Debt Ceiling Deal Has Lefties Fuming

They're not the only ones mad, but right now they're the loudest:

President Barack Obama’s rightward lurch to reach a $3 trillion deficit reduction deal with no guarantee of additional revenues had liberals fuming and Republicans all but declaring victory Sunday afternoon.

With time running out to reach an agreement to raise the debt ceiling before Tuesday’s default deadline, Obama moved dramatically in the direction of the GOP, according to Senators and aides in both parties.

As details trickled out Sunday, the deal framework appeared to give Republicans most of what they were seeking — with about $3 trillion in guaranteed spending cuts but no tax increases....

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said early reports of the new deal appeared to be “a sugar-coated Satan sandwich.” The Missouri Democrat said the CBC hadn’t yet made a formal declaration that the group would oppose it, “but this is a shady bill.”

“This deal trades people’s livelihoods for the votes of a few unappeasable right-wing radicals, and I will not support it,” ripped Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), co-chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, before House Democrats had even been briefed. “The lesson today is that Republicans can hold their breath long enough to get what they want.”

"Progressive" is such an oxymoron when it comes to liberals.

I understand there are a lot of Tea Party congressmen who are equally unhappy because this bill does nothing to solve the underlying problem - out of control spending. It also paves the way for this mysterious "debt commission" that will undoubtedly include six liberal congressmen who will be pushing for tax hikes. Those six, combined with only one wishy-washy Republican, can really screw things up.

Unfortunately, this whole thing is probably centrist enough to get enough votes to pass, which means in the long run conservatives will likely lose.

Are You Read if the Debt Deal Falls Apart?

Better pay attention to this.

Political Photo of the Day

From Luke Russert, a lone protester on Capitol Hill:

Crazy Stupid Boring Movie

After seeing lots of reviews praising Steve Carell's new movie, Crazy Stupid Love, we decided to go see it yesterday.  My wife loves a good funny romantic comedy...but this was not it.  Frankly, we found it boring.  It wasn't that crazy but certainly had lots of stupid.

Perhaps it's because our world is so far removed from the world of the movie's characters, but we just couldn't relate to it at all, and all the laughs promised in the reviews failed to materialize.  It was so-so at best.

Since this movie was described as so much better than some of the other romantic comedies out now (like Friends With Benefits), I can't image how bad they must be.

Political Quote of the Day

An unnamed Democrat Senator had this to say about Obama, as quoted by Maureen Dowd:

“We are watching him turn into Jimmy Carter right before our eyes.”

The left is nearly apoplectic this morning at the news the tentative debt ceiling deal contains all cuts, the Balanced Budget Amendment, and no new revenues or taxes. They're calling it a "rout".

I opined late last night:

I think Obama is so desperate for a deal that takes the debt ceiling past the election he'll agree to pretty much anything

Some of the White House spokesholes are still trying to assure the left that the final deal will have revenues in it, but it's unlikely that could get passed in the House. I have a feeling the final deal will look much like what was reported last evening. It contains the one thing Obama really wants - not having to talk about this again until after the election.

Unfortunately for America, this deal does nothing to cure the underlying problem - too much spending - and so we continue down the same self-destructive path.

Empty Seats at the Brickyard

NASCAR is running at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway today, but the usually packed racetrack won't be full. From Rich VanWyk of WTHR::

I’ve been covering the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400 for more than 30 years and never thought we’d see the day the Indianapolis Motor Speedway closed grandstands because ticket sales were so poor.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway never releases precise attendance figures. It says ticket sales for the Brickyard 400 will be well over 100,000 at a facility that has an estimated 250,000 seats… Other NASCAR races are having similar attendance drops.

The economy is one reason. A lot of fans are out of work or short on cash. At the same time, there are more races.

This is one of the biggest and richest races on the schedule, but not many people are feeling rich these days. And those that are know Obama has a target on their backs. Doesn't make for a pleasant environment.

2004 Dem Nominee Gets Spanked by the 2016 or 2020 GOP Nominee

This is 14 minutes of good political theater.  It starts off with a great floor speech by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), and after he's sliced and diced the Dems for awhile Sen. John F'ing Kerry (D-MA) decides to debate him.  Epic fail on the part of Kerry who gets completely spanked by Rubio.  Here you go:

KABC Reporter Shot With BB Gun During Live Broadcast

Weather reporting can be dangerous:

KABC-TV Channel 7 reporter Leanne Suter was injured after being struck with a pellet from a BB gun Saturday while doing a live weather report in Fontana, but she was not seriously injured, authorities said.

Two teenagers were arrested in connection with the shooting, Fontana police said. Suter was taken to a hospital after being hit in the hand with a BB round, said Lt. Mark Weissmann. She was standing on Summit Avenue near the 15 Freeway when she was shot about 6 p.m., Weissmann said.

Two boys, ages 16 and 17, was taken into custody on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, he said. Their names were not released.

A Deal?

Political Wire has this:

ABC News reports that Republicans and the White House have struck a tenative deal to raise the debt ceiling. 

Key features of the agreement: 

• Debt ceiling increase of up to $2.8 trillion 
• Spending cuts of roughly $1 trillion
• Vote on the Balanced Budget Amendment
• Special committee to recommend cuts of $1.8 trillion before Thanksgiving
• Automatic across-the-board cuts go into effect, including cuts to Defense and Medicare, if not approved by December.

If this is the deal, expect significant push back from Democrats.

I'm a little confused on the spending cuts. Is it $1 trillion total, $1.8 trillion total, or $2.8 trillion total? I think it's the latter with $1.8 trillion to be determined by the mysterious committee.

Note there are no tax hikes in this plan. I'm not sure the Dems won't go completely bat**** crazy over that.

House Votes Down Harry Reid's Bill 10 Hours Before the Senate Will Vote on It

If this current struggle in Washington were a Batman episode there would be *BIFF!*, *POW!!*, and *WHAM!*s flying all over D.C.  After Harry Reid tabled the Boehner bill less than two hours after it was passed in the House (and without any Senate debate), Boehner got his revenge by introducing Harry Reid's bill in the House and voting it down hours before the Senate will vote on it.  For all those Senators planning to stay up for the 1am vote tomorrow morning, stay in bed.  You're wasting your time.

Unlike the Boehner bill, Harry Reid's effort won't even pass in his own house of Congress.  It's a complete waste of time.

And Guy Benson pointed out something about the Reid bill that I didn't know:

@guypbenson: Important: Did you know the Reid bill "deems" the next 2 years' budgets passed, allowing Sen Dems to go 4 yrs w/o offering an actual plan?

Incredible. Washington is broken. Shut it down and let's start over.

Want to Create 230,000 Jobs and Increase GDP by $44 Billion? Start Drilling.

From Big Peace:

The Obama Administration has long been hostile to domestic oil and natural gas production. The impacts of these policies are becoming clear. One recent study found that the Administration’s moratorium and slowdown in permitting in the Gulf of Mexico has cost the United States over $4 billion in economic output and nearly 20,000 jobs.[i] A new study has found that there is great economic potential if the Administration speeds up their slow permitting process.
The Gulf Economic Survival Team, a group of energy and business interests based largely in Louisiana,  had IHS Global Insight and IHS CERA study the impact of faster permitting of oil leases on offshore oil production and the economies of the United States and affected states.[ii] They determined that increased exploration and permitting approval in 2012 would:

• Create 230,000 U.S. jobs
• Increase U.S. GDP by more than $44 billion
• Increase tax and royalty revenues for state and federal treasuries by almost $12 billion
• Increase oil production by more than 400,000 barrels per day (150 million barrels per year)
• Reduce U.S. payments for oil imports by about $15 billion.

Other findings are:

• Almost twice the number of exploration and development plans are pending from the Department of Interior compared to pre-moratorium levels
• Approvals of exploration plans have decreased by 85 percent.
• The median number of days for approving an exploration plan has increased from 36 days to 131 days.

Further, ten oil rigs have left the Gulf of Mexico since the moratorium for more lucrative areas offshore in Egypt, Congo, French Guiana, Liberia, Nigeria, and Brazil.[iii] Although federal officials announced they were lifting the restrictions last October on a moratorium put in place in May 2011, a “de-facto moratorium” remains in effect that lowers oil and natural gas production and impacts businesses in the Gulf region.

There's more at the link.

This is such an easy solution to many different problems, but yet Obama continues to be an environmental ideologue who thinks we can build cars that run on sunshine and rainbows.

Movie Trailer of the Day

Mary Poppins goes Harry Potter:


There's another recut trailer for the movie "Shining" that turns a horror flick into a romantic comedy here. Well done.

Political Photo of the Day

A screenshot from the official White House website following a search for "debt limit plan" (larger version here):

A Little Debt Ceiling Vote History

For Senate leaders Harry Reid, Dick Durbin, and former Senator Obama, their calls for Republicans to get in line and raise the debt ceiling to "save America" ring hollow, as Byron York points out:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has frequently accused Republicans of playing partisan politics in the debt ceiling crisis. "The moment for partisan games is long since passed," Reid said on July 21. "It is time for patriots on both sides of the aisle to join hands and actually govern." On July 26, Reid released a statement headlined REPUBLICANS PUT POLITICS AHEAD OF THE ECONOMY. And on July 24, Reid cast himself as a bipartisan compromiser, trying to talk sense into his partisan adversaries. "We hope Speaker Boehner will abandon his 'my way or the highway' approach," Reid said, "and join us in forging a bipartisan compromise."

A look at Reid's record, however, shows that in the last decade his own voting on the issue of the debt ceiling is not only partisan but perfectly partisan. According to "The Debt Limit: History and Recent Increases," a January 2010 report by the Congressional Research Service, the Senate has passed ten increases to the debt limit since 2000. Reid never voted to increase the debt ceiling when Republicans were in control of the Senate, and he always voted to increase the debt ceiling when Democrats were in control.

Other Democrats have also accused Republicans of partisanship in the debt fight. "It's time for bipartisan leadership, not partisan gamesmanship," said the number-two Democrat in the Senate, Richard Durbin, after Republicans pulled out of budget talks with President Obama. And Obama himself described the debt debate as a "partisan three-ring circus" -- leaving no doubt that it is Republicans who are practicing partisanship.

At look at Durbin's record shows that he, too, has voted along absolutely partisan lines. In the last decade, Durbin never voted to increase the debt ceiling when Republicans were in control and always voted to increase the debt ceiling when Democrats were in control. As for Obama, there were four votes to raise the debt ceiling when he was in the Senate. He missed two of them, voted no once when Republicans were in charge, and voted yes once when Democrats were in charge.

If you're thinking there's a similar partisanship among the Republican leadership, continue reading York's piece and he will prove that wrong.  If the GOP acted as Reid, Durbin and Obama have in the past, we would not see a debt ceiling increase again as long as Harry Reid runs the Senate and Obama is president.

What Happens on August 3rd?

Iowahawk has been imagining what the world could look like on August 3rd if the government runs out of money. Here's a sample:

Beltway policy experts begin living by own wits; after 45 minutes there are no survivors.

Roving bands of outlaws stalk our streets, selling incandescent bulbs to vulnerable children.

NPR news segments no longer buffered by soothing zither interludes.

Breadlines teeming with jobless Outreach Coordinators, Diversity Liaisons, and Sustainability Facilitators.

Cowboy poetry utterly lacking in metre.

General Motors unfairly forced to build cars that people want, for a profit.

There's a lot more and it's all good here.

Immigration Headlines of the Day

I think Barack Obama finally found a way to stop illegal immigration:

Illegal Aliens Head South to Mexico in Search of 'American Dream'...

4.9% unemployment in Mexico vs. 9.4% in US...

Tear down the fence and let them out!

The Latest Washington Shenanigans

Philip Klein sums up tonight's activities in Washington:

As expected, the U.S. Senate voted 59 to 41 to table House Speaker John Boehner's plan to increase the debt limit that had been passed by the House just hours earlier. Then Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., declined a GOP offer to hold a cloture vote on his own plan tonight.

Six Republicans joined all Democrats in rejecting the Boehner plan: Sens. Jim DeMint, Lindsey Graham, David Vitter, Rand Paul, Mike Lee and Orrin Hatch. (Hatch's vote was especially interesting, another bit of evidence that he's fearing a primary challenge and is eager to show his conservative bona fides.)

Reid had filed cloture on his own debt limit bill, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., had offered to hold the vote tonight. But Reid declined, saying the only way he'd allow a vote tonight would be if it were a simple majority vote, rather than one that required a 60-vote threshold.

Thus, the Senate will now have to wait until Sunday at 1 am to hold a vote on his bill. However, he still has the ability to make changes to his bill up until midnight tonight, which he could attempt to do in an effort to win over seven Republicans and obtain the needed 60 votes.

Ultimately, whatever the Senate votes on will have to be reconciled with the House.

Separately, the House of Representatives announced that they would hold a Saturday vote on the Reid bill, in order to demonstrate that it doesn't have a change to get through the House as written.

I liked this idea I saw on Twitter:

@BrandonKiser: .@SpeakerBoehner should adjourn the House and nail a sign to the door that says "We did our job. Enjoy the weekend."

Exactly.

My fear is the bill that comes back to the House will be a real piece of garbage and all the Democrats, with help from the establishment Republicans, will line up to pass it.  I hope I'm wrong.

Political Video of the Day

From Fox News, Charles Krauthammer talks about Obama the Planless:

Economic Cartoon of the Day

From Michael Ramirez:

Either way, we're gonna crash.

San Francisco Can Ban Happy Meal Toys but Not Circumcisions

Even though most of San Francisco treats their private parts like toys, they can't regulate them the way they regulated Happy Meals:

A San Francisco County Superior Court judge ruled Thursday that a measure prohibiting male circumcision should be taken off the November ballot.

Judge Loretta M. Giorgi ordered San Francisco's director of elections to strike the measure from the city's ballot because she said that it is "expressly preempted" by the California Business and Professions Code.

Under that statute, only the state is allowed to regulate medical procedures, and "the evidence presented is overwhelmingly persuasive that circumcision is a widely practiced medical procedure," the ruling said.

After a brief hearing, Giorgi also found that the proposed ban would violate citizens' right to the free exercise of religion, said Deputy City Atty. Mollie Lee, because it targets Muslims and Jews, whose faiths call for circumcising males.

Proponents of the ban, which would have made it a misdemeanor to conduct a circumcision, argued that the procedure is "male genital mutilation." They collected enough signatures to put the ban up for a vote.

But in June, a group of doctors, community groups and Muslim and Jewish families sued to get the measure off the ballot, arguing that it was anti-Semitic and violated state law.

This whole thing would have been struck down eventually because of the constitutional protections on religious expression, so the whole exercise was futile.

Obama's Support Plunges Among Independents

Of course, independents are a wishy-washy bunch and their loyalties can switch on a dime, but for now Obama's in trouble with that group:

The sizeable lead Barack Obama held over a generic Republican opponent in polls conducted earlier this year has vanished as his support among independent voters has fallen off.Currently, 41% of registered voters say they would like to see Barack Obama reelected, while 40% say they would prefer to see a Republican candidate win in 2012. In May, Obama held an 11-point lead.

This shift is driven by a steep drop-off in support for Obama among independents. The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted July 20-24 among 1,501 adults and 1,205 registered voters finds that just 31% of independent voters want to see Obama reelected, down from 42% in May and 40% in March. Where Obama held a slim 7-point edge among independent registered voters two months ago, a generic Republican holds an 8-point edge today.

It's amazing to think 41% of voters would be willing to give Obama another four years, but when you realize that 47% of wage earners pay zero income tax, it's not that hard to understand. Being on the receiving end of government services without contributing is hard to give up. Of course they're going to vote for the guy who promises to keep them fat, stupid and lazy.

Mark Steyn also has some thoughts about the independents:

“I don’t have a lot of sympathy for the independents because I think in 2008, they thought they could afford their kind of moral narcissism,” Steyn said. “They voted for Obama to feel good about themselves. They ignored a lot of evidence as to what kind of guy he is and the world which he had been marinated his entire adult life. And they realize like a lot of people that they actually couldn’t afford the consequences of that vote. And I think the reality of that is still staring them in the face.”

Precious Metals Headlines of the Day

Well, they're not technically precious metals but they're certainly in demand these days:

Thieves Steal 100+ Bronze Vases Off Headstones At Cemetery...

2 Men Arrested For Stealing Guard Rails From Roadway...

Thieves Strip Live Copper Wiring From 14 Schools In Town; Start Of Year Threatened...

THIEVES RANSACK DC FIREHOUSE...

COPS: Man tries to sell stolen sewer grates at scrap yard...

This must be the hope and change we were all promised.

Will the Boehner Bill Pass, and What Happens if it Does?

Never before have I seen a party employ a strategy of doing nothing while the opposition debates itself. That's basically what's going on right now with Republicans arguing among themselves (and basically negotiating the fine point of the debt ceiling bill with themselves) while Democrats sit on their hands and watch. Harry Reid says he has a plan, but even members of his own party admit they haven't seen it. There's no bill - absolutely nothing for the Senate to vote on. And yet Harry blathers on about how he's ready to kill anything the House sends him.

A NY Times pollster has some thoughts:

Nate Silver wonders if the Democrats are winning a short-term game at the expense of the long: "Brilliant tactics by the Democrats. Not so sure about the strategy. Now you have an embarrassed Speaker whose help you very much need."

Yeah, Harry Reid spends 48 hours insisting with great glee that he'll kill Boehner's eponymous proposal, and right after he does so, he's going to say to Boehner, "Hey, go whip for my proposal so that I can say the Reid Plan saved America"?

I tweeted this yesterday:

Prediction: Boehner bill passes, goes to Senate where Reid fills it with Dem amendments and passes back to House where Dems vote yes.

Mark Levin was wondering on this radio show how Harry Reid would ever get his bill through the House if Boehner is having so much trouble with his. Easy. As I mentioned in the tweet, Harry takes Boehner's bill to use as the "Christmas tree" upon which he'll hang an assortment of Dem amendments designed to kill all the good things in the bill and replace them with Dem priorities, like killing the requirement for a second debt ceiling vote in the middle of next year's election.

Harry then gets his bill passed in the Senate with the help of RINO Republicans like John McCain (Dementor-AZ) and when the bill gets back to the House, all those Democrats who voted against it the first time suddenly see the light and combined with establishment Republicans who see more value in compromise than protecting America's financial future, the bill sails on to Obama who quickly signs it and claims credit for the whole thing.  Some suspect this whole deal has already been worked out between Boehner and Reid.

We'll see.  But if the Boehner bill is the best we can do, it's not good enough.  If it passes, the House should adjourn and leave no room for Harry Reid's shenanigans.  Pass it as is or you get nothing, and right now nothing is looking better than what's being offered.

UPDATE:  Just after I posted this word came that there's a new bill in the works that's likely to pass because it contains a Balanced Budget Amendment.  It may pass the House, but it won't go anywhere after that.  Democrats will never agree to balance the budget - that takes away too much of their spending power and buying votes is expensive.

USS Abraham Lincoln

We spent a lot of time yesterday morning visiting the USS Abraham Lincoln which is docked in Los Angeles for Navy Week. As always, I planned to get there early to beat the crowd. Unfortunately, a couple of thousand other people had the same idea.

We arrived at the World Cruise Center, the shuttle point for the carrier, at 9:30 am. Tours were to start at 10 but there were already long lines of people ahead of us. We ended up waiting about 1 hour 45 minutes in line before boarding a shuttle bus. There was another brief wait at shipside to go through security, so it was about 2 hours from the time we parked until we could board the ship.

The people who came after us, and they came by the thousands, probably had a 3-4 hour wait.  The lines were huge as you can see in the video below.

You entered via a gangway into the Hanger Deck where they had various displays and merchandise opportunities. Then a high speed elevator took us all up to the Flight deck where there were several aircraft on display along with pilots and crews to talk about their craft.

One of the reasons I wanted to go on this ship was this event in 2003 which took place on this same ship:

I decided to have my photo taken near the same spot, but without the big sign.

Both my wife and son went with me, and the last time I had my photo taken on a carrier with him was in 2005 when he looked a little different:

Today he's a little taller:

I put the rest of the photos, plus some video of our elevator rides, in this video:


The carrier is closed today for tours but will open again Saturday and Sunday. If you're thinking of going, you really need to get there by 8am to have a reasonable chance of getting on an earlier tour. It will be a madhouse this weekend, and with hot, humid weather expected, standing in hours-long lines will not be much fun.

It's a great experience, though, to get to walk down the flight line of an active duty nuclear aircraft carrier. I highly recommend it.

Global Warming Headlines of the Day

From Drudge:

Alaska researcher who documented polar bears demise in Arctic placed on leave...

New NASA Data Blow Gaping Hole In 'Global Warming' Alarmism...

So, can we finally get NASA out of the global warming business? I realize that since Obama shut down the manned space program they haven't got much else to do, but seriously, global warming?

Political Quote of the Day

From San Fran Nan:

"What we're trying to do is save the world from the Republican budget. We're trying to save life on this planet as we know it today."

Well, the vote has been delayed until tomorrow so I guess the planet will survive another day.

And if she's really serious about trying to save life on this planet, how come the Democrats haven't proposed any plans of their own?

Flight Deck

Finally standing on the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln.  Ship's motto is "Shall Not Perish", taken from the Gettysburg Address.

Sent via HolyCoast.com mobile.

My Fellow Citizens

Here's just part of the crowd waiting to tour the USS Abraham Lincoln in San Pedro.  Statistically 47% of these people aren't paying any income taxes to support this ship.

But I won't say that out loud.

Looks like about a 2 hour wait at this point.

Sent via HolyCoast.com mobile.

Heading to the USS Abraham Lincoln

Heading up to San Pedro this morning to tour the USS Abraham Lincoln, one of America's top line nuclear aircraft carriers.  I wrote a bit about that yesterday.

Maybe they'll let me take an F-18 off the catapult and fly around the harbor a bit.  It's the least they can do for one of the 53% of people that actually pay income taxes to keep the thing afloat.

U.S. Soldier Arrested with Porn, Weapons and Possibly Explosives

Looks like another violent Lutheran:

At least one U.S. military serviceman has been arrested after raising concerns over another possible attack on Fort Hood, Fox News has learned exclusively.

Pvt. Nasser Jason Abdo, an AWOL soldier from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, was arrested by the Killeen Police Department near Fort Hood and remains in custody there. Authorities, however, will not say if Abdo is the one who raised security concerns.

Bob Jenkins, a Fort Campbell spokesman, told Fox News that Abdo was being investigated for child pornography found on his government computer.

Abdo went AWOL on July 4. On the eve of his first deployment to Afghanistan -- after only one year in the Army -- Abdo applied for conscientious objector status. It was denied by his superiors at Ft. Campbell but later overturned by the Assistant Deputy Secretary of the Army review board.

Another source told Fox News that two other U.S. soldiers also raised possible concerns. Authorities have recovered weapons and possibly explosive materials, Fox News was told.

This story will be developing all day. There's a chance that this guy was planning another attack on Fort Hood, where there has already been a fatal attack by a Muslim Army officer.

Second Version of Boehner's Plan Might Actually Do What He Said It Will Do

The first pass at John Boehner's debt plan didn't fare well at the CBO, but the new improved version looks better and is probably likely to pass the House today. From there, who knows? From Daily Caller:

CBO likes Boehner's revised plan -- The CBO didn't have good things to say about John Boehner's debt-ceiling plan the first time around, but the second time's the charm. TheDC's Amanda Carey reports: "The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Wednesday evening released its score of House Speaker John Boehner's revamped plan to cut spending and increase the debt ceiling. The prognosis: the new version is a vast improvement. According to the CBO, Boehner's cuts now exceed the amount by which his plan would initially raise the debt ceiling. The analysis concludes that his proposal would cut and cap spending by $917 billion over ten years — slightly more than the $900 billion and first debt ceiling increase permitted under the Boehner plan. It would also cut $22 billion in spending over the next year, and reduce discretionary expenditures each year thereafter. Boehner's new plan also requires Congress to propose at least another $1.8 trillion in spending cuts." So of course, Senate Democrats are vowing to vote it down, and if it gets past them, Obama is vowing to veto it. Remember all that business about not calling his bluff? It doesn't seem to be working out the way he wanted. 

At this point, if this is the best we can get, Boehner should get the bill passed and then inform the Dems and Obama that the House is done. Since nothing has come from the Senate or Obama, they can take this plan or they can default.

Sinking the International Space Station

Well, that was money well spent:

Russia's space agency announced Wednesday that the International Space Station -- a space base the world's scientists and billions of U.S. tax dollars helped build and maintain some 200 miles above the surface of the Earth -- will be de-orbited and allowed to sink into the Pacific Ocean in 2020, just like its Russian predecessor, Mir.

"We will be forced to sink the ISS. We cannot leave it in orbit as it is a very complicated and a heavy object," Roscosmos' deputy head Vitaly Davydov said in an interview posted on the agency's website.

"We have agreed with our partners that the ISS would function roughly until 2020," he noted.

After sinking hundreds of millions into construction of the space station -- billions if you include the cost of the space shuttle flights that carried the ISS modules into orbit -- knowledgeable government sources and NASA spokesmen were aghast at Davydov's plans to sink the station in the ocean.

This isn't the first time I've seen Russia come out with a statement that seems to be coming out of their own stovepipes," one congressional representative told FoxNews.com. "I would give it no credence at all."

"We wouldn't allow astronauts to be on the station if there's a sense that it's limping along," he added.

And these are the people we'll have to rely on now to get our people in space. If I was an astronaut I think I'd consider another profession.

The 14th Amendment Gambit

As we get closer to the made-up default date of August 2nd, a lot of lefties are pushing for Obama to use mythical powers they claim are contained in the 14th Amendment to unilaterally increase the debt ceiling.  Larry Sabato solicited opinions on Twitter about that and I think this one pretty much sums up the liberal position about Obama misusing his authority in this manner:

So what? The House impeaches him; no way the Senate convicts. GOP wastes a lot of time and loses next election.

Unfortunately, there's a lot of truth in that statement. Right now Obama is basically impeachment-proof no matter what he does. Right now, with Harry Reid at the controls in the Senate, Obama could do pretty much whatever he wants and expect Reid to cover for him. Any impeachment action, regardless of how merited, would be stopped cold in the Senate.

Even some Dem leaders are now pushing Obama in the direction of a dictatorial ruling.  Just try and imagine the same situation with George W. Bush as President and tell me if you think the Dems would be pushing for this?

It's a sorry state of affairs in Washington these days.

They Threw a Movie Premier and a Rave Broke Out

Trouble in Hollywood tonight:

Police have been unable to control an unruly crowd of hundreds of people in Hollywood, Los Angeles Police Department Officer Karen Rayner said.

The crowd gathered at the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre for the premiere of a documentary on the Electric Daisy Carnival, an electronic music festival that’s notorious for how many attendees use recreational drugs.

People have refused to disperse and began throwing bottles at officers. Police have proceeded to shoot at the crowds with bean bags.

The crowds have vandalized police cars and set fires, Rayner said.

The Electric Daisy Carnivals are rave events that feature loud music, flashing lights, massive crowds, and the occasional drug-related death (see Google). Not surprised the event in Hollywood isn't working out so well.

Give Me Jesus On the Line

That's a line from an old Manhattan Transfer song, but it could also apply to this photo:

Christians and non-Christians alike are marveling at a unique vine formation in Littleton that some say resembles Jesus Christ during the crucifixion.

The vine, which has spread up a utility pole to power lines, is located on South Platte Canyon Road at West Christiansen Lane and directly across the street from a church.

A nearby resident, who says he is not religious, noticed the ‘di-vine’ formation one day and decided to take a picture and post it to Facebook.

A Little Rain for My Friends in Texas?

Looks like it:

My friends in the Rockport, TX area are pretty much right in the center of that cone, but that's not necessarily bad. If the storm stays below hurricane strength, which it looks like it will, wind damage will be minimal but rain totals will be pretty significant, and that part of Texas has been very parched this year. This storm could really be a game changer for much of Southwest Texas.

A tropical storm can dump prodigious amounts of rain - 6"-10" depending on the size and speed of the storm - and that could certainly cause some local flooding problems, but there's such a rain deficit in much of Texas I don't think they'll mind the risk of a local flash flood or two.

They've been praying for rain, and it looks like they're going to get some.

G'bye Harry

The final installment of the Harry Potter movie series debuted about 10 days ago, but I finally got to see it on Sunday.  It was well done, as were the other seven movies, but I'm not really happy about what they did with the final battle scenes.  Frankly, they screwed it up.

As I watched the movie I realized I was seeing something I didn't recall from reading the book.  The screenwriter, along with other other decision makers, apparently decided the final battle just wasn't action-packed enough as J.K. Rowling wrote it and made some fundamental changes in how the whole thing played out.  They also inflated the role of Neville Longbottom, apparently needing to make him more heroic than he already was in the original story.  It bugged me enough that yesterday I went back and reread the final seven chapters of the book (starting with The Sacking of Snape).  I would encourage anybody that saw the movie to do the same.  The differences from book to film become obvious pretty fast.

Having read all seven books and see the first seven movies, I'm sure there were a few liberties taken here and there in the films, but I can't remember such wholesale plot changes as occurred in the final movie. It may be the first Harry Potter movie that I'll never watch again because of it.  Too bad.  They did so many things right in the earlier films.

All that aside, the end of this 10-year, 8-film series points out how very important it was that they got the first film just right.  Had they messed anything up in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, the whole series could have collapsed.  The casting was perfect, the set design and characters were spot on - the whole thing worked marvelously well.  And I can say that as someone who saw the film before ever reading the book.

The rest of my family had read the first book when we went to see the movie, but I hadn't.  They had to do the mental adjustment from the images they already had in mind for the characters and Hogwarts, but for me it was all new and pretty fantastic.  I really liked the movie and decided to read the book after we got home.  I'm not usually a fan of fantasy stuff, but the Harry Potter series captured my imagination and is did millions of others.

It's hard to believe this entire parallel universe could come from one person's imagination, but J.K. Rowling is truly a gifted writer and thinker.  And when the final scene faded to credits, despite my dislike of the story changes in the final scenes, I must admit I felt a little emotion that this 10-year journey was now over.  I don't know if we'll ever see another phenomenon like Harry Potter again.

During Ramadan You Can't Walk and Chew Gum at the Same Time

Consider yourself warned:

Britain and the United States have issued special travel warnings for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins next Monday, and even chewing gum may be a problem for tourists.

“All Mission employees and family members are advised to exercise extra vigilance and avoid large crowds during the upcoming month of Ramadan,” advised the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem.”

The British Foreign Office told its citizens to be sensitive to Muslim customs during Ramadan and singled out the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as a target for terrorists.

“You should be aware that levels of observance of Ramadan will vary in different countries and cultures, but most Muslims will conform to some extent with the requirements of the fast - that they fast between dawn and sunset,” The Foreign Office stated,

“This means they can’t eat, drink, smoke or even chew gum during daylight hours. Muslims use this time of abstention for prayer, contemplation and charitable work.”

Boy, Ramadan seems to come earlier every year.

(Old joke - the Islamic calendar is only 354 days long, so Ramadan comes 11 or 12 days earlier every year.)

How Corrupt is My Congress?

According to a near majority, very corrupt:

Voters are more convinced than ever that most congressmen are crooks.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 46% of Likely U.S. Voters now view most members of Congress as corrupt. That’s up seven points from June and the highest finding yet recorded. Just 29% think most members are not corrupt, and another 25% are not sure.

Given the way they're spending us into bankruptcy while personally benefiting, I'd say corrupt is probably the right response.

Fleet Week Los Angeles

For the first time in many, many years there's a front line aircraft carrier docked in the Port of Los Angeles - the USS Abraham Lincoln - and this week it's open for tours as part of Fleet Week Los Angeles.  There are four ships that can be toured, including a cruiser, destroyer and minesweeper, but I'm sure the Lincoln will get most of the attention.  The ship tour schedule can be found in a PDF here.

I'm going to go up there tomorrow morning and tour the Abe, but my reason for going may be different from that of a lot of the other folks that will be there.  It's political, of course.  You see, it was on the forward flight deck of the Lincoln on May 1, 2003 that President Bush gave his famous "Mission Accomplished" speech, the banner hanging from the ship's island and badly misinterpreted by pundits the world over.  The banner never was meant to signify the end of the Iraq War, but to honor the end of the initial combat phase and the contribution of the Lincoln's crew and air wing.  If I can, I'm going to get a photo of myself on that forward flight deck.

That speech came a few hours after Bush flew out to the carrier and made an arrested landing on the rear flight deck. The pictures of him in the Navy flight suit enraged lefties everywhere and quite possibly helped him win the 2004 election:

I'll be taking pictures - lots of pictures.

It's the Obama, Stupid

Professor William Jacobson pretty much knocks it out of the park with his post entitled "Our Obama problem far exceeds our spending problem".  Here's his main argument:

Simply put, anything which increases Obama’s chances of reelection will more than offset any additional cuts to be gained beyond the Boehner plan.  That plan is far from perfect, and doesn’t go far enough, but think how far we have come in just a few months since Obama proposed a budget which was so outrageous in its spending and deficits that not a single member of the Senate from either party voted for it.

Our Obama problem far exceeds our spending problem.  The Boehner Plan keeps that Obama problem front and center for the next year, when Obama would rather be talking fluff and hope and change and playing class warfare.

Bill Kristol calls it a “time for choosing.”  Others say not good enough is not good enough, and if not now when.

All I ask of you and myself is that as Boehner reworks his plan in light of CBO scoring, keep in mind the end game.  We simply cannot afford 4 more years.

Just think what this country will look like in 2016.

This isn't about winning an election or political battle, it's about saving the country.

Obama the Planless

In the old days leaders were given names suitable to their attributes. Richard the Lionhearted, etc. Today we have Obama the Planless. The man without the plan, or if he has one, he's not willing to put it in writing. His press secretary did a nifty dance yesterday when, in a rare moment of objective journalism, the White House press actually asked if Obama had a debt plan that was actually written down.

He doesn't.  The press secretary shot back: "You need it written down?"

Guy Benson opines:

Yes, actually, we do need "something printed." Since his unmitigated failure of a budget was unanimously defeated in the Senate, this president has refused to offer a specific plan of his own on virtually anything at all. Instead, he talks about "visions" and "contours" and "frameworks" -- and tries to blame his opponents when his poor leadership is exposed. Over the last five days, the president has (a)undermined a bargain with John Boehner by introducing an unacceptable eleventh-hour condition, (b) rejected "out of hand" a bipartisan compromise that he found to be politically unpalatable, and (c) delivered a speech that painted his opponents as the intractable extremists. In light of this behavior, it's entirely reasonable for Americans to wonder what, precisely, Barack Obama's proposed solution might be. Today, the White House dismissively waived off that question as a GOP talking point and condescendingly inquired if the journalist who dared to ask it was capable of taking notes.

I'll close with an unsolicited word of advice, and a friendly reminder from the CBO director. The advice: When you're already plumbing new depths of unpopularity, dialing up your arrogance isn't a winning strategy. Even David Brooks finds it unseemly.

Obama has spent his life taking credit for the work of others. The fact he can't produce any ideas of his own is not surprising.

Weekly KHND Interview Podcast

You can listen to the podcast from yesterday's KHND Radio interview here.

John Kerry's Swiftboat Defender Loses Silver Star Medal

It's a pretty serious occasion when the military strips a high honor like the Silver Star from someone to whom it was awarded:

Ben Smith catches a Navy Times report that Capt. Wade Sanders -- best known for vouching for John Kerry's dubious war record and introducing the candidate at the 2004 convention -- has been stripped of his Silver Star by the Navy:

"Had the subsequently determined facts and evidence surrounding both the incident for which the award was made and the processing of the award itself been known to the Secretary of the Navy in 1992, those facts would have prevented the award of the Silver Star," [Mabus spokeswoman Pamela] Kunze said.

Aside from improperly receiving a medal, and Sanders is currently in jail for child pornography.

My father-in-law was awarded a Silver Star for actions in WWII, but didn't actually receive it until many years later when after research his son discovered he'd earned the award but had never received it. They don't just give those things away.

Meanwhile, Kerry's Swiftboat record continues to take a beating.

A GOP Revolt?

Sounds like the Republicans aren't completely excited about the John Boehner's plan:

House Republicans do not have enough support to pass their debt-ceiling increase plan on their own, a top conservative said Tuesday as his party’s leaders tried to cobble together a coalition of Republicans and Democrats to put the bill over the top.

“There are not 218 Republicans in support of this plan,” Rep. Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican who heads the powerful conservative caucus in the House, told reporters Tuesday morning.

If Mr. Jordan is right, that would mean Speaker John A. Boehner would have to rely on Democrats to pass the $1.2 trillion spending cuts plan — support Democrats’ top vote-counter said he’ll be hard-pressed to gain. Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer said “very few” Democrats will vote for the Boehner plan, though he acknowledged there could be some.

A vote in the House is expected Wednesday, and Republican leaders are trying to round up enough support to pass their version. They hope that if it can pass the House, that will pressure Senate Democrats to drop their alternative and accept the GOP’s plan.

Mr. Boehner’s bill would reduce future discretionary spending by $1.2 trillion, grant an immediate debt increase of $1 trillion, and set up a committee to work on trillions of dollars in future deficit reduction either through more spending cuts or tax increases, which would then earn another future debt increase. It would also require both the House and Senate to hold votes on a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.

Mark Levin went on a classic rant against the Boehner plan on his radio show yesterday. His basic objection is the plan has only vague promises of real spending cuts, appoints another silly commission that will likely end up raising taxes and not cutting anything, and doesn't solve the big problem which is skyrocketing spending and debt.

And he's got a point. Boehner's plan doesn't really fix anything except Obama's debt ceiling problem. I can't blame Republicans for not lining up behind it.

My own advice:  The GOP passed Cut, Cap and Balance which would be an actual solution to America's problems.  The Senate tabled it, but there's no reason the House can't declare that the end to their efforts and adjourn.  Send everybody home and put the ball in the Senate and Obama's court.

Economic Tweet of the Day

From yesterday and the OC Register:

Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren attracted criticism from some Democrats when he was selected to give the invocation at Barack Obama‘s inauguration. And he’s probably not winning them over with a tweet today that seems to favor the Republican side of the Washington debate over raising taxes on the wealthy.



“HALF of America pays NO taxes. Zero. So they’re happy for tax rates to be raised on the other half that DOES pay taxes,” the megachurch leader and best-selling author tweeted.


“The post has since been removed from Warren’s Twitter feed,” writes Politico, who brought the tweet to my attention, “and he acknowledged that the tweet ‘did sound mean’ in a subsequent tweet addressed to a blogger who had written a lengthy response.”

Some lefty got his knickers in a knot over Warren's tweet (which was completely accurate, by the way). Perhaps pastors shouldn't get involved in such stuff, but the fact is it's been a part of the Dem plan for years to have enough voters dependent on government largesse to keep voting them into power indefinitely. The tax brackets are all part of the plan.  Rick's only "sin", so to speak, was speaking the truth.

And let's not forget, selling 20+ million books means he's paid a heckuva lot of taxes.

Rick posted another tweet yesterday that didn't get as much attention, but it caught my eye:

@RickWarren A war on irresponsible nation-toppling debt will need more courageous leadership than a war on terror.Still waiting for it.

Me too.

Religious Tolerance Headline of the Day

From CNN:

Atheist group wants to stop World Trade Center cross

Of course they do.

It's not a cross they're opposing, but a piece of rubble from the trade centers that's shaped like a Christian cross. How people choose to perceive those pieces of steel beams is up to them...unless they think it looks like a cross and then it's up to the atheists.

Economic Quote of the Day

From Ronnie Bryant, a coal mine operator, during a hearing in which environmentalists tried to stop him from exercising his mining permit because they perceive a threat to a local water supply (h/t Don Surber):

“My name’s Ronnie Bryant, and I’m a mine operator…. I’ve been issued a [state] permit in the recent past for [waste water] discharge, and after standing in this room today listening to the comments being made by the people…. [pause] Nearly every day without fail — I have a different perspective — men stream to these [mining] operations looking for work in Walker County. They can’t pay their mortgage. They can’t pay their car note. They can’t feed their families. They don’t have health insurance. And as I stand here today, I just … you know … what’s the use? I got a permit to open up an underground coal mine that would employ probably 125 people. They’d be paid wages from $50,000 to $150,000 a year. We would consume probably $50 million to $60 million in consumables a year, putting more men to work. And my only idea today is to go home. What’s the use? I don’t know. I mean, I see these guys — I see them with tears in their eyes — looking for work. And if there’s so much opposition to these guys making a living, I feel like there’s no need in me putting out the effort to provide work for them. So as I stood against the wall here today, basically what I’ve decided is not to open the mine. I’m just quitting. Thank you.”

Well done, enviroweenies. Now, are you going to provide the jobs that were just lost because of your self-righteousness?

The obvious answer is "no", because enviroweenies know nothing about creating jobs, they just know how to destroy them.

McDonald's to Offer the Less Happy Meal

Maybe we can call it the "Mildly Enthused Meal". The Food Nazis have won another battle:

McDonald's Corp said on Tuesday it will soon tweak its children's Happy Meals, reducing the French fry portion by more than half and automatically adding apples to the popular meals, after coming under pressure from consumer groups to provide healthier fare.

McDonald's -- which consumer groups say should lower calories, sugar and sodium in its meals for children -- said that it would start making the changes in September and that the new Happy Meals would be available in all of its 14,000 U.S. restaurants by the first quarter of 2012.

The world's largest hamburger chain also said it would reduce sodium, added sugars, saturated fats and calories across its entire menu over time.

The new child's French fry portion will be 1.1 ounces, down from 2.4 ounces previously. The new child's fry portion has about 100 calories, the company said.

The apple portion includes a half-cup of peeled fruit and has no added sugar or dipping sauces.

The company said calorie counts for the new Happy Meals will be well under 600 calories. Prices will not change as a result of the new composition, and toys will continue to be included in every Happy Meal.

So, does this mean that those cities like San Francisco that have banned Happy Meal toys will now change their view with these supposedly healthier meals? Of course not. McDonald's will end up selling fewer meals to unhappier kids, and parents will realize that the government that drives these changes doesn't think you're smart enough to know how to feed your kids.

Sports Video of the Day

NASCAR is the only major professional sport that starts every event with a prayer, and I believe it's in their TV contract that the prayer, along with other pre-race events, must be carried by the live TV broadcast.

This past weekend the Nationwide Series (sort of the Triple A league for NASCAR) was racing in Nashville and the opening prayer made national news. I love a pastor with a sense of humor (and I think God does too):

The pastor defended his prayer to critics:

“I always said if I get a chance after God told me to preach … to pray at one of the events of the track, I don’t want to do the cookie-cutter prayer, not that we don’t need to thank God for our military men and women, absolutely, we wouldn’t be here without them, not that we don’t desire safety for all of the of the officials, workers and drivers, we certainly don’t want anything to happen to anybody out there. We need a safe race. But it’s the same prayer week in and week out and I’m not sure anybody is even listening to it anymore.

“So I said, I want to get somebody’s attention, so that’s been our desire every time we’ve been up there, to try to make an impact on the fans and give them something they’ll remember and maybe they’ll go home on a Friday night or a Saturday night and say, ‘Maybe I ought to get up and go to church in the morning’.’’

Tigger Bounces Away

There will be one less Tigger-costumed congressmen walking the halls of Capitol Hill.  Congressman David Wu is resigning amidst a growing sex scandal.

From Dave Weigel:

@daveweigel: "Days since a sex scandal-induced resignation" sign outside Congress reset to "Zero."

Obama Administration, Official Weapons Supplier to Mexican Drug Cartels

How could anyone have thought this was a good idea?

At least 122 firearms from a botched U.S. undercover operation have been found at crime scenes in Mexico or intercepted en route to drug cartels there, according to a Republican congressional report being issued on Tuesday.

Mexican authorities found AK-47 assault rifles, powerful .50 caliber rifles and other weapons in late 2009 that were later linked to the U.S. sting operation to trace weapons going across the border to Mexico, the report said.

Guns from the program, dubbed "Operation Fast and Furious," also were found at the scene of the murder of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in the border state Arizona last December. It is not clear if they were the weapons responsible for his death.

The sting has become an embarrassment for the Obama administration and its Justice Department, rather than a victory in cracking down on the illegal flow of drugs and weapons to and from Mexico.

It has also hurt ties with Mexico, which has been battling the violent cartels in a war in which thousands have died.

The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and federal prosecutors had hoped the sting would help them track gun buyers reselling weapons to cartels. But U.S. agents did not follow the guns after the initial purchaser re-sold them.

From the start this program was never about catching drug cartels or stopping gun smugglers. It was about using these weapons as an excuse for further gun control in the U.S. You take a group of weapons that you don't think Americans should be allowed to own, you make sure they fall into the hands of violent gangs which use them as you would expect them too, and then you decry the violence that results and demand these weapons be banned in the U.S. That was the real motivation for this whole project.

And if anyone else was president, this would be a potential administration-ending scandal. But because it's Obama, don't look for much media attention to this whole thing, even with a dead Border Patrol agent. The mainstream media still loves Obama and hates guns - they'll give him a pass.

Rick Perry Has a Powerful Weapon in the 10th Amendment

Don Rasmussen, writing at the Daily Caller, talks about how the 10th Amendment could be a valuable tool for a Rick Perry for President campaign:

Rick Perry seems to have calculated that the most powerful political weapon at his disposal is the 10th Amendment. Speaking to donors in Colorado on Friday, Perry expressed his personal belief in the sanctity of traditional marriage while in the same breath acknowledging New York’s right to go its own way on gay marriage. The carefully crafted strategy is both consistent with Perry’s long-held belief, or at least his rhetoric, in the primacy of the states in the strict constitutional sense while also providing cover on the most contentious social issues that Perry will face if he runs for president.

Whether it’s gay marriage, medical marijuana, education or a host of other issues, Perry’s strong stance on the 10th Amendment allows him to have his cake and eat it too. In his 2010 manifesto, Fed Up, Perry wrote:

“When states take on the federal government, I am hopeful that it will jump-start a conversation about the importance of federalism in our system of government, and the need to restore the balance of power between the central and state governments.”

Perry goes on to praise Congressman Rob Bishop and his 10th Amendment Task Force, endorsing Bishop’s call for “the decentralization of power through the restoration of American federalism.”

This strategy insulates Perry from attacks on the right for his accommodation of controversial positions. With the rise of the Tea Parties and their focus on strict, literal constitutionalism, there is less space for the strident Christian right to demand the kind of national social policies that infuriate the left and are used to scare the pants off of the middle.

Nevertheless, the reaction from evangelical Protestants and conservative Catholics was swift. Rick Santorum took up the banner of the nationalist social conservatives, tweeting: “So Gov Perry, if a state wanted to allow polygamy or if they chose to deny heterosexuals the right to marry, would that be OK too?”

I frankly thought that was a dumb response from Santorum, and reflected an ignorance of the Constitution while at the same time taking a cheap shot at Mitt Romney and his Mormon beliefs.

If you're going to support a strict interpretation of the Constitution, then you have to be willing to allow states to approve things that you yourself might not like. I've never been a fan of Constitutional amendments to solve social issues like marriage or abortion. The 10th Amendment language is pretty clear:

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

In other words, if the Constitution doesn't specifically give power over an issue to the Federal government, the states then have the power to regulate it as they see fit. The only way the courts got around that with the issue of abortion was the finding of the mystical right to privacy, even though that wasn't in the Constitution anywhere. I still have hopes that Roe v. Wade can be overturned, not just because of my opposition to abortion, but because it was a judicially unsound ruling. It's bad law.

Unfortunately, our judicial system is littered with liberal judges who don't feel the states or the people should have a say in anything.  That's how we end up with case law like Roe v. Wade or other decisions that ignore 10th Amendment powers.  I'd love to see a presidential candidate who thinks the Constitution means what it says and would support a decentralization of control back to the states.

People will then have the option to address those issues on the state level.  If you don't like what your state has done, you have the option of persuading your fellow citizens to change the law, or you can move elsewhere.  I'd love to see the day when it was not longer possible to get a federal court to force policies on states that those states do not wish to have.

68% Believe the News Media is Biased

That number in itself is astonishing only in that it's that low, but that's not the only story:

Likely voters hold a dismal view of the news media, generally regarding reporters as biased, unethical and too close to the politicians they purport to cover, according to a new poll for The Hill.

A full 68 percent of voters consider the news media biased, the poll found. Most, 46 percent, believe the media generally favor Democrats, while 22 percent said they believe Republicans are favored, with 28 percent saying the media is reasonably balanced.

The share of voters who believe the media are too friendly with politicians is almost twice as large as those who find their coverage of politicians appropriate. Forty-four percent of voters assert the former; only 24 percent believe the latter.

The 22% who think the media is biased towards Republicans are probably the hardest of the hardcore lefties who think that any media report that doesn't promote outright socialism is a Republican plot.  The 28% who think the media is reasonably balanced are probably largely made up of the squishy middle which tends to lean to the left and therefore wouldn't have much objection to reporting that comes from that direction.

What's interesting is that since Fox News first arose as a power that drew a more conservative audience, no media outlet has chosen to challenge them for the sizable conservative piece of the pie.  There's a lot of money to be made by any outlet that chooses to appeal to more conservative America, but nobody wants to do it.  It's not that Fox is unbeatable, but that by the time most journalists finish their schooling and training they're ideology is so hardened to the left they just can't bring themselves to think any other way.

Somebody is missing a good opportunity out there.

The Clip Show

After a sitcom has run for a few years the producers get lazy and put together a clip show with various bits from the show they think were entertaining.  Some are describing last night's Obama speech as his version of a clip show - we've already seen it before.  Jim Geraghty gathered some other reactions:

The BlondeAmerican lamented, "When presidents give primetime addresses they [traditionally] announce a new policy or say something new. Not Obama, he gives speeches to hear himself talk."

"House Republicans have passed a budget, passed Cut, Cap & Balance, proposed another debt ceiling bill and Obama will deliver a speech. Typical,"sighed RNC research director Joe Pounder. His boss, RNC chair Reince Priebusadded that the president "has offered 4 press conferences and now a primetime speech. Everything but a plan."

CBS News's Mark Knoller informed us, "WH would have preferred that Pres. Obama [had] the national stage to himself tonight without a GOP response." It was enough to get Dana Perino to roll her eyes: "First, how do you put a major policy address together in 3 hours? Second, how can one be mad if someone schedules a response?"

Oh, come on, Dana, as Oprah assured us, he is The One. As Valerie Jarrettassured us, Obama has "never really been challenged intellectually." He assured us all that "I'm a better speechwriter than my speechwriters. I know more about policies on any particular issue than my policy directors." Once you've slowed the rise of the oceans, a major policy address in 180 minutes is a snap.

As for the speech, well, corporate-jet owners, oil companies, and hedge-fund managers all made their traditional appearances.

"He just put previous speeches into a blender. This is the result," concludedDan Gainor.

"This is like a cut and paste speech from his previous appearances. It's like a clips show from a crappy sitcom," groaned Drew M. 

As David Hauptmann summarized, "Obama calls for 'putting country above self' after saying Friday he wants debt ceiling increased past the 2012 election."

"Aren't we perilously close to exceeding the press conference ceiling?" groanedour old friend Mark Hemingway.

With each previous press conference and Obama's numbers have declined. I can't see how this speech is going to change anything.

Obama wants a bill that not only will take us beyond the November election, but will include new revenues for "shared sacrifice". How about asking the 47% who don't pay ANY income tax to "share"?