Saturday Morning Open Thread
— andy

Don't miss Mark Steyn's column today.

In 2009 Nancy Pelosi called for free contraceptives as a form of economic stimulus. Ten thousand Americans retire every day, and leave insufficient progeny to pick up the slack. In effect, Nancy has rolled a giant condom over the entire American economy.

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Posted by: andy at 04:30 AM | Comments (462)
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Overnight Open Thread
— CDR M

With The Walking Dead back on TV last Sunday night, The Washington Post had some thoughts on Red-Neck Jedi And How They Bridge The Red-Blue State Divide. Now supposedly, a redneck Jedi is a "red-state action hero with blue-state sensibilities". Say what? And what exactly are these blue-state sensibilities? Evidently they are this:

Dixon’s main selling point — for liberals, at least — is that he’s capable of changing his mind. Because he can accept leadership from other characters on the show, he defuses the central anxiety that liberals tend to hold about conservatives: that they are calcified in their opinions and deaf to logic.

That's just too rich. It is liberals that are calcified in their opinions and are deaf to logic. Global warming climate change ring a bell? Democrats in Congress were not known for being bi-partisan when they were in the minority now were they? No, they weren't. How many times have we seen Democrat leaders hold to their talking points and budget/tax plans while the facts and logic say otherwise? We see that all the damn time. It is ALWAYS the Republican's that cave, give in to Democrats on legislation.

But the Redneck Jedi flips the script. Unlike the Magical Negro, the Hero Priest and the Gay Best Friend — who, however imperfectly, sought to counter ill will against African Americans, Catholics and homosexuals — the Redneck Jedi helps supposedly open-minded liberals unmake their stereotypes about the right. When faced with a choice, he mulls over the facts and decides that, except when it comes to a zombie’s or vampire’s right to an afterlife, the left-most decision is correct.

Oh please. The left-most decision is correct? Left-most? Really? Left/right does not matter in these situations. The decisions he makes are based on survival. It's not because off some new profound discovery of his hidden inner liberal. Ridiculous. As is the writers intent to say outside of the Redneck Jedi TV character, all of the right is bigoted. more...

Posted by: CDR M at 05:52 PM | Comments (910)
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Bag Lady Wanders In From the Street and Delivers Three Minute Long Tirade at Issa's Panel, Without Any Security Interference Whatsoever
— Ace

She was on Issa's panel yesterday. I guess someone mistook her for a Democratic congresswoman. They don't expect those fine ladies to be coherent or put-together.

If you can make it through her three minutes, you're a Warrior.

Her point is that she uses birth control not for sexual purposes, but for medical purposes. I believe her.

She's at 2:57:00. It should be cued up here.
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Posted by: Ace at 03:11 PM | Comments (436)
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Shep Smith Channels Walter Cronkite, Declares The Drug War Is Lost
— Ace

I can't say I disagree, but isn't he supposed to be a reporter?

Well, not a reporter. An "anchor."

He's annoying.

Below, Shep Smith declaring that people who "deny" global warming are "a little crazy." From three years ago. more...

Posted by: Ace at 02:25 PM | Comments (272)
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Real News Copy: "An Occupy Oakland protester has been charged criminally for kicking a police sergeant last Saturday night following a peaceful march protesting police brutality."
— Ace

Really.

Orwell just emailed me to say "Did I call it or did I call it?"

Posted by: Ace at 01:47 PM | Comments (87)
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Krauthammer: Obama Vs. The Constitution
— Ace

A "man of action," like Mussolini.

Getting things done. By fiat.

From @rdbrewer4 in the sidebar. Read the whole thing.

First, Krauthammer notes that Obama ordered an accounting lie -- insurance companies are required to lie in their accounting books and say this coverage costs nothing, when in fact we know that they will, of course, simply shift the cost to other accounts. And you can't blame them for this accounting lie; it's been ordered by the president of the United States that they falsify their books.

(What happens when they get sued, as they will? They are after all corporations required by law to keep accurate books. They will have a government-ordered false bookkeeping rap against them. Do they get nailed for cooking the books, or let off because the government demanded they cook the books?)

But Krauthammer goes on to say, Let's pretend that the insurance companies won't simply move costs to other accounts and falsify their books. Let's pretend that Obama is simply ordering them, by fiat, to give away a service for free.

In that case...

First, the assault on the free exercise of religion. Only churches themselves are left alone. Beyond the churchyard gate, religious autonomy disappears. Every other religious institution must bow to the state because, by this administration’s regulatory definition, church schools, hospitals and charities are not “religious” and thus have no right to the free exercise of religion — no protection from being forced into doctrinal violations commanded by the state.

Second, the assault on free enterprise. To solve his own political problem, the president presumes to order a private company to enter into a contract for the provision of certain services — all of which must be without charge. And yet, this breathtaking arrogation of power is simply the logical extension of Washington’s takeover of the private system of medical care — a system Obama farcically pretends to be maintaining.

Under Obamacare, the state treats private insurers the way it does government-regulated monopolies and utilities. It determines everything of importance. Insurers, by definition, set premiums according to risk. Not anymore. The risk ratios (for age, gender, smoking, etc.) are decreed by Washington. This is nationalization in all but name. The insurer is turned into a middleman, subject to state control — and presidential whim.

Third, the assault on individual autonomy. Every citizen without insurance is ordered to buy it, again under penalty of law. This so-called individual mandate is now before the Supreme Court — because never before has the already hypertrophied Commerce Clause been used to compel a citizen to enter into a private contract with a private company by mere fact of his existence.

This constitutional trifecta — the state invading the autonomy of religious institutions, private companies and the individual citizen — should not surprise. It is what happens when the state takes over one-sixth of the economy.

Mild old Orin Hatch predicts:

This is not the first, and will not be the last, consequence of President Barack ObamaÂ’s 2010 health care legislation. It was a bad tree, and it is bearing bad fruit. That law, which we believe is unconstitutional in multiple ways, will continue to spawn conflicts in our country. As we see here, it threatens the fundamental rights of every American.

Our Constitution is the supreme law of the land. Laws and government policies must confirm to it — not the other way around. Presidents and senators take the same oath to support and defend the Constitution — not a particular ideology or political agenda. This mandate is the latest manifestation of the Obama administration preferring its political agenda over the fundamental rights protected by the Constitution.

James Madison’s warning at America’s founding — that the people are right to take alarm at the first experiment upon their liberties — rings no less true today. This is hardly the first advance on our liberties from this administration, but it is perhaps the most obvious. It should be a rallying cry to all Americans.

With this health care mandate, religious liberty is a casualty of the Obama administration’s obedience to the abortion industry’s political demands. We have come a long way from 1790, when George Washington told the Hebrew Congregation at Newport, R.I., that the government of this new republic gave “to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance.”

We may have come a long way, but in the wrong direction.

I mentioned on the last Ben Howe podcast that a flawed piece of legislation requiring lots of new legislation (and grants of government power) is the ultimate liberal dream. A law that works on its own terms is the end of their busy day. That might infringe on liberties, but it creates no pretext for additional infringements.

But ah -- a law requiring plenty of fixing, lots of new legislation to get the already-passed parts to work as planned -- that creates the pretext for exciting new assertions of Governmental Prerogative. And, when necessary, flat-out assertions of unlimited power by the Executive.

Like flatly mandating that insurance companies now provide a service for free.

Because We Said So.

It is among the first such New Usurpations, but it will not nearly be the last.

Posted by: Ace at 12:45 PM | Comments (245)
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Keith Olbermann: If You Have 27 Or Fewer Twitter Followers, You Should Question If Your Life Has Any Meaning
— Ace

Typical jackassery from the Do You Know Who I Am? crowd, but it's especially absurd from Olbermann, because no, most people don't know who you are.

Pretty ballsy play of the Ratings card by a guy whose show's ratings are consistently listed as "*."

I guess people who aren't in the media officially don't count.

Posted by: Ace at 11:47 AM | Comments (253)
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"I deserve a gold watch because I'm selling your stuff all the time:" Obama's Speech at Boeing
— Ace

I just put it on CNN.

He has already taken credit for the South Carolina plant he tried to shut down.

President Obama rallied with union workers at a Boeing plant in Washington, but he praised the manufacturing conducted by Boeing in South Carolina, even though his National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) tried to close the South Carolina plant at the behest of the Washington union workers.

"This company is a great example of what American manufacturing can do in a way that nobody else in the world can do it," Obama told the assembled workers this afternoon at the Everett, Wash., Boeing plant. "And the impact of your success, as I said, goes far beyond the walls of this plant. Every Dreamliner that rolls off the assembly line here in Everett supports thousands of jobs in different industries all across the country. Parts of the fuselage are manufactured in South Carolina and Kansas," Obama noted before mentioning factories in other states.

The NLRB tried to close that South Carolina plant, though, after union workers in Washington argued that Boeing had built the new factory in the South Carolina -- which is a right to work state -- in retaliation against the Machinist Union strikes that had slowed production in Washington state.

CNN just began to cut away. So I went to MSNBC. No way they'd cut away from the Godling In Chief, right?

Right. Score. MSNBC is staying with it.

"I deserve a gold watch because I'm selling your stuff all the time." So proclaims Obama.

I'd sure like to give him a gold watch.

Posted by: Ace at 11:04 AM | Comments (231)
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What Do You Think About This Ad?
— Ace

It's an ad for a technical institute in Australia.

It's a real ad. I think. It was uploaded by the Central Institute, and they notify readers that enrollments are open.

But they're very... edgy. Or at least a lot more edgy than you're used to in the average technical institute commercial.

It's a really good ad. It's well written, well played, and well directed. And even among the storyline of they do in fact promote their client. Now "Central Institute" is on my radar. They have a practical mine shaft.

But I wonder if people are ready for it, even the younger and, assumedly, internet-oriented people the ad is looking to appeal to.

Content Warning for language and graphic imagery.
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Posted by: Ace at 10:28 AM | Comments (159)
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Head Is Spinning: Chuck Todd Makes Clear Announcement That Occupy Disruptions Of Republican Events Will Make Evening News Every Night; Hint Hint
— Ace

Gee, I remember Tea Party jeering (which did not in fact stop anyone from speaking -- it just let the speaker know she was speaking bullshit) being called the most hideously anti-American and constructively violent behavior imaginable.

So letÂ’s break down what Chuck Todd is intentionally doing to encourage Occupy to disrupt GOP events:

1. Todd is sending a loud and clear message of approval to Obama-endorsed Occupy thugs: If you successfully disrupt a GOP event, not only will we reward you with media coverage, weÂ’ll start a narrative about how your thuggery proves the GOP challenger isnÂ’t ready for prime-time.

2. Todd is telling Occupy: If you successfully disrupt a GOP event, I’ll be sure to report it with a chyron that reads: “Occupy Protesters Draw Santorum Off Message.”

3. Todd is encouraging Occupy with this message: If you successfully disrupt a GOP event, the only clip IÂ’ll run of the GOP challengerÂ’s message and speech is the one where heÂ’s futilely attempting to speak over you.

4. Todd is telling Occupy to keep it up with this message: If you successfully disrupt a GOP event, IÂ’ll blame the hapless GOP challenger for allowing you to throw him off message.

5. With this message, Todd is telling Occupy they succeeded: If you successfully glitter-bomb a GOP challenger, IÂ’ll be sure to report it while shaking my head at how unready the GOP is for the bigtime.

Posted by: Ace at 09:53 AM | Comments (148)
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