The Smoke Break

You want some brie with that whine?

I Think I Miss G.W.

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You know, I was never a fan of George W. Bush.  I’ll even go so far as to say I didn’t like him.  But I always knew that if I was patient, in either 4 or 8 years he would be relegated to the history books.

The one thing I never felt during the Bush administration, however, was fear.  That cold, visceral fear that starts in the pit of your stomach and seeps into your bones like the painful, arthritic portent of a thunderstorm.  Well, ok, just like every American I felt that fear on 9/11 but it faded soon enough and, until January 20, 2009, it never came back.

It never came back because even though I didn’t like George W. Bush, I still had great faith in this country.  I knew that I could count on the Constitutional fact that even this man I did not like and others in Congress would do everything possible to insure our safety, and that eventually our freedoms would provide the opportunity to change what I saw as one set of numbnuts for one perhaps less so.

I watched Barack Hussein Obama in the final days of the 2008 presidential election and I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that what I was seeing was something wicked, if not something downright evil.  This was not just the proverbial wolf in sheep’s clothing politician, no; this was like the deadly suicide bomb in the backpack of an innocent-looking youngster as they wander with seeming aimlessness into a crowded marketplace.  A pretty face hiding death to those who may not agree with the fanatical ideology hidden behind the deliberately wide-eyed expression.

Today, as our country spirals out of debt and out of control and the media licks Obama’s jackboots instead of reporting facts or investigating allegations, that potent, portending fear has settled back in and now become a constant companion.  With nothing coming from Obama but continuing campaign rhetoric, things continue to grow worse.  Congress continues on its hell-bent path to destroy every shred of free enterprise and all those promises of “transparency” – along with all the other oh-so-important “words” – continue to mean nothing for there are no actions backing them up.  As just one example, what happened to 5 days of public review and comment on “non-emergency” legislation?  Just which one of these pieces of legislation signed by President Obama so far was a true emergency? 

1. [111st] H.J.RES.38 : Making further continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2009, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep Obey, David R. [WI-7] (introduced 3/6/2009)      Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: Became Public Law No: 111-6
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2. [111st] H.R.1 : Making supplemental appropriations for job preservation and creation, infrastructure investment, energy efficiency and science, assistance to the unemployed, and State and local fiscal stabilization, for fiscal year ending September 30, 2009, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep Obey, David R. [WI-7] (introduced 1/26/2009)      Cosponsors (9)
Committees: House Appropriations; House Budget
Latest Conference Report: 111-16 (in Congressional Record H1307-1516)
Latest Major Action: Became Public Law No: 111-5

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3. [111st] H.R.2 : To amend title XXI of the Social Security Act to extend and improve the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep Pallone, Frank, Jr. [NJ-6] (introduced 1/13/2009)      Cosponsors (43)
Committees: House Energy and Commerce; House Ways and Means; House Education and Labor
Latest Major Action: Became Public Law No: 111-3
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4. [111st] H.R.146 : An act to designate certain land as components of the National Wilderness Preservation System, to authorize certain programs and activities in the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep Holt, Rush D. [NJ-12] (introduced 1/6/2009)      Cosponsors (10)
Committees: House Natural Resources
Latest Major Action: Became Public Law No: 111-11
Note: Omnibus land bill.

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5. [111st] H.R.586 : To direct the Librarian of Congress and the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution to carry out a joint project at the Library of Congress and the National Museum of African American History and Culture to collect video and audio recordings of personal histories and testimonials of individuals who participated in the Civil Rights movement, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep McCarthy, Carolyn [NY-4] (introduced 1/15/2009)      Cosponsors (4)
Committees: House Administration
Latest Major Action: Became Public Law No: 111-19

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6. [111st] H.R.1105 : Making omnibus appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2009, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep Obey, David R. [WI-7] (introduced 2/23/2009)      Cosponsors (None)
Committees: House Appropriations; House Budget
Latest Major Action: Became Public Law No: 111-8
Note: An explanatory statement was submitted by Mr. Obey, Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations “as if it were a joint explanatory statement of a committee of conference.” It appears in two 2/23/2009 Congressional Record documents on pages: H1653-H2088 and H2089-H2599. See also the House Appropriations committee print.

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7. [111st] H.R.1127 : To extend certain immigration programs.
Sponsor: Rep Lofgren, Zoe [CA-16] (introduced 2/23/2009)      Cosponsors (None)
Committees: House Judiciary
Latest Major Action: Became Public Law No: 111-9

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8. [111st] H.R.1388 : A bill entitled “The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, an Act to reauthorize and reform the national service laws.”
Sponsor: Rep McCarthy, Carolyn [NY-4] (introduced 3/9/2009)      Cosponsors (37)
Committees: House Education and Labor
House Reports: 111-37
Latest Major Action: Became Public Law No: 111-13

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9. [111st] H.R.1512 : To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to extend the funding and expenditure authority of the Airport and Airway Trust Fund, to amend title 49, United States Code, to extend authorizations for the airport improvement program, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep Rangel, Charles B. [NY-15] (introduced 3/16/2009)      Cosponsors (5)
Committees: House Transportation and Infrastructure; House Ways and Means
Latest Major Action: Became Public Law No: 111-12

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10. [111st] H.R.1541 : To provide for an additional temporary extension of programs under the Small Business Act and the Small Business Investment Act of 1958, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep Velazquez, Nydia M. [NY-12] (introduced 3/17/2009)      Cosponsors (3)
Committees: House Small Business
Latest Major Action: Became Public Law No: 111-10

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11. [111st] H.R.1626 : To make technical amendments to laws containing time periods affecting judicial proceedings.
Sponsor: Rep Johnson, Henry C. “Hank,” Jr. [GA-4] (introduced 3/19/2009)      Cosponsors (3)
Committees: House Judiciary; House Energy and Commerce
Latest Major Action: Became Public Law No: 111-16

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12. [111st] S.J.RES.3 : A joint resolution ensuring that the compensation and other emoluments attached to the office of Secretary of the Interior are those which were in effect on January 1, 2005.
Sponsor: Sen Reid, Harry [NV] (introduced 1/6/2009)      Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: Became Public Law No: 111-1

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13. [111st] S.J.RES.8 : A joint resolution providing for the appointment of David M. Rubenstein as a citizen regent of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor: Sen Leahy, Patrick J. [VT] (introduced 2/10/2009)      Cosponsors (2)
Committees: Senate Rules and Administration; House Administration
Latest Major Action: Became Public Law No: 111-17

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14. [111st] S.39 : A bill to repeal section 10(f) of Public Law 93-531, commonly known as the “Bennett Freeze”.
Sponsor: Sen McCain, John [AZ] (introduced 1/6/2009)      Cosponsors (1)
Committees: Senate Indian Affairs; House Natural Resources
Latest Major Action: Became Public Law No: 111-18

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15. [111st] S.181 : A bill to amend title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, and to modify the operation of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, to clarify that a discriminatory compensation decision or other practice that is unlawful under such Acts occurs each time compensation is paid pursuant to the discriminatory compensation decision or other practice, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Sen Mikulski, Barbara A. [MD] (introduced 1/8/2009)      Cosponsors (54)
Latest Major Action: Became Public Law No: 111-2

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16. [111st] S.234 : A bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 2105 East Cook Street in Springfield, Illinois, as the “Colonel John H. Wilson, Jr. Post Office Building”.
Sponsor: Sen Durbin, Richard [IL] (introduced 1/14/2009)      Cosponsors (1)
Committees: Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
Latest Major Action: Became Public Law No: 111-7

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17. [111st] S.352 : A bill to postpone the DTV transition date.
Sponsor: Sen Rockefeller, John D., IV [WV] (introduced 1/29/2009)      Cosponsors (10)
Latest Major Action: Became Public Law No: 111-4

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18. [111st] S.383 : A bill to amend the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (division A of Public Law 110-343) to provide the Special Inspector General with additional authorities and responsibilities, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Sen McCaskill, Claire [MO] (introduced 2/4/2009)      Cosponsors (9)
Committees: House Financial Services; House Oversight and Government Reform
House Reports: 111-41 Part 1
Latest Major Action: Became Public Law No: 111-15

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19. [111st] S.386 : An Act to improve enforcement of mortgage fraud, securities and commodities fraud, financial institution fraud, and other frauds related to Federal assistance and relief programs, for the recovery of funds lost to these frauds, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Sen Leahy, Patrick J. [VT] (introduced 2/5/2009)      Cosponsors (27)
Committees: Senate Judiciary
Senate Reports: 111-10
Latest Major Action: Became Public Law No: 111-21

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20. [111st] S.454 : A bill to improve the organization and procedures of the Department of Defense for the acquisition of major weapon systems, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Sen Levin, Carl [MI] (introduced 2/23/2009)      Cosponsors (14)
Committees: Senate Armed Services
Latest Conference Report: 111-124 (in Congressional Record H5795-5805)
Latest Major Action: Became Public Law No: 111-23

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21. [111st] S.520 : A bill to designate the United States courthouse under construction at 327 South Church Street, Rockford, Illinois, as the “Stanley J. Roszkowski United States Courthouse”.
Sponsor: Sen Durbin, Richard [IL] (introduced 3/3/2009)      Cosponsors (None)
Committees: House Transportation and Infrastructure
Latest Major Action: Became Public Law No: 111-14

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22. [111st] S.735 : A bill to ensure States receive adoption incentive payments for fiscal year 2008 in accordance with the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008.
Sponsor: Sen Baucus, Max [MT] (introduced 3/30/2009)      Cosponsors (1)
Committees: Senate Finance; House Ways and Means
Latest Major Action: Became Public Law No: 111-20

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23. [111st] S.896 : A bill to prevent mortgage foreclosures and enhance mortgage credit availability.
Sponsor: Sen Dodd, Christopher J. [CT] (introduced 4/24/2009)      Cosponsors (2)
Latest Major Action: Became Public Law No: 111-22

 

It’s so out of control that the AP is reporting that Rhode Island State Democrat Rod Driver has said he’ll donate $100 to charity for every second former President George W. Bush withstands waterboarding.  He also made the same offer to former Vice President Dick Cheney and ex-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

While it can now be legitimately argued that he is overpaid, this begs the question:  is Rod Driver nuts, stupid, or, like Florida Representative Alan Grayson, is he just that rude, crude, and socially unacceptable?  In either case, is he truly representative of the people of Rhode Island who elected him to represent them to the rest of the country, to the rest of the world?  I asked this same question about Henry Waxman and a few others the other day and it has dawned on me that perhaps cap & trade is necessary after all.  Cap the idiotic blatherings of both Congress and the administration, and then promptly trade in every last one of them for a normal, rationally-functioning American.  Because surely there is something poisonous wafting through the corridors of Congress – how else does one explain the sheer insanity of racing to legislate so much fascism in such a short amount of time?  How else does one explain the White House creating its own media outlet and locking out journalists and reporters from covering what is, by all accounts, a rather innocuous “photo-op” event?  How can one explain the most recent blatant, flat-out lies of Nancy Pelosi about the CIA and her shameful, crony-backed stonewalling at yesterday’s press conference?  (Not to mention that her daughter was allowed to film it with equipment banned for normal media reporters.)

I could go on and on; indeed, I do so on a regular basis right here in this blog.  And I am grateful to the core that I may speak my thoughts and my opinions, that I may voice my perceptions of reality freely.  It is often cathartic yet, unlike my frustrations during the Bush administration, the relief is short-lived.  Truly, we have sold out our country to the hounds of hell when we voted in the current administration (actually it was not “we” but “thee” who voted them in because I cast my ballots otherwise) and as the lips never stop moving in that teleprompted sing-song lullaby cadence of only one more lie after another, as the coverups grow more blatant yet no one is willing to step up to the journalist plate as during those infamous days leading up to Watergate (ACORN would be a great starting point), my constant companion pokes me in the ribs and I shiver with a cold, cold fear.

Will we survive this “man-made disaster”?  Despite the fear, most of the time I believe it is possible.  As do others.  Other conservative voices continue to speak out with the soothing tones of reason (not to be confused with the majority of currently-seated Republicans, for what should be clear by now is that there is a great and deep chasm between being conservative and being Republican, which today is little more than being a “Democrat Lite”); there are a handful who actually have proper, Constitutionally-based plans to root out this cancer as it threatens to metasticize, in spite of most of the media ignoring this completely or dismissing it, as they did the tax day Tea Parties, as apparently not being “newsworthy” if they cannot attach a crude, sexual joke to their reporting of it.

But it promises to be a hard, ugly fight.

And so I think I actually miss George W. Bush.

Another Missing Village Idiot Is Found

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We may bitch and moan about having less time off than our more Ivy-League-envied-as-fashionable European counterparts, but the American work ethic, that striving for “bigger, better, more” has always kept our noses to the grindstone and can be seen as the backbone of the American Way of Life.  You know, the reason that there’s a McDonald’s even in the most remote parts of the world.

But in the latest move towards progressive socialism, bright-bulb-Biden-wannabe Florida Democratic Representative Alan Grayson has decided that the government should make it federal law that all employers with more than 50 employees must provide at least one week of paid vacation.

Sure thing, Alan.  Smack in the middle of a recession that’s sliding quickly downhill towards a full-out depression with double-digit unemployment you want to force employers to spend even more money to stay in business than they are spending today?  Despite the fact that I honestly don’t know of many jobs where sick days and vacation days aren’t already given, unless you are self-employed and then it’s rather a no-brainer.

That this revelation occurred to you during a trip to Disney World would be funny if it wasn’t so bloody pathetic.  How many average, hard-working Americans can afford to take their family to Disney World this year?  Do you really think that having a week off is really going to stimulate the economy?  Most average Americans are not like your buddies in Congress, they aren’t going to take their vacation time and spend money they don’t have.  While I’m sure there are some who would benefit from the downtime, the overall loss of productivity is only going to stimulate a backlash os negative consequences.

Put your hands back in your pants, Alan, and play with your own change.  Not ours.

House Considering Encouraging Members To Continue To Pollute

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Who really cares if the United States is broke?  It’s just another “do as I say, not as I do” day in Washington.  Despite the fact that not even the bill’s sponsor, the dishonorable Henry Waxman, actually read all 900+ pages of his cap & trade tax legislation before voting it out of committee (the very same legislation that is intended to “curb” pollution, particularly that of automobiles), the House apparently thinks it might be a good idea to spend at least $68 million to renovate two parking garages used ONLY by members of Congress and their staff.

Do the math.  There are 435 members in the House of Representatives so it works out to spending $156,322 per Representative for private parking.  Just like the most tender of pork, it’s being baked into the proposed $753 million renovation of the Cannon House Office Building since the garages are just south of it.

Of course, estimates for renovations could be off by as much as “40 percent,” Terrell Dorn, the director of physical infrastructure issues for the Government Accountability Office (GAO) testified to the House Committee on House Administration.  So do a little more math and that means spending a whopping $218,850.57 per Representative.  For private parking.

The great irony?  This is all right next to a Washington Metro subway station.  Which is a most convenient way for all of these hasty “green” Representatives to save on fossil fuel and cut down on carbon emissions.  But just like President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Al Gore, and all the other breast-beating “environmentalists”, any sacrifice required to be “green” is only a sacrifice to be made by everyone else.

Do I really need to even mention it’s also yet more waste of our tax dollars?

National Archive Data Theft A Dangerous Red Herring

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It’s now been reported that a hard drive with “massive amounts of sensitive data from the Clinton administration” has gone missing from the National Archives.  The theft apparently occurred sometime between October 2008 and March 2009 and contained 1 terabyte of data…

…including Social Security numbers, addresses, and Secret Service and White House operating procedures, congressional officials said Tuesday.

One of former Vice President Al Gore’s three daughters is among those whose Social Security numbers were on the drive, but it was not clear which one. Other information includes logs of events, social gatherings and political records.

Archives spokeswoman Susan Cooper said in a written statement that the agency was preparing to notify affected individuals of the breach. The representative of former President Bill Clinton has been notified, but Cooper gave no indication whether the former president’s personal information was on the hard drive.

“The drive contains an as yet unknown amount of personally identifiable information of White House staff and visitors,” the statement added.

The drive is missing from the Archives facility in College Park, Md., a Washington suburb. …the Archives had been converting the Clinton administration information to a digital records system…[and]…the hard drive was left on a shelf and unused for an uncertain period of time.  When the employee tried to resume work, the hard drive was missing.

Committee staff members were told there is a copy of the massive amount of information, but Archives officials have only just begun to learn what was on the drive.

Coming just as former President Clinton is named as U.N. envoy to Haiti; coming just as  Congress approves the final version of a bill intended to enhance enforcement of financial crimes, including creating commission to investigate the causes of the financial crisis, the beginnings of which point to Clinton-era policies and practices; just as other witch hunts about Democrat-approved interrogation of terrorists are being demanded; coming just as the Democrat-derided Bush-era Homeland Security practices foil yet another terrorist attack on American soil; and combined with President Obama’s “do as I say, not as I do” definition of “transparency in government” and track record of gaffes, flubs, blunders, and dangerous policies, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to ask just what potentially-incriminating evidence might be included in that missing data and – most importantly – why is it only being reported as missing now?  Now that Congress has pushed Waxman’s enfant terrible cap & trade legislation out of committee.  Now that the other parts of the world are developing a nervous tic as they watch Iran aggressively move forward with its nuclear weapons program and Obama gives Iran until the end of the year to decide if it “wants” to “cooperate”. 

It’s a serious matter, this data loss.  But it’s also a red herring being used to distract Americans from the truth.  The truth that things in Washington – and even President Obama – aren’t what the administration wants us to see.  The truth, as I and others have noted before, that despite their own foibles at least Bush and Cheney kept America safe and Obama is throwing Israel under the bus in order to force Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to launch a pre-emptive strike against Iran in pure self-defense.  Thereby throwing the world into political chaos, if not outright war; which, boys and girls, has historically been the “best” way to American economic recovery.

Deja vu….

More Haste Makes More Waste

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CNN is a lame excuse for a “news” outlet, but you can go here and see for yourself just how the Democrats in Congress are spending our money to do everything possible to force through their progressive agenda.

Instead of allowing time to actually read Representative Henry Waxman’s travesty of a tax …errrr…. cap & trade …errrr… “climate change” bill, when Texas Representative Joe Barton wanted the committee clerk to read the 900+ page bill out loud and thereby rightfully risk postponing getting the b.s. …errrr… bill out of committee before the Memorial Day recess, good old Henry decided to hire a “speed reader” instead.

Of course the “sample reading” provided was unintelligible.  Which meant going through with Henry’s idea would be as bad as not reading the bill at all before voting it out of committee.

Which leads me to ask:  just how stupid are the people who sent Henry Waxman to Washington?  Are they relatives of the people who sent Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Barney Frank?  If so, no wonder infertility has become such a big “problem”; Nature abhors inbreeding.

The Current American Revolution

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You say you want a revolution?  Feeling lucky, patriot?

Do you even know what you’re talking about? 

An excellent piece at American Thinker, written by Herbert E. Meyer, deftly puts it into proper perspective.  For at this critical time in American history, it is important to understand that a revolution isn’t always a good thing, nor is it always a bloody thing.  But it IS a very real thing.

To paraphrase Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, “Are you a good guy, or a bad guy?”

One Guy Gets It

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Indiana State Treasurer Richard Mourdock has quite rightly decided that an investment in anything run by the Obama adminstration isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on.  In an article at WIBC today, it’s been reported that the state’s fund managers have been told that bonds issued by banks and automakers taking federal bailout money are no longer to be considered as an investment vehicle for the state.

In the real world, when a company goes into bankruptcy it is the bond holders who are normally paid first.  That is part and parcel of buying bonds, and why they are considered a very low-risk investment.  But the Obama-driven Chrysler bankruptcy cut that payment down to 29 cents on the dollar.

Mourdock says the Obama Administration’s handling of Chrysler’s debt wiped out $896,000 in value from the state’s investment of the proceeds from the 2006 lease of the Indiana Toll Road, and $147,400 from the Indiana State Police Pension Fund.  Mourdock oversees both portfolios.

Mourdock says the Teachers Retirement Fund, which is administered separately, lost $4.6 million.

It’s only common sense to not throw good money after bad. 

Too bad Washington doesn’t get it.  While the bankruptcy judge has denied the motion filed by the Indiana investors to postpone the sale of Chrysler because it gives preferential treatment to other stakeholders instead of properly addressing the needs of its secured lenders, the government is going to lend Chrysler $600 million to cover potential losses incurred by GMAC Financial Services related to Chrysler loans and $260 million to replace funds transferred to its Canadian operations.

And lest it go unnoticed, it’s also being reported that the government is getting ready to give GMAC $7.5 billion (though GMAC still needs some $11.5 billion in capital reserves, according to the government’s stress tests), and by exercising options on its preferred stock, will become a majority shareholder with voting rights.  Effectively creating their own bank holding company.  Designed, of course, to lend people money for cars no one is going to want to buy.

So, How’s That (Not) Working For You?

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Here’s a real-life look at all that Democrat-driven “hope and change”.  Of course, the Obama administration will continue to claim it’s only trying to clean up the mess it inheirited, conveniently forgetting that most of the administration, including the President, voted to create the mess in the first place, but you’d think that after pouring all the TARP and stimulus monies into the economy and “reluctantly” taking over the banks and the automakers, as well as threatening any and everyone who dares to make a lot of money while increasing taxes on everyone and basically bankrupting the entire country, things would be in a little better shape by now than this, wouldn’t you?

 

Blue state average:  8.61%

Red state average:  7.17%

Unemployment Rates for States
Monthly Rankings
Seasonally Adjusted
Mar. 2009*

Rank State Rate
51 MICHIGAN 13
50 OREGON 12
49 SOUTH CAROLINA 11
48 CALIFORNIA 11
47 NORTH CAROLINA 11
46 RHODE ISLAND 11
45 NEVADA 10
44 INDIANA 10
42 DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 9.8
42 KENTUCKY 9.8
40 FLORIDA 9.7
40 OHIO 9.7
39 TENNESSEE 9.6
38 MISSISSIPPI 9.4
36 GEORGIA 9.2
36 WASHINGTON 9.2
35 ILLINOIS 9.1
34 ALABAMA 9
33 MISSOURI 8.7
31 ALASKA 8.5
31 WISCONSIN 8.5
30 NEW JERSEY 8.3
29 MINNESOTA 8.2
28 MAINE 8.1
24 ARIZONA 7.8
24 MASSACHUSETTS 7.8
24 NEW YORK 7.8
24 PENNSYLVANIA 7.8
23 DELAWARE 7.7
21 COLORADO 7.5
21 CONNECTICUT 7.5
20 VERMONT 7.2
19 HAWAII 7.1
18 IDAHO 7
16 MARYLAND 6.9
16 WEST VIRGINIA 6.9
15 VIRGINIA 6.8
14 TEXAS 6.7
13 ARKANSAS 6.5
12 NEW HAMPSHIRE 6.2
10 KANSAS 6.1
10 MONTANA 6.1
8 NEW MEXICO 5.9
8 OKLAHOMA 5.9
7 LOUISIANA 5.8
5 IOWA 5.2
5 UTAH 5.2
4 SOUTH DAKOTA 4.9
3 NEBRASKA 4.6
2 WYOMING 4.5
1 NORTH DAKOTA 4.2

 

p = preliminary.

NOTE: Rates shown are a percentage of the labor force.  Data refer to place of residence. Estimates for the current month are subject to revision the following month.

Of course, anyone with a modicum of sense realizes things are going to continue to get worse as the administration continues to pay back the labor unions, continue to cut the manufacturing sector off at the knees (and the rest of us by default) with it’s global warming nonsense, drag down the private sector with interference in corporate governance, and kill us (literally and financially) with nationalized health care.  Which of course means that the 2010 elections are going to be a bloodbath, with my personal prognostication being that the above chart will turn – appropriately – solid red in 2011.  Hopefully with lessons learned as well.

Obama Eyeing Another Unqualified Nominee?

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The Committee for Justice is reporting that Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm headed to Washington last night.  She’s been noted as being on President Obama’s “short list” of nominees to replace Supreme Court Justice Souter; a big, blatant nod to Obama’s big debts to labor unions.

Jennifer Granholm is completely and unequivocably unqualified to sit on the Supreme Court.  Not the least little overlooked fact being that she has never, ever sat on the bench as a judge anywhere. 

And, like so many of Obama’s choices, among other equally noteworthy scandals, Granholm has failed to pay her taxes.  And let’s not forget that during her tenure as governor, Michigan’s economy plunged into a recession long before the current economic collapse.

So although she may be Obama’s kindred spirit, but she has absolutely NO business on the United States Supreme Court.

President Uses IRS Audit Of ASU As “Joke”

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So exactly what DO words mean?  In yet another shining example of this administration’s “do as I say, not as I do” policies, President Obama shows his Chicago-based political colors by attempting alleged “humor” during his commencement address at Arizona State.

University of Tennessee law Professor Glenn Reynolds writes in today’s Wall Street Journal:

At his Arizona State University commencement speech last Wednesday, Mr. Obama noted that ASU had refused to grant him an honorary degree, citing his lack of experience, and the controversy this had caused. He then demonstrated ASU’s point by remarking, “I really thought this was much ado about nothing, but I do think we all learned an important lesson. I learned never again to pick another team over the Sun Devils in my NCAA brackets. . . . President [Michael] Crowe and the Board of Regents will soon learn all about being audited by the IRS.”

I find no fault with Arizona State’s decision; indeed, I applaud is as absolutely appropriate (in contrast to Notre Dame).  And I also take offense at the President’s blatant stupidity.  Professor Reynolds nicely sums up the dangerousness of Obama’s mindset and it is today’s recommended reading.