She means Governor Perry's "Pastor Problem," a problem she creates by dubbing it with a cute name.

Perry’s critics are concerned about his distinctly Christian approach to public prayer as well as his association, through ‘The Response,’ with several problematic pastors, among them John Hagee, controversial for his comments on Israel, the Roman Catholic Church and Islam, and C. Peter Wagner, who has suggested that the Catholic veneration of saints is an evil practice.Should politicians be judged by the religious company they keep?

Really, dude? more...

Posted by: Ace at 08:32 AM | Comments (360)
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Sorry to hit this again, but the MFM isn't going to notice, so it's on us to point it out.

Amid new warnings and fresh signs of strain, President Barack Obama and congressional leaders are entering a perilous debt-limit endgame. The president, declaring "enough is enough," is demanding that budget negotiators find common ground by week's end even as the Senate's top Republican gained followers for his own last-ditch scheme to avoid a government default.

...

And in the cauldron of the White House Cabinet Room, Obama and top lawmakers bargained for nearly two hours Wednesday on spending cuts. Obama curtly ended the session when House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., urged Obama to accept a short, monthslong increase in debt instead of one that would last through next year's presidential election.

"Enough is enough. ... I'll see you all tomorrow," Obama said, rising from the negotiating table and leaving the room, according to several officials familiar with the session.

...

Earlier, in comments to a small group of reporters before the White House session, House Speaker John Boehner complained that negotiating with the White House "the last couple months has been like dealing with Jell-O."

...

The [Democratic] officials said Obama went on to say they all had a responsibility to find a compromise.

Can anyone explain how Obama's claim that others have a responsibility to find a compromise squares with Obama's "I shall not yield"?

Obama is once again pretending he's nothing but a referee in this. But apparently the kind of referee who gives orders to both teams and gets testy when his demands are not satisfied.

Posted by: Ace at 07:51 AM | Comments (184)
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Drew covered it last night.

The only thing I want to note is that this was staged for effect. People do this. It's an obvious move in a negotiation. Usually people are more subtle and don't break out plays that were dated in the 1940s, but Obama and the rest of them don't have much business experience so this probably seemed like a really sweet play to them.

I don't know how much business experience our dolts have either, so maybe they were impressed by it.

But this is so standard. The dramatic walk-out. The firm declaration that I shall not yield. It's all bargaining-table improv theater.

There are probably 300 books on How To Win In a Negotiation and, along with stuff like "Give your opponents chairs shorter than your own" or "Have some of your own people stand behind theirs, silently" and the classic "Make them talk first," the Hissy Fit Walk-Out and Statement of Immutable Demand must be in every single one of them.

I just hope no one's terribly impressed by this.

But I have a feeling our own guys, who don't strike me as particularly tough, wee very impressed by it, and are all nervous now, as they were meant to be by this particular production of the Pennsylvania Avenue Players.

Below, audio from Eric Cantor describing the Hissy Fit Walk-Out.
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Posted by: Ace at 06:50 AM | Comments (306)
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That's the number of requests Project Valour-It has they can't afford to fulfill at the moment.

Matt Burden, Blackfive himself, emailed me yesterday because today is the last day of their fundraiser (though I'm sure they'd happily take contributions anytime) and they really need some help.

If you're not familiar with Project Valour-It, here's what their work has meant to one hero.

In 2005, I was wounded. For some months, I was unable to use my hands. They were simply too badly damaged from the blast, and the surgeries to make them usable again left me unable to do anything for myself.

Then came Soldier's Angels, who gave me a laptop, and paired it with special software that allowed me to control the computer, using only my voice! Imagine, being able to do anything you can do with a mouse and keyboard, using just your voice. For me, it allowed me to do one thing, that I could do before I was wounded.

That one thing--when everything: feeding, cleaning, scratching, everything had to be done for me--that one thing I could do for myself allowed me to connect to my soldiers, friends, and family. That one thing... that one thing began a long road to recovery. It gave me hope; that I could learn to do other things like I did before.

That one thing is only possible if people like you care enough to help. We have provided thousands of these systems since 2005, but the needs for these systems is still increasing. I visit military medical facilities and meet with wounded troops, and know that there are ways to help them... and right now, I have to tell them to wait because we need funding.

Should our wounded have to wait for something that can help them heal, take their mind off their pain, or bring them a little sense of self?

Please help us raise $100,000 between July 1-14; to keep us in the business of providing for our wounded. It seems like a lot of money, but every single dollar helps. Every dollar donated goes to the troops. None of the VALOUR-IT donation goes to administrative or other costs. You'd be hard pressed to find any charity that does that, but it was a stipulation I made when we set it up. That number seems huge, insurmountable. But you know how you eat an Elephant? One bite at a time. Give what you can, please. I know times are tough. Times were pretty tough for me, too, and are pretty tough for young men and women learning how to use prosthesis, getting skin grafts, having wounds washed out.

Donate if you can, please share the message with others. Get your friends to give what they can. Write about it on Facebook and twitter. Call in to a radio or TV show. Spread the word. Spread the love. Spread the hope.

Thank you.
Chuck Ziegenfuss

(Cool note: Chuck is in the comment thread. If you have any questions about the program or how important it is to a wounded hero, he's your man.)

Money is tight for everyone but if you have anything you can spare, this is a damn good cause to share it with. You don't have to donate $50, $100 or more to help (though if you can....). If every moron who could tossed in $5, we should be able to make a dent in that 138 hero long waiting list.

You can donate here.

Thanks for your consideration.

UPDATE: Awesome job Morons....the original donation link went to Team Army but it looks like we helped them reach their goal. I've moved the donation link to Team Marines but it doesn't matter which service you donate to, it all goes to the same great cause. They are still only a little over 1/2 way to the overall goal but it looks like they are a lot closer thanks to your help!

Posted by: DrewM at 05:27 AM | Comments (90)
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It chafes His Majesty when the plebs speak out of turn, and it it is simply an act of lèse majesté when mere Congressmen presume to question the motives and actions of the Royal Person.

I must say that I don't find President Obama's legendary peevishness and thin-skinnedness to be imperial so much as pedagogic -- he's got the manners, attitudes, and air of a hack college professor who is being forced to teach a classful of (to him) stupid undergrads. He hates the work, finds it unworthy of his intelligence, and it really irks him to be questioned or interrupted by his students while he's lecturing them. He takes every disagreement as a personal insult; indeed, considers criticism from his perceived underlings as presumption.

Why are the Republicans balking on the debt deal? Because the deal President Obama is offering is to the left of even the Simpson-Bowles plan that the President himself commissioned. If you look at the nuts and bolts of the deal rather than the media spin, you see that the President is offering almost nothing while demanding almost everything. Keith Hennessey writes: "[U]nlike the Bowles-Simpson package, the deal theyÂ’re being offered by the President is such a bad one that itÂ’s not really a tough call."

Andy sends word that the fan who caught Derek Jeter's 3000th hit owes $150K in college loans. Add that to the bill the IRS is trying to serve him with, and it just seems like a pretty high price for an afternoon at the ballpark.

The Government's Four-Decade Financial Experiment. A little taste:

In 1970, Treasury debt held by the public (“Treasury debt”) was $290 billion. Agency debt was small by comparison: it totaled only $44 billion.

But by 2006, at the height of the housing bubble, while Treasury debt was up to $4.9 trillion, agency debt had inflated to $6.5 trillion. Treasury debt had increased 17 times during these years, but agency debt had multiplied 148 times!

At the end of 2010, Treasury debt was $9.4 trillion, and agency debt was $7.5 trillion.

PIMCO chief Bill Gross warns US not to mess with the debt-ceiling. Given Gross's business, I'd be just a little skeptical of his motives here. Yes, bond markets may get spooked if the budget negotiations drag on; but any bondholder who hasn't already priced-in higher volatility on US Treasuries is being irresponsible. Raising the debt-celing without forcing spending cuts actually makes the US debt picture worse, not better, and therefore raises the specter of an even bigger default down the road.

Speaking of bond-ratings: The bond ratings agencies are getting louder about downgrading US debt. This probably should have been done a year or two ago, in my opinion. US debt is not triple-A debt -- our financial situation is so dire that it's absurd to put a gold-plated rating on our bonds. We benefit from being the default reserve currency for the world and for being a "safe haven", but simply being the least worst basket-case isn't a justification for carrying a triple-A debt-rating.

Italy's costs to borrow are skyrocketing. This provides a good example of how quickly bond markets can turn against you. A month ago, no one was talking about Italy's sovereign debt. Now....

One of the arguments made against pension reform is that pensioners contribute back to the local economy where they live. This is true, in the sense that they must do all the things any person must do to live: buy food, pay bills, etc. It's also beside the point. First, many pensioners do not retire in the same place that is paying their pension, so no money goes back to the taxpayer who laid it out in many cases; and the net cost to taxpayers for a retiree's pension is far higher than the contribution the pensioner makes back to the economy in retirement.

The Minnesota state shutdown has finally started to bite: MillerCoors products can no longer be sold in the state because the business's license expired. But actually, it didn't expire -- MillerCoors paid the bill in plenty of time, but paid too much, at which point some dimwit state bureaucrat sent the payment back to them without issuing a new license. So this is a story of state governmental incompetence, not of private-sector foot-dragging. Yet this is also supposed to prove how indispensible the state governmental apparatus is...somehow.

UPDATE 1: Most of us saw this coming - last week's jobless numbers revised upward from 418K to 427K.

UPDATE 2: America the broken. I would only answer, as VDH often says, that decline is a choice, not a destiny.
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Posted by: Monty at 04:55 AM | Comments (152)
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Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 03:09 AM | Comments (155)
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That's one area where Donald Trump without a doubt knows what he is talking about. In a video blog today, he called Republicans "El Foldo."

“Its hard to believe, but the Republicans look like they’re about to fold again. They talk tough, but they don’t act tough. Its incredible. Look at what’s going on. It’s called ‘el foldo’."

"They are going to do something with the debt ceiling. They could negotiate so strong. They could negotiate so powerfully. Right now they’re losing all their chips just like they did in December. They call it the ‘lame duck’ session, where they gave Obama everything he wanted and frankly they had all the cards. Right now they have all the cards and they’re going to give up their hand. I don’t believe what’s going on. And that’s one of the reasons I’m so disgusted with them."

Video below the fold. more...

Posted by: rdbrewer at 06:45 PM | Comments (92)
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Reminder: Tomorrow is the Last Day for Valour-IT
Valour-IT provides special laptops to wounded troops and according to Blackfive they're still short the money needed to help the remaining 138 requests. Don't let them down.

Prepping For The Zombie Apocalypse: How to Build the Ultimate Survival Shotgun

Okay a good reliable shotgun is always nice to have around - for apocalypses or any other social occasions. But can a shotgun also become an entire survival kit? Well Creek Stewart set out to find out.

For this project, I decided to build a survival kit using a shotgun platform–creating the Ultimate Survival Shotgun. My challenge was that everything had to be included in or on the gun itself–no extra pack items or containers. Below is what I did as well as the survival logic behind each decision.

And this is what he came up with:

In addition to ammo, flares, flashlight/compass, knife/bayonet, he also managed to stuff a complete survival kit into the pistol grip and stock. This includes a multi-tool, saw, fire-making kit, and the following which all pretty much guarantees a good time in Vegas:

4”x6” Aluminum Baking Pan, Trash Bag, Fishing Kit, 2 Non-Lubricated Condoms, Water Purification Tablets, Emergency Survival Blanket, First Aid Supplies, Carmex Lip Balm, Whistle, Small Bic Lighter, Paracord, and Snare Wire.

And here it is in action.

Posted by: Maetenloch at 05:49 PM | Comments (721)
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Pro tip...don't tell people you're bluffing.

And then like a teenage girl whose parents just don't understand her, he ran away in a huff.

"Eric, don’t call my bluff,” Rep. Cantor claims the President told him, and– according to reports from both parties– then began to lecture the room on talks, claiming that not even Ronald Reagan would accept the terms Republicans were proposing and that, according to Reuters, “I’ve reached my limit. This may bring my presidency own, but I will not yield on this.” He then left the meeting– because the meeting ended, claim Democratic sources, but Republicans say he merely stormed out. Rep. Cantor himself said the President “shoved back and said ‘I’ll see you tomorrow,’ and walked out.” For added cattiness, the Politico report notes one Democrat quipping off the record, “Cantor is the last guy who should complain about people abruptly leaving meetings.”

The usual suspects are claiming that Obama didn't run away but even Democrats said he did.

Some Democrats are saying it was Cantor who "rudely" interrupted Obama three times.

Given Obama's history of rudely treating the Supreme Court at the 2010 State of the Union and his obnoxious treatment of Paul Ryan at his entitlement speech, all I can say is if it's true is...good for Cantor.

And then there's this.

Obama quoted as telling leaders "I’ve been very patient” and he wants agreement now.

Ah, well King Hussein I is tired of these Parliamentary delays. Don't you know who HE is damn it?

I honestly think there is simply now way to reconcile these two sides. We'll probably see some version of the McConnell plan and then spend the next year plus making our respective cases to the voters.

Related enough: Genius liberal thought for the day.

“The astonishing feature of the federal fiscal position is that revenues are forecast to be a mere 14.4 per cent of GDP in 2011, far below their postwar average of close to 18 per cent. Individual income tax is forecastm to be a mere 6.3 per cent of GDP in 2011. This non-American cannot understand what the fuss is about: in 1988, at the end of Ronald Reagan’s term, receipts were 18.2 per cent of GDP. Tax revenue has to rise substantially if the deficit is to close.”

— Martin Wolf is right, of course. But I’d note that at the end of Ronald Reagan’s term, America had a substantial deficit that required the 1990 budget deal, which was partly composed of — you guessed it — taxes.

Or...maybe revenue is lower than historical average because officially 9.2% of the country is unemployed (the real number is much higher) AND economic growth is anemic at best.

Taxes rely on economic activity of productive individuals and profitable companies, not as liberals seem to think The Money Fairy. With so many people on the sidelines and so much less taxable economic activity in the private sector, there's less revenue.

So of course their solution is to place an even greater burden on what little activity there is!

Pure GENIUS!

Posted by: DrewM at 04:56 PM | Comments (295)
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Based on the low but not inconsiderable possibility there will be a default.

Incidentally, just so everyone knows, a single missed interest payment is considered a default here.

At NRO, one plan for dealing with the debt limit, and and Kristol has another one.

Eh.

Posted by: Ace at 02:08 PM | Comments (433)
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