Quote of the Day: “After watching the President for the past 26 months I have determined he has two negotiating positions: Arrogant and petulant.” -Rich Galen
Today’s Must Read: Obamageddon Coming to a City Near You?
Either way, the mainstream press’s slowly fading intoxication with the Obama administration has led it to miss the dimensions of the new urban crisis now stalking the United States. The liberal Reagan, they swooned back in the good old days. No — the new FDR! No, wait! The new Lincoln!
But as the rosy glow surrounding the administration and all its works slowly dies away, many Americans will be taken aback at the urban crisis that quietly and unostentatiously took shape while the fatuously exhilarated press choirs sang about the hope and the change that was coming our way.
The 21st century urban crisis has five main features: the devastating impact of what for most Blacks is a still-deepening recession; the unfolding effects of the fiscal crisis meshed with the decline of the blue social model; competition for jobs, resources and power between African Americans and mostly Spanish speaking immigrants; the increased fragmentation and disintegration of Black political leadership; and the contrast between the high hopes of 2008 and the grim realities that have come clear since.
Japan and the softly glowing world…
- BBC
- NHK in English (Live feed in upper right corner)
- Telegraph of London
- Kyodo Wire
- Japan Times
- Asahi Shimbun
- The Daily Yomuri
- Japan Today
- ImTranslator – Online Translator, Dictionary, TTS add on for Firefox (It comes in handy)
- Japanese government list of nationwide radioactivity concentration
- Japan Geigermap
- Ibaraki Prefecture Geiger Counter Readings
- US National Radiation Map (updated every minute)
- Via Soylent Green: Radiation Exposure in Daily Life
- Radiation Dose Chart
- Radiation Converter
- ZeroHedge commenter Max2205′s excellent post about radioactivity including a list of radioactive elements and their half lives.
- Donations to the American Red Cross that are being designated to Japanese Earthquake relief are already getting to the folks in Japan and are most helpful.
TEPCO to Start Nitrogen Injection in Reactor 3 at Fukushima I Nuke Plant
In less than 4 hours from now, at 8PM JST on July 14, TEPCO will start injecting nitrogen gas in the Containment Vessel of Reactor 3.
High radiation? So what? TEPCO is just too eager to oblige the national government who, for some unknown reason, believes injecting nitrogen gas in a still very unstable Reactor housed in a half-destroyed reactor building (which does not offer any protection when the radioactive materials inside the Containment Vessel get pushed out by the nitrogen gas) is an excellent proof that the winding down of the Fukushima I Nuke Plant accident is on schedule. Then the government can issue an order that will either eliminate, or reduce the size of, the “emergency evacuation-ready zone”, declaring it safe for the residents.
The cattle farm that ended up shipping radioactive meat cows all over Japan is located in the zone. 75,000 becquerels/kg of cesium in the hay and the area will be declared “safe”.
I hate to think how many workers at Fukushima I Nuke Plant, both TEPCO’s and affiliates’, have been pushed hard in a high radiation environment of Reactor 3 to do what seems to me like a ceremonial work to mark the end of the “step 1″ of the “roadmap”.
He forgot to mention storm surge…Typhoon No.6 Is Set to Become “Very Intense” on July 17, May Hit Kyushu, Shikoku
with the central pressure at 910 hectopascal (=millibar). It looks set to hit the southwestern Japan, but it is possible that it veers north once it hits Kyushu or Shikoku.
I sure hope it won’t go anywhere near Fukushima. While TEPCO and NISA may think Reactor 3 is totally safe for an earthquake, it may not be for a typhoon wind and rain.
TEPCO and NISA: #Fukushima Reactor 3 Is Earthquake-Safe, Trust Us
TEPCO assured the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency that its Reactor 3 at Fukushima I Nuke Plant, no matter how badly it has been destroyed, will withstand the earthquake for which it was designed for, no problem. NISA said OK we believe you.
Unlike the previous leaks (from the same place) where the PVC joint cracked (1st leak on July 9) and where the cast-iron joint corroded (2nd leak on July 12), TEPCO says that the PVC joint completely broke off.
The company doesn’t know when the water treatment system can be re-started, as the repair work needs to be done in a very high radiation environment (100 to 150 millisieverts/hour) and each worker can remain there only for 1 to 2 minutes.
Who could have known? (Any comment from AREVA engineers?)
World News:
Gold Targets $1600 Per Ounce – New Nominal Record, Silver Surges 9% in 24 Hours as Dollars Falls
Concerns that QE3 and the printing and electronic creation of hundreds of billions of dollars and Obama’s walkout from debt ceiling negotiations is not helping dollar and bond market jitters and has led to the record dollar gold price.
Terror strikes Mumbai again as three blasts kill at least 21 people in rush-hour carnage
By the way, a thought question for the left. The left always claims that Islamofascist terrorism is motivated by oppression. But if that is the case, why are they carrying out their attacks in almost every country in the world? Why is it that they find some excuse to kill everywhere?
No, no, this is about spreading their fascist interpretation of Islam. Nothing more, nothing less.
Good news: U.S. favorable rating in Arab world now lower than during Bush era
Jonah Goldberg mockingly wonders how this can be when we were assured three years ago that the mere fact of O’s middle name would buy us a whole new line of credit in the Middle East. It’s almost as if that entire line of “argument” was an embarrassingly facile exercise in wishful thinking, designed to paper over deep political and cultural differences with a sub-moronic appeal to identity politics.
Somebody tell me again exactly why Obama and the rest of the ‘credentialed’ Democrat/MSM/LLP elites are so much smarter then the rest of us? Obama helps the looters
Liberals opposed a much smaller retaliation against Qaddafi in 1986 — a quarter of a century ago.
Now they lead a months-long siege of Libya.
Blindly.
With no plan.
No goal.
No aim.
Obama did not want another Iraq or Afghanistan. Unfortunately, he got something worse.
Shocker! French Wave The White Flag In Libya…
Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t it the French who pushed for this war to keep the Libyan oil flowing?
Bad News: Al Qaeda Plots ‘Devastating’ Cyber Attack; Good News: Plans to Invade Facebook
Always look for the silver lining. Now, if only they could do something about those annoying spammers on Twitter.
Nike workers ‘kicked, slapped and verbally abused’ at factories making Converse
Breast-feeding mother ‘told to leave council headquarters because she would offend Muslim visitors’
US News:
Land of the Six Dams News and Info sources:
- KELO-Sioux Falls, SD
- KFYR-Bismarck, ND
- KCAU-Sioux City, IA
- KETV-Omaha, NE
- Say Anything
- Plains Daily
- “Land of the Six Dams” flood gage status interactive map.
“This is our highest priority right now”: Los Alamos lab trying to stop nuclear contamination from spreading — 800 waste sites remain
Today’s Drudge Ku on the economic news:
JOBLESS WEAK: 405,000...
TOPS 400K FOR 14TH STRAIGHT WEEK...
Retail sales fall for 1st time in year...
GALLUP: Satisfaction with 'ways things are going' drops to 16% as Democrats bail...
Lowest since month after Obama took office...
Mayhem in Dallas as hundreds scramble for Section 8 vouchers...
Did You Ever Think We Would Envy China’s Economy?
How great is their economy?
The government announced this week that China’s economy expanded at an annualized rate of 9.5% in the second quarter from a year earlier. That’s slightly slower than the first quarter, thanks largely to efforts by authorities to cut bank lending and hike interest rates. Their hope is to tame inflation that’s angering the nation’s consumers, and to let some air out of a worrisome real estate bubble that many fear could burst.
Compare that with the estimated 1.8% for the United States per the Commerce Department (official numbers will be released on July 29th). I believe it was Rush who stated yesterday that can you imagine a time when economists would envy the economy of a communist country? Of course, that was before a think skinned and petulant 5 year old bought the Presidency and sent the United States on the road to Greece.
Moody’s Puts US AAA Rating On Downgrade Review
Whenever you watch the gold and silver markets you will note that whenever they are rising like crazy that at about 1o:30am EST they plunge 5-10 dollars/oz. on the Gold market, a buck or two on the Silver. Why? It is because the Fed is trying to manipulate the market to prop up the dollar. Right now their actions are like pissing on a raging wildfire.
To paraphrase Yogi Berra ‘Gold and Silver are like cash, which is just as good as money’. It is funny that the ‘highly educated and credentialed’ elitists in the Obama administration, the Democrat party and the MSM can’t quite grasp this concept when everyone else in the whole world can, including all us “bitter, raaaaacist, redneck, ‘reichwhing’ Klingons”….
So how do we measure these fiat currencies as a whole? How do we cut the taurusfimus and get down to the nitty-gritty? WHAT IS THE NITTY-GRITTY?
Gold.
We know that all fiat currencies all over the world are getting their butts kicked collectively and that inflation is happening even though they are strengthening relative to the Dollar because Gold is $1580 per ounce. The whole thing is collapsing with the Dollar leading the way simply because it is historically weak relative to the basket. Yes, the Canadians are loving the relative relationship to the Dollar, but the entire system is still falling. And in my $3000 loaf of bread example, gold would probably be trading for something like $1,600,000 per ounce assuming a very simplistic linear relationship. That would tend to get people’s attention, don’t you think?
Now do you see why Bernanke wants to delegitimize gold and denied that it was money today? Gold is what shines the light of truth on our economic and inflationary situation. Gold is the bottom-line metric. If the Combine can get rid of or otherwise suppress the measuring stick, they can convince The Captain and Toni Tennille that they aren’t falling, everything is fine, and no, you don’t need to deploy a parachute, because LOOK! You aren’t moving relative to each other, so therefore you must not be moving at all.
Love, love will keep us together, think of me babe when . . . SPLAT.
Yet in the end, every central bank, every nation, markets in emerging economic powers as well as traditional established ones, and the powers of the new quasi-Communist bloc all ran, not walked, not trotted, not hesitating or pausing, but running as quietly and quickly into purchasing physical gold for delivery to their vaults.
There are those idiots on the various bubblevision advising people to purchase the GLD ETF because that is the “safe” way to invest in gold. For proof that this is insanity at its finest, remember the gold supposedly stored in the bank for this ETF is not accessible, an individual can not demand physical delivery to their home, and the bank which stores it is part of the cabal that have created the fiat currency circus throughout history. Paper gold does nothing to preserve or protect one’s wealth and at this point in history and the very strong possible risk of an episode of hyperinflation engulfing the Western economies it is only logical if one can to obtain the physical. Paper gold is irrelevant as the Weimar Republic of Germany demonstrated and worse, could be confiscated in lieu of the government engaging in an identical program to Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s unconstitutional attack on personal gold ownership in the 1930′s.
After this break out above $1600 per ounce, if there is no correction by the end of this year, the beginning phases of a great disaster where America and Europe are devoured by inflation then hyperinflation will begin then accelerate. Preparing for the inevitable at that point in time will be too late.
More arrogance on steroids out of the Obama administration…White House: “Americans Don’t Have A Lot Of Time to Focus On ‘What Is A Debt Ceiling?’”…
That be cuz weez 2 stoopid fur doze big wurdz.
Gallup: Plurality Trust GOP Leaders To Handle Deficit And Debt Limit
A plurality of Americans trust the Republican congressional leadership more than they trust President Barack Obama to handle the federal deficit and the debt ceiling, according to a new Gallup poll.
A majority of Americans are also more concerned that the government will raise the debt ceiling without plans for major spending cuts than they are that the government will precipitate a major economic crisis if it does not raise the debt limit.
Only 22 percent of Americans, according to Gallup, say they want their member of Congress to vote to raise the debt ceiling.
Eat my peas? Screw you, Obama – I’m not a child for you to raise
Obama says it’s time for us to “eat our peas“. Well, here’s the problem, jacka$$ – I don’t like peas.
I’m an adult. Been one for almost thirty years, in fact, so I have a lot of practice at it. I’m older than you, jerk.
So take your sage advice about how we adult citizens just have to suck it up and bend over for your political friends one more time, and shove it in Joe Biden’s cheek pouches.
Obama: Unneeded Income Belongs to the Government
Obama’s Birthday Bash
Oh boy, this is going to look bad.
The Republicans may not realize it, but they have an extra point of leverage in the debt ceiling talks: Barack Obama’s birthday.
It’s on Aug. 4. The president is turning 50. He’s decided to have a quiet celebration with family and a few close friends.
NOT.
Instead, the president is planning an extravagant fundraising bash Aug. 3 at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, including a birthday concert teaming with celebrities and – for couples contributing $35,800 – a private dinner with the president. All this just one day after the government is scheduled to run out of cash!
Undoubtedly, the sight of so much money getting thrown around and dissolute stars crooning to Obama will make a stirring contrast with a federal government bankruptcy featuring unpaid government workers, seniors and soldiers wondering how they’ll afford the groceries, shuttered national parks, and angry investors trying to cash out their Treasury Bills.
If the government defaults, you can be sure the birthday bacchanal will do much more to harm Obama’s reelection prospects than help them. Maybe House GOP Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who has been refusing to back down while needling Obama to the extent that the president stomped out of a White House meeting yesterday, already knows this.
Today’s Drudge Ku on the debt ceiling negotiations:
POTUS POUTS: 'ENOUGH IS ENOUGH'...
WALKS OUT OF WHITE HOUSE MEETING...
'DON'T CALL MY BLUFF'...
REID: KICK CANTOR OUT...
CAMP DAVID SUMMIT?
BOEHNER: NO NEED...
PALIN: RELOAD...
Barack Obama=five year old spoiled brat:
Update: OBAMA: “THIS MAY BRING MY PRESIDENCY DOWN BUT I WILL NOT YIELD ON THIS” — REPUBLICAN AIDE; Perhaps Obama may want to put the country ahead of his own interests this one time…
So far the Moody’s threat is having precisely zero impact on the debt ceiling farce, with just 8 days left until July 22. But the latest development is certain to jar both S&P and Fitch, not to mention Dagong, out of hibernation. Reuters reports that President Barack Obama abruptly ended a tense budget meeting on Wednesday with Republican leaders by walking out of the room, a Republican aide familiar with the talks said. The aide said the session, the fourth in a row, was the most tense of the week as House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, dismissed spending cuts offered by the White House as “gimmicks and accounting tricks.” Either Congress has become the best orchestrated reality TV show in history or, and this is a big or, the market should really consider panicking soon.
Gee, it sounds as if Lil’ Bammy isn’t getting his way. First we learn he’s too delicate to take questions and now, like a spoiled baby, he storms out of meetings.
Gee, I though he was the adult in the room?
Between this and the Moody’s news, tomorrow ought to be fun on Wall Street. Per Slublog, remember during Campaign ’08 when this guy’s big selling point was his “first-class temperament”?
Also, am I right in thinking that the only two times O has walked out on a meeting are today and when he met with Bibi Netanyahu back in March of last year? That’s quite a record of indignation, champ. You really know how to get tough with the enemy.
President Obama this evening staged a temper tantrum and walked out of his White House meeting with Congressional leaders on the debt ceiling, an indication the talks are headed into a free fall.
At this point, Cantor explained, the president became “very agitated” and said he had “sat here long enough,” that “Ronald Reagan wouldn’t sit here like this” and that “something’s got to give.” Obama then told Republicans they either needed to compromise on their insistence on a dollar for dollar ratio of spending cuts to debt increase or agree to a “grand bargain” including massive tax increases. Before walking out of the room, Cantor said, the president said: “Eric, don’t call my bluff. I’m going to the American people with this.” He then “shoved back” and said “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
That first-class temperament strikes again. Since Obama brought up the comparison, imagine Reagan throwing a tantrum like that. Or never coming up with a solution of his own.
Pro tip…don’t tell people you’re bluffing.
And then like a teenage girl whose parents just don’t understand her, he ran away in a huff.
“Eric, don’t call my bluff,” Rep. Cantor claims the President told him, and– according to reports from both parties– then began to lecture the room on talks, claiming that not even Ronald Reagan would accept the terms Republicans were proposing and that, according to Reuters, “I’ve reached my limit. This may bring my presidency own, but I will not yield on this.” He then left the meeting– because the meeting ended, claim Democratic sources, but Republicans say he merely stormed out. Rep. Cantor himself said the President “shoved back and said ‘I’ll see you tomorrow,’ and walked out.” For added cattiness, the Politico report notes one Democrat quipping off the record, “Cantor is the last guy who should complain about people abruptly leaving meetings.”
The usual suspects are claiming that Obama didn’t run away but even Democrats said he did.
Some Democrats are saying it was Cantor who “rudely” interrupted Obama three times.
Given Obama’s history of rudely treating the Supreme Court at the 2010 State of the Union and his obnoxious treatment of Paul Ryan at his entitlement speech, all I can say is if it’s true is…good for Cantor.
Call his bluff.
After all: how do you negotiate with a charismatic demagogue who simply can’t tell the truth?
Answer: you can’t.Don’t fold, Republicans. Let Obama make the choice. Everyone knows that if he willfully stiffs Social Security recipients it will be to keep his public sector union bureaucrats fat and happy.
Let’s see how the electorate reacts to that maneuver.
Heh! Boehner Compares Obama To Jello
In a meeting with a small group of reporters in his Capitol Hill office this morning, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, criticized President Obama and White House officials for their lack of resolve in negotiations.
“Dealing with them the last couple months has been like dealing with Jell-o,” Boehner said. “Some days it’s firmer than others. Sometimes it’s like they’ve left it out over night.”
Boehner explained that talks broke down over the weekend because, he said, the president backed off entitlement reforms so much from Friday to Saturday, “It was Jell-o; it was damn near liquid.”
“By Saturday, they’d spent the previous day and a half just going backwards” on reforming entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
“The only thing they’ve been firm on is these damn tax increases,” the Speaker said.
That’s all Obama and the Dems care about: new/higher revenue streams to keep expanding government. They really do not give a crap if the country goes down the tubes, they just want to spend more money. The whole “$1 in tax increases for $3 in cuts” is a bunch of mule fritters: give them the increases now, they will never vote for the cuts later. Boehner and company should make Obama and the Dems give specific cuts plans right now.
Norquist: Time to Force Obama’s Hand
“Obama wants to claim to the American people that he’s seriously willing to reduce spending and he’s not seriously taxing everybody and his brother,” Noquist says. “He’s lying. It’s time to end this fiction that he’s negotiating in good faith. They’ve got to force him to put in writing what the hell he thinks he’s doing.”
He blames the “established press” for allowing the president to get away with putting out a horrendous budget earlier this year, and allowing Senate Democrats to get away with having gone more than 800 days without even passing a budget. Members of the media and their Democratic cohorts, he says, have convinced themselves that Republicans will eventually cave and agree to raise taxes, as they did in 1982 and 1990. But they are perilously mistaken. “Most the people around in ’82 and ’90 are dead now!” he exclaims. “That’s a long time ago. Democrats think because MSNBC says we’ve got them on the ropes, that Republicans will fold and raise taxes. They’re nuts.”
The impetus to raise the debt ceiling has been with President Obama all along, Norquist argues, so where is the harm is simply forcing the issue? “He needs to do something to change the game,” says Norquist. “If nothing changes, Republicans win the Senate and keep the House in 2012.”
Trump Goes After Republican Negotiation Tactics
That’s one area where Donald Trump without a doubt knows what he is talking about. In a video blog today, he called Republicans “El Foldo.”
“Its hard to believe, but the Republicans look like they’re about to fold again. They talk tough, but they don’t act tough. Its incredible. Look at what’s going on. It’s called ‘el foldo’.”
“They are going to do something with the debt ceiling. They could negotiate so strong. They could negotiate so powerfully. Right now they’re losing all their chips just like they did in December. They call it the ‘lame duck’ session, where they gave Obama everything he wanted and frankly they had all the cards. Right now they have all the cards and they’re going to give up their hand. I don’t believe what’s going on. And that’s one of the reasons I’m so disgusted with them.”
First Harry Reid, Now RINO King McCain Is Praising McConnell’s Debt Plan…
Kiss of death part deux.
So welfare queens will continue to get checks, but seniors that actually paid into the system and made a contribution to society will not. A great example of liberal priorities.
So the next time you hear Obama, or Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, or Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY, or House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, or any of the multiple Democratic echo chambers in the liberal mainstream media, remember – what they are saying is pure demogoguery.
Mr. President: America is Paying Attention to the Debt Ceiling
Asked during his Monday press conference why 69% of Americans in a recent poll indicated they did not want the debt ceiling lifted, President Obama suggested that most people were not really paying attention to the down-to-the wire negotiations. He’s wrong. The entire globe is focused on how the world’s largest economy is going to right itself; so far, the process has been anything but impressive.
President Obama has run into a brick wall. It’s called the will of the people. The reason he can’t force Republicans to raise the debt ceiling is that he will not countenance a deal that cuts spending but doesn’t raise taxes. He seems unable to grasp that 236 Republicans in the House of Representatives and 41 Senators have signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, promising that they will “oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rates for individuals and /or businesses…and oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates.”
The newly elected Republicans in the House believe they were sent to Congress to harness runaway government by reducing spending. They are, shockingly, committed to the principles on which they campaigned. This is such a foreign concept in Washington that it seems President Obama can’t wrap his mind around it.
Allen West on Obama: Real leaders don’t use intimidation and scare tactics
GOP Congressman: Obama’s Debt-Ceiling Threats “Despicable, Sick And Twisted”…
Among other things.
The issue isn’t default but government shutdown
Bawney Fwank: Republicans Have An “Unreal View Of The World”…
And where did Bawney’s view of the world get us? Oh yeah, the complete implosion of the U.S. housing market.
Barney Frank On Whether There Is A Chance The US Will Be Put Into Default: “Yes”
Recapping Frank’s view: why deal with a problem under my tenure, when very soon there will be a congressman who will replace me and he, or more likely she, can deal with the sordid mess I created. And this is not even counting the trillions in GSE off-the-books debt of which Frank was one of the key people responsible for letting it be the catalyst that blew up the credit bubble when Fannie and Freddie were nationalized just under 3 years ago.
But if the United States comes to the outer limit of its indebtedness, it will not run out of money; it will simply run out of the money that comes to it through debt, and it will have to start paying the interest on its bonds — along with everything else — out of its tax revenues, which account for about two-thirds of its spending. The Treasury will “prioritize,” and make sure that this country’s creditors are paid before, say, anybody and anything else. We will not turn into deadbeats.
This is not difficult to figure out.
President Obama wants drama.
The only way to save his presidency is to demonize, ridicule and smear Republicans.
In 2 1/2 years, President Obama has accomplished squat.
I mean, other than record deficit spending and an unconstitutional Obamacare that no one likes.
EPA Kills Five Power Plants Along Road to Darkness
A view of North Korea by night demonstrates where this is heading.
IEA Joins Fed In Making Failure Into Policy: Says Additional SPR Releases Possible
If there is one thing in the past year that has received more ridicule than the Fed’s horrendous monetary policy it is the IEA unprecedented decision to release 60 million in crude from the global strategic petroleum reserve. One needs to take a simple look at the price of crude just today to see what really is driving the prices in the energy complex. But that does not prevent the IEA from pursuing an obstinate insistence that its decision was justified, and defending the fact that it was nothing more than a puppet in the administration’s political plot. From Dow Jones: “The International Energy Agency Wednesday rebutted criticism of its decision to release 60 million barrels of emergency oil stocks, saying the move is having the intended effect.
The IEA, which represents major energy consuming countries, hit back at some analysts’ “blinkered focus” on the price of oil, which has rebounded above its level prior to the stock release. More important is that the market is now more flexible and the price of light sweet crude, relative to heavier grades, has fallen after increasing sharply following the outbreak of the Libyan civil war, it said.” Although the confirmation that not only the Fed redefines Einstein’s definition of insanity is this: “The agency also suggested an additional supply release was possible.” Great: we are confident JPM just can’t wait to lock in another 10% risk free arb by buying up Light Sweet at $107 at the next SPR auction and selling it, with a 3-6 month delay of course, in the open market at $120+.
Obama Regime Warns Mexicans Jews Not To Come Here Illegally…
As NRO’s Mark Krikorian notes, the number of Mexicans living in the U.S. illegally is larger than the entire population of Jews in Israel.
The Democrats admit they just love Mediscaring voters
C’mon guys, didn’t you just hear your president saying that it was crucial to save the program for future generations? But I guess demagoguery is all they’ve got left. And who cares if the program goes broke some time in the future? They’ve got elections to win in the present.
Look who’s throwing IPAB under the bus
Today, the House held a second hearing on the rogue board of Medicare spending czars created by Obamacare. This mother of all death panels is known as the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). My column looks at growing Democrat opposition to the entity, which would have unprecedented authority over health care spending. Seven Dems are co-sponsors of a House IPAB repeal bill On the Senate side, GOP Sen. John Cornyn is introducing an IPAB repeal bill.
Here’s GOP Rep. Paul Ryan schooling HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on patient-centered Medicare reform. Here’s AEI fellow Dr. Scott Gottlieb’s testimony. Here’s a look at the fatal effect of IPAB on medical innovation. Here’s Philip Klein catching Sebelius’s false assertion this morning that IPAB decisions can be challenged in court. And here’s background on the Goldwater Institute’s federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of IPAB.
Government Efficiency: $1 Billion Airport Security Program Yet to Catch a Terrorist
Consider the source when reading this…George Soros Made $7 Million Off Those Body Scanners Everyone Hates
Jailed for Defending Daughter From TSA
Andrea Fornella Abbott, 41, was arrested at Nashville airport after she went wild on Transportation Security Administration agents for trying to give her daughter a pat down search.
Nashville police said Abbot, from Clarksville, Tenn., shouted and swore at TSA agents, saying she didn’t want her young daughter to have her “crotch grabbed.” …
After Abbott refused to cool her heels — she allegedly attempted to try to shoot video of the agents with her cell phone — cops cuffed her and hauled her off to jail.
The age of the daughter is being kept secret, probably for the same reason the media is spinning this story to make Abbott look like a maniac — to avoid public outrage.
If anyone in a position of authority had the spine to admit that the threat comes not from children but from Muslims, this idiocy could be avoided.
As always, they failed miserably.
Afternoon Poll Porn Courtesy Rasmussen: Barack Obama 43, Generic Republican 48
Needless to say if this was the scenario, the President would be pulling an LBJ. Ace feels we are heading towards a major realignment re-election, and while the evidence is scattershot, polls like this give weight to that idea. Further, the party identification shift in New Hampshire and the consistently bad results for Obama out of Pennsylvania definitely show chunks of the typically blue northeast are itching to go red. Still, November 2012 is a helluva long ways away.
It Must Be Racist: RNC Unveils New Obama ‘Attack’ Ad
Using Obama in how own words will be the most effective way at defeating him. Of course quoting him is racist or something. Obama’s boot-licking media toadies who even acknowledge this spot will probably call it an attack ad. He won’t have anything positive to offer in response, so expect his campaign spots to be nothing but scorched earth, how Republicans want to starve grandma and all that nonsense.
Darrell Issa questions White House’s 2012 actions
House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa is probing what he sees as signs of an unseemly overlap between President Barack Obama’s official and political activities.
In what could be considered the committee’s sharpest probe to date of the White House, Issa sent a letter to Obama’s top lawyer Monday evening asking for a slew of documents relating to what the California Republican termed as “an array of potentially illegal fundraising behavior.”
Obama fails to match Bush fundraising / Update – 2Q v. 3Q
In other words, the Obama fundraising numbers — while solid by any measure — neither were a blowout signaling his strength nor a reflection of the “grassroots” nature of his campaign. It’s just more phony imaging, aided and abetted by an incurious media.
Update: Gabriel Malor notes:
Last quarter Obama’s campaign raised $47 million. Combined, the GOP campaigns raised about $35 million. Now that doesn’t sound so bad, does it? In fact, the $12 million difference is shockingly low, given thatt the Democrats already know who their candidate is and many GOP donors are waiting until the GOP field narrows to get in it.
Count me as among those waiting.
Also, when the hard numbers are released days from now, when the media has moved on, it will be interesting to see not only the percentage of funds raised from the large donors who have been a focus of the Obama campaign for several months, but how many of those donors have maxed out. Pushing big donors to max out early has been an Obama campaign strategy to create the impression of fundraising strength.
Did Obama lie about how his mother died?
If the man will shade the truth about how his own mother died…
Gunwalker/Fast & Furious/Castaway
Hmmm… II: Email Suggests Fast & Furious Mission Was Gun Control
‘Gunwalker’ Deepens: Agent Zapata Killed By Gun From … Texas?
Regardless of the other details of the ambush, what is known is that these two agents were shot at point-blank range by a gunman armed with a weapon that had been purchased in a gun store in the United States. Agent Zapata’s death is commonly accepted as the second U.S. fatality related to “Operation Fast and Furious.”
But that isn’t entirely true.
The weapon used to shoot these agents was not sold in the Phoenix, Arizona, area that was the hub of Operation “Fast and Furious,” also known as Gunwalker, which allowed gunrunners to acquire the gun that was used to murder Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in December. Instead, one of the weapons used to shoot these two ICE agents came from Lancaster, Texas, a suburb of Dallas.
Brothers Otilio and Ranferi Osorio and their neighbor Kevin Morrison were arrested in Texas after Zapata’s death, but only after ATF and DEA agents had organized a transfer of some 40 weapons in November. It was one of those rifles that was traced back to Agent Zapata’s murder.
Senator Charles Grassley noted that these three men had actually been stopped by local police after the transfers took place, but they were not arrested — presumably on orders from the Department of Justice.
The men were trailed as part of a multi-agency operation similar to Fast and Furious, that to date has not been named, in the Dallas Field Operations area, which encompasses southwest Texas, north Texas, and Oklahoma.
Document drop: ICE faces heat over Tampa gunwalking allegations
On Monday, I noted brewing questions about a Fast & Furious-like gunwalker operation out of Tampa, Florida, that allegedly put weapons in the hands of MS-13 gangsters in Honduras.
House Republicans are turning up the heat on several agencies.
Rep. Gus Bilirakis (FL-09), a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, sent a letter yesterday to AG Eric Holder and ATF Acting Director Kenneth E. Melson demanding answers about the so-called Operation Castaway. He followed up today with a letter to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) director John Morton.
If the NRA or SAF gets a stay on the implementation of this excrement, which I am told is in the works, then so much the better. I am at a bit of a loss to know how to fight this by civil disobedience as indirect as it is and given the double-bind FFLs are in. Except, of course, by shoving the Gunwalker Scandal right down the Obama administration’s throat and gagging their whole anti-firearm agenda to bureaucratic death.
For those of you who are fans of Ender’s Game, “the enemy’s gate is down.” (And those of you who aren’t, you need to be.) We defeat the little stuff by winning at the one essential thing. Kill the hive queens and all the buggers die.
This is designed to distract from Gunwalker. So, we don’t allow ourselves to get distracted and instead go straight for the enemy’s gate.
Holder Lied: DOJ News Release Shows Obama Admin Approved ATF Mexico Weapons Smuggling
It seems clear that there are competing factions in the U.S. government and while there are positive motivations in some cases, there are other motivations that are highly detrimental to the future of both countries. Holder seems to be at the center of this.
There are reports of cartels financing U.S. politicians who have ties to the pharmaceutical industry. There are extremely solid reports of caches of large amounts of weapons that are too vast to have “fallen off the back of a truck”.
What is lacking is a direct trail on the campaign contributions. It seems AG Holder has demonstrated for the record that he is not willing to tell the truth when under direct examination, and also that he prefers to see companies like Purdue avoid legal responsibility. I don’t know what could be more significant when dealing with a lighted fuse situation like the border wars raging along the border that divides the United States and Mexico.
The war that dares not speak its name…US and Libya:
*crickets*
Look for the Union Label/Whackademia:
The gravy train is about to come grinding to a halt for wackademia… The End of Subsidized Loans?
Union Goons to Target Funerals
In Other News…
Perry Looking Like a Candidate, With Nonsense “Scandals” Now Being Pushed to an Eager Press
This “scandal” is lame.
The taxpayers are paying for Governor Perry’s Austin residence, you see. To the tune of $600,000 or $700,000 per year in rent.
Wait, not per year. That’s the total rent over four years.
But wait — Don’t taxpayers usually pay for the governor’s residence, in the form of an official state mansion?
Why yes they do. In this case, the state is paying for a different residence, because the official governor’s residence is being renovated after damage caused by… well, arson, they think.
So I’m not really getting the scandal here. The mansion the governor gets to live in was damaged by arson — most likely by a Democrat, just noting that — and is being repaired. While it’s repaired, the taxpayers are paying for a second residence.
Perry Mansion Arson Story: Guess Who Was In Town That Day?
A commenter said an anarchist-looking guy was caught on video, but the picture wasn’t good enough to ID him.
But we probably wasn’t a Tea Partier.
What the media is unlikely to talk about is when the governor’s mansion actually burned. It burned the weekend of June 8, 2008. Guess who was in town that weekend? The Texas Democrats had their state party convention in Austin that weekend, not far from the mansion itself. It didn’t take long to suspect arson in the mansion fire, and the only persons of interest ever named in connection with the fire are lefty anarchist types.
And now the Democrats are trying to make an issue over the expenses that one of their fellow travelers actually caused.
On his own time, on his own dime. Case closed.
How Law Schools are Helping the Elite
The Debt Disaster That Most People Are Still Overlooking
Take Central Falls: They’re going to be paying $373,831 in benefits a head to firemen and policemen who are no longer on the streets. How feasible is that?
Well, the population is roughly 18,000 people. In other words, if you have Mom, Dad, and 2.1 kids, they owe almost $18,000 ($4,444 a head) in retirement costs for 214 people who’ve retired. In other words, that’s in addition to the taxes they pay for garbage, sewage, police, fire, and all the other things they need the city to do. How feasible does that sound in a city where the median salary is roughly $32,000?
See, this is the problem: People talk about what a policeman or fireman “deserves” after a lifetime of service, but that’s not the right figure to be considering. What we need to think about is what people can AFFORD TO PAY. It sure isn’t 4,444 dollars a head for just over 200 people.
Speaking of that debt disaster people are overlooking…California Runs Out Of Money Again, Comes Begging To Wall Street As Moody’s Threatens To Go Nuclear On Muni Market
Of course if the US is downgraded, Meredith Whitney’s prediction will come true with a bang: as part of its warning yesterday, Moody’s also threatened to downgrade 7000 municipal ratings which would halt RAN, and any other, issuance for an indefinite period of time. And while this is merely more M.A.D. posturing to help the debt ceiling dispute come to a speedy resolution, the fact that California is now forced to issue new bridge loans to “bridge” old ones is oddly troubling.
You can thank the Minnesota Catholic and Lutheran charities and Minneapolis bleeding heart liberals for bringing them here…Somali-Americans from Minnesota Leave to Wage Jihad with Al-Shabaab Terror Group
how long before one of these American Somali recruits is tasked to return home and kill Americans?
Minnesota Governor First To Blink As Shutdown Continues
Voter photo I.D. passes — in Rhode Island
If you have to show a photo ID to get a pack of Newports, why not have to show a photo ID to vote in Newport?
Boston: Time to get ‘serious’ on illegal aliens
Here’s Mumbles, in his own words: “We’re takin’ this too far. When ya got a guy stole a car, they do the fingerprints, send it to Washington, have the person deported. That’s not the Boston I want. I want Boston to be a city that welcomes immigrants.”
Especially car thieves, right? I guess grand-theft auto is no longer a serious crime — if you’re illegal.
Now, if the cops stop an American driving without a license, and when they run his name, a bunch of defaults comes up, guess what happens? They arrest, handcuff him and tow his car. Do the same thing to an illegal alien, apparently it’s a hate crime.
Then there’s identity theft. In the case of Catherine Greig, an American, it’s being used in court as evidence of why she should not be released on bail. Identity theft is only a serious crime for citizens, apparently.
Ground Zero Mosque Clears Legal Hurdle Paving Way For Construction To Begin…
NJ Schools To Unveil ’9/11 Curriculum’
Why do I have the sneaking suspicion this will be watered-down PC pablum for the young skulls full of mush?
Here’s why.
The material includes lesson plans on teaching the events of that day itself, but also delves into topics ranging from the “Impact of Hateful Words,” for elementary students to “What is Terrorism?” in middle school and “Reaction to and from the Muslim and Arab Communities” for high school students. Also included are lessons on “acts of kindness” that occurred on 9/11, and ideas for students to help their town, community and the world
Missing 8-year-old Brooklyn boy found dead; suspect charged with murder
A Brooklyn man was arrested early today and charged with murder after he “panicked” and allegedly dismembered the body of an 8-year-old Hasidic boy — then hid the parts in a Dumpster and placed the child’s severed feet in his freezer, authorities said.
Police made the gruesome find after raiding a Kensington home and arresting 35-year-old Levi Aron, who led them to parts of missing boy Leiby Kletzky’s body, stuffed in a red suitcase and hidden in a Dumpster outside an auto repair shop about two miles away, NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly said during a news conference this morning.
San Fran Bleeding-Heart Libs Consider Making Ex-Cons A “Protected Class”…
Pretty much anything other than heterosexual white people are part of the “protected class” in San Francisco.
Illinois Government Attacks Freedom of Religion
What IR found out is that Madigan used the power of her office to harass seven religious-based adoption agencies in the state — and by extension, every such agency — by sending threatening letters informing them that they are under investigation by the Attny Gen’s office. What did these seven adoption agencies do to get the full force of the AG to come down on their heads? It must have been an accumulation of complaints or multiple lawsuits or other legal dustups that preceded the investigations, right?
Well, not really.
No, what gave Attny. Gen. Lisa Madigan the excuse to attack every religious agency in the state was a complaint letter from a single gay couple from Lakeview about a single adoption agency.
Department of Redundancy Department: Rodney King Arrested for DUI
This was at least his eighth arrest since that night. Maybe he’s just an unfortunate victim of profiling or something.
MSM Circus and Celebutard Side Show:
MSM=Obama cargo cult. Here is an investment tip: Invest in Kool-Aid and Cyanide because there will be a run on it in November 2012…Esquire’s psalm to Obama
Before the policy choices have to be weighed and the hard decisions have to be made, can we just take a month or two to contemplate him the way we might contemplate a painting by Vermeer or a guitar lick by the early-seventies Rolling Stones or a Peyton Manning pass or any other astounding, ecstatic human achievement? Because twenty years from now, we’re going to look back on this time as a glorious idyll in American politics, with a confident, intelligent, fascinating president riding the surge of his prodigious talents from triumph to triumph. Whatever happens this fall or next, the summer of 2011 is the summer of Obama.
Better satire I’ve never read … if only it were satire. I surely sympathize with the desire to celebrate something — and, let’s face it, politics brings us precious little to celebrate. But wow. I’m not sure I’ve heard any hero of the Right — not even the vaunted Ronald Reagan — so praised. And with such sincerity! The song only swells with every worshipful word of the article. Yep, in case there was ever any question, Marche clears it up: In the eyes of his disciples, Obama is still The One. Troubling.
The kids are acting up, so he threatens to starve Granny to death. That’s just how a strong father behaves.
It looks to us as if Obama may once again be overestimating his persuasive powers by relying for feedback on journalists who, for a combination of ideological, partisan and personal reasons, are predisposed to take his side. NewsBusters.org has a useful compilation of what it calls the “softballs” reporters lobbed at yesterday’s press conference. Some of them were actually a bit adversarial, but only from the left.
Why would CBS headline an article quoting Obama as saying “Nobody can be messing with our embassy”? In all seriousness, that’s just bizarre.
Look, no matter what you think about his policies, Barack Obama is an articulate and well-spoken man. So I do find it somewhat odd and offensive that CBS would pick out an inartful turn of phrase to use as a headline.
Video: ABC On Michelle Obama’s 1,700 Calories Of Hypocricy
That’s right – 1,700 calories: It’s good to be the Queen: Michelle Obama orders 1,700-calorie lunch. A whole day’s worth of food for a normal person. The hypocrisy was so brazen that ever George Stephanopoulos over at ABC couldn’t spike the story
The LSM’s cultural and religious war against Michele Bachmann
Media Guns Fire Blanks at Bachmann
The Brian Ross hit piece follows an attack on the popular Congresswoman by Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone magazine, ”Michele Bachmann’s Holy War,” where he smeared Bachmann as “a religious zealot whose brain is a raging electrical storm of divine visions and paranoid delusions.”
Blogger Trevor Loudon disclosed that Taibbi was the recipient of an award from the Democratic Socialists of America in Boston for his hard-left reporting.
Loudon commented, “Maybe Matt Taibbi should tell us about his own true beliefs. I’m betting he is not as open about his own convictions as Michele Bachmann is about hers.”
Global Warmening:
Pirates Cause Climate Change (Hoax) Research Problems
The pirates are hampering research that is crucial in the global understanding of weather forecasting.
The CSIRO is part of an international research team which uses thousands of robotic floats.
They are dropped into the ocean to provide near real time observations and for the last year, scientists have not been able to access the data they need.
Fortunately, the US and Aussie navies are wasting time, resources, and money to help the climate wankers gather their data, which well then be “adjusted” to conform to the pre-conceived notions of the True Believers, and they will refuse to show the raw data, which is funded for by tax payers. Dead men tell no tales: climate alarmists feel the same way about their raw data.
But, wait a second, if you read the story (and notice the end of the 3rd paragraph in the excerpt), you notice that most of the research is about…..weather forecasting. So, according to the media, the weather is now “climate change.”
The Sock Drawer:
The Science is Settled: Smelly Socks Help Fight Malaria
I suppose the lingering question is this: Are people willing to put up with the dreaded stinkfoot in the fight to combat malaria?
The smell of old socks can help fight malaria by attracting mosquitoes to a trap outdoors, scientists have found, and on Wednesday donors announced new funding to help develop the device.
New funding? Why not just collect old sneakers?
Arming Yourself for the Zombie Apocalypse: How to Build the Ultimate Survival Shotgun
Sleeping with the fishes: Dozy Brown Bear nods off with his lunch
