NPR Throws Juan Williams to the Back of the Bus

NPR is all about the First Amendment....

Well, unless you go on FOX News and agree with Bill O'Reilly about the danger of radical Islamists in the US.

Juan Williams, political commentator on FOX and senior news analyst for NPR made no secret of his politically left leanings. As you know, liberals and progressives like to portray themselves as tolerant and open-minded. They also like to portray conservatives or anyone holding conservative views, as mean-spirited bigots. Those EVIL conservatives who love to repress free speech.

But while FOX respected Juan's contrary, sometimes controversial views, NPR fired Williams for admitting that when he gets on a plane, seeing passengers dressed in Muslim garb makes him nervous.

What started all this was when O'Reilly had been a guest on The View and caused a controversy by stating that, "Muslims killed us on 9-11." Duh--it certainly wasn't Martians. But Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg stalked off in such a way that I suspect they were just waiting for O'Reilly to say something remotely controversial so they could stomp off indignantly in protest. For his part, O'Reilly is milking the controversy for all it's worth on his nightly show The O'Reilly Factor.

Williams told O'Reilly, "You know the kind of books I've written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous."

Williams also mentioned the attempted bombing in Times Square. Faisal Shahzad, Pakistani immigrant who became a naturalized citizen, recently pled guilty to the bombing attempt and was give a life sentence. At his sentencing, Shahzad told the court, "Brace yourselves, because the war with Muslims has just begun. Consider me the first droplet of the blood that will follow."

"I don't think there's any way to get away from these facts," Williams said.

In a prepared statement, NPR said Williams' remarks, "were inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices, and undermined his credibility as a [liberal] news analyst with NPR." (insert mine)

However, they'll be no shortage of journalists at NPR. The New York Times reported this week that Open Society Foundations, a George Soros funded organization, has given NPR a $1.8 million grant to hire at least 100 political reporters. (As long, of course, as they tow the liberal line.)

Come to the light, Mr. Williams. Your liberal friends only like you when you stick to repeating the party line. The minute you strayed, they didn't just throw you under the bus...they threw you to the BACK of the bus.

And it's WAY past time to pull NPR's public funding plug!

'Misinformed' Public Just Needs 'Reeducation' Regarding Obamacare, says Sebelius

Most polls have shown a steady decline in support for Obamacare since it was passed. According to Pollster.com's running average, those opposing Obama's health care plan are at 47.6% to 42.3%. In the typical, unashamed arrogance of this administration, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius blamed "misinformation" and said the administration had a lot of "reeducation" to do.



Sebelius claimed the ongoing opposition to the administration's healthcare plan was due to "misinformation given on a 24/7 basis.”

“So, we have a lot of reeducation to do,” Sebelius said. Nice...I'll bet they'd like to have some happy camps to reeducate those poor, misguided souls.

On Megan Kelly's show on FOX, the she asked two guests the obvious, "Was the statement by Sebelius insulting?"

Leslie Marshall, FOX guest pundit, said it wasn't insulting to the America! Not at ALL....

Then she turned around and compared the opposition to flat-earthers. "It's like people saying the earth is flat, and Columbus is saying, 'No it's round, let me show you.'"

Well of course it's not insulting to you Leslie. Because you've managed to be even MORE condescending. People like you and your little pinhead friends think the rest of America are just a bunch of dumb schmucks that need to have things explained as if they're children.

People just need to be reeducated more.

Or maybe, unlike congress, they just read the bill.

AMNESTY!

FOX News: A memo by John Morton, director of ICE, shows administration orders to release illegals already in the pipeline to be deported. The administration is clearly making an end-run around Congress and lawmakers because they know they couldn't get amnesty legislation passed. Time and time again, this administration shows there attitude is: When the law gets in your way, just ignore it!

UPDATE: Just two weeks ago, John Morton appeared on FOX's On the Record with Greta Van Susteren, stating that there was absolutely no truth to the allegation that this administration was pro-amnesty.

VAN SUSTEREN: I mean, it's true that they passed a resolution, false that you're doing that.

MORTON: The charges are, one, that we're pro-amnesty and that we're anti-enforcement. Both of those are completely false. The president's against amnesty. The secretary's against amnesty. I'm against amnesty.

In fact he came on the show to tell about their new program to catch and deport illegal aliens who have committed crimes (well other than entering the country illegally.)

MORTON: Secure Communities is a new federal initiative that is literally going to transform immigration enforcement. And what we do is we take the fingerprints from every person who's booked into a jail, whether it's federal, state or local, and we run it against both the FBI's database and against the Department of Homeland Security's database to identify criminal offenders in our criminal justice system who aren't here lawfully and need to go home.

But now it's surfaced in an August 20th memo that ICE has been quietly telling courts to drop cases against illegal aliens who are pending removal. The policy change, it's said could "affect thousands of the estimated 17,000 pending removal cases."

Earlier this month, Morton planned a visit to Arizona. At the same time, the justice department peruses an aggressive case against the new Arizona immigration law and tries to bury Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona with demands for documentation. Arpaio, the sheriff who draws a hard line on illegal immigration and is nationally known for his tent city prison and pink prison uniforms, is being investigated for alleged civil rights violations. Other Arizona sheriffs called Morton's visit a "stunt." Morton traveled to the Arizona border, along with Arizona Democratic gubernatorial hopeful and state's Attorney General, Terry Goddard.

India Native Arrested in Houston Airport on Weapons Charge Out on Bail

UPDATE: The judge lowered the bail to just $5,000. The Times of India reports that Kumar is, "an activist film-maker traveling in America to expose Islamic 'terrorism'."

Prosecutors seem to be satisfied with this and agreed to a plea with time served for the brass knuckles. Kumar said the weapon was for his protection from Islamic fundamentalists. He claims the jihadist materials were "educational tool" used for his lecture to the Hindu Congress of America involving, "interfaith discussion between Hindus and Muslims about the harms of terrorism."

However, no explanation was given for Kumar having over $10,000 in undeclared money.

At the end of the article, The Times of India notes: "The US is going through another mild bout of Islamophobia following the controversy over building a mosque close to the 9/11 ground zero."

Yeah, I'm sure if terrorists from the US bombed one of your temples, you'd have NO PROBLEM with us coming over 10 years later and wanting to erect a Christian CHURCH near the site.

And how's that Kashmir thing going?

---

Kudos to the Houston airport security screeners who pulled this man out for a second screening. But are sharp screeners going to do any good when judges set BAIL for potential terrorists?

Screeners became suspicious when a FOREIGN NATIONAL from Mumbai, India was acting nervous as he stood in the security checkpoint line at Houston's Intercontinental Airport. Vijay Kumar, 40, was said to be fidgeting and sweating profusely. Security pulled him out of line to give a more thorough screening. I know--wow--it's almost like they'd been trained in Israeli security measures!

They found a set of brass knuckles in his checked baggage, which produced a felony charge of Possessing a Prohibited Weapon in a Prohibited Place. Other items found were books on espionage, bomb-making/disarmament and other, radical Muslim publications, plus over $10,000 in cash, which allegedly had not been declared as required.

Will we end up needing
Dog the Bounty Hunter?

Kumar told police that he had attended an "Islamic seminar." However, despite all that effort by law enforcement, a judge set BAIL for Kumar at $50,000. What many don't realize is using a bail bondsman only requires putting 10% down which covers their fee. The bail bondsman pays the bail. Now if you skip bail, the bondsman can come after you ala Dog the Bounty Hunter, but that's not going to be a problem for someone planning to skip across the open U.S. border and get back home to India via another country

Hint to Judge: Terrorists have LOTS of money so $50K bail is chump change. And a foreign national is hardly going to have ties keeping him in the U.S. Update: Local Houston Fox reported tonight that Kumar is out on bail.

Another troubling aspect is there's almost no reporting on this. Even the report that Kumar made bail was mentioned in passing as if it was no big deal that someone with books on bomb making made bail and could be anywhere.

Best Buy Forces "God Squad" to Remove Logo

Have confessional, will travel?

Best Buy threatened legal action against a priest over the use of a logo they say is similar to their Geek Squad, called the “God Squad.” Father Luke Strand drives a black VW Bug, similar to the one used by Best Buy. Strand says he has stopped using the logo.

"Rev. Luke Strand, pastor of Holy Family Catholic Church in Fond du Lac, Wis., is no longer using the logo after Best Buy served him a cease-and-desist order, arguing that his religious vehicle is a copyright violation of its famous "Geek Squad" mobile."

Strand said he has driven his God Squad mobile, complete with custom plates that say "GODLVYA" and rosary beads on the rear view mirror as a, "creative way to bring God to the streets."

Best Buy may be making a cardinal sin in pursuing this. But Father Strand is forgiving. A church spokeswoman told FoxNews, "There’s absolutely no animosity." She added that the God Squad "will continue in some form." Sounds like reinCARnation. Sorry.

So, should the Mod Squad go after Best Buy? No doubt that's where Best Buy got the Geek Squad idea from....

It's the Economy Stupid: Biden Calls Manager a Smart-ass When Asked to Lower Taxes!

Was the VP "just kidding"? You decide.



When Biden offers to pay, the manager says, "Lower our taxes and we'll call it even." At a second exchange Biden says, "Why don't you say something nice instead of being a smart-ass all the time." The manager said Biden whispered to him later that he was "kidding." But from Biden's expression, it's clear he doesn't want to hear anything about the government's tax burden. Maybe Biden needs to be reminded of the successful campaign phrase Bill Clinton used against George Bush Sr. during a much milder recession, "It's the Economy, Stupid."

BP: Or How Obama Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love Big Oil

The news media, who have largely given this president a pass when it comes to policy decisions, have finally found their voice. Predictably, they picked the wrong thing to criticize, although Obama has no one but himself to blame. But it's beginning to feel a bit like the tag line for Dr. Strangelove.



BP now stands for [taking a] Big Piss. They have an abysmal safety record: In 2005, a fire at their Texas City refinery killed 15 workers and injured 180. They were also responsible for an Alaskan pipeline spill in 2006. According to Center for Public Integrity, two BP refineries (Texas City and Toledo, Ohio) in the US accounted for "97 percent of all flagrant safety violations found in the refining industry by government inspectors over the past three years." Most their over 800 citations were classified as "egregious willful" or "willful" by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), according to the report.

There is also mounting evidence that federal employees of the Louisiana branch of the Minerals Management Service (MMS) office, part of the Department of Interior, were looking the other way and/or accepting bribes and gifts from oil companies, as well as accusations of drug use. The report by the Acting Inspector General, Mary L. Kendal to Secretary Salazar quickly points out, "At the outset, I want to note that all of the conduct chronicled in this report occurred prior to 2007, and pre-dating your tenure as Secretary and your January, 2009 Ethics Guide."

Read into this: It's all Bush's fault; your superb leadership and ethics guide completely cleaned up the graft; kiss-kiss, may I please become the Inspector General now?

Anyone in Gulf Coast area knows this corruption is the "New Orleans way" similar to, oh...the "Chicago way" of doing things. Federal regulations already prohibited employees from accepting gifts of more than $20. (Note: In the case of a politician, a gift over $20 is referred to as a campaign contribution and a trip is a fact-finding tour.) Would a less corrupt federal staff have stopped the blowout? Doubtful, considering the number of incidents that were previously caught and for which BP was cited.

After the explosion, Open Secrets reported that BP spent it's highest amount ever in lobbying in 2009: $16 million in 2009 and $3.53 million in the first quarter overall. BP came in second to Conoco-Phillips for total lobbying dollars spent, money flowing to both sides of the aisle.

Despite the attempt by this administration to AGAIN blame the Bush administration, the increasing environmental disaster has become President "Government is the Answer" Obama's. However, this problem is way out of the government's league and the idea that any president can just snap his fingers and send out the military or any other force to fix it is ludicrous. It's a problem best solved by private industry with BP being held for the expense.

But as slick as he is, Obama is not going to be able to shake this. He and his liberal cohorts have been telling us that a powerful government will fix the world's ills. His environmental backers are angry that he wanted to allow offshore drilling and are furious the anointed one hasn't come up with a solution.

George Will stated on ABC's This Week that this may not be his "Katrina," as many others have compared it to, but his "Iran Hostage Crisis." This refers to President Jimmy Carter's disaster when 53 Americans were held for 444 days by Iranian militants and which cost him a second term. Carter's pacifist leanings made him weak and vulnerable in the eyes of terrorists.

However, I disagree with Will, in that the Iran affair was something a president could have done something about. Stopping an oil rig blowout is beyond that scope. What the president can do is provide resources to affected states. Unfortunately, a bad company has just now screwed any chance of offshore drilling for the foreseeable future by any company and keep us on the road to Arab oil dependence. Politicians will grandstand and create new laws instead of enforcing the ones they already have. With few exceptions we have become a nation that stands back and waits for the government to do something, whether the disaster is man-made or natural.

I'm not really sure when it came to pass that we expected a president to emote all over the place. Perhaps it was with Clintion's "I feel your pain" speech. Times have changed when we looked at ourselves for leadership or at best a local government. Now we expect the de facto leader of the free world to cry over dead seagulls and if he doesn't show he cares enough, we turn on him. Frankly I'd rather the president be more concerned with things, like the actions of the North Koreans and China in the wake of the torpedoing of a South Korean naval ship, something barely mentioned by the mainstream media. The oil mess in the Gulf may soon be the least of our worries!

Breaking: Taliban Claim Responsibility for Failed New York Attack

Gov. Paterson, NY Commissioner Kelly Call New York Car Bomb An 'Act Of Terrorism'

Update II: "Vehicle would have been cut in half if the bomb had detonated," says NY Commissioner, Raymond Kelly. He said such and explosion would have caused a significant fireball and caused multiple casualties. Calls attempted bombing a "terrorist act" but stops short of claiming that a particular group is responsible and said it could have been an individual. He also said it was too early to say, but said he doesn't believe there's a Taliban link.

Police are on their way to speak to a Pennsylvania man, a tourist in the area yesterday, who says he may have caught a person of interest on tape. Allegedly, it shows a white man in his 40s removing a dark shirt with a red one underneath in an alley and putting the removed shirt in a bag.

The license plate came from Connecticut. Neither the car nor plate was reported stolen, although plate allegedly came from a truck in a junkyard update: now saying vehicle was in a repair shop. They have identified the owner of the Pathfinder.

Device was set between two 5-gallon cans of gas and three propane tanks, 15 lbs each, and fireworks (ignition point). Wires ran from gun case weighing 70-75 lbs. (in a cardboard box) to two timers, which were meant to detonate the fireworks and subsequently the other explosives. Police have not released any knowledge about what is in the gun box. Later, Kelly did mention a substance in the gun box that had the look and feel of fertilizer, although it's not labeled as such.

Also in Pennsylvania, but not believed to be related, a pipe bomb was detonated with the use of a robot in Pittsburgh. The device was inside of a microwave near the end of the Pittsburgh Marathon. About 5,000 people took part in the marathon. No one was hurt and police are viewing tapes in that case also.

*****

Previous Update: After Feds first denied the "amateur" failed bomb was the act of a terrorist, Govenor Paterson is now calling the New York car bomb an "act of terrorism." The NYPD are reviewing surveillance film and continuing to look for any security cameras that might have caught the SUV and suspects on camera. The FBI is also now working the case.

The SUV had license plates allegedly stolen from a Ford truck that had been abandoned by the owner in a junk yard. Also hampering the identification of the terrorists, is that the SUV had tinted windows. But it has been reported that fingerprints and other evidence had been found.

A t-shirt vendor is being called a hero after alerting a mounted police officer of something that "wasn't right." The vehicle was left running with hazard lights on in a very busy part of the city near theaters and shops.

Just breaking on the newswires is that the Pakistani Taliban are claiming responsibility for the failed attack. A statement said the attack was, "in revenge for the two leaders al-Baghdadi and al-Mahajer and Muslim martyrs."

Teaparty vs. Attempted New York City Car Bomber

Let's play: Spot the terrorist!

IS IT: A) A man who leaves a Nissan Pathfinder in New York's Times Square with stolen plates and filled with "explosives, gasoline, propane and burned wires," according to a NYFD officer. When firefighters arrived on the scene, there was smoke and a flash from inside.

Not actual terrorist vehicle!

OR B) Little old ladies at a Tea Party Rally.

Not actual terrorists--unless you're a liberal democrat!

Well if you guessed "A" you were wrong. Even though the vehicle was carrying explosive devices that, only by the grace of God, failed to explode, the Feds are saying they DO NOT consider this to be a terrorist threat!

"The officer said that the police were treating the vehicle as a “failed device.” The police were searching for a suspect.

A federal official said that it was not considered a terrorist threat and that the New York Police Department had told the Department of Homeland Security to stand down."

No...if you're a liberal democrat, you send out the jack-booted thugs--in this case the local SWAT team in full riot gear--to make sure some seniors holding a Tea Party protest in Quincy, IL don't get rowdy. Especially when they're doing acts that rouse suspicion like singing "God Bless America"! Maybe they're suspected of being secret Ninjas that use throwing (knitting) needles. Did they think a quilting bee might break out?



God help us!

Is Senator Scott Brown Turning his Back on Tea Party Voters?

There was a tea party in Boston on Wednesday. Conspicuously absent was the freshman senator from Massachusetts. Is Scott Brown not wanting to 'dance with the one what brung him'? That's what some asked as the newly elected senator stayed in Washington, forgoing any tax day tea parties.

It can hardly be argued that it was energized tea party members who ushered Brown into the seat previously held by Ted Kennedy. Some have said he is distancing himself from controversy, although it could be argued that he didn't mind that controversy when gave him the edge. Others think he doesn't want to be associated with the likes of Sarah Palin, who had a rock star welcome in Boston at Wednesday's rally. The NYT must have had to break into the liquor cabinet to be able to write a about a poll that revealed most tea partiers are wealthier and more educated than the general public.

Any republican politician snubs the tea parties at his/her peril. And Brown will need their support in 2012 when he's up for re-election. Elephants, after all, are known for their long memories.

Minnesotan School Board 'iPads' the Tax Bill

Like a Southern Belle, the iPad 
is pretty, but doesn't do a lot

Most parents want their children's school to better prepare them for the technological world after graduation. But with much of the state still in double digit unemployment numbers, I imagine there are a lot of Minnesotans scratching their heads over this purchase.

The Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop School Board approved $265,000 to purchase iPads for the entire school (some 230 iPads). It's not mentioned if this price includes upgrading the school to wi-fi or the training planned. Plus, did the school board even try to get a discount--after all Apple is known for helping to supply schools with their computers. By the way, do they HAVE other Apple computers there? Because I'm pretty sure Windows is not going to be compatible with the iPad and visa versa.

Unfortunately, like with congress having to pass the health-care bill before reading it, it seems the school board wants to get the technology and then figure out how to use it! Educational apps are limited and, while the iPad can hold books, it's not been mentioned if the school's curriculum is going to be available or how much they'll save on the electronic version, if anything. Also not mentioned is if the students ultimately keep the iPad or have to turn it in. One can only wonder how many of these will have to be replaced due to loss, breakage, spilled beverages, theft, etc. Or what they'll do when Apple comes out with their next model. If the iPod is any example, every six months to a year, Apple has found it highly profitable to come out with a new, improved version--often to the consternation of it's users.

In case you don't know exactly what an iPad is or does, here's a quick rundown:

• Although it costs about the same as a modern laptop (starting at $499), an iPad is NOT a laptop/desktop replacement. Think of it as an iPhone on steroids, except you can't make phone calls (or take photos). It has a touch screen which will look wonderful after sticky kid fingers have been all over it.
• You can only run one app at a time, so a student would not be able to read a passage in a book and swap over to a word processor to write a paper without first closing the book. We used to call that type of technology "DOS." The iPad has an (up to) 64GB flash drive and a 1GB CPU so it's no workhorse. Apple is planning to add multitasking in a future version.
• The iPad doesn't run Adobe Flash and seems to have no plans to do so. Adobe is planning to sue Apple over this, which is ridiculous. Apple certainly has the right to run or not run what it wants, but the user is going to find web surfing less than exciting. We use to call that technology "Internet 1996."

In short, it's a cute, geeky toy that doesn't do a whole lot. You can use it to surf the web or read a book (additional costs involved.) Or listen to music, which makes it a big iPod. If they just wanted to get electronic books, they could have bought Kindles, which are priced slightly less and already has a large number of available works. Even Apple fans are making fun of it.

It sounds like the main reason for the purchase was to allow students to avoid carrying backpacks full of books. If lugging several pounds of books to class is a problem, there's a thing called a "locker." I don't know what happened to lockers, but schools don't seem to want to use them any more. Personally, considering we're dealing with high percentages of overweight students, lugging a few pounds of books around is probably a good idea. But students will be able to update their Facebook page in class instead of studying.

Supreme Court to Hear Argument Against Funeral Protesters

How to Help
the Snyder Family!

UPDATE: Good news. Fox News talk host Bill O'Reilly has stepped in and said he will pay the entire $16,510 in court costs awarded to Phelps. Of course Snyder has his own legal expenses. Although lawyers are working the case pro bono, he still foots the bill for expenses and estimates he's sunk some $60K into this. The link to the box in the left is to Snyder's web page which tells how to help (monetarily and otherwise). Snyder has said that anything raised beyond covering court costs will go to benefit war veterans in the form of a scholarship.

I just about blew a gasket tonight when I read this story. I wish I could tell you how I really feel about this group. Unfortunately, what I would say might be construed illegal. See, this is all about free speech. But even free speech has its limits--you can't yell, "Fire" in a crowded theater, for example.

You also can't post on-line threats. The 2nd District court of appeals recently ruled a case could go forward where a 15-year-old student is accuse of posting that he would, "rip out your **** heart and feed it to you" and "pound your head in with an ice pick" on another student's web site.

So why is vile excuse for a human, Fred Phelps, and his band of idiots from the Kansas' Westboro Baptist Church allowed to disrupt families during a time of unbelievable grief of losing a soldier son or daughter? With the blasphemous garbage they spew, I'm somewhat surprised the Almighty hasn't hit the smite button or that a brigade of fellow Marines haven't gotten some street justice.

Albert Snyder, who had to endure one of Phelps "protests" during his funeral for his son, Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder in 2006, took the legal path. He sued and he won.

Then a federal appeals court threw out the $5 million award against the protesters on first amendment grounds. But that wasn't the worst part. The same court then ordered Snyder to pay Fred Phelps $16,510 in court costs.

WTF? How can this be? This wasn't some frivolous case. Worse yet, now Phelps can go back to the first court and try to get THOSE court costs assessed against Snyder! Snyder, a man of modest means has a pro-bono lawyer, but his own costs have gone over $60K.

Snyder has said he is not paying the court-ordered fees. Not yet anyway--the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case. He spoke to Fox News about the case.



The suit was originally filed to, "...bring to an end to the reign of terror and abuse that they inflict." This is why I don't understand why the appeals court threw out the case on the first amendment. The first amendment does not give you the ability to HARASS people. The courts have certainly stood firm on that.

If this isn't harassment...I don't know what is. If you see Phelps, I'd stay clear in case of a thunderbolt...I have faith God's going to hit that smite button yet.

Obama's New 'VAT-trick'

Charles Krauthammer had an op-ed in last weekend's Washington Post that predicted a national sales tax, known as a VAT (Value Added Tax) will be recommended to pay for the trillions in debt racked up by this administration. Obama passed the buck to a newly anointed commission to solve his fiscal problems. It's report is due in December, long after November elections.

Popular in Europe, the VAT is a hidden tax, rolled into the price of goods or service. Make no mistake--this sales tax will not replace the income tax(es), but be added to the income tax. (Plus any state/county/city sales taxes!)

Said Krauthammer, "That's where the value-added tax comes in. For the politician, it has the virtue of expediency: People are used to sales taxes, and this one produces a river of revenue. Every 1 percent of VAT would yield up to $1 trillion a decade (depending on what you exclude -- if you exempt food, for example, the yield would be more like $900 billion).

It's the ultimate cash cow. Obama will need it. By introducing universal health care, he has pulled off the largest expansion of the welfare state in four decades. And the most expensive. Which is why all of the European Union has the VAT. Huge VATs. Germany: 19 percent. France and Italy: 20 percent. Most of Scandinavia: 25 percent."

Obama said of the panel, "everything is on the table." Some see this as a signal Obama is willing to abandon yet another promise of no taxation of families making over 250K. A VAT tax would hit middle and lower classes like a sledgehammer. And considering that 70% of the GDP is consumer spending, such a tax will drive down spending and open a HUGE black market and off-the-books barter system.

So far, this country has survived for over 230 years through wars and hard times. But will it survive the next 3 years of this administration?

'Searchlight' Shines on Tea Party, Bloggers; Breitbart Ups Ante

Those wild guys at The Other McCain had the enviable task of covering the Tea Party Express stop in (appropriately named) Searchlight, Nevada.

I'm glad to see that they are also posting good shots of the crowds as, once again, the MSM is downplaying the crowd size.

According to Gateway Pundit, CNN reported estimates of Saturday's crowd were "hundreds, at least dozens" at the Saturday rally. Either CNN reporters slept through estimation in math class or they were covering the wrong movement.

American Border Patrol (not affiliated with US Border Control) took overhead crowd photos. Estimates are that 8,000-10,000 made up the crowd, with hundreds more waiting on the roadway, trying to get in even after the rally started.

Meanwhile, the libs are STILL lying about last Sunday's unsubstantiated claims that democrat congressmen were spit on or called racial names before the healthcare vote. And while Frank Rich of the New York Times is branding Minority Leader Rep. John Boehner for using the word "Armageddon" to describe the healthcare bill, he turns around and compares bricks thrown though democratic party offices with Kristallnacht. Way to ratchet down the hate speech, Rich. And, in fact, no one knows that this wasn't some uber-liberals who are pissed democrats didn't give them the public option.

Rich also doesn't bother to mention the shot fired into Republican Representative Eric Cantor's office last week. Cantor, who decided to speak out publicly on the matter, said, "I've received threats since I assumed elected office, not only because of my position but also because I'm Jewish." Cantor has received threats via email, but declined to discuss their contents so as not to encourage further hostility.

No one in the media, except Andrew Breitbart and some in the blogosphere like Soldier for Liberty, are covering Breitbart's own encounter with the left. After being deliberately misled down a wrong road in Searchlight, he and his party were menaced by Harry Reid supporters who also threw eggs at the Tea Party Express bus as it passed. Then police were called and claims were made that that Breitbart and his party had thrown the eggs, even though the camera crew with Breitbart caught it on tape. A blog at SFGate has a video interview with Breitbart shortly after the incident (see video below). More to follow later at Breitbart's Big Government site.



Breitbart previously announced a $20,000 reward (including 10K for the United Negro College Fund) for anyone who can provide video proof that racist slurs where hurled at Rep. John Lewis or other Congressional Black Caucus members the day of the protests on Washington. Update: It's confirmed that yesterday, Breitbart has upped the donation to the UNCF to 100K if Rep. Lewis can show evidence the N-word was yelled at CBC at last week's healthcare vote protest.

Stumped About Stupak

Say the magic word and the
Heathcare Doc drops down!

I'm stumped about Stupak...but not for the reason most are, apparently. What puzzles me is why so many thought Rep. Bart Stupak was, if not conservative, then at least someone with some semblance of principles or morals. Many republicans thought he was going to stand up against his party.

Come on folks! He's a democrat politician and his mouth is moving...ergo, he's lying.

Never mind the phony baloney executive order which does nothing. Stupak previously said he'd vote for the healthcare bill with abortion left intact.

As would have all the OTHER democrat representatives that voted no. They were allowed to vote no by the democrat congressional machine, most likely because they are in vulnerable districts. It's a game of Mother (Pelosi) May I. All those in more conservative leaning districts, especially those coming up for re-election, ask for a pass so they can claim to their constituents that they're really so-called blue-dog (conservative) democrats. Personally, I think they're all yellow. Maybe they should just be called the yellow-chicken democrats. They're only trying to pretend they don't march in lock step with their party. But they know full well if they really stood up to Pelosi, they'd be cut off at the knees (or other body part) and stripped from any plum committees they chaired.

Not that republicans don't play their share of games. Senator Jim Bunning, who's retiring this year decided to make his stand against the increase of unemployment benefits public. While it's laudable to actually expect Congress to show how they're going to pay for the bills they pass (i.e., PAYGO), why make your stand on the backs of the unemployed? You sure didn't show such determination when it came to voting for the GOP Medicare prescription benefit. And even fellow republicans were asking Bunning why the hell did he pick this for his battle. Of course, it's easy to find your 'huevos' when you don't have to worry about running for reelection in the fall.

Americans are tired of games and the runaround. There's going to be a political bloodbath for the democrats, come November. But republicans shouldn't be surprised if they also lose a few of their own party's seats to more conservative candidates in their own party.

Smitty, This One's For You!

In DC's Thelma & Louise, this duo
drives our Constitution over the cliff!

This one is for Smitty at The Other McCain. He thought my last blog on the healthcare bill takeover was missing something as I didn't add the referenced video clip of the final scene from Thelma & Louise. At that time, I had hoped the car would stop just in time before heading over the cliff, with our economy and the Constitution in the back seat!

Now that we see who was behind the wheel, we know why. But he did have a question, "Which is Nancy, and which the nancy?"

Smitty, I hope this clears things up! ;-)

Will Congress and the Health Care Bill Turn into Thelma and Louise?

Thelma and Louise want to know if
you'd like to ride with them!

We're standing on the edge of a precipice in this country. The ques- tion is: Are we going to jump and hope some net is going to catch us or do we stop, go back and design a bridge?

This week we've been bombarded with cancer victims, children and every sort of attempt to make anyone who opposes this legislation look like a complete Scrooge. Even with the polls showing the majority are against this bill, I'm amazed at how many still believe this bill is a great idea. I suspect that many of them think it wont affect them because they have insurance or medicare and that won't change. If that's you, keep reading.

We will be forced to buy, not just insurance, but government approved insurance. If you don't buy insurance there will be some 16,000 NEW IRS agents hired with full powers to enforce the law. Not buying insurance will mean fines, and possible jail time enforced by an agency who has powers to garnish wages, take your tax refund and come after your property.

Are you under some delusion that you're going to get free insurance? Or that you'll just "get to keep" your insurance. That's not how this works....

First of all this bill give over 400+ Billion to the "evil" insurance companies the democrats are so fond or railing against. You will be required to buy only that insurance that is government approved. Your employer will have to buy insurance that is government approved. Insurance will not be able to turn down anyone due to a pre-existing condition. What they don't tell you is how much this required insurance is going to cost!

Remember how the government "helped" consumers by changing laws on credit cards? How much did your interest rate go up, even with good credit? Did the credit card cancel your account or reduce your limit? God help us all when the government tries to "help" consumers.

Massachusetts has a similar plan to the current bill that can now boast the highest healthcare premiums in the US. And they continue to rise The Boston Globe reported last September:

"The state’s major health insurers plan to raise premiums by about 10 percent next year, prompting many employers to reduce benefits and shift additional costs to workers.

Increases will range from 7 to 12 percent, capping a decade of consecutive double-digit premium increases, according to a Globe survey of the state’s top health insurers. Actual rates for 2010 will depend on the size of the employer and the type of coverage, with small businesses and individuals expected to be hit hardest. Overall, premiums are more than twice as high as they were 10 years ago."

Massachusetts State Treasurer Timothy Cahill said in a recent press conference, "If President Obama and the Democrats repeat the mistake of the health insurance reform here in Massachusetts on a national level, they will threaten to wipe out the American economy within four years."

Democrats claim those here illegally will not be covered; however they are planning an amnesty bill so they WILL be covered. In any case they won't be subject to legal actions or fines. And they'll still be able clog up emergency rooms and cost taxpayer dollars for their "free" care.

So those of you who think you're going to be able to keep your current healthcare: How long do you think a) you'll be able to afford that insurance or b) that the company you work for will continue to supply the insurance or c) that companies will want to hire under these conditions? According to reports, companies with 50+ employees who don't provide coverage will pay fines of $2,000 per year, per full time worker.

The fine is much less than the cost of insurance. Average cost of insurance [pdf] runs around $3,800 (single) $9,646 (family) per year¹ How many employers will decide to dump insurance and just pay the fine? How many will start favoring part-time or contract workers who have to buy their own insurance at increasing rates?

Law of unintended consequences? No...that is the plan.

Whatever the start is, the goal is government single payer, socialized medicine, public option--by any name given, it doesn't smell sweet. As more and more people complain about rising insurance costs, Washington plans the final solution: Get rid of insurance for most of the public. Institute the public option that will eventually become the public non-optional (except for those in Congress).

Obama, Pelosi and other progressives have been dying to force the American public into a socialized healthcare system for years. In addition to getting even more tax revenues, they can now start to institute controls over every aspect of a citizen's life.

In the same speech where Pelosi said that lawmakers, "...have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it," she also said this:

"You've heard about the controversies within the bill, the process about the bill, one or the other. But I don’t know if you have heard that it is legislation for the future, not just about health care for America, but about a healthier America, where preventive care is not something that you have to pay a deductible for or out of pocket. Prevention, prevention, prevention—it’s about diet, not diabetes. It’s going to be very, very exciting."

What she's very excited about is not keeping people healthy...it's about control. She and others can't wait to control what food you can buy, remove the salt shakers from restaurants, institute a soda tax, etc. There are so many things they can declare affect health costs and, with the government involved, plan to control every aspect they can.

For one, there's the specter of gun control. The National Institute for Health has quietly started to fund research into health consequences of gun ownership. A decade prior, the CDC was forbidden by Congress to study this, but here we are again. Why is such a study done, by such an agency, except that they plan to tie gun ownership into healthcare.

While the media made fun of Sarah Palin for "death panels" she was, in fact, right. Critics have characterized this as some literal Hitler panel choosing who lives and who goes to the gas chamber. Clearly what was said, however, is simply a description of panels that will decide what degree of care you get. If you're young and generally healthy, that's not a problem. But if you're old or infirm and considered a drain on the system rather than an asset, then inevitably it comes down to the state deciding if it's worth it to continue your life and how much money they should spend preserving it.

Remember the town hall meeting where Jane Strum told about her 100 year-old mother (now 105) was able to convince a doctor to give her a pacemaker because of her zest for life. When asked if she would get the same care under his heath plan. Obama said that, "...costs a lot and maybe we will have to say, just take a pill." In other words, you're mother's just going to be given pain management and allowed to die. If that's not a death panel, I don't know what is!

Also it's funny how, in 2009, reports started coming out changing the recommendations on about how often pap smears should be done or at what age mammograms should be done and how often. The report came out almost within days of each other. Think this was just a coincidence?

And we haven't even touched on doctors who plan to retire if this passes and drug stores that are already refusing new Medicaid patients. Or the rob Peter to pay Paul move of over 500 billion being taken from Medicare and put into this bill. All that while trying to claim they've got 500 billion dollars in savings in Medicare when they're in fact spending it elsewhere.

We'll know in a few hours if Congress has the courage to step back and build a better bridge to the future or drive us off the edge like Thelma and Louise, which will result in their going down as well, come November and in 2012.

"If people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny." Thomas Jefferson

¹High Deductible Health Plans with Health Savings Account that have deductibles of $1,000 or more (single) or $2,000 or more (family), 2006 numbers.

Massa, Lohen and Rather: The 'Moonbats' are Out!

Is there a full moon? The moonbats took flight recently.

Tickle Me Moonbat

Stimulus Package?

King of the moonbats was undoubtedly former representative Eric Massa. Massa appeared on the Glenn Beck TV show ostensibly to dish dirt on being forced out (his claim) from office because he wouldn't vote for the health care bill. Which on the face of it didn't make sense--Massa was in the Congress, not the more narrowly divided Senate. In fact, his leaving would mean Pelosi has a better chance of passing a health care bill if they went for the 51% reconciliation.

Massa changed stories faster than Rahm Emanuel can wrap a fish. Suddenly it was HIS idea to leave--he wasn't forced out. But despite the house probe (no pun intended), he said he didn't do anything illegal; it was all harmless fun. His idea of lighthearted fun--getting into tickle fights with young, male staffers on his fiftieth birthday. Obviously Massa has his own ideas about what constitutes a stimulus package: He also lived with several young, male staffers until he was advised this wasn't a good idea. One thing is pretty certain, Massa has been living in a pretty small closet for some time....

Luna Lindsey

Lindsey Lohen gets the moonbat nod for taking on the eTrade baby. The lawsuit involves a Super Bowl commercial where the eTrade baby is video conferencing with his girlfriend over his trading conquests. The girlfriend asks, "That milkaholic Lindsey, wasn't there, was she?" Baby Lindsey's head pops into the frame and says, "Milka-what?"



Lohen claims the video is based on her because she is known as "Lindsey" just like Prince or Madonna are known on a single name basis. eTrade denies the claim. It could be speculated that "Lindsey" is just is trying something outrageous to jump start her dying career. Or that she's actually got such a big ego that now everything must be about her! In fact, a search of IMDB database, for "Lindsey," Lohen doesn't appear at all, but a girl named Lindsey who was in a TV documentary called "Rehab." Now there's an idea, Ms. Lohen.

Lohen once said, "It is clear to me that my life has become completely unmanageable because I am addicted to alcohol and drugs." Does she now plan to track down this anonymous participant in the documentary and demand that she stop using her name?

Sheer Politics thinks that picking on a baby just makes Lohen a Mean Girl.

Moonstruck

Dan Rather (with BFF)

Dan Rather is always good for a moonbat report. It's no wonder most fellow liberals have stopped having him on TV. This time, even Chris Mathews couldn't talk over Dan fast enough to cover up Rather's latest foot-in-mouth. Dan Rather stated that Obama was so ineffective as a president he, "...couldn’t sell watermelons if you gave him the state troopers to flag down the traffic."

 Rather wrote an apology (of sorts) in the Huffington Post:

"It's an expression that stretches to my boyhood roots in Southeast Texas, when country highways were lined with stands manned by sellers of all races. Now of course watermelons have become a stereotype for African Americans and so my analogy entered a charged environment. I'm sorry people took offense."

Frankly, we're tired of his explanations that every gaffe he utters is some expression from his boyhood in Texas. Somehow, no one else has heard these "folksy" expressions before and Texans certainly are not living in the same time period that Rather apparently is.

Notice that he never really apologies: He says he's sorry, "people took offense" not that he said something offensive. That's a cop-out, non-apology.

2010 Winter Olympics: The Missing Awards

VOA - Kane Farabaugh

There's always a few awards you wish could be given out. Here's mine:

Biggest Nail Biter:
Canada vs. US Hockey - Sudden death overtime, what more could you want?

Biggest Non-sport:
Curling - I don't care how far the game goes back. If your grandparents can do it, it's not a sport.

Most Tearful:
Joannie Rochette, who won the bronze in figure skating after losing her mother days before from a heart attack.

Most Forgettable:
Lindsey Jacobellis - American snowboarder

Worst Sportsmanship:
Evgeni Plushenko - Russian figure skater

Most Tragic:
Nodar Kumaritashvili - Georgian luger who died before games got started. Remember him?

My Brother's Keeper Award:
Alexandre Bilodeau, Canadian gold medal winner in moguls who's older brother, Frederic, suffers from cerebral palsy, is his brother's biggest fan. Alexandre gave up hockey and started skiing because Frederic couldn't participate in hockey. Alexandre calls Frederic "my inspiration."

"Longest Time Coming" Win:
United States 4-man bobsled team who won the first US medal in bobsledding since 1948. Also, another US team broke an 86-year drought by winning the first medals ever in the Nordic Combined Team event.

Donald Trump's "You're FIRED!" Award:
Sven Kramer's coach for causing him to be disqualified for an illegal lane change after winning a gold medal and setting a Olympic record. Who was HE putting money on?

Biggest Omission:
Women's Ski Jumping - Geez, women are in every other Olympic sport. Why is the ski jump a shut out? On top of, there was the IOC's lame excuse that, "Women's ski jumping does not reach the necessary technical criteria and as such does not yet warrant a place alongside other Olympic events." Which is a bunch of crap and they know it.

Most Interesting Athlete:
Forget the youngsters. Mexico's skier Hubertus Von Hohenlohe, 51, a titled German prince, born in Mexico City was definitely the most interesting athlete and charming to boot. He told a Universal Sports reporter how his grandfather lost their lands after WWII to the Russians and they immigrated to Spain. Von Hohenlohe's grandmother was of Spanish and Mexican descent.

His father later immigrated to Mexico to run a Volkswagen plant. Von Hohenlohe designs his own ski outfits as he thought the others were "boring." One outfit was reminiscent of a 'bandito' costume with painted on chaps, bandelaros and a "sombrero" on the back.

This is likely Von Hohenlohe last Olympics, although he joked that, "Curling looks very good." He finished in 46th place, almost 30 seconds behind the winner.

It only seemed like there were three sponsors for the Olympics. So we got to see the same commercials over and over. Unfortunately many were uninspired with a couple of exceptions.

Best Commercial: - tie
P & G's Mom series and the Coke snowball fight were alternately inspiring and fun.

Dumbest Commercial:
Volkswagen "punch-dub" car commercial gets a gold medal for stupidity in advertising.

IRS Bomber Update: Victim's Family to Sue Stack's Estate?

As if things need to get even more twisted.... God help us when lawyers get involved!

Last week, the adult daughter of Joe Stack from a former marriage made headlines by calling her father a "hero." Stack was the pilot of a plane, which deliberately crashed into Austin's Echelon building, killing IRS employee, Vernon Hunter, and injuring several others The building housed offices of the IRS and the crash killed both Stack and IRS employee Vernon Hunter. Said Bell, "His actions at the end were extremely horrific and I'm deeply sorry for my father." While admitting his actions were wrong, she added, "But if nobody comes out and speaks up on behalf of injustice, then nothing will ever be accomplished. But I do not agree with his last action with what he did. But I do agree about the government." She agreed her father was a hero and said, "Yes, because now maybe people will listen."

Understandably, Hunter's family was outraged. Ken Hunter told Fox News, "Are you telling me that an American citizen committing an attack of terrorism against the United States is heroic?" Hunter went on to say that his father, a Vietnam veteran, was the only hero.

Bell later recanted her statement saying, "We are mourning for Vernon Hunter."

Then it came out that the Hunter family was going to file a lawsuit against Stack's estate and named Stack's widow, Sheryl as part of that lawsuit as executrix. Said Hunter family's legal representative, Daniel Ross, "My client of course has stated that her heart goes out to Mrs. Stack and she considers Mrs. Stack as much a victim in this as anyone else," Ross said.

Right, except that now you want to take anything, she has left. I have total sympathy for the Hunter family, but going after his widow, who is also a victim in this, is just wrong.

Ross claimed money was not the motivating factor, but then said it was his job to discover if there was anything left in the Stack estate such as insurance policies. He also wanted to question Stack and speculated that, had she talked to authorities that night, the attack might have been prevented. Mrs. Stack and her daughter had allegedly stayed at a hotel the night Joe Stack set fire to their house.

Sheryl is a single mother, who's homeless after her husband flipped out and burned down their house before crashing his plane filled with fuel into a building. She's probably going to have to deal with the IRS if over any joint or business bank accounts over any non-payment of Stack's taxes, which she may not have even known about previously. And now you want to pile on? For all the talk of 'she's a victim, too' she's not exactly being treated like one.

A few days later, the attorney reported they are removing Sheryl Stack from the lawsuit as they have reached an agreement regarding keeping Hunter's autopsy private. It has not been said, however, that they are dropping the lawsuit. No doubt, lawyers have had enough time to find Sheryl Stack's pockets are not deep enough. The question is, who are they going to sue now? The IRS? The airplane manufacturer? The Echelon building's engineers?

But it's not about the money....

Funeral services were held for Hunter Friday.

Is it Time for Keith Olbermann's Countdown to Oblivion?

Rumors have long speculated that Olbermann's show is on the way out. Maybe that's because no one can believe his show is still on with such dismal ratings. In the critical 25-54 demographic, not only is his audience 1/4 of the O'Reilly Factor, but now he trails Headline News' Nancy Grace in third place, barely ahead of CNN's Campbell Brown.

Olbermann's latest foot-in-mouth issue was claiming that Tea Parties are ethnically challenged--made up of only white people. He said, "Why are you surrounded by the largest crowd you'll ever see in your life that consists of nothing but people who look exactly like you."

After throwing out that claim, the Dallas Tea Party responded with a great video dispelling his claim and inviting him to their one-year anniversary party. Furthermore, they did a segue from Olbermann claiming a lack in Tea Party diversity to showing the web banner of MSNBC political anchors, all of whom are white. It doesn't help that NBC head, Jeff Zucker was just grilled this week about the subject of diversity in their programming during merger hearings in front of the House Judiciary Committee. NBC wants an okay to merge with cable provider Comcast.



Of course, Olbermann declined the invitation--it might upset his belief system if he was confronted with the truth. He'd rather sit in his comfortable, liberal bubble at MSNBC and spew every thought that comes into his head.

Keith Olbermann has spun out of control...a liberal thrashing like a dying fish, throwing out more and more wild-eye statements, in a failed attempt to get someone to watch. Trying to be a political shock jock, he's become a caricature of himself. If the network keeps him on much longer, they might as well rename themselves S&M NBC because they seem to enjoy the punishment of failing shows.

Harry Reid Blames Domestic Violence on Lack of Job's Bill

Stand by for the next Harry Reid apology 3...2...1....

Apparently bored with making racist remarks, Reid's decide to make sexist ones now. Really? This is supposed to be the enlightened party?

"I have met some people while I was home, dealing with domestic abuse..."

Were they watching the Superbowl?

"Men, when they're out of work tend to become abusive." Harry also explained to the simple children that make up the American public that while women also don't have jobs, "women aren't abusive...most of the time."

I'm sure we all feel better that unemployed women are less violent when unemployed. {eye roll} While I'm sure he'll get another pass, this time by a supportive, liberal women's group, we may have to keep an eye on ol' Harry Reid in 2011. Chances are improving that he'll become one of those unemployed after November.

Plushenko: A Sore Loser's Whiny Tirade

Cry Baby Plushenko

Olympics 2010: It could be seen on his face as he stood for his silver medal. Some thought Evgeni Plushenko's walk across the gold medal platform to the silver one was in good humor. It wasn't. He rolled his eyes through the US national anthem that played for Evan Lysacek. Later, he said, “I was positive that I won. But I suppose Evan needs a medal more than I do."

He criticized Lysacek (and the other competitors) for not attempting a quad and said, "Now it's not men's figure skating, now it's dancing."

Well, perhaps Plushenko should try Dancing with the Stars and gain some grace. Dick Button, whom Plushenko said he wanted to emulate by winning back to back Olympic gold medals, described Plushenko's landing of his quad as "like a hammer." He added that Plushenko's lack of grace, plus his putting all his jumps up in the front lead to his second place score.

"If you don't like the scoring, then you go elsewhere or your change it," Button said during a Universal Sports panel discussion. Button said his main objection to the current scoring system was it forced skaters to load up the program to gain points, sacrificing style. While landing a quad gains two more points than a triple, you can lose more if you don't make it. Plushenko did perform the quad, but other jumps weren't as clean.

Also, while Lysacek chose not to attempt a quad, he wisely didn't "front load" all his jumps and took advantage of the new points system. Under the Code of Points, a skater gains additional points for putting jumps later in their program.

The snipes had all the potential of an old USSR/USA cat fight, but to his credit, Lysacek wasn’t biting.

In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Lysacek remained the good winner to Plushenko's sore loser. Lysacek remarked, "I guess I was a little disappointed that someone that was my role model would take a hit at me in probably one of the most special moments of my life, that I will never forget, regardless of what anyone says,"

Way to take the high road.

Austin Echelon Building Hit by Plane - Employee: "It felt like a bomb..."

Update (9:00 p.m. CST): Two bodies have been recovered. No identities released, but it's assumed that one is Stack's. The other is likely the missing, unidentified employee. Two other employees were taken to the hospital in unspecified conditions, but said to be suffering from burns and smoke inhalation. Eleven others were treated for minor injuries.

Update (6:00 p.m. CST): Stack's six-page letter has been removed from his site at the request of the FBI. An archive of the letter is at The Smoking Gun here.

Austin, Texas: The Echelon building in Austin was stuck by a single engine plane. Joe Stack, the named pilot, left a rambling, anti-government manifesto which said, "Well Mr. Big Brother IRS man...take my pound of flesh and sleep well." He left his name and the dates (1956-2010) and today's date at the end.

One IRS employee described the crash. "It felt like a bomb blew off. The ceiling caved in and windows blew in. We got up and ran." Others related that the plane was flying just above the treeline and accelerated, hitting the building deliberately.



Stack was a contract software engineer who had a vendetta against the IRS. Reading through his sprawling statement, it is difficult to understand exactly what happened, but it becomes obvious that he felt personally persecuted for decades. His statement goes back to the 1980s and his complaints run the gambit from the IRS to Arthur Andersen, Enron, GM Executives, Senator Patrick Moynihan and President Bush.

Between the lines, however, it sounds like Mr. Stack blamed a lot of his own problems on the government and others.

"Instead I got busy working 100-hour workweeks. Then came the L.A. depression of the early 1990s. Our leaders decided that they didn’t need the all of those extra Air Force bases they had in Southern California, so they were closed; just like that. The result was economic devastation in the region that rivaled the widely publicized Texas S&L fiasco. However, because the government caused it, no one gave a shit about all of the young families who lost their homes or street after street of boarded up houses abandoned to the wealthy loan companies who received government funds to “shore up” their windfall. Again, I lost my retirement."

Some time after 911, he moves from California to Austin, but complained he had a hard time finding work and that the pay was low.

"To survive, I was forced to cannibalize my savings and retirement, the last of which was a small IRA. This came in a year with mammoth expenses and not a single dollar of income. I filed no return that year thinking that because I didn’t have any income there was no need. The sleazy government decided that they disagreed. But they didn’t notify me in time for me to launch a legal objection so when I attempted to get a protest filed with the court I was told I was no longer entitled to due process because the time to file ran out. Bend over for another $10,000 helping of justice."

For all his complaints regarding money, Stack was a licensed pilot and the owner of the single-engine aircraft that he ran into the building. Early reports that the plane might have been stolen, were incorrect. There is no official word if his body has been found.

Earlier, this morning, Stack also set fire to his house with his wife and daughter inside. A neighbor saw the flames and helped get the mother and daughter out unharmed.

At the end of his diatribe, Stack wrote:

"The communist creed: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.

The capitalist creed: From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed."

No Sheeples Here: Billboard Feevah

No Sheeples Here found another article about yet another anti-Obama billboard--this time in Oshkosh, (by gosh) Wisconsin.

The billboard was paid for through June, 2010 by an anonymous business that reads, "Impeach Obama: America's small businesses are failing; help us spread the message."

Representative of the business, attorney Tom Wroblewski, says the message the lessor wants to send is that Washington politics are bad for small businesses and is not suggesting Obama's actually committed an impeachable offense. Come on--that never stopped the impeach Bush crowd. Leave it to a lawyer to take all the fun out of protests!

Plushenko, Lysacek bring it...Lindsey Jacobellis' 15 Minutes are Over

Artist Depiction

Hype...the Olympics live by it. Some athletes live up to it, some don't and some make you wonder if the press is having a slow news day.

Russia's Evgeni Plushenko came out of retirement and showed critics he could still bring it, hitting a quad and staying on top of the short program after skating early in the program. Evan Lysacek, with Hugh Jackman good looks, is only one-half point behind Plushenko.

Then there's Lindsey Jacobellis, whom the press followed around insessently, not because she had a compelling story, unless you consider royally screwing away your gold medal in the last olympics compelling. While most athletes' stories involve hardship or coming back from horrific injuries, Jacobellis was well in the lead at the 2006 Torino Olympics, but at the last jump, she decided to do a board tweak, grabbing at her board in early celebration. Unfortunately, her trick caused her to land badly and fall, landing her into second place. Later, she would at first claim she wasn't trying to do a trick, but gave some lame excuse of trying to steady the board.

So the press want to see if she could redeem herself--the press loves redemption. She didn't. She faltered and went off-course in the semi-finals--and actually I'm not surprised. Most athletes express their determination; the more modest ones and those who know they won't make the finals dictate how they want to do their best. Interviews shortly after the event show Jocobellis has no competitive drive, no quest to be the best. No fire. She was just here for "to have an experience." Said Jocobellis, "It wasn't as stressful. My first time I felt like there was a lot of expectation on me." No wonder she didn't win.

I just hope that if she's in the position to go to the 2014 Olympics, she'll give her spot to another American who actually WANTS it. Buh-bye Lindsey...your 15 minutes are now up.

Bush 'Miss Me Yet' Billboard Drew Questions, Libral Ire

The hunt was on for the sponsor

There's nothing like watching liberals getting their collective panties in a wad over nothing. And these days, it usually only takes a mention of Bush's name to do it. After all, he is the liberal democrat's version of the devil. Perhaps no president has been more vilified after leaving office.

So when a billboard popped up in rural Minnesota the hunt was on--first to verify that it wasn't a Photoshopped hoax (it wasn't) and to find out the sponsor's name(s). The advertisers turned out to be a group of business owners and individuals who aren't feeling support coming out of the capitol. Comments ran from the amused to the acid.

One blog stated, "Anyone who thinks that a president who has barely been in office 12 months is a worse administrator than Bush should go out and get an MRI."

Hmmm...to paraphrase Sarah Palin: "How's that Hopey Changey thing working?"

2010 Winter Olympics are Marked by Tragedy, But is Anyone to Blame?

North Vancouver

The 2010 Winter Olympic opening ceremonies were tinged with sadness with the death of Georgia luge slider, Nodar Kumaritashvili.

After review, officials said there was no evidence that deficiencies in the track caused the death of the 21 year-old luger. According to news reports, they are raising the wall where Kumaritashvili went off and making “unspecified changes to the ice.” Also the men will now be starting down at the women’s starting point. All this to slow down the travel speed.

Chatter in the news and over the internet is running the gambit…some calling the track too dangerous and reporting the complaint by Australian luger Hannah Campbell-Pegg that she felt like a "crash test dummy" the night before the fatal accident. Others, such as champion and gold medal winner, skier Peekaboo Street spoke on Universal Sports channel about the addiction of speed and always pushing the envelope. Street has come back from several bad crashes, although none perhaps more disastrous than the one in 1998 where she broke her left femur and tore the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and lateral meniscus in her right knee. She crashed into the safety netting.

For whatever reason, our local channel chose to show video of the crash. You can certainly find it on the web--I won’t post it here out of respect. Suffice to say, all the padding in the world around those beams would not have saved Kumaritashvili. He hit the beam going almost 90 mph (144.84 kph). People in the safety of a car and seatbelts are unlikely to survive a crash at those speeds.

Some are complaining this is the result of the Canadians getting many more practice runs. Had this happened during the games, perhaps this could be a legitimate argument, but the Georgian slider was on a practice run. More arguably, the age and experience of the slider may be the deciding factor. Looking at the roster, some scheduled are as young as 18; most are in their mid to late 20s to early 30s. Even experienced lugers are vulnerable on this track--earlier this week Olympic champion luger, Italy's Armin Zöggeler, also lost control when his sled came out from under him.

Clearly, this is not a track for those "just here for the Olympic experience." We may yet see greater restrictions placed on future Olympic qualifications for such sports, such as requiring all participants to obtain set levels of world competition. This is not the place to send the Jamaican bobsled team, no matter how much we love an underdog. (Note: Jamaica did not send a bobsled team this time.)

Unfortunately, I think this death will result in increased viewership of the luge competition. I’m not opposed to increased viewership of any sport, but it would be tragic if people tune in because of morbid fascination. We also need to realize that life contains risk. This was a tragic accident and our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and teammates. We hug our kids and wish we could pad the corners of the world we send them into, but we can't.

Photo Credits / CC BY 2.0

An Inconvenient Truth

Fox News had a little fun with Al Gore's book, "An Inconvenient Truth" on 'Your World with Neil Cavuto' by sticking it into a large snowbank during Son of "Snowmageddon," the second big winter storm blanketing Washington DC and the Northeast. Washington has had to delay debate on the climate bill known as cap and trade because of the snow. Even FEMA is closed in the capitol.



Despite this and the previous discovery of apparent data manipulation to support the True Believers' pet theory, some are still pointing to this as a sign of global warming. We at Sheer Politics, however, are #Snoverit.

Eve Ensler and Joy Behar Behaving Like a Couple of C...(well you get the allegory)

Eve Ensler who wrote "Vagina Monologues" sat down with Joy Behar and they proceeded to rip a favorite liberal target, Sarah Palin. Ensler went on to describe members of the tea party as "unevolved."

I guess evolved means acting like catty little bitches.

Tim Tebow - This is the Ad Some Got Their Collective Panties in a Knot About?

Update: Hey NOW, Planned Parenthood, et al. YOU'VE BEEN PUNKED! Yes, after all the flap from so-called women's groups against the Tim Tebow ad and more importantly, Focus on the Family, those groups ended up looking rightfully foolish. Instead of being incensed, by say, the Dodge Charger's sexist ad or Go Daddy sexual ads, they chose to have a freak-out over milquetoast ads that never mention the words abortion or pro-life and just show a mother who still worries over her Heisman trophy-winning son. If it wasn't for the pro-abortion groups' flap over the sponsor, most people probably would have been scratching their head over the commercial's meaning! Score one for FOF!

The "scandalous" Tim Tebow ad with mother Pam:



It just shows the haters are all about pro-ABORTION, not pro-choice. This woman made a choice...she chose life!

Stuart Varney Tries to Teach Business to a Clueless Congresswoman

Representative Carolyn Kilpatrick of Michigan tried to filibusterer Stuart Varney, who was subbing for Cavuto, on Friday. She came on after the previous guest, a small business man, who stated he would like to hire an additional 75 workers for his business, but couldn't if his taxes increased.

The interview was regarding the drop in unemployment from 10% to 9.7%. Democrats point to this as a sign the stimulus is working.

Kilpatrick said, "We [Michigan] got $220,000,000 dollars of stimulus grants...along with other grants...there was also a tax cut for 95% of middle Americans." But she agreed more help was needed.

Kilpatrick then touted the re-use of TARP dollars being repaid by banks for a federal slush fund where, instead of using that money to pay down the debt or giving it back to tax payers, it would go to...more government programs. She mentioned $30 billion scheduled to be given to community development financial institutions, which would then allegedly loan out the money to small businesses. It should be noted that loaning big banks tax dollars did nothing to increase loans to small businesses. They used the money to purchase risky MBSs (mortgage backed securities) and other asset-backed securities. Essentially, it was like loaning a gambler money for groceries or electric bill and then finding he went to play slot machines.

Varney pointed to the previous guest and said, [The previous guest said he would hire] "75 people for his small business if he could be assured his taxes would come down and he could afford to hire. Would you approve of such a plan to lower taxes for individuals?"



"95% of middle Americans got tax cuts for last year...," Kilpatrick interrupted.

"But he doesn't," Varney repeated several times, trying to get a word in. "He gets a tax increase."

Then the finger wagging started from Rep. Kilpatrick, "I can tell you how he can grow his business. How he can grow his business is America's put back to work."

Wait a minute--isn't that what this business owner was trying to do...put people to work? This from a woman who has been in the public sector all her life and has never tried to grow a business. But it gets worse....

Varney tried again, "Having listened to our last guest, who says he runs a small business, 'If you cut my taxes, I will hire people.' Are you still in favor of raising those taxes?"

Kilpatrick responded, "I'm in favor of helping that small business. If he says he can hire more people that's what this administration is going to do."

"Then he wants his taxes cut...," Varney countered.

"Taxes are being cut...," she insisted.

"Not for the upper-income people...."

Kilpatrick, looking visibly irritated, said, "Bush took care of upper-income people, which is some of the problem we have now. We're trying to give tax cuts to middle-income people today and provide jobs so that people work and have revenue and buy from this company and others."

Varney was shook his head in defeat, "Those are not small business owners...." He then asked Rep Kilpatrick for an explanation on how a tax on the top 1 or 2% top income earners was going to create jobs.

"I can't explain that, that's not my job to explain that," she said.

"But we're talking jobs and Americans...," Varney started

"And the way you get jobs is you put people back to work."

At this point, I wouldn't have been surprised if Mr. Varney's head had exploded--mine almost did. Honestly, he had an amazing amount of patience. 

Can you see the circular argument going on? This is not some slick politician trying to parse political language. This is a clearly clueless representative who thinks jobs are created by government, not the private sector. She doesn't even know that a small business person who has employees is not a middle class taxpayer and would have to be one the "rich" making over $250,000 in or to employ others. But those in the public sector think all that money is going into their pockets when it's actually going back into their business and enabling them to hire more workers. 

Perhaps if Rep. Kilpatrick would use her ears and listen instead of running her mouth to parrot the latest talking points, she could learn something. To her, the government needs to take money from the "rich," give it to the lower and middle classes (and other entitled groups) who can then use it to buy things. That is their "plan" to stimulate the economy.

This wins my first "Clueless Representative" award. This is an award for the Representative or Senator who is devoid of rational thought. If I can come up of an appropriate placard I'll post it.