Wednesday, September 30, 2009

The BEST ACORN/Polanski Post Ever!

Cynthia's title says it all, ACORN to partner with Roman Polanski on daycare center chain.

Here's a taste:

“It doesn’t matter how many shell corporations you have for laundering money if you don’t have rivers of cash in the first place,” Lewis continued. “So when Roman Polanski came to us with his concept for day care centers with on-site pharmacies and liquor stores, we knew it was a winner from the get-go. He’s the man with the experience needed to get something like this off the ground. Our skillsets are a great match. ..."

Read the entire post, Cynthia outdid herself!

Hump Day Humor


Thinking of Home

Stacy McCain is hanging out in rural Kentucky and his posts are making me wistful. I doubt I'll ever leave Florida but I admit that when I think about home I think about Pulaski County Kentucky.

Stacy arrived in Clay County and discovered normal people. Seriously. I realize it is difficult for people who live in places that matter to imagine, but people in Kentucky are pretty much like people in important places except they're not nearly as snooty. In fact, they can actually read and write, speak English and as a percentage of the population, there are no more 'knuckle draggers' in rural Kentucky than there are in Los Angeles.

One of the first people Stacy met was Morgan Bowling, news director of her hometown paper, the Manchester Enterprise. She shared with Stacy an email she had received from a New Yorker (place that matters) regarding the Bill Sparkman death:

To M. Bowling
I just read the story on the AP about the Census worker who was hung. What
I want to ask you is, are you people for real down there? I mean what kind of
f---ing animals live in Clay County? I live in New York State, and this story is
above and beyond even for New York!Are you a bunch of uneducated, ignorant,
toothless, dirty scumbags? What f---ing century are the residents of Clay County
living in? Do you realize what this crime makes you people look like? Good God!
What kind of people are you? This is a story one would expect would come out of
Iraq or Afghanistan!What are you people, backwoods ignorant freaks? Let me tell
you this ranks up there with terrorists cutting peoples' heads off. This crime
is a reflection of all the residents of Clay County. Are you all proud of
that?What is the average education level of the residents of Clay County? Third
grade? You are all disgusting pigs, and if one could level a curse at a
community, then I curse the whole lot of you. May Clay County Kentucky be wiped
off the face of this earth by fire or some other disaster such as a flood or an
earthquake!! And may all the residents of Clay County -- man, woman, and child
-- rot away in Hell forever!!
Gary S-----Malta, N.Y.

What a charming missive. I wonder if, in the spirit of open mindedness displayed by Gary S if we should declare all the people of Malta, NY to be cut of the same cheap cloth as Gary? Turn the other cheek, Carolyn, he knows not the depth of his ignorance.

Stacy turned reports from Laurel County here and here. I have fond memories of Laurel County. Basketball rules in Kentucky and my Pulaski Co. Maroons beat 'em every time.

It is an incredible area filled with incredible people. A terrible thing happened to Mr. Sparkman there but we don't know who or why he died. A terrible thing is happening to the people in Clay County. The entire county is being maligned by the Lefty blogs and people with a Gary S mindset and not only do they not know the facts, I haven't seen any indication that they care about the facts. You can bet that if the facts turn out not to fit the Left's desired scenario their response will be, "Bill who?"

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Congratulations Are Due!

First, congratulations to William A. Jacobson at Legal Insurrection for reaching the one million hit mark. Thank you Prof. Jacobson for eleven months and two weeks of enjoyable and thought provoking posts.

Second, congratulations to Gator Doug at the Daley Gator for officially being named a mobster by Media Matters. You're obviously touching a nerve. Keep up the great work!

There's Creepy and Then There's Skin Crawling Creepy

Via The Sundries Shack:



Jimmie's take on Obamite's praying to The Won:

That goes just a touch beyond creepy, I think. I’m pretty sure that God smote the ever-loving snot out of the Old Testament Israelites for much less.

Good thing God gave up the open fire and brimstone-level smiting a long time ago, huh?


Yeah, but if the Lord did send fire and brimstone the Left would just point to it as proof of climate change.

See also: Atlas Shrugs, The Blog Prof, Gateway Pundit, HotAirPundit, RedState, and Memeorandum

So What is Rape? UPDATED

Via Memeorandum:

So Whoopi doesn't think Polanski's attack on a thirteen year old child rises to the level of rape? Well, that certainly raises some questions, doesn't it?

For argument's sake, take the girl's age and the drugs out of it. We either accept that "no means no" or we don't. According to the testimony, the girl repeatedly told Polanski "no" and begged him to stop. Are Whoopi & Co. now saying that saying "no" is not sufficient? What, according to Hollywood, is the new standard for rape?

"No" and "stop" are not sufficient. Inability to consent, whether by age, because of drugs or one would assume, mental capacity, are not sufficient. Perhaps Hollywood in its desire to be inclusive, has adopted the Muslim standard for rape-it is always the female's fault.

Since even children are now by the Whoopi standard fair game does rape still exist? If so, it would be helpful for the sages in Hollywood to let us all know what the new definition is.

More at:

Fausta's Blog
Patterico's Pontification
Big Hollywood

UPDATE via Memorandum:

Our 'it just keeps getting better' moment is brought to us by The Guardian, writing Release Polanski, demands petition by film industry luminaries. Now, I'm not the least surprised that seventy "film industry luminaries" are fine with child rape but one name does stand out as a perv extrodinaire: Woody Allen. I could say so much about Mr. Allen's lack of morals, but his own son says it all:

Allen and Farrow's only biological son, Ronan Seamus Farrow,
said of Allen: "He's my father married to my sister. That makes me his son
and his brother-in-law. That is such a moral transgression. I cannot see
him. I cannot have a relationship with my father and be morally
consistent.... I lived with all these adopted children, so they are my
family. To say Soon-Yi was not my sister is an insult to all adopted
children."

Monday, September 28, 2009

Gee, Something Looks Funky Here

Came across the above graph at Daily Pundit via Cold Fury. Bottom line, the red represents the temps predicted by the people who want to ruin our economy and the black represents reality. Don't expect anyone to back off their ridiculous global warming claims. Typically when forced to admit that temperatures are actually cooling, the "reality denialist" (hey, if they can call me a denialist I say right back at 'em) claim that the cooling is caused by warming.

Three Cheers for Kate Harding! Updated

Writing in Salon, Kate Harding had said that which no MSM outlet has managed to say, Roman Polanski raped a child. It is fact. Roman Polanski drugged a child and proceeded to rape and sodomize her. He admitted to thirty-two years ago yet so few are willing to admit it today.

Well okay, nobody is saying that Polanski didn't rape a child, they simply aren't calling it rape, or sodomy, and they aren't calling the victim a child. In fact, it is more likely that Polanski is referred to as a victim than the child.

Vying for the title of most misleading (dishonest?) reporting ever is the Washington Post's Anne Applebaum, who made it pretty clear that she wouldn't allow little things like facts get in her way by titling her post The Outrageous Arrest of Roman Polanski. I will give her credit for providing a bit of comic relief by claiming that poor Polanski had paid for his lapse by among other things, suffering from "professional stigma." Heh. Like having sex with underage girls, rape or not, subjects anyone in Hollywood to stigma. More likely the reaction would be, "so how was she?" We're not talking about people known for their stellar morals.


Harding writes:

Roman Polanski raped a child. Let's just start right there, because that's
the detail that tends to get neglected when we start discussing whether it was
fair for the bail-jumping director to be arrested at age 76, after 32 years in "exile" (which in this case means owning multiple homes in Europe, continuing to work as a director, marrying and fathering two children, even winning an Oscar, but never -- poor baby -- being able to return to the U.S.). Let's keep in mind that Roman Polanski gave a 13-year-old girl a Quaalude and champagne, then raped her,
before we start discussing whether the victim looked older than her 13 years, or
that she now says she'd rather not see him prosecuted because she can't stand the
media attention. Before we discuss how awesome his movies are or what the
now-deceased judge did wrong at his trial, let's take a moment to recall that
according to the victim's grand jury testimony, Roman Polanski instructed her to get
into a jacuzzi naked, refused to take her home when she begged to go, began
kissing her even though she said no and asked him to stop; performed cunnilingus
on her as she said no and asked him to stop; put his penis in her vagina as she
said no and asked him to stop; asked if he could penetrate her anally, to which
she replied, "No," then went ahead and did it anyway, until he had an
orgasm.


Doesn't sound like the kind of guy anyone would defend, yet they do. But Kate Harding got it right, Roman Polanski raped a child.

H/T Memeorandum

See also:

Patterico's Pontifications
Fausta's Blog
POWIP

Update:

The Daley Gator understands that Roman Polanski raped a child. Bless you Gator.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Who Is Donating To Charlie Crist, And Why?

From the Orlando Sentinel:

And a half-dozen attorneys with Orlando trial lawyer John Morgan's Morgan & Morgan mega-law firm maxed out at a fundraiser that netted $300,000 for Crist in June. Crist's lieutenant governor, Jeff Kottkamp, is a former partner in the Morgan firm.

Morgan, a Democrat, is supporting Alex Sink in the governor's race against Republican Bill McCollum. But he said Crist will be the top draw for those willing to open their checkbooks this political season.

"Charlie Crist is the blueprint for Republicans, if they are going to be a
national party instead of a bunch of angry male rednecks in the South,"
Morgan said. (emphasis mine)

I started thinking about Crist's fundraising after reading Jimmie Bise's Want Some Real Reporting, Conservatives? You’ll Have to Pay for It. Jimmie mentioned that Crist had raised 4.3 million dollars last quarter. Given Marco Rubio's support among Republicans in Florida, as evidenced here, I started wondering who might be throwing all that money at Crist, and why.

Obviously Crist doesn't care where his money comes from but the having a major donor turn out to be a Democrat with a bad attitude towards Southerners certainly provide voters in Florida with food for thought. Combine this with the words of Tom Pinson, a former Crist donor and CEO from the Tampa Bay area:

“What is Charlie thinking? Has Charlie gone Progressive Socialist on us?
Why he is 100% silent on every issue that is hurting Florida jobs and our
economy?” said Pinson.

Ouch. And then there is this:

“He [Crist] has also refused to condemn ACORN and what Congress is doing wrong with national healthcare, debt, Cap & Trade, No energy Plan, No solutions for Business owners to create jobs, and how the Obama spending plan is bankrupting the government.”

Yet the money keeps rolling in.

Which brings me back to the point of Jimmie's post-we need good Conservative investigative reporters who know how to look in to stories that are important to Conservatives. I would like to know why prominent Democrats are backing Charlie Crist. Anybody know a reporter who knows how to dig?

Support For Marco Rubio Grows

Truth is, I was on the Marco for US Senator bandwagon when the possibility of a campaign was just a rumor. When I told a co-worker that I intended to back Rubio if he announced I was told that there was no way that Rubio could beat Gov. Crist outside of South Florida. Pat writing at both And So it Goes in Shreveport and Not Once Red Cent has the St. Pete Times of the straw polls to date:

Here are the votes taken so far:

Marion County GOP, Rubio 40, Crist 8, abstain 4;
Hernando County GOP, Rubio 46, Crist 0;
Gilchrist County GOP, Rubio 11, Crist 1;
Republican Women's Club of Duval Federated, Rubio 65, Crist 4;
Northwest Orange Republican Women Federated, Rubio 49, Crist 3;
Jefferson County GOP, Rubio 30, Crist 6;
Highlands County GOP, Rubio 75, Crist 1;
Pasco County GOP, Rubio 73, Crist 9;
Lee County GOP, Rubio 60, Crist 9;
Florida Federation of College Republicans, Rubio 19, Crist 6;
Bay County GOP, Rubio 23, Crist 2.

For those of you not familiar with the state of Florida, and as an "I told you so" to my co-worker, the above straw poll results show Rubio kicking Crist all over the state.

Adding to Crist's discomfort is this by George Will:

"In January 2011, one Floridian will leave for the U.S. Senate. He is
unlikely to be a former governor at odds with his party's nominating electorate,
or the probable Democratic nominee, Kendrick Meek, a hyper-liberal congressman.
Rubio intends to prove that 'in the most important swing state, you can run
successfully as a principled conservative.' He probably will."

Those of us who have had the privilege of listening to Rubio speak are taken by his message of smaller government, less taxes, term limits and support for the 2nd Amendment. Contrast this to Crist, who is a big government career politician who broke his promise to Floridians not to raise our taxes.

I can forgive my co-worker his short sightedness, but not the NRSC, who in the mother of all knucklehead political moves endorsed Crist despite their long standing habit of not pick favorites prior to the primaries. However, if Cornyn and the NRSC are inclined to offer a mea culpa (better now than after Rubio kicks their boy in the primary) I am sure it would be accepted with only a minimum of mockery.

However, the time for the NRSC to save at least some face is slipping away. We all make mistakes. It is time for the NRSC to admit to their's.

It Could Happen Here


Over at Director Blue, Doug Ross has a chilling post titled Quasi-Fiction that begins with various headlines accusing Pres. Bush of lying about Iran's nuclear program and ends with the detonation of several dirty bombs in the New York and Los Angeles.


Can never happen? No, I suppose not.

For the Left it is 'story first, facts later'

Via Memeorandum:

Seen over at The Other McCain:

My brief report for The American Spectator:

"Yes, we are concerned about what people are saying on the blogs," a
Kentucky law enforcement official said Saturday night, speaking on condition of
anonymity.The murder of Bill Sparkman in Clay County, Ky., has caused bloggers to engage in widespread speculation about the motive for the killing. Sparkman was employed part-time conducting a Census Bureau survey. . . .The Kentucky State Police are coordinating the investigation of Sparkman's death. Trooper First Class Don Trosfer, based in the agency's London, Ky., Post 11 is the official spokesman for the investigation, but was unavailable for comment late Saturday.Another law-enforcement source, not authorized to speak about the case, said state and local officials are working closely with the FBI on the investigation. Internet gossip is a source of concern, he said."You'd be surprised what some of these morons write on the Internet . . . that they wouldn't say to somebody's face," the official said in a brief telephone interview. . . .

So, Stacy is off to my old stomping ground, I was raised in Pulaski County Kentucky, to check the story out for himself. Good for him. Too many have jumped to there own conclusions with no real knowledge of the facts based on their own flimsy ideology. Left wing bloggers are gleefully crying "gotcha", is new low. They couldn't care less about Bill Sparkman. They simply hope with all their tiny blackened souls that some crazy right winger killed him.

Do they know anything about the people in Clay County Kentucky or, cue up the dueling banjos, do they just assume that Sparkman was targeted by some backwood, inbred, government hating knuckle dragger? It has been two and a half decades since I've been home but I remember an incredibly kind and generous people who would no more target someone because he works for the government than they would target their own family.

So far we know that Bill Sparkman was murdered. We do not know anything else. Is it too much to ask the Left to withhold judgement until the local police have done their job and the facts are known?

Roman Polanski Arrested On His Way To Be "Honored" Updated

Stumbled across at The Other McCain:

ZURICH – Director Roman Polanski was arrested by Swiss police for possible
extradition to the United States for having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old
girl, authorities said Sunday.Polanski was flying in to receive an honorary
award at the Zurich Film Festival when he was apprehended Saturday at the
airport, the Swiss Justice Ministry said in a statement. It said U.S.
authorities have sought the arrest of the 76-year-old around the world since
2005."There was a valid arrest request and we knew when he was coming,"
ministry spokesman Guido Balmer told The Associated Press. "That's why he was
taken into custody." . . ..

For those who don't remember, at the age of 44, Polanski pled guilty to having unlawful sex with a thirteen year old girl that he had given drugs to.

According to Fox News, the French Cultural Minister is calling the arrest of Polanski "stupefying." I find it stupefying that anyone would defend drugging and raping a thirteen year old. But then I suppose I am being judgemental.

Actually, I agree with Track-A-Crat who writes:

Why’d it take so long? Could we not have renditioned, then water-boarded, his a*s?

In 2004 when he won an Oscar for directing The Pianist, he was unable to accept the award in person lest he immediately be arrested. Nonetheless, he received a standing ovation by by the gathered Hollywood elite who have no problem honoring a child rapist.

I would surprised if Polanski ever serves one day for his crime. Expect his fellow Hollywood perverts to line up to get the charges blown away.

Update:

The story has finally garnered a Memeorandum thread. CNN is reporting the arrest of Polanski but also chooses to quote actress Angelica Huston, who said of the thirteen year old victim, "She appeared to be one of those kind of little chicks between -- could be any age up to 25. She did not look like a 13-year-old scared little thing," Huston said. And of Polanski, "I don't think he's a bad man," she said in the report. "I think he's an unhappy man."

Oh well, I guess being a child rapist is okey dokey so long as you're an unhappy man and the child doesn't look thirteen. No word what Huston, who was in the house at during the rape, was doing at the time of the assault.

The NY Times Isn't "Tuned In?" Surely You Jest.

Via Memeorandum:

The New York Times has decided that they may have tuned in a bit late to the ACORN story. Reading Hoyt's piece I couldn't help wondering if the Times had actually had a moment of clarity and self awareness or if they had been bombarded by angry readers and decided to engage in a little CYA.

The giggle line came in the form of this:

Despite what the critics think, Abramson said the problem was not liberal bias.

Noooooo, of course not. They just have "...a particular problem with conservatives...". But never fear, the Times has assigned an editor to monitor it's "tuned-in-ness" but the person will a) remain anonymous and b) can't be contacted. Huh?

I have after an intense study the anonymous editor will pronounce that the Times is doing a bang up job.

Business as usual.


In addition to a great post by Michelle Malkin, A welcome message for the NYT’s new “opinion media monitor” reaction can be found at:

The Riehl World
Power Line
Pajamas Media
Moe Lane

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Carol Browner, Socialism and Cap & Trade

Doug Ross brings us the story of Climate Change Czar Carol Browner. Browner is a perfect fit for the Obama administration. She is a long term member of Commission for a Sustainable World Society, a part of the Socialists International.

Conservatives are often accused of scaremongering when they claim left-wing
environmentalists are actually socialists hiding behind green disguises. But
with Carol Browner, incoming President Barack Obama's freshly appointed
Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change - the so-called White
House "Climate Czar" - there is no question about the socialism. Browner is a
member of the Commission for a Sustainable World Society (CSWS), which is a
formal organ of the Socialist International. Oddly enough, the group's web site
was recently scrubbed to remove Browner's picture and biography, but her name is
still listed next to the photo-biographies of her 14 colleagues on the
commission. The Socialist International is no group of woolly-headed idealists.
It is an influential assembly of officials from across the international
community whose official Statement of Principles describes an agenda of gaining
and exercising government power based on socialist concepts.

Cap and Trade has been on the back burner because of the ObamaCare fight. That doesn’t mean that the Administration has forgotten about it. Obama made a point to emphasize climate change at the UN this week. Carol Browner, who believes in “environmental justice”, is charged with bringing the president’s environmental tax and regulation scheme to pass. Through regulation, the administration will control the means of production for our entire energy industry. We, the taxpayers will pay for this regulation with increased costs not only to heat and cool our homes, but also by paying more for every good and service we buy. The ultimate result will a lower standard of living. Isn’t that the goal of Socialists?

Read the post on Browner here.

From Abortionist Babies are Nothing But The $um Of Their Parts


What do you see when you see the picture of an unborn child? The picture at the right is of a picture of a child at the eighteenth week of development in the womb. Pro abortion people look at this picture and argue that this isn't a person. When abortion providers look at this picture, they don't see a person either, they see dollars and cents.
Monique Stuart has written a haunting piece on the sale of body parts harvested from aborted babies.
Reporter Chris Wallace, on an episode of 20/20, reported:

A 20/20 hidden camera investigation has found a thriving industry in which aborted fetuses women donate to help medical research are being marketed for hundreds, even thousands of dollars…Opening Lines put out this price list: $325 for a spinal cord, $550 for a reproductive organ, $999 for a brain…Dr. Jones said the average specimen costs him just $50 plus overhead, but that he charges an average of $250. The law only talks about recovering costs. But on a single fetus Jones said he can make $2,500.
Abortion is an evil practice. Desecrating the bodies of these innocents for profit is unbelievable.
Read Stuarts post here.


Absolutely Untoppable!

Stacy McCain has posted a story that can not be topped. This makes McKenzie and daddy seem almost normal. We are talking about calves and ewwwwwwwwwwwww.

Pages 80-81 Of The Baucus Bill: Death Panels

Via Memeorandum:

From a Washington Times editorial-Death Panels by Proxy:
Yes, there are death panels. Its members won't even know whose deaths they
are causing. But under the health care bill sponsored by Senate Finance
Committee Chairman Max Baucus, Montana Democrat, death panels will indeed exist - oh so cleverly disguised as accountants.

The offending provision is on Pages 80-81 of the unamended Baucus bill,
hidden amid a lot of similar legislative mumbo-jumbo about Medicare payments to
doctors. The key sentence: "Beginning in 2015, payment would be reduced by five
percent if an aggregation of the physician's resource use is at or above the
90th percentile of national utilization." Translated into plain English, it
means that in any year in which a particular doctor's average per-patient
Medicare costs are in the top 10 percent in the nation, the feds will cut the
doctor's payments by 5 percent.

If I understand this provision, the more care a physician gives, the less they will be paid. Doctors are already paid less for treating the elderly through Medicare so the bill would cut reimbursement even more if a doctor exceeds a threshold set by bureaucrats. This creates a disincentive for doctors to provide for their patients as they see fit. And because doctors won't know when they are about to cross the threshold, it means that they will be forced to cut treatment for all seniors.

This will lead to rationing and as we've seen in Canada and particularly Great Britain, rationing leads to premature death.

Forget results. This provision makes no account for the results of care,
its quality or even its efficiency. It just says that if a doctor authorizes
expensive care, no matter how successfully, the government will punish him by
scrimping on what already is a low reimbursement rate for treating Medicare
patients. The incentive, therefore, is for the doctor always to provide less
care for his patients for fear of having his payments docked. And because no
doctor will know who falls in the top 10 percent until year's end, or what total
average costs will break the 10 percent threshold, the pressure will be intense
to withhold care, and withhold care again, and then withhold it some more. Or at
least to prescribe cheaper care, no matter how much less effective, in order to
avoid the penalties.

The National Right to Life Committee concludes that this provision will
cause a "death spiral" by "ensur[ing] that doctors are forced to ration care for
their senior citizen patients." Every 10th doctor in the country will fall
victim to it. Libertarian columnist Nat Hentoff calls the provision "insidious"
and writes that "the nature of our final exit" will be very much at risk.

The cynic in me wonders if provisions like this might be the reason that Baucus is fighting the full release of the bill prior to it being voted on. Baucus claims that it would delay the bill but when spending a trillion dollars a two week delay is not only reasonable but full disclosure is necessary. The only logical reason for not putting the bill online is to prevent the public from knowing what is in it until it is too late.
Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., himself admitted that “This probably sounds a
little crazy to some people that we are voting on something before we have seen
legislative language.” Indeed.

Crazy and sneaky.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

On The Edge Of Fascism

Via Memeorandum:

Mark Tapscott warns us that we should Beware the Stalin in liberal hearts. What we're talking about here is the real "F" word-fascism.

It starts so simply and with the best of intentions. We can list forever the things that society would be better off without: tobacco, sugar, meat, alcohol, riding a motorcycle without a helmet. On the right, we believe that each of us has the right to decide for ourselves if we want to do things that might have a negative impact on us. On the Left, the belief is that the government has the right to make those for the individual and use the penalty of law to enforce those decisions.

The choice is between living free or living decision free. Once you buy in to living decision free there is no "do over." If you accept that government, not the individual, should regulate behavior then there is no "picking and choosing." The person who engages in risky sexual behavior is equal to the smoker is equal to the person who eats two deserts.

Do we really want government making our most basic decisions for us? If the answer is yes then where does it end? If the answer is no, then why would we submit to government for our health care?

Janis Joplin said that freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose. She was wrong. Being free means having everything to lose. Or everything to give away.

Stay Away From My Toilet Paper!




Look, we all have our limits. Let me say this as clearly as possible-hands off my TP! According to the Washington Post, Environmentalists Seek to Wipe Out Plush Toilet Paper.
Environmentalists want us to switch to that scratchy stuff made from recycled paper. I understand that the "one square" crowd are trying to save a tree but somethings are sacred.
We never buy the soft tp. In a large family that would mean changing rolls
every 15 minutes or so. And we're just too cheap thrifty. But it's nice to have
a choice, isn't it?

*(What next -- bacon?)
And that's the problem. Today it's my soft TP, tommorrow my bacon. I drawing a line in the sand right here and now.

The ACORN Lawsuit: Compounding Folly

Seen at American Power:



This lawsuit is damage control of the worst kind. It hasn't been well thought out, will do nothing to squelch the firestorm and Lord only knows what could come out about ACORN during the 'discovery phase' of the suit.

Even those on the far Left aren't claiming that the various ACORN employees caught on film are innocent. Mainly, the Left's reaction has been , "yeah, so?" It is doubtful that the lawsuit will rouse the Left one way or another?

ACORN would have been wiser to take their lumps and move on.

The American Power story is here.

Children, Today's Word Is "In-doc-trin-ation"

Via Memeorandum:

The mawkishness that defines all things Obama took a creepy turn today with the revelation of the video of schoolchildren singing the praises of the president ala third world dictatorship style. One can almost imagine that after the song, they put their little hands over their hearts and in unison, "I pledge allegiance to Barack Obama, Supreme Leader of ...."

The the teacher, and any other adult involved in this little production needs to go in to "time out" and spend their "quiet time" writing "I will not indoctrinate children" five hundred times.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Axelrod: As The Worm Squirms

Via Doug Ross:

Obama repeatedly touts the importance of insurance "portability" saying that if a person loses their job or changes jobs under his plan the insurance will ever the person goes. That is certainly one form of portability but not the most important.

Making insurance portable across state lines would, without costing the taxpayer a dime, increase competition and lower costs making health care more affordable for all. What's not to love about a legislative change that provides a free market solution that would help families across the nation while keeping the taxpayer's money safe within their own pockets? Apparently, the big government nanny staters and President Obama.

American Thinker has the video of presidential waterboy David Axelrod trying to no avail to avoid answering Wolf Blitzer's questions on why Pres. Obama opposes allowing insurance companies operate across state lines. Axelrod practically pretzels himself before he blurts out the lame and blatantly false charge that the change would be "symbolic." Priceless.

The story and video is here.

Not Only Will The Senate Not Read The Health Care Bill, They Don't Want You To Either-UPDATED

We live in an Era when our congressmen scoff at the idea that they would read the bills that they vote on. Now, the want to make certain that the public isn't given the chance to read the health care bill before it is voted on either.

Officially wiping out any delusions of "transparency", the Democrats on the Finance committee voted down a GOP amendment which would have required a health overhaul bill to be available online for 72 hours before the committee votes. Democrats argued that the amendment would have delayed the bill's passage for weeks.

What's the rush? This bill will fundamentally change our country and cost the taxpayers at least a trillion dollars. Shouldn't we take a couple extra weeks if it means getting it right, or least as close to right as possible given the circumstances? The idea that transparency "takes to long" is ludicrous. Haven't we learned anything from the Stimulus Bill debacle?

H/T Memeorandum

UPDATE:

Pundette writes:

It's hard to respect our elected representatives when they make it so clear that they have no respect for us. By adopting a Baucus amendment, the Senate Finance Committee ensures that the CBO will not be able to make an accurate cost analysis of the Baucus bill and Americans may not be able to read or analyze the bill's details, as they have done with HR 3200.

I suspect that the last thing the average congressman wants his constituents to know is how their money is being spent.

ACORN Files Suit In Maryland

Via Memeorandum:

ACORN has filed suit against filmmakers James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles as well as Breitbart.com. In addition to ACORN, employees Tonja Thompson and Shera Williams are listed as plaintiffs.

Bertha Lewis, head of ACORN, speaking to Chris Wallace of Fox this weekend:

We've made sure since I've become the CEO that affiliates have firewalls
between them. I know that back last year we were outraged that the board didn't
know about the previous chief organizer's activities.

I've completely overhauled all of our finances, all of our controls.
And he was fired immediately, just as in this instance with these tapes we
terminated folks immediately.

... and making sure that our corporate structure is aboveboard,
it is open. The "R" in ACORN stands for reform. And not only do we think we want
to reform public policy, but internally let's have some reform...

If Lewis is honestly intent on ensuring that ACORN is "aboveboard", why are they suing the filmmakers and Breitbart rather than thanking them for bringing the corrupt employees to the organization's attention? Further, if the employees were not acting on behalf of ACORN and within understood parameters, why have they been allowed (invited?) to join ACORN in its lawsuit?

I am not sure that a lawsuit is necessarily a bad thing. It is my understanding that the suit opens ACORN to the discovery process. That could make things very interesting.

Let's All Just Play Nice

Via Memeorandum:

Stacy McCain asks, Can't all Conservatives agree that Glen Beck is not the enemy? Well of course we can.

This little dust up between Beck and Levin is simply par for the course. Neither of the two men are known for their meekness so it stands to reason that any disagreement would be articulated strongly.

Criticism of John McCain is not unusual among conservatives. That said, where Beck got the idea that in any way a McCain presidency would have been worse than what we have now boggles the mind. I believe that was also the gist of what Levin was trying to say though he may have articulated it a bit more strongly than I.

The point is, anyone who fires up the Conservative base is to be congratulated. Anyone who day in and day out brings to the forefront the assault against our country is to be congratulated. Both Beck and Levin fit that bill. This too shall pass.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Papa Don't Preach

From The Daley Gator:



When it comes to greenhouse-gas emissions, Energy Secretary Steven Chu sees Americans as unruly teenagers and the Administration as the parent that will have to teach them a few lessons.



Speaking on the sidelines of a smart grid conference in Washington, Dr. Chu
said he didn’t think average folks had the know-how or will to to change their
behavior enough to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.

“The American public… just like your teenage kids, aren’t acting in a
way that they should act,” Dr. Chu said. “The American public has to really
understand in their core how important this issue is.”


Whether it is Chu referring to Americans as teenagers or Sunstein's belief that we are not smart enough to act in our own best interest without a "nudge" from our betters in government, the lack of respect for the citizens of this country is apparent.



We are not acting the Chu wants us to act. There seems to be a prevailing conviction in this administration that "leadership" and "dictatorship" are interchangeable. As if through some "natural order" they are the leaders, we are the followers, they will dictate, we will obey. Fortunately, Americans are not docile people.



We are still making our minds up on Global Warming. The science is not settled and neither are we. Chu should brace himself for more "unruly behavior."

More at:

Memeorandum

Monday, September 21, 2009

Save The Planet, Kill A Kid-Whatever Version We're Up To Now

Stacy McCain reminds us that according to "the experts" those of us who procreate, or in my case, procreated once upon a time, are strangling the life out of dear Mother Earth:


Unchecked population growth is speeding climate change, damaging
life-nurturing ecosystems and dooming many countries to poverty, experts
concluded in a conference report released Monday.Unless birth rates are lowered
sharply through voluntary family-planning programmes and easy access to
contraceptives, the tally of humans on Earth could swell to an unsustainable 11
billion by 2050, they warned. . . .


Weary sigh. According to The Population Bomb weren't we all supposed to be dead decades ago?

The experts are all about saving our "natural resources" yet they totally discount our greatest natural resource-us. No mighty oak, no majestic whale has ever or will ever achieve or have the ability to achieve the potential innate in each human at creation. We are a miracle. Yet, the environmentalist would rather control human growth than find ways to adapt to it.

Every person I have ever known who has closely identified with the environmental movement has been pro-abortion. The would save the whale or the oak or smelt but would not a human, unless they were an adult serial murderer sitting on death row.

There is a self-loathing in the environmental movement that defies understanding. Yes, as populations grow, particularly in under developed countries, innovation will become more and necessary. Where do they expect that innovation to come from, the timber wolf? Humans will achieve the greatness we need to successfully transition forward. And in 2050, some expert will still be calling for our end.

Awareness Joe? Who'd A Thunk It?

I am always amazed when Vice Pres. Joe Biden shows a bit of awareness. From Political Punch: Biden on 2010: If GOP Succeeds, It’s ‘The End of the Road for What Barack and I Are Trying to Do’ Tell me, is that an admission on the part of the VP he he realizes that the country may not be buying the administration’s agenda?
Vice President Joe Biden said today that if Democrats were to lose 35 House
seats they currently hold in traditionally Republican districts, it would mean
doomsday for President Obama’s agenda.

Biden said Republicans are pinning their political strategy on flipping these seats.

“If they take them back, this the end of the road for what Barack and I are trying to
do,” the vice president said at a fundraiser for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ)
today in Greenville, Delaware.
As much as the administration has tried to ignore it, then downplay and finally spin it, there is a movement afoot. Citizens have said loudly and clearly that they don’t want big government. Most troubling for the administration, Independents have turned on it in droves. In fact, between the Omnibus, Stimulus, Cap and Trade, ObamaCare and near ten percent unemployment the only group the administration still holds is the far Left.

I don’t think the full weight of that reality has sunk in but still in yet but the VP’s remarks belie a glimmer. This administration does not handle opposition well. It will be interested to see how they react when they finally accept how unhappy the citizenry is with them.

H/T Memeorandum

Why Are We Mistreating Honduras? Updated!

Via Memeorandum:


In Hillary's Honduras Obsession, Mary O’Grady writes:

Ever since Manuel Zelaya was removed from the Honduran presidency by that
country's Supreme Court and Congress on June 28 for violations of the
constitution, the Obama administration has insisted, without any legal basis,
that the incident amounts to a "coup d'état" and must be reversed. President
Obama has dealt harshly with Honduras, and Americans have been asked to trust
their president's proclamations.

Now a report filed at the Library of Congress by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) provides what the administration has not offered, a serious legal review of the facts. "Available sources indicate that the judicial and legislative branches applied
constitutional and statutory law in the case against President Zelaya in a
manner that was judged by the Honduran authorities from both branches of the
government to be in accordance with the Honduran legal system," writes CRS
senior foreign law specialist Norma C. Gutierrez in her report.

Why, under orders from the administration, is Clinton dealing so harshly with a country that we should be heralding as a democratic partner in the Americas? One would think that we would encourage Honduras as a counter-balance to Chavez’s Venezuela. Instead, against the opinion of the CRS and public opinion, we are using our might to crush democracy.

Under the Honduras constitution, that country was legally obligated to remove former president Zelaya from office. The Honduran Supreme Court followed the letter of their law. At worst, we should interfere in that country’s sovereign affairs; at best, we should extend our hand to our fellow democracy.

Update:

Fausta's Blog is reporting that former president Zelaya is back in Honduras and hiding out in the Brazilian embassy. No word on what he hopes to accomplish unless he is trying to provoke a confrontation.

Conservatives' Dissent Will Not Be Stifled

Via Memeorandum:

Writing in Real Clear Politics, Michael Barrone writes in Strangers to Dissent, Liberals Try to Stifle It:

It is an interesting phenomenon that the response of the left half of our
political spectrum to criticism and argument is often to try to shut it down.
Thus President Obama in his Sept. 9 speech to a joint session of Congress told
us to stop "bickering," as if principled objections to major changes in public
policy were just childish obstinacy, and chastised his critics for telling
"lies," employing "scare tactics" and playing "games." Unlike his predecessor,
he sought to use the prestige of his office to shut criticism down.

Well, yes there’s been a lot of stifling going on. Wasn’t that the goal of Media Matter’s Eric Boehlert’s re-write of the Kennedy assassination or Nancy Crocodile Tears Pelosi’s sniff, sniff, references to violence in San Francisco? Every time Jimmie Carter, et al, throw out “racist” or some insufferable twink like Janeane Garofalo says “tea bagger”, the intent is to stifle debate.

For too long Conservatives have sat largely on the sidelines as Liberals pushed their agenda unchallenged. Finally, Conservatives have woke to the idea that while the meek may inherit the Earth that won’t do them a bit of good as their country descends in to Hell.

Conservatives will not “tone down” so it is left to the Liberals as to whether they want to engage in honest discourse or not. Currently, it appears not.

The NEA: The Administration's Propaganda Wing

Via Memeorandum:

For days there has been speculation that another “bombshell” coming from Big Hollywood. It was universally agreed that the scandal would revolve around the NEA, to which I said:

Well the NEA scandal certainly has been ignored by the MSM. The White House
participating in a teleconference with the NEA where it promises funding, i.e.,
taxpayer money, in return for favorable treatment certainly would be scandalous
in any other administration. In this administration it strikes me as right in
line with the decades old, Chicago way, corruption.

Today, Big Hollywood has put out Taxpayer-Funded Propaganda: The ABC’s of the NEA Conference Call, complete with full audio recording and transcript of the conference call between the NEA and the Obama White House.

Am I shocked that an administration would engage in this type of behavior? Absolutely. Am I shocked that this administration would engage in this this type of behavior? Not in the least. I am even less shocked or surprised that NEA would allow itself to be used as the propaganda wing of the Obama administration. After all, why do on your own dime what you can be paid for from the taxpayer’s pocket?

Throughout this country taxpayers are suffering. Many families are scrapping anything that is not an absolute necessity. The NEA is not a necessity, therefore, with taxpayer’s dollars stretched so thin, it would only make sense that we de-fund the NEA, who can’t be trusted with our money anyway, and use our tax dollars in a way that supports ordinary citizens rather than a corrupt administration and spoiled “artists.”

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Christian Couple Arrested In England For, Drumroll..Expressing Christian Beliefs

Via Memeorandum:

Apparently in Great Britain these days you can be arrested for merely expressing an opinion.

According to the story in The Daily Mail, a Christian couple, Ben and Sharon Vogelenzang were engaged in a conversation with Muslim woman was staying at a small hotel they own in Liverpool:

It is understood that they suggested that Mohammed, the founder of Islam,
was a warlord and that traditional Muslim dress for women was a form of bondage.

They deny, however, that their comments were threatening and argue that
they had every right to defend and explain their beliefs.

Apparently not under British law.

The use by the police of the Public Order Act to arrest people over
offensive comments has dismayed a number of lawyers, who say the legislation was
passed to deal with law and order problems in the streets.

Neil Addison, a prominent criminal barrister and expert in religious
law, said: ‘The purpose of the Public Order Act is to prevent disorder, but I’m
very concerned that the police are using it merely because someone is offended.


This, for want of a better term, is horse hockey. No person should ever face persecution for stating an opinion, even if it is an unpopular opinion. The way that civilized people handle differences is to ignore them.

We have seen many in our own country trying to stifle honest discussion and debate by calling disagreement "racism." How long will it be before someone proposes actual speech codes?

The Sand Artist

Via Memeorandum:


Andrew Malcolm has posted video of Kseniya Simonova, a twenty-four year old sand artist at Top of the Ticket that at once powerful and breathtaking as the young woman's images evolve through a series of beatiful yet thought provoking scenes.

The Telegraph tells that the images that appear from the sand depict the invasion of Ukraine by the Germans during World War II. The work transitions between scenes of hope and despair, producing an emotional response that won't soon be forgotten.



Obama Expresses A Willingness To Give Newspapers Taxpayer Money

Via Memeorandum:

According to The Hill, "Obama open to newspaper bailout bill."

The president said he is "happy to look at" bills before Congress that
would give struggling news organizations tax breaks if they were to restructure
as nonprofit businesses...

Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) has introduced S. 673, the so-called "Newspaper
Revitalization Act," that would give outlets tax deals if they were to
restructure as 501(c)(3) corporations. That bill has so far attracted one
cosponsor, Cardin's Maryland colleague Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D).

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs had played down the possibility of
government assistance for news organizations, which have been hit by an economic
downturn and dwindling ad revenue.


It seems the way to get taxpayer money these days is to make nice with the Administration. This is certainly true of this country's newspaper industry which has either ignored, downplayed or buried stories critical to the administration. It is highly doubtful that the industry will be more likely to view the administration with a critical eye if the are being propped up by the government.

The Hill quotes Pres. Obama:

"I am concerned that if the direction of the news is all blogosphere, all
opinions, with no serious fact-checking, no serious attempts to put stories in
context, that what you will end up getting is people shouting at each other
across the void but not a lot of mutual understanding," he said.


I would be more concerned about breaching the wall that is supposed to exist between the government and the press in this country.

What Does Breitbart Have Up His Sleave?

Via Memeorandum:

Breitbart Promises New Bombshell from “Left Field” according to Patterico's Pontification. If the "ACORN tapes" have shown anything, it is that Breitbart is the go to guy when it comes to exposing corruption. Not to downplay Breitbart's tremendous work, but the MSM's "see no evil, hear no evil" attitude towards the Obama administration and its buddies at ACORN, has pushed Breitbart to the forefront.

Patterico's take:

If you’re trying to figure out what the next big shoe to drop might be, I
suggest that you consider re-reading his column to see what he identified as the
second story that demonstrates the media’s complicity with the Democrat party.
Namely, the NEA...


Well the NEA scandal certainly has been ignored by the MSM. The White House participating in a teleconference with the NEA where it promises funding, i.e., taxpayer money, in return for favorable treatment certainly would be scandalous in any other administration. In this administration it strikes me as right in line with the decades old, Chicago way, corruption.

However, I would not be surprised if the next bombshell is even bigger than ACORN, which would make it far bigger than the NEA. So I'll throw in my two cents, or in this case , two words: Big Labor. Either way, we will all know next week.

FMJRA-Liars to the Left of us, Frauds on Left as well, No time to be stuck in the middle

I am willing to bet that Eric Boehlert of Media Matters wishes he could take back his piece A President Was Killed The Last Time Right-wing Hatred Ran Wild Like This. Boehlert’s dishonest re-write of history was met with an outpouring from throughout the photosphere:

Jimmie Bise at The Sundries Shack:

I’m not sure where Eric Boehlert learned his history, but whichever school it was should demand that he stop embarrassing them.

Carol at No Sheeples Here:

Mr. Boehlert, sir, you are a shameful and petty liar. Yes, I said LIAR. Your willingness to abandon history in order to incite those on your side of the political spectrum is a dangerous and irresponsible game of political expediency.

Instapundit:

Remember, Media Matters’ sole reason for existence is to give journalists who are already hopelessly deep in the tank a certain degree of comfort in their already-held views. So it’s not about convincing anyone who pays actual attention. . . .

Ed Driscoll:

Are there nuts on the right? Of course; there are nuts in any group that contains millions of people. But despite a boomer history that begins right around the time Donald Draper moved into the corner office at Sterling-Cooper, just as not all wars are Vietnam part II, not all scandals are Watergate Part II, and not all protests are the South of the early 1960s.

Allahpundit:

Uh huh. And we all remember what happened when a certain radical right-winger — who defected to the Soviet Union, married a Russian woman, and tried to assassinate a far-right anti-communist American general — got JFK in the crosshairs in Dallas. Why, it reminds me of what happened when radical left-winger Timothy McVeigh finally executed his plot against the Murrah building in Oklahoma City.

William Teach:

There’s another phrase I would like to use to describe Media Matters, but since I am cross posting, I’ll leave that phrase to your imagination. Eric Boehlert goes full on barking moonbat unhinged, not to mention History Challenged
Dan Riehl:

Today’s Left in America is sick, disturbed and dangerous. I wouldn’t recommend turning your back on, or losing sight of them if you can help it. There aren’t enough, or the right words to describe how truly pathetic they have become.


Of course, over the past week it has been all ACORN all the time because two young amatuer journalists managed to do something that no one in the MSM was up to; show just how deep the corruption at ACORN runs

Over at The Daley Gator the question of the day is, “Are Democrats Insane or Just Plain Insane?” Yes.

Smitty at The Other McCain:

I've got a feeling that Senator Gillibrand's motives may resemble those of Senator Roland Burris: somebody acknowledging who put them in their current position.

Troglopundit’s rep., Tammy Baldwin, voted against de-funding ACORN. I feel your pain.

American Power: Must see ACORN cartoons!

Another Black Conservative:

This time the ACORN employee Juan uses his vast illegal alien smuggling skills to assist Giles and O’Keefe bring the underage prostitutes into America. Juan claims to have friends who are in the DA’s office. Juan is even interesting in “renting” Giles. All in a days work of corruption at your local ACORN office!

And so it goes in Shreveport:

These ACORN videos keep getting weirder and weirder. Even though Tresa Kaelke is a bonafide nutcase, she is consistent with the other videos in her assistance and support of the underage prostitution thing.

Pundette:

Apparently ACORN is not radioactive enough for 75 Democrats in the House of Representatives. Barney Frank took the coward's way out.

Perhaps Someone Could Explain The Word "Inapproriate" To The First Lady

Via Pundette:


What not to wear when your husband is presenting a posthumous Medal of Honor:

Sheesh, even if she doesn't have a sense of propriety, you would think that the First Lady of the United States could afford a mirror.

The full post is here.

Obama Claims that He Didn't Know That ACORN Received "A whole lot of federal money"

Via Memeorandum:

STEPHANOPOULOS: How about the funding for ACORN?

OBAMA: You know, if -- frankly, it's not really something I've followed closely. I didn't even know that ACORN was getting a whole lot of federal money.

And that my friends deserves a snort worthy, “gimme a break!” If President Obama truly is unaware that ACORN, who he has been tied to for years, has gotten “a whole lot of federal money” he has a blind spot the size of the Grand Canyon. More likely, the President believes that his “don’t know nothing about it” schtick is politically preferable to an honest discussion about his friends.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So you're not committing to -- to cut off the federal funding?

OBAMA: George, this is not the biggest issue facing the country. It's not something I'm
paying a lot of attention to.

It could be read in to that that Obama could actually veto any measure to cut off ACORN’s funding. That would not be a wise move for an administration who has touted transparency. Rather than deflecting questions about ACORN, the President should be directing Attorney Gen. Holder to appoint a Special Investigator.

More discussion at:

Michelle Malkin

It Is Getting Mighty Crowded Under The Bus

Mark Steyn, writing in the Orange County Register:

It is interesting to contrast the administration's "wise" diplomacy abroad with
its willingness to go nuclear at home. If you go to a "town hall" meeting and
express misgivings about the effectiveness of the stimulus, you're a "racist"
"angry" "Nazi" "evilmonger" "right-wing domestic terrorist." It's perhaps no
surprise that that doesn't leave a lot left over in the rhetorical arsenal for
Putin, Chavez and Ahmadinejad. But you've got to figure that by now the world's
strongmen are getting the measure of the new Washington. Diplomacy used to be,
as Canada's Lester Pearson liked to say, the art of letting the other fellow
have your way. Today, it's more of a discreet cover for letting the other fellow
have his way with you. The Europeans "negotiate" with Iran over its nukes for
years, and, in the end, Iran gets the nukes, and Europe gets to feel good about
itself for having sat across the table talking to no good purpose for the best
part of a decade. In Moscow, there was a palpable triumphalism in the news that
the Russians had succeeded in letting the Obama fellow have their way. "This is
a recognition by the Americans of the rightness of our arguments about the
reality of the threat or, rather, the lack of one," said Konstantin Kosachev,
chairman of the Duma's international affairs committee. "Finally the Americans
have agreed with us."

Yes, well, the wheels on the bus go Thump, thump, thump. Are you part of the of the American public that doesn’t hang on the CameraHog and Chief’s every word? Thump. Are you our longstanding and chief ally in the mid-east, Israel? Thump. Are you a former member of the Soviet Republic that has embraced the United States? Thump.

So far, the administration’s “smart diplomacy” has consisted of “ask for an inch and we will give you a mile.” If you are Iran, and in return for our capitulation you smack talk the United States, we will give you two miles.

Steyn points out that it was only April, of this year, five that Obama said:

"The Czech Republic and Poland have been courageous in agreeing to host a
defense against these missiles," he declared. "As long as the threat from Iran
persists, we will go forward with a missile defense system that is
cost-effective and proven."

What has changed in five months? Well, we’ve learned from a leaked IAEA memo that Iran is much closer the realizing its nuclear ambitions then we had previously believed. For the president to announce now, with absolutely nothing in return, that we are pulling down the missile shield makes no sense and is a slap to the Czech Republic and Poland.

One gets the feeling that the Obama administration is in the process of a giant ally swap. I can’t help wonder what the administration’s long term goal is.

Time To Appoint An Independent Prosecutor To Investigate ACORN

Via Memeorandum:

The Chicago Tribune has called for an Independent prosecutor for ACORN. The Tribune outlines the latest scandal:


ACORN employees, without raising an eyebrow, much less calling the police,
explained how the young sex workers could label themselves "performance
artists," underreport their income, evade taxes, fraudulently buy a house to ply
their trade, and, worst of all, import underage girls from Central America to
use as child prostitutes. One ACORN employee helpfully explained that the
teenagers would even be tax-deductible since they would be "dependents," living
in the pimp's house. Some states, led by California, are saying they will
investigate. But this is a national scandal and there ought to be a full-scale
national inquiry. To ensure impartiality -- and the appearance of impartiality
-- political appointees at the U.S. Department of Justice should recuse
themselves. This case demands an independent federal prosecutor.


The American people have no confidence, nor should they, that the current administration is deeply involved with ACORN has been since the days that our president served as their lawyer. Further, as the Tribune points out, Attorney Gen. Holder has shown little desire to prosecute left wings entities, dropping the ball on both the prosecution of former Gov. Bill Richardson on pay for play charges and the prosecution of the new Black Panther Party, whose members were caught on tape engaging in voter intimidation on Election Day.

ACORN and its labor partner the SEIU, are far too cozy with this administration. Too much support has flowed, in both directions, between this administration and these rouge organizations. Only a vigorous investigation by an Independent Prosecutor will restore any measure of confidence for the American people.

More at:

American Power
JammieWearingFool

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Go Cats!

University of Kentucky Wildcats 31, Louisville 27!


Next up, uh, oh!

Media Matters Uses Editing to Gin Up Its Beck Story

Via Instapundit:

Ed Morrissey at Hot Air has two videos of Glenn Beck's discussion of the undercover video taken at the ACORN office where aemployee claimed that she had killed her husband.

First Media Matters' edited version:




And now the full clip aired by Glenn Beck:



Media Matters claimed, falsely, that Glenn Beck had aired the ACORN video without questioning it and then they edited their version to scrub out Beck's actual remarks. This isn't sloppiness on Media Matters part, this is blatant dishonesty and shameful manipulation of the facts.

Read Morrissey's post.

ACORN Shutting Down as Much as Forty Percent of Its Offices-It Is Not Enough

Via Memeorandum

The LA Times is reporting that ACORN scaling back or shutting down in many cities:

The community activist group is taking no new clients while it investigates its operations, which have been dragged down by the poor economy and recent scandals.

While ACORN certainly has been the subject of recent scandals, ACORN has a long history of scandal and mismanagement. Aside from participating in voter fraud in dozens of states, there is that little matter of the million dollar embezzlement that the brother of ACORN’s founder Wade Rathke committed:

"It comes as no surprise that ACORN founder and chief organizer Wade Rathke hid his brother's embezzlement of nearly $1 million dollars from the 'charitable' organization's employees, board of directors, and donors. This is just one more page in ACORN's corrupt history, which already includes election fraud investigations in at least a dozen states, hypocritical and oppressive employment practices, and a political agenda driven by a handful of anti-corporate activists. …”

Further adding to ACORN’s ill repute is the fact that Rathke is a co-founder of the SEIU whose own shaky reputation makes it a perfect fit for ACORN. Any talk of ACORN and SEIU is not complete without including Pres. Barack Obama:

Dale Rathke embezzled money from ACORN totaling about $950k. Apparently, commitments have been made to return about $210k, for a total of $740k still missing.

Barack Obama's campaign paid ACORN, via a political consulting affiliate, $830k, but ACORN says that they only received $80, leaving $750k unaccounted for.

Dale Rathke embezzled this money in the period of 1999-2000, when Barack Obama was running for US Congress with the backing of SEIU Local 880 and ACORN. SEIU Local 880 is basically ACORN controlled. Rathke even filed the LM-2 form with the Department of Labor in 2000, signing it as "Treasurer", which
I have previously written about.

Obama, ACORN, SEIU 880, and Rep. Danny Davis, appeared to act together in a number of local political engagements.

According to the Time’s report, as many as 40% of ACORN’s offices are closing their door’s. On the 18th, Donald Douglas reported at American Power that is local Orange County ACORN had shut down over night.

After years of corruption perpetrated against taxpayers while funded by taxpayers, it is gratifying to see some measure of justice served. However, ACORN’s tentacles are far spread and the taxpayer’s in this country will not be protected until everyone of those tentacles have been cut off.

Bloviateing, Media Matters Style-UPDATED

Via Memeorandum:

Media Matters, showing a total lack of perspective, has done Nancy "Crocodile Tears" Pelosi a one up on the "crazy right wingers as assassins" meme. I believe it is called "bloviating."


Kashner's fascinating cover story actually chronicles the professional struggles of writer William Manchester who was tapped by the Kennedy family, after the president's assassination, to write the definitive book about the shooting. The Vanity Fair articles details the power struggles, and epic lawsuits, that ensued prior to
Manchester's publication.

But this unnerving passage from VF caught my eye. In it, Kashner
retraces Manchester's step as he researched his book. It's unsettling because if
you insert "Obama" for every "Kennedy" reference, it reads like 2009...
Yes, well. When it comes to ratcheting up the rhetoric Media Matters is doing one hell of a good job. My memory isn't as short as Media Matters; from ZombieTimes:








And who can forget that little film "Death of a President":

Spare us your mock hand wringing and outrage. It wasn't called dangerous rhetoric back then, it was called "dissent" and it was patriotic. Nothing has changed except on the right our rhetoric pales compared to yours.

UPDATED:

Ed Driscoll has written an an excellent piece "Media Matters Metaphor Meltdown"

Are there nuts on the right? Of course; there are nuts in any group that contains millions of people. But despite a boomer history that begins right around the time Donald Draper moved into the corner office at Sterling-Cooper, just as not all wars are Vietnam part II, not all scandals are Watergate Part II, and not all protests are the South of the early 1960s.

James Piereson noted in his book that immediately upon being told that Lee Harvey Oswald had been arrested for assassinating her husband, Jackie Kennedy replied, “He didn’t even have the satisfaction of being killed for civil rights. It had to be some silly little Communist. It even robs his death of any meaning.”

Also from Allahpundit at Hot Air "Media Matters: This right-wing frenzy is reminiscent of Dallas 1963":

Follow the link to Media Matters and you’ll search in vain for any mention of the name of the man who pulled the trigger on November 22, which leads me to believe either (a) Eric Boehlert is a Kennedy assassination conspiracy theorist or (b) Eric Boehlert is in the habit of hiding inconvenient facts from his audience, which, if true, makes him a perfectly mainstream Media Matters employee. For the record, I think Kaus is totally right that Glenn Beck should tone down the apocalyptic/coup rhetoric, but that doesn’t give me the right to paint revisionist portraits of the political sympathies of presidential assassins. Evidently the rules are different for the Brock bunch. Um, why?

Friday, September 18, 2009

Hey ACORN, Keep Up The "Good Work"

Carol at No Sheeples Here bring us the commercial break of the week (if not beyond):

How To Solve The Problem Of Illegal: Make Them Legal

Via Memeorandum:

The "You lie!" that was heard around the world started a ball rolling that hasn't stopped yet. The President claimed that illegals wouldn't be covered under ObamaCare. Rep. Wilson knew that on four separate occasions Republicans had introduced measures that would ensure that illegals would receive healthcare paid for by American taxpayers and four times they were shot down. Lo and behold, two days after Wilson's "outburst" the illegal loophole was closed.

Now what does the President, who sympathizes with illegals who are in this country illegally suggest?

Mr. Obama added, "If anything, this debate underscores the necessity of
passing comprehensive immigration reform and resolving the issue of 12
million undocumented people living and working in this country once and for
all
." (emphasis mine)

Well there you go. Let's give them amnesty, make them legal and then we can cover them. Unbelievable.

Did Media Matters Even Watch Andrew Breitbart On Fox Before They Started Whining?

Via Memeorandum:

Media Matters has a hit piece on Andrew Breitbart's Fox appeareance with Megyn Kelly. During the appearence, Breitbart didn't mince words about the coverage the various "ACORN videos" at CNN. Media Matters accused Breitbart of "whining." Problem is, Breitbart wasn't "whining" as Media Matters claims, he was making a statement of facts. CNN has slanted its coverage in favor of ACORN. CNN rather than reporting the story, has basically regurgitated the ACORN talking points.

I seem to remember from a long ago journalism class that news reporting consists of who, what, where and why. If CNN wants present an opinion piece on the ACORN story then the should label it as such. Media Matters can't be taken seriously when it defends a lack of basic journalism.