Thursday, October 31, 2013

You're Getting the Green Weenie

The Green Weenie strikes, and it's pretty damn bad.

You may recall the exceptionally unsuccessful saga of Abound Solar, one of the Obama administration’s pet “green”-energy stimulus projects second in infamy only to fellow failed solar-panel maker Solyndra, and the millions of dollars for which taxpayers were left on the hook when the once “promising” company went belly-up last year...

About $70 million in taxpayer losses--so far.

It will get much worse.

...Now its Longmont, Colo., facility sits unoccupied, its 37,000 square feet littered with hazardous waste, broken glass and contaminated water. The Northern Colorado Business Report estimates it will cost up to $3.7 million to clean and repair the building so it can again be leased....quoting FoxNews

Such is the way of Environmentally Conscious People, ya'know.

Actually, IPCC "Forecasting" Sucks

It's almost enough evidence to conclude that IPCC "forecasts" are manufactured for the money available from Gummints.

.....we produced annual forecasts from one to 100 years ahead, starting from 1851 and stepping forward year-by-year until 1975, the year before the current warming alarm was raised. (This is also the year when Newsweek and other magazines reported that scientists were “almost unanimous” that Earth faced a new period of global cooling.) We conducted the same analysis for the IPCC scenario of temperatures increasing at a rate of 0.03 degrees Celsius (0.05 degrees Fahrenheit) per year in response to increasing human carbon dioxide emissions.

This procedure yielded 7,550 forecasts for each method. The findings?

Overall, the no-trend forecast error was one-seventh the error of the IPCC scenario’s projection. They were as accurate as or more accurate than the IPCC temperatures for all forecast horizons. Most important, the relative accuracy of the no-trend forecasts increased for longer horizons. For example, the no-trend forecast error was one-twelfth that of the IPCC temperature scenarios for forecasts 91 to 100 years ahead.  

Oh, yah, about the money:

..In our study of situations that are analogous to the current alarm over scenarios of global warming, we identified 26 earlier movements based on scenarios of manmade disaster, including the global cooling alarm in the 1960s to 1970s. None of them were based on scientific forecasts. And yet, governments imposed costly policies in response to 23 of them. In no case did the forecast of major harm come true.

Who could have thunk it?

The Truth About "You Can Keep...."

Planet Moron has the answer

....Okay, sure, so the Administration knew that you would lose the plan that you liked, and even wrote the regulations to make sure of it, but did you ever consider the possibility that when the The President said you would get to keep to your health care plan, he might not have been talking about you specifically?  Maybe he was talking to someone else in the room, perhaps Valerie Jarrett

Actually, he was talking only to Members of Congress, their staffers, and Federal employees.  You know, The Ruling Class.

The rest of "you" don't really count, anyway.

Abortion Queen's Answer to Everything

HT Moonbattery

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

The Shutdown Cold-Cocked.......Obozo

NBC poll, so it can't be wrong.

....in all, 41 percent of respondents say they have a less favorable opinion of the president since the 16 day government shutdown, compared to 21 percent who say they have a more favorable view since the shutdown...

Yah.  Who knew that an NBC poll could find that many stone racists?

HT:  AOSHQ

Rubio or RoJo?

RoJo--to his credit--will intro "If You Like Your Plan You Can Keep It" legislation (details not available.)  Apparently, this bill will reverse the demolition of healthcare plans which the Obozoites have been lying about for years.

If it's written correctly, it will undermine and eventually topple ObozoCare.

Good!

Then along comes Rubio, who continues his left-ish (R) tilt (remember amnesty?) with this:

...“Delay Until Fully Functional Act,” a bill delaying the individual mandate under ObamaCare until six months after the Government Accountability Office (GAO) certifies that the exchange website is fully functional....

Wrong move, Marco.  You're merely another enabler.

So it's RoJo, hands down.

"Incompetents" at HHS? Nope. It's The Plan

Moe Lane, raised by Democrats, draws the wrong conclusion.

....while various Lefty pundits may be content to argue about how many angels can dance on the premium of a new Obamacare policy the populace is going to focus on Hey, my healthcare costs doubled and my deductible is godawful, instead.

[pause]

The populace will not be happy about that. And I do not blame them in the slightest: they were lied to, by incompetents.

No, Moe, they're working The Plan.

The plan is to make this phase "godawful" so that the solution will be single-payer--the complete socialization of medicine.

See, Moe, you were taught to think that everyone has good intentions.  That was a big, big, lie.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Meanwhile, On Tammy's Planet

Unless you've been to Madison often, you don't have a clue about 'other planets.'  Tammy opens her mouth and proves it.

 When asked if Americans should be able to keep their current plans, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin would only say, “What I’m understanding is that people, like in Florida, are getting advice on transitioning and hopefully they’ll have a higher quality, lower-cost plan.”   --quoted at Weasel Zippers

Uh-huh.  That's perfect Madistan-speak, and a simpleminded knockoff of Obozo's "Huh?  I just read that in the papers!  Wow!  That s*&^ happens??"

Bullying? Nope.

That "youth suicide" stuff is blamed on "bullying."

Not so fast.

63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes (US Dept. Of Health/Census) – 5 times the average.

No daddy around?  There are other consequences:

90% of all homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes – 32 times the average

85% of all children who show behavior disorders come from fatherless homes – 20 times the average.  (Center for Disease Control)

80% of rapists with anger problems come from fatherless homes –14 times the average.  (Justice & Behavior, Vol 14, p. 403-26)

Clearly, Adrian Peterson should spend a lot less time playing football.

HT:  CMR

Buckley's Still Right

Delicious quote here:

Conservatives in this country — at least those who have not made their peace with the New Deal, and there is serious question whether there are others — are non-licensed nonconformists; and this is dangerous business in a Liberal world, as every editor of this magazine can readily show by pointing to his scars. Radical conservatives in this country have an interesting time of it, for when they are not being suppressed or mutilated by the Liberals, they are being ignored or humiliated by a great many of those of the well-fed Right, whose ignorance and amorality have never been exaggerated for the same reason that one cannot exaggerate infinity

Bill wrote that in 1955.  Nothing's changed since, has it?

Friday, October 25, 2013

The Midnight Raids Begin

All merely co-incidence, you see.  Or perhaps a mistake, you see.

....The agents, who had arrived a 4:30 a.m. in full body armor, collected several small arms during the raid, although no charges have been filed against Mr. Flanagan, 54, during the nearly three months since.
Mrs. Hudson, 50, says that while the authorities were raiding her house, Coast Guard investigator Miguel Bosch — who formerly worked at the marshal service — began asking questions about whether she was the same “Audrey Hudson” who had written “the air marshal stories” for The Washington Times. Mrs. Hudson says she responded that she was...
...Reporter Audrey Hudson said the investigators, who included an agent for Homeland's Coast Guard service, took her private notes and government documents that she had obtained under the Freedom of Information Act during a predawn raid of her family home on Aug. 6....

...It was not until roughly a month later, Mrs. Hudson says, that she realized the agents had quietly seized five files from her private office — including handwritten and typed notes from interviews with numerous confidential sources related to her exclusive reporting on the air marshals service.

The search warrant for the raid, issued to Maryland State Trooper Victor Hodgin by a district court judge, made no reference to the documents. A copy obtained by The Times indicates that the search was to be narrowly focused on the pursuit of “firearms” and their “accessories and/or parts,” as well as any communications that that might be found in Mrs. Hudson and Mrs. Flanagan’s home related to “the acquisition of firearms or accessories.

So Homeland Security has other occupations besides checking the underwear of grannies, nuns, and children at the airports!

Such as intimidating the adversarial press.  And unconstitutionally seizing documents.

"Your papers, please!!!"

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Oh, Really, Ms. Burke?

She's going to be the Todd Akin of (D) candidates.

SCOAMF's Next Disaster

What price shall we pay for electing SCOAMF?

Well, you have a continuous recession.  Then you have the part-time employment society.  Don't forget the Stasi, particularly if you're Catholic (and white!!), and the FUBAR a/k/a ObozoCare.

....oh, yah, our Stasi also alienates furriners such as the Pres. of Mexico and the PM of Germany.  Equal treatment, ya'know.

Of course, we won't be worrying about "allies" for long.

...What should worry the Obama administration is that Saudi concern about U.S. policy in the Middle East is shared by the four other traditional U.S. allies in the region: Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Israel. They argue (mostly privately) that Obama has shredded U.S. influence by dumping President Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, backing the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi, opposing the coup that toppled Morsi, vacillating in its Syria policy, and now embarking on negotiations with Iran — all without consulting close Arab allies....

pResident girly-man will remain Putin's bitch, however.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Water Use Reduction!!!

As we suspected, ejecting our last daughter to college has led to a FORTY percent reduction in water use.

Now we're green!!

Winning Elections: (R) Establishment Message Is Wrong

Interesting essay on the topic from Henry Olsen; a few excerpts follow.

One of the most talked about groups in recent elections has been the white working class. Although the group has declined as a share of the nation since World War II, it is still very large at nearly 40 percent of the national electorate. Understanding its views and values is essential to political victory, so it isn’t surprising that politicians of all stripes are working hard to gain such an understanding....

Let's define the term a bit more closely:
 
...Census data, for example, demonstrates that white working class voters earn less and work more in physically demanding jobs than do more educated whites. Working class men and women are very likely to work in jobs that pay them an average of $21,000 (women) to $31,000 (men) a year. At these wages, it would take two full-time average jobs for a family to earn the median American family income

...All members of the white working class are not alike, of course, and it is essential to look carefully at their differences. The most important but overlooked traits are religion and region.

...There is a very large difference between how southern and non-southern working class whites vote, one Levison indirectly points toward. He finds, as one might expect, that evangelicals hold more conservative views on most issues than do mainline Protestants, especially those dealing with morality and religion. But on core issues of the size of government or the need for government to help the poor, both branches of Protestantism are largely in agreement, only slightly favoring a smaller government and largely supporting more help for the needy even if it means going further into debt....

Hmmmmm.

OK.  So what's the message being sent?

Conservatives currently rely on three primary messages to reach these non-evangelical white working class voters. First, delegitimize government by arguing that it is unable to help them get ahead and raise their families whereas the private sector can. Second, argue that when government does act, it too often does so on behalf of undeserving groups, usually illegal immigrants and those who refuse to work. Third, emphasize that conservatives stand on the side of religious liberty and traditional moral values. However, data show that the white working class is not nearly as receptive to these messages as many conservatives hope.

I quibble:  I don't think the word "conservative" means what the author(s) think it means.

Regardless:

...The data show that the white working class does not like government, but has serious questions about whether it can get ahead in today’s economy. A 2011 Washington Post poll found that 43 percent of whites without college degrees believed that hard work was no longer a guarantee of success. Nearly half thought they did not have the education or skills to compete in today’s job market. Attitudes like this strongly suggest that many working class whites do not instinctively see personal benefits flowing from an untrammeled market.

Many members of the white working class are particularly suspicious of the idea that business leaders and financial experts have their interests at heart. Levison cites data for the white working class from a 2011 Pew survey, Beyond Red vs. Blue, that shows that well over half believe that business makes too much profit and that Wall Street does more to hurt than to help the economy. Three-quarters believe that a few large companies hold too much power. These voters do see government as a problem, but they also believe that big government is not the only obstacle in their paths.

Working class whites also hold more nuanced views on immigration and government’s role to provide for the poor than conservatives usually surmise. Levison shows that large majorities of working class whites think increased immigration is bad for America and favor increased border security rather than immigration reform. But they also strongly oppose free trade agreements. Pew found that the poorest and least-educated part of the white working class, labeled “Disaffecteds,” think free trade agreements are bad for the United States by a two-to-one margin. These people are being pressed by competition from foreigners at home (immigration) and abroad (free trade), and they don’t like it. Conservatives therefore often do not gain the political advantage on immigration that they seek because their free trade views convince working class whites that conservatives are not on their side.

Anyone who has read Tim Carney's work on rent-seeking crony capitalism "gets that" right away.  For that matter, those grafs are a condemnation of the Romney candidacy from the get-go.

On the other hand, what you see above validates the TEA Party's popularity.  The TEA Party is far more populist and anti-Establishment (see, e.g. Codevilla's work) than is the (R) brand; their opposition to "Too Big to Fail" bailouts hits a home run, too.  The TEA Party's forceful (but not absolute) condemnation of wholesale immigration 'reform,' crony capitalism, and 'managerial class' claims to superiority are in down-the-line accordance with the white working-class concerns.

The essay also points to a very strong 'moderate' approach to social issues, by the way.  Since the TEA Party has not really played in the social issues sandbox, its approach has been politically effective, although disappointing to more traditional 'conservatives.'

Another substantial point:

...Levison draws on ethnographic studies to show that for the typical white working class person, family and stability are more important than career and upward mobility. They saw their middle-class bosses as people who “worried all the time,” were “cold and snobbish,” and as “arrogant, very arrogant people.” They saw their work as “just a job,” not a rewarding activity of itself. As befits people who work in teams and do heavy labor, they saw collegiality and practical knowledge to be of greater worth than individual striving and theoretical knowledge. Levison describes this combination as a “distinct combination of viewing work, family, friends, and good character as central values in life while according a much lower value to wealth, achievement, and ambition.”...

That's aimed directly at Limbaugh-ism--and it's worth knowing.

A fellow named Muttart, a Canadian, saw all of this several years ago.

...Muttart expressed nearly identical sentiments in an extended interview he gave me in 2010. Working class whites, he told me, are fiscally conservative (low taxes) but economically populist (suspicious of trade, outsourcing, and high finance). They are culturally orthodox but not generally concerned with social issues because their lives won’t change much no matter the outcome. Most importantly, they are modest in their aspirations for themselves. They do not aspire to be “Type A business owners”; they want to go to work, do what’s asked of them, not have too much stress in their lives, and spend time with their families. They want structure and stability in their lives so that things they need are taken care of and they don’t have to worry....

Of all the aspirants to the (R) nomination, it seems that Paul Ryan is the one who comes closest to what Levinson (and Mutter) suggest, although Ryan's immigration stance is vaguely suspicious.  Perhaps it's Janesville.

...A conservative approach would emphasize that help would only go to those who help themselves and to those who need it. That means strong work and behavior conditions attached to entitlements and welfare policies, and sharply reducing corporate welfare and tax deductions for the well-to-do. A conservative approach would reduce where possible government’s monopoly provision of services and let people choose from among providers competing for their favor. A conservative approach would recognize that citizenship means more than voting, and accordingly do more to help people whose lives are unduly stressed because of economic dislocation....

One final thought:  that "family" thread is critical to messaging on the national debt's threat to children and grand-children--which also is a TEA Party message.

Dinosaurs like McCain and the oleagenous McConnell, not to mention Boehner, haven't gotten the memo.

Did Paul Ryan?

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Even More ObozoCare Suits

There's that pesky First Amendment stuff that the Catholics brought up, as did a number of employers.

Now there's this:

Four separate pending lawsuits suits, filed in various federal district courts, challenge the legality of a crucial IRS rule authorizing tax credits for the purchase of health insurance on federally run health care exchanges. Each suit alleges that the IRS rule contravenes the plain text of the ACA (Obamacare) because the statute only authorizes tax credits (and subsidies) for the purchase of insurance in an exchange “established by a state” under Section 1311 of the law. Federal exchanges are neither “established by a state” nor authorized by Section 1311.

So far the government has attempted to have two of the four suits dismissed. Both times, the government has failed.

I'd advise a bowl of popcorn, but it's better to buy ammo instead.  That girly-man Totalitarian may try something even more stupid than IRS tricks.  Best be prepared.

Is Oprah Smarter Than RoJo?

Unlike some US Senators who stab patriot Senators in the back, Oprah seems to have figured it out.

As the White House was gearing up to sell ObamaCare to the American people last summer, Valerie Jarrett, the president’s pointwoman on a host of issues, phoned Oprah Winfrey.

..... “All of Oprah’s top people thought she would go, because when the president invites you to the White House, most people automatically say yes,” said one of Oprah’s closest advisers. “But Oprah said she didn’t have the time or inclination to go. It wasn’t like she had to think it over. It was an immediate, flat-out, unequivocal no.”  --MoonBattery quoting NYPost

Oprah can expect an IRS audit soon, accompanied by some sort of FCC inquisition. 

RoJo, on the other hand, will be patted on the head and fed a couple of treats.

Define "Large Amount"

Sipsey notes the following:

A joint bulletin issued in early August by the Department of Homeland Security and FBI warns state and local law enforcement agencies to look out for people in possession of “large amounts” of weapons and ammunition, describing the discovery of “unusual amounts” of weapons as a potential indicator of criminal or terrorist activity.

Like this?


Nah.  I'm not going to sell any of them.

It's Only TWO Years Away

Noted by Ticker in a column calling Issa what he really is:  a lying huckster.

By 2016, before the next president is sworn into office, the Social Security Disability Insurance trust fund will be depleted, affecting millions of deserving Americans for whom the program is intended.

That's perhaps the only truth Issa emitted in his bloviation.

Dumb Question at AmSpec Blog

Perhaps this fellow is only 12 years old.  That's his best excuse for this:

The question now is, will Republicans snatch defeat from the jaws of victory as they so often do?

Department of Education

Department of Energy

Nat'l Endowment for the Arts

Medicare Part D

No Child Left Behind

Oh, yah.  They will snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.  It's what they do. 

D.C. Extortionists: Your Congressmen

Palin's column contains this information:

...Schweizer interviewed former Chairman of Apache Corporation Ray Plank. Plank said campaign cash and lobbying contracts now function as “protection money” to keep lawmakers and regulators from going after you. 

“It’s what you expect from the mafia,” said Plank. “They basically come to you and say, ‘We are going to shove this bat up your ass and give you an enema. You better play ball.’ We saw a great deal of it. It’s an insidious blight.”...

That reminded me of a lunch conversation I had with a friend/business associate several years ago.  He was CEO of a relatively large company and was active with the industry trade-association, so he got out to D.C. regularly.

Trust me:  the above quote from Plank is a virtual copy/paste of what my friend told me over that lunch.

Something else:  he was clear that 'both sides' played that game.  The R's would promise to un-do/prevent D damage, and vice-versa.

It's no wonder that Congress wrote such comprehensive racketeering and corruption laws, eh?

Monday, October 21, 2013

Experian = Whore

Ticker found this:

An identity theft service that sold Social Security and drivers license numbers — as well as bank account and credit card data on millions of Americans — purchased much of its data from Experian, one of the three major credit bureaus, according to a lengthy investigation by KrebsOnSecurity.

No, Experian has not been prosecuted, nor is it likely.

Really, Your Excellency?

Some folks think it's sort of a joke, I guess.

Jesus was the "divine immigrant" who lived his life "traveling from place to place," Bishop David O'Connell of Trenton told the congregation at a midday "Justice for Immigrants" Mass Oct. 11 at St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral.

"Sacred Scripture tell us where he was from and what his ancestral lineage was," the bishop said in his homily. "But nowhere in the Bible do we find his permanent address, the location of his house, where he lived after beginning his public ministry.

No permanent address, no FedEx delivery receipts, and not even a body in the tomb.

HT: Gateway

Quote of the Month

Leave it to Belvedere to find the right quote.

It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle; or be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing men.

Of the latter we are in most danger at present: Let us therefore be aware of it. Let us contemplate our forefathers and posterity; and resolve to maintain the rights bequeath’d to us from the former, for the sake of the latter. — Instead of sitting down satisfied with the efforts we have already made, which is the wish of our enemies, the necessity of the times, more than ever, calls for our utmost circumspection, deliberation, fortitude, and perseverance.

Let us remember that “if we suffer tamely a lawless attack upon our liberty, we encourage it, and involve others in our doom.” It is a very serious consideration, which should deeply impress our minds, that millions yet unborn may be the miserable sharers of the event.

Sam Adams, 1771

Read that again, RoJo and Ribble.  Or have it read TO you by someone who understands it.

One of the Good Guys

Interesting story here.

Schmitz was the prosecutor who told ATF to stick it where the sun never shines when ATF wanted to jail their own (paid) informant--a fellow with an IQ of around 50.

And he has had a hat-load of investigatory experience not mentioned in the Bice story.

Solid guy.  


A Non-Story About Political Money

This popped up yesterday in the Madistan paper.

In January 2009, Milwaukee area attorney Mark Thomsen donated $5,000 to a Wisconsin official’s political campaign. Thomsen soon sent an additional $500 just eight days before the official cast a key vote on an insurance issue that greatly affected Thomsen and his clients.

The public official’s vote was not in the state Assembly, or the state Senate. It was in the state’s highest court.

When the Wisconsin Supreme Court decision came down in Thomsen’s favor, the majority included the recipient of Thomsen’s money: Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson.

We've been through this before.  Political money goes to like-minded office-holders (or candidates)--at least, that's the line that the RadioMouths ran with when the "story" was that Conservative congress-critters got money from conservatives.

It'll be interesting to hear their take on this one, since Screechin' Shirley is named.

(By the way:  as much as I dislike Screech's inane rulings, I don't for one second believe that $18K/year buys her vote.  That would make her a very cheap whore, indeed.) 

Boehner's Record Very Impressive!

The guy deserves some props, hey.

Since he became Speaker of the House, the national debt has increased by over $3.7Trillion.  That's an inter-galactic record.

It's about $27 grand for each household in the USA.

Good work, John. 
Since John Boehner became speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives on Jan. 5, 2011, the debt of the federal government has increased by $3,064,063,380,067.72. - See more at: http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/under-boehner-debt-3t-under-3-yrs-enough-buy-every-household-3-yrs#sthash.X5GrfFRt.dpuf

Sunday, October 20, 2013

The Crying Girly-men in the Senate

McCarthy has it dead-on.

Short:  the crying girly-men Senators who attack Cruz/Lee are delusional.

The Tea Party is NOT delusional.  And they're not girly-men, either.

Friday, October 18, 2013

The Coulter Collapse

Saw this item at Protein Wisdom and remembered that Coulter's appearance in Milwaukee was "cancelled for scheduling reasons."

It wasn't "scheduling."

It was that no one would show up.

So now Coulter shares something with Bill Ayers!

Strassel: Just a Little Short-Sighted

Cluck-clucking from another mother hen.

...The Americans who supported the defund mission did so for the right reasons. They are correct that the law is a disaster, and that GOP leadership lacked a coherent plan to counter it this summer. They are correct that the House has every "right" to control the purse. They are correct that the party is too often rudderless, that it has lacked a vision, that it needs some bold figures willing to define a modern (which doesn't mean populist) conservatism. 

But none of that changes the fact that Defund ObamaCare was the wrong fight, at the wrong time, facing impossible odds, and conducted by generals who lacked an endgame. Being right isn't always enough.
History is full of brave men who are famous mostly for losing. Republicans will have more shots to cut down ObamaCare, and pry out budget concessions. But to win those fights, they'll have to learn from this one. Brave charges mean little if they aren't followed by victory.

What Ms Strassel has in wordsmithing ability, she lacks in long-term vision and knowledge of history.

The Cruz/Lee assault was only the first skirmish in what will be a long war.  In that skirmish, Cruz & Lee and their backers learned some important things--for instance, the identities of most of the Quislings.  There are more Quislings out there, of course, but knowing who most of them are is critical.

They also found that ObozoCare is, indeed, horribly unpopular.  Polls (another intel source) had been saying so, but the polls hadn't been tested under fire, so to speak, until the Cruz/Lee event. 

(In that regard, it is noteworthy that ObozoCare is currently self-destructing.  Many a war has been won because of Events not foreseen by either side.)

Another valuable find:  Democrat voters (not pols) despise Democrat pols almost as much as Tea Party folks despise the Surrender Caucus.  Strassel, being oh-so-sophisticated, denigrates 'populism' when in fact, the populist Democrats will be allies in the final battles over the Statist regime.  Perhaps she's too young to remember the Teamsters' enthusiasm for Ron Reagan--or perhaps her vision isn't very good.

Finally, Ms Strassel forgets Dunkirk--and for that matter, the Philippines.  Both of those disasters, and many others in military history, were not only preludes to victory, but were also proximate causes of eventual victory.  Defeat often increases the resolve and ferocity of the troops.

The shot heard 'round the world has been fired.  The war is commenced.  Ms Strassel might want to stick around for the end.

Was RoJo Given the Cuckoo's Nest Treatment?

Oh yah, RoJo (and most of the State's (R) representatives) got to take their "election-story" votes on the whole ObozoCare/Shutdown/DebtForever mess.

...But at least we all have a moment of clarity. The GOP is not, in any meaningful sense, a conservative, first-principles, Constitutionalist party — and unless it’s subsumed by the Tea Party, it never will be. Rather, it’s content to be the lesser half of the Permanent Bipartisan Fusion Party as long as it can collect some of the pork scraps from underneath the table of the Permanent Bipartisan Fusion Government. No wonder they keep losing — they like it....

Well, Boehner likes it.  So does the Old Fart Crapweasel Mc-HasBeen and his butt-buddy.

But when the Magic Fairy-Dust of "QE" gets the Wizard of Oz treatment--and it will--I wouldn't want to be in their comfortable club with their comfortable silk jackets.

HT:  Grim

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Whither the Budget Committee?

Ryan, RoJo, and a few others are now embarking on a joint committee budgeting assignment.

Pethkoukis posts an essay ending thus:

...Given that the average US debt-to-GDP ratio was 37% from 1957 through 2007, a better policy goal would be to immediately shift — via entitlement reform and pro-growth polices rather than more discretionary spending cuts — the debt-to-GDP ratio onto a downward trajectory back toward that 37% level, if not lower, over the next two decades....

Yes, "reform" may include SocSec taxation on incomes up to $235K rather than only $85+K.  So?

Policy

How Long the D/R Parties?

Picked up from PW:

...William Galston, writing in the Wall Street Journal warns that the institutional Republican Party — the political equivalent of the Washington Generals — may have lost its  audience after the longest losing streak in history.   A large part of the GOP base is walking out — led by an “aroused, angry and above all fearful [Jacksonian America] in full revolt against a new elite”...

Well, yah.  We're well past the 'once' in "Fool me once...."

But that's not all.

...the assumption that Third Party must only come from conservative ranks bears closer examination. For the Democrats need money too.  In fact they need it more than anyone else, a fact underscored by their obsession to lift every limit on their credit cards.  The truth is they are only one step ahead of disaster; for if once the EBT system stops working, even momentarily,  there is a drastic disturbance in the force....

Seems to me that in the last 5 days a lot of polls have affirmed that the majority of Americans are sick and tired of BOTH parties and all of Congress.  All of 'em.

ObozoCare's Stolen Code

Seems that the no-competitive-bid/single-source ObozoCare Canuck team can't even steal code well.

A company permits the free use of its software, I think for data tables, so long as the user retains the copyright notification that the software belongs to the company.

Well, of course, The Gang Who Couldn't Code Straight did not include that copyright notification.

Of course not.  They were even more stupid than that:

....apparently the crack Obama team left the internal comments in the code, which allowed this company to quickly determine it was in fact its code. Of course, they did delete the part of about requiring their copyright notice to be displayed....

Oh, there will be a settlement, as Ace reminds us.

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

RoJo's All Hopping Mad

Once again, RoJo runs his flap:

"The people who foisted this strategy on us are not laying down their arms. They're going to be blaming everyone else but themselves for this spectacular failure. The people who foisted this strategy, it has been a spectacular strategy for their own benefit."
 
I remember a bright middle-aged fellow campaigning on 'doing whatever it took' to rid the US of ObamaCare.  
 
Now he's pissing all over people who did whatever they could to rid the US of ObamaCare. 

Sensenbrenner Slaps Obozo

Finally, some good news about Sensenbrenner!

First off, let's recall that Sensenbrenner and Feingold both voted against the original language of the Patriot Act.  Now we find that Sensenbrenner is an ally of Leaky Leahy.

That's not always bad. 

Here's the recap of the new legislative proposal:

It seeks to limit the collection of phone records to known terrorist suspects; to end "secret laws" by making courts disclose surveillance policies; to create a special court advocate to represent privacy interests; and to allow companies to disclose how many requests for users' information they receive from the USA. The bill also tightens up language governing overseas surveillance to remove a loophole which it has been abused to target internet and email activities of Americans.  The Guardian quoted at Sykes

Should the bill's language actually do what's reported above, it's a good first step.

Even more interesting:  will Obozo veto it?

Who Elected Tim Sheehy?

Tim Sheehy is probably a very nice guy and all that stuff.

But apparently he thinks he has replaced Gov. Walker and the Legislature.  Or maybe he thinks he's Barack Obama.

If enacting a regional tax is the solution to pay for a new Milwaukee arena or other cultural institutions, Racine County won't be a part of it.

That is the message Timothy Sheehy, president of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, delivered recently to Racine County Executive Jim Ladwig.

"I don't have designs on Racine County," Sheehy said.

When are you going to issue a hall-pass to Waukesha and Ozaukee, Tim? 

Or why don't you man up and tell the NBA to shove it where the sun never shines?

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Death of a Professional Amateur

One usually thinks of an amateur as someone who is not very good at what they do.  That's not the real meaning of the word, of course.  An amateur does what he does for love of doing it.  Here's the derivation:   < French, Middle French  < Latin amātor  lover, equivalent to amā-  (stem of amāre  to love) + -tor -tor, replaced by French -teur  (< Latin -tōr-,  oblique stem of -tor );  Conversely, one thinks of a professional as someone who really knows their stuff and they're very, very, good at it.

It was my good fortune to have as a friend and mentor a professional amateur.  He sang because he loved to sing and he was very, very, good at it.

Frank sang in his father's church choir as a boy, then as an adult.  He sang in other church choirs later in life.  He also sang in the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus from the day it was organized until he could no longer sing on this Earth.

He never missed a rehearsal or a show except for grave illness.  He marked his music and never missed an entrance, nor a cutoff.  He learned the phonetic pronunciations of texts in Hebrew, Russian, Polish, and French; he already knew the German and Latin.  He rarely sang the wrong note or rhythm--and always corrected it before show-time.  That's because he was a professional amateur.

He joined "ad-hoc" choirs, sometimes for a cause, and sometimes just for fun.  Whenever he could, he sang in the choir for the funeral Mass of a friend--or for people not his friends.  In every one of those ventures, he was a contributor, and not just with his voice.  He contributed leadership to singers near him, and sagacity about the human foibles surrounding us all.  He contributed understanding that was gained from singing under the batons of dozens of masters, and he contributed from his very large store of knowledge of history and tradition.  That's because he was a professional amateur.

He contributed humor and a ready smile.  He sang the way he was told to sing, even when he disagreed with the instruction.  That's not to say he rolled over; if he had something to say, he said it firmly but without rancor.  He contributed friendship, loyalty, and comraderie, even to folks that he didn't like all that much.  That's because he was a professional amateur.

There's an old musician's line about arriving in Heaven and playing in the orchestra with Bach, Haydn, Mozart, et.al.  Frank sang all their stuff--and stuff by Durufle, Beethoven, Singenberger, Palestrina, Rachmaninoff, Elgar, Britten, Brahms, Bruckner, Mahler, Vaughn Williams, Faure, Bizet, Peeters, Pitoni, Schubert, Handel, Franck, Poulenc, Szymanowski, Cherubini, Stravinsky, Fichtner, Tallis, Orff, and the collective of un-named geniuses who composed Gregorian Chant.  That's because he was a professional amateur.

And on his arrival in heaven, for which we all pray, he will bump a very senior Seraphim down the row a bit.  Frank knows all the scores.  He'll contribute.  He'll never miss an entrance; he'll never miss a cutoff, and he'll laugh with (literally) the best of 'em.

That's because he's a professional amateur.

We'll miss him.

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Corn-A-Holing You Less?

The Corn-A-Holers are going bonkers; EPA may back off its 15% corn-liquor requirement for gasoline.

Among the negative effects on the ethanol industry and the agricultural economy would be “backing off a federal law that provides clear and consistent signals to investors and farmers.”  Lincoln Journal-Star quoted at HotAir


Translation:  "...federal law that provides constant income to investors and suppliers, which income is stolen from consumers at the point of a gun."

Next time you see that picture of the 'strong, independent, farmer' remember that he's a sniveling Government dependent.



Casual Lies from Obama

One thing can be said about someone who lies casually and carelessly:  it's a sign that the 'someone' lies all the time, about everything.

The old maxim is that 'lies and murder travel together.'

That would be a warning to those who think that ObozoCare is actually "health" care.

NBC/WSJ BS Poll

There are a few problems with the NBC/WSJ poll that sent the Pubbies into a fainting spell.

For one thing, the survey is based on interviews with "adults," not "likely voters,"...

The sample size is only 800 when 1,000 or more is preferable...

and most significant:

...the sample is heavily over-weighted in two ways: By the presence of government workers and households in which at least one person works for government at some level — 20 percent, which is two-and-a-half-times the rate for the general public — and there too many Democrats and too few Republicans being interviewed.

But even if the (R) brand is suffering due to the principled stand of Cruz/Lee and the House, so what?

In a week--when the ObozoCare website is STILL non-functional--the (D) brand, and that of the GirlyMan Totalitarian, will be far worse off than that of the (R)s, should they have the guts to say "Nuts!!" to the White House and Dirty Harry.


Investigatory Journalism Has TWO Stories

The JS has found an interesting situation.

Actually, two of them, one far more important than the other.

Here's the second one:

....Cheryl Ferrill was hired as a supervisor in 2010. Ferrill is Robertson's sister, according to workers who know both women.

It's unclear what supervisory or benefits processing experience Ferrill has. She was an officer with the Milwaukee Police Department from 1982 until 1996 when she was injured on the job, according to city records. In recent years, she worked for a temp service and for HP Enterprise Services, the company that helps the state process benefits claims. She currently receives duty disability payments in addition to her $48,500-a-year state job.

It's long been known that "duty disability" payments are very generous in both dollars AND in interpretation of "disability."

The JS should start tugging on that thread, too.

SCOTUS and Wausau

Happened across this in another (but similar) context to the Wausau kerfuffle.

Justice Clark's comments (Abington v Schempp) should be pasted on the Wausau Superintendent's desk.  (See P. 3 of the letter.)

It's no surprise that Annie Gaylor and her cohort are a pack of liars.  It's nice to see someone compose a response based on reality.



ustice Tom Clark’s declaration in the Supreme Court decision in the 1963 case, School District of Abington Township vs. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203 (1963). “Secularism is unconstitutional…preferring those who do not believe over those who do believe… lt is the duty of government to deter no-belief religions…The State may not establish a ‘religion of secularism’ in the sense of affirmatively opposing or showing hostility to religion, thus preferring those who believe in no religion over those who do believe.” - See more at: http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/#sthash.a6eU4tEc.dpuf

Friday, October 11, 2013

The Ironic Death of the (R) Party

It's no small irony that the (R) Party is dying.

John Judis:

...this week I called some Republicans I used to talk to (and some that they recommended I talk to) about the effect the shutdown is having on the Republican Party in Washington. The response I got was fear of Republican decline and loathing of the Tea Party: One lobbyist and former Hill staffer lamented the “fall of the national party,” another the rise of “suburban revolutionaries,” and another of “people alienated from business, from everything.” There is a growing fear among Washington Republicans that the party, which has lost two national elections in a row, is headed for history’s dustbin. And I believe that they are right to worry....

The Party was born to free the slaves. 

It will die because it helped enslave the people.

Yup. A Cave UPDATED

We all knew that the Medical Device tax would go; a bazillion dollars have been spent on removing it, and a lot of Democrats thought it sucked--especially after hearing from their home-state device manufacturers such as GEMedical (Wisconsin) and Medtronix (Minnesota.)

Along with that went:

1)  the shutdown, for at least a few weeks;
2)  the debt ceiling;
3)  parts of the sequester (TBA);
4)  the de-funding of ObozoCare; and
5)  all (R) credibility to Conservatives.

Oh, well.  When the real revolution starts, you won't read about it in the newspapers.

UPDATE:

Ryan denies something.

Nice, But Why?

Seems that the State's coffers overflow!

Gov. Scott Walker on Thursday announced a special session to take up $100 million in property tax relief.

The measure would distribute that amount to school districts through equalization aids, which Walker called "the easiest way for school districts, as they set their levies, to understand the system." He said districts have already established their budgets for the year and all the money would go directly toward property taxes
.

Nice.  About $16.50/year for the next two years for the average property-owner.

Here's a question for Gov. Walker:

Why not a $100 million reduction in State income tax?  Or a $100 million reduction in the sales-tax?

Sure, I know why, and so do you:  you can't be Santa if you don't have a little extra cash for the folks.

Jack Lew, Liar

Well sure, he's a liar.  He works for Obozo.

“Secretary Lew, you have also publicly stated that only Congress has the power to lift the debt limit,” said Hatch. “Now, while it is ostensibly true that Congress has the power to raise the debt limit, there will be no increase if the president does not agree. At the same time, despite your public statements to the contrary, it is not true that raising the limit has only to do with spending Congress already approved. This line of argument is based on a premise that Congress makes spending decisions unilaterally, and that the Executive Branch plays no role in the process.
“That premise is simply false,” Hatch told Lew. “No amount of spending can be enacted without the president signing it into law.”
- See more at: http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/hatch-scorches-lew-not-true-simply-false-four-pinocchios#sthash.LSVoUkZz.dpuf

Obama's Compromise: "Shove It"

Obozo has turned down the debt-limit increase offered by Boehner.

We could conclude that Obozo wants to default.

But we knew that already.

Yup. It's All Racism!

The reliably Lefty Bloomberg news offers an essay which never uses the word "racism" while making it clear that opposition to ObozoCare is indeed racist.

The even quote a Perfessor!  An Innerlekshul!  So it must be true.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

"Intellectually Dishonest"

That's the only phrase that can be applied to a RadioMouth who said this morning that "ObamaCare is an entitlement and cannot be de-funded."

Yes, it's an entitlement and--so far--cannot be de-funded.

But that's not what Cruz was trying to do, nor the House which passed the bill in question.

As even the "intellectually dishonest" know, the House bill simply de-funded the administration of ObozoCare.  In other words, dollars budgeted to pay ObozoCare workers at HHS, IRS (etc.) were taken out of the budget resolution.  The main "funds" were left intact--except there was no way to spend them.

It's also "intellectually dishonest" for Ron Johnson to have voted the way he did, which allowed Harry and the ratbastard Democrats to stop the debate--a debate which Johnson should have welcomed, given that he wanted to 'convert five Democrats.'  RoJo could be a fool, of course, and think that those five were swayed by Cruz' speech alone.

It's also "intellectually dishonest" for someone who often states that he is "not a Republican, but a Conservative" to then state that 'electing Republicans' is the only course of action which should be taken.

How'd that work with McCain?  Dole?  Romney? Or the Republican who made incandescent bulbs illegal?  Or the Republican who established the EPA and those Republicans who continue to INCREASE its funding? 

It didn't work, because none of them had Conservative principles.  Nor, when it was clinch-time, did GWBush.

What the intellectually dishonest folks know--but can't admit--is that (R) flavored Totalitarianism is still Totalitarianism.  But they'll continue to prattle while the smoke from burning Rome fills their studio.


Another Reason to Hate Da Bears

Leave aside the fact that Da Bears are in Chicago (and all that F.I.B. stuff), and leave aside the longest-running pro football rivalry, and all that stuff.

There's another (and better) reason to hate Da Bears.

Former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka sees his decision not to run against Barack Obama in 2004 as his “biggest mistake.”

Speaking at an oil company’s grand opening ceremony in North Dakota the Super Bowl-winning former coach lamented that he could have prevented the Barack Obama presidency.

“Biggest mistake I’ve ever made,” Ditka said of not running against Barack Obama to represent Illinois in the U.S. Senate, according to a report from The Dickinson Press last week.

“Not that I would have won, but I probably would have and he wouldn’t be in the White House,” he added.

Yup.  Da Bears' Mike Ditka gave us the SCOAMF.

The Ad: It's Funny!!

The ObozoCare ad is finally running.

And it's funny.  Be sure to stick around for the 'small-print'/fast-talk at the very end.

Funding ObozoCare Is Expensive

It is rumored that Boehner/Cantor/Ryan are giving up on the ObozoCare fight.  That's not exactly surprising; they had shown their hand with the "delay, not de-fund" gambit.

That's one helluva strategy!  Fire one round of ammo, then run like hell. 

Ryan's Budget Committee will be writing a large check, too.

The exact cost to build Healthcare.gov, according to U.S. government records, appears to have been $634,320,919

No doubt the usual Congress-slime will make the usual TV appearance denouncing the usual 'waste and fraud' before going to the usual club for dinner with the usual DC pals and spending the usual $150/person for drinks and dinner.


Wednesday, October 09, 2013

The IRS: Criminals With Guns

Oh, yes, the IRS scandal gets worse.

Much worse.

Top Internal Revenue Service Obamacare official Sarah Hall Ingram discussed confidential taxpayer information with senior Obama White House officials, according to 2012 emails obtained by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and provided to The Daily Caller.

Lois Lerner, then head of the IRS Tax Exempt Organizations division, also received an email alongside White House officials that contained confidential information.

Ingram attempted to counsel the White House on a lawsuit from religious organizations opposing Obamacare’s contraception mandate. Email exchanges involving Ingram and White House officials — including White House health policy advisor Ellen Montz and deputy assistant to the president for health policy Jeanne Lambrew — contained confidential taxpayer information, according to Oversight.

Violence is not the answer, of course.

Keep repeating that to yourselves.  It may take several hours of repetition before the urge diminishes.

HT:  Gateway
Top Internal Revenue Service Obamacare official Sarah Hall Ingram discussed confidential taxpayer information with senior Obama White House officials, according to 2012 emails obtained by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and provided to The Daily Caller.
Lois Lerner, then head of the IRS Tax Exempt Organizations division, also received an email alongside White House officials that contained confidential information.
Ingram attempted to counsel the White House on a lawsuit from religious organizations opposing Obamacare’s contraception mandate. Email exchanges involving Ingram and White House officials — including White House health policy advisor Ellen Montz and deputy assistant to the president for health policy Jeanne Lambrew — contained confidential taxpayer information, according to Oversight.
- See more at: http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/#sthash.vik7q1tE.dpuf

Your Next Fed Chair

She'll be in charge of the Fed soon.

“For my own part I did not see and did not appreciate what the risks were with securitization, the credit ratings agencies, the shadow banking system, the S.I.V.’s — I didn’t see any of that coming until it happened."

- Janet Yellen, 2010  --quoted at Vox

She'll fit right in with SCOAMF.


Don't Like Your ObozoCare? Tough.

Should you actually be able to register for ObozoCare, there's another little item to consider.

...For those who’ve busted through glitches on the federal Obamacare insurance website to create an account, there’s no clear, obvious way for consumers to delete the accounts if they choose — at least not in the current incarnation....--Politico quoted at HotAir

Fly, meet spider.

ObozoDemand: $1.1 TRILLION!

Sure, he'll "negotiate".  But only after this:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is moving legislation to push the debt limit until Dec. 31, 2014, well beyond next year’s midterm election.

Senate aides estimate the bill would increase federal borrowing authority by about $1.1 trillion.

Note:  not a word about spending controls.

Cloward-Piven, call Harry and the SCOAMF.


Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is moving legislation to push the debt limit until Dec. 31, 2014, well beyond next year’s midterm election.
Senate aides estimate the bill would increase federal borrowing authority by about $1.1 trillion
- See more at: http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/#sthash.itqiEobQ.dpuf

SCOAMF Care, Reset Chapter

When such Great Minds as Obozo, Sibelius, and Pelosi meet, there's only one obvious outcome.

...potential registrants talking to phone support today have been told that all user passwords are being reset to help address the site's login woes. And the tech supports behind Healthcare.gov will be asking more users to act in the name of fixing the site, too. According to registrants speaking with Ars, individuals whose logins never made it to the site's database will have to re-register using a different username, as their previously chosen names are now stuck in authentication limbo....--quoted at AOSHQ


Yah.  That's the ticket!!

Plenty more at the link, mostly technical stuff, but it's in English.

Barrycade Catholics

Preventing oldsters from pee-stops, evicting oldsters from their homes, stopping vets from visiting their own memorial, arresting picture-takers at the Grand Canyon....

...and now this:

...a priest was denied access to a military chapel this weekend. Father Ray Leonard serves at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay in Georgia but because of the government shutdown, he wasn’t allowed to go to celebrate Mass this past weekend.

He is contracted by the Defense Department to meet the spiritual needs of Catholics, but not now. The chapel doors were locked and the sign said, “Shutdown: No Catholic service till further notice.”

The SCOAMF needs a good hard slap across the face.

Ryan: "What ObozoCare??"

Only two years ago, Republicans (not to be confused with Conservatives) were telling us that ObozoCare was a grave problem. 

Fuggedaboutit.

At least, that's what Ryan seems to be telling the world.

So let me ask you:  does the White House have pictures, or something?

"First, I Want My Way. Then We'll Talk"

The SCOAMF wants to spend more money and push his signature failure.

Then he'll pretend to negotiate.

Fuck him.

By the way:  tax revenues are $225Bn/month and debt-service is $18Bn/month.  "Default" ain't a problem, no matter what SCOAMF says.

President Barack Obama on Tuesday signaled that he would be willing negotiate with Republicans on health care, spending and deficit reduction once Congress passes a clean continuing resolution and debt ceiling bill even if they are short-term measures. - See more at: http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/melanie-hunter/obama-gop-i-will-talk-about-anything-if-you-pass-clean-cr-debt-ceiling#sthash.n5UFmhDj.dpuf

What "Privacy" of IRS Data?

It's becoming a pattern:  Big Gummint drones using private (Yahoo?  Gmail?) email accounts for Gummint business.  First there was EPA.

Now IRS.

"[W]e have uncovered a troubling pattern of IRS officials sending official documents to non-official email accounts as well as the use of non-official email accounts to conduct official business," the September 30th letter to acting IRS Commissioner Dan Werfil reads. "In some instances, IRS officials have sent taxpayer protected information to non-official email accounts."

The officials were identified as then-IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman, Lois Lerner, who headed the office at the center of the scandal, Judith Kindall, and Nikole Flax, who worked in Lerner's office.

So your last 5 years' tax returns could be sitting on Lerner's home computer--and could be sent from there to anyone.

Like the press, or the Park Service.

The Story of RoJo: A Cautionary Tale

There once was a man named RoJo.  He was a finance guy who ran a business selling stuff to his father-in-law, who paid him a lot of money for the stuff.   Then he became politically active!  So active that he was picked by Reince Priebus to run for office against a pompous, arrogant Statist whose time was up.

So RoJo ran a campaign which was 90% anti-ObozoCare and 10% "small Government.". He was going to be the 'common man' in the Senate, using his accounting acumen to straighten out the books and stop Big Brother.  The pompous arrogant Statist was tired and his schtick wasn't selling, so RoJo won.

RoJo made some Conservative-sounding noises in the Senate early on, but that was against the rules. So he was sent to his room by the Senate Daddy, McConnell.  

And that was the end of "RoJo the Conservative".

Earlier this year, Daddy McConnell let RoJo out of his room and told him he could play with the other kids, namely, some White House budget types.  Of course, there was a condition attached:  RoJo had to behave himself and play nice and never, ever, ever again raise Hell about the “greatest assault on our freedom in our lifetime.” or run around saying: "Obama represents nothing less than a threat to turn America into a “socialist, European-style” state.

If RoJo didn't behave himself, he would have to go back to his room.  He wouldn't be able to play with the other Big Boys any more or pretend to be "solving the problem" of Big Brother Government with the White House kids.

By and by, another Conservative came to the Senate.  But this one actually did what RoJo had "promised" to do:  he threw sand into the transmission of ObozoCare.  This was a problem for Daddy, because Daddy wanted to be re-elected and maybe even become the Big Daddy. 

So Daddy sent RoJo out with another assignment:  RoJo would have to denounce the Conservative and vote against him.  Not only that, but RoJo would have to scream and yell at the Conservative.  And, of course, he'd have to lie about that screaming-and-yelling stuff, or Daddy would be unhappy and send him back to his room.

RoJo did what Daddy told him, so he can still play with the other boys.  He can even go on the radio, so long as he says that the Conservative is a stupid-head, or stuff like that.  And RoJo did, because he learned his lesson. 

The end.

Tuesday, October 08, 2013

"The Best and the Brightest"??

Woops.

...Another villain is our immigraiton system, and those who defend it. The report notes that foreign language immigrants (which includes just about all immigrants to the U.S.) are significantly less literate and numerate than native-born adults. This doesn’t get better with time, either, and the report recommends that the U.S. do a better job making sure they speak English....

Yah, well, the Chamber of Commerce will have to invent another B.S. tagline.

How about "Not as dumb as a box of rocks!"

"You Have No Papers"

Gotta hand it to Obozo.  He's made several fortunes for gun manufacturers, and he's doing his damndest to elect Republicans, too!!

...The bus stopped along a road when a large herd of bison passed nearby, and seniors filed out to take photos. Almost immediately, an armed ranger came by and ordered them to get back in, saying they couldn’t “recreate.” The tour guide, who had paid a $300 fee the day before to bring the group into the park, argued that the seniors weren’t “recreating,” just taking photos.

“She responded and said, ‘Sir, you are recreating,’ and her tone became very aggressive,” Vaillancourt said.

That's nothing.

The bus passengers were not allowed a pee-stop at an in-park hotel, either.

Gestapo.

HT:  Hot Air

pResident Labor Relations: Wrong Again!

Maybe his teleprompter doesn't have auto-correct.  It's stuck on "Stupid".

President Obama again compared Republicans in Congress to workers going on strike, telling reporters Tuesday that GOP lawmakers had no more right to shut down the government than factory workers had to walk off their jobs.

The president made similar remarks at an event in Rockville, Md., on Thursday. He even referenced that event in his remarks Tuesday.

... In each case, Obama seemed unaware that the worker activity he was describing was a classic organized labor strike, a federally protected activity under the National Labor Relations Act. The law was signed by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1935 and is considered one of the era's major liberal victories....

Deeper and deeper into the hole he digs:

...Obama's comments annoyed AFL-CIO spokesman Josh Goldstein, who tweeted: "He's really using this analogy again?"

Well, sure.  It doesn't bother him to be utterly stupid.  See, e.g., the C-in-C's comments which impaired the administration of military justice.

Stupid is as stupid does--and this guy has "stupid" in spades.  

No, It's Not "Your Land"

It's Obozo's property.  You may NOT use it.

A state highway that runs through the national park was closed after Grand Canyon officials found tourists removing barricades at overlooks along the road.

The nerve of those people!   Stopping to look at the Grand Canyon after the Grand Wizard Obozo said "NO!"

Twenty-one Federal traffic tix issued....

How Much Gummint Do We Need?

Interesting story from today's Biz Journal.

The federal government shutdown, now in its eighth day, is disrupting Milwaukee-area food manufacturers’ operations and could delay new product launches slated for 2014, company leaders said Tuesday.

Ummnnhhh...yah.  Most of the 'delay' problem is summed up here:

...other federal functions regulating the food and beverage industry — like product label approval — have been suspended during the shutdown,...

"Product label approval."  Seems simple to me:  tell us who made the product, what it is, what's in it, when the shelf-life ends, and phone-contact would be nice, too.  Bar-code the sucker and out ya' go!!

Some twit has to APPROVE this?

Another interesting tidbit:

Food and beverage manufacturers are also flying blind right now when it comes to commodity prices, which the federal government quotes, Belke said.

“Essentially all commodities were frozen the day the government closed,” Belke said. “The private industry is trying to figure out how to come up with pricing without really having any communication source to realize the ebbs and flows within that part of the industry. We’re all sitting there scratching our head going, ‘We don’t know if we’re overpaying or underpaying for meats or grains or whatever the case may be.’”

Whatever happened to CBOE?  The daily farm reports (run on commercial radio in ag-dominated areas)?

Private enterprise would fill that slot in a second--if it weren't "Free" from the Feds, eh?

Monday, October 07, 2013

The Non-Culture of Wausau

Gotta hand it to these guys for being Dummies of the Month.

A high school’s elite Master Singers choir group will temporarily disband and Wausau elementary schools will no longer hold holiday concerts as the result of a Wausau School District directive to limit religious music in December.

Phil Buch, who has directed Wausau West High School’s choral programs since 1981, said the decision to halt rehearsals for the Master Singers was made after a meeting Thursday with district officials and Frank Sutherland, an attorney who represents the school district.

One is always suspicious when a lawyer walks into the room.


Buch said district administrators gave music educators at Wausau schools three options for December concerts, which typically contain a significant amount of religious music: choose five secular, or non-religious, songs for each religious song performed; hold a concert and have no holiday music whatsoever; or postpone any concerts in December. Because the 20-member Master Singers group is invited to sing at nearly a dozen holiday concerts each year, Buch said, those options were unacceptable.


Not only "unacceptable."  I would say that Ebenezer Scrooge would have applauded those inane commands. 

“This group sings at Christmas programs,” Buch said. “We sing for nursing homes, grade schools, businesses. To do that without Christmas music doesn’t make sense.”



Buch said the annual Wausau West music concert, held at The Grand theater each December, will go on but without the Master Singers.

You'll pee your pants when you read the "statement" from the school board President, who wears a cheesehead while cooking.

Wausau School Board president Michelle Schaefer said the change in direction stems from legal concerns over the amount of religious music performed in the schools....“From a school board perspective, we look for music that is balanced,” Schaefer said. “Yes, we are a predominantly Christian society, but we are also a society of many faiths, and we want to respect that.

Right.

In Russian, the word for Ms. Schaefer is neculturny.

Here, she's just an idiot.

HT:  Sykes

What Is Sensenbrenner Saying?

Do you notice that there's no "there" in Sensenbrenner's words?

A U.S. default on its debts would be more harmful to Americans than the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) said Sunday.

But it's appropriate to link the health care law and the nation's debt as lawmakers lock horns on boosting the nation's borrowing authority, he said at a town hall meeting Sunday in his congressional district.

"The two issues are going to be dealt with together," Sensenbrenner said. "We can't be increasing the debt ceiling without addressing the causes of why we are borrowing money. And Obamacare is an expensive new entitlement program."

What does that mean? 

We already know that it doesn't mean "de-funding."  And delaying--the current gambit--won't change the price tag.

Maybe one of the RadioMouths will squeeze Somnolent Sensenbrenner hard and get a bit of definition here.


Sunday, October 06, 2013

Assholery, Lyrics by Mark Steyn

Camp of the Saints found this:

This land is our land, it sure ain’t your land From downtown DC to the Lake Mead shoreland From the Arctic Refuge to the Gulf Stream waters This land is closed to you and yours
 
So don’t go cruisin’ that endless Skyline And quit your fishin’, put down that fly line Don’t pay respects to your country’s war heroes Their land is closed to you and yours

Don’t even look at that view of Rushmore Don’t volunteer now, you need to hush more Don’t even think of parking near George Washington’s This land is closed to you and yours

This land is our land, it sure ain’t your land From Cuyahoga to the old Claude Moore land From the Blue Ridge Mountains to the yellow police tape Red lines are made for you, not Assad.
 

Mene, Mene, Tekel Upharsin

Cold Fury:

Y’know, we’ve all been worrying ourselves about the increasing potential for violent uprising, and how to know when (or if) the shooting ought to start. When the Dictator In Chief is chucking old folks out of their homes for no purpose other than indulging in some pointless political theater, and his sick-fuck minions are going cheerfully along with it with nary a visible qualm, I’d say the writing’s pretty much on the wall.

The link is here.

"Too Many Applicants"? Nope. Too Stupid Architecture

ObozoCare servers DDOS themselves due to architecture written by Nancy Pelosi-brained twits.

HT:  Grim

Pure Assholery

The SCOAMF sinks to the occasion in South Dakota.

HT: AOSHQ


Saturday, October 05, 2013

Is ObozoCare "Constitutional"?

Arguing the con, McCarthy.

....It is not just that the intensely unpopular Obamacare was unconstitutional as fraudulently portrayed by the president and congressional Democrats who strong-armed and pot-sweetened its way to passage. It is that Obamacare is unconstitutional as rewritten by Roberts. It is a violation of the Origination Clause — not only as I have expansively construed it, but even under Matt’s narrow interpretation of the Clause....

You'll have to read the essay yourselves.  McCarthy argues that the process of passage was un-Constitutional AND that SCOTUS stepped out of its bounds to canonize the "law."

"Dishonest," Ron?

RoJo characterizes Cruz as "intellectually dishonest."

That from a guy who voted FOR continuation of ObozoCare when the chips were down in the Senate.

Recalling that RoJo's campaign consisted of 90 parts anti-ObozoCare and 10 parts other stuff, that's quite an accusation.

But rather than calling RoJo 'intellectually dishonest,' I'll be charitable.

RoJo is confused.   


"Just Following Orders"

The US Forest Service is clearly controlled by a Gestapo veteran.

The government shutdown is being felt close to home for some locals. They say they're being forced out of private homes on Lake Mead because they sit on federal land. 

Joyce Spencer is 77-years-old and her husband Ralph is 80. They've been spending most of their time in the family ice cream store since going home isn't an option.

The Spencers never expected to be forced out of their Lake Mead home, which they've owned since the 70s, but on Thursday, a park ranger said they had 24 hours to get out-quoted at LasVegas Badger

That follows the story about the WWII Memorial and the Blue Ridge Parkway shut-down.

It anticipates another story:  Sunday Masses on military posts.

Will the MP's also "just follow orders" from a Gestapo HQ?