Not The "Top Gun" I Remember But Whatever.

High Five From God?

Or God reaching for The Cosmic Burrito? You decide.

From Gizmodo.com

Actual science here.

NY car bomb suspect cooperates, but motive a mystery. UPDATED

Motive a mystery? Really? None are so blind as those who refuse to see.

NEW YORK – A man accused ...

"Based on what we know so far, it is clear that this was a terrorist plot aimed at murdering Americans in one of the busiest places in our country," Holder said.

A court hearing was canceled Tuesday in part because of Shahzad's continuing cooperation with investigators, but authorities said they had shed little light on what might have motivated him. [Oh come on. Really? REALLY?]

Until recently, his life in the U.S. appeared enviable. He had a master's degree from the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut, a job as a budget analyst for a marketing firm in Norwalk, Conn., two children and a well-educated wife who posted his smiling picture and lovingly called him "my everything" on a social networking website.

But shortly after becoming a U.S. citizen a year ago, he gave up his job, stopped paying his mortgage and told a real estate agent to let the bank take the house because he was returning to Pakistan.

Once there, according to investigators, he traveled to the lawless Waziristan region and learned bomb making at a terrorist training camp. [Still no motive?]

In court papers, investigators said Shahzad returned to the U.S. on Feb. 3, moved into an apartment in a low-rent section of Bridgeport, then set about acquiring materials and an SUV he bought with cash in late April. They said that after his arrest, Shahzad confessed to rigging the bomb and driving it into Times Square. He also acknowledged getting training in Pakistan, the filing said. [I can see how they're having trouble narrowing it down. I mean, he only acknowledged getting training in Pakistan. That's another dead end. Ugh.]


After identifying Shahzad through the previous owner of the SUV, investigators had him under surveillance when he nearly slipped away.

Authorities initially planned to arrest him at his Connecticut home but lost track of him, two people familiar with the probe told The Associated Press. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to talk publicly about the breach in surveillance. [That reminds me of of the nonsense term- "weapons grade anthrax" that the press were throwing around back in 2001 to make themselves sound more "official". There's no such thing as "weapons grade anthrax" nor as "breach in surveillance". "Breach in surveillance protocol", maybe. Nevertheless, other reports state that the authorities intentionally broke off surveillance because they were concerned that the suspect was onto them. Rather than jeopardize the whole mission, they let him escape.]

...

Emirates airlines also didn't initially notice when Shahzad purchased a ticket that he had been placed on the government's no-fly list, according to a law enforcement official. [Other reports state that their database hadn't yet been updated due to the recent nature of his being added to the no-fly list.]

...

"Honestly, I was worried," he said. "I was planning to cancel the flight and get another one." [Really? I guess you weren't that worried or you would have actually canceled the flight and gotten another one.]

...
Kifyat Ali, a cousin of Shahzad's father, spoke with reporters outside a two-story home the family owns in an upscale part of Peshawar, Pakistan. He said the family had yet to be officially informed of Shahzad's arrest, which he called "a conspiracy so the (Americans) can bomb more Pashtuns," a reference to a major ethnic group in Peshawar and the nearby tribal areas of Pakistan and southwest Afghanistan. [A conspiracy by America to bomb more Pashtuns? Nope... no pattern here... no motive either... move along nothing to see. I mean what influence would a cousin have anyway? Particularly one who is speaking for the suspect's entire family.]

...

In Pakistan, authorities detained several people, although the FBI said it had no confirmation that those arrests were relevant to the case. [Mmmmk. Uh... yeah- thanks for uh... reporting that. In other news, several individuals were arrested in Miami on drug trafficking charges. There was no confirmation that those arrests were relevant to the case either. Also, my neighbor's cat was stuck up the tree yesterday afternoon. I don't know if that was related or not. The cat is down from the tree now.]

...

On her profile on the social networking site Orkut, she described herself as "not political," said she spoke English, Pashto, Urdu and French and listed her passions as "fashion, shoes, bags, shopping!! And of course, Faisal."

She posted a picture of Shahzad, smiling, with the caption, "what can I say ... he's my everything."[This too is irrelevant to the case but at least they don't have to talk about motive.]

Entire article is here.

UPDATE!!! 12:53pm

Surprise of all surprises, there's talk now of knowing what the motive is. You'll never guess what it is...

(Newser) – A picture is starting to emerge of what drove Faisal Shahzad to attempt to detonate a bomb in Times Square. The 31-year-old father of two lost his home to foreclosure last summer, unable to parlay his Master's degree into success, the LA Times reports. Shortly thereafter he spent eight months in his native Pakistan, where he witnessed US drone strikes on Tehrik-i-Taliban leaders, sources tell the New York Post. Outraged, he signed up with the Taliban, and was trained to make explosives.

"This is blowback,” Pakistan's Foreign Minister said yesterday. “This is retaliation. And you could expect that. Let's not be naïve, they're going to fight back.” Officials had initially rejected the Taliban's claims that the botched attack was retaliation for drone hits. But Post sources say Shahzad was on authorities' radar before the attack. According to one report, investigators are looking into a possible connection between him and David Headley, a Pakistani-American involved in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

We never saw that coming.

 

The dilemma

What We've Got Here is a Liberal in Our Midst.

I was going to respond to this comment with another comment but decided there was too much commentary to provide on my part to make it a plausible endeavor. I'll go ahead and give the comment more attention than it deserves right here.

Montana said...

I saw Jay Leno at Correspondent Dinner his best line was; “That was my favorite story (this year) Republicans and a Lesbian bondage club. It’s ironic, Republicans don’t want lesbian getting married but they do like watching them “tie the knot”. So I thought that was interesting.”  [Okay. First of all, Leno bombed at the Correspondents' Dinner. Secondly, learn how to properly use quotation marks. Thirdly, Republicans are not alone in being against lesbians getting married. Granted that Democrats aren't exactly religious people but those who are are also against lesbians getting married. See, for some people, marriage is a sacred rite between a man and a woman. Civil unions are a whole other story and most reasonable people- yes, Democrats too- don't have any issue with civil unions.] [Let me just say from the outset of this overwhelming paragraph that you should have taken a breath before clicking "post". A few extra carriage returns would have been nice for the rest of us. I understand that you were zealously typing away because you were on a roll but please be more considerate in the future.] You can say the same about Tea Party (they are haters not debaters or as others have dubbed them screamers not dreamers) [Gratuitous name-calling aside, one could easily argue that when it comes to quality debating, it's the Liberals who fall short time and time again. They seem to be better at chanting and cause-hopping than at actually making a factual, coherent, and effective argument. Your euphemisms might be entertaining to you and people like you but they don't really effect any real change in the real world.], they say they respect the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence but they do not mind passing laws, through weak Governors (no one voted for this crazy) who only care about getting reelected on the backs of undocumented workers, that will not pass Constitution muster, just like Arizona’s House Bill 2779 from two years ago, keep passing them Arizona and the rest of us will continue to challenged them in a court of law and you will fail again (and yes we will Boycott Arizona). [That was an agonizing "sentence" but I sorta got your point. I suppose you would rather have the state and eventually the country overrun by people who do little to provide for anyone but themselves. I get it that this is the Liberal Way but really, eventually Socialists run out of other peoples money and the rest of us are left holding the bag. You should take the time to understand the law regarding illegal immigrants in AZ before you comment. I even linked to a great article which clearly explains it. Of course, the fact that it's clearly explained might make it appear to be gibberish to you but you might be able to find someone who can interpret it for you. You say "we will boycott Arizona" I've noticed that some of you have started already by boycotting Arizona iced tea which is bottled in New York City. Something tells me that you won't let that annoying little fact stop you] Their phony patriotism is sickening [Actually, you could have left "phony" out of that statement since to you people, any patriotism is sickening]; they are just racists going by another name [Doesn't blaming everything on racism get boring? I swear, the things you people chant are about as intellectually stimulating as owning one CD and listening to one track over and over. You, however, consider it to be an analytical exercise while you waste your life away trying to find deeper meaning to a song as well thought out as "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"]. We all know you are just itching to put a sheet on their head [Wait... what? On whose head?]? Let’s face it the Republicans had eight years to deal with health care, immigration, climate change and financial oversight and governance and they failed [The Republicans had? That's the problem with Democrats. It's always an Us vs. Them mentality. For as long as you keep that up, nothing will ever get accomplished in Washington or elsewhere. That said, the Democrats- even with an overwhelming (albeit temporary) majority in D.C., have already done more harm than the Republicans could have ever dreamed]. It appears that the Republican Party is only good at starting wars (two in eight years, with fat contracts to friends of Cheney/Bush) but not at winning wars as seen by the continuing line of body bags that keep coming home [Keep in mind that all of the "big" wars (WWI, WWII, Korean, and Vietnam) were started by Democrat administrations. It's probably just coincidental that Liberals keep forgetting that part.]. The Republicans party will continue turned inward to their old fashion obstructionist party (and their Confederacy appreciation roots) because they continue to allow a small portions (but very loud portion) [as contrasted to the Democrat party where they're ALL very loud whether or not they have anything intelligent to say.] of their party of “birthers, baggers and blowhards” to rule their party. I will admit that this fringe is very good at playing “Follow the Leader” [That's another favorite Liberal cliche- you know- Liberals all think for themselves but Conservatives all do what they're told. Unless you actually listen to them and watch what they do- then it's a different story altogether.] by listening to their dullard leaders, Beck, Hedgecock, Hannity, O’Reilly, Rush, Savage, Sarah Bailin, Orly Taitz, Victoria Jackson, Michele Bachmann and the rest of the Blowhards and acting as ill programmed robots (they have already acted against doctors that perform abortions). The Birthers and the Tea party crowd think they can scare, intimidate and force others to go along with them by comments like “This time we came unarmed”, let me tell you something not all ex-military join the fringe militia crazies who don’t pay taxes and run around with face paint in the parks playing commando, the majority are mature and understand that the world is more complicated and grey than the black and white that these simpleton make it out to be and that my friend is the point. The world is complicated and people like Hamilton, Lincoln, and Roosevelt believed that we should use government a little to increase social mobility, now it’s about dancing around the claim of government is the problem. The sainted Reagan passed the biggest tax increase in American history and as a result federal employment increased, but facts are lost when mired in mysticism and superstition. For a party that gave us Abraham Lincoln, it is tragic that the ranks are filled with too many empty suits and the crazy Birthers who have not learned that the way our courts work is that you get a competent lawyer, verifiable facts and present them to a judge, if the facts are real and not half baked internet lies, then, and only then, do you proceed to trial. The Birthers seem to be having a problem with their so called “facts”. Let’s face it no one will take the Birthers seriously until they win a case, but until then, you will continue to appear dumb, crazy or racist, or maybe all three. I heard that Orly Taitz now wants to investigate the “Republican 2009 Summer of Love” list: Assemblyman, Michael D. Duvall (CA), Senator John Ensign (NV), Senator Paul Stanley (TN), Governor Mark Stanford (SC), Board of Ed Chair, and Kristin Maguire AKA Bridget Keeney (SC), she wants to re-establish a family values party, that’s like saying that the Catholic Church cares about the welling being of children in their care, too late for that. Yee Haw!

Okay- admittedly, I ran out of energy to keep commenting on that comment. I started to realize that Montana has more stupid than I have smart. Hopefully, the good readers will get my point by the time I stopped commenting. If not, I'll take another crack at it later... unless I forget.

Anchor babies and US Citizenship

I heard Mark Levin talking about this subject (automatic citizenship for the children of illegal aliens born in the United States) and why the current interpretation of the 14tha amendment is wrong.  I'm going to try my best to let you know what he said but I'm sure I won't do it justice.

First of all, here is the relevant part of the amendment:

14th Amendment

Section 1.

(Bold is mine)

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Mark's main points were as follows:

If this amendment meant for ALL people born in the US to have automatic citizenship then why did they include the phrase "subject to the the jurisdiction thereof?"  They could have left that out ... but they didn't.

Q - If a tourist, who is here LEGALLY, has a baby here, is it automatically deemed to be a citizen?

A - No

Q - If a LEGAL diplomat has a child born here, is it automatically deemed to be a citizen?

A - No

Why is this?  It is because of the phrase "subject to the jurisdiction ..."

-- END OF MARK'S POINTS --

My extension of the above:

Then why, pray tell, are the children born of people who are here ILLEGALLY considered citizens?

Does this make the SLIGHTEST bit of sense to you?  Do you detect an incongruity here?  Does this make your sense of right and wrong tingle a bit?

Those stupid conservatives are violent SOB's

 

With Katie Couric drawing him out, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg agreed the Times Square car bombing was likely “homegrown” as he proceeded, in an interview excerpt run on Monday's CBS Evening News, to speculate it could have been placed by “somebody with a political agenda who doesn't like the health care bill or something. It could be anything.” More at Newsbusters:

Yes, well, I have something to say about this ... yes ... really.

If he had said "it was probably a Muslim terrorist" (like anyone with a half a brain would) he'd have been forced to resign and been run out of town on a rail (by the media.)  But since he implied it was a tea party type conservative (probably Christian doncha know,) it's ALL ok. You know why? Because everyone knows how dangerous Christian conservatives are so he can't be held responsible if once ... JUST THIS ONCE ... he was wrong.

Also, have you noticed ... he'll still be portrayed by the media as a genius ... unlike the way the media portrays Sarah Palin.  It's a funny coincidence ... the media portrays ALL communists liberals as geniuses and ALL conservatives as stupid ... got it? Baaaaa bleat.

Obama Administration Transparency.

This video was recorded on May 3, 2010. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs is asked a simple question- "In view of President Franklin Roosevelt's 998 press conferences, why has President Obama not held a single press conference since last July?". To spare you on the math, that's about 10 months ago. To spare you on the thinking, that's an absurdly long period of time for a President to go without a press conference- even more so for a President who promised transparency and openness.

The genius Mr. Gibbs responds to this question by throwing out a Red Herring by saying, "When the President took 8 questions from members of the White House Press Board... what would you call that?". Well, he wasn't asking me but I'd call that 8 staged questions from a very few members of the press regarding a very specific subject. However, that's not the important question. The important question is to ask why he only has one (very poor) example of a press conference in a time span of  TEN MONTHS.

This is classic Democrat strategy. Ignore the important, meaningful question and divert the conversation toward a specific, tedious, meaningless topic instead. He continues to argue the point that this "press conference" example utterly destroys the question asked by the honorable Lester Kinsolving. It doesn't. Mr Kinsolving recognizes the weakness of Mr. Gibbs' argument but out of a sense of fair play, answers the question. This is a mistake. He should have dismissed Mr. Gibbs' question and stuck to his original question and insisted on a legitimate answer to his original question.

Mr. Gibbs continues on his diversionary tactic and then asks Mr. Kinsolving how the aforementioned 8 questions would have or could have qualified as a "press conference". Again- irrelevant. Furthermore, it's not Mr. Kinsolving's job or responsibility to help Mr. Gibbs or President Obama meet the minimum requirement for a press conference. The important detail here is that President Obama HAS NOT HELD A PRESS CONFERENCE IN TEN MONTHS.

I'm not sure what the name for this maneuver is, but Democrats and Liberals have become famous for this tactic. At 1:39, Mr. Gibbs says "I hope that you did not dodge my second question". I find this to be hysterical and don't understand why more people don't shut this statement down immediately. I understand that you might get caught in the heat of the debate and overlook it but doing so allows the whole conversation to be sidetracked.

With 20/20 hindsight, it's obvious that Mr. Gibbs has spent the first 1:39 mins of the video dodging Mr. Kinsolving's question. It's not audacious to accuse Mr. Kinsolving of dodging a question except that answering a question with a question is the sartorial example of dodging a question. It's as if Mr. Gibbs is so focused on the reality inside his own head that he has no idea in the world that anyone outside of it can see what he's saying and doing.

Rather than ever answering the question, Mr. Gibbs continues with the debate. At 2:16 he asks Mr. Kinsolving if he applied for credentials to the event. Mr. Kinsolving responds that he didn't because he was fairly certain that he wouldn't have gotten them if he had applied for them- "I would have been delighted to if I thought I had any chance...". Mr. Gibbs then throws up a Straw Man fallacy and says, "so you were offered the opportunity but declined to do so". No. That's not what he said and it's not what happened but please, continue.

Before Mr. Kinsolving has a chance to respond, Mr. Gibbs cuts him off and continues with the fallacy that the venue was much bigger than the current one therefore it's ridiculous that Mr. Kinsolving would think that his application for credentials would have been denied. If we gave Mr. Gibbs the benefit of the doubt while simultaneously insulting his intelligence, we could assume that Mr. Gibbs was unaware that the point Mr. Kinsolving was making. What Mr. Kinsolving implied is that the Obama Administration has a history of actively excluding members of the Press who might likely not cast them in a favorable light. FOX News is just one such example of the members of the Press who have been excluded in the past.

At this point (2:42 into the video), Mr. Gibbs begins to grow weary and disrobes any indication of civil debate and becomes sarcastic as he asks, "So what? Can you give me a number? Was it a number thing? If it wasn't 8 [questions] was it maybe nine?" Then they start yet another Red Herring debate wherein Mr. Kinsolving states that 38 questions were asked at President Kennedy's first press conference.

This is where Mr. Gibbs goes in for "the kill" and very sharply states, "So it's not 55, it's not 8, it's thirty-eight... no- I'm just trying to get an answer to my second question." This is a full 3:15 mins into the video and Mr. Gibbs has still not answered the important question asked by Mr. Kinsolving.

A full four minutes into this video Mr. Gibbs is still arguing about the definition of of a "press conference" yet never answers the original question of "Why has President Obama not held a single press conference since last July?" The Democrats would call this a successful use of time. This is one of the many differences between the Democrats and the Republicans.

Times Square bomber ... funniest thing to the FBI because ...

... where does he think HE was going?

The FBI has arrested a 30-year-old Bridgeport, Conn., man in connection with the failed attempt to set off a car bomb in New York's Times Square, federal authorities told ABCNews.com late Monday night.

The man was identified as Faisal Shahzad, a naturalized American citizen, who had recently returned from a five-month trip to Pakistan and the city of Peshawar, a known jumping off point for al Qaeda and Taliban recruits.

Shahzad was arrested at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City where FBI agents said he was attempting to leave the country to go to Dubai. More here:

Tsk tsk.

Related Jack Handy joke:

The funniest thing in the world, to a shark, must be an injured baby seal trying to make it to shore ... because, where does he think HE is going.

On the other hand, the funniest thing to Wombat is they never mention his religion in the  THREE -PAGE article.   I guess the media thinks Americans are SUCH idiots that they won't figure it out.  Or maybe they think that mentioning the religion might cause you to think of a relationship that doesn't exist.  You don't want to draw any mistaken conclusion do you?  No, you don't.  Remember, the bad guys are white Christians ... got that?  Good, now go back to your Cheetos, dumbass.

Death Canal USA.

The tragedy is unimaginable in America. People trying to illegally enter our country and who would ultimately bankrupt the state they infest are dying regularly trying to cross this irrigation canal. To add insult to injury, this canal has no ladders nor safety ropes to facilitate use contrary to its purpose. These "human souls" who travel without incriminating identification are buried in nameless graves... because nobody knows who they actually are... which was their intent from the start... but somehow that's our fault.

Keep in mind that the following quote is from a theoretical "journalist" on 60 Minutes. Furthermore, he's the anchor which I suppose is meant to give him more credibility than the run-of-the-mill actor journalist on the show. I mean, it's tragic that these people are drowning trying to get a better life for themselves and their families but the real tragedy is that they don't try to do that legally.

Perhaps even more tragic than that is that there are throngs of Americans who support the idea of them doing it illegally while remaining completely blind to the fact that illegal immigrants have gobs and gobs of hidden costs that someone (usually the taxpayers- many of whom don't directly benefit from the illegal behavior) ends up paying.

Of course if you take any action to prevent facing the bankruptcy that California faces, you're thoughtlessly tagged a "racist" or a "nazi" or worse.

In [the] wake of Arizona's new immigration law, CBS 60 Minutes anchor Scott Pelley fretted over illegal immigrants entering the United States by swimming across California's All-American Canal: "a national moat on our southern border, and hundreds of people have perished in its waters. It is a carnage that has gone mostly unnoticed because many of the victims are buried without their names."

Pelley began the story by proclaiming: "In the California desert, in a field of mud, is a graveyard that is hard to imagine in America. Bricks mark the final resting place of hundreds of human beings, identities unknown. They died traveling to America in search of a life better than their home countries could offer." Moments later, Pelley explained: "While the canal is a death trap, it is also a lifeline for the nation....Two thirds of our winter fruits and vegetables are grown with this water. But half of the people who pick those crops are illegal immigrants. To get the jobs created by the canal, they cross the canal, usually at night on makeshift rafts or using plastic jugs for flotation."

It did not take long to for Pelley place blame for drownings, not on those crossing the border illegally, but on those operating the canal: "The water is 225 feet across, 20 feet deep, with almost no rescue lines or climb-out ladders, safety devices that you would find in some ["some"? Which?] other canals....management is controlled by a regional authority called the Imperial Irrigation District....They've taken votes, commissioned studies, but done almost nothing."

Read much more at NewsBusters.

Sushi Humor

The Annoying Orange is, at best, an acquired taste. I declare this one funny.

Briiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiian Sutherlaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand Worst Boxer Ever.

This is his professional boxing debut. "Just so everyone knows, Brian Sutherland knows nothing about boxing. He got into boxing because he was a street fighter and figured he might as well get paid for boxing... for fighting."

"He just tries to throw anything he can... he's flailing at his opponent."

Woe is us, who could have seen this coming?

Americans saw prices rise two percent in the year to March according to the Commerce Department's personal consumption expenditures index published on Monday.

The figure, which is closely watched by the Federal Reserve as a sign of broader inflation levels, is approaching the maximum the central bank normally considers sustainable.

Energy and food costs rose 18.7 percent against March 2009, up almost four percentage points compared with February. More here:

Yes, and Obama and the Democrats have been printing money like it's going out of style.  Is that the problem?  Is this a big secret or something?  Decide for yourself.  Here's Milton to do the 'splainin'.

Star Parker spews racist venom

Star Parker - syndicated columnist

Six years ago I wrote a book called Uncle Sam's Plantation. I wrote the book to tell my own story of what I saw living inside the welfare state and my own transformation out of it.

I said in that book that indeed there are two Americas -- a poor America on socialism and a wealthy America on capitalism.

I talked about government programs like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training (JOBS), Emergency Assistance to Needy Families with Children (EANF), Section 8 Housing, and Food Stamps.

A vast sea of perhaps well-intentioned government programs, all initially set into motion in the 1960s, that were going to lift the nation's poor out of poverty.

A benevolent Uncle Sam welcomed mostly poor black Americans onto the government plantation. Those who accepted the invitation switched mindsets from "How do I take care of myself?" to "What do I have to do to stay on the plantation?"

Instead of solving economic problems, government welfare socialism created monstrous moral and spiritual problems -- the kind of problems that are inevitable when individuals turn responsibility for their lives over to others.

The legacy of American socialism is our blighted inner cities, dysfunctional inner city schools, and broken black families.

Through God's grace, I found my way out. It was then that I understood what freedom meant and how great this country is.

I had the privilege of working on welfare reform in 1996, passed by a Republican Congress and signed 50 percent.

I thought we were on the road to moving socialism out of our poor black communities and replacing it with wealth-producing American capitalism.

But, incredibly, we are going in the opposite direction.

Instead of poor America on socialism becoming more like rich American on capitalism, rich America on capitalism is becoming like poor America on socialism.

Uncle Sam has welcomed our banks onto the plantation and they have said, "Thank you, Suh."

Now, instead of thinking about what creative things need to be done to serve customers, they are thinking about what they have to tell Massah in order to get their cash.

There is some kind of irony that this is all happening under our first black president on the 200th anniversary of the birthday of Abraham Lincoln.

Worse, socialism seems to be the element of our new young president. And maybe even more troubling, our corporate executives seem happy to move onto the plantation.

In an op-ed on the opinion page of the Washington Post, Mr. Obama is clear that the goal of his trillion dollar spending plan is much more than short term economic stimulus.

"This plan is more than a prescription for short-term spending -- it's a strategy for America's long-term growth and opportunity in areas such as renewable energy, healthcare, and education."

Perhaps more incredibly, Obama seems to think that government taking over an economy is a new idea. Or that massive growth in government can take place "with unprecedented transparency and accountability."

Yes, sir, we heard it from Jimmy Carter when he created the Department of Energy, the Synfuels Corporation, and the Department of Education.

Or how about the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 -- The War on Poverty -- which President Johnson said "...does not merely expand old programs or improve what is already being done. It charts a new course. It strikes at the causes, not just the consequences of poverty."

Trillions of dollars later, black poverty is the same. But black families are not, with triple the incidence of single-parent homes and out-of-wedlock births.

It's not complicated. Americans can accept Barack Obama's invitation to move onto the plantation. Or they can choose personal responsibility and freedom.

Does anyone really need to think about what the choice should be?

My friend, Kim, sent me this in email.  I checked the authenticity.

Something is wrong with this

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court is closing its iconic front entrance beneath the words "Equal Justice Under Law."

Beginning Tuesday, visitors no longer will ascend the wide marble steps to enter the 75-year-old building. Instead, they will be directed to a central screening facility to the side of and beneath the central steps that was built to improve the court's security as part of a $122 million renovation.

Two justices, Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, called the change unfortunate and unjustified.

Breyer said no other high court in the world, not even Israel's, has closed its front entrance over security concerns.

He said the main entrance and front steps "are not only a means to, but also a metaphor for, access to the court itself."

Breyer, joined by Ginsburg, issued an unusual statement that read almost like a dissenting opinion. It was made public at the same time as a press release from the court announcing the change.

Other justices, including Chief Justice John Roberts, have spoken fondly of being able to walk up the steps and through the 1,300-pound bronze doors at the center of the court's columned entryway. Justice Anthony Kennedy told C-SPAN last year that the steps and the words, written by building architect Cass Gilbert, were intended to inspire visitors and justices alike. From here:

Yes, you see it would be impossible to properly screen people that were going in the front doors of the place.  I've been there ... it's HUGE.  There's plenty of room.  I guess geniuses should never be questioned.  It's probably because this way is so much cheaper and we all know how frugal the government is.

So ... what happened with that oil rig exloding?

This guy (Curtis) has the story: (the pic above is from his site.)

As you know by now, the drilling vessel Deepwater Horizon exploded, burned and sank last week, with the loss of 11 workers and injuries to many more. What happened? What's happening now? What's going to happen? I've spent the weekend working to piece things together.

An Ill-fated Discovery

According to news accounts, at about 10 p.m. CDT last Tuesday, Deepwater Horizon was stable, holding an exact position in calm, dark seas about 45 miles south of the Louisiana coastline. Water depth in the area is 5,000 feet. The vessel manifest listed 126 souls on board.

Deepwater Horizon was finishing work on an exploration well named Macondo, in an area called Mississippi Canyon Block 252. After weeks of drilling, the rig had pushed a bit down over 18,000 feet, into an oil-bearing zone. The Transocean and BP personnel were installing casing in the well. BP was going to seal things up, and then go off and figure out how to produce the oil -- another step entirely in the oil biz.

The rest of the story and more pics at drillingahead: 

Here's a bit more: (I read a couple of pages of comments too ... very interesting.)

Some of the crew, however, were trapped in odd parts of the massive vessel, which measures 396 feet by 256 feet -- a bit less than the size of two football fields laid side by side.( This is one big Drill Ship) They couldn't get to the boats. So they did what they had to do, which for some meant jumping -- and those jumpers did not fare so well. Several men broke bones due to the impact of their 80-foot drop to the sea. Still, it beat burning.

Ruh .... Row

UPDATED: Reports out of Washington, DC: PRESIDENT OBAMA in a shocking cheating scandal after being caught in a Washington, D.C. Hotel with a former campaign aide.

A confidential investigation has learned that Obama first became close to gorgeous 35 year-old VERA BAKER in 2004 when she worked tirelessly to get him elected to the US Senate, raising millions in campaign contributions.

Now, the investigators are searching for a hotel surveillance videotape.

While Baker has insisted in the past that "nothing happened" between them, reports reveal that top anti-Obama operatives are offering more than $1 million to witnesses to reveal what they know about the alleged hush-hush affair.

Among those being offered money is a limo driver who says in 2004 that he took Vera to a secret hotel rendezvous in a Washington hotel where Obama was staying.

An ENQUIRER reporter has confirmed the limo driver's account of the secret 2004 rendezvous and has also learned that on-site hotel surveillance video camera footage could provide indisputable evidence to the investigation. From here:

Mmmmm hmmm.  Want to see what she looks like?  Yes, I thought you would.  Here she is.

Seriously, who cares, really.  Meanwhile, Obama and the Democrats are raping the whole country and the media hardly peeps.

GM- The Company You Trust.

If you're like me, you've seen this commercial a few times already...



Oh wait. That's not 100% true...

I Laughed.

This is President Obama's speech at the White House Corespondents' Dinner. I thought it was very funny. I laughed and it surprised me that I did. About 1/3rd of the way into it though, I realized that it would be a lot funnier if it weren't so true. I recognize that it's important to laugh at yourself- especially when times are tough- but in this case, it came across more as a mockery of those of us who don't think it's 100% funny to watch our country slide deeper and deeper into catastrophe. I mean, it's one thing to laugh about what a fool you made of yourself when you were an alcoholic but it's another thing entirely to do it while downing 6 shots of vodka in half an hour at the bar when the rest of your group stopped at 2. It's just my opinion, but this President should focus less on the jokes and more on the knocking off the I'm OK, you're OK antics at the expense of the American public who think.



From HotAirPundit where you can find several more appalling videos.

fri pins

Do you think it says Dickson on the other side