Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Socialism works until ...

you run out of other people's money.

Read the whole article, but here are some highlights:

Let’s be clear, it is the job and obligation of all investment managers, including hedge fund managers, to get their clients the most return they can. They are allowed to be charitable with their own money, and many are spectacularly so, but if they give away their clients’ money to share in the “sacrifice”, they are stealing. Clients of hedge funds include, among others, pension funds of all kinds of workers, unionized and not.

Shaking down lenders for the benefit of political donors is recycled corruption and abuse of power.

Let’s also mention only in passing the irony of this same President begging hedge funds to borrow more to purchase other troubled securities. That he expects them to do so when he has already shown what happens if they ask for their money to be repaid fairly would be amusing if not so dangerous.

Last but not least, the President screaming that the hedge funds are looking for an unjustified taxpayer-funded bailout is the big lie writ large. Find me a hedge fund that has been bailed out.

From Megan McArdle:

The administration is beating up the creditors because a) it wants to give the UAW a much better deal than they'd get in liquidation and b) they'd like someone else to pay for it. I recognize that the law is always kind of messy, but as far as I know, this kind of blatant political intervention between debt claims is unprecedented, and worse, it's a dress rehearsal for doing the same thing at GM. I don't think this is good for the rule of law, I'm pretty sure it will be bad for capital markets, and I'm nearly positive it's going to make it hard for any heavily unionized company to get substantial capital for the next decade.

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Clinton's Military Adventure Continues

I love the troops' sense of humor. I also appreciate the line in the song about Rawanda and I guess they couldn't find the bus from Zonation's "Under My Bus" but still pretty good stunt work and not hard to understand the symbolism. Very few people realize that in Kosovo our troops are protecting the Muslim population.

Best Comeback evah!!



Joy Behar’s floundering response, “That’s quite a jump,” is entirely without merit. Joy Behar’s entire “point,” such as was, was to point out Coulter’s alleged hypocrisy in that she supports waterboarding being done to others, but does not want to be waterboarded herself. Of course, to any sentient being, this argument carries zero force; almost no one wants to be thrown in prison themselves, but almost everyone favors prison sentences being imposed on others in certain circumstances. This does not demonstrate intellectual inconsistency or hypocrisy on the part of the vast majority of America, it demonstrates that punishment works in part because we don’t want it to happen to us.

Saturday, May 02, 2009

A conversation with a DGSE agent

Hat Tip: Pamela Gellar @ Atlas Shrugs

100 DAYS OF BEING A LAUGHINGSTOCK IN PARIS

Paris, France. It is very cool to be a French intel guy. A spectacular meal at a Parisian bistro with $90 entrées and a $200 bottle of Bordeaux? No problem. I'd known this fellow since he got me out of a jam in Sudan years ago. His James Bond days are over, but still, riding a desk for the DGSE -- Direction générale de la sécurité extérieure (General Directorate for External Security), France's military intel agency - in Paris has its decided benefits.

One of them is not being infected with Obamamania. "My agency considers him a joke," he confides. "Every day there is some fresh lunacy that we cannot believe. Mr. Bush would often make us angry. But at this man we just laugh."

"In truth, it also makes us sad," he continued. "French resentment towards America is strong, so being able to laugh at your country feels good. But it is such a sad and strange thing to see America - America The Great! - do something so crazy as to elect this ridiculous man."

"There are many people in America who think he isn't a legitimate president as he wasn't born in the US and isn't a natural citizen. What do you think?" I asked.

He shrugged. "I wouldn't know. I've never had reason to make an inquiry."

"There are a lot of people convinced he is a traitor who hates America and is actively determined to destroy it. Any opinion on that?"

He didn't shrug at this. After a long slow sip of wine, he mused, "I would not go that far. Many of his actions, however, are very puzzling because they are so counter-productive regarding America's best interests. There seems to be a consistent pattern in that direction."

"What does Sarkozy think of him?"

"Nothing but contempt."

After a pause he asked, "And Langley?"

"Well, if you thought the war they waged against Bush was intense, it was nothing compared to how they're going to screw Obama. He has tried to gut them with the ‘torture memo' release and slashing their budgets. The morale is depressed, sullen, and enraged. You know what a left-wing outfit Langley is. They thought he was their boy and they feel betrayed. All kinds of damaging stuff on him will be appearing via their media friends."

He nodded. "And in Tel Aviv City?"

He was referring to the huge underground city complex of Langley's underneath the US Embassy in the Israeli capital. "That's an interesting question. You know how vast and deep the relationship is there. Langley is making every effort to overcome the total and massive distrust their Israeli colleagues have for Obama, whom they know is selling them down the Jordan River. So far though this effort is in words. The Israelis are waiting to see what Langley does."

He said nothing. I smiled. "You guys wouldn't be Langley's cutout for thwarting BO regarding Israel, would you? I'd never suspect that..."

He continued to say nothing, gave me only a slight smile in return, and poured me another glass of wine. "The Bordeaux is good, yes?" I nodded."

You know, the French media worships this man the same as yours in the US. All of this ‘100 days' talk, it is impossibly stupid. Most anyone in the French elite, the business leaders, Sarko's people, they all know this. They all think this is some crazy joke of the Americans. But it is a very, very dangerous joke. For 100 days your president has been a laughingstock among the tout le monde No one may be laughing 100 days or 10 months from now."

He leaned forward. "The world can go - how do you say - sideways with this man very quickly. No one he has working for him knows what they are doing - possibly excepting Mrs. Clinton - and he certainly does not. All of us in our little community are worried - us, our friends in Berlin, London, Tel Aviv, and Langley too as you say. It is not like the barbarians at the gates. It is everythere are no gates. The Somalis, Chavez, Iran, Putin, Beijing, the ‘Norks" as you call them, the list is long and it is growing. We are not sure what to do."

It took me a moment to respond. "The best thing that has happened now is Obama making Langley his enemy. They will be cooperating with you more, be more a part of your worried community. Working together, you can undermine his efforts more effectively, block and maybe even repair the damage."

It was my turn to lean forward. "Then again, all together you could be more pro-active. The man is a mystery. Nobody can make public his actual birth certificate, or even the particular hospital he was born in, or his college grades, or how he got into Harvard, or how he made editor of the Harvard Law Review and never wrote a single article for it. It goes on and on. He really is a Zero. I think all of you guys should find all of this out and make it known."

I added, "The quicker the better, before the laughing stops and the real dangers begin."

"What is that phrase you use?" he asked. "Something to consider?"

I laughed. "Yes, there is much to consider - and much that you can do. I mean, really, if the Soviet Union could be dismantled, so can this presidency."

It was a beautiful April afternoon in Paris. He walked me back to my hotel. It could be that the times we live in may get even more interesting.

Friday, May 01, 2009

This is so wrong in so many ways

Michael Vick in Talks to Become PETA Spokesman

Yes, you read that correctly. The disgraced one-time NFL superstar serving prison time for funding an illegal dog-fighting ring is primed to do public-service ads for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals upon his release later this month. According to three people with knowledge of the matter, the proposed endorsement is part of a comprehensive PR scheme aimed at rehabilitating the quarterback's image and gaining him readmission to the league that banned him from playing.

Obama Budget Cuts Visualization

My only quibble with this is the statement that there are things that can't be cut.

Role Reversal explains it all

Redstate has an article up today that relates an overheard conversation in a bookstore as a reflection of what a liberal (today's version, not classical) means when it says it loves America. The most telling part of the conversation is that it is a sexual role reversal for those of us that have held to the concept of "A man marries wanting his wife to never change, a woman marries with plans to change her husband." Of course, that too may have a political bent.

Click this sentence to read the full article, an excerpt:

The reality is, though, that ponytail wanted something else. He didn’t love his wife for what she was. In this he is a perfect reflection of the American left. They don’t love America for what it is. They love their own ideas of what they want America to be. Not what she is.

Thursday, April 30, 2009

'Cudas, Choppers, and Bears!! Oh, my!

Brief clip of the Orange County Chopper guys and Sarah Palin from tonight's American Chopper episode on TLC 9:00 Eastern 8:00 Central

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Would you buy a car from....Timmay!!!

Geithner: The Fox Guarding the Henhouse? by Larry Kudlow
What is going on in this country? The government is about to take over GM in a plan that completely screws private bondholders and favors the unions. Get this: The GM bondholders own $27 billion and they’re getting 10 percent of the common stock in an expected exchange. And the UAW owns $10 billion of the bonds and they’re getting 40 percent of the stock. Huh? Did I miss something here? And Uncle Sam will have a controlling share of the stock with something close to 50 percent ownership. And no bankruptcy judge. So this is a political restructuring run by the White House, not a rule-of-law bankruptcy-court reorganization.

OK, maybe not Timmay!!! But Uncle Sam,BO, and the bosses of UAW. Unlike Timmay!!!, the car czar is not a known tax-cheat, just a suspected bribery participant in misuse of State of New York pension funds.

Now hat the Gummint and the UAW are going to control GM and Chrysler, how long will it be before the Gummint uses it's power of the pen to severely hamper any competition? How long until Gummint accounting practices replace GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles)? How long until the only car you can get will be used Gummint vehicles, or maybe the 21st century Trabant?

If they do this quickly enough, with their typical vampire enthusiasm, perhaps some people may take a second look their lust for the cash flowing through the healthcare system. HINT: They aren't really concerned about delivery of healthcare, it's about delivery of their cut (or taste as Tony Soprano would call it).

Pretty much says it all


Monday, April 27, 2009

I had wondered...

why Miss California was asked the homosexual marriage question by that flaming queen (BTW why is an male homosexual judging feminine beauty?) Mario Armando Lavandeira Jr. (aka Perez Hilton). Now I know, her bio set her up as a target.

Miss Prejean is a student at San Diego Christian College - the kind of place activist gay leftists are at war with, where Christians preach what they practice.

Since judges have background sheets on the contestants before them, I'm sure a massive case of gender envy by Mario forced him to out Miss California as a Christian. Probably with the indignation that she probably voted for Proposition 8 with the majority of Californians and the thought of, "How dare SHE be Miss California!!"

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Finally An Admission Cap & Trade is a TAX!!!,



And when he says it's a large one he means it. $3128 for an average household. That $400 Obama doled out off of payroll taxes doesn't seem like a deal now, does it? At least they are finally calling payroll taxes what they are, a tax instead of "contributions". But of course since business has to collect the energy tax they are confident they can blame business not the Demothuglicans in DC.

And despite all the idiot advertisements on the Boob Tube, that tax is going into the general fund, just like Social Insecurity has since 1964.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Earth Day Giggles and Grins

Update: That Big Yellow Thing in the sky confounds the know-it-alls.

A present for you. The download link is to a pdf of page 64 of Newsweek magazine of April 28th 1975. The first Earth Day Issue. Its title? Why, "The Cooling World" of course. Enjoy!!


A Shirt I'm ordering


You can get yours at Ranger Up Street Gear.

Monday, April 20, 2009

We need it 18,500 more times

The Obammessiah is getting press for directing his cabinet to cut costs by doing such things as bulk ordering office supplies. He had directed them to save $100 million dollars. Well it is a start I guess but with the Congressional Budget office saying that the deficit for FY 2009 is $1.85 trillion that would mean we would need to save that $100 million 18,500 times to balance the budget. And what is he talking about going line-by-line over the budget? Did we pass the line item veto while I wasn't looking? (I checked, we didn't) So he can go over it, but he only has two options sign it or not, and he damn well knows it and the media knows it, but thinks that the rubes (that's you and me) don't.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Why Homeland Security is scared of Veterans

I think this concept scares the hell out of those people who intend to shred the Constitution as written and substitute "wiser, saner, more Democratic and cosmopolitan rules for the future."

Friday, April 17, 2009

WDSU ex-reporterette "Nips"

CNN’s Susan Roesgen, who was known as "Nips" to the radio personalities in New Orleans due to a "wardrobe malfunction" while covering Mardi Gras parades in a Belly Dancer/Harem Girl costume for WDSU-TV, is now becoming known for beclowning herself at the Chicago Tea Party by trying to shout Obamessiah talking points over the person she was supposed to be trying to interview. In the first video below you will see a little more of that scene with additional video when a crowd member lays into her for her obvious bias in trying to slant the report:



Now look at her report on a much smaller, obviously more to her liking, gathering:



And if you need a further example, from when she was still in New Orleans:




Michael Graham of the Boston Herald had this to say about "Nips".

The people that have relied on Rent-a-Mobs from ACORN, ANSWER, MORON (MoveOn), and other bought and paid for subsidiaries of the Democrat Party and George Sor@ss can not believe that real unpaid citizens might actually have been lulled from their stupor to express their thoughts about what is happening.

Jimmy Carter's four years of budgets caused what was named Stagflation. In four years a $100 price increased to $149 by inflation alone and wages did not keep up. And his budgets did not represent anything near the percent of the money supply that the Obammessiah's do. It's time to start studying the Weimar Republic or perhaps the history of Zimbabwe economics is more parallel.



In other news we find that the new "Auto Czar" is being investigated by the SEC for arranging illegal kickbacks to the brother of New York state's pension fund manager while he was working as a senior executive at an investment firm.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Tea Party Day!!!!

While the media does its best to ignore and chant, "move along, there's nothing to see here."



And to summarize the state of the Lame Stream Media, exclusive from the Onion News Network,

Media Having Trouble Finding Right Angle On Obama's Double-Homicide

Monday, April 13, 2009

Tramp Stamp Barbie?

Is there really a market for this?

It appears so.

But some of us are going to have a lot of fun with it.

The Reason it's called the Lame Stream Media

They photoshop or stage photos from combat zones, they steal copyrighted content from independents like Michael Yon, and now they prove that they don't understand the terms of use for their own YouTube channel.



They will not accept that their mask on impartiality slipped off in the last election cycle and that they will probably (hopefully) never regain their previous stature.

Their failure is richly deserved.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Did he change his mind?

Obama twice approved force to rescue hostage.
Ok, good, but why twice? Did he rescind the first one, or not authorize the necessary level of force? I'm really curious about why he needed to do it twice.

I thought that meeting with the troops looked phony, and I was right.

Update!!!!

I notice "The Paper of Record" (/sarc) had this slightly different account:

The Defense Department twice sought Mr. Obama's permission to use force to rescue Captain Phillips, most recently on Friday night, senior defense officials said. On Saturday morning, the president agreed, they said, if it appeared that the captain's life was in imminent danger.


I hate to say it, but for once the old gray trollop sounds more believable than the other account. OMG who'd have thunk it!!

Of course I would have preferred, "Try hard, very hard to prevent the Captain from being hurt but teach them a lesson that will give pause to any other idiots."

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Alan Keyes nails it!!!

Send this video to everyone you know

Friday, April 10, 2009

Even if the MSM is now part off the Government

The title includes "President Pantywaist" and the first paragraph starts,

President Barack Obama has recently completed the most successful foreign policy tour since Napoleon's retreat from Moscow. You name it, he blew it.

That sums it up, but read the whole thing.

And now for something completely different.



Prosecutorial misconduct over and over?

So, it was with great interest that I read that the Department of Justice attorney, Brenda Morris, already held in contempt by Judge Sullivan in the matter involving the wrongful prosecution of Senator Ted Stevens, and now under investigation by both the Department of Justice and the special prosecutor chosen by the Judge, was also a supervisor in the Libby case.


Another Brenda Morris case led to a $1.3 million dollar settlement to the defendant.
The judge in that:

"This is a prosecutor who needs to be removed, and I would hope the attorney general utilizes the same test of integrity as he did in the Stevens case," said U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia, who ruled against Morris in Brown's case. "Though (the Brown case) is several years old, there is no statute of limitations on integrity."

Finally, if the Obammessiah will let it be built, it will probably sell quite well.

As you sow, ...

Does U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd rue the day a decade ago when he brokered the deal to repeal the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act, which some analysts have called the most important financial legislation to come out of the Great Depression?

In a Dodd profile published two weeks ago, a Fortune magazine editor quoted the head of the American Bankers Association lauding the senator as the “unsung hero” in the passage of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act, which actually dismantled the key Glass-Steagall provisions intended to protect bank depositors from risky and speculative investments.

No Disclosure allowed!!!! (Until insider trading of politically connected is finished.)

A massive underestimation.

Probably as good a way to vote as any Crypto-Marxist could come up with.

A law blog a lot different than "The Volokh Conspiracy."


Print, cut and send to the Treasury:



A video found at Cop the Truth

How stupid do have to be to shoot this guy's dog?

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Spinning like a Tornado

Janet Napolitano announced that the US no longer would use “war on terror” to describe the fight against al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and other affiliated terrorist groups and said we should call terrorism “man-caused disasters”. CNN tried getting VP Biden to explain this, and while not accusing CNN of making it up, clearly he couldn’t believe anyone would be this stupid:



Tables Turned on Prosecution in Stevens Case

Now the Obammessiah Praises the Effort in Iraq -- Isn't That Special?


Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Reasons to pay your taxes



There are a few Democrats (as opposed to democretins) that actually put their country ahead of marxism. Zell Miller, Ron Silver, Toby Keith and Dennis Miller come immediately to mind. It looks as though I may have to add Senator Blanche Lincoln to the list. Thank you Senator for standing up for secret ballots instead of Union Thuggery, I think. She wasn't clear as to why she is on the just side of the issue.

Quote from a "Human Rights Commissioner." "Freedom of speech is an American concept, so I don’t give it any value.” Now I don't care for the UN (useless nitwits) but generally people like the idiot quoted are all gooey about them and want to impose UN policies worldwide. So Mr. Commissoner what about Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?

Will the usual suspects rant and howl about this with Obamessiah being the responsible person instead of W?

The seizing of the economy. A trillion is one million millions.

Monday, April 06, 2009

Non-Trivial Pursuit Anyone?

Back when Katie and Charley were trying to stump Sarah with Trivial Pursuit questions, someone should have asked the Obamessiah how smart his briefers were and if he was going to deign to listen to them. Either he's not listening or they are the result of teachers' union education. An example from "The Gaffobamatron" referenced here:

At a news conference afterward, Obama said his debut on the international stage had convinced him that “political interaction in Europe is not that different from the United States Senate,” where he served before entering the White House.

“There’s a lot of -- I don’t know what the term is in Austrian -- wheeling and dealing, and people are pursuing their interests, and everybody has their own particular issues and their own particular politics,” he said in response to an Austrian reporter’s question.
Since there is no language "Austrian", the reporter probably asked the question in American.

"And now, for something completely different..."

Saturday, April 04, 2009

The charade is unraveling

Even the most left-wing rag since Pravda is calling "bluff" on the oratory skills the teleprompter reader.

The First Lady of France gives him a cool reaction.

Geithner was hailed before the credit derivative melt down for "making derivatives trade more efficiently". Now he blames a "lack of supervision" for the problem. He was the one suposed to be supervising. Another left-wing rag has noticed.

NATO says no to the Obammessiah. Wasn't his election supposed to enthrall our European "allies"?

This story tells of the ham-fisted kleptocrat warning bankers that he is their protection from the mob with the pitchforks. But then this story and this story may indicate that the kleptocrat is misreading at whom those pitchforks are aimed.

Has buyer's remorse set in yet? Or at least the feeling in the "hype and chains" folks that they have been had?

And finally, the real tragedy at Binghamton.

Thursday, April 02, 2009

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

One of these is not like the others

If you have a liberal "friend" send them this link. Be prepared for apoplexy.

Key lawmakers are pushing to dramatically escalate U.S. defenses against cyberattacks, crafting proposals that would empower the government to set and enforce security standards for private industry for the first time. Is anyone out there familiar with the term "nose of the camel?"

With advisors like this in the State Department, is it any wonder the shape we're in? I do agree about the GM foodstuffs. Even a blind hog finds the occasional acorn. If she would mention irradiation for food preservation, I might even give her a pass as only eccentric, however I think I'd rather ask her to be part of the solution.

Now bearing in mind that Twain said, "There is no native criminal class except Congress", can you spot the "money phrases in the following from NPR?

The Justice Department on Wednesday asked a federal judge to drop all charges against former Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska.

A jury convicted Stevens last fall of seven counts of lying on his Senate disclosure form in order to conceal $250,000 in gifts from an oil industry executive and other friends. Stevens was the longest-serving Republican in the Senate. However, he lost his bid for an eighth full term in office just days after he was convicted. Since then, charges of prosecutorial misconduct have delayed his sentencing and prompted defense motions for a new trial.

Holder's decision is said to be based on Stevens' age — he's 85 — and the fact that Stevens is no longer in the Senate. Perhaps most importantly, Justice Department officials say Holder wants to send a message to prosecutors throughout the department that actions he regards as misconduct will not be tolerated.


Anyone want to give odds on the prosecutors being held to account? Thought not.

Monday, March 30, 2009

Daniel Hannan explains it all

OMG he's a possum!

John Woods, grad student at UT Austin is a possum!

As a sheepdog I have always been a firm believer in the sheep/wolf/sheepdog analogy and remember reading a study on chimpanzees that stated the varying flight/fight responses in a group helps ensure the group's survival because one of the responses would likely work even if the fighters just bought time for the fleeing to escape.

There were times when Woods thought that maybe he should get a gun."Then I learned pretty fast that wouldn't solve anything," said Woods, who is now a graduate student at UT. "The idea that somebody could stop a school shooting with a gun is impossible. It's reactive, not preventative."


I have a question. What school shootings were stopped without guns or the threat of guns? Either police or armed students, or armed school personnel, seem to be involved. Woods' inanity continues:

He figures a classroom shooting would be too sudden to stop, even if a student or teacher had a gun."Everything happens too quickly," Woods said. "You either play dead or you are dead."


Now I've been timed at less than a second from hands above my head to the first round of a double-tap hitting a pop-up target. Can he faint that quickly? Would it save him?

Either way a possum is just road kill.

Confederate Yankee sums it up nicely.

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Atlas asked to leave

Even the Looters in Atlas Shrugged weren't dumb enough to do this. So in order to contend with this teensy problem, as well as these Gaia Worshipers, who is Hussein going to appoint to run GM? We have to keep in mind he appointed a tax cheat to run Treasury and give away a few trillion, and his superlative staff can't even organize an Easter egg hunt. I'm sure GM will get some washed up political hack with a law degree that can't count to 21 without taking off his pants. Wait! There is someone who knows all about the auto industry (/sarc) and will march to the beat of UAW's drums. I'm not sure about counting to 21 however.

Sunday's Thoughts

Now that we have the media's candidate safely elected, Time Ragazine can now publish this little piece.

And didn't the media sycophants tell us how much "world opinion" of us would be improved by putting their candidate in the White House? Who forgot to inform these people?

I thought the science was settled. These gadgets were going to help save the world and money too! That is why congress outlawed the alternative starting in 2012, right?

I used to complain about the "Lace Panties Brigade" at Foggy Bottom. But this lack of preparation by a Secretary of State can only be topped by this lack of historical knowledge, or maybe this lack of linguistic talent at State. Now this was not a mistake, but rather the nature of the left. The State Department has always thought that talking was the answer, while our opponents have always thought talking was to buy time to rest, recuperate, and rearm.



Saturday, September 13, 2008

The Difference

An exercise for the reader. What is the difference between a "hard" scientist and a "social science" practitioner?


Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Saturday, June 30, 2007

Lone Survivor - Marcus Luttrell

Rules of Engagement are killing our guys while dhimmicretins like Murtha-ucker and Durbin-turban try to compare them to Nazis and call them murderers. We have to fight as though we have fielded soldiers not cops. It is a quite different mission.

Friday, June 08, 2007

Why some republicans may vote democrat

When you have republicans like Chambliss and Isakson, on the wrong side (they did vote against cloture last night however), a democrat like this one could easily take Chambliss' seat in '08. Especially if you could find a Zell or someone like this guy in Georgia.

Because of Chamliss' sell-out to the carpet manufacturers and onion growers I have promised to work against him in the primary and if he is the republican candidate for his seat to hold my nose and vote for another candidate no matter what.