Four Horsemen of the Obacalypse

Obama-Care to Put America on the Carbon-Neutral Train to Squaresville

2009-06-11T00:30:00.000-07:00

Your Mandatory Saturday Afternoon Fun in 2010

If you're a politically-correct American who lives in a carbon-neutral home, rides a bike with matching spandex to work, gets plenty of time in at the gym, and only eats organic shit from Whole Foods, then these new policies aren't going to affect you much. But for the rest of us who aren't total fucking dorks and enjoy having a beer or six once in awhile, the creeping nanny-statism in Obama's health care plan should make libertarians out of all of you.

Many of the same autocratic creeps who brought you anti-smoking campaigns in the 90s to tax the bejeezus out of the nation's working class are back with similar plans for soda, alcohol, and anything else they deem morally unfit. I guess they still haven't learn how to mind their own damn business. From Politico:

Any health care reform plan that Obama signs is almost certain to call for nutrition counseling, obesity screenings and wellness programs at workplaces and community centers. He wants more time in the school day for physical fitness, more nutritious school lunches and more bike paths, walking paths and grocery stores in underserved areas.

The president is filling top posts at Health and Human Services with officials who, in their previous jobs, outlawed trans fats, banned public smoking or required restaurants to provide a calorie count with that slice of banana cream pie.

Even Congress is getting into the act, giving serious consideration to taxing sugary drinks and alcohol to help pay for the overhaul.

The problem has never been that it's wrong to exercise, eat healthy foods, etc. The problem is that it's not supposed to be the job of federal government to regulate the conduct of every citizen's life. Do the people proposing these regulations really think they are so morally superior as to micromanage everyone's affairs? Them and the Religious Right should get a goddamn room.

Obama to Save Economy by Employing Teens to Keep Them Off Your Lawn

2009-06-08T21:29:00.001-07:00

Because Children are the Future

You're doing a heckuva job, Obama. Recent unemployment figures show that we are turning into a nation of hobos, and the reasons behind the economic collapse are, I admit, not all the fault of President O. But we could at least demand that he stop blowing smoke up our asses with hokey numbers from his spendulus plan.

Innocent Bystanders has some analysis on how the figures originally predicted by the administration were way too optimistic. See graph below to further your anxiety:
Now, to silence any criticism that maybe this monstrous $787B program was a lousy idea, Obama says that 600,000 jobs are going to be created this summer. Unfortunately, that number factors in teenage gigs working at the DQ and goofing off behind the cash register at the local Goodwill. CNS explains:

The biggest of the youth jobs program is in Cleveland, where 7,000 teens will be employed to work summer jobs through a $6.4 million program funded by stimulus money. About $3 million went to support 2,500 summer teen jobs in Riverside County, Calif., according to the report. Another 200 California teens will get summer jobs as a result of a $465,000 stimulus grant to Yuba County.

The Desert Sun out of Palm Springs has some more specifics on what kind of jobs the stimulus money created: minimum-wage jobs at state-run buildings so teenagers aren't making trouble during their summer break. Not that teenage employment is a bad thing, but using it to factor into the narrative about economic recovery for the American middle class is a bit sheisty.

Obama Names Bill Gates Head of the DoD

2009-05-22T03:14:00.001-07:00

Much to the shock of the entire country, Obama has replaced SECDEF Robert Gates with former CEO of Microsoft Bill Gates. Thanks to JammieWearingFool for breaking the video of the speech of this shocking news.

In case you didn't know, William Gates III is the lovable nerd who survived numerous pantsings in high school to drop out of Harvard and start Microsoft. He became one of the most charitable people on the planet as well as one of the richest. Now he will be supervising all the US Armed Forces, the conduct of two counter-insurgency operations, and a controversial budget battle. Of course, Bill Gates would probably do a better job than Robert Gates' predecessor.

Obama Administration Continues to Brow-beat the Media Into Submission

2009-05-07T17:56:00.001-07:00

Baghdad Bob and Bob Gibbs, Separated at Birth?

How hard a concept is it to grasp that public officials have a responsibility to answer questions from the media and not manipulate it to their own ends like some Ba'athist mouthpiece? The US Military understands this, most law enforcement institutions understand this, and dare I say congress might even understand this. But the Obama administration, ever in permanent campaign mode, seems obsessed with getting the media to heap praise upon them and not dare criticize The One's decisions. It's not like the White House press corps has been very critical in the first 100 days, but the President is unsatisfied that every front page article doesn't read like a press release.

Fox News recently got shut out of a Q&A session with the White House because they didn't broadcast the damn thing. Robert Gibbs started heckling NBC today when a straight-forward question from Chuck Todd was asked about Obama's sorry attempt at fiscal restraint. And now, Obama is just going straight to the reporters to tell them how to phrase his monstrous budget. From CBS:

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

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

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

And you thought the term "Banana Republic" was just some right-wing meme, mwahaha.

Penny-Pinching Obama Offers Up a 0.5% Savings To Monstrous Federal Budget

2009-05-07T10:53:00.001-07:00

The Prez held a press conference today outlining cutting federal spending on wasteful programs to a tune of $17 Billion. Sure that sounds like a lot of cash, but it ain't much when you're dealing with $3.5T budget. As an analogy, it'd be like if you were $150,000 in the hole to angry Chinese mobsters, living on $1000/week, and decided it was time to cut back on your Saturday morning bagel with cream cheese and lox. From Political Punch:

The president laid out a number of examples of the more than 100 programs that will face cuts or termination, saying that many of them were outdated or ineffective.

The $17 billion in cuts add up to roughly one half of one percent of the $3.55 trillion budget. Still, the president said the savings are significant.

"These savings, large and small, add up. The 121 budget cuts we are announcing today will save taxpayers nearly $17 billion next year alone. That’s a lot of money, even by Washington standards," he said.

The real problem with the budget is that entitlement spending (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid) is out of control, rife with fraud, and will only get worse as the boomers approach geezerdom. In Obama's defense, it's difficult to have the political capital to take on these leviathans, because no politician has the mojo. If Jesus himself came down to become Messiah-in-Chief of America, he probably wouldn't be able to cut back on Social Security without fear of an AARP smear campaign.

When America is reduced to ashes being crushed by its exorbitant debt, remember that Democracy has it's own pitfalls as people tend to vote "What's in it For Me?" instead of any long-term viable strategy for the republic.

Why Do New Yorkers Hate America?

2009-04-27T18:34:00.001-07:00

This may be the low-hanging blog-fruit of the day, but with the exception of putting a bunch of barrels on the subway marked "Swine Flu", can you think of anything that would spook New Yorkers more than low flying planes? The White House is suffering some serious embarrassment today after a botched "Highway to the Danger Zone" photo-op involving one of the Air Force Ones in lower Manhattan. From WSJ:

On Monday morning, one of the 747s used to ferry around the president of the U.S. was dispatched to the Statue of Liberty, escorted by fighter jets. Assignment: Get some fresh glamour shots of the plane.

The Air Force said the flight needed to remain confidential. So while New York police knew about it, as did at least one person in the mayor's office, regular New Yorkers remained in the dark.

As a result, to onlookers Monday all across downtown Manhattan -- where the World Trade Center once stood -- the photo shoot looked like a terrorist attack. People watched in horror as a massive aircraft, trailed closely by F-16 fighters, banked and roared low over the city, in a frightening echo of the events of Sept. 11, 2001.

Fearing the worst, thousands of people streamed out of the skyscrapers and into the streets. Some buildings ordered evacuations.

The notification process seemed to have been completely lost in the black hole of bureaucracy, and the Mayor didn't even know about it (let alone your average New Yorker). Hot Air has some video footage of the chaos that ensued.

The President was forced to issue a hasty apology, and because of this numbskullery, the planned Obama as Jesus artwork set to go up in Union Square would probably be best delayed.

My Banana Republic Tis of Thee...

2009-04-23T18:05:00.001-07:00

Lousy Presidential candidate/decent guy, Sen. John McCain, said going on a "witch hunt" for people involved in the notorious legal memos regarding enhanced interrogation would turn us into a screwy Banana Republic. From Politico:

“Look, I didn't agree, as you said, with the techniques — and I'd be glad to continue that debate with people. But to criminalize their legal counsel, unless you can prove that they intentionally violated existing laws or ethics, then this is going to turn into a witch hunt,” he said.

McCain compared the potential prosecutions with the actions of “banana republics” that “prosecute people for actions they didn't agree with under previous administrations.”

I tend to take the Shep Smith position on the torture issue personally, but, like when maintenance gets "magically completed" between the hours of 0000-0200 on a Navy ship, sometimes it's best to not know how the CIA conducts business. What would the public have to gain by demanding the release of classified documentation during a time of war? MoveOn.Org's latest ad provides some insight into that question. Prosecuting Darth Cheney of course!

This along with the Obama's administration half-assed attempt at bank nationalization by not allowing TARP recipients to pay back the money, sending law enforcement after political enemies and veterans, and our skyrocketing debt certainly might put us in the running for Banana Republic status.

But we're not even a cool Banana Republic. There's no marching around the jungle with a machete in a tropical climate as part of Generalissimo's hit squad. There's no kickbacks from shady fat dudes in Hawaiian shirts laundering drug money. And there's no gaudy uniforms with big ass hats and made-up medals. All we get is lousy Oboner tributes from the sycophantic media about Obama's "house of rock" and shitty artwork of the El Presidente. This Banana Republic sucks.

Levin: Expect painful defense cuts

2009-04-01T07:34:00.000-07:00

To go along with all of my other warnings of cuts in Defense spending (here, here, here and here), TSO sends the latest;

It happens every time the Democrats get control of Congress and the White House. They take money from defense and put it into social patronage programs. They win elections without the military vote, so what can it hurt them? Then when a Republican gets into office and tries to fix defense, they (and the media) scream to High Heaven about their spending. Reagan had to fix Carter's neglect of the military, Bush had to repair the damage done by the Clinton years. Think there were shortages during the Bush years, you just watch - the difference now is that our troops are under fire (despite their best attempts to change the language so it doesn't seem so). What happens when there's no ammunition for training now? What happens when there are no more cruise missiles this time?

And you have to ask yourself why Levin isn't being specific about the cuts. More than likely it's because there'll be some major cuts in personnel expenses. Things like pay, bonuses, recruiting, retention and training. That will place a drag on manpower needs. Lucky for Obama, Jimmy Carter brought back draft registration after Nixon ended it. Then watch the cuts to veterans' benefits. BOFO.

Online Town Hall with Obama Chocked Full of Obama Supporters

2009-03-28T12:22:00.001-07:00

To further the cause of transparency, the online Obama town hall isn't necessarily a bad idea, but stocking the room full of Obama supporters has little to do with accountability in Washington and everything to do with the permanent campaign mentality. The Washington Post did some diggin' and has an explanation of why the "randomly selected" 5 asked hardball questions like "Thank you, Mr. President. My name is Sergio Salmeron. I want to find out about health care." From WaPo:

But while the online question portion of the White House town hall was open to any member of the public with an Internet connection, 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, 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.

This was the same online Town Hall where Obama blew off a question about marijuana legalization. Guess there were no talking points available on that one. It's no wonder that lefties like Bill Maher, Andrew Sullivan, and Paul Krugman are dropping the sycophantic nonsense and beginning to publicly criticize the President. 'Bout time they woke up and smelled the coffee.

Scary Zombie Training Video Released by Obamamaniacs

2009-03-23T12:21:00.001-07:00

Following up on the "pledge" that Obama's never-dismantled campaign apparatus was going to be knocking on doors to talk about Toxic Avenger Geithner doing a heckuva job, they've released a training video. Ed Morrissey simply calls it "very, very creepy" as it furthers the bizarre cult-of-personality that Americans seem to have been swindled into. Evidence can be found at the Organizing for America website:

Today it was raining like crazy but several of us still went out and managed to get 212 pledges signed - not bad considering the weather. I was heartened by the strong support President Obama still enjoys locally. We got tee shirts made up for the occasion that have the Obama emblem and "President Obama - We Pledge Our Support" on them.

... Our President told us we have to stay involved if we expect the changes we voted for to happen. The special interests will be active - we have to be twice as active as they are!

Recall the scene in Jesus Camp where religious types blessed a cardboard cutout of former President Bush (in tongues!). At least those weirdos weren't sporting Obama-stickered clipboards and bugging me at the local grocery store to get behind the stimulus package.

The End is Nigh

2009-03-20T16:24:00.000-07:00

And it's not even from anything "cool" like nuclear winter or some super-virus, but rather from...an money-bombing Fed? Financial Post explains:

The spillover effect of all this on the rest of the world promises to be dramatically disruptive. The greatest global risk is in monetary and currency policy. Below is a chart that graphically demonstrates the sharp deviation in monetary policy from past norms. Under the chairmanship of Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve is in the midst of a giant economic experiment, flooding the world with U.S. dollars, hoping that flood will stimulate economic activity.

The total monetary base, already at astronomical levels, is now expected to take another big hit with the new Fed policy of buying up U.S. longer-term treasury bills in a bid to drive down long-term interest rates.

Weak. "Helicopter" Ben Bernanke probably doesn't even know how to ride a horse.

-Famine

PM Brown's DVDs Didn't Even Work in Region 2

2009-03-19T17:42:00.000-07:00

Remember that crappy box O' DVDs that Obama gave to the UK Prime Minister as some form of a "special partnership"...well it turns out the DVDs don't even work across the pond. From The Telegraph (h/t Greyhawk):

Alas, when the PM settled down to begin watching them the other night, he found there was a problem.

The films only worked in DVD players made in North America and the words "wrong region" came up on his screen. Although he mournfully had to put the popcorn away, he is unlikely to jeopardise the special relationship – or "special partnership", as we are now supposed to call it – by registering a complaint.

Also, some punk staffer gave The Telegraph attitude when contacted:

A White House spokesman sniggered when I put the story to him and he was still looking into the matter when my deadline came last night.

It was reported that the Prime Minister was attempting to watch Psycho, but knowing the reliable competence of the new White House, I'm certain it was the ill-fated and atrocious 1998 remake with Vince Vaughn and not the original Hitchcok.

Obama-bots get their marching orders

2009-03-14T09:02:00.001-07:00

Your neighbors are about to get a whole lot more irritating;

That last paragraph really bothers me;

We know this fight won't be easy. But important battles never are. Together, we have the opportunity to shape our country's future. We believed in the power of people to win an improbable election victory. And we believe in the power of people to drown out the cynics and entrenched interests in Washington to bring lasting, meaningful change we can all be proud we played a role in.

What fight? The one they're having against common sense? Does this mean they're going to be knocking on my door every few hours? Are they going to hold me in headlock until I say "uncle"? This isn't an election - what can they accomplish? Well, here are their choices for pledging support;

Who do they think they're going to be convincing? Any one who can make any sort of decision? I guess it's just to keep them all in the habit of doing what they're told.

And that "entrenched interests in Washington" line is sounding more like Chavez' "oligarchy" phantoms every time they use it.

Close enough for government work

2009-03-11T11:16:00.001-07:00

I've always hated that phrase for all the years I spent in government. It seemed to perpetuate a myth that all government workers were half-assed goof-offs.

Well, welcome to the Executive Office of the President version;

Just Monday, I was getting email from my BFFs telling me to fight for this spending bill, now Obama is hiding in a closet in the Oval Office signing the damn thing in the dark. WTF, over?

I wonder what it's like to be so empty of principles and direction.

Obama's Minions Will Soon Be Annoying You At Your Residence

2009-03-09T21:35:00.000-07:00

After the messiah's coronation, you may have noticed that many lefty blogs got thoroughly boring in a hurry. Also, the big name anti-Bush commentators at MSNBC who provide blog fodder have seen their ratings slide faster than Season 5 of Coach in the past month. This has to do with the fact that no one wants to read some crummy repackaged press release from the White House, and the anti-Rush/"conservatives are mean dickheads" argument got stale in about 1997. That's why critical thought and snarky analysis is going completely by the wayside for the liberal community, and just annoying the shit out of your neighbors with Obama slogans is the "new" new media.

Obama's propaganda wing, Organizing For America, has a new video on how to spread the gospel in your community (h/t Politico). You basically go around calling your neighbors and knocking on their doors to get on Team Obama. Because who needs to get their information objectively when you can just get some talking points for every wacky new policy the President is proposing.

Shudddeerrr. How would you like this creep coming by your house during dinner time to explain why the latest omnibus bill chocked full of earmarks was really the result of "Bush's Failed Policies"? Also, that map in the background looks like he's pinpointed where he chopped up hookers and dumped them on the side of the freeway in garbage bags. Of course having to listen to this knucklehead in person, I'd probably asked to be mercy killed too.

That Pretty Much Sums Up The First 100 Days

2009-03-07T12:36:00.001-08:00

From Jeffrey Wright

That's not encouraging

2009-03-06T18:55:00.000-08:00

Another eye-catching headline from the Associated Press;

While the stock market tumbles, unemployment shoots higher, gas prices are rising again but The One "knows" he did the right thing. See, here let me explain to any Democrat philosophy major who has never had a job or a business or invested in the stock market how those things work (because I have a little experience at all three) - those things do well, or poorly, based on the expectations of future performance. That's why businesses have sales targets and staff economists to project that stuff.

If it looks like business will be bad, businesses will cut labor - the most expensive part of doing business. If investors think that government is making unfriendly gestures towards the economy, they won't invest and the market tumbles - businesses shed more jobs so they can stay in business. If taxpayers think their taxes will rise, they'll stop spending their money to make those balloon payments they expect next year from the IRS.

The economy today is a result of what people with money think the future looks like. The reason the economy did well under Clinton and Bush is because they knew what the future looked like. The market tumbled after 9-11 because it added uncertainty into the market. Uncertainty that lingered for more than a year until it became apparent that Bush was going to keep the country safe.

I listened to Obama today yammer on about how change is good for us. That he's tired of dealing with people who want to do things "the old way", or words to that effect. Um, "the old way" is the reason we're the most prosperous and powerful nation in the history of the world. Maybe the people who want to do the things "the old way" are right. "The new way" doesn't seem to be panning out so well. Change isn't always good - history is littered with spectacular failures that were considered good ideas until they weren't so good anymore. Things like New Coke and dirigibles.

Folks used to criticize Bush because they said he was pig-headed and never admitted when he was wrong. Obama is being a bit pig-headed, too. Jobless rates rising and the stockmarket tumbling while he chants "I know I was right" is not encouraging. Not in the least. I think that'll reflect in Monday's market.

4 More Classy Gift Ideas To England For Obama

2009-03-06T18:26:00.001-08:00

Seeing how Obama's big ole Box O' DVDs went over like a lead balloon with the UK Prime Minister, cbullit suggested a "Guy Fawkes commemorative plate" to further smooth our relations with the folks across the pond. Here's some other swell gift ideas Obama's crack diplomacy team could've used to boost our ties with England:

Home Dental Kit: What better way to ridicule negative stereotypes about the Brits than awkwardly suggesting they fix up their teeth.

Germany World Cup Soccer Jersey: Seeing how England doesn't take its soccer very seriously, why not give them a World Cup jersey of one of its biggest rivals.

IRA Figurine: Even though the IRA figurine was banned on eBay, Obama's staff could've dug up this little guy to remind the Prime Minister of the mad cap hilarity that accompanies a long running insurgence.
George Washington Delaware Crossing De-Motivator: It helps diplomatic relations to remind other nations that we kicked their ass 200+ years ago. An suitable alternative would've been "We Saved Your Ass in WW2!" T-shirt, which I'm pretty sure the Brits are fond of hearing from visiting American tourists.

Obama Gives PM Gordon Brown a Crummy Box of DVDs

2009-03-06T16:16:00.001-08:00

Maybe They Could've Sweetened the Deal with a Used Copy of Mac and Me

It pretty much goes without say that the Brits have been one of our best allies ever since that whole unpleasant War of 1812 business. World War I, World War II, standing united against communist expansion, fighting side by side against terrorism, and other "minor" mutual understandings to name a few. But Obama's staff neglected to pull out the stops when PM Gordon Brown was in town and gave him what looks like a box of used DVDs from a Virginia flea market. Not exactly the V.I.P. treatment for a Prime Minister. Perhaps Obama should've screened his staff for protocol experience instead of whether or not they ever owned a firearm. From Daily Mail (h/t Flopping Aces):

Perhaps pertinently, given Britain is floundering in an economic slump, the DVD collection was thought to feature the movie of John Steinbeck's Great Depression novel, 'The Grapes Of Wrath'.

The gift also included the Oscar-winning boxing biopic 'Raging Bull' starring Robert Di Nero and Alfred Hitchcock's classic thriller Psycho - maybe a comment on the PM's notorious short fuse?

And he will hope that at a General Election the British public do not shun his imploration for another term in office by thinking at the ballot box of the famous line from another of the movies, Casblanca: 'Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.'

Obviously, the Brits, big on the whole pomp and circumstance thing, were bloody-well pissed. Obama is set to meet the Queen of England in the near future. Let's hope that some boneheaded staffer doesn't diarrhea all over the toilet seat in Buckingham Palace further embarrassing America.

Obama's Economic Policies Really Kicking Ass!

2009-03-06T15:56:00.000-08:00

Laidoffs in Michigan (the bad kind of laid)

Well, the left has been trying to say that Wall Street hitting the floor faster than a prom dress was not a good indicator of the economy, but what about all those jobs that The Obama promised? The first full month of Obama's America isn't looking to swell either. Dismal news from Reuters:

The U.S. unemployment rate rose to a 25-year high of 8.1 percent in February as employers, buckling under the strain of a severe recession, axed 651,000 jobs, government data showed on Friday.

Adding to the gloom, a combined 161,000 more jobs were lost in January and December than previously believed, the U.S. Labor Department said in its monthly nonfarm payrolls report.

Now, blaming the Prez for all the economic troubles is a bit disingenuous, but continuing to blame Bush & Friends for everything bad with the economy is going to wear very thin among lefty pundits. Obama and the Democrat-controlled Congress have already passed multiple bills to "stimulate" the economy and free up credit, but they probably would've been better off spending $787B Taxpayer dollars on some magic beans. And we aren't even experiencing the hyper-inflationary period since we printed a bunch of funny money and dumped into unprofitable banks. Get ready for a wild ride...Wheee!

Energy Secretary is a Complete Putz

2009-02-23T23:39:00.000-08:00

Apparently, qualifying for the Nobel Prize in Physics just ain't what it used to be. If DoE Secretary Steven Chu's recent conversation with the Wall Street Journal is any inkling of his intelligence, he probably rides the short bus around D.C. Here's what he had to say on deals with OPEC (h/t Flopping Aces):

On Wednesday, when approached by reporters after a speech to a group of utility regulators, Mr. Chu declined to offer an opinion on whether OPEC should cut production, saying the issue was "not in my domain." He later told reporters on a conference call that his response to the question reflected "more of my naiveté than anything else."

Mr. Chu said Thursday he feels "like I've been dumped into the deep end of the pool" in confronting questions about oil policy, such as whether the administration would consider delaying scheduled deliveries of oil this spring to the nation's strategic petroleum reserves.

The top guy in charge of energy policy in this country is naive about petroleum. That's inspiring a lot of confidence in his leadership! Jokes on us of course because we elected these people. His excuse for being a bonehead to the press was the following:

"I'm not the administration," Mr. Chu said during a meeting with reporters Thursday. OPEC members are scheduled to meet March 15 to discuss the possibility of production cuts to respond to slumping prices. "I will be speaking and learning more about this in order to figure out what the U.S. position should be and what the president's position is," Mr. Chu said.

If the executive branch isn't "The Administration", I'm not sure who is. Maybe we're waiting on the reincarnation of John Adams in puffy pants to explain OPEC policy to the press pool. Who the hell else would "The Administration" be! That's probably why the WSJ was asking you, Mr. Chu, and not the guy coming over to the house I rent tomorrow to steam clean the carpet. Although, he surely could have come up with a better answer.

Reality really does bite

2009-02-11T07:15:00.001-08:00

Obama tried to govern with campaign rhetoric. He spent the last few days taking his public plea to the people to pass his "stimulus" bill. Moments before the vote, he sent his Treasury Secretary out to calm the markets. The bill passed and the markets swooned;

It took moments for the Financial Times to question whether the Obama presidency hasn't already failed;

Has Barack Obama’s presidency already failed? In normal times, this would be a ludicrous question. But these are not normal times. They are times of great danger. Today, the new US administration can disown responsibility for its inheritance; tomorrow, it will own it. Today, it can offer solutions; tomorrow it will have become the problem. Today, it is in control of events; tomorrow, events will take control of it. Doing too little is now far riskier than doing too much.

A juvenile little putz in our own comment section cheered;

Hooray for democracy!

In your face assholes!! We won!!!

Won what? A vote? Just because the president won a vote doesn't mean he's off the hook. The plan has to work and apparently the experts don't think it will work. CBO warned last week that this plan would slow growth over the next ten years, and the campaign-like rhetoric was short on details that the experts need to plan the future of their companies. From the Wall Street Journal;

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner promised forceful action to get credit flowing again in the economy, but the lack of detail in his much-anticipated speech helped drive stocks down nearly 5%, the worst selloff since President Barack Obama assumed office.

From the Washington Times;

President Obama on Tuesday for the first time staked his fledgling presidency on pulling the country from its economic crisis, promising dispirited Floridians that his stimulus plan will produce tangible results such as jobs and tuition credits or he'll be ousted from office in 2012.

Mr. Obama -- who earned a small victory when the Senate passed his $838 billion plan but then was hit with a big drop in the stock market -- was on the campaign trail again, using a town-hall meeting and one of the best weapons in his arsenal: himself.

He'll always draw crowds of acolytes and ass-kissers, even Bill Clinton in his darkest days could do that - but now Obama has to produce, too.

Even the Washington Post finally admitted their messiah wasn't wearing any clothes;

Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner vowed yesterday to bring the "full force" of the U.S. government to battle the financial crisis, assembling an unprecedented coalition of agencies and mustering federal resources on a scale rarely seen except at wartime. But the lack of detail in his plan dismayed lawmakers and investors, triggering a steep sell-off on Wall Street.

The problem is; the average voter who responds to the pretty rhetoric of the campaign isn't the same person trying to map out a future for their business or their investments. The reality is that Obama and his staff have always been sparse on details for the purpose of shagging along voters, as long as he said what they wanted to hear, they supported him. However, the rest of us work, live and plan for our futures in the real world where we need details - but as we saw with the stimulus bill, the more details we hear, the less likely we're going to support Obama's plans for our money.

I mentioned a month ago that the campaign is over and it's time for Obama & Co. to produce results. The president must not have heard me.

Obama: National Catastrophe Looms

2009-02-07T06:22:00.001-08:00

Jon Ward at the Washington Times reports that the Obama weekly address is more doom and gloom crisis yammering;

President Obama on Saturday morning warned the nation of a "national catastrophe" if Congress does not move quickly to pass and implement his economic rescue plan, even as he lauded the Senate's movement toward passage of an $827 billion version of the bill.

"Yesterday began with some devastating news with regard to our economic crisis," Mr. Obama said, referring to the Labor Department report Friday showing the loss of nearly 600,000 jobs in January, which moved the national unemployment rate up to 7.6 percent.

If yesterday's news was so "devastating", why did the markets do this;

Apparently, the markets see something that Obama doesn't see. The Democrat President, instead of leading depends on fear;

"If we don't move swiftly to put this plan in motion, our economic crisis could become a national catastrophe. Millions of Americans will lose their jobs, their homes, and their health care. Millions more will have to put their dreams on hold," he said.

Yes, $45 million dollars for fish barriers will solve this problem. A new waterpark in Florida is the longterm solution. Where is the bi-partisanship? Why aren't the Democrats cutting the pork out of the bill to compromise with Republicans to get their votes?

The Washington Post calls it "bipartisanship" when squishy Republicans vote with Democrats. That's not really bipartisanship - when you see the Democrats move closer to the minority party, that's bipartisanship. Convincing Susan Collins to vote with Democrats is like convincing a dog to eat a strip of bacon. It's not a question of "if" she'll eat it, it's a question of whether you'll still have your fingers when she's done eating it.

CNN reports that support for the stimulus has slipped since we began to learn what's in it;

Fifty-one percent of those questioned in a CBS News poll released Thursday evening approved of the stimulus package. That's down 12 points from a poll taken January 11-15, the last time CBS asked the question. Thirty-nine percent opposed the plan, up 15 points from the previous poll, taken before President Barack Obama was inaugurated and before the House of Representatives passed an $819 billion stimulus package, with no Republican support, on January 28.

Funny how that works - the longer the debate goes on, the more Americans find out about the stimulus and the less they like it.

Labor Sec Nom's Husband Can't Pay His Taxes Either

2009-02-05T12:12:00.001-08:00

Husband More of an Embarrassment Than Bill Clinton

Hilda Solis, the California union-lobbyist shill, up for nomination in Obama's cabinet seems to be having tax troubles as well. From USA Today:

The husband of President Obama's Labor secretary nominee paid about $6,400 Wednesday to settle tax liens that had been outstanding for as long as 16 years against his business, the Obama administration told USA TODAY this afternoon.

The disclosure came shortly before a scheduled 2 p.m. meeting of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which will vote on Rep. Hilda Solis' nomination as labor secretary. The hearing was postponed; no reason was immediately revealed.

The Solis family is claiming they didn't know about the liens against their business holdings when the media came asking, despite the fact that the liens were mailed to the husband's business address. Somehow I think the axiom of "stand by your man" is going to go under the proverbial bus in the very near future if Solis wishes to continue her political career.

Labor Secretary Nominee May Be Sacrificed

2009-02-04T11:57:00.000-08:00

Blatant Union Stoogery From Hilda Solis Might Send Her Under the Bus

Congresswoman Hilda Solis (D-CA) is listed as Treasurer for American Rights at Work. This organization is strongly lobbying for the Employee Free Choice Act, which seeks to have voting on unions at the workplace be a non-secretive affair, thereby leaving the employee open to a lead pipe to the face if he or she doesn't comply. Unions have a right to organize, but should a congresswoman so obviously in the tank for Big Labor be allowed to serve the American people. Weekly Standard say their might be some ethical problems:

A seemingly innocuous letter sent to the Clerk of the House of Representatives last Thursday by President Obama's Secretary of Labor nominee Hilda Solis raises serious and troubling legal questions about her nomination and apparent violation of House ethics rules. Not only was she involved with a private organization that was lobbying her fellow legislators on a bill that she has cosponsored, but she apparently kept her involvement secret and failed to reveal a clear conflict of interest.

Sharp political journalist, Dave Weigel, says that everyone on the Hill already knows about her "extracurricular" activities at a lobbyist group so no one is going to make a big stink, even though Obama pledged to not have any lobbyists in his cabinet. It's comforting to know that DC critters all know about each other's dirty laundry so no one will speak up.

Hot Unicorn Sex

2009-02-03T13:15:00.000-08:00

Uh...no witty commentary on my part. The picture speaks for itself. More creepy art at Stop the ACLU.

Daschle Sacrifices Himself For the Greater Good

2009-02-03T12:47:00.001-08:00

Tax cheat and crooked politician Tom Daschle, who couldn't figure out how pay his taxes on his Limo & Driver, has just withdrawn as Health and Human Services nominee. His sacrifice into the molten vat of steel which will erase the media scrutiny will help keep the squeaky clean image of the Obama administration. This is the first senior Obama nominee to run into controversy, unless you count:

Bill Richardson, (withdrawn Commerce Secretary), being investigated by a grand jury for pay-to-play allegations
Rahm Emanuel (Chief of Staff) being involved with impeached Governor Blagojevich's Senate seat heist
Tim Geithner (Treasury Secretary) being late on paying his taxes after working for the IMF
Eric Holder (Attorney General) involved with shady gambling commission in Illinois possibly involving the mob
William Lynn III (Deputy Defense Secretary) being a top lobbyist for Raytheon depsite the fact that Obama said there would be no lobbyists in his administration

But, after two weeks in office, the Biden and Obama families haven't been involved in any serious sex or money scandals. So good for them!

Daschle Thought Limo and Driver Was Non-Taxable

2009-01-31T16:14:00.000-08:00

Daschle Inconvenienced

Those Dems are really the party of the average Joe, lemme tell ya! All of my friends at the country club have the same trouble reporting their limo and driver on the IRS 1040 form. From ABC:

ABC News has learned that the nomination of former Senator Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., to be President Obama's secretary of health and human services has hit a traffic snarl on its way through the Senate Finance Committee.

The controversy deals with a car and driver lent to Daschle by a wealthy Democratic friend -- a chauffeur service the former senator used for years without declaring it on his taxes.

It remains an open question as to whether this is a "speed bump," as a Democratic Senate ally of Daschle put it, or something more damaging.

Why can't Democrats (so inclined to tax the piss out of the rest of us) figure out how to pay their own damn taxes? This follows closely on the heels of Geithner (Obama's Treausry Sec) who couldn't figure out how to pony up his share either. But, Daschle will most likely get confirmed to head the HHS and the media will lose interest in this story faster than the Mystery of Chris Dodd's Mortgage Papers (where are those things anyways?).Tax problems are only for regular Americans, not self-righteous Americans that claim they can renew America.

-Famine

Stimulus Passes House

2009-01-28T17:21:00.001-08:00

Not a single Republican voted for this turd. It's your problem, Democrats.

Obama Tries to Go In Thru Window at White House

2009-01-28T14:07:00.001-08:00

D'oh!

So The Obama really is human! The president accidentally tried to get into the White House through a window. From NY Daily News:

It looks like President Obama hasn't gotten acquainted to his White House surroundings. On the way back to the Oval Office Tuesday, the President approached a paned window, instead of the actual door -- located a few feet to his right.

We're going to cut him some slack, since he was probably out back for a smoke break. Any smoker can empathize.

Geithner Limits Access for Lobbyists to TARP Funds...Then Hires Ex-Lobbyist as Chief of Staff!

2009-01-28T13:14:00.001-08:00

It's Good to Be Connected

Geithner, the recently appointed Treasury Secretary who couldn't figure out TurboTax, has vowed to continue giving the imbeciles on Wall Street that ruined the American economy our taxpayer dollars. However, he has vowed to restrict lobbyist access to what's left of $700B TARP bonanza. From WaPo:

"American taxpayers deserve to know that their money is spent in the most effective way to stabilize the financial system," Geithner said in a statement yesterday. "Today's actions reaffirm our commitment toward that goal."

This sounds like a move in the right direction, since the American public has no clue how the first $350B of TARP funds was spent, and all we here from these greedy banks is that they want more. But Geithner is just putting on a dog-and-pony show, because he just hired a former Goldman Sachs lobbyist to be his Chief of Staff. From USA Today:

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner picked a former Goldman Sachs lobbyist as a top aide Tuesday, the same day he announced rules aimed at reducing the role of lobbyists in agency decisions.

Mark Patterson will serve as Geithner's chief of staff at Treasury, which oversees the government's $700 billion financial bailout program. Goldman Sachs received $10 billion of that money.

So lobbyists might be barred from stealing your tax dollars under this bailout scam, but it's okay for former ones to be the go-to guy in the Treasury department...W-T-F.

It's long been known that DC is a cesspool of sleaze and corruption, but the Obama administration rode into power vowing to change all that and impose restrictions on former lobbyists working for its staff. But, already there's a Raytheon lobbyist at the DoD, this Goldman Sachs shill, and the "global warming" czar was on the board of directors for a carbon-offsets firm in 2008. Obama must think the American public and media are so stupid that they wouldn't notice these "minor details". Unfortunately, it's already too late to make a difference.

One humorous anecdote from the USA Today article:

Dave Wenhold, of the American League of Lobbyists, said lobbyists bring expertise to the job. "Just because you are registered to lobby doesn't mean that you are evil, " he said.

Maybe not "evil" in the Hitler sense, but having a career based on manipulating public funds to your private employers benefit certainly makes you an asshole.

Stimulus Bill a Big Sloppy BBQ

2009-01-28T10:26:00.000-08:00

Obama's stimulus package has little to do with making long-term infrastructure investments and everything to do with dishing out money to keep the government afloat for a few more years while we go deeper into debt. Net Right Nation discusses the details of the stimulus to be voted on today:

But, of course, in the final analysis, that does not mean that the $825 billion legislation will be any less wasteful. Because, it will not matter to the American taxpayer whether the bacon was added to the package piecemeal—or if the entire pig was served up upon introduction, as appears to be the case here.

As ALG News reported yesterday in “The Top-Ten Bottom Feeders,” the debt stimulus has plenty of pork: $300 billion to bail out state governments from record deficits, $4.19 billion for “neighborhood stabilization” that’s really a disguised payout to groups like ACORN that are made eligible for said funds, $650 million for digital TV coupons, and $21 million for sod.

According to top Capitol Hill sources close to the process, instead of the typical earmark process—the Christmas tree decoration approach as described by Mr. Obama in the above quotation—pet projects have been inserted as specific sections of the bill itself. In short, why nickel and dime it, when you can just go whole hog?

Sleazy payday-loan type places are already trying to cash in on the Leskonomics that pervades the Democrat party by promising free government grants and loans. How much longer can our country sustain itself by going further into the stink hole? When we as a nation believe that the government should provide everything from free health care to digital TV coupons, we probably won't be able to last very long.

1000 Words

2009-01-27T17:44:00.001-08:00

Thanks madtom.

Biden Continues to Depress the Nation with Economic and War News

2009-01-25T20:12:00.000-08:00

Authorities Talk With Young Man Who Saw Biden's Face The Nation Appearance

Shortly before he became the Vice President, Joe Biden declared a Carter-esque "War on the Economy" in an attempt to whip up support for the Obama stimulus plan and save America's prosperity. But after only a week on the job, he's already throwing in the towel and saying that the economy is pretty much a goner. From IHT:

As the administration pressed for quick action, Vice President Joseph Biden Jr. offered a bleak assessment of the current situation but predicted that the stimulus package would ultimately pass Congress with support from both parties. Speaking to Bob Schieffer on CBS's "Face the Nation," Biden said of the economy, "It's worse, quite frankly, Bob, then everyone thought it was, and it's getting worse every day."

"There's no good news, and there's no good news on the horizon."

Biden doesn't offer any good news for armed forces serving in Operation Enduring Freedom either. From the same Face the Nation appearance:

"We're about to go in and try to essentially reclaim territory that's been effectively lost. ... All of this means we're going to be engaging the enemy more now."

Asked if this would lead to more losses of U.S. soldiers, Biden said: "I hate to say it, but yes I think there will be. There will be an uptick."

With high approval ratings for Obama, they must feel confident to let gaffe-master Joe out of his cage. If polling falters for Obama, expect Joe to go back in hiding from the media along with Rahm Emanuel.

Embarrassingly Drunk Diane Sawyer Rails on About Obama

2009-01-22T21:38:00.000-08:00

Most people get fired when they show up for work this blatantly intoxicated, but in the Oboner media, you can probably use the excuse that you were just "so moved" by the spirit of The One. (h/t Subrookie)

Susan Sarandon Compares Obama to Jesus

2009-01-22T19:20:00.000-08:00

At a swanky, celebrity-ridden inaugural ball, The Hill picked up this quote from The One:

Movie star Susan Sarandon compared President Obama to Jesus. Broadway and film actor Alan Cumming thought of him more like Mahatma Gandhi.

“He is a community organizer like Jesus was,” Sarandon said Tuesday night on the bright blue carpet leading into the Creative Coalition’s 2009 Ball at the Harman Center for the Arts in Chinatown. “And now, we’re a community and he can organize us.”

Sarandon said she planned to push hard for veterans’ rights. “That’s going to be my personal b---h,” she said.

What is it with the far left comparing Obama to Jesus? Funny how they like to claim to be dubbed "The Reality Based Community" and we're the weirdos. As for Sarandon making veterans' causes "her bitch", don't count on much from her. Here's what she had to say about notorious emo-traitor/deserter Lt. Watada last year:

If the definition of a hero is one who is distinguished by exceptional courage then Lieutenant Ehren Watada is a hero as he knowingly and freely faces courtmartial and conviction and the likely possibility of imprisonment, hard labor, and harassment. Lieutenant Ehren Watada is a loyal American patriot and a hero, setting a shining example for all Americans and for this I and all Americans should be supportive and in his debt.

Odd, most people just think he's a big pussy. Perhaps this type of mentality amongst America's cultural elite is why Obama skipped out on the Medal of Honor recipients inaugural ball.

-Famine

Leper Messiah Inauguration

2009-01-19T22:15:00.000-08:00

My tribute video to commemorate this historic event.. Sorry I couldn't bring the hope and change, because the montage has a bit of a despair quality to it. Cynicism and skepticism aren't dead just yet!

The Real Obama Cheerleaders

2009-01-19T14:35:00.000-08:00

Politico has a video clip of a young high school troupe of cheerleaders doing a montage for the President Elect prior to inauguration. No harm, no foul, as anything that keeps young people off my lawn is a good, wholesome activity. But the video fails to mention the real Obama cheerleaders, which has been the media reluctant to criticize The Obama and unashamedly partisan in their "objective" reporting. No wonder they won The Fiskie this year, even beating perennial nuisance Code Pink.

Be The Coolest Guy at Whole Foods With an Obama Tat!

2009-01-18T13:13:00.003-08:00

If you thought you just couldn't take seeing another Obama/Biden bumper sticker on the Subaru Outback going 20 MPH below the speed limit in the left lane of the highway, you'll probably not going to want to see this. A DC Tattoo shop is reporting record business by inking up Obama. From NY Daily News (h/t Pirate's Cove):

The crew at Fatty’s Custom Tattooz in Washington, D.C., is gearing up for the new administration with “Obamathon.” Starting Friday and running through Inauguration Day, patrons can get a free Obama ’08 tattoo with the purchase of another tat costing $200 or more. And if a chest piece featuring the First Family isn’t fanatical enough, Fatty’s is also offering an “Obama piercing.”

I have no idea what an "Obama piercing" entails, but it's probably on par with a Prince Albert accompanied with a massive gangrene infection, which summarizes the pain felt by this blogger on 2008 election night. If hard-line Obamatrons wanted to get a horrendous tattoo, they could have at least picked something that delivered on promises. One example would be the Power Glove from 1989 movie The Wizard. Fred Savage never said Americans would be getting free health care, just that Super Mario Brothers 3 would be totally wicked (and it was).

Dear Obama...

2009-01-17T13:54:00.001-08:00

...please, save me from your followers. Thanks.

More Obama art presented without irony at CNN.

Historic Inauguration To Be Interrupted With Sham-Wow Commercials

2009-01-17T13:34:00.000-08:00

Change We Can Believe In!

JammieWearingFool directs our attention to the Obama team selling off "exclusive rights" to TV networks to broadcast the coming festivities in DC. Despite the fact that this inauguration fit for a Pharaoh is being paid for with taxpayer dollars, the Obama team still finds a way to cash in. From WaPo:

Barack Obama's inaugural organizing committee has struck deals with three television networks to the tune of more than $5 million, giving the networks exclusive access to inaugural events. But the arrangement is prompting questions about the president-elect's efforts to raise money by turning his inauguration into made-for-TV productions.

To pay off this outlandish expense for a public ceremony, ABC is going to have to air commercials:

The ABC program will carry commercial breaks, meaning the network may be able to turn a profit on the event.

So if you were planning an inauguration orgy to celebrate the second-coming of the messiah, plan on interruptions from Billy Mays hocking Orange-Glo cleaner and that Sham-Wow putz spoiling the mood.

-Famine

Organizing for America: Obama's Brownshirts Get $75M Annual Budget

2009-01-17T12:50:00.000-08:00

I Want You!...to hassle people that don't support my agenda

With unemployment on the rise, it appears The Obama has a solution to allow legions of young people to pay the bills for their tofu diets, yoga lessons and whatnot. He has enlisted an army of community organizers, pamphleteers, and annoying new media people to "push his agenda", despite the fact that America may not even survive until the 2012 campaign season. Ben Smith of Politco has the scoop:

In a video message to supporters, Obama gives his campaign organization a name -- "Organizing for America" -- and a mission: running a permanent campaign for his legislative and governing agenda.

It's a potentially hugely, uniquely powerful tool, enhancing the muscle of the official who is already the most powerful man in America.

Organizing for America sounds a lot like the standard political apparatus in this country to humiliate the opposition, silence critics in the media, and usher forth a new era of cornball propaganda, but do we have to pay for it? LA Times reports that this boondoggle has a $75M budget of taxpayer money, which is pretty generous since I thought the sheer awesomeness of Obama's "Change" message was enough to transcend mere monetary transactions. Better take those "un-revolutionary" bumper stickers off your car, unless you want a government-funded brick through your windshield.

-Famine

Guy To Oversee Obama's IRS Goobed Up His Taxes

2009-01-14T11:57:00.000-08:00

Sorry we're a bit late on this story, but Obama's nominee for Treasury Secretary, the department that oversees the much-hated IRS, boned up his taxes a few years back. From Fox News:

But as a result of a 2006 audit, Geithner paid $16,732 in back taxes and penalties for the 2003-2004 period. Just before he was nominated, the Obama team found that he had failed to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes for the 2001-2002 period as well. Geithner ended up paying to the IRS $25,970 in back taxes and penalties for a total of $42,702 in late payments.

Honestly, can you blame the guy? When even simple investments in mutual funds require complicated forms around the dreaded April 15th deadline (Foreign Tax Credit Deduction...WTF?!?), it's no surprise that even a person with a graduate-level education would goof it up. This should be a sign that Geithner should maybe consider simplifying the tax code. But phonebooks full of laws and regulations keep tax lawyers, DC bureaucrats, and other parasites who provide no value for society gainfully employed. Don't expect any "change" to come to that regulatory-industrial complex.

Obama Wear Gets Kinky

2009-01-13T21:05:00.000-08:00

A reporter from across the pond ponders our American obsession with Barack Obama kitsch. From the Guardian:

But anyone walking around Washington, and likely most cities in this country, you will see all manner of Obama-themed schlock: flags, glasses, tee-shirts, everything, sold without authorisation from Obama or the inaugural committee. And then today, looking over the CafePress website, I found a whole page of Obama thong knickers in a variety of different styles.

He's not joking, there are literally thousands of thongs of various design on sale at Cafe Press.

Hypothetically, say you brought a lovely-looking vixen home from the bar at closing time, got her back to your pad, and saw that she was wearing a "Barack My World" thong? Would you rather find that during foreplay or discover that she was a dude?

The Global Warming Commissar

2009-01-12T17:54:00.000-08:00

During the campaign, The Obama took some well-deserved heat for having economic policies that reeked of the failed economic model of socialism. The Obamarama water-carriers in the media did everything they could to ensure the campaign wasn't derailed, and they were, of course, successful. That's why news that Obama's new Global Warming Czar was a member of a socialist umbrella organization will be met with yawns. Washington Times has some of the details (h/t GP):

Until last week, Carol M. Browner, President-elect Barack Obama's pick as global warming czar, was listed as one of 14 leaders of a socialist group's Commission for a Sustainable World Society, which calls for "global governance" and says rich countries must shrink their economies to address climate change.

By Thursday, Mrs. Browner's name and biography had been removed from Socialist International's Web page, though a photo of her speaking June 30 to the group's congress in Greece was still available.

Don't say we weren't warned.

It's Official, Obama is Now Mr. Cool

2009-01-12T17:23:00.000-08:00

Move over, Fonz, because Obama has usurped the title of "Mr. Cool", according to the media. David Ignatius has a good Monday morning stroke-fest at WaPo:

As the days tick down toward inauguration, Obama remains Mr. Cool. His advisers say he makes decisions more confidently than anyone they've ever watched in politics. He's fashioning a new style of governing, as if by instinct. He's rebuilding a center that many analysts thought was impossible. He's heading into the loneliest, most difficult terrain on earth, and he's still making it look easy. But it won't be.

It should be noted that this is not the first time Ignatius has referred to Obama as Mr. Cool. From back in May:

What's compelling about Obama is that fusion of grace and ambition. He's playing for the highest stakes, but he makes it look easy. That cool, graceful quality evokes John F. Kennedy and the Rat Pack -- all these sleek, handsome men in silk suits and skinny ties who never break character, never miss a beat.

Damn dude, just blow the guy while you're down there.

With a hard-hitting, attack-dog press corps like this, why would the President even bother having competence or transparency in office. Even ball-busting media programs like PBS: Frontline are giving Obama a pass. What a joke. On the plus side, it makes this blog look like it's run by huge assholes, haha.

-Famine

My Call to Service

2009-01-12T14:35:00.000-08:00

Well, it's still a week from the Inauguration, but Michelle Obama is calling me to service;

She writes in the email;

Volunteers of all ages and backgrounds are committing to renew America together, one community at a time.

Whatever service activity you organize or take part in -- cleaning up a park, giving blood, volunteering at a homeless shelter, or mentoring an at-risk youth -- you can help start this important journey. But this is about more than just a single day of service, it's the beginning of an ongoing commitment to your community.

Um, aren't all of those things reasons they give me to pay my taxes? Every year I pay tens of thousands of dollars of my earnings to the State and Federal governments because they think they can do those things better than I can do those things. Now they're admitting that my money goes down a black hole and I need to do those things in addition to pay my taxes on time?

But I've been "enabled to serve";

Don't worry, if fewer people than expected want to serve, more of us will be "enabled", I'm sure.

Obama To Reneg on Promises of Massive Tax Cuts, Unicorns

2009-01-10T20:04:00.000-08:00

Uh, The Country's Broke Dummy

Anyone with a rudimentary understanding of economics or an 8-year old with an allowance would have understood that Obama made way too costly campaign promises that could never come to fruition. Now, Obama is admitting that times are going to be tough for everybody and all the free shit you thought you voted for yourself isn't coming soon. From Politico:

"George, I want to be realistic here: Not everything that we talked about during the campaign are we going to be able to do on the pace we had hoped," Obama said in brief excerpts released by ABC.

Obama also hinted at future tax increases and spending cuts.

"Everybody's going to have to give," Obama said. "Everybody's going to have to have some skin in the game."

To his credit, I am pleased that Obama is being straight up with the American people and that he has stopped trying to buy the public's support with ridiculous largesse. But if you thought you were getting a pony by voting for your guy, you're a ma-roon.

-Famine

Pardon Us For Not Supporting the Government Gospel

2009-01-08T17:18:00.000-08:00

In regards to Obama's big speech on big government spending, Reason is a bit skeptical about the following statement from our President-Elect:

Only government can break the vicious cycles that are crippling our economy—where a lack of spending leads to lost jobs which leads to even less spending; where an inability to lend and borrow stops growth and leads to even less credit.

To parlay this crass intervention, progressive blogger John Amato writes at Crooks and Liars that the era of the "anti-government" mantra is over:

Good government is crucial in restoring this country to prosperity and as we have all witnessed, conservatism has indeed unleashed its destructive influence over every part of our society.

Sorry to not run with open arms into the "pro-government" aura there, Mr. Amato, but the last 30 years have seen the federal government turn our once great inner cities into war zones through misguided policies, run up an obscene national debt plus $50 Trillion in unfunded future entitlements, and scandal after scandal of politicians in the highest ranks of government. Can you blame the skeptics or the majority of Americans who think the federal government is doing a rotten job at managing and leading our nation? Is there any reason to believe that subsidizing the "zombie" banks by printing more money is going to work? Obama might talk a lot about "change", but the 111th Congress that decides on how money is spent is already off to a pretty shaky start. $3.5M in taxpayer money to celebrate St Augustine, FL 450th birthday might be a part of this economic stimulus. And, if it's not on the President's desk Jan. 21st, "More Dreams Will Be Deferred and Denied" according to our savior.

-Famine

Guy Under Federal Investigation Gave Obama $28,500 At Fancy Dinner

2009-01-07T18:10:00.000-08:00

Those Napkins Aren't Free Y'Know

Michael Rubin, who forced Obama's Commerce Secretary into resignation due to alleged "pay-2-play" corruption, seems to have gotten around quite a bit in elite Dem soirees. From ABC (by way of Hot Air):

In late September, Rubin attended an exclusive Los Angeles fundraiser for Obama, held at the Beverly Hills' Greystone Mansion. Attendees gave tens of thousands of dollars which the campaign split between its own coffers, the Democratic National Committee and state-level campaign groups supporting Obama and Democratic candidates. The technique helps campaigns take in from individuals far more than the $2,300 maximum they are allowed to give to a single campaign fund.Rubin's money went to a joint Obama-DNC fund ($28,500), the DNC itself ($26,200), and to the Obama campaign ($2,300), according to the database of campaign donations at OpenSecrets.Org. News of the federal investigation into Rubin's New Mexico dealings had broken less than three weeks earlier.

Seeing how Obama did not refuse campaign cash from a bundler who openly called for the death of U.S. troops in Iraq, the bar is already set pretty low. Consider this a non-issue, let's move it along people.

-Famine

Joe "The Terrible" Declares War on America! Evokes the Prose of Jimmy Carter

2009-01-05T19:35:00.001-08:00

Why is this man trying to kill us all?

We may have been at war with Islamic extremism since 9/11, but, apparently, you ain't seen nothing yet. Channeling the legendary wisdom of Jimmy Carter's famous malaise speech, where an economic crisis was considered "the moral equivalence of war", our incoming vice prez has taken it a step further and simply declared "We're at War!" in regards to the economy. Politico has the scoop:

Vice-president-elect Joe Biden likened the country’s economic crisis to the attacks of 9/11 Monday in a private meeting on Capitol Hill.

“We’re at war,” Biden told congressional leaders of both parties during their sit-down with Barack Obama in the Capitol, according to two sources familiar with the exchange.

It’s not the first time the vice-president-elect has used stark language to underscore the perilous state of the economy. In an interview last month on ABC’s “This Week,” Biden said that a stimulus package was needed to keep the economy from “absolutely tanking.”

Since the meeting was private, the article is a bit terse on who will be the targets in this new begotten battlefield. Will it be gubernatorial boobs, like The Governator, who ruined their state's economy through irresponsible fiscal spending? Will it be sheisty banks that offered shady loans and made off like bandits during the housing bubble? Or will it be the emerging American tendency to saddle yourself so badly with debt that, in the old days, you would have gotten your legs broken on more than one occasion by the neighborhood loan shark.

Regardless of who we are at war with, Biden seems to be whipping up support for the Obamarama fiscal stimulus package, which promises to inject more funny money into the economy that the government doesn't have. Politico also had an article about the GOP predicting an Obama backlash. As a blogger, I welcome poor policy decisions wrought with bad ideas from the administration, strictly for entertainment value. But as Americans, we should all be shitting in our pants that collapse of the dollar will make America look like Germany in the 1920s, with kids flying around kites made out of Deutschemarks. We all know how that turned out in the end...

-Famine

Panetta? Are you kidding me?

2009-01-05T15:19:00.000-08:00

Barack Obama has chosen clintonista Leon Panetta as his CIA director. Can anyone tell me why? Seriously. The Wall Street Journal writes;

The pick was unexpected because many of the names discussed for the job had been intelligence professionals. Mr. Panetta, whose background is in politics and government, has not worked for an intelligence agency.

With a war raging across the globe, do we really need a poltician with no intelligence experience running our intelligence service? A guy who is going to consider the political impact of every decision instead of the welfare of the nation and the American? And where's this damn change we were promised?

Of course, the Washington Post defends the choice;

In choosing Panetta, Obama, appears to have opted for a fresh start at an agency plagued by numerous scandals during the Bush tenure. Obama bypassed several candidates with CIA backgrounds for a politically savvy manager with personal ties to Obama and to Congress.

Officials familiar with the choice noted that Panetta, as Clinton's chief of staff, participated in the daily intelligence briefings in the Oval Office and had intimate knowledge of the interaction between the agency and the White House. Panetta also was a member of the Iraq Study Group.

"He has sufficient gravitas to ensure that CIA equities are going to be protected, and the agency continues to have a strong voice," said a former senior CIA official told of Obama's choice.

Isn't that dandy? He sat in on briefings eight years ago. Then I guess I'm qualified for a lot of stuff I know nothing about, because I've sat in on tons of briefings over the last 53 years. If he was going to be Agriculture Secretary, I'd expect him to have grown a plant at least once in his life. Why can't I expect the CIA director to have some intelligence experience.

Oh, and who was the guy apologizing for the Clinton Administration's pilfering of the famed FBI records? Um, Clinton chief-of-staff Panetta. Imagine the fun he can have with CIA files. Of course, it could have been worse. he could have named failed super spy Sandy Berger.

Terrorist Bill Ayers Now Blogging at Huffington Post...with suggestions for Obama

2009-01-03T12:27:00.000-08:00

I'm Sure He's a Swell Guy in Person Though!

One disturbing trend of the Obama victory has been a resurgence of far-left 60s kooks into our political zeitgeist, energized by the cult of personality surrounding "change". The guy that should have been imprisoned or, at the very least, gone away many decades ago has some groovy new ideas for an Obama administration. From Bill Ayers at the Terl-awarded Huffington Post (h/t GP):

Obama is not a monarch -- Arne Duncan is not education czar -- and we are not his subjects. If we want a foreign policy based on justice, for example, we ought to get busy organizing a robust anti-imperialist peace movement; if we want to end the death penalty we better get smart about changing the dominant narrative concerning crime and punishment. We are not allowed to sit quietly in a democracy awaiting salvation from above. We are all equal, and we all need to speak up and speak out right now.

Seeing how Bill Ayers never repented for his crimes against America, the "anti-imperialist peace movement" would probably involve a Maoist purge of those with non-revolutionary points of view. The fact that this assface gets primo internet space and a legion of sympathizers shows America isn't ready to go beyond 60s radical chic. It's annoying that these people think Obama is one of them, when they should be quietly retiring to geezer homes and living off social security.

-Famine

Obama Shows Great Leadership During the Holidays

2008-12-23T15:48:00.000-08:00

What a swell guy! Look at the similarities between Obama and regular Americans during Christmas:

Obama outside his ritzy vacation rental in Kailua, HI

Auto Workers outside a closed Chrysler Truck plant in Warren, MI

Obama ready for his golf swing

Americans ready for a Chinook ride in Afghanistan

Apparently, the "I feel your pain" line is too 1992. Welcome to the celebrity presidency!

53 still suffers from BDS

2008-12-21T08:48:00.000-08:00

Remember all of those healing pictures that the 53% who voted for Obama posted on the internet hoping we wouldn't treat their guy like they treated ours (and This Ain't Hell readers responded)? Well, those gracious souls have been found to be somewhat disingenuous by VanHelsing at Moonbattery. This time they're thanking the Iraqi journalist for throwing his shoe at President Bush.

Keepin' it classy there, 53.

Another Obama Cabinet Appointee Wrapped Up in Blago

2008-12-17T10:08:00.000-08:00

It's not just Rahm Emanuel who is hiding the details about his connection to America's least favorite governor. Apparently Attorney General nominee, Eric Holder, was hired by Hot Rod for $300K to preside over investigations of some shady casino deal in Illinois back in '04. Holder conveniently left this transaction out of the vetting process to the Senate Judiciary Committee. From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Eric Holder has given hundreds of press interviews," Obama transition spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said in a statement. "He did his best to report them all to the committee, but as he noted in the questionnaire itself, some were undoubtedly missed in the effort to reconstruct a list of them."

Holder signed the questionnaire on Sunday -- five days after Blagojevich's arrest for allegedly putting Obama's U.S. Senate seat up for sale. The Judiciary Committee asked him to provide lists and "copies of transcripts or tape recordings of all speeches or talks delivered by you" and "all interviews you have given to newspapers, magazines or other publications."

The March 2004 Chicago news conference where Holder and Blagojevich spoke was widely covered because of a controversial 4-1 Gaming Board vote earlier that month to allow a casino to be built in Rosemont. That vote defied the recommendation of the board's staff, which had raised concerns about alleged organized-crime links to the Rosemont casino's developer.

For the folks "proud of their country for the first time" since Obama got elected, this whole Blago thing has to be a huge turd in the punchbowl. What a pity.

Obama's New Education Sec: Heavy on Politics, Light on Teaching

2008-12-16T09:09:00.000-08:00

Arne Duncan w/Fancy Suit and Haircut: No Stand and Deliver Here!

Cicero once noted of teachers that "What nobler employment, or more valuable to the state, than that of the man who instructs the rising generation?". But, it's unclear what the famous orator would make of a lifelong "administrator" like Obama's pick for Education Secretary, Arne Duncan, who has never taught a day in his life. That might be why he has advanced such dunderheaded ideas like paying students for good grades. From US News:

In Chicago, Fryer helped public schools CEO Arne Duncan implement an incentive program for about 3,750 high school freshmen in 20 schools because Duncan expressed concern about the high rate of students who drop out in ninth or 10th grade. At the end of every five-week marking period, Green for Grades participants can earn $50 for every A, $35 for every B, and $20 for each C they receive in English, math, science, social studies, and physical education.

Knowledge can prevent our nation's youth from drooling all over themselves and future generations getting eaten alive by the Chinese in today's competitive world, and you would think that would be enough of a motivating factor to keep these ungrateful youngsters in class. But in a state where even the Senate seat if up for grabs with cash, it's only natural that the youth will expect a monetized value attached to everything.

Speaking of the Blagster, here's a press release from the most unpopular Governor since Pontius Pilate regarding a meeting with Arne Duncan. From Illinois.Gov:

As hundreds of parents, teachers and supporters of public education descended on the State Capitol today to rally for more education dollars, Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich met with Chicago Public Schools’ CEO Arne Duncan, Chicago Board of Education president Michael Scott, former Chicago Board of Education president Gery Chico, and several Chicago area lawmakers to discuss his Higher Standards, Better Schools Plan. The Governor’s proposal would boost school funding by $440 million without increasing the sales or income taxes, and increase high school graduation standards so students are better prepared for higher education and the workplace.

Because Hot Rod's got a "really big fucking thing" with these education dollars! I'm sure Arne Duncan was not involved with any of sleaziness in the cesspool of Chicago.

-Famine

Governor "El Diablo" Richardson Being Investigated for Corruption

2008-12-15T23:00:00.000-08:00

File Photo of Bill Richardson Shaking Down a Youngster for Campaign Cash

Isn't one big political scandal a month enough for our country? Apparently, not, as Obama's appointed Commerce Secretary is under a Grand Jury investigation for giving a lucrative contract to a private firm after they ponied up for Richardson's election campaign. From WaPo:

The inquiry is part of a long-running nationwide investigation into "pay-to-play" practices in local government bond markets. In other cities, federal investigators are questioning whether financial firms have lavished politicians with money and gifts in exchange for fee-paying work advising municipal and local governments on investments. Authorities indicted the mayor of Birmingham, Ala., this month on charges of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts and loans from a firm that led the city into toxic investments and massive bankruptcy.

In the New Mexico case, the FBI and federal prosecutors are investigating how CDR, based in Beverly Hills, Calif., won lucrative fees from the New Mexico Finance Authority in 2004 soon after donating $100,000 to two Richardson organizations.

A few weeks back Obama only offered praise for the New Mexico Governor. From NYT:

“Bill has seen from just about every angle what makes our economy work and what keeps it from working better,”

Awarding contracts based on the company's political contributions may not be what's best for "the economy", but it sure is best for "the campaign". With all the funny money that's up for grabs in our bailout bonanza, there's going to be a lot of people getting cozy with the new administration.

-Famine

Peacenik Obama Turns Into Dr. Strangelove

2008-12-11T14:33:00.000-08:00

Obama Promises Full-Scale Nuclear Annihilation!

And you hippies thought you were voting for peace, justice, and free mortgages! A source from team Obama has stated that the U.S. would nuke Iran if Israel gets hit. From Haaretz:

U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's administration will offer Israel a "nuclear umbrella" against the threat of a nuclear attack by Iran, a well-placed American source said earlier this week. The source, who is close to the new administration, said the U.S. will declare that an attack on Israel by Tehran would result in a devastating U.S. nuclear response against Iran.

This is not 1964 and you can't just go around saying this or that city is getting nuked to get votes and throw dirt in the eye of the commies. Obama is borrowing this foreign policy from Camp Hillary and it's just not a black-and-white issue. What if some Hezbollah thugs sneak a nuke into Jerusulem (god forbid), does that mean millions of Persians need to die for no reason? Besides, the close Russia-Iran ties means they might just get in on the action bringing about the Obacalypse sooner than expected, as ICBMs light up the sky like fireworks on Chinese New Year.

As Allahpundit notes, mutually assured destruction might not be that effective on Iran in the first place.

The Obama-Blago Intimacy Gets More Steamy

2008-12-10T15:05:00.000-08:00

Uh-oh, Gateway Pundit has dug up some articles and press releases that indicate Obama did indeed meet the much maligned Illinois Governor after he won the election. This kind of shatters Obama's claim that he had "no contact" with the soon-to-be-imprisoned governor. The media and prog-blogs are already trying to downplay their messiah's involvement, and Obama has just publicly admonished the corruptocrat governor (under the bus...and on his birthday!).

I say we keep digging into this out of curiosity, like Alice, because you'll never know what we'll find down this rabbit-hole of sleaze and corruption. The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa's body has gotta be down there somewhere.

-Famine

Yes, we did

2008-12-10T08:53:00.001-08:00

Claymore sent us this one minute audio, I think it's a message on a repo man's answering machine and I added some graphics. Stick it out until the money shot at the end.

Are Obama and Blago BFFs?

2008-12-09T15:41:00.000-08:00

A Blag of Dogshit on Fire for Obama's Doorstep

Initial reporting suggests that Obama was not involved in the recent scandal with the Illinois Governor, but ABC Political Punch takes a crack at the Obama-Blag connection. Turns out a host of Obamabots were involved in Blago's 2002 gubernatorial campaign:

And, it should be pointed out, Mr. Obama has a relationship with Mr. Blagojevich, having not only endorsed Blagojevich in 2002 and 2006, but having served as a top adviser to the Illinois governor in his first 2002 run for the state house.

That 2002 endorsement came at the same time that Axelrod had such serious concerns about whether Blagojevich was ready for governing he refused to work for his one-time client.

According to Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., Mr. Obama's incoming White House chief of staff, Emanuel, then-state senator Obama, a third Blagojevich aide, and Blagojevich's campaign co-chair, David Wilhelm, were the top strategists of Blagojevich's 2002 gubernatorial victory.

I doubt The Obama is dumb enough to get involved with something so...criminal, but sometimes the ACORN doesn't fall far from the tree (wakka-wakka!).

Whoever thought that anything sleazy could come out of Chicago?

Super Obama World Goes Straight To ROM Pit

2008-12-08T18:08:00.000-08:00

That's a screenshot from the newest internet sensation for people bored at work: Super Obama World. It's a parody of Super Mario Brothers 4 interspersed with enough advertising blitzes in between levels to make you grind your teeth. In this level, our hero Obama is in Wasilla to stop those darn book-burning Republicans (a stale reference to Sarah Palin that was debunked months ago). Overall, the game gets boring after about 15 seconds and deserves some space in Something Awful's notorious "ROM Pit".

We are encouraging everyone to pick up a copy of Left 4 Dead, which is a Zombie Apocalypse-themed first person shooter. This is a much more accurate depiction of things to come in "Obama's World".

-Famine

But Who Is Going to Chair The Department of Unicorns?

2008-12-07T21:31:00.001-08:00

Why must Obama keep us in such suspense?

New Obama Campaign For Green Jobs Sounds Suspiciously Like Al Gore Campaign for $$$

2008-12-06T10:21:00.000-08:00

Because America Hasn't Gotten Enough Al Gore

Obama continues to push green jobs as a method for curing the American financial malaise. From his weekly YouTube address [Change.Gov]:

Today, I am announcing a few key parts of my plan. First, we will launch a massive effort to make public buildings more energy-efficient. Our government now pays the highest energy bill in the world. We need to change that. We need to upgrade our federal buildings by replacing old heating systems and installing efficient light bulbs. That won’t just save you, the American taxpayer, billions of dollars each year. It will put people back to work.

Nothing wrong with energy-efficiency, but requiring extorted tax-payer dollars to carry it out implies that the whole process is probably going to be unprofitable, inefficient, and mired in endless bureaucracy. Obama's announcement is great news for feel-good greeny businesses that don't stand a chance in the free market. This idea sounds suspiciously like Al Gore's 501 group (We Can Solve It) that has been sucking up commercial time on the major networks. The group is worth at least $300M and might be able to sponsor businesses in the future. From their FAQ:

How do I submit a business proposal or request for funding?
We may consider partnerships with organizations and companies. At this time we are not able to provide funding for product development or scientific research. If you would like to suggest a partnership, please complete the form here.

Just like sheister T. Boone Pickens attempting to rip off Americans so he can get water rights in Texas, Obama is paving the path of the bleeding heart with gold in guaranteed public funds for green businesses. No one liked my previous idea of dumping nuclear waste at Al Gore's house I suppose.

Economic Devastator Barney Frank Needs Mo'Bama

2008-12-04T22:59:00.000-08:00

A Sweaty Mess of a Man Needs a Public Makeover From The Obama

DC Area Boob and chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Barney Frank (D-MA), has his paws all over the economic apocalypse of 2008. After spending the better part of his career taking campaign contributions from Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, he said there sheisty lending practices were "not facing a crisis". Since over-inflated housing prices helped pay bigger property taxes for the government to waste more money, Barney continued denying culpability in this modern day crime and even defended his shady policy decisions in a testy exchange with Bill O' Reilly. We all know how this disastrous corruption turned out, as most Americans wonder whether or not there is going to be a Christmas this year.

Now, Barney Frank is kissing the ring of the Messiah to try and salvage his shipwrecked career[AP]:

Democrats are growing impatient with President-elect Barack Obama's refusal to inject himself in the major economic crises confronting the country. Obama has sidestepped some policy questions by saying there is only one president at a time. But the dodge is wearing thin. "He's going to have to be more assertive than he's been," House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., told consumer advocates Thursday. Frank, who has been dealing with both the bailout of the financial industry and a proposed rescue of Detroit automakers, said Obama needs to play a more significant role on economic issues.

Of course, Barney might have trouble schmoozing with a beloved public figure like The Obama, since the guy is apparently a serious asshole according to the Washington Post. But, just getting a head nod from Obama will mean that incompetent yutzes like Frank continue to get elected. A good deal for those in inner DC circles, shitty for the rest of the country.

Iraq Withdrawal Goes Under the Bus

2008-12-04T09:14:00.000-08:00

Gateway Pundit, this morning writes that despite Obama's promises to withdraw US forces from Iraq, he has made no definite deadline for withdrawing all forces from Iraq. The status of forces agreement with Iraq mandates complete withdrawal by the end of 2011, but Obama has been unclear on the size and length of deployment for the residual forces. From his campaign website (I've taken to getting screen shots instead of just quotes, because apparently the Obama policy is very fluid on nearly every issue);

This is what he said in response to McCain back in July;

The New York Times makes his excuses for him now;

That status-of-forces agreement remains subject to change, by mutual agreement, and Army planners acknowledge privately that they are examining projections that could see the number of Americans hovering between 30,000 and 50,000 — and some say as high as 70,000 — for a substantial time even beyond 2011.

As American combat forces decline in numbers and more provinces are turned over to Iraqi control, these military planners say, Iraqi security forces will remain reliant on significant numbers of Americans for training, supplies, logistics, intelligence and transportation for a long time to come.

Um, did Obama say that during the campaign? Is he even saying that now? Obama talked with al-Maliki on the phone today and pledged to begin the withdrawal in June completed by December 2011;

However, there's no mention of this residual force. As Gateway Pundit says, Obama is making the right decision - I'm not complaining about the decision to keep forces there at all - however, how is this different from what John McCain proposed to do? So far we've watched Obama make the correct decisions on gays in the military, the war on terror, the economy and countless other issues - the only thing he hasn't done is demonstrate how he was a better choice than McCain. Nor have his supporters made a clear case of why they voted for Obama instead of McCain - other than wanting to be part of history.

The Hustle continues

2008-12-03T16:44:00.000-08:00

Michelle Malkin reports that Team Obama is pushing memorial lapel pins. Well, tonight my email box got hit with this;

It only comes in one color.

On Preparedness

2008-11-29T11:43:00.000-08:00

Whether it be mass famine, a zombie holocaust, or some new civil war, it's always best to be ready for the unexpected. Thanks to Sith by Sithwest for the de-motivator.

Obama Anoints Self-Obsessed Hippie, Samantha Power, to State Department Transition

2008-11-29T10:47:00.000-08:00

Despite praise for The Obama that he is intent on governing from the center, much to the dismay of the ultra-crunchy ultra-left base, Jules Crittenden links to a scoop on Obama throwing the perpetually tie-dyed outraged a bone. From Washington Post:

Samantha Power, the Harvard professor who was forced to resign from Barack Obama's presidential campaign last spring after calling Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton "a monster," is now advising the president-elect on transition matters relating to the State Department -- which Clinton is slated to head.

Power is listed on Obama's transition Web site as part of the team reviewing national security agencies. Her duties, according to the site, will be to "ensure that senior appointees have the information necessary to complete the confirmation process, lead their departments, and begin implementing signature policy initiatives immediately after they are sworn in."

Indeed, Samantha Power once called Hillary a "monster", but that is hardly controversial and occasionally appropriate. However, an examination of issues she has brought up in public indicates an overly-peaceniky agenda in a time of terrorism and rogue states. She spoke at Pitzer-Claremont's graduation this year, and after shamelessly plugging her 2002 book, she implied America has been a disgrace so far:

...and your kids will ask you, "what did you do to meet those challenges?" I hope you can claim prouder ancestry than we can.

Of course, this was better than her spiel against the U.S. military at Santa Clara's graduation two years ago (also involving a shameless book plug):

...none of my yammering was making the US government even a tad more willing to act morally abroad. We had invaded Iraq, which was falling to bits; our soldiers and guards had been revealed to be torturing detainees and, despite the pattern of abuse, only minor "bad apples" were being punished.

Hopefully, Ms. Power understands that working for the State Department involves putting a "happy face" on American foreign policy, and she will drop the tired old arguments preached at institutions of higher education about America being the source of all evil dating back to the days of the woolly-mammoth. Her blog indicates that she did an interview with Democracy Now!, the same group that made apologies for the RNC protesters that wreaked havoc and vandalized the Twin Cities. Perhaps she will ensure that unemployed, low-life hooligans get appointed to key ambassador positions around the world. Now that's the hope and change we were looking for!

Plutocrats for Obama

2008-11-26T17:44:00.000-08:00

It remains unclear whether or not the sock puppet from Pets.com will get his bailout with the incoming administration, but he's got a pretty good shot. Also, Matson forgot to include sleazebag Matthew Lesko in the line up:

Gitmo Two-step

2008-11-26T06:52:00.000-08:00

I've been worried that protests against the Guantanamo terrorist resort like the one pictured above would end with the Obama administration since one of his centerpiece proposals is to close the tropical residence for slow and stupid terrorists. But I'm heartened by Michelle Malkin's syndicated piece today in which she describes the dilemma Obama faces when determining the fate of the current clientele at the resort;

Some top legal advisors and supporters of Barack Obama, whose name detainees chanted on election night, are now rethinking the President-elect’s absolutist campaign position on shutting the center down and flooding our mainland courts with every last enemy combatant designee. Yes, reality bites – and Democrats must now grapple with the very real possibility that an Obama administration could potentially release a Gitmo denizen who would turn around and commit mass terrorist acts on American soil or abroad.

But, it seems the Bush Administration is in a hurry to show Obama what a mistake it would be to release prisoners by releasing bin Laden's former driver to his home country of Yemen (AP link);

Salim Hamdan, the first man to go before a U.S. war crimes trial since the end of World War II, was flown from the U.S. Navy base in Cuba to Yemen.

Hamdan was convicted on Aug. 6 of providing material support to terrorism, and the military said it could keep him locked up indefinitely if it considered him to be a continued threat. Instead, he was sent home early.

A Pentagon official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter, said the decision was made by the White House.

Hamdan was sentenced at the war-crimes trial to 5 1/2 years in prison. Being credited with five years and one month for time already served means his sentence ends on Dec. 27, according to the Pentagon.

“As part of a transfer agreement with the United States, the remainder of Hamdan’s sentence will be served in Yemen,” the Defense Department said in a statement.

So he has a month left on his sentence and his return to the terrorist flock is being expedited by sending him to Yemen. The main problem with Yemen is at the center of the plan to release Gitmo alumni, as it's described a few weeks ago by McClatchy;

President-elect Barack Obama's pledge to close the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, faces a major obstacle: Yemen.

The Bush administration has transferred hundreds of Guantanamo prisoners to the custody of their home countries, but it's been unable to win assurances from Yemen — whose approximately 100 prisoners are the largest group still jailed at Guantanamo — that the men, if they're returned, won't pose a threat to the United States.

I guess Hamadan is a good test for Yemen to see if they can hold him for a month. If he shows up on the battlefield before Christmas, we'll have our answer. The Boston Globe outlines the debate within the Obama administration;

However, divisions have emerged among Obama allies on how to proceed. The civil libertarians, legal scholars and lawyers who were united in condemning the Bush administration's policies differ on what to do with the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

All agree that a crucial first step is to review each detainee's case thoroughly to see how many could be put on trial in US courts and how many could be released to their home countries.

"There are 20 to 30 people in Guantanamo that present serious, serious problems," said Donald J. Guter, a retired rear admiral who formerly served as the Navy's top uniformed lawyer and was an adviser to the Obama campaign. "If you can't take them to a court and get legitimate convictions, what do you do with them? Do you hold them, or do you release them?"

Imagine that, lawyers who can't agree on a solution. Seems impossible doesn't it?

So I guess the folks at Amnesty International should hold on to those orange suits a bit longer since the question of what to do with the thugs housed there is just one more thing Obama won't solve in his first term.

Funny Lede of the Day: Obama Vows to Cut Back on Bad Programs

2008-11-25T19:01:00.000-08:00

Obama might've gotten a customary fist bump for picking Gates as his SECDEF, but his economic policies are still sketchy. A lede in Politico summarizes the mass confusion behind how he's going to pay for all the things he promised:

President-elect Barack Obama is vowing to watch spending carefully even as he plans to push for a stimulus package of $500 billion or more.

The article expounds on Obama's rhetoric that he's going to cut "wasteful spending" and hold back "special interests", but never provides an example. Cruising over to the NYT, they can't even justify their guy's politician-like distractions:

Mr. Obama cited, as an example of the sort of cuts he expects Mr. Orszag and Mr. Nabors to find, a recent government report showing that farmers whose incomes exceeded $2.5 million had probably wrongly been paid some $49 million in government subsidies over a three-year period.

But he did not offer any other specific targets, and by itself, correcting the problem with the farm program would make only a trivially small dent in the budget deficits the federal government will face for years.

$49 million is no small chunk of change, but considering that Obama's entitlement obligations are wracking up well into the trillions, he's going to have to start slashing and burning government spending a little further.

The Obama T-shirts are still selling well amongst college students, perhaps the President-Elect's advisors can start selling this wardrobe for the coming hard times to generate a little revenue.

Obama's double talk on taxes

2008-11-25T07:21:00.000-08:00

Barack Obama had his second press conference since his election yesterday in which he outlined his economic plan - somehow it turns out to be a whole lot different than what he campaigned on. Remember how he was going to give everyone a tax cut? Well, we just got thrown under the bus according to the Washington Times;

President-elect Barack Obama's campaign promise to cut spending has been waylaid by the reality of the economy, and he warned Monday that the deficit is going to grow and spending cuts will have to take a back seat now to stimulating the economy.

He also signaled he may forgo immediate tax increases on high-income families and instead wait for the Bush tax cuts to expire.

See, that's fine with me, tax increases should be postponed in any economic climate. If tax increases would hurt the economy now, why was he still promising them just a scant three weeks ago? What has changed? Other than the fact that he was elected by mouthing the platitude about tax cut for 95% of Americans and raising taxes on the 5% who make too much money in his estimate? Of course, it was just rhetoric three weeks ago, 21 months ago, and I warned that the tax cuts would be the first thing he threw under the bus.

Probably more importantly, if tax increases might damage the economy now, why is it that they're being considered in the future? Why are they planning on letting the Bush tax cuts expire. Don't they understand that the economy today is based on predictions for the future? If there's a tax hike in our future, that will stall the economy, too.

He also said he would announce "meaningful cuts and sacrifices," though it was not clear whether that would include specific line items or broad principles.

Yeah, well, I expect that that Obama's backers don't have much to worry about. When a Democrat talks about "cuts and sacrifices", it means the military is about to pay the price. It's easier to waylay defense advances than it is to cut truly useless government programs that buy votes in the inner cities - that's why Republicans get called "big spenders" because they have to make up for the cuts of their Democrat predecessors in the military spending area. Up-armored HMMVs should have been a priority after Mogadishu, not after Baghdad. Fielding M1s and M2s should have started after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan not four years later.

The Wall Street Journal writes that Obama's plan to create 2.5 million jobs with taxpayer money is drawing fire from the few Republicans left in Congress;

The plans brought a quick retort from House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio. He said lawmakers "should start listening to the American people, who do not believe increasing government spending is the best way to put our economy back on track." He proposed eliminating the capital gains tax, which is currently 15%, as well as other tax cuts.

Other Republicans said some large-scale economic intervention is inevitable. "We clearly need a stimulus initiative, and it's clearly got to be a big one," said Sen. Judd Gregg (N.H.), the ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee and a budget hawk. "The question is, 'Is it just going to be walking-around money for the usual liberal constituencies that does nothing?"'

Yeah, well, we already know that answer. The Democrats aren't interested in building a constituency in the Pentagon.

Of course it could be worse - Barbara Mikulsky could be in charge.

Santa Claus Part of Obama's Economic Team

2008-11-24T20:52:00.000-08:00

Melody Barnes, VP of the progressive think tank Center for American Progress, has been selected to chair the Domestic Policy Council. As the name implies she will be in charge of things like dishing out free housing, welfare, and education so that the new administration can stay in power. She survived being plunked in the drink while she was Ted Kennedy's adviser, so socialized health care is probably going to be one of her big issues. A review of some of her pre-Obama publishings may reveal what type of plans she has in store. She wrote a mock "State of the Union" address in January 2007, blaming everything wrong with America on the Iraq war (a popular sentiment at the time), before revealing her socialized health plan. From WaPo:

To restore fairness to our system, I will embark on a multi-faceted approach including increasing our investment in public education, promoting genuine health care reform, and backing a higher minimum wage.

Domestically, no need is more urgent than fixing our broken health care system. Today, nearly 47 million Americans have no health insurance. And those lucky enough to be insured are seeing the cost of their premiums soar. At the same time, the uninsured cannot afford screening for heart disease, diabetes, cancer, or even get a flu shot -- and our health care system as a whole places far more emphasis on treatment than it does on preventing disease in the first place. As a nation, we dedicate only three percent of our health dollars to health promotion, but over 20 percent of our health care dollars to care in the last year of life. We must guarantee affordable coverage for all Americans.

Just like when you asked Santa Claus for a pony, Americans put their confidence in Obama for outrageous promises, like free health care, that the government does not have the money to pay for. But there's not just going to be disappointed faces like on Xmas morning when The O takes power, it's probably going to be a whole lot worse. Get ready for a wild ride.

-Famine

Obama To Probe Your Embarrassing Teenage Diary As Part of Vetting Process

2008-11-24T15:21:00.000-08:00

Your Awkward Adolescence to come Full Circle

There was some outrage over the Obama team asking potential employees if they owned firearms, but that unnecessary snooping into potential appointees has morphed into downright silliness as they are asking about people's personal diaries and text messages. Reason unearthed a copy of the questionnaire [PDF] for employment at Obama Inc. (which looks like a bigger pain in the ass than getting a security clearance). Check out question #14 on pg. 2:

Diaries: If you keep or have ever kept a diary that contains anything that could suggest a conflict of interest or be a possible source of embarrassment to you or your family, or the President-Elect if it were made public, please describe.

It's understandable that the Obama team is trying to prevent websites like Wonkette from soliciting teh lulz by digging in the dirt, but is it really necessary to have this as a job qualification for The O? Who had a diary that wasn't embarrassing? At 13 years-old, I bet you never thought that writing about your fantasy where you gallop off on a unicorn with Joey Lawrence would ever prevent you from getting a job. Welcome to the Twilight Zone.

Drug Warriors Holder and Rambo: Fighting the Wrong War At the Wrong Time

2008-11-23T19:55:00.000-08:00

Obama's top pick for Attorney General, Eric Holder, has been going through the wringer for the Marc Rich pardon and the Elian Gonzalez debacle during his Clinton daze. But, the only major media publication that has been grilling him on his failed drug policies are those pesky libertarians at Reason. How far did he go with national drug policy? He coerced the city of Washington D.C. to "get tough" on that great scourge of our society, marijuana. From a 1996 Washington Post article (h/t Eric):

In addition, U.S. Attorney Eric H. Holder Jr. said in an interview that he is considering not only prosecuting more marijuana cases but also asking the D.C. Council to enact stiffer penalties for the sale and use of marijuana.

"We have too long taken the view that what we would term to be minor crimes are not important," Holder said, referring to current attitudes toward marijuana use and other offenses such as panhandling.

Ever since Richard Nixon declared the War on Drugs, we have seen the explosion of meth and crack, continuous erosion of our civil liberties, and a string of lousy federally-funded PSAs of McGruff jamming out to 80s music. Our War on Drugs goal has even hampered the fight against terrorism as President Bush actually gave the Taliban federal aid to halt heroin traffic prior to 9/11. Don't expect Obama's pick for Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, to distinguish between the high-priority War on Terror as opposed to the War on Pink Floyd as evidenced to a press release he issued back in 2006:

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Representative Rahm Emanuel released the following statement in response to reports that Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez’ called the war on terror a real war, not like the war on drugs.

“Thanks for the white flag. From the United States’ most senior law enforcement official, the man who should be leading the war on drugs, this white flag of surrender will not be reassuring to the millions of parents trying to protect their kids.”

To help out Obama's Chief of Staff, here's a couple of photos to emphasize the priorities based on the current threats to our democratic society.

Islamic Terrorists, seeks to wipe out Western civilization, a high-priority

Marijuana Users, seek to eat a whole bag of Doritos while watching Scooby-Doo, a low-priority

SGT Freedom Not Taking Obama Presidency Very Well

2008-11-22T23:27:00.000-08:00

The extremely enthusiastic and extremely funny SGT Freedom is back with a post-election YouTube rant. Like the Four Horsemen, he respects people's decision to vote for Obama, but don't expect him to go quietly in the night.

Obama to Conscript 2.5M Wretched Souls into Jobs Program

2008-11-22T14:41:00.000-08:00

Even though the federal budget is running into a serious deficit to be bought out from our Chinese overlords, Obama has some big plans to employ 2.5 million Americans by 2011 by printing more funny money from the Treasury. If you have the patience to watch The Obama's weekly sermon, you'll learn that the employment has to do with "rebuilding infrastructure" and "putting up wind farms and solar panels" and "fixing up schools". Guess nuclear power didn't make the cut. Let's hope that the "vetting" process for these jobs isn't as stringent as the litmus test he asked for his transition team. Since it's a common stereotype that gun-owners are meth'd-up militiamen among liberal policy circles, it naturally factored into the hiring decision for Obama's brigade of employees. From Politico (by way of Hot Air):

President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team is asking potential appointees detailed questions about gun ownership, and firearms advocates aren’t happy about it.

The National Rifle Association has denounced the move, which has already led one Republican senator to consider legislation aimed at ensuring a president can’t use an applicant’s gun ownership status to deny employment.

It’s just one question on a lengthy personnel form — No. 59 on a 63-question list — but the furor over the query is a vivid reminder of the intensity of support for Second Amendment rights and signals the scrutiny Obama is likely to receive from the ever-vigilant gun lobby.

While Obama's smoking habit may win him some credibility with Americans who work for a living, this firearms question is clearly "cultural" in nature, designed to ensure that only the "right" kind of people who drive Volvos, wear Pea Coats, and shop at Trader Joes get employed. Obama said there would be a big ten t, but apparently certain types of "undesirable" people aren't invited to the party.

What's Your Flavor of Apocalypse?

2008-11-21T15:07:00.000-08:00

Menacing Zombie Hordes is one option

The Sniper asks a very pertinent question that other bloggers are too scared to ask: What type of apocalypse would you prefer? Somehow, that post and the theme of this blog could be remotely related.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell goes under the bus

2008-11-21T09:42:00.000-08:00

The Washington Times this morning reports that Barack Obama wasted no time tossing the DADT promise he made during the campaign aside;

President-elect Barack Obama will not move for months, and perhaps not until 2010, to ask Congress to end the military's decades-old ban on open homosexuals in the ranks, two people who have advised the Obama transition team on this issue say.

Repealing the ban was an Obama campaign promise. However, Mr. Obama first wants to confer with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and his new political appointees at the Pentagon to reach a consensus and then present legislation to Congress, the advisers said.

I'm not complaining, mind you, I'm just saying.... So far Obama has tossed the anti-war crowd and women aside and now the gays. I guess the "95% of Americans will get tax cuts" is next. Who would have thought that he's just another Democrat politician who thinks it's fine to ignore campaign promises.

Yeah, yeah, I'm pretty sure someone will tell me "they all do it", however, when George Bush took office he made clear what he was going to do and he did his best to keep to those promises. The tenets of the Contract With America put forward by the Republicans in 1994 were 95% enacted as law. What about the promises of Democrats since 2006? One promise they made they kept - the minimum wage and that triggered the unemployment rate we're seeing now.

Yet you Democrats keep voting them in hoping they'll change.

The Rise of Trojan Horse Politics

2008-11-20T20:27:00.000-08:00

Easily Fooled Citizens Dragging in the Horse That Will Be Their Demise

The Soros-funded Center for American Progress has been a huge advocate of regulating free speech in their favor via legislation and policy. One example of this brand of regulation is the wretched Fairness Doctrine, which, luckily, went tits up on the house floor last year. If it had passed, you would have to be listening to Praise for Dear Leader on the TV/Radio/Paper, and not just the TV/Paper. So the wonks are trying to find new clever ways to silence the opposition. On the think-tanks website, one of the "Top Features" is an article about the "imbalance of political talk radio", where they desire leveling the playing field by a concept known as "localism", which means you grant "friendly" broadcasters access to the airwaves while imposing heaping mounds of regulations on those nasty wingnuts. Even though it is painfully obvious that this progressive think-tank wants to crush dissenting voices of the mostly conservative airwaves, one of their employees says we're all crazy for thinking it's a return to The Fairness Doctrine! From Yglesias at Think Progress (the blog for the CAP):

Marin Cogan has a great piece on the right-wing’s mobilization against the phantom menace of the fairness doctrine...It’s very strange. Political movements mischaracterize the other side’s general goals all the time. But I’ve never heard of anything like the current conservative mania for blocking a particular legislative provision that nobody is trying to enact.

A phantom menace? It doesn't take a tin-foil hat to be concerned with Obama hiring the head of the Center for American Progress as a leader in his transition battalion, and the case for more regulations of free speech still being up on the CAP website. The fact that a writer employed by the same think-tank calling us Cassandras for dreaming up conspiracies of the collapse of the 1st Amendment is creepy. Just like all this newfound outreach of hugs n' kisses from the left, it seems to be a big ruse to float a bunch of turds through congress while we're off getting shitfaced like Troy.

The One opens Metro's doors

2008-11-20T15:08:00.001-08:00

We don't see enough of Obama's face these days, so the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority is putting his mug on a fare card available in early January according to the DCist. Funny, but I don't remember seeing any commemoration fare card for anyone else. Ever.

I expect passing through the turnstiles at the subway stations will take longer as holders of the card pause to genuflect when they pull The One's visage from their wallets to swipe the sensors.

I sure hope my card doesn't crap out next month and they force this one on me.

Currently, Metro plans to sell them for $10 per card, with no value added to the card at the time of initial purchase, which would make them $5 more expensive than regular SmarTrip cards. They may also be hard to come by, as Metro will only have an initial order of 35,000 on hand to begin with, though Taubenkibel said the agency hopes to have more available as time permits.

So they'll immediately be targeted by thieves.

Anti-war groups fear pro-war cabinet

2008-11-20T11:23:00.001-08:00

I picked this up from some people I don't normally agree with over at The Common Ills. Well, I do agree with them on may things concerning IVAW, but their post today pointed me towards a Paul Richter piece in the LA Times entitled "Antiwar goups fear Barack Obama may create hawkish cabinet". The anti-war clubs think they put Obama in office and they seem disturbed that Obama is moving away from them;

The activists are uneasy not only about signs that both Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates could be in the Obama Cabinet, but at reports suggesting that several other short-list candidates for top security posts backed the decision to go to war.

"Obama ran his campaign around the idea the war was not legitimate, but it sends a very different message when you bring in people who supported the war from the beginning," said Kelly Dougherty, executive director of the 54-chapter Iraq Veterans Against the War.

The activists -- key members of the coalition that propelled Obama to the White House -- fear he is drifting from the antiwar moorings of his once-longshot presidential candidacy. Obama has eased the rigid timetable he had set for withdrawing troops from Iraq, and he appears to be leaning toward the center in his candidates to fill key national security posts.

The Common Ills thinks they were foolish to believe him in the first place and foolish to make the war their central case against Hillary Clinton;

...an IVAW contingent already embarrassed themselves publicly in Denver. They staged a protest at the Democratic Party convention. They were getting press attention inside the convention because -- as the press gas bagged -- wasn't Barack the alleged 'anti-war' candidate and here was IVAW protesting him. Phones were buzzing, it was going to be the big story. And Team Obama was being asked to comment. So Team Obama sent Tall Tales from Texas out to the protest to make a lot of meaningless remarks that sounded like promises but were nothing more than standard 'rap session' b.s. ("I know where you're coming from," said Barnes.) They bought into that crap hook, line and sinker. And gave interviews where they were excited about Barack (the War Hawk!) and he was going to do this or that and maybe they'd be onstage tonight during his big speech and . . . . It was all so thrilling people might pee their pants!

Reality check, they were punked and everyone knew it right away (including the press -- not always notorious for grasping reality immediately) except IVAW.

They stopped their protest and there was no story (certainly nothing that would embarrass Barack). Barack turned them into props for the 2008 election.

I said the same thing and several times since. While Code Pink declares that they ended the war in Iraq by electing Obama, while IVAW chirps about meetings with Obama's staff, they still don't realized they're just being strung along. They threw Hillary Clinton under the bus for her vote in 2002, so now they get her for Secretary of State. And they're also getting the Senate Majority Leader who wrangled the vote for the war in Iraq and the airline bailout for his wife's industry in 2001 - Tom Daschle - in the Obama cabinet. Even King of the Dolts, John Kerry, is being considered for a posting. From the Richter LA Times piece;

"It's astonishing that not one of the 23 senators or 133 House members who voted against the war is in the mix," said Sam Husseini of the liberal group Institute for Public Accuracy.

Not really astonishing - I've been saying all along that they were being played by Obama. I remember that Jon DeWald, the IVAW's new intellectual spokesman, came here and explained how this was a genuine gesture on the part of the Obama campaign. So who gets the last laugh?

Would they be better off with Hillary? Not as far as the war is concerned, but at least they knew where she stands on a issue, she wouldn't necessarily intentionally lie as Obama apparently has done.

Kevin Martin, executive director of the group Peace Action, said that although Obama had campaigned as an agent of change, the president-elect is "a fairly centrist guy" who appears to be choosing from the Democratic foreign policy establishment -- "and nobody from outside it."

"So, in the short term, we're going to be disappointed," he said. "They may turn out to be all pro-war, or at least people who were pro-war in the beginning."

So, all that Hope and Change stuff is out the window. So Code Pink and IVAW get tossed under the bus - not that it's a bad thing. I also get word that ANSWER and United for Peace and Justice applied six months ago for protest permits in DC for March 21st and the protest is still on. From a blogging standpoint, an Obama presidency is looking like a lucrative business.

Cleland at VA?

2008-11-19T14:29:00.000-08:00

The Washington Times speculates this morning that former Senator Max Cleland might be in line for an appointment to the VA Secretary in the new administration;

A source familiar with transition planning said Mr. Cleland, a Vietnam veteran and triple amputee, is under consideration for either secretary of Veterans Affairs or secretary of the Army in an Obama administration, and liberal grass-roots support is building for his selection.

That just might make sense - a combat-injured veteran who has, most likely, spent the last forty years in the VA system knows what veterans need and he's probably going to do the right thing more often than someone off the street looking for a cushy job. But if they're considering him to be Army Secretary, not so smart - it would be waste of his expertise.

He voted more often with Conservatives on Homeland Security issues, but as the Army Secretary, he'd only be charged with implementing policy rather than making policy. I'd prefer to see him doing the most good for the troops in the role of VA Secretary.

Uhoh...New FCC Appointees Big on Network Neutrality

2008-11-18T15:05:00.000-08:00

Death of Blogging Imminent

Obama's new honchos on the FCC transition team are huge fans of regulating "teh internet". From Wired (h/t Reason):

"We're not doing at all well for reasons that mostly have to do with the fact that we failed to have a US industrial policy pushing forward high-speed internet access penetration, and there's been completely inadequate competition in this country for high speed internet access," she said.

And in a final introductory statement during her talk (that's likely to send shivers down the spines of telecom company executives) she said that she believes internet access is a "utility."

"This is like water, electricity, sewage systems: Something that each and all Americans need to succeed in the modern era. We're doing very badly, and we're in a dismal state," she said at the time.

Considering something like the internet a "utility" means the door is wide open to any number of regulations from bureau-weenies to stifle free expression. At this rate, the only websites left in America will be Obama-propaganda outlets like The Huffington Post, schnooze-inducing sites dedicated to Obama's Blackberry, and a few municipal websites so you know where to pick up your soup line rations. Buh-bye Obacalypse! The Four Horsemen just don't have the cash to hire a team of lawyers to operate this blog.

Salon Ponders the Magnificence of Michelle Obama's Butt

2008-11-18T12:23:00.000-08:00

Salon was once a decent internet journal that had insight into current cultural trends. But, after 8 years of BDS and its newfound religion of Obamunism, it just ain't what it used to be. Let's take a look at their latest top piece "First Lady Got Back":

Compromise, bipartisanship? Don't think so. Here was one clear signifier of blackness that couldn't be tamed, muted or otherwise made invisible. It emerged right before our eyes, in the midst of our growing uncertainty about everything, and we were too bogged down in the daily campaign madness to notice. The one clear predictor of success that the pundits, despite all their fancy maps, charts and holograms, missed completely? Michelle's butt.

While Obama continues appointing former Clinton operatives (and Hillary herself) and Soros-funded wonks to his team ensuring that havoc is wreaked on America, political commentators seemed completely mired in the inane details. This would include Michelle Obama's wardrobe, Ariana Huffington lavishing disgusting praise for her Dear Leader during primetime, and now the rump of the first lady. Get used to 4 years of this crap.

-Famine

Should America's Youth Be Part of the Obama Brigades?

2008-11-17T14:18:00.000-08:00

Young People: Too Cool For Getting A Haircut, But Are They Cool Enough To Criticize Obama?

Even though the youth vote did not come out in record numbers as anticipated (they were too busy updating their Facebook profile, gramps), they still went decidedly for The Obama. But amidst an orgy of support to compensate for their vacuous lives, it's nice to see the cool heads prevail at some of our nation's universities. From The Daily Bruin (UCLA's student newspaper):

After grumbling and groaning for years, we are suddenly dusting off our pom-poms and waving them in favor of the government. Will we step up to the plate when it comes time to call out our hero on any of his mistakes (he won’t make any of course, not Obama, not him) or when policies don’t go as planned?

This is a strange mantle of responsibility for us. We are soon going to be a part of the work force – the actual world where bills, mortgages and babies exist. Can we still be the same Generation Y that had everyone slightly intimidated by our attitude? USA Today featured an article about Gen Y in the workplace and pegged us as the ones who were groomed to take over corporate America.

We are jazzed that young people understand the necessity to keep a watchful eye on the government. Remember, when the administration implements a "Logan's Run" policy to get people off the entitlement dole due to a record federal deficit, it might not be the Hope N' Change you voted for.

Obama's advisor on Iran is confused

2008-11-17T12:38:00.000-08:00

Today, Gateway Pundit reports that Obama's chief advisor on Iran, Trita Parsi is about to brief Congress on Obama's prospective new Iran policy. Parsi is Iranian by birth, but without evidence to the contrary, I wouldn't necessarily hold that against him. What I would hold against him is his almost naive approach to the root of the Iran-Israel problem. I wrote two rather lengthy posts about Parsi back in June at my other place This Ain't Hell that can be found with their accompanying references here and here.

Parsi has written only one book in his short life on the subject of Iran-Israel policy. In that book, he makes the point that Iran doesn't particularly like Israel because of politics, not religious differences. Iran doesn't like democracies. I included some of the more bizarre suppositions of Parsi's theories last Summer;

In this interview for the CFR, Parsi actually argues that the Iranians don’t have nuclear ambitions, they just want to look like they do…then stop developing the nukes just short of the actual warheads;

Well, I think they definitely are looking for a nuclear option, being — as you mentioned — like Japan or Sweden or Belgium — having the capability to be able to go for a nuclear weapon, but stopping short of that. And that is exactly the same approach that the Shah took during the 1970s. He wanted to have the option, but he also recognized the strategic disadvantage for Iran to actually go for a weapon.

[...]

So the Iranians do have strong incentives not going for a nuclear weapon, but because of them living in a very tough neighborhood, they definitely want to have the option. And I think that’s what they’re aiming for now. I don’t think they have made a strategic decision to go for a weapon, but if tensions between the United States and Iran were to increase further, then that decision would probably be reassessed.
So I guess we just cross our fingers and hope that even though they go through all of the motions, they stop short of the goal. I guess that’s part of that “Hope” mantra from the Obama campaign.

In this interview on CNN, Parsi waves away Ahmadinejad’s letter to the UN last year condemning liberal western democracies in an attempt to bully the West to delay sanctions. Parsi says it’s a plea for negotiations with the US, when it’s clearly not. He goes on to blame the US for Iran’s nuclear ambitions, when there are a 160 other nations in the UN - why does the US have to talk with everyone?

To get the full dose of delusion from this young scholar, you have to read both of my posts on TAH. It's no wonder that Obama has been half-assed on his proposals to talk with Iran without preconditions if this is the kind of advice he's getting.

Obama Gussies Up Website to Take Credit For Iraq Withdrawal

2008-11-16T19:47:00.000-08:00

Iraqis and an American Soldier Dancing as SOFA is Announced, which Obama had nothing to do with [h/t MadTom]

The Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) in Iraq was put together by the executive branch of the current administration and is currently in the approval process by the Iraqi government. It was just approved by the Iraqi Cabinet today [AP], and awaits Parliamentary approval. The agreement requires that Coalition Forces be withdrawn from Iraq by 2012. This is a testament to the effectiveness of the surge in crippling the enemies of Iraq, the improvement of the Iraqi Security Forces, and highlights that the Iraqi people are comfortable that the worst is behind them. Journalists familiar with being on the front lines are saying that the war is essentially over.

Obama has been advocating for withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq for quite some time; however, he did so when violence in Iraq was at its peak in 2007 and he even suggested that some level of genocide would be acceptable if troops were withdrawn early. But all is hunky-doory on Obama's website as he is still pushing his own withdrawal agenda, despite the fact that the SOFA is already done being negotiated by the Bush Administration. From Change.Gov:

The removal of our troops will be responsible and phased, directed by military commanders on the ground and done in consultation with the Iraqi government. Military experts believe we can safely redeploy combat brigades from Iraq at a pace of 1 to 2 brigades a month -- which would remove all of them in 16 months. That would be the summer of 2010 -- more than 7 years after the war began.Under the Obama-Biden plan, a residual force will remain in Iraq and in the region to conduct targeted counter-terrorism missions against al Qaeda in Iraq and protect American diplomatic and civilian personnel. They will not build permanent bases in Iraq, but will continue efforts to train and support the Iraqi security forces as long as Iraqi leaders move toward political reconciliation and away from sectarianism.

This plan sounds closely analogous to the SOFA, and no doubt The Obama is going to be the hero to anti-war lefties who have been clamoring for an end to the Iraq war ever since it began. The original Change.Gov Iraq Agenda called the Iraqi government a bunch of imbeciles for not making enough political progress. I guess "going with the program" and taking credit for other people's hard work is a step up. But, why does Obama feel like he has to cater to MoveOn.Org types who have been feeding us talking points about Iraq that conveniently ignore reality? At least he's not pushing that dumbass Biden plan from 2007 that went over like a lead balloon throughout the Middle East.

Barack and Michelle Say The Election Hasn't "Sunk in Yet"

2008-11-16T19:11:00.000-08:00

Un-Fucking-Believable. The future First Family tells 60 Minutes that their election victory has not "sunk in yet". From CBS:

This is not winning the lottery, and I sure hope the guy leading our Armed Forces during a time of war knows what the hell he is doing.

War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength!

2008-11-16T14:18:00.000-08:00

One good thing for a progressive majority is that when they control the media and the three branches of government, they are able to easily subdue criticism by saying that the opposition are a pack of paranoid liars. Obama's Change.Gov agenda is back online after "retooling", and making the Assault Weapons Ban permanent is still there. Obama is no friend to gun rights, evidenced by his lackluster support for the Supreme Court D.C. vs. Heller ruling and the NRA having to rile up cash on behalf of responsible gun owners this election cycle. But knucklehead Bill Maher is already pointing out that anyone who isn't concerned with Obama's 2nd amendment positions is some kind of yokel. The latest clip from his show he speaks in a spooky monotone to joke:

The one part of the economy that is doing well I swear to god is the gun industry. Since Obama got elected gun sales have shot up because there's a, you know, this is, I read this in USA Today, a survey of Americans, how they felt about Obama's election, 67% proud, 59% excited, 30% pessimistic, 27% afraid. So we'd like to f#%k with those people right now. The people who are afraid. A little something we call Obama World. In Obama World all guns will be confiscated and melted down to make a giant statue of Allah.

Another example of Obama surrogates erroneously labeling the opposition as paranoid is progressive blogger Yglesias, member of the Center for American Progress, stating that no one on the left is pushing to limit free speech via the Fairness Doctrine. This is despite the fact that the Center for American Progress agenda states:

The new president and the Federal Communications Commission should restore the primacy of the public interest standard and our national commitment to diverse voices and diversity of ownership. The FCC should also prioritize including all of our rapidly diversifying population in the mainstream of the technological revolution so that women and members of minority and immigrant communities are not just consumers of technology, but also owners, producers, and creators of content, applications, and facilities.

Obama's agenda is also calling for "diverse" viewpoints in media ownership, which implies shutting down troublesome critics to publicly fund more "politically friendly" outlets under the guise of media ownership looking like a multi-ethnic Burger King Kids club. I have to hand it to Team Obama, they have effectively found a way to squash dissenting viewpoints by denying that their own positions are not really what they seem. At this rate, we'll be hearing about a Soylent Green ration policy for the huddled masses and the Obama surrogates will be denying that its people.

Obama Begins Weekly YouTube Snooze Session

2008-11-15T14:44:00.000-08:00

President-Elect Obama has begun a weekly YouTube address to the nation in an effort at transparency in government. In his first dull monologue, he discusses extending unemployment benefits, using $150B of Chinese money to expand "Green Jobs", and something about free Health Care.

zzzzzzz

YouTube has been around for over 2 years, and if you want to compete for views in our short-attention span world, you need to spice things up a bit. Here's a suggestion from our good friends in India:

That Bollywood Obama could sell anything!

IVAW gets seat at Obama's table

2008-11-14T05:19:00.000-08:00

When he was running to be everyone's president, Barack Obama wouldn't meet with General Petreaus while the general was commanding our efforts in Iraq. But now, it seems his staff will sit down with IVAW. A letter from Kelly Dougherty, the executive director of IVAW;

IVAW has been working to hold a face-to-face meeting with now President-elect and members of his staff. Our hard work has paid off! We’ve recently been contacted by a member of President-elect Obama’s veteran staff and will be meeting with representatives of both his Veteran and Foreign Affairs Committees this month. This is a huge opportunity for IVAW to assert our voice and perspective at a new level and to continue to demand accountability for ending the occupation.

So I'm guessing that the IVAW will be presenting their three demands - immediate withdrawal from Iraq (before we win despite their best efforts), fully funded veteran services (one out of three) and full reparations to the Iraqi people (with what money?). I wonder when the Obama staff will meet with the grown ups.

Dougherty continues;

We have been witness to the horror and violence of war and we are determined to give Americans a real eyewitness account of the occupations.

We? Got a combat veteran mouse in your pocket, Kel? Doughtery's testimony at Winter Soldier was confined to a single incident that involved KBR employees firing bean bags at Iraqi civilians to control the situation at the scene of an automobile accident. Oh, the horror. You know that's the worst incident she witnessed because if she had more she'd have used other stories instead.

Dougherty is also the person who told the House Progressive Caucus that they didn't need to swear in any of the witnesses who testified to the committee because IVAW had already verified their testimony. I wonder if any of the banking CEOs who testified to Congress this morning got the same consideration.

Thanks to my busy little mole for the tip.

How Cool, Obama Posters Just Like Che!

2008-11-13T23:24:00.000-08:00

Remember those OBEY posters plastered all over billboards that were cool in like '98, well the artist, Shepherd Fairey, talks about his mysterious Obama art that has swept the nation 10 years later. Hipster Ariana Ratner from NYC is so stoked she can hardly contain herself (2:23 in the video):

It reminds of the, like, Che Guevara shirts and stuff, like, he'll be an icon in the future.

Hard to figure out which is more depressing, that a young, attractive woman would think that mass murderer Che Guevara is cool, or that we have to live in the same country as these morans.

Neil Young Wants Billions in Bailout Money to go to Neil Young's Company

2008-11-13T21:26:00.000-08:00

I have to hand it to these aging hippies, they sure know how to make a quick buck by playing on people's guilt

There's been a lot of hand-wringing in Washington over whether or not the auto industry is going to get bailed out by the feds, but one only needs to stop by the Huffington Post (gossip-cum-dumbass politics site) for new ideas for The Obama administration. Neil Young recently started up some electric car company under the guise of saving mother earth. Electric cars might help significantly reduce carbon emissions if our country didn't consume energy from primarily fossil fuels, or if electricity grew out of the wall socket of your house. But logic like that can't stop Neil "Heart of Gold" Young from trying to extort taxpayer dollars to fund his crooked little business. From HuffPo:

Detroit has had a long time to adapt to the new world and now the failure of Detroit's actions is costing us all. We pay the bailout. Let's make a good deal for the future of America and the Planet. Companies like UQM (Colorado) and others build great electric motors right here in the USA. Use these domestic electric motors. Put these people to work now. This plan reverses the flow from negative to positive because people need and will buy clean and green cars to be part of World Change. Unique wheel covers will identify these cars on the road so that others can see the great example a new car owner is making. People want America to win!

Notice how "World Change" is capitalized meaning Neil did way too many drugs and can't type correctly or there's some new program we don't know about that's going to flush a bunch more of our taxpayer dollars down the tube. With 60s icons-turned-geezers trying to dictate our consumer habits, and the loathsome Hillary Clinton possibly being the face of America to lead the State Department, I'm half-expecting Medea Benjamin to be appointed the new SECDEF. It can only be concluded that we are living in the Twilight Zone. Get used to it, as it'll be a very weird four years.

When Americans do charity themselves...

2008-11-13T09:15:00.000-08:00

While Americans seem to have bought into the idea that government can fix their problems and that those mean old republicans don’t care one bit about all those impoverished school children, some regular people continue to set an example for the rest of us.

I found this article my local paper, The Morning Journal, that tells the story of two regular people who left nearly a million dollars to a local public school.

The estate of Richard and Marian Cronowalt has bequeathed $937,253.67 to endow a new scholarship fund for Vermilion schools....
During World War II, Cronowalt served in the U.S. Army in a tank squadron in Africa, Latteman said. Mrs. Cronowalt worked in a defense plant in Lorain. After his time in the service, Cronowalt worked as a crane operator unloading ore freighters at the port of Lorain. They started saving money, quietly building what would become the gift to Vermilion schools.
"They were just hard workers and savers," Latteman said. "They were hard workers and conservative, especially her. She always wanted to pay her own way, she always wanted to be sure she had enough to cover her or him in the rest home."

Here are two people that clearly lived within their means, under their means, to save money to give away. They did not have kids, Mr. Cronowalt worked a blue collar job, and yet they managed this feat.
These are the kind of people I want to be like, and I believe more people would be like, if they didn't count on the government to do their job. They gave to others out of the good that is them, not because the government confiscated their money.
Below is an image from Bowling Green State University showing what the ore yards look like.
Here it looks way more glamorous than it really is. Up close it was a nasty place. They've since torn it down, it blocked the mayor's view of Lake Erie.
This is another example of a veteran who who served his country and proceeded to serve his community. Nice.

New Feature on Change.Gov Lets You Ask For Free Shit

2008-11-12T18:56:00.000-08:00

The Change.Gov website has a new feature entitled "American Moment" that allows you to "share a story" or "share a vision". Since Obama's "vision" usually involves wasteful government spending, I opted for the "Share a Vision" to get some free goodies from Uncle Sugar. However, you gotta do it quick before the website gets purged. Check it out:

Those dashboard Obamas would really come in handy for when I'm feeling a little blue on the drive to work.

Obama's Dignity Battalions

2008-11-12T18:09:00.000-08:00

I picked this up from Hot Air, by way of Ace of Spades. It's a three minute interview with Rahm Emanuel in which he discusses his perception of this Civilian Defense Force.

Now, I'm no conspiracy theorist, but Emanuel seems pretty focused on this concept of a civilian paramilitary force. He tries to make it sound innocuous, but you look at the pool of people from which he wants to draw this force (college kids) it's almost as if he wants the cultural opposite from the people who enlist in the military. People more ideologically aligned with Democrats trained and armed. these are the same Democrats who opposed the draft for our military, but see it as useful tool for building a civilian force with the same amount of training, the same weaponry, the same skills. To "teach them what it means to be American",in Emanuel's words.

Now for those of you too young to remember the Dignity Battalions, it was a trained paramilitary force in Panama who owed allegiance to Manuel Noriega. Noriega shuttled them around the country during elections to vote multiple times in May 1989. When the election didn't go the way Noriega wanted it to go, he sent DIgnity Battalion members to beat the crap out of the President-elect Guillermo (Billy) Ford with lead pipes. The attack was so blatant, a CNN cameraman captured it and beamed it around the world.

Hugo Chavez has his own Popular Defense Units, civilian supporters of Chavez, trained in military techniques, who have been used to quell protests in Venezuela, some using gunfire on unarmed civilian opponents.

The Left admires Chavez' brand of socialism, his ability to shut down opposition media and now his solution to crush dissent. I'm just sayin'....

I thought ya'all'd like to discuss this one.

Tackling the Important Issues: Mrs. Obama's Apparel

2008-11-12T14:32:00.000-08:00

Mrs. Obama in one of Her Fabulous Dresses

The super fandom of the Obamas has reached a bizarre level of craziness with the launch of Mrs. O, the blog with the stated purpose to "Follow the Fashion of Mrs. O. A regular look at what and who she's wearing". Here's an example of this highly important commentary from the post Global Icon in the Making:

Without doubt, the Maria Pinto coral red dress she wore at the White House yesterday caused a spike in global media admiration, with the dress earning its own column inches in the mainstream British press.

I have no idea what the hell Marina Pinto Coral is, and I don't question the First Lady-Elect's ability to dress herself, so why is any of this relevant except to show the depravity of our celebrity-obsessed culture? There are lots of nutty websites out there in the innertubes, but the disturbing reality is that this blog seems to be mimicking our mainstream media rather than out there on the fringe. Some recent examples of hard-hitting journalism from our corporate-owned conglomerates is "Will Obama Girls be on Hannah Montana?" [CBS] and details of how Obama's inner-circle of friends likes to play scrabble [LA Times].

The Four Horsemen are most concerned with issues like "Is Obama's Economic Policy Going to Bankrupt America" and "Is his Foreign Policy Going to Get Us All Killed?" I guess not caring about where the Obamas shop makes us the wackos.

-Four Horsemen