This strategic diplomacy thing, it seems to be working now.

In televised remarks to judiciary officials Saturday, Ahmadinejad struck back at Obama a day after the U.S. president praised protesters for showing "bravery in the face of brutality," described violence against them as "outrageous" and said opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi has "captured the imagination" of Iranians who want a more open society. Obama also dismissed Ahmadinejad's demand for an apology for previous criticism and suggested that the Iranian leader apologize to the families of those who have been arrested, beaten or killed in the crackdown.

I'm wondering actually, how an apology would sound now? "Hi, sorry we hacked your son to death. Be sure to fork over the 3 large for the bullet deposit".

Our President is the guy on your left at the poker table, the one you want to smack in the ear.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 03:07 PM | Comments (1)
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Good morning baconheads. HereÂ’s a relaxing bacon-related post for you. ItÂ’s free from celebrity deaths, economy-destroying bills from the House of Representatives, missile threats from North Korean leaders with Chia-Pet hairdos, federal nationalization plans of most key sectors of our economy, additional threats from Persian leaders with Members Only jackets, global warming/cooling/climate change/light showers in the morning followed by afternoon sunbreaks with highs in the mid-70Â’s, taxes, representation and sports (because there are no sports except football).

This thread concerns BACON. And Haiku about BACON, along with its many uses, as is documented here.

So please keep all that in mind: If you wish to comment, it must be related to bacon. No matter how tenuous the relationship.

Posted by: Open Blog at 03:19 AM | Comments (1)
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Ok, at first glance, I can get behind this (the drinking more part), but as with any government “revenue enhancement” plan the devil is in the details.

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - It's as predictable as a hangover: In hard economic times, governments reach for the hard stuff, jacking up liquor taxes and loosening "blue laws" to siphon money from America's most ubiquitous vice. Booze prices are on the rise from Kentucky to Oregon, and lawmakers in nine states have considered tossing their prohibition on Sunday liquor sales this year. On the federal level, a higher alcohol tax has been mentioned as a possible moneymaker for national health care reform. But in Washington state, officials are going a bit further. Staring down a massive budget deficit, the state Legislature has uncorked one of the country's most aggressive attempts to capitalize on liquor sales.”

“State officials hope to make about $16 million from the new sales projects, which seem likely to draw cheers from consumers.”

”But there's bad news as well: Regulators have increased the profit "markup" imposed by the state, which adds costs on top of the sales and liquor taxes consumers already pay. The surcharge is expected to raise about $80 million over two years, replacing money that lawmakers raided from a liquor fund to balance the state budget. It takes effect Aug. 1, adding about $3.70 to the price of a bottle of premium whiskey. The national distillers' lobby has angrily criticized the markup as a "stealth tax increase" on liquor, and warns that higher prices could cost jobs in the hospitality sector. Recession-pinched consumers will also notice, and could try to go around the state's price hikes, said Paul Clarke, a Seattle-based writer and cocktail enthusiast who blogs at cocktailchronicles.com.”

“Criticism of the state's new liquor plans is also coming from grocery stores, which must compete with state-run liquor stores on profitable sales of beer and wine. Jan Gee, president of the independent grocers' Washington Food Industry lobbying group, said that makes the Liquor Control Board "a monster of two heads: Our regulator and our primary competitor."

TonightÂ’s overnight thread is sponsored by the Sarychev Volcano located in the Kuril Islands, which may or may not be Russian territory, depending on who you ask. The pic was taken from the ISS on June 12th. More info about this photo can be found here along with a couple more links to NASA about it including a vid.

Posted by: Open Blog at 06:23 PM | Add Comment
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Ace already graciously posted a link to the website for this movie, but I wanted to give a personal perspective from someone who lives in the area and has seen just how amazing these troop greeters are, and how much their volunteer service means to those who put their lives on the line for our country.

Since the first Gulf War in 1991, a group of veterans and townspeople from the area have greeted every troop flight that arrives or departs from Bangor International Airport. They're so loyal to their mission that the airport set aside a permanent room for them.

I've been at the airport a couple of times when troop flights have arrived, and it's a moving experience. Soldiers file in and the minute they enter the terminal, the troop greeters start applauding, shaking hands and hugging the troops. In the troop greeter room, soldiers are given access to snacks and free cell phones they can use to call loved ones. Although I've never been a formal part of the troop greeting, when I'm at the airport and soldiers are there, I have taken the opportunity to shake a hand or clap for those who serve our country.

"The Way We Get By" follows the lives of three troop greeters. It's in limited release now, but at the movie website you can request a screening of the film in your area. The reviews, both from professional reviewers and those I know who have seen the movie, are extremely positive. If you can't get to a screening, the movie will be shown on Veteran's Day on public broadcasting.

Plug for the troop greeters: If you'd like to donate to their cause, here's the link. Your donations pay for the snacks and amenities given to the soldiers. All of the greeters are volunteers.

Posted by: Slublog at 04:57 PM | Add Comment
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Gah. Ok, let's debate this one.

As has been noted. A private insurer, a business, must hold financial reserves that the "public" option will not be bothered with. A private insurer must negotiate rates, the "public" option can dictate them (they already do).

Wonderful. Now let's tax the shit out of those who have a private plan, except for our rock-solid voting bloc.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, the chief congressional advocate of taxing some employer-provided benefits to help pay for an overhaul of the U.S. health system, says any change should exempt perks secured in existing collective- bargaining agreements, which can be in place for as long as five years.

I believe this is called "rubbing your face in it".

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 04:26 PM | Add Comment
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Eight votes. Eight.

Bono Mack
Castle
Kirk
Lance
LoBiondo
McHugh
Reichert
Smith (NJ)

Not a dime, not a vote.

Cede these seats to the Democrats.*

As commenters note, of course it's better to displace them through a primary.

I mean, barring that, even if they win the primary -- then give up the seat. It's useless to us anyway.

Posted by: Ace at 02:43 PM | Comments (3)
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Even more likely to be smothered in the wall-to-wall MJ coverage and with every politics-minded person watching the circus in the house, the Obama Administration leaked this afternoon that the President is drawing up an executive order to allow indefinite detention of terrorism suspects.

It's like I've already seen this movie...

Such an order would embrace claims by former president George W. Bush that certain people can be detained without trial for long periods under the laws of war. Obama advisers are concerned that bypassing Congress could place the president on weaker footing before the courts and anger key supporters, the officials said.

After months of internal debate over how to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, White House officials are growing increasingly worried that reaching quick agreement with Congress on a new detention system may prove impossible. Several officials said there is concern in the White House that the administration may not be able to close the facility by the president's January deadline.

Another day, another Obama campaign promise broken. I'd just like to hear him say once: "Okay, so Bush was right."

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 01:30 PM | Comments (1)
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Voting: Seven Republicans, and climbing, have voted for this abortion so far.

31 Democrats have voted against it.

I don't know how the last 50 so votes will come out. It's close. But I'm guessing the rest of the democrats will vote for it.

I don't know if there will be a delay, but if there is, phone calls might help.

Earlier Drew posted Michelle Malkin's round-up of wavering Congressmen to contact.

ConservativeHQ just forwarded me another list of persuadable Congressmen. This time, with their phone numbers included.

Conservative author and radio host Mark Levin, who called this bill a "direct assault" on the people of America, has identified 25 Representatives in Congress who are waffling on this issue. Please call them RIGHT NOW and tell them to vote "NO" on Cap and Trade.

Republicans:
Bartlett (MD) – (202) 225-2721
Bono Mack (CA) - (202) 225-5330
Castle (DE) – (202) 225-4165
Dent (PA) – (202) 225-6411
Ehlers (MI) - (202) 225-3831
Frelinghuysen (NJ) - (202) 225-5034
Gerlach (PA) – (202) 225.4315
Inglis (SC) - (202) 225-6030
Tim Johnson (IL) – (202) 225-2371
Kirk (IL) – (202) 225-4835
Lance (NJ) - (202) 225-5361
LoBiondo (NJ) - (202) 225-6572
Petri (WI) – (202) 225-2476
Platts (PA) - (202) 225-5836
Ros-Lehtinen (FL) – (202) 225-3931

Democrats:
Altmire (PA) – (202) 225-2565
Bright (AL) - (202) 225-2901
Dahlkemper (PA) - (202) 225-5406
Drieshaus (OH) - (202) 225-2216
Ellsworth (IN) - (202) 225-4636
Kissell (NC) - (202) 225-3715
Kratovil (MD) - (202) 225-5311
Kanjorski (PA) - (202) 225-6511
Minnick (ID) - (202) 225-6611
Teague (NM) - (202) 225-2365

Print this email, sit by your phone, and take time to call as many of these Representatives as you can.

Here is what you can say:

"Hi, my name is [your name], and I am deeply worried about the impact of Cap and Trade legislation on my life and the economy, including the massive tax increase that would result. I strongly urge Representative [Name of Rep.] to vote 'NO' on the 'Waxman-Markey' bill. Thank you for taking my call."

How bad is it? This bad.

To get support for his bill, Mr. Waxman was forced to water down the cap in early years to please rural Democrats, and then severely ratchet it up in later years to please liberal Democrats. The CBO's analysis looks solely at the year 2020, before most of the tough restrictions kick in. As the cap is tightened and companies are stripped of initial opportunities to "offset" their emissions, the price of permits will skyrocket beyond the CBO estimate of $28 per ton of carbon. The corporate costs of buying these expensive permits will be passed to consumers.

The biggest doozy in the CBO analysis was its extraordinary decision to look only at the day-to-day costs of operating a trading program, rather than the wider consequences energy restriction would have on the economy.

In other words, the "costs" examined are merely the costs of salaries and phones and computers and Post-Its for the people administering this program -- the actual costs just to hire bureaucrats to sabotage the American economy.

Not the costs those bureaucrats in turn inflict on us all.

The CBO acknowledges this in a footnote: "The resource cost does not indicate the potential decrease in gross domestic product (GDP) that could result from the cap."

The hit to GDP is the real threat in this bill. ,b>The whole point of cap and trade is to hike the price of electricity and gas so that Americans will use less. These higher prices will show up not just in electricity bills or at the gas station but in every manufactured good, from food to cars. Consumers will cut back on spending, which in turn will cut back on production, which results in fewer jobs created or higher unemployment. Some companies will instead move their operations overseas, with the same result.

When the Heritage Foundation did its analysis of Waxman-Markey, it broadly compared the economy with and without the carbon tax. Under this more comprehensive scenario, it found Waxman-Markey would cost the economy $161 billion in 2020, which is $1,870 for a family of four. As the bill's restrictions kick in, that number rises to $6,800 for a family of four by 2035.

...

Even as Democrats have promised that this cap-and-trade legislation won't pinch wallets, behind the scenes they've acknowledged the energy price tsunami that is coming. During the brief few days in which the bill was debated in the House Energy Committee, Republicans offered three amendments: one to suspend the program if gas hit $5 a gallon; one to suspend the program if electricity prices rose 10% over 2009; and one to suspend the program if unemployment rates hit 15%. Democrats defeated all of them.

Obama, Pelosi, and Reid are destroying the country with a Shock and Awe bombardment. They rush enormous bills which change the basic foundations of the American economy through the Congress, with only a day (or less!) to read 1500 page abominations. No one has read any of these bills. No one.

The American public is not only not permitted to debate and consider, but they're blocked from even knowing a debate is going on at all. The rush of one huge bill after another is working the way it's intended to work: Massive, economy-destroying bills are being rammed through Congress without being read or debated because Obama and Pelosi and Reid don't want the bills to be read or debated. They just want these bills passed.

Whatever these bills might actually contain -- something we'll all be discovering later.

They don't want to give the opposition time to read these bills, because then they might actually be able to warn the American people about what's in them.

It's Close: How close? This close.

5:17pm: Connie Hair reports from top GOP sources that Dems have pulled Patrick Kennedy out of rehab to vote.

Yes, itÂ’s that close.

Via Michelle Malkin, thanks to Paranoid Polly. Michelle continues her liveblog. Rep. Barton mentioned Spain's own experiment with a very similar scheme -- an experiment that destroyed jobs and wealth for no tangible gain whatsoever.

Call! Just Another Poster writes:

They are still a few votes short. That doesn't mean the votes can not be corralled, it just means they do not have them at this point. Calls cannot hurt at this point. They need 3-5 more from what I am hearing.

Based on what is happening on the floor, that seems to confirm things. If they had the votes, this thing would have been put to the vote ASAP.

Might also be a good time to call Patrick Kennedy and tell 'im you just scored a brick of very tasty, very sticky Silver Shiva.

Check Out This Exchange. A bewildered GOP Representative wants to know if he can even read the 300 page amendment written secretly last night at 3 am.

His answer? No, we don't really have it. And look it up on the internet. That may or may not be the bill you're voting on.

From Michelle again:

4:05pm: Excellent exchange between chair and GOP Rep. Louis Gohmert. He asks for a physical copy of the 300-page-plus late-night amendment filed out of public view. Chair cannot tell him where one is. Rules him out of order for not making parliamentary inquiry. Chair stumped.

Barton asks chair if there is any rule requiring copy of bill being voted on to be nearby. Chair: Not that IÂ’m aware of.

Barton asks if official copy is necessary to be at desk for final vote.

Chair says itÂ’s at the desk. Barton says itÂ’s not the official copy. Markey tells him to go to the cloakroom and look it up on the web.

Markey says the full bill and managerÂ’s amendment is on the desk.

Chair rules that all the piles of paper at the desk “in effect” are an “official copy.”

Similarly, the bill contains a "placeholder" -- an empty area to be modified/determined later, after the vote.

That means there is no bill. You cannot add or modify a "bill" after its passed, except by... voting on a bill. You can't just edit it later.

At approx. 2:35pm Eastern, GOP Rep. Joe Barton announced that there is now a placeholder in the bill to be determined later.

Barton notes that this is unprecedented. He canÂ’t recall any final passage of a bill that has a placeholder in it.

What the hell is going on?

This is deliberation? This is transparency?

Update: I don't know if Boehner has an "official" copy of the amendment yet, or if he's going from something he got online. But he's reading the amendment, or something like the amendment, or rather picking out certain passages page-by-page and objecting to them.

The thing is, he's making up his objections off the top of his head, pretty much. That's because this is pretty much the first time he's been allowed to read the amendment (or something like the amendment) he's supposed to vote on.

It's very boring. But what can he do? He hasn't had the chance to any serious analysis of this abortion.

Posted by: Ace at 12:37 PM | Add Comment
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Sure, makes sense.

Obviously they're the ones with all the guns, and they're the ones interested in dissuading citizens from taking to the streets.

Imagine the threats made and pain inflicted to force a man to absolve his daughter's murderers of blame on television.

Posted by: Ace at 12:18 PM | Add Comment
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This week seem long to you? Seemed dreadfully long here.

Friday is always a good day to completely drop the ball at work and set yourself up for a terrible Monday. Fuckitall, it's Friday.

You know how it goes.

You look at the calls you have to make, and work you have to do, and set up your day. Perhaps you even create a snappy little list of priorities, all set off with bullet points. You little goody-frickin'-two-shoes-go-getter, you.

Then you sharpen some pencils and clean your telephone. Then you throw your very sharp pencils into a ceiling tile.

Then you sneak out at lunchtime, rolling a tiny live hallucinogenic toad around in your mouth like a wriggly, bitter gummy bear.

Pretty soon you leave a vaseline-print of your ass on the boss' windshield (while he's actually sitting in his car), and then hide in the woods behind a preschool with a bottle of Jack Daniels, shooting at chipmunks with a deer rifle, causing the school to be shut down and subsequently leading the police on a three-state car chase that ends peacefully with you getting tased in the neck and losing your bowels.

Blah, blah, you know all this already. Routine, right?

What do you Morons have planned for this weekend?

Posted by: LauraW at 11:39 AM | Comments (1)
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