Roseanne Barr Says Wealthy Bankers Should Be Sent to Re-Education Camps or Be Beheaded [JWF}
— Guest Blogger

Relax, folks, if you're sitting on a stash of more than $100 million but are not a banker then you're probably spared the guillotine. I'm guessing this means wealthy Hollywood types and Obama mascot Warren Buffett are safe. For now. I'm waiting on the "satire" defense for this idiocy at any moment. Fortunately my wife convinced me to invest our vast holdings into an offshore venture run by some nice Nigerian fellows she met through Facebook.

Comedienne and actress Roseanne Barr had a strong message for bankers who contributed to the economic crisis: Return the profits or be beheaded.

The comedienne and self-proclaimed presidential candidate appeared on the RT television program "Keiser Report" and said if she were president, she would bring back the guillotine as a form of capital punishment for the "worst of the worst of the guilty."

"I, first, would allow the guilty bankers to pay back anything over $100 million (in) personal wealth, because I believe in the maximum wealth of $100 million," Barr said. "If they're unable to live on that amount, they should go to re-education camps. And if that doesn't work, they should be beheaded."

The show she was appearing on is called Russia Today. Oddly enough my cable system doesn't carry that channel. Video below.

Update [Andy]: Links to JWF's blog and Twitter feed. more...

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Sunday Morning Non-Book Open Thread
— andy

Because the ONT was getting kind of ripe, and Vic needs somewhere to link teh news.

Posted by: andy at 05:02 AM | Comments (61)
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Overnight Open Thread – Cob-Logger Edition
— Slublog

Good evening, Moron Horde. With Maet away on a “business trip,” the cob-loggers and some special guests have agreed to take over ONT duties for a little while. This is the first ONT thread I’ve ever created, and in the spirit of full disclosure I have to admit that I do not often venture into the ONT. I have nothing against this fine AOSHQ tradition, it’s just that you people terrify me I’m not one to normally stay up this late.

And with that out of the way, itÂ’s time to fill a mason jar full of grain alcohol, grab some beef jerky and/or Doritos and get reading.

Meet Caius Veiovis, currently wanted for the murder of three HellÂ’s Angels bikers in Massachusetts. Shockingly enough, his appearance isnÂ’t the strangest thing about him. What is? WellÂ…

Then known as Roy Gutfinski, he and his 16-year-old girlfriend cut a teenagerÂ’s back with a razor and kissed as they licked the blood. The injury required 32 stitches to close.

The Kennebec Journal reported Gutfinski claimed to be a vampire and a Satan worshipper. His name was changed while in prison.

ThatÂ’s right. Being a human freakshow is not enough for this guy. HeÂ’s also a wannabe vampire. Since he was arrested in Massachusetts, I figure heÂ’ll be eligible for furlough in about a year. more...

Posted by: Slublog at 06:00 PM | Comments (470)
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Weekend NYT Punditry: This Wall St Thing Is a Big F'n Deal
— Dave in Texas

It's hard for a Texan, to understand how people who read Nick Kristof take him seriously. But here we go.

I tweeted that the protest reminded me a bit of Tahrir Square in Cairo, and that raised eyebrows. True, no bullets are whizzing around, and the movement wonÂ’t unseat any dictators. But there is the same cohort of alienated young people, and the same savvy use of Twitter and other social media to recruit more participants. Most of all, thereÂ’s a similar tide of youthful frustration with a political and economic system that protesters regard as broken, corrupt, unresponsive and unaccountable.

Arab. Friggin. Spring. Sans bullets and rape.

SEIU has decided to bus in more protesters, because of the current lameness.

This is. Meaningful.

Much of the sloganeering at “Occupy Wall Street” is pretty silly

The rest is super serious.

Thanks Nick.

All seriousness aside, how big a deal can a grassroots protest be, when you have to call in the unions to make it appear to be something? Allowing for traffic I mean.

ALSO: I'm interested in the moron reaction to this video. I'm disinclined to think these two girls who got maced were presenting a "mace them" threat. But it's just one vid so one impression.

via John Podhoretz and Allahpundit on twitter

UPDATE: good commentariat on the vid. My own theory is it's Axe. That would explain the cryin and screaming. more...

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 03:25 PM | Comments (382)
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Please make it so.. [wiserbud]
— Guest Blogger

Many thanks to Ace for giving me the opportunity to entertain you drooling mouth-breathers this week as a guest blogger while he takes a well deserved break from destroying political careers and double-posting other cob-logger's items.

I have a theory regarding how to tell when the end of a popular music artist's career is at hand. Some have already heard my theory and find it somewhat solid. Other, less sophisticated, folks (*cough ranger fan dave-in-texas *cough red sox fan andy *cough) have taken great pleasure in attempting to find fault in my theory. But despite their best efforts, my theory remains as solid today as the day I first posited it at The Innocent Bystanders over a year ago. Yes, the science is settled.

Basically, my theory (ignoring the numerous amount of covers that all artists did in the 50s and 60s. And hell, without covers, Joe Cocker and Linda Ronstadt wouldn't have had careers) is this:

If you record and release a cover version of a previously popular song as a single, you have reached the end of your ride at the top and will most likely never have another hit again.

I base this theory, in part, on artists like these, who were, at one time, huge, but today, not so much.

Counting Crows - Big Yellow Taxi
Sheryl Crow - First Cut is the Deepest
Guns & Roses - Knocking on Heaven's Door
Metallica - Turn the Page
Smashmouth (doubly cursed) - I'm a Believer and Why Can't We Be Friends
Phil Collins - Took a couple of covers to take him down as well: True Colors and A Groovy Kind of Love {{{{{{{shudder}}}}}}}

Hell, Phil wasn't even satisfied with having his career killed off by just a couple of covers, so he decided to pull it's lifeless, decaying carcass from it's coffin and stomp it into oblivion with his last release, which was nothing but horrible, horrible covers of great old Motown songs. I guess he just wanted to be really, really sure his career was over.

So, with that theory in mind, I am extremely hopeful that we will never have to hear from this annoying little twit ever again.
more...

Posted by: Guest Blogger at 02:00 PM | Comments (372)
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The Few, the Proud, the Mind-Numbingly Clueless [JWF]
— Guest Blogger

Over the past couple of weeks a bedraggled bunch of far left cranks have been stinking up Lower Manhattan, apparently to protest Wall Street, since that's where all the money is and these folks want their fair share. Or something like that. Nobody really knows for sure, although the purported head of this budding young army of community organizers calls it a youth-driven lefty answer to the tea party. Yes, really.

Recently such luminaries as that walking calzone, Michael Moore, as well as Susan Sarandon, stopped by to root on the protesters. Soon media coverage followed and Friday they felt as if they had arrived, as rumors were fueled that the British group Radiohead, in New York on tour, would stop by and play.

Then it became high comedy.

Radiohead didn't rock out with the Occupy Wall Street mass yesterday, but the crowds sure did as the protest marched into its third weekend - but had a little trouble finding NYPD headquarters.

The British rock band's rumored appearance at the downtown protest - later branded a "hoax" by organizers - swelled the ranks at the Zuccotti Park base to several thousand.

While hundreds of people have camped out overnight in the plaza during the two-week old sit-in for social change, an online announcement that Radiohead was en route jammed the plaza.

"I actually think it's kind of ridiculous," said a dreadlocked 20-year-old who identified himself as Pigpen. "The only reason 500 people are here is because they think Radiohead is going to be here."

Organizers were red-faced.

When you've lost Pigpen, that challenge to the Tea Party may be rough sledding. Especially if you look anything like that group in the NYDN link. Savor the visage of the charming young lady front and center here and the guy in the background with the workers.org poster. And what's this social change business? I thought they were protesting Wall Street? Can't we get a coherent message here?

Not content with the Radiohead humiliation, these bumbling idiots also thought they were marching on the NYPD headquarters but wound up elsewhere.

A crowd of more than 2,000 people marched up Broadway, past a closed City Hall Park, under the arch of the Municipal Building and massed outside what some mistakenly thought was NYPD headquarters.

But most of the chanting horde plopped down in front of One St. Andrew's Plaza, which houses the U.S. Attorney's Office, not the NYPD.

These people claim they'll be out there pissing and moaning until the winter, but after suffering such ridicule, it's unlikely this gathering will last much longer. Besides, it's supposed to be chilly and rainy tonight, and it's doubtful these hardened street warriors can brave the elements.

Meanwhile, some video of this mind-numbing idiocy. Mensa candidates these people are not. more...

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The Obama Presidency - By The Numbers [John E.]
— Guest Blogger

My latest infographic has "dropped" (that's what the kids say, right?). This is my second stab at creating one; the first was a timeline of the Solyndra scandal.

In this infographic, I took a look at various statements and promises made by Barack Obama (and a few others) during both the 2008 campaign and early on in his Presidency. These statements were then set against current statistics and those from inauguration day or 2008 for annual stats.

Open it up below the fold. I tried to keep the width down to avoid blowing up the blog. The larger version is available here. Feel free to embed it on your own website (just toss my Flickr page a link, please). more...

Posted by: Guest Blogger at 10:02 AM | Comments (202)
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College Football Thread
— Dave in Texas

Put all ya stupid in here.

Texas A&M (14) at Arkansas (1 at noonish, one time zone to the east. Clemson (13) vs. Va. Tech (11) at six pee-em ET. Alabama (3) at Florida (12) also at six 8 pee-em ET. Nebraska ( at Wisconsin (7) later that evening and who the hell cares about that one?

Honey Badger doesn't give a shit.

Also, Russ and I have a grudge bet on Iowa St. and Texas.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 08:40 AM | Comments (89)
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Obama's Soft Remarks: More Finger-Pointing From The Blame-Shifting President
— Ace

Krauthammer said of Obama's statement: Obama compounded condescension, incompetence, and narcissism all into one sentence.

But I think Byron York is a little bit more right, in putting this statement into the context of Obama's constant blame-shifting for his own failures.

Look at Obama's speeches in the last couple of months, and he has repeatedly scolded audiences for not working hard enough and for not sacrificing enough to achieve the goals he has set for his administration. He's done it with both supporters and with adversaries. With friends, his message has been: Nobody told you this would be easy, and you've got to worker harder to enact my agenda. With adversaries, his message is: You've had it too easy, and you've got to make sacrifices to enact my agenda. Obama's "gotten a little soft" remark fits into that theme: A soft America is one that is insufficiently willing to work and sacrifice to enact the Obama agenda.

...

Quit complaining. Stop grumbling. Get to work. Sacrifice. Obama is constantly telling Americans they need to shape up and snap to it, all for the purpose of making the Obama agenda a reality. Lately, with the economy worsening and his approval ratings falling, he's been having a hard time bending Washington, and the country, to his will. Is it any surprise that he's now telling Americans they've gotten soft?

I cut out the supporting evidence for York's thesis, the examples of Obama telling people they had to work harder, and sacrifice more, for his glory.

It's the ultimate blame-shifting, isn't it? Blaming Bush wasn't doing the trick, so now he's... just blaming the peons he governs.

It's our fault. We all share in this failure.

Not Obama so much, but the rest of us. The ones letting the team down.

Posted by: Ace at 08:13 AM | Comments (190)
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Friday Fast & Furious Document Dump
— andy

Well lookee here what we're findin' in the White House email

The documents show extensive communications between then-ATF Special Agent in Charge of the Phoenix office Bill Newell - who led Fast and Furious - and then-White House National Security Staffer Kevin O'Reilly. Emails indicate the two also spoke on the phone. Such detailed, direct communications between a local ATF manager in Phoenix and a White House national security staffer has raised interest among Congressional investigators looking into Fast and Furious. Newell has said he and O'Reilly are long time friends.

Long time friends, huh? I'm sure they were just catchin' up on football scores, talkin' about how the kids were doin' in school, sharin' recipes and the like. Or not.

The email exchanges span a little over a month last summer. They discuss ATF's gun trafficking efforts along the border including the controversial Fast and Furious case, though not by name.

ORLY? So, ok, they were just talkin' about general ATF business but the fact that guns were crossin' the border into Mexico never came up, so ... nothin' to see here, move along.

Among the documents produced: an email in which ATF's Newell sent the White House's O'Reilly an "arrow chart reflecting the ultimate destination of firearms we intercepted and/or where the guns ended up." The chart shows arrows leading from Arizona to destinations all over Mexico.

In response, O'Reilly wrote on Sept. 3, 2010 "The arrow chart is really interesting - and - no surprise - implies at least that different (Drug Trafficking Organizations) in Mexico have very different and geographically distinct networks in the US for acquiring guns. Did last year's TX effort develop a similar graphic?"(emphasis added)

You mean they messed with Texas, too? Sounds like a new front opened up on this thing overnight. Darrell Issa, call your office.

Note: This post has been conformed to the AP style guide. I dropped every "g" in my head as I was typin' it. Speakin' of the AP, they also provided some new Gunwalker evidence that conclusively proves the White House had full knowledge of the operation. more...

Posted by: andy at 06:00 AM | Comments (174)
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