White House Message Board

Nancy (With the stretchable face)

Ms. Pelosi, the 76-year-old San Francisco 'progressive', was expected to easily win re-election when her colleagues voted on Wednesday. She has become the lightning rod for complaints that Democrats have failed to offer a compelling, broad-based economic message to the working-class voters in the Midwest and South who helped them capture the House 10 years ago and made Ms. Pelosi the first woman speaker.

Judging by the House Democrat's vote, it seems they've not listened or still don't understand why they're not doing well with the voting public.

(Picture lovingly borrowed from Terry Gilliam's Brazil, played by the wonderful Katherine Marie Helmond)

You've got something on your face...

No, the other side.

Follow the Leader

Broke Ass Benton Harbor

End of Democracy, or the End of the Party?

In Benton Harbor, Michigan, a state-appointed emergency financial manager has suspended the decision-making powers of cash-strapped Benton Harbor officials.

The order emergency financial manager Joseph Harris means that Benton Harbor officials can only call meetings to order, adjourn them and approve minutes of meetings. They've been stripped of any actual power.

Harris' action is likely the first since Gov. Rick Snyder signed a law in March granting more powers to emergency managers the Treasury Department appoints to take over distressed schools and communities. (Which is probably unconstitutional - to the Michigan Constitution)

One elected Benton Harbor official, City Commissioner Bryan Joseph, said he wasn't upset. He said he has watched financial mismanagement for decades, and a desire to address that disarray was one of the reasons he ran for election in 2008.

Joseph said the city has struggled with a contentious trash hauling contract, lawsuits related to that contract, new competition for water services and city officials who sometimes clashed so fiercely meetings dragged on for hours.

"I have seen for more than 30 years the mismanagement of funds and personnel in the city," he said. "Infighting has been going on for decades."

But Harris' action drew a strong rebuke from Mark Gaffney, the president of the Michigan AFL-CIO, which represents administrative workers and others. Why? Because all the city union contracts are now null and void.

"This is sad news for democracy in Michigan," he said. "With the stripping of all power of duly elected officials in Benton Harbor ... we can now see the true nature of the emergency manager system."

The new powers of emergency managers include setting aside collective bargaining. Harris' order comes only days before a scheduled training session for prospective emergency managers and turnaround experts.

Emergency managers are in place at Detroit Public Schools and in the cities of Benton Harbor, Ecorse and Pontiac. I wonder if the company they work for is called Omni Consumer Products?

Harris, a former chief financial officer for the city of Detroit, is a certified public accountant with 10 years of local government management experience.

Well, it doesn't take an accountant to figure out that Benton Harbor is broke.

Let's just see if the place is worth fixing.

Geography Failure

Dear Jimmy's geography teacher -
Yes, Jimmy seemed to have mad skillz with the Photoshop.
He probably took the red eye out of your kid's birthday photos - and you let him pass because he did a nice job. But, look at what Jimmy's done... yeah, first off Jimmy's working for Fox News. I guess your passing him got that high school diploma needed to get into the graphics department at the network.
He's moved Egypt to where Iraq should be - and the fact that no one caught that is odd -- but come on? You make new maps every day over there, or can you re-use one every so often? America's only been engaged in the region since -- well, that Marine's song -- how's that go? "Shores of Tripoli?"
Okay, so a hard drive crashed. I get that - but you can’t use the Internet to get a map like we do at Blasphemes?
How does this sort of thing happen on a network in the first place? Kind of makes me wonder what else those guys are just 'whipping up' over there.

Meantime, Jimmy, yeah, go find your geography teacher and get a refund from him.

FAIL to WIN

Okay! Okay! I'll take the Thin Mints!

A Sense of... uh, something.

It's a metaphor? No, a, uh, - you know like rain on your wedding day? A free ride, when you're already late? Something like that?

The GPS Killed Him

GPS directs driver to death in Spain's largest reservoir:

The victim and a single passenger were driving home towards the southern city of Seville after working at a street fair when the Peugeot 306 ploughed straight into the waters of La Serena reservoir.

Although both men managed to get out of the car, only one made it to the shore. Red Cross divers found the body of the unnamed driver at the bottom of the reservoir on Sunday morning.

Pictures of the scene show the old road running on a slight downhill slope straight into the reservoir, which is the biggest in the country.

via

Now, on to Sarah Connor.

Big Departure

Top White House Economic Advisor to Depart

Lawrence H. Summers, who for nearly two years has been the architect of President Obama's economic policies, is leaving the White House to return to Harvard University at the end of
the year, the White House has announced.

I wonder if Lawrence is offering a discount, or will be teaching "Keynesian Economics - Theory and Practice, and Why It's WRONG"

Dr. Food

Doctor, I think you're doing it wrong...

Anarchy Rules!

Left Behind

Black Males – Failing in Public Education

The 2010 Schott study has been released detailing the dire state of Black males in public education.

This isn't a black issue, it's an American issue. If a farmer had 50% of his product not even make it to the marketplace - that farmer wouldn't be in business very long. That's exactly what we ALL need to be thinking. Unless major changes in our attitudes toward the success of the African Male are not changed quickly - we're all going to lose. And I'm not talking about race riots or everyone buying security systems for their homes -- I mean if we can only hope or expect half of a class to have a success rate across the High School finish line, that speaks volumes of what America has become, and speaks a library of where we're headed.

Simply stated: The words 'volumes' and 'library' will not be words Americans will be using in the future.

Failure to Perform

The Senate Republicans blocked a $30-billion plan to help community banks boost lending to small businesses, dealing a blow to President Barack Obama’s election-year battle to reduce unemployment.

Tempers ran high as Democratic leaders failed to muster the 60 votes needed to advance the measure over a Republican filibuster…

Even if the Senate passes the small business lending bill next week, it will be too late to get it to Obama’s desk before mid-September. The House of Representatives, which passed its version of the bill in June, is set to begin a six-week break on Friday. The House will be unable to vote on the version passed by the Senate until then…

Obama has been pushing for passage of the lending measure arguing that getting more capital into the hands of independent community bankers would lead to more small business loans. It is supported by independent bankers and business groups.

Right now, there is no sector of banking with more energy and activity than small business lending. Every penny made available to community banks would be going straight back out the door into economic stimulus – and to qualified borrowers at that.

The Republicans couldn't care less. Nor the Democrats. Maybe some of that unspent 'Stimulus Cash'... oh, that's only going to Democratic rough spots. Well, maybe if we just get rid of all the Drunken Congressmen we can have some of that change we all fell for?

Hitler's Just 'Out of Context'

Bringing round a friend; non smoker, veggie, bit of a painter... it's f*ckin' Hitler!

Director Oliver Stone belittled the Holocaust during a shocking interview with the Sunday Times, claiming that America's focus on the Jewish massacre was a product of the "Jewish domination of the media."

The director also defended Hitler and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and railed against the "powerful lobby" of Jews in America.

Stone said that his upcoming Showtime documentary series "Secret History of America," seeks to put Hitler and Communist dictator Joseph Stalin "in context."

Stone said that, "Hitler did far more damage to the Russians than the Jewish people, 25 or 30 [million killed]."

The Sunday Times interviewer then asked why there was such a focus on the Holocaust.

"The Jewish domination of the media," responded Stone. "There's a major lobby in the United States. They are hard workers. They stay on top of every comment, the most powerful lobby in Washington. Israel has f***** up United States foreign policy for years."

The director, who recently met with Iranian President Ahmadinejad, also slammed the U.S. policy toward Iran as "horrible."

"Iran isn't necessarily the good guy," said Stone. "[B]ut we don't know the full story!"

The Scarface screenwriter had even more encouraging words for socialist Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, who Stone called "a brave, blunt, earthy" man. The director has recently been promoting his Chavez-praising documentary called "South of the Border."

When the interviewer pointed out that Chavez has had a less-than-stellar record on human rights, Stone immediately dismissed the criticism.

"The internet's fully free [in Venezuela]," said Stone. "You can say what the hell you like. Compare it with all the other countries: Mexico, Guatemala, above all Colombia, which is a joke."

While Stone has not been as blunt about his views on Jews and the Holocaust in the past, he has been outspoken in his fondness for Chavez and his disagreements with the U.S.'s policy on Iran.

On ABC's Good Morning America on July 28, the director told anchor George Stephanopoulos that he "absolutely" believes Chavez is a good person, and claimed that there was "there's no pattern of censorship in this country [Venezuela]."

Stone also said that if the U.S. pursued sanctions against Iran, "it's going to be like North Vietnam again."

"Hitler was a Frankenstein but there was also a Dr Frankenstein. German industrialists, the Americans and the British. He had a lot of support," Stone told reporter Camilla Long during the interview, which can be found behind the paywall on the Sunday Times' website.

Yeah, I mean, what about all the good things Hitler did, man? Volkswagens, Autobahn? Yu know?

Jobs: Phones Suck

Scott Adams [Dilbert] bows at Steve Jobs’ crisis management skills.

I’m sure you’re all following the iPhone 4 story. If you hold the phone a certain way, it drops calls.

In a press conference on the subject, Steve Jobs said, “We’re not perfect. Phones are not perfect. We all know that. But we want to make our users happy.”

Jobs got a lot of heat about his response. Where was the apology? Where was the part where he acknowledged that the buck stops with him, and that Apple made a big mistake that never should have happened? That’s public relations 101, right?

I’m a student of how language influences people. Apple’s response to the iPhone 4 problem didn’t follow the public relations playbook because Jobs decided to rewrite the playbook. (I pause now to insert the necessary phrase Magnificent Bastard.) If you want to know what genius looks like, study Jobs’ words: “We’re not perfect. Phones are not perfect. We all know that. But we want to make our users happy.”

Jobs changed the entire argument with nineteen words. He was brief. He spoke indisputable truth. And later in his press conference, he offered clear fixes.

Did it work? Check out the media response. There’s lots of talk about whether other smartphones are perfect or not. There’s lots of talk about whether Jobs’ response was the right one. But the central question that was in everyone’s head before the press conference – “Is the iPhone 4 a dud” – has, well, evaporated. Part of the change in attitude is because the fixes Apple offered are adequate. But those fixes easily could have become part of the joke if handled in an apologetic “please kick me” way.

If Jobs had not changed the context from the iPhone 4 in particular to all smartphones in general, I could make you a hilarious comic strip about a product so poorly made that it won’t work if it comes in contact with a human hand. But as soon as the context is changed to “all smartphones have problems,” the humor opportunity is gone. Nothing kills humor like a general and boring truth.

The fact that the iPhone 4 is, in fact, a dud has been, at least temporarily, obscured by this brilliant jujitsu. But, it turns out, most of iPhone’s competitors still work if you hold them using your hands.

Steve Jobs iPhone. Explained by the Taiwanese

Reality distortion field remains strong with Steve Jobs after antennagate

The iPhone 4 saga, as explained by that Taiwanese news program with the excellent animators and seemingly endless supply of LSD
Apple founder Steve Jobs have been busy defending the iPhone 4, which has been mired in problems since before its launch. The latest scandal to crop up, dubbed 'antennagate', is so-named because the phone's antenna gets poor reception if the phone is held the wrong way. Watch Jobs try and convince the world it's not a big deal in this animation.

The Week In Review - Sunday Comics

See you next week folks

Not Perfect

Think Different. About Apple

Wedding Photography Failure

Plan on putting all that gear in kitty litter Mr. Fox Photography man.