" this is not the audacity of hope. This is the audacity of power."

It's what I have been saying all along. Obama's sending signals that are telling business, investors and ordinary citizens that they cannot trust him, not one bit... ◼ “Capricious”: Obama’s GM Power Grab ...from a panel on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 Monday night, which gets into the “blowback” from Obama’s power grab: ...DAVID GERGEN ...VINCE CREW: ...When the president of the United States can — can fundamentally interject his — his power, his authority, his — his advisers’ ideas into the private sector, we are on that proverbial slippery slope, the — the — this is not the audacity of hope. This is the audacity of power.

And those of us who — who voted for this man had no idea that this was what we were hoping would happen. And those of us who didn’t vote for this man feared that it would....

◼ TRANSCRIPT
◼ GM: Government Motors
◼ Obama didn't ask Congress about Wagoner
◼ GM CEO resigns at Obama's behest

giant sea worm discovered by aquarium staff after mysterious attacks on coral reef

◼ Aquarium staff have unearthed a 'giant sea' worm that was attacking coral reef and prize fish.

The 4ft long monster, named Barry, had launched a sustained attack on the reef in a display tank at Newquay's Blue Reef Aquarium over recent months....

Staff eventually lured it out with fish scraps, but not before it bit through 20lb fishing line.

The tropical worm is capable of inflicting permanent numbness on humans with its sting.

Matt Slater, the aquarium's curator, said: 'Something was guzzling our reef but we had no idea what, we also found an injured Tang Fish so we laid traps but they got ripped apart in the night.

'That worm must have obliterated the traps. The bait was full of hooks which he must have just digested.'...

Let's MOVEON!

When John McCain asked Sarah Palin to be his Vice-Presidential running mate, that was in effect an endorsement for her to be President of the US. It's a stupid question, thus, for a reporter to ask if he endorses her, and it is stupider still for him to hem and haw around about it.

For God's sake, let's MOVEON, people!

Godwin's Law

Obama's not just President of the US, apparently he is now President of GM. Gets to decide who to hire and fire and how much people should get paid. Undoubtedly he also intends to tell them what kind of car to build. (Pretty good bet he'll want them to scrap their 11 profitable vehicles - trucks and SUVs).

Brings Godwin's Law to mind -

◼ Adolf Hitler and Volkswagen* Sitting at a restaurant table in Munich in the summer of 1932, Hitler designed the prototype for what would become the immensely successful Beetle design for Volkswagen (literally, the "car of the people"). In an era where only the most economic elite possessed cars, Hitler believed that all people should be able to own a car and additionally thought that a smart design could allow for reliability, enjoyment, and vacation travel. The name given to the car in 1938 was Kraft durch Freude (KdF-Wagen, literally "strength through joy car").

Maybe we'll get something good out of this deal yet. A car to remember, the rest of the world in shambles, millions dead, but a car to remember.

* caveat

Where the money goes

◼ California jobs go to those with connections Lawmakers can hire anyone they choose. Sometimes that means friends and family.

Alot of people on both sides of the aisles are saying the thing has to break so that it can be fixed. At the Federal level and at the State level.

Of course, though they have arrived at the same conclusion, their reasons couldn't be more opposite.

One thing is certain, it is breaking.

God bless you please...

h/t: Holger

More phony baloney

◼ Obama Town Hall Questioners Were Campaign Backers

...the five fully identified questioners called on randomly by the president in the East Room were anything but a diverse lot.
They included: a member of the pro-Obama Service Employees International Union (SEIU), a member of the Democratic National Committee who campaigned for Obama among Hispanics during the primary; a former Democratic candidate for Virginia state delegate who endorsed Obama last fall in an op-ed in the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star; and a Virginia businessman who was a donor to Obama's campaign in 2008.

...White House spokesman Nicholas S. Shapiro (said) "The White House reached out to a number of community groups and the chamber of commerce and those groups invited their folks to come and participate."...

With one exception I can think of - have ANY of Obama's appearances been "real?"

◼ Time Is Telling

G20, Gordon Brown, Angela Merkel and Obama

◼ Brown snubbed over tax - Germans wreck ‘global new deal’

GORDON BROWN’S carefully laid plans for a G20 deal on worldwide tax cuts have been scuppered by an eve-of-summit ambush by European leaders.

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, last night led the assault on the prime minister’s “global new deal” for a $2 trillion-plus fiscal stimulus to end the recession.

“I will not let anyone tell me that we must spend more money,” she said.

The Spanish finance minister, Pedro Solbes, also dismissed new cash being pledged at Thursday’s London summit.

“In these conditions I and the rest of my colleagues from the eurozone believe there is no room for new fiscal stimulus plans,” he said.

Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, has insisted that “radical reform” of capitalism is more important than tax cutting.

The attacks on Brown’s ambitions for the G20 to inject more money into the world economy come at the end of a week where the prime minister has travelled to three continents to build support for his proposals.

The likely deadlock at this week’s meeting will kill any remaining hope that Alistair Darling’s April 22 budget will offer significant tax cuts.

The assault by European Union leaders also represents a defeat for President Barack Obama, who is desperate for other big economies to copy his $800 billion stimulus plan.

Our system is a voluntary system

How do you explain this?

◼ CNN in third place in prime time for first time
By DAVID BAUDER – 17 hours ago
NEW YORK (AP) — CNN is poised to finish March third in the prime-time weeknight ratings behind Fox News Channel and MSNBC, the first time this has ever happened for the channel that pioneered the cable news genre nearly three decades ago.
CNN says its overall business is healthy and it is not straying from its straight news path. But it is suffering more audience erosion than its rivals since the peak days of the presidential election, further proof that the opinionated prime-time shows on Fox and MSNBC have greater audience loyalty.

CNN's weekday prime-time ratings are relatively flat compared to last year during the primary campaign, up 1 percent from March 2008, according to Nielsen Media Research. Fox's ratings have jumped 30 percent and MSNBC, the new No. 2, is up 24 percent. The biggest growth in cable news is for CNN's partner, Headline News, which is up 62 percent.
Fox remains on a mountain above its two closest competitors, with its prime-time audience in March more than that of MSNBC and CNN combined. "The O'Reilly Factor" has done particularly well, keeping more of its postelection audience than anything else on CNN and MSNBC.

Through Wednesday, Fox was averaging 2.73 million prime-time viewers in March. MSNBC had 1.16 million and CNN had 1.14 million. The March ratings period ends Friday, and it's doubtful CNN will be able to overcome MSNBC.
"The fact that one network may have eked out a slight edge in one small slice of the overall business really doesn't say much of anything," Jon Klein, CNN U.S. president, said on Friday. "It's more clear than ever, given the way that our competitors have positioned themselves, that CNN has positioned itself as the real news network."
***
CABLE NEWS RACE
THU., MARCH 26, 2009

FOXNEWS O'REILLY 3,420,000
FOXNEWS HANNITY 2,987,000
FOXNEWS BECK 2,374,000
FOXNEWS GRETA 2,160,000
FOXNEWS BAIER 1,940,000
FOXNEWS SHEP 1,888,000
MSNBC OLBERMANN 1,322,000
CNNHN GRACE 1,300,000
MSNBC MADDOW 1,208,000
CNN KING 1,144,000
CNN COOPER 1,118,000
drudgereport.com/
***

I can explain it.

CNN "...so likeable and so inspiring while running for president...so unlikable and so uninspiring as president"

Wanna bet Navarette is the next target of the smear machine - even though he was once a staunch supporter of Obama's.

◼ LGF It's not racist anymore to say - Obama is flunking economics,
◼ CNN Commentary: Obama is flunking economics

"How is it possible that someone who was so likeable and so inspiring while running for president could, day by day, be so unlikable and so uninspiring as president?...

...It's become more common for people to say that they want President Obama to fail. I don't want him to fail. I want him to succeed. I just don't see how we get there from here."

Navarette wins the Bravery AWARD

Because this is the climate he has to live in - ◼ Stop the ACLU on CNN's Ed HenryDear Barack, Don’t Get Mad, Was Just Doing my Job — Love Ed Henry, CNN

Ed Henry illustrates what that tinkle down the leg is all about.

Deficit spending? I'll show you deficit spending. How about a billion dollars an hour?

Oh, well, Bush spent money, you can't blame Obama for his deficit. It's Bush's fault. we inherited it. It's Bush's fault.

◼ NEW ERA OF SPEND & BLAME

...During his first 50 days in office, he and his Democratic-controlled Congress spent $1 billion an hour.

Under Obama's proposed budget, the overall national debt doubles in five years and triples in 10.

Not exactly "moving from an era of borrow and spend to one where we save and invest," as he promised.

How does Mr. Responsibility explain the disconnect between this reality and his absurd claims? By insisting that Republicans were worse.

"To a bunch of the critics out there, I've already said, show me your budget!" he told a gathering of wealthy Democratic donors this week. "I'm happy to have that debate."

Or, another time: "I suspect that some of those Republican critics have a short memory, because as I recall I'm inheriting a $1.3 trillion deficit, annual deficit, from them."

In other words, Obama cannot defend his decision to double down on deficit spending. So, he simply trashes Republicans....

◼ 2.2 Jobs Lost For Every New Green Job
◼ Obama's Solar Panels Will Take 110 Years to Pay For Themselves

Those solar panels that Barack Obama bragged about in Denver will take until 2118 to pay for themselves. These same panels are expected to last 20-25 years.
The Independence Institute reported, via LGF:

Before signing the $787 billion stimulus package into law on Feburary 17, 2009, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden toured an array of solar panels on top of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. The photo-op allowed the President to once again extol the virtues of the coming “green” economy.

According to the Denver Post's article on the event, “The sun generates enough energy on the museum rooftop to power about 30 homes.” However, that claim cannot be verified at this time, and in fact, seems to be belied by the scant information provided by the museum and other sources.[1] Laura Holtman, Public Relations Manager for the Museum said in an email, “Because the array generates less than 5 percent of the Museum's power, [the purchased energy] is not a particularly large bill.”

The Independence Institute asked the Denver Museum of Science and Nature to provide certain statistical information regarding the now-famous solar array. Specifically, the Institute asked for:

1 ) Two years worth of electric bills prior to the installation of the solar array,
2 ) All electric bills following the completion of the installation.

The Museum denied those requests.

The solar array is not owned by the Museum, however. It is owned by Hybrid Energy Group, LLC. HEG owns the solar array, sells the electricity to the Museum, and receives tax incentives from the state and federal governments, while also receiving “rebates” from Xcel Energy. The rebates are funded by a surcharge collected on the monthly bill of every Colorado Xcel customer.

A 2008 article in the Denver Business Journal sheds further light on the subject. The article notes the total price of the solar array was $720,000. And Dave Noel, VP of operations and chief technology officer for the Museum, was quoted as saying, “We looked at first installing [the solar array] ourselves, and without any of the incentive programs, it was a 110-year payout.” Noel went on to say that the Museum did not purchase the solar array because it did not “make sense financially.”

Additionally, most solar panels have an expected life-span of 20 to 25 years.

◼ It's not racist anymore to say - Obama is flunking economics,
◼ Commentary: Obama is flunking economics

Many Americans are so emotionally invested in the Obama presidency that they consider it too historic to fail.

They won't tolerate any criticism of the president or his administration, finding it easier to simply attack critics. And whatever goes wrong that they can't defend or deflect, they just blame on George W. Bush.

But to many of the rest of us, it's clear that President Obama is flunking economics. He is trying to do too much at once, and so he is not doing any of it well. He vows to cut the federal deficit while proposing an avalanche of new spending that will -- says the Congressional Budget Office -- increase the national debt by as much as $9.3 trillion over the next decade.

Will they wear Brown Shirts? Or will they be Green?

Involuntary volunteerism
◼ dcexaminer editorial Expanded Americorps has an authoritarian feel

...Last summer, then-candidate Barack Obama threw civil liberties to the wind when he proposed “a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded” as the regular military. The expanded Americorps is not quite so disturbing, but a number of provisions in the bill raise serious concerns.

To begin with, the legislation threatens the voluntary nature of Americorps by calling for consideration of “a workable, fair, and reasonable mandatory service requirement for all able young people.” It anticipates the possibility of requiring “all individuals in the United States” to perform such service – including elementary school students. The bill also summons up unsettling memories of World War II-era paramilitary groups by saying the new program should “combine the best practices of civilian service with the best aspects of military service,” while establishing “campuses” that serve as “operational headquarters,” complete with “superintendents” and “uniforms” for all participants. It allows for the elimination of all age restrictions in order to involve Americans at all stages of life. And it calls for creation of “a permanent cadre” in a “National Community Civilian Corps.”

But that’s not all. The bill also calls for “youth engagement zones” in which “service learning” is “a mandatory part of the curriculum in all of the secondary schools served by the local educational agency.” This updated form of voluntary community service is also to be “integrated into the science, technology, engineering and mathematics curricula” at all levels of schooling. Sounds like a government curriculum for government approved “service learning,” which is nothing less than indoctrination. Now, ask yourself if congressmen who voted for this monstrosity had a clue what they were voting for. If not, they’re guilty of dereliction of duty. If yes, the implications are truly frightening....

HEY - OBAMA! LEAVE THE KIDS ALONE!

How 'bout we pass a retroactive bill to take back Rahm's $320,000.00

Doesn't he remind you of the oily Jafar in ALADDIN

◼ GATEWAY PUNDIT Rahm Emanuel Made At Least $320,000 From Freddie Mac... Received $51,000 in Campaign Contributions
◼ CHICAGO TRIBUNE Rahm Emanuel's profitable stint at mortgage giant
Short Freddie Mac stay made him at least $320,000

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

◼ GAY PATRIOT Obama Chief of Staff Tied to Key Player in Financial Meltdown

UPDATE: Two years after leaving the firm, Emanuel reported an additional sale of Freddie Mac stock worth between $100,001 and $250,000.
The Obama administration rejected a Tribune [the paper breaking the story] request under the Freedom of Information Act to review Freddie Mac board minutes and correspondence during Emanuel’s time as a director.

Yeah. I think he should have to pay it back or be subject to the same 90% tax that gets levied on the AIG execs, the scapegoats who are being used to hide Obama's - and Rahm's own complicity in the bonuses.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

◼ 'I'm having a very good crisis,' says Soros as hedge fund managers make billions

GEORGE SOROS' eight year investment in American Politics pays off, big time.

Suckers.

ACORN - Obama's private stormtroopers

◼ Dear A.I.G., I Quit!
◼ AIG Bonuses: Surrendered Under Pressure?
◼ Threats to AIG: "We Will Get Your Children"
Documents reveal the level of threats against AIG employees
-- All you motherf***ers should be shot. Thanks for f***ing up our economy then taking our money.
-- Dear Sir: Ya'll should have the balls and come clean and give back the bonuses. I know you would never do this so the gov't ought to take you out back and shoot everyone of you crooked sonofb****es...I would be very careful when I went out side. This is just a warning. If I were ya'll I would be real afraid. Thanks, Bill.
-- I don't hope that bad things happen to the recipients of those bonuses. I really hope that bad things happen to the children and grandchildren of them! Whatever hurts them the most!!
-- You f***ing suck. Paying bonuses to the d*****s that made bad bets losing your company billions of dollars. I want to f***ing puke. Publish the list of those yankee scumbags so some good old southern boys can take care of them.
-- If the bonuses don't stop, it will be very likely that every CEO @ AIG has a bulls-eye on their backs.
-- We will hunt you down. Every last penny. We will hunt your children and we will hunt your conscience. We will do whatever we can to get those people getting the bonuses. Give back the money or kill yourselves.
-- All the executives and their families should be executed with piano wire around their necks --- my greatest hope.
-- You mother-f***ing, c***s***ing, d***l****ers need to be taken out one by one and shot in the head. There's a special place in hell for you pond scum. Watch your backs because someone will come to get you, you can be sure.
-- The Revolution is coming. The family members of your executives are not safe. Your blood will run through the streets in the coming months.
Among the documents is an e-mail from an unknown individual, who may be or may have been an employee: "Just arrived home to several threats on the answering machine. 'Give your money back or else,' terrible things going to happen, etc. Both private caller numbers."

EU Presidency: Obama Plans 'a Way to Hell'

◼ STRASBOURG, France — A top European Union politician on Wednesday slammed U.S. plans to spend its way out of recession as "a way to hell."

...The United States plans to spend heavily to try and lift its economy out of recession with a $787 billion economic stimulus plan of tax rebates, health and welfare benefits, as well as extra energy and infrastructure spending.

To encourage banks to lend again, the government will also pump $1 trillion into the financial system by buying up treasury bonds and mortgage securities in an effort to clear some of the "toxic assets" — devalued and untradeable assets — from banks' balance sheets.

Topolanek bluntly said that "the United States did not take the right path.".

He slammed the U.S.' widening budget deficit and protectionist trade measures — such as the "Buy America" — and said that "all of these steps, these combinations and permanency is the way to hell."... Wednesday, March 25, 2009 Associated Press

Flubbing up

is ONE way to guarantee an audience. Will you watch the latest Office of the President Appearance?

Zogby: Obama's approval rating has slid over 20 points in his first 60 days in office.

◼ Rasmussen not lookin' too good there either. (image source)
◼ Boston Herald link
◼ Jules Crittenden 50-50
The sobering numbers come as the president backpedals from two prime-time gaffes - one comparing his bowling score to a Special Olympian and another awkwardly laughing about the economy, which prompted Steve Kroft of “60 Minutes” to ask “are you punch-drunk?”

Pollster John Zogby said his poll out in the morning will show Americans split on the president’s performance. He said the score factors out to “about 50-50.”
◼ Gateway Pundit Another Grim Milestone... Obama's Approval Rating at 50-50

It's not what's RIGHT or LEFT

...it's what's RIGHT and what's WRONG.

In so many words - f-ck off

h/t: Holger Awakens

Former ACORN Employee: More Than Half Voter Registrations Invalid

Newsmax: More than half the voter registrations turned in by ACORN canvassers during the last election were not valid, according to testimony to be presented before a House Judiciary subcommittee....

...According to MonCrief, the Obama presidential campaign called her in October 2007 asking for coordination in soliciting donations from people who had already made the maximum contribution to Obama allowed by election laws. MonCrief testified that she was given a massive database of Obama donors who had already reached the limit. Her task was to cull it for potential donors who would then donate to Project Vote, an ACORN affiliate which targets individuals and entities to solicit donations.

If true, MonCrief’s allegations constitute violations of the Internal Revenue Code, federal campaign finance laws, and laws against voter registration fraud, according to a memo by Cleta Mitchell, co-chairman of the Republican National Lawyers Association.

MonCrief said she worked as a development associate from 2005 until early 2008 for Project Vote. Project Vote was so closely aligned with ACORN that they were essentially one and the same, she said.

Project Vote national spokesman Michael McDunnah has denied that the donor list MonCrief worked on came from the Democratic nominee or his campaign. The Obama campaign has denied the allegation....

The White House, Chris "waitress sandwich" Dodd's wife, AIG, and the AIG bonuses

The rich-hunt buses went to the wrong place.

Remember the AIG bonuses were specifically allowed by a clause added by Dodd - whose wife, it now turns out, well, read up at Little Green Footballs: Dodd's Wife Was Former Director of AIG-Controlled Company

Real Clear Politics: Dodd's Wife a Former Director of Bermuda-Based IPC Holdings, an AIG Controlled Company

And there may be more - why is this coming out now? Why is Dodd being thrown so completely under the bus? From American Spectator: Plenty of Rahm at the AIG Table
Over the past ten days, as the furor over AIG retention plan bonuses has focused on Sen. Chris Dodd and Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner, the White House has undertaken a PR offensive to protect the highest ranking Obama Administration official who was involved in the House and Senate negotiations over the stimulus bill, in which the AIG waiver language was inserted.

"Right now, you get the feeling this is all about protecting [White House Chief of Staff] Rahm Emanuel,” says a former Treasury Department lawyer, who worked in that department's counsel's office on the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) before joining a D.C.-based law firm in February. "At the time, we were led to believe there were basically three or four people from the Administration at the table when the final deals were cut and one of them was Emanuel."

Informal advisers to Geithner are growing increasingly frustrated, they say, that Geithner is being held up as the straw man for the public anger over the bonuses. "Just over the weekend you saw a new guy added to the target list, [White House economics adviser Larry] Summers,” says a longtime Geithner colleague at the New York Fed. "You have Dodd, Geithner, Summers, but there were other, more senior political people involved in this mess, and their names aren't being mentioned. Why isn't anyone asking Rahm Emanuel, 'What meetings were you in?' 'What did you and the President know and when did you know it?' Tim has some culpability, but he's not the guy who signed off on the Dodd language. He wasn't that empowered to do something like that."
***
Mrs. Daschle: Big business lobbyist
Linda Hall Daschle, wife of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D.-S.D.), has lobbied since 1997 for some of the U.S. government's largest contractors.

According to federal lobbying records, Mrs. Daschle represents Boeing and United Technologies on Capitol Hill, even as these interests depend on her husband's official acts in the Senate for their federal contracts.
***
From Gus 802
Jackie M. Clegg @ Forbes

Director, Blockbuster Inc.
Dallas , TX
Sector: SERVICES / Music & Video Stores

Director , Brookdale Senior Living Incorporated
Brentwood , TN
Sector: HEALTHCARE / Long-Term Care Facilities

Director , Cardiome Pharma Corporation
Vancouver, B.C. , CN
Sector: HEALTHCARE / Drug Manufacturers - Other

Director , CME Group, Incorporated
Chicago , IL
Sector: FINANCIAL / Diversified Investments

Director , Javelin Pharmaceuticals, Incorporated
Cambridge , MA


US Senator Chris Dodd Releases Mortgage Docs
***
nhregister.com: EDITORIAL: Dodd lied about AIG bonuses Friday, March 20, 2009
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.
***
March 19th article where Dodd DENIES any connection to the bonuses. ◼ Sign up for Email and Mobile AlertsSubscribe to RSS
Dodd: 'I'm Giving Back AIG Cash' - Claims Innocence in Bonus Debacle
Dodd’s spokeswoman Kate Szostak fired back in the Hartford Courant:
"Senator Dodd's original executive compensation amendment adopted by the Senate did not include an exemption for existing contracts that provided for these types of bonuses,'' Szostak said.

"Senator Dodd was completely unaware of these AIG bonuses until he learned of them in the past few days; to suggest that the bonuses affecting AIG had any effect on Senator Dodd's action is categorically false.”

By Thursday, that statement was proven false.

He, and other politicians have adopted the Clinton model - deny, deny, deny - believing they can get away with any lie they tell by stonewalling til the interest fades. Lie, cheat and steal, and then tell other people how to conduct themselves.

The Senate ignores their own role in this debacle, and allows the AIG employees to become scapegoats - Barney Frank laughs off death threats against the employees - IS THIS WHAT YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS SHOULD BE DOING? Or should they be calling for calm, should they be 'fessing up, should they be explaining the REALITY of the situation?

No. Because their titular head, Barack Obama is the one who instigated the stormtroopers. It is he who unleashed the lynch mob, ACORN, The Many-Headed Hydra, to do his dirty work while he sonorously opines on a spirit of (non-existent) bi-partisanship. He unleashes the lynch mob in order to hide his own complicity.

Chris Dodd is not the only one who is a lying weasel.

Weird

Pete Stark (D-CA) should be removed from office.

CALIFORNIA CONGRESSMAN CLAIMS TO LIVE IN MARYLAND -
The salary for a congressman is $162,500 per year plus perks. Despite this kind of pay, Congressman Pete Stark (D-CA) claimed his primary residence as being in Maryland to save just $3,853 in taxes. He is registered to vote in California and has a California driver's license. He is not alone. Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY) has done the same thing. These are the same guys calling the Wall Street guys crooks....

...Stark, 77, confirmed in a telephone interview last week that he and his wife, Deborah, are registered to vote in California’s 13th congressional district using the address of her parents in San Lorenzo, about 25 miles southeast of San Francisco. Stark also said both he and his wife have California driver’s licenses....

tark is not alone among politicians who have claimed the tax credit. Last week, the Associated Press reported that U.S. Representative Eliot Engel, a Democrat from New York, was declared ineligible by Maryland officials for the tax break he has been receiving for a home he owns in Montgomery County, Maryland, a Washington suburb. A state official said her office is reviewing the eligibility of other members of Congress who own property in Montgomery County and claim the credit....

Roberta Ward, office manager of the state Department of Assessments and Taxation’s Montgomery County branch, said her staff has been cracking down on members of Congress from other states who were claiming the homestead tax credit.

“Somebody let it be known that a lot of congressmen were getting the tax break, Ward said. ‘‘So then we got a list’’ a few years ago and ‘‘we sent letters to all the congressmen’’ who own property in the county. She estimated the process involved more than a dozen lawmakers.

Constitutional Requirements

To serve in the House, the U.S. Constitution says that candidates must be U.S. citizens for at least seven years, an ‘‘inhabitant’’ of the state in which they seek election and 25 years old when their first term would begin. California law says the residence for its House members is determined by where they are registered to vote, which is ‘‘conclusively presumed’’ to be their domicile....

◼ California Congressman Calls Maryland Home to Gain Tax Credit

He's not a California resident. He should be removed from office.

◼ mercurynews.com Internal Affairs: Just where does East Bay Rep. Pete Stark live, anyway?
Stark insists he's done nothing wrong. (And for the record, California law says the residence for its House members is determined by where they're registered to vote, Bloomberg reports.)

He did this to save $3,853.

This means he is gaming the system to save himself from paying taxes, while voting to raise YOURS.

Quote of the week, it's a toss up.

On 60 Minutes - STEVE KROFT asks Obama: ◼ (TRANSCRIPT)
"Your Treasury Secretary’s plan… Geithner's plan, and— your plan really— for solving the banking crisis— was met with very, very, very tepid response. And you had a lot of people criticize… a lot of people said they didn't understand it. A lot of people said it didn't have any— enough details to— to— to solve the problem. I know you're coming out with something— next week on this. But these criticisms were coming from people like Warren Buffett, people who had supported you, and you had counted as being your—"

OBAMA answers:
"And— and— and— and Warren still does support me. But I think that understand Warren's also a big player in the financial markets who's a major owner of Wells Fargo. And so he's got a perspective from the perspective of somebody who— is part owner of a bank. You've got members of Congress who've got a different perspective. Which is, "We don't want to spend any more taxpayer money." You've got— a whole host of players, all of whom may have a completely different solution. (LAUGHS) Right?"

SERIOUSLY!!!! "You've got members of Congress who've got a different perspective. Which is, "We don't want to spend any more taxpayer money." Coulda FOOLED me!
***
And then there's this:
***
OBAMA says:

"I just want to say that-- the only thing less popular than putting money into banks is putting money (LAUGHS) into the auto industry. So--"

STEVE KROFT says:

"18 percent are in favor."

PRESIDENT OBAMA:

(LAUGHS) "That's--"

STEVE KROFT:

"Seventy-six percent against."

PRESIDENT OBAMA:

"It-- it-- it's not a high number."

STEVE KROFT:

"You're sitting here. And you're-- you are laughing. You are laughing about some of these problems. Are people going to look at this and say, "I mean, he's sitting there just making jokes about (LAUGHTER) money--” How do you deal with-- I mean, wh-- explain -"

PRESIDENT OBAMA:

"Well--"

STEVE KROFT:

"--the mood and your laughter."

PRESIDENT OBAMA:

"Yeah, I mean, there's got to be--"

STEVE KROFT:

"Are you punch drunk?"

PRESIDENT OBAMA:

"No, no. There's gotta be a little gallows humor to (LAUGHS) get you through the day...."
***

So which is it?

"You've got members of Congress who've got a different perspective. Which is, "We don't want to spend any more taxpayer money."
or
"Are you punch drunk?"

True or False?

The GIVE Act has 12 amendments. - House Amendment 49. - reads: “H.Amdt49 Pass Amendment to prohibit organizations from attempting to influence legislation; organize or engage in protests, petitions, boycotts, or strikes; and assist, promote, or deter union organizing.”

(Were) your First Amendment rights of Free Speech just - legislated out the door.

Politically incorrect

Might as well be consistent. Politically correct straightjackets are not a good thing. So the "Special Olympics" remark should be forgiven.

But we all know that the Left is not so tolerant, and would never do so if the situation were reversed. We have seen 8 years of the most vile character assassination that exists. Systematic, unrelenting, often dishonest, and sometimes 'for pay.' We all know that a republican would not get away with it. They have been crucified for far less egregious remarks. Far less insensitive remarks. And that attack mentality has not ended with Bush leaving office. In fact, Obama's attack goons are still hard at work, creating new demons to keep the faithful agitated, and thus supportive, monetarily and in other ways.

So while I will 'forgive' the agitator in chief for his thoughtless and stupid rehearsed remark, I think it fitting that this commentary, from his own community, go on the record. ◼ No, Mr. President, it is most certainly not like the Special Olympics

The thing most Americans don’t realize, that we in Chicago who have seen Obama up close and personal for years know very well, is that this whole business about him being a “great communicator” is all a lot of apocryphal hype. Obama is no such thing. He is clumsy and awkward when not in front of a teleprompter and, because he’s never felt like he fits in anywhere, he very often makes painfully bad jokes in attempts to fit in.

He’s Steve Urkel in the lunch room, trying to sit at the table with all the popular kids, so he tells gross jokes and demeans others so he’s not the focus of the joking. He hits others so he doesn’t get hit, and deflects the awkwardness he feels on others.

In Springfield, state senators had regular poker games, at which Obama was notorious for telling gross, excrutiatingly vulgar jokes, or railing against the termagant he married. The things he used to say about Michelle at those poker games, while largely accurate by all accounts, are things husbands don’t say in public about their wives — no matter how much they want to get in good with all the other guys sitting around the table. Men don’t even talk like that in a locker room, or sitting together along a latrine. But, there he was, Obama the state senator, reveling in the same sexism and misogyny his campaign would gleefully employ to great success throughout 2008.

So, making jokes about the mentally and physically disabled, like he did on Jay Leno, doesn’t surprise us about Obama. This is who he is.

The media claims he’s something else. His campaign convinced many of you he’s something else.

But, this is who he is.,,,

Obama’s behavior on Jay Leno was, once again, very unpresidential.

One day, maybe the rest of the country will see him for who he truly is, and see him the way those of us in Chicago who’ve watched him for years know he truly is.

Steve Urkel with a teleprompter sums it up pretty well.

He is, and will always be, the guy on a bike, in a helmet, with his polo shirt tucked tightly into acid washed jeans, where each pump of the pedal reveals white socks in impossibly clean tennis shoes, the kind the kid picked last in gym class always wore.

And that kid, always picked on by others, became a man who picks on others whenever he needs to deflect attention from himself.

It's worth remembering. As he has organized the forces of ACORN and all his other interconnected ORGS to go out and demonize, and threaten the AIG guys, his own citizens, in order to sell 'his' agenda, rather than calming the waters, and truly seeking solutions, the true measure of this man will be known, and will become more and more apparent.

I'd like to think he could learn from his mistakes. But I don't think he will. I don't think he cares to.

***
Even more damning: ◼ Obama's women reveal his secret

Chavez uses Venezuelan military, 'seizes ports'

◼ CARACAS (AFP) - Venezuela's military took control Saturday of all the country's major airports and maritime ports, following a recently enacted law handing management of the facilities to the central government....

◼ News
◼ BBC Venezuela military 'seizes ports'

President Hugo Chavez has pushed for the move, describing it as "reunifying the motherland, which was in pieces".
Critics of Mr Chavez says the plans are unconstitutional, but the National Assembly backed them a week ago, saying they would improve essential services. - it's for your own good, really.

Soldiers were seen moving into major sites on Saturday, among them the port at Maracaibo, Venezuela's main oil-producing city - an opposition stronghold in the state of Zulia, AFP reported.
Facilities in at least three opposition-run states were seized, according to reports.
Since the government lost a number of key seats, including the mayoralty of Caracas, in local elections last year, there have been regular clashes over jurisdiction between local mayors and the national government.

McCarthyism lives

And whaddya know, it is the American Left, no, worse, it is the President's minions sent out to do his dirty work, the President's "community organizer" stormtroopers sent out to demonize and terrorize the President's own people...

At a time when the president should be calling for calm, he is instead fomenting death threats, hatreds and rage against the scapegoats who are being used to hide the lies being told by the Obama administration - provable lies told by Chris "waitress sandwich" Dodd (D) and the tax-cheat in charge of the Treasury.

◼ Little Green Footballs is on the job The Populist Rage Bus Tour

◼ nymag.com Busload of Crazies to Tour Homes of AIG Executives This Weekend
...The Connecticut Working Families Party this weekend has organized a bus store that will make stops at Wilton, Connecticut, AIG office as well as the security-patrolled homes of AIG execs who are fearing for their lives....

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!!! Who’s behind the BARACK OBAMA'S LYNCH MOB? The Working Families Party?

◼ Discover the Networks Working Families Party: Agendas, Activities, and Alliances - Front group for ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now)... "The [Working Families Party] was created in 1998 to help push the Democratic Party toward the left," noted the Associated Press in 2000. In pursuit of this goal, WFP runs radical candidates in state and local elections. Generally, WFP candidates conceal their extremism beneath a veneer of populist rhetoric, promoting bread-and-butter issues designed to appeal to union workers and other blue-collar voters, Republican and Democrat alike....

In the 2004 election cycle, a new force entered New York politics: billionaire financier George Soros. The Soros-funded Drug Policy Alliance -- a drug legalization lobby through which Soros often funnels political contributions -- gave $81,500 to the Albany County District Attorney campaign of Democrat David Soares. Instead of donating the money directly, however, the Drug Policy Alliance laundered Soros' contribution through the Working Families Party -- an illegal act according to New York State law. ...

WHY!! It is ACORN! And a conglomeration of activist groups, and if the pattern holds true, they are all related self-pollinating groups, who self endorse themselves and call themselves a "growing coalition."

You're watching history be made. The rise of a new McCarthyism. And it is all ok, because it's necessary for Obama to break everything in order to remake us.

God help this nation if this is allowed to go on.

You on the left may have liked this little puppy when it helped you kill George Bush, even you must recoil in horror when you see the growing demon you have created emerge.

***

more - from alert commenters (#86) at LGF - New York ACORN leader Steven Kest was the moving force in forming the party, and WFP headquarters are located at the same address as ACORN's national office, at 88 Third Avenue in Brooklyn, New York.

Tale of Two gardens

◼ White House to break ground on 'kitchen garden'

◼ The Barack Obama Botanical Garden
The usual story, campaign donor gets State grant, usually some sort of slumlord construction project...
On Jan. 14, 2000, Obama and Smith announced the Englewood Beautification Plan at Englewood High School. Obama promised to help raise $1.1 million. He was running then to unseat U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, but lost in the Democratic primary.

The beautification project, planned near and under L tracks between 59th Place and 62nd Place, was outside Obama's state Senate district but within the congressional district.

"I will work tirelessly in Springfield and in Chicago to raise public and private dollars to fund this worthy endeavor," Obama said then.

In 2001, at Obama's direction, a $100,000 Illinois FIRST grant went to Smith's group. The garden site was part of Rosewood Estates, an affordable-housing development being built by the group, whose unpaid board chairman was Brian Washington, a Sun-Times security guard.

Plans called for more than 50 homes, but only a dozen were built, Smith said.

The remaining $1 million for the botanic garden was never raised.

It is that 'two minds' thing - on the one hand, it's good for Michelle to do this, and on the other hand, it would be nice if she had just quietly done it, instead of the big grand stand-y thing that makes it so insincere.

What happens when

massive and expensive programs fail? What does the government agency recommend after finding it didn’t work?

Expand it. Junkfood science

MANN and Machine

◼ Mann & Machine is an American science fiction/police drama series that aired for nine episodes on NBC from April 5, 1992 to July 14, 1992.

Best thing about it was the set design, with alot of neon blue.

Miami Vice's sets were all about Florida colors, no earth tones allowed, this one, s'posed to be more in the future, more metal and that neon blue.

◼ http://www.scifi2k.com/mann/mann.html

More lies exposed - on videotape

While you are being told that the Obama Administration was hoodwinked by AIG, as justification for the witch hunt that has resulted in a draconian attempt to impose a punitive 100% tax, more and more facts emerge, more and more lies are exposed.

Chris Dodd (D) LIED about his role in specifically allowing the bonuses. And he was caught. And changed his story.

Now C-Span's archival footage exposes the lies about who knew what and when. And that includes the tax-cheat in charge of the Treasury.



◼ Michelle Malkin Geithner: Can’t get taxes straight, can’t get dates straight…

Hapless Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner claims he didn’t find out about the AIG bonus issue until March 10. This was contradicted by AIG president Edward Liddy’s testimony before Congress earlier this week. Liddy was right. Geithner was wrong. And it’s all on videotape. DealBlog this morning referenced a House hearing on March 3 in which Geithner was directly questioned about the specific bosnues, a full week before Geithner claims he was made aware of the impending controversy. C-SPAN archives has the clip (also now on YouTube)

◼ Hot Air Time magazine: Treasury knew about AIG bonuses 10 days sooner than thought

Time claims the memo from the New York Fed on February 28 went so far as to emphasize that the bonuses were a hot-button issue — and still, no action in D.C. for 10 days.

◼ Officials Knew About A.I.G. Bonuses Weeks Ago
◼ Chris Dodd Ignorant of Video Tape


unreal.

Follow BARACK OBAMA'S TELEPROMPTER'S BLOG

◼ BARACK OBAMA'S TELEPROMPTER'S BLOG

...Rush to his credit has identified me as a key player in the White House, and while he didn't formally request an interview with me - nor did he submit his questions for approval with Gibbsy as "real" journalists like John Roberts (little known fact: he was once a Canadian VJ) do - he has posed a number of interesting questions, all of which I will begin answering today in a new, regular feature: Screen Shots with Rush....

Trip Down Memory Lane

I'd forgotten about this, but yep, this is the same Chris Dodd (D) who just fessed up to lying about his role in allowing the AIG bonuses... (see post below)

◼ The Kennedy-Dodd Waitress Sandwich Information Clearinghouse

Volcanos, and a 7.9

◼ Undersea Volcano Erupts Off Tonga Coast

KT has amateur video - ◼ Volcanic Eruption off of Tonga

From comments at ◼ wattsupwiththat.com

Just for your information: Seismic activity Tonga region last 2 weeks`;

Last 2 Weeks of Earthquakes
(within 10 degrees of LON=-174.7818, LAT=-23.0152)
DATE links are into the IRIS WILBER system where you can see seismograms and request datasets.
DATE LAT LON MAG DEPTH REGION
19-MAR-2009 18:17:37 -23.02 -174.78 7.9 10.0 TONGA ISLANDS REGION
16-MAR-2009 15:25:20 -20.65 -175.77 5.0 81.1 TONGA ISLANDS
15-MAR-2009 20:28:53 -15.49 -173.22 5.0 35.0 TONGA ISLANDS
14-MAR-2009 03:04:12 -20.00 -175.43 4.8 156.5 TONGA ISLANDS
13-MAR-2009 03:26:44 -21.19 -175.57 4.4 147.0 TONGA ISLANDS
12-MAR-2009 23:04:12 -17.60 -174.27 4.6 108.5 TONGA ISLANDS
09-MAR-2009 19:42:16 -21.90 -175.18 5.1 10.0 TONGA ISLANDS
06-MAR-2009 20:19:05 -15.02 -173.12 4.9 11.0 TONGA ISLANDS
06-MAR-2009 08:21:26 -15.19 -173.39 5.0 10.0 TONGA ISLANDS
06-MAR-2009 07:24:04 -15.08 -173.45 4.8 10.0 TONGA ISLANDS

◼ Alaska's Mount Redoubt Rumbles Once Again

◼ Global Warming Alert For Prius Owners

LOVE Shephard Smith

The truth will out.

People are lovin' it!~
◼ Neo's got it Shepard Smith is outraged—and he’s not going to take it anymore

Oh, fer crying out loud

He already made history as the first black president, and the first president to appoint the Huffington Post to the Washington Press Corps, now we're supposed to be impressed because he is the first sitting president to go on Leno. Wow. Isn't that cool.

◼ Obama to make history with Leno as he becomes the first sitting president to appear on chat show

Glad he has his priorities straight.

White House press spokesman Robert Gibbs said the show provided a 'unique audience' for the President to get his message across.

'We don't look at it as a process of demonstrating the President's sense of humour,' he said.

Rather, it was a chance 'to explain the economic situation we are in'.

Mr Obama has attempted to use various outlets to get across the importance of his $787 billion stimulus package.

Gibbs, you buffoon.

Hope Leno asks him what it is like to hold the American Express Black Hole Card.

Obama In St Patrick's Day Teleprompt Blunder

Once again the UK gets the story


◼ Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen was just a few paragraphs into an address in Washington when he realised it all sounded a bit too familiar.
It was. He was repeating the speech President Barack Obama had just read from the same teleprompter.
Mr Cowen stopped, turned to the president and said: "That's your speech."
A laughing Mr Obama returned to the podium to take over but it seems the script had finally been switched and the US president ended up thanking himself for inviting everyone to the party.

Obama's teleprompter makes demands:



◼ NoQuarter Teleprompter Malfunction, Obama?

◼ Maureen Dowd No Boiled Carrots
Barack Obama even needs a teleprompter to get mad....
◼ Washington Times EDITORIAL: Obama's reliance on teleprompters
Is President Obama able to conduct a news conference without a teleprompter?

Diversions

◼ Gateway Pundit Obama Administration Knew About AIG Bonuses For Months

◼ AP Washington knew AIG was preparing to pay bonuses

WASHINGTON – Cue the outrage. For months, the Obama administration and members of Congress have known that insurance giant AIG was getting ready to pay huge bonuses while living off government bailouts. It wasn't until the money was flowing and news was trickling out to the public that official Washington rose up in anger and vowed to yank the money back.
Why the sudden furor, just weeks after Barack Obama's team paid out $30 billion in additional aid to the company? So far, the administration has been unable to match its actions to Obama's tough rhetoric on executive compensation. And Congress has been unable or unwilling to restrict bonuses for bailout recipients, despite some lawmakers' repeated efforts to do so.

◼ National Review The Stimulus Bill Explicitly Guarantees Contractual Bonuses Executed Before February 11

From page H1412 of the Final Stimulus Bill, “SEC. 111. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE:

'(iii) The prohibition required under clause (i) shall not be construed to prohibit any bonus payment required to be paid pursuant to a written employment contract executed on or before February 11, 2009, as such valid employment contracts are determined by the Secretary or the designee of the Secretary.”

This amendment provides an exception for contractually obligated bonuses agreed on before Feb. 11, 2009, which exempts the very AIG bonuses Obama is condemning every single chance he gets. The amendment is in the final version and is law.

That's the amendment that Dodd got placed in the Obama stimulus bill. You know, the one that passed with no House Republican votes, and only three Senate Republican votes.

◼ Pajamas Media Contributions to Obama Campaign Track Bailout Money

Barack Obama’s lack of leadership in a down economy has now hit crisis proportions, as his claimed inability to block millions of dollars in bonuses for executives of bailout recipient AIG has caused even his supporters to turn on him.

But while the ire of Congress and the media focus are on the $165 million that AIG paid out in bonuses to their executives, the president is hoping you won’t notice the $100 billion in taxpayer bailout dollars that AIG paid out to other banks, including $58 billion to foreign banks and $36 billion given to French and German banks alone.

The Obama administration is allowing AIG to bail out the rest of the world with your tax dollars.

So by all means, the president is happy to have you railing at “evil” but relatively small potatoes AIG executive bonuses, as it points your outrage away from his own far more costly executive abuses.

◼ No Quarter White House Panics at the Mob Marching on AIG

In sum, the crew that bailed out AIG is still largely in place. These dignitaries lobbied the 110th Congress to go along with the scheme, along with the TARP money that accompanied the scheme. The first puzzle is, when did it occur to them that by keeping the bankrupt and ruined AIG alive with the public treasury that this meant, logically and legally, that all the employee contracts for bonuses would be paid in time?...

...The president also goes on to restate the problem as if he was just told: this is smooth Washington behavior. Make yourself important by pontificating on the problem that everyone already knows about: It is raining, so state loudly that getting wet is icky. Or, Frankenstein is a monster, grab a torch and pitchfork (below), let’s get him!...

◼ Hot Air Hey, guess who else has an executive retention bonus plan?
◼ Huffington Post Dodd: Treasury Officials Insisted On Weakening Bonus Provision
◼ Political Ticker BREAKING: I was responsible for bonus loophole, says Dodd

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Senate Banking committee Chairman Christopher Dodd told CNN’s Dana Bash and Wolf Blitzer Wednesday that he was responsible for adding the bonus loophole into the stimulus package that permitted AIG and other companies that received bailout funds to pay bonuses.

On Tuesday, Dodd denied to CNN that he had anything to do with the adding of that provision.

◼ Hot Air Dodd: You know, now I remember adding that bonus language; Update: CNN says Dodd “lied”

After a day in which Democrats scapegoated Edward Liddy for paying AIG bonuses in which he had no hand in creating, Chris Dodd finally reversed his earlier denials and admitted that he inserted language into Porkulus that allowed the payouts. Dodd told CNN that the devil Tim Geithner made him do it

CNN can't even cover up this one. Rule #1: Do not lie to reporters:



Just a trip down memory lane - Chris Dodd - ◼ The Kennedy-Dodd Waitress Sandwich Information Clearinghouse

Beagán agus a rá go maith.

(Say little but say it well.)
image

May God give you...For every storm a rainbow, for every tear a smile, for every care a promise and a blessing in each trial. For every problem life sends, a faithful friend to share, for every sigh a sweet song and an answer for each prayer.

Obviously Obama never played SimCity 2000

Or he would know you do not kill off your business community and expect your country to survive.. He would know that you do not threaten to punish people for being successful, and he would know the value of the military.

"The leader of the nation's largest veterans organization says he is "deeply disappointed and concerned" after a meeting with President Obama today"

What was it $800 Million to ACORN? Or was it Billion.

And where was that money going to come from? Mr. Obama?

Well, looks like about $600 Million comes by ceasing to provide care to wounded soldiers.

The American Legion Strongly Opposed to President's Plan to Charge Wounded Heroes for Treatment
WASHINGTON, March 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The leader of the nation's largest veterans organization says he is "deeply disappointed and concerned" after a meeting with President Obama today to discuss a proposal to force private insurance companies to pay for the treatment of military veterans who have suffered service-connected disabilities and injuries. The Obama administration recently revealed a plan to require private insurance carriers to reimburse the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in such cases.

"It became apparent during our discussion today that the President intends to move forward with this unreasonable plan," said Commander David K. Rehbein of The American Legion. "He says he is looking to generate $540-million by this method, but refused to hear arguments about the moral and government-avowed obligations that would be compromised by it."...

So you can spend TRILLIONS of dollars, sign a spending bill that no one had read - and then you do this?

He will end up having to reverse himself on this - but it shows you his mindset, like nothing else does. He props those soldiers behind him in press events, but they know who he is.

There will be a sea change when those kids come home from Iraq.

It's also a good indicator of how much you can trust his proposed Government Health Care. If he can SAVE money by not honoring commitments, you're just SOL.

◼ Obama mulls making vets foot bill for service injuries It's a betrayal.
...Few details about the plan have been available, and a VA spokesman did not provide additional information. But the reaction on Capitol Hill to the idea has been swift and harsh.

“Dead on arrival” is how Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington described the idea....

Apparently Obama's campaign promises mean nothing - but you knew that. You knew he only had to say things like this to get elected.

CABLE NEWS RACE STACK UP

FOR FRI., MARCH 13, 2009

FOXNEWS O'REILLY 3,185,000
FOXNEWS BECK 3,074,000
FOXNEWS HANNITY 2,557,000
FOXNEWS BAIER 2,151,000
FOXNEWS SHEP 1,879,000
FOXNEWS GRETA 1,522,000
MSNBC OLBERMANN 1,223,000
CNN KING 1,046,000
CNNHN GRACE 1,045,000
MSNBC MADDOW 954,000

Night Heat

A great vintage TV series out of Canada, used to be on late at night, along with old Hawaii 5-O reruns. On YouTube now, broken up into YouTube sized pieces, but the full episodes are there.

Is Bernie Madoff a Democrat or Republican?

Must be a Democrat because that appellation is missing. If he was a Republican, EVERY news story would begin "Republican Bernie Madoff..."

Found one reference to it - lBernard Madoff a Democrat
"The great irony here, from a political perspective, is that Republican lack of oversight allowed a lot of well-connected Democrats -- like Madoff -- to run wild," says Joel Kotkin, an urban affairs analyst who is a fellow at the liberal New America Foundation. "Now Obama will have to deal with a series of scandals and meltdowns that have taken place within a financial community -- particularly hedge funds which may be the next locus of the financial crisis -- that have been tilting what is now considered 'left.' It was so much simpler in the old days when the GOP could be easily identified as the party of 'big greed' while most Democrats concentrated on 'little greed,' like government payoffs and sweetheart contracts."

Mr. Kotkin told Politico.com that Democrats should worry about increased scrutiny of hedge funds, especially those run by traders such as George Soros: "They are more big-time backers of the Democrats, and may be exposed in the next turning of this potboiler reality we are now experiencing. It could get a bit scary." WSJ's Political Diary, John Fund

One of the biggest cases of academic fraud in medical history...

One of the largest known cases of academic fraud and misconduct made the news this week when Anesthesiology News reported that a leading medical researcher was found to have fabricated much, if not all, of the data in his research...

...Dr. Reuben not only worked for a respected academic medical center and was a leading pioneer in his field, his research has provided the support for several clinical practice standards, Anesthesiology News reported. He is well-known among anesthesiology researchers for his studies of multimodal analgesia, the practice of combining several forms of pain relief to better control postoperative discomfort and promote faster recovery from surgery.

Dr. Reuben was one of the most prolific researchers in postoperative pain management and published extensively. A recent PubMed search turned up 72 citations authored by him, according to Anesthesiology News, the most recent was an article in the December issue of the Journal of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia on preventing the development of chronic pain after thoracic surgery....

Interestingly, in more than 15 years, reported Anesthesiology News, Dr. Reuben never had a negative study. Many of his trials were of Celebrex and Lyrica, drugs of the pharmaceutical company, Pfizer, which sponsored his research from 2002 to 2007, and all reported the drugs to be effective for postoperative pain. Yet, all of his studies showed more robust benefits of the drugs than other researchers, whose studies had failed to show much difference at all, the article reported. This should have been a red flag, yet still, no one noticed?...

From Junkfood Science: One of the biggest cases of academic fraud in medical history

All The President's Men

Obama to activate the Twits.

I've said before Obama is at war with his own people - and since all he really knows how to do is campaign, he is now campaigning against his own people - sending out the Obot Twits to pump his message that he in all his glory is absolutely right no matter what he does. But more than that, he is using the Machine that he assembled as a weapon against critics, setting up to destroy all who stand in his way or dare to voice a concern.

Why does this man need ACTIVIST groups to do his dirty work? Why does he need them to communicate with the American People? he has the highest office in the WORLD. He has a Press secretary, and the Press Corps. He can address the nation anytime he wants. Why? Because he is weak, and because what he is doing is WRONG. And he KNOWS it.

◼ Beginning Sunday, the White House will harness every part of the Democratic Party’s machinery to defend President Obama’s budget and portray Republicans as reflexively political, according to party strategists.

A participant in the planning meetings described the push as a successor to Democrats’ message that Rush Limbaugh is the Republican Party leader. “We have exhausted the use of Rush as an attention-getter,” the official said...

You were a campaign supporter? Now you are going to get spammed by Obama, and inducted into his personal army.

The Obama grassroots network—now known as Organizing for America, a project of the Democratic National Committee—has launched an e-mail pledge drive on MyBarackObama.com in which supporters sign their e-mail address to the statement: “I support President Obama's bold approach for renewing America's economy.”...

This is not an easy message war for Democrats. Obama's budget calls for the largest deficit in U.S. history and a doubling of the national debt to $23 trillion in 2019....

◼ Unity '09: Dem groups quietly align

A broad coalition of left-leaning groups is quietly closing ranks into a new coalition, "Unity '09," aimed at helping President Barack Obama push his agenda through Congress....

The online-based MoveOn.org is a central player in the nascent organization, but other groups involved in planning Unity '09 span a broad spectrum of interests, from the American Civil Liberties Union to the National Council of La Raza to Planned Parenthood, as well as labor unions and environmental groups.

The group is still in its early stages, and its organizers have adopted a secretive posture: Several of the people involved did not respond to emails over the last two days...

Unity '09 is, informally, the field organizing compliment to another new organization, Progressive Media , which launched a month ago to coordinate the liberal groups' messages and their attacks on Republicans and on critics of Obama's policies. That group's 8:45 a.m. daily conference call has helped bring such unlikely groups as the League of Conservation Voters into an effort to cast Rush Limbaugh as the leader of the Republican Party, and has coordinated attacks on two leading critics of Obama's health care plans. ...

You get that? COORDINATED ATTACKS on critics.

But while Progressive Media is an in-house project of two existing organizations, the Center for American Progress and Media Matters, Unity '09 requires more commitment from its members in the form of a $25,000 contribution to the group's future organizing campaigns, a source said....

"This, ladies and gentlemen is, a threat to America," Fox News's Bill O'Reilly said, responding Saturday night to POLITICO's report on the birth of Progressive Media and its morning conference call. "The Obama administration would be wise to avoid this crew. If the new administration gets involved in this, it would be like the Nixon dirty tricks squad."

It'll be interesting to see what happens. The OBOTS had their orgasm on Nov. 4. Keeping the frenetic energy going is no easy task, especially as many are having second thoughts.

Sending the OBOTS out to sell Obama's AMERICAN EXPRESS BLACK HOLE CARD - priceless.

Misdirected greed

◼ Larry Summers Channels Gordon Gekko:

...It definitely reminds me of Gordon Gekko's famous "greed is good" speech from Wall Street, where he said that "greed — you mark my words — will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA." However, Summers is wrong to suggest that American investors and corporations have lost too much of their greed. To the contrary, the constant lobbying of every interest group under the sun for more and more government bailout money suggests that they are just as greedy as ever. Even firms that have already received a hefty dose of handouts are lobbying for more. The problem, of course, is that their greedy impulses are being channeled into the unproductive activity of lobbying Congress for subsidies rather than into the development of more and better products for consumers.... Read the rest at volokh.com

Inconvenient truth

◼ Pelosi: ‘I never demanded a bigger plane’; Evidence: ‘Yes, she did’
"We didn't ask for a larger plane, period." "And by the way it's not a plane, it's a ride!"

Uh huh.

...Unfortunately for Speaker Pelosi, her Clinton-esque outright denial of the charge that she demanded the DOD provide her with planes for personal use on the spur of the moment didn’t end the matter altogether. Instead of letting it die, Judicial Watch put in a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request for the email traffic surrounding this issue — and, through that, found that the Speaker was (surprise!) lying.....

Yeah, the emails are pretty clear - “the spkr office continues to ask the escort if they can get a bigger plane,” said one internal DOD email, dated September 4, 2008....

….Whether or not it is the best use of assets is not the question, but instead is it worth upsetting the speaker…”

“We have never done this in the past. The deal is from OSD/Execsec, the White House and OSD/LA that the Speaker shuttle is from DC to SFO and back. We will not reposition. We do not reposition for convenience even for the SECDEF. It is not to far of a drive from Travis to SFO.”

“…you know I understand and feel with you…but, this is a battle that we are bound to lose if we tell the speaker office. In the end, this is what will happen. Can you forward higher for approval for this msn. I wish that I could say this is a one-time request, but we know it will probably happen again in the future. We know you are correct in your justification, but this is still the request from the speaker’s office.”

“AF/LL has asked this question before. We can’t reposition the airplane such a short distance. It is not a judicial use of the asset. It is too expensive to operate the jet when there is truly no need to do so.”...

Related: ◼ http://holgerawakens.blogspot.com/2009/02/air-force-three.html $110,000.00 per weekend 'perk' for Pelosi.

Down the Memory Hole

◼ Wikipedia scrubs Obama eligibility Mention of citizenship issues deleted in minutes, 'offending' users banned

Fullerton (CA) Tea Party gets 15,000 + protestors

◼ They’re revolting. Families with children, bikers, seniors, pirates - by the thousands they descended on a Fullerton bar Saturday to join talk show hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou of KFI in protesting tax increases recently approved in Sacramento.

Police estimated that some 8,000 people came to the Slidebar Café in downtown Fullerton to listen to a three-hour live broadcast of The John & Ken Show.

Some wore buttons. One man brought a bloody effigy head of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and waved it from the end of a pike, while the crowd joined their hosts in a chant of “Repeal, recall, revolt.”

Others directed their outrage at less personal synechdoche: “Total Recall” laser discs, action hero lunchboxes and other memorabilia from the governor’s Hollywood career, which they piled up and smashed with a sledgehammer.

...Later estimates pushed the crowd to almost double that estimate, although crowd estimation is a highly inexact science.

Michelle Malkin reports ◼ Tea Party on: Taxpayer revolts in Green Bay, Lafayette, Olathe, and Harrisburg; Plus: Live from Fullerton CA… “Recall the Taxinator!;” Arnie videotapes/DVDs smashes/shredded

◼ taxdayteaparty.com
◼ twitter.com/search?q=%23teaparty
◼ pjtv.comcmd=view-events&type=1
◼ reteaparty.com
◼ tcotreport.com
◼ newamericanteaparty.com