1

State Department contract officer steers contracts to daughter and husband's company

Why do people think they can get away with this kind of shit?  Maybe because it federaltown where unethical behavior is so much the norm that you can hide a rotten apple in the barrel full of rotten apples.  In my old company this would be grounds for instant firing. But as we see from this report your odds of dieing on the job are higher than being fired in a federal job.

2

Moody's says it will downgrade credit rating of 5 States if it downgrades U.S. credit rating

Moody’s Investors Service warned Tuesday that it probably will lower the credit rating on five states — including South Carolina — if it downgrades the U.S. government’s credit rating.

The credit rating agency said it has placed on review for possible downgrade the triple-A bond ratings of South Carolina, Maryland, New Mexico, Tennessee and Virginia.

And notice this in the article.

Last week, MoodyÂ’s placed the U.S. governmentÂ’s triple-A credit rating under review for a possible downgrade as Congress and the White House wrestle over raising the nationÂ’s $14.3 trillion borrowing limit. MoodyÂ’s said there is a small but rising risk the government will default on its debt if federal officials donÂ’t raise the limit.

Once again they only give a small portion of the actual statement by MoodyÂ’s. AP, and by default, any newspaper that uses the story, is lying by ommision of the largest part of the story. The major warning in the downgrade statement was not that they may not raise the debt limit. It was the fact that they can not SPENDING under control and the debt keeps spiraling up to unsustainable levels. The actual buyers of bonds have already taken that into account.

AP does not explain why they say they will downgrade the 5 States either. Going to MoodyÂ’s we find this:

Rational for downgrading the 5 States

It looks like if you have a high federal workforce you get reviewed. (Lots of military bases in SC)

3

Heritage says the same thing I said yesterday about the gang of shitz plan

A group of U.S. Senators called the Gang of Six has cobbled together the third Senate-originated half-baked idea this week that would lead to hiking the debt limit. All three Senate approaches — the McConnell Plan, the McConnell-Reid “Just Borrow More” Plan, and now the Gang of Six “Maybe Later in the Year” Plan — have one thing in common: procedural gimmicks that promise Congress will do in the future what it won’t do now to control spending. The time has passed for procedural gimmickry — Congress should cut spending and cut it now.

The Gang of Six circulated a plan that has Congress enact a law now whose principal elements (1) make unspecified spending cuts and unspecified tax increases to yield a $500 billion reduction in the federal deficit, and (2) impose spending caps on discretionary spending, but not on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and welfare programs that are the main cause of out-of-control spending.

ItÂ’s the same old story. The Republicans are sucked in for a bag of magic beans promise for unspecified cuts down the road and a few procedural gimmicks. Give some more tax money and weÂ’ll be good say the commies.

DeMint has tried to say numerous times. Rasmussen has said it many times. The conservative base of the Party is fed up with this kind of shit.  The CR fight at the beginning of the year pissed off a lot of people but the majority gave them a break because it wasnÂ’t a full yearÂ’s spending. But that “break” was also contingent on two things, first the debt ceiling negotiation, and second the 2012 fiscal year budget.

If the assholes in the Senate screw that up and the House doesnÂ’t fix it, the Republican Party will die. Its as simple as that. The 2010 campaign rested on taking the House and the House splitting up the spending bills with the intent that it would be a take it or leave it proposition. If they didnÂ’t take it then what ever department the bill dealt with would get NOTHING. That was a Republican campaign promise.

Listen Senate squishes and anyone who supports them in their go along to get along plan. There are a lot of people ready to say “screw it, we are approaching doom, if we canÂ’t turn the wheel then accelerate and burn it down so we can start over”.  IT.IS.FAR.PAST.THE.TIME.TO.FIGHT. This IS the hill to die on.

4 Robert Browning,  I think.  Very good.

Morning, Gabe.  Lots of grumbling about Gang of Six, McConnell, and the Senate this morning.

5 That's it. Most of what is out there is stuff we have covered yesterday. It CC&B, Gang of 6 and McConnell sellout and reactions to it with the requisite spin from the liberal press.

6 RWE, but I cheated.

7 Vic,  apparently some senators think they can just put out some fancy words and parlor card tricks and we here in the Midwest and South will just accept it as the dim bulbs they think we are.

I think they are in for a big shock.  Almost every source I have seen on the right is upset with these senators,  and I imagine the phone lines are going to melt down today.

8 Almost every source I have seen on the right is upset with these senators,  and I imagine the phone lines are going to melt down today.

They'll do like they did during the Obamacare and Amnesty debate, they'll take the phones off the hook.

9 Another note to Morons, there is a WSJ/NBC poll out there today but I didn't link it because I don't consider news organization polls to be credible. You can hunt it up if you have nothing else to do.

10 Posted by: Vic at July 20, 2011 07:01 AM (M9Ie6)
Part of the problem is the federal civil service sinecure rules (think union on steroids), it is almost impossible to fire anyone for anything, especially incompetence.  It might be a little easier in the case of fraud, but these are virtually lifetime jobs--thanks to us taxpayers.

11 It is not supposed to be impossible to fire people, but that is the way it is.

12 acquisition system stinks

not to mention the "Lies, Damn Lies, and the Trillion-Dollar F-35"
By Adam J. Hebert, Editor in Chief, Air Force Magazine, July 2011

13 Short term fix: Call and write the spineless Republicans Senators (and try to influence the Democrat ones as well)!
Mid term fix:  Vote the rascals OUT in 2012!
Long term fix: Repeal the 17th Amendment!

Sad thing is that I think we have seen the (domestic) enemy, and it is our inside the beltway politicians.

14 but these are virtually lifetime jobs--thanks to us taxpayers. our Congress that increasingly represents the Federal Government, not the People or regions of voters.

Senator Fred Thompson sponsored legislation requiring competence of federal employees. Look again at the establishment in league with pundit apologists who sabotaged his presidential platform, First Principles.

15 "Freshman Rep. Joe Walsh (R., Ill.) is circulating a letter to GOP leadership urging them not to bring up the McConnell plan for a vote. As he was leaving the Capitol this evening, Walsh told NRO that he had collected nearly 80 signatures, and hoped to have at least 100 by tomorrow." 

_/NRO

16 Long term fix: Repeal the 17th Amendment!

I really don't think repeal of the 17th amendment will help that much. In any case, it will take an article V convention to do it. Look at this BBA. 70% of the population supports it and has supported it for a long time. But it will not make it through the Senate today.

if we are going to do an Article V convention we can go for a lot more than just the 17th amendment. We can fix 200 years of Supreme Court meddling and return the Constitution to what is is supposed to say in plain English. Then add some restrictions on the court.

17 "Obama sits down for debt interviews"

18 I used to get blasted here for talking about a "crazy" art5 convention.

19 I used to get blasted here for talking about a "crazy" art5 convention.

Me too, but I think a lot more people have come around.  The big concern is blue state action that would make things worse. I have always had two things to say about that:

1. It can't get any worse than what we have now
2. There are more red states than blue states and you only get one vote per state.

20 Long term fix: Repeal the 17th Amendment!

Yes. And it will be up to State Legislatures to take up their just mantles of authority, protecting their State's Rights and the Rights of the American Citizenry.

Yesterday's Limbaugh (absent) show was provokingly great. I agree with Mark Steyn's analysis that pointed out the necessity for the Tea Party movement to amplify efforts, strength, and maintain focus. It's ridiculous that Palin, Bachmann or even Ron Paul haven't established personal rapport with Steyn -- fearing the flames.

Steyn needs his own show. It isn't just his poignant vision, but his interviews are magnificent, with guests and with callers in meaningful conversation that loses no wit on point. No one matches Steyn's talents.

I can no longer humor Republican apologists listening to their blahblahblah.

21 Minnesota's 19-day government shutdown due to end Wednesday after politicians reach deal - Pioneer Press http://bit.ly/oEl6t3

22

 @16 Long term fix:  Repeal the 17th Amendment!......"We can fix 200 years of Supreme Court meddling and return the Constitution to what it is suppose to say in plain English."

Vic, you are going to be one of the first to be thrown into the camps......  I'll see you there.

23 Allen West rocks my world....

24 Re post # 10. Fear keeps a lot of civil service employees quiet, especially in some states. It's not wise to break deals with the devil, or even to talk about them.

25

Another day, another heat advisory.

JWF, but if I link it and you read it, you might get dumber.

Somebody used audio recordings from his book to make a jury notice message:

In the recording, the caller, purporting to be the president, rambles about drinking and drug use, and uses a racial epithet at one point.

James Rollins Sr., president of the Middletown chapter of the NAACP, said Thursday that he regards the message as racist and has alerted the regional and state offices of the NAACP. His chapter will watch closely to see how the county handles the incident, Rollins said.

26

I used to get blasted

Why did you stop?  Seems like the longer we go, the more reason there is to tie one on.

27 Another day, another heat advisory.

Yeah, after our brief interlude it is back up yesterday and today.  Broke a hundred yesterday and it probably will today as well, depending on what time we get our scheduled thunder-boomer. 

28 Karl's got some good numbers at Patterico's. Well, good in the sense that...ah, just read it and stop asking me all these questions. Link in my name.

29 Vic, you are going to be one of the first to be thrown into the camps......  I'll see you there.

FDR used the IRS, looks like Otrama will use ATF.

30 Rashard Mendenhall - refined gentleman, Twitterer extraordinaire and Pittsburgh Steeler - and his attorney fail to grasp the concept of contractual obligations and to whom the First Amendment prohibition against abridging free speech rights applies.

31

The heat index is going to be 105. The sad thing is that I'm relieved...after hitting 105 with the heat index of over 110 last week.

I can't believe how wiped out I was after just running a lot of errands in that soup.

32

On March 15, for example, Mendenhall tweeted about his agreement with Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson's comments comparing the NFL to "modern-day slavery."

"Anyone with knowledge of the slave trade and the NFL could say that these two parallel each other," Mendenhall wrote.

About six weeks later, he tweeted that women who decline to perform oral sex on a partner should be aware that "It's either gonna be you, OR some other chick."

What a guy.

33

@29  ....looks like Otrama will use ATF.

If the ATF saw the flag I fly in front of my house I'd have a tank parked in my living room.

34

Check this revenue chart from Heritage

That 20% number he is quoting is only a temporary fluctuation as the economy and congressional meddling have an impact and then stabilize out.

Once the meddling is over it always stabilizes out to just over 18%. You can not get more. Raising taxes does NOT increase revenue. Especially when the Dem-Commie Party always increases spending every time they raise taxes.

This is why the CC&B deal specified an 18% limit for spending. (too bad they made it take forever to get there.)

35 Allen West rocks my world....

Posted by: Plymouthmom at July 20, 2011 07:39 AM (O/5X6)

If only we could find 536 more like him!

36 If only we could find 536 more like him!\

Right now we have quite a few in the House. The problem is we need 60 of those in the Senate and get rid of the ME sisters and the ones like them.

37

Time for a revival, man

38 Family of slain ICE agent says govt wonÂ’t release murder details

When you've lost Yahoo!, you've lost America

39 Given what I have seen during the first 7 months of this year after the 2010 election I am not having much confidence. I saw taking the House as a minimum step to halting the slide so that in 2012 we could take the Senate and the Presidency and start reversing the slide.

It looks like the gains made in the House are being offset by traitors in the Senate and we will continue the slide into complete collapse.

I am no longer sure we can make it to the 2012 elections.

40 Vic, apparently some senators think they can just put out some fancy words and parlor card tricks and we here in the Midwest and South will just accept it as the dim bulbs they think we are. Well duh, it got Obama elected President so they think that stuff is the ultimate now.

41 Checking local radio station website (welcome to the 21st century!) for weather and saw a headline "Leading Democrat Enthused about Gang of Six Deal." Enthused? We are going to get boned.

42 Checking local radio station website (welcome to the 21st century!) for weather and saw a headline "Leading Democrat Enthused about Gang of Six Deal."

All the Dems are "enthused". They got exactly what they wanted. Tax increases based on more "unspecified cuts" down the road.

43

1. It can't get any worse than what we have now
Posted by: Vic at July 20, 2011 07:31 AM (M9Ie6)

 

Famous last words.

I don't believe it will matter when those at the top of the power pyramid can ignore the rules at will.  We have a culture problem - too many Americans are willing to tolerate corruption, so long as they think it benefits them. 

 

44 From the sidebar link: Welcome to the neo-medieval world of BritainÂ’s energy policy.
Every renewable project, from offshore wind farms to rooftop solar panels to bio-ethanol plants, is paid for by a stealth poll tax levied from everybody’s electricity bills called the renewable obligation (RO). The RO already adds an astonishing £1.1 billion a year to the electricity bills of Britons; by 2020 it could be £8 billion, or 30 per cent extra. Unlike the poll tax, which was merely not progressive, this tax is highly regressive. It robs the poor — including those too poor to pay income tax — and hands much of the money to the landed rich in three different ways: higher wheat and wood prices; rents for wind farms; and the iniquitous ‘feed-in tariff’, by which the person who produces electricity by ‘renewable’ means is paid three times the market rate.

Winning the future, and the future is feudalism!

45 I am no longer sure we can make it to the 2012 elections.

Posted by: Vic at July 20, 2011 08:00 AM (M9Ie6)

Obama likes to compare himself to Lincoln, but Lincoln held elections during a real all-out civil war (more correctly termed the War of Northern Aggression).  I think the Zero has already drafted an Executive Order deferring elections until 2016 due to a national debt emergency (or an unemployment emergency, or a terrorist emergency or...).

46 Steyn needs his own show.

I like Steyn, but his voice always sounds to me as if he's strangling.

47 Vic - But right now we are under 15% taxation.  If we should be at around 18% then we should raise taxes now?

And, while those graphs are useful, they are mainly done for fear mongering.  Why in hell's name include Obama's budget as a possible scenario? It got zero votes and no one took it seriously.

48 Posted by: Hrothgar at July 20, 2011 08:04 AM (yrGif)

Not gonna go there today.

49 Something freaking happens when I load the AOS home page; there's a long(er than usual) delay.  In fact, my whole computer stutters, not just the browser.

Anyone else get that?

50 Vic - But right now we are under 15% taxation.

NO.WE.ARE.NOT

You keep spouting that 15% shit and it is a damn lie. read the fraking chart.

51 Ron Paul on radio this am talking about debt problem - I wrote yesterday that even Ron Paul wouldn't say we have to cut the budget by 43% right now. I was wrong. He voted against CCB because it raised the debt ceiling. He says just don't borrow any more money and don't worry about default talk because the way that sovereigns default is by debasing the currency and that's already done. But his answer was to stop our expeditionary military....

52 Another note to Morons, there is a WSJ/NBC poll out there today but I didn't link it because I don't consider news organization polls to be credible. You can hunt it up if you have nothing else to do.

Posted by: Vic at July 20, 2011 07:12 AM (M9Ie6)

I read it. They only loaded the poll with 14 points more Obama voters than McCain voters and Obama was still only 47% approve 48% dissapprove. NBC is getting desperate.

53

About six weeks later, he tweeted that women who decline to perform oral sex on a partner should be aware that "It's either gonna be you, OR some other chick."

What a guy.

Posted by: Mama AJ at July 20, 2011 07:53 AM (XdlcF)

Easy now, comparing the NFL to slavery doesn't mean everything he said should be discarded.

54 Something freaking happens when I load the AOS home page; there's a long(er than usual) delay. In fact, my whole computer stutters, not just the browser. Yesterday sitemeter was hanging page loads. But from your descriptions sounds like maybe an ad you are getting.

55 Yesterday sitemeter was hanging page loads. But from your descriptions sounds like maybe an ad you are getting.

If you get FF and use adblock and noscript it will stop that crap.

56 Posted by: Reactionary at July 20, 2011 08:03 AM (xUM1Q)
I think it can always get worse, and over the course of history, I think I have been proven right.  The US of A appeared at a unique period of time in a unique set of circumstances (two of which stand out to me, educated men of principle and land that was not owned by an entrenched privileged aristocracy). 

Civilization will not see its like again.

57

GayGayGayGay

GayGayGayGay

GayGayGayGay

GayGayGayGay

GayGayGayGay

GayGayGayGay

This is NOT normal

58 Posted by: Vic at July 20, 2011 08:06 AM (M9Ie6)

 Sorry, couldn't help my self. 
The principal point stood on its own and I should not have thrown that tweak in!

59 I think it can always get worse, and over the course of history, I think I have been proven right

What I was alluding to "getting worse" is our current shredding of the Constitution. Of course the situation in the country can get worse. In fact, that is where we are headed, total collapse and doom.  That is why I said we need an Art V convention.

And if that happens we WILL wind up with some "leader for life" because that is normally what happens. 1776 was an aberration in history.

60 And BTW, we came damn close to that leader for life with FDR. In fact, you might say he was a "leader for life" since he died in office".

61 Civilization will not see its like again.

Posted by: Hrothgar at July 20, 2011 08:10 AM (yrGif)

 

Sadly I'm sure you're quite right.  There simply aren't enough of us left who value what were once normal American cultural attitudes.  As a result, there is no amount of voting that will fix the mess we're in.  Bring on the eschaton!  Immanentize that bitch... 

I just wish the idiots in charge of this madhouse would figure out a way to make the downward slide more gradual and orderly.  I need more time to accumulate wealth and escape.  I hate to harbor that defeatist attitude, but most of the so-called Right in this country is unwilling to do much more than complain.  We can't even get voter fraud issues addressed, which means that even if we won the debate, we'd still lose the fight.  Then the corrupt courts will over ride any democratic action we take.  We can't even rely on an an amendment to the constitution - the courts will simply re-interpret it to mean whatever they want it to mean.

62 Vic - you are the only one who seems top think we are not.  Look at the chart.  2010 is the last year we have numbers for and revenue plunged well below 15%.  It's right there.

The folks at Heritage want you looking at future numbers.. but they may or may not happen.

This page has a better graph, also using Heritage numbers.  It is easier to see what is real and what is projected.

http://tinyurl.com/24vdrrm

63

I read it. They only loaded the poll with 14 points more Obama voters than McCain voters and Obama was still only 47% approve 48% dissapprove. NBC is getting desperate.

Posted by: robtr
.........
I have noticed all the pro-Obama polls are doing that, robtr.  They don't even try to get an even spread anymore.  It's all bullshit when the demographics are that skewed.

64 Via Instapundit, Obama's cousin, Dr. Milton Wolf, has a great article here. http://tinyurl.com/3z547yj Also, Dr. Wolf makes the case why we should all click on the Obama ads at his website here. http://tinyurl.com/44j7myw

65 I like Steyn, but his voice always sounds to me as if he's strangling.

Posted by: nickless at July 20, 2011 08:04 AM (MMC8r)

I find I like reading Steyn waaaaay more than listening to him.

66 4 Robert Browning,  I think.  Very good.

Emerson, if I'm not mistaken.  I only know because that's my nephew's middle name, and his famous lines came up while my sister was defending it to the family ("'Emerson?'  WTF kind of name is Emerson?"  Illiterate heathens, the lot of them, my sister excepted.)

67

And BTW, we came damn close to that leader for life with FDR. In fact, you might say he was a "leader for life" since he died in office".

Posted by: Vic at July 20, 2011 08:16 AM (M9Ie6)

 

Yep.  Even my grandad, who still thinks of himself as a Democrat (a 1940's style one - he's a bit out of touch) said that they all figured FDR was angling to make himself effectively a dictator.  It was no big secret that he was an admirer of Stalin. 

68 If you look at the Heritage chart it went down to 15% in 2008 during the heavy swing from the collapse it is back up now to just under 20% and projected to go higher.

End of story.

69 From The Onion:

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN—In what officials said was the "only way" to move on from what has become a "sad and unpleasant" situation, all 100,000 U.S. military and intelligence personnel crept out of their barracks in the dead of night Sunday and quietly slipped out of Afghanistan.

U.S. commanders explained their sudden pullout in a short, handwritten note left behind at Bagram Airfield, their largest base of operations in the country.

"By the time you read this, we will be gone," the note to the nation of Afghanistan read in part. "We regret any pain this may cause you, but this was something we needed to do. We couldn't go on like this forever."

"We still care about you very much, but, in the end, we feel this is for the best," the note continued. "Please, just know that we are truly sorry and that we wish you all the greatest of happiness in the future."

According to firsthand accounts, the 90,000 American troops stationed in Afghanistan lay in their beds pretending to be asleep until well after midnight Tuesday. They then reportedly tiptoed out to a fleet of awaiting Humvees, tanks, armored cars, and stealth aircraft; gently eased the doors shut; and departed as silently as possible so as not to wake the 30- million-person nation.

According to firsthand accounts, the 90,000 American troops stationed in Afghanistan lay in their beds pretending to be asleep until well after midnight Tuesday. They then reportedly tiptoed out to a fleet of awaiting Humvees, tanks, armored cars, and stealth aircraft; gently eased the doors shut; and departed as silently as possible so as not to wake the 30- million-person nation.

http://tinyurl.com/4338zen

70 Can I just say?  Federal marginal tax rates of 15% do not equate to an overall tax rate of 15%.  They equate to, more like, about 30-35%.  That's a guess.  But I betcha we pay more in non-federal-income tax than we do in federal income tax.

71 And yes, I know you want a tax increase.

72 Ooops...got a double paragraph there.  sorry.

73

The Big Apple, here I come!

New York holds gay marriage lottery

74 Morning! Hows everyone feeling about making me Senate Majority Leader in 2012?  That'll get you fired up, right?

75 43 We have a culture problem - too many Americans are willing to tolerate corruption, so long as they think it benefits them. 

That in a sentence is why Philly, Detroit, DC, Atlanta, NYC and the other socialist hellholes look the way they do today.

76 I know it's a pipe dream, but we have to stop with the seniority = leadership bullshit.

77

Posted by: Kal Penn, BO's real "best friend" at July 20, 2011 08:28 AM (9hSKh)

 

Great.  More special treatment for teh gehys.  How magical.

78 Posted by: '80sBaby at July 20, 2011 07:36 AM (o2lIv)

I just scanned the article you linked, but it looks like Minnesota Repubs did a big El-Cave-O to the DFL socialists, piling a bunch of waste back into the state's budget.

I'm thinking that's how the Repubs in D.C. will treat the Traitor-in-Chief, making sure ACORN, worldwide terrorism and "green" waste energy get all the pork they want.

Not nice to begin the day racked with nausea, but that's the normal state of affairs in the Age of Osama Obama.

Oh, and BTW: repealing the 17th Amendment is one of those theoretical discussions that means nothing. It will merely hand more power to State governments, almost all of which match D.C. for fraud, corruption and treason. Let the NRO crowd yammer about it...it's their kind of fiddling-while-Rome-burns meat.

79 And yes, I know you want a tax increase.

I'm to understand that 80% of us do.  Who knew?

80 I looove Mark Steyn!  I love everything about him!  I love when he subs and the crew plays his "Marshmellow World" as bumper music.

He has a rapier wit!  Uigher Wednesday--now that's a classic, and undocumented radio host.  "America Alone" was really good (and scary!)  He is an absolute treasure.

81 I didn't even know that I wanted a tax increase.  But 80% of me does!

82 Morning all.  West Nile virus is back with a vengeance here.

83 Why do you have to be such a downer, Jane?  Why?  WHY!!!

84 No, I don't want to increase taxes.  I want to, as Rubio put it recently, increase the number of taxpayers.

Anyone can see from those charts that revenues are way down.  And spending is way up.  We have to decrease spending.  But the political realities would never allow bringing it down to 15-16% of GDP... maybe 20%.. 18% would be heaven.

But until we can get revenues back up to equal levels, we're gonna be running a deficit.

I think all this line-in-the-sand negotiations is bullshit.  Let's get a short-term agreement in place and concentrate on 2012.  The only way this country gets better is with a pro-growth president and GOP senate and House.  Otherwise we're boned.

85 If I was working for Moody's, I'd find a new job. Obama likes him some drones.

86 Poor Elin!  She just can't catch a break.  Will one of you morons please go and comfort her?

From The Chicago Sun Times:

After happily being out of the media glare for many months, Elin Nordegren is furious that she’s back in the spotlight — thanks to new boyfriend Jamie Dingman.

It’s all because word got out that the wealthy financier earlier had a fling with Rachel Uchitel — perhaps overlapping with her romp with Tiger Woods when he was Nordegren’s husband.

Even though Dingman’s dalliance with Uchitel predated his relationship with Nordegren, she is devastated she was blindsided by all this — especially since Dingman didn’t tell her about the creepy connection until after the news broke.

That Rachel!  She gets around!

 

87

The only way this country gets better is with a pro-growth president and GOP senate and House.  Otherwise we're boned.

The only way we get a pro-growth president and GOP senate and house is by drawing a line in the sand.

88 Oh, and what is it with middle aged men going by the name "Jamie?"

89 83 Why do you have to be such a downer, Jane?  Why?  WHY!!!

Heh.  My work here is done.

90

Another reason to continue my boycott of Seattle. They want to raise the car tab fees $100 next year to pay for bike lanes and more transit. They will however allow 18% of the new fee to go to fix potholes. Socialists.

http://tinyurl.com/3u632dw

 

91

 Poor Elin!  She just can't catch a break.  Will one of you morons please go and comfort her?

Nope, I married a scandi once. I was lucky to survive that.

92 Agreed, Steyn is excellent (maybe doesn't give me the vapors as appears to be the case with runningrn, but he's excellent nonetheless - runningrn, are you by chance a 'rette including Steyn's dashing good looks into your calculus?).

He frequently has a full page article at the end of National Review that makes for great bedtime reading (not sure why I still subscribe, as all the topics are a month old by the time I get it; for a regular blog reader that practice already seems anachronistic), and his books are well-researched and well-written.

93 Did you guys see where Dylan Ratigan is claiming not to be a liberal?

94 "looks like Otrama will use ATF."

a la Clinton

You'll note the bitter clingers of denial wearing the tinfoil hats.

95

Nope, I married a scandi woman once. I was lucky to survive that.

FIFY

96

I read it. They only loaded the poll with 14 points more Obama voters than McCain voters and Obama was still only 47% approve 48% dissapprove. NBC is getting desperate.

Posted by: robtr at July 20, 2011 08:07 AM (MtwBb)

Wow, that is pretty telling. Adjusting for the oversampling of dnc dweebs, I come up with....let's see- -3 pct approve, 2,781 pct disapprove.

Sounds about right.

Oh, and King Putt is a stuttering mincing imbecile. Still.

97 I saw on Fox this morning that Betty White has had to decline the Marine's invite to the Ball, but Linda Hamilton made a vid accepting.  Isn't she/didn't she used to be a raging alcoholic?  She looked pretty rough in the video.

98 80 Posted by: runningrn at July 20, 2011 08:34 AM (ihSHD)
86 Posted by: runningrn at July 20, 2011 08:39 AM (ihSHD)
Your "peanut butter in my chocolate" - "chocolate in my peanut butter" moment has arrived:

Rachel Uchitel, Uigher for Hire

99 I think all this line-in-the-sand negotiations is bullshit.

Well you keep thinking that all the way up to the time that your fellow Chi-town citizens are cracking your bones for the marrow after the collapse.

100 How do I know there's no "recovery"?  Here's how: today on the Weather Network (I'm in Canada) there have been a lot of heat wave stories.  Ontario is in the middle of a strong heat wave, and tomorrow is expected to be the worst day.  The reporter said that typically, you'd expect the government to start warning people to try to conserve energy as much as possible, because the demand for fans and air conditioners goes up so dramatically in these circumstances, and they try to head off brownouts and power failures from overloaded facilities.  Today, though, our Energy commissars are proudly announcing that they expect to "easily" meet the increased demand for electricity.  Never in my life have I heard an announcement like that.  They don't explain that our industries and businesses have been hit so badly in the past 2 years, electricity use in the province has dropped dramatically.  There's a lot of surplus left over for us homeowners, because there are fewer employers.

101 Love the new tone of civility from the left and their mouthpieces in the MFM (from Newsbusters):

TuesdayÂ’s CBS Evening News poked fun at 80-year-old Rupert Murdoch being nearly hit by a pie as the show led with the News Corp founderÂ’s appearance in front of the British parliament to discuss the News of the World phone hacking scandal. During the opening teaser, after playing a clip of Murdoch exclaiming that "This is the most humble day of my life," Schieffer made a quip about "humble pie." Schieffer: "Elizabeth Palmer and Anthony Mason on the News Corp chief getting a taste of humble pie."

After Schieffer opened the show recounting the Murdoch story and introduced correspondents Elizabeth Palmer and Anthony Mason, Mason could be seen with a big grin, presumably in response to the CBS anchorÂ’s opening.

102

 

Posted by: robtr at July 20, 2011 08:41 AM (MtwBb)

 

Well, those bike boxes aren't going to paint themselves.  I heard it costs either 10 or 20K (can't remember now which) to paint one of those things!  (probably includes the cost of labor--you know the one guy doing the painting and the 15 others milling around).

103 From MSNBC:

Mrs. Rupert Murdoch wins hearts & minds in China

Wendi Deng, aka Mrs Rupert Murdoch, showed that you can take the girl out of China, but not China out of the girl.

With a leap and a spike, Deng overnight appeared to have soared into the hearts of many in mainland China who wrote on Sina Weibo (a Chinese Twitter clone):

“Deng Wendi is a pearl among women!”

“Mrs Deng Wendi, you are my idol from now on!”

More at: http://tinyurl.com/3u7ccaf

104

OK, I'm off to work, have a great day everyone!

(And yes, Mark Steyn is easy on the eyes, but I loved him even when he was just a voice on Hugh Hewitt years ago--first time I heard him).

105 About time for the Monty Doom thread. Lotta doom out there today with all the sell-outs.

106 I hope Petraeus can clean all the garbage out of the CIA (LOL @ me for even thinking that).  There's an op-ed in the WSJ by Fred Fleitz pointing out that even though Iran has enough low-enriched uranium for 4 nuclear weapons if further enriched, the CIA hasn't budged from its 2007 analysis, done in fear of how GWB would respond to a true picture, that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and hasn't restarted it since.

107 What in the world is Coburn doing helping Obama raise taxes while pretending to cut spending?

Here's a hint for determining when you're fucking up: If (1) you're in the Senate, and (2) you're in anything called the Gang of X, where X represents a relatively small number of Senators split evenly across the aisle, and (3) members of the media who usually hate you are suddenly singing your praises, then you're probably fucking up.

108 it's funny, i used tha tquote in a conversation the other day

109 Bob Dole doesn't see any problem with the Gang of Six plan.  Sounds just like the kind of compromise Bob Dole supported in the 80s and 90s.  You people just oughta ask yourselves, "What would Bob Dole do?"

110

Posted by: Chi-Town Jerry at July 20, 2011 08:18 AM (Wm4Mf)

Hey, econ genius.

No, we are not taxed at the rate that would pay for the entire federal budget share of GDP.  That gap is called "the deficit."

So, follow me here, which factor in the equation is out of whack compared to where it was just three years ago?  Don't hurt yourself.

111 Mrs. Rupert Murdoch wins hearts & minds in China

Wendi Deng, aka Mrs Rupert Murdoch, showed that you can take the girl out of China, but not China out of the girl.

Well I'm smitten too. I have never seen someone react so quick to danger, no pause, no hesitation just bang! Head slapped the guy, took his pie away and shoved it in his face. excellent!

112 My kitteh would make a great DOOM kitteh.  She's lying on her back with her legs stretched out and looks dead.

113 Posted by: Bob Dole at July 20, 2011 08:56 AM (piR9

I'm sure it gives your buddy McCain a boner too.

114

Republicans on the gang of 6: Chamblis, had been borderline RINO up to last year; Crapo same thing; Coburn generally good. So we have 3 commies, 2 borderline RINOs and 1 conservative.

Do we wonder why we get sold out?

115 The DOOM is up!

116

Well I'm smitten too. I have never seen someone react so quick to danger, no pause, no hesitation just bang! Head slapped the guy, took his pie away and shoved it in his face. excellent!

Posted by: robtr at July 20, 2011 08:57 AM (MtwBb)

She's a former volleyball player. ;o)

117 Coburn generally good. So we have 3 commies, 2 borderline RINOs and 1 conservative.

Do we wonder why we get sold out?

Posted by: Vic at July 20, 2011 09:02 AM (M9Ie6)

Coburn quit the group and then came back; God knows why he returned to come up with that pile of shit that they ended up with.  I'm surprised Durbin didn't replace him with his fellow economic retard, McCain.  There's so much Repuke garbage in the Senate:  Lady Lindsey, the gruesome twosome from Maine, Scotty Centerfold, Cornyn.....

Marco Rubio must feel pretty lonely at times.

118 Ralph Waldo Emerson.  Don't know how I got that mixed up.  It must be the heat.  Yeah,  that's the ticket!

119 @ 15 , Joe Walsh has gotten into politics? 

120 You want ammunition?

One Obama Presser, 36 Obama Lies and Deceptions

One of my favorites:

Lie 22. "And they don't require "job-killing tax cuts.""

Job.. Killing.. Tax-Cuts.

I'd LUV to listen to the most intelligent man on teh planet^™ explain how tax-cuts kill jobs.

121 Via Instapundit, Obama's cousin, Dr. Milton Wolf, has a great article here. http://tinyurl.com/3z547yj

I read it this morning and remember someone mentioned here yesterday. It's about Obama's lie about his mother's health insurance problems during her last illness. Not only did her insurance company pay up without a fight, she got treatment at Sloan-Kettering, among other places, and her devoted son had a six figure signing bonus he could tap to pay her out-of-pocket costs. The pre-existing condition nonsense he talked about came into play when she applied for disability insurance a year AFTER her cancer diagnosis. Yeah, those evil insurance corporations did her wrong!

Go read it, but be prepared to be pissed off. Barky didn't "shade" the truth, he flat out lied.

122 can't but help to giggle at Big Hollywood as they link to a Undefeated post from Ain't It Cool News without noticing that it's a joke post

123 Perry met with the money men last night. I don't think the question was if they could raise money for the presidential run, but how much could they raise.

If you aren't convinced that he's gonna run by now, this should cinch it.

124 Hey. Don't look at me.

125 You know those theories that Neanderthals didn't die out, they just got assimilated into the h. sapiens population?  Yeah, there's genetic proof now.  Creationists hardest hits.

Bonus points for those who find the aspect that files solidly under 'Unfortunate Implications'...

126 I'd LUV to listen to the most intelligent man on teh planet^™ explain how tax-cuts kill jobs.

Posted by: franksalterego at July 20, 2011 09:10 AM (7/sDI)

 

Government jobs. Public sector unions that are near and dear to Barry's heart

127 TheQuietMan at July 20, 2011 10:12 AM

Yes,

I pretty much figured out, "job killing tax-cuts"

Translation:

"I'm going to have a hard time paying the worthless, overpaid, paper-pushing, denial-box checking, weasels in my administration."

128 Creationists hardest hits.

???

129 You know those theories that Neanderthals didn't die out, they just got assimilated into the h. sapiens population? Yeah, there's genetic proof now. Creationists hardest hits.

Posted by: AoSHQ's *second* worst commenter, DarkLord© at July 20, 2011 10:04 AM (GBXon)

 

 

Peer reviewed, or just another hoax to keep the sweet, sweet grant cash flowing? The link didn't provide much beyond the abstract.

130 Tim Dake, of the Wisconsin GrandSons of Liberty, laid out what he and the other allied Tea Party leaders are doing in their state: “In Wisconsin we are currently evolving from helping the legislatorsÂ’ bills to writing and pushing our own. Some legislator leadership still tries to screw us over but we are finding ways to resolve that too. Next up will be trying to figure out how to rewrite the legislative rules.”  --  Ned Ryun

131 Peer reviewed, or just another hoax to keep the sweet, sweet grant cash flowing?

No kidding. It makes no difference at this point.

We are what we are, doomed.