Will The White House Punish Gene Sperling?

Legendary journalist Bob Woodward's stunning accusation yesterday:

WOLF BLITZER, CNN: You're used to this kind of stuff, but share with our viewers what's going on between you and the White House.

BOB WOODWARD: Well, they're not happy at all and some people kind of, you know, said, look, 'we don't see eye to eye on this.' They never really said, though, afterwards, they've said that this is factually wrong, and they -- and it was said to me in an e-mail by a top --

BLITZER: What was said?

WOODWARD: It was said very clearly, you will regret doing this.

BLITZER: Who sent that e-mail to you?

WOODWARD: Well, I'm not going to say.

BLITZER: Was it a senior person at the White House?

WOODWARD:  A very senior person.

Politico outs the "senior person" as Gene Sperling, Director of the National Economic Council and Assistant to the President for Economic Policy (as per the White House website).

Damage control is already underway:

A White House official said: “Of course no threat was intended. As Mr. Woodward noted, the email from the aide was sent to apologize for voices being raised in their previous conversation. The note suggested that Mr. Woodward would regret the observation.”


Maybe it was just a poor choice of words, but word choice is crucial when you are an assistant to the president, and dealing with what is presumed to be a free press. But I'm not buying the innocence routine here; if Sperling was so free with his tongue on a famed journalist like Woodward, there seems little doubt he's loosed it in a similar fashion on lesser lights before.

Why did Gene Sperling think he could get away with such a threat? As mentioned above, perhaps he's done it before, with no consequences. Or maybe he sees himself as a sort of Scott Pritchard character from Costner's No Way Out; a power-mad General Counsel to the Secretary of Defense:

You have no idea what men of power can do!


Here's the question: Will Sperling be sanctioned by the White House?

Depends. The Obama fanatics are circling the wagons, accusing Woodward of senility and all but calling for a Soviet-style institutionalization of the revered reporter. On the other hand, the MSM is giving the story some play, at odds with their usual role as drooling sycophants. And Obama knows it is easier for him to lose his economic assistant (how hard is it to repeat "raise taxes!" ad nasuem, anyway?) than to lose the mainstream media.

But it could be that Obama will take the third way:  Do nothing at all, and let Sperling's ugly threats to a famed journalist - who broke ranks, and called out the president on his misdirection and lies - stand.

It would send another type of message entirely.

We'll see if the media gets it.


UPDATE:  The released emails from Gene Sperling seem even more damning:

But I do truly believe you should rethink your comment about saying saying that Potus asking for revenues is moving the goal post. I know you may not believe this, but as a friend, I think you will regret staking out that claim...

Shakespeare On The Sequester (and Obama)

Representative Tim Huelskamp (R., Kan.) quoted the bard (well, paraphrased, it seems), when asked about thy hysterics - primarily Obama's, fanned by the media - surrounding tomorrow's inevitable sequester:

“It is a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury and signifying nothing”


Huelskamp is being polite. There are many other Shakespearean snarks that would have been equally appropriate to mark the president's humiliating behavior:

Thou whoreson, senseless villain!

The Comedy of Errors (4.4.24)

More of your conversation would infect my brain.
Coriolanus (2.1.91)

Away! Thou'rt poison to my blood.
Cymbeline (1.1.128)

O thou vile one!
Cymbeline (1.1.142)

They have a plentiful lack of wit.
Hamlet (2.2.198)

There’s no more faith in thee than in a stewed prune.
1 Henry IV (3.3.40)

I scorn you, scurvy companion.
2 Henry IV (2.4.115)

Away, you mouldy rogue, away!
2 Henry IV (2.4.117)

Thou mis-shapen dick!
3 Henry VI (5.5.35)

Sequester: Obama's Plan To Torment Americans Into Acquiescence

Literally. So says  Politco:

He will divide, isolate and defeat Republicans using all the powers of his office and all his skills as a political campaigner. As Americans grow frustrated with the cuts, Republicans will reject their party’s no-tax mantra and demand that Congress end the standoff, even if it means raising some new revenue – just the way Obama is demanding.

Obama’s trying to speed this result, by releasing state by state details of the pain and suffering the sequester will cause, all meant to get Republicans to cave.

If Republicans hold firm, the White House will look to its next major point of leverage: the real-life hassle of the sequester itself. Once people feel the pain, Republicans will want to find a way out, the theory goes.


So Obama wants people - the people whom elected him leader - to "feel the pain"?  Oh, you betcha.

Glenn Reynolds, yesterday:

SO SINCE DEMOCRATIC LOBBYISTS ARE SAYING THAT the worst thing for them is if the sequester hits and nothing happens, I assume that the Obama Administration is doing what it can to ensure maximum sequester-pain for voters. Somebody ought to be filing FOIA requests for emails concerning sequester implementation; there’s probably some gold there.

Well, don't count on the media to do it, they've got too much invested in the narrative.  The president will be poking us with cattle prods, and as we writhe in agony, the press will tell us the Republicans are doing it.

Paul Rahe warns us some bad shit is coming down the 'pike:

Everyone has seen this before at the state level. The legislature trims the projected budget, and the Governor, intent on expanding patronage, responds by declaring an emergency and by cutting access to state parks, library hours . . . you name it. The point is to rally the public against the legislature by cutting popular items while carefully protecting the pork that sustains the Governor's political party.

This sort of irresponsibility is, I suspect, what we will soon see at the federal level. The difference is that Obama will be more brazen and audacious than any Governor has ever been.


Rahe goes on to point out the obvious - that the media will align against the Republicans - and speaks of a need for courage.

I speak of a need for some insanity.

Republicans leadership needs to start going batshit crazy now - today, this minute - and point out the fact Obama has been lying about the sequester for months, and intends to inflict increased hardships upon the American people in order to bend the federal government to his will.  They must warn  - on every radio and TV show they can get their pug-ugly faces on - that Obama is planning to make the life of every American as miserable as possible, for as long as possible, in the hopes they will pressure the Republicans to join him in the raping and looting of what remains of our national treasure.

"We always said change was not going to be easy..."

Look into the camera and say it, girls:  Barack Obama will not stop twisting the arms of hardworking Americans until they do his bidding, and launch their own attack upon the Republican party.

Stick to the storyline - and let the media snicker.  And when it goes down, the Republicans will be in the stronger position, because they will have called it all beforehand.

There is another option:  Stay defensive, and wind up evolving into the Whigs by 2014.

Up to the Republican leadership now.  Cower, and die as a party (and a nation).  Start shouting now about the evil that is about to befall us...and everyone might just be saved.

Sequester-geddon!

From the official Twitter feed of  Barack Obama, via Ricochet:

Share why your family can't afford severe spending cuts to vital services for kids and seniors: OFA.BO/QxoFAf #JobsNotCuts

RT if you agree: It's time for Republicans in Congress to protect middle-class families—not tax loopholes for millionaires. #JobsNotCuts

FACT: If Congress refuses to act by Friday, more than 370,000 mentally ill children and adults will go without treatment. #JobsNotCuts

FACT: Automatic spending cuts would eliminate more than 4 million meals for sick and homebound seniors if Congress doesn't act.#JobsNotCuts

FACT: Impending spending cuts would end programs for nearly 1.2 million disadvantaged students if Congress doesn't act. #JobsNotCuts

FACT: More than 800,000 defense employees will be forced to take unpaid leave if Congress doesn't stop impending spending cuts. #JobsNotCuts

FACT: If Congress doesn't act by Friday, automatic spending cuts will threaten more than 30,000 teacher and school staff jobs. #JobsNotCutss


And in related news:

During President Barack Obama's meeting with U.S. governors at the White House Monday, the president dismissed members of the press to hold a private, hourlong discussion with the visiting state executives. Whatever was said after the cameras left the room especially incensed South Carolina Republican Gov. Nikki Haley.

"I could not be more frustrated than I am right now," Haley told reporters after the meeting. She said that when she asked Obama if he would consider a last-minute plan to shave about 2 percent from the annual federal budget without increasing taxes, the answer was "no."
"My kids could go and find $83 billion out of a $4 trillion budget," Haley said. "This is not rocket science."


Meanwhile, Michelle Obama poses before a military contingent, and preens for the fops and dandies at the Oscars.

Why do I have the feeling that no matter what happens, the Obamas - and the political class - will be immune from the effects (no matter how great or small) of the sequestration?

Note that POTUS hasn't threatened us with a cutback in Air Force One budgets, either...which means that, sequester or not, the demagoguery will go on...

Yay.

Helen Hunt Is Just Like Us! Oh, Wait A Minute...She's Not

The headline is "designed" to fool you:

Helen Hunt flaunts low-budget Oscar style

Oh! What's she wearing? What's she wearing? Tell me tell me tell me!

In perhaps the most surprising fashion choice of the evening, Helen Hunt hit the Oscar red carpet decked in -- wait for it -- H&M.

The Best Supporting Actress nominee was happy to boast to E!'s Ryan Seacrest about the origin of her get-up.


Why would she boast about going downscale? Wait for it --

Hunt had eco-friendly reasons for picking the navy gown, explaining she chose H&M because, "they made a beautiful dress and they are going green." The retailer works with Global Green, which Hunt has been collaborating with to fight climate change. In promoting the good cause and wearing something she already owned, Hunt explained, "It's a win, win, win!"


Awww...because it gives her a chance to preen about being green!  Never let an opportunity to be self-righteous go to waste, I suppose.

But when all is said and done,  is seems as if Ms. Hunt is not an authentic plebe after all. Rather than accessories with H&M's value-priced jewelry, she chose to go in another direction:

But the actress didn't walk the carpet without adding a little bit of glam to the H&M frock, accentuating the dress with $700,000 worth of jewelry.


That nearly three-quarters of a million worth of ice is there for a reason, folks. It's purpose is to let you know - quite clearly - that while she might don the proletarian fashion, she assuredly is not one of us.

She's your better - both morally and financially - and don't you forget it....

Referral of the day....

Sigh...

Sorry, Jen...

The Sequester: Is Barack Obama That Crazy Guy On The Street Corner, Wearing A Sign Claiming The World Will End At Midnight?

Planes crash, schools close, houses burn, criminals run free.

Welcome to the “Mad Max” world that President Obama envisions if the federal budget is reduced by 2.3 percent.

Instead, his claim that the $3.6 trillion budget can’t be trimmed by $85 billion without the country collapsing reveals the utter futility of believing he will ever save America from financial disaster. The nation is headed for ruin unless it cuts spending, but the president refuses to do anything about it.


That's Michael Goodwin in today's New York Post, who has no kind words for the president's latest antics

To see how preposterous the claim is, imagine a smaller example — a family with a weekly budget of $100. Under Obama’s math, cutting $2.30 a week would mean the family would have to give up its home, car and food.

It sounds crazy because it is, especially because Obama proposed these cuts in the first place. He knows he’s blowing smoke, so why does he do it?

Sequester -The Video:  "... here at the end of all things..."

Part of Obama’s motive is not, strictly speaking, about the money, but about the chip on his shoulder regarding wealth. Sharpton said Obama told him and other black leaders privately that “he did not get all he wanted from the rich” with this year’s income-tax hikes.

That certainly doesn’t sound like an economic argument. It sounds like retribution, maybe even reparations.


George Will mocks Obama's theater of the absurd as well:

It is, however, inaccurate to accuse the Hysteric in Chief of crying “Wolf!” about spending cuts under the sequester. He is actually crying “Hamster!”

As in: Batten down the hatches — the sequester will cut $85 billion from this year’s $3.6 trillion budget! Or: Head for the storm cellar — spending will be cut 2.3%! Or: Washington chainsaw massacre — we must scrape by on 97.7% of current spending! Or: Chaos is coming because the sequester will cut a sum $25 billion larger than was just shoveled out the door (supposedly, but not actually) for victims of storm Sandy!

Artist's rendition of Sequester: The Day After

Or: Heaven forfend, the sequester will cut 47% as much as was spent on the AIG bailout! Or: Famine, pestilence and locusts will come when the sequester causes federal spending over 10 years to plummet from $46 trillion all the way down to $44.8 trillion!

Or: Grass will grow in the streets of America’s cities if the domestic agencies whose budgets have increased 17% under President Obama must endure a 5% cut!

....Today, while Obama prepares a governmental power grab to combat global warming, sensible Americans, tuckered out with apocalypse fatigue, are yawning through the catastrophe du jour, the sequester. They say: Cry “Havoc!” and let slip the hamsters of sequestration.


Interesting that both Goodwin and Will - neither of whom can be classified as right-wing nuts - both see malice in Obama's grandstanding. One hopes the American people can see it as well - fear of what this man is capable of is probably a more useful emotion right now than fatigue.

Me? I'm just pissed off, 'cause I hate being lied to. Mark Tapscott in the Washington Examiner:

But the lie of sequestration goes even beyond predictable prevarications like LaHood's. The sequestration cuts are from the government's "baseline" budget, which includes built-in spending increases every year.

So what the professional politicians bewail as a spending cut is actually nothing more than a reduction in the amount that spending will increase each year.

Put another way, this whole series of threats that the Pentagon won't be able to defend the nation, passengers will have to suffer three and four hour waits in security lines at the airports (when they are open), women and children will be thrown off Food Stamps, and on and on are ... lies, pure and simple lies.


Every time Obama opens his mouth to speak on the sequester (or anything else, for that matter), he should be preceded by a public service announcement, much like this one given by Leonard Nimoy in a supernatural episode of the Simpsons entitled "The Springfield Files":

Hello. I'm Leonard Nimoy. The following tale of alien encounters is true. 
And by true, I mean false.
 It's all lies. But they're entertaining lies. And in the end, isn't that the real truth?

The answer is....No.

Oregon's Gun Control Bill: If Your're Not Paranoid Yet...

Guess what?  They are coming for your guns!  Well, in Oregon, at least. But no doubt this is only the start.

Here's what state legislators are looking to pass into law in the appropriately-named "Beaver" State:


Any person who, prior to the effective date of this law, was legally in possession of an assault weapon [defined as any gun with a scary-looking attachment] or large capacity magazine shall, within 120 days after the effective date of this 2013 Act, without being subject to prosecution:

(a) Remove the assault weapon or large capacity magazine from the state;
(b) Sell the assault weapon or large capacity magazine to a firearms dealer licensed under 18 U.S.C. 923 for lawful sale or transfer under subsection (2) of this section;
(c) Surrender the assault weapon or large capacity magazine to a law enforcement agency for destruction;
(d) Render the assault weapon permanently inoperable;


So here we are..."Surrender your weapons!" time has come to America...

But it gets worse:

This 2013 Act being necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health and safety, an emergency is declared to exist, and this 2013 Act takes effect on its passage.

Yeah, because downtown Portland is ablaze:

Didn't Obama just decry "manufactured crises"?  Or does that somehow not apply to any crises the Democrats manufacture?

Not sure what they're putting in the water in Oregon, but their plan to basically seize weapons from law-abiding citizens is neither original nor clever.  Lots of folks throughout history have declared states of emergency in order to convert citizens into subjects; in fact, note the very definition of the word:

Dictatorships are often characterized by some of the following traits: suspension of elections and of civil liberties; proclamation of a state of emergency; rule by decree; repression of political opponents without abiding by rule of law procedures; these include single-party state, and cult of personality...


Seems like we're almost there.

Paranoid yet?  If not...maybe you're the one with the tinfoil hat tied on too tight....

Democratic Mayor Endorses Christie; Her Party Responds With A War On Women

Democrat Dina Long is the mayor of Sea Bright, New Jersey.  Her little borough of some 1,500 residents was ravaged by Hurricane Sandy:

“All the beach clubs are gone,” she [Long] said.

Donovan’s Reef, a popular seaside bar next to town hall: also gone.

Dunkin’ Donuts and an adjoining service station, located at the foot of the Rumson-Sea Bright Bridge: flooded.
The Exxon gas station: battered by waves.

And every business from Peninsula Street to Center Street, Long said, had, at the very least, their windows blown out; many had merchandise float away with the tide. Same for all the cabanas from the beach clubs, she said.

“Some are sitting in the middle of the highway,” she added.
Damage to homes and businesses was “incalculable.”


Mayor Long became a little bit of a local celebrity - and garnered some national attention as well - with her positive attitude and hands-on approach with both the residents and the rebuilding.

And now she's famous again - for endorsing Chris Christie's run for re-election as governor of New Jersey:

Democratic Mayor Dina Long threw her support behind re-electing Republican Gov. Chris Christie, touting his leadership in the aftermath of superstorm Sandy and saying she has no time for partisan politics while trying to rebuild her town, which was heavily damaged by the storm.

Beauty and The Beast?

“There is no time for Republicans and Democrats to bash each other in the name of party politics. I don’t want to spend the next six months being coy,” she said during the endorsement announcement at Woody’s Ocean Grille in Sea Bright.

Long became the second Democratic mayor, after Harrison’s Raymond McDonough, to endorse Christie for re-election...


The reaction from the local Democratic party leader Vin Gopal?  Swift and furious.  Posted on Facebook:

...we will be taking the appropriate steps of restructuring the Democratic Party in Sea Bright, to ensure that the voice of true Democrats is one that prevails...Mayor Long’s most recent endorsement of Governor Christie is in stark contrast to our Democratic principles, and those of the over 250 top Democratic elected officials and party leaders across Monmouth County who have endorsed Barbara Buono for Governor and will be working hard for her to elect her in November.


What's the best part of this vow to destroy Dina Long?  The post immediately following the Monmouth Democrat's declaration of jihad:

Well, only certain women.  Those who toe the party line.  Step out, and those dirty Democrats  - male and female - will come at you with swords drawn.

I'm thinking Mayor Long will get re-elected in Sea Bright, regardless of her party affiliation, because in a time of crises, she showed poise, leadership and performance.  About all one can ask for in a public official.

But Dina's own party - which proclaim themselves to be the ultimate defender of the female gender- will try to bring her down. For New Jersey Democrats, courage and strength pales before fealty to the almighty Party...


(Hat tip: More Monmouth Musings)

Rand Paul vs. Marco Rubio: Can't Wait Until 2016!

Let the Democrats roll out that withered old harridan, Hillary Clinton, in 2016.  The media can chant "historic" all they want, we'll just chant "Ben-gha-zee...."

We've got two savvy heavyweights who are going to duke it out in the finals, and neither of them is named Chris Christie (more on him later).  Marco Rubio is in Israel right now, and looking more presidential than Barack Obama has on his best day:


Marco Rubio, In Israel, Is Meeting Netanyahu And Becoming Rather Popular

Rubio said he is visiting the country in his capacity as a member of both the Senate Intelligence and Foreign Relations committees. He is scheduled to meet with Israeli President Shimon Peres, Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, and said that he will discuss the peace process between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

According to a source with knowledge of the schedule, Rubio, who was in Jordan on Tuesday to meet with King Abdullah, met with Netanyahu Wednesday afternoon, a meeting followed by a small private dinner held in his honor that included “one senior minister from the Likud party.”

Rubio’s visit, while probably made in the spirit of it’s-never-too-early-to-start-campaigning, has nonetheless made him extremely popular among the Israeli press and politicians. His declaration on Wednesday that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital, a point that is hotly contested by the Palestinians, coupled with positive reviews of his visit in the Israeli media, have helped bolster his image.


Jen Rubin:

His Thursday press conference from Jerusalem was as solid an appearance (fluid, disciplined, informed) as any senator in recent memory and certainly more coherent than what we hear from the administration.


Solid?  You betcha.  But in the other corner, we've got Rand Paul, who went to Israel last month (with equal praise for his performance) and is currently showing how serious he is about domestic spending by putting his money where his mouth is.  NPR(!):

For the second year in a row, Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican of Kentucky, is returning a large part of his office's operating budget to the Treasury.

According to a press release, Paul presented taxpayers in Louisville with an "oversized" check for $600,000.

"I ran to stop the reckless spending, and I pledged to the people of Kentucky that I would work to keep their hard-earned money out of the hands of Washington bureaucrats whose irresponsible spending has threatened our country's economic health," Paul said.

As we reported at the time, Paul wrote out a check for $500,000 last year. That means that during the two years that Paul has been in the Senate, he has returned $1.1 million.

The $600,000 represents 20 percent of the senator's operating budget.


Quite a comparison to President Chicken-Without-A-Head, who is currently flying around the nation on Air Force One (what's that costing us?  Hello? MSM? ) warning us that doom is at hand if the policies he put forward (Obamacare?  No, the sequester!) are faithfully executed.  Attempting to save money, we are being told, is the root of all evil.

If by 2016 America is not ready and willing for a bit more gravitas from their leadership, then the end will really be upon us.  But I don't think - I don't want to think - that is the case.

We've got some heavyweights ready to come off the benches, folks...and no, I'm not talking about Chris Christie, who appears to be planning a third-party run with New York lefty Andrew Cuomo, whom Christie professes to agree with 98% of the time. Maybe.

But we've nominated the most centrist Republican running in the past two general election cycles, and they've both lost handily.  Given a choice between a Democrat and a Democrat lite, folks will take the real deal every time.  Shoot, dollars to donuts (no pun intended) says Hillary would best Christie in his home state, proving that more and more, liberals want Republicans to govern their affairs close to home, but prefer to put a Democrat in the White House for symbolic purposes.

Stay home in Jersey, Chris, and kick ass in the 2013 election.  Let Rubio and Rand duke it out to be the national standard bearer in 2016., and let the loser join the winner on the ticket.

Then bring on the Clintons....

Meet The Face Of Anti-Semitism: George Galloway

He's a British MP from the "Respect" Party (more on that later), no less.  But have no doubt: George Galloway's revulsion at having to sit down and debate with a Jew (sorry, an "Israeli") and subsequent refusal to do so was not an aberration, but an open display of the anti-semtism that lies in the heart of every liberal who proudly wears the badge:

George Galloway has been accused of racism after walking out of a debate at Oxford University after discovering that his opponent was an Israeli citizen.

The Respect party MP for Bradford West – a vocal critic of Israel and its treatment of Palestinian people – had been taking part in the debate at Christ Church college, speaking for the motion that "Israel should withdraw immediately from the West Bank", when he learned that Eylon Aslan-Levy, a student opposing it, was Israeli.

Galloway interrupted the third-year philosophy, politics and economics student at Brasenose college when Aslan-Levy used the word "we" in reference to Israel.

"You said 'we'," said Galloway. "Are you an Israeli?"

"I am, yes," Aslan-Levy replied.

"I don't debate with Israelis. I have been misled, sorry," Galloway said, standing and putting on his coat, then reiterating as he walked out: "I don't recognise Israel and I don't debate with Israelis."

The Oxford student newspaper Cherwell quoted Aslan-Levy as saying afterwards: "I am appalled that an MP would storm out of a debate with me for no reason other than my heritage. To refuse to talk to someone just because of their nationality is pure racism, and totally unacceptable for a member of parliament."

The debate organiser, Mahmood Naji, told Cherwell.org: "At no point during my email exchange with Mr Galloway's secretary was Eylon's nationality ever brought up or mentioned." He added: "Nor do I expect to have to tell the speaker what his opponent's nationality is."


Watch the video - it is actually more horrific to watch than it is to read.  Note the gasps from the crowd, which was not likely comprised of Israeli partisans, to say the least:




Galloway, to his credit, has the courage of his hateful convictions:

Galloway said on his Facebook page: "I refused this evening at Oxford University to debate with an Israeli, a supporter of the apartheid state of Israel. The reason is simple: no recognition, no normalisation. Just boycott, divestment and sanctions, until the apartheid state is defeated. I never debate with Israelis nor speak to their media. If they want to speak about Palestine – the address is the PLO."

Galloway reiterated his earlier points in his replies to his questioners, tweeting: "No recognition of Israel. No normalisation. Christ Church never informed us the debate would be with an Israeli. Simple."


And don't even bother me with trying to make a distinction between Israel and the Jews   Trust me, there is none in Galloway's eyes....nor in those of his supporters.

This is liberalism, people.  Deal with it.

Getting back to the top - do you know where the name "Respect Party" was derived from?

Its name is a contrived acronym standing for Respect, Equality, Socialism, Peace, Environmentalism, Community and Trade Unionism.


Look at that list, and ask yourselves if there is any daylight between Barack Hussein Obama and George Galloway on the issues that make up the "Respect" Party.  Then look at Obama's treatment of Israel, and his nomination for Defense Secretary.  And don't forget that Obama too stormed out on a prominent Israeli,- one Benjamin Netanyahu - when he didn't bow to his demands.

So what do you think Obama really feels about Israel, and the Jews?

If you need to ask....contact George Galloway.  At least he'll be honest with you.

CBS Cancels "The Job"...

Written here, about two weeks ago:

What does it say about our society - and about the social and economic trajectory of the Untied States - when the newest television reality show offers, as its final grand prize....a middle-class job?

We live in a time when a having a middle-class job has mutated from the American Dream to a luxury, when even those lucky enough to still have one live in perpetual fear that they’ll be fired next.

“The Job” turns this massive human toll into spectacle, dangling the prospect of an unspecified mid-level position in front of desperate contestants, who degrade themselves by telling their most pathetic personal histories in the paradoxical quest to regain some dignity.

People on “The Job,” meanwhile, are competing to become paper pushers, wine slingers, bureaucrats. The first episode’s “prize” is an assistant-manager job at a restaurant.


The American people seemed to have agreed, as "The Job" got canceled yesterday after only two episodes:

The contestants on "The Job" don't deserve to be unemployed. It's a different story, however, for the CBS executive who green-lighted this depressing Mark Burnett reality show.

But the reason most of us watch TV is to escape our realities, and "The Job" instead rubbed our faces into them. It consistently reminded us of how sad the state of our economy must be when the most impossible-to-attain prize a competition show can think to award is a middle-class job to someone who is completely qualified for it.

I don't know about you, but battling C-level celebrities for charity -- or other tribes to remain on a tropical island -- isn't an everyday thing for me. But I did apply last year when Buzzmedia, one of the companies featured on "The Job," advertised a full-time position after I got laid off by my newspaper. And the application didn't even warrant a response.


Hmmm....

We all know how tight CBS is with the president - just witness how they turned 60 Minutes over to him just a few weeks ago.

Could the executive who green-lighted this mess really be...Barack Hussein Obama?

If CBS will whore out its premiere news franchise for the president, why wouldn't they consult him on an economy-based reality show?

Why would they, you ask? Well, based on the network's embrace of crony capitalism and their support of the Obama agenda, the question is...why wouldn't they?

He's just stupid enough to believe a circus like this would give the American people "hope".  In other words, Barack Obama is just smart enough to be...a reality TV producer.

Hello again America, and welcome to..."Wheel of Misfortune!"

Hello again America, and welcome to..."What's My Lie?"

Hello again America, and welcome to..."Our Life Savings In Jeopardy!"

Hello again America, and welcome to..."Let's Make A Steal!"

Which explains why Obama does a "manufactured crisis" about every six weeks. He's hamming it up for the audience at home, hoping to get just enough ratings to stay relevant for another day...

Wednesday Morning Media Malaise

I won't call these today's headlines, as all of the top web portals are running stories about Oscar hopefuls and Oscar Pistorius - alas that they show so much more curiosity about a murder of a model by a celebrity than the death of the four Americans who were killed in Benghazi.

But that's a fair enough segue into what we'll call today's top stories (all clipped from Instapundit):

Five Months After Benghazi Murders: Killers Frolic Untouched There.

Gas Prices Soar 51 Cents in Just Two Months.

WaPo: Gas Prices Are On A Mysterious Climb.

Senate Democrats try to dodge responsibility for ObamaCare.

The President Is Raging Against a Budget Crisis He Created.


So why aren't these stories making the headlines?  Michael Goodwin, writing in the New York Post:

Too many news organizations are shockingly uncurious about Obama’s second- term agenda. They apparently don’t want to know, and certainly don’t think the public does, either.

one bother to ask how the president plans to balance the budget or pare the debt or question his claims that he knows how to create jobs. If he does, where are they?

Instead of trying to find out where the president was during the Benghazi slaughter — and whether he slept through a terrorist attack — they demand to know his golf score. Instead of digging for more information about defense nominee Chuck Hagel’s bias and potential conflicts, they want a holiday photo op that is more fitting for a celebrity.


Yeah, like I said yesterday - Media complains about access to Obama; but what's the point...when they are only going to befoul themselves anyway?

Obama fiddles while Americans burn.  And the media dances joyfully to his tune...

Chuck Hagel: Obama's PERFECT Secretary of Defense !

From a speech  Hagel made at Rutgers University (yeah, buddy!  Jersey represents!) in April of 2010:

Secretary of defense nominee Chuck Hagel said Israel is on its way to becoming an apartheid state during an April 9, 2010, appearance at Rutgers University, according to a contemporaneous account by an attendee.

Hagel also accused Israel of violating U.N. resolutions, called for U.S.-designated terrorist organization Hamas to be included in any peace negotiations, and described Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “radical,” according to the source.

....He said that Hamas has to be brought in to any peace negotiation.


Sounds like some serious anti-semitism being covered there by anti-Zionism, Chuckie Boy...

But that's OK, apparently.  John McCain and Lindsey Graham aren't bothered enough by it to block the nomination, and jeez - American Jews voted for Barack Obama in massive numbers, well aware of his, ahem, "proclivities".

So bring it.  Seems like some people need to learn a serious lesson.  And I for one think it is time to stop protect people (especially my people) from the consequences of their choices...

Media Complains About Access To Obama; But What's The Point...

....when they are only going to befoul themselves anyway?

“Speaking on behalf of the White House Correspondents Association, I can say a broad cross section of our members from print, radio, online and TV have today expressed extreme frustration to me about having absolutely no access to the President of the United States this entire weekend,” [Fox News correspondent Ed]Henry said in a statement Sunday. “There is a very simple but important principle we will continue to fight for today and in the days ahead: transparency.”


And once given the opportunity, well...

After a Golf weekend in Florida avoiding the press, President Barack Obama returned to the White House Monday night, where he faced screaming reporters trying to hold him accountable by asking, in unison, “Did you beat Tiger?”

According to the White House pool report, Obama returned to the White House at 8:10 p.m. on Marine One. As he exited the helicopter on the South Lawn and made his way towards the South Portico, a group of reporters demanded to know whether the president vanquished golfing legend Tiger Woods, his Sunday golf companion.

The president appeared to have heard the question and cracked a smile, according to the pool report, but just continued on his way.


The primary reason our government representatives have lost any sense of accountability to the American people is because the media has refused to hold them accountable for their actions.  If we are to fix our broken system, we must fix the media model as well.

Hey, if you can throw out the Second Amendment due to the actions of one psycho, why can't you put some  you know, reasonable guidelines upon the First, especially where corporate media entities are involved? After all, it's not like they're people....right?  After all, if you believe "Citizen's United" is poor jurisprudence and should be overturned, then the mainstream media's right to unfettered free speech can be limited as well, correct?

Well, I suppose a liberal would disagree with that, after all, doublespeak (unchecked by the media, of course) is what keeps them going.  Besides, you know what happens to a liberal when you expose them to their own paradoxical thinking...

Will America Be Sold Out By Senate Republicans?

If we are, it would be totally fitting that the two men who are willing to hand of the Defense to a blithering incompetent are the two men considered by the media to be the "most reasonable" Senators in the Republican party (except when they are running for president, of course, in which case they morph into right-wing nuts overnight).

Dave Carter over at Ricochet (in a piece aptly titled "A Fraternity of Scoundrels") points out how these men are prepared to betray their own words with their actions:

Regarding the nomination of the supremely inept Chuck Hagel to be Secretary of Defense (Neville Chamberlain being indisposed at the moment), John McCain concluded, "No, I don't believe he's qualified. But I don't believe that we should hold up his nomination any further, because I think it's (been) a reasonable amount of time to have questions answered." Why not nominate Oprah then? It would take even less time to establish her lack of qualification to head the Department of Defense.

Assistant Secretary of Retreat Lindsey Graham gave his considered opinion that Hagel is, "…one of the most unqualified, radical choices for Secretary of Defense in a very long time." And therefore, he concluded as surely as night follows day that, "... at the end of the day, this is the president's decision. I give him great discretion."


Jen Rubin is stunned:

Huh?

Both McCain and Graham (who termed Hagel “one of the most unqualified, radical choices for secretary of defense in a very long time”) haven’t merely said they disagree with Hagel or that other nominees would be better. They said flat-out that he’s unfit, uninformed and “radical.” So why in heaven’s name would they help him get confirmed by lifting the filibuster? They cite respect for the president’s ”discretion,” but no discretion is owed to confirm someone unfit for the job, who said he couldn’t or wouldn’t do the job.(Hagel denied he’d be a policymaker or would run anything, pleading that it didn’t matter what he thinks.)

...Let’s recap. The president doesn’t care about an inept nominee. The Democrats don’t care about an inept nominee. But Republicans are supposed to defer to the White House’s judgment? This is, frankly, nuts.

Back to Dave Carter:

Latitude to qualified nominees is one thing, but latitude to those who have established their incompetence at profound length during painful testimony is pathetically and mind-blowingly dumb. If John McCain, Lindsey Graham, or any other senator finds Chuck Hagel unqualified to lead our armed forces, they have an affirmative duty to stop this disaster before it unfolds with catastrophic consequences. To do any less is to spinelessly subordinate the security of the United States in deference to a fraternity of professional scoundrels.


Jen Rubin is a lawyer turned conservative columnists, one of a handful of Jews to occupy said niche. Dave Carter is a cross country truck driver, retired military veteran, former private detective, and now a conservative radio host.

These are tow people of quite disparate personality and professions reaching a common conclusion. Graham and McCain may yet sell the nation out in order to maintain Senate comity, but it appears as if it will not go unnoticed.

It's time for McCain, especially, to dig deep inside and find that inner POW.  America need courage and resistance now more than ever, and I believe McCain still has it in spades. He'll find that Barack Obama is much less tough than the guards at the Hanoi Hilton, and much more adverse to drawn-out, hand to hand (political) combat...

Liberal Doublespeak Sunday!

Nicely pointed out by EJ Hill:

When arguing for a carbon tax, liberal politicians and their followers make the argument that government interference that artificially increases the cost of something will decrease the demand for it. When arguing for an increase in the minimum wage, liberal politicians and their followers make the argument that government interference which artificially increases the cost of something will not decrease the demand for it.

So which is it?


Easy. Whichever is politically expedient for the Democrats at any given moment in time.

Of course, the Left wouldn't get away with this as often as they do if the media actually called them out on what Hill gracefully calls their "cognitive dissonance".

Will never happen, of course.  The Democrats want what they want - socialized medicine, higher taxation, higher wages - and when the facts don't fit the theory, they don't adjust their theories. They "adjust" their facts.

The mainstream media wants what the Democrats want.  Hence their de-evolution to their current morally corrupt status.  Stacey McCain:

Times change. Back in the day, the Washington Post exposed corrupt cover-ups. Nowadays, they’re active participants in the cover-up.


It's either that, or report the lies.

The WaPo has chosen death before dishonoring their liberal bona fides.  Can't say they don't deserve what's coming...


Addendum (barely related):   Ferris Bueller's Day Off.  Great movie.  John Hughes shot an additional 45 minutes or so of scenes and footage that were edited out to give the movie a run-time more typical of "teen" comedies.  This bit, in the script but left on the cutting room floor, is delivered by Ferris directly to the camera, as he was wont to do throughout the movie.  It speaks to the doublespeak above:

FERRIS: My uncle went to Canada to protest the war, right? On the Fourth of July he was down with my aunt and he got drunk and told my Dad he felt guilty he didn’t fight in VietNam. So I said, “What’s the deal, Uncle Jeff? In wartime you want to be a pacifist and in peacetime you want to be a soldier. It took you twenty years to find out you don’t believe in anything?” [snaps his fingers] Grounded. Just like that. Two weeks. [pause] Be careful when you deal with old hippies. They can be real touchy...

Study: The 'Occupy' Crowd Were Simply Garden-Variety...Losers

And these are the people the media lauded as the New Revolutionaries; the guardians of a New Age of Social Justice:


What did Frontier Lab discover? First, that many of the rank-and-file occupiers feel isolated in their lives, and appear to lack basic community ties such as are provided by participation in clubs, churches, and strong families. Indeed, much of the report could have come from the early chapters of Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone. They thus attach to their political causes with something like a religious fervor. For many, a commitment to “social justice” is “not the end, but rather a means to an inflated sense of self and purpose in their own lives.” Crucially, involvement with others who agree with them provides an “overwhelming feeling of being part of a family.” I noticed this on my first trip down to Zuccotti Park, when I saw a telling sign adorning the entrance to the tent city: “For the first time in my life, I feel at home.”

Look at me! Me! Me! Me!

The second group, which to all intents and purposes forms the leadership, is less existentially lost, and derives its fulfillment from the “prestige,” “validation,” and “control” afforded by the movement’s coverage in the media. Frontier Lab calls this group the “Professionals.” Its members fill the ranks of the professional Left and boast long histories of attending and organizing protests...There is nothing spontaneous or organic about the movements they lead. They are waiting for the revolution and hope to be in its vanguard. Their careers depend upon it.


Not quite representative of the "99%", are they?  More reflective of the mindset of your average mainstream media correspondent, however.  Which explains the glowing coverage of this pathetic, self-centered little movement...

Loser, layabouts, and shifty opportunists.

Come to think about it, that trio of labels can be ascribed to just about the entirety of the Democratic party....

End Times? Oh, You Betcha! Watch Fire Rain Down Upon Russia...

The Pope abdicates, perhaps ion line with the doomsday prophecy of the mysterious Saint Malachy. Meanwhile, another self-proclaimed prince works furiously to tear down the world's greatest nation from the inside, plundering its wealth and decimating its defenses.  The Middle East seethes and froths, and while the Jews huddle and prepare to fight off another Holocaust (by themselves, again), a tiny despot on the Korean continent enslaves and starves his people while preparing weapons of mass destruction.

Amidst all this, meteors come shrieking furiously through the sky, hurling down upon Russia with a blinding flash and a roar, injuring at least 1,000 locals, maybe more:










Impact photos:

And they say God doesn't send signs.  I've said for a while that he does.  Just need to open your eyes, ever so slightly....

Crony Capitalism: Warren Buffet Buys John Kerry...I Mean, Heinz Ketchup

Not seen in many of the media reports about the Berkshire Hathaway buyout of Heinz ketchup:

Secretary of State John Kerry's financial portfolio could grow by hundreds of thousands of dollars from today's $23 billion deal between billionaire Warren Buffett and a Brazilian-owned investment firm to buy out ketchup producer H.J. Heinz Co.

Kerry will divest dozens of holdings, but 2010 financial disclosure forms show at least $3 million in Heinz stock in family trusts benefiting his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry. She retains those assets under an agreement approved by government ethics officials.

It's not clear whether the trusts sold off Heinz stock before the deal, but the buyout could earn them as much as $1 million, according to an Associated Press analysis.

Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital will pay $72.50 a share for Heinz, which closed at $60.48 on Wednesday.


Buffett continues to do good work for the Obama Administration (see his fundraising efforts for Barack, undertaken after the president awarded him the Medal of Freedom,  his purchase of 65 editorial pages, and his eagerness to have a tax named after him).

Seems like Warren is less about capitalism, and more about plain 'ol capital.

The thing he doesn't seem t  grasp, however, is that the more he empowers the government, the more disposal income he drains from the customer base of his various Berkshire holdings.

But maybe Warren knows that, and doesn't care.  Because if the government can force you to buy health insurance, they can force you to buy ketchup....

Stonehenge: New York

Taken on Tuesday, February 12th, at 8:00AM.  Just about on the corner of 52nd and 7th, facing due east:

Who were the mysterious settlers of this narrow barrier island, and why did they erect their buildings in such a way that on every February 11th, their home star would rise directly between them?  Was there a significance to this date - a time of festival, or perhaps of reflection and mourning?

And how could these primitives have built such a city, which must have been magnificent in its heyday? Structures which reached towards the sky, tunnels that ran underground, busy harbors, active roads, and lush parks..it speaks to a higher intelligence, yet these people seemingly destroyed themselves.

How did it happen, and why? There is no evidence of a natural disaster, so the decay and decline must have been self-inflicted. Our studies of these curious "New Yawk Ers", as they seem to have called themselves, continue, but so far answers as to their fate seem elusive.

Perhaps this edifice with it's solar orientation bears a clue. Although most research does seem to indicate that this society was not under the sway of any  "sun god"; they did, in fact, worship a higher deity.  They referred to him simply as "The One"...or occasionally, by the more primitive name "Barack"...

SOTU: Damning Obama With Faint Praise

Bob Schieffer from CBS:

“I mean, the president’s inaugural address had sort of a partisan lecture tone about it,” Schieffer said after Obama wrapped. “This was a political speech, but it was well-written, it had a beginning, a middle and an end.”


Well...OK, then. That's a pretty low bar, but if Barack Obama is to achieve any sort of intellectual success whatsoever, that's where it's going to have to be set.

Shieffer, perhaps realizing he works for the same network that gave us Steve Kroft and his 60 Minutes propaganda special, scrambles to get back on message:

“He coined a few phrases in there, talked about the unfinished task before us, sort of reminiscent of what Lincoln said in the Gettysburg Address, but all in all I thought this was a much better speech than we heard on his inauguration,” Schieffer said.


Whew! Close one. Shieffer keeps his Fawn status with his positive, albeit ludicrous, comparison of Barack Obama and the Great Emancipator.   The rest of us, of course, are lessened.....and so is Lincoln, by the wy.

All contained within a story with the least surprising headline of the year:

State of the Union reaction: Media gives Obama thumbs up

Media Perpetuates Obama's Lie About Sequestration

It's Yahoo!, once again, leading the charge to replace truth and honesty in reporting with hard-left, hard-line liberal propaganda:

Wait a second....Congress' plan to cut military and domestic budgets?  Who the f*ck came up with the idea of the sequester, anyway?

Oh, yeah.  Even the Washington Post won't swallow this steaming load of bullsh*t, which Obama has been telling since late in his re-election campaign:

Obama’s fanciful claim that Congress ‘proposed’ the sequester

The White House proposed the idea of a compulsory trigger, with Sperling calling it an “automatic sequester,” though initially it was to include tax revenue, not just spending cuts. Boehner was “nervous” about using it as a budget tool....

Once tax increases were off the table, the White House staff came up with a sequestration plan that only had spending cuts and sold Harry Reid on the idea....Republicans agreed to the White House proposal for a sequester.


How does the Washington Post, no bastion of conservatism, rate Obama's claim the the sequester was Congress' idea?

We had been wavering between Three and Four Pinocchios. But in light’s of Lew’s decision to doubledown on Obama’s claim, we agree it’s a whopper.

And yet, there is Yahoo, reporting Obama's lies as fact.

Not a news service - a propaganda outlet.

Today, the same as yesterday....

Yahoo Sneers, "This Is What Forward Looks Like"

More from the most vile news service in the nation...on the top of their "Politics" section of my homepage:

No doubt they thought the linked article would be an affirmation of The One, and all of the wonders he is bringing forth.

Maybe they should have read it first:


Whatever the merits of any particular commandment from the president or his agencies, the perception of a government expanding its reach and hitting business with job-killing mandates was sure to set off fireworks before November.

Since Obama's re-election, regulations giving force and detail to his health care law have gushed out by the hundreds of pages. To some extent this was inevitable: The law is far-reaching and its most consequential deadlines are fast approaching.

In short, sticker shock.

It's clear from the varied inventory of previously bottled-up directives that Obama cares about more than "Obamacare."

"I'm hearing we're going to see a lot of things moving now," Hilda Solis told employees in her last day as labor secretary. At the Labor Department, this could include regulations requiring that the nation's 1.8 million in-home care workers receive minimum-wage and overtime pay.

Tougher limits on soot from smokestacks, diesel trucks and other sources were announced just over a month after the Nov. 6 election. These were foreseen: The administration had tried to stall until the campaign ended but released the proposed rules in June when a judge ordered more haste....


In other words: Everything the Republicans warned you about Obamacare, and a second Obama administration, are coming to pass.

You've been lied to, and now you life is about to be further controlled by the government, and neither you nor your elected representatives are going to be permitted any say in the matter.

And everything is about to get much more expensive, from going out to eat to filling up your tank with gas.  Check out what's coming down the pike:

—The Justice Department released an opinion that people with food allergies can be considered to have the rights of disabled people. The finding exposes schools, restaurants and other food-service places to more legal risk if they don't accommodate patrons with food allergies.

—The White House said Obama intends to move forward on rules controlling carbon emissions from power plants as a central part of the effort to restrain climate change, which the president rarely talked about after global-warming legislation failed in his first term. With a major climate bill unlikely to get though a divided Congress, Obama is expected to rely on his executive authority to achieve whatever progress he makes on climate change.

-The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to complete the first-ever limits on carbon pollution from new coal-fired power plants. The agency also probably will press ahead on rules for existing power plants, despite protests from industry and Republicans that such rules would raise electricity prices and kill off coal, the dominant U.S. energy source.... 

—In December, the government proposed long-delayed rules requiring automakers to install event data recorders, or "black boxes," in all new cars and light trucks beginning Sept. 1, 2014. Most new cars are already getting them.


This is what "Forward" looks like. This is also the world that Yahoo!, and its news staff and ownership, want.

Remember that, the next time you scroll through their propaganda-laden homepage...



(More on the unhinged bias and animosity of Yahoo News can be found here, here, here, here and here, and here and here...and here. Oh, and here...here too...and here)