Thursday, June 30, 2011

Conservative Suspicions Confirmed in "Gunwalker" Report

Bob Owens in Pajamas Media says that the 26-page report glosses over the victims of "Operation Fast and Furious" and twists the facts to push for more gun control, exactly as we expected.

Rat Thinking of Leaving Ship Before It Sinks

Bloomberg.com reports:

Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner has signaled to White House officials that he’s considering leaving the administration after President Barack Obama reaches an agreement with Congress to raise the national debt limit, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Geithner hasn’t made a final decision and won’t do so until the debt ceiling issue has been resolved, according to one of the people. All spoke on condition of anonymity to talk about private discussions....

Don't Worry - President Obama Just Had His Eyesight Tested

Financial Services Industry Ready to Press Panic Button

A FOX Business Network/New York Post article by Charles Gasparino describes how high rollers such as Goldman Sachs are outsourcing jobs to India and Singapore, not just to save money, but to shield them from the expected effects of new legislation such as Dodd-Frank.

Why is Goldman Sachs pre paring to outsource traders, salespeople and investment bankers from here in America, where it has made untold billions over the years as Wall Street's premier trading firm, to places like Singapore and India?

The answer can be found largely in the 2,000-plus pages of last year's Dodd-Frank financial "reform" law -- which will eventually translate into some 40,000 pages of regulations. The financial industry is still frozen, waiting to find out how bad these regs will turn out; but what all the CEOs of the big banks know for sure is that it's about to get a lot more expensive to do business here....

Will America Suffer the Same Fate?

The Economist article, "What Have We Become?" details the dilemma facing the people of Greece. Vested interests fighting the latest attempt to rescue the beleaguered Greek economy - unions, bureaucrats, legislators, and clients of the welfare state - are being opposed by "a constituency of modernisers: people depressed by interrelated woes, including a malfunctioning justice system, a kleptocratic civil service and impunity for the corrupt."

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Noted Psychiatrist Says Bill Maher "Needs to Have His Head Examined"

NewsBusters just published this spicy tidbit:

As NewsBusters previously reported, Bill Maher last Friday disgracefully attacked Bristol Palin saying, "The s--t doesn't fall far from the bat."

On Wednesday's "Fox & Friends," noted psychiatrist Keith Ablow analyzed the behavior of HBO's "Real Time" host concluding that the comedian has a deep-seated hatred of women and absolutely no regard for life....

Taliban Terrorists Attack Hotel in Kabul


MSNBC has reported than not less than 6 terrorists struck the landmark Inter-Continental Hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan, forcing guests and employees to either jump out of windows or hide in their rooms. Afghan police fought the attackers until all of them were killed (a NATO helicopter finished off 3 on the roof), and have counted 10 victims so far.

Israel Strikes It Rich


Haaretz.com brings us the word that substantial offshore natural gas fields have been discovered just west of Israel. They bear names such as Tamar and Leviathan. This find could be worth as much as $90 billion, but it may be years before the natural gas field starts producing.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Iran Flexes Its Missile Muscle Again

FOX News reports that a senior commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard claimed his country is capable of building even longer-range missiles than it has at present, but they can hit American targets in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as Israel.

The missiles, he said, were specifically designed for Israeli and U.S. targets. Iran's known missiles of such range are the Shahab-3 and the Sajjil. Iran considers Israel and United States its top enemies.

A Pajamas Media article describes how rising tensions between Turkey and Iranian ally Syria has prompted the Islamic Republic to announce: "Iran’s resolve is as strong as a rock and defending Damascus is as much of a priority as defending Beirut and Tehran...." The Iranians also revealed what we have suspected for some time, that they have built some missile silos. Naturally, Turkish officials are highly displeased by these threats.

Monday, June 27, 2011

This Headline Too Good to Be Overlooked

This hot toilet news item comes from News.Com.Au (Australia):

Bruce Highway workers' toilet stolen; police have nothing to go on
By Amy Kelly
From: The Courier-Mail
June 28, 2011

WORKMEN performing stabilising work on the Bruce Highway arrived at their North Queensland worksite yesterday morning to find their only portable toilet had mysteriously disappeared.

The yellow and aqua portaloo was last seen around 7.30am on Saturday morning at the worksite near Liverpool Creek, 30 minutes south of Innisfail, and was reported missing yesterday.

Police say at least two people and a truck would have been needed to move the portaloo, which was delivered to the roadside last Thursday.

Project manager Peter Reily said they were waiting on a new portable toilet to be delivered but in the meantime workers were having to travel about one kilometre to the nearest restroom.

“We’ve had gear stolen before, but never a toilet,” he said....

Jury Finds Ex-Gov. Blagojevich Guilty x 17

CNN reports that former Gov. Rod Blagojevich was "stunned" when a jury found him guilty of 17 charges of public corruption in connection with his attempt to sell Barack Obama's Senate seat after he was elected President.

TSA Gropers Were Just Following Orders

The HotAir blog has details and a link to a CNN video about the incident in which the TSA singled out a 95-year-old woman with terminal leukemia traveling from Florida to Michigan - she had to remove her Depends to get past the security checkpoint.

UPDATE: CNN reports that the Transportation Security Administration denies making the 95-year-old passenger remove her diaper.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Injured Soldier Receives New Handicapped-Accessible Home


FOX21 News (KXRM-TV) in Colorado Springs describes how the non-profit, Homes for Our Troops, built the veteran a three bedroom, two bath home on the eastern plains of Colorado for SGT Jeffrey Adams, who lost parts of both legs below the knee in Afghanistan and was medically retired.

"I'm happy to be alive. I've lost a few friends over the years that weren't as fortunate to survive," SGT Adams said.

Not All Climate Experts Support Global Warming Baloney


On Thursday afternoon a friend of mine and I visited the Independence Institute in Golden, CO to see Dr. Patrick Michaels of the Cato Institute promote his latest book, "Climate Coup: Global Warming's Invasion of Our Government and Our Lives." Besides having the training to make informed assessments on this subject, his compilation brings together the writings of other knowledgeable people who question the current dogma on global warming/climate change. His presentation was entertaining as well as informative, so he really didn't need those fluorescent orange shoes to stand out from the crowd.

Also in the same vein: "I, Global Warming Skeptic" in the Skeptoid blog.

Incentivizing Euthanasia: Organ Harvesting

Wesley J. Smith at the Weekly Standard shows us what's "At the Bottom of the Slippery Slope":

The idea of coupling euthanasia with organ harvesting and medical experimentation was promoted years ago by the late Jack Kevorkian, but it is now becoming mainstream. Last year, the Oxford bioethicist Julian Savulescu coauthored a paper in Bioethics arguing that some could be euthanized, “at least partly to ensure that their organs could be donated.” Belgian doctors, in particular, are openly discussing the nexus between euthanasia and organ harvesting. A June 10 press release from Pabst Science Publishers cited four lung transplants in Leuven from donors who died by euthanasia.

What’s more, Belgian doctors and bioethicists now travel around Europe promoting the conjoining of the two procedures at medical seminars. Their PowerPoint presentation touts the “high quality” of organs obtained from patients after euthanasia of people with degenerative neuro/muscular disabilities....

Saturday, June 25, 2011

New York Passes Same-Sex Marriage Bill


Source of photo: FOX News

An Associated Press article in Glenn Beck's The Blaze announced that New York, birthplace of the gay rights movement, became the largest state so far to legalize same-sex marriage.

Friday, June 24, 2011

Worst Flooding Ever in Minot, North Dakota

FOX News reports:

The Souris River's full weight hit Minot on Friday, swamping an estimated 2,500 homes as it soared nearly 4 feet in less than a day and overwhelmed the city's levees. City officials said they expected as many as 4,500 homes to be severely damaged by the time the river peaks Saturday.

More than a quarter of the city's 40,000 residents evacuated earlier this week, packing any belongings they hoped to save into cars, trucks and trailers....

Geithner Blurts Out the Truth

Investor's Business Daily reveals that Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner told Rep. Renee Ellmers, R-N.C., that hiking taxes on small businesses is the only "alternative" that will allow "a balanced approach to reduce our fiscal deficits."

"If you don't touch revenues," Geithner said, "you have to shrink the overall size of government programs, things like education, to levels that we could not accept as a country."

Yet Democrats never give up hope they can raise taxes, and this particular Democrat wants to slap higher rates on small business. This is an especially poor choice. Small businesses are America's jobs engine....

Alzheimer's Rears Its Ugly Head - Twice

This just in: KTLA.com in Los Angeles has reported that Peter Falk, 83, star of the "Columbo" TV series, has died peacefully in his sleep last night. He had been suffering from Alzheimer's during his final years.

An AP/Yahoo News story states that country music legend Glen Campbell, age 75, has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's and is planning to record his final album and embark on "The Glen Campbell Goodbye Tour" this summer.

Tell Me It Isn't True!

This is a follow-up to a story posted on 18 June: "Yuk! Recycled Beef." Nic Halverson at Discovery News brings up the chilling possibility that the story about a Japanese researcher discovering a way to turn human turds into beef may be a hoax.

James Delingpole: US Liberals Really Are the Dumbest Creatures

The Telegraph (U.K.) dares to publish what the leftist media in the United States will not:

Today I am in New York on my publicity tour for Watermelons and as I sat at breakfast this morning, chomping on an Ess-a-bagel and reading Thomas Sowell’s Basic Economics I found myself wondering – not for the first time – why it is that liberal-lefties manage to be so utterly wrong about everything.

“Because they’re stupid,” said a libertarian friend of mine.

“Oh come on, not all of them surely? A bit misguided, maybe but…” I protested.

“No really they’re stupid because they’re not interested in facts. They just want to construct their pretty little narrative about the world, regardless of whether or not it has any bearing on reality. And then they want to dump it on us. And ruin our lives. So not just stupid but evil too....”

Port-a-Potty Peeper Suspect Arrested


KRDO-TV News in Colorado Springs reports that Luke Chrisco, 32, who was accused in Boulder of peeping on women at a yoga festival in Boulder, was caught by police in Vail on a panhandling charge.

Boulder police have been searching for a suspect a since the June 17th incident at the Hanuman Yoga Festival.

It all started when a female festival goer noticed movement in the toilet tank.

She immediately ran outside and asked a nearby man for help. The man entered the portable toilet and saw the suspect hiding inside the tank.

The man left and the suspect locked himself inside, and then attempted to leave after about 10 minutes.

A security supervisor for the festival was waiting, and although she tried to stop him, the suspect ran away. Police have been searching for the suspect since the incident....

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Bipartisan Bill to Legalize Marijuana

How interesting: an Associated Press article describes how Rep. Barney Frank (D) of Massachusetts and Rep. Ron Paul (R) of Texas have introduced legislation to remove marijuana from the list of federal controlled substances and leave regulation of this substance to the states.

Too Much, Too Soon


We agree with the editors of National Review, who say that President Obama is being hasty in overruling his generals and withdrawing 30,000 troops by the end of next summer without any reciprocal action from the Taliban to show that they are willing to work together with the Afghan government and the Americans on a peace settlement.

Mark Alexander at PatroitPost.us has some stern words for a President who chose political expediency over military necessity. So does John Tabin at American Spectator.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Notorious Fugitive James "Whitey" Bulger Arrested


The Los Angeles Times reports that the long arm of the law has finally caught up with crime boss James "Whitey" Bulger, wanted for 21 killings, racketeering and other crimes. He had been on the lam for over a decade, been featured on "America's Most Wanted," and became the subject of a film, "The Departed," a 2006 Martin Scorsese film staring Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon and Jack Nicholson.

Here We Go Again! Magnitude 6.7 Earthquake in Japan

FOX News reported that a magnitude 6.7 earthquake shook northeastern Japan, but there were no reports of injuries or damage this time. A tsunami warning by the Japan Meteorological Agency lasted for only an hour before being canceled.

NYT Admits to PDS (Palin Derangement Syndrome)

The New York Post chronicles yet another chapter in the decline and fall of the Newspaper of Record:

In a bombshell announcement, New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller publicly confessed his sickness. OK, he didn't put it exactly that way, but you don't have to be a doctor to recognize the symptoms. Here's how he started a column in the Times Magazine:

"If the 2012 election were held in the newsrooms of America and pitted Sarah Palin against Barack Obama , I doubt Palin would get 10 percent of the vote. However tempting the newsworthy havoc of a Palin presidency, I'm pretty sure most journalists would recoil in horror from the idea."

It's a paragraph worth parsing. First comes the backhanded admission that the "newsrooms of America" are overwhelmingly liberal. The 90 percent Obama vote Keller cites is consistent with surveys showing the vast majority of journalists tilt left, a fact that explains the warped coverage of government, culture, business and even sports in most major news organizations.

His second sentence condescendingly reveals Keller's agreement with the journalistic "horror" of the "havoc of a Palin presidency."

That's a huge mistake. As the supposed objective editor of the Times' news pages, he is giving license to his staff to go after Palin and, by inference, go easy on Obama. His not-so-subtle marching order is certain to find favor with ambitious reporters and editors hoping to please the boss....

Mass Escape of al-Qaeda Militants from Yemeni Prison

FOX News reports that at least 40 militants escaped from the prison in Mukalla on the Arabian Sea. This news only complicates the situation in a troubled nation that is already in chaos.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Huntsman Tosses Hat in Ring; Other Potential Candidates Waiting in the Wings

Former ambassador Jon Huntsman Jr. announced at the Statue of Liberty today that he was officially seeking the Republican nomination for President, according to the Los Angeles Times. It appears that he is staking out a position to the left of his competition. Other potential Republican candidates such as Gov. Sarah Palin, Gov. Rick Perry, and former U.N. ambassador John Bolton, have not yet announced their intentions.

More Obama Cartoons for Your Amusement




How To Turn Off Facebook Facial Recognition

By BARRETT TRYON
Source: KRDO NewsChannel 13

If the feature, which is turned on by default, makes you uneasy, here is a quick tutorial on how to turn it off:

1. Click on Account in the upper right corner of your Facebook page.
2. Choose Account Settings in the menu that drops down.
3. Click on Manage in the Privacy field of your Account Settings page.
4. At the bottom of the page, click on Customize Settings and once there, look for an option called Suggest photos of me to friends.
5. Once you find the option, click on Edit Settings and turn the feature from Enabled to Disabled.

Obama Caught in a Lie, Again

Gateway Pundit reports this whopper by Obama:

In May Barack Obama proposed handing over half of Jerusalem, the Wailing Wall, The Temple Mount, Old Jerusalem, and the tomb of Jesus Christ to the Hamas-Fatah terrorist alliance.

Of course, his radical position was very unpopular with most Americans.

Despite this and other attacks against the Jewish state, Barack Obama told Jewish donors tonight that his administration has done more than any in 25 years to support Israel....

Monday, June 20, 2011

How Did Them Hicks Learn to Build Cars and Airplanes?

J.E. Dyer at HotAir.com now reveals the real reason why the union-friendly National Labor Relations Board tried to prevent Boeing from opening its aircraft assembly plant in South Carolina:

"I had to check my paper copy of the Wall Street Journal today to make sure this wasn’t some elaborate prank. Then I double-checked what year it is, to make sure I hadn’t been slingshotted around the sun and found myself back in 1975.

"That’s about when I remember it last being routine for Rust Belt lawyers to publicly disparage the skills and education of people from the South. The only thing missing from the op-ed by Chicago-based lawyer Thomas Geoghegan is the word “hick” or “hillbilly.” WSJ is to be applauded for its determination to feature different viewpoints, but Geoghegan’s piece certainly pushes the envelope.

"The topic is the NLRB ruling against Boeing moving its assembly plant for the Dreamliner to South Carolina. And it really is as bad as my intro suggests...."

Now It Can Be Told: Escaped Slaves and Freedmen Spying for the Union

An Associated Press/Yahoo.com article describes how African Americans risked their lives gathering critical intelligence deep in Confederate territory - one even penetrated the residence of the first and last president of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis.

Cutting-Edge Research May Prevent Amputations


U.S. Marine Lance Corporal Isaias Hernandez (right, in green sweatsuit)

The Daily Mail (U.K.) has an encouraging story about a revolutionary new technique using material from pig bladders that has helped one Marine regenerate muscle and even some bone tissue that was blown away by an IED in Afghanistan. If this hadn't happened, he might have lost his right leg.

Changing With the Times


Hat tip: American Thinker

Sunday, June 19, 2011

NLRB Decision Will Chase Away New Industries from Washington State

EDITORIAL NOTE: Like individual small-time criminals, the criminals who have infiltrated our government have poor impulse control and do not pay attention to the consequences of their actions. The Washington Times has their number.

The National Labor Relations Board’s bid to prevent Boeing from moving to South Carolina could harm the very state it is trying to protect by discouraging businesses from setting up shop there, Republican lawmakers warn.

A victory for the labor board would create an unfriendly business environment and stifle economic growth in Washington state and across the country, Republicans say, and the uncertainty eventually could force American companies to do business overseas....

"Where's Waldo?" Made Easy

Intent on breaking the record in the Guinness Book of World Records, thousands of people in Ireland got together wearing Waldo's outfit (which he wears regardless of weather). The Daily Mail (U.K.) has pictures to document the event.

Just in Time for Father's Day

The Guinness World Records Web site has a list of ten, including greatest number of descendants, most children fathered by a U.S. President, etc.

On FOX News, there's a story about a father-son team serving in the same company in Afghanistan.

Saturday, June 18, 2011

President Barack Obama's Complete List of Historic Firsts

Check out President Barack Obama's Complete List of Historic Firsts.

Yes, he's historic, alright.

• First President to Violate the War Powers Act

• First President to Orchestrate the Sale of Murder Weapons to Mexican Drug Cartels

• First President to be Held in Contempt of Court for Illegally Obstructing Oil Drilling in the Gulf of Mexico

• First President to Defy a Federal Judge's Court Order to Cease Implementing the 'Health Care Reform' Law

• First President to Require All Americans to Purchase a Product From a Third Party

• First President to Spend a Trillion Dollars on 'Shovel-Ready' Jobs -- and Later Admit There Was No Such Thing as Shovel-Ready Jobs

• First President to Abrogate Bankruptcy Law to Turn Over Control of Companies to His Union Supporters...

But wait! There's many more items on the list, so go to Doug Ross @ Journal.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee Identifies the Threat: Christian Militants

Strange, but this story has only been covered by conservative news sources such as Right Wing News.

At a congressional hearing on Muslim radicalization in U.S. prisons, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) said that investigators needed to analyze Christian militants in America because they too might try to “bring down the country.”

In an exchange with witness Patrick Dunleavy , the former deputy inspector of the criminal intelligence unit, New York Department of Correctional Services, Rep. Jackson Lee mentioned the case of a man who blew up an abortion clinic and proposed that this perhaps was an attempt to undermine U.S. law that allows a woman to procure an abortion....

Sadly, Lee wasn’t just using this as a way to deflect from the investigation into Islamist radicalization in US prisons, but, something she truly believes. Because one guy blowing up an abortion clinic is trying to bring down the whole country, in her world view, which is just like Islamists hijacking planes to take down the US economy and attempting to kill 50,000+ Americans. Perhaps if someone told Jackson Lee that the Islamists are 100% against abortion on demand, think (and use) rape as a weapon, and are misogynists, she’d finally realize how dangerous Islamist radicalization is.

Billions Wasted in U.S. Healthcare System

The Economist gets it:

AMERICA has a talent for wasting money on health care. It has devised many ingenious ways to do this. A patient may see many skilled specialists, none of whom co-ordinate with one another. Payment systems are unfathomably complex and highly variable. Doctors order duplicative or unnecessary tests. The country excels at treating sick people and does a horrible job keeping them from getting sick in the first place. All these problems, however, are due to a simple, structural failing: the more services a hospital provides, the more it is paid.

EDITORIAL COMMENT: "Bloodthirsty Warmonger" believes in true healthcare reform that does not involve the government takeover of the healthcare industry. What this country needs are changes that address the deficiencies listed above, reduces the amount of CYA paperwork that doctors and hospitals have to produce so that they can spend more time actually examining patients, eliminates the artificial barrier between physical and mental ailments, and devotes more resources to preventing disease, drug abuse, and unhealthful conditions.

Acting Head of BATFE - Probable Sacrificial Lamb?

A Wall Street Journal/FOX News article describes how Kenneth Melson, acting head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives may soon be forced to resign or be canned by the Dept. of Justice over "Operation Fast and Furious," also known as "Project Gunwalker."

Yuk! Recycled Beef

FOX News and other sources report that Japanese scientists have found a way to create meat from human waste! Sounds nourishing: "According to Digital Trends, it's 63 percent protein, 25 percent carbohydrates, 3 percent lipids and 9 percent minerals." This artificial beef uses soy products to bind it together and red food coloring to improve its visual appeal.

Friday, June 17, 2011

No Need to Shed Tears Over Ex-Congressman Weiner

The New York Post reports that he is licking his wounds in the Hamptons with his wife, Huma Abedin. Meanwhile, according to Politico, Larry Flynt has offered Weiner a job at Flynt Management Group, LLC in Los Angeles at a 20 percent hike over his Washington salary.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

The History of "Project Gunwalker," Written in Blood

Bob Owens at Pajamas Media has summed up the grisly details of a monumentally stupid operation to allow firearms to be smuggled into Mexico so that it could be used as an excuse to restrict our right to bear arms in the United States. What these geniuses hadn't planned on was the backlash that would result when these weapons were used to kill thousands of Mexicans and some Americans!

The Sipsey Street Irregulars blog has been faithfully covering this unfolding scandal, far more than the legacy media.

Julian Assange Feels "Like a Caged Animal" on 600-Acre Estate


The World's Smallest Violin goes to Assange, who, according to an MSNBC article, feels like he is being treated "like a caged animal" while sitting out his house arrest in the country estate of a friend. He "acknowledged Thursday that his detention is hampering the work of the secret-spilling site. His supporters accused Britain of subjecting him to 'excessive and dehumanizing' treatment." What he really objects to is being treated as a flight risk and effectively barred from communicating with his followers.

Once Again We Are Reminded: Obama Takes Jews for Granted

Breitbart's BigGovernment.com has a column by Jeff Dunetz, Obama's Israel Policy: "F*** the Jews, They Will Vote for Us Anyway," which once again brings up the point that American Jews have lost their instinct for self-preservation by blindly following an increasingly hostile Democratic Party.

Weiner Resigns!

Yielding to pressure from both Republicans and Democrats, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) resigned "from office Thursday, saying the sexting scandal he first lied about and then admitted caused such a distraction that it was impossible for him to continue his work in Congress." CNN has a report and a video.

al-Zawahiri Takes Charge of al-Qaeda


FOX News reports:

Usama bin Laden's longtime deputy Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri has taken control of Al Qaeda, the group said Thursday, a widely anticipated move that comes at a time the terror network is struggling for relevance amid a wave of Arab uprisings that has threatened to upstage it.

Al-Zawahiri, a surgeon by training, has long brought ideological fire as well as tactical and organizational cunning to Al Qaeda, which has found itself increasingly decentralized and prone to internal disputes following its expulsion from Afghanistan after its invasion by U.S. forces in 2001....

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Brit Tries to Shoot Off Wart, Loses Most of Finger (Yes, Alcohol Was Involved)

NineMSN.com ran the following story:

Sean Murphy, a security guard from Yorkshire, blew most of his middle finger off with a shotgun after drinking several pints of beer, The Sun newspaper reported.

The 38-year-old was charged with possessing an illegal firearm after the incident but walked free yesterday after a judge handed him a suspended sentence.

Murphy told the Doncaster Magistrates' Court how he had lived with the wart for five years and had tried several removal creams over the years to no avail.

He added that the wart "was hurting a lot and causing my finger to bend".

"It was as big as my thumbnail. I'd been to the doctors with it and tried all sorts of things but it wouldn't go," he was quoted saying....

Rep. Giffords Passes Another Milestone

FOX News reports that Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was released from a Houston hospital today and will continue her recovery in League City (26 miles south of Houston), in a house owned by her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly.

While the MSM Was Asleep at the Wheel...

The Center for Public Integrity's iWatch News ran the following story:

Obama rewards big bundlers with jobs, commissions, stimulus money, government contracts, and more


Telecom executive Donald H. Gips raised a big bundle of cash to help finance his friend Barack Obama’s run for the presidency.

Gips, a vice president of Colorado-based Level 3 Communications LLC, delivered more than $500,000 in contributions for the Obama war chest, while two fellow senior company executives collected at least $150,000 more.

After the election, Gips was put in charge of hiring in the Obama White House, helping to place loyalists and fundraisers in many key positions. Then in mid-2009, the new president named him ambassador to South Africa. Level 3 Communications, in which Gips retained stock, meanwhile received millions of dollars of government stimulus contracts for broadband projects in six states—though Gips said he was "completely unaware" of the stimulus money.

More than two years after President Obama took office vowing to banish “special interests” from his administration, nearly 200 of his biggest donors have landed plum government jobs and advisory posts, won federal contracts worth millions of dollars for their business interests or attended numerous elite White House meetings and social events, an investigation by iWatch News has found....

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Who Do You Call? Boast Busters!

This Washington Post article reports that the people who are engaged in exposing fake Navy SEALs are busier than ever in the wake of their latest incredible feat, cornering and killing Osama bin Laden.

In Louisiana, a man duped the governor into believing he was the lone survivor of a Navy SEAL team ambushed in Afghanistan. In California, a jousting promoter said he was a SEAL veteran, not just a veteran of battles at Renaissance fairs. And in Georgia, a televangelist listed a stint with the SEALs in his online bio for years, along with bit parts in the films “Green Lantern” and “Who’s Your Caddy?”

None of these men ever served in the elite Navy units that undergo some of the toughest training in the military and undertake some of its most dangerous Special Forces missions....

“Only 500 [SEALs] served in Vietnam. And we’ve met all 20,000 of them,” said Steve Robinson, a former SEAL in Forsyth, Mo., and author of “No Guts, No Glory: Unmasking Navy SEAL Imposters....”

More Cartoon Fun











Cha-Ching! Airlines Rake in $5.7 Billion in Fees

A Sun-Sentinel/Reuters article describes how U.S. airlines have increased their revenues by nickel-and-diming their passengers for services they used to offer at no additional charge.

In Case You Missed the Debate on CNN...

You can read the transcript of the candidates vying for the Republican nomination, which CNN thoughtfully provided. Rep. Michele Bachmann used this public event to announce that she is officially a candidate. This debate took place at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, and was moderated by CNN anchor John King.

John Hinderaker of Power Line blog provided quite a good review of the debate, in my humble opinion.

Monday, June 13, 2011

The Uniforms Keep A-Changin'

GovernmentExecutive.com has the story:

For years, Soldiers assigned to the Army's Pentagon headquarters have worn combat uniforms as their daily attire. But no more. A new policy requires those assigned to the Pentagon to show up in the more formal Army service uniform.

"Our perspective is that this is the corporate part of the Army," Sergeant Major of the Army Raymond F. Chandler III told Army News Service. "The business part of the Army is done in the Pentagon, and as a professional there are certain standards of attire associated with certain activities. For the business aspect of the Army, it is the Army service uniform."

The change could take effect as early as October.

In service-wide uniform changes, Army leaders also announced that the default headgear will change from the black beret to the patrol cap. The Army had adopted the beret as the standard in 2001, saying that the headgear had become the "symbol of excellence of our specialty units," a standard that leaders wanted to spread service-wide. But Soldiers have complained the beret is hot, fails to shade the sun and requires two hands to put on.

Soldiers also will be allowed to sew name tapes, service tapes, rank insignia and skill badges on to their combat uniforms, instead of using Velcro.

Turnabout Is Fair Play

Once again we see how the relationship between Sarah Palin and the legacy media resembles that of Dreyfus and Inspector Clouseau (except that she's less likely to stumble into a solution), or even Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner. James Lewis at American Thinker uses this curious state of affairs to bash these lackeys of Soros.

I don't know if we have the sleaziest and most corrupt media in American history -- maybe in human history? -- but they all deserve a Pulitzer for Aggravated Mendacity. (That means "lying," if any of them are trying to read this). But it's not just their Central Party Line propaganda, day in and day out. It's also their personal wickedness, their abject ignorance, bottomless vulgarity and corruption, their lynch mob mentality -- even aimed at one-year old baby Trig Palin -- their idiotic mass conformity, and now, thanks to Governor Palin , they look like the idiots they really are. The sheer malignity of the Left and its Organs of Propaganda is being exposed every single day....

Obama Puts Pressure on Netanyahu

It's no secret that President Obama is angry that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refuses to enter into negotiations that could lead to Israel retreating to its indefensible pre-1967 borders. Now, according to an article in Glenn Beck's The Blaze, Obama has sent Netanyahu an ultimatum to begin negotiations with the "Palestinian" Arabs within a month.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Al-Qaeda Leader Behind East African Embassy Bombings Killed in Somalia

There is more than a hint of poetic justice that Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, who masterminded the embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, met his end in a shootout in Mogadishu, Somalia, according to the Telegraph (U.K.).

Fazul Abdullah Mohammed was gunned down [at midnight on Tuesday] by Somali government troops, after he refused to stop at a roadblock in the capital Mogadishu last week.

Mrs Clinton said it was a "just end" for the man accused of bomb attacks on the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania which killed 224 people in 1998.

The 38-year-old Comoran's death is also seen as a rare victory for the Western-backed Transitional Federal Government of Somalia, which is fighting al-Shebab Islamic militants linked to al-Qaeda for control of the east African country.

On Friday, the organisation claimed the life of Somalia's Interior Minister in a suicide bombing said to have been carried out by his own niece, who had allegedly joined al-Shebab. The suicide attack was the third in Mogadishu in less than two weeks....

Improving Upon Obama's 2012 Re-Election Logo


Chicago Boyz leads the way.:-) Hat tip: Redstate.com.

Will Efforts to Comb Through Gov. Palin's E-Mails Backfire?


Don Quixote Tilting at Windmills

Thomas Lifson at American Thinker believes that Sarah Palin can turn this mass dump of e-mails to her advantage.

The media feeding frenzy over 24,000 emails pertaining to Sarah Palin 's governorship in Alaska is already redounding to her benefit, while further eroding the vestiges of credibility once enjoyed by the shrunken giants of American journalism, including but not limited to the New York Times, Washington Post, and CBS News. The mere fact that Mrs. Palin is a private citizen, and candidate for no office, has not prevented these once influential outlets from devoting substantial time and effort to minutely examining every document for something -- anything! -- to use as a gotcha. The extreme hostility is transparent to all.

The fact that the Times and Post both begged their readers for help in going through to documents says much about the essentially tribal nature of their audiences. The goal of both publications now is obviously the advancement of a political agenda, not the publication of significant news.

The contrast with the studied disinterest in the many lacunae in the documentation of Barack Obama 's political career could not be more blatant....

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Looking for a Summer Camp for Your Kids?

Arutz Sheva (IsraelNationalNews.com) has an incredible article about how Hamas has organized summer camps for about 100,000 children per season. The Islamic Jihad also offers camps for 15,000 boys and girls. Their goal: to raise a generation of children with "genuine Islamic values." Now what do they mean by this? In addition to indoctrination, Hamas terrorists give children paramilitary training. Banners are hung on the walls with slogans extolling jihad and "death for the sake of Allah."

Their competition, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency summer camp system hosted 250,000 children and adolescents in 2010, but have been harassed by Muslim extremists (to the point where they burned down one camp site last year). It was an exercise in futility for the UNRWA to complain to the de facto Hamas administration in Gaza.

Hypocrisy Is Alive and Well in the Formerly Golden State


It is our solemn duty to bring out this picture of the two-story outhouse from the archives to apply it to the state legislature of California. A Washington Times editorial describes their absolute shamelessness in exempting themselves from strict gun-control legislation that applies to everyone else in the state (except gang members and outlaws, of course, over which they have no control).

The California state Senate voted 28-8 Wednesday to exempt itself from the pointless gun-control laws that apply to the rest of the populace. Legislators apparently think they alone are worthy to pack heat on the streets for personal protection, and the masses ought to wait until the police arrive.

This is just one of many bills Golden State politicians used this legislative session to set themselves apart from the little people, the ones who pay their inflated salaries. Annual compensation for legislators averages about $140,000, not counting luxurious perks such as taxpayer-funded cars and free gasoline. By comparison, the average Californian earns $50,000 a year, and the unemployment rate is 11.9 percent - far above the national average....

Ribbon-Cutting for $750 Million Boeing Plant in South Carolina

FOX News describes the proud moment when Boeing opened its newest aircraft assembly plant in South Carolina in the face of opposition from the union-friendly NLRB (National Labor Relations Board). The bureaucrats have a problem with a business that wants to expand into a place where it would be shielded from the threat of strikes, which have periodically crippled production in Washington state. U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham got loud cheers from the crowd when he said Boeing is here to stay in South Carolina.

Elizabeth's Revenge, from Beyond the Grave

The National Enquirer, which has emerged as the gold standard of American journalism, ran a story about the video testimony that Elizabeth Edwards recorded shortly before her death, which could prove the final nail in the coffin against her faithless husband, former Senator and vice presidential candidate John Edwards.

"In a devastating act of ultimate revenge, a dying Elizabeth Ed­wards recorded a bombshell secret videotape for prosecutors – nailing her cheating husband John as he will stand trial on charges that could land him behind bars for 30 years.

"That’s the stunning secret behind the federal indictment brought against the disgraced former presidential candi­date on June 3 – following a two-year grand jury investigation into whether he illegally used campaign funds to cover up his affair with his then-pregnant mistress Rielle Hunter...."

Iran Caught Red-Handed Smuggling Weapons to Terrorists

United Nations inspectors confirmed what many of us had suspected all along: they have been shipping weapons to terrorists, according to Glenn Beck's The Blaze.

Over the years, the West has frequently made claims that Iran provides assistance and weaponry to terrorists. Now, The Jerusalem Post is reporting that a new U.N. report corroborates these charges:

Iran has been caught red-handed in 10 different attempts in recent years to transfer weaponry to terrorists throughout the Middle East, including a recent case, in April, when a shipment of advanced missiles was caught en-route to Taliban forces in Afghanistan, according to a United Nations report obtained Thursday by The Jerusalem Post.

The report was submitted three weeks ago to the Security Council by a UN group of experts that monitors compliance with UN sanctions imposed on Iran. The report was leaked to the Internet and obtained by a number of leading Israeli defense analysts.

According to the Post, the report also discusses regular exchanges of sensitive ballistic missile technology and information between North Korea and Iran. While sanctions appear to be having an impact on Iran, the Middle Eastern country is circumventing these barriers and is still able to fund its nuclear and ballistic programs....

Friday, June 10, 2011

Japanese Resilience After the Earthquake/Tsunami

The Daily Mail (U.K.) has some striking before-and-after pictures of how far Japan has come along in its efforts to recover from the triple disaster that took place only 3 months ago.

Newt Is Toast

This just in from Erick Erickson at Redstate.com:

Had you tuned in to my radio show two nights ago, you would have heard me tell the world that Newt Gingrich ’s campaign was disintegrating. Had you jumped over to RedState yesterday at noon for my Presidential horserace post, you’d have seen again that sources were telling me Newt’s campaign was in complete meltdown and I did not expect him to survive.

...Many of us admire Newt Gingrich’s intellect, but even while Speaker of the House, Newt had a reputation as uncontrollable and undisciplined. While the press may say the implosion of his campaign has to do with his staff’s loyalty to Rick Perry , I believe the real answer is that Newt too frequently went off message, did not engage, and most likely has not taken the steps necessary to build a campaign war chest of both money and critical allies. And no staffer seeing this would want to wait around for a later more obvious candidate led implosion that makes the innocent staff look culpable.

I’m sure the Mediterranean cruise was one of the last straws.

With Newt in, but his national staff fleeing, there is massive speculation tonight that Texas Governor Rick Perry is going to get into the race....

"Communist Party USA Experiencing Growing Pains"

It would never have occurred to us to mention this trend, until Redstate.com brought it to our attention. Union support and disillusionment with the free market system are credited for this surge in interest.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Having Solved Our Nation's Problems, Congress Turns Its Attention to Banning Lip-Synching on YouTube Videos

FOX News ran the following article:

Record labels are clamoring for a chance to have their artist lip-synch alongside 16-year-old YouTube sensation Keenan Cahill in, of all places, his bedroom.

But could a proposed amendment to the federal copyright infringement law potentially land Cahill, or any person lip-synching copyrighted material in a YouTube video, behind bars?

Senate Bill 978, a bipartisan measure introduced last month by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Sen. Christopher Coons (D-Del.), is backed by supporters who say it closes glaring loopholes in current copyright infringement law created by the realities of the digital age.

“As technology rapidly evolves, our laws must be updated to protect creativity and innovation,” said a statement by Cornyn.

But critics say a section of the bill provides for steep penalties -- up to five years in prison -- for “publicly performing” copyrighted material and embedding the video to sites like YouTube....

Doubles as a Safe Room


ÃœberReview has the story:

Moscow’s latest terrorist attack was perpetrated by a 20-something-year-old man. He strapped himself with explosives, walked into Moscow’s busiest airport and blew himself into little pieces – taking 37 people with him. Serious stuff, and it was just one bombing in a long line of attacks in the Russian capital.

What did they do about it? Well, it can be presumed that they maintained their campaign on the Chechnya and took their frustrations out on a few separatists – but Russia is not stopping there. They are building terrorist-proof public lavatories just to be safe. The outer walls of the new lavatories will be built from ultra-strong fibrous concrete; the interior fittings will be steel and reinforced plastic – and if you spend too long inside (more than 30 minutes) an alarm sounds and the door opens automatically (admittedly that could be bad if you have holed up for protection from a brain-hungry zombie horde).

The toilets will be unisex and the temperature inside will never drop below 16-C (61 degrees Fahrenheit)....

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Iranians Poised to Assemble First Nuke

From the Investor's Business Daily editorial page:

Iran is speeding up its nuclear materials production and moving it underground amid reports that the regime is eight weeks from atomic bomb capability. Doomsday, anyone?

Tehran announced Wednesday that it will triple its production of high-grade uranium and relocate enrichment operations underground.

This comes just days after the Rand Corp. determined that the Islamofascist government is less than two months from being able to build a nuclear explosive, and that only an occupation force — not just airstrikes — can stop it.

On Friday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad repeated his demand that Israel go away. "As long as the Zionist regime exists, if only on a small piece of land in Palestine, the region will not see tranquility," he declared at the grave of the Ayatollah Khomeini....

BONUS: James Lewis at American Thinker has a few choice words to say about that subject.

Tastes Great With Salsa


FOX News takes up this story that first aired on KGO-TV in San Francisco:

San Franciscans with a hankering for grasshopper tacos will have to learn how to make them at home after the city’s health department forced a popular restaurant to take them off the menu.

KGO-TV reports that officials have told the owner of the Mission Street Mexican, Harry Persaud, that he can’t sell any food containing the insect ingredient because he imports them from Mexico and the supplier is not FDA approved....

Surrender Now! This Is the Student Loan Police!

Glenn Beck's The Blaze ran a disturbing story about a man in Stockton, CA whose door was kicked down by a SWAT team - because his estranged wife, who was not present, was delinquent on her student loan!

Kenneth Wright was home with his three children early Tuesday morning. He hadn’t even gotten dressed for the day yet, and was still in his boxers. That’s when he looked outside and got a surprise.

“I look out of my window and I see 15 police officers,” Wright told News10. Then, the SWAT team busted down his door, allegedly grabbed him by the neck and put him in a police car for six hours, and even roused his children (ages 3,7, and 11) out of bed.

But there’s just one problem. The police weren’t after Wright. They were after his estranged wife. Not surprisingly, they didn’t find her:

To add insult to injury, officers put a large, clunky board over the hole they created in the door and said it was fixed.

“The hole is the least of my worries,” Wright said....

UPDATE: American Thinker has issued a few corrections and modifications to this story, which does not change the overarching theme of the original article, that the Dept. of Education overreacted to a non-threatening situation.

The story was a sensation on Wednesday morning. A Department of Education SWAT team broke down the door to a house owned by a man whose wife was delinquent on her student loans, according to original reports. The man was handcuffed and, along with his children, put in a cop car for 6 hours.

It turns out that some of this story was misreported. It wasn't a SWAT team but a special branch of the DOE who executes search warrants. And it wasn't for a student loan, but the warrant was in connection with a criminal investigation.

But before you breathe a sigh of relief, it should be rightly asked: What in God's name is DOE doing with a paramilitary unit to serve warrants?...

Monday, June 6, 2011

Uh-Oh! Muslim Brotherhood Legit in Egypt

A Times Live-AFP article announced that the grand-daddy of militant Islamic organizations (Muslim Brotherhood, founded in 1928), is no longer an outlaw group. The Egyptian government's ban, imposed in 1954, is hereby lifted.

EDITORIAL COMMENT: As the largest and best-organized opposition group to Mubarak, they are poised to become a formidable party in future elections. They are already campaigning for repudiating the treaty with Israel and strengthening their ties with Hamas and Hezbollah.

An Unusual Massacre in Syria

A Yahoo/AP report says that Syrian strongman Bashir Assad had even more blood on his hands. Approximately 120 Syrian security personnel, maybe more, have been killed by military forces. It is speculated that they were trying to escape into Turkey from Jisr al-Shughour. Perhaps they felt guilty about having to kill innocent civilians just because they joined in the protests against the Assad regime.

UPDATE1: An article in the Economist illustrates how difficult it is to get accurate information from a closed society such as Syria. The Assad regime may have exaggerated the number of security force members killed, and blamed their deaths on insurgents. What we do know is that about 150 unarmed civilians lost their lives in nationwide protests from Friday to Sunday, and that the Turks have turned away many Syrian refugees at the border. If they crossed over into Turkey in large numbers, the government there would label these Arabs a troublesome minority like the Kurds and Armenians.

UPDATE2: An article in the Daily Mail (U.K.) reports that the Turkish government has relented and allowed not less than 450 Syrian refugees fleeing for their lives, mostly from Jisr al-Shughour.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Trace Adkins Loses Home in Fire!

Country music star Trace Adkins home was destroyed in a fire, reports FOX News. "You can replace things, not people. I'm just glad that my children are safe," his wife, Rhonda Adkins, said. Three daughters and a nanny escaped unhurt while Adkins himself was traveling to Alaska.

A Slap in the Face

Note that I didn't say "a slap in the face of Jews," as Muslims also practice infant circumcision. The American Thinker and other conservative sources have been beating the drums over a proposed referendum measure in San Francisco that will ban circumcisions and traces the history all the way back to the reign of Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175-164 B.C.), who persecuted the Jews to the point where they rose up against him in the Maccabees revolt. This appears to be the work of a small but persistent minority, and Lloyd Schofield is the leader.

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Mark Mix Makes His Case for the "Right to Work"

Hillsdale College's Imprimis ran an op-ed piece by Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. In other words, he is a staunch foe of unionization. The final paragraph sums up what he is driving at:

"Fortunately, there are signs that taxpayers are recognizing the negative consequences of compulsory unionism in the public sector. Just this March, legislatures in Wisconsin and Ohio revoked compulsory powers of government union bosses, and similar efforts are underway in several other states. Furthermore, the NLRB’s blatantly political and un-constitutional power play with regard to Boeing’s South Carolina production line is sure to strike fair-minded Americans as beyond the pale. Now more than ever, it is time to push home the point that all American workers in all 50 states should be granted the full freedom of association—which includes the freedom not to associate—in the area of union membership."

Former Sen. John Edwards Insists He Is Innocent


FOX News and numerous other news sources have been following the case of former Democratic senator and vice-presidential nominee John Edwards, who is fighting 11 counts surrounding his alleged efforts to cover up his affair with Rielle Hunter,

Friday, June 3, 2011

Farewell, James Arness


It's not often we run two obituaries in the same day, but James Arness (1923-2011), star of the long-running "Gunsmoke" series and brother of the late Peter Graves, was a true American icon.

FOX News reports:

James Arness , the 6-foot-6 actor who towered over the television landscape for two decades as righteous Dodge City lawman Matt Dillon in "Gunsmoke," died Friday.

He was 88.

The actor died in his sleep at his home in Brentwood, Calif., according to his business manager, Ginny Fazer.

Arness' official website posted a letter from Arness on Friday that he wrote with the intention that it be posted posthumously: "I had a wonderful life and was blessed with some many loving people and great friends," he said.

"I wanted to take this time to thank all of you for the many years of being a fan of Gunsmoke, The Thing, How the West Was Won and all the other fun projects I was lucky enough to have been allowed to be a part of. I had the privilege of working with so many great actors over the years...."

Now We Know: The Left Is Out of Ideas

Peter Heck at American Thinker is the bearer of bad news:

With a little over a year to go until the next national election cycle is complete, it has become apparent that from an economic standpoint, the SS Liberal has officially run out of steam. Hull weighted down with the barnacles of false promises and rudder crippled by the reckless mismanagement of a spendthrift captain from Chicago, she sits there floundering in a sea of unemployment and malaise not experienced since Jimmy Carter was at the helm.

And despite all the rosy window dressing provided by the beaming ship attendants of the mainstream media, who pretend to be shocked every time another leak opens up, we passengers are fully aware of our surroundings....

Veterans' Crisis Line Rebranded

Source: The Retired Enlisted Association Washington Update, 3 June 2011

VA Suicide Prevention Outreach Program-The Department of Veterans’ Affairs has embarked on a “rebranding” campaign for the former “Veterans Suicide Prevention Hotline,” which has been renamed the “Veterans Crisis Line.” The Veteran Crisis Line call center is located in Canandaigua, NY and is staffed with professional responders trained and dedicated to serving veterans and their families.

The number is 1-800-273-8255; press 1 in order to reach the part of the system designed for veterans. The line is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year in order to serve veterans and their families when crises strike. The line is intended to help ALL VETERANS, even if they are not registered with the VA.

The intent of the VA’s campaign is to promote help-seeking behavior among the veteran community so that the chances are increased that somebody, either the veteran or their family, makes the critical first call for help. The campaign is also intended to promote broader VA suicide prevention efforts to foster greater trust in the VA, as well as increasing awareness and use of the veterans hotline and the fact that confidential help is available and that the treatment is effective.

The VA is seeking to target all sectors of the veteran community with this media campaign. The current news cycle is mainly about the suicide problem among returning OIF/OEF veterans, but apparently there is a problem among all age demographics in the veteran community. The National Guard/Reserve components, Vietnam-era vets, women, Native Americans (who have a very large risk of suicide as a population) and elder vets (among whom white males are the highest risk segment and they are very hard to reach).

The name change took place because key stakeholders felt that it was better to lower the threshold from suicidal to “being in a crisis,” in hopes that this lessened the stigma associated with seeking help, both within the veteran community as well as society at large.

Potential Death Panel Chairman Has Passed Away


Dr. Jack Kevorkian, 83, died early Friday morning at Beaumont Hospital in the Detroit suburb of Royal Oak. Cause of death was recorded as pulmonary thrombosis. He also had chronic kidney problems and pneumonia.

"Dr. Death" served an 8-year sentence for second-degree murder because of his work in physician-assisted suicide (hence the picture of him posing in a pillory). CNN provided these and other details.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Use of "Oxi" Spreading

After we ran the first Oxi article on Tuesday, 31 May, a reader has directed us to a video (with full transcript) on newsy.com that this cheaper variant of crack cocaine is starting to spread from the slums to more affluent neighborhoods. It is an insidious drug, capable of getting one hooked after only one use, and the average life expectancy thereafter is only about one year.

How Not to Conduct Damage Control


Embattled Rep. Anthony Weiner, according to CBS New York, has done exactly the wrong thing to defuse the controversy swirling around the lewd photo sent out on his Twitter account. When CBS-2 political reporter Marcia Kramer went to his office on Capitol Hill, he called the cops on her! What a weenie! Meanwhile, the jokesters continue working him over.

It Only Cost $2 Million!


The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) has replaced the "food pyramid" with this representation of a plate, according to Glenn Beck's The Blaze.

Gawker had a few choice words to say - whether they were in or out of the body while making this observation I know not:

Michelle Obama and her nosy goons at the USDA have destroyed America's beloved "food pyramid" nutritional diagram in favor of a new "food plate," which they unveiled this morning. As if any Americans eat food off a plate? Wake me when the nutritional diagram for wolfing down food over the kitchen sink comes out.

America's top doctor, Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, confirms that this new "plate" is connected to Michelle Obama's larger plot to stop fat people from being so fat all the time. According to Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack, the fatties were too fat to interpret a pyramid, which was really just a garden-variety 2D triangle....

Gov. Mitt Romney Is Running for President Again

Not surprisingly, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney made his public announcement today at a picnic in New Hampshire. FOX News has the story.

The Dogs Bark, but the Caravan Moves On


Michelle Malkin savors the sweet irony. So does Rush Limbaugh. Not content with helping elect and continuing to defend Barack Obama, reporters of the Dinosaur Media are whining because Gov. Sarah Palin is attracting all kinds of publicity without breaking a sweat - or being beholden to them.

Defense Secretary Gates' Swan Song at American Enterprise Institute

In his column, "Gates' Verdict: Pentagon's Biggest Enemy Is Itself," Michael Barone explains our basic problem with the Dept. of Defense in a nutshell. "Peace" advocates smugly assume that every penny spent on defense is money wasted, but that is too simplistic. National defense is one governmental function that is CONSTITUTIONALLY MANDATED, which is more than one can say about education, welfare, the EPA, OSHA, and many other agencies that have been created over the years. Any cuts to this vital operation should perform liposuction on the fat instead of cutting away at the meat, which has been a specialty of Democratic presidents such as Jimmy Carter.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

What the Lamestream Media Won't Tell You About the Obama Entourage to London

Dale McFeatters has the stomach-turning details on Barack Obama's massive entourage to London (500 strong):

The heads of government in London for the G-20 summit are discussing serious and weighty issues, which in time will be duly reported on, but right now the British press is entranced by the sheer size of President Obama's traveling entourage. And no wonder.
Obama arrived with 500 staff in tow, including 200 Secret Service agents, a team of six doctors, the White House chef and kitchen staff with the president's own food and water.
And, according to the Evening Standard, he also came with "35 vehicles in all, four speech writers and 12 teleprompters." For sure, our president is not going to be at a loss for words....

UPDATE: One reader wrote in to bring up the fact that this article was written in 2009 and was making a reference to the G-20 Summit in Cannes, France. On this point I stand corrected, but his disdain for the American people and extravagant lifestyle remain a problem that can best be remedied by impeachment or defeat at the polls.

Virulent Strain of E. Coli Has Europeans Alarmed


The English-language branch of Der Spiegel has this story about an outbreak that originated in Spain and/or Germany and has claimed 15 lives so far:

...The eeriest thing of all, according to Rolf Stahl, is the way patients change. "Their awareness becomes blurred, they have problems finding words and they don't quite know where they are," says Stahl. And then there is this surprising aggressiveness. "We are dealing with a completely new clinical picture," he notes.

Stahl, a 62-year-old kidney specialist, has been the head of the Third Medical Clinic and Polyclinic at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) for almost 18 years. "But none of us doctors has ever experienced anything quite like this," he says. His staff has been working around the clock for the last week or so. "We decide at short notice who can go and get some sleep."

The bacterium that is currently terrifying the country is an enterohemorrhagic strain of the bacterium Escherichia coli (EHEC), a close relative of harmless intestinal bacteria, but one that produces the dangerous Shiga toxin. All it takes is about 100 bacteria -- which isn't much in the world of bacteria, which are normally counted by the millions -- to become infected. After an incubation period of two to 10 days, patients experience watery or bloody diarrhea....

The Endeavour Has Landed!

The following description, from FOX News:

Endeavour and its six astronauts returned to Earth early Wednesday, closing out the next-to-last mission in NASA's 30-year program with a safe middle-of-the-night landing.

Endeavour glided down onto the runway one final time under the cover of darkness, just as Atlantis, the last shuttle bound for space, arrived at the launch pad for the grand finale in five weeks...