Sunday, January 31, 2010
Here Kitty, Kitty, Kitty...
fat cats purr
ToDaZeD What Ya Won’t Get From Teh MSM. RTWT - srsly.
[Timothy P. Carney] For his presidential campaign in which Wall Street regulation was a mantra, Obama’s top source of funds was investment bank giant Goldman Sachs, whose employees, partners, and executives gave him $995,000 that’s the most any politician has raised from any one company in a single election since the age of “soft money” ended.
...Bank of America’s K Street lobbyists include Obama administration alumnus Oscar Ramirez and Chuck Schumer’s former press secretary Izzy Klein, both at the Podesta Group, co-founded by John Podesta, who served as Obama’s transition director, and has visited the White House more than 15 times.
...So when Obama, touting his bank tax, says “we want our money back,” recall that it was Obama who helped the banks take your money—without asking you. It’s as if a mugger took your wallet and gave it to Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein, and then posed as your champion by promising to raise Blankfein’s taxes. ... which, of course, the banks will just pass it through to customers ...
ToDaZeD *snerk*
giving new meaning to “Pants on the Ground"
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Terminological Inexactitude* Count
staggering
[SCOTUS] open[ed] the floodgates for special interests — including foreign corporations — to spend without limit in our elections. Well I don’t think American elections should be bankrolled by America’s most powerful interests, or worse, by foreign entities.
This is either blithering ignorance of the law, or demogoguery of the worst kind.
...one year later, the worst of the storm has passed.
rly?
...I am not interested in re-litigating the past.
bwaaaahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahhahaha
Starting in 2011, we are prepared to freeze government spending for three years.
< 1% of the deficit. IF Congress goes along…
Yesterday, the Senate blocked a bill that would have created this commission. So I will issue an executive order that will allow us to go forward, because I refuse to pass this problem on to another generation of Americans.
Which is the very definition of “one of those Washington gimmicks that lets us pretend we solved a problem.”
Now, let me repeat: We cut taxes. ... I thought I’d get some applause on that one. ... And we haven’t raised *income taxes* by a single dime on a single person. Not a single dime.
Nice work-around. Weasel.
I want a jobs bill on my desk without delay.
Take more $$$ out of the economy and enslave
We can’t afford another so-called economic “expansion” like the one from the last decade –- what some call the “lost decade”...
Who? Who calls it that? Do I need to get out more—is that it?
... serious financial reform ... We need to make sure consumers and middle-class families have the information they need to make financial decisions.
WTF?!?? Economic predictability? Only way to do that is to control the Free Market—which is called fascism and/or socialism—and creates the kind of uncertainties that made an economic dip into the Great Depression. Or to destroy it altogether, which is called communism.
That couldn’t possibly be what Teh iWon meant.... could it?
...we can put Americans to work today building the infrastructure of tomorrow.
Wasn’t that the purpose of Porkulous? “Shovel-ready”? How’s that workin’ out for US, eh?
Phoenix… Philadelphia… Allentown, Pennsylvania… Elyria, Ohio… Tampa, Florida… Elkhart, Indiana… Galesburg, Illinois… the House...
oooooo!!! He mentioned My Place! *applause*
I’m exhausted. What were your favorite Terminological Inexactitudes?
*term courtesy of Winston Churchill via Tom McClintock
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
ToDaZeD *scrape*scrape*scrape*
that’ll mess up Teh Perfect Crease
Vanderleun has the Hhistory: *clicky*clicky*
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Sunset
and gathering darkness
[the National Association of Muslim Police attacked] the Government’s anti-terrorism strategy, warning that it is an ‘affront to British values’ which threatens to trigger ethnic unrest... that ministers were wrong to blame Islam for being the ‘driver’ behind recent terrorist attacks. Far-Right extremists were a more dangerous threat to national security… that Muslims were being ‘stigmatised’ by the Government’s attempts to tackle terrorism, which was adding to ‘hatred’ against entire communities.
...The memorandum warned that Muslims were subjected to ‘daily abuse’ due to the strategy. ‘We must not diminish our British values further by continuing to allow such behaviour and policies to continue unchecked.’
“The fruits of appeasement...”
Monday, January 25, 2010
Hope on the Ropes
Your Slip is Showing.
Center-left daily Süddeutsche Zeitung writes on Thursday:
“Obama made a serious misjudgement. Right at the beginning of his first year in office, he saved the banks, rescued the automobile industry from collapse and passed a huge economic stimulus package. He had hoped that these enormous deeds would give him the space to address those issues which are dearest to him: health care reform, climate change and investment in education.”
“Those issues, however, are clearly not priorities for people in the US at the moment. Scott Brown campaigned on two promises, both of which apparently struck a nerve with the electorate. He wants to block health care reform and he wants to find ways to reduce the enormous budget deficit. It is here where the roots of dissatisfaction with Obama are to be found. His reform agenda, in its current form, is highly suspect to Americans. And they have the impression that, if he continues piling up debt, he will be gambling away the country’s future.”
The Financial Times Deutschland writes:
“...For everyone else in the world, this means that they will have to bid farewell to a candidate for whom the hopes were so high. They will have to say goodbye to the charisma they fell in love with. Obama will be staying home after all."
erm… no thanks. Y’all can have him.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Another Isolated Incident...
one o’ *them*—not them...
A Memphis man accused of shooting two soldiers outside a military recruiting station in Arkansas last June has written the judge
calls himself a soldier in Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and calls the shooting “a Jihadi Attack” in retribution for the killing of Muslims by American troops. .... Muhammad, 24, a Muslim convert from Memphis, spent about 16 months in Yemen starting in the fall of 2007 ... married a woman from south Yemen ... imprisoned for several months ... overstayed his visa ... holding a fraudulent Somali passport ... Yemen deported Muhammad January 2009 ... used a semiautomatic rifle to gun down two soldiers standing outside a military recruiting station in Little Rock
Guess he’s one ‘ them “homegrown ex-treemist terrorists” like, yanno, a “tea-bagger” or sumpthin’—not one o’ them “overseas people”...
Security = DIY
[who knew?!?]
erm ...wait—we all did.
nev-R-mind
Thursday, January 21, 2010
So How Wuz *Your* Day?
life is wild and wooly in Teh Desert...
It stormed today. Well, thunder/ligntening, followed by a deluge, followed by more wind and a tornado down the road. [no, srsly—tornado. tore off quite a few power poles]
Then, as the storm cleared…
...and cleared some more [half an hour]
...and threatened to come back…
...and cleared thru the sunset.
All in all—quite a day.
The washes were.
[these palm trees are my frieeends. I visit them every year at the place where we stay, Sam’s.]
Legacy
∅
"In its present form without any changes I don’t think it’s possible to pass the Senate bill in the House,” said Pelosi, D[umbass]-Calif. “I don’t see the votes for it at this time."
[Harry Shallow Sandy Grave Reid : “We’re going to wait until the new senator arrives until we do anything more on health care.”
What a difference a day makes . . .
[1/19/10] “We will get the job done. I am confident of that. I have always been confident of that,” [Pelosi] told reporters as she left the Capitol at 11:30 p.m. ...
“Massachusetts has health care and so the rest of the country would like to have that too,” Pelosi said, referring to the state’s health care program. “So we don’t [think] a state that already has health care should determine whether the rest of the country should."
ToDaZeD WeeWee'd Up
UnPrecedented PissyPantz
*Plink* ... *plonk*plonk*
*scrape*scrape*scrape* evolves
Unicorn Wall crumbling
ToDaZeD Word of the Day: Preference Cascade
But Wait! There’s Moah!
Erroll Southers, the embattled nominee to head the Transportation Security Administration, has announced his withdrawal ...
“...it is apparent that this path has been obstructed by political ideology." ...
“...It is clear that my nomination has become a lightning rod for those who have chosen to push a political agenda at the risk of the safety and security of the American people."
Your “nomination has become a lightning rod for those who have chosen to push a political agenda at the risk of the safety and security of the American people.
FIFY.
"This partisan climate is unacceptable and I refuse to allow myself to remain part of their dialogue. ..."
“Unacceptable”?!?? Gettin a little too warm in the kitchen fer ya? Too dirty prissy good for some political wrangling, are ya? Or, perhaps.... just perhaps, that “false testimony to Congress” thingy ... yanno, about misusing yer FBI access to check up on your ex-wife’s new boyfriend? Yeah—is that what’s worrying you, Binky?
It worried me. It worries Jim DeMint.
”...The Senate could have had an open and transparent debate this week to approve Mr. Southers, but apparently, answering simple, direct questions about security and integrity were too much for this nominee. ..."
[And another thing] “...TSA screeners can already join unions, but collective bargaining would force TSA officials to ask union bosses for permission to make critical security changes. ..."
And that’s what I’d call trying to “push a political agenda at the risk of the safety and security of the American people.”
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Nooz from the CA Dust Bowl
‘tain’t good
Depending on your perspective… I saw many many many signs like this along I5 though the San Joaquin Valley; yanno—the place that can feed the world.
It says: CONGRESS CREATED DUST BOWL
I’m sure it was more effective before the rains started, when there was nothing growing and the dust was blowing. See, these farmers got 40% of their water rights allotment this year—again. Cuz to give them any more would ...maybe ...perhaps… discomfit the Delta Smelt, a little 2” non-native, trash fish that has been hanging out in the delta for a few decades.
uh huh. CA politicks as usual.
The good nooz is that the farmers are getting more than honked off. And what with the 40% unemployment rate [yes, I said 40%—heaven only knows what the number is on the schedule 6 [which includes folks who have taken part-time or have just given up altogether] ] in farm-dependent towns like Modesto, lots of other folks are getting kinda honked off as well. Time for a tractor parade to Sacramento, what say?
Saturday, January 16, 2010
In for a Penny -- In for a Pound...
of flesh
Q Do you think [the MA election on Tuesday] is in some ways a referendum on the health care bill?
Robert [Baghdad Bob] GIBBS: No, I think it’s a referendum on whose side are you on.
Q A lot of the polling suggests that the problems that Democrats have had in places like New Jersey and Virginia, as well as Massachusetts, is based on public dislike of what they perceive to be the health care plan, and you’re not getting any traction in places like Massachusetts. You got a candidate who was perceived to be a run-away—a walk-away winner who is now in danger of losing. What’s wrong with your message?
MR. GIBBS: Well, that’s why we have elections. That’s why we have elections. We’re not on the ballot in—there’s a campaign that’s going on in Massachusetts. We’re happy to lend our support. And I think as you heard the President say yesterday, we’re going to get health care done, and we’ll be happy to have a campaign on whether you’re for the status quo, whether you’re for protecting insurance industry profits, whether you’re for protecting bank company profits, or whether you’re on the side of the American people. We’ll be happy to have that—we’ll be happy to have that --
See, real Americans are not for profits—despite the fact that that’s where jobs come from. And bankers and insurance guys aren’t Americans. Nor are stockholders, pension funds nor widow ‘n’ orphan funds.
Friday, January 15, 2010
n/c
The Obamas gave People magazine their first interview of 2010 and reflect on their first year at the White House and reveal that they still make time to check out indie films and keep up with tabloid gossip.
Happily prattling on about Tiger Woods’ life situation, and how much he liked Avatar... rly?!? been on any message boards lately, Jugears?
Meanwhile, take Vanderleun’s advice and watch this with the sound off:
OR *clicky*clicky*
Does this man look relaxed and sure of himself? Does this man inspire confidence and exude leadership? Does this man seem to be having a good time?
Or is this man giving off that subtle vibe of a manic-depressive in a depressive phase as the job gets harder, the failures accumulate, the mistakes of tone and policy loom?
And what might that mean for US over the next three years?
Thursday, January 14, 2010
CA -- the Leader in Nannystatism
so proud
Here’s a little regulation with the force of Law dreamed up by our CA Air Resources Board [CARB] [ Hey - whaddya expect when the Tax Board is called The State Board of Equalization, eh?]
See, CA has these Boards. The members are unelected—appointed by the legislature—and unaccountable to The People; or, for that matter, to the Legislature. No, rly. Each Board member is required to attend 4, maybe 5 meetings a year and is paid upward of $120K/year. With full staff—many of whom make $80K a year for “executive assistant” jobs. More for “teh specialists.”
These Boards govern things like Air and Water and each Board can write as many dumb “regulations” as it wants. Each “regulation” has the full force of Law, but, unless you run afoul of one, you’ll never know they’re being considered or passed. Nifty, eh?
There is a legal requirement of a “public comment period,” but unless you watch ‘em like a hawk—yeah… I got that kind of time—this stuff slides right by.
Chris Reed of SignOnSanDiego was acting like a journalist and watching like a hawk. He turned to the John & Ken Show audience who filled the comment forms so vociferously that, within 28 hours of the comment period opening, they shut the dang thing down and re-wrote the “regulation.”
Well—that’s one.
We [by “We” I mean the forces of common sense, physics and the Citizenry] had another victory over the Water Resources Board recently when it wanted to force everyone with a septic system into ridiculous, ineffective annual testing [including your well][all already covered by local Health Boards]. They also wanted to make over half of the folks install a brand new, $48,000 mound system—which, according to the hundreds of septic system professional engineers who “commented”, is the system most likely to fail. [who know there were hundreds of septic system engineers around?!?] This is the kind of brilliance that is handed to us at least quarterly by $180,000/year “engineers” who “know better” how we should live our lives.
It’s amazing how quickly they back down when the light of day hits them—and about 2,500 spittin’ mad regular folks show up and holler at them. And laugh at ‘em—which was the part I enjoyed most. The “engineer” fella said “This is not a tax.” and a hall full of 2500 folks laughed like it was a comedy club for at least a full minute. Made the “engineer” fella kinda pissy for the next 6 hours of “comments."
This is what they had proposed for you and your tires:
By July 1, 2010, all automotive service providers are required to:
(A) check and inflate each vehicle’s tires to the vehicle manufacturer’s recommended pressure with air or pure nitrogen, as appropriate, at the time of performing any automotive maintenance or repair service; and
[note: *vehicle* manufacturer—not *tire* manufacturer. hm...]
(B) indicate on the vehicle service invoice that a tire inflation service was completed and the tire pressure measurements after the service was performed....
(E) keep a copy of the vehicle service invoice for a minimum of three years, and make the vehicle service invoice available to ARB, [Air Resources Board]
(F) provide documentation of the vehicle service invoice to authorized enforcement personnel upon demand…
...
an automotive service provider need not perform the check and inflate service if:
... the Customer ...provides documentation that the tires
have received a check and inflate service within the preceding 30 days...
one thousand dollars ($1,000) or imprisonment in the county jail for not more than six months, or both.
They rescinded the “documentation” part to make it a “declaration” by the customer, which, presumably, removes the fine and jail term for improperly inflated tires.
Kinda gives a new perspective on O’Bambi’s kerfluffle on the campaign trail about “inflating your tires,” duzzin’t it? What’s that old saying… As goes California, so goes the Nation Yeah ... that’s the one.
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{/if}
