Via Ben Domenech, a word from Tony Stark/Iron Man to the self-proclaimed 99%.

Posted by: DrewM at 05:04 AM | Comments (118)
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Evenin' y'all!! I'm so glad for this work week to be over. Of course, those poor saps of OWS are still "workin'" around the clock, livin' in their filth and demandin' free shiite. You would think that when Ayatollah's and others not so friendly to the US begin to publicly support your cause, you just might be on the wrong side. Just sayin'. I agree with George Will on this too. 'I Wish The Occupy Wall Street Demonstrators Long Life And Ample Publicity'.

Here's what Batman thinks of the OWS idiots.

Speaking of Batman, here's the brand new trailer for Arkham City. Damn this looks good. more...

Posted by: CDR M at 05:45 PM | Comments (1107)
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"You know what this movement needs, one is obvious, one is not so obvious. They need to clarify. They need some policy issues (I think he means something coherent)."

"They need, another Kent State."

more...

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 04:13 PM | Comments (351)
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Earlier, they were subpeonaed.

Now, a source says they will withhold some documents, which I take to mean all the important documents.

Check out the editorializing by CNN in the first three words here, insisting that there's nothing at all amiss.

Consistent with precedent, the president's legal counsel is refusing to hand over all internal White House communications related to the energy firm, including President Obama's Blackberry messages, arguing that the president needs to protect open counsel from advisers and staff.

In part, the letter obtained by CNN says the request "implicates longstanding and significant institutional Executive Branch confidentiality interests. Encroaching upon these important interests is not necessary, however, because the agency documents the Committee has requested, which include communications with the White House, should satisfy the Committee's stated objective - to 'understand the involvement of the White House in the review of the Solyndra loan guarantee and the Administration's support of this guarantee.'"

"Consistent with precedent."

Pictured: Precedent

Posted by: Ace at 03:40 PM | Comments (179)
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You know what word is racist?

"Break."

Racist. Ed Schultz says so.

On his show last night, Schultz said that Demint, whom Cain has mentioned as a potential running mate, repeated an "old southern racist term when talking about defeating President Obama during the health care debate." Schultz's example? He quoted Demint saying that "If we are able to stop Obama on this [health care law], it will be his Waterloo. It will break him." For clarity, Schultz repeated the offending line, "It will break him."

Dr. James Peterson, director of Africana studies at Lehigh University, explained that "break" is a racist verb, "a term that was used to destroy, mentally and physically, slaves."

And also, eggs.

Accordingly, the Demint line demonstrated "how dark some of these racial discourses can be in presidential politics."

Posted by: Ace at 01:15 PM | Comments (451)
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ObamaCare actually made the execution of this law contingent on the Secretary of Health and Human Services certifying it to be financially sound, which she is not so certifying it. So that's why the executive gets to un-do a law, in case you were wondering (I was, myself).

Andrew Stiles can only shake his fist at the sky:

The CLASS Act’s demise, while all but inevitable, is disturbing on a number of levels. It’s hard to think of a more fitting example of how the budget process in Washington has been completely corrupted. What kind of depraved accounting scheme lets Congress enact into law a program that literally cannot sustain itself from the get-go? A program that the CBO, in accordance with an absurdly flexible set of budgetary rules, scored as deficit-reducing! Not only that, but the 10-year’s worth of CLASS Act premiums accounted for most of the overall “savings” under Obamacare. In fact, the law almost certainty could not have passed without them, as they were included to give the (false) appearance of fiscal sanity.

Posted by: Ace at 01:05 PM | Comments (53)
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This really shocks me -- the "widespread" part. Because this guy was doing this on behalf of a buddy, so at least two people were involved. When he then says a lot of cops do this, I have to take that seriously.

I think we need to repeal the drug laws. We cannot apparently trust agents of the government even to avoid framing people with fairly serious offenses just to meet a bureaucratic quota.

And while these criminals were framing people, how many other criminals were plying their craft?

Yes, this is about corruption, but it's about a specific type of corruption: The corruption that begins infecting police and politicians in prohibition regimes. We should not pass laws that routinize law-breaking, and then, inevitably, routinize corruption.

Unbelievable. And to think I have previously laughed at blacks who complain the police are framing them for drug crimes.

Posted by: Ace at 11:55 AM | Comments (457)
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Not an Al Qaeda hotbed, as it turns out. The rebel movement, the "Lord's Resistance Army," is classified as a terrorist organization, but they're a Christian-cult militia terrorist organization which apparently attack the ruling government.

Am I saying terrorism is okay if you're Christian? No. I'm saying they don't attack us, and we seem to be fighting four or five wars at the moment.

The 100 troops will not just be in one country, either.

The forces will ultimately go to Uganda, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with the permission of those countries.

I've never heard of these guys. I assume they're bad guys. I also assume, because I've never heard of them, they are incapable of threatening US interests.

So what's the deal?

Is Obama trying to win a second Nobel Peace Prize or what?

Posted by: Ace at 10:24 AM | Comments (447)
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Thanks to the whole permanent crew for handling things so well.

And thanks to the guest bloggers for pitching in! Thank, John and Morgen from Verum Serum.

Thanks, Jammie Wearing Fool.

Thanks, @bdomenech (Ben's also at The Transom.

Thanks, CuffyMeh.

Thank you, Moe Lane.

Thanks to JohnEkdahl (and his Big Economics Graphic, of course).

And thanks Wiserbud and Rosetta, who are both most frequently seen at The Hostages (caution: It's Big Boobs Friday).

It was really great to get time off.

And thanks to all the readers, just for being awesome.

Thanks to Cork for the p-shop.

Posted by: Ace at 10:04 AM | Comments (54)
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An "all of the above" energy plan, he says, can add 1.2 million jobs to the economy.

Honestly, I think this is about right. I'm a tangible guy. When Herman Cain talks up the supposed employment boom that would flow simply from shifting some taxation from income to consumption, I scratch my head. It's not tangible to me. Why would taking $2.3 trillion dollars from citizens, simply from a different mix of taxable events, spur the economy?

Maybe it would. To me it's arranging deck chairs on a ship, not turning the ship around.

Energy production is, however, tangible. It's a valuable commodity. People will pay for it. And with more in-country energy production, that's more jobs and more tax revenue and lower energy prices besides, as OPEC's ability to set prices is diminished.

Speaking here at U.S. Steel's Irvin plant, Perry said that his proposal -- which would open protected land for oil and natural gas production as well as lift federal regulations on the energy sector -- will create 1.2 million jobs.
"Today, I offer a plan that will create more than a million good American jobs across every sector of the economy and enhance our national security. And the best news is it can be set in motion in my first 100 days," he told a crowd of hard-hat-wearing steelworkers.

The lands opened for new energy exploration under Perry's plan would include the Gulf of Mexico and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, although the governor noted that states should have input in which parts of their land are preserved from new drilling. His proposal would also undo the Environmental Protection Agency's "draconian" authority to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, and it would eliminate federal subsidies for industry sectors such as ethanol and oil and gas production.

Those changes, he said, would "revitalize American manufacturing" and have ripple effects throughout the rest of the US economy as well.

The slogan of the rollout: "Make what Americans buy. Buy what Americans make. And sell it to the world."

I'm not sure how that revitalizes American manufacturing. Forget it, he's rolling.

Do I detect a Palin Strategy at work here-- an attempt to co-opt her themes to grab some of her supporters?

I think I do, because his wife, Anita, was out on the trail striking another Palin theme. One I like a whole lot less, but it is a frequent Palin theme -- victimization by Party Insiders.

“It’s been a rough month. We have been brutalized and beaten up and chewed up in the press to where I need this today,” she said. “We are being brutalized by our opponents, and our own party. So much of that is, I think they look at him, because of his faith. He is the only true conservative – well, there are some conservatives. And they’re there for good reasons. And they may feel like God called them too. But I truly feel like we are here for that purpose.”

Smart? Maybe. But Palin's fans spent two months beating up on Perry as unnacceptable (because, of course, as the True Conservative who raced to the top of the polls, he most directly threatened a hypothetical Palin candidacy) that I think they've convinced themselves by now that he's just terrible (and seem to be flocking to Cain, who benefits by not having been at the top of Palin Threateners before she bowed out).

BTW: I continue to hold out hope that Perry will get his shit together, and fast.

When the Bachmann and Palin supporters were tossing every charge they could think of at Perry, I said, "You know, I'm trying to find someone who'd be a viable alternative to Romney. Keep attacking the conservative, guys, and you're going to find out, to your chagrin, that Romney is now the nominee. And then I'll laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh..."

I can halfway live with a Romney candidacy. He does something I respect: homework. Preparation. Planning.

I am so tired of this idea that your "principles" and intuitions and feelings alone are enough to get one through a minefield of thorny questions and abstract issues.

This only works in Star Wars and/or Bill Murray movies.

In the real world, luck is the product of good design. And people who do their homework have this weird proclivity to keep getting "lucky" over and over and over and over again, and then we curse them for their good "luck."

It's not luck. They're working hard to make it look so easy.

Who knows, maybe Perry has learned his lesson and is doing some homework now.

But anyway, my point is that many "True Conservatives" constantly attack anyone who is pretty conservative but not super conservative while giving a pass to Romney, who, at least in perception, isn't conservative at all.

You know who this benefits? Mitt Romney, that's who.

So, while the purity police beat the living hell out of Perry for each heresy, Romney rises in the polls.

Oh, and of course Romney is doing this think I respect because it's so crafty: During the debate, Romney was given a chance to question another candidate. He directed his question at Michele Bachmann -- and served her up a fat hanging curveball which she knocked out of the park. (It wasn't a gotcha question-- he invited her to give her stump speech on job creation.)

Why?

Because Romney wants to keep all three or four more-base-friendly, more-Tea-Party candidates viable. So they all split the vote.

Romney, while gathering support, is doing so slowly, and is unable to get much more than 26% of the vote. Recently a poll had him at 30%, a new high.

Can you win with 30%? Sure. If you can keep the 70% split between multiple candidates.

Romney's cunning. He's smart. He does his homework. I respect these things, so while I'm not super-keen on Romney's principles (I think he is in fact a fairly malleable man who will go to where the votes are, which is likely the center), there are a few things about him I like.

I can live with him, I guess.

But a lot of the True-r Conservatives can't, which is why I think it's kind of darkly, bitterly funny these same people spend so much energy tearing down conservative challengers to Romney.

Posted by: Ace at 09:17 AM | Comments (369)
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