This ad, courtesy of AdLib, is showing up on the internet, including on right-leaning sites like BigGovernment:

Lee Doren did some research and finds:

It is paid for by the American Public Policy Committee. Well, according to opensecrets.org, the two donors for American Public Policy Committee this year are Patriot Majority and Patriot Majority West.

However, according to opensecrets.org, the 2nd largest contributor in 2008 to Patriot Majority was SEIU and other top Unions around America.

Lefties sure have a lot of money to squander on abject nonsense.

Posted by: Ace at 08:47 AM | Comments (34)
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I sort of don't even think this is worth noting, as these stories keep popping up, and we now know that virtually everyone is related. (Well, everyone, really, if you go back far enough; but virtually everyone is related just within a thousand years.)

Still. 10th cousins.

Genealogists said Friday the Democratic president and the newly elected Massachusetts senator, Scott Brown, are 10th cousins.

The New England Historic Genealogical Society said Obama's mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, and Brown's mother, Judith Ann Rugg, both descend from Richard Singletary of Haverhill, Mass.

He died in 1687 at, for the time, the unusually old age of 102.

We didn't land on Plymouth Rock, Plymouth Rock landed... Oh wait, we did land on Plymouth Rock.

Also related: Hillary Rodham Clinton and George Stephanopolous. The article doesn't say how closely.

In case Allah doesn't know an angle for this story, here you go: Alpha Male, Plymouth Rock Era.

Thanks to AHFF Geoff.

Posted by: Ace at 08:42 AM | Comments (60)
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On FNC now.

Right now, Obama is giving a speech but there's going to be a Q&A with House Republicans asking questions. Originally one the speech was supposed to be aired but last night the administration asked to televise the whole thing. Depending on who is asking the questions it could be interesting.

Wow, Obama just said, "I am not an ideologue" in response to why he went with big spending stimulus instead of the House across the board tax cut proposal.

No, Joe Wilson didn't shout out "You Lie!". Awesome self control in the face of that kind of provocation.

I love his "I'm not an ideologue, just a technocrat working with what the experts tell me" shtick. Such horse shit.

I have to admit this will likely play well for him, unless someone can lay a glove on him. He's walking the line between fighting back which will help with the nutroots and appearing post-partisan by showing up which some independents love (some are just fed up with him too). Conservatives obviously will loathe him because, well, it's all the same old crap.

That and the whole lying through his teeth thing as Paul Ryan just pointed out helps.

West Virgina congresswoman now going after Cap and Trade. Prepare to be dazzled by Green Jobs bullshit.

Wow...Jason Chaffetz of Colorado....You know Mr. President you lie. A lot. Done out of sadness not anger. Very well played.

Posted by: DrewM at 08:23 AM | Comments (206)
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Just happened. That was a very quick jury deliberation.

The jury of seven men and five women deliberated for only 37 minutes. Roeder faces life in prison after being convicted of first-degree murder.

Roeder also was convicted on two counts of aggravated assault for threatening to shoot church ushers Keith Martin and Gary Hoepner as he fled Reformation Lutheran Church after murdering Tiller.

Whether Roeder shot Tiller at point-blank range in the forehead at Tiller's church in Wichita last May was never at issue; Roeder had admitted it to reporters, in court filings and finally to a jury on Thursday. He also said he had been stalking Tiller since at least 1999.

More in a minute.

On the necessity/justification defense:

But Sedgwick County Judge Warren Wilbert said he could not claim he acted out of necessity. Abortion rights groups became alarmed when Roeder's attorneys asked the judge to allow the jury to consider convicting Roeder of voluntary manslaughter. At the end of testimony Thursday, Wilbert ruled that the jury could only consider premeditated, first-degree murder.

That's the issue that was vigorously debated in comments here. I'd like to know more about why Judge Wilbert refused to allow the manslaughter instruction.

Update: According to this report I found via Volokh.com the judge denied the manslaughter instruction for both reasons we discussed previously: the abortions weren't "imminent" and abortions are legal in Kansas.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 08:22 AM | Comments (61)
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Proponents of gay marriage are backing the Civil Marriage Religious Freedom Act, which would add to the section of law which permits clergy to perform (civil) marriage ceremonies:

No person authorized by this subdivision shall be required to solemnize a marriage that is contrary to the tenets of his or her faith. Any refusal to solemnize a marriage under this subdivision shall not affect the tax exempt status of any entity.

Gay marriage advocates are often accused of wanting to force priests and other clergy to perform gay marriages. Although that's not true and a moot point anyway since the First Amendment prevents it, it seems that since some folks are worried about it the best thing would be to clearly and unequivocally take it off the table.

The bill also changes California's marriage statutes to refer to "civil marriage" instead of just "marriage" to emphasize that the statutes apply to legally-binding, state-regulated marriages as contrasted with purely religious marriages that have no civil consequences. I'm not as crazy about this part of the bill, though I understand why people want to emphasize the difference between the two.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 05:57 AM | Comments (223)
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Stronger than expected (economists are forever being surprised, aren't they?) and it the second straight quarter of growth signals the technical end of the recession.

Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic activity, rose at a 5.7 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter, the Commerce Department said Friday. That is the highest pace of growth since 2003, and it constitutes strong proof that the recession reached its end earlier in 2009. It was also a surprisingly positive result, well above the 4.6 percent rate of GDP growth forecasters had expected.

But there remained reason to doubt how strong the economic recovery will be in 2010. The biggest component of the GDP growth was a steep drop in the pace at which businesses were cutting back on their inventories. Firms reduced their inventories by $33.5 billion in the fourth quarter, compared with $139 billion in the third. In the math of GDP, which attempts to capture the value of goods and services produced within U.S. borders, that added 3.4 percentage points to overall growth.

The down side is that inventories are unlikely to provide a similar boost to growth in future quarters. Now that companies are not cutting back on the goods on their warehouses and store shelves in large numbers, the way they were during the depths of the recession, inventories will not add much to growth in the coming quarters unless businesses decide they cut back too far during the downturn and decide to actively rebuild their inventories.

There was also a significant boost to growth from businesses investing again in equipment and software. They cut back dramatically on capital spending during the depths of the recession, and now such spending seems to be clawing back, rising at a 13.3 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter. That contributed 0.8 percentage points to overall growth.

First, this is good news. Tempting though it may be to down play it, it was annoying when the left did it for 8 years and I'd hate to be in the position of rooting against the country's well being.

That said, even the Washington Post is including caveats that the engine of this growth, the rebuilding of inventories, isn't likely to repeat itself. We may be looking at the front end of the double dip recession we've heard so much about.

As always, jobs is a lagging indicator and the next report on that is due out in a week.

The White House is obviously going to trumpet this number (though it is subject to revision) and they'll enjoy their day*. Still they have to walk a fine line between declaring "Mission Accomplished" (if you will) and the fact that a lot of people are still out of work and in tough shape.

The WSJ has a round up of economists reacting to the report.

From the less than excited end of the spectrum.

# GDP growth broke to a level above expectations based primarily on stronger than anticipated inventory… While consumer spending, the housing markets, and export growth all played a role, the 3.4% contribution to headline growth from inventory expansions remains easily the biggest factor in today’s GDP release… Also note that much of the inventory improvement was limited to non-durable goods and the auto industry, the latter of which is building inventories with questionable short term sales prospects. This inventory-driven GDP number also calls into question the sustainability of this type of growth–there’s no reason to anticipate that inventories will continue to build aggressively with consumer spending remaining somewhat stagnant. –Guy LeBas, Janney Montgomery Scott

On the more optimistic side...

The 13.3% rise in equipment investment was the best since the first quarter of 2006. Equipment investment contributed 0.8 percentage point to GDP growth in the fourth quarter (0.5 point more than we had anticipated). The other big upside surprise was in foreign trade. This reflected a much smaller advance in imports than we had expected. The combination of stronger investment and weaker imports suggests that more of the upside in investment was fueled by domestically produced goods than we had assumed. –David Greenlaw, Morgan Stanley

*The White House blog is already on the case.

Posted by: DrewM at 05:44 AM | Comments (122)
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FRIDAY!!!! And I have inter-tubes!!! A Merry Christmas to us all; God bless us, every one!

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 05:39 AM | Comments (84)
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Happy Thursday M&Ms. It's all downhill from here to the weekend.

The Politics on Your Face

Scientists say your political affiliation can be determined from just your picture

Well given that your face tells people a lot about your age, sex, race, general health, and for men even your testosterone levels, I guess it's not completely far fetched that your political beliefs might show up as well. And according to this study people can guess whether you're a Democrat or Republican about 60% of the time just from a photograph. Which is better than chance but clearly not foolproof.

I was kind of skeptical at first and thought maybe the study was just picking up the fact that just knowing someone's age and sex can let you make a pretty good guess where they fall politically. But it looks like the researchers accounted for that and still found a correlation. So I guess people are really picking up on something. So be careful all you closeted morons in the blue states, your face could be the one betraying you.

Posted by: Open Blog at 05:41 PM | Comments (900)
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It's based on the Brit model (the early walk and talk is more of Brit thing than the tradition middle of the package US stand up) but it's pretty much spot on for what you see on most news casts, local and national.

Thanks to "Ace of Spades" for the link (and "Dario" who apparently sent it to him).

Posted by: DrewM at 05:08 PM | Comments (41)
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Via Drudge.

And a top item on the Obama agenda goes down...

White House officials have told the Justice Department to consider other venues for the 9/11 terror trial that was to be held in lower Manhattan, the Daily News has learned.

It's not a done deal yet and this clowns could double down on stupid but this isn't exactly how the day after the State of the Union was supposed to go.

If they are looking for suggestions, might I suggest this naval base we have in Cuba? I hear it's lovely there this time of year.

Seriously, what city is going to take this after NY says no and succeeds in standing up to Obama? They are going to have to move it out a regular federal court house and onto a military base or something.

Bold prediction: Everyone stays at Gitmo and no one is tried during Obama's term. When a sensible President is elected, it's back to military courts. Or they all die of old age before anyone really deals with it.

Posted by: DrewM at 04:28 PM | Comments (215)
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