Obama Featured

It reads "Obama Mania"

Then Obama is saying...
"Look at the pendulum [referring to the censor bar - which is shown swinging] and repeat after me: everything is going well, everything is going very well"

Thanksgiving Message

Parade Highlights

Here are the highlights from tomorrow's Macy's Day Parade.

The unveiling of the new Peter Griffin Balloon was a complete failure.
The best part was when he sprung a leak and farted all over the crowd.
In retrospect, maybe they shouldn' t have filled him with methane?

Then the Imperial Troops took control... it looked bad for the Rebellion.

The cat bought the island of Manhattan for a half eaten Milkbone and
a used blanket soaked in Canine parvovirus. Quite a steal.

And it sure was windy!

Gammar Nazis

Breaking: Lead Story

Cap'n Missing Sandwich!

Wait, oh, there it is. Crisis over - everybody chill out!

Cartoon Disappointment

Did you ever see the old Pink Panther cartoon? It was on TV in the 70's?

It just 'came on' the TV last night - on Channel Boomerang.
Boomerang is the Cartoon Network's attempt to keep their catalog of old Hanna Barbara and MGM cartoons in circulation. It was spun off in 2000, and I'm going to guess they keep airing the old catalog as part of the syndication deal Turner made in 1985.

Anyhow, I sat down and watched the title screen come up, and I grinned. Probably how I used to when I was a kid. I was expecting quite a bit.

Blake Edward's - heh. That's funny, that Blake Edward's name is on a cartoon...
The cat is smoking. Fuggin' Smoking on a kid's cartoon!
No one's talking...
Okay, what's the story?
He's a porter, and now he's a bank robber...
So that's like the movie!
The bad guy's a jerk...
And they're using a nail file to rob a safe?
Is this French?
Hurm.
This sucks.
Oh man...
This sucks ass.

I was disappointed. It wasn't funny. It wasn't even kind of funny. It just wasn't good.

And then I remembered, when I was a kid - the Pink Panther cartoons weren't good THEN either. I always expected that it WOULD be. Maybe THIS time it'd be different...

But you know what? It NEVER was.

Unlike other shows I've researched and re-watched later in life (Battle of the Planets being the best example of this Nostalgia-Trek) and realized after re-watching it and comparing it to my memory of the show, and so far my memory of whatever it was I was re-watching was always better. I realized, always too late, that I was better off with the memory of the thing, rather than the actual thing.

What's another good example - the Charlie Brown [Insert Holiday Title] Special.
Always better left in the memory banks.
The first season of the Muppet Show also disappointed me quite a bit - mostly because I had a sense of context now. I decided that first season was nothing more than a 'Laugh In' rip off with puppets.

But the Pink Panther reminded me of how disappointed I was as a Kid. Now I know I don't need to research the old Filmmation Flash Gordon cartoon - because except for the one time prime-time special on NBC PrimeTime in 1979 - it was terrible too.

I'd still like to find the Hulk cartoon that ran after Spiderman and his Amazing Fiends, and before Thundarr the Barbarian. However, since it is SO hard to find - and after my experience with the Pink Panther and all those other shows I have been able to re-watch... I'm guessing it's being hidden by Marvel for a darn good reason.

If you're scratching your noodle, yes, this is the one where Banner's clothes would 'magically' re-appear after he turned back from the Hulk - but Stan Lee narrated the opening, and it was kind of cool - (ahem) from what I remember.

Free Bank

Buy a Toaster, Get a Free Bank!

Remember when some banks gave out a free toaster when you opened up a new account?

Toby and Sheila

Toby and Sheila

In 1994, Toby arrived at the MacKenzie farm.

Incredibly, Sheila (an older duck) adopted him.

Together, they had a brother/sister relationship

Then, after Sheila died of old age...

... then, the MacKenzies had her stuffed

This is the video of the moment Toby got to see Sheila again.

Then the weirdness starts.

Superbad Sequel

Did you know there was a sequel to Superbad coming out?

Okay, it’s not a Superbad sequel, it’s actually called Adventureland, and it’s director Greg Mottola’s follow-up to Superbad, based on his own experience working a crappy summer job at an amusement park in the 80s. That it’s set in 1987 is kind of appropriate since Superbad has that almost-feel-good 80s kind of styled movie that's been put out there in a while.

I happen to know that some of the trusty readers of Blasphemes like this sort of thing - so here you go.

Enjoy.

Wat Change?

Obama continues to fill his staff with ex-Clinton-era folks... including the Clintons -
Which makes me wonder...
Does Obama not know enough people?

Maybe he just doesn't know anyone in government?

Or maybe all his buddies in Chicago and Springfield don't qualify. Maybe that's why he has such a massive application. You know, the one where if you've ever done anything naughty you're automatically tossed out... unless you already have a house in D.C.

Axlerod doesn't count either. He's an ex-Chicago Tribune reporter turned-consultant who hadn't had much 'win' until Obama. You can't count Pharaoh Daley as a 'hard win'. So there's one person in for Chicago.

Former senator Tom Daschle, a seasoned veteran of the partisan political wars Obama has vowed to end is set to become secretary of health and human services.

Eric Holder, a former Clinton-era Justice Department official is being lined up as Attorney General in the Obama administration. Just ask about the Mark Rich pardon.

Obama's chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, a former Clinton White House aide, and Illinois politic insider.

Clinton energy secretary Bill Richardson is being touted as commerce secretary. Well, they gotta give him SOMETHING since he lost the VeeP spot and also Sec. of State. He even delivered New Mexico.

This line-up makes Obama's promise for "Change we Can Believe In" look pretty damn hollow. And, as I've sarcastically said before - it's Change, in the stationary.

"Apparently, Washington outsiders need not apply in the Obama Administration," said Republican National Committee spokesman Alex Conant.

"Barack Obama's cabinet is starting to resemble a Clinton reunion. His appointments so far have been a disappointment for Americans hoping to see some fresh faces in Washington."

I'm not saying (at all) that he should keep the Neo-Cons of the Bush Administration - but come on... are there even two or three people in there that DIDN'T work in the Clinton White House? But Bush took people who worked for him in Texas. He had a whole team.

The point is that Obama doesn't have a team. He has a pile of enemies and has-beens who are working in his house.

Do Not Want

DO NOT WANT

The Terrorists are Racists too!?!

Al-Qaeda murdered 3,000 Americans inside of 45 minutes to an hour-and-a-half. They have beheaded American journalists and contractors. They blow up women and children in markets. They have committed countless atrocities all over the world. And only Now, are our American left-wingers finally upset at Al-Qaeda. Why? Because they called our President Elect a "house n-word."

Al Qaeda No. 2 insults Obama with racial slur in new video

HillDog Accepts

Not News to ANYONE who reads Blasphemes - HillDog has accepted Obama's offer. (link)

I reported that here, what a whole week ago?
Well, anyway, she's pretty excited about it.

Poultry-Pardoning Palin

1:52 is where the action starts. Sorry it took me so long to get this up for you today.

One Alaska turkey was lucky Sarah Palin showed up on Thursday at the Triple D Farm & Hatchery outside Wasilla to issue a traditional Thanksgiving gubernatorial pardon.

The other turkeys that happened to be behind the former Republican vice-presidential nominee during a subsequent television interview at the farm? Not so much.

During the three-minute video, which appeared Friday on U.S. political websites, a smiling Palin appears oblivious to turkeys being slaughtered in the background just moments after she spared the life of one of the birds.

An unidentified worker is seen placing at least two struggling birds head-first into a slaughter cone as Palin, holding a disposable coffee cup, discusses her family, falling oil prices, what she learned during her failed vice-presidential bid and the work she faces as Alaska's governor.

Palin, who became the target of intense media criticism over her performance in high-profile television interviews during the election campaign, said she's thankful that her son's Stryker brigade is relatively safe in Iraq and the rest of her family is healthy and happy.

She added that she would be the one in charge of cooking the turkey at her family's Thanksgiving dinner.

As the blood of one of the birds was drained into a trough, Palin said it was nice to participate in a function that wasn't so filled with "heavy-handed politics that invites criticism."

"Certainly we'll probably invite criticism for even doing this, too," she said. "But at least this was fun."

Depression 2.0? 30 Reasons Why

Paul B. Farrell gives 30 reasons why we're about to enter Depression 2.0
(original Link)

1 America's credit rating may soon be downgraded below AAA

2 Fed refusal to disclose $2 trillion loans, now the new "shadow banking system"

3 Congress has no oversight of $700 billion, and Paulson's Wall Street Trojan Horse

4 King Henry Paulson flip-flops on plan to buy toxic bank assets, confusing markets

5 Goldman, Morgan lost tens of billions, but planning over $13 billion in bonuses this year

6 AIG bails big banks out of $150 billion in credit swaps, protects shareholders before taxpayers

7 American Express joins Goldman, Morgan as bank holding firms, looking for Fed money

8 Treasury sneaks corporate tax credits into bailout giveaway, shifts costs to states

9 State revenues down, taxes and debt up; hiring, spending, borrowing add even more debt

10 State, municipal, corporate pensions lost hundreds of billions on derivative swaps

11 Hedge funds: 610 in 1990, almost 10,000 now. Returns down 15%, liquidations up

12 Consumer debt way up, now at $2.5 trillion; next area for credit meltdowns

13 Fed also plans to provide billions to $3.6 trillion money-market fund industry

14 Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are bleeding cash, want to tap taxpayer dollars

15 Washington manipulating data: War not $600 billion but estimates actually $3 trillion

16 Hidden costs of $700 billion bailout are likely $5 trillion; plus $1 trillion Street write-offs

17 Commodities down, resource exporters and currencies dropping, triggering a global meltdown

18 Big three automakers near bankruptcy; unions, workers, retirees will suffer

19 Corporate bond market, both junk and top-rated, slumps more than 25%

20 Retailers bankrupt: Circuit City, Sharper Image, Mervyns; mall sales in free fall

21 Unemployment heading toward 8% plus; more 1930's photos of soup lines

22 Government policy is dictated by 42,000 myopic, highly paid, greedy lobbyists

23 China's sees GDP growth drop, crates $586 billion stimulus; deflation is now global, hitting
even Dubai

24 Despite global recession, U.S. trade deficit continues, now at $650 billion

25 The 800-pound gorillas: Social Security, Medicare with $60 trillion in unfunded liabilities

26 Now 46 million uninsured as medical, drug costs explode

27 New-New Deal: U.S. planning billions for infrastructure, adding to unsustainable debt

28 Outgoing leaders handicapping new administration with huge liabilities

29 The "antitaxes" message is a new bubble, a new version of the American dream offering a free lunch, no sacrifices, exposing us to more false promises

30 At a recent Reuters Global Finance Summit former Goldman Sachs chairman John Whitehead was interviewed. He was also Ronald Reagan's Deputy Secretary of State and a former chairman of the N.Y. Fed. He says America's problems will take years and will burn trillions.

He sees "nothing but large increases in the deficit ... I think it would be worse than the depression. ... Before I go to sleep at night, I wonder if tomorrow is the day Moody's and S&P will announce a downgrade of U.S. government bonds." It'll get worse because "the public is not prepared to increase taxes. Both parties were for reducing taxes, reducing income to government, and both parties favored a number of new programs, all very costly and all done by the government."

Reuters concludes: "Whitehead said he is speaking out on this topic because he is concerned no lawmakers are against these new spending programs and none will stand up and call for higher taxes. 'I just want to get people thinking about this, and to realize this is a road to disaster,' said Whitehead. 'I've always been a positive person and optimistic, but I don't see a solution here.'"

We see the Great Depression 2.0. Why? Wall Street's self-interested greed. They are their own worst enemy ... and America's too

Okay, enough with the cut-n-paste. However, it has me thinking if I should hold on to that old belt. You know, the one where the buckle part fell off - but it is still in my closet. I'm wondering if I should keep it so that I can boil it and make soup of it in a couple months.

I am also thinking that John McCain threw the election so that he'd let "That One" have to deal with all that crap.

Meanwhile...

Can't we all just get along?

Team of Rivals: Clinton Takes SOS Job

Clinton to Accept Secretary of State Job

-or-

How to Keep Your Friends Close, but Keep Shiv Threats Closer

Barack Obama, during the Democratic primaries, cited as influential to his thinking the book "Team Of Rivals," about Abraham Lincoln's opponent-stocked cabinet. It would appear this was more than mere campaign puffery: Obama's former presidential rival Hillary Clinton has accepted an offer to join the president-elect's cabinet as Secretary of State, according to a report in Britain's Guardian, and now here on Blasphemes.

Faced with the prospect of Hillary constantly campaigning against him in the Senate - Obama brings her into the fold. Whether this was part of the deal to keep the knife fight out of Denver (where she could have legitimately made a case for a roll call vote and had the Super Delegates get involved to take the nomination) or just a case of keeping the bitch under wraps with an Administration gag order, we'll have to read about 30-40 years from now. Hell, she may even quit three years into it.

Just look at Powell in the Bush Administration. Speak up once - and get frozen out of the Administration and possibly politics forever.

The flaw in the argument is that Obama is Lincoln.

The Team of Rivals note comes from the Doris Kearns Goodwin book on Abraham Lincoln. The premise of the Goodwin book is of Lincoln’s political genius by examining his relationships with three men he selected for his cabinet, all of whom were opponents for the Republican nomination in 1860. All fine and well - but unlike Obama, Lincoln argued on a national level for years about issues such as the Mexican War, tariffs, abolition, Texas annexation, the Wilmot Proviso, economic development in the relatively new nation, and of course Lincoln pretty much founded the Republican Party after the collapse of the Whigs. So, some consolidation was necessary.

When Lincoln ran for President in 1860 he addressed the question of a house divided at the Cooper Union in New York and ran a campaign of important ideas in an increasingly divided nation. In contrast, Obama’s entire campaign was empty, undefined, “change.”

As Lincoln was sworn in as president in March 1861 seven states had already left the Union. The issues of states rights versus a strong central government, agrarian society versus industrial society, new states as slave or free states, and abolition of slavery were all the same argument. The attack by the rebel states on the Union’s Fort Sumter in Charleston on April 12, 1861 began the bloodshed that had been bubbling to the surface since Independence.

The very able Lincoln realized the then much smaller nation needed a unity government and so Lincoln created a unity government - his Team of Rivals. Which, in my opinion, should be viewed as a gathering of a majority, not unlike a multi-party country like Italy or Germany.

To top it off, John McCain has also been sucked into this Obama silliness too. John McCain is promising Obama assistance and cooperation too.

Now maybe, just maybe, this is "change" in the sense of people putting aside differences to get something done. IF this is the case, it will take my cynical heart a while to thaw out for the refreshing new car smell. But I smell something different...

I smell a future scapegoat for Obama to pin any failure on. It's insane that Hillary or Bill would fall for this obvious trap. Trap or good will, it doesn't matter which because her fate is now tied to Obama's.

Could have been funnier though. He could have picked John Kerry.

Auto Bail Out

The press for a federal bailout of the auto industry increased over the weekend.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said in a letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson that the Bush administration should consider expanding the $700 billion financial rescue to include car companies.

"A healthy automobile manufacturing sector is essential to the restoration of financial market stability," they wrote.

Over the weekend I was presented with the following argument on why it is a good idea to bail out the failing American Auto Industry...

Consider the following:

Let's say a 2 pack a day, overweight man comes into the ER with a heart attack - the doctors and nurses will do everything they can to bring that guy back to life. However, afterwards, the medical team tell him that he has to change his lifestyle to be healthier and to prevent having to come back into the ER, or worse, just drop dead. Because we're not going to do this again.

I thought that over, and considered it the best argument for saving the Big Three American dinosaur auto makers. Of course, the consequences of allowing the market forces to knock Ford, GM and Chrysler completely out of business would result in an immediate 3 million souls on Unemployment and would knock this little 'down turn' in to full blown Depression 2.0. Reagan agreed to "bail out" Chrysler in the 80's with a loan from the Federal Government. Lee Iacocca reasoned that the number of people tied to the auto industry was enormous. Perhaps it was the first 'too big to fail' argument. In fact, it wasn't even a loan - but Congress lent Chrysler the money and only guaranteed the loans.

But who, exactly, needs the bail out now?

The Detroit bailout is exactly what it looks like: a huge subsidy to several remarkably inefficient but politically well-protected firms. As a matter of economic theory, there is no reason the U.S. needs to make cars at all. As it happens, the U.S has an incredibly skilled labor force good at making complex things like cars, and it makes a hell of a lot of them very well and very efficiently. It’s just that the companies mostly responsible for great US autos are not headquartered in Detroit. Look at the success of Toyota and Honda in 'right to work states'.

There are plenty of factors for the Big Three's failure - Bloated hulking infrastructure, lack of innovation in gas millage and green tech. There's a lack of a good sedan: SUV and trucks were the basis of the black in the balance sheet - and when those sales dropped due to gasoline spikes, there was nothing to fall back on. Executive compensation can be thrown in there. And there's more. But why, specifically is GM asking for 10 Billion to buy Chrysler?

General Motors and Cerberus Capital Management have asked the U.S. government for roughly $10 billion in an unprecedented rescue package to support a merger between GM and Chrysler, two sources with direct knowledge of the talks said on Monday.

The government funding would include roughly $3 billion in exchange for preferred stock in the merged automaker.

The U.S. Treasury Department is considering a request for direct aid to facilitate the merger.

An injection of $3 billion in equity to support a GM acquisition of Chrysler would be roughly equivalent to the current, depressed value of the top U.S. automaker.

The taxpayer is being asked to help with a buy-out, not a bail-out?

But a larger issue that no one has mentioned - is that the bail out isn't for the corporations - it's for the labor that works there. Why else would the Democratic President-elect and the Democratic Congress be falling all over each other to protect the Big Three in Detroit? It's not (just) a case of corporate welfare, it's a grab for votes in the rust belt.

I ask, isn't this just a subsidy to the UAW?

Bush Shocker

President George W. Bush poses with members of the Arizona State University Men's and Women's Track Team Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2008, during a photo opportunity with 2008 NCAA Sports Champions at the White House. White House photo by Eric Draper




Uh... someone told them that was something else... right?

Not the Kind of Change We Were Looking For

Food Riots, Tax Rebellions By 2012...Trend forecaster, renowned for being accurate in the past, says totally clipped from live leak.com

The man who predicted the 1987 stock market crash and the fall of the Soviet Union is now forecasting revolution in America, food riots and tax rebellions - all within four years, while cautioning that putting food on the table will be a more pressing concern than buying Christmas gifts by 2012.

Gerald Celente, the CEO of Trends Research Institute, is renowned for his accuracy in predicting fut More..ure world and economic events, which will send a chill down your spine considering what he told Fox News this week.

Celente says that by 2012 America will become an undeveloped nation, that there will be a revolution marked by food riots, squatter rebellions, tax revolts and job marches, and that holidays will be more about obtaining food, not gifts.

"We're going to see the end of the retail Christmas....we're going to see a fundamental shift take place....putting food on the table is going to be more important that putting gifts under the Christmas tree," said Celente, adding that the situation would be "worse than the great depression".

"America's going to go through a transition the likes of which no one is prepared for," said Celente, noting that people's refusal to acknowledge that America was even in a recession highlights how big a problem denial is in being ready for the true scale of the crisis.

Celente, who successfully predicted the 1997 Asian Currency Crisis, the subprime mortgage collapse and the massive devaluation of the U.S. dollar, told UPI in November last year that the following year would be known as "The Panic of 2008," adding that "giants (would) tumble to their deaths," which is exactly what we have witnessed with the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and others. He also said that the dollar would eventually be devalued by as much as 90 per cent.

The consequence of what we have seen unfold this year would lead to a lowering in living standards, Celente predicted a year ago, which is also being borne out by plummeting retail sales figures.

The prospect of revolution was a concept echoed by a British Ministry of Defence report last year, which predicted that within 30 years, the growing gap between the super rich and the middle class, along with an urban underclass threatening social order would mean, "The world's middle classes might unite, using access to knowledge, resources and skills to shape transnational processes in their own class interest," and that, "The middle classes could become a revolutionary class."

In a separate recent interview, Celente went further on the subject of revolution in America.

"There will be a revolution in this country," he said. "It’s not going to come yet, but it’s going to come down the line and we’re going to see a third party and this was the catalyst for it: the takeover of Washington, D. C., in broad daylight by Wall Street in this bloodless coup. And it will happen as conditions continue to worsen."

"The first thing to do is organize with tax revolts. That’s going to be the big one because people can’t afford to pay more school tax, property tax, any kind of tax. You’re going to start seeing those kinds of protests start to develop."

"It’s going to be very bleak. Very sad. And there is going to be a lot of homeless, the likes of which we have never seen before. Tent cities are already sprouting up around the country and we’re going to see many more."

"We’re going to start seeing huge areas of vacant real estate and squatters living in them as well. It’s going to be a picture the likes of which Americans are not going to be used to. It’s going to come as a shock and with it, there’s going to be a lot of crime. And the crime is going to be a lot worse than it was before because in the last 1929 Depression, people’s minds weren’t wrecked on all these modern drugs – over-the-counter drugs, or crystal meth or whatever it might be. So, you have a huge underclass of very desperate people with their minds chemically blown beyond anybody’s comprehension."

"When CNN wants to know about the Top Trends, we ask Gerald Celente."
— CNN Headline News

"A network of 25 experts whose range of specialties would rival many university faculties."
— The Economist

"Gerald Celente has a knack for getting the zeitgeist right."
— USA Today

"There’s not a better trend forecaster than Gerald Celente. The man knows what he’s talking about."
- CNBC

"Those who take their predictions seriously ... consider the Trends Research Institute."
— The Wall Street Journal

"Gerald Celente is always ahead of the curve on trends and uncannily on the mark ... he's one of the most accurate forecasters around."
— The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"Mr. Celente tracks the world’s social, economic and business trends for corporate clients."
— The New York Times

"Mr. Celente is a very intelligent guy. We are able to learn about trends from an authority."
— 48 Hours, CBS News

"Gerald Celente has a solid track record. He has predicted everything from the 1987 stock market crash and the demise of the Soviet Union to green marketing and corporate downsizing."
— The Detroit News

"Gerald Celente forecast the 1987 stock market crash, ‘green marketing,’ and the boom in gourmet coffees."
— Chicago Tribune

"The Trends Research Institute is the Standard and Poors of Popular Culture."
— The Los Angeles Times

"If Nostradamus were alive today, he'd have a hard time keeping up with Gerald Celente."
— New York Post

(no word on all the stuff he's been wrong about, notes the Cap'n)
Hardly a nutjob conspiracy theorist blowhard now is he? The price of not heeding his warnings will be far greater than the cost of preparing for the future now. Storable food and gold are two good places to make a start,

Weapons and ammunition would be a better place to start - then you can take all the food and gold you want.

A little revolution now and then is a good thing; the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. - Thomas Jefferson, 1787

There you have it. Prepare to plow your yard into a garden - hope you haven't been pouring chemicals into it all these years - buy some guns, some food and pile up the gold. And one thing the original story forgot to mention:
yeah, there will be zombies. (Go on! Click on the link!)

Paulson's New Plan

"I have altered the plan, pray I don't alter it further"

Can't Lose Them All

Here's the map of how the election turned out - county by county.

If you didn't know were the urban areas were, you'd think this thing was a lot different than how it actually panned out. Below is the 2004 map... and not a whole lot of difference?

Click on them both to make 'em huge.

Veterans Day

F Bomb

Former GOP Congressman and now cable TV commentator Joe Scarborough has a long history of fighting against obscene words on TV.

• In 2003, Scarborough was incensed that the FCC refused to impose fines on ABC when Bono used “the F word” during a live broadcast of the Golden Globe Awards. Scarborough even claimed that because of his proper upbringing he didn’t use such words.
  
  
• In 2006, Scarborough hosted a show that attacked Barbra Streisand for using the F word when speaking about President Bush.
  
  
• Most famously Scarborough led the charge against the infamous 2004 Super Bowl Janet Jackson halftime show, insisting that the FCC chairman Michael Powell hit CBS with massive fines or be fired. “But I have got to say, that’s the problem, not just being exposed to Janet Jackson, but being exposed to the F-bomb several times from rock stars at award shows, from actresses at award shows. Unbelievable.”

So you probably can guess where this is going. This morning Joe Scarborough said “f*ck you” on TV when talking about Obama’s appointment of Rahm Emanuel as Chief of Staff:

The funniest thing about it is that he didn’t seem to realize that he had actually said it until the other people on the show started tittering and blushing.

From Glenn Greenwald.

Gun Sales Soar Following Election

Bitter Clingers Cling Harder: Gun Sales Soar Following Obama Election

So OBVIOUSLY the immediate knee jerk reaction to the headline is that the 'racist rednecks' who didn't get their guy are arming up...

Read the article. Leave an comment below

MIDLOTHIAN, Va. — When 10-year-old Austin Smith heard Barack Obama had been elected president, he had one question: Does this mean I won't get a new gun for Christmas?

That brought his mother, the camouflage-clad Rachel Smith, to Bob Moates Sports Shop on Thursday, where she was picking out that special 20-gauge shotgun —one of at least five weapons she plans to buy before Obama takes office in January.

Like Smith, gun enthusiasts nationwide are stocking up on firearms out of fears that the combination of an Obama administration and a Democrat-dominated Congress will result in tough new gun laws.

"I think they're going to really try to crack down on guns and make it harder for people to try to purchase them," said Smith, 32, who taught all five of her children — ages 4 to 10 — to shoot because the family relies on game for food.

Last month, as an Obama win looked increasingly inevitable, there were 62,000 more background checks for gun purchases than in October 2007, a 25 percent increase. And they were up about 8 percent for the year as of Oct. 26, according to the FBI.

No data was available for gun purchases this week, but gun shops from suburban Virginia to the Rockies report record sales since Tuesday's election.

"They're scared to death of losing their rights," said David Hancock, manager of Bob Moates, where sales have nearly doubled in the past week and are up 15 percent for the year. On Election Day, salespeople were called in on their day off because of the crowd.

Obama has said he respects Americans' Second Amendment right to bear arms, but that he favors "common sense" gun laws. Gun rights advocates interpret that as meaning he'll at least enact curbs on ownership of assault and concealed weapons.

As a U.S. Senator, Obama voted to leave gun-makers and dealers open to lawsuits; and as an Illinois state legislator, he supported a ban on semiautomatic weapons and tighter restrictions on all firearms.

Gun advocates take some solace in the current makeup of the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled 5-4 this summer to strike down the District of Columbia's 32-year ban on handguns. For now, gun rights supporters hold a narrow edge on the court, but Obama could appoint justices who would swing it the other way.

Franklin Gun Shop outside Nashville, Tenn., sold more than 70 guns on Tuesday, making it the biggest sales day since the shop opened eight years ago. Guns & Gear in Cheyenne, Wyo., also set a one-day sales record on Tuesday, only to break that mark on Wednesday.

Stewart Wallin, owner of Get Some Guns in the Salt Lake City suburb of Murray, Utah, said he sold nine assault weapons the day after Obama was elected. That same day, the gun store Cheaper Than Dirt! in Fort Worth, Texas, sold $101,000 worth of merchandise, shattering its single-day sales record, store owner DeWayne Irwin said.

One Georgia gun shop advertised an "Obama sale" on an outdoor sign, but the owner took it down after people complained that the shop appeared to be issuing a call to violence against the country's first black leader.

The president of a Montana gun manufacturer stepped down last month after word that he supported Obama led to calls for a boycott of the company.

While Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, attributes some of the sales boom to the tanking economy, he thinks the Democratic sweep is the top reason why guns are suddenly a hot commodity.

"I don't think he'll be able to stand up to that anti-Second Amendment wing of the Democratic party that's just been spoiling for chance to ban America's guns," LaPierre said of Obama.

During the campaign, the NRA warned that Obama would be the "most antigun president in American history." And while Vice President-elect Joe Biden owns shotguns, he has supported a ban on assault weapons and has said private sellers at gun shows should be required to perform background checks.

But Mark Tushnet, a Harvard Law School professor who has written a book about the gun debate, said new firearms regulations will be a low priority for an Obama administration and Democratic Congress facing a global economic crisis and two wars.

"Maybe the gun-show loophole will be closed, but not much else," he said in an e-mail. "I'd be surprised, for example, if Congress enacted a new assault gun ban."

Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said his organization will continue to press for what he calls "sensible" restrictions - background checks at gun shows, a ban on military-style assault weapons and cracking down on illegal gun trade. He believes he has the backing of the new administration on those issues, but any fears of a broader crackdown are unfounded.

"The one thing that they agree strongly with us on is that it's too easy for dangerous people to get guns in this country," Helmke said. "I guess if you're a dangerous person you might want to run out there and buy some more, but otherwise you should be OK."

© 2008 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Phhhibbthhhh!

Spirit

Please keep the following two things in mind before commenting on this post. 1) These are high school girls and 2) They're from Canada. That's not an excuse or an explanation for why they stripped down to their panties, duct taped their boobs, and streaked across a football field in the middle of a game, but it's just something to keep in mind. The real reason they did it is much simpler to understand—they're the cheerleading squad.

Apparently, this has become a bit of a tradition for the final home game at South Delta Secondary School in Delta, British Columbia. The girls somehow think that running into the opponent's huddle with cans of silly string and without their decency will distract and confuse the players, leading their own team to victory. (It worked, btw.) But some folks are mighty P.O.ed...

[Principal Ted] Johnson said he warned students last month not to streak at this year's final game of the season but was, obviously, ignored. Many parents and children left the game in disgust after the prank, he said.

"Our position is one that we don't celebrate this. We don't find it funny," he said.

You're darn tootin'! In fact, he's so upset that he told the cheerleaders in no uncertain terms that he will definitely suspend them ... next time. This one's gonna slide, but no streaking for at least a good month or so. Tough, but fair.

Hat tip to J from Chi and Deadspin for bringing this Friday gigglefest/jigglefest to our attention.

Obama Supporters: The Aftermath

Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are
And their last line about babies being named after Barack is coming true, except that people are actually naming their babies “Obama”.

Hackers & Behind the Scenes

Newsweek has released highlights of its Special Election Project, which allowed reporters to gather behind-the-scenes information on the presidential campaigns with an agreement that none of their reporting would be published until after Election Day.

You can read a summary of their report here, and the first chapter of their book here.

Highlights from NEWSWEEK's special election project

--The computer systems of both the Obama and McCain campaigns were both victims of sophisticated cyberattacks by an unknown "foreign entity," prompting a federal investigation.

-- McCain rarely spoke to Palin during the campaign and aides kept him in the dark about the details of her spending on clothes because they were sure he would be offended. Palin asked to speak along with McCain at his Arizona concession speech but campaign strategist Steve Schmidt vetoed the request.

-- The Obama campaign was provided with reports from the Secret Service showing a sharp and very disturbing increase in threats to Obama in September and early October, at the same time that the crowds at Palin rallies became more frenzied. Michelle Obama was shaken by the vituperative crowds and the hot rhetoric from the GOP candidates. "Why would they try to make people hate us?" Michelle Obama said to a top campaign aide.

-- On the Sunday night before the last debate, McCain's core group of advisers--Steve Schmidt, Rick Davis, adman Fred Davis, strategist Greg Strimple, pollster Bill McInturff and strategy director Sarah Simmons -- met to decide whether or not to tell McCain that the race was effectively over, that he no longer had a chance to win. The consensus in the room was no, not yet, not while he still had "a pulse."

-- The Obama campaign's "New Media" experts created a computer program that would allow a "flusher"--the term for a volunteer who rounds up nonvoters on Election Day--to know exactly who had, and had not, voted in real time. They dubbed it Project Houdini, because of the way names disappear off the list instantly once people are identified as they wait in line at their local polling station.

-- Palin launched her attack on Obama's association with William Ayers, the former Weather Underground bomber, before the campaign had finalized a plan to raise the issue. McCain's advisers were working on a strategy that they hoped to unveil the following week, but McCain had not signed off on it, and top adviser Mark Salter was resisting.

-- McCain also was reluctant to use Obama's incendiary pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright as a campaign issue. He had set firm boundaries: no Jeremiah Wright; no attacking Michelle Obama; no attacking Obama for not serving in the military. McCain balked at an ad using images of children that suggested that Obama might not protect them from terrorism; Schmidt vetoed ads suggesting that Obama was soft on crime (no Willie Hortons); and before word even got to McCain, Schmidt and Salter scuttled a "celebrity" ad of Obama dancing with talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres (the sight of a black man dancing with a lesbian was deemed too provocative).

-- Obama was never inclined to choose Sen. Hillary Clinton as his running mate, not so much because she had been his sometime bitter rival on the campaign trail, but because of her husband. Still, as Hillary's name came up in veep discussions, and Obama's advisers gave all the reasons why she should be kept off the ticket, Obama would stop and ask, "Are we sure?" He needed to be convinced one more time that the Clintons would do more harm than good. McCain, on the other hand, was relieved to face Biden as the veep choice, and not Hillary Clinton, whom the McCain camp had truly feared.

-- McCain was dumbfounded when Congressman John Lewis, a civil-rights hero, issued a press release comparing McCain with former Alabama Gov. George Wallace, a segregationist infamous for stirring racial fears. McCain had devoted a chapter to Lewis in one of his books, "Why Courage Matters" and had so admired Lewis that he had once taken his children to meet him.

-- The debates unnerved both candidates. When he was preparing for the Democratic primary debates, Obama was recorded saying, "I don't consider this to be a good format for me, which makes me more cautious. I often find myself trapped by the questions and thinking to myself, 'You know, this is a stupid question, but let me ... answer it.' So when Brian Williams is asking me about what's a personal thing that you've done [that's green], and I say, you know, 'Well, I planted a bunch of trees.' And he says, 'I'm talking about personal.' What I'm thinking in my head is, 'Well, the truth is, Brian, we can't solve global warming because I f---ing changed light bulbs in my house. It's because of something collective'."

The Day After the Election

The Day After...

It's Over!

Holy Election Day News, Batman!

*most links cutn'pasted from NewsMax at 11:00 PM (officially before 'election day')

• McCain Tied in Key States
• Backtrack on Obama Remarks
• McCain Sues to Ensure Military Vote Count
• McCain Defies Age in 22-hour Sprint
• Obama, McCain on What to Change in Sports
• Palin Cleared in Troopergate Probe
• Coal Officials Blast Obama Over Remarks
• Early Voting Pays Off for Obama Team
• Reid Says Stevens Cannot Stay in Senate
• AP Warns: McCain Could Win Electoral College
• Beleaguered Murtha Loses Ground in Pennsylvania
• Don King Backs Obama, Praises Bush (wut?)
  
• Bob Barr Eyes Swing States for 'Real Impact'
• Suits Loom if Key Ohio Presidential Vote Is Close
• IBD/TIPP Tracking Poll: Obama Up 4.5 Points
• Bush Out of Sight Until After Election
• 'O'Biden' Plays Up Working-class, Catholic Roots
• Zogby Poll: Obama Close to Win
• Obama, McCain Eye Administration Teams
• California Prepares for Showdown on Gay Marriage
• Al Franken: Reagan Administration 'Racist, Sexist'
• Schumer: 60 Senate Seats Possible but Unlikely
• Danforth: Democrats 'Cry Wolf' on Vote Schemes
• IBD Poll: McCain Only 2 Points Behind
• Poll: Obama Fails to Gain Among Churchgoers
• Karl Rove predicts Obama landslide.
  
• Bonus: Despite the fact that Rove calls deadheat states for McCain

Just a side note: Obama was winning NH for an entire 3 days before the election.

Personally, I think the 8-10% "undecided" are actually people who voted for Bush the second time and don't want to admit it to a pollster or an Obama canvaser knocking at their door. Especially in a swing state. Every single ad is for a politician in those places. They're REALLY sick of the election and being asked what or who they're voting for. In fact, some of them will make stuff up on purpose. No, really.

Bottom line: In an election year that's defied conventional wisdom time and again, remember that anything can happen.

Stupid Gaffs and Utterances from Obama

Let's have fun and pretend that the following are simply gaffs and dumb utterances from the Obama campaign...

Audio: Obama Tells SF Chronicle He Will Bankrupt Coal Industry
Pssst. If this gets out, there goes Pennsylvania....

So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can.
It's just that it will bankrupt them.

How could this statement by Obama bankrupting the coal industry been kept under wraps until now?? Oh well, that's old news...

Then there's this other one that was sent in by a reader that scares the crap out of me.

Obama plans 'Civilian National Security Force'

Uh, let me check my history book here... look under Germany... Hey! Isn't a 'civilian police force' the Gestapo?

And let's not forget the most idiotic thing I've heard since Hillary was in it... "Ask your boss for the day off"

It's almost over