Lord I Was Born A Travelin’ Man

  

We all know someone like President Barack Obama. You know… the kind of person who tells a whopper of a lie, then leaves before you have a chance to call him on it. 

I think that’s why Obama is the most traveled President in history at this point in his Obamanation of a Presidency… Immediate case in point: Where is President Hope and Change today? Why, he’s off to Norway to pick up his Nobel Peace prize and insult the king. Look back across the few days and you’re bound to find some outrageous statements from Obama, knowing he would be fleeing the country shortly. And it doesn’t take long.   

During Tuesday’s speech at The Brookings Institution in Washington, DC. to roll out his stimulus style jobs plan, “The One”  praised his own team for creating ”ambitious” financial reform and “sweeping” economic recovery initiatives, then took pot-shots at  the Republican party for having created the economic mess and then leaving it for him to resolve. Reality check: It was the Democratic pet projects Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac coupled with the Democratic Clinton administration forcing banks to make loans to those who would not normally qualify for them that largely  led to the bank insolvency crisis.  Add an inch to Pinnochio-bama’s nose.

“We were forced to take those steps (to jump-start the economy) largely without the help of an opposition party which, unfortunately, after having presided over the decision-making that had led to the crisis, decided to hand it over to others to solve.” 

 Reality check: See above. The decisions were made by people like Presidents Carter and Clinton in terms of the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac debacle. As for not having the help of an opposition party? Well, someone should inform the President it’s hard to assist in these matters when you are locked out of participation.  And even when the Republicans are not locked out of the chamber, Nancy Pelosi (House Speaker) and Barney Frank  join with  Harry Reid (Senate Majority Leader) to marginalize involvement from across the aisle.  Add two more inches to Pinnochio-Bama’s nose. 

Obama said the crisis was caused not just by economic weakness but the “weakness in our political system” — one corroded by the “bitterness of partisanship,” and the “endless campaigns focused on scoring points instead of meeting our common challenges.”  

Reality check: Welcome to the unending presidential campaign of Barack Hussein (don’t use that name until I’m elected) Obama.  Add two more inches as he was attempting to pin that tail on the wrong donkey.  

“We’ve seen the consequences of this failure of responsibility. The American people have paid a heavy price.” Obama referred to the nation’s unemployment as a ”human tragedy.”  

Reality check: Of course, he’s implying the Bush administration is responsible for everything this country is facing. Therein, witness his biggest lie yet. Perhaps if the President focused on preserving, protecting, and defending the Constitution (as his oath of office  requires) instead of trying to find ways to circumvent and develop end-runs around it, he might actually accomplish something positive.

Bbut until then, that final accusation by Barack Obama will have to be reserved for his hagiography autobiography. Two… no, three more inches, for not only wasting our time and tax dollars, but for having the audacity to attempt to place the blame everywhere but the one place it deserves to be placed.  Add it up and what do you have?

  

 Mmmm-mmmm-mmmm… 

 ”Gotta go now… they’re giving me the Nobel Peace Prize today…” 

 Gerry Ashley

That’s the Way the Cookie Crumbles

 

Even in something as benign as a Christmas party, the White House simply cannot manage to stay away from the stupid.

Most Christmas cookies are shaped like angels, wreaths, snowmen, Christmas trees, and other holiday items. But Fox News reported that at Monday’s annual Christmas party, the White House served cookies shaped like acorns.

The chocolate cookies shaped like an acorn were quite a hit with Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa. “I didn’t expect to see such stark symbolism,” King said in an e-mail…

The irony of the White House dishing out acorn-shaped chocolate cookies seemed a little, well, “nutty” to King. The Iowa Republican is one of the loudest voices calling for Congress to investigate ACORN.

There are no reports of other White House cookies in the shapes of non-holiday themed inedible nuts from common trees.

Whether inadvertent or deliberate, this is just bizarre. If inadvertent, it reinforces the impression that this administration is appallingly tone-deaf on even the appearance of propriety, particularly in matters of protocol.

And if deliberate, it’s an unprecedented slap in the face to the entire nation, and an ill-considered support and flaunting of an organization that appears to be riddled with corruption.

This administration is rapidly becoming the unfunny punchline to a bad joke. And it’s nobody’s fault but their own.

Stoutcat

H/T: HotAir headlines

“We’ll Take It From Here” (A Funeral For Heroes)

Sgt. Mark Renninger, 39; Officers Tina Griswold, 40; Ronald Owens, 37; Gregory Richards, 42.

Newspapers, web sites, political pundits, bloggers… these are all sources of news.  And while we depend on a mainstream media to deliver us the information we require in stories like this, we are spared the gruesome details. 

I know this will infuriate some, but perhaps we would be able to grasp the enormity of some tragedies like this if we had more information. But only if we process that information and absorb the scope and full impact. I’m beginning to wonder if we’ve lost that ability from our collective souls as a society.

But I believe it’s important to know, on this day when the four slain members of the Lakewood, Washington Police department are laid to rest, that even during the final moments of their lives, the final acts of these four souls was to think of protecting and serving others. According to King5 News and the Associated Press:

The owner of the Forza Coffee shop where four Lakewood Police Officers were shot and killed said Officer Greg Richards “shielded” the baristas and customers inside the coffee shop during Sunday’s shooting.Owner Brad Carpenter told KING 5 News, his two employees who were in the store at the time, told him Officer Richards wrestled with Maurice Clemmons and dragged him out of the coffee shop so no one else would be hurt.

Richards, Sgt. Mark Renninger and officers Tina Griswold  and Ronald Owens were killed by Clemmons.

To protect and serve was their commitment. And they did no less. To honor them and keep them and their families in our hearts, thoughts, and prayers at this time is not only our obligation, but an honor and a privilege. As a society, we are greatly diminshed by their passing. And we all must step up to fill in that horrible gap left in their absense.

But perhaps the best way to honor them is to renew our commitment as a society to reinstill the values that have been systematically stripped away by the glorification of violence in entertainment and in the rejection of reality in favor of political correctness. We must deal with this or collectively pass into the history books as a society.

This is not the first multiple murder of police officers this year. On March 21st, the city of Oakland, CA also lost four of their own “finest” including  Officer John Hege along with Sargents Mark Dunakin, Ervin Romans and Daniel Sakai, all gunned down during what was supposedly a routine traffic stop and during the attempt by the murderer to flee.

The following month, three police officers responding to a domestic abuse call in Pennsylvania were shot to death by a killer who was lying in wait for them. In the blink of an eye, gone were Officers Eric Kelly, Stephen Mayhle and Paul Sciullo III.    And so it goes…

But today is a day all decent people should mourn. The memorial service is being held today in the town of Lakewood, Washington. But the city by the shores of Puget Sound is not the only place the tears will be flowing.

The following video was done as a trubute to the 4 Oakland Policemen, but sadly, its an ideal choice for today’s memorial as well.  

Of note: The singer, performing the standard,  “Amazing Grace” did the unthinkable: He added a bridge to the song that never existed before. But, in my opinion, he did a masterful job and made a great song even more appropriate for the solomn occasion. The song was used in the film Amazing Grace several years ago. The lyrics to the bridge are as follows and seem especially fitting:

My Chains Are Gone
I’ve Been Set Free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood, his mercy rains
Unending love, Amazing Grace
 

 In honor and memory of the Lakewood Police laid to rest today and to all who have given their lives in the line of duty, thank you… We’ll take it from here. 

Gerry Ashley

Update:  The Lakewood Police Independent Guild is accepting donations for the families of the four slain police officers.  Checks can be made to the LPIG Benevolent Fund and sent to P.O. Box 99579, Lakewood, WA 98499. Donations also can be made online at www.lpig.us.

Something Rotten in Denmark?

Evidently there is much weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth in Copenhagen today, as the three main groups attending the “Kool Kids Konference” are all throwing major hissy fits. The Guardian reports:

The UN Copenhagen climate talks are in disarray today after developing countries reacted furiously to leaked documents that show world leaders will next week be asked to sign an agreement that hands more power to rich countries and sidelines the UN’s role in all future climate change negotiations.

The document is also being interpreted by developing countries as setting unequal limits on per capita carbon emissions for developed and developing countries in 2050; meaning that people in rich countries would be permitted to emit nearly twice as much under the proposals.

The so-called Danish text, a secret draft agreement worked on by a group of individuals known as “the circle of commitment” – but understood to include the UK, US and Denmark – has only been shown to a handful of countries since it was finalised this week.

What a scandal and a hissing!

• Developing countries are upset because they will not be allowed to emit nearly as much carbon as the developed nations. Unfair!
• Developed nations are upset because this little secret plan got leaked. Unfair!
• And the United Nations is upset because it takes power and money (lots and lots and lots of money) out of their hands and places it elsewhere. Really unfair!

So what to do about this brouhaha? Well, I think the best-case scenario is if the representatives from the developing nations, the developed nations, and the United Nations all leave Copenhagen in a huff and have nothing more to do with such a stupid conference ever again.

Face it. The earth has been slowly warming since the end of the Little Ice Age back in 1850. Is some of that warming caused by human beings? Probably. Is much or most of it due to circumstances having nothing to do with human activity? Certainly. Is there anything we can do about it, regardless of cause? Precious little in the grand scheme of things, despite what the “scientists” are claiming.

And until the scientists at East Anglia can come up with a better excuse than, “The dog ate our homework” to explain why they can’t show any raw data, I say we scrap Copenhagen, scrap Kyoto, scrap the CRU, scrap NOAA/GHCN, scrap NASA/GISS, and start again.

It behooves all of us as human beings to live on this earth conscientiously. If I speak of “responsible stewardship” I’ll probably get branded as a wingnut born-again Christianist, but so what? We do need to be responsible stewards.

We also need things like fuel to power all the great inventions that allow us all to live in relative comfort and safety. That stewardship therefore also includes discovering things like reliable, large-scale renewable fuel sources; and until we find and develop those, responsible exploitation of the riches that lie beneath our own soil and on our own shores, rather than outsourcing our needs to countries which would rather see us all under sharia law, and which do their drilling in far less eco-friendly ways.

Global warming scams aside, if we are not responsible stewards, we may bequeath our children and grandchildren an environment as unpleasant to live in as their indebtedness from the cost of nationalized healthcare will be to live with. And we don’t need a conference in Copenhagen, Kyoto, or anywhere else to remind us of that.

UPDATE: HotAir suggests: “What this is really about is first-world nations getting last-minute cold feet at the thought of massive wealth transfers to some unreliable partners.”

Stoutcat

Reid Digs Deep, Achieves New Low In Class

Harry Reid

If class were cash, Harry Reid, the personification of the Peter Principle at work in the Senate, would be as deeply in debt as he and his ilk have put the United States government (i.e., the American taxpayer).

In his latest political regurgitation, he is comparing those of us who oppose this health care reform bill to supporters of slavery. Never mind that it was the Republican Party that was founded as the anti-slavery party back in the 1850s. Never mind that it was a democrat (Strom Thurman) who failed in his attempt to filibuster the Civil Rights bill of 1957  and it was actually the Republicans who led the fight in support of the bill.  Note: Thurman would later (1964) cross over the aisle to the Republican side.

Side note: Since my high school days, I’ve been criticized for writing run-on sentences. Well, folks, prepare for the crowning achievement of a life dedicated to the fine art of the run-on sentence, as I attempt to put this into some perspective:

Harry Reid, the cowardly traitor who had the audacity to stand in the hall of the United States Senate and announce “The war in Iraq is lost”  (bringing aid and comfort to the enemy) while our young men and women were winning the surge…

(let me catch my breath)

… the same Harry Reid who  is part of the Congress that has enslaved our children and grandchildren as debtors to foreign powers for the next century (if we’re lucky it will only be that long) due to the  ”tax and spend”  spree that has tripled the deficit since Obama has taken office…

(one more breath and I think we’re there)

… now points his finger at those of us who are smart enough to see what his ignorance misses (the unsustainable debt he’s imposing) and is accusing us as being the ones supporting slavery.

Wow, Harry.  You just never learn, do you? The government reforming health care is like asking the fox to reform hen house security. And I’m pretty sure the chance of success is about the same.  And if this bill becomes law, it will without doubt push the United States economy beyond the point of no return.

More on that in an upcoming rant.

Gerry Ashley

From Inside the Asylum, The Inmates Are Running the Nation

 

It’s the only thing that could explain the insane craziness going on. Hotair reports:

For the first time ever, the Environmental Protection Agency has declared a naturally-occurring substance in the air a danger to human health.  Carbon dioxide, which has existed as a major component of Earth’s atmosphere for billions of years — and which is necessary for plant growth — is now a declared pollutant.  The determination gives the EPA wide-ranging authority over the operations of energy production and manufacturing…

Clearly, there’s only one solution:

Stoutcat

H/T: Watts Up With That

Apparently, Nobody Loves FoxNews

 

Except the viewers, that is.

Politico reported yesterday that National Public Radio, that bastion of open-mindedness, put pressure on their political correspondent Mara Liasson to discontinue her regular appearances as a FoxNews contributor, due to “concerns that Fox’s programming had grown more partisan”. This was way back in October, during the “FoxNews vs. White House” skirmish (which FoxNews won handily).

According to Politico, Liasson was asked to watch the cable channel for 30 days and render an opinion. After having done so, Ms. Liasson reported back that she saw “no significant change” at the network.

According to a source, Liasson was summoned in early October by NPR’s executive editor for news, Dick Meyer, and the network’s supervising senior Washington editor, Ron Elving. The NPR executives said they had concerns that Fox’s programming had grown more partisan, and they asked Liasson to spend 30 days watching the network.

 At a follow-up meeting last month, Liasson reported that she’d seen no significant change in Fox’s programming and planned to continue appearing on the network, the source said.

 NPR’s focus on Liasson’s work as a commentator on Fox’s “Special Report” and “Fox News Sunday” came at about the same time as a White House campaign launched in September to delegitimize the network by painting it as an extension of the Republican Party…

Huh, imagine that! And while denying that the White House had attempted to influence the NPR journalist, Anita Dunn, former White House Communications Director did state in an interview with NPR:

“We see Fox right now as the source and the outlet for Republican Party talking points.”

So take that denial for what it’s worth.

And NPR mouthpiece Dana Rehr chimed in:

“There’s no relationship between the White House’s criticism of Fox and any discussions about Fox that we’re having.”

Sure. And since NPR is funded partially by the government, you can imagine that they realize which side their bread is buttered on.

And it wasn’t just the White House bringing pressure to bear. Jacob Weisberg of Slate chimed in with the following:

“By appearing on Fox, reporters validate its propaganda values and help to undermine the role of legitimate news organizations,” Weisberg wrote in an Oct. 17 Newsweek column, “Why Fox News Is Un-American.” “Respectable journalists — I’m talking to you, Mara Liasson — should stop appearing on its programs.”

So Brit Hume, Brett Baier, Major Garret, Neil Cavuto, and the late Tony Snow aren’t “respectable journalists”? Some may beg to differ with that opinion.

And according to Dunn, the problem was that those unrespectable FoxNews journalists were chasing stories that the White House just didn’t want covered:

 “What was important was the idea that just because something gets aired on them didn’t mean that they — that everybody else needed to go chasing it. And I think that if you looked at some of the fake stories that were created that the mainstream media felt they needed to go chase — because, you know, for whatever reason, they were getting pressure to, quote, ‘Why aren’t you being balanced?’” she said at a conference sponsored by Bloomberg News. “I think it did — it did help people get a sense of perspective again … to the extent that, you know, people took a step back and said, ‘Hmm, am I really wanting to go chase those stories?’”

 “I kept saying to people, ‘You know, if you’re going to go chase those stories, get a second source,’” Dunn said.

Great idea. Now if only Fow would just stop covering embarrassing stories about unvetted people crashing White House events, climate science being discovered to be a massive fraud, presidential dithering about war plans, government take-overs of, well, pretty much everything, why then I’m sure the White House — and NPR — would be extremely satisfied.

Too bad.

Stoutcat

Monday Morning Bad Pun

 

Folks, I know we have serious things to worry about, but that can wait. We’ll be posting more of real life a bit later. Let’s get this huge groan out of the way early in the week. No need to thank me.

Stoutcat

Link: Pearls Before Swine

Tough Love

Little by little, the word is getting out.

Share the (tough) love.

Stoutcat

Point:Counterpoint:Repoint, Part 3

 

Continuing where we left off Wednesday, here is the final response of this discussion series.

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 I’m reminded of a speech Patton delivered to his men on the eve of a big battle. Basically, he told them that some would die, but not all. Better to just be honest.

America is like the Titanic in the last hours: Beginning to slip beneath the waves bow down, but it hasn’t snapped in two yet.

[I] thought the slight shake up in Dubai was interesting [the other day]. Piddly little country couldn’t pay its tiny $60 billion debt, and the global marketplace shuddered. The Dow lost 160 points. What happens when we can’t print enough money, and no one will loan us anymore? What happens when the U.S. $100 trillion debt collapses? Well, to put it in perspective, $60 billion is roughly 1/1,600th of $100 trillion; or put another way, $60 billion is roughly .06% of $100 trillion. And of course, when we go, Japan goes.

How could this happen? And why is it that only folks like Walker, Dobbs, Laffer, Payne, Beck, and a few others are screaming their heads off? Here’s how and why via analogy.

In the early 1970s Eastern Airlines flight 401 suffered a slight mechanical failure in its landing lights. For four arduous minutes, the flight crew screwed around with the lights not noticing that the auto pilot had been inadvertently turned off. They ignored audible warnings and falling gauges. In the last ten seconds, they finally realized that the alarms were going off and sat in disbelief.

If the captain or co-pilot had grabbed the yoke and applied full power, they might have made it. But instead they sat stunned in the face of all their instruments, of all their warning signs. Here’s the FAA YouTube recreation for all to see and learn from:

This country has sub-consciously known this financial disaster was coming since the 1970s. My brother used to warn me about it when I was a teenager. The alarms have been going off for decades and we’ve been busy dicking around with disco and pro wrestling. Well, now we’re in those last ten seconds, and we simply cannot believe our eyes. We’re unable to grab the yoke; we’re unable to apply full power.

I just don’t know what’s going to happen, and I don’t think turning to the readers will do a damned bit of good. I’d say go quietly, build a good survival kit, a decent .22 and a bunch of bullets, and invest in silver.

Some of Patton’s men did survive. Some of the people on the Titanic did survive. Some of the folks on flight 401 did survive. I’m not saying all is lost, but I am saying that it looks like excruciating days are getting closer.

Like I said, I don’t know what to write. But I don’t think writing “Barney Frank Started This Whole Mess” will do any good.

Besides, I already wrote that.

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 Hope you enjoyed this series as much as I did. The two correspondents occasionally have exchanges like this via email, so if you liked this, let me know, and I’ll see if I can get permission to publish the next time they chew the fat online.

Stoutcat