The sniping starts at around 1:54.

Michelle Obama—that is a big dude. When Barack plays pick up games at the White House, you know he picks Michelle as his forward, maybe his (center) depending on who’s in Congress that day.”

“That has to be like being married to Elton Brand. She is a big dude.”

That's NBA forward Elton Brand.

Supermodel Iman, by the way, said of Michelle Obama, she's "no great beauty.

From gossip site The Frisky, which finds all of this horrible and grossly disrespectful and all that.

The problem is this: When the MSM and tabloids push the absurd idea that Michelle Obama is one of the most beautiful women on the face of the earth, eveh, comedians, whose job it is to call bullshit on bullshit, are going to vent the politically incorrect truth. Which is also their job.

No one would be saying this, really, if it wasn't being insisted 24/7 that Michelle Obama is a supermodel. As I've said, if the media merely limited the comments on her appearance to the courteous, obligatory, and occasional claim of "beautiful" -- fine, whatever. All first ladies eventually get called beautiful, by someone.

It's the constant demand that we accept a glaring falsehood as a truth which must not be contradicted that pretty much begins demanding contradiction.

Jay Mohr has kinda destroyed his career before -- he got nailed for stupidly ripping off a comic's bit for an SNL sketch "he" wrote. (He has admitted this and apologized for it; he talks about it in Gasping for Airtime, which is also the book that hipped me on to my panic disorder.)

I hope he knows what he's doing. As Marcus Brody says, "You're trifling with forces you cannot possibly comprehend."

Thanks to gg.

Jay Mohr RIP: Since the media is about to destroy him, might as well relive one of his finer moments. Jay Mohr, doing Christopher Walken, pitching Skittles candy.

more...

Posted by: Ace at 01:55 PM | Comments (274)
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There's a bit of backstory here, but the short version is that the New Hampshire legislature passed a marriage law last week which would allow gay marriages, but the Governor vetoed it because it did not contain strong enough religious conscience exceptions. He sent the law back with a suggested exception broader than the one they already had.

It was widely expected to pass and be signed into law by the end of the week. However, the New Hampshire House just rejected the new version of the law. This version was blocked by mostly party-line vote 188-186.

State Representative Steve Vaillancourt, a gay Republican from Manchester, was a leading voice against the amendment securing religious liberties, saying that the House should not be "bullied" by the governor.

Vaillancourt said an earlier bill that did not provide protections to clerics or religious groups was the one that should have been passed, adding that the amended bill would allow discrimination to be written into state law.

Vaillancourt relies on the latest talking point of radical gay marriage supporters: that providing targetted exemptions for religious conscious exemptions codifies discrimination. Let's be clear, though. The Constitution does not prohibit most kinds of discrimination where government imposition would interfere with the freedom of religion. The First Amendment prohibits that type of government action. Vaillancourt may wish otherwise, but no religious institution can be forced to perform or solemnize a gay marriage (or really any marriage) that would violate their religious beliefs.

The bill now goes to committee.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 01:52 PM | Comments (22)
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Transparency.

Since the left likes comparing Obama to Spock, let me offer an alternative sci-fi character comparison: Obama is the naive, guileless, starry-eyed scientist in every science fiction movie saying "No, let's not kill these vicious aliens that have wiped out half of our crew; let's try to communicate with them, observe them, and see what we can learn from them."

This scientist usually doesn't make it past Act II.

Posted by: Ace at 01:39 PM | Comments (44)
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A few weeks ago I wrote about the lawless attempt by the Obama administration and the unions to restructure Zombie Chrysler by means of a sham sale to "New Chrysler." The secured creditors' lawyers (White & Case) had a very short time to object to Zombie Chrysler's motion for sale and they did so in a very brief filing. The judge went forward anyway.

Now, however, White & Case is back with new creditors and a much more detailed objection. The new creditor? The State of Indiana on behalf of its State Police Pension Trust and its State TeachersÂ’ Retirement Fund. The announcement is here.

As stated in the filings, the US Treasury Task Force is seeking to use the Chrysler bankruptcy to extinguish the property rights of the pension funds as secured lenders, violating the most fundamental tenets of creditor rights in disregard of widely recognized bankruptcy jurisprudence. The proposed restructuring of stakeholdersÂ’ rights seeks to make payments of billions of dollars to unsecured creditors, while paying the secured creditors only 29 cents on the dollar.

“As fiduciaries, we can’t allow our retired police officers and teachers to be ripped off by the federal government. The Indiana state funds suffered losses when the Obama administration overturned more than 100 years of established law by redefining ‘secured creditors’ to mean something less,” explained Treasurer Richard Mourdock. “The court filing is aimed not only at recouping those losses but also reasserting the rule of law and preventing the federal government from pursuing policies that strike at the heart of the capital system."

In case you were wondering, Indiana was a red state (before the most recent election). It's good to see they aren't taking this laying down.

The new objection repeats the allegations that Zombie Chrysler is attempting a sub rosa (that is, a secret or sham) reorganization outside the bankruptcy code and that it is an unconstitutional taking of property. It adds a new constitutional claim: that President Obama has exceeded his executive authority by interfering in the bankruptcy process. Lawyer-readers will recognize the Youngstown analysis in the objection. Finally, it asks for an independent trustee to be appointed because (allegedly) the Treasury Department has already seized control of the company and is making fast and loose with its assets.

The filing is available here. Unfortunately it's embedded in the website so you'll have to go over there to read it. I suggest that you do, if only because it does an excellent job of laying out the timeline of events which brought us to this stage. If I could just excerpt the whole thing, I definitely would.

President Bush was regularly villified for exceeding his executive authority in matters of war, where the president has a constitutionally explicit role. President Obama, by contrast, is mucking about in business and bankruptcy, which the Constitution explicitly grants to Congress. Congress has established the Bankruptcy Code to govern it. Obama's end-run around the Bankruptcy Code is lawless and unconstitutional.

WHOOPS UPDATE: Wow, that was fast and I'm sorry I missed this earlier. In less than 8 hours the Bankruptcy Judge rejected Indiana's filing by means of a judicial rule we've talked about quite a bit here at the HQ: standing. The judge holds that Indiana has not demonstrated that it is likely to succeed on the motion because they did not establish that they have standing. Let me emphasize: the judge is suggesting that the holders of Chryslers' secured debt do not have standing in Chrysler's bankruptcy proceedings. o_O

Thanks to commenter polvo.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 12:21 PM | Comments (91)
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The trailer looks decent, even if it does crib the "Excuse me?" moment from Frost/Nixon.

If you somehow missed the strangely cautionary messaging about Obama, let Allah enlighten you.

Words to focus on: Change, Hope, and Devotion to a supposed savior.

Barack Obama, Reptoid? In case you don't know, there's a strange subterranean crazy conspiracy theory postulating that most of the world's leaders are in fact "Reptoids," lizard-like vampiric aliens which can disguise themselves as humans. Confirmed Reptoids include Bill Clinton, George Bush, Queen Elizabeth, and Kris Kristopherson, and no, I didn't throw in that last name as a jokey change-up. He really is named as a Reptoid in the, um, literature.

David Icke is the, err, principle architect of this, err, theory. In fact, it appears he just cribbed the whole notion from the original V.

So: Is Obama a "Reptoid"?

In what appears to be a PR decision, Obama has been provisionally dubbed not a Reptoid, at least until his popularity rating comes down a bit. Wouldn't want to anger the many crazy people who voted for Obama, after all.

However...

. In a case of "you got your sci-fi in my conspiracy theory", they call this the new world order, and 9/11 was most definitely involved. Obama comes in somewhere too, but shockingly he actually isn't a reptoid! Instead he seems to be one of their puppets, and he is hope-nitizing us all (hypotizing with hope).

The Firefly Curse? Gee, I thought the hot-ish alien spokeslady/spokeslizard looked familiar. It's Inara from Firefly.

Which makes it likely V will be canceled shortly.

Posted by: Ace at 12:20 PM | Comments (126)
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This is on Prop 1-A, the main tax-increase proposition.

Wait, did I say the eight most liberal counties voted in favor of increased taxes? I miscounted. The actual number is five.

Wait, I'm still overcounting. The actual number is zero.

Via Instapundit, this observation from Jennifer Rubin:

Politicians be forewarned: the public’s tolerance for tax hikes even in an overwhelmingly liberal state is non-existent. The president and Congress shouldn’t bank on running up the tab and handing the bill to the taxpayers. The taxpayers might just vote ‘no’ on all of them.

Thanks to gg.

Posted by: Ace at 11:27 AM | Comments (82)
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Two dollars in extra taxes per case, and that's low-balling it to get the public a little bit pregnant with the idea.

Remember: No one paying under $250,000 per year will pay a single dime in additional taxes. Obama said so.

Posted by: Ace at 11:04 AM | Comments (123)
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Predictable. Though hard to figure out what he's claiming. He repeats the assertion even while claiming he meant nothing of the sort.

Obviously, I didn't mean to imply second-class status for disabled people. On the contrary, the distance and perspective that comes with physical deficits often leads to enhanced insight and abilities. The greatest President of the past 150 140 years--(Thanks, commenter flownover!)-- sat in a wheelchair.

Ah, nothing like following up a slam on the disabled with a reverse-bigotry claim about them having been granted superpowers via their afflictions.

Classic overcompensation. Why, some of my best friends are Jews/blacks/gays/not really my friends but rather people I see in the commissary on occasion, acting all weird n' stuff with their bizarre cultural and/or lifestyle baggage.

So it is possible to write brilliant, nuanced commentary—on the war in Iraq, for example—without visiting there. But it sure does help to understand a complicated situation in an unfamiliar culture if you can see it for yourself. Indeed, I believe the leavening effects of direct experience are especially valuable for those who are blinkered by ideology and debilitated by extreme views.

And while Krauthammer's skills are impressive, his commentary has been dangerously bellicose, arrogant and wrong. Given his influence with the Bush Administration, his unflinching support for American unilateralism--his invention of the notion of a unipolar world--did extensive damage to our nation's security and reputation overseas, and caused the unnecessary loss of life.

Still, it seems clear that my remark could be construed by some as insensitive—and if I have caused any discomfort to any disabled person, I apologize sincerely. In the end, Krauthammer's deficit is not a matter of body, but of judgment.

Meanwhile, Joe Klelin's able-bodied, fully-ambulatory, and luxuriously-padded ass remains safely in his Manhattan condo. Where he gets his Iraq information from real first-hand sources -- Maureen Dowd, Andrew Sullivan and Glenn Greenwald.

Posted by: Ace at 10:39 AM | Comments (104)
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These are bad numbers anyway, but especially bad numbers for an incumbent, who is a known commodity and cannot count on getting much of the undecided vote.

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

I guess he won't have to worry about the stink of DC tourists for much longer.

Posted by: Ace at 10:04 AM | Comments (50)
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Jaw-dropping.

Mr. Biden has also been engaged on the Balkan issue since the early 1990s, when he was an outspoken advocate of the Bosnian cause. During his speech, Mr. Biden recalled his trip to the country in 1993, and how, flying in at the time, his plane was fired upon, and bombed-out homes with snipers inside could be seen.

Allah puckishly claims to believe him, reasoning that one of these days he must actually be telling the truth -- law of large numbers and all -- and adds, as additional evidence of his veracity--

Geraghty canÂ’t find any evidence that heÂ’s mentioned this before, but I think thatÂ’s just Biden being his typically modest self. Does he strike you as the type of guy whoÂ’d boast about a heroic brush with danger in a war zone?

I agree with the Twitterist -- it's a two-fer, both a lie and plagiarism, ripping off Hillary Clinton's own harrowing Terror at Tuzla Tale of Two-Fisted Action.

Oh Damn: Gabe, who was a bear of a poster during my unscheduled mental health day, already covered this.

Oh well.

It's worth a second mention.

Terror at Two Thousand Feet: Biden's last action-packed roller-coaster ride of a tale.

Posted by: Ace at 09:11 AM | Comments (63)
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