Full transcript here. Yeah, granted, she’s the RINO to end all RINOs, but come on: She’s totally charming. How can my atheist heart not soar at back-handed digs like this?
I was raised a Christian, but I was raised open-minded Christian — one to accept people, love people, not pass judgment.
You keep talking like that, missy, and you’re going to elbow KP aside as my designated left-wing crush. Skip ahead to 1:50 for her take on Rush’s “I want him to fail” comment or to 4:30 for her position on abortion and gay marriage. Am I mistaken or does she blank on what King means when he asks her about “choice”?
Thanks to hotair.com
Is there such a thing? I suppose these days there is, they are RINO's, Republicans in name only, and they are destroying the party.
Showing newest 32 of 133 posts from February 2009. Show older posts
Showing newest 32 of 133 posts from February 2009. Show older posts
Fasting for Freedom
Have you heard about the Fasting for Freedom movement that's spreading across the country? Christians are joining together to pray and fast for the rest of the year asking God to protect our country from Socialism.
http://www.fastingforfreedom.com/ is the site, and there is a press release at: http://fastingforfreedom.com/press_release.doc
http://www.fastingforfreedom.com/ is the site, and there is a press release at: http://fastingforfreedom.com/press_release.doc
US Soldiers And Apache Engage Insurgents After Being Hit By An IED & Small Fire - Video
US military convoy was hit by an IED, soldiers stopped to check out the damage and suddenly ambushed by insurgent small fire, and quickly the soldiers return fire at insurgents with some help from Apaches, at the end all the insurgents are terminated and only 1 wounded us soldier who got hit by a small shrapnel by an IED.
It's amazing to see the fire power these soilders respond with. Those insurgent mo-fo's hit them with an IED, and they respond with .50 cal's, Apache Rockets, etc. It's just amazing.
It's amazing to see the fire power these soilders respond with. Those insurgent mo-fo's hit them with an IED, and they respond with .50 cal's, Apache Rockets, etc. It's just amazing.
As Economy Worsens, Vasectomies Gain Popularity
When the going gets tough, the tough gets … fixed? We may be in a recession, but doctors performing vasectomies are see a little boom in business! I suppose kids can be quite costly, and this procedure can be viewed as an investment to pay future dividends?
They looked at their statistics and realized the uptick started around November as the economic crisis deepened. October went down in the history books as one of Wall Street’s worst months.
Since then, the Cleveland Clinic has seen a 50 percent increase in vasectomies, an outpatient surgery that is the cheapest form of permanent birth control. Vasectomies are less invasive and cheaper than tubal ligation, which involves blocking, tieing or cutting a woman’s fallopian tubes to prevent pregnancy.
"It’s unlikely that some guy read the Dow Jones numbers that day and said, ‘Why don’t we have a vasectomy?’ " Jones said. "More likely, people have already been considering it and typically a guy and his wife have spoken a year or two about this."
Jones was told by patients that they were getting vasectomies because they were losing their jobs and health insurance, or concerned about being out of work soon.
"They realize they don’t have the financial security long-term with what’s going on," Jones said. "Several of them have mentioned, ‘We can’t afford to have any more children in this economy.’ My perception is that it’s more of the concept of raising children in an uncertain economic future."
Madison Park of CNN has the rest of the story: Link
They looked at their statistics and realized the uptick started around November as the economic crisis deepened. October went down in the history books as one of Wall Street’s worst months.
Since then, the Cleveland Clinic has seen a 50 percent increase in vasectomies, an outpatient surgery that is the cheapest form of permanent birth control. Vasectomies are less invasive and cheaper than tubal ligation, which involves blocking, tieing or cutting a woman’s fallopian tubes to prevent pregnancy.
"It’s unlikely that some guy read the Dow Jones numbers that day and said, ‘Why don’t we have a vasectomy?’ " Jones said. "More likely, people have already been considering it and typically a guy and his wife have spoken a year or two about this."
Jones was told by patients that they were getting vasectomies because they were losing their jobs and health insurance, or concerned about being out of work soon.
"They realize they don’t have the financial security long-term with what’s going on," Jones said. "Several of them have mentioned, ‘We can’t afford to have any more children in this economy.’ My perception is that it’s more of the concept of raising children in an uncertain economic future."
Madison Park of CNN has the rest of the story: Link
Obama Ditches Teleprompter, For Massive Flat Screen TV
He has aggressively delivered his cautious message—through town halls, talk shows, travel and, yes, prime-time news conferences. His message: Stick with me and my $3.6 trillion budget.
"This is a big ocean liner, it's not a speedboat. It doesn't turn around immediately," he said Tuesday night. "But we're in a better, better place because of the decisions that we made."
Calm. Cool. Careful.
One of the few times he summoned raw emotion came after a reporter demanded to know why it took him so long to express outrage over the AIG executive bonuses.
"It took a couple of days because I like to know what I'm talking about before I speak."
Even better, he likes to have it up on the teleprompter.
(Source)
Burn... Yeah, Obama ditched the teleprompter, for a massive flat screen TV. Did he think no one would notice, because it was out of the camera's view?
OBAMA DITCHES TELEPROMPTER FOR GIANT TV MONITOR...
VIDEO: Obama Staff Pass Around Blackberries During Press Conf...
Student Loan Forgiveness to Stimulate the Economy? Thanks But No Thanks
Nothing on this yet from Congress or The One, but a Facebook group dedicated to the proposal has 138,000 members and counting. No typo. My sense of personal responsibility says no but my debt-crushed monthly budget cries proceed:
Tax rebate checks DO NOT stimulate the economy - history shows that people either spend such rebates on paying off credit card debt, or they simply save them, doing little to nothing to stimulate the economy…
Forgiving student loan debt would have an IMMEDIATE stimulating effect on the economy. Responsible people who did nothing other than pursue a higher education would have hundreds, if not thousands of extra dollars per month to spend, fueling the economy NOW. Those extra dollars being pumped into the economy would have a multiplying effect, unlike many of the provisions of the new stimulus package. As a result, tax revenues would go up, the credit markets will unfreeze and jobs will be created. Consumer spending accounts for over two thirds of the entire U.S. economy and in recent months, consumer spending has declined at alarming, unprecedented rates. Therefore, it stands to reason that the fastest way to revive our ailing economy is to do something drastic to get consumers to spend…
I am in no way suggesting that the lending institutions who manage such debts get legislatively shafted by having these assets wiped from their books. The banks and other financial institutions are going to get their money regardless because, in addition to the $700 TARP bailout, more bailout money is coming their way (stay tuned!) - this proposal merely suggests that educated, hardworking Americans who are saddled with student loan debt should get something in return, rather than sending those institutions another enormous blank check. Because the banks are being handed Trillions of dollars anyway, there would be no danger of making funds unavailable to future borrowers…
Washington cannot simply print and borrow money to get us out of this crisis. We The People, however, can get this economy moving NOW. All we need is relief from debt that was accrued under the now-false promise that higher education equates with higher earnings.
Unfair to those who repaid their loans or didn’t have loans in the first place? Sure — but no more so than dumping oceans of TARP cash on the banks that created the crisis. And if, if the stimulus effect of loan forgiveness is as profound as these guys think, taxpayers would be repaid in the form of a quicker economic rebound. One question, though: Why do they assume forgiven debtors would spend the savings instead of pocketing them or using them to pay off other debt a la tax rebate checks? The answer, maybe, is the sheer amount of money we’re talking about. In my case, forgiving federal loans would save me north of $8,000 a year; toss private loans in there and it’s a cool ten grand. I’d sock some of that away, but with tens of thousands dollars suddenly freed up, I’d also start looking at home prices in the area. Stimulating! Exit question: Who’s onboard?
From Hotair.com
Now I certainly like the idea of not having to pay student loans. I can think of a lot of things to do with that money instead of paying off my indoctrination, er, edumication, er, education. But, greediness aside, I did apply for those loans, I did sign those loan papers, I did take that money and invest heavily in Ramen and Diet Coke. I did all those things knowing full well that I would have to pay that money back. I, and I alone am responsible for my debts, and I for one don't need Uncle Sam to bail me out. So as for the idea of student loan forgiveness, thanks, but no thanks.
Get Over Yourself, and Take Care of Your Kids
Below is an excerpt from CNN commentator Jack Cafferty's new book, "Now or Never."
I don't know the status of parenting in America. But I know a little about the status of education in America. Parents' growing inability to impose manners and limits on their kids when the kids are in school is reflected in record dropout rates, as well as teen drug and alcohol abuse, teen sex, and unwed pregnancies. Maybe it's parenting that's on the decline, more than the schools.
Exhibit A: My wife and I have just been seated for dinner when the maitre d' walks over and seats a young family at the table next to us and the kids start carrying on like orangutans on a leash.
The parents are going, "Timmy, that's not nice, don't throw your food, stop stuffing your mashed potatoes up your nose." Are mom and dad having fun yet, picking food up off the floor, apologizing to people like us, and wiping food flung across the table off their faces?
Some parents still have this attitude that their kids are too special to be burdened by discipline. And the rest of us are supposed to put up with their little mutants. That attitude really pisses me off.
I hate to break it to them, but the kids aren't special, and I don't have to put up with their behavior. If you can't control your obnoxious little brats, leave them home.
They don't belong out in public annoying other people, period. I don't remember a generation of kids ever so indulged and enabled to behave so badly. What's going on?
I remember as a kid I was expected to behave myself out in public or suffer the wrath of one very angry father. And of all the things that used to piss him off, those expectations didn't seem unreasonable. Something's gone terribly wrong here. My guess is it has to do with the breakdown of authority, the collapse of strong family structure, and the abdication of parental responsibility, dictated in part by the necessity that both parents work.
Plus, we have a whole generation of Baby Boomers who are too busy feeling entitled to prolong their own self-indulgent, self-absorbed adolescences to rein in their own kids.
Just a theory.
He definitely has some good points. Some kids out there behave like little nightmares. How often do you go to the grocery store, and hear a child screaming bloody murder? Too often. Inversely, how often do you see parents treating their kids miserabley? I understand the frustration involved in trying to manage your childrens behavior, but yelling at them in public isn't acceptable. Spanking, hitting, slapping, sqeezing your kids in public (or hurting them in any setting) isn't acceptable. Kids are hard, it takes patience, it takes love, it takes understanding. If you don't have those tools, develop them.
(source)
Today in the News - 03 24 09
US unveils plans to fight drug violence along Mexican border
YouTube blocked in China; official says video fake
Gore’s Sequel to ‘Inconvenient Truth’ Due in November
US bill seeks to rescue faltering newspapers
Vermont Senate OKs same-sex marriage; bishop explains church stance
Obama Reaches Out to the World With Op-Ed on Global Economy
Mortgage Lending to Jump to $2.78 Trillion in 2009
Fed, Treasury chiefs grilled in Congress
Eating Too Much Red Meat May Shorten Life
Simon Cowell: Obama asked to have dinner, I was too busy...
Mexican-Border plants to be killed to reveal smugglers...
Obama: 'I hope it doesn't take too long' to win increased regulation of financial firms...
S&P 500 Caps Biggest 10-Day Advance Since 1938...
UPDATE: 15 of top 20 AIG execs have given back all bonus money...
Chinese Propose New Currency to Replace Dollar As Reserve Currency
Chinese Propose New Currency to Replace Dollar As Reserve Currency
They propose dropping the US dollar as the de facto international reserve currency and replacing it with an "official" IMF-arbited "basket" of currencies. The article makes clear that they'd essentially be expanding something called "SDRs" or Special Drawing Rights, which are currently derived from a combination of dollars, pounds sterling, euros, and yen. Apparently, they're not the first people to suggest this, but it's hardly a mystery as to why they've chosen to do so now. We can all draw strength and quiet confidence, however, from the fact that Barack Obama and his extremely competent Treasury staff are on the job.
Exit questions:1) How serious are they? (Is this a shot across our fiscal bows?)2) If they are serious, what would it mean?
From Ace of Spades.
Tell me, what will they replace it with? The Yuan? Right, because China has proved to be so stable. The Russians have proposed this before too. Won't happen. Why? Becuase American is too damn strong, and still the strongest out there, until it citizens grow weak.
They propose dropping the US dollar as the de facto international reserve currency and replacing it with an "official" IMF-arbited "basket" of currencies. The article makes clear that they'd essentially be expanding something called "SDRs" or Special Drawing Rights, which are currently derived from a combination of dollars, pounds sterling, euros, and yen. Apparently, they're not the first people to suggest this, but it's hardly a mystery as to why they've chosen to do so now. We can all draw strength and quiet confidence, however, from the fact that Barack Obama and his extremely competent Treasury staff are on the job.
Exit questions:1) How serious are they? (Is this a shot across our fiscal bows?)2) If they are serious, what would it mean?
From Ace of Spades.
Tell me, what will they replace it with? The Yuan? Right, because China has proved to be so stable. The Russians have proposed this before too. Won't happen. Why? Becuase American is too damn strong, and still the strongest out there, until it citizens grow weak.
Diabetes sucks! Cures are Good
By Derek
About 5 years ago I was diagnosed with Diabetes. At first I took pills but those proved ineffective after a few years and I moved on to daily (multiple times a day) insulin injections. While I'm grateful that its relatively simple to stay alive, it really sucks. I mean REALLY REALLY SUCKS. Then along comes some professor down in Florida who bioengineers lettuce to solve my problem:
(Source)
University of Central Florida professor Henry Daniell has come up with a way to train the body’s immune system to make its own insulin using genetically engineered lettuce that includes the insulin gene. Instead of injections, which deliver insulin to the bloodstream, Daniell uses the freeze-dried lettuce in powder or capsule form. The lettuce cells protect the insulin as it goes through the digestive system. Once in the intestines, the lettuce cells break down, and the remaining insulin triggers an immune response that results in the body making its own insulin cells.They are looking for $20 million to start human trials. I think that Messiah Obama should fund this. I mean, hell, we are paying to control pig smell in Iowa. This would help about 25 million Americans. Me included.
Diabetic mice treated with Daniell’s therapy showed normal blood and urine sugar levels after eight weeks. “These animals pretty much got cured,” he says.
(Source)
Obama at a 50-50 Approval Rating? Where is Your Hope and Change Now, Suckas?
Has Obama hit the end of the honeymoon at 60 days in office? According to a new Zogby poll, Obama has hit 50% in his latest job-approval polls. The Boston Herald covers the details offered by the pollster:
Pollster John Zogby said his poll out today will show Americans split on the president’s performance. He said the score factors out to “about 50-50.”
Some polls show Obama coasting with a 65 percent job approval, but not in Zogby’s tally.
“The numbers are going down,” Zogby told the Herald. “It’s not because of the gaffes, but a combination of high expectations and that things aren’t moving fast enough with the economy.”
So you say, well ok, but that's Zogby, his polls always swing. Well, perhaps, but over the last few weeks, Scott Rasmussen has repeatedly shown a rapid rate in dissatisfaction over Obama’s performance, and a smaller but still significant decline in approval. Yesterday’s job-approval rating on the daily tracking poll has Obama at 56%, that’s down from the high 60's at the end of January. Also, the gap between strong approval and strong disapproval has gone from over 30 points to just 5.
Where is your hope and change now, suckas?
Hat tip, hotair.com
Too Smart?
By Derek
It's become intuitively obvious to the casual observer that the Obama administration is in way over their head. The gaffes and failures are mounting daily, some of the stories are so bad that nobody could have made them up. With that being said, here is the Freakonomics blog's take on Obamanomics:
(source)
It's become intuitively obvious to the casual observer that the Obama administration is in way over their head. The gaffes and failures are mounting daily, some of the stories are so bad that nobody could have made them up. With that being said, here is the Freakonomics blog's take on Obamanomics:
Obama comes from the tradition that thinks you can get your way on social justice and economic issues without affecting productivity very much — and that’s simply living in a dream world. … [Obama and his economics team] are very smart, but the problem is these high-I.Q. guys always think they can square the circle; they always believe they can beat the system with a cleverer system, and they always fail.The last line is the money quote...
(source)
Another Obama Move Toward Socialism
Do any of you still doubt his intentions? This is socialism, SOCIALISM. That's bad, it's a bad thing, read your history books (so long as they aren't history books from public schools). Socialism leads to severely limited freedoms, to enormous almost entire state control. It leads to suppression of free speech, to supression of religion, to suppression of all the things you hold dear. We need to stop these preliminary steps, if we are to avoid a very bleak future.
Furthermore, ONLY Congress may legislate and make rules for ALL of government; The 10th Amendment protects rights of the states, prohibiting the feds from any actions not delegated to them in the Constitution. They have been given no powers to do what is discussed in the following article; The Federal Reserve is NOT a branch of ANY government.
U.S. Seeks Expanded Power to Seize Firms
Goal Is to Limit Risk to Broader Economy
By Binyamin Appelbaum and David Cho
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, March 24, 2009; A01
The Obama administration is considering asking Congress to give the Treasury secretary unprecedented powers to initiate the seizure of non-bank financial companies, such as large insurers, investment firms and hedge funds, whose collapse would damage the broader economy, according to an administration document.
The government at present has the authority to seize only banks.
Giving the Treasury secretary authority over a broader range of companies would mark a significant shift from the existing model of financial regulation, which relies on independent agencies that are shielded from the political process. The Treasury secretary, a member of the president's Cabinet, would exercise the new powers in consultation with the White House, the Federal Reserve and other regulators, according to the document.
The administration plans to send legislation to Capitol Hill this week. Sources cautioned that the details, including the Treasury's role, are still in flux.
U.S. Seeks Expanded Power to Seize Firms
Goal Is to Limit Risk to Broader Economy
By Binyamin Appelbaum and David Cho
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, March 24, 2009; A01
The Obama administration is considering asking Congress to give the Treasury secretary unprecedented powers to initiate the seizure of non-bank financial companies, such as large insurers, investment firms and hedge funds, whose collapse would damage the broader economy, according to an administration document.
The government at present has the authority to seize only banks.
Giving the Treasury secretary authority over a broader range of companies would mark a significant shift from the existing model of financial regulation, which relies on independent agencies that are shielded from the political process. The Treasury secretary, a member of the president's Cabinet, would exercise the new powers in consultation with the White House, the Federal Reserve and other regulators, according to the document.
The administration plans to send legislation to Capitol Hill this week. Sources cautioned that the details, including the Treasury's role, are still in flux.
7 Amazing Genetically Modified Fruits and Veggies
So there are a lot of environmental wackos, organic food junkies, hippies, libtards, the sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, waistoids, dweebies, and dickheads that think genetically modified food is evil. But what they don't realize is, this practise has gone on for thousands of years through grafting, selective breeding, etc. No "organic" food they eat today is exactly the same as it was 1000 years ago. Plus, when you look at amazing foods like those listed below, you have to admit there is some use to genetic modification.
Graisins
(Image via Elanso)
The graisin (or giant raisin) is a raisin which has been genetically re-programmed to grow far beyond its normal size. It was produced by Japan’s National Institute of Genetics. And while they taste exactly the same as small raisins, they are freakin' huge, and could beat the crap out of normal raisins in a street fight.
Grapples
(Image via Wikipedia)
Originally funded by UNICEF and created for Third World aid efforts, a grapple is simply a genetic cross between a grape and an apple. The fruit keeps the size and shape of the apple, the texture of the grape, and the flavor of both while providing a potent, high-strength dose of vitamin C.
Pluots
(Image via Palomar.edu)
You like plums? You like apricots? Of course you do. Well combined they form the genetically modified powerhouse known as the pluot. Described by WiseGeek as “an intensely flavored fruit”, pluots are heavily fortified with vitamin C and have no sodium or cholesterol.
Tangelo
(Image via TeamSugar)
“Should I have a tangerine or a grapefruit?” No longer need this question be asked! Lovers of each fruit can now get the best of both worlds with this sweet hybrid, which boasts a ton of fiber, vitamin C, and a slightly tart taste!
Colorful carrots
(Image via MSNBC)
Could colorful, genetically-modified carrots like those pictured here be the secret to absorbing more calcium? Two Texas researchers say yes - and they’ve created a carrot they claim allows people to absorb 40% more calcium than normal carrots to back up their claims! And best of all, no more boring orange!
Diabetes-fighting lettuce
(Image via FloridaTrend)
Diabetes is one of the most frustrating and life-threatening illnesses out there. Living with it (at minimum) means daily, sometimes painful insulin injections - until now. University of Central Florida professor Henry Daniell has created a genetically modified strain of lettuce (pictured above) that carries the insulin gene. The lettuce cells protect the insulin on its journey through the digestive tract, and when the insulin reaches the intestines, the body’s natural insulin-producing response is triggered.
Lematos
(Image via FreeWebs)
Okay, so it's possible no one would want it or eat it, but that didn’t stop Israeli researchers from bringing us the Lemato! Unlike other genetically altered fruits and veggies (which were created primarily for health reasons), it appears that the lemato was solely an experiment to determine if it was possible to make tomatos give off the scent of lemons. Check and mate!
Hat tip to web ecoist.
Graisins(Image via Elanso)
The graisin (or giant raisin) is a raisin which has been genetically re-programmed to grow far beyond its normal size. It was produced by Japan’s National Institute of Genetics. And while they taste exactly the same as small raisins, they are freakin' huge, and could beat the crap out of normal raisins in a street fight.
Grapples(Image via Wikipedia)
Originally funded by UNICEF and created for Third World aid efforts, a grapple is simply a genetic cross between a grape and an apple. The fruit keeps the size and shape of the apple, the texture of the grape, and the flavor of both while providing a potent, high-strength dose of vitamin C.
Pluots(Image via Palomar.edu)
You like plums? You like apricots? Of course you do. Well combined they form the genetically modified powerhouse known as the pluot. Described by WiseGeek as “an intensely flavored fruit”, pluots are heavily fortified with vitamin C and have no sodium or cholesterol.
Tangelo(Image via TeamSugar)
“Should I have a tangerine or a grapefruit?” No longer need this question be asked! Lovers of each fruit can now get the best of both worlds with this sweet hybrid, which boasts a ton of fiber, vitamin C, and a slightly tart taste!
Colorful carrots(Image via MSNBC)
Could colorful, genetically-modified carrots like those pictured here be the secret to absorbing more calcium? Two Texas researchers say yes - and they’ve created a carrot they claim allows people to absorb 40% more calcium than normal carrots to back up their claims! And best of all, no more boring orange!
Diabetes-fighting lettuce(Image via FloridaTrend)
Diabetes is one of the most frustrating and life-threatening illnesses out there. Living with it (at minimum) means daily, sometimes painful insulin injections - until now. University of Central Florida professor Henry Daniell has created a genetically modified strain of lettuce (pictured above) that carries the insulin gene. The lettuce cells protect the insulin on its journey through the digestive tract, and when the insulin reaches the intestines, the body’s natural insulin-producing response is triggered.
Lematos(Image via FreeWebs)
Okay, so it's possible no one would want it or eat it, but that didn’t stop Israeli researchers from bringing us the Lemato! Unlike other genetically altered fruits and veggies (which were created primarily for health reasons), it appears that the lemato was solely an experiment to determine if it was possible to make tomatos give off the scent of lemons. Check and mate!
Hat tip to web ecoist.
Today in the News - 03 23 09
US Plan for Mortgage Debt Gets Initial Support From Investors
AIG Bonus Bill May Be Delayed in US Senate Until Next Month
Gov. Palin Says No Thanks to Some Stimulus Money
White House: 8 percent of toxic asset plan from private
The Coleman-Franken recount: Can it be over soon?
Democrats to shelve fast-track process on climate bill, for now
Report: National Smart Grid Vulnerable To Attacks
'Today' host Matt Lauer injured in bike accident with a deer
Iraq suicide bomber kills 25, wounds 45: police
Wind shear eyed in deadly crash of FedEx cargo jet
Canada demands apology from Fox News
Poet Sylvia Plath's son commits suicide in Alaska
Ultracheap Nano to hit India's streets in July
Powell: Government Jobs Dont Cure Depression
Frank Talk on Homophobia
Biden jokes about Obama's birth certificate at dinner
Shocker: 'Global warming'simply no longer happening
US Marines Ambushed By Insurgents In Iraq - Video
"The Firefight happened In Zaidon north of the Euphrates River, Marines were been told to keep engaging the enemy until close air support arrived, and at the end the airsupport came and dropped a JDAM 500 lbs bomb on insurgents, and only one marine got shot in his left leg in the firefight while he was reloading his weapon"
ACORN Behind the Bonus Protests?
From our friend Captain Dreadlocke, in the message boards:
I couldn't make up something this ludicrous. The groups behind the protest busses are ACORN and the Conneticut Working Families party. The CWF, according the wiki, has ties to ACORN, SEIU and the UAW. Let me simplify this for you- ACORN, a receiver of TARP funds, is using pro-union organizations to attack AIG for legally paying its CONTRACT bonuses. Your tax dollars funded not only the bonuses, but the protests against the bonuses, by groups that specialize in squeezing contract bonus programs out of employers. Can you smell the transparency oozing up between your toes?
The Many Tentacles Of ‘Cloward-Piven’
How The Left Is Spinning The Bank Crisis
ACORN Behind ‘Protests’ At AIG Homes
Bonus Limits Obama Cut From Stimulus
Obama's Team Wanted Bonuses In Bill
Wash Post Erases AIG Bonuses ‘Details’
ACORN: People Have A Right To Housing
How Many Did ACORN Trick Into Loans?
Obama And ACORN - 'It's A Power Thing'
I couldn't make up something this ludicrous. The groups behind the protest busses are ACORN and the Conneticut Working Families party. The CWF, according the wiki, has ties to ACORN, SEIU and the UAW. Let me simplify this for you- ACORN, a receiver of TARP funds, is using pro-union organizations to attack AIG for legally paying its CONTRACT bonuses. Your tax dollars funded not only the bonuses, but the protests against the bonuses, by groups that specialize in squeezing contract bonus programs out of employers. Can you smell the transparency oozing up between your toes?
The Many Tentacles Of ‘Cloward-Piven’
How The Left Is Spinning The Bank Crisis
ACORN Behind ‘Protests’ At AIG Homes
Bonus Limits Obama Cut From Stimulus
Obama's Team Wanted Bonuses In Bill
Wash Post Erases AIG Bonuses ‘Details’
ACORN: People Have A Right To Housing
How Many Did ACORN Trick Into Loans?
Obama And ACORN - 'It's A Power Thing'
The Difference Between What Obama Says and What He Does
An Agent of CynicismPeter Wehner
In the matter of just 50 days, a fissure has widened into a split; the split has become a gap; and the gap is becoming a gulf. I have in mind the extraordinary contradiction between what President Obama says and what he does.
Consider a partial list, starting with earmarks. During the campaign, Obama said, "the truth is, our earmark system -- what's called pork-barrel spending in Washington -- is fraught with abuse. It badly needs reform -- which is why I didn't request a single earmark last year, why I've released all my previous requests for the public to see, why I've pledged to slash earmarks by more than half when I am President of the United States." And as ABC's Jake Tapper pointed out, after John McCain picked Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate, Obama criticized her for having been of two minds on earmarks. "When you have been taking all these earmarks when it is convenient and then suddenly you are the champion anti-earmark person," Obama said, "that is not change, come on. I mean, words mean something."
Yet yesterday, Obama signed rather than vetoed a massive, $410 billion omnibus spending bill -- which contained more than 8,500 earmarks. Adding chutzpah to his hypocrisy, Obama told reporters, "The future demands that we operate in a different way than we have in the past. So let there be no doubt: this piece of legislation must mark an end to the old way of doing business and the beginning of a new era of responsibility and accountability that the American people have every right to expect and demand." This is the fiscal version of St. Augustine's prayer, "Lord, make me chaste -- but not yet."
Second, Obama made bi-partisanship a cornerstone of his campaign. It was he, we were told, who would repair the breach and "turn the page." It is he who wrote that "genuine bipartisanship assumes an honest process of give-and-take" and that the majority must be constrained "by an exacting press corps and ultimately an informed electorate" to "negotiate in good faith." Yet Republicans have been shut out from writing and offering substantive input into key legislation. Obama has so far demonstrated no interest in authentic bi-partisanship; he is allowing Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid to muscle through their agenda, even at the cost of losing almost every elected Republican in the United States Congress.
Third, Obama made ethics reform central to his candidacy. In arguably the most important speech of the campaign, the Jefferson-Jackson dinner in Iowa in 2007, Obama said, "[Lobbyists] have not funded my campaign, they will not work in my White House..." Upon taking office, Obama made quite a show of announcing new ethics rules barring lobbyists from working in the administration on issues that fell under their lobbying bailiwick. Yet Obama immediately allowed waivers for lobbyists working on issues that fell under their lobbying bailiwick.
Fourth, Obama praised his Administration for putting an end to "phony accounting." His budget, we were told, was an honest budget, without gimmicks, numbers you could trust. Except that we learned that when President Obama, in his speech to a joint session of Congress, said his Administration had identified "$2 trillion in savings," it turns out that $1.6 trillion of the "savings" Obama is claiming are based on the surge in Iraq continuing for 10 more years -- even though on February 27, in a speech at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, Obama said, "Let me say this as plainly as I can: By August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end," and the Status of Forces Agreement negotiated by the Bush Administration, which calls for all U.S. forces to be out of Iraq, is set for December 2011.
Fifth, President Obama has continually presented himself as trans-ideological, the answer to "worn-out dogmas" and "worn-out ideas" and "stale political arguments." He doesn't subscribe to an "old, discredited philosophy." It is his critics, he insists, who do. It is they who are intellectually rigid, dogmatic, captives of old ways of thinking. Obama is the one who, like Lincoln, will "think anew and act anew."
Except that it is Obama himself who displays rutted thinking. It is he who is championing worn-out dogmas. And it is he who is advancing a deeply ideological agenda. Unlike Bill Clinton and Tony Blair, who demonstrated policy creativity and attempted to advance "third way" solutions, President Obama is turning out to be utterly and conventionally liberal, embracing record-breaking spending programs and record-breaking tax increases and giving us a record-breaking deficit and record-breaking debt. Rather than par down his liberal aims in the light of the economic crisis we face, he is enlarging them.
Sixth, Obama has decried "the smallness of our politics -- the ease with which we're distracted by the petty and trivial, our chronic avoidance of tough decisions, our preference for scoring cheap political points instead of rolling up our sleeves and building a working consensus to tackle the big problems of America." He has said to his fellow citizens, "Let us resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long." Yet Obama's White House, led by his chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and his most important political adviser, David Axelrod, hatched a poll-tested plot to target radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh. They are promoting what they pretend to lament: phony and foolish diversions, distractions and manipulations, immaturity and pettiness.
There is more. Obama has promised time and again to make "hard decisions," yet he has made almost none. He has talked about the importance of embodying a culture of responsibility, yet he pretends that the omnibus spending bill he signed yesterday was "last year's decision." He says our responsibility to our children is "to ensure that we do not pass on to them a debt they cannot pay" -- yet based on his own budget figures, Obama will add $7 trillion to our debt from 2009 to 2019.
This has led, sooner than anyone could have imagined, to a serious credibility gap. It would be unfair to say that Obama is unique in this regard; many times public officials make claims they cannot keep or find that governing requires them to make amendments to what they said during the campaign. What is striking about Obama, though, is how antithetical his acts are compared to his words, his unwillingness to admit he is not practicing what he preached, and the sheer audacity of his hypocrisy and moral conceit. He still insists on presenting himself as the man who will cleanse the Augean stables, even as he adds to the mess.
Barack Obama is perpetrating a fiction. And it is fiction from a man who made "change" and "new politics" centerpieces of his campaign. Even many who voted against Obama took him at his word because, to quote Obama himself, "words mean something." We admired not simply his skills, but his capacity to tap into something real and hopeful in America .
"Where we are met with cynicism and doubt and those who tell us that we can't," Obama said on the night he was elected, "we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes we can."
And when we are met with politicians who pretend that the politics of cynicism is the politics of hope and ask us to go along for the ride, who vulgarize and invert the meaning of words in order to advance their own narrow aims, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the wisdom of an awakened people: No we won't.
About the Author
Peter Wehner is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. He served in the Bush White House as director of the office of strategic initiatives.
(Source)
Does the Federal Government Follow the Constitution?
From our good friend Thomas E. Bumgardner, author of three books pertaining to the Constitution of the United States:
1-The 10th Amendment states, The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. Nowhere in the Constitution is the United States , the government of the United States , given the power to draft citizens to forcibly serve in military service. In fact, the 13th Amendment prohibits that very action except as a punishment for felonies: Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction;
2-Nowhere in the Constitution is the United States given power to seize your property for private use. When the United States Supreme Court made that law, they violated their oaths of office on two counts. (a) The first article of the Constitution states that only Congress may legislate, and (b) no power is given in the Constitution for any such law;
3-The United States Supreme Court ruled in 1920 [Evans v. Gore, 253 U.S. 245(1920)], that federal judges were not required to pay income taxes. Federal judges are citizens of the United States . If there is a law requiring citizens to pay income taxes, the Supreme Court was untruthful in their decision. If the Supreme Court was honest with their decision, there is no law requiring citizens to pay income taxes, as the Internal Revenue Service maintains. It cannot be both ways;
4-Article 8 of the Constitution authorizes the Congress “to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States.” When Congress paid the nation of Liechtenstein $2 million not to grow goods in Texas , that payment was not for the general welfare of the United States . That was a criminal act;
5-Congress protected federal employee criminal actions from prosecution with the Federal Tort Claims Act. Senator Robert C. Byrd sent to me a letter on October 2, 2008 stating, in part, “Thank you for contacting my office to request information on any law that makes federal employees immune from criminal charges. … In an effort to be helpful, I am enclosing a copy of a report on the subject prepared by the US Congressional Research Service (CRS) on the Federal Tort Claims Act. The Federal Tort Claims Act immunizes federal employees from acts or omissions that involves certain policy decisions.” A most egregious criminal act was the intentional shooting and killing by an FBI agent of a young woman standing in her doorway with her 10 month old baby in her arms in Ruby Ridge Idaho . That agent had been told by his superior to “shoot to kill” and no one has faced criminal charges even though the United States paid in excess of $3 million for the murder. If there is no law requiring citizens to pay income taxes, the Federal Tort Claims Act protects the federal employees while they steal our property and imprison us when we have violated no laws;
6-When a United States Senator was aware that bonuses were going to be paid to employees of a private firm receiving stimulus funds, that Senator violated his oath of office by authorizing the payment of funds which were not for debts, nor for the common defense nor for the general welfare of the United States.
Scientists Claim Earth Is Undergoing Natural Climate Shift
Well hot dang, looks like perhaps cow farts and plastic bags may not be the cause of global temperature fluctuations. Below is an article based on the study at UW-Milwaukee:
MILWAUKEE -- The bitter cold and record snowfalls from two wicked winters are causing people to ask if the global climate is truly changing.
The climate is known to be variable and, in recent years, more scientific thought and research has been focused on the global temperature and how humanity might be influencing it.
However, a new study by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee could turn the climate change world upside down.
Scientists at the university used a math application known as synchronized chaos and applied it to climate data taken over the past 100 years.
"Imagine that you have four synchronized swimmers and they are not holding hands and they do their program and everything is fine; now, if they begin to hold hands and hold hands tightly, most likely a slight error will destroy the synchronization. Well, we applied the same analogy to climate," researcher Dr. Anastasios Tsonis said.
Scientists said that the air and ocean systems of the earth are now showing signs of synchronizing with each other.
Eventually, the systems begin to couple and the synchronous state is destroyed, leading to a climate shift.
"In climate, when this happens, the climate state changes. You go from a cooling regime to a warming regime or a warming regime to a cooling regime. This way we were able to explain all the fluctuations in the global temperature trend in the past century," Tsonis said. "The research team has found the warming trend of the past 30 years has stopped and in fact global temperatures have leveled off since 2001."
The most recent climate shift probably occurred at about the year 2000.
(Source: WISN.com)
Rain Forests Can be Regrown?
Don't tell me I donated all of those quarters to save the rain forest for nothing? No one told me we could simply plant another one. All those wasted quarters. I say, we cut it all down so we can use the wood for nice toilet paper, hard wood floors and toothpicks, then just replant it later. Not only would that create jobs in harvesting the wood, but all the libtards could get jobs replanting it. Win, win.April 17, 2008
How campus researchers helped to rescue a rain forest
By Beth Skwarecki
Half a century after most of Costa Rica's rain forests were cut down, researchers from the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Sciences (BTI) on the Cornell campus are attempting what many thought was impossible -- restoring a tropical rain forest ecosystem.
When the researchers planted worn-out cattle pastures in Costa Rica with a sampling of local trees in the early 1990s, native species of plants began to move in and flourish, raising the hope that destroyed rain forests could one day be replaced.
Ten years after the tree plantings, Cornell graduate student Jackeline Salazar counted the species of plants that took up residence in the shade of the new planted areas. She found remarkably high numbers of species -- more than 100 in each plot. And many of the new arrivals were also to be found in nearby remnants of the original forests.
(source)
Highway Robbery? Police Allegedly Stealing from Passers Through
You can drive into this dusty fleck of a town near the Texas-Louisiana border if you're African-American, but you might not be able to drive out of it—at least not with your car, your cash, your jewelry or other valuables.
That's because the police here allegedly have found a way to strip motorists, many of them black, of their property without ever charging them with a crime. Instead they offer out-of-towners a grim choice: voluntarily sign over your belongings to the town, or face felony charges of money laundering or other serious crimes.
More than 140 people reluctantly accepted that deal from June 2006 to June 2008, according to court records. Among them were a black grandmother from Akron, who surrendered $4,000 in cash after Tenaha police pulled her over, and an interracial couple from Houston, who gave up more than $6,000 after police threatened to seize their children and put them into foster care, the court documents show. Neither the grandmother nor the couple were charged with any crime.
Officials in Tenaha, situated along a heavily traveled highway connecting Houston with popular gambling destinations in Louisiana, say they are engaged in a battle against drug trafficking and call the search-and-seizure practice a legitimate use of the state's asset-forfeiture law. That law permits local police agencies to keep drug money and other property used in the commission of a crime and add the proceeds to their budgets.
"We try to enforce the law here," said George Bowers, mayor of the town of 1,046 residents, where boarded-up businesses outnumber open ones and City Hall sports a broken window. "We're not doing this to raise money. That's all I'm going to say at this point."
But civil rights lawyers call Tenaha's practice something else: highway robbery. The attorneys have filed a federal class-action lawsuit to stop what they contend is an unconstitutional perversion of the law's intent, aimed primarily at blacks who have done nothing wrong.
If this proves to be true, then these cops/city officals are pretty stupid. Writing unneccessary tickets is one thing (I know, I get them all the time), but taking cars, cash, jewelry is quite another, especially when they threaten to take away their kids, throw them in jail, etc. Besides, this news can't be great for their tourism. "What Drives Through Tenaha, Stays in Tenaha."
(source)
That's because the police here allegedly have found a way to strip motorists, many of them black, of their property without ever charging them with a crime. Instead they offer out-of-towners a grim choice: voluntarily sign over your belongings to the town, or face felony charges of money laundering or other serious crimes.
More than 140 people reluctantly accepted that deal from June 2006 to June 2008, according to court records. Among them were a black grandmother from Akron, who surrendered $4,000 in cash after Tenaha police pulled her over, and an interracial couple from Houston, who gave up more than $6,000 after police threatened to seize their children and put them into foster care, the court documents show. Neither the grandmother nor the couple were charged with any crime.
Officials in Tenaha, situated along a heavily traveled highway connecting Houston with popular gambling destinations in Louisiana, say they are engaged in a battle against drug trafficking and call the search-and-seizure practice a legitimate use of the state's asset-forfeiture law. That law permits local police agencies to keep drug money and other property used in the commission of a crime and add the proceeds to their budgets.
"We try to enforce the law here," said George Bowers, mayor of the town of 1,046 residents, where boarded-up businesses outnumber open ones and City Hall sports a broken window. "We're not doing this to raise money. That's all I'm going to say at this point."
But civil rights lawyers call Tenaha's practice something else: highway robbery. The attorneys have filed a federal class-action lawsuit to stop what they contend is an unconstitutional perversion of the law's intent, aimed primarily at blacks who have done nothing wrong.
If this proves to be true, then these cops/city officals are pretty stupid. Writing unneccessary tickets is one thing (I know, I get them all the time), but taking cars, cash, jewelry is quite another, especially when they threaten to take away their kids, throw them in jail, etc. Besides, this news can't be great for their tourism. "What Drives Through Tenaha, Stays in Tenaha."
(source)
Everyone ends up in Casablanca
By Derek
Casablanca is one of my favorite movies, and this is one of my favorites scenes. It describes our current leadership to a T. Shamelessly stolen from Powerline.
Casablanca is one of my favorite movies, and this is one of my favorites scenes. It describes our current leadership to a T. Shamelessly stolen from Powerline.
The Ten Worst Inventions of the Century?
1. The Detachable Dog Sack. Enjoy a drive with man's best friend, but hate the hair he leaves behind? Then the detachable dog sack is for you. Now your pet can ride outside the car in a pouch attached with rubber-padded hooks to the open window of your vehicle. Because, let's face it, who needs safety when you have a sack? Click here for more. Not to mention the added benefit of deflecting blows from other people's car doors in busy parking lots.
2. The Cat Wig. It's pretty difficult to decorate a cat, but with a kitty wig, it's easy! Click here for more. When your neighbors just won't believe your crazy, there's always Cat Wigs!
3. iPhone Fingers. Ranging from small to extra large, one Austrian company offers only the best in latex digital protection to keep your iPhone smudge-free. Click here for more. Stings when you pee? Well say goodbye to those awful I-Phone STD's!
4. The Pedal-Powered Wheelchair. For those who can't stand ... but can still pedal. Click here for more. Faster Grandpa, Faster!
5. The Inflatable Dartboard. Completely collapsible, the inflatable dartboard could — amazingly — be stuffed into a space the size of a small cup. Great for use in tight spaces and for those looking for a quick, single-player, single-hit game. There's no need to worry, though — it comes complete with a "puncture repair kit" in case anything should go wrong. Click here for more. Ah, a 3! Blow up another one, I can do better.
6. iFlyz Portable Media Player Airline Holder. Bag of peanuts? $3.50. Toilet entrance fee? Pending. Hands-free iPhone viewing device ready to use even in the "stowed and locked position?" Priceless (i.e., $29.95 with shipping). Click here for more. I don't entirely understand this one. I think Snuggies would have been a better pick.
7. Battery-Powered Battery Charger. Motorola's P970 was Zen-like in its simplicity — a rechargeable battery that recharged your cell phone's battery via a mini USB port. Too bad it's no longer on the Motorola Web site. Click here for more. It's more eco friendly, cause it doesn't waste batteries... Er, wait.
8. Method for Collision Recognition With a Pedestrian. After a hit-and-run accident, it might be nice to be able to know whether you hit a person or a traffic cone — not that there's a difference or anything. Click here for more. If only there was some way to identify what I am scraping off of my windshield...
9. Anti-Eating Face Mask. Essentially a metal cage that attaches to your face to prevent those of us lacking any self-control from ingesting solid foods, the Anti-Eating Face Mask is pretty straightforward, but there must be easier ways of losing that extra winter weight. Click here for more. I'd like to buy one of these for Rosie and kill two birds with one stone.
10. The Prankster Fire Alarm TrapComing straight out of the February 1938 issue of Modern Mechanix magazine, the prankster-proof fire alarm traps the hand of any offender in a metal handcuff until the fire brigade arrives to release him. Perfect for fake fires, but in the event of a real blaze, you're taking one for the team. Click here for more. You pull it. No you pull it. I'm not gonna pull it.(Source)
Obama Corps Passes House
By Derek
It is hard to believe how fast this is happening. We need to impeach this guy NOW. Here's the money quote, go to www.wnd.com for the video of what Obama wants to do.
It is hard to believe how fast this is happening. We need to impeach this guy NOW. Here's the money quote, go to www.wnd.com for the video of what Obama wants to do.
The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a plan to set up a new "volunteer corps" and consider whether "a workable, fair, and reasonable mandatory service requirement for all able young people" should be developed.(source)
The legislation also refers to "uniforms" that would be worn by the "volunteers" and the "need" for a "public service academy, a 4-year institution" to "focus on training" future "public sector leaders." The training, apparently, would occur at "campuses."
The vote yesterday came on H.R. 1388, which reauthorizes through 2014 the National and Community Service Act of 1990 and the Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973, acts that originally, among other programs, funded the AmeriCorps and the National Senior Service Corps.
It not only reauthorizes the programs, but also includes "new programs and studies" and is expected to be funded with an allocation of $6 billion over the next five years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Congress & Geithner Knew About the AIG Bonuses Ahead of Time
After accusing the previous administration of a lack of oversight, Crowley says this:
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Welcome to the committee, Mr. Geithner, and thank you for your responses so far. It never ceases to amaze me the level of apparent amnesia some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have had about how we got to this problem in the first place, and I thank you for answering Mr. Heller’s question in particular. By the line of questioning, you’re almost led to believe that because of a last month and a few days of a presidency we had the problem we have today, and thank you for setting the record straight. This didn’t happen overnight. This took eight years in the making of stagnant, at best, growth.
But yesterday, Mr. Secretary, the Treasury and the Federal Reserve announced a new fourth plan to rescue troubled financial services giant AIG. I do agree that AIG’s sustainability is the lynchpin for some of our recovery efforts, and it’s important for the federal government to work to keep it afloat. However, I must demand that AIG increase the accountability and transparency, something that was not done during the previous administration.
For example, just last month, AIG paid 343 employees of AIG FP — their Financial Products division that created the financial hole that AIG is in, and in turn a multibillion-dollar bill for American taxpayers — $56 million in bonuses and are slated to pay an additional $162 million in bonuses to 393 participants in the coming weeks. And there’s more. Further bonus payments totaling approximately 230 million (dollars) are due to 407 participants at AIG’s Financial Products division in March 2010. This makes no sense to my constituency.
In other words, congress knew well in advance that AIG execs would be getting these bonuses, yet they act like they were broadsided. I believe it's obvious the Dems are putting on a show to get everyone fired up and angry. Why? Hard to tell, it's never easy to find the logical behind the insane. But I would venture to say if they make enough people angry, then they can enact whatever legislation they want, under the guise of "fixing the problem."
15 Crazy Lawsuits That Will Make You Nauseous With Anger
So, are you like me? Do you get nauseous when you hear about frivolous lawsuits? Seriously, I hate all the mo-fo's out there suing people for ridiculous reasons. These lawsuits are the reason insurance is so expensive, they are the reason the prices for goods are higher than they should be, the reason airline tickets cost so much, hospital bills are so high, and why teachers are afraid to get within an three feet of their students. People need to cover themselves from frivilous lawsuits, and the cost of that coverage is passed on to you and me. Anyway, here are 15 of perhaps the most frivolous lawsuits out there:January 2008: Spanish businessman Tomas Delgado sued the family of the 17-year-old boy he'd hit and killed for the damage that the boy's body did to his Audi. Delgado was speeding at the time, but since the boy was cycling alone at night without reflectors or a helmet, the driver wasn't charged with anything other than being a complete jerk. Under public pressure, he later dropped his lawsuit.
2. Sleeping Student Sues Teacher for Waking Him Up
2. Sleeping Student Sues Teacher for Waking Him Up
March 2008: In Danbury, Connecticut, 15-year-old Vinicios Robacher sued his teacher for slamming her palm on his desk to wake him up during class -- an action that he claimed caused him ear damage.
3. Man Sues Michael Jordan for Looking Like Him
3. Man Sues Michael Jordan for Looking Like Him
July 2006: Portland, Oregon resident Allen Heckard sued former basketball star Michael Jordan and Nike founder Phil Knight for $832 million, claiming that they have made Jordan such a recognizable figure that he has suffered personal harm from being repeatedly mistaken for the basketball player. Within a month, Heckard had dropped the suit.
4. Mayor of Batman, Turkey Sues Batman
4. Mayor of Batman, Turkey Sues Batman
November 2008: The mayor of a city in Turkey called Batman sued Warner Brothers and The Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan for using the name without permission. Either it took the town's residents 70 years to realize the superhero's existence or they just wanted to cash in on The Dark Knight's billion-dollar box office take. You be the judge.
5. Man Sues Homeless for $1 Million
5. Man Sues Homeless for $1 Million
January 2007: Karl Kemp, owner of a ritzy antiques store on Manhattan's Madison Avenue, sued four homeless people who congregate in front of his shop because they scare off potential customers. The amount of the suit: $1 million, payable apparently in shopping carts full of aluminum cans.
6. Inmate Sues Himself
6. Inmate Sues Himself
April 1995: Chesapeake, Virginia prison inmate Robert Lee Brock was upset at himself for getting arrested for breaking and entering and grand larceny, so he decided to make himself pay -- by suing himself for $5 million. Stating that he violated his own religious beliefs by committing the crime, he sought payment for a civil rights offense. Of course, since he didn't have $5 million to pay himself, he asked that the state pay on his behalf. His suit was thrown out.
7. Magicians Sued for Stealing God's Powers
7. Magicians Sued for Stealing God's Powers
June 2005: Reality-challenged Minnesota resident Christopher Roller sued magicians David Copperfield and David Blaine for using Roller's "godly powers" without his permission to perform their acts. Roller, by the way, claimed to be a god. He also claimed that the movie The Truman Show was based on his life and that he was married to both Katie Couric and Celine Dion, with whom he planned to father 1 million babies.
8. Shooter's Mom Seeks Workman's Comp
8. Shooter's Mom Seeks Workman's Comp
October 2003: After Jonathon Russell went on a shooting spree at the manufacturing plant where he worked, leaving three dead and five injured, his mother filed for workman's compensation benefits on his behalf, citing his "death by gunfire while on company clock." She was denied.
9. Man Sues Wife for Donated Kidney
9. Man Sues Wife for Donated Kidney
January 2009: After Long Island doctor Richard Batista was slapped with divorce papers from his cheating wife, he decided he'd had enough and sued her for the return of a gift he'd give her eight years prior: a kidney. If that wasn't feasible, he'd "settle" for $1.5 million. You're welcome.
10. Insurance Company Sues 81-Year-Old Woman for Icy Driveway
10. Insurance Company Sues 81-Year-Old Woman for Icy Driveway
February 2007: A "meals on wheels" program was delivering food to 81-year-old Anne Keipper in Brookfield, Wisconsin when the delivery woman -- who wasn't wearing boots -- slipped on a patch of ice in the driveway and fell. Three years later, Keipper was notified that she was being sued by Sentry Insurance for the medical expenses it paid related to the delivery woman's fall. The moral: senior citizens too frail to leave their house to get food should diligently shovel ice off their driveway.
11. Girls Sued for Baking Cookies
11. Girls Sued for Baking Cookies
July 2005: Two well-meaning teenage girls in Durango, Colorado decided one summer night to bake cookies for their neighbors. They packaged the baked treats in plastic wrap with a heart-shaped message wishing the recipients a good night. When they knocked at the door of Wanita Renea Young, however, the woman became so terrified that someone was outside her house at 10:30 PM that she suffered an anxiety attack and successfully sued the girls for $930 to cover a trip to the emergency room. Her request for money to cover pain and suffering was denied.
12. Student Sues to Get A+
12. Student Sues to Get A+
March 2003: High school senior Brian Delekta was so distraught that he got an A in one of his courses that he sued the school system. He felt he deserved an A+. Delekta, who had the highest GPA in his class at the time, felt that a "mere" A would hurt his chances of becoming the valedictorian. The course in question, incidentally, was a work-study program at a law firm. His supervisor in the position lobbied for him to get an A+, but maybe that's because she's his mother.
13. Musician Sued for Copying Silence
13. Musician Sued for Copying Silence
September 2002: Music publishers for the late avant-garde composer John Cage sued musician Mike Batt for plagiarism after he included a silent song on his album. That's right: silence. No music or vocals whatsoever. The publishers claimed that Batt's song, entitled "A Minute's Silence," ripped off Cage's "4'33", which also contained no music or vocals. Despite the seeming insanity of copyrighting silence, Batt agreed to settle out of court by paying a six-figure amount.
14. Man Sues to Inherit the Money of the Mother He Killed
14. Man Sues to Inherit the Money of the Mother He Killed
January 2008: In 1999, schizophrenic Joshua Hoge stabbed his mother and half-brother to death but was found not guilty by reason of insanity. Nine years later, as he sat in a mental hospital, he sued to inherit his mother's estate, which included a $800,000 payment received from the state when a court ruled that a public-health clinic that failed to give Hoge his medication was partly responsible for the murders.
15. Mr. Frivolous Lawsuit
15. Mr. Frivolous Lawsuit
January 2006 - present: South Carolina inmate Jonathan Lee Riches has become a celebrity of sorts by filing more than 1,000 frivolous lawsuits while in jail. Some highlights:
August 2007: Sued baseball player Barry Bonds for $42 million for, amongst other things, selling steroids to nuns, giving mustard gas to Saddam Hussien and bench-pressing Riches "to show off in front of his ball park buddies." Hank Aaron's bat, which Riches claimed Bonds used to crack the Liberty Bell, was also named as a defendant in the suit.
September 2007: Sued Elvis Presley for stealing his sideburns, selling him tainted poultry and being in cahoots with Osama Bin Laden. Riches also claims that rap producer Suge Knight hung him from a Econo Lodge balcony with Vanilla Ice and that Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch harbors Hitler's army.
September 2007: Claiming that he is a model and actor who's starred in movies like The Karate Kid, Pee Wee’s Big Adventure and the Paris Hilton sex tape, Riches sued rapper 50 Cent for $35 billion, charging that the musician stole his lyrics and forced him to harass '80s groups Bananarama and Tears for Fears.
And the piece de resistance: in March 2006, Riches sued 57 pages' worth of defendants -- including President George W. Bush, Pope Benedict XVI, Bill Gates, Queen Elizabeth, the Gambino crime family, Three Mile Island, Burt Reynolds, Google, the Salvation Army, the Wu-Tang Clan, the Magna Carta, "tsunami victims," the Kremlin, Nostradamus, the Lincoln Memorial, Nordic gods, Pizza Hut, the European Union, the Methodist Church, Viagra, "ninja samurai fighters" and the planet Pluto -- for an unspecified dollar amount for an unspecified civil rights offense.
In March 2008, the Northern District of Georgia made it difficult for Riches to file such frivolous lawsuits by requiring him to agree to be prosecuted for false statements before he submits, but that hasn't stopped him from filing wacky suits in other districts across the country.
Obama Makes Fun of the Special Olympics
Wisecrack falls flat...
Apologizes for Calling Bad Bowling 'Like Special Olympics'...
Video
He said he had been working on his bowling game just below his new residence and recently rolled a 129.
“That’s very good, Mr. President,” cracked host Jay Leno.
"It's like — it was like Special Olympics, or something," the president replied.
(source)
Apologizes for Calling Bad Bowling 'Like Special Olympics'...
Video
He said he had been working on his bowling game just below his new residence and recently rolled a 129.
“That’s very good, Mr. President,” cracked host Jay Leno.
"It's like — it was like Special Olympics, or something," the president replied.
(source)
Obama on Leno
Obama on Leno was mostly a crapfest, not worth repeating, though Leno did have one good point. Leno confronted Obama on the Administration using tax policy to punish private citizens and companies:
Mr. Leno was even more negative to the House plan, saying it "kind of scared me."
"If the government decides they don't like a guy, all of the sudden hey we're going to tax you, and, boom, and it passes, that's seems a little scary," he said. "It was frightening to me as an American that Congress or whoever could decide I don't like that group, let's pass a law and tax them 90 percent."
(Source)
He's absolutely right, it is scary. What AIG did might be wrong, but the government punishing them by excising a 90% tax is beyond reproach. Suppose they decide they don't like my blog, and want to tax my income by 90%? Suppose they don't like Rush Limbaugh and his readers, and excise a Limbaugh tax? Tax legislation should not be used as a form of punishment, plain and simple. Obama has crossed the line, again.
Mr. Leno was even more negative to the House plan, saying it "kind of scared me."
"If the government decides they don't like a guy, all of the sudden hey we're going to tax you, and, boom, and it passes, that's seems a little scary," he said. "It was frightening to me as an American that Congress or whoever could decide I don't like that group, let's pass a law and tax them 90 percent."
(Source)
He's absolutely right, it is scary. What AIG did might be wrong, but the government punishing them by excising a 90% tax is beyond reproach. Suppose they decide they don't like my blog, and want to tax my income by 90%? Suppose they don't like Rush Limbaugh and his readers, and excise a Limbaugh tax? Tax legislation should not be used as a form of punishment, plain and simple. Obama has crossed the line, again.
Obama Breaks Promise of Keeping Politics Out of Science
I dunno, I guess I'm at a loss as to how bending to powerful lobbying groups is taking politics out of science. Maybe I'm just not understanding, but it seems like the opposite would be true. Also, I guess I don't quite grasp why conservative view points being enforced are considered "politics" while liberal agendas are considered "natural," and non inhibitive... In other words, banning federal dollars from stem cell research because some believe it is immoral, is injecting politics into science; yet giving federal money to kill babies is considered the hands off approach. This is a real head scratcher.
Obama injects politics — and profit — into science
By Timothy P. Carney
Examiner Columnist 3/11/09
In the name of “depoliticizing science,” President Barack Obama held an applause-filled rally before supporters Monday to declare that his administration would begin funding research that destroys healthy, living human embryos. This supposedly anti-political move was a victory for one of Washington’s most powerful industry lobbying groups.
The Biotechnology Industry Organization, which represents drugmakers and for-profit laboratories, quickly endorsed Obama’s new policy. “We fully support and are enthusiastic about President Obama’s decision to allow the National Institutes of Health to fund embryonic stem cell research,” said BIO President and Chief Executive Officer Jim Greenwood.
Financial headlines around the world indicated Greenwood and BIO’s member companies had reason to celebrate: “Industry set for stem cell profits”; “Stem cell buzz may help industry”; “Shares of Stem Cells [Inc.] rally on Obama’s news.”
Destroying human embryos to harvest stem cells has never been illegal in the United States, and many laboratories have been carrying out this sort of research for years, either with private money or with state taxpayer money. Obama’s decision gives these businesses — and any that now want to jump on the bandwagon — access to federal taxpayer money for their efforts to turn human embryos into profits.
Consider an analogy. What if President George W. Bush had announced he was lifting many restrictions on oil drilling on federal lands — on Alaska’s Northern Slope, in the Gulf of Mexico, in national parks and forests, and off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts? He might have trumpeted this as “depoliticizing drilling” and “restoring geology to its rightful place.” Imagine the outrage of environmentalists — and the catcalls from Democrats charging it was a gift to the oil industry.
One important difference between this imaginary Bush story and the real Obama story: It’s nascent human beings, not virgin tundra, being trampled by Obama’s policy.
Another interesting contrast: BIO spent $7.7 million on lobbying last year, compared with $4.9 million spent by the American Petroleum Institute.
BIO is anything but “apolitical.” It is a well-connected lobbying group. Greenwood is a former member of Congress, a Pennsylvania Republican who consistently voted for and championed legalized and taxpayer-funded abortion and embryonic stem cell research. BIO employs 27 in-house lobbyists, including a former chief health counsel for the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
(Source)
Obama injects politics — and profit — into scienceBy Timothy P. Carney
Examiner Columnist 3/11/09
In the name of “depoliticizing science,” President Barack Obama held an applause-filled rally before supporters Monday to declare that his administration would begin funding research that destroys healthy, living human embryos. This supposedly anti-political move was a victory for one of Washington’s most powerful industry lobbying groups.
The Biotechnology Industry Organization, which represents drugmakers and for-profit laboratories, quickly endorsed Obama’s new policy. “We fully support and are enthusiastic about President Obama’s decision to allow the National Institutes of Health to fund embryonic stem cell research,” said BIO President and Chief Executive Officer Jim Greenwood.
Financial headlines around the world indicated Greenwood and BIO’s member companies had reason to celebrate: “Industry set for stem cell profits”; “Stem cell buzz may help industry”; “Shares of Stem Cells [Inc.] rally on Obama’s news.”
Destroying human embryos to harvest stem cells has never been illegal in the United States, and many laboratories have been carrying out this sort of research for years, either with private money or with state taxpayer money. Obama’s decision gives these businesses — and any that now want to jump on the bandwagon — access to federal taxpayer money for their efforts to turn human embryos into profits.
Consider an analogy. What if President George W. Bush had announced he was lifting many restrictions on oil drilling on federal lands — on Alaska’s Northern Slope, in the Gulf of Mexico, in national parks and forests, and off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts? He might have trumpeted this as “depoliticizing drilling” and “restoring geology to its rightful place.” Imagine the outrage of environmentalists — and the catcalls from Democrats charging it was a gift to the oil industry.
One important difference between this imaginary Bush story and the real Obama story: It’s nascent human beings, not virgin tundra, being trampled by Obama’s policy.
Another interesting contrast: BIO spent $7.7 million on lobbying last year, compared with $4.9 million spent by the American Petroleum Institute.
BIO is anything but “apolitical.” It is a well-connected lobbying group. Greenwood is a former member of Congress, a Pennsylvania Republican who consistently voted for and championed legalized and taxpayer-funded abortion and embryonic stem cell research. BIO employs 27 in-house lobbyists, including a former chief health counsel for the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
(Source)
