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By David, October 21, 2009 5:07 pm

First, we have the White House’s communications director declaring war on Fox News:

“Let’s not pretend they’re a news network,” White House communications director Anita Dunn said on CNN’s “Reliable Sources,” firing the latest salvo in the long-simmering feud.

“Fox News often operates almost as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party,” Dunn said.

“What I think is fair to say about Fox, and certainly the way we view it, is that it really is more a wing of the Republican Party,” she added.

Then the White House’s Chief of Staff says, “It is not a news organization so much as it has a perspective.”

Of course, the rest of the Obamedia won’t close ranks with Fox out of professional concern; they wouldn’t want to lose their favored status.  After all, they got him elected.

The one news agency that won’t fellate the Obamessiah, and the post-partisan White House does its best to deligitimize and destroy it.  The enemies list grows longer and longer. More and more, Obama shames his office and the  presidency with his endless blame game, dishonorable conduct, and sheer pettiness.

Interesting, given the post-partisan nature of the Obamessiah’s campaign, how he gives his time to his friends in the media; they won’t dare to ask him any difficult questions or make him the least bit uncomfortable.  Note Gwen Ifill’s presence.

It’s unseemly for a president to attack a news organization.  It’s even more unseemly to pretend that this isn’t the most frightened, nasty, and rabidly partisan administration since Nixon.

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By David, October 12, 2009 11:20 am

In an unprecedented move, The Stoogeum, the world’s greatest repository of Three Stooges memorabilia, has named U.S. President Barack Hussein Obama the Official President of the Three Stooges Fan Club:

The Three Stooges Fan Club Committee said it honored Obama for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.  Nyuck, nyuck, nyuck!”

Obama said he viewed the decision less as a recognition of his own accomplishments and more as “a call to action.”  Despite his meager achievements as a president and senator, he did not turn down the presidency, however.

More about the Stoogeum:

The Stoogeum is the world’s first and only museum of Three Stooges memorabilia. Containing close to 100,000 pieces of Stoogeabilia, the Stoogeum (rhymes with museum) offers fans a chance to view a vast array of artifacts which celebrate the legacy of this legendary comedy team. The 10,000 square-foot, 3-story building houses anything and everything Stooge. Artifacts from 1918 to the present are on exhibit, including several interactive displays.  The Stoogeum also contains a research library, a 16MM film storage vault and an 85-seat theater used for film screenings, lectures and special presentations.

The Stoogeum is also the headquarters of the Three Stooges Fan Club, one of the nation’s oldest and largest fan clubs with 2,000 members world-wide.  An annual meeting of the fan club brings together Stooges relatives,supporting actors, impersonators and fans with the Stoogeum at the hub of the event.

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By David, October 12, 2009 8:46 am

One of President Obamessiah’s greatest achievements in his Nobel Peace Prize-worthy presidency is, apparently, the Cash for Clunkers program.  Designed to curb greenhouse gases (the ones that contribute to global climate change more than the gigantic nuclear explosion in space called the sun), it took taxpayer money to buy people better cars for trading in their old ones.  While nobody’s satisfactorily explained why this program is necessary, it’s been touted as very successful.

Go figure:

Burton Abrams and George Parsons of the University of Delaware evaluate the efficiency of the recently introduced ‘Cash for Clunkers’ program and conclude that the cost exceeds the benefit by approximately $2000 per vehicle.

Well, they’re just partisans who hate Obama.  Not today’s non-partisan patriots who correctly opposed Bush in everything he did.  If nothing else, the program saved the car industry and helped all those car dealers keep their jobs, right?

Edmunds.com reports that “September’s light-vehicle sales rate will fall to 8.8 million units . . . the lowest rate in nearly 28 years, tying the worst demand on record. After the cash-for-clunkers program boosted August sales to their first year-over-year increase since October 2007, demand has plunged. In at least the last 33 years, the U.S. seasonally adjusted annual rate has only dropped as low as 8.8 million units once — in December 1981 — with records stretching back to January 1976.”

So essentially it artificially inflated car sales for a month or so.  And now September’s car sales were the lowest in almost three decades.  It was a sugary topping over a mound of nothing, much like the current administration.

Well, hold on.  I mean, it’s the rabid right-wing rag National Review that said it.  So you shouldn’t buy it, right?  Okay, what about the hyperpartisan, Obama-hating Economist?

Meanwhile, the ever-assiduous David Rosenberg of Gluskin Sheff points out that, if one strips out the stockmarket and yield curve components, the US leading indicator in August would have been flat. This is more a financial market recovery than a real one. Indeed, the coincident indicator was flat, an odd result if we are really experiencing a V-shaped recovery.

Damned right-wingers.  They’re making things up, and what about the environmental impact?  Minimal, at best:

A trickier question is what people would have done if not for the clunkers program. There’s some evidence to suggest that many would have ended up buying a car eventually anyway. And even without the program, people recently have been buying higher-mileage vehicles. “Strangely enough, the average of all cars and light trucks bought in the first half of 2009 was over 28 miles per gallon,”—compared with 27 mpg for 2008 model-year cars and 26.6 for 2007 model-year cars—says Schipper. “We are scratching our heads about that one,” he adds. If the trend is toward more fuel-efficient cars anyway, then the environmental and energy savings benefits of cash for clunkers gets even smaller.

But it’s Business Week.  They’ve been carrying the partisan right-wing ultraconservative Republicans’ water since Lincoln.  What does ABC have to say?

Knittel, the economist at Davis who has studied gas prices and their effects on driving behavior, found that while the program might benefit the economy, it is an inefficient way to take older cars off the road, to lower carbon emissions and to reduce gasoline consumption.

“The fuel economy increase from the trade-in to new car seems large, but it doesn’t have that big of impact on environment,” he said.

Knittle calculated the program will save approximately 270 gallons of gasoline per car, per year. If a total of 750,000 vehicles are sold, as appears likely, approximately 12,000 barrels of oil a day will be saved in a country that consumes 9 million a day.

“It really is just a drop in bucket in terms of gasoline consumption or vehicle turnover,” said Knittle. “Within the U.S. there are about 250 million cars on the road. When we are playing around with only 700,000, it is hard to get any large impact.”

Whatever.

Like his speeches, like his aspirations, like everything the Obamessiah’s done so far, Cash for Clunkers was a waste of time tarted up to be Important Legislation.  With minimal impact on both the economy and the environment, it’s far from an achievement.  It’s easy to write off criticism of President Obamessiah as blind, rabid partisanship, because it doesn’t actually confront the facts.  Why not just pull a Jimmy Carter and call everyone racist?

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By Joshua, October 12, 2009 4:51 am

Even more suprising than Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize is the rabid partisan right’s blindness to the accomplishments of Obama’s still-young presidency.  Apparently, they need reminders.  Let’s begin here:

Domestic Policy

Much of this starts with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.  Part of this act is 5 billion for Head Start and other child care initiatives and existing programs, and 1.4 billion to strengthen the Department of Veteran Affairs.

He wisely signed a number of important initiatives-turned-law originating in the Democratic run congress, including one that extends health insurance coverage to low-income children, and, to allow more people to afford college, a tax credit to offset tuition costs:

$2,500 tax credit to help offset the cost of tuition (among other expenses) for those seeking a college education. Nearly five million families are expected to save $9 billion, according to Treasury officials.

Obama created a White House Urban Affairs office to strengthen U.S. cities.  In addition to listening to and acting on the concerns of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and securing for the DOJ 2 billion in Byrne Grants targeting anti-gang and illegal gun control:

The Administration also included an Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant – conceived by The U.S. Conference of Mayors and the top priority in the mayors’ Ten Point Plan — in the Recovery Bill.  This Grant positions cities to receive an unprecedented $2.8 billion, and supports mayoral efforts to meet the goals of the Mayors’ Climate Protection Agreement, which commits cities to meet Kyoto Protocol Standards by 2012.  Nearly 950 mayors have already signed the agreement and are working to make their cities energy efficient.

The so-called “Cash for Clunkers” program kept many people in the automotive industry employed and managed to rid the roads of overly-polluting vehicles.

By Executive Order, Obama revoked the stem-cell research limitations imposed by the Bush administration.

Obama secured 15 billion to help start and grow small businesses, and the Making Homes Affordable Act, designed to help thousands of families avoid foreclosure.  He also wisely signed the CARD act to protect Americans from the insane credit card company rules and regulations.

The economy is improving, though slowly.  But no one in their right mind reasonably expectys the economy to turn sharply around after its disastrous fall in 2008.  The Recovery Act takes time, and so far, it seems to be working.  Time will tell.

Foreign Policy

It is too early yet to see whether Obama’s foreign policy will work.  Obama’s speeches in Turkey and Cairo wer landmark speeches, but have yet to lead to anything tangible.  So, far Iraq seems to go forward with elections, but the stability of the country remains a major question mark.  The Afghanistan policy is not clearly formulated, and that’s to Obama’s — and the U.S.’s — detriment.  So, far public opinion polls show that international opinion of Americans is heading toward the favorbaility range, which is good for U.S. tourism and cross-national educational linkages.  What presidents can and can’t take credit for internationally is not well established.  Can Obama take credit for appointing Hillary Clinton who finally got Armenia and Turkey to sign a diplomatic accord?  Hard to say, but as this is a young presidency, one can’t expect the entire world to change at once.  Unless you disliked Obama from the get-go, in which case such unrealistic expectations can be tranlsated into equally unrealistic criticisms.

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By David, October 11, 2009 8:11 am

America’s Space Prize is , according to Wikipedia, a 50 million dollar space competition in orbital spaceflight established and funded in 2004 by hotel entrepreneur Robert Bigelow. The prize would have been awarded to the first US-based privately-funded team to design and build a reusable manned capsule capable of flying 5 astronauts to a Bigelow Aerospace inflatable space module.

The prize panel has awarded President Barack Hussein Obama the award, for his aspirations toward hope and change throughout the world, not just America.  Because America isn’t particularly exceptional in any case. Upon announcing the winner, the panel said to the press that awarding Obama America’s Space Prize could be seen as an early vote of confidence intended to build global support for the policies of his young administration.  “While he has not built a space craft of any note, president Obama’s hopes and dreams and aspirations were the best intentions ever intended, and we are proud to give him this signal honor.”

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By David, October 10, 2009 8:56 am

In a surprise twist announced early this morning, President Barack Hussein Obama has won the 2009 Pillsbury Bake-Off:

The Pillsbury company, several of whom spoke to the press, said awarding Obama the 44th Annual Pillsbury Bake-Off could be seen as an early vote of confidence intended to build global support for the policies of his young administration.  “While he has not personally cooked them, president Obama’s bacon-wrapped scallops were the best dish ever imagined at the Pillsbury Bake-Off, and we are proud to give him this signal honor.”

It’s my understanding that he’s up for the Heisman Trophy soon, as well as an Academy Award.

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By David, October 9, 2009 7:48 pm

Serving us all a heaping stack of bipartisan pancakes dripping with the maple syrup of civility, the Communications Director of the DNC has this to say:

The Republican Party has thrown in its lot with the terrorists – the Taliban and Hamas this morning – in criticizing the President for receiving the Nobel Peace prize,” DNC communications director Brad Woodhouse told POLITICO. “Republicans cheered when America failed to land the Olympics and now they are criticizing the President of the United States for receiving the Nobel Peace prize – an award he did not seek but that is nonetheless an honor in which every American can take great pride – unless of course you are the Republican Party.”

Please tell me about how the lack of civility in political discourse cuts both ways again.  Tell me how bad the Republicans are, when the Communications Director of the DNC compares people who criticize Obama for getting a wholly unearned Nobel Peace Prize to the animals who flew planes into the World Trade Center.  There’s your civility.  That’s the civility we can expect from the party who is in charge of the House, Senate, and presidency.

On a side note, there’s a reason why I consistently call Obama the Obamessiah.  It’s because this do-nothing Chicago politician, this empty suit with no notable achievements to his name is consistently treated as a messiah, an empty cup into which the hopes and dreams of millions of people who believe that government is the answer to their problems have been poured.  From the slobbering fawning of the Obamedia to this new, shameful award he’s been presented with by a Bush-hating coterie of Eurotrash, I have never seen a more risible figure in political life.  The lower his sycophants place the bar for success and the higher their expectations rise, the more ludicrous Obama looks.  There’s nothing defensible in his lack of performance, his overweening hubris, and his embarrassing public missteps when it comes to foreign policy.  There are no earmarks whatsoever that one can point to and say, “Yes, he’s doing a good job.”  Because it’s obvious to anyone who isn’t blindly partisan that he isn’t doing a good job, if he’s doing any sort of job at all.  He’s a joke, elected thoughtlessly by people who wanted a celebrity rather than a leader.  So he’s the Obamessiah, and the Obamessiah he will stay: you wanted a messiah, and you’ve got him.

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By David, October 2, 2009 1:30 pm

Epic Fail

Chicago didn’t make it:

Despite four years, millions of dollars in planning and a last-ditch pitch from President Obama, the Chicago 2016 Olympic bid ultimately fell short.

The City of Chicago was eliminated in the first round of voting, before any host city was selected.

An expert called it the “biggest shock in IOC history.”

A disappointed USOC President Larry Probst left the venue and refused to comment, saying the Chicago delegation would respond later.

It’s unfortunate that Chicago wasn’t selected.  It’s made much worse by the TOTUS having spent political capital, his country’s prestige, and the respect of the office of President of the United States by having personally gone to lobby for something that was so obviously not a sure thing.  Even a close call would have been a little better than this drubbing by the IOC.  Did Obama just think that his star power, his wife’s sacrifice, and a talk show host would assure success?

The flight to Copenhagen was ill-advised, and adds further evidence to the case that this president is not a serious character.  He spent hours flying to Denmark for this, but could only spare enough time to talk to the field commander in Afghanistan twice since taking office, and only spoke to him again on the way to Copenhagen.  His healthcare plan is completely stalled. Unemployment is at 9.8%. But the Olympics?  Let’s fuel up Air Force One and go see the Little Mermaid!

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By David, September 4, 2009 8:27 am

Obama, ever in love with seeing himself on television, now sees the need to address American schoolchildren on September 8:

As if (we) parents don’t have enough to worry about as our children head back to school: flu season along with the swine flu, health in general, behavior, grades, homework, sports, relationships, drug use, teen sex, and violence in our schools, now we must fear our own President’s motives behind his upcoming monumental message directed to our nations schoolchildren. Education Secretary Arne Duncan sent letters to school principals; “President Barack Obama to Make Historic Speech to America’s Students” On September 8, 2009, history will be made. Will you be a part of it? At 12:00 p.m., Eastern Time (ET), President Barack Obama will deliver a national address to the students of America.

The letter states that the special address directed at our nation’s children will be about “persisting and succeeding in school”. A Presidential speech about education, terrific! Gone are the days when the President or First Lady pops up occasionally at a school to read a story or two.  This administration has a new strategy. This is more than a speech. It’s an event, which encourages “students of all ages, teachers, and administrators to participate.”

If that was all this was, it wouldn’t be so bad.  I mean, it’s blatant campaigning to kids, but we’ve come to recognize that this extremely partisan president will stop at nothing to achieve the goals of his domestic agenda.  However, it originally went beyond that:

In an acknowledgment that the Department of Education provided lesson plans written somewhat inartfully, surrounding the President Obama’s speech to students next Tuesday, the White House today announced that it had rewritten one of the sections in question.

President Obama will talk to students from Pre K thru 12th grade about personal responsibility and the importance of staying in school, White House aides said.

As one of the preparatory materials for teachers provided by the Department of Education, students had been asked to, “Write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president. “

Today, after Republicans accused the White House of trying to indoctrinate school children with liberal propaganda the White House and the Department of Education changed the section to now read, “Write letters to themselves about how they can achieve their short?term and long?term education goals.”

Who was the bright bulb in the Obamessiah Brain Trust who came up with “Write a letter to yourself about what you can do to help the president?”  The overreaching is unbelievable.  Would anyone have stood for this if Nixon had written it?  Or Bush II?  Is Obama so insecure that he needs to have grade-schoolers write paeans to him?  Did nobody think outside of the opposition party that this might have been a bad idea?

What is it about the Obamessiah’s supporters that influences them into thinking that they must “serve” him or be his servant?

I’m sure glad I didn’t vote this clown into office.

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By David, August 17, 2009 4:40 pm

Belatedly, the White House does the right thing:

Following a furor over how the data would be used, the White House has shut down an electronic tip box — flag@whitehouse.gov — that was set up to receive information on “fishy” claims about President Barack Obama’s health plan.

E-mails to that address now bounce back with the message: “The e-mail address you just sent a message to is no longer in service. We are now accepting your feedback about health insurance reform via http://www.whitehouse.gov/realitycheck.”

What part of the Obamessiah Brain Trust thought that having the snitch line was a good idea to begin with?

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By David, August 7, 2009 10:28 am

What’s really fascinating about this Barack “I won” Obama clip is that despite his frequent blaming of everything that’s wrong with the economy on Bush, he claims that he doesn’t mind taking the responsibility for it.  Let’s hold him to that.

And if he calls what he’s doing now “cleaning up the mess,” I’d hate to see what fixing the problem is.  Because pissing all over the rug and claiming it’s Formula 409 isn’t cleaning up the mess.

Obama’s love for the First Amendment only goes so far as to include a press that got him elected and fellates him on a daily basis.   The rest of us need to shut up.

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By David, August 5, 2009 4:41 pm

This is what the DNC has to say about the justified outrage politically aware American citizens are showing over an immensely expensive health care plan that nobody’s even bothered to read:

The Republicans and their allied groups – desperate after losing two consecutive elections and every major policy fight on Capitol Hill – are inciting angry mobs of a small number of rabid right wing extremists funded by K Street Lobbyists to disrupt thoughtful discussions about the future of health care in America taking place in Congressional Districts across the country.

However, much like we saw at the McCain-Palin rallies last year where crowds were baited with cries of ’socialist,’ ‘communist,’ and where the birthers movement was born – these mobs of extremists are not interested in having a thoughtful discussion about the issues – but like some Republican leaders have said – they are interested in ‘breaking’ the President and destroying his Presidency.

These mobs are bussed in by well funded, highly organized groups run by Republican operatives and funded by the special interests who are desperately trying to stop the agenda for change the President was elected to bring to Washington.

All of them are no doubt in the pockets of Big Insurance, Big Pharma, and the Evil Corporations that are keeping honest American citizens from the health care they need, no doubt.  This is the Democrat party’s reaction to dissent.  I thought dissent was the highest form of patriotism?  We sure heard a lot about that when Bush was in office.  It’s not so much fun when your bad ideas are lambasted, though, is it?  So it’s time to just claim it’s avast, right-wing conspiracy, rather than acknowledge the legitimate concerns.

The White House is very interested in what you have to say about health care.  So much so that they’ve set up a website so that you can report anyone who disagrees with Obamacare.

That’s your civility: an enemies list.

We won’t even go into the whole transparency thing.

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By David, July 30, 2009 2:10 pm

As president Barack “I won” Obama’s agenda begins its slow swirl down the drain, the market seems to be improving.  That may not be a coincidence:

The Democratic agenda in Washington has gone off the rails just as markets are enjoying their best run of the Obama presidency, and there’s a school of thought on Wall Street that it’s no coincidence.

While a string of better-than-expected earnings reports from U.S. companies has been credited for the upswing, analysts such as Axel Merk, the portfolio manger of Merk Investments, said the stalled agenda in Congress has also helped the Dow Jones Industrial Average spike above 9,000.

“In general, I do think it’s positive it’s slowing down in Washington,” Merk said.

Brian Gardner, an analyst with Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, explains that when markets cratered in March, investors worried the Obama administration would nationalize the country’s banks, impose punitive rules on credit card issuers and allow judges to lower the principal and interest payments on mortgages. They saw ever-widening deficits and buckets of debt set to increase with massive healthcare legislation.

If things seem to be improving now, imagine what would happen if the Obamessiah stopped trying to micromanage the American economy completely!

Thanks to Ace for the pointer.

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By David, July 29, 2009 6:21 pm

Much has been made of Obama’s being called a socialist.  Typically, the sorts of people who object to this characterization of Obama are the same people who voted for him.  And, let’s face it: nobody who voted for Obama really did so because they wanted less government interference in their lives.

Here’s a definition of socialism:

any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods.

Let’s see what Obama’s done so far in his time in office.

First, he signed the Stimulus Bill. The cost: approximately $790 billion.  The purpose: to stimulate the economy by creating jobs, increasing consumer spending, and a whole host of other methods.  The government will get this money by collecting taxes.  Taxes, as we know, are taken from us with the implicit threat of violence.  Hence, whether we like it or not, our money will be confiscated by the government to stimulate the economy.  That goes against free-market principles, and certainly contributes to tilting the American economy from capitalism to socialism.

Obama famously stated to Joseph Wurzelbacher that he wants to “spread the wealth around.” In a nutshell, that means, once again, taking money from some people through threat of force and giving it to other people.  It shows a shocking lack of regard for personal property, another hallmark of socialism.

Obama’s having the government own a majority share in GM, one of the largest businesses in the country, certainly goes hand in hand with the whole idea of government controlling the means and production of goods.

Obama’s imaginary right to health insurance and healthcare reform where the government controls access to hospitals and doctor’s offices is pretty similar to the Socialist Party’s vision of what healthcare should be.

America elected the most left-liberal president in history.  I’m sure people voted for him for different reasons, but to those of us who looked at his record before voting, there are no surprises.  He is a socialist.  He is trying to turn the U.S. into a socialist country with his policies.   If you voted for him, you must have known that this was going to happen.  You wanted to take America from its free-market roots and spread the wealth around.  It’s okay.  Own it.  Socialist doesn’t have to be a dirty word.