday, January 18, from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. Other websites such as Wikipedia are considering doing the same. Google, Facebook and Twitter may also do the same.
I'd pay to see that.
Imagine the withdrawal behavior of all those twenty somethings and teenagers checking Facebook to see when it comes back online. Jitters. Pacing. Erratic behavior. Tics. Twitches.
In related news, the congressman who wrote SOPA is guilty of copyright violations. Time techland:

It doesn’t seem like a huge violation, but that’s the point; if SOPA passes, who knows how minor infractions like this will be handled. Taete is now on a SOPA hypocrite witch hunt, asking users to comb through the list of SOPA supporters to find more examples of deliciously ironic copyright violations. Good hunting, kids.

Here is the website that is encouraging tracking down copyright violations:

Well, this afternoon we started attempting to gather information of similar copyright infringements by other co-sponsors/supporters of the bill. There's a ton of stuff on these people's sites which, we assume, is copyright protected and not cleared. Take the above video for example. It was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of Lee Terry, the Nebraska representative who was one of the original 12 SOPA co-sponsors. It's hard to imagine that he would have spent the tens of thousands of dollars it would have cost to clear the clips of Looney Tunes, C-Span, ABC News, and FOX News that are used in it. Especially seeing as, at the time of writing, the video has only been viewed 115 times.

The very nature of the web makes it difficult to track every single item that is discussed on a website. SOPA and PIPA really will break the internet.
It's pretty disgusting that the very people who claim to be so lovey dovey peaceniks are the ones with their hands around our throats, trying to control every single aspect of our lives, mocking us for drinking bottled water, lecturing us to use ~~paper~~ ~~plastic~~ cloth grocery shopping bags and, most of all, for being fat.
Hoosierman has covered the SOPA and PIPA extensively. Heat is increasing on these political folks. We need to keep it up.

Could We Not Talk About Tebow?

2012-01-16T06:26:00.006-05:00

Frankly I'm tired of the polemic surrounding Tim Tebow. Should he pray? What should he pray for? Does an Almighty God have better things to do than fix football games. Years ago we didn't have these controversies because we had Howard Cosell to sort these things out for us. Aside from a nasal monotone that made his voice unique, Cosell had a deliberate style of speaking that brought to mind a man dying with an arrow in his chest. I would pay money if I could hear him say "snide innuendo". He liked the word "indefatigable" much as Shawn Hannity likes "excoriated" but did switch to "redoubtable" when describing linebackers. Hell, even Bill Buckley probably kept a dictionary in his lap when watching Monday Night Football. Eventually most of us tired of this polysyllabic drone peppered with allusions to Thomas Hardy and turned the volume down. With cliches such as "The great one", "Tell it like it is", "one of the most underrated players in the NFL today" Cosell grated on our patience until we longed for the soothing nonsense of Mr. Rogers or Jimmy Carter who really did have a similar style right down to the sweater. With an arrogance seldom seen outside of the United States Senate, Cosell spoke on all things social, moral and political with overbearing certitude on his radio show "Speaking of Everything".

Still, if we could, there are worse things we could do than to channel Cosell about this Tim Tebow thing before it gets out of hand. Shawn Hannity can't get through a program without referring the the rampant bigotry at ESPN and while I don't give a damn what Charles Barkley says Tebow fans play the victim card just as Obamabots play the race card. Starr Jones and Donnie Deutch had to spend 3 minutes of their valuable time just to pronounce him okay but Rachel Maddow still doubts he can make it in the NFL. On the positive side he hasn't shot himself in the leg, beat up his girlfriend or attended a dog fight. Maybe if he just prayed to Allah everything would be alright.

Newsweek Cover: Why Are Obama's Critics So Dumb?

2012-01-16T00:02:00.001-05:00

We all knew Newsweek was not the magazine we grew up reading but this looks like something from National Lampoon.

Huntsman Quits

2012-01-15T23:47:00.001-05:00

Gee, after David Brooks and Mark Shields, the gate keepers of the serious candidates' club, told us he would be a "serious" candidate Jon Huntsman ups and quits. This blog has been especially kind to Mr. Huntsman, we have completely ignored him since his first speech. Naturally he endorsed Romney.

"Governor Huntsman did not want to stand in the way of the candidate best prepared to beat Barack Obama and turn our economy around. That's Mitt Romney," said his spokesman.

So long, Jon. Don't call us: we'll call you.

We May Yet Win On SOPA

2012-01-15T23:31:00.001-05:00

The tide seems to be turning on SOPA with this announcement coming from the White House.

"While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response, we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet,"

Okay, if he wanted to be more forceful Obama could have threatened a veto. Let's see he killed bin Laden and now this. If only I could get over his unconstitutional war in Libya, his unconstitutional recess appointments, the stimulus bill, Obamacare, Dodd-Frank, Solyndra, Fast and Furious, LightSquared, Eric Holder, TSA, border security and his illegal aunt and uncle I would be inclined to give him a D-.

Congressman Darrell Issa has said that majority leader Eric Cantor will not allow the bill to come to the floor until a census has been reached. In the Senate Harry Reid has promised to push on despite White House opposition and the defection of 6 Senators who warned in a letter against rushing the bill through. Taking a look closer at home both Indiana senators and the entire congressional are uncommitted. In Ohio Senator Sharrod Brown is a co-sponsor of Protect IP, the senate counterpart of SOPA, and Congressman Steve Chabot is a co-sponsor of SOPA. Senator Portman is uncommitted as is the rest of the congressional delegation. To see how your senators and congressman stand go here.

Ohio DNR Issues 156 Drilling Permits

2012-01-15T21:53:00.005-05:00

Click to Enlarge

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources issued 156 drilling permits in 2011, 80 of those coming in the last quarter, as the Utica shale boom heats up.
Ninety-two permits were horizontal permits which indicates that the operators intends to frack those wells. Carroll County led the way with 43 permits followed by Jefferson County with 19 and Columbiana County with 16. In all of 2010 ODNR issued just 3 permits. Carroll County hit the jackpot again when Select Energy Services of Houston, Texas announced an interest in acquiring about 30 acres for a facility that will bring 200 new jobs to the county by the end of 2012 . The company provider of engineered water solutions and also provides well-site services for the oil and gas industry.

District 9: bump Kaptur for Redfern?

2012-01-15T19:13:00.000-05:00

An interesting dynamic is going on in District 9, which is being realigned and will pit Kucinich against Kaptur, who is favored by the realignment.
However it's being rumored in the state that Chris Redfern is positioning himself to replace Kaptur, presumably assuming that Kaptur will be on her way out sometime soon. Kaptur denies that, ~~licking her lips~~ announcing that it'll be ~~a cold day in hell~~ unlikely that she'll quit soon, considering that she's close to becoming chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. From a blog at the Sandusky Register:

Redfern told me that other press accounts of the final redistricting tell most of the story — the districts were altered to strengthen the influence of black voters and pick up the votes of black Democrats in the Ohio General Assembly so that Republicans could get their districts approved.

If Redfern wants to serve in Congress someday, he's probably helped his cause by filing for the Ohio House. The Catawba Island resident is the only Democrat running for the 89th district that makes up all of Erie and much of Ottawa County, facing little-known Republican Don Janik of Huron. State Rep. Dennis Murray, D-Sandusky, chose not to seek re-election.

This might be fun.