Saturday, March 31, 2012
Don't Expect Romney To Choose a Conservative VP
Now that he's effectively dispatched Santorum and Gingrich, Romney apparently feels "liberated" that he won't have to choose a conservative as his running mate:
At least McCain was smart enough to pick a solid conservative running mate. I'd hate to think Romney was dumber than McCain.
Mitt Romney’s advisers and top supporters have begun informally discussing potential vice presidential candidates and believe that the sooner he can put away the Republican nomination, the more flexibility he will have in picking his running mate.If Mitt picks some RINO Veep, he's done. Conservatives at the grassroots level won't work for him, many won't show up to vote for him. Not only will he lose but it could also cost down-ballot races.
And although they are careful to note that the campaign is far from putting together a short list, key supporters and strategists said Friday that they are beginning to see the outlines of the kind of person Romney will choose — and the kind he will avoid.
In short, the habitually cautious candidate is less likely to try to make a splash by picking a game-changing candidate and more likely to choose someone safe, whom he sees as competent and ready to be president.
The conventional thinking has been that after a long and divisive primary campaign, the challenge of uniting the GOP would force Romney to pick a running mate with strong appeal to tea party activists and evangelicals. But Romney’s team thinks he may be liberated from that pressure if he can finish off remaining rivals Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul in the next few weeks.
At least McCain was smart enough to pick a solid conservative running mate. I'd hate to think Romney was dumber than McCain.
Media Matters Becomes Rush Limbaugh's Best Promoter
The campaign by Media Matters to drive Rush Limbaugh off the air over his "slut" comments about Sandra Fluke, the woman who said her sexual appetite cost her $1,000 a year for birth control, has ended up driving thousands of new listeners to the show.
Thanks, Media Matters!
Overall, Limbaugh said, his show’s ratings are higher on all 600 stations that carry it, and up as high as 60 percent at one station.Two small stations dropped Rush's show, but a new talk station in liberal Fargo, ND picked him up right in the middle of the controversy, so there's been little change in the network. And according to another source, the net effect percentage change in network revenue from the few advertisers that bailed is in the single digits. That will turn around soon.
“The simple answer is that on the range of all 600 radio stations, our ratings are up anywhere from 10 to 60 percent, depending on the station,” he said.
“And that’s as detailed as I’m going to get,” Limbaugh added. “What I mean by that is we could be up 33 percent on one station, 12 percent on another — 60 percent is the top that we’re up on another. We’re up 50 percent in a number of places.”
Triumphing in his apparent victory over activists agitating for an ad boycott, Limbaugh said, “The advertisers who hung in here are going gangbusters, yes. I mean, that’s the simple truth. The only ones who got hurt are the ones who left. And that’s its own tragedy because they left under false, trumped up, unreal pretenses.”
Thanks, Media Matters!
The Questions Democrats Should Have Asked
Don Surber has a good post on the beating the Democrats and Obamacare got in the Supreme Court this week. Too much good stuff to excerpt here, so go read it. Bottom line is if the Democrats had asked themselves the same questions about Obamacare that the Supreme Court Justices asked this week, they could have saved themselves a lot of trouble.
Human Achievement Hour Tonight
From the Competitive Enterprise Institute:
As millions of people sit in the dark during Earth Hour to call for action against climate change this weekend, a libertarian think tank wants you to fight the power by keeping the lights on.Light 'em if you got 'em.
The Competitive Enterprise Institute plans to commemorate Earth Hour 2012 with its “Human Achievement Hour,” 60 minutes to gather with friends in a heated home, watch television and surf the Internet instead of dimming or shutting off the lights altogether to draw attention to climate change.
“HAH is an annual event meant to recognize and celebrate the fact that this is the greatest time to be alive, and that the reason we have come is that people have been free to use their minds and the resources in their environment to experiment, create, and innovate,” reads a CEI website on the event scheduled to coincide with Earth Hour 2012 from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. local time Saturday.
Participants in the event understand the “necessity to protect the individual persons from government coercion,” according to the Washington-based think tank.
Sometimes People Who Wear Hoodies Really Are Hoods
Maybe Rep. Bobbie Rush should pay a little more attention to what's going on at home:
Former Black Panther Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL) made quite a fuss when he donned a "hoodie" during a speech in the U.S. House of Representatives until he was escorted out. At the time, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) "applauded his courage" for doing so.I wonder if any of them looked like Obama's son?
Meanwhile, back home in Rush's district, two men wearing hooded sweatshirts, or "hoodies," were the shooters in an incident that left one dead and five injured.
In fact, during a span of six-hours Thursday night, 13 people were shot, leaving two dead in Chicago. It would seem it takes more courage to simply walk down the street in Rush's district than it does to wear a hooded sweatshirt in the House of Representatives by way of a stunt in a bizarre tribute to a young man shot and killed in Florida during a shooting incident still under investigation.
When Worlds Collide - Sharpton Slapped Down by the NAACP
Never thought I'd see this:
The Rev. Al Sharpton said Friday his National Action Network will "move to the next level" if George Zimmerman is not arrested in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.What Al Sharpton is doing is inciting a riot, and that's a crime anywhere in the United States. If things blow up in Sanford he'll be responsible, just as he was with the Crown Heights Riot in 1991.
Sharpton called for an escalation in peaceful civil disobedience and economic sanctions, although he did not say what those sanctions might be.
Turner Clayton, the Seminole County chapter president of the NAACP, reacted immediately to Sharpton's warning, saying, "We hope that the citizens of Sanford will govern themselves accordingly. We are not calling for any sanctions, against any business or anyone else. And, of course, what Rev. Sharpton does, that's strictly the [National] Action Network. We can't condone that part of the conversation, if that's what he said."
Clayton said he believes that the expected 3,000 people who will attend Saturday's march and rally in Sanford will realize the difference between Sharpton's message and the NAACP's mission.
"I don't think they can confuse that," Clayton said. "It's just that they will have to make a judgment as to whether they want to follow the mission of the NAACP or follow what the Rev. Sharpton said."
Friday, March 30, 2012
MegaMillions Winning Numbers
I normally wouldn't post this stuff, but there's so much interest in this today I might as well take advantage of the traffic:
March 30, 2012: 2, 4, 23, 38, 46 Mega 23
By the way, that sound you hear is the sound of millions of dreams being crushed.
UPDATE: I Won (maybe)! I think I'll buy a solar panel manufacturing company and then shut it down so I can feel like Obama.
March 30, 2012: 2, 4, 23, 38, 46 Mega 23
By the way, that sound you hear is the sound of millions of dreams being crushed.
UPDATE: I Won (maybe)! I think I'll buy a solar panel manufacturing company and then shut it down so I can feel like Obama.
Third Suicide by Metrolink This Month
This is happening way too often:
A woman was struck and killed by a Metrolink train near the Anaheim station Friday afternoon, authorities said.As I've said before, I feel bad for the engineers and conductors who have to deal with these things. If someone decides to throw their life away in front of their train there's just not much they can do about it.
Police officers about 5:30 p.m. responded to reports of a woman struck by a train on the tracks near East Sycamore Street and North East Street, Anaheim police Sgt. Robert Dunn said.
A passerby reported that the woman had laid down on the tracks before being struck and killed, Dunn said. She has not been identified.
The person was struck by Metrolink No. 604, according to Metrolink's official Twitter feed. Passengers and other commuters were transferred to other trains and buses.
The accident marks the third time this month that someone has been struck and killed by a Metrolink train.
AOL/Huffpo Wins Case Against Volunteer Bloggers
If you want to get paid for your writing, don't send it in voluntarily to a website without a payment agreement in place and then expect to reap millions later:
AOL Inc on Friday won the dismissal of a lawsuit by unpaid bloggers who complained they were deprived of their fair share of the roughly $315 million that the company paid last March to buy The Huffington Post website.Suckers. They made Arianna Huffington rich, but she was under no obligation to make them rich.
U.S. District Judge John Koeltl rejected claims by social activist and commentator Jonathan Tasini and an estimated 9,000 other bloggers that they deserved $105 million, or about one-third, of the purchase price.
The lawsuit contended that the work of unpaid content providers like bloggers gave The Huffington Post much of its value, and that the website's sale allowed co-founder Arianna Huffington to profit at their expense. Tasini said he alone had made 216 submissions to the website over more than five years.
But Koeltl said "no one forced" the bloggers to repeatedly provide their work with no expectation of being paid, and said they got what they bargained for when their works were published.
"The principles of equity and good conscience do not justify giving the plaintiffs a piece of the purchase price when they never expected to be paid, repeatedly agreed to the same bargain, and went into the arrangement with eyes wide open," the judge wrote.
Koeltl also dismissed claims that AOL materially misled the bloggers about how often their works were being viewed, and how much revenue they were generating. He dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning it cannot be brought again.
"This is the electronic equivalent of someone writing a letter to the editor," John Coffee, a professor at Columbia Law School, said in an interview. "You are rewarded by publication, not by payment."
Al Gore Fires Keith Olbermann at Current TV, Replaces Him With Client #9
Because even a disgraced former governor who was caught paying for sex is preferable to Keith Olbermann (from the NYT and Breitbart):
UPDATE: Olbermann has a Twitter meltdown and threatens legal action.
In a letter to viewers, the channel said Friday: “We created Current to give voice to those Americans who refuse to rely on corporate-controlled media and are seeking an authentic progressive outlet. We are more committed to those goals today than ever before.Apparently Olbermann didn't play well with others.
Current was also founded on the values of respect, openness, collegiality, and loyalty to our viewers. Unfortunately these values are no longer reflected in our relationship with Keith Olbermann and we have ended it.”
Mr. Olbermann will not be given an opportunity to sign off. Starting Friday night, the former New York governor Eliot Spitzer will replace him at 8 p.m., according to the letter to viewers. His program will be titled “Viewpoint with Eliot Spitzer.”
UPDATE: Olbermann has a Twitter meltdown and threatens legal action.
Today's Quick Hit Headlines
Time for another batch of quick hit headlines:
Airport Screeners Spot Eight-Foot Python inside Cardboard Box...
"Is that a python in your box or are you just happy to see me?"
HILLARY MEETS THE KING...
Told you Elvis wasn't dead.
BIDEN CALLS FOR 'GLOBAL TAX'
Or "Global Attacks"...or maybe "Global Tacks". You never know with Biden.
REPORT: Dem sen tries legislating himself a parking space...
Let's get him one back in his home district and don't let him come back to D.C.
SHOWDOWN: Justices meeting to vote on health care case...
I say it's 5-4 or 6-3 to throw out the whole thing.
PARENTS OF MURDERED WHITE STUDENTS SLAM OBAMA FOR SILENCE...
As well they should.
AFL-CIO EXEC: 'Conservative, right-wing policies' to blame for Trayvon's death...
Even though Trayvon was shot by a registered Democrat.
Dems use Trayvon 'Hoodie Rallies' to register voters...
No big deal. Those people still won't show up on election day.
Canada ups retirement age in bid to balance budget...
Coming to a nation near you.
NOW TWITTER TOILET PAPER...
I'd use some lefty Twitter feeds but I'd end up dirtier than when I started.
Plane Makes Emergency Landing After 2 Children Refuse To Buckle Seatbelts...
Want to get them in their seatbelts? Push the nose down sharply and after they bounce off the ceiling they'll put their seatbelts on.
10-Year-Old Boy Charged With Felony For Stealing Tricycle...
I wonder if he looks like Obama's son?
Texas man yells 'Go Cowboys!' before execution...
Say "Hi" to Tom Landry for me.
10-car motorcade at Mount Rushmore; tourist access restricted during visit...
The First Lady was just sizing up a spot for Barack's head.
Unchurched could carry Obama to victory...
Even the unchurched need a god.
Obama Administration Suspected of Leaking Details of Possible Israeli Raid to the Press
Despicable if true:
Two reports today about Iran's nuclear program and the possibility of an Israeli military strike have analysts in Israel accusing the Obama administration leaking information to pressure Israel not to bomb Iran and for Iran to reach a compromise in upcoming nuclear talks.Israel is going to do whatever it has to do to protect itself, and if that upsets Obama, tough. They know Obama will not act in Israel's best interests and since he became president they're pretty much on their own.
The first report in Foreign Policy quotes anonymous American officials saying that Israel has been given access to airbases by Iran's northern neighbor Azerbaijan from which Israel could launch air strikes or at least drones and search and rescue aircraft.
The second report from Bloomberg, based on a leaked congressional report, said that Iran's nuclear facilities are so dispersed that it is "unclear what the ultimate effect of a strike would be…" A strike could delay Iran as little as six months, a former official told the researchers.
"It seems like a big campaign to prevent Israel from attacking," analyst Yoel Guzansky at the Institute for National Security Studies told ABC News. "I think the [Obama] administration is really worried Jerusalem will attack and attack soon. They're trying hard to prevent it in so many ways."
The Foreign Policy report by Mark Perry quotes an intelligence officer saying, "We're watching what Iran does closely…But we're now watching what Israel is doing in Azerbaijan. And we're not happy about it."
If true, the deal with Azerbaijan "totally changes the whole picture," says Guzansky, making it far easier for Israel to strike faster and harder, rather than having to fly 2,200 miles to Iran and back over Iraqi airspace.
Economic Cartoon of the Day
UPDATE: The jackpot has jumped to $640 million just since this cartoon was published.
MegaGovernment:
By the way, the jackpot is only $5 million more than what Obama wasted on Solyndra.
MegaGovernment:
Economic Quote of the Day
From CNBC's Rick Santelli, the spiritual father of the Tea Party movement, on Obama's call to end tax breaks for oil companies:
Charles Krauthammer also had some comments:
Idiotic.
"If I broke my right arm, am I going to pick a fight with the neighbor? No. If I'm two months behind on my mortgage, am I going to go complain to the bank? Probably not. But let's see, with gasoline approaching $5 a gallon, isn't this just a supreme time to pick a war with the energy people that are bringing us what already seems to be in the market's eyes in short supply? Just like picking fights with China when the world's about ready to go into recession. There's a time and a place for everything. And, by the way, all these profits Exxon's making, the administration doesn't like it. Well, what about Apple making a billion dollars a week, or Microsoft? I bet you if GM made a billion dollars a week, they wouldn't mind. Come on!"The oil companies pay about 40 cents on the dollar in taxes. Apple pays about 20.
Charles Krauthammer also had some comments:
“I think any objective observer would look at what the president said today in the Rose Garden on this and conclude as I did: it is truly staggering cynicism,” Krauthammer said on Thursday’s broadcast. “Number one, when he was in the Senate, Obama supported the subsidies he’s denouncing today. And when our own Ed Henry asked Jay Carney about that, Carney had no answer. He was looking for a hole to hide in.”Obama is going after the oil companies because he hates their business and hates the fact they make a lot of money meeting America's energy needs. He can throw away $535 million taxpayer dollars on a failed solar energy company (Solyndra), but the idea the oil companies who are producing a product that actually works just ticks him off to no end.
“Second, the Congressional Research Office in March of 2011 showed that if you remove the subsidies, if it has any effect whatsoever on the gas prices, it will be to increase them, and the president is pretending he is trying to lower the gas prices.”
Idiotic.
Lottery Madness - Is It Really Helping the Schools?
From the OC Register:
Consequently, we sell millions of lottery tickets every year but the school aren't exactly using gold-plated crayons and drinking Perrier from their water fountains. The whole thing has been a bit of a shell game.
Orange County Superintendent William Habermehl:
California's public schools, community colleges and universities will receive at least $100 million from the lotto jackpot that has reached $540 million, according to early estimates from state officials.Not so fast. Yes, the law that created the lottery required a certain percentage of sales to go to schools. But what it didn't do is require the state legislature to add lottery funds to existing budget amounts. What has happened in reality is once the lottery money started rolling in, the legislature felt secure in reducing the money they had been sending to schools knowing the lottery would make up the difference. That money then went to other general spending.
As of Thursday afternoon, more than 283 million tickets had been sold in California for the jackpot that has rolled over since January, said officials from the California Lottery. About 32 cents from every dollar spent in California on the lottery goes to education.
Consequently, we sell millions of lottery tickets every year but the school aren't exactly using gold-plated crayons and drinking Perrier from their water fountains. The whole thing has been a bit of a shell game.
Orange County Superintendent William Habermehl:
"The lottery has never really provided as much money to schools as what was sold to the public when it was implemented. If you look at all 6 million students in California, an extra $100 million will only give you a few extra dollars per student."
Today's Math Lesson
The old saying goes "The lottery is a tax on people who are bad at math." Well, here's some math for you:
Now, let's talk a little Obamanomics about this prize pool. The winner (me) will have two choices in payouts - $640 million in installments over 26 years (over $24.6 million per year), or a one-time cash payout estimated at $460 million (that's the amount the annuity used to pay the prize is worth today). No one in their right mind will take the 26 installments for three reasons:
- Odds of winning tonight's $640 million MegaMillions lottery: 1 in 176,000,000
- Odds of winning if you don't buy a ticket: 0
- Odds that someone will win this one: Pretty good. Some people who never play will be buying tickets, and others who do will be buying more than they usually do. Chances are we could end up with several winners.
Now, let's talk a little Obamanomics about this prize pool. The winner (me) will have two choices in payouts - $640 million in installments over 26 years (over $24.6 million per year), or a one-time cash payout estimated at $460 million (that's the amount the annuity used to pay the prize is worth today). No one in their right mind will take the 26 installments for three reasons:
- Greed/instant gratification
- Nobody is guaranteed to outlive the payments
- Tax Rates
Regarding taxes, tax rates today are lower than they may ever be again in the foreseeable future. Obama wants the Bush tax rates to expire, and that will jack up the rates on all levels of income. Secondly, he never misses an opportunity to talk about adding higher taxes to the rich, so you know that given the sorry financial state of the country he's likely to get his way and people with big incomes will be having more of it confiscated by the government.
Currently lottery winnings are not taxable in California and many other states where the game is played. I expect that will change as cash-strapped states look for more money. There goes another chunk of that 26-year payout.
After taxes the winner (me) who takes the cash payout will be looking at about $276 million free and clear. I can live on that. What would be really fun is to stick it all in something that pays only tax-free income and never pay the government another dime in federal and state taxes. In fact, you might even qualify for tax credits under our screwy system. Let them send you money for a change. Wouldn't that be rich!
Oh, and think about this. Lottery officials say that have no idea how high this thing will be next week if nobody wins tonight - possibly over $1 billion. You think there's a lottery frenzy now....
Oh, and think about this. Lottery officials say that have no idea how high this thing will be next week if nobody wins tonight - possibly over $1 billion. You think there's a lottery frenzy now....
Liberals Shocked..SHOCKED!! That Obamacare Could Be Overturned
It's interesting to hear people like Chris Matthews and even prominent lawyers like Jeffrey Toobin express absolute shock at the notion that Obamacare could be ruled unconstitutional. It never even occurred to them.
Jay Cost says the problem the left has is they never expose themselves to views other than their own:
I've got news for Greg - the Supreme Court does not see its job as making things easier for Congress. If Congress makes a huge mess, as they have with Obamacare, it will be Congress' problem to clean it up. That's why Justice Scalia said the court would not be wading through the 2,700 page bill and picking out the good parts. That's the job of the lawmakers.
And they'll be busy.
Jay Cost says the problem the left has is they never expose themselves to views other than their own:
The problem for the left is that they do not have a lot of interaction with conservatives, whose intellects are often disparaged, ideas are openly mocked, and intentions regularly questioned. Conservative ideas rarely make it onto the pages of most middle- and high-brow publications of news and opinion the left frequents. So, liberals regularly find themselves surprised when their ideas face pushback.Hopefully the shock and awe will become complete and Obamacare will be unceremoniously struck from the books. However the left will cling to the hope that the Constitution doesn't really mean that much to the Supreme Court and they'll just uphold it to avoid creating problems for Congress. Greg Sargent of The Plumline actually suggested that as a possibility.
I think that is exactly what happened with Obamacare. The attitude of President Obama (a former con law lecturer at the University of Chicago, no less!), Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid was very much that they are doing big, important things to help the American people, why wouldn’t that be constitutional? No less an important Democratic leader as the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee cited the (nonexistent) “good and welfare clause” to justify the mandate.
I've got news for Greg - the Supreme Court does not see its job as making things easier for Congress. If Congress makes a huge mess, as they have with Obamacare, it will be Congress' problem to clean it up. That's why Justice Scalia said the court would not be wading through the 2,700 page bill and picking out the good parts. That's the job of the lawmakers.
And they'll be busy.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Wiser Democrats Starting to Run From the Trayvon Martin Story
There aren't very many of them, but their numbers are growing:
Those who have chosen to get involved haven often found themselves with troubles. Director Spike Lee tweeted the address of the shooter...except it was the wrong address and the house belonged to an elderly couple who had to flee for their own safety. Today, at the prompting of the couple's attorney, Lee apologized via phone and agreed to compensate the couple for their troubles. He didn't like the look of the lawsuit he was likely to get.
Al Sharpton is still being a complete ass over this whole thing. It's all he's got. He's now threatening to "occupy" Sanford, FL over Easter weekend and demand that Zimmerman be arrested. I think Al's hoping his career as a race pimp will rise from the dead on Easter morning. He's setting the stage for another riot which is sure to have deaths and injuries - par for the course for Sharpton.
It's time to let the investigations run their course. My guess is they'll have a very hard time getting a conviction on a criminal charge. Chances are there will be enough evidence of self-defense to cause doubts in the minds of a jury. Civil rights charges, which don't require the same burden of proof, could be the government's fallback position. We'll see.
Top Democrats — including President Barack Obama’s re-election team — are now keeping their distance from the Trayvon Martin uproar, as each day reveals more facts about the teen’s slaying.Waiting for the facts...imagine that.
“As more facts come out, it’s more confusing for folks,” Sharon Gilpin, a Democratic political consultant, told The Daily Caller.
“There was a pretty intense rush to judgment … [but] it is important to get all your facts before you cement your feet in the sidewalk,” said Gilpin, who has worked on numerous Democratic campaigns and ballot initiatives.
“As tragic as this death is, there obviously is another side to the story,” former Democratic Rep. Artur Davis told TheDC. “We would all do well to wait for the facts to emerge.”
Those who have chosen to get involved haven often found themselves with troubles. Director Spike Lee tweeted the address of the shooter...except it was the wrong address and the house belonged to an elderly couple who had to flee for their own safety. Today, at the prompting of the couple's attorney, Lee apologized via phone and agreed to compensate the couple for their troubles. He didn't like the look of the lawsuit he was likely to get.
Al Sharpton is still being a complete ass over this whole thing. It's all he's got. He's now threatening to "occupy" Sanford, FL over Easter weekend and demand that Zimmerman be arrested. I think Al's hoping his career as a race pimp will rise from the dead on Easter morning. He's setting the stage for another riot which is sure to have deaths and injuries - par for the course for Sharpton.
It's time to let the investigations run their course. My guess is they'll have a very hard time getting a conviction on a criminal charge. Chances are there will be enough evidence of self-defense to cause doubts in the minds of a jury. Civil rights charges, which don't require the same burden of proof, could be the government's fallback position. We'll see.
California Legislators Give Us Another Reason to Have a Part-Time Legislature
With all the problems California has right now, if our legislature has time to do this they clearly have too much time on their hands:
I think it's time to put a measure on the ballot reducing our legislature to part-time status so they won't have time to do stupid stuff like this. It's none of their business how Florida handles the investigation into the Trayvon Martin shooting.
Would the Florida legislature like to have a crack at solving California's problems while we're at it? They'd probably do a better job.
California lawmakers are the latest politicians to don hoodies to protest the killing of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin.Of course not. Democrats don't enforce rules against their own.
Some members of the Senate and Assembly wore hooded sweat shirts on the floor of each chamber Thursday and adjourned the day's session in memory of the 17-year-old. Martin, who was black, was shot to death Feb. 26 by a neighborhood watch volunteer in a gated Florida community.
California Democrats spoke against racial profiling and called for an investigation into the shooter, who said he acted in self-defense.
Hats are prohibited in the state Legislature, but no lawmaker was reprimanded.
I think it's time to put a measure on the ballot reducing our legislature to part-time status so they won't have time to do stupid stuff like this. It's none of their business how Florida handles the investigation into the Trayvon Martin shooting.
Would the Florida legislature like to have a crack at solving California's problems while we're at it? They'd probably do a better job.
San Francisco's Minimum Wage Law Kills The $5 Footlong Sub
If you make an employer pay someone more than what the labor is really worth, these things will happen:
Subway customers in San Francisco may be disappointed when they get to the counter and find out that the everyday selection of $5 footlong sandwiches has been scrapped, reportedly in response to a recent increase in the minimum wage. A story in local media outlet SF Weekly blamed the ban on $5 footlongs in local stores to the higher cost of doing business.Welcome to economics 101, libs.
According to workers interviewed by SF Weekly, it's because of the local $10.24-per-hour minimum wage. San Francisco has a minimum wage that adjusts annually according to the Consumer Price Index. Business groups regularly decry automatically adjusting minimum wages, but usually don't tie their labor costs as explicitly to the price of their goods.
Subway spokesman Les Winograd said franchisees weren't running afoul of any corporate rules by scrapping the sandwich promotion. "We don't set prices, we recommend prices, so the franchisees do set their own prices," he said. The San Francisco case, he said, was the first instance he'd seen of a market eschewing the national $5 footlong price.
A Little Thought Exercise - Could Elena Kagan Still Recuse Herself From the Obamacare Case?
I don't know enough about the inner workings of the Supreme Court to give an educated answer, but while listening to Rush talk about Kagan and the Obamacare arguments I wondered if there was still an opportunity for her to back out of the case. Given that she designed the legal defense for Obamacare she clearly had no business being part of this case.
Let's say for instance she decided not to recuse herself initially because the administration was so concerned that they'd need her vote. At some point in the near future the justices will gather around their conference table and cast the actual votes that will decide the various cases before them. The opinions will be assigned and the deliberation process will effective be over. If there's a 5-4 (or more) to overturn the mandate and all of Obamacare Kagan's vote will no longer matter. I wonder if she might be able to recuse herself at that point in order to try and retain some semblance of integrity?
Just a thought. Anyone out there who knows more about the court than me feel free to chime in.
Let's say for instance she decided not to recuse herself initially because the administration was so concerned that they'd need her vote. At some point in the near future the justices will gather around their conference table and cast the actual votes that will decide the various cases before them. The opinions will be assigned and the deliberation process will effective be over. If there's a 5-4 (or more) to overturn the mandate and all of Obamacare Kagan's vote will no longer matter. I wonder if she might be able to recuse herself at that point in order to try and retain some semblance of integrity?
Just a thought. Anyone out there who knows more about the court than me feel free to chime in.
Obama Spends More Campaigning Against No One Than the GOP Campaigns Combined
Imagine what he would have to spend if he actually had a contested primary, and yet his approval numbers continue below 50% (h/t Don Surber):
With Republicans locked in a contentious and expensive primary, President Barack Obama has spent a small fortune in recent months to build and maintain a campaign operation that is larger, more diverse and more focused on November’s general election than any of his opponents’ organizations.While he's still able to raise a lot of money, this won't be the billion dollar campaign we were promised. He simply can't get many of the smaller donors he got last time and the big donors are already tapped out. In typical liberal fashion, he's building a huge bureaucracy that will be very costly to maintain and likely very inefficient to operate.
Republican contenders like Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum have surely been watching their expenses during their primary elections: millions here for ad spending, millions there for travel, rallies and consulting fees. What’s left keeps the lights on, the phones ringing and the staff paid.
But Obama, who faces no serious challenger for the Democratic nomination, has sunk his cash into an expansive brick-and-mortar operation with offices in nearly every state. His campaign has spent more than $135 million on operations through February, according to an Associated Press analysis of Federal Election Commission records. That’s about $3 million more than all his GOP challengers combined.
Republicans bristle over reports that Obama’s paid staff exceeds 500, many of whom work in the campaign’s Chicago headquarters.
“I think the campaign is single-handedly trying to lower the unemployment rate by hiring field staff,” Romney political director Rich Beeson said. “When they point to the fact about how many people they’ve got hired and how many offices they’ve got, they’re just trying to distract people from the reality of (how) they’re going to have a heck of a time finding people to get out and vote for him.”
Limbaugh Boycott Effort Comes to a Sputtering End
Way back when the Limbaugh "slut" scandal and Media Matters boycott effort first got started I made a prediction that there were 15-20 million reasons why this whole thing would fail: The Rush audience. Although Media Matters tried to control the narrative, insisting there were dozens and dozens of advertisers joining their boycott, Limbaugh's ad breaks were still full of sponsors and I knew this wasn't working out the way they had hoped.
Media Matters is still trying to put the best face on it, but this boycott has failed miserably as reported by the Washington Post:
Don Surber adds this analysis from the story:
The lesson for Media Matters and the left: Don't poke the bear or your might get eaten.
Media Matters is still trying to put the best face on it, but this boycott has failed miserably as reported by the Washington Post:
The dark clouds hanging over Rush Limbaugh appear to be lifting.Five. Or less. And two or three of those tried to come back, one of which, Sleep Train, was refused by Rush. Media Matters is a non-profit and supposed to exist to point out bias in conservative media, but they regularly engage in partisan political attacks. Their tax exempt status could use a good review.
Exactly one month after the conservative radio host sparked outrage by calling Georgetown law-school student Sandra Fluke"a slut" and "a prostitute" in a three-day diatribe, stations are standing by him, advertisers are trickling back to his program and the news media have moved on.
Liberal groups that organized petitions and boycotts against Limbaugh say that they intend to keep up the pressure and that they've had a lasting impact on the most popular radio host in America.
"The objective has been to show that there are real consequences when someone like Mr. Limbaugh or his company shows no accountability for his actions," says Angelo Carusone, who has been leading the anti-Limbaugh efforts for Media Matters for America, a Washington organization. "That is continuing."
At the same time, however, Carusone acknowledged that outrage is hard to sustain. "I think certainly the pressure has been reduced," he said. "To a certain extent, that's okay and acceptable. . . . Obviously, the intensity is gone, but the engagement remains high."
On Monday, the 600 or so radio stations that air Limbaugh's program were told by his syndicator, Premiere Radio Networks, to resume running "barter" ads during his program. Stations are required to run these ads in exchange for paying discounted fees to Premiere to air Limbaugh's show. Premiere, which is owned by radio giant Clear Channel Communications, had suspended the "barter" requirement for two weeks in a move widely seen as a way to give advertisers a chance to lie low while Limbaugh was in the news.
Limbaugh has apologized for some of his statements about Fluke, whom he attacked after she spoke last month in favor of mandatory insurance coverage for contraception at an event sponsored by congressional Democrats.
Limbaugh's advertising losses may have been less than media accounts suggested. While more than 100 advertisers told Premiere that they didn't want to be associated with "controversial" radio programs of any kind in the wake of the flap, some of these companies weren't regular Limbaugh sponsors in the first place.
Carusone said most of the advertiser exodus over the past month appeared to be among companies whose ads aired only in regional or local markets, he said. "Fewer than five" nationwide sponsors of the program actually pulled out, he said.
Don Surber adds this analysis from the story:
Buried in the story:Huckabee and his people thought they could capitalize on this, but Huckabee forgets one important thing: He's not Rush. If my local station replaced Rush with Huckabee I'd never tune in again, and I'm sure the sentiment is the same pretty much nationwide.
Expectations that a weakened Limbaugh could be bumped by a new program hosted by former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee (R) have also not materialized. None of Limbaugh’s many affiliates have said they’ll move him from his midday time slot in favor of Huckabee.
Among the stations sticking with Limbaugh is WMAL AM-FM in Washington, one of several big-city Limbaugh stations owned by Cumulus Media. Cumulus is syndicating Huckabee’s program, yet the company isn’t moving Limbaugh aside for its own program on its stations.
The lesson for Media Matters and the left: Don't poke the bear or your might get eaten.
History Video of the Day
This is kind if interesting. A February 9, 1956 episode of the game show "I've Got a Secret" that featured the last living witness to the Lincoln Assassination. It's a little awkward to watch because the gentlemen is 96 years old and can't hear very well, but I find it kind of interesting this guy was still around a couple months before I was born.
SAT and ACT Have New Stringent Photo ID Requirements. Imagine That.
I've actually been an SAT test administrator on two different occasions and every student is required to provide a photo ID as they are admitted into the test site. That requirement is about to get much tougher as Bill Hobbs explains:
"The new testing requirements include making students upload a photograph of themselves when they register for the SAT or ACT. Those unable to upload a photo will be permitted to mail in a photo, which will be scanned by the testing agency. Then, an admission ticket into the testing site, containing the scanned photo, will be mailed to the student.Hobbs is, of course, making the point that the reasons for wanting secure college entrance tests shouldn't be any different than the reasons for wanting voter ID in our elections - we want to maintain the integrity of the process. It's not that difficult to understand.
The photo will not only be printed on the admission ticket, but on the test site roster, and can be checked against the photo ID a student provides at the test center. That photo will be attached to students' scores as they are reported to high schools and colleges.
"Other changes include checking student IDs more frequently at test centers; IDs will be checked when students enter a test site, and whenever they re-enter the test room after breaks, and again when the answer sheets are collected. Testing companies also may conduct 'spot checks' with enhanced security at random test locations, or where cheating is suspected. Proctors also will receive additional training to help them identify cheaters and high school and college officials will receive more information about reporting suspected cheating to testing companies.
"A spokesman for the College Board noted that some of the security enhancements were developed in consultation with a security firm run by former FBI director Louis Freeh."
Students will not be given free photo IDs - they will have to, at their own expense, provide a photo to the testing companies. And some students - especially minorities and elderly students - might lack both Internet access to upload a photo, and a way to get to the post office to purchase a stamp to mail a photo to the testing companies.
Further, there is no plan to offer students "provisional" tests if they show up for the SAT or ACT and don't have a photo ID.
Sports Headline of the Day
The comedy continues:
The guy he should be challenging is Obama. Remember this from 2008:
Santorum calls for ‘bowl-off’ with RomneyAt least he didn't challenge him to a "Dance-Off" or "Sing-Off".
The guy he should be challenging is Obama. Remember this from 2008:
Barack Obama has run a largely gaffe-free campaign. Until he picked up a bowling ball. While attempting to woo blue collar voters in Pennsylvania, the Democratic frontrunner bowled a 37, while rolling several balls into the gutter.
His disastrous performance has earned him widespread ridicule. As MSNBC's Joe Scarborough put it, "He bowls like my four-and-a-half-year-old daughter."
The late-night comedians have been no less forgiving:
"His score was 37. Out of a possible 300, he bowled 37. Of course, being a Democrat, he automatically demanded a recount, so they had to go back." --Jay Leno
"I bowled a 37 when I was a baby. And I was drunk, by the way." --Jimmy Kimmel
Obama Gets a Big Endorsement - Russia
The Headlines:
PRAVDA endorses Obama...After the begging for "space" the other day, of course the Russians would rather have Obama for another four years.
Pentagon unaware of 'secret deal' between Obama, Kremlin on missile defense shield...
Bonus Obamacare Cartoon of the Day
The Supreme Court:
Ain't that the truth. Kagan's refusal to recuse herself is disgraceful.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Music Video of the Day
Earl Scruggs, possibly the best banjo player ever, passed away today. Here's a performance of his song "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" he did on the Letterman show with Steve Martin, Marty Stuart, Vince Gill and others.
@SteveMartinToGo: Earl Scruggs, the most important banjo player who ever lived, has passed on.
Obama 0, Everybody Else 414
That's the vote on Obama's budget:
President's $3.6 trillion budget rejected in House 414-0. Democrats have said they support Obama's budget - but none voted for itRacists.
James Carville Is Still Firmly Entrenched in 2000
I heard a clip of Carville commenting on the Supreme Court's apparent disdain for Obamacare that got me riled up. I don't have the exact quote, but it went something like this:
Of course, he's talking about the 2000 presidential election and more specifically the results in Florida which gave the nod to George W. Bush and deprived us of the incredible majesty of Al Gore. Democrats will go to their grave trying to delegitimize Bush's presidency.
Well, words mean things James, so let's look at yours. In order to "overturn" an election the assumption must be that one party was declared the winner only to have the courts take the win away and give it to his challenger. At what point did the court take away the win from Al Gore?
Let's look at the possibilities:
Get your head out of your hindquarters, James. You lost. Get over it.
What do you expect? Scalia and Thomas overturned an election!Really, James? What election would that be?
Of course, he's talking about the 2000 presidential election and more specifically the results in Florida which gave the nod to George W. Bush and deprived us of the incredible majesty of Al Gore. Democrats will go to their grave trying to delegitimize Bush's presidency.
Well, words mean things James, so let's look at yours. In order to "overturn" an election the assumption must be that one party was declared the winner only to have the courts take the win away and give it to his challenger. At what point did the court take away the win from Al Gore?
Let's look at the possibilities:
- Did Gore win Florida on election night? No, Bush ended up with over 1,000 more votes.
- At any time during the recounts and contests was Al Gore ahead by even one vote? Nope, he trailed the entire time.
- The night the election was certified was Al Gore declared the winner? Nope, the official certification signed by Secretary of State Katherine Harris showed Bush the winner.
- How about the Electoral College? Was Gore declared the winner when the Electoral votes were tallied? Nope, Bush won that too.
- How about the media consortium that conducted a full recount of Florida after the election was completely over? Did Gore have more votes then? Nope, he lost that too.
So what did Al Gore actually win? He did have more national popular votes which in a presidential election means exactly NOTHING. We don't elect our presidents by popular vote. In fact, had there not been an early and incorrect call by the networks in Florida Bush would have likely won the state by more than 10,000 votes and probably carried the national numbers too.
In conclusion, Gore won nothing but had the election "overturned" by the Supreme Court.
Get your head out of your hindquarters, James. You lost. Get over it.
Obamacare Quote of the Day
From Justice Antonin Scalia, in reference to the plea of the Solicitor General to consider the keep the rest of Obamacare if the mandate is ruled unconstitutional:
Sounds to me like Scalia is ready to toss the whole thing. Obamacare has had a bad three days in the Supreme Court.
JUSTICE SCALIA: Mr. Kneedler, what happened to the Eighth Amendment? You really want us to go through these 2,700 pages?The Eighth Amendment is the constitutional protection against cruel and unusual punishment...i.e. torture.
(Laughter.)
JUSTICE SCALIA: And do you really expect the Court to do that? Or do you expect us to -- to give this function to our law clerks?
Is this not totally unrealistic? That we are going to go through this enormous bill item by item and decide each one?
Sounds to me like Scalia is ready to toss the whole thing. Obamacare has had a bad three days in the Supreme Court.
Animal Rights Headines of the Day
Both from Twitter:
VIDEO: Elephant escapes from circus in Ireland, runs through streets - tinyurl.com/cpysxljI'll bet the elephant was using the maps program to find his way home.
VIDEO: Samsung produces video showing an elephant using their tablet - tinyurl.com/czxty86
At Any Other Point in History a President Begging a Foreign Enemy for "Space" Would Have Ended His Career
And it should Obama too. Hugh Hewitt makes the comparisons:
Only the slobbering Obamians within the MSM don't seem to understand an enormous moment when it happens, so busy are they with their Etch-a-Sketch comments by a staffer and their zombie narrative about the GOP convention being brokered or some other nonsense.If Mitt Romney can't make this into a big campaign issue he's not up to the job either.
How to explain to them? Analogies might work if any of them have basic history down.
Imagine Ike telling Molotov in '55 that he was facing his last election next year and that he needed some space, and the Soviet foreign secretary assuring him he'd transmit the information to Uncle Joe.
Or JFK saying the same thing to Gromyko, he agreed to pass it on to Khrushchev.
Or Nixon saying to Zhou forty years ago during his trip to China "This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility." And Zhou replying, "I will transmit this to Chairman Mao."
Russia is our adversary, and on nearly every issue they are working to destroy our position in our world and subjugate former allies. They are arming Iran, have invaded Georgia, and are blackmailing Europe. What doesn't the president understand about Russia? Apparently everything.
New Black Panther Thug Arrested For Gun Violation
This guy should have been picked up for solicitation of murder, but this might do for now:
A member of the New Black Panther Party who went on national television to offer a reward for the capture of George Zimmerman was arrested in Gwinnett County.What I don't understand is that this guy and others in his thug racist group have placed a bounty on a man who is not a fugitive and not wanted for any crime, and yet nobody in law enforcement or government in Florida has challenged them. These public officials are cowards, so desperate to be on the politically correct side of this issue that they've forgotten that their job includes protecting those who have not been charged with a crime.
According to the DeKalb County Sheriff's Office, Hashim Nzinga, 49 of Norcross, was arrested at probation office he was reporting to in Lawrenceville. He taken to Dekalb County Jail and charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. A warrant was sworn out in DeKalb County after evidence surfaced that Nzinga tried to pawn a semi-automatic handgun at a Stone Mountain pawn shop.
Nzinga serves as the New Black Panther Party’s Chief of Staff. He recently made news after going on CNN and offering a $10,000 reward for the capture of George Zimmerman whose role in the shooting death of 17 year old Trayvon Martin is currently being investigated by Florida authorities.
Idiot Congressman Tossed For Going Gangsta Chic on the House Floor
What a fool:
You can tell from the photo that Rush's hoodie is brand new - it still has creases from the way it was packaged. Not exactly authentic ghetto chic. He looks more like the Unabomber.
Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., lost his right to speak on the House floor after he violated rules by putting on a hoodie and sunglasses in honor of Trayvon Martin, the Florida teen shot last month.Racial profiling by cops is one thing, but you can't legislate against racial profiling by civilians. Congress is not the thought police.
Racial profiling has to stop, Mr. Speaker," Rush said as he took off his suit jacket to reveal a hoodie underneath, and pulled the hood over his head. "Just because someone wears a hoodie does not make them a hoodlum."
"The member will suspend," the chair said. "The member is no longer recognized. The chair will ask the sergeant-at-arms to enforce the rules on decorum."
Rush's "donning of the hood" violated clause five of House Rule 15 against wearing hats on the House floor.
You can tell from the photo that Rush's hoodie is brand new - it still has creases from the way it was packaged. Not exactly authentic ghetto chic. He looks more like the Unabomber.
The Lessons of 9/11 Haven't Been Lost on Today's Airline Passengers
In recent weeks we've seen a flight attendant have an in-flight breakdown, and yesterday a Captain of a Jet Blue flight suffered a similar fate. Although those are disturbing incidents I'm a bit comforted as an occasional airline flyer that passengers are not just sitting by and letting things get out of control. The days when a crazed person could take over a jet from a bunch of meek, compliant passengers is over.
We fight back now.
We fight back now.
Obamacare Headlines of the Day
Lots of them from Drudge:
I added this Tweet:
Day 3 of the arguments kicks off today.
Court picks apart individual mandate...It's risky to try and figure what the justices are likely to do based on the oral arguments, but there certainly seemed plenty of skepticism to go around when it came to the individual mandate.
JUSTICE KENNEDY: Fundamentally Changes Relationship of Gov't...
ROBERTS: 'Can the gov't require you to buy a cell phone?'
'Grave, grave trouble'...
IRONY: Top court embraces case Obama made AGAINST HILLARY...
TRANSCRIPT...
Scalia: 'You Can Make People Buy Broccoli'...
'We're not stupid'...
OBAMACARE UNDER FIRE
EVEN FROM SOTOMAYOR?
I added this Tweet:
After watching Obama slam The Supreme Court during the 2010 SOTU, don't you think Justice Kennedy would love to kick Obama right in the teeth on his signature issue?Of course, the justices are more professional in their duties than I would probably be in the same situation, but still it would be fun to hear the discussions behind closed doors.
Day 3 of the arguments kicks off today.
The Plot to Get Rush
American Spectator has a lengthy piece on the whole organized effort to drive Rush Limbaugh off the air. It didn't work, but it's good to know the tactics because you know they'll try this again with someone else.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Dodgers Will Sell to Group Headed by Magic Johnson
Wow:
Congrats, Magic, and many more years of success and good health!
@KFINEWS: Dodgers announce an agreement to sell team to group that includes Magic Johnson.I think this is great. Magic is an iconic sports figure in Los Angeles and a heckuva businessman. He's built a chain of theaters as well as other businesses, and he will certainly put a good face on the Dodgers after the Frank McCourt years.
Congrats, Magic, and many more years of success and good health!
Weekly KHND Interview Podcast/Video
Here's the podcast/video from today's KHND Radio interview. My part starts at 22:00:
Yes, the Earth Has Warmed Up Before Without Any Help From Us
Some new information has come out about the Medieval Warm Period that's giving the vapors to the global warming crowd:
Current theories of the causes and impact of global warming have been thrown into question by a new study which shows that during medieval times the whole of the planet heated up.Read the whole thing for the details. Bottom line, the earth warms and cools according to its own schedule (and the sun's) and we really don't have much to do with it. Therefore, throwing trillions of dollars in new taxes and regulations at it will be meaningless.
It then cooled down naturally and there was even a 'mini ice age'.
A team of scientists led by geochemist Zunli Lu from Syracuse University in New York state, has found that contrary to the ‘consensus’, the ‘Medieval Warm Period’ approximately 500 to 1,000 years ago wasn’t just confined to Europe.
In fact, it extended all the way down to Antarctica – which means that the Earth has already experience global warming without the aid of human CO2 emissions.
House Dems Propose Crippling New Taxes
What would an Obama second term look like? Take a look at what House Dems are already proposing:
This plan does nothing to curb spending and that's where the real problems lie. It's just another economy-crippling money grab by people who know nothing about economics.
Officially, the CPC calls the plan “The Budget for All” — and it’s all wrong. Sure, the proposal would theoretically cut the deficit from $1.1 trillion (7.0% of GDP) in 2012 to $180 billion (or 0.7% of GDP) in 2022. But the CPC would accomplish this feat entirely through massive and economy-crippling tax increases.I guess they had to wait for Teddy Kennedy to die before they could propose that "wealth tax".
In 2012, the Congressional Budget Office projects Uncle Sam will spend 23.2% of GDP and take in 16.3% of GDP in tax revenue. In 2022, under the liberal CPC plan, spending would be 23.3% of GDP — a bit higher than the CBO forecast for 2012 — and revenue would be a sky-high 22.6% of GDP. In other words, spending would be 0.1 percentage point more and tax revenue would 6.3 points higher, or nearly 40%.
The “Budget for All” contains just about every sort of tax increase imaginable. It would, of course, allow the top-end Bush tax cuts to expire, as well as create five new tax brackets — 45%, 46%, 47%, 48%, and 49% — for “millionaires and billionaires.” In addition, House liberals would break new ground by slapping a European-style wealth tax of 0.5% on fortunes of $10 million or more. The plan also contains a bank tax and a financial transaction tax.
But it’s not just the wealthy and bankers who would get pinched. These Democrats would also raise income taxes on the broad middle. The CPC plan would “allow the 28% and 25% brackets to sunset once the economy is on solid footing, in 2017 and 2019, respectively.” That means higher taxes on families making over $70,000 a year — a big, fat, middle-class tax hike. And some of those families would also be paying more for energy thanks to the carbon tax that’s also in the CPC plan.
Amazing, these progressive Democrats don’t think all those tax hikes will hurt economic growth. Not one bit. Why? First, it’s now the liberal economic consensus that tax rates below 70-80% don’t hurt growth. Second, even if those tax hikes unexpectedly did trim growth a smidgen, they would be more than offset by a new $2 trillion stimulus plan full of such supposedly pro-growth measures as clean energy tax credits, advanced manufacturing tax credits, and a “Child Care Corps.”
This plan does nothing to curb spending and that's where the real problems lie. It's just another economy-crippling money grab by people who know nothing about economics.
Religious Photo of the Day
My how far we've strayed. Adam Baldwin posted this photo on Twitter this morning of the official Army-issued New Testament which included a letter from the President of the United States recommending the soldier read it:
The arguments we hear today for separation of church and state would have been laughed off in 1941.
Spike Lee Foolishly Incites Violence By Tweeting Address Of Florida Shooter
Except he doesn't actually live there, which means Spike Lee is inviting vandalism and violence against an innocent woman:
Filmmaker Spike Lee made waves on Twitter last week when he re-tweeted to his 200,000 followers (h/t Twitchy) what was thought to be George Zimmerman's home address in Sanford, Florida. Mr. Zimmerman told Sanford police last month that he fatally shot 17 year old Trayvon Martin in self-defense.You want your "war on women", there you go. Spike Lee has already done the wrong thing and I doubt he'll make it right. He just doesn't have that much class in him. If something happens to this lady or her property, Lee is going to find himself in the crosshairs of significant legal action.
However, the Edgewater Circle address Mr. Lee re-tweeted out is not part of the gated Retreat at Twin Lakes where the shooting took place and where Mr. Zimmerman lives. The area is not even a gated a community.
In fact, I took a drive to that Edgewater Circle address that so many on Twitter re-tweeted and cursed, and I discovered through a neighbor, named Tim, who lives across the street from the address, that not only does George Zimmerman not live at the lakeside house but a woman by the name of Elaine does.
According to Tim, a number of news agencies drove through looking for Mr. Zimmerman. While it was not wise at to incite the masses to go to an address he thought was Mr. Zimmerman's to begin with, Mr. Lee should should still "do the right thing" and give the actual resident at the address above some peace and apologize for disrupting her life.
Rush: Media Matters and the Left Are Little More Than "Jock Itch"
Very appropriate description:
On his Monday show conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh recounted a trip he made to New York City last week for a charity event, and said that people expressed concern about the controversy he found himself in for calling Georgetown Law student and so-called birth control activist Sandra Fluke a “slut” and a “prostitute.”The Media Matters anti-Rush effort has gotten a bit derailed lately as attention has turned from their faux "war on women" to the Trayvon Martin charade. Whatever Media Matters thinks they're doing, it's not having much effect on Rush or the stations that carry him. He's still on over 600 stations nationwide and from what I can tell his advertising slots are full. The fact that some advertiser have tried to come back, and some have some back at the local station level, tells me this effort has failed miserably.
Limbaugh said firmly that there is nothing to be concerned about. In fact, he dismissed the notion that he is suffering at all from the boycott being waged against by left-wing activist organization Media Matters and other groups.
“So many people came up to me and were supportive,” Limbaugh said. “’You sound great on the radio. Are you doing OK?’ Yeah, I’m fine. ‘Well, all these boycotts?’ No, no, no — there really isn’t one. There is a fake boycott. There’s no advertiser boycott. There’s no consumer boycott. There’s something going on to made look like it. It’s as phony and ginned up as the Occupy Wall Street movement is.”
Limbaugh said that an incorrect perception has been foisted upon the public by powerful media outlets, and said he is fighting back.
“I came to the conclusion that a lot of people think that this has been profoundly effective and it hasn’t been,” he said. “It’s the power of the media to create a picture and an image. But no, we’re fighting back on this. That’s why we activated our Twitter account.”
Limbaugh had some choice words to describe Media Matters and its leader, David Brock. He called them “jock itch,” an infection of the groin area caused by fungus.
“Media Matters is like jock itch,” he declared. “It’s a chafing little rash in there. That’s all they are. That’s as serious as it is. It’s a bunch of little twerps sitting around with nothing better to do trying to occupy themselves. But they’re just jock itch folks. David Brock is jock itch. And any of these other people whose names come out — they’re just jock itch. That’s all it is.”
EPA To Issue Rules That Will Effective Ban All New Coal-Fired Power Plants
Because after all, we need to stop the non-existent problem of global warming:
The Environmental Protection Agency will issue the first limits on greenhouse gas emissions from new power plants as early as Tuesday, according to several people briefed on the proposal. The move could end the construction of conventional coal-fired facilities in the United States.We are the Saudi Arabia of coal - we're awash in the stuff. But Obama won't let us use it because we're also the Saudi Arabia of unicorn farts, and that's what we're going to power the future with. Sadly, our unicorn farms aren't quite ready for national production so you can plan to pay a lot more for electricity until they're brought online.
The proposed rule — years in the making and approved by the White House after months of review — will require any new power plant to emit no more than 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt of electricity produced. The average U.S. natural gas plant, which emits 800 to 850 pounds of CO2 per megawatt, meets that standard; coal plants emit an average of 1,768 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt.
Political Tweet of the Day
From Jim Geraghty:
@jimgeraghty: The Pelosi advice continues to be relevant. We have to elect Obama to a second term to find out what's in it.I shudder to think....
Hour of Power 2012
No, we're not talking about the Crystal Cathedral's TV Show, but the proper response to this Saturday night's Earth Hour nonsense. Tim Blair in Australia is leading the charge:
Earth Hour is with us again this Saturday night, so you’ll want to start planning.There's a lot more at the link, but I especially liked this:
For your normal Earth Hour types, this is a simple procedure. Just turn all your lights off at 8.30pm and sit there thinking that you’re Jesus. But for those of us in the Hour of Power movement, a proper celebration requires substantial commitment.
Just follow my essential power party guide and you’ll be set.
First, it’s symbolically vital that you turn on every single light for the appointed hour. Sounds easy enough, but there is always a sneaky bulb out on the back porch or in the garage. Be vigilant. Don’t let even the smallest or least visible globe escape illumination.
The fun doesn’t end when the holy hour is over. Tell everyone to bring laptops so you can follow Earth Hour’s unintentional hilarity around the planet. Something always goes perfectly wrong.I've decided that besides turning on all the lights, I also plan to exhale as much CO2 as I can to ensure my tropical plants have plenty to eat.
My favourite Earth Hour moment came in 2010, when a Canadian environment minister hosted a candlelit eco-dinner with his wife. The smugness was interrupted when their cat caught on fire. Holding true to the Earth Hour message, they refused to air the place out with an electric fan. Open windows were the only means of dispersing Earth Hour’s stench of singed cat.
When you’re scoping out foreign Earth Hour reports, don’t forget to click on the reader comments at the end of every hand-wringing article begging readers to kill the lights. These comments invariably provide delightful counterpoint to the overall Earth Hour message.
“I promise to turn every light in the house on as well as fill a small metal container with gasoline, light it on fire and watch it burn in my front yard,” read one message in a Syracuse online paper in 2009. That, my friends, is the true Hour of Power spirit.
Inconvenient Facts Challenge the Narrative on the Trayvon Martin Case
It must really pain the lefties at the Huffington Post to have to write this:
You can blame the media as much as anyone for accepting the lefty narrative without question...until many people who are not part of the mainstream media began investigating on their own and discovered these inconvenient facts.
Oh, and there's this tidbit of info about a suspension Martin was given in October:
The more I hear about this case the more convinced I am that the original decision not to arrest and prosecute Zimmerman was correct, and although I expect the Feds to try and come up with some bogus civil rights charge, at this point I don't think they'll be able to support that either. For one thing, do they really want to bring this to trial and have all the relevant info about Martin released under discovery and witnesses? Probably not.
There have been some interesting byproducts from this story. Just as when the left declared the war on Rush Limbaugh, conservatives have fought back showing example of example of tragic killings involving black perps and white victims in which not a peep was heard from Obama, Sharpton, Jackson, or any of the race pimps (that was for you, Sam) who jumped all over this case. There are far more of those than cases of white (or "white Hispanic") on black violence. The age in which the media could set the narrative without challenge is over.
Nearly a month after Trayvon Martin's killing, the account of what occurred the night of the teen's fatal confrontation with George Zimmerman is getting more complicated. As the public attempts to piece together what really happened on Feb. 26, more details have emerged telling Zimmerman's side of the story.Now let me tell you what's going to happen. The left, which has been vilifying Zimmerman and in some cases even calling for his kidnapping or death, will not accept any of this as true. The narrative has been set and to wander from their tall tale would require some serious "soul searching", in the words of Obama. Since few of them have recognizable souls, that's probably impossible. And how would they ever face the race mobs again if they had to apologize to Zimmerman?
According to law enforcement authorities, Zimmerman, who maintained he shot the teen in self-defense, told local police that Martin punched him in the face, climbed on top of him and slammed his head into the sidewalk, the Orlando Sentinel reports. ...
There is about a one-minute gap between when Zimmerman made the 911 call and when he came face-to-face with Martin that police say they're not sure what happened.
According to what Zimmerman told local officers, he lost sight of the teen and was returning to his SUV when Martin approached him and they exchanged words. He said Martin asked if he had a problem, Zimmerman replied no and reached for his cell phone. He then alleges that Martin said "well you do now" and punched him in the nose.
Zimmerman said he then fell to the ground and Martin got on top of him and began slamming his head into the sidewalk. Zimmerman said he began yelling for help.
An individual can be heard screaming on the 911 audio, however, there's been a dispute amongst witnesses as to whether it was Zimmerman or Martin who was crying for help.
According to authorities, Zimmerman then shot Martin at close range. When the local police arrived at the scene, they found Zimmerman with a bloody nose, swollen lip and lacerations in the back of his head. Although paramedics gave him first aid, he said he did not need to go to the hospital and sought medical treatment the next day.
You can blame the media as much as anyone for accepting the lefty narrative without question...until many people who are not part of the mainstream media began investigating on their own and discovered these inconvenient facts.
Oh, and there's this tidbit of info about a suspension Martin was given in October:
Trayvon’s backpack contained 12 pieces of jewelry, in addition to a watch and a large flathead screwdriver, according to the report, which described the screwdriver as a burglary tool.Perhaps Martin was not as innocent in life as that picture of him as a 12-year old that's attached to every media report would suggest.
Trayvon was asked if the jewelry, which was mostly women’s rings and earrings, belonged to his family or a girlfriend.
“Martin replied it’s not mine. A friend gave it to me,” according to the report. Trayvon declined to name the friend.
The more I hear about this case the more convinced I am that the original decision not to arrest and prosecute Zimmerman was correct, and although I expect the Feds to try and come up with some bogus civil rights charge, at this point I don't think they'll be able to support that either. For one thing, do they really want to bring this to trial and have all the relevant info about Martin released under discovery and witnesses? Probably not.
There have been some interesting byproducts from this story. Just as when the left declared the war on Rush Limbaugh, conservatives have fought back showing example of example of tragic killings involving black perps and white victims in which not a peep was heard from Obama, Sharpton, Jackson, or any of the race pimps (that was for you, Sam) who jumped all over this case. There are far more of those than cases of white (or "white Hispanic") on black violence. The age in which the media could set the narrative without challenge is over.
When Will The President Send In Troops to Save This Student From The Racist Mobs?
That's the way we used to do things in this country. Now this:
Seminole State College has expelled George Zimmerman, the man who shot and killed Trayvon Martin, setting off a debate over whether Florida has been too slow to charge Zimmerman in the shooting, WKMG News reported. College officials released a statement saying: “Due to the highly charged and high-profile controversy involving this student, Seminole State has taken the unusual but necessary step this week to withdraw Mr. Zimmerman from enrollment. This decision is based solely on our responsibility to provide for the safety of our students on campus as well as for Mr. Zimmerman.” Zimmerman was enrolled in an associate in arts degree in general studies.So, is there a public servant with guts willing to stand up to the racist mobs that would do Mr. Zimmerman harm? Probably not.
Aggressive Parents Cause Cancellation of Town's Easter Egg Hunt
This is kind of pitiful:
A free annual Easter egg hunt held in Old Colorado City was canceled because “aggressive” parents were grabbing too many eggs for their children.These are the same parents that stand on the sidelines of kid's soccer games and scream at the refs and opposing players.
Thousands of candy-filled plastic eggs are scattered across Bancroft Park every year for children to find and collect, KXRM reported.
But organizers said some parents were too aggressive and took too many of the eggs, leaving some children empty-handed.
Dave Van Ness, executive director of Old Colorado City Associates, which organizes the event, said, “It’s sort of got out of hand. There were disgruntled people because there either weren’t enough eggs to go around or some kids didn’t get one. Parents would get aggressive.”
He added that some parents were taking the fun out of the community event and that rather than create ill will, the organizers chose to cancel it.
Father-of-six Chris Greene told KXRM, “What kind of role model are you as a parent if your actions are canceling an event your child is going to remember for the rest of your life?”
Monday, March 26, 2012
THIS Is Why I Should Tell DirecTV to Keep Your Channel?
I just got a note on Facebook from KTLA-5 in Los Angeles warning about a possibly loss of their channel from DirecTV. The graphic on the notice warns that if I lose KTLA I'll lose all this:
Really? That's why I should try to save KTLA? Heck, I've never watched ANY of those shows and it probably only would at gunpoint.
I do watch the Morning News and often the 10 pm News, and perhaps I could be persuaded to contact DirecTV based on those, but the prime time line-up is a wasteland. The reruns of Friends at 11pm are better than any of those.
Maybe I'll contact DirecTV if they promise to kill all those shows.
I do watch the Morning News and often the 10 pm News, and perhaps I could be persuaded to contact DirecTV based on those, but the prime time line-up is a wasteland. The reruns of Friends at 11pm are better than any of those.
Maybe I'll contact DirecTV if they promise to kill all those shows.
California Voters Being Fooled by Governor Moonbeam
This is depressing:
And I can only remember one time when "temporary" taxes actually were allowed to expire. Once enacted these taxes will be with us forever.
However, the high earners won't. They'll be gone.
California voters strongly support Gov. Jerry Brown's new proposal to increase the sales tax and raise levies on upper incomes to help raise money for schools and balance the state's budget, according to a new USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll.There's only one big problem - taxes on high earners NEVER generate as much money as promised because the wealthy have all kinds of ways to hide or defer income, not to mention the fact they can vote with their feet and leave the state. Look at what happened in New York when they raised taxes on high earners? The high earners fled and New York was left in a bigger hole than the one in which they started.
Sixty-four percent of those surveyed said they supported the governor's measure, which he hopes to place on the November ballot. It would hike the state sales tax by a quarter-cent per dollar for the next four years and create a graduated surcharge on incomes of more than $250,000 that would last seven years. A third of respondents opposed the measure.
Brown's new plan, rewritten recently amid pressure from liberal activist and union groups that had a competing proposal, relies on a larger share of revenue from upper-income earners than his original measure. Correspondingly, it leans less upon sales taxes, which are paid by all California consumers. The poll shows that taxing high earners is overwhelmingly popular.
And I can only remember one time when "temporary" taxes actually were allowed to expire. Once enacted these taxes will be with us forever.
However, the high earners won't. They'll be gone.
Political Video of the Day
Greg Gutfeld calls out Media Matters and offers them what they apparently want: War.
How's All That Free Stuff Working Out For You, Obama Voters?
I wonder why no one has gone back to interview Peggy Joseph who made news during the 2008 campaign? From Morning Jolt:
The blogger Scared Monkeys takes a trip down memory lane:C'mon press, if this had been a Bush voter praising Bush before the 2004 election you know she would have been interviewed by EVERYONE during the 2008 campaign to show how Bush's policies failed her.
The fact of the matter is that the MSM will willfully and purposely lie for President Obama. Is it any wonder why these folks have little to no credibility anymore? The MSM is all in for this President and it has become obvious to most. What was bad for Bush, should also be bad for Obama. However, if the MSM ever took an even keeled approach to reporting the news and the impact of Obama's policies on "We the People", his approval rating would be in the 30's. Instead, they set the bar lower for Obama and change the narrative altogether.
I wonder how Peggy Joseph feels these days about her comments she made in 2008 about now that Obama is the President she will not have to worry about putting gas in her car. Peggy, just a reminder for you that gas prices are presently $3.89, they were $1.84 when you made your comments. Hey Peggy, how's that "Hopey-Changey" Obama will pay for your gas working out for you?By the way, my bet is that a large number of folks on the right remember Peggy Joseph's comments from 2008, and most on the left don't remember seeing her at all (if they ever did). "I won't have to worry about putting gas in my car, I won't have to worry about my mortgage. If I help him, he's going to help me." Conservatives seized upon that anecdote because it confirmed our worst suspicions about the voters who prefer Democrats: They believe A) the purpose of government is to give them free stuff, and B) the government can and will give them free stuff.
Harry Reid's Train From Nowhere
It goes somewhere - Las Vegas - but it starts in nowhere:
I won't.
If I've already driven 100 miles I'm going to go ahead and drive the remaining 175 to Las Vegas and get there and leave there on my schedule. I'm not going to leave my car in middle of the desert just to save an hour off the trip. And that doesn't take into consideration the cost of the train tickets which are certainly going to be more than the cost of gas.
This is a political payoff, nothing more.
VICTORVILLE, Calif. (AP) -- On a dusty, rock-strewn expanse at the edge of the Mojave Desert, a company linked to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wants to build a bullet train that would rocket tourists from the middle of nowhere to the gambling palaces of Las Vegas.From my house to the proposed station is right about 100 miles and given that I'm a big fan of trains, I'd probably be considered a prime candidate to use this service.
Privately held DesertXpress is on the verge of landing a $4.9 billion loan from the Obama administration to build the 150 mph train, which could be a lifeline for a region devastated by the housing crash or a crap shoot for taxpayers weary of Washington spending.
The vast park-and-ride project hinges on the untested idea that car-loving Californians will drive about 100 miles from the Los Angeles area, pull off busy Interstate 15 and board a train for the final leg to the famous Strip.
Planners imagine that millions of travelers a year will one day flock to a station outside down-on-its-luck Victorville, a small city where shuttered storefronts pock the historic downtown.
I won't.
If I've already driven 100 miles I'm going to go ahead and drive the remaining 175 to Las Vegas and get there and leave there on my schedule. I'm not going to leave my car in middle of the desert just to save an hour off the trip. And that doesn't take into consideration the cost of the train tickets which are certainly going to be more than the cost of gas.
This is a political payoff, nothing more.
Obama: Please Give Me Space, Russia, Because It Will Be Easier to Surrender After the Election
This probably won't be helpful to the Obama campaign:
SEOUL, South Korea — At the tail end of his 90 minute meeting with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev Monday, President Obama said that he would have “more flexibility” to deal with controversial issues such as missile defense, but incoming Russian President Vladimir Putin needs to give him “space.”What he's really saying is the accommodations he'd really like to make to the Russians would be politically unpopular in the U.S., so he can't offer them until he's secured another four years and doesn't have to run again. That should be scary to every American voter.
The exchange was picked up by microphones as reporters were let into the room for remarks by the two leaders.
The exchange:
President Obama: On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this, this can be solved but it’s important for him to give me space.
President Medvedev: Yeah, I understand. I understand your message about space. Space for you…
President Obama: This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility.
President Medvedev: I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir.
When asked to explain what President Obama meant, deputy national security adviser for strategic communications Ben Rhodes told ABC News that there is room for the U.S. and Russia to reach an accommodation, but “there is a lot of rhetoric around this issue — there always is — in both countries.
Three Days Of Obamacare Before the Supreme Court
It all starts today and where it will end nobody knows:
The landmark hearings will be broken up over the course of three days.I see basically three possible outcomes:
Monday's opener is sure to be a letdown for people looking for a battle royal over health care because the 90-minute argument -- cases before the Supreme Court usually only last an hour -- has absolutely nothing to do with the federal government's involvement in regulating how health care is administered. Rather, it examines whether an obscure tax law passed during Reconstruction prohibits challenges to the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
That statute says no lawsuit can be filed challenging a tax provision -- in this case, the individual mandate requiring Americans to buy health insurance -- until after it's been implemented. All parties in the cases before the Court agree that the 1867 Anti-Injunction Act isn't applicable to the health care law. But one lower appellate court ruled otherwise and a prominent federal judge in Washington D.C. also said the current lawsuits against the controversial law must wait until someone has actually been forced to pay a penalty. That will not happen until 2015.
It's a preliminary issue the high court wanted to resolve, which is why it's the first case, but some people familiar with the Court's docket think it's unlikely the justices will ultimately issue a ruling saying the lawsuits will have to wait. Instead, the thinking goes, they will be eager to move on to the merits of the challenge which are addressed in the week's other cases.
If the Court eventually issues a blockbuster constitutional ruling, it will come from Tuesday's arguments about the individual mandate. The dispute is over the central provision of the law requiring near-universal participation in the new health insurance system.
The government argues it has the regulatory power under the Commerce Clause to force people to buy health insurance, even if they don't want to, because all people must at some time purchase health care and therefore are in the marketplace. "The Affordable Care Act expands access to health care services and controls health care costs by reforming the terms on which health insurance is offered and rationalizing the timing and means of payment for health care services," Solicitor General Don Verrilli wrote in his brief to the Court.
Opponents of the law maintain the breadth of the powerful Commerce Clause does not also allow for the government to force people into commerce. It's something they argue the Founders would never have approved of and wonder why, if constitutional, Congress has never before used this authority given the crises of past generations. "The only explanation for the utter absence of comparable mandates is the utter absence of constitutional authority," lawyer Paul Clement wrote on behalf of the 26 states challenging the law.
The arguments will also feature discussion over whether other parts of the Constitution, including the Necessary and Proper Clause and Congress's taxing power, gives the government cover for the health care law.
Wednesday will be the only day with two cases. The morning argument examines whether other parts of the law will be preserved if the mandate is struck down. Various courts below reached different conclusions and the Supreme Court, if it strikes down the mandate, will have to determine whether to keep some, none, or all of the rest of the law in place.
The afternoon case focuses on the expansion of Medicaid to increase coverage for poorer Americans. The states say costs associated with the expansion will be too much for their treasuries. They also object to the nature of the mandate from Washington saying lawmakers have turned Medicaid away from a federal-state partnership into a compulsory program.
- Worst Case: Obamacare is upheld in full and the slide to financial ruin for the country picks up the pace.
- Bad, but Better Case: The mandate is struck down but the rest of the law is allowed to stand. The Supremes would have to twist the law around to make that work because there is no severability clause in the law which would allow part of it to be struck down while the remainder goes into effect. The clause got left out during the shenanigans the Dems pulled in getting the billed passed in the first place.
- Best Case: The Supremes strike the whole thing down. This could be both a blessing and a curse for Obama. A blessing in that it would take Obamacare off the table for the election, but bad because it would represent the complete failure of his signature achievement. It would also take Obamacare away from him as a tool to use against Romney (he'd still try, but it wouldn't be very effective).
There's some fear that the mandate might not actually be addressed because it hasn't gone into effect yet, and that part of the case could be put off until 2014. I don't think that will happen because the court knows it's important to settle this issue. The threat of this hanging over the economy has got to end.
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