Patrick Frey, Deputy District Attorney of Los Angeles, runs a hate site.

click to enrage

Posted here, but Patterico might decide to slap Scott for his stupidity.

Figuratively speaking, of course.

---

Michelle Bachmann (R, Minnesota) asks if we, Americans, really want this inevitable collapse ?

Don't sit there and tell me you don't realize that what's coming is coming. The shock of September 2008 should've been enough to shake every American to the core, to send a signal to every thinking person who's still afloat, but it wasn't enough, obviously. We haven't taken the necessary steps to avoid a more catastrophic financial disaster; and, having elected Social Democrat overlords, we've allowed them to accelerate this coming fall.

Rep. Bachmann:

Do We Want ‘To Watch Ourselves Collapse From Our Own Welfare State?’

(CNSNews.com) - Representative Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) told CNSNews.com that 'expensive entitlement programs' [are] bringing our country down,' and Americans will have to choose between surviving as a country or collapsing 'from our own welfare state.'

“These very expensive wage-and-benefit packages that we're paying to federal employees, but also very expensive entitlement programs are frankly bringing our country down and we have to make a decision: ‘Do we want to survive as a country or are we going to watch ourselves collapse from our own welfare state?’ It's really up to us to make the decision.”

Rep. Bachmann, elected to Congress in the 2006 mid-term election, blamed Democrats for making entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare “unworkable” today.

“They (Democrats) like to act as though they want to save them (entitlement programs) and we [Republicans] want to end them when, in fact, it's been just the opposite,” said Bachmann. “The Democrats unfortunately have been in a situation where they have made those programs unworkable, which means vulnerable people who are dependent on those programs may not have them to take care of the needs that they need.”

Part and parcel of the redistributive goals of BHO &cronies: to make these entitlement programs so accessible that their true purpose is lost. No more 'safety net', no more temporary fix. Dems desire to make entitlements so permanent that lazy, spoiled Americans who make up the Democrat base will become even more spoiled, even more dependent on [Social Democrat] government, even more likely to vote themselves a heaping helping of Other People's Money. The Looter - Moocher relationship culminates in wins for Social Democrats at the ballot box.

---

Another sign possibly pointing to apocalypse: Barack Hussein Obama flummoxes his base: DRILL BABY, DRILL~! That'll leave a mark. Al Gore's jaw won't be reattached; it hit the pavement so hard the only thing left visible is the tip of one tusk.

Oh, and French President Sarcozy is setting Mr. Obama up for a fall.




France will win again.

---

"The Rape of Liberty", by Darleen Click

This political cartoon has incensed the far-left side of the blogsphere for an entire week now. Read the post and the comments (up to 1334 at present); you'd think these twerps from Pandagon &c. had themselves been personally raped.

This is allegory, satire, hard-hitting visual commentary, metaphor; there's no reason for the OUTRAGE~!!!11!1!1!!!. The Left realizes that this analogy is spot-on. They've no real recourse except to fling poo.

Get over it, 'tards.

Oh, here's a nice poem...

Tom Woodard, “The Rape of Liberty“.

The Rape of Liberty
(A Warning)

Ye vile, ignorant rabble, espousing hate,
Fast marching upon Freedom’s gate,
Shouting down those who would oppose,
Accusing false treason to all their foes,
Minds all closed as great steel traps,
Mobs like wild dogs howl wretched yaps,
Frenzied, they tear at the Sacred Gates,
Fires of Hell at home upon their grates.
Tolerance lies dead at heathens’ feet,
Beaten and crushed in darkened street.
And the mob cries lewdly at fair Liberty,
Leering lustfully at her maiden beauty,
Before they lunge, groping and tearing,
At her unsoiled gown, craven, jeering,
Pulling her rudely to the filthy ground,
As others, drooling, gather tightly round,
There rape her, virgin, in violent rage,
Like wild beasts upon the sideshow stage;
Lady Liberty, bleeding, bruised, rises -
But Liberty this ignorant crowd despises,
And turning upon her again and again,
They complete their bloody, raging sin,
Striking, stabbing ‘til breathes no more,
Lady Liberty upon this darkened shore.
Now the State, all-powerful, their faith,
Their idol-god, ungodly, steals her place,
And tramples all beneath its brutal heel,
Meeting patriotic resistance with steel,
Destroying all who refuse prostrate bow,
Not a voice to be heard for liberty now.

Pray we who loved her, and love her still,
For Liberty’s resurrection on shining hill,
Where once the peoples of all the lands,
Strove to plant feet in democracy’s sands,
For chance at life yet to them unknown,
Guided with Liberty’s torch-light shown.
Oh, may she rise from beleaguered tomb!
Will Freedom again for America bloom?
Oh, may we strive to stoke sacred flame,
‘Til Liberty rises, resurrected, yet again!
Hold to hope, ye lovers of democracy,
And never to the State willing vassals be!

For the sake of art. Art, I say! You can’t be offended~!

---

Friday Photo - Arizona Petroglyph

I know, it's not Friday, but it's been awhile, and I'm busy today.

This, found by my dad sometime in the '50's, somewhere in the high desert country of Arizona. It sat for years in a box in a closet, rediscovered by me just this weekend. I've no clue as to the exact location of it's origination, but if it's origin is the Sitgreaves area of Arizona, I could guess it's was from one of the Sinagua, Kayenta Anasazi, or Cohonina ruins that are prevalent throughout the region. Or not. Being a smallish (10-12 lbs. rock, it could've been moved by anyone, anytime, from just about anywhere.

But, being it's a thousand years old, or more, it's fascinating.

---

To Russell King, the link-collecting meme-spewing Talking Points Memo viral hero of the Left:

Allright, you, you’ve had your fun. Now listen up.

The party YOU support, the Democrats, was once a great, proud party;
now, they’ve been taken over by the far-left, by the Euro-socialists,
and they have gone as far Left off the rails as you claim the
Republicans have gone Right. The answer to your party’s far-left and
monstrous vision of CHANGE is exactly what you are decrying; our
far-right responses.

I voted for my first President in 1976, Jimmy Carter. I voted for Al
Gore for US Senator from Tennessee twice. I was happily a moderate.
Then, things started to change: Al Gore went with Bill Clinton, and
turned decidedly crazy (with his first Science Fiction novel ‘Earth in
the Balance’). You noticed that we in Tennessee did not elect Big Al as
president in 2000? If he had maintained the center, if he hadn’t become
the thing we see gibbering about now, he wouldn’t have had to worry
about hanging chads in Florida. We turned him out. He, and the Left,
became nuts.

Over the 8 years of BOOOOOOOOOSH!, you leftists went crazy. You spat and shat on the
flag; you marched, protested, whined, cried, and supposed that we were
gonna round you up and put you in concentration camps. You acted like
children, spoiled and heinous children who needed a good spanking. Now
that you’ve taken over America as the new-order Social Democrat party,
you’ve behaved like spoiled kids in a candy store, stuffing your fat
faces with Other People’s Money, looters buying moocher’s votes, and
giving America an air of EuroSocialism that WE are not capable of
sustaining. You, and yours, are driving this country out of business,
and out of the Republic, as Benjamin Franklin predicted.

So, you, get over yourself. You will have strong opposition, not the
weak lines you’ve seen from Republicans. You will have to face, this
time, the People. Your Alinsky tactics and your Community Organization
skills will be co-opted, this time for use by the good guys.

Just wait. Things are really gonna CHANGE, and soon.

UPDATE: WILL AMERICA BREAK UP?

The bitter debate over Obamacare has exposed the country's profound divisions. We are no longer one nation or one people. Rather, there are now two Americas: one conservative, the other liberal. Increasingly, we no longer just disagree but we despise each other.

Our disagreements encompass everything - politics, morality, culture and history. We no longer share a unifying essence or common values. One half of America believes abortion is an abomination; the other half considers any attempt to repeal it as oppressive and sexist. One half opposes homosexual unions because it elevates immoral and unnatural behavior to the sacred status of marriage; the other half supports it as an extension of civil rights. One half reviles Mr. Obama's socialist agenda, viewing it as the destruction of capitalism and our constitutional government; the other half embraces it as the culmination of social justice and economic equality. One half reveres America's heroes - Christopher Columbus, George Washington, James Madison, Davy Crockett - and its glorious history; the other half is ashamed of its past, seeing it as characterized by racism, imperialism and chauvinism.

Ultimately, a country is not simply its geographical borders with the people inside of it. It is something more - and deeper. A nation must share a common heritage, language, culture, faith and myths. Once upon a time, Americans celebrated the same heroes, sang the same patriotic songs, read the same history and literature, and gloried in its exceptional nature: a city upon a hill, with liberty and freedom for all. It was understood that, for all of our different ethnic and religious backgrounds, America is a product of English and Christian civilization. Those days are long gone.

Instead, we are going the way our Founding Fathers warned us against: increasing balkanization and sectionalism. A constitutional republic - unlike an empire - is only as strong as its national cohesion. It is based not on imperial coercion but civic consent. Mr. Obama is recklessly pulling at the strings of unity, further polarizing us.

serr8d


March 28, 2010 at 10:47
AM

---

Yeah, we've had enough.

Mike, at Cold Fury, on the Social Democrat's demonization of the Right (they, they are threatening us, those evil RETHUGLICANS who elected BOOOOOOSH! and we just sat there for 8 years, quiet as church mice, never saying or complaining one little bit, oh no, we were perfect little citizens)...

Libs want to play hardball? Well, good; let’s sharpen our spikes and go after them like a nation of Ty Cobbs. In this game, the fate of our former Constitutional Republic is at stake. Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing. And the Democrat Socialists proved a long time ago that, in the words of one of their typically corrupt, scum-slathered heroes just last week, there are no rules.

Some of us have been negligent and inattentive to our duty; the GOP has been all but useless, trying to maintain an above-the-fray, dignified appearance — to keep from dirtying their expensive suits during a knife-fight — while the nation was being attacked and brought to its knees by the enemy within. That seems to be finally turning around, and it’s about damned time. More, and faster, please.

We know what the Left did for those 8 years, we watched as they threatened, cajoled, protested, burned and shat on our flags, spit on our troops, marched and whined and acted like we were getting ready to round 'em up and put 'em in concentration camps.

Screw 'em all, these leftists and their whining. They've done more damage to this nation than any Republican ever, with their handouts and social entitlements that will bankrupt us; with their overreaction to invisible 'global warming' threats they'll kill our industries.

Fuck dat. We've had just about enough. Come November, the ballot box. Until then, we have to find and inform the real Americans.

Community Organization and Alinsky Tactics, we must embrace those models, and use 'em ourselves. They worked for the Left; now, it's time to use their powers for the good.

---

Tea Party at Searchlight, Nevada, features Sarah Palin: Photos

You go, Sarah Palin. Even not-running, Sarah Palin is a potent weapon against the far-left cabal of Social Democrats who've taken over this country. Sarah Palin and the Tea Party is good for America. There's so few people who have the balls to go against the ruination we're facing. So few strong Republicans. On the other side, Social Democrats will give some weak-minded, under-educated American moocher a handout, and likely they've bought a friend (and a voter) for life.

I'm afraid that until we have some sort of economic or political collapse (one that might occur sooner than later, given our poor economic circumstances) most Americans will continue watching 'Dancing with the American Idol' while stuffing themselves with cream cheeses and beers, and accept these lefty social CHANGEs with no thought as to the consequences. That's just what the ruling Social Democrats want, a complacent populace, easily manipulated and purchased with 'gifts' of Other People's Money.

Thank you, Sarah Palin and the Tea Party, for pointing out the alternative to Barack Obama and his far-left 'Organizing for Social America' movement.

Is it too late to save our Republic? That's the biggest question we now face.

Maybe next time, we or our successors will have learned. Phoenix, and all of that.

---

Brian Kiteley, University of Denver Fiction - Lit Professor, exposed as cowardly kittenish querulous person.

http://proteinwisdom.com/?p=17489

Heh. Lots of room in 140 characters for this sort of thing, no?

Hey, Instapundit linked Jeff G for the first time in ages. Memeorandum notices.

(Oh, and Brian, you might sell a couple books from this, but certainly not one to me. I prefer my authors to be strong of will and character, and not desirous of preening and pruning thoughts and ideas, no matter how disagreeable one might find  'em. You cowardly kitten, you.)

---

RHINO Slapdown: David Frum out of his $100K job at AEI for being a wanker.

Sorry, David. You've misjudged the water's temperature; you've too many times erred of the side of being lovingly soft on the Left.

Enjoy your time off.

See you on MSNBC soon!

---

AFL-CIO laments Whirlpool moving manufacturing jobs to Mexico.

See if you can spot the double dose of irony...

It’s happening across America—factories are picking up and moving somewhere the labor’s cheaper…all the factories are moving jobs outside the U.S. ...

Whirlpool also received $19 million as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to build more energy efficient and green appliances. But it is spending $110 million to build a new plant in Mexico. At last month’s rally that drew more than 5,000 people, IUE-CWA President Jim Clark said:

Whirlpool is a bad corporate citizen who is twisting this country’s desire to reduce energy usage and using it to export jobs. We are pushing hard to ensure that good intentions on going green don’t help fund loss of good manufacturing jobs.

Heh. A Union thug decrying Whirlpool's legitimate business decision to move away from the Leftist-controlled Social Democrat anti-business climate in New (CHANGEd!) America! Whirlpool is scrabbling to stay in business in the face of ever-increasing Union worker's demands, the new HealthCare laws (that, surprisingly! are under fire from companies such as John Deere and AT&T), and the Al Gore Global Warmalism-influenced anti-business climate that's clouding our future, and all the other new pro-labor anti-business laws that are so devastating to American industry.

I don't blame 'em for wanting out. With Social Democrats in charge, who wants to stick around for the inevitable collapse?

Hopefully, the ones out of jobs first will be those zeros who voted these new Social Democrats into power. Serves 'em right, to have to suffer first.

---

UPDATE

Found this (h/t Billy Beck)...

Obama is not worried that the American economy is slow to recover; he’s worried that it will recover. And he is doing everything conceivable to see that it doesn’t. Adding an unaffordable entitlement to already bankrupt entitlements; making energy unaffordable; raising taxes; harassing business; growing government while the economy shrinks; shrinking the economy while government grows; and most important of all, draining the wealth out of the middle class. Squeezing the last savings and remaining asset value out of them. He has the public employee unions living large in lean times, and their mission, from his point of view, is to scavenge whatever meat remains from the bones.

Oh. And, TANSTAAFL.

Got 401-K? Not for long.

If the Service Employees Credit Union (SEIU) has their way, we will move even closer to a Social Democrat paradise...

Having ruined the pension funds of Americans nationally through corrupt and utterly unsustainable "projections" of future growth labor unions are now targeting your money to make up the difference:

One of the nation's largest labor unions, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), is promoting a plan that will centralize all retirement plans for American workers, including private 401(k) plans, under one new "retirement system" for the United States.

In effect, government pensions for everyone, not unlike the European system and regardless of personal choice.

Yes, because labor unions have done such a great job of managing their pension plans, right?

Oh wait, they haven't. In fact, virtually none of them are actuarially sound, and they know it. So instead of addressing this (which would mean that workers would have to put up much more of their wages to be funneled into these funds) the SEUI is effectively advocating stealing your 401k - to cover for their outrageously rosy "estimates" on portfolio returns (which in fact have been negative over the last ten years.)

Each and every American alive today owes well over $200,000 in National Debt. We're earning less than we did last year.

For the first time evah, this year we will pay out more in Social Security benefits than we will take in in payroll taxes.

We're well on the way to unprecedented insolvency; can economic collapse and political collapse be far behind? We are too big to fail, you say?

You would be very, very wrong.

---

So, what about these so-called 'threats' against Social Democrat Legislators?

Why do you ask?

---

h/t Darleen Click

Democrats Vote to Give Viagra to Sex Offenders !

Senate Democrats, on party line votes, became the party of NO as they defeated Republican amendments designed to improve ObamaCare. Yes, one of the defeated amendments would've forced Obama and his Administration cronies to buy insurance on the same exchanges he helped create. Of course, that wasn't happening.

From Moonbattery, some of the amendments Republicans offered. Complete gavel-to-gavel coverage offered here.

• Amendment to Remove Sweetheart Deals, Bribes, and Payoffs - voted down by Democrats
• Amendment to Bar Tax Hikes on Families Earning Under $250,000 - voted down by Democrats
• Amendment to Remove the Employer Mandate - voted down by Democrats
• Amendment to Require the President and Congress Enroll in Exchange-voted down by Democrats
• Amendment to Prevent Sex Offenders from Receiving E.D. Drugs [VIAGRA] - voted down by Democrats on a party-line vote
• Amendment to Remove New Taxes on Investments - voted down by Democrats
• Amendment to Protect Wounded Soldiers from Medical Device Tax - voted down by Democrats
• Amendment to Protect Pediatrics and Disabled from Medical Device Tax - voted down by Democrats
• Amendment to Protect Cancer Patients from Medical Device Tax - voted down by Democrats

So, this will have to go back to the House for another vote. We again get to see exactly who voted this monster of an entitlement program into existence.

Also...lying liars who lie about so-called 'threats' to Congressmen who voted for ObamaCare. Russ Carnahan, you idiot, a prayer vigil is not a threat to you. Well, any practice of religion might be a threat to atheist Democrats; that there could be an afterlife, after their lives of denial, might tend to haunt their thoughts and make 'em stay awake at night.

Go here to donate to help all the Tea Party members who've been arrested for threats and vandalism...

---

Ann Coulter vs. Ottawa University: Canadian Bush League Mouthbreathers Shut Down Free Speech

Bush League.

Ann Counter tried to speak at the University of Ottawa but couldn't. Leftists and Liberals did what they so want to do here in America...silence a conservative; SHUT UP whatever opposition they deem unworthy.

This is so America in a few years. If we allow these Liberal Fascists to get where they want to be.

I don't think we'll go that route.

---

Paying for ObamaCare: VAT

As we've come to understand (most of us understand; some child-like minds think that government stuff does actually grow on trees and should remain cost-free because, well, we all care so much, especially about the children) there ain't no such thing as a free lunch (TANSTAAFL). Forward-thinkers like Charles Krauthammer can see this new entitlement quickly becoming larger and larger (since we've seen Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security become ever-increasingly larger and larger swatches of our GDP) and we'll have to have new sources of payment (taxes) to cover the costs. The VAT (value added tax) is a natural extension to Euro-social health care; since we've decided to be all Euro-socialisty, why not import their taxation methodology as well?

Get ready to see this VAT over the next several years. Charles thinks the announcement might come as soon as (AFTER) November...

"But then I think there is a larger issue here," Krauthammer said. "I think ultimately Obama understands that he has just added an unbelievably large entitlement on to a country drowning in debt. He is not stupid. I think he is anticipated this, and I think he is, from the beginning, had a plan and the plan is he is going to use the Deficit Reduction Commission, which will report only after November, and I'm absolutely sure it will recommend something new in American history, a national sales tax which is called a VAT in Europe."

Krauthammer suggested liberals believe this is how to fund an entitlement state and not have the public notice, as would be the case with income taxes. And this will be an issue for the 2012 presidential election.

"All the Europeans who have the kind of entitlements America is now going to have, health care and all the others, need the VAT, because it's a gusher of income for the government," Krauthammer continued. "And once you have that, even very small levels - a percent or two of a national sales tax - that's how the liberals think they will be able to fund this new very expanded entitlement state. It's the way it's done in Europe. It's going to have to be done here. And that, I think, is going to be the argument in the president's election of 2012."

I for one look forward to paying our new overlords.

OH, and here's an interesting link Dan Collins came up with yesterday; the Philadelphia "Flash Mob" syndrome. Out-of-control kids running through South Street disrupting commerce and shouting lovely phrases like 'burn the city', 'get the baseball bats'. Business in this filthy city was again disrupted; this was the 6th time this sort of thing has erupted here.

Do not these shit-for-brain examples of our newest generations understand that we must keep commerce open for business for to pay for their welfare checks? Obviously not.

Oh, this quote...

One armed owner, who showed the Daily News his gun permit, protected his business by standing outside with five assistants.

'Nuff said.

No need to ever visit France or England again; We ARE ALL EUROPE NOW.

---

Bipartisan Consensus: Nevermore

Business organizations respond quickly to Barack Obama's newly-won health care battle...

At the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, President and CEO Thomas Donohue called the House passage a “wrong and unfortunate decision,” and he warned that if it becomes law, “the Chamber will work through all available avenues—regulatory, legislative, legal, and political—to fix its flaws and minimize its potentially harmful impacts. Through the largest issue advocacy and voter education program in our history, we will encourage citizens to hold their elected officials accountable when they choose a new Congress this November.”

Susan Eckerly, senior vice president National Federation of Independent Business, which represents small businesses, was equally as blunt. “America’s small businesses are outraged that so many members of Congress didn’t have the courage to stand up for them and vote against this job-killing healthcare bill,” she said in a statement. It concluded: ”Make no mistake, small businesses won’t forget those who voted against small business. And they will make their voices heard when they vote in November.”

...whilst the moochers crow...

At the AFL-CIO, President Richard [Trumka] praised the House action and used the occasion to tout labor’s political muscle. “Today there is light at the end of a dark tunnel for so many in our country who have worked hard to support their families, but still cannot afford the health care they deserve,” Trumka said.

It's always been US against THEM, but even in the days of LBJ and the Great Society, Republicans joined with Democrats to pass that legislation.

Not this time.

Not any more.

It's over, bipartisanship.

Let the games begin.

---

Barack Obama: Statist Culture Warrior...

...who is fighting against America as she was founded. And that is not a good thing.
The New York Post's Michael Goodwin sees this pending health care vote as a battle in a much larger "Civil War", the Culture War that's tearing America apart. Those of us who believe in, yes, American exceptionalism, against those who desire a CHANGE to a statist nation. On  the other side, looters and their moocher enablers are pitted against those of us who would rather live a hands-off, please! existence.

Either you believe America is different and should play a unique role in expanding individual liberty, or you believe we should trim our freedoms to fit international norms, as embodied by centralized authorities and global organizations like the United Nations.

It's clear where Obama stands.

How did we come to this culture war, this nation-killing schism? We might ask, how did Americans become a nation of weak and whiny, needy and demanding children without a spine? A bunch of people who demand things they haven't earned, things paid for with other people's money? Why are these neo-socialists so jealous of other people's goods and successes, so envious of 'the rich' Americans? What happened to wanting to improve yourself, on your own dime? What happened to your backbones, you so-called 'Americans'?

I blame easy living, and we've seen an abundance of that.

We've allowed some in the newer generations to become more and more dependent on others, on a government-state, and become much more expectant of 'help' that doesn't need to be repaid (and don't even think of demanding interest!). Certainly didn't help when we allowed more of the camel's nose under the tent with (in my lifetime) Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society" (the second pillar of leftist - statist - neoliberal - socialist - progressive 'thought' that's so ripping the real American dream apart; the first appearance of the snout was FDR's New Deal).

This Obama-demanded health care 'reform' is much more than an addition to our national progressive cancer; it represents a camel's nose, and neck. There will be more and more of weak people, thinking they are "Americans", wanting and demanding more and more of an increasingly unsupplied government spigot, until there is no more left to give.

Ben Franklin, American polymath, knew it. We will not survive following this continued national path downwards to statism and European-styled progressivism.

That camel is mostly in the tent.

"When the people find they can vote themselves money,
that will herald the end of the republic."
Got scimitar?

---

Bart Gordon, Space Dreamer

Bart Gordon sold out his constituents for a job at NASA? Such is the scuttlebutt.

There must be a good reason for a man who was badgered enough by the people he claimed to represent to vote AGAINST this atrocity to change his vote from NO to YES on ObamaCare, no? Bart Gordon was hounded and badgered enough to walk away from his easy and lucrative and previously unassailable House seat; now he's set to cash in for his health care vote to meet the of the needs of the ever-crooked Obama Administration.

From Dan Riehl, who's helping keep better track of Bart Gordon's skulduggery than Bart and Obama would like...

Just a note on Instapundit's link to Moe Lane, pointing out Gordon's Coburn problem, assuming he has any designs on going to NASA. What makes it an ever bigger problem for Gordon is how the rules have changed.

Five years ago he would have experienced grief, but ultimately Hill comity would likely win out and he'd slip by with some bruising. Coburn's tough, but he's reasonable and people can disagree.

With politics playing out in real time under an Internet-powered microscope, a huge number of Americans angry over HCR combined with Coburn's especially angry base, there just isn't room for what was once the status quo.

Because if Bart Gordon thinks he can sell out, take a cushy job as a NASA Administrator and wing his constituents a flappy bird, well, that'll be a prelaunch no-go.

More likely he'll hook up with Al Gore (whose seat he's occupied ever since Big Al left it oh so many years ago) and become, oh, a "Global Warming Expert". Doesn't take much; Big Al did it with a prayer and a Divinity degree, and a few dollars investment in cheap book paper. To be forever mistaken for the Unabomber; such is Al Gore's legacy.

No, Bart, there's no easy legacy job at NASA in your future. You turned your back on your friends. We'll have to watch you very closely. Maybe you'll get to play with a nice model rocket out back.

Shame on you, BartFish Gordon.

---

"Today's News in a Photo Fix", 1

Walgreens nixes new medicare prescriptions in Washington State, says "We are NOT all Socialists Now". h/t Drudge

Instead of "Tear down this Wall!" Obama and Blockhead Biden want to build a wall in Jerusalem. Got Goldstones?

Nice sign from Washington D.C. "Picture of the Day", yesterday, from The Daily Caller. Oh, if you couldn't tell, it met with the Serr8d - GIMP blender.

I'm very busy. Later.

---

Little Green Football's Charles Johnson is a pinhead.

Don't just take Dan Riehl's word for it, see for yourself.



Almost makes me feel sorry for him

...

Naaaah.

Bed, lie in it, and all of that.

Alone, most likely.

---

Marsha Blackburn (R, TN) advances new NRCC TV ad against SlaughterCare

The "Democratic Madness" ad, released yesterday.

WASHINGTON - MARCH 16: US Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) (R) and Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR) (L) attend a news conference to unveil a new GOP television ad against President Barack Obama's health care legislation, at National Republican Committee headquarters on March 16, 2010 in Washington, DC. Democrats seem to be determined to push through health care bill over heavy Republican opposition.

Here's the ad, a nice play on the ongoing "March Madness" hoops tourney.




I like Marsha Blackburn, yes I do.

One thing is certain: Marsha Blackburn won't be in Nancy Pelosi's "Democrat House Women ONLY!" meeting today. That meeting with a secret agenda; I would guess to launch a new call to all Democrat - Leftist wymens to rally and somehow ramp up the volume even more for supporting the abortion payments clauses in ObamaCare. But who knows? maybe she's breaking the news that abortion language has to be stricken; and the gals will have to put on a straight face, smile, and hope blood-spattered feminists like Amanda Marcotte won't demand their heads on a pike as well as their fetuses on a platter.

There's the best reason to support Marsha Blackburn. None of that ABORTION NOW! crap from her.

I wish she was representing my district. Marsha, Senate run, please?

---

The FINAL MARCH for REFORM (can you hear the loverly siren call of Barack Obama, Democrats, calling for you to march to your November doom ?)

Ned, a fellow Middle Tennessean blogging  at Wisdom is Vindicated, sent me an e-mail, what, 5 days ago (an eternity in blog time) re: his post ""Progressives" love them some marches". Ned's idea was for a pshop based on the Organizing for America - David Plouffe e-mail pushing the so-called "Final March for Healthcare", truly a scary proposition if one recalls Mao's "Long March" (see Ned's post for the linky). Well, I couldn't get in the mood for a) Obama-Pelosi Death March sort of pshop (that was a couple days before SlaughterCare), so I sat on it.

An image I found today at The Russian Photo Blog cried out for a pshop; that and a nice 'Cambodian Sunset' pic, and the OFA headliner from Ned's; threw 'em all in the GIMP blender and here you go.

Sorry, Ned, I couldn't get warmed up for the Mao imagery. I'd rather ridicule and mock these bastiches, as Alinsky noted in Rule 5.

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SlaughterCare: House trickery that will Kill the Republic

Here comes the Democrats using an arcane "Deem 'n Pass" bit of legislative trickery that's likely unconstitutional. If you haven't read up on this Slaughter Maneuver, the Wall Street Journal will fill you in...

We're not sure American schools teach civics any more, but once upon a time they taught that under the U.S. Constitution a bill had to pass both the House and Senate to become law. Until this week, that is, when Speaker Nancy Pelosi is moving to merely "deem" that the House has passed the Senate health-care bill and then send it to President Obama to sign anyway.

Under the "reconciliation" process that began yesterday afternoon, the House is supposed to approve the Senate's Christmas Eve bill and then use "sidecar" amendments to fix the things it doesn't like. Those amendments would then go to the Senate under rules that would let Democrats pass them while avoiding the ordinary 60-vote threshold for passing major legislation. This alone is an abuse of traditional Senate process.

But Mrs. Pelosi & Co. fear they lack the votes in the House to pass an identical Senate bill, even with the promise of these reconciliation fixes. House Members hate the thought of going on record voting for the Cornhusker kickback and other special-interest bribes that were added to get this mess through the Senate, as well as the new tax on high-cost insurance plans that Big Labor hates.

So at the Speaker's command, New York Democrat Louise Slaughter, who chairs the House Rules Committee, may insert what's known as a "self-executing rule," also known as a "hereby rule." Under this amazing procedural ruse, the House would then vote only once on the reconciliation corrections, but not on the underlying Senate bill. If those reconciliation corrections pass, the self-executing rule would say that the Senate bill is presumptively approved by the House—even without a formal up-or-down vote on the actual words of the Senate bill.

Democrats would thus send the Senate bill to President Obama for his signature even as they claimed to oppose the same Senate bill. They would be declaring themselves to be for and against the Senate bill in the same vote. Even John Kerry never went that far with his Iraq war machinations. As we went to press, the precise mechanics that Democrats will use remained unclear, though yesterday Mrs. Pelosi endorsed this "deem and pass" strategy in a meeting with left-wing bloggers. [emphasis mine -ed.]

There's plenty of outrage against this tricky-dick procedure.

Remember this: Democrats have enough House members to easily pass the Senate bill without having to resort to this unseemly mess. Why can't they?

I'll tell you why. Discounting pure idiots like Kucinich (who thinks this current version of ObamaCare doesn't go nearly far enough) there are actually some Democrats who are not far-left ideologues; some Democrats who aren't enamored with the ham-fisted techniques Nancy Pelosi and her 'whips' are employing.

Again: if all the Democrats voted 'yes', this would become law.

Obama has lost his mojo.

Thanks to them, the sensible Democrats, and to the TEA Party throngs, it's not.

Oh, and try Nancy Pelosi for treason ? Why not?




Finally, this bit of hilarity in my e-mail box moments ago...

Yes, Tim Kaine, whatever I can do to help you pass 'health reform'.

Anytime,asshole.

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Rielle Hunter: "I was not the Home Wrecker".

Rielly!




With this, John Edwards is done. Finis. The ultimate sex-politician-political suicide. I mean, even Bill Clinton's Oral Office Oil Change(s) were reconcilable; this, not so much.

Random Rielly! Quotes...

Johnny doesn't fit into a box in a lot of ways, either.

And Johnny really loves Elizabeth. You know, she's the mother of his three, was four, children. And they've been together since I was 13 years old. You know, they've had a life. So there is love there, but, you know, it was a toxic relationship. And very abusive. It's interesting, though, that he allowed himself to be abused. You know, he's no victim. But I think it had to do with having the guilt of the double life—it allowed him to accept the abuse.

He was always very gracious about it. And always said that he would support whatever decision I made. But I believe on some level he was hoping I would get an abortion. Because he didn't—he wasn't happy about the timing.

Oh, no, I did not think he should run for president.

Because of you?
Because of his entire life. Here's the most interesting thing. He had already been vetted for a vice presidential campaign. And he had a lot of problems going on that nobody knew about. So no, I didn't think he should run. And I said that to him. But I also said that if he felt it in his heart that this is his path and what he needed to do, that he should wait till April. Because I thought he was going to have a very hard January, February, and March. And it turned out he did have a very hard January, February, and March.

And I answered the phone and said, "Hey, baby." And, click.

I'm not a mistress by nature.

I come from a family of infidelity.

I was not the Home Wrecker.

So you have enough of a bond with him that, even though you know he's lied to his wife and his state and the country, you really never worry that he will lie to you?
No. He does not lie to me. At all.

Most of his mistakes or errors in judgment were because of his fear of the wrath of Elizabeth. He's allowed himself to be pushed into a lot of things that he wouldn't normally do because of Elizabeth's story line. And the spin that she wants to put out there. He was emasculated. And you know, the wrath of Elizabeth is a mighty wrath.

rielle hunter. being is free.

Enjoy the animated GIF.

Rielly!

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UPDATE

Via Jim Treacher, Rielle Hunter "screamed for two hours" when she saw the GQ photos...

“She was in tears when she called and said that when she saw the pictures in GQ, she screamed for two hours.” Rielle, who had previously met with Barbara last June in preparation for an interview that never transpired, told Barbara “she found the photographs repulsive. When I asked if that was the case, why did she pose the way she did, she said she trusted Mark Seliger, whom she said is a brilliant photographer, and quote, ‘I went with the flow.’”

Going with the flow, dear, is what got you here. Should've opted for the pearl necklace on the blue dress, no?

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Harry Reid (who was in Nashville last week at Al Gore's candlelit mansion for a fundraiser) argues that we don't have to pay taxes.

Glad you told me this taxation thinger is all voluntary, Senator Reid. That'll save me much angst and effort as April 15 approaches.

And, I'm busy. Read this Financial Times bit where Clive Crook (that has to be a nome de plume, right?) explains why even he, a Democrat, expects the farce that is ObamaCare to fail.

h/t B Moe in comments here, where Jeff G posts an excellent bit of Sunday microfiction. 

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New York Times does deification of Barack Obama, using an unbelievable photo ...

...so, as is my wont, I'll finish it for 'em.

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spotted at SondraK's, who linked @ Doug Ross' Journal, where you'll find more proper analysis.

(Not the first time Christina Ricci has bedeviled these pages... )

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Obama AKBAR! Democrats and Suicide Pacts; Health Care or DIE! (Oh, and Bart Gordon, where are you?)

Push that button. PLEASE!

PowerLine blogger John is agape at what's happening in NanLand...

The news out of Washington is agonizing, as the Dems slowly try to reach the number of votes they need in the House to take over the health care industries. Reports indicate that they are something like four or five votes short; the conventional wisdom is that they will get there, somehow. God only knows what they are promising (or threatening) to get those last votes. The Cornhusker Kickback will look like clean politics by the time they're done.
The voters hate it, as evidenced by Rasmussen's most recent polling.

CNN reports more Democrats are out against ObamaCare...

Reps. Ben Chandler of Kentucky, Luiz Gutierrez of Illinois, Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin of South Dakota and Heath Shuler of North Carolina say they will vote against their party's health care plan, which may be headed to a final vote late next week.

...

Proponents of the health care plan need 216 votes in order to pass the Senate plan. As of Friday, no Republicans said they would vote in favor of the bill, which would mean Democratic leaders must rely solely on votes from its own members. Democrats currently hold 253 House seats.

Of the 39 Democrats who voted against the House plan in November, 14 indicated they would vote against the Senate plan as written, 12 remained uncommitted, and 11 have not returned repeated calls from CNN. One member, Parker Griffith of Alabama, became a Republican in December. An additional member, Rep. Eric Massa of New York, resigned his seat on Monday.

I have no idea where my Rep Bart Gordon (D) stands on this. He voted against the first rendition of Health Care. He's dropped out of sight after getting his ass spanked at Town Hall meetings; dropped out of the re-election circus because he knew his time was up. Will he vote 'yes' for Pelosi and Obama, or will he remember his constituents and those troublesome Town Halls, and again vote AGAINST this monstrosity?

Donut-devouring O-Dub thinks Bart Gordon might swap votes this time. You better hope, at some point, O-Dub, that you have working health care. Those pies and cakes might come back to haunt. Go get a job or something. Fat ass.

Bart Gordon might not be running for re-election, but he has a legacy to think about.

Come on, Bart Gordon, man up, grow a pair, face off against Nancy Pelosi. You can do it, you blue dawg you! We promise we won't let Nancy hurt you anymores.

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UPDATE

This photo, of a protest in Murfreesboro against Bart Gordon's Health Care wide stance.

Found with Twisearch, from rightwave's Twitter Pic posting (I resized and enhanced it, as is my wont).

So, Bart Gordon, do you have any idea what your vote FOR Obama Health Care will mean to you?

A vote of YES will stink on you like a 20-day-old dead albatross, and for the rest of your life.

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Barack Obama's Unwelcome Mat: Hell of a Homecoming

Indonesian students think the O!ne should stay at home.

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Obama Worshipped Again (or, Giving Grace to the Moochers)

No kidding. This photo, from the White House Flickr stream (seen at Lefty Photoslant) didn't need much 'fixing'.

Even "The Bag" found this worrisome...

The visual allusion drawn by the White House, the President stumping the country for most of the week, is that Obama is having a glowing effect from the bully pulpit -- emphasis on "pulpit."

The shot currently leading off the WH slide show could easily be accused of playing the "Obamessiah" card. Black and white, young and old, these residents of St. Charles, Missouri are not only backlit by an almost heavenly light radiating toward the stage and adorning several of them with halos, but the good folk (except for the prayerful-looking woman, front left) gaze up in reverence, as if lined up in church pews, giving formal thanks, no less, to and for the President as he fights to bestow health (care reform) on them.

At least, I think he's found this over the top.

Unless that's him in the front row holding the sign...

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The Usual Suspects: NAACP, SEIU, AFL-CIO, HCAN, AFSCME and Moveon.org : Naasty groups rally for ObamaCare at AHIP

Foul, loud, dirty socialists and aging hippies backed by unions and progressive groups crowded around the Ritz-Carlton in Washington D.C., where the insurance industry met for their annual conference (America's Health Insurance Plans) in Washington D.C., trying their damndest to get arrested. Health Care for America Now (HCAN), a well-organized tool used by Barack Obama, organized the event, hoping to draw attention to Evil Insurance Companies, and hoping that their presence and tantrums lends to getting BHO's socialist end-run around the Constitution passed through Congress.

Oh, and Howard Dean, the screamer, driving the crowd like a towel-snapping shower thug.

But, this event was more show and carnival than a serious protest. There were no arrests.

Protesters rushed the Ritz Carlton, calling for the heads of health-care executives. “The criminals are inside!” yelled the agitated crowd, waving “wanted” posters bearing images of the CEOs. They covered the front of the building in crime scene tape as Metro police stood shoulder-to-shoulder warily eying those chanting, “Hey-Hey, Ho-Ho, insurance companies have got to go!”

“This is like the good old days,” said one attendee who lamented that two previous protests this year were small, ineffective affairs. “This is great.”

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka rallied the crowd, as did SEIU’s Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger. They asked people to raise their right hands, and “deputized” them, urging them to rush the Ritz Carlton and conduct “citizens arrests” on the CEOs inside.

The police escorted off several protesters who repeatedly tried to cross their barricade, but in the end admitted that no one was arrested and the entire thing was pre-arranged.

Even AHIP and Dean agree that we do need reform; but not this ObamaCare debacle. At this point, BHO's massive and unworkable ObamaCare legislation is more a target than a rallying point.

Still, in a sign of the continued fractures in the Democratic Party over the shape of health care reform, Dean said he did not approve of the mandate that would force individuals to buy health insurance. That mandate is included in the plan being pushed by Obama.

“It is a political time bomb,” Dean said.

As Obama makes his final push for health care reform, he, too, has ratcheted up his attacks on the health care insurance companies. And insurers are fighting back.

AHIP is launching a $1 million advertising campaign that will emphasize the need for health care legislation to address increasing medical costs.

AHIP spokesman Robert Zirkelbach criticized the campaign by the administration and activist groups, including those behind Tuesday’s protests, of blaming insurance companies for problems in the health care system.

“There has been an effort to vilify the hard working men and women of our industry,” he said.

Turning their backs on that what got 'em here, these union thugs.

Dirty Socialists.

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The Good, the Bad, and the Ukulele (Part 2)

I had this posted over a year ago, a YouTube version that was yanked. I like it so much, we'll try this again!

Il Buono, Il Brutto, Il Cattivo

Absolutely the best cover of Ennio Morricone's theme song for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, evah.

The Morricone score is considered to be "one of the best film scores in film history".

Clint Eastwood, man, you could do some fine westerns. Still my all-time favorite western is Eastwood's Unforgiven, that to which I can relate.

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h/t Theo Spark

Wal Mart: RACIST ?

Left Coast Rebel has the story...

Related, see the NAACP in action in West Palm Beach. Seems a black fire fighter may have been roasted on YouTube by anonymous coworkers after he'd earned a DUI.

Will it never end ?

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Against ObamaCare: 73 percent! (Hey, Rahm Emanuel, you'd better whip your towel-snapping bared tush into overdrive if you want to save your boss' reputation. Isn't it time to hit the showers ? )

The truth, and how it hurts...

ObamaCare socialized medicine has never really been a very popular idea with the American people, even with its many false promises of better care at lower cost.

But now, the bottom seems to have fallen out on the plan.

A recent poll by CNN finds astonishing opposition to ObamaCare. Only one-fourth of Americans surveyed said that reforms along the lines of ObamaCare bills that have passed the House and Senate should become law. But a stunningly high 73 percent say either that some new proposal should be brought before Congress or that lawmakers should cease work on health care reform entirely. Incredibly, even most Democrats polled do not support ObamaCare legislation.

That enormous opposition comes despite a year-long, full-court press by the Obama administration and its numerous allies in the liberal news media.

It is evident that the American people do not favor a federal government takeover of health care, nor the trillion-dollar-plus "guesstimated" cost of ObamaCare. And yet the president and most Democrats in Congress push forward with a plan that, if it passes at all, will do so only over the opposition of virtually all Republican and some Democrat lawmakers.

Ignoring broad public opposition is politically risky to members of Congress. But passing ObamaCare would be economically perilous to the entire United States. Lawmakers and the president should step back from the brink and drop their costly ObamaCare plans.

Obamacare: where the lies, they are the thickest...

When a politician cannot fathom opposition to his policies except as the manifestation of wicked manipulation by bad guys, remediable only by more thorough “explanations” from the good guys, it indicates an unseemly paternalism. And if he cannot take the hint that Bush-Obama bailout-and-spend economics are deeply and increasingly unpopular, that indicates something immovable about his core economic ideology. With those two factors as backdrop, it’s hard to say which would be worse: if the president didn’t really believe what he said, or if he did.

The next shoe to drop? The CBO's preliminary numbers.

This is getting to be good theater. Pass the popcorn!

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Video: Titans 1999 Team Highlights: Hulu dot com scores official and exclusive rights to NFL video content

Good stuff. 1999 was the Titan's best season in Nashville to date; 13 regular season wins, the AFC Conference Championship and a Super Bowl appearance in Atlanta. Includes the Music City Miracle against Buffalo. Frank Wycheck, Eddie George, Jevon Kearse, and of course Steve McNair.

I did find and embed the best video there, as a test.

Enjoy!

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CHANGE we can push back against.

Ronald Reagan clips skilfully mixed against a backdrop of familiar Barack Hussein Obama pro-socialism CHANGE! quotes, including "AMERICA, THIS IS OUR MOMENT" and "WE ARE FIVE DAYS AWAY FROM FUNDAMENTALLY TRANSFORMING THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!"

BHO is an American Socialist. Ronald Reagan was an American Constitutionalist. The difference is striking.

This man, BHO, is CHANGE we don't need. Not if we want to salvage the Republic.

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Heard on Mark Levin's show, less than 30 minutes ago.

Tennessee Hospitality fires Walt Baker. No word on whether or not they will denounce Dan Rather.

Walt Baker, out, for forwarding that RAAAAACIST! Michelle Obama looks like a monkey e-mail.

Dan Rather, however, lives on to speak RAAAAACIST! commentary on Chris Matthews' MSNBC Sunday show...

Related: get ready to pay a Tennessee Tax on your free coffee and bagels at the hostel of your choosing. Tennessee Hospitality will denounce that, as soon as they hire a new CEO.

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h/t Ace's Place, complimentary bagels and Valu-Rite vodka to remain untaxed.

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Here they come: the "Obama has FAILED!" goads. Thunderclapped, he is.

Yes, goads, tiny bits of metal with which to flay the skin.

This, from the NYT's loathsome Frank Rich, telling Obama his 'time' is up November 2...

The Up-or-Down Vote on Obama’s Presidency

At last he mobilized his rhetoric against a villain everyone could hiss — insurance companies. In a brief address, he mentioned these malefactors of great greed 13 times.

There was only one problem. This finest hour arrived hastily and tardily. At 1:45 p.m. Eastern time, who was watching? Of those who did watch or caught up later, how many bought the president’s vow to finish the job “in the next few weeks”? We’ve heard this too many times before. Last May Obama said he would have a bill by late July. In July he said he wanted it “done by the fall.” The White House’s new date for final House action — specified as March 18 by Robert Gibbs, the press secretary — is already in jeopardy.

And failing with a full majority of Democrats on-board to boot. What is the problem? Where did Obama go wrong?

Why, he went wrong when he crossed the line to the far Left, expecting Americans to willingly follow his fife of CHANGE, bringing along a group of warty politicos no one could stand. Van Jones, for instance; no real American wanted a self-confessed communist and America-hater on call in the White House. At least with Obama, that sentiment is nuanced enough to keep tucked away. For now.

More Frank Rich :

“They are waiting for us to act,” Obama said on Wednesday of the American people. “They are waiting for us to lead.” Actually, they have given up waiting. Some 80 percent of the country believes that “nothing can be accomplished” in Washington, according to an Ipsos/McClatchy poll conducted a week ago. The percentage is just as high among Democrats, many of whom admire the president but have a sinking sense of disillusionment about his ability to exercise power.

Not even a hint of a nod to those of us, the 'teabaggers', who have rallied and lit fires under our representatives and forced them to reconsider their positions or, better, to hit the door (so long, Bart Gordon, you asshole!). BHO has lead us, Frank Rich; he's lead us to the point where we are actively opposing his destructive policies of CHANGE. There would be no tea parties without boatloads of bad tea.

Finishing up Insufferable One, Frank Rich...

Now that we have finally arrived at the do-or-die moment for Obama’s signature issue, we face the alarming prospect that his presidency could be toast if he doesn’t make good on a year’s worth of false starts. And it won’t even be the opposition’s fault. If too many Democrats in the House defect, health care will be dead. The G.O.P. would be able to argue this fall, not without reason, that the party holding the White House and both houses of Congress cannot govern.

...

This time Obama doesn’t have a year to arrive at his finest hour. Not to put too fine a point on it, but the clock runs out on Nov. 2.

It can't come soon enough.

MORE! From an overseas newspaper (one that's, you know, believable)...

The end of the road for Barack Obama?
Barack Obama seems unable to face up to America's problems, writes Simon Heffer in New York.

It is a universal political truth that administrations do not begin to fragment when things are going well: it only happens when they go badly, and those who think they know better begin to attack those who manifestly do not. The descent of Barack Obama's regime, characterised now by factionalism in the Democratic Party and talk of his being set to emulate Jimmy Carter as a one-term president, has been swift and precipitate. It was just 16 months ago that weeping men and women celebrated his victory over John McCain in the American presidential election. If they weep now, a year and six weeks into his rule, it is for different reasons.

Despite the efforts of some sections of opinion to talk the place up, America is mired in unhappiness, all the worse for the height from which Obamania has fallen. The economy remains troublesome. There is growth – a good last quarter suggested an annual rate of as high as six per cent, but that figure is probably not reliable – and the latest unemployment figures, last Friday, showed a levelling off. Yet 15 million Americans, or 9.7 per cent of the workforce, have no job. Many millions more are reduced to working part-time. Whole areas of the country, notably in the north and on the eastern seaboard, are industrial wastelands. The once mighty motor city of Detroit appears slowly to be being abandoned, becoming a Jurassic Park of the mid-20th century; unemployment among black people in Mr Obama's own city of Chicago is estimated at between 20 and 25 per cent. One senior black politician – a Democrat and a supporter of the President – told me of the wrath in his community that a black president appeared to be unable to solve he economic problem among his own people. Cities in the east such as Newark and Baltimore now have drug-dealing as their principal commercial activity: The Wire is only just fictional.

Whoa! This is some powerful stuff, I'm thinking coming out as a goad to spur Barack and some Democrats to do things even more ill-conceived than they've already done: to lurch left, ignoring the voice of those who oppose that direction, over our loud objections.

How can Obama and his staff, and the democrats in the House and Senate and their staffs, read things like these two articles and not feel pressured? No one likes to fail, especially the vainglorious.

Watch for desperation moves. Who knows? maybe another new conference with fake doctors and their lab coats.

Because, you know Obama can't take this sort of whupping without another (prime time) response.

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Another Tennessee E-Mail Scandal: Walt Baker does something dumb, dumb, dumb.

Third time's charm for Tennessee, and you can bet the leftists will pump up the volume yet again. From WSMV...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Walt Baker spent Saturday apologizing for an e-mail he sent to a few close friends, including a legislative aide, the president of the Nashville Convention and Visitors Bureau, and members of the press.

"I am sorry for my actions. I am sorry for the offensive contents of the email," Baker said. "I can only hope those that know me can find it in their hearts to forgive me."

The e-mail starts off saying, "I don't care who you are, ... this is funny." It then compares first lady Michelle Obama to Tarzan's sidekick Cheetah, a chimpanzee. At the bottom of the e-mail is a picture of Michelle Obama in an awkward moment with her lips pursed. Next to it is a picture of a picture of a chimpanzee with a similar expression.

As the CEO of the Tennessee Hospitality Association and a representative of the state's hotels and restaurants, Baker is trying to make amends.

"I'm disappointed in myself," he said.

But many feel the damage is already done.

"Who wants to come to a state where people think like that? This is far reaching and it's damaging," said District 3 Metro Council Member Walter Hunt.

Hunt is outraged by the e-mail, and can't believe Tennessee is in a negative light again over email.

"How can somebody be so stupid after it happened twice before," he asked.

That image is all over the internet; it took this long for Walt Baker is come across it? And he must've been drinking or stoned, to not think twice before hitting the SEND key.

Dunno. We live in times when a 6-year-old kid can make a gun with his hand and get thrown out of public school; how can a well-positioned adult ever expect to get away with such a monstrous no-no?

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h/t Dan Riehl

Fun with Meghan McCain II: where I take the funny and make it hilarious.

Meghan McCain posts another Twitpic "looking at books" (this one without cleavage), showing a stack of books having her dad's book at the bottom of the pile; titles "Game Over" and "The Forgotten Plague" bring a bit of irony and a dash of funny to her little offering. Of course I leave a comment: what would really make the pic really funny would be if "The Heretic's Daughter" were placed on the top of the stack.

The little weasel deleted my comment.

So, I made it so.

Game over. )

Pentagon shooter John Patrick Bedell "...a Lew Rockwell-following, gay, Obama-loving, pot-growing, Bush-hating 9/11 conspiracy theorist" ? Part II

Yes. No. Maybe. But really, he's just a loon.

Dennis the Peasant puts things in proper perspective.

What do Alex Seitz-Wald of Lefty Thinkprogress and Michelle Malkin of the Right have in common, you ask? Both have put up posts pointing fingers at the other side (links at the link). D the P slashes through the nonsense...

What seems clear is that Bedell was more disturbed than anything else. But since one of the newest games in town is to force the actions of obviously disturbed individuals into a useful political context, everyone ignores the obvious fact that sometimes it's as simple as crazy people doing something crazy.

So, Alex Seitz-Wald, this is where your journalism degree and your lack of talent has landed you: You're a D-list left-wing Michelle Malkin... A progressive Pammycakes, without Pammy's traffic. Instead of thinking, instead of dealing with issues, instead of being your own man, you're writing shitty little posts trying to convince people who are too stupid to know better that the world is flat. And all for something uncomfortably close to minimum wage.

There you go.

Like me, RS McCain tends to poke a sharp stick at the dope connection.

Roll 'em at your own risk, you paranoid future shootists.

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