Dad29

More Apologies from O-bow-ma

noreply@blogger.com (Dad29) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 22:51:00 +0000

You begin to wonder if, perhaps, this apology-making is genetic or something.

Consider his November 23 contention that Asian countries “want our [export] products,” and that American sales to the region are subpar “partly because we just haven't been as aggressive as we need to be.” These remarks rank among the most egregiously inaccurate, manipulative, misleading, and downright whacky statements ever to come out of any recent free trade-loving White House.

Yes, that statement was......ahhhhh.......'fact-challenged.'

If the Asians really are interested in buying U.S. exports, they have a funny way of showing it. U.S. goods exports to Pacific Rim countries – the vast majority of total U.S. exports – were indeed up about 75.50 percent from 1998 to 2008, before plunging 24.9 percent on a year-on-year basis so far in 2009. During the same period, however, U.S. goods exports to the world as a whole grew faster – by 84.31 percent – and their 2009 fall-off was only negligibly greater (25.0 percent).

Has nothing.....nothing.......nothing at all to do with restrictive import policies in the Far East. Nothing.

Happy Thanksgiving

noreply@blogger.com (Dad29) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 16:32:00 +0000

Stolen directly from P-Mac's blog:

"Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favour, [let us render] unto him our sincere and humble thanks -- for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation -- for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence

...for the great degree of tranquillity, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed -- for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted -- for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us." --George Washington

God also gave us our families and our friends, our health, joys, and sorrows--for all of which we owe gratitude.

We should be grateful even for Jay and Capper. (I'm working on Schmitz...)

Obama and SEIU: Parallel Paths

noreply@blogger.com (Dad29) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:44:00 +0000

The author of this article, Randy Shaw, is described as 'very' progressive.

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) held a boisterous picket line in San Francisco last night, but their chants targeted a surprising adversary: labor leaders and their political allies.

...SEIU’s threat to labor hero [CA Sec'y Labor] Burton, and its reported statement to the United Teachers of Los Angeles (sponsor of tonight’s NUHW fundraiser) that it would seek to organize charter school teachers in retaliation for UTLA’s pro-NUHW stance, reflects a union increasingly at odds with the labor movement.

This split is not all that different from the one ongoing between Obama and the radical Left. I'm not going to accuse Obama of becoming a moderate--but you get the idea.

And labor is increasingly going public with its criticisms of SEIU’s tactics. For example, on October 27 the 19,000 member IBEW Local 1245 joined UNITE HERE Local 2 in submitting court papers challenging SEIU’s blocking of over eighty NUHW petitions affecting over 27,000 California healthcare workers seeking to choose their union.

It is noteworthy that SEIU and ACORN are joined at the hip. Thus the thuggery and pure dirtball power-grabbing tactics of SEIU are echoed in the slightly more 'white-bread' tactics of ACORN; but the objective is the same: grabbing and keeping power by any means necessary. It is also noteworthy that Andy Stern is one of the most-frequent White House visitors since Obama's election.

And once again "Big Labor"--the AFL-CIO, Carpenters/Joiners, Plumber's (etc.) are the 'conservatives', just as they were in the housecleaning of the old CIO when the Communists had gained control of that organization. It's fair to guess that "Big Labor" is not all that enthralled with ACORN, either.

This will be interesting to watch.

Getting Nuked on Black Friday

noreply@blogger.com (Dad29) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 12:58:00 +0000

You like electricity?

We hear from a well-placed source that the Obama administration will use the holiday Friday news blackout to announce that it is definitively pulling the plug on the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste repository.

The move has been in the cards since the ’08 election, and an internal memo leaked from DOE [Department of Energy] on November 7 has already drawn Congressional ire by indicating the Administration would not only withdraw the Yucca Mountain license application from the NRC [Nuclear Regulatory Commission] earlier than anticipated but also terminate all work on maintaining Yucca Mountain as a policy option.

Good. That allows the possibility of using the Capitol as our nuclear dump.

Nuke waste........Members of Congress.........

Perfect match.

No Experience Necessary for ObamaLand

noreply@blogger.com (Dad29) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:59:00 +0000

The Cabinet positions surveyed exclude a few departments: Postmaster General, Navy, War, Health, Education & Welfare, Veterans Affairs, and Homeland Security

Note the last four (D) Presidents' level compared to O-bow-ma's.

HT: ZeroHedge

The Chicago Way and the End of the Obama Dream

noreply@blogger.com (Dad29) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:09:00 +0000

Instructive narrative from Tom Roeser.

...Take the case of Paul Vallas. An outstanding Democratic public official he served as chief budget adviser to the president of the state Senate, chief budgeter for the city of Chicago under Mayor Daley. Daley took over the job of running the city's public schools by legislative fiat to replace a system where the schools were run loosely by a board of education not directly under the mayor's control.

The Chicago public schools had been called the worst in the country by William Bennett, Ronald Reagan's secretary of education. This led Daley to name Vallas, a no-nonsense administrator, as superintendent of schools. Vallas decided to let nothing stand in his way to improve the condition of the schools. During his tenure from 1995 to 2001 he led the way to reform the school system, his work being cited by President Bill Clinton for hiking test scores, balancing the out-of-kilter schools budget, developing new programs including mandatory summer school, after-school programs and expanding charter, alternative and magnet schools. Devoutly Greek Orthodox Vallas favored vouchers but was powerless to implement them. Nevertheless he achieved a national reputation for his reforms.

He was particularly welcomed by African Americans who were enthusiastic that their kids were showing all kinds of improvement. He was a veritable pop idol in the eyes of many blacks.

But in trying to improve teaching standards, he trod on the toes of the powerful teachers' union, a key source of voter nutrients for The Squid. The union commanded that Vallas had to go. It passed the word to Daley and The Squid. Daley was mum-and stayed mum.

Vallas resigned and Arne Duncan took over. Arne got along well with the teachers' union...and had nothing whatsoever to do with any improvements in the Chicago schools. In fact, performance of the schools declined under Duncan, who is now Sec/Ed for Obama.

Roeser posits that exactly the same thing happened to Greg Craig--a Clintonista who didn't fit into the Chicago Way mold. So he was dumped.

That motivated a few Lefties to muse that perhaps Obama is just another slimy Chicago politician (the term "FIB" is not au courant in DC--yet.)

You'll know it's over for good when that Wisconsin appellation sneaks into a Beltway column.

Reform Starts With a Wrecking Ball

noreply@blogger.com (Dad29) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:40:00 +0000

Interesting.

“America’s most-famous superior urban schools are virtually always new starts rather than schools that were previously underperforming. Probably the most convincing argument for the fundamental difference between start-ups and turnarounds comes from those actually running high-performing high-poverty urban schools...

Seems as though the best way to get a high-performing school is to simply start from scratch. urban renewal, redefined.

Wow.

DA Chisholm Is Absolutely Right

noreply@blogger.com (Dad29) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 16:10:00 +0000

Interesting interview with Milwaukee County DA Chisholm on the issue of handguns. The unmentioned name, by the way, is James Doyle, Ideologue/Idiot.

Chisholm: I want to make concealed carry a felony offense. In order to do that you would have to create some form of a permitting system so someone could legally carry a concealed weapon and those who did [illegally carry a concealed weapon] would face felony consequences.

Shepherd: Why should concealed carry become a felony offense?

Chisholm: Now [as a misdemeanor] you could get caught 100 times and you could still walk into a gun store and buy a gun. From my perspective, we prosecute 350 to 400 people every year for carrying concealed weapons. Every single one of those individuals would be prohibited from owning a firearm in the future if it was a felony offense.

Not unreasonable at all. Of course, he has a hair-on-fire-Liberal red-screech-alarm proposal, too: the State must allow concealed-carry permits.

Shepherd: You recently proposed a firearm reform package that includes a concealed carry permitting system. As a prosecutor who has long been concerned about gun violence, why would you want to allow concealed carry in the state?

Chisholm: The package that I am advocating for is based on 10 years of really focused firearm violence prevention strategies. The reality is that Wisconsin’s CCW [carrying concealed weapons] statute, 941.23, has always been one of the most overbroad and constitutionally challengeable statutes in the country. At the same time, it’s been paired with one of the weakest penalties for committing the offense of CCW. So you’ve got really the worst of all worlds.

Umnnnhhhh...yah. Chisholm was reading this blog.

Chisholm: In the [Hamdan] Supreme Court decision, the court upheld the constitutionality of the CCW statute, but barely so. What [the court] basically said was [that the Legislature] needs to start looking very closely at this law and figure out what [it is] going to do with this in the future. But what we’ve done is nothing. So we’ve been living on borrowed time. And that time is up now.

...I’m going to make a prediction right now because I don’t know if we have the will and the foresight to do this but I predict that nothing will happen and that Chicago vs. McDonald will hold that the Second Amendment is incorporated into the 14^th Amendment [and call into question other state and local gun laws]. Then 20 seconds later the NRA will file a challenge to [Wisconsin’s concealed carry statute] and they will win. And at that point in time we will be left with no CCW and no regulatory scheme at all. That’s what I think will happen

He's absolutely correct. James Doyle, Governor of Wisconsin, has enforced his ideology on the State, and the State will LOSE its case against concealed carry. Worst, when the NRA wins its suit, anyone.....ANYONE......will have the Constitutional right to carry a concealed weapon.

You can bet that Chisholm thinks Doyle is a bozo. Too bad he won't say so directly.

HT: FoxPolitics

ObamaSavior---AND Military Genius

noreply@blogger.com (Dad29) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:53:00 +0000

This guy is careening out of control.

“After eight years, some of those years in which we did not have, I think, either the resources or the strategy to get the job done, it is my intention to finish the job,” Obama said at a news conference...

This is either the very definition of hubris or the very bottom of the barrel of political scumbaggery.

He says that as though GWB's military advisers were friggin' idiots.

Really?

HT: Jo Egelhoff

Red Cross Exec: "Yup, They Are Death Panels"

noreply@blogger.com (Dad29) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:45:00 +0000

Technically, Bernardine Healy, MD, is an EX-Red Cross official...

The bill takes all sorts of choices out of patients' and doctors' hands. Even mammograms and prostate-specific antigen tests would be similarly restricted by the government for millions of people, and they actually serve as better examples of what happens more broadly to personal medical decision making in the new system.

The ground is being laid already, with the announcement by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a government-appointed body, of new guidelines for mammograms just days ago. Such a board of experts, composed mainly of primary care, prevention, public health, and epidemiology experts, would recommend the list of preventive services covered in the post-health-reform insurance plan that all would have no choice but to buy. Until now, the government's task force has been one voice among several medical groups issuing sometimes conflicting prevention guidelines, leaving room for patient-doctor choice. But in an elevated role under health reform, the federal preventive task force's declarations would carry greater force and have an economic impact on everyone.

We'll remind you that David Obey (D-Potatohead) wrote the enabling legislation for Death Panels in the budget. He also believes that WWII terminated all of FDR's New Deal programs and that VietNam ended the Great Society.

So far, Obey has not commented on the demise of the Easter Bunny, but you can bet he'll postulate that Bush/Cheney and Blackwater were in the background. After all, they have guns, or something.

HT: Confederate Yankee

Silly Season in WI Legislature: SB174

noreply@blogger.com (Dad29) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:28:00 +0000

The silly season commences. Here are a few names for you to note:

Senators Coggs and Taylor; cosponsored by Representatives Young, A. Williams, Turner, Berceau, Grigsby, Colon, Richards, Kessler, Sinicki and Pasch.

That's the masthead from SB174. The bill, if passed as written, will ban sales of new handguns in Wisconsin sometime after 1/1/11.

You read that right. It will BAN sales of new handguns in Wisconsin.

This bill prohibits a gun manufacturer or a firearms dealer from transferring
a semiautomatic handgun that does not produce an identifying code (microstamp)
on each cartridge case it expends if both of the following apply: 1) the handgun was
manufactured on or after January 1, 2011; and 2) the handgun has not previously
been transferred to a person that is not a manufacturer or dealer (new handgun).
This bill also prohibits a manufacturer in this state from manufacturing, on or after
January 1, 2011, a semiautomatic handgun that does not produce a microstamp.

The bill also requires manufacturers and dealers who transfer a handgun that
is required to produce microstamps to certify that the handgun, if it is a new
handgun, produces microstamps and that the manufacturer of the handgun will
disclose to a law enforcement agency that has collected a microstamp from an
expended cartridge during a criminal investigation the make, model, and serial
number of the handgun that expended the cartridge.

Since "microstamping" technology is not proven, and since no handgun manufacturer uses it, the language will simply stop new-gun sales in the State.

And, of course, any damn fool with a file can delete 'microstamps' in short order.

Microstamping technology has not been developed. Even if it were, it is easily defeated, and only those who believe in the Tooth Fairy would offer this legislation.

The list of those believers is above.

Test

noreply@blogger.com (Dad29) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:34:00 +0000

Dah deedle dah dum

Sen. Conrad (D-ND) Flips You Off

noreply@blogger.com (Dad29) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:23:00 +0000

Well, it's the season for birds, right?

Since Attorney General Eric Holder announced on Nov. 13 that five suspects in the 9/11 attacks would be tried in a civilian court in New York City instead of a military tribunal, Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) told CNSNews.com that civilian courts are well-suited to prosecute al Qaeda terrorists and that "if people don't believe in our system, they ought to go somewhere else.”

And then he adds the usual Half-Truth:

“We have tried terrorists in our courts and done so very successfully in the past and that is our system."

....forgetting to add that those 'others' were either US citizens and/or caught on US shores by LEO's who followed the usual criminal procedure (Miranda, etc.)

Senator, consider this post to be a return-flip of the bird to you. Eat THAT for Thanksgiving.

The Papal/SSPX Conversations and Patrick Kennedy

noreply@blogger.com (Dad29) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:17:00 +0000

Weigel really gets this right.

The issues to be engaged in these conversations do not involve liturgy; the pope has addressed the legitimate pastoral needs of SSPX clergy and SSPX-affiliated laity by his decree allowing the unrestricted use of the 1962 Roman Missal. The real questions have to do with other matters. Does the SSPX accept the teaching of the Second Vatican Council on religious freedom as a fundamental human right that can be known by both reason and revelation? Does the SSPX accept that the age of altar-and-throne alliances, confessional states, and legally established Catholicism is over, and that the Catholic Church rejects the use of coercive state power on behalf of its truth claims? Does the SSPX accept the Council’s teaching on Jews and Judaism as laid down in Vatican II’s “Declaration on Non-Christian Religions” (“Nostra Aetate”), and does the SSPX repudiate all anti-Semitism? [That might be a bit more provocative than necessary.] Does the SSPX accept the Council’s teaching on the imperative of pursuing Christian unity in truth and the Council’s teaching that elements of truth and sanctity exist in other Christian communities, and indeed in other religious communities?

The red-highlighted series of questions is of particular interest. First off, the SSPX is hardly the only group which looks back fondly at "altar-and-throne" confessional States. Others can be found (easily) and while they are less vocal about it--and draw much less attention--they are out there.

More of interest, however, is Weigel's summary that 'the Church rejects the use of coercive state power on behalf of its truth-claims.'

Why?

Because of Patrick Kennedy.

The Know-Nothings/Rabid Abortionists Alliance would have you believe that the Church is "imposing its will" on US healthcare policy by insisting, loudly, that abortion is NOT healthcare--and that requiring taxpayer funding of abortion is an affront to religious liberty.

But in fact, the Bishops are expressing an admiration for religious liberty which the Rabid Abortionists will never express. To them, you see, Abortion is THE sacrament of their religion. And they will impose that religion and its sacrament on you, whether you agree or not.

Rome is the real 'civil liberties' defender here, folks.

"Paste" Died...Went Mozilla Firefox

noreply@blogger.com (Dad29) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:47:00 +0000

To hell with IE8.

Took Firefox this morning. Some typeface-stuff to get used to, but on a tip, downloaded Adblock Plus.

No more grape-jelly stains all over McIlheran's blog!!

And "paste" works!

Stupak-ification of the Left

noreply@blogger.com (Dad29) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:43:00 +0000

Heh.

Only a few months ago, the Left was telling us unqualifiedly that ObamaCare would NOT have any effects on private health insurance.

You can look at our BayView Banjo guy's blog for evidence...

Anyhoo....

"The treatment exclusions required under the Stupak-Pitts Amendment will have an industry-wide effect, eliminating coverage of medically indicated abortions over time for all women, not only those whose coverage is derived through a health insurance exchange." --S Rosenbaum, GW study.

Goodness gracious! Was the Left just kinda kidding?

HT: CMR

The Liars at East Anglia

noreply@blogger.com (Dad29) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:10:00 +0000

Headless does public service.

...this computer program adds up to 2.6 degrees Celsius to temperatures starting in the 1970's and continuing until 2000 to give the appearance of GLOBAL WARMING! That's over 4 degrees Fahrenheit, and is a huge "fudge factor" (their word, not mine) made to show a false correlation of rising global temperature to rising carbon dioxide levels...

We hope that the above is understandable language. Headless did his best, folks.

Flynn, Barrett Resignation Call?

noreply@blogger.com (Dad29) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:54:00 +0000

Channel 4 News reports that "Milwaukee TEA Party" has called for the resignations of Ed Flynn and Tom Barrett.

Apparently, these folks think Flynn should resign over a morals issue.

I don't know who "Milwaukee TEA Party" consists of, and frankly, I don't care what Ed Flynn does in his spare time, although it seems that he has a lot of time away from his wife and children.

That's sad for the wife and children, but not exactly a compelling reason for him to resign.

I hope that "Milwaukee TEA Party" restricts itself to ending Big Gummint and Big Taxes. That's stuff we can all support wholeheartedly.

Doyle the Vengeful Dictator

noreply@blogger.com (Dad29) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:49:00 +0000

Democrats don't like Doyle, either, which is the thrust of this article from WI (HT Sykes).

This vignette, significant in itself, tells you all about Doyle's modus operandi: pure "punish your enemies." Pigheaded, stupid, and to Hell with the public interest.

Take, for example, WMC's questionable decision late in the 2006 election to dump a ton of issue money attacking Doyle even though most polling showed Green on the fast train to Palookaville. Whatever WMC's logic, Cullen says the Doyle team overreacted.

The governor, he says, "tried to use the power of the office to get even with WMC instead of saying, 'You guys made a bad bet. I tried to work with you. Now I'm going back to my base and pursue my legislative agenda'."

"But there was no legislative agenda," he says. "The Doyle people spent their time trying to dismantle WMC. Some people might get a kick out of that, but it doesnt accomplish anything."

He didn't have much use for Legislators--which did not help him. To Doyle, being Governor is being Dictator.

Think not? Then explain Doyle's decision to shut down the longest-operating auto racing track in the entire USA. He achieved that by ordering his State Fair Board to unilaterally change a critical portion of the agreement language.

Doyle simply could not stand giving John Menard (and his partners) a 'win,' even though that 'win' was also a 'win' for Milwaukee.

The Vengeful Dictator struck again.

So Kennedy Should "Represent His District," Eh?

noreply@blogger.com (Dad29) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:37:00 +0000

There's a lot of High Dudgeon emanating from the Lefty Hive about how Rep. Kennedy should "represent the wishes of his District" regarding abortion.

Yah, well.

S'pose that the US Congress will "represent the wishes of the people" on ObamaCare now that only 38 percent of the population approves of it?

No. The position of the Democrats on that question is "Screw YOU, citizens!" And the Democrats are perfectly happy, because they have the Higher Moral Ground.

Herbie Kohl may actually be in Milwaukee for a while. Or perhaps he's at his zillion-acre ranch in Wyoming. That's high ground too, you know.

Dave Obey: Aborto-Facilitating Historical Ignoramus

noreply@blogger.com (Dad29) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:05:00 +0000

Kinda nice for Ed to provide us with a clear picture of Dave Obey's ultra-Left "mind."

Strange. Obey tells us that the cost of Afghanistan is SO onerous that the country will 'run out of money,' while his pet Porkulus is NOT onerous?

Hmmmmm.

Then Obey engages in historical fantasy. Maybe Obey learned history from Oliver Stone or Michael Moore movies.

He certainly didn't learn it from verifiable sources.

Landrieu: Out of My Price Range

noreply@blogger.com (Dad29) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:47:00 +0000

Now that it is decided exactly what Sen. Mary Landrieu IS.........

.....it's clear that her price ($300 million) is a bit high for me.

My question: does Reid really expect he'll get 'full value' for ~~his~~ our money?

MS Update Blows Off "Paste"?

noreply@blogger.com (Dad29) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:42:00 +0000

Hey.

Downloaded an MS IE8 update over the weekend, and "paste" went away.

Still investigating.

UPDATE: Remove the MS update, "paste" works fine again.

UPDATE TWO: 60 minutes pass, "paste" dies again.

Spendulus, Indeed

noreply@blogger.com (Dad29) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:16:00 +0000

OK, so who said this:

"The kind of budget shortfalls we are looking at in the future dwarfs anything we've ever seen. There are two ways to close the fiscal gap--cut spending or increase revenues. ....the level of taxation required to meet projected spending needs is far higher than anything the country has either seen-slash-tolerated.

Hint: he ain't no Conservative.

Answer: Scott Winship, writing on the Progressive Policy Institute's blog......

HT: Examiner

The Manhattan Declaration

noreply@blogger.com (Dad29) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:16:00 +0000

We mentioned this on Friday.

150 Catholic, Orthodox, and Evangelical religious leaders signed a manifesto which committs them to civil disobedience if laws force them to accept abortion, same-sex marriage, or interfere with religious freedom.

This is large. The list includes Abp. Dolan, Abp. Wuerl, Chuck Colson, Robbie George, Tony Perkins, and Cdl. Rigali.