Feb 27, 2009

Colorado Trooper punished him for his good deed

The Colorado State Patrol evidently thinks that no good deed should go unpunished.

A good Samaritan who helped push three people out of the path of a pickup truck before being struck and injured has gotten a strange rewarded for his good deed: A jaywalking ticket.

Family members say 58-year-old Jim Moffett and another man were helping two elderly women cross a busy Denver street in a snowstorm when he was hit.

Moffett suffered bleeding in the brain, broken bones, a dislocated shoulder and a possible ruptured spleen. He was in serious but stable condition Wednesday.

The Colorado State Patrol issued the citation. Trooper Ryan Sullivan says that despite Moffett's intentions, jaywalking contributed to the accident.



Let’s have a big Bronx cheer for Colorado State Trooper Ryan Sullivan.

Link

Talking the talk and walking the walk

(click on cartoon to enlarge)

Your gas tank's full; that'll be $81 billion

Juan Zamora pulled into the By-Pass Deli and Conoco station in Richland, Washington.

When he filled up his 1994 Camaro the pump said $26.

This guy really needs a bailout because the transaction was recorded on his debit card as $81,400,836,908.

Yes, that’s a B, as in billions and he only had $90 on his debit card!

We have two questions:

1. Did he have overdraft protection?

2. Did he get a discount car wash with his fill-up?

Link

Obama backers dismayed by raid on illegals

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents raided an engine machine shop in Washington State and detained illegal immigrants.

As a result, immigrant rights groups blasted Obama for breaking what they called his "personal commitment" to change the Bush-era immigration raids.

The Obama administration itself seemed taken aback by the raid by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano (pictured) vowing to Congress that she would "get to the bottom of this."

“The secretary is not happy and this is not her policy," a Homeland Security official said Wednesday evening, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

The Obama administration seems to think it is in the nation’s best interest to allow illegal aliens to stream into the country and take jobs away from U.S. citizens who are looking for work.

Link

Rocky Mountain News final cartoon



The final cartoon for the Rocky Mountain News by cartoonist Ed Stein.

Feb 26, 2009

Rocky Mountain News to silence presses today

The Rocky Mountain News, Colorado's oldest newspaper, will print its last issue today. The first issue was printed on April 23, 1859.


This is not a good time for the newspaper industry.

Four owners of 33 U.S. daily newspapers have sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the past 2 1/2 months. A number of other papers are up for sale.

This past weekend, there were separate bankruptcy filings by New Haven (Connecticut) Register publisher Journal Register Co. and by the owners of The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News.

They followed a December filing by Tribune Co., whose media stable includes the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune, and January’s filing by the owners of the Star Tribune in Minneapolis.

Hearst Corp. announced earlier this week it will close or sell the San Francisco Chronicle if it can’t reduce expenses dramatically within the next few weeks.

Last month, Hearst laid out plans to close the Seattle Post-Intelligencer if a buyer isn’t found before April. And Gannett Co. is looking for a buyer for the Tucson Citizen in Arizona.

And on it goes ... before long it may be hard to find a good birdcage liner.

Link

Float masks at Carnival in France



Many abundantly decorated floats pass a cheerful crowd during the 125th Nice Carnival Feb. 17, 2009, in Nice, France.

AP Photo

A jury decides who has the best attorney

When you go into court, you are putting yourself in the hands of 12 people who weren't smart enough to get out of jury duty but will decide which of you has the best attorney.

Secretary of State - now an irrelevant position?

Hillary Rodham Clinton has been given one of the most important posts in the administration but all she has done is engage in what the report at the link below calls giggly diplomacy(see upper photo).

So far she has trivialized the office of Secretary of State with such things as her Asian “listening tour.”

She met with foreign leaders but she commanded more attention for meeting with "giggly" students on campus and appearing on an Indonesian variety show called "Awesome."

There she discoursed on the pop culture of teenagers. She mugged for the paparazzi, glad-handed crowds and explained her informality as "a way that is not traditional, not confined by the ministerial greeting and the staged handshake photo."

Like the days of the Hillary campaign, Huma Abedin (lower photo) is a constant companion.

Abedin carries the title "senior adviser." What she knows about foreign policy remains a mystery, but she knows the Clinton political operation.

Abedin will be there to "silently hand Clinton a glass of water when her voice rasps during a briefing." Nice to have a water bearer.

The article at the link below blames Hillary for her lack of serious participation in her roll as Secretary of State. However, it seems obvious that Barack Hussein Obama wants Hillary Rodham Clinton to have an insignificant roll in the administration.

The position of Secretary of State is much too important to be playing politics with or using for “giggly diplomacy.”

Link

GM had $9.6 billion fourth-quarter loss and burned through $6.2 billion in cash

General Motors posted a $9.6 billion fourth-quarter loss and burned through $6.2 billion of cash in the last three months of 2008

Not only that, the nation's biggest domestic carmaker said Thursday it lost $30.9 billion for the full year.

However, don’t expect the century-old carmaker to fold. The Obama administration can’t allow that to happen.

Labor Unions contributed heavily to help elect Mr. Obama and a host of other union-friendly Democrats. The administration will not allow thousands upon thousands of dues-paying union members to end up in the unemployment lines.

Link

Michelle Obama wardrobe - trend setting or just plain tacky?


Michelle Obama rocked the capitol dome with her fashion statement.

Sleeveless in February.

It wasn’t just a cocktail party she was attending - it was the president’s speech before a joint session of congress, justices of the Supreme Court and other high level dignitaries.

Doesn’t she have someone to coach her?

Let’s face it: a Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy or Nancy Davis Reagan she ain't.

US soldier in Iraq calls Obama an imposter

A US soldier on active duty in Iraq doubts Obama’s eligibility to be president.

“As an officer, my sworn oath to support and defend our Constitution requires this.”

The soldier has called President Obama an "impostor" in a statement in which he affirmed plans to join as plaintiff in a challenge to Obama's eligibility to be commander in chief.

The statement was publicized by California attorney Orly Taitz who, along with her Defend Our Freedom Foundation, is working on a series of legal cases seeking to uncover Obama's birth records and other documents that would reveal whether he meets the requirements of the U.S. Constitution.

“As an active-duty officer in the United States Army, I have grave concerns about the constitutional eligibility of Barack Hussein Obama to hold the office of president of the United States," wrote Scott Easterling in a "to-whom-it-may-concern" letter.

Link

U P D A T E


A second soldier on active duty in Iraq challenges the eligibility of Obama to be president of the United States.

This story can be found here.

Feb 25, 2009

Guantánamo abuse worse since Obama

A Reuters report at the link below says that abuses began to pick up in December after Obama was elected

Abuse of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay has worsened sharply since President Barack Obama took office as prison guards "get their kicks in" before the camp is closed, according to a lawyer who represents detainees.

Human rights lawyer Ahmed Ghappour cited beatings, the dislocation of limbs, spraying of pepper spray into closed cells, applying pepper spray to toilet paper and over-forcefeeding detainees who are on hunger strike.

Obama has insisted that the U.S. does not torture.

More of the story here.

He really isn’t neglecting the kids

Obama wealth spreader



...thanks for the picture Twila

The eyes have it



A Siberian Husky with miss-matched eyes sits tethered during a day of preparation for the Arden Grange Aviemore 2009 Sled Dog Rally in Scotland.

Obama auto industry task force in action

(click on cartoon to enlarge)

Audience at Obama’s speech listened with heads down

The reason for having their heads pointed at their laps is because many of them were reading from printed handouts of the speech given to everyone in attendance in advance.

Why would the audience be given copies of the speech beforehand? It doesn’t look that good on TV to have a great number of those present with their heads down rather than looking at the speaker.

The answer is simple.

A large number of those in attendance are old and hard of hearing. There's nothing worse than getting repeatedly interrupted by elderly lawmakers yelling into a neighbor's ear asking, "hey man, what’d he say?”

The solution is also simple.

Term limits!

Feb 24, 2009

Santelli responds to White House propaganda minister

MSNBC’s Rick Santelli spoke out against the Obama administration’s plan to redistribute wealth by assisting with mortgage payments for deadbeats using tax money collected from responsible citizens who are not behind in their mortgage payments.

We reported on the original Santelli rant here.

Robert Gibbs, White House press secretary a.k.a. White House “propaganda minister” followed with a scathing attack against Santelli.

The YouTube video below shows dialog between Larry Kudlow and Rick Santelli and also shows Gibbs making a fool of himself.

(click on picture to see video)

Royal footwork



Britain's Prince Charles stands next to wooden shoe lasts during a visit to a shoemaker's workshop in London.

He needs something to do while waiting for the Queen to die so he can finally begin his life’s work.

Obama auto team drives imports as US carmakers struggle

Detroit News says the Obama auto task force has few new U.S. cars.

The vehicles owned by the Obama administration's auto team could reflect one reason why Detroit's Big Three automakers are in trouble: The list includes few new American cars.

Among the eight members named Friday to the Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry and the 10 senior policy aides who will assist them in their work, two own American models.

Add the Treasury Department's special adviser to the task force and the total jumps to three.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is the president's designee for purposes of enforcing loan agreements with GM and Chrysler and must approve or reject any proposed transactions by either company that would cost $100 million or more.

Geithner owns a 2008 Acura TSX, registered in New York. He once owned a 1999 Honda Accord and a 2002 Acura MDX, according to public records.

Just imagine for a moment what would happen if John McCain was president and most of the people on a task force he created to repair the struggling auto industry owned American cars. The media would swarm over the story like flies at a porta potty!

One would expect the Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry would patronize the companies they've been appointed to rescue.

Link

Tax Tip #2 - avoid the Honest Mistake exemption

(click on cartoon to enlarge)

Former astronaut speaks out on global warming

A report at the link below says:

Former astronaut Harrison Schmitt (pictured), who walked on the moon and once served New Mexico in the U.S. Senate, doesn’t believe that humans are causing global warming.

"I don’t think the human effect is significant compared to the natural effect," said Schmitt, who is among 70 skeptics scheduled to speak next month at the International Conference on Climate Change in New York.

In 1972, when he and Gene Cernan were the last to visit the lunar surface, the global warming crowd was all screaming that we were causing the next ice age.

Schmitt has a Science degree from the California Institute of Technology, a Doctorate in Geology from Harvard, and has been an astronaut.

Al Gore has a BA in Government.

The Oscar for Gore’s film, awarded by the Hollywood movie industry, fails to impress. They are movie experts - not environmental experts.

The Gore Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 also fails to impress when compared to the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize that was awarded to Yasser Arafat, the father of modern terrorism.

Schmitt contends that scientists "are being intimidated" if they disagree with the idea that burning fossil fuels has increased carbon dioxide levels, temperatures and sea levels.

"They’ve seen too many of their colleagues lose grant funding when they haven’t gone along with the so-called political consensus that we’re in a human-caused global warming," Schmitt said.

'Consensus,' as many have said, merely represents the absence of definitive science. You know as well as I, the 'global warming scare' is being used as a political tool to increase government control over American lives, incomes and decision making. It has no place in the Society's activities.

Newsweek warned of global cooling in 1975 as reported here. The astronaut speaking out on global warming is here.

Feb 23, 2009

A three-week driving ban really stinks

Ever been stuck with a 3-week driving ban when you were sure you were perfectly capable of getting behind the wheel?

Me neither - until now.

After a recent surgery, the driving ban was laid down and it won’t be up for nearly two weeks.

Since Valeta is enforcing the ban, it’s only fair that I have a little fun at her expense. For instance, it’s fun to put on my best imitation of a child’s voice and say, “mommy, please drive me to...”

The one we laugh at most is: “mommy, please drive me to McDonald’s for a ‘senior’ coffee.”

I will be glad when the driving ban is over. Valeta will be overjoyed when that day comes.

Slave in Jefferson Davis’ home was Union spy

Confederate president Jefferson Davis’ house servant and personal coachman William Jackson was a spy for the Union.

Jackson provided the Union Army with key secrets about the Confederacy.

He learned high-level details about Confederate battle plans and movements because Davis saw him as a "piece of furniture" -- not a human, according to Ken Dagler, author of "Black Dispatches," which explores espionage by America's slaves.

"Because of his role as a menial servant, he simply was ignored," Dagler said. "So Jefferson Davis would hold conversations with military and Confederate civilian officials in his presence."

In late 1861, Jackson fled across enemy lines and was immediately debriefed by Union soldiers. Dagler said Jackson provided information about supply routes and military strategy.

Jackson and other slaves' heroic efforts have been a forgotten legacy of the war -- lost amid the nation's racially charged past and the heaps of information about the war's historic battles. But historians over the last few decades have been taking an interest in the sacrifice of African Americans during those war years.

More of the story here.

German biathlon fan in South Korea



A German biathlon fan wears glasses emblazoned with Germany's national flag during the women's 15 km Individual of the IBU Biathlon World Championships in Pyeongchang, east of Seoul, South Korea.

(AP Photo / February 18, 2009)

Chinese drywall causing building problems

If you thought that home building construction was something they couldn’t outsource - think again.

Many outsourced materials are installed by illegal aliens.

Some home builders already struggling in Florida's dismal housing market are facing another headache: The Chinese-made drywall they used is causing unpleasant odors and possibly leading to electric problems in dozens of homes constructed during the housing boom.

The wide flat board used to create interior walls, is emitting sulfur-based gases that may be corroding air-conditioner coils, computer wiring and metal picture frames.

Some homeowners are even concerned about possible respiratory problems.

Although officials are still investigating the drywall from China, the complaints about drywall follow a rash of safety problems with other Chinese exports, ranging from toys to pet food.

Link here and here.

Post cartoon compares stimulus author (Obama) to dead chimp

(click on cartoon to enlarge)

African-Americans protested outside the offices of the New York Post because of a cartoon depicting Barack Obama as a dead chimp.

Civil rights activist Al Sharpton called the cartoon "troubling at best given the historic racist attacks of African-Americans as being synonymous with monkeys."

But Sharpton said the Post should clarify the point it was trying to make with the cartoon, which was playing off Monday's rampage by a pet chimpanzee in Stamford, Conn., that left a woman severely mauled. Police ended up killing the chimp.



Photo above shows New York State Senator Eric Adams protesting by holding the New York Post cartoon comparing President Barack Obama to a violent chimpanzee.

The story is here. The New York Post apology is here.

Real reason Sharpton was angry at New York Post

Al Sharpton (pictured) was incensed when the New York Post published a cartoon which referred to Travis the chimp, who was shot to death by police in Stamford, Connecticut last week after it mauled a friend of its owner.

Several blacks protested outside of the New York Post offices. The loudest protest came from Al Sharpton.

Sharpton had another reason to be angry at the New York Post because of a July 2008 article in the Post shown at the second link below.

The 2008 article was an “exclusive” report about the IRS probe into Sheraton’s finances and the “flurry of subpoenas” sent to Sharpton’s most generous corporate donors.

Sharpton unsuccessfully ran for a US Senate seat in 1988, 1992, and 1994. In 1997 he unsuccessfully ran for Mayor of New York and in 2004 he ran for President of the United States.

The Reverend Al Sharpton was especially incensed by the “exclusive” report on the 2008 IRS probe.

The dead chimp story is here. The Sharpton IRS probe story is here.

Feb 22, 2009

Will this be the most boring Oscars in history?

The people who put on the Academy Awards are in a panic as the hours tick away before this year's big broadcast.



The 2008 Academy Awards sunk to its lowest ratings ever.



The Oscars presentations seem to be falling just like the large Oscar statue shown above.

This year may be worse than 2008. Not even Hollywood wants to participate in the Oscars anymore.

This year's producers are privately complaining that the biggest movie stars in the world like Jack Nicholson, Nicole Kidman, Angelina Jolie, George Clooney, and Kate Winslet gave them reasons galore -- some serious, some trivial -- for why they didn't want to present awards, once considered a huge honor.

Maybe Hollywood is becoming irrelevant.

Do I plan to watch the Academy Awards today? Nope. I have more exciting things to do. I’ll spend the time rearranging my sock and underwear drawers.

Link

Laying out the Hollywood red carpet



Workers lay down the red carpet on Hollywood Boulevard at the entrance of the Kodak Theater, in preparation for the 81st Academy Awards

(Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images)

Big hug

(click on picture to enlarge)

Preparing for the upcoming Academy Awards in Hollywood.

Redistributing wealth by subsidizing bad behavior

A report by Larry Kudlow (pictured) at the link below says:

Obama’s massive mortgage-bailout plan is nothing more than a thinly disguised entitlement program that redistributes income from the responsible 92 percent of home-owning mortgage holders who pay their bills on time to the irresponsible defaulters who bought more than they could ever afford.

This is Obama’s spread-the-wealth program in action.

Team Obama is rewarding bad behavior.

It is enlarging moral hazard.

It is expanding its welfarist approach to economic policy. And with a huge expansion of government-owned zombie lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Team Obama is taking a giant step toward nationalizing the mortgage market.

If the government really wants to help, instead of bailing out irresponsible mortgage holders, it should support new and younger families who want to buy starter homes and begin to climb the ladder of prosperity.

Kudlow reports that in some of the hardest-hit areas of the country, markets are already solving the housing problem.

That can only mean that Obama’s stubborn refusal to have any faith in the free market is obviously the result of his commitment to take us into socialism sooner than later.

Kudlow continues:

All this is Free-Market Economics 101. And I say, let free-markets work.

Let’s remember that most folks — even those with underwater mortgages, where the loan value is more than the home value — do not walk away from their obligations. They don’t want to wreck their credit — and their homes are their castles.

That’s the American way.

But if we penalize the good guys and subsidize the bad ones, we are undermining the moral and economic fabric of this country.

While prudent people were budgeting within our means, paying down our mortgage, driving one newer car and a second 8-year-old car, the folks being bailed out were getting every credit card they could get their hands on.

They bought 2nd mortgage financed boats and RV’s, no down payment plasma TV's, credit card financed vacations and designer clothes.

They denied themselves nothing and now the taxpayers are going to finance their new low interest rate loans and monthly mortgage payments.

I think I'm going to be sick.

Link

Tax Tip #1 - Don’t try this with your IRS auditor

(click on cartoon to enlarge)

Feb 21, 2009

Quirky quotes by Prince Philip

Prince Philip (pictured), Duke of Edinburgh and husband of Queen Elizabeth II, is quite famous in Britain for often making rather embarrassing, though often funny, comments.

A few are listed below:

In 1953 immediately after the coronation when his wife became Queen of England, he asked her: Where did you get that hat?

In 1969, after The Royal Variety Performance, he asked Tom Jones: What do you gargle with - pebbles?

In 1986 he told a World Wildlife Fund meeting: If it has four legs and is not a chair, has wings and is not an airplane, or swims and is not a submarine, the Cantonese will eat it.

In 1986 he told a group of British students in China: If you stay here much longer, you'll all get slitty-eyed.

In 1965 he said: The only active sport I will follow is polo - and most of the work is done by the pony.

Helicopters at cross purposes



India's Dhruv helicopters perform at the "Aero India 2009" in Yelahanka air base on the outskirts of Bangalore, India, Thursday.

Aviation companies from around the world are participating in the five-day event.

(AP Photo / February 12, 2009)

Feb 20, 2009

Robot performs at Science Museum in London



Content developer Louis Buckley plays 'Paper, Scissors, Stone' with robot 'Berti' at the Science Museum in London. The robot, a life size humanoid robot, is built to mimic human gesturing, and is on show at London's Science Museum from Feb. 17 to 19. (AP Photo / February 17, 2009)

The ant and the grasshopper

We have all heard the story of the thrifty hard-working ant and the lazy ne’er-do-well grasshopper. Following is an updated version of the story that sadly is a reflection of the times.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

In a meadow on a hot summer’s day, a Grasshopper was chirping and carousing his time away. He watched scornfully as an Ant nearby struggled to store up large kernels of food and build a secure nest. The Ant pulled overtime shifts to pay off his loans and accumulate retirement funds for the future.

“Give it a rest,” the Grasshopper said. “Why bother saving and slaving and toiling and moiling? Let’s party!” The Ant demurred: “I am planning ahead for winter and you should do the same.” The Grasshopper blew off the Ant, squandered his supplies the rest of the season, and abandoned his home while on vacation (paid for by tapping every last cent of his home equity gain) instead of holding down a job.

When winter came, the Grasshopper’s pantry was empty and his shelter ruined from neglect. The Ant, weary from planting, harvesting, and stocking up for months, was dining comfortably in his nest.

Cold, hungry, jobless, facing foreclosure, and up to his two pairs of eyeballs in debt, the Grasshopper limped to the Association of Community Winged Insects for Rescue Now and demanded recourse.

The office was swamped with thousands just like him. ACWIRN immediately put the Grasshopper to work registering dead ants as new voters.


Funded with tax dollars from the rest of the meadow’s residents, ACWIRN organized mass protests at the Bank of Antamerica, ambushed its top officials at their private homes, harassed their children, and demanded that the meadow’s politicians halt all foreclosures.

We must keep Grasshoppers in their houses and outlaw discriminatory lending practices against starving, homeless Grasshoppers.

The banking industry capitulated; the Orthoptera Lobby secured hundreds of millions of dollars in housing earmarks and grants and counseling subsidies to support the Grasshoppers with the shadiest credit and employment histories.

Antie Mae, the meadow’s government-backed home lending giant, fueled the push for increased insect homeownership in the name of biodiversity.

Its executives cooked the books and headed for the hills.

Katie Cricket and the Mainstream Meadow Media joined the grievance-for-profit circus, profiling Grasshopper sob stories and drumming up ratings as bewildered Ants wondered who was looking out for them.

The banks drowned in toxic debt. More Grasshoppers fell behind on their mortgage payments. Bailout mania and panic gripped the meadow.

Our little Ant, minding his own business, heard a knock on his door one late winter night a year later. It was his old, sneering Grasshopper neighbor.

With ACWIRN’s presidential candidate, Barack Cicada, now in office, the Grasshopper had been hired by the meadow as a tax collector.

“I’m here to take your provisions,” the Grasshopper cackled.

But it was the Ant who had the last laugh. “I’ve learned my lesson,” he told his shiftless friend. “Why bother saving and slaving and toiling and moiling? I’ve spent all my savings. I’m walking away from my mortgage. Thrift is for suckers,” the Ant said as he headed out the door, leaving the Grasshopper empty-handed.

Link

His grass gauge always read half full

A Utah man took his newly acquired used SUV to a mechanic to find out why the gas gauge always read half-full.

The mechanic looked inside the gas tank and found about 35 pounds of marijuana in plastic-wrap packages that filled about half of the tank's volume.

Police estimate the pot is worth about $35,000.

The Nissan Armada has had several different owners and was once a rental car.

The present owner, who is not a suspect, found that a stash of grass can take the place of a lot of gas, but it didn't help the mileage.

Link

Who will pay for the Obama spending spree?



This kid will pay … along with his children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc.

Float ready for Rio de Janeiro parade



A member of the Unidos do Viradouro samba school gives the final touches to a float in Samba City in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Samba City is a sort of workshop where Rio's samba schools make their floats and the fancy dresses for the carnival parade next week.

(AFP / Getty Images Photo / February 17, 2009

Why the White House is taking over the census

(click on cartoon to enlarge)

Feb 19, 2009

Truth about the once great New York Times

The once proud New York Times, known as the “Gray Lady” for its staid appearance and style, was once regarded as a national newspaper of record.

How the mighty has fallen!

The New York Times keeps stooping to new depths. Political diversity has disappeared. The liberal editorial bias has shifted to political news stories making most of them untruthful and unreliable.

On more than one occasion the Times surreptitiously obtained sensitive material useful to our terrorist enemies and printed it in attempts to embarrass President George W. Bush.

Their content is basically: all Repubicans are bad, all liberal Democrats are good and Obama is great.

Now it seems their nearly complete lack of integrity may have caused the near financial collapse of the Times.

Someone at the Times is probably wondering how they can blame Bush for their downfall as they compose the last editorial.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

The share price of the New York Times now cost less than the newsstand price of the Sunday paper!

(click on picture to enlarge)

Shares of New York Times (NYT) dropped 29 cents Thursday to close at $3.77. The Sunday paper goes for $4 at the newsstand.

Maybe they could save costs by printing the paper on their stock certificates.

Until the paper finally folds, there may still be a New York Times coming to a birdcage near you.

Link

The Chicago Tea Party - must see video!



The Chicago trading floor was buzzing on whether the government's plan to save the economy will actually help the markets, with Jason Roney, Sharmac Capital; Wilbur Ross Jr., WL Ross & Co. and CNBC's Rick Santelli.

The government is promoting bad behavior... do we really want to subsidize the losers' mortgages... This is America!

How many of you people want to pay for your neighbor's mortgage?

President Obama - are you listening?

How about we all stop paying our mortgage!

The Chicago trading floor mocks the Obama plan! The video can be seen here.

Stock market responds to Obama spending spree

The Dow responds to the Obama stimulus bill by showing the lowest close in more than 6 years.

Link

Eye-popping spectacle in Tokyo - revisited



No, the Clingons haven’t landed. These are eye-poping street performers in Tokyo, Japan.

Oklahoma cop pulls man over for anti-Obama sign

Capt. Steve McCool of the Oklahoma City Police Department said an officer who wrongly pulled a man over last week and confiscated an anti-Barack Obama sign from his vehicle misinterpreted the sign as threatening.

Chip Harrison was driving to work when a police car followed him for several miles and then signaled for him to pull over.

''I pulled over, knowing I hadn't done anything wrong," Harrison said in a recent phone interview.

When the officer asked Harrison if he knew why he had been pulled over, Harrison said he did not.

''They said, 'It's because of the sign in your window,'" Harrison said.

The sign said, "Abort Obama, not the unborn."

''It's not meant to be a threat, it's a statement about abortion," Harrison said.

He said he disagrees with the president's position on abortion.

But that was just the beginning.

The Secret Service called Harrison at his place of work and said they were at his house.

Harrison said he feels his First Amendment rights were violated when they entered his house to look around while his wife and 2-year-old were at home.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I have four questions:

1. If aborting means killing, why aren’t abortionists arrested?

2. Will this be a small sample of what will happen after Obama’s National Police Force is in place? A National Police Force was one of his campaign promises.

3. How many motorists were pulled over and visited by the Secret Service for having violent hate Bush - Cheney signs in their vehicles?

4. Where can I get a sign like Chip Harrison had in his car?

Link

GM needs $30B more: Chrysler needs $5B more

General Motors says it needs another $30 Billion and Chrysler says it must have another $5 Billion.

Will GM and Chrysler get the relief they need from the federal treasury? In a word, yes.

Obama, as well as most other Democrats who were elected last November owe a lot to labor unions.

Now it’s payback time and Obama will never allow GM and Chrysler to go under leaving over 200,000 union workers unemployed.

Link here and here for the financial needs of GM and Chrysler.

Automaker bailout may have green strings

(click on cartoon to enlarge)

Feb 18, 2009

We are learning what he meant by transparency

Mr. Obama promised transparency in government. Instead of transparency, there was the secrecy of working on the stimulus bill in the dead of night to keep Republicans out of the process. Now there is the tale of the Obama White House missing documents.

In his first weeks in office, President Barack Obama shut down his predecessor’s system for reviewing regulations, realigned and expanded two key White House policymaking bodies and extended economic sanctions against parties to the conflict in the African nation of Cote D’Ivoire.

We don’t even know what “parties” the sanctions were against! Possibly they were against the "nationals" who are trying to stop what's happening in Cote D'Ivoire!

Despite the intense scrutiny a president gets just after the inauguration, Obama managed to take all these actions with nary a mention from the White House press corps.

The moves escaped notice because they were never announced by the White House Press Office and were never placed on the White House web site.

Two of Obama's actions on regulatory reform were spotted by bloggers, lobbying groups and trade publications after they emerged in the Federal Register.

There was no apparent rhyme or reason to the omissions. A proclamation Obama issued on February 2 for African-American History Month was e-mailed to the press and posted on the White House web site. But another presidential proclamation the same day for American Heart Month slipped by.

Such notices were routinely released by the White House press office during prior administrations — making their omission all the more unusual given Obama’s oft-repeated pledges of openness.

Will the main-stream media begin reporting on future White House irregularities? Not unless they suddenly decide to report stories that could show Mr. Obama in a bad light.

Of greater concern is what is happening that is not being discovered by bloggers and others.

Link

Neither sleet, nor snow nor gloom of night…



A mailman drives through the snow-covered village of Bedretto in southern Switzerland. The village had not been reachable for several days due to very heavy snowfall. (AP Photo / February 2009)

Trying to prove Abraham Lincoln wrong?

Abraham Lincoln is famously quoted as saying, You can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.

With the help of the main-stream media, Barack Obama seems to be trying to prove Lincoln wrong by attempting to fool all of the people all of the time.

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Speaking of Abraham Lincoln …

In this bicentennial celebration of the birth of President Abraham Lincoln, Mr. Obama has tried valiantly to clothe himself in the qualities of Lincoln.

By the end of this Lincoln bicentennial year, Barack Hussein Obama will have proved Lincoln wrong or Americans will have seen through the charade and realize that he is not fit to polish the boots of Abraham Lincoln.

No, this blog has not been abandoned…

It seems like an eternity since the last posting. It’s been about a week - a successful but not very memorable week.

For some, carotid endarterectomy surgery goes better than for others. This one went about as well as one could expect.

Thanks for all of your prayers and well wishes!

Feb 11, 2009

The lazy student

A student learned he needed to sign up for one more class. He was basically a lazy person so he looked for an easy class. He selected a class called Bird Identification. It sounded easier than Underwater Sea Shell Painting.

The first day in Bird Identification class, the teacher handed out enlarged photos of bird legs to each student. The teacher then asked the students to identify the birds based on the bird leg photos.

The lazy student said, “that’s ridiculous, I can’t do that”. The teacher replied, “then I will give you a failing grade, what is your name?

The lazy student pulled his pant legs up above his knees and said, “you tell me”.

How will you spend your $7.70 per week tax break from stimulus?

If you are a wage-earner, the new stimulus package will give you 7.70 per week in the form of a tax break.

This tax credit was intended to be $9.60 per week. However, during negotiations by lawmakers the amount was reduced down to $7.70 per week.

That’s about enough to buy a Big Mac, fries and a Coke.

Just wondering how you plan to spend yours?

Link

Kids beaten and choked by staff in Chicago public schools

A report at the link below says that hundreds of students have allegedly been beaten by teachers, coaches and staff at Chicago Public Schools.

Dave Savini, an investigator for Chicago channel 2, continues his ongoing investigation involving the illegal use of corporal punishment.

The [channel] 2 Investigators found reports of students beaten with broomsticks, whipped with belts, yard sticks, struck with staplers, choked, stomped on and pushed down stairs. One substitute teacher even fractured a student's neck

But even more alarming, in the vast majority of cases, teachers found guilty were only given a slap on the wrist.

Channel 2’s findings were reported to Chicago Public School CEO Arnie Duncan (pictured).

Duncan replied, “if someone hits a student, they are going to be fired. It's very, very simple.”

But that's not what happened under Duncan's watch.

Of the 568 verified cases, only 24 led to termination. Records show one teacher who quote "battered students for several years" was simply given a "warning" by the Board of Education.

Arne Duncan was selected by Barack Obama for his cabinet and is now Education Secretary.

Link

$timulus plan $hopping carts

The stimulus plan contains a host of “stocking stuffers” including $300 million for the government to purchase a fleet of "green" cars.

But the money won't just go to buy fuel-efficient hybrids such as the Ford Escape or Chevy Volt.

The cash also can be used to purchase NEV’s (neighborhood electric vehicles as shown below).



These NEVs, which resemble streamlined golf carts, scoot at up to 25 mph, operate on battery power and can be plugged into 110-volt outlets for charging.

There is a tax subsidy in the bill giving a 10 percent tax credit off the price of specified "low-speed" vehicles costing up to $40,000.

The bill does not appear to cap the total number of credits that a person or business could take.

Wonder how many government subsidized golf carts will be milling about in your neighborhood?

One Senate GOP aide fumed:

Americans who are not lucky enough to get a piece of the stimulus pie will at least be able to rest comfortably at night knowing that the guy who just fired them is gonna get a tax break on his new golf cart.

Link

Good parking lot attendant’s are hard to find

Republicans cut out of stimulus negotiations

Just to show how desperate the Democrats in congress are to pass their huge pork-laden bill they call a “stimulus” package, they are attempting to shove this $1.3 trillion spending bill through in the dead of the night without Republican input so floor action can take place in both chambers on Thursday.

Republicans have caught the Democrats in a midnight “stimulus” power play that seeks to cut Republican conferees out of the House-Senate negotiations to resolve a final version of the Obama “stimulus” package. Staff members from the offices of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) met last night to put together the “stimulus” conference report.

The American people deserve to know that legislation that would comprise an amount equal to the entire discretionary budget of the United States of America is being crafted without a single House Republican in the room.

Never before has a political party been this heavy-handed, bullying and domineering in their efforts to cram a bill of this magnitude down taxpayers throats!

Link

Its OK to smile - really!


A man dressed as a traditional woman performs during a folk art performance that was part of the Lantern Festival, on the last day of the Chinese New Year.

Reuters photo via Time Magazine

It’s scary but don’t tell Aunt Matilda or Uncle Hank

The fine print that’s hidden deep in the stimulus bill is pretty scary but don’t tell Aunt Matilda and Uncle Hank.

They may need heart defibrillation when they realize what the man they voted for did to them.

That’s right, they voted for the Obama guy because they expected he would pay their mortgage and put gas in their car.

He won’t.

But he sure will curtail medical care for them!

They had better get their pacemakers now because it won’t be long before their doctor may be forced to refuse some medical procedures because of their age.

That’s right, the government would have the right to look over the shoulder of your doctor and dictate what can or can’t be done for patients in his (or her) care.

Here is a sampling of the gory details Tom Daschle (pictured) slipped into the bill that was never discussed in either the House or the Senate:

Daschle says health-care reform “will not be pain free.” Seniors should be more accepting of the conditions that come with age instead of treating them. That means the elderly will bear the brunt.

A board will approve or reject treatments using a formula that divides the cost of the treatment by the number of years the patient is likely to benefit.

Treatments for younger patients are more often approved than treatments for diseases that affect the elderly, such as osteoporosis.

The stimulus bill will affect every part of health care, from medical and nursing education, to how patients are treated and how much hospitals get paid.

The bill allocates more funding for this bureaucracy than for the Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force combined! It will probably cost many times more to administer than the dollars saved by denying the middle-aged and elderly medical care because of their age.

It’s no wonder Mr. Obama want’s this bill passed as soon as possible - before people really know what is in the bill.

Link