Just thought I'd pop in to celebrate the successful filibuster of Obama's pick for the Ninth Circuit, a guy so far out in left field even Democrats were saying they'd vote no if it came to a confirmation vote.

I wrote about the reparations-loving Liu over a year ago and I'm glad to see his nomination finally die.

Liu was nominated by Obama in 2010 and again in 2011for a seat on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Senate Judiciary Committee had approved him by a vote of 10-8. Had Liu been confirmed by the Senate, many expect that he would have eventually been promoted to the Supreme Court.

As Harry Reid noted of Goodwin Liu after meeting with him, “The court of appeals is where law is made, and we need the finest minds in the world for that.”

Note: Reid, the idiot, seems unaware that Congress is where law is made.

Of Republicans, only Lina Muzakski voted for cloture. The rest of the team hung together, even Lindsay Graham, who never met a cloture vote he didn't like. Oddly, Orin Hatch voted "present." One Democrat, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, crossed the line to vote against cloture. Under the press' usual rules, that makes this the bi-partisan rejection of an out-of-touch President, doesn't it?

Oh, and these DOOM-and-WOE posts from the MBM are rather nice. Politico wails, "Some Democrats fear the blocked nomination will set a new precedent." Politico apparently slept through the presidency of Bush 43. And here's WaPo's Plumline blog complaining that this was just about "petty revenge" for Professor Liu's ill-considered attempt to kill then-Judge Alito's nomination.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 11:41 AM | Comments (118)
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You know all that smack I'm always talking about independents being squishes and not liking to make thoughtful, realistic choices? I might have to start walking that back.

The public is split, 48 "Gutsy Call" 49 "No-Brainer." Predictably, most Democrats think it was super-awesome; lamely, 28% of Republicans call it a "Gutsy Call," but who knows, maybe they're just bein' nice.

The most important factor is the swing voters, and they say 52-43 it was a no-brainer.

Oh... I guess the one third of Democrats who call it a no-brainer are sort of important too, if we guess these might be the Bitter Clingers who aren't necessarily going to vote for Captain Awesome a second time.

Posted by: Ace at 11:27 AM | Comments (98)
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You know what pundits always say about a speech? Every speech? Every single one?

I'll just say that about bin Ladin's posthumous tape: He did what he needed to do. Covered all the bases.

"The great oppression in our countries has reached great levels, and we have delayed enough the wave of change," says bin Laden. "Let the truth ring out. Remember those that go out with a sword are true believers, those that go fight with their tongue are true believers, and those that fight in their hearts are true believers."

He also urges -- um, urged, as he's missing half his head -- his followers to fight ignorance. How? He says there's a lot of "information" in Islam.

Nothing in there about head armor, I guess.

Posted by: Ace at 11:02 AM | Comments (105)
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At least he teased it in the last hour (now, 2pm Eastern). The Listen Live button at the top here is working, I think.

As Allah noted last night, when Gingrich's flack took a shot at those on the "cocktail circuit," he was implicitly calling out Rush too, since Rush was one of those critics being rebutted.

So this could be good.

Nothin'! No fireworks. Sorry, thought it would be good.

Posted by: Ace at 10:05 AM | Comments (245)
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1. Obama pretty much announced that he wants Israel to return to its 1967 borders-- thus endorsing the terrorists' key demand without requiring any substantive concessions on their part.

We agree that the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines, with mutually agreed swaps...

2. Obama offers his plan for Middle East prosperity:

Prosperity requires tearing down walls that stand in the way of progress. The corruption of the elites who steal from the people. The red tape that stops a business. The patronage that distributes wealth based on tribe or sect.

But America, of course, should do the opposite, I guess.

3. 90% of what he said was ho-hum "Sure that would be nice" crap. It was all crap like:

a. Bahrain should not shoot its protesters,

b. Bahrainian protesters should not break the laws in protesting, and

c. Iran should not exploit Bahrain's protesters.

See, this is nothing but a series of I wish that...'s. That's all it is: Impotent wishing. A boy tossing pennies in a fountain or a girl counting daisy-petals.

Very little of this is backed up by any concrete agenda. (Except for us spending money on Egypt and Tunisia, of course.)

In fact, because he wants to excuse his own failures in advance, he repeatedly cries that the US is powerless to shape events and these countries must make their own decisions and their own way (except Israel, of course: Obama has some demands for them). Over and over, he recapitulates how ineffectual the US is to achieve the very changes he's talking about.

So.

Why.

Bother.

This is a political document, pure and simple, an attempt at some post-hoc rationalization and some empty wishes (If only I were taller... if only I were richer) masquerading as foreign policy.

Oh, and Israel has to capitulate to terrorists as Hamas and Fatah drop all pretense and join together in a common, all-Palestinian united terror front.

Oh, and it's going to cost you a few billion. Don't sweat it; we can always print more of the stuff.

Update/Caveat: At the bottom of this post, Captain Ed claims that the 67 borders with swaps is not new policy, but has been US policy for a while.

I don't know. Both AP and FoxNews seem to believe this is new.

Posted by: Ace at 09:20 AM | Comments (354)
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Quote of the Speech: He said this. He really said this.

Prosperity requires tearing down walls that stand in the way of progress. The corruption of the elites who steal from the people. The red tape that stops a business. The patronage that distributes wealth based on tribe or sect.

Hey, that sounds pretty awesome, Prez! Any chance we could get some of that here in America? You may have heard, we're not doing so good.

...

The Oh, another speech. It's been days. Thank God. I had begun to worry.

This one is about change in the Middle East, and how awesome it is. And self-determination, and our own humility and inability to shape events.

In other words, he is pre-excusing himself for a Muslim Brotherhood takeover of Egypt, and an ongoing stalemate for Libya.

Preview? Well, it's on now, so this isn't a preview anymore, but Captain Ed answered some of Politico's questions about what the speech would contain.

Look, he's making this up as he goes. His attempts at post-hoc rationalization are feeble and designed for the 2012 elections, not as any genuine doctrine.

Oh Great, More Spending, This Time On Foreign Countries: curious sends a pair of tips about the White House push for "initiatives," which I'm just going to shorthand as "$."

The United States has designed initiatives [$] to support the stabilization process and to lay the foundation for longer term prosperity. We are galvanizing financial support from international financial institutions and Egypt and TunisiaÂ’s neighbors to help meet near term financial needs.

We will also help bilaterally. In response to numerous requests from the Egyptian government and the Egyptian people, the United States will relieve Egypt of up to $1 billion in debt by designing a debt swap arrangement, and swap it in a way that allows Egypt to invest these resources in creating jobs and fostering entrepreneurship. As another part of our effort to help Egypt invest in its people and regain access to global capital markets, we will lend or guarantee up to $1 billion in borrowing needed to finance infrastructure and support job creation. We will do this via our Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC).

Support for economic modernization. We realize that the modernization of the MENA economies will require a stronger private sector. To address that, we are committed to working with our international counterparts to support a reorientation of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to support countries in the region. That Bank played a crucial role in the democratization and economic transition in Central and Eastern Europe and can make a great contribution in MENA as well. The International Financial Corporation will scale up its investments to strengthen the private sector in transition countries. We also seek to establish Egyptian-American and Tunisian-American Enterprise Funds to stimulate private sector investment, to promote projects and procedures that support competitive markets, and to encourage public/private partnerships. And as Secretary Clinton announced in Cairo, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation will provide up to $2 billion dollars in financial support for private sectors throughout the MENA [Middle East North Africa] region.

Everytime this guy opens his yapper it costs us $10 billion (at a minimum).

Posted by: Ace at 08:28 AM | Comments (446)
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Here is the thing: Cornell West is a professional buffoon, a throwback caricature of black empowerment-by-hucksterism that is (or should be) as cringey as anything on Amos & Andy.

He is, professionally, a paid idiot.

I don't even want to quote him, even talking smack about Lord God King Obama, because he's a nothing of a pseudo-academic who practices his "academics" chiefly in bad rap albums and on Bill Maher, but he's like, authentic, man.

But here he is anyway, stepping, fetching.

"When he meets an independent black brother it is frightening. And thatÂ’s true for a white brother. When you get a white brother who meets a free, independent black man they got to be mature to really embrace fully what the brother is saying to them. ItÂ’s a tension, given the history. It can be overcome. Obama, coming out of Kansas influence, white, loving grandparents, coming out of Hawaii and Indonesia, when he meets these independent black folk who have a history of slavery, Jim Crow, Jane Crow and so on, he is very apprehensive. He has a certain rootlessness, a deracination. It is understandable."

"He feels most comfortable with upper middle-class white and Jewish men who consider themselves very smart, very savvy and very effective in getting what they want," he says. "HeÂ’s got two homes. He has got his family and whatever challenges go on there, and this other home. Larry Summers blows his mind because heÂ’s so smart. HeÂ’s got Establishment connections. HeÂ’s embracing me. It is this smartness, this truncated brilliance, that titillates and stimulates brother Barack and makes him feel at home. That is very sad for me."

Actually, West said a lot more that the media is actually not reporting. They're actually editing out some of West's tougher remarks (while castigating him for being too tough), because, I guess, they just can't stand to write anything negative about their Magic Boyfriend, even if to immediately rebut it.

NewsBusters wonder why the media is, ahem, white-washing West's remarks.

Will the same networks that found it irresistible to cover the Donald Trump birther antics make any time for black radicals claiming Obama isnÂ’t really black? On page A-6 of The Washington Post on Thursday, Post reporter Krissah Williams found Princeton professor Cornel West stirred up debate among black bloggers and academics for calling the president a "black mascot of Wall Street oligarchs and a black puppet of corporate plutocrats." The Post skipped over the next line: "And now he has become head of the American killing machine and is proud of it."

In a Monday interview with radical former New York Times reporter Chris Hedges, West said: "I think my dear brother Barack Obama has a certain fear of free black men...ItÂ’s understandable. As a young brother who grows up in a white context, brilliant African father, heÂ’s always had to fear being a white man with black skin. All he has known culturally is white. He is just as human as I am, but that is his cultural formation."

His father was brilliant? At what?

And what is all this "Brother" crap? This jackass is the black Quentin Tarantino. He grew up on exploitation movies and talks like he thinks he's inside of one. Except no one ever thought to give Quentin Tarantino tenured position at Ivy League universities (and an outsized "superstar" salary, too). We just accepted Tarantino as a bit of a gork and a goofus who occasionally turns out good movies, not some kind of Prophet.

So, there you go. Obama is culturally white. And, actually, racist. And too fond of the Jews.

The High Minister of Race Minstrelry said so.

So am I permitted to criticize him now?

Posted by: Ace at 08:10 AM | Comments (104)
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They published an op-ed by Mitt Romney on Page 1. Which isn't even Page One, I don't think, as the cover is really page one, but whatever. (I don't know, maybe it was on the cover.)

Obama reacted by banning the Herald from the media pool in his upcoming shakedown.

“I know the president and the White House are very sensitive about anyone who talks about the failures in the economy,” Romney said. “They’re in denial about putting people out of work and the under-employed. When the Herald speaks the truth, they lash out.”

...

“I think the president’s campaign promises in too many cases have gone by the boards. The transparency pledge was the first to go,” Romney said. “The inclination toward retribution and lashing out toward people who disagree with his economic posture is only the latest chapter.”

This is a pampered child who has never dealt with criticism nor learned how to handle it, now rewarded with great power, and he lashes out with that power like a child with a dangerous toy.

He's like the kid in the cornfield in Twilight Zone.

Even MSNBC... Or at least even Scary Larry O'Donnell agrees. Or pretends to. Ah well, the pretense of principle is close enough to the real thing.

Man, I thought I was a windy bastard. Look at this jackass nutter on.

Here are some quotes.

Okay, White House, let's get something straight here: The Boston Herald is not unbiased. Let's get something else straight: The Boston Globe is not unbiased. The New York Times is not unbiased. The Washington Post is not unbiased. There are now maybe no more than ten cities left in America that have more than one newspaper. Boston is one of those lucky cities. The Boston Globe, the dominant paper in the region, likes you guys in the Obama White House. The Boston Herald doesn't like you. Get used to it. And understand that the Herald can do you no harm. You won Massachusetts by nearly 26 points.

...

And if you think Mitt RomneyÂ’s Herald front page op-ed was a little tough on President Obama, you got to read the Herald more often.

...

The headline for Mitt RomneyÂ’s piece about president Obama was "Why He's Failing and How to Get it Right." If that's the worst headline Barack Obama gets in the Boston Herald, he will be very, very lucky.

But that's the point, isn't it? Although Obama and his media toe-suckers instruct us to treat him like a regular person, they refuse to do so himself. There are special rules for Obama, and those rules are not just from the media. They're pushed by Obama himself.

Posted by: Ace at 07:47 AM | Comments (150)
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That expensive college degree is looking more and more like a waste of money to a lot of people. There are a lot of problems in America's higher-ed system: some regulatory, some financial, some cultural, some demographic. The main problem (I think) is that too many kids are going to college because they view it as a ticket to a better job -- but as a jobs-training program, a college education fails more often than not, and it's an expensive failure at that. And there's a horrible amount of malinvestment of human labor at work there -- many young people invest 12 years of primary and six years of secondary (or more) into schooling, meaning that they are often in their mid to late 20's before even entering the jobs market...only to find that their 18+ years of education were -- well, not exactly wasted, but rather misdirected. Whatever marginal gain in earning power the college degree gives them is offset by the debt and time loss they incurred just getting the degree in the first place. Yet American parents and children both seem absolutely bent on a college education, the costs be damned.

I sure wish I had $787B to piss away. The only thing the "stimulus" did was "stimulate" the size and reach of the federal government (and throw money at insolvent states, who promptly squandered it).

Yet another economic Pollyanna says, "We can grow our way out of it!" No, we can't. GDP growth over the next decade is likely to be flat or at best a half-percentage point or so higher each year -- the chances of a major spike in GDP are not good, and thus it is irresponsible to plan on them. (The writer of the article says that if only we could cure Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, and cancer, Medicare would be just fine. Well, I'd be happy if we cured those diseases too, but I see no evidence that a cure for any of them is close. Therefore it seems...ill advised...to plan Medicare spending as if cures are right around the corner.) America can certainly grow quickly if certain measures are taken -- reformation of the Byzantine tax code, and shrinking both our national debt and the size of both federal and state governments -- but this is a project measured in decades, not years. And we do not have decades to get our financial house in order; we may not even have a single decade. Put more simply: we can surely hope for the best, but we must plan for the worst.

Another point about "curing" diseases: many chronic diseases have very effective treatments (e.g., cancer and diabetes), but these treatments are incredibly expensive. Hence the skyrocketing cost of medical care as a person ages. "Cures" for these conditions, even if discovered, would likely be incredibly expensive also -- and would simply pave the way to other age-related ailments as people live longer and longer. Until we perfect a technology to prevent aging entirely, increasing age is going to mean increasing medical costs -- there's no magic bullet to remove that cost.

Paul Ryan's budget plan is not sufficient to solve our financial problems, but it is a necessary first step because it directly addresses the main driver of our spending: entitlement costs. But the resistance to any sort of entitlement reform is growing, and the Democrats, predictably, are rolling out the "Paul Ryan wants to kill granny!" ads.

The EU default that dare not speak its name. The EU and ECB are in an odd position: it's obvious that Greece (and probably Ireland and Portugal) are going to default at some point. It's pretty much a mathematical certainty at this point. Yet the ECB is terrified of what a Greek default will mean to the Euro project -- it would expose the incompetence and flawed assumptions that have been part of the Euro project from the very beginning. This is why they seem bound and determined to shovel good money after bad -- not to "save" the Greeks, but to avoid embarrassment (and also to prevent German and French banks from taking huge haircuts on their Greek debt-holdings). I think the next step in this ridiculous melodrama is when the maturity of Greek bonds are extended for some arbitrary period -- a "soft default" that can be glossed by the ECB. It won't work, but it'll be yet another sign that the ECB is bending to the inevitable.

Veroniqe de Rugy has a good piece on how and why we suck at financial modeling and forecasting. (A lot of the problem is that when numbers get as large as the ones the government is throwing around, the discussion leaves the world of real things and enters the land of theory, probability, and statistics -- all areas where "exact" carries a far different meaning than it does in the real world.)

Los Angeles, home of the boned: LA wants to issue $1.35 billion in debt to cover pension costs. A juicy bit:

The Chief Administrative Officer recognizes that the investors may not be willing to purchase the Notes given the market’s skepticism of the City’s credit rating. In last year’s offering, the underwriters “ate” $252 million of notes that they were unable to sell.

[UPDATE 1]: Skyrocketing food prices turning hedge-fund managers into survivalists.

[UPDATE 2]: Obama figures America is so flush with cash that we can forgive Egypt's debt. To foster democracy, and we all know that the Muslim Brotherhood is all about the democracy.
more...

Posted by: Monty at 05:19 AM | Comments (238)
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Of course you should fight fire with fire. You should fight everything with fire.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 03:20 AM | Comments (228)
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