Maverick!

“It’s very clear that the stimulus has had some effect,” the former Republican presidential nominee said. “And I’ll be glad to give him credit for that,” McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, said Sunday on the CNN program “State of the Union.”

“But the question that I think we should be asking are the long term consequences of this unprecedented debts and deficits–are they beneficial to the country? And I think the answer is no,” McCain said. He said the “short-term improvement in the economy” was outweighed by the “generational theft” it would take to pay for Obama’s programs.

Congratulations, Maverick. You've managed to out-compliment the mainstream media. Heckuva job.

Related [DrewM.]: Maverick is still undecided on Sotomayor, even though the vote is likely this week.

Maybe the Republicans will nominate, you know, a Republican in 2012. Fingers crossed!

Posted by: Slublog at 03:59 PM | Comments (1)
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Ooops.

FAIL.

It was a flour factory in Turkey.

Posted by: DrewM at 03:15 PM | Add Comment
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They're looking at creating a "courtroom-prison complex" at a soon-to-be-closed maximum security prison in Michigan or at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas:

The facility would operate as a hybrid prison system jointly operated by the Justice Department, the military and the Department of Homeland Security.

The administration's plan, according to three government officials, calls for:

_Moving all the Guantanamo detainees to a single U.S. prison. The Justice Department has identified between 60 and 80 who could be prosecuted, either in military or federal criminal courts. The Pentagon would oversee the detainees who would face trial in military tribunals. The Bureau of Prisons, an arm of the Justice Department, would manage defendants in federal courts.

_Building a court facility within the prison site where military or criminal defendants would be tried. Doing so would create a single venue for almost all the criminal defendants, ending the need to transport them elsewhere in the U.S. for trial.

_Providing long-term holding cells for a small but still undetermined number of detainees who will not face trial because intelligence and counterterror officials conclude they are too dangerous to risk being freed.

_Building immigration detention cells for detainees ordered released by courts but still behind bars because countries are unwilling to take them.

Each proposal, according to experts in constitutional and national security law, faces legal and logistics problems.

Congress would ultimately have to approve of this and pass legislation allowing it (a Military Commissions Act II?), something I doubt the President will be able to pull off.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 10:29 AM | Add Comment
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It would be bad enough if Cash for Clunkers was only about paying $4,500 for cars worth a fraction that much. But on top of that, the program requires the destruction of perfectly fine cars.

To disable the vehicles and permanently destroy the engines dealers are putting sodium silicate--basically liquid glass--in them.

The program was so popular in its first week that it almost ran out of money. After an evening of confusion Thursday, the House hurriedly convened Friday and provided an additional $2 billion to keep it going. Senate leaders hope to bring the bill up next week. Meanwhile, the clunkers are lining up.

"We poured it into that Dodge and it killed it in eight seconds," said Brooks, pointing to another vehicle as he put down the half-gallon jug of liquid called "Clunker Bomb." The chemical is sodium silicate. In red lettering on the bottle, it reads, "Engine Grenade," and there's a skull and crossbones over the profile of a car.

Here's one car that did not go down so easy (watch the first few seconds, then skip to the end; it's long):

A perfectly good car destroyed; net loss to society a la the broken window fallacy and courtesy global warming alarmists.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 10:18 AM | Comments (13)
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Well, Damn, You Don't Think I Actually Read This Blog, Do You? See the post below for Drew's thoughts on this and the excerpt from the first link. We excerpted the exact same bit.

Economic illiteracy from ABC News and the Treasury Secretary:

Look at that first sentence. They're back to claiming outright that the U.S. can tax its way to prosperity. Not spoken--perhaps not even considered--is the economic truth that taxes are not good for the economy. Too much dead weight loss. Taxes may be good for a spendcrazy government still looking to pay off supporters, but they are not good for the economy as a whole.

And there is no mention of that other time-honored method for reducing deficits: not spending so much of my money. This way Obama can break his promise that 95% of Americans would see no tax increase and claim with a shrug: "Desperate times..."

Convenient times, too, since the Administration is considering extending unemployment benefits by 13 weeks. At present, unemployment benefits run for 79 weeks in the hardest-hit states (read: blue states). That's a year and a half of weekly payments while the recipient looks for work. That's a year and a half plus 13 weeks where the employed, who pay income taxes, subsidize the unemployed, who do not.

Don't expect much protest from the GOP, though. Jim DeMint already said Republicans will support the extension. Which leaves me wondering what guiding principle leads him to believe that 92 weeks of benefits is okay? If 92 is okay, how about 100? Or lifetime benefits?

I'm being disingenuous. I know very well that DeMint and his fellows are afraid of being framed as "mean and heartless" during the Great Recession. At heart, the problem is not unemployment benefits. The problem is that the government--in the hands of the Democrats--has done little to resolve our economic woes and probably exacerbated the situation. Now there's little choice but to treat symptoms like unemployment instead of the underlying disease.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 08:40 AM | Add Comment
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You don't say.

To get the economy back on track, will President Barack Obama have to break his pledge not to raise taxes on 95 percent of Americans? In a “This Week” exclusive, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner told me, "We’re going to have to do what’s necessary.”

Geithner was clear that he believes a key component of economic recovery is deficit reduction. When I gave him several opportunities to rule out a middle class tax hike, he wouldnÂ’t do it.

“We have to bring these deficits down very dramatically,” Geithner told me. “And that’s going to require some very hard choices.”

“We will not get this economy back on track, recovery will be not strong and sustained, unless we convince the American people that we are going to have the will to bring these deficits down once recovery is firmly established,” he said.

Hey 52%...you got played. Well, except for the significant portion of Obama voters who don't actually worry about taxes since they don't pay much, if any, as it is. What do they care if others have to pony up a little more to keep them in the lifestyle they've become accustomed to?

As for the political fallout from this, well just ask George H.W. Bush how he enjoyed his second term.

Posted by: DrewM at 08:24 AM | Comments (1)
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“Only the Good die young. All others become commenters on the ONT.” Anonymous

With the economy being all sucky, many people are choosing to be a little more tight-fisted with their entertainment dollar and staying at home to watch movies. YouÂ’ll be pleased to know that the movie Thundercrack! is now out on DVD. ItÂ’s remastered with an additional 32 minutes of footage not seen in the original theatrical release.

”One of the most walked out on films of all time. Once Banned in the United Kingdom.”

But of course it has a Wikipedia entry silly! What doesn't these days?
more...

Posted by: Open Blog at 06:16 PM | Comments (1)
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Cool pic.

Details about the poster at Newsbusters, via chemjeff. more...

Posted by: Ace at 06:01 PM | Add Comment
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The left has been pushing their claim that the Palins are divorcing -- sourced to something called (I am not making this up) the "Immoral Minority" -- all day.

Apparently a CNN stringer helped push it.

Palin says no, try again.

Thankfully... The Palins put out a statement.

Because the thing is this is the sort of story that's spreading on the lefty blogs, and then it gets pushed into the comments of other blogs, and then it leaves a Nice Innocent Good-Intended Helluva Guy like me not knowing what to do-- do I inform people of what is being claimed on the internet, but at the risk of spreading what seems to be a dubious scam? Or do I censor it, where people then debate it in the comments (they've all seen it) but I pretend on the main page I'm oblivious to it?

Anyway, with the denial out there, not big thing in mentioning it.

Posted by: Ace at 11:50 AM | Comments (4)
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Monti died in a firefight in Afghanistan with Taliban forces on June 21, 2006. He was killed while rescuing wounded comrades.

MontiÂ’s mother, Janet, told The Boston Globe that her son was helping fellow soldiers reach cover when he was shot to death by Taliban fighters. She said he saved the life of one wounded soldier before he was shot.
Christopher Cunningham, an Army Ranger who was with MontiÂ’s unit that day, nominated Monti for the Medal of Honor.

“I’ve seen my fair share of fighting with the enemy, and that was the bravest thing I’ve ever seen a soldier do,’’ he told the Boston Globe. “What he did was amazing.”

The ceremony will be held at the White House on Sept. 17.

H/T Retired Geezer

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 10:52 AM | Comments (1)
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