It's Going to be a Long Recovery

Hairzilla is back

I thought we'd never have to hear of John "Gee, my hair smells terrific" again, after the affair with his skank was revealed but he's back.

This piece analyzes the media's affection for Edwards and this snippet struck me.......

Edwards hadn't finished his single term as North Carolina's senator when he ran for president, so he had a slim public record. Much of what was known about him came from his own account of his passionate representation of wronged families he'd represented as a trial lawyer, a calling that made him rich.

Swap trial lawyer for community organizer and who do you have?

The reason the media loved Edwards is that they love style over substance.

See, your average reporter is a dip shit. They loved the way Edwards talked about two America's but they never questioned how a populist could live in a 26,000 square foot house.

They never questioned what he actually ever accomplished for a poor person that didn't line his own pockets.

Finally, they never questioned the variety of rumors that swirled around his campaign around his affair with a ding dong.

They never asked because they either 1) didn't want to know the answer and/or 2) were too dumb too ask.

The same template played out perfectly for The Won.

Tax cheats, English style

Liberal tax cheats don't have to be American.

From the mother state.......

Jacqui Smith was facing new sleaze claims last night over her constituency home.

The property on which she has claimed thousands of pounds in second homes allowance is actually her primary residence for tax purposes, it was revealed.

The Home Secretary has pocketed £84,000 of taxpayers' money on the home she shares with her husband, Richard Timney, and their two children in Redditch, her West Midlands constituency.

That was only possible because she persuaded the House of Commons authorities that her main home is actually her sister's spare bedroom in London, where she lodges during the week.

But after a freedom of information request, Redditch council has confirmed that Miss Smith pays council
tax as if the £300,000 constituency house was her main home.

Last night, Tory MP Ben Wallace said the revelations suggest the Home Secretary is guilty of 'an abuse of the system'.

He has passed the details of Miss Smith's tax status to the parliamentary sleaze watchdog, who has launched an inquiry into the affair.

The discovery threatens to further undermine the Home Secretary's already tarnished credibility, after it emerged that she also tried to get taxpayers to pay for her husband's porn films.

She should talk to Obama. He's still got some staff positions available.

More.....

You can never make a liberal happy

So you're sick and tired of listening to the whines of your "progressive" constituency over global warming so you finally give in to a wind farm development.

So how do the libs thank you? By telling you you can't do it because of "environmental concerns".

Seriously, you can't make this up.........

But it gets even better. Now they oppose a solar farm for the same reason.........

A key part of President Obama's energy plan -- replacing fossil fuels with green alternatives -- is facing increasing opposition from an unlikely source: environmentalists.

Some environmentalists, who have successfully fought a wind farm on the border of Oregon and Washington, are trying to block a massive solar plant in the Mojave desert. And now an Oregon county is considering a ban on wind power in the foothills of the blue mountains.

"We all want to be as green as we can be. But at what cost?" Richard Jolly of the Blue Mountain Alliance. "To take everything from us? This valley could be surrounded by them."

Jolly says 400-foot wind turbines are a bird-killing eyesore. The developer argues the danger to birds is exaggerated but admits every big energy project has its downside.

I think I know why I detest liberals so much. They remind me of my ex-wife.... no matter what you do it's never enough.

The rest here....

What if his name was Jack Abramoff?

Somehow, when the Jack Abramoff scandals rocked Washington, you couldn't turn on a national news report without seeing his name.

Now we have Norman Hsu who's influence and connections went up much higher on the scrotum pole than Abramoff's ever did.

Do you think the perky Katie Couric might do a report on this tonight.........

A swindler whose arrest in 2007 prompted Hillary Clinton to return $850,000 in Democratic Party campaign contributions from fundraising, pleaded guilty on Thursday to fraud charges in an investment scheme.

Businessman Norman Hsu, who was sentenced to three years in jail by a California state judge in January 2008, pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to a criminal indictment of mail fraud and wire fraud in running a Ponzi scheme of up to $60 million.

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Life in a "progressive" state

The state of Massachusetts, who hasn't had a republican governor (I don't count Bill Weld) since the minutemen was the coolest fraternity to get in..........

Gov. Deval Patrick’s free wheels for welfare recipients program is revving up despite the stalled economy, as the keys to donated cars loaded with state-funded insurance, repairs and even AAA membership are handed out to get them to work.

But the program - fueled by a funding boost despite the state’s fiscal crash - allows those who end up back on welfare to keep the cars anyway.

“It’s mind-boggling. You’ve got people out there saying, ‘I just lost my job. Hey, can I get a free car, too?’ ” said House Minority Leader Brad Jones (R-North Reading).

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So are you donating?

Yesterday, my letter to the editor was printed on The Enquirer's web site.

It was a follow up to my earlier posts here regarding school district levies.

This is a concept that most liberals cannot seem to get their arms around. There are ways to support things without tax dollars.

One of the commenters to my letter called out people who voted against levies as "selfish". But I'd be willing to bet that the thought of actually kicking in some money to her local school district is as foreign a concept to her as purple elephants.

Look, I'm not willing to call out anyone who doesn't vote for a levy as "selfish". We all have reasons for supporting or not supporting levies.

But it all doesn't start and/or stop with levies.

Just this week, I cut a check for $100 to the Lancaster High School Athletic Boosters. Why? I don't have kids in that school. I don't even live in that school district (although I do have four nieces and nephews in the district).

I did it because I want to give back to a school and program that gave me so much.

I'm not waiting for my neighbor to vote for a tax levy to send them money, I'm doing in on my own.

So here's the deal, if you talk about supporting schools and you refuse to donate money to the schools then you are no different than your "selfish" neighbor who didn't vote for a levy.

In fact, it's the height of hypocrisy.

Once again, if you vote for school levies because you want to "support the children", what's keeping you from going to the school's web site or calling a local principal and asking how you can help with a financial donation?

If you won't do that, you must be "selfish".

What if this were Bush?

John Kerry shows up big for a child pornographer......

Wade Sanders, who pleaded guilty in December to possession of child pornography, was sentenced Monday, and he got off relatively easy. The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that Judge Thomas Whelan sentenced Sanders to just 37 months in prison--barely a third of the 10-year maximum, and more than two years less than the 63 months prosecutors had asked for.

Sanders had argued that he deserved only probation, claiming that what the paper calls "his compulsion to research the world of child pornography" was "a symptom of his post-traumatic stress disorder that stemmed from his combat service"--that is, he was depraved on account of he was deployed.

The Union-Tribune describes Sanders as a "war hero," but he is best known for his service to John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee. Kerry's central campaign claim was that he deserved to be president because his so-called band of brothers, veterans who had served alongside him on Navy Swift boats in Vietnam, vouched for his heroism and his impeccable character.

Jim Taranto with the not so enchanting news

Life in "Progress" City

From the City of Angels, who hasn't had a republican mayor since Santa Anna attacked the Alamo.........

For seven years, the Los Angeles Unified School District has paid Matthew Kim a teaching salary of up to $68,000 per year, plus benefits.

His job is to do nothing.

Every school day, Kim's shift begins at 7:50 a.m., with 30 minutes for lunch, and ends when the bell at his old campus rings at 3:20 p.m. He is to take off all breaks, school vacations and holidays, per a district agreement with the teacher's union. At no time is he to be given any work by the district or show up at school.

He has never missed a paycheck.

In the jargon of the school district, Kim is being "housed" while his fitness to teach is under review. A special education teacher, he was removed from Grant High School in Van Nuys and assigned to a district office in 2002 after the school board voted to fire him for allegedly harassing teenage students and colleagues. In the meantime, the district has spent more than $2 million on him in salary and legal costs.

Last week, Kim was ordered to continue this daily routine at home. District officials said the offices for "housed" employees were becoming too crowded.

About 160 teachers and other staff sit idly in buildings scattered around the sprawling district, waiting for allegations of misconduct to be resolved.

The housed are accused, among other things, of sexual contact with students, harassment, theft or drug possession. Nearly all are being paid. All told, they collect about $10 million in salaries per year -- even as the district is contemplating widespread layoffs of teachers because of a financial shortfall.

What's so "progressive" about paying people who do nothing?

More...

(Thanks to reader Jeremy for the tip)

Who did they vote for?#156

A group of college students said they are lucky to be alive and they’re thanking the quick-thinking of one of their own. Police said a fellow student shot and killed one of two masked me who burst into an apartment.

Channel 2 Action News reporter Tom Jones met with one of the students to talk about the incident.“Apparently, his intent was to rape and murder us all,” said student Charles Bailey.

Bailey said he thought it was the end of his life and the lives of the 10 people inside his apartment for a birthday party after two masked men with guns burst in through a patio door.

“They just came in and separated the men from the women and said, ‘Give me your wallets and cell phones,’” said George Williams of the College Park Police Department.

Bailey said the gunmen started counting bullets. “The other guy asked how many (bullets) he had. He said he had enough,” said Bailey.

That’s when one student grabbed a gun out of a backpack and shot at the invader who was watching the men. The gunman ran out of the apartment.

The student then ran to the room where the second gunman, identified by police as 23-year-old Calvin Lavant, was holding the women.

“Apparently the guy was getting ready to rape his girlfriend. So he told the girls to get down and he started shooting. The guy jumped out of the window,” said Bailey.

First question, what the hell is that college kid doing with a concealed weapon? They better bust his ass for not having a permit.

Second, now who did the armed college kid vote for this past election? The Won or The Maverick?

Third, who did those thugs vote for this past election? The Messiah or that old guy with the age spots?

Do you think those other students where thankful for his concealed carry?

Watch the video here.

Four more years of Bush

The international Red Cross confirmed Wednesday that civilians were found in graves and rubble where Afghan officials alleged U.S. bombs killed had dozens. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Washington "deeply, deeply" regretted the loss of innocent life.

Women and children were among dozens of bodies in two villages targeted by airstrikes, the International Committee of the Red Cross reported Wednesday, after sending a team to the district. The U.S. military sent a brigadier general to the region to investigate.

A former Afghan government official said up to 120 people died in the bombing Monday evening.

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From the party of free speech

If you are the kind of person who gets so upset by a policy opinion of a beauty contest participant, you out that person's medical procedures, you are mentally ill.

I've heard the ruckus about Ms. California but I couldn't care one bit. Because she's about as credible on political issues as the waitress who served me chili today.

But for some on the left, Ms. California is the Anti-Christ (or the atheistic equivalent) for simply having an opinion on the subject of gay marriage. They're so outraged they're outing all of her medical procedures.

Here's a "progressive" who recognizes her right to privacy........

I just wonder how he'd feel if I outed a woman close to him for an abortion simply because she disagreed with me on tax policy?

I thought it was a woman's body to do with what she wants?

ouch

Who did he vote for? #4156

Meet Miciah Black. Why's Miciah in the news?

Hamilton County Municipal Court Judge Brad Greenberg set bond at $500,000 Wednesday for a man suspected of raping and robbing a woman in Lytle Park Monday.

Miciah Black, 20, was in court for an arraignment. He was arrested Tuesday afternoon.

Black is accused of choking a 17-year-old female several times and raping her. Police also say he took a state identification card, an MP-3 player and $7.

Police say the woman was attacked sometime between 10 and 11 a.m. Monday.

She had bruises and scrapes on her neck and pelvis and was taken to University Hospital, according to the police report.

Black's lawyer Kip Guinan said Black denies the charge.

Black, who has no listed address, has been arrested several times before in Hamilton County.

So Miciah's, all of 20 years old, yet has been "arrested several times before in Hamilton County"; what party do think is responsible for letting Black out on the street?

Now you are a person who supports democrats, what do you say to the seventeen year old who was raped yesterday knowing that your beliefs are what has this derelict on the streets?

Oops?

In my mind, it's this simple; you either support crooks or cops. Why would you even consider supporting excrement like this clown over cops by voting for "progressives"?

How many of the "progressives" currently supporting the use of 200 million dollars of resources to build a light rail loop would support the use of those funds to put Mr. Black here in the hole?

If you ever wanted to know why people leave the city for the 'burbs, ask this 17 year old girl, she might be able to shed some light on the issue and my guess is it's not for lack of a street car.

Oh, and by the way, did Black here vote for the Hope and Change candidate or four more years of Bush last November?

Article here...

Where's that shovel

In an earlier post, I asked the question as to where are the shovels for the "shovel ready" projects.

Thanks to reader Scott, I have my answer.... I have to find them for myself.....

So just who's tracking that $787 billion in taxpayer money that President Obama and the Democrat-led Congress are doling out? You are. Or you're supposed to be, anyway.

"We are, in essence, deputizing the entire American citizenry to help with the oversight of this program," said Rep. Brad Miller, chairman of the House Committee on Science and Technology's subcommittee on investigations and oversight.

So, too, said Earl Devaney, the ex-cop who's now chairman of the Recovery Act Accountability and Transparency Board, charged with tracking the torrent of cash now pouring out of federal coffers.

More....

Let me make sure I have this right. Earl Devaney's in charge of the oversight of this stimulus money but we're the one's who's supposed to be monitoring how it's spent.

Hey Earl, I see a patently blatant misuse of funds. Namely, your salary!

So calling all taxmanblog readers, if you see something actually being done with all this stimulus money, could you please let me know, or more importantly, call Earl.

Heaven forbid a government entity monitor it's own spending

The stench just gets stenchier.

Follow Up.

Reader Scott sent me this link that is even more hideous.

That should bring you more readers

It will soon be $2 to buy the all the enchanted news that's fit to print.....

The New York Times is raising its newsstand prices for the third time in less than two years as a severe advertising slump forces readers to shoulder more of the costs of producing newspapers.

With the latest changes announced Tuesday, individual copies of The New York Times on Mondays through Saturdays will have doubled to $2 since July 2007.

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Deep Thoughts

Deep Thoughts buy Gordon Gekko

Did all those "shovel ready" projects from the stimulus plan get delayed because I haven't seen any yet?

.

Now go ahead and send them money

The school district the Gekko's reside in, Little Miami, failed to pass a 9.95 operating levy yesterday.

In fact, it went down 58-42 percent.

The tax increase was a whopper, adding $305 on a $100,000 home.

Now if you are one of those who voted for this tax, there's absolutely nothing keeping you from sending in your $305. And believe it or not, you can actually send them more.

In fact, if the nearly four thousand people who voted for the levy sent in $305, the school would reap 1.2 million dollars, enough to keep some programs alive.

If you don't, you must be against the kids because that's what the sign in your front yard said.

Oh, Oh, by the way, if you voted against the levy, Janet Napolitano wants you to know that you've been targeted as an extremist because you are a tax hater.

Article here.......

Tom Lauria On Fox

Guantanamo Bay Terrorists: Coming to a Neighborhood Near You?

Life in "Progress" City

This time it's the nation's capital, who hasn't had a republican run the city since Washington crossed the Delaware.....

After the D.C. Council voted unanimously to recognize same-sex marriages Tuesday morning, Councilman Marion Barry asked for his vote back, according to Washington Post reporter Tim Craig.

Apparently Mayor for Life, an opponent of the legislation, voted yea without knowing what he was voting on, but he woke up in time to ask that the bill be reconsidered, and the debate that was expected took place, to the relief of all the council members who wanted their two cents on the matter on record.

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Life in "Progress" City

While the "progressives" in the city are looking for a couple hundred million to blow on street cars, the city of Cincinnati continues to collapse into a crime cesspool.

Don't believe me. Just ask the judges.....

Three judges pleaded for help from City Council on Tuesday, saying the closing of the Queensgate jail in December has emboldened criminals, who now thumb their noses at the justice system.

Municipal Court Judges Heather Russell, Fanon Rucker and Bernie Bouchard took the unusual step of testifying before a council committee to stress how difficult their jobs have become since Hamilton County budget cuts closed the 800-bed Queensgate jail in December.

The bipartisan panel judges, representing the 14 judges on the court, told story after story of defendants they ordered jailed being released immediately.

Among those was a man jailed for domestic violence who got home from court even before the victim did.

Another, jailed by Rucker for assault, was out before the judge finished court that day. Incredibly, the man came back to court to ask the judge to consider a lighter sentence, said Rucker, a Democrat. Judges wouldn't name the defendants.

The releases, Rucker said, "shock the conscience."

Now where do you think these ding dongs are heading when they get out of jail?

They're going out to rape a woman in a city park in broad daylight as happened just this morning. What the hell is so "progressive" about that?

But the city would rather spend time, money, and resources trying to construct a trolley car throughout the city; completely forgetting that their city isn't worth living in because it's populated with rapists, murderers and other thugs.

This is life under democratic rule. You won't see a liberal defend city living on this blog because it so closely resembles life in any one of a hundred cities in this country. Each and every one governed by liberals.

To say it's disgusting is an understatement.

What's so "progressive" about criminals roaming the streets.

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That makes it the whole country

This just in.........

The same Homeland Security Department office that categorized veterans as potential terrorists issued an earlier report that defined dozens of "extremists" ranging from black power activists to abortion foes. The report was nixed within hours and recalled from state and local law enforcement officials.

Whites and blacks, Christians and Jews, Cubans and Mexicans, along with tax-hating Americans were among several political leanings listed in the "Domestic Extremism Lexicon" that came out of the Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A) in late March.

Tax hating Americans?

Why don't they start with the people who aren't extremists. The list would be a lot shorter.

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Scare force one photos

This would be Onion material if it weren't so true.......

After claiming last week that the flyby of the VC-25 aircraft that is designated Air Force One when the President is on board was meant to upgrade the file photos of the airplane over national landmarks like the Statue of Liberty, the US Air Force now says that they wont make the photos public.

Are you kidding me? After spending $328,835 [ed: corrected the figure] to make the effort and causing quite the scare and stir in the NY metro area because of the low flying aircraft that no one except a chosen few in the FAA and a few people that the FAA informed, the Air Force and White House owe it to the taxpayers and the New York metro area residents to see what they got for the trouble.

Way to fuel the conspiracy kooks.....

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Democratic corruption du jour

More John Murtha....

The headquarters of Murtech, in a low-slung, bland building in a Glen Burnie business park, has its blinds drawn tight and few signs of life. On several days of visits, a handful of cars sit in the parking lot, and no trucks arrive at the 10 loading bays at the back of the building.

Yet last year, Murtech received $4 million in Pentagon work, all of it without competition, for a variety of warehousing and engineering services. With its long corridor of sparsely occupied offices and an unmanned reception area, Murtech's most striking feature is its owner -- Robert C. Murtha Jr., 49. He is the nephew of Rep. John P. Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat who has significant sway over the Defense Department's spending as chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee.

Robert Murtha said he is not at liberty to discuss in detail what his company does, but for four years it has subsisted on defense contracts, according to records and interviews. He said Murtech's 17 employees "provide necessary logistical support" to Pentagon testing programs that focus on detecting chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats, "and that's about as far as I feel comfortable going." Giving more details could provide important clues to terrorist plotters, he said.

This guy makes Ted Stevens look like a choir boy.

And you know damn well if Murtha were a republican, the media would have already assigned some "gate" name to the corruption.

More.........

Life in "Progress" City

The city of Cincinnati, who hasn't had a republican mayor or council since David slew Goliath, comes this nice amenity to city life..........

DOWNTOWN -- A woman was raped in Lytle Park today, Cincinnati police said.

Police say the rape happened around 10:50 a.m. in the park, which borders Fourth and Lawrence streets.

After the attack, the woman went to a Burritos Joe's restaurant on Fourth Street for help.

Now where else can you be raped in broad daylight, in a city park than right in the middle of downtown? That sounds pretty damn "progressive"; doesn't it?

Once again, I'll wager lot's of money the perpetrator who pulled this off is a scumbag who should have been in prison a long time ago. And I don't think it's those pesky conservatives making sure he's on the street waiting to attack someone again.

What's so "progressive" about being raped in a public park?

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I'll do nothing and plenty of it

One of my clients, who's involved in Warren County Republican politics, asked me recently about getting involved in the party.

The conversation went like this.

Client - Gordon, we need some bright, financially adept kind of guys to get involved in the party and/or run for office. You immediately came to my mind.

Gordon - Bob, I'm not sure if I should feel complimented or insulted. I think I might be the worst person to be involved in politics.

Client - You seem to have a passion for it. I read your blog.

Gordon - I have a passion for educating people about the inherent evil of government. That usually doesn't win you a lot of votes and or support.

Think about it. Old Gordon, gets up on stage for a presser on his candidacy to some office. It'll be right out of a Seinfeld episode.

Press - So what is your candidacy about?

Gordon - Nothing.

Press - Nothing?

Gordon - That's right, when elected, you'll pay me not to do anything.

Press - What about certain issues?

Gordon - Nothing.

Press - So you won't do anything to help the people?

Gordon - Nope

Press - What about problem "xyz"?

Gordon - OK, I guess I will have to do something. I'll have to make sure that my council/legislature does nothing.

Just how long do you think my candidacy would last?

All this is a long winded segue into the death of Jack Kemp. Kemp may have been the last of the true conservatives. Unlike Gordon's presser above, Kemp could sell a conservative message because he believed and he attracted people to the message.

All of our current republican douche bags ran as conservatives because it was trendy and cool at the time; but none of them believed. That's how you end up with multi billion dollar highway bills and a boot out of office that would make a dictator envious. They are all just one election away from pulling a Specter; it's all about self preservation for them.

This is how you end up with "conservatives", like Jean Schmidt, who show up to speak at a Tea Party and then goes right back to Washington to vote against everything the Tea Parties were all about.

These people still believe that governments make a difference. Conservatives like Kemp and Reagan believed that governments just got in the way of greatness. They didn't need to "tailor" a message because they believed in the simple message that is conservatism and that message was infectious.

The conventional wisdom is that the republicans need to "tailor" their message expand their tent. Basically, giving up principles to expand their base. I would offer that the current republican derelicts in office diluted the current principles to the point that the party looked like Arlen Specter. Now exactly what did clowns like Arlen Specter ever do for the conservative movement?

Put another way, if we conservatives managed to get an executive and legislative branch full of Specters. Just how would conservatism look? In Ohio, we had that under Bob Taft and that looked pretty good didn't it?

Kemp's passing may be the impetus to purge our rolls of the Specter's of the world and repopulate the republican party with conservatives who believe.

He will be missed.

The president who hates his country

I'd like one the reporters from The Enchanted Times to ask just what does the president find most enchanting about his country....

The one thing all of these virtuous and evil men had in common was love for their respective countries, in fact a burning passion that superseded all else. The virtuous believed in freedom and democracy. The evil believed in subjugation of their peoples and lifetime tenures for themselves in order to actualize their goals of conquering their eternal enemies – Americans and Jews.

Today, we have a new crop of inveterate America- and Jew-haters, among them the Marxist leader of Venezuela Hugo Chavez, Nicaragua’s president Daniel Ortega, Iran’s “death-to-America-and-Israel” study-in-abnormal-psychology Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and the ever-sabotage-America and anti-Semitic “leaders” of the 22-Arab states that surround Israel.

I have either read about or observed firsthand all of these people. Yet in my decades of commenting on the political scene, I cannot recall a single leader of any country or regime who has ever spoken negatively of his country or tolerated others speaking ill of the land or the people he represented

Until now

Bizarre and, yes, repugnant as it is to our essentially centrist country, America now has a president who has broken that time-honored tradition. Barack Obama, on the campaign trail and as the leader of the free world is the first U.S. president to proclaim to anyone within earshot that he, like his wife, is not proud of his country, and is all-too-willing to offer serial apologies – for America! – to Americans and foreigners alike.

As Ed Lasky writes: “We know that during the campaign [Obama] warned that criticism of his wife was `off-limits’. But criticism of America – well, that is fine.”

We also know that during his run for the presidency, Obama expressed sneering condescension towards all those bible-clasping, gun-owning yahoos who “cling” to those silly things, and that in Europe he consistently gave voice to America’s supposed “sins.” But all that pales in comparison to the clear contempt – looks more like hatred to me – that Obama feels for the United States of America and for its most revered founding document, the U.S. Constitution.

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Arranging deck chairs

A 15 year old can go cut a baby out of her womb but by got we gotta make sure she's not tan.........

Teen tanning rules in Ohio would become some of the toughest in the nation if state lawmakers approve a proposal that would require anyone under 18 to get a doctor's note before getting into a tanning bed.

Rep. Courtney Combs, a Hamilton Republican, plans to re-introduce the measure this week - a move he says will decrease the time teens spend in tanning beds and could, ultimately, reduce the number of future cancer cases. It would trump current rules that require teens to get their parents' permission first.

This is the kind of nonsense that makes me hate on republicans.

More.....

When the teleprompter goes dark

President Barack Obama's joke wasn't lost in translation—even though he referred to a Cinco de Mayo celebration as "Cinco de Cuatro."

Obama jumbled his words as he welcomed guests to the White House to observe the Mexican holiday, sending the crowd into laughter before he referred to the day correctly.

"Welcome to Cinco de Cuatro—Cinco de Mayo at the White House," said Obama, in what appeared to be an attempt to note they were celebrating on the fourth of May instead of the fifth.

Cinco de cuatro means "five of four" in Spanish.

"We are a day early, but we always like to get a head start here at the Obama White House," he said.

During the presidential campaign, Obama acknowledged his Spanish skills weren't great.

"My accent's always been good," he said. "It's just that I only know 15 words."

The holiday, which marks the Mexican troops' defeat of the French on May 5, 1862, was overshadowed by a swine-flu outbreak that started in Mexico and has spread around the world.

Someone's needs to reprogram the teleprompter for a spanish translation.

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Remarks by Kareem Dale, WH Adviser for Disability Policy

watch this starting at the 1:51 mark

Life in "Progress" City

Today's city of "progress" is Cincinnati, who hasn't had a republican mayor since the Boston Tea Party was in the news....

Cincinnati police are searching for the person who drove down Race Street on Monday just before noon and opened fire -- shooting a gun six times and taking down three people, including a marathon runner.

Here's what I'm willing to bet. I'm willing to bet $100 that the guy who shot these people is a ding dong who should have been in jail for an offense he's already been convicted of....

But see, "progressives" want to see these derelicts released back into society. As a result, they go back and prey on innocent people, not in Redville but back in the "progressive" cities they came from.

So you tell me, what's so "progressive" about being shot in a marathon.

More.....

Effectiveness of DUI checkpoints

Over the weekend, the State Highway patrol set up a DUI checkpoint in Clermont County. They whipped out the new Super Duper Doppler 8000 Intoxilyzer to test on sobriety field tests.

How'd that work out.

They busted a whopping four people (two of whom were arrested for refusing the test) or in other words a complete waste of government resources.

But Gordon they did get four drunk drivers off the road.

Look, the state has to have between to 10 - 20 cops to man these check points. All of whom would actually be on the roadways patrolling if not for these stupid check points. On a Saturday night, I would think each and every one of those cops would track down at least one drunk driver if not more. That's at least 16 more arrests than the check point rounded up with the Doppler 8910 breathalyzer.

What an absolute waste of everyone's time and money.

A shocker

In a surprise to no one except ACORN, they're being indicted for voter fraud....

Did ACORN commit fraud when it registered thousands of new voters last year?

Monday, Nevada's Attorney General's Office and Secretary of State's Office filed charges against ACORN for voter registration violations and forging voter registration forms.

ACORN officials both locally and nationally say the charges are a complete surprise; national representatives say they were also unaware of any investigation.

Last October, the Secretary of State's Office seized documents and computers from the local ACORN office. Election officials say it was likely that ACORN workers were trying to obtain more money for each registration form filled out.

Larry Lomax with the Clark County Registrar of Voters says ACORN submitted at least 19,000 fraudulent voter forms during the last election cycle.

I thought only George Bush stole elections.

More.....

Yeah....... support your schools.

Tomorrow we'll have an election for the only issue on the ballot, a school district tax increase for my Redville schools.

I won't be voting because, frankly 1) I haven't spent the time to investigate the issue and 2) I'm 100 percent positive it will pass.

Regardless, there are lot's of people in the district who put up signs telling me to "Vote for our Kids".

If you are inclined to put up one of these signs, I've got a couple of questions for you.

Let's assume this levy fails. Will you be sending a check to the schools for what the increase would have meant for you? For instance, let's assume this levy would have resulted in a tax increase of $100 annually. Are you going to send the schools that $100 if the levy fails?

If you don't send in the money are you "against the kids"?

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that if this levy fails, not one person in this school district will pony up one red cent to donate to the schools. In fact, I'd bet everything in my bank account.

It's a classic Joe Biden liberal take on generosity. I can only be generous for our kids if my neighbor is equally generous.

A while back, I attended a fund raiser for my collegiate track team and my former coach addressed the attendees by stating "I know there are lot's of good causes that need your resources, It's my hope that you see this cause as one worthy of your support and resources".

That really became a code I try to live by today. I can't be everything to everybody, but I try to pick 2-3 causes to fund to my max. In fact, I do crazy shit like actually cutting a check to the athletic department of my former high school. Since I believe that extracurricular athletic programs helped me get to where I am today, I give back in the hopes that maybe someone else could benefit.

So if the schools are something you feel is a good cause, I have a request of you.

How about sending them some money without me having to send them money.

Make a difference

My church and dozens of other churches in the area will be spending May 16th, 2009 out in the city of Cincinnati trying to make a difference in the community.

If you are a person, like myself, who wants to do something positive in their community but really doesn't know where to start. Sign up here.

I'm an accountant with few marketable skills besides counting and they found a job for me last year.

So make a difference and sign up....

More on The Enchanted Times

I guess that whole liberal lifestyle sounds better than it plays.

Take The Enchanted Times for example. Always on the side of all things liberal. Well, except when it's their ox being gourd.

The management of The Boston Globe threatened late Sunday to begin the process of shutting down the newspaper in a dispute with its unions over $20 million in cuts.

The Globe's owner, The New York Times Co., said it had given the Globe's biggest union a copy of a notice it was prepared to file Monday if it was unable to agree on the concessions by midnight Sunday, a deadline that passed without word from the union or the Times Co. The 60-day shutdown notice is required under federal law.

The newspaper's largest union, the Boston Newspaper Guild, called the move a "bullying" tactic by the Times Co., which last month threatened to close the Globe unless its unions agreed to $20 million in cuts, including half from the Newspaper Guild.

The Guild said late Sunday it had proposed more than the $10 million in cuts sought by the Times Co. to keep the newspaper running. In a statement released two hours before the midnight deadline Sunday, the Guild said its proposal called for "tremendous sacrifices, across virtually all categories of compensation and benefits."

The Guild did not release specifics on what kinds of wage or benefit cuts it had proposed to the Times Co. The union said further details would be made public once all Guild members have had a chance to review them.

Maybe we should have a law where Pinch uses all of his net worth to pay these poor working stiffs.

More here

Swine flu means socialized medicine?

So we have 30 cases of the R2D2 flu in the US and that makes socialized medicine a necessary national policy or so says Nicholas Kristoff of the The Enchanted Times............

As swine flu spreads around the country, it’s only appropriate that the next political donnybrook may concern health care.

Vice President Joseph Biden said a few days ago that for the second 100 days of the administration, “the top of the agenda, the very top, is health care.” Lacing its armor across the field, a group called Conservatives for Patients’ Rights is airing commercials denouncing (and distorting) President Obama’s health care proposals.

Not to be impolite, but Republicans like Karl Rove and Senator Susan Collins (along with some Democrats) lost credibility on this front when they scolded Mr. Obama a few months ago for proposing stimulus spending on something as frivolous as ... preparations for a flu pandemic. (Note to Senator Collins: You might want to remove from your Senate Web site the February article citing your opposition to pandemic preparation.)

The flu crisis should be a wake-up call, a reminder that one of our vulnerabilities to the possible pandemic is our deeply flawed medical system.

“From SARS to avian flu to the current escalating outbreaks of swine influenza, it has become increasingly clear that we are risking a major catastrophe unless we act to restore the safety net,” noted Deborah Burger, the co-president of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee.

First, the first thing you know about how ridiculous this is, in the second paragraph, Kristoff believes we should actually take heed of anything Joe Biden says.

Second, because we all know how those other pandemics turned out. Millions dead from SARS. Thousands in firmed from Avian flu. Hundreds of thousands quarantined from MRSA.

Third, I believe Mexico has nationalized health care. How's that working out for them?

Liberals...... Creating problems then not solving them for generations.

Sound like a pack of weatherman having lots of meetings.

More at The Enchanted Times here

Some enchanted president.

Continuing their hard coverage of their "enchanted" president, The NY Times stops their coverage of the Obama's holding hands to tell us that their "enchanted" president won't appoint a liberal to the Supreme Court.

Now Mr. Obama is preparing to select his first Supreme Court nominee to replace retiring Justice David H. Souter. In interviews, former colleagues and students say they have a fairly strong sense of the kind of justice he will favor: not a larger-than-life liberal to counter the conservative pyrotechnics of Justice Antonin Scalia, but a careful pragmatist with a limited view of the role of courts.

“His nominee will not create the proverbial shock and awe,” said Charles J. Ogletree, a Harvard professor who has known the president since his days as a student.

Riiiiiiiiiight. Because we can all see that he's been such a moderate in his first 100 days.

My guess, whoever he appoints will have Ruth Bader Ginsberg calling the appointment a lefty.

More of the Enchanted Times story here.

How's liberalism working for California?

They called it paradise
I don't know why
Somebody laid the mountains low
While the town got high

So just how wonderful is life in one of those "progressive"states like California; probably the hot bed for all things liberal.....

California's increasingly severe and largely self-inflicted economic crisis will deepen on May 19 if, as is probable and desirable, voters reject most of the ballot measures that were drafted as part of a "solution" to the state's budget deficit. They would make matters worse. National economic revival is being impeded because one-eighth of the nation's population lives in a state that is driving itself into permanent stagnation. California's perennial boast -- that it is the incubator of America's future -- now has an increasingly dark urgency.

Under Arnold Schwarzenegger, the best governor the states contiguous to California have ever had, people and businesses have been relocating in those states. For four consecutive years, more Americans have moved out of California than have moved in. California's business costs are more than 20 percent higher than the average state's. In the last decade, net out-migration of Americans has been 1.4 million. California is exporting talent while importing Mexico's poverty. The latter is not California's fault; the former is.

If, since 1990, state spending increases had been held to the inflation rate plus population growth, the state would have a $15 billion surplus instead of a $42 billion budget deficit, which is larger than the budgets of all but 10 states. Since 1990, the number of state employees has increased by more than a third. In Schwarzenegger's less than six years as governor, per capita government spending, adjusted for inflation, has increased nearly 20 percent.

As I always say, I'm not the smartest guy in the world but I always watch what the smart guys do.... and emulate. Conversely, I watch what derelicts do in the world and I try not to imitate those things.

Do you think there might be some elected official out there that might look at California or Michigan and say "Geez things aren't working so well for them, maybe we should do the opposite"? I guess that would be asking too much.

Now my liberal buddies like Eric love to drop in a snark whenever Obama does something Bush would have done. But you never see them comment whenever I challenge them to this question.

Name one place that liberals run that provides a better standard of living than anything conservatives run?

I wait for your silence.

More George Will.......

Why let the facts get in the way of a good story

So we shouldn't use the term global warming because we all know it's a bunch of BS.

The problem with global warming, some environmentalists believe, is “global warming.”

The term turns people off, fostering images of shaggy-haired liberals, economic sacrifice and complex scientific disputes, according to extensive polling and focus group sessions conducted by ecoAmerica, a nonprofit environmental marketing and messaging firm in Washington.

Instead of grim warnings about global warming, the firm advises, talk about “our deteriorating atmosphere.” Drop discussions of carbon dioxide and bring up “moving away from the dirty fuels of the past.” Don’t confuse people with cap and trade; use terms like “cap and cash back” or “pollution reduction refund.”

EcoAmerica has been conducting research for the last several years to find new ways to frame environmental issues and so build public support for climate change legislation and other initiatives. A summary of the group’s latest findings and recommendations was accidentally sent by e-mail to a number of news organizations by someone who sat in this week on a briefing intended for government officials and environmental leaders.

Here's an idea. Quit lying about the whole issue. Of course we already know that liberals support global warming legislation so that would make them a perfect 100% wrong against history.

More.....

Life in "Progress" City

In the Windy City, who hasn't had a republican mayor or council since The Inquisition.....

Alex Arellano's family was so concerned about threats the 15-year-old was getting from gang members that they pulled him from Chicago Discovery Academy in the fall.

But they didn't know how serious the situation was until his uncle got a chilling call on Friday from a friend of the teenager's, saying that he was being chased and beaten with bats in a neighborhood several miles from their home.

"He was knocked down by bats, and after he got up he started to run but was struck by a car that was chasing him," said his uncle, Juan Tirado, who went Friday night to the area near 53rd Street and Sacramento where the caller said Arellano was last seen, but could find no sign of him.

The teen's severely beaten and burned body wasn't found until about 2:30 p.m. Saturday in the 3000 block of West 54th Place, a few blocks from where Tirado had been directed, police said.

The Cook County Medical Examiner's office said Arellano died of a gunshot wound to the head and ruled it a homicide, but would not say if the teen was dead before his body was burned. No one had been arrested by this evening.

It was the 35th Chicago Public School system student killed this year.

When will the WHO investigate this pandemic?

What's so "progressive" about being shot to death and having your body burned?

More...

Pay for play

On the obamunists attempts to coerce businesses....

ABC News reported that Steve Rattner, the leader of the Obama administration’s Auto Industry Task Force, threatened to ruin an investment firm’s reputation.

Check out the denial.

Jake Tapper called the White House for its side, and the flack said: “The charge is completely untrue, and there’s obviously no evidence to suggest that this happened in any way.”

Whoa. How does White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton know that there is “no evidence”?

President Obama embraced Venezuela dictator (and lefties hate when I call him a dictator because he was “elected” — as was Kim Jong-Il, Fidel Castro, Josef Stalin, Saddam Hussein and every other lefty dictator).

But the Obama administration threatens taxpaying Americans if they don’t give his government concessions that amount to a tax by taking less money than they loaned the businesses that Obama Inc. is taking over.

Tapper reported: “Thomas Lauria, Global Practice Head of the Financial Restructuring and Insolvency Group at White & Case, told ABC News that Rattner suggested to an official of the boutique investment bank Perella Weinberg Partners that officials of the Obama White House would embarrass the firm for opposing the Obama administration plan, which President Obama announced Thursday, and which requires creditors to accept roughly 29 cents on the dollar for an estimated $6.8 billion owed by Chrysler.”

In short, Obama wants companies to eat nearly $5 billion so that he can give away Chrysler to protect union jobs.

The unions that backed him. This is their payoff.

If true, this is the biggest corruption scam in American history.

But like Obama’s $750 million campaign jackpot, this alleged pay-to-play scam will not be investigated by the authorities, Congress or the press.

Maybe Tapper will stay on it, if Walt Disney-ABC lets him stay on the story.

But hey, He won

Read Don Surber here...

Some enchanting evening

Here's a good piece that outlines the things you didn't know about the Obamunists first hundred days if you only read the traditional media accounts....

So here is a small selection of news on the most powerful man on Earth which has been deemed unfit to print:

•Obama’s first two major bills alone, the "stimulus" and "omnibus," cost nearly twice as much as was spent on Iraq over six years – $1.2 trillion vs. $650 billion.

•Obama abandoned his campaign promise of "a net spending cut," his first annual deficit – not counting bailouts – being three times the worst deficit under President George W. Bush.

•Obama’s objective in his first G20 summit – commitments to spend our way to prosperity with massive stimulus boondoggles across the G20 – was rejected out of hand.

•Obama’s objective in his first NATO summit – commitments to combat troops for Afghanistan from "our European allies," which Obama and his party imagined were ready and willing to fight if only someone "enlightened" like him were running things – was predictably refused, with some more European non-combat contingents offered as a token.

•Obama’s Defence Department announced cuts of $1.4 billion to missile defence, the day after North Korea test-fired its long-range, multi-stage ballistic missile.

•Obama’s economics were criticized by Warren Buffet, whose endorsement had been candidate Obama’s highest economic credential.

But hey, we all want to know the hard news like what the president believes his most enchanting facial feature is.

More...

Liberal self awareness

Earlier this week, James Taranto had a piece on Jay Bybee.....

The New York Times reports that Jay Bybee "has become estranged from friends." Bybee, a judge on the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, formerly worked at the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, and of late has been under fire from the hard left over memos dealing with the difficult question of what forms of interrogation meet the legal definition of "torture."

The only evidence the Times presents for its assertion that Bybee "has become estranged from friends" is this anecdote:

Prof. Christopher L. Blakesley, a colleague on the law school faculty at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said that after the first memorandum was released, he was unable to restrain himself from expressing disagreement at a 2004 dinner at a restaurant that included their wives.

"I asked him how he could sign such an awful thing," Professor Blakesley recalled in an interview.

He said the judge replied that he could not talk about the matter. The dinner proceeded awkwardly, Professor Blakesley said, and they have not spoken since.

Professor Blakesley said that while he liked Judge Bybee, "he has some basic flaws including being very naïve about leaders."

"He has too much respect for authority and will avoid a confrontation no matter what," the professor continued.

I guess it never occurred to Professor Blakesley that Bybee's not all that interested in returning calls from a douche bag.

Read the whole piece here.

Michael Eavis, founder of the Glastonbury music festival, has been named on Time magazine's list of the world's most influential people.

Mr Eavis has run the legendary event on his Somerset dairy farm for 39 years.

He is one of 100 people listed, along with US President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, teen actor Zac Efron and TV host Oprah Winfrey.
Mr Eavis, 73, said he was "flattered and maybe a little embarrassed" to be on the prestigious annual list.

Since Mr Eavis started the event in 1970, Glastonbury has grown into one of the world's largest and best-loved music gatherings.

Coldplay singer Chris Martin paid tribute to Mr Eavis in an article for Time, writing that Glastonbury was "the biggest rock cathedral in the world".

"Michael is one of the people to whom I owe my life and career," he wrote, explaining how the offer of a headline slot in 2002 had "changed everything".

More...

Everyone needs protection

Drudge got a shot of Madonna's housekeepers....

Free Play

Coldplay is offering a free play.

For cash-strapped fans unable to catch the Grammy winners in concert, Chris Martin and crew have decided to give away an album's worth of live performances online.

The nine-track set, titled LeftRightLeftRightLeft, will be made available for free download at Coldplay.com starting May 15, the opening night of Coldplay's Viva La Vida tour in West Palm Beach, Fla. A CD version will be handed out during the band's concerts.

The set was recorded over the past year and includes live versions of such hits as "Clocks" and "Viva La Vida."

"Playing live is what we love. This album is a thank you to our fans—the people who give us a reason to do it and make it happen," said Coldplay in a statement, the band's website adding that the giveaway is "meant as a recession-busting mark of gratitude to everyone who's supported them."

More...

Major Garrett: Obama Snub of FNC Was Payback!

That's not extortion

Wow, a must read and listen to piece on how the Obamunists back groups into this Chrysler bankruptcy plan.

Transcript here

Yesterday (May 1) on Detroit’s Frank Beckman’s morning talk show (WJR), bankruptcy attorney Tom Lauria made the incendiary accusation that the members of the White House had threatened to use the “the full force of the White House Press Corps to destroy” his client’s reputation if it didn’t acquiesce to highly unfavorable terms of the government’s proposed Chrysler restructuring plan. Because of the strongarm tactics, Lauria’s client dropped its opposition.

Here is the tape of Beckman’s interview of Lauria. The relevant portions begin at the 1:30 mark. Listen to it.

Lauria: Let me tell you it’s no fun standing on this side of the fence opposing the President of the United States. In fact, let me just say, people have asked me who I represent. That’s a moving target. I can tell you for sure that I represent one less investor today than I represented yesterday. One of my clients was directly threatened by the White House and in essence compelled to withdraw its opposition to the deal under the threat that the full force of the White House Press Corps would destroy its reputation if it continued to fight. That’s how hard it is to stand on this side of the fence.

Beckman: Was that Perella Weinberg?

Lauria: That was Perella Weinberg.

There is a pattern here. Financial institutions holding billions of Chrysler’s secured debt are being held hostage by the TARP loans they are not permitted to pay back. They are being forced to accept just pennies on the dollar for loans they made in good faith less than two years ago. Just like mob loan sharks, the administration wants them under its thumb so they can extort more and more concessions.

This is an abuse of power that goes beyond Nixon.

The party of the working guy? Don't make me laugh.

Last week, I noted that Obama has reneged on a campaign promise and will not reopen the NAFTA treaty for negotiation.

Now I think this "four more years of Bush" is a good thing when it comes to this issue. But think about who supported Obama in the hopes of getting rid of this treaty.

It was organized labor or basically the guys who represent middle class, working stiff.

My question is this. Why does organized labor continue to support democrats who continually sell them out on this and every other issue where working laborers have a stake.

Think about it. In my hills they die on pieces. You put a common working Joe against any of the issues I note in those posts and you tell me who wins.

For instance, let's go through the list.

#7 Caribou - OK, we have the ability to explore and build out energy platforms across the Arctic and in the gulf producing good high-paying jobs. Do democrats support the working guy over the interests of environmentalists?

#6 Judicial Fiat - Many of our rights have been single handedly usurped by judicial decisions made by liberal court judges. Issues that impact conservative working folks like gun laws, abortion, prayer in schools, etc. Who do you think the democrats support; the working guy or socialist court judges?

#5 The NEA - Our public schools are a flat out mess. The condition of our public schools impact the poor and middle class harder because they can't afford any private school alternatives. Do you think democrats put the interest of the working folk in front of teacher's unions?

#4 The Welfare State - You show up to work every day, pay your mortgage, your taxes and next door, a welfare queen with four kids (from different daddy's) and a shack up, drug dealing, boyfriend moves in selling drugs. Do you think democratic policies put the working guy in front of these dead beats?

#3 Trial Lawyers - We can already document how our litigious society makes all of our products cost more. Increases that adversely impact working people over rich ones. Do democrats support tort reform, which helps the cost of goods for poor consumers, over the interests of tort lawyers.

#2 Affirmative Action - So your kid works his ass off to get into an ivy league school. Unfortunately, Michael Jordan's kid work's his ass off too, with the help of tutors and aides. There's one spot open. All other things being equal, who do you think a democrat will take into that school?

#1 Abortion - You're a working stiff who has done right by your kids and your 15 year old daughter gets pregnant. If the democrats have their way, who has more influence on her "choice". A Planned Parenthood doctor or you?

That really makes for a perfect 0-7 when the average working guy's interest gets matched up against the liberal agenda of the left.

So remind me again how the democratic party is the party of the working guy?

Single payer health care

Let's assume that your doctor tells you that you have one year to live, but if you take your entire life savings, you can extend your life for an extra year.

Would you spend it?

My guess is the answer probably depends on what your net worth probably is. If the only thing you have is a couple of rottweilers living under your front porch, I'm thinking you'd say, sure.

But let's say your retirement and life savings amounted to $400,000, how would you answer?

What about a million?

Now let's twist this around. Would you spend all of your life's saving to extend your neighbor's life for another year?

I'm thinking that the answer changes to where even the guy with the rottweilers is probably not so interested in helping his fellow man out.

That is the pivotal question as it relates to socialized medicine, or single payer for the "progressives" who want to sanitize the truth.

Of course, liberals love these ideas, even though they give nothing to charity already (see Joe Biden). But ultimately, you will be cutting the checks for my health care.

Thank you in advance, just make the checks payable to Gordon's health care. I'll let you know how much all you generous liberal types are willing to pay to keep me alive.

Here's a piece analyzing the ability of government to actually operate a healthcare system. And if they manage that like they've managed the financial systems, good luck.

And he would bring peace throughout the world....

And everyone throughout the world would love us once again......

The U.S. death toll for April rose to 18, the military said Friday, making it the deadliest in seven months for American forces in Iraq. The sharp increase from the previous month came as a series of bombings also pushed Iraqi deaths to their highest level this year.

Didn't someone tell those pesky "insurgents" that Obama won?

Steyn on Obamunism

Mark Steyn with another awesome column.......

And it is. But underneath the thoughtful look is a transformative domestic agenda that represents a huge annexation of American life by an ever more intrusive federal government. One cannot but admire the singleminded ruthlessness with which Obama is getting on with it, even as he hones his contemplative unhurried moderate routine on prime time news conferences. On foreign affairs, the shtick is less effective, but mainly because he's not so engaged by the issues: He's got big plans for health care, and federalized education, and an eco-friendly government-run automobile industry – and Iran's nuclear program just gets in the way. He'd rather not think about it, and his multicontinental apology tours are his way of kicking the can down the road until that blessed day when America is just another sclerotic Euro-style social democracy, and even your more excitable jihadi won't be able to jump up and down chanting "Death to the Great Satan!" with a straight face.

It would seem to me that reality is more likely to intrude on the Obama project from overseas than domestically. But if he's lucky it won't intrude at all, not until it's too late. Thirty years ago this month, a grocer's daughter from the English Midlands became Britain's female prime minister – not because the electorate was interested in making (Obama-style) history, but just because nothing worked any more. The post-1945 socialist settlement – government health care, government automobile industry, government everything – had broken down: Inflation over 25 percent, marginal taxes rates over 90 percent, mass unemployment, permanent strikes. The country's union leaders were household names, mainly because they were responsible for everything your household lacked. Even moving around was hard: The nationalized rail network was invariably on strike, and you had to put your name on a waiting list months in advance for one of the "new" car models. The evening news was an endless parade of big beefy burly blokes picketing some plant for the right to continue enjoying the soft pampering workweek of the more effete Ottoman sultans.

Margaret Thatcher was a great leader, who reversed her country's decline – to the point where, two decades later, the electorate felt it was safe to vote the Labour Party back into office. And yet, in the greater scheme of things, the Thatcher interlude seems just that: a temporary respite from a remorseless descent into the abyss. In its boundless ambition, the Left understands that the character of a people can be transformed: British, Canadian and European elections are now about which party can deliver "better services," as if the nation is a hotel, and the government could use some spritelier bellhops. Socialized health care in particular changes the nature of the relationship between citizen and state into something closer to junkie and pusher. On one of the many Obama Web sites the national impresario feels the need to maintain – "Foundation for Change" – the president is certainly laying the foundation for something. Among the many subjects expressing their gratitude to Good King Barack the Hopeychanger is "Phil from Cathedral City, Ca.":

"I was laid off in mid-January from a job I had for 12 years. It's really getting hard to make ends meet, but this month I got some great news. This week I received in the mail official notification that my COBRA monthly payments for medical, dental and vision insurance will decrease from $468 to only $163, all due to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. This is a $305 in savings a month!

"I can't tell you how much of a weight off my shoulders this is. I am living proof of how the president's bold initiatives are beginning to work!"

But just exactly how do these "bold initiatives" work? Well, hey, simple folk like you and I and Phil from Cathedral City don't need to worry about the details. Once these "bold initiatives" really hit their stride maybe the cost of everything over four hundred bucks can be brought down to $163. Wouldn't that be great?

The problem in the Western world is that governments are spending money faster than their citizenry or economies can generate it. As Gerald Ford liked to say, "A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take away everything you have." And that's true. But there's an intermediate stage: A government big enough to give Phil from Cathedral City everything he wants isn't big enough to get Phil to give any of it back. That's the stage the Europeans are at: Their electorates are hooked on unsustainable levels of "services," but no longer can conceive of life without them.

Margaret Thatcher has a terrific line: "The facts of life are conservative." Just so. Alas, while the facts are conservative, everything else – the culture, the media, the institutions in which we educate our children, the language of public discourse, the societal air we breathe – is profoundly liberal. Phil is "living proof" of something, but it's not good news for conservatives.

Read the whole thing here........

Oh my God we're all going to die

This morning on the treadmill I looked up at the TV screen to see that The WHO has confirmed 675 cases of the R2D2 flu virus worldwide.

Just to put that into perspective, I wanted to know what the percentage is so I divided 675 cases by 8 billion people.....that translates into what Excel says is 7.6875E-08.

Which is a pretty damn small percentage. I think.

So if you want to avoid swine flu, here are my tips.

1) Drink lots of beer; preferably fresh from the bottle.

2) Stay away from liberals, they are the transmitters of most STD's, so you can assume they'll probably have swine flu as well.

3) Don't listen to Coldplay; it has nothing to do with the flu but just a general life principle.

I can assure you that if you follow these tips, you will effectively avoid the R2D2 swine virus or whatever politically correct name they are giving to this strain.