Crony Chicago Politics

So there's a growing scandal with what actually went wrong with Solyndra. Mr. Obama put it on the pedistal for his green jobs inititive and gave them, I don't know, a half a billion dollars, and shortly after - the FBI raided it. Who sent them? Why? What'd they find? Oh, who cares? No one does investigative reporting anymore.

Despite all that, just yesterday the Department of Energy approved $1 billion in new loans to green energy companies -- including a $737 million loan guarantee to a company known as SolarReserve.

SolarReserve LLC, a closely held renewable energy developer, received a $737 million U.S. Energy Department loan guarantee to build a solar-thermal project in Nevada.

The 110-megawatt Crescent Dunes project, near Tonopah, Nevada, will use the sun’s heat to create steam that drives a turbine, the agency said today in a e-mailed statement. SolarReserve is based in Santa Monica, California.

Oh, and, just a funny little coincidence - but the place is owned by Nancy Pelosi's brother-in-law. I know there's a growing movement to occupy Wall Street - but, come on gang! This is Chicago Politics on the National Stage. When are folks going to wake up and see this?

And as far as my friends in Liberty Park - If you think Congress is going to start-up some trials to put their fraternity brothers in jail, you need to put down the pipe for a minute and think about occupying the Imagination Playground four blocks east.

Start with Congress. Make them accountable.

American Born Anwar al-Awlaki Killed in Yemen

Before everyone raises their glasses and has some bacon to celebrate, let me remind you that he was still a US Citizen. The US has killed one of their own, traitorous and enemy of the State - yes, but with no trial or due process. He was an "enemy combatant," but not in the sense that he was holding a gun to American troops. Sure he sent emails and was in direct contact with the Fort Hood shooter, and did a whole pile of bad things - but he was not brought before a jury and tried as an American citizen.

But wait, hold on, he 'might' have been killed by Yemeni forces. Oh, well, then in that case Eric Holder's off the hook and carry on then.

Iran... Iran so far away...

Al-Qaeda has accused Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of spreading "conspiracy theories" about the 9/11 attacks in 2001. 

Inspire, an al-Qaeda-linked online magazine, described Mr Ahmadinejad's controversial speech to the United Nations last week as "ridiculous". The Iranian leader said he believed the World Trade Center towers could not have been brought down by aircraft.

The article said such a belief "stands in the face of all logic and evidence". Entitled "Iran and the Conspiracy Theories", the Inspire article said Iran used the theory "as a rallying call for the millions of Muslims around the world who despise America". Iran "is a collaborator with the US when it suits it" nonetheless, the Yemen-based author said.

 There have been sharp sectarian tensions between mainly Shia Iran and Sunni Muslim al-Qaeda - although are both fiercely opposed to US influence. Yeah, they're jealous. This is only slightly less hillarious because, yeah, you guessed it -- The Onion already did it.
9/11 Conspiracy Theories 'Ridiculous,' Al Qaeda Says

And speaking of funny... and I guess this really should be titled "Iran not-so Far Away" : Iran’s Navy says it will establish a presence near US borders “the same way that the world arrogant power” has a presence near Iran.

Now, before you fall on the floor laughing at this absurd comment... MockMood and Chavez are good pals. And who says we're not teeing up for a Venezuela-styled Cuban Missile Crisis? Hey gang! Let's get ready for 6 shooting wars!

Magic Thinking: David Boaz Makes the Case for Libertarianism

Executive Vice President David Boaz addresses a Student Forum on October 29, 2010 at the Cato Institute. Boaz is the author of "Libertarianism: A Primer"  "The Politics of Freedom: Taking on the Left, the Right, and Threats to Our Liberties", and is editor of "The Libertarian Reader", a collection of essays from Lao-Tzu to Milton Friedman.

Quick Quiz

Good Advice

I know a couple folks who could use this advice.

NC Gov Recommends Suspending Democracy

As a way to solve the national debt crisis, North Carolina Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue recommends suspending Congressional elections for the next couple of years. 

“I think we ought to suspend, perhaps, elections for Congress for two years and just tell them we won’t hold it against them, whatever decisions they make, to just let them help this country recover,” Perdue said at a rotary club event in Cary, North Carolina, according to the Raleigh News and Observer.

“I really hope that someone can agree with me on that.” Perdue said she thinks that temporarily halting elections would allow members of Congress to focus on the economy. “You have to have more ability from Congress, I think, to work together and to get over the partisan bickering and focus on fixing things,” Perdue said.

An update to this story: Perdue press secretary Chris Mackey claims the governor was joking when she made the comment.

 “Come on … Gov. Perdue was obviously using hyperbole to highlight what we can all agree is a serious problem: Washington politicians who focus on their own election instead of what’s best for the people they serve,” Mackey said in an email.

Read more

Yeah, that's REAL funny. Funny in the head. If a Republican had made that suggestion - 'scuse me, "joke" - I doubt it would be simply laughed off.

UPDATE 2: Doesn't sound like stand-up material to me. You decide for yourself. There's audio:

China Kickstarts New Space Race

Since they were were left off the guest list to join the ISS, China's decided to go it alone. They're going to launch the first module of it's very own space station, the Tiangong (Heavenly Palace), by the end of this month. The initial launch will be unmanned, delivering an 8.5-ton module ready for docking practice and other interactions with three more spacecraft that are planned to join it later this year.

Pegged for completion by 2020 and with a complete weight of over 60 tons, the Tiangong will look positively petite compared to the hulking 419-ton ISS, but is also said to be significantly cheaper. Sure, Chinese labor and zero safety makes it a pennies to the dollar!

Just hope that goes a little better than their high-speed rail project, eh?

The jokes on the rest of the world, they'll build space stations to build space ships -- which is what the US had originally intended to do way back in 1972 with the Shuttle program. [Citation needed, but I saw it on a conceptual animation that also said we'd have bases on the moon by 2001]

Chick'n Dinner? Oh hells yeah!

I've never been that excited about Holiday Inn's Chick'n Dinner. I think they Photoshopped the mom's cigarette.

Lies! And Also Lies!

Sarah Palin is threatening to sue over a new book that he says defames the Palins and contains "a series of lies and rumors:.

John Tiemessen, in a letter to the publisher of Crown Publishing Group today, cites an email that author Joe McGinniss allegedly sent a blogger in January seeking substantiation for several rumors that have surrounded Mrs Palin's family. That email was posted online last week by Andrew Breitbart.

Tiemessen says McGinniss' book, The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin, contains "most of" the stories that merely "amounted to the wishful fantasies of disturbed individuals".

What the hell is everyone afraid of with Sarah? And what the hell is she doing in that picture?

"Fifteen is my limit on schnitzengruben, baby!"

 

The Truth Sneaks Out?

BBC Speechless As Trader Tells Truth: "The Collapse Is Coming...And Goldman Rules The World"
Smells like a prank? Nope: Robert Preston, Biz editor of BBC, just tweeted: "We spoke to the trader again this morning, & as far as we can tell he is a genuine independent trader, not a member of YesMen"

Eiher way - I found this article interesting - Living through a collapse is a curious experience. Perhaps the most curious part is that nobody wants to admit it's a collapse

Wall Street Hippies

Many downtown workers encountered demonstrators last week at Zuccotti Park, some with a group called Occupy Wall Street.

"Occupy Wall Street, a noble but fractured and airy movement of rightly frustrated young people, had a default ambassador in a half-naked woman who called herself Zuni Tikka. A blonde with a marked likeness to Joni Mitchell and a seemingly even stronger wish to burrow through the space-time continuum and hunker down in 1968, Ms. Tikka had taken off all but her cotton underwear and was dancing on the north side of Zuccotti Park, facing Liberty Street, just west of Broadway. Tourists stopped to take pictures; cops smiled, and the insidiously favorable tax treatment of private and hedge-fund managers was looking as though it would endure." [source pic and text]

But as usual, even though their intentions were great - they were disjointed, mis-messaged, had zero media presence or reason for the media to give a flying fart. Reason number one? There's no violence. Hate to say it, but violence sells car commercials and beer. The guy on stills might get a mention on Fark.com, maybe the Huffington Post.

You'd never know that the protest got its start because a bunch of people on Wall Street crashed the economy through criminal negligence and not a single arrest or conviction has been made. The SEC has apparently destroyed evidence to protect the guilty, and they're the regulators. Oops!

Ever wonder why the media doesn't cover hippie drum circles? Especially the one that's infesting Wall Street? There are only 6 real media outlets - and they're all media multi-conglomerates. ABC/Disney, NBC/Comcast, CBS, Viacom, Time Warner, and News Corp. If they took a camera down there, that'd only make the drum circles louder, and piss off their broker. And owners.

Besides, doesn't anyone have a Slayer disk in lower Manhattan? That'll clear that hippie problem up in no time. Or maybe a soap and water canon?

Czarist Russia

Russian President Dmitry A. Medvedev said, as a total shock to everyone, that he will step aside after one term as president, and called on the ruling United Russia party to endorse Vladimir V. Putin for the post.

Like a Democrat in Chicago, it's almost certain that Putin will return to the presidency.

Medvedev said he intends to continue to work in the government, with a focus on modernization and anti-corruption efforts. Medvedev, who became president in 2008 when Putin had to leave the office because of term limits, always has been seen as Putin’s protégé, or Smither's to Putin's Mr. Burns.

Putin became prime minister, and has continued to hold the reins of power here.

Reminder, that Russia's only real exports are arms and energy, and still has massive infrastructure, corruption and transportation issues that could still completely ruin the nation.

Of course, the Russians could always vote for someone else... yeah, just like in Chicago. The Czar hasn't returned, he never left.

Jail... or Church

The city of Bay Minette, Alabama, has launched a new initiative that allows non-violent offenders to choose between doing time behind bars, or spending their Sundays at church.

The initiative, called Operation Restore Our Community, will ostensibly reduce the financial burden of locking up convicted criminals by allowing them to work off their sentence at a church of their choice.
Offenders must check in with their pastor and the police department on a weekly basis. If they attend church every Sunday for a year, their case will be dismissed.

Bay Minette Police Chief Mike Rowland says the program is not in violation of church-state separation laws because the choice between church and jail is left up to the offenders. Uh, sure. I wonder how the ACLU and the Federal Courts will think of that? They'll probably have to be forced to have this read to them, outloud, with the bailiff pulling their fingers out of their ears...

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Think of the cash this is going to cost Bay Minette to defend this monstrosity? A lot more than putting these non-violent offenders in the lockup for a couple months. What happened to community service as an option?

Imperial Truther

Was it an inside job?

1) Why were a handful of rebel fighters able to penetrate the defenses of a battle station that had the capability of destroying an entire planet and the defenses to ward off several fleets of battle ships?

2) Why did Grand Moff Tarkin refuse to deploy the station's large fleet of TIE Fighters until it was too late? Was he acting on orders from somebody to not shoot down the rebel attack force? If so, who, and why?

3) Why was the rebel pilot who supposedly destroyed the Death Star reported to be on the Death Star days, maybe hours, prior to its destruction? Why was he allowed to escape, and why were several individuals dressed in Stormtrooper uniforms seen helping him?

4) Why has there not been an investigation into allegations that Darth Vader, the second-ranking member of the Imperial Government, is in fact the father of the pilot who allegedly destroyed the Death Star?

5) Why did Lord Vader decide to break all protocols and personally pilot a lightly armored TIE Fighter? Conveniently, this placed Lord Vader outside of the Death Star when it was destroyed, where he was also conveniently able to escape from a large-sized rebel fleet that had just routed the Imperial forces. Why would Lord Vader, one of the highest ranking members of the Imperial Government, suddenly decide to fly away from the Death Star in the middle of a battle? Did he know something that the rest of the Imperial Navy didn't?

6) How could any pilot shoot a missile into a 2 meter-wide exhaust port, let alone a pilot with no formal training, whose only claim to fame was his ability to "bullseye womprats" on Tatooine? This shot, according to one pilot, would be "impossible, even for a computer." Yet, according to additional evidence, the pilot who allegedly fired the missile turned off his targeting computer when he was supposedly firing the shot that destroyed the Death Star. Why have these discrepancies never been investigated, let alone explained?

7) Why has their been no investigation into evidence that the droids who provided the rebels with the Death Star plans were once owned by none other than Lord Vader himself, and were found, conveniently, by the pilot who destroyed the Death Star, and who is also believed to be Lord Vader's son? Evidence also shows that the droids were brought to one Ben Kenobi, who, records indicate, was Darth Vader's teacher many years earlier! Are all these personal connections between the conspirators and a key figure in the Imperial government supposed to be coincidences?

8) How could a single missile destroy a battle station the size of a moon? No records, anywhere, show that any battle station or capital ship has ever been destroyed by a single missile. Furthermore, analysis of the tape of the last moments of the Death Star show numerous small explosions along its surface, prior to it exploding completely! Why does all evidence indicate that strategically placed explosives, not a single missile, is what destroyed the Death Star?

9) Why did Emperor Palpatine continue reading "My Pet Bantha" to a class of young Sith after learning of the attack for FIVE FULL MINUTES?

Think about it.

Not mine - found it on the internet -- found another one here.

Senate Tees Up Shutdown

Now, try not to act surprised or upset - the Senate just blocked the House Spending Bill - which is going to shutdown the government. Crisis. Alarm. All that stuff we did three or four weeks ago.

So the Senate voted to reject the House’s stopgap spending bill, less than twelve hours after the House’s Republican leaders had forced it through on their second try.

The Senate vote was 59 to 36 to table the House bill, effectively killing it. Some conservative Republicans joined in rejecting the measure.

The House, in the wee hours of Friday morning, had passed its latest version of a stopgap spending bill after rejecting on Wednesday a nearly identical version of the legislation, which is needed to keep the government open after Sept. 30 and to provide assistance to victims of natural disasters. The House vote was 219 to 203.

Now - again, this is EXACTLY what the Republicans were elected to do. To shutdown the government. Yeah, it's pissing people off -- but not the people who pulled the lever to put the Republicans in there. The voters who want gridlock and shutdown see it as safer and better than the recluse Harry and Nancy days where they were rushing to get the signing pens without looking at whatever the hell they were jamming though. 

And all of this goes back to Harry and Nancy too -- they tabled their budget in order to put it around the new Republican's throats. All of this goes to that last couple weeks in 2010. Not a lot of people care to remember that.

I tend to think that a frozen government is hilarious.

Thoughts about Religion

Found on the internet, but man, do I agree with it.

Sant-o-monious

Rick Santorum's Comments on DADT at GOP Debate (VIDEO) Crowd Boos Gay Soldier's Question on 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'?" Really? You're booing a soldier fighting for your country? You're not even going to thank him for his service?

But that's not all. Earlier in the day: Santorum asks Google to clean up search results for his name Apparently if you do a google search, it isn't pretty. Not even close to NSFW. But, hold on, he's regulating what a private corporation can and cannot do? That's kind of hypocritical, isn't it?

Sant-o-monious. Similar to sanc·ti·mo·ni·ous. But with ten times the stupid. File under irrelevant, gay bashing homophobe, hypocrite and everything that is wrong him and with his party.

Epic Ad For Pastor Rick Perry

Rick Perry Campaign Ad "Proven Leadership"
Say what I will about Jesus's best friend, he makes one hellofa spot here. I'd like to see if this was cut by the same team that works with Michael Bay?

Actually, it's Tim Pawlenty's team -- despite Tim endorsing Romney.Politico confirms that filmmaker Lucas Baiano did indeed switch to Perry’s team. Pawlenty’s campaign videos had the same Michael Bay feel to them, with dramatic music, quick cuts, filtered shots, and thematic focus, and now we can expect similar ads from Perry. Well, at least folks in New Hampshire, Iowa and Florida.

Notice the big emphasis on "President Zero?" That might get some traction

Keep On Rockin the Free World...

Akron Children’s Hospital has opted to drop “OMG” from future advertising after a few complaints over its new billboard in the Montrose shopping area.  The billboard reads “OMG! There’s an Akron Children’s ER in Montrose!” and looks down upon the busy intersection of Route 18 and Cleveland-Massillon Road.  Blogger Cindy Orley felt the sign was a slam against God and began writing about it last week. She and her father, a local minister, voiced concerns to Children’s Hospital.  Hospital leaders say they meant no disrespect and received few complaints but, nevertheless, they will drop OMG from future advertisements.

I love how 1 Billion Christians are offended and persecuted because they're a minority. It's called the Christian Persecution Complex. And it's complicated because it's so hypocritical. Hey, lady who complained? Here's a solution, why don't you pay that hospital to take down the sign. The whole cost too, the marketers, copywriter, the stock image, the printer, the labor to put the sign up, the rent for the sign itself and the labor to take it down. Here's another thought, how about you get off the keyboard bitchin' about OMG and go volunteer at that hospital? Why not show some humanity and that Christian ethos you purport to cherish so well.

Elizabeth Warren

So there's this quote that's floating around the internet today... The liberal folks are really digging it as their answer to the conservatives.

And then I found another opinion, a more libertarian response to the same quote.

No word yet on what Jesus's thoughts are on this... oh wait, “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s” (“Ἀπόδοτε οὖν τὰ Καίσαρος Καίσαρι καὶ τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ τῷ Θεῷ”) (Matthew 22:21)

Nailed It

Week In Review

Let's get this out of the way right now: Here's a deleted scene of Luke and Leia about to do a little more than kiss?
 

And a whole pile of Star Wars cuts: Here on i09. I guess that's in honor of finding Tatooine in our own galaxy? I guess Hoth is Europa?

 Okay, time for the week in review.

 9/11 coverage. Bill Clinton delivered a speech, Paul Simon performed "The Sound of Silence," and a new memorial at Ground Zero opened to the public. Is the legacy of 9/11 going to be used for conservative exploitation, foreign policy, a simple explanation why the 4th Amendment is no longer in the
Constitution? Or is it simply the holiday after Labor Day that marks the beginning of the HalloweenThanksMas season?

 Republicans Rip Rick Perry. Ah, poor Rick. It's hard being the frontrunner, isn't it? Texas Gov. Rick Perry, best friend of Jesus and anyone with an open checkbook is in the lead. This week he got slammed over Social Security, immigration,foreign policy, and his record of (briefly) requiring young Texas girls to receive an STD vaccination. Rick is still king of the muck mountain, but Mitt Romney is grabbing for his cowboy boots. Will Rick stay on top by focusing on Obama - or is he just one open mic away from being the next Howard Dean? The media wants to know.

 Obama is out stumping for jobs -- mostly his. The economy is still in shambles and the nation's poverty rate at its highest point in nearly 20 years, Mr. Obama has been out stumping for his new slush fund - $447 billion jobs plan that would cut taxes, extend unemployment benefits, boost state aid, and fund infrastructure projects. Wait, wasn't that what the first stimulus was supposed to do? Well, guess what, this time he doesn't have Harry and Nancy ready to rubber stamp that sucker. More slush in this environment is only impressing Krugman, and he doesn't think it's enough.

Greece is about to default, but the Eurozone is pretending that their drunk uncle didn't steal their ATM card and crashed the car into a school bus of nuns. That's going to spread like crabs in a frat house.

USA SAT scores are down, which means Johnny America can't read, again. But can he text? Can he beat Gears of War 3 faster than his Korean counterpart? Do reading scores matter? Let me know -- because obviously you aren't reading this anyway.

Scandal and two special elections should make Obama and the Democrats Panic - Haven't you heard? There's an actual scandal that the media is paying some attention to! No, not Fast and Furious -- don't be silly. No, this one is the "allegedly" sketchy fast-tracking of a $535 million loan guarantee for green-tech firm Solyndra, which is now bankrupt and the target of an FBI raid. Oh, that can't be good. And the CEO went to the White House about 4 times to make sure the deal went through? How Chicago. And to add to the President's problems, they're blaming him for the 9th District's (Mr. Photogenic Weiner's, but if you read my post on the issue, it isn't *his*) vacant chair loss to a Republican. "Panic", says James Carville. Also, "fire a lot of people." Looks like there's a lot of Democrat high-ups who are wishing the Hillary would come back?

 Hopes for Mideast peace about as realistic as the Cubs winning the Series anytime soon. Egyptian protesters stormed Israel's embassy in Cairo, Israel pulled its entire diplomatic staff out. Real friendlylike. Anti-Israel anger is building like puss in a teenager's zit — and a looming U.N. vote next week on Palestinian statehood promises to further inflame the conflict. Why? Why Not! Expect US to veto -- which will piss people off, even though it's already a foregone conclusion. I wonder what an abstention would do. Would people stand around confused?

Facebook is taking on Twitter. No sooner did Twitter pass the 100-million-user milestone than Facebook counterattacked with a Twitter a "tedious" subscribe feature. Facebook is also reportedly delaying an eagerly anticipated IPO until late 2012 — perhaps until the flagging stock market regains its momentum. Meanwhile, supposed Facebook-killer Google+ has seen its numbers plummet just three months after its buzzy launch.

America eagerly anticipates the fall TV season With summer's re-run hell finally coming to an end, September promises to usher in a host of new TV offerings. Will Sarah Michelle Gellar's return to TV be as great as Buffy? No.

Could Christina Applegate's and Job's Up All Night become one of TV's "funniest family sitcoms"? Sure, let's put it up there with Cheers and All in the Family before I've seen it. And they're going to hand out Emmy's to congratulate each other, for something? Ah hell, I just am waiting for Fringe and Breaking Bad on DVD. I can wait.

See you here next week, gang.

Ford Gets Political

Ford Drive One "Press Conference: Chris" Commercial -Directed by Fred Goss for Company Productions Ford makes their point with an actual customer. No bailouts - ala Government Motors, and keeps taking jabs.

Saturday Morning Cartoons

“Countdown” by ​Céline Desrumaux is inspirational. The short, which took over two years to make, is quite simply a masterpiece of composition, cutting, color and design.

CREDITS
Directing/design/animation/composting : Céline Desrumaux
Additional character animation : Florent Remize
Music : “Granulard bastard” from Apparat

And then of course, there's NASA's new cartoon:

The Space Launch System, or SLS, will be designed to carry the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, as well as important cargo, equipment and science experiments to Earth's orbit and destinations beyond. Additionally, the SLS will serve as a back up for commercial and international partner transportation services to the International Space Station.

The SLS rocket will incorporate technological investments from the Space Shuttle program and the Constellation program in order to take advantage of proven hardware and cutting-edge tooling and manufacturing technology that will significantly reduce development and operations costs. It will use a liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propulsion system, which will include the RS-25D/E from the Space Shuttle program for the core stage and the J-2X engine for the upper stage. SLS will also use solid rocket boosters for the initial development flights, while follow-on boosters will be competed based on performance requirements and affordability considerations. The SLS will have an initial lift capacity of 70 metric tons (mT) and will be evolvable to 130 mT. The first developmental flight, or mission, is targeted for the end of 2017.

The Space Launch System will be NASA's first exploration-class vehicle since the Saturn V took American astronauts to the moon over 40 years ago. With its superior lift capability, the SLS will expand our reach in the solar system and allow us to explore cis-lunar space, near-Earth asteroids, Mars and its moons and beyond. We will learn more about how the solar system formed, where Earth' water and organics originated and how life might be sustained in places far from our Earth's atmosphere and expand the boundaries of human exploration. These discoveries will change the way we understand ourselves, our planet, and its place in the universe.

A Geek Sophie's Choice

Man, that Great Recession is a bitch, ain't it Warlock?

Offended or Hilarious?

You'll Think They're Alive!

Want to watch the best ad you've ever seen, nay, will ever see for a local taxidermy shop? Look no longer!


Best Spot Evar

Beer Summit Two: Medal of Honor Edition

21-year-old Marine corporal Dakota Meyer, who is set to receive the Medal of Honor tomorrow, had one request for the staffer who called him in preparation for tomorrow’s ceremony: To arrange for him to have a beer with the President.

I wonder if this will help Mr. Obama remember Dakota's name better on the campaign trail? Nah, unlikely.

Weiner's Chair Goes to GOP

Weiner's "Chair" (And it's not Weiner's Chair - it's the People of NY's Chair, the 9th district - that is gerrymandered from parts of Queens and Brooklyn) has gone to a Republican. Why this is news is that the news agencies are flipping out that the district has a 3-1 Democrat registration bias, and has never sent a Democrat to D.C. Ever.

Retired media executive and political novice Bob Turner defeated Democratic state Assemblyman David Weprin on Tuesday in the special election to fill the seat vacated by Weiner, a seven-term Democrat who resigned in June.

"We've been asked by the people of this district to send a message to Washington," Turner told supporters after the landmark win. "I hope they hear it loud and clear. We've been told this is a referendum. Mr. President, we are on the wrong track. We have had it with an irresponsible fiscal policy which endangers the entire economy."

Is it a referendum on Mr. Obama? Sure, well, maybe? Perhaps be the folks there were so embarrassed by their jackass representative sending boner pictures to underage girls they just decided to put an adult in their chair to represent them? But back to the 'message to Obama, hey, wasn't just last November 2010 also that same message? The Shellacking? I love how the media still doesn't get it. It's damn near comical, and also dangerous and negligent.

Oh, worth mentioning... In Nevada, the Republican Party picked up another win, as Republican Mark Amodei easily bested Democrat Kate Marshall in the GOP-leaning 2nd District.

With last night's twin victories, the House split now stands at 242-192, advantage GOP.

Cults and Religion

Church of Scientology Faces Criminal Charges - But Not Why You Think

Church of Scientology faces criminal charges for underpaying workers

The Church of Scientology in Australia could face criminal charges and be forced to surrender millions of dollars in back pay after an investigation found it may have broken the law by severely underpaying workers. [More]

Perhaps it's Xenu's plan to treat his members like slaves while he makes millions? Xenu works in mysterious ways.

Protect the Bagpiper

 Protect the bagpiper at all cost.


via

Tea Party Debate Recap

Rick, I'm not going to be the Paul Tsongas to your Bill Clinton!

Take a chair there, Mr. Brainy McNerdy-Pants. Let me make some stuff up about how awesome I am.

Here's the facts Fact checks, that is.

Andrew Sprung on Rick Perry's debate performance:

In the GOP debate tonight, Perry doubled down on his slimy insinuation that Ben Bernanke's attempts to stimulate the economy with monetary policy are treasonous. This time he used the classic demagogic method of asserting that we have no way of knowing that an outrageous smear isn't true. Of Bernanke's motive for intimating that further monetary easing may be coming, he said "we don't know if it was political or not" -- i.e., whether Bernanke is motivated by trying to help Obama get re-elected. Never mind that the being accused of treason for following a given policy course by the leading presidential candidate of one party would constitute a perfectly good motive for trying to maintain the other in office. Or that Bernanke is a Republican, and a Bush appointee, and a student of the Great Depression whose entire corpus of published writings support a more radical course of easing than he's pursued. From smearing motive to charging treason -- that's the GOP way.

Rick Perry suggested secession as an option for Texas and hinted at lynching an official appointed by President Bush because of a policy disagreement. Wait, succession isn't treason?

Weeping Santa Jesus

I just found this:
“Remembering” by Fran Lagana-Brooks. From the “Weeping Santa” collection.

All I can think of when I see Super giant Jesus comforts weeping Santa, damn it - we haven't even had Halloween yet, people! Also, notice Jesus didn't leave any foot prints - walks on water, whether frozen or liquid.

Remember

LAST WORDS OF A TERRORIST
Mohamed Atta’s Four Page Letter

The Big Jobs Speech

Despite the seventeen times he said, "Pass this Bill," there was one particular line in Mr. Obama’s speech (PDF) that hit a nerve. Here attempted to define who we are:

"In fact, this larger notion that the only thing we can do to restore prosperity is just dismantle government, refund everyone’s money, let everyone write their own rules, and tell everyone they’re on their own – that’s not who we are. That’s not the story of America. 

Yes, we are rugged individualists. Yes, we are strong and self-reliant. And it has been the drive and initiative of our workers and entrepreneurs that has made this economy the engine and envy of the world. 

But there has always been another thread running throughout our history – a belief that we are all connected; and that there are some things we can only do together, as a nation."

We are all connected? It's ether something out of Marx; idea of the collective, or Nationalism, or the Borg from Star Trek. For me, it implied that we are of one, and the one is the government.

And, the other one in there, the rugged individualists? The only rugged individual Mr. Obama ever met was Joe the Plumber, and Mr. Obama didn't like him very much, if memory serves.

The AP did some fact checking on the speech - and they're finding more errors and problems with it than Rick Perry and Mitt Romney contorting their records the night before.

Meantime, he's going to have to raise taxes to pay for the original stimulus/slush fund bill that he and the Democratic Congress passed ten minutes into his Administration. Shovel ready jobs? It smells a lot like it was found coming out of horse's lower intestine now, doesn't it?

Also worth mentioning, sitting next to Mrs. Obama were CEOs that have been allies of the administration, including GE’s Jeff Immelt, who was appointed to be chair Obama’s Council on Jobs and  Competitiveness. Other corporate executives include Steve Case, the former AOL head, and American Express CEO Ken Chenault. Funny, George Kaiser wasn't?

GOP Debate

Michelle Bachmann, Mitt Romney and Rick Perry at last night's GOP Debate

Michelle: Ah come on, Mitt! That reeks!

Mitt: That wasn't me!

Rick: Heheheh!

The Postman's Dillema

The United States Postal Service has been living on a financial edge, but now they might not be able to make a $5.5 billion payment due this month and may have to shut down entirely this winter unless Congress takes emergency action to stabilize its finances. “Our situation is extremely serious,” the postmaster general, Patrick R. Donahoe, said in an interview. “If Congress doesn’t act, we will default.”

In recent weeks, Mr. Donahoe has been pushing a series of painful cost-cutting measures to erase the agency’s deficit, which will reach $9.2 billion this fiscal year. They include eliminating Saturday mail delivery, closing up to 3,700 postal locations and laying off 120,000 workers, nearly one-fifth of the agency’s work force. The post office’s problems stem from one hard reality: it is getting squeezed on both revenue and costs. Mostly because the Federal Government demands that it keep locations open that would otherwise be completely unprofitable or unfeasible.

Since you're reading this on a glowing screen and not a letter you already know why they're in as much trouble as the Telegraph operator and the typewriter repair man.

At the same time, decades of contractual promises made to unionized workers, including no-layoff clauses, are increasing the post office’s costs. Labor represents 80 percent of the agency’s expenses, compared with 53 percent at United Parcel Service and 32 percent at FedEx, its two biggest private competitors. Postal workers also receive more generous health benefits than most other federal employees.

Missing the $5.5 billion payment due on Sept. 30, intended to finance retirees’ future health care, won’t cause immediate disaster. But sometime early next year, the agency will run out of money to pay its employees and gas up its trucks, officials warn, forcing it to stop delivering the roughly three billion pieces of mail it handles weekly.

Now, allow me to offer a solution to their mess so that all these postal workers don't end up on a soup line: Everyone go out, buy a handful of stamps, and mail your mother and grandmother a letter. What's that? You forgot how? Maybe your letter carrier can help you with it?

Fast Flame

Video shot September 5, 2011 on the north edge of Bastrop State Park. All but about 100 acres of the 6,000-acre park have been blackened by fire. Firefighters have been battling blazes for 3 days. At this point, historic CCC buildings are still intact. For more information, seehttp://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/

Truth About Labour and Gaddafi Comes Out

Big scandal erupts for British Labour Party; they were a bit too cozy with Gaddafi.

• A Devastating stash of documents left in British Ambassador's residence has been released
  
• Britain gave Libyan secret police questions to interrogate dissidents
  
• They even informed Gaddafi how Cobra works and MI6 budget  

The startling extent to which Labour misled the world over the controversial release of the Lockerbie bomber is exposed today in top-secret documents obtained by the newspaper The Mail.

In public, senior Ministers from the last Labour Government and the Scottish First Minister have repeatedly insisted that terminally ill Abdelbaset Al Megrahi was freed on compassionate grounds in a decision taken by Scottish Ministers alone.

But the confidential papers show that Westminster buckled under pressure from Colonel Gaddafi, who threatened to ignite a 'holy war' if Megrahi died in his Scottish cell.

Read more 

Thing is, everyone knew that their reasoning for a 'compassionate' release was camel excrement. The papers only confirm it. The bigger scandal is that the British Ambassador left cables and paper around untorched. That is just incompetence.

Wait, Cobra?

Labor Day Funnies

The first Monday in September, Labor Day pays tribute to the contributions and achievements of the American Worker. Remember that 'back in the day' it was a 12 hour day, 7 days a week. And 5 and 6 year olds were toiling in the factories. No OSHA, no toilet breaks, no breaks. It was essentially China. Then, there was Haymarket Riot of 1886 in Chicago. Today, the Working Man's Holiday has parades, BBQ's and picnics, but is more of an 'end of summer' celebration, and a signal to the start of school rather than a celebration of the labor movement.

As Ironic as Rain on Your Wedding Day

The FHFA’s sweeping lawsuits against 17 banks, filed Friday afternoon, seem to be largely like a case of case of two family members slugging it out in court, with the government turning against the very banks it has spent billions of dollars bailing out.


But when it comes to the mortgage crisis, it’s going to be hard for Fannie and Freddie to plausibly argue that they were victims: They were accomplices.


Read More

One for Debate

The quote continues:
"Among them are H. L. Hunt (you possibly know his background), a few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."

 Note the dig at a Texas oil man. Here's the link. Funny how that seems to apply to a current governor from Texas as well?

Also of note: "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed. The world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children....This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from an iron cross." ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953

Ah, the old days when Republicans weren't trying to prove that they're better friends with Jesus than their competitors.

Unlikely

Obama's Jobs Plan on Football Night

Drunk Truck Cannot Be Canned

The federal government has sued a major trucking company for its refusal to hire as drivers individuals with admitted alcohol abuse problems.

Alcoholism is classified as a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the suit maintains, and therefore employees cannot be prohibited even from driving 18 wheelers due to their histories of abuse.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which filed the suit against the Old Dominion Freight Line trucking company on August 16, noted that while “an employer’s concern regarding safety on our highways is a legitimate issue, an employer can both ensure safety and comply with the ADA.”

Of course, this ruling still makes the trucking company responsible... so the risk is still on them.

This would be funny if one of the morons who believes and authorized this is killed by a drunk trucker. More likely it'll be me and my kids.

Lost Dog?

Kind of looks fake, but then again...