Apparently they've been spreading their proposal for a new Heene family reality show all over Hollywood.

Which makes this quote from Balloon Boy even more provocative:

In an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, "Balloon Boy" Falcon Keene was asked why he didn't come out from the garage attic when his parents called for him. In response, the 6-year-old said, "Um. You guys said that, hrm, we did this for a show."

They're re-interviewing the family, exploring the hoax possibility, though at the moment authorities say they think it's legit.

Here's the 911 call, which sounds kinda fake to me. But 911 calls do sound fake to me, generally -- since I really don't know how people really sound on a 911 call in the grip of panic.

The parents were watching, and their cameras just happened to be rolling, when the balloon accidentally became untethered.

The Only Video Recap You'll Ever Need: Cuffy Meigs chops all the key moments into a short video, including the "did this for a show" and vomiting.

Posted by: Ace at 10:05 AM | Comments (204)
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From Instapundit, who noted that at the end, it looks like the Apocalypse.

Very Missile-Command-ish.

It's been calculated that for each of the paltry number of jobs Obama's Spendulus has "saved or created," it cost the taxpayer a whopping $72,408.

The White House denies this with silly spin.

Basic math would indicate that $2.2 billion spent to create 30,383 jobs would indicate a cost per job of $72,408.

But the White House rejects this.

Recovery Act spokeswoman Elizabeth Oxhorn says that “this contract money doesn’t just go toward labor/wages for workers – it also funds things like purchase of equipment and supplies which also creates jobs.”

Um, whatever the money was spent on, if it was spent to create these jobs, it was spent to create these jobs.

But they claim, naturally, that there all these hidden jobs being saved or created that no one knows about:

Moreover, she points out that “the job numbers reported by recipients and posted today are only direct jobs – or those workers whose paychecks are funded directly by the Recovery Act. That hits the labor/wages part of the equation, but there are also jobs created and saved from the purchasing of equipment and supplies (known as indirect jobs) and the additional purchasing power workers on these projects have that they wouldn’t without the job (known as induced jobs) that is not reflected in these numbers – which, of course, affects the bottom line of doing averages like this one. When you account for all of the non-direct jobs, much different scenario.

Actually the numbers do not indicate which jobs were saved or created by the Spendulus money -- as I pointed out here earlier, Obama's dictate to the states was to credit any job being paid by Spendulus money as "saved or created" by the Spendulus money. In other words, if you have a budget shortage, and you use some of that money (say just $100 a month) to partly pay for a long-time employee you never intended to fire, that is chalked up as a job "saved or created" by the Spendulus. If even a single dollar is used to pay a guy's salary, per the White House's rules of reporting, that's a Spendulus job.

Obviously they constructed this jackass rule to falsely report a large number of "saved or created" jobs -- and they still get these paltry figures, and still have to rely on hidden jobs that no one can prove were "saved or created" to save them.

More on this, with different math coming up with a $500,000+ cost per job "saved or created."

Number of jobs saved or created in Michigan? 397.

“Despite numerous promises from Congressional Democrats, there are still 15.1 million Americans out of work,” said Ken Spain, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee. “After wasting taxpayer dollars to produce an unimpressive 397 jobs in Michigan, middle-class families are still asking one thing: Where are the jobs?”

How about New York? $500 million spent. Congratulations, you have just saved or created fifty four jobs.

The feds have spent a half-billion dollars on 10 of the largest government stimulus contracts in New York City and Long Island -- but created or retained only 54 jobs.

That's an astounding $9 million per job.

Correction: Past five years, not past 20, as I originally had in the headline. Not sure where I got that.

Posted by: Ace at 09:24 AM | Comments (103)
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Not just 'enhanced interrogation techniques' but apparently the hardcore old school stuff as well.

(Jonathan) Evans, the director-general of MI5, said British lives had been saved as a direct result of intelligence received from overseas agencies in the years following the 9/11 attacks on the United States.

Speaking on Thursday night at a private event at Bristol University to mark MI5's centenary, he said they would have been "derelict in our duty" if they had not worked with foreign agencies in countering the threat from al-Qaeda.

...He stressed that it was not "just a theoretical issue" as al-Qaeda had actually laid plans for further terrorist outrages in the wake of the attacks on the twin towers in New York.

"Details of some of these plans came to light through the interrogation of detainees by other countries, including the US, in the period after 9/11; subsequent investigation on the ground, including in the UK, substantiated these claims," he said.

"Such intelligence was of the utmost importance to the safety and security of the UK. It has saved British lives. Many attacks have been stopped as a result of effective international intelligence co-operation since 9/11."

While there are certainly some lines we should not cross, I support what the US did in the aftermath of 9/11. Some of it was ugly but it was necessary. I don't think every schmuck we capture should be strapped down and waterboarded (and they weren't) but for guys like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed who had tactical and systemic information? Yeah, everyday and twice on Sunday if it helps.

Evans makes it clear that the Brits would never dirty their hands in this way but are happy to reap the benefits of others who are willing to make the hard decisions. That's juvenile at best, cowardly at worst but at least he's honest that someone had to do it and that, despite what liberal say, it worked.

You'd think this will put an end to the 'torture never works' argument but it won't. Opponents of the Bush administration are reduced to having to lie about what was gained and the lives saved over the years. Once you remove the argument about these techniques not working, all opponents have left is the reality of their position... 'we're willing to let people die to keep our moral vanity intact'. That's not going to convince too many people, so they'll keep lying.

Don't get me wrong, I think there's a principled argument to be made against torture and even enhanced interrogation techniques. I just wish people would make them and be honest about the price they are willing to pay to see their beliefs put into action. Instead most of them would rather hide behind the lie that these techniques don't work.

Via the new center of evil in the world, KeepAmericaSafe

Added: Strangely, Andrew Sullivan has had nothing to say about Evans on his blog today. It's odd because last I heard, Sullivan is a subject of the UK, so you'd think this might interest him.

Oh and the "last I heard" about Sully being a subject of Her British Majesty was when he was using his political connections to get his pot bust dismissed so as not to interfere with his immigration petition (a subject I don't think he's addressed on his blog either).

Why so quiet Sully?

Posted by: DrewM at 09:13 AM | Comments (73)
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As Allah says, no harm in fact-checking now that the purpose of the quotes has been achieved.

Still not retracting: Charles Johnson and MSNBC.

The Washington Post continues giving smearer Michael Wilbon big play. He gets to write a column where he quickly acknowledges the quotes are fake (probably -- hey, we only have Rush's word for this, he implies, so the quotes may be true), and then suggests he's a racist anyway:

I've met Limbaugh. I communicated with him last week on the issue of his being a part-owner of a franchise. One-on-one, he comes across as approachable and open to pretty much any discussion. But his radio persona is another thing. I don't listen to his show because his comments about people of color anger and offend me, and I'm not easily offended. I'm not going to try and give specific examples of things he has said over the years; I screwed up already doing that, repeating a quote attributed to Limbaugh (about slavery) that he has told me he simply did not say and does not reflect his feelings. I take him at his word.

But Limbaugh has long history of the same insults and race baiting, to the point of declaring he hoped the President of the United States, a black man, fails. I never understood why someone with Limbaugh's gift for communication was so nasty and, in my opinion, gave cover to bigots everywhere under the guise of conservatism. Clearly I'm not alone.

"I take him at his word." As if Rush's word is the only evidence here.

There is an overwhelming amount of evidence the words were simply never stated -- except by a leftwing agitator who made them up and posted them on the internet. Wilbon's fake retraction doesn't acknowledge that fact -- merely that Limbaugh has personally denied the quote. And why listen to him? He's a known racist. After all, you know he defended slavery, right?

Anderson Cooper, meanwhile, makes a point of noting these quotes weren't used on his program, but doesn't admit they were in fact spread on CNN by drunken manslaughter enthusiast Rick Sanchez.

Posted by: Ace at 08:30 AM | Comments (187)
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A veritable bargain at 900 BILLION or so.

House leaders have been working to lower the cost of the $1.2 trillion health-care package they offered in July. The report from the Congressional Budget Office, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post, puts the cost of one plan at $859 billion over the next decade and the other at $905 billion.

...Both packages are based on the original House framework, which proposes to extend coverage to more than 30 million Americans by expanding Medicaid eligibility and subsidizing private insurance for people who lack access to affordable coverage through an employer. Each would expand the ranks of the insured to more than 95 percent of Americans by 2019, and each would create a government-run insurance plan to compete with private insurance companies.

Under the $905 billion version favored by liberals, compensation rates for medical providers in the government-run insurance plan would be based on Medicare rates, which are significantly lower than private rates. That idea, which Senate liberals also support, would hold down costs for the government, according to the CBO, but it would create a problem for providers in rural areas where Medicare rates tend to run much lower than the national average.

Under the $859 billion version, administrators would negotiate rates directly with doctors and hospitals, the option preferred by moderate Democrats from rural areas.

The 'smaller' of the new plans relys extensively on expanding Medicaid which, as Ace went through before, means shifting costs to the states and then back to the federal government when it comes time to bailout the states from these unsustainable costs.

It's simply a shell game.

The larger plan looks like a de facto take over of the health insurance and health care systems by the federal government. Democrats love to say there's no government take over but if the largest source of revenue in the system (the federal government) is setting prices for the whole system, who exactly runs it if not the federal government?

This is simply a house of cards designed to fall so that eventually, as in the Highlander, there can be only one...the Government Option.

Never forget, no mater what Obama and the Democrats say, that's the goal. more...

Posted by: DrewM at 07:57 AM | Comments (63)
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After Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize, members of the media used Obama's "humble" speech to defend him from conservative criticism that he'd done nothing to deserve it. MSNBC's David Shuster even went so far as to call conservative critics "un-American" because hey, Obama acknowledged he didn't deserve it and that settled the issue.

As it turns out, that humility? Words, just words.

Apart from the clue that heÂ’s going to skip over to Oslo to pick up the gong personally (great opportunity for a wonderful speech), consider the emails his White House is sending out. No opportunity to shoehorn in a mention of the Nobel prize is being missed.

Yesterday, it was: “Earlier today, President Obama spoke with President Felipe Calderon of Mexico, President Oscar Arias of Costa Rica, and President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia. In addition to thanking each for their respective calls regarding the Nobel Peace Prize, the President…”

The day before it was: “Late Saturday morning, President Obama returned Indian Prime Minister Singh’s phone call. Prime Minister Singh had called President Obama on Friday to congratulate him on having won the Nobel Peace Prize. The President expressed his appreciation for the call and congratulations. He noted that he was humbled and grateful for having received the Nobel, and that he saw it as a call to collective action on shared challenges.”

Harnden's last question in that post kind of answers itself, doesn't it?

Posted by: Slublog at 05:27 AM | Comments (165)
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"Earliest snowfall on record."

Some of that heavy, wet stuff that's downing power lines.

Congratulations all you northern AoS moron-types, winter is here!

In other news around the world, distraught mom watches her baby stroller fall in front of an oncoming train (video at the link). Although he was dragged 30 feet, he was not seriously hurt, just a bump on the head.

I predict increased sales for that stroller manufacturer.

Also, happy FiAF!

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 05:25 AM | Comments (68)
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Friday

Posted by: DrewM at 05:15 AM | Comments (20)
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Welcome to Thursday all. Now that Balloon Boy is okay we can return to regular moron programming. But first let's take a moment to remember the original balloon man, Lawnchair Larry, who flew the skies of Los Angeles back in 1982. Yep, he was a moron and not the good kind.

Posted by: Open Blog at 06:10 PM | Comments (710)
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Kid's in a boy band? more...

Posted by: Ace at 05:04 PM | Comments (116)
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