Oh, the left's consistent hypocrisy

From a January, 2005 by line.....

The D.C. press corps failed to ask hard questions about the inauguration's huge cost and its unprecedented security.

Now.....

Barack Obama's inauguration is set to cost more than £100m making it the most expensive swearing-in ceremony in US history.

The President-elect will take less than a minute to recite the oath of office in front of an estimated two million people in the US capital next week.

But by the time the final dance has been held at one of the many inaugural balls the costs for the day will be a staggering £110m.

The cost was revealed as Mr Obama scrambled to answer questions about the nomination of Treasury Secretary pick Timothy Geithner.

Of course you'll notice the latter comes from a foreign newspaper since no American paper will touch a negative story on The Messiah.

Where's my global warming?

It's a good thing the Branch Gorevidians invented global warming. Otherwise my thermometer would have shown 8 degrees this morning instead of 10.

Where the hell is my global warming?

Modest Expectations From An Obama Supporter

A reminder....

Apparently, you still have to make your mortgage payment and put gas in your car until next Tuesday.

When adults take over

I heard a commentator a couple of months ago state "the most important thing to a politician is his next election".

So needless to say, Obama wins the White House and now seems to be back tracking on all those anti Bush sentiments.

I guess Obama, the campaigning teenager, became Obama, the adult boss.

For many liberals, that Obamagasmic "tingle going up their legs" from the campaign season -- to paraphrase MSNBC's Chris Matthews -- may have crept upward into stomach-churning queasiness as Inauguration Day nears. Consider this counterfactual: If John McCain had won the 2008 presidential election (just a scant half million votes needed to swing the other way in Colorado, Florida, Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio, and Virginia ... I know, I know), it's easy to imagine him picking Bono-approved, "new age" evangelist Rick Warren to give the inaugural invocation, leaving Robert Gates as defense secretary and proposing an economic stimulus package that included $300 billion in tax breaks for individuals and businesses.

Yet that's just the sort of "big change" Barack Obama has provided in the two months since winning a near-landslide victory over the man Democrats derided as "McBush." (Let's see will.i.am make a YouTube video about this right-turn of events.) Even worse for the Left, Obama advisers are now signaling, says the New York Times, "that they may put off renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, overhauling immigration laws, restricting carbon emissions, raising taxes on the wealthy and allowing gay men and lesbians to serve openly in the military." You know, like, pretty much the very heart and soul of the liberal policy agenda. Even healthcare reform might only be getting what aides call a “down payment” as a "sign of dedication to the broader goals." Let the wretching begin, Daily Kossacks. (Fun Fact: Obama gave his big economic speech at George Mason University, a bastion of free-market scholarship.)

More...

But let's be eco friendly

I was talking to Mrs. Gekko the other day about Tom Brady, Patriot quarterback and model FB, about the staff infection in his knee and that there are reports he may miss next season because they can't clean out the infection.

According to Mrs. Gekko, her hospital no longer uses bleach as a cleaning agent since it's not environmentally friendly.

I guess staff infection is.

Then I read this story this morning...

One year after bleach maker Clorox started selling a line of natural cleaning products, it has reached the top of the market for eco-friendly cleaners.

The company plans to announce today that its Greenworks cleaners, made mostly with coconut oil, corn and lemon -- and without bleach -- have become the top-sellers among natural cleaners.

Clorox now has 42 percent of the total market, estimated to generate more than $200 million in revenue per year.

"We've grown [the eco-friendly cleaners category] by more than 100 percent since we launched," Clorox Chief Executive Don Knauss said. "Getting a national player in this space has really helped."

Clorox Co., based in Oakland, Calif., launched the Greenworks line in December 2007. It has used its distribution network and lower prices to attract shoppers away from competitors such as Method and Seventh Generation.

My thoughts... Why use use the Clorox "green" products to clean with? It's about as effective as not cleaning at all or using urine as a cleaning agent. If you want to actually kill germs, go buy the bleach.

More....

Nice pick

Another Clintonite chosen.....

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

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

Socialist International, an umbrella group for many of the world's social democratic political parties such as Britain's Labor Party, says it supports socialism and is harshly critical of U.S. policies.

The group's Commission for a Sustainable World Society, the organization's action arm on climate change, says the developed world must reduce consumption and commit to binding and punitive limits on greenhouse gas emissions.

Mr. Obama, who has said action on climate change would be a priority in his administration, tapped Mrs. Browner last month to fill a new position as White House coordinator of climate and energy policies. The appointment does not need Senate confirmation.

More....

Greenland Melting? Not...

From reader Mark. He says it better than I can.

It's not newsworthy to me that this article describes evidence contrary to global warming. The newsworthy part is that Yahoo has decided to carry it. Yahoo has been global warming alarmists for years, in terms of the stories they choose to post.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/scienceclimatewarmingglaciersgreenland_newsmlmmd

Now that Obama has safely locked up the Oval Office I think we might see a flood of "new data" in the main stream that will begin to debunk the irrefutable evidence claimed by Al Gore et al. I saw the Huffington Post entry in one of your ealier posts. Same thing.

The enviro-whakos better get used to it. Bend over like the rest of us. Now that the election is over, such special interests have served their purpose. The media will be all about giving Obama cover. That means minimizing the need for actual solutions. Global warming will disappear. Poverty will disappear. The economy will improve, even if the numbers don't support any of this. Gas prices falling will be a good thing. Gas prices rising will be a good thing. In future summers we will gain comfort by reading how cool it's gotten since 2008.

I think those assumptions are pretty good.

It's not hell. It's Ikea

The Gekko's made our quarterly pilgrimage to help the Vietnamese, Turkish, and Sri Lankan economies by visiting Ikea.

I'm not sure what hell looks like, but I'm pretty sure that it looks like a 24/7 day shopping at this place.

First, you need to beat back all the lesbians in their Subaru Outbacks with the Obama '08 stickers just to get through the parking lot.

Then you have to follow along the cattle trail to look at home furnishings, only to find that you need to go to the warehouse to actually pick up your crap.

Unfortunately, your day just began, because now you have the eternal honey do list putting crap together out of instructions with no words, just pictures.

Maybe someday, someone can clue me in on how junk bought at Ikea is somehow more noble, green and trendy than junk bought at my neighborhood Walmart.

Reason #55 for the death penalty

The 4-year-old boy's explanation was even more startling than the sight of him, barefoot and clad in pajamas, standing alone in the lobby of a highway rest stop.

Judith and Michael McConnell and her husband, Michael, had pulled into the rest stop on Interstate 70 about 50 miles outside of Dayton just after 9 p.m. on Jan. 2.

The boy was by himself, staring out a window. Judith McConnell waved at him as they walked in. What he said next was chilling: "A man came into my house without knocking and shot my mommy."

The men then left him alone at the rest stop, the boy said.

The couple, driving home to Maryland after Christmas in Colorado, took the boy into their car to warm up and called police.

"He's been abandoned here by a man with a gun," Michael McConnell told police. "He's quite disturbed."

As they waited for deputies to arrive, the boy recited the information his mother had drilled into him - his address, his parents' names, two phone numbers.

When Montgomery County sheriff's deputies arrived at his family's small white bungalow in Dayton later that night, they found the body of his 29-year-old mother, shot to death.

The woman died after struggling with her attacker, said Sheriff Phil Plummer. The killer also sexually assaulted the boy before taking him to the rest stop and abandoning him, police said.

More....

The latest from the party of corruption

At this pace, there will be fewer democrats not indicted than those actually facing charges...

Baltimore Mayor Sheila A. Dixon was charged today with 12 counts of felony theft, perjury, fraud and misconduct in office, becoming the city's first sitting mayor to be criminally indicted.

The case stems in part from at least $15,348 in gifts Dixon allegedly received from her former boyfriend, prominent city developer Ronald H. Lipscomb, while she was City Council president. She also is accused of using as much as $3,400 in gift cards, some donated to her office for distribution to "needy families," to purchase Best Buy electronics and other items for herself and her staff.

Lipscomb was not indicted in the Dixon case, but he and City Councilwoman Helen L. Holton were charged this week in a separate $12,500 bribery scheme. Both cases grew out of a nearly three-year probe by the state prosecutor into City Hall corruption.

The investigation has hung over Dixon, a Democrat, even as she became the city's first female mayor and oversaw a significant decrease in the city's homicide rate, reducing killings to a 20-year low. Viewed as an energetic and charismatic leader, she has earned praise from residents for implementing an easy-to-use recycling program and displaying a willingness to tackle the city's systemic racial and economic disparities.

More....

The Coldest Weather Possible In Nearly 15 Years

Well, BO hasn't even taken the oath yet and he's already fixed global warming...

Bitterly cold air bottled up over the depths of the Arctic will plunge southward next week, gripping the eastern two-thirds of the nation. The frigid air will likely arrive in two waves.

The first shot will blast the Midwest and Northeast early next week. The second, which will prove to be the harshest, will encompass virtually all places east of the Rockies by next weekend.

Blustery winds will usher in the arctic air, resulting in even colder and potentially dangerous temperatures.

The air Friday over a portion of Alaska was colder than the air anywhere else in the northern hemisphere. That is the source region for the air coming into the northern Plains next week.

More...

Pallywood

Jungle Jane

An Australian man broke into three adult shops, had sex with blow up dolls named "Jungle Jane" and then dumped his plastic conquests in a nearby alley, local media reported Wednesday.

"It's totally bizarre. It's a real concern that someone like that is out on the street," said one of the owners of the adult sex shops in Cairns in northern Queensland state.

"He has been taking the dolls out the back and blowing them up and using the dolls and leaving them in the alley," the owner, who gave the name of Vogue, told the Cairns Post newspaper.
Police told the Cairns Post that scientific officers had taken DNA samples, fingerprints and pictures of the crime scene.

Sea Kittens

The activist animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has asked school officials to change the name of Spearfish High School to "Sea Kitten High School." The new name would "reflect the gentle nature of its current marine namesake," the organization said in a letter to Steve Morford, Spearfish High School principal.

PETA said the letter is part of a new Sea Kitten campaign aimed at children.

If children were taught to refer to fish as "sea kittens," reflecting that fish, like cats and dogs, are "individuals" that "do have friendships," fewer fish might be killed for food or sport, said Pulin Modi, a PETA spokesman.

"We want people to realize that more fish are killed each year than all animals combined," he said. "They don't have the sympathy of more popular animals like cats and dogs."

Morford said he did not want to share his feelings about PETA. "Obviously, it's nothing we're taking seriously," he said.

Education reform

Reader & Friend Tim turned me on to a book by Malcolm Gladwell called Outliers. The book focuses on factors that determine success. It's actually a good read.

In the New Yorker, Gladwell has a piece where he relates education achievement to evaluating college football talent.

Excerpt.....

Eric Hanushek, an economist at Stanford, estimates that the students of a very bad teacher will learn, on average, half a year’s worth of material in one school year. The students in the class of a very good teacher will learn a year and a half’s worth of material. That difference amounts to a year’s worth of learning in a single year. Teacher effects dwarf school effects: your child is actually better off in a “bad” school with an excellent teacher than in an excellent school with a bad teacher. Teacher effects are also much stronger than class-size effects. You’d have to cut the average class almost in half to get the same boost that you’d get if you switched from an average teacher to a teacher in the eighty-fifth percentile. And remember that a good teacher costs as much as an average one, whereas halving class size would require that you build twice as many classrooms and hire twice as many teachers.

Hanushek recently did a back-of-the-envelope calculation about what even a rudimentary focus on teacher quality could mean for the United States. If you rank the countries of the world in terms of the academic performance of their schoolchildren, the U.S. is just below average, half a standard deviation below a clump of relatively high-performing countries like Canada and Belgium. According to Hanushek, the U.S. could close that gap simply by replacing the bottom six per cent to ten per cent of public-school teachers with teachers of average quality. After years of worrying about issues like school funding levels, class size, and curriculum design, many reformers have come to the conclusion that nothing matters more than finding people with the potential to be great teachers. But there’s a hitch: no one knows what a person with the potential to be a great teacher looks like. The school system has a quarterback problem.

More....

Utah #1

College football season is over so I assume that the Utes will be number # in the final AP rankings.

If you want to scoff at that just look at the numbers. Utah was undefeated against a Division 1-A schedule.

They put an ass kicking on Alabama, who many argued should have been in the title game.

For those, like Lee Corso, who would say "play somebody", they scheduled Michigan, are they somebody? It's not their fault that Michigan's football is as bad as their economy. Do you think the PAC-10 will invite the Utes into their conference so they'll get to "play somebody"? I doubt it given that they beat the second best team in the PAC -10, Oregon State.

Look, the BCS is a college football cartel where the haves keep the spoils from the have nots.

But without the have nots, the BCS schools couldn't pad their records against the likes of bad MAC and Conference USA schools. Let's face it without the Non BCS schools, Florida would have to play the likes of Texas A&M, Indiana, Washington, USC or others home and home. Now that 13-1 will look more like 9-4. But so will all the other football factories. Now come up with a BCS scenario.

So if I'm a voter in the polls, I vote Utah. Only until the BCS is brought down as the fraud it is will we actually get a champion on the field.

Who did he vote for? #199

In a news story not covered by anyone, Oakland has been the scene of some terrorism over the past couple of days.

The mob smashed the windows at Creative African Braids on 14th Street, and a woman walked out of the shop holding a baby in her arms.

"This is our business," shouted Leemu Topka, the black owner of the salon she started four years ago. "This is our shop. This is what you call a protest?"

Wednesday night's vandalism victims had nothing to do with the shooting death by a BART police officer of Oscar Grant on New Year's Day - but that did little to sway the mob.

"I feel like the night is going great," said Nia Sykes, 24, of San Francisco, one of the demonstrators. "I feel like Oakland should make some noise. This is how we need to fight back. It's for the murder of a black male."

Sykes, who is black, had little sympathy for the owner of Creative African Braids.

"She should be glad she just lost her business and not her life," Sykes said. She added that she did have one worry for the night: "I just hope nobody gets shot or killed."

Now Ms. Sykes seems to be a person of 1) common sense and 2) compassion for his fellow citizen.

So how do you think Ms. Sykes voted in this last election? What's it like to share the values of someone like Ms. Sykes?

More....

Obama to look at Ponzi schemes

Pointing with concern to "red ink as far as the eye can see," President-elect Barack Obama pledged Wednesday to tackle out-of-control Social Security and Medicare spending.....

Hey it's not out of control. Just ask Bernie Madoff.

More....

Life in "Progress" City

So exactly how good is life where "Progressives" rule.

Excellent. I mean when you use the public school bathrooms they don't use that crappy macho wipe toilet paper. They use the stuff you would use at home. Why? Because you have to bring it.....

A Detroit elementary school is asking for donations of toilet paper and light bulbs to keep their school functioning.The principal of the Academy of Americas sent a letter to staff, parents and partners asking for donations of items "that are of the utmost importance for proper school functioning and most importantly for student health and safety."In the letter, Principal Naomi Khalil cited budget constraints within the district as the reason why the school could no longer stock the items.

Aaaaaahhh, the sweet smell of success.

More....

Mike Leonard RIP

Last week, maybe the biggest sports fan in the country passed away.

Mike Leonard, a Willie's regular and huuuuge UC and Buckeye fan, died in Miami attending UC's Orange Bowl appearance.

The Enquirer a great obituary here.

Mike Leonard was a devotee of Cincinnati sports teams – so much so that in 1969, Enquirer sports columnist Jim Schottelkotte dubbed him “Super Fan.”

Mr. Leonard was especially fond of UC, OSU and Indian Hill High School football, the Bengals and Reds. He once watched Ohio State play Purdue in Columbus, then drove to St. Louis where he caught a few winks before proceeding to Kansas City to see the Bengals battle the Chiefs the following day.

He also once stopped off to watch the Bearcats play Tulsa wearing a tuxedo. He was on his way to Madeira where he was to be in a wedding.

May he rest in peace. He'll be missed.

Notice from Governor Ted

As part of Ohio's continued efforts to kill off business here in the "Heart of it All", Governor Ted is pleased to announce the annual hike in the state's minimum wage to $7.30/hr. effective 1/1/09.

If you are a business struggling to make a buck, please make sure that you update your payroll records before going bankrupt.

The state's press release can be seen here.

The Honeymoon is over

Remember how an Obama presidency was going to change the world's opinion of the United States.

You know, they'd quit hating on us since George Bush would no longer be the president.

Well, I guess hanging a picture of Obama in effigy is the muslim's world way of saying "We Love You O".

From Yahoo News...

Muslim protesters wearing masks of, from left, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and U.S. President-elect Barack Obama, take part in a rally against Israeli air strikes on Gaza, in Jakarta, Indonesia, Sunday, Jan. 4,

Profiles in Courage - Obama Style

Obama on Gaza.....

"I’m very concerned with the conflict taking place there," Obama said. "I’m monitoring the situation on a day to day basis.

"The loss of civilian life in Gaza and in Israel is a source of deep concern to me, and after January 20th I’ll have plenty to say about the issue."

Whoa, that's really stepping out there O.

But you know, Obama is The Messiah so I guess I need to listen to these profound statements like a parable.

More.......

Ha, Ha, Ha this is the best satire

Those guys at The Onion get funnier all the time.

Read this one....

Democrats, attempting to defuse the politically nettlesome issue of earmarks, pledged to cut federal spending on the pet projects while making the process for doling out the funds more understandable to the public.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey and Senate counterpart Daniel Inouye said in a joint statement today they will cut funding for most types of earmarks in half from 2006 levels. The cuts would be smaller, about 12 percent according to committee earmark estimates, compared with the most recent levels.

That is hilarious. Get it? Democrats will cut earmarks? Make it "understandable"? Oh man, I just spit my diet dew all over the screen.

What? you mean this wasn't from The Onion but Bloomberg News?

Is that a different satire site, like Mad or Cracked?

Dear President Elect

Dear Mr. President Elect;

I am a hard working taxpayer. Last spring, after a good tax season, I had some additional funds and decided to purchase a few shares of stock.

Given how beaten up I thought GE stock was, I bought 200 shares a $28/share.

In addition, thinking these stocks couldn't get any lower, I bought Fifth Third at $18/share and National City at $5/share.

My wife and I would like to help out the economy by finishing off our basement and adding an addition to the back of home. Unfortunately, the money I was going to use to do these things took a pounding from my stock losses above.

So I'll make you a deal. How about a Gekko bailout to the tune of 20 gigabillion dollars on the promise that I'll reinvest it in the economy by finishing our remodeling. I promise to do it just like the $350 billion the banks have used to reinvest in the economy.

The fact is, my investment decisions were a hell of lot better than buying billions of dollars in mortgages people wouldn't pay back. C'mon O, are you kidding me?

Look, the Gekko's can continue to operate without this stimulus. I'm only thinking about those poor Warren county contractors who need work. If we don't get this bailout, there will be many workers in the Warren County area without access to a job, cigarettes, lottery tickets, and Old Milwaukee.

Therefore, it's really only prudent that you help out the local economy with this bailout.

In addition O, I know how this works politically, so let me say up front, I don't own a corporate jet. So we're good there. I also understand that congress will want some accountability with this bailout. So you better make it for a few terrabillion more so we can make sure we comply by making our project green.

Thanks President elect Obama.

The Gekko Family.

PS I think I know someone who can take care of your Blago problem.... if you know what I mean?

The Big MAC surrenders

A surrender flag as seen outside of the Big Ten headquarters in Chicago.

Jim Delaney offered a surrender against all other BCS opponents until they can count their members.

Three is a Magic Number

On this date: January 6, 1973
The animated Saturday morning TV series of shorts called Schoolhouse Rock premieres on ABC this day in 1973 with "Multiplication Rock." The short musical cartoons featured lessons in math, history, science, grammar, and more, with classics like "Conjunction Junction," "Interjections," and "The Preamble to the Constitution."

It's still Bush's fault

A once-popular bumper sticker says simply, "When Bush took office, gas was $1.46." It was meant to be a slam, but as the end of his eight years approaches, President Bush is seeing gas prices that, adjusted for inflation, are lower than when he was inaugurated.

Last week's $1.59 - the average for a gallon of regular on Dec. 29, according to the Energy Information Administration - works out to $1.33 in 2001 dollars, or 9 percent less than it was the day Mr. Bush took office. The tumble in prices, from a high of more than $4.05 in early July, has meant incredible savings.

John B. Townsend II, spokesman for AAA Mid-Atlantic, said the inflation comparison doesn't mean much to consumers paying at the pump, but the drop in prices has put real money in consumers' pockets.

More.....

Timeline shows Bush, McCain warning Dems of financial mess

Plaxico Burress On Gun Safety

Who did they vote for # 188

A nice array of mugshots representing a distinct political force....



From reader Bartman....

Apparently, Obama had a big voting constituency with the penal system.

More at TSG

"Progressives" lie again

So let's see. "Progressives" told us when we started the Great Society that poverty would vanish in this country.

"Progressives" also told us that when we enacted Social Security it would end poverty for seniors.

History has proven time and again how liberals lie to weasel their way into our lives.

Need further proof? Check out The Huffington Post, not exactly the conservative standard bearer, on Global Baloney!

You are probably wondering whether President-elect Obama owes the world an apology for his actions regarding global warming. The answer is, not yet. There is one person, however, who does. You have probably guessed his name: Al Gore.

Mr. Gore has stated, regarding climate change, that "the science is in." Well, he is absolutely right about that, except for one tiny thing. It is the biggest whopper ever sold to the public in the history of humankind.

More....

When will we get a statement from some liberal blogger out there saying, "yeah, we were wrong"?

The Law of Unintended Consequences

So politicians have been working for years to push lenders into doing home loans for minorities.

How did that worked out for those folks?

California Rep. Joe Baca has long pushed legislation he said would "open the doors to the American Dream" for first-time home buyers in his largely Hispanic district. For many of them, those doors have slammed shut, quickly and painfully.

Mortgage lenders flooded Mr. Baca's San Bernardino, Calif., district with loans that often didn't require down payments, solid credit ratings or documentation of employment. Now, many of the Hispanics who became homeowners find themselves mired in the national housing mess. Nearly 9,200 families in his district have lost their homes to foreclosure.

For years, immigrants to the U.S. have viewed buying a home as the ultimate benchmark of success. Between 2000 and 2007, as the Hispanic population increased, Hispanic homeownership grew even faster, increasing by 47%, to 6.1 million from 4.1 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Over that same period, homeownership nationally grew by 8%. In 2005 alone, mortgages to Hispanics jumped by 29%, with expensive nonprime mortgages soaring 169%, according to the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council.

An examination of that borrowing spree by The Wall Street Journal reveals that it wasn't simply the mortgage market at work. It was fueled by a campaign by low-income housing groups, Hispanic lawmakers, a congressional Hispanic housing initiative, mortgage lenders and brokers, who all were pushing to increase homeownership among Latinos.

Many pounds ago, I worked as a credit analyst for a bank. And there's a reason that bank's developed those crazy qualification standards like down payments, documentation of income, etc...

Because it works.

As soon as these jerk off politicians push to distort markets, this is what we have left. People living as renters with the added benefit of not being able to qualify for a mortgage in the future.

Some deal..... Do you think we can get a liberal some where to own this as their legacy to the mortgage crisis?

more.....

All Bush with a sprinkling of corruption

Man, The Messiah hasn't even been sworn in yet and he's already got ethics issues all over the place.

First, you had Rahm Emanuel and his dealing with Blago. Then, over the weekend, Bill Richardson decided his ethics violations were too much for scrutiny.

Now, The Billary, with her doo doo....

A developer in New York state donated $100,000 to former President Bill Clinton's foundation in November 2004, around the same time that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton helped secure millions of dollars in federal assistance for the businessman's mall project.

Hillary Clinton helped enact legislation allowing the developer, Robert Congel, to use tax-exempt bonds to help finance the construction of the Destiny USA entertainment and shopping complex, an expansion of the Carousel Center in Syracuse.

She also helped secure a provision in a highway bill that set aside $5 million for Destiny USA roadway construction.

The bill with the tax-free bonds provision became law in October 2004, weeks before the donation, and the highway bill with the set-aside became law in August 2005, about nine months after the donation.

Congel and Philippe Reines, a spokesman for Hillary Clinton, both said there was no connection between his donation and her legislative work on his project's behalf. Reines said the senator had supported the expansion of Carousel mall "purely as part of her unwavering commitment to improving upstate New York's struggling economy, and nothing more."

Notice how all these issues surround former Clintonites. They're making Chicago style politics look lame.

More.....

By the way, Obama better get that alignment checked on the bus. Richardson was a big bump.

When will Israel end their aggression?

When should Israel pull out of Gaza seems to be the question of the day on most of the conservative blogs.

I've got an answer. How about never.

Let's face it here's how this dance goes. Hamas and Hezbullah have continued assaults on Israel with rockets flown into the country. Israel takes it up to a point then pulls a counter assault. The international community condemns Israel and the US negotiates some sort of pull out and/or cease fire settlement. All of which does nothing but allow these terrorist organizations to regroup and re arm and fire more rockets another day.

The day Israel goes in and demolishes the military infrastructure of these groups and the international community applauds it, will be the day the people in these territories will remove Hamas and Hezbullah from their ranks and maybe peace will be had. Ask Egypt.

Go kick some ass Israel.

More on the discussion at NRO

Brought to you by the "Most Ethical CONgress in History"

Today's pile of corruption comes from none other than Charles Rangel, a repeat performer.....

Representative Charles B. Rangel has helped raise $11 million for a City College of New York school of public service to be named in his honor. In recent months, as questions have emerged about his fund-raising, he has insisted that he has kept his efforts to attract donors scrupulously separate from his official duties in Congress.

But Congressional records and interviews show that Mr. Rangel was instrumental in preserving a lucrative tax loophole that benefited an oil-drilling company last year, while at the same time its chief executive was pledging $1 million to the project, the Charles B. Rangel School of Public Service at C.C.N.Y.

The company, Nabors Industries, was one of four corporations based in the United States that were widely criticized in 2002 and 2003 for opening offices in the Caribbean to reduce their federal tax payments. Mr. Rangel was among dozens of representatives from both parties who bitterly opposed those offshore moves and, in 2004, pushed unsuccessfully for legislation to make the companies pay more tax.

But in 2007, when the United States Senate tried to crack down on the companies, Mr. Rangel, who had recently been sworn in as House Ways and Means chairman, fought to protect them. The tax shelter for the four companies was preserved, saving Nabors an estimated tens of millions of dollars annually and depriving the federal treasury of $1.1 billion in revenues over a decade, according to a Congressional analysis by the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation.

More from the NY Times no less.......

Nepotacracy

The conventional wisdom is that republicans are the party of "silver spoons in their mouths".

Yet how do you describe the current shenanigans of democratic appointments to the senate.

Riddle me this batman

In Illinois, you have a man appointed by the sitting governor with a decent resume of public service within the state.

In New York, it appears the governor will appoint a debutant who's never held a meaningful job for any extended period of time.

Yet the democratic senate leadership looks to bar entry to the chamber of which candidate?

Apparently, if you are a democrat it's more helpful to be a Kennedy than to actually have a job.

From Althouse....

The aide familiar with Senate Democratic leaders' plans said if Burris tries to enter the Senate chamber, the Senate doorkeeper will stop Burris. If Burris were to persist, either trying to force his way onto the Senate floor or refusing to leave and causing a scene, U.S. Capitol Police would stop him, said the aide.

So at at time when there isn't a single black person in the U.S. Senate, a black man arrives at the doorway and means to go forward to take what he believes is his rightful seat...

More....

Don't Ask Me No Questions

A tough loss

The UC Bearcats weren't ready for prime time last night with their 20-7 loss to Va. Tech last night.

Regardless, it was water in the desert for those of us who have followed this team for years. Let's hope last night wasn't an aberration but a sign of times to come.

Congratulations to the team for a great season.

For a city thirsting for a winner, it was nice that it came from a team like the Bearcats.

How to avoid a New Year's hangover.

Don't drink with Midas

Santa Claus Bailout Hearings

Being so busy during the Festivus season, I missed this on C-Span.

Thanks to reader Mike.

Global warming challenge final results

The final results to the Global Warming Challenge

Warm 341
Cool 371

How is this possible? I mean it's supposed to be warming right?

Actually, I'd like to gloat but in reality it's like bragging about winning a coin flip. I mean the chances were 50-50 that cool would win the challenge.

Unless of course you're a Branch Gorevidian who believes in this global warming non sense. Then this has to be a shocker to your core. Kind of like killing yourself wearing purple Nikes only to find that comet really didn't mean the end of the world.

Now it is possible that Gordon's point scoring skewed the numbers in favor of the cool figures.

However, keep in mind that the warm figures included 10 extra points for record highs and zero for record lows.

None the less, I went back day to day and noted the average high and lows for the year.

The historic average high temperature at CVG is 64.1, for 2008 is was 63.8 a difference of .3 degrees cooler.

The historic average low is 44.4 degrees v. the 2008 average of 43.8 degrees, a difference of .6 degrees cooler.

No matter how you cut it, the temperatures were cooler despite claims of some warming.

At least this keeps liberals claims at a perfect 100% wrong.

But I'm willing to put my coin flip where my money is. Where is that little piss ant lib who mocked my challenge?

Here's your chance to take a conservative's money, you have to love that; at least if you have balls to take me up on the challenge.

However, I am changing the scoring this year.

I'm going to calculate the average high and lows for the month against the historic average high and lows. I'll assign one point for each for a total of 24 total points. I'll carry the decimal out to avoid any ties at the end of the month.

So what's it going to be punk?

Bartman meets the president elect

Happy New Year 2009

Year end wrap up

The things I'll miss from 2008

- George Carlin
- Luther Vandross
- Tony Snow
- Paul Newman
- Hair
- My old basketball buddies
- A great UC football season

Things I won't miss from 2008

- Arugula
- Hope and Change
- Bailouts
- Bad UC basketball
- The Billary
- Adam Dunn and Ken Griffey Jr.
- Rosie
- My significantly lower retirement account.
- John McCain

Unfortunately, one of the reasons I won't miss any of that second list is that they'll all still be around next year.

Please add to the list.

Is social security a Ponzi scheme?

Here's an article discussing the merits of social security being a Ponzi scheme or not.

Ask yourself this question, if you go to the local social security office and ask how much money you have in your account what would they tell you?

I've been kicking in to social security for 30 years. I have yet to get an IRA like statement that says how much money I currently have in "my account".

Oh, for sure I get a statement every year telling me what my future retirement benefit will be. But what if I die tomorrow? How much of that money I kicked in over these 30 years do I get to pass on to my heirs? Prior to being married that answer was a big fat ZERO. As a result of getting married later in life, Mrs. Gekko will probably get none of my contributions.

Here's the wiki description of a Ponzi scheme......

A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to investors out of the money paid by subsequent investors rather than from profit. The term "Ponzi scheme" is used primarily in the United States, while other English-speaking countries do not distinguish colloquially between this scheme and other pyramid schemes.^[1]

So you tell me, where is our money? I don't call boxes of IOU's from the same people we gave the money to an investment.

Let's put it another way. If everyone in the US quit working tomorrow and demanded their money, where is it?

As far as I'm concerned, each and every politician who oversees this actuarial nightmare is a worse human being then Bernard Madoff. Yet he'll get prison time.

Sweet Caroline

Norma has a post about Caroline Kennedy's assent to the NY senate seat.

The question? Is she qualified?

This answer is a slam dunk. Just ask yourself, is she a multi cellular organism? If the answer is yes, then of course, she's qualified to be a senator. Maybe not qualified to be the feces shoveler for a circus but senator? You betcha'.

Just look at what the "honorable" senate has brought us.

- Ponzi schemes called "Social Security" and "Medicare" that makes for about 1000 Bernard Madoff investment opportunities. And it's all legal.

- A member who dunked a poor young woman to death..... and still keeps his job.

- Tom Daschle

- Earmarks

- A democrat who runs for the presidency as a republican.

- A president who never did his job as a senator.

- Bailouts for everyone but the people who need them.

So yes, I think Caroline Kennedy is more than qualified to deliver us more of the same. You know.

Why government doesn't work

In what might make me the only person in the world. I want to defend Blago.

First, he is still governor of Illinois.

Second, while he has been charged with crimes he still has not been convicted of anything. What if the totality of the evidence is that Blago is not guilty of any of the charges against him? Are you telling me that we need to strip him of his governor duties, which includes appointment of the Illinois senator, without due process.

Third, my understanding is that Illinois has a procedure to remove Blago from office. They've known that this was a potential outcome for doing nothing and guess what? They've done nothing.

This indictment has been out there for over a month, how long does it take for a slam dunk to get done in the Illinois legislature?

Look, Blago is a narcissistic pile of excrement. That really doesn't make him different from any other democrat. Apparently, that alone doesn't qualify anyone from removal from office without exposing all Illinois democrats.

This whole escapade is a good reminder why government doesn't work.

Hitchens on Bush

I think this is old but it's making rounds through the blogoshpere. It's still funny.

Obama Backing North American Union Agenda

CNN is supposed to be a legitimate news source, yet believes in this goofy NAFTA highway.

And people wonder why national media outlets are going under.

More life in "Progress" City

You always have to love "progressives". They're all about diversity and inclusiveness until it reaches their back yard.

Out in the "progressive" confines of California....

As more and more black renters began moving into this mostly white San Francisco Bay Area suburb a few years ago, neighbors started complaining about loud parties, mean pit bulls, blaring car radios, prostitution, drug dealing and muggings of schoolchildren.

In 2006, as the influx reached its peak, the police department formed a special crime-fighting unit to deal with the complaints, and authorities began cracking down on tenants in federally subsidized housing.

Now that police unit is the focus of lawsuits by black families who allege the city of 100,000 is orchestrating a campaign to drive them out.

"A lot of people are moving out here looking for a better place to live," said Karen Coleman, a mother of three who came here five years ago from a blighted neighborhood in nearby Pittsburg. "We are trying to raise our kids like everyone else. But they don't want us here."

More...

Life in "Progress City"

It just keeps getting better for Detroit.

With Kwame Kilpatrick in the hoosegow, the city needs a new mayor. Look at this fine list of candidates....

As the race to complete the term of former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick speeds toward the Feb. 24 primary, tax liabilities are expected to come under scrutiny as 15 candidates seek to succeed a mayor whose fall from grace began when he used taxpayer money for private gain. Last week, for example, Dave Bing disclosed his personal income and challenged his opponents to do the same.

Bing, who moved to a Detroit condo this fall from Oakland County, paid $9,995, including $384 in interest, this month to settle property taxes on his home in Franklin. Campaign spokesman Cliff Russell said the bill was a "mishap" that was corrected once it was discovered.

Last week, Wayne County Sheriff Warren Evans paid $11,656 in delinquent summer taxes on his Washtenaw County horse farm. He bought the roughly 20-acre farm in 2001 for $590,000, according to property records. Tax bills on his three rental properties in Detroit and Grosse Pointe had already been up to date.

"It was an oversight," said Bob Berg, a spokesman for Evans' campaign. Evans rents an apartment in Detroit and that address is on his voter registration, but he uses the address for his farm, located along a gravel road in Salem Township, to register his motorcycle. It also is listed as the address on some of the mortgages and tax records for his business interests. Evans, who does not declare any of the properties as a primary residence to reduce his tax bill, paid the overdue bill after his campaign was contacted by The Detroit News.

Owing the most for unpaid income tax is candidate Duane Montgomery, an engineering consultant. According to liens filed by the IRS and the state of Michigan, he owes $34,697 in federal and Michigan income taxes. Montgomery outlines some of his woes on his Web site -- www.4etr.com -- that includes a receipt from the IRS stating he overpaid his federal taxes last year and the excess was used to reduce his debt.

"If there are skeletons in my closet, then they are listed here," writes Montgomery on the site. He didn't return phone calls seeking elaboration.

First-time candidate Jerroll Sanders, a businesswoman who recently moved to Michigan from Missouri, owes $19,650 in taxes, according to liens filed in St. Louis.

On Dec. 23, Sanders explained the liens as the result of "political malfeasance" waged against her by operatives in the federal government that began in 1999 when she lost a government contract. "We are going to slug this out," she said last week from a home she owns in Missouri.

Observers say the way candidates handle their tax obligations is a fair indicator of how seriously they take their role as public servants and how responsible they would be as mayor.

More....

Real Leadership

So how does a real leader like Obama handle the Gaza bombings.....

(Chirp)

(Chirp)

As the third day of Israeli air strikes drew to a close, Mr Obama continued his holiday in Hawaii with a game of golf, keeping his distance from reporters who might hurl a question at him.

Mr Obama does not become president for another three weeks and his aides argue that any comment by him could send mixed messages to the world about American foreign policy.

But Mr Obama's silence is being interpreted by many as an implicit agreement with President George W Bush's stance that the crisis is the fault of Hamas and that Israeli military action should not let up until the Islamist group agrees to stop firing rockets into Israel.

No, his silence should be interpreted as if things turn out badly in Israel, it's Bush's fault. If things work out well, he was right behind the real president; you know, the one who actually shows real leadership.

More...

Who runs Detroit?

Just how awesome is Detroit?

Here's a piece that lays it out pretty well....

In a city often known as the nation's murder capital, with over 10,000 unsolved murders dating back to 1960, the police are in shambles through cutbacks and corruption trials. (They have a profitable sideline, though, as one of the nation's largest gun dealers, having sold 14 tons of used weapons out-of-state.) Their response times are legendarily slow. Their crime lab is so inept that it has been closed. One Detroit man found police so unresponsive when trying to turn himself in for murder that he hopped a bus to Toledo and confessed there instead.

Detroit schools haven't ordered new textbooks in 19 years. Students have reported having to bring their own toilet paper. Teachers have reported bringing hammers to class for protection. Declining enrollment has forced 67 school closures since 2005 (more than a quarter of the city's schools). The graduation rate is 24.9 percent, the lowest of any large school district in the country. Not for nothing did one frustrated activist start pelting school board members with grapes during a meeting. She probably should've reached for something heavier.

An internal audit, which was 14 months late, estimates next year's city deficit to be as high as $200 million (helped along by $335,000 embezzled from the Department of Health and Wellness Promotion). With a dwindling tax base--even the city's three once-profitable casinos are seeing a downturn in revenues (the Greektown Casino is in bankruptcy)--the city has kicked around every money-making scheme from selling off ownership rights to the tunnel it shares with neighboring Windsor, Canada, to a fast food tax. It's perhaps unsurprising that Detroit now has the most speed traps in the nation.

It also has one of the highest property tax rates in Michigan, yet has over 60,000 vacant dwellings (a guesstimate--nobody keeps official count), meaning real estate values are in the toilet. Over the summer, the Detroit News sent a headline around the world, about a Detroit house that was for sale for $1. But it's not even that uncommon. As of this writing, there are at least five $1 homes for sale in Detroit.

Now ask yourself this question. Who runs Detroit? Looking at the information above, you would have to guess that republicans must have infiltrated the city in a covert attempt to create a cesspool.

Or you could guess that democrats run the city. The same party that seems to have its fingerprints on any cesspool around the country.

Given that Jack Bauer couldn't find a republican in the city with a GPS tracking system, I think it's safe to answer democrat on this one.

What's so "progressive" about an armpit?

More......

Downsizing The Federal Government

From the CATO institute

Miami or Bust

Escape from New York

Some fellows with a paper about the New York State residency laws.

Without question, the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance has the most advanced residency audit program in the nation. We would hazard to guess that the department, whether out of necessity -- because so many taxpayers in the New York region have, at least allegedly, questionable residency issues -- or sheer force of will, does more auditing of taxpayers on residency issues than does any other state, and perhaps more than all states combined. So, like it or not, that is an area with which practitioners have to be conversant. And given that this column is generally devoted to tax practice issues (with a focus on New York), We thought it a good time for a nuts-and-bolts discussion about what a residency audit is all about.

Of course, the focus here will be on New York's rules and procedures, but the department generally follows the outlines of the 1996 North Eastern State Tax Officials Association cooperative agreement regarding domicile, statutory residence, and allocation, in which 13 states pledged to focus on the same primary factors for considering a person's domicile status. So the analysis in this article will likely be helpful in addressing other states' residency audits as well.

I wonder how many of the thirteen states noted above are red states (I know Ohio is one of the states mentioned). Sounds like Cuba to me.

Here's an idea. Create an environment where businesses and people want to reside and then you won't have to spend so many resources on this kind of waste.

More...

HT TaxProfBlog

We need a gangsta cool president

I have to admit. Training Day is my favorite Denzel movie.

The Detroit Abyss

Another good piece about how the UAW actually runs Detroit and why bankruptcy is inevitable.

It's easy to blame the problems of the Detroit Three on their CEOs. Yet the three leaders come from different business backgrounds, with only Rick Wagoner at GM an industry man. Alan Mulally was a star at Boeing and has only two years at Ford. Robert Nardelli comes from General Electric by way of retailing (Home Depot), and has only about a year at Chrysler.

How is it that successful executives become so unsuccessful as soon as they move to Detroit? Also, how can we explain that whenever GM, Ford and Chrysler leave our shores, they compete well in foreign markets as varied as Europe, South America and China? What makes them viable competitors as soon as they cross the border?

One can point to state franchise laws, or to the federal government's Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations. But the most striking difference appears to be that the Detroit Three are unionized, and the foreign transplants are, overwhelmingly, not. (The exceptions are the transplants that have historic ties to the Detroit Three, like NUMMI, the GM-Toyota venture in California.) Yet the issue can't just be about wage rates. The foreign transplants pay well, and the UAW has given significant concessions in recent bargaining.

It is perhaps the mode of doing business in a unionized company that remains a crippling disadvantage. The UAW is arguably the most successful industrial union of all time. But its very strength has allowed it to permeate into every aspect of manufacturing in the Detroit Three.

The collective bargaining agreement with the UAW is a heavily negotiated document the size of a small telephone book. It is virtually identical for each of the Detroit Three, owing to "pattern" bargaining, but it doesn't exist at all in their U.S. competition, the nonunionized transplants. Not only work rules, but fundamental business decisions to sell, close or spin-off plants are forbidden without permission. That permission may come, but only at a price, since everything that affects the workplace must be negotiated.

Both the UAW and the Detroit Three maintain large staffs of lawyers, contract administrators, and financial and human-resources representatives whose principal job is to negotiate with the other side. These staffs are at all levels, from the factory floor to corporate headquarters and the UAW's "Solidarity House" in downtown Detroit.

The collective bargaining agreements are now renegotiated every four years; in each negotiation the power and penetration of the union grows. If the company asks to change the flow of work for any reason, from cost-savings to vehicle improvements, the local union president will listen politely, and then say something like, "We can help you with this, but what's in it for my guys?"

Typically, he will have a list of things he wants, some understandable (better cafeterias) some questionable (hire my nephew), but there is always a quid pro quo. These mutually sustaining bureaucracies exist to negotiate with each other.

more....

Spending your way out of recession

An excellent piece by Peter Schiff in yesterday's WSJ.

Individuals, companies or cities with heavy debt and shrinking revenues instinctively know that they must reduce spending, tighten their belts, pay down debt and live within their means. But it is axiomatic in Keynesianism that national governments can create and sustain economic activity by injecting printed money into the financial system. In their view, absent the stimuli of the New Deal and World War II, the Depression would never have ended.

On a gut level, we have a hard time with this concept. There is a vague sense of smoke and mirrors, of something being magically created out of nothing. But economics, we are told, is complicated.

It would be irresponsible in the extreme for an individual to forestall a personal recession by taking out newer, bigger loans when the old loans can't be repaid. However, this is precisely what we are planning on a national level.

I believe these ideas hold sway largely because they promise happy, pain-free solutions. They are the economic equivalent of miracle weight-loss programs that require no dieting or exercise. The theories permit economists to claim mystic wisdom, governments to pretend that they have the power to dispel hardship with the whir of a printing press, and voters to believe that they can have recovery without sacrifice.

As a follower of the Austrian School of economics I believe that market forces apply equally to people and nations. The problems we face collectively are no different from those we face individually. Belt tightening is required by all, including government.

Governments cannot create but merely redirect. When the government spends, the money has to come from somewhere. If the government doesn't have a surplus, then it must come from taxes. If taxes don't go up, then it must come from increased borrowing. If lenders won't lend, then it must come from the printing press, which is where all these bailouts are headed. But each additional dollar printed diminishes the value those already in circulation. Something cannot be effortlessly created from nothing.

More.....

Global Warming challenge update

With two days to go.

The score to the Global Warming Challenge

Warm 338
Cool 370

I'll have some interesting factoids about the numbers on New Year's Day along with a new challenge if some liberal has the balls to take me up on it.

Ramirez

More of Ramirez at IBD

Can't I just eat my waffle

In a move reminiscent of a celebrity going into rehab, Obama doesn't like all the scrutiny he's under....

Now the president-elect appears increasingly conscious of the confines of his new position, bristling at the routine demands of press coverage and beginning to chafe at boundaries that are only going to get smaller.

These guys marketed this clown like a rock star, now they don't like that he's being treated as one?

Welcome to the NFL. You better grow a set.

More...

I didn't know she played in the NFL

Excerpts from a Caroline Kennedy interview, you know....

"I'm really coming into this as somebody who isn't, you know, part of the system, who obviously, you know, stands for the values of, you know, the Democratic Party," Kennedy told the Daily News Saturday during a wide-ranging interview.

"I know how important it is to, you know, to be my own person. And, you know, and that would be obviously true with my relationship with the mayor."

"Andrew is, you know, highly qualified for this job," she said. "He's doing a, you know, a great job as attorney general, and we've spoken throughout this process."

"You know, I think, you know, we're sort of, uh, sharing some of this experience. And um, as I've said, he was a friend, a family member, and um so, and uh obviously, he's, you know, he's also had an impressive career in public office."

More "you know's" here....

And those upper west side elites made fun of Palin you know.

Fannie Mae eat Freddie Mac and Cheese

Data dump

A bunch of must read articles I don't have time to comment on...

The hilarious Denver gun buy back program. Basically, how to recycle your old, non functioning gun. Here...,.

2008, the year Global Warming was disproved. Here...

Israel finally made good on a promise... Here...

Africa needs God? From an atheist. Here.....

Thomas Sowell, Postponing Reality.

San Fransisco names a sewage plant after Bush. Kosovo names a street.

For a guy who's done nothing wrong, why does Obama have all these Blago lawyers?

How the Branch Gorevidians explain the earth's cooling.

The writer's to the Sesame Street theme want the feds to quit using it as a means of torture. When will they quit torturing parents with it?

The List

Ok, you've decided that you are going to do a New Year's resolution to get back in shape. So you roll into your basement to look for your old workout gear.

Leg Warmers....check
Sweatbands........ check.
Nut hugger gym shorts..... check
Sony Walkman..... check

You whip out that Walkman and decide that the Carpenter's Greatest Love Song mix tape you made for your college girlfriend is probably not going to motivate you to do an hour on the treadmill.

What do you do?

First, don't panic.

Second, go buy some new gym shorts that don't have you looking like Larry Bird in his last championship.

Third, burn the leg warmers and sweatbands.

Finally, go buy yourself one of these new mp3 player things.

Let me give you a list of what I think are the best 15 songs to get you through the burn.

1) Welcome to the Jungle, Guns and Roses. This song will get the juices flowing right out of the gate. Those Axl Rose wails will have you feel like your running from some deranged cyclops.
(for a change of pace go with Paradise City).

2) Born to Run, Bruce Springsteen. Hey, the title says it all (c.o.p No Surrender, Badlands).

3) Long Train Running, Doobie Brothers. You'll be singing right along with this one. Hopefully, that person next to you can't hear it (c.o.p. China Grove)

4) Train Kept a Rollin', Aerosmith. Hey, you're rollin'. Keep rollin'. (c.o.p. Dream On, Mama Kin)

5) Superman (Live), The Kinks. Nothing like a song describing your "old bony knees" to get you fired up. But the guitar rift in this song will definitely have you moving. (c.o.p. All Day and All of the Night, You Really Got Me).

6) In Bloom, Nirvana. Again, a power rift that will knock the sweat off of your face. (c.o.p Smells Like Teen Spirit, Lithium).

7) Achille's Last Stand, Led Zeppelin. This song is right in the middle of that workout. And just like your workout, you think it's just about over right in time for a even bigger stampede of sound. (c.o.p. Trampled Under Foot, Whole Lotta Love).

8) Needle and the Spoon (live), Lynyrd Skynyrd. Sure, it's a song about shooting heroin..... you're running...... about the same.

9) Rock and Roll (live), Heart. My way of getting another Led song on the list. None the less, A great cover and a drum solo that will have your heart pounding. (c.o.p Magic Man).

10) If You want Blood, AC/DC. This is you talking to your treadmill. (c.o.p. Whole Lotta Rosie, TNT).

11) That Smell, 3 Doors Down. Another Lynyrd Skynyrd song about heroin. Is there a connection? (c.o.p. Kryptonite (Live)).

12) Land of Confusion, Disturbed. An old Genesis cover and I like the song.

13) Paranoid, Black Sabbath. Just because your paranoid doesn't mean someone's not following you (c.o.p. Iron Man).

14) Gimme Shelter, The Rolling Stones. You're almost done. Just think, Mick burns more calories in a show than you just did..... and he's 60 (c.o.p Sympathy for the Devil).

15) You Could be Mine, GNR. Another spoon of H waiting for you. this song's your way of saying F off (c.o.p. Civil War).

There you have it. Load these songs and you burn 100 calories just listening to them or you'll have this unusual craving for coke and heroin.

The misery is over

Well the misery is over for Bengal, Brown and Lion fans. The nice thing about being fans of these teams is that you always have January weekends available for that honeydew list.

It's probably no coincidence that some of the most economically challenged areas of this country play some of the worst football in the country.

The question for Bengal fans remains, do you continue to put money into the hands of a first hand pile of crap (Mike Brown) for fear that you won't have a shot at tickets in some imaginary playoff year.

Well, let's do the math. A Bengal's season ticket is between $600 - $1,000 (includes the price of those God awful preseason games).

Given that the beagles are three seasons away from being competitive again, you could save your money for the next two years and get back in, even with a new seat license.

Or you could invest that money into Bearcat season tickets which will cost you about $200 a ticket and actually enjoy a quality team.

You decide; be an enabler to a continual shit product on the field or make a stand for some real change.

Speaking of shit product, nice to see the Bears show up large on a game that counts.

From Michelle Malkin:

Ah, the perks of media affection. On Christmas Day, the Washington Post delivered a front-page paean to Barack Obama’s workout habits. The 1,233-word ode to O’s physical fitness read more like a Harlequin romance novel than an A-1 news article.

Sighed smitten reporter Eli Zaslow: “The sun glinted off chiseled pectorals sculpted during four weightlifting sessions each week, and a body toned by regular treadmill runs and basketball games.” Drool cup to the newsroom, stat.

Zaslow imparted us with vital information about buff Bam’s regimen: “Obama has gone to the gym for about 90 minutes a day, for at least 48 days in a row.” The Washington Post enlightened us with more gushing commentary from Obama friends and associates who explain how, as the subtitle of Zaslow’s opus put it, “Gym Workouts Help Obama Carry the Weight of His Position.”

More...

John Holdren