Hi there, !
Today Mon 09/21/2009 Sun 09/20/2009 Sat 09/19/2009 Fri 09/18/2009 Thu 09/17/2009 Wed 09/16/2009 Tue 09/15/2009 Archives
Rantburg
533770 articles and 1862116 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 62 articles and 220 comments as of 4:25.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Operations    WoT Background    Non-WoT    Opinion       
Colo. Man in Suspected NYC Subway Plot Admits Al Qaeda Ties
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 6: Politix
0 [2] 
5 00:00 Frank G [8] 
2 00:00 lord garth [1] 
1 00:00 Cyber Sarge [1] 
28 00:00 49 Pan [3] 
8 00:00 JosephMendiola [1] 
3 00:00 Abu Uluque [1] 
0 [1] 
4 00:00 CrazyFool [] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
3 00:00 Hank [13]
0 [1]
1 00:00 Frank G [9]
0 [4]
0 [3]
3 00:00 Frank G [2]
4 00:00 JosephMendiola [7]
5 00:00 trailing wife [6]
1 00:00 Old Patriot [1]
1 00:00 liberal hawk [4]
0 [5]
2 00:00 liberalhawk [4]
0 [7]
3 00:00 liberal hawk [6]
14 00:00 Nimble Spemble [1]
0 []
3 00:00 gorb [6]
1 00:00 gorb [6]
1 00:00 Clairol [4]
6 00:00 James Carville [3]
Page 2: WoT Background
1 00:00 Frank G [8]
4 00:00 Anonymoose [4]
5 00:00 JosephMendiola [7]
8 00:00 SteveS [6]
3 00:00 Mike Kozlowski [4]
4 00:00 Jame Retief []
13 00:00 SteveS [2]
2 00:00 lord garth [4]
7 00:00 Woozle Uneter9007 []
0 [4]
5 00:00 JosephMendiola [6]
2 00:00 BibiNetanyahu [4]
0 []
Page 3: Non-WoT
5 00:00 trailing wife [7]
1 00:00 JosephMendiola [2]
2 00:00 3dc [4]
2 00:00 Redneck Jim [5]
4 00:00 JosephMendiola []
14 00:00 Zhang Fei [8]
0 [2]
8 00:00 Woozle Uneter9007 [2]
2 00:00 JosephMendiola []
0 []
3 00:00 Anguper Hupomosing9418 []
5 00:00 .5MT [7]
0 [2]
2 00:00 Barbara Skolaut [2]
Page 4: Opinion
2 00:00 LeighG [7]
1 00:00 phil_b [7]
1 00:00 abu do you love [5]
3 00:00 JosephMendiola [9]
0 [3]
12 00:00 JosephMendiola [3]
Home Front: Politix
Analysis of the House ACORN vote - You will be surprised, shocked and amazed
The House’s 345-75 vote to defund ACORN is indeed, as my Examiner colleague Byron York put it, extraordinary. Democrats voted 172-75 to defund ACORN; Republicans voted 173-0 to do so. This would not have occurred but for http://biggovernment.com/ the Big Government videos of ACORN employees encouraging tax evasion and prostitution. "Mainstream media" studiously ignored this big, big story, because it put Obama's political allies in ACORN in a bad light--such an egregious bit of biased coverage that it aroused derision and contempt from Jon Stewart on The Daily Show. But "mainstream media" couldn't cover up this scandal, as much as it wanted to. And once it was out in the open, the House Democratic leadership obviously decided it was riskier to block a vote and to deny many of their members a chance to cast an anti-ACORN vote than it was distasteful to collude in the defunding of an important part of the coalition that did so much to elect Barack Obama and the Democratic majorities in 2008.

Which leads to the question: who were the 75 House Democrats who voted not to defund ACORN? They included Majority Whip James Clyburn but not Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, as is customary for speakers did not vote, but her Bay Area consiglieri George Miller and Anna Eshoo voted to defund the group. The 75 anti-defunding Democrats included several committee chairmen—Bob Filner, Nick Joe Rahall, Charles Rangel, Louise Slaughter, Bennie Thompson, Edolphus Towns and Henry Waxman—but not others. Chairmen Howard Berman, John Conyers, Bart Gordon, George Miller, James Oberstar, David Obey, Collin Peterson, Ike Skelton and John Spratt all voted to defund ACORN; Chairman Barney Frank was one of 11 members not voting (2 others voted present). Interestingly, Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers indicated earlier this year that his committee might investigate ACORN; then he changed his mind at the behest, he said, of “the powers that be.” Perhaps he will change his mind again, now that “the powers that be” have allowed ACORN to be repudiated.

The 75 districts represented by members who voted against defunding ACORN delivered an average majority of 72%-26% for Barack Obama. Only two of those districts, represented by West Virginia Democrats Alan Mollohan and Nick Joe Rahall, voted for John McCain. By my count, 29 of those districts are represented by members of the Congressional Black Caucus and 7 districts by members of the Hispanic Caucus. The 11 districts of those not voting averaged 54%-45% for Obama and the 2 districts of those voting present averaged 77%-23% for Obama. By my calculation, that means the average vote in the districts of the 345 members who voted to defund ACORN was about 50%-48% for McCain. As indicated by members' votes, mainstream America was clearly repulsed by the facts that "mainstream media" tried to conceal.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 09/18/2009 14:07 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "mainstream America was is clearly repulsed by the facts that "mainstream media" tried to conceal"

Fixed.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 09/18/2009 15:33 Comments || Top||

#2  This is 'deflection', so don't get too excited.

The House bill was a 'knee-jerk' by Pelosi in response to last week's Senate vote. It struck ACORN funding from a student aid bill. The Senate bill cut ACORN funding from an Interior Department spending bill.

Neither bill has passed in both houses.

ACORN hasn't lost any money, yet.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 09/18/2009 18:33 Comments || Top||

#3  Happened too fast. anytime something happens this fast it's because of peoples fear of a proper investigation. generally, the faster it happens, the higher up the problems lie.
Posted by: notascrename || 09/18/2009 21:58 Comments || Top||

#4  Nothing lasting yet ... but then we're told there are some more videos too. This isn't over by a long shot.
Posted by: lotp || 09/18/2009 22:13 Comments || Top||

#5  hold onto the vids til they try and bury this shit in conference or deny a stand-alone bill
Posted by: Frank G || 09/18/2009 22:34 Comments || Top||


Leno does APORN, uh he means ACORN
Posted by: || 09/18/2009 11:02 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  That was cool, check out the daily show clip on hte subject.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 09/18/2009 12:36 Comments || Top||


The first lady goes SHOPPING!
H/T Drudge Report
Let's say you're preparing dinner and you realize with dismay that you don't have any certified organic Tuscan kale. What to do?
Oh the HORROR! The HUMANITY!
Here's how Michelle Obama handled this very predicament Thursday afternoon:

The Secret Service and the D.C. police brought in three dozen vehicles and shut down H Street, Vermont Avenue, two lanes of I Street and an entrance to the McPherson Square Metro station. They swept the area, in front of the Department of Veterans Affairs, with bomb-sniffing dogs and installed magnetometers in the middle of the street, put up barricades to keep pedestrians out, and took positions with binoculars atop trucks. Though the produce stand was only a block or so from the White House, the first lady hopped into her armored limousine and pulled into the market amid the wail of sirens.
Cause making a big entrance is everything
Then, and only then, could Obama purchase her leafy greens. "Now it's time to buy some food," she told several hundred people who came to watch. "Let's shop!"

Cowbells were rung. Somebody put a lei of marigolds around Obama's neck.
I first read this as someone put a cowbell on Obama's neck....
The first lady picked up a straw basket and headed for the "Farm at Sunnyside" tent, where she loaded up with organic Asian pears, cherry tomatoes, multicolored potatoes, free-range eggs and, yes, two bunches of Tuscan kale. She left the produce with an aide, who paid the cashier as Obama made her way back to the limousine.
Perfect for that Wagu Beef snack
There's nothing like the simple pleasures of a farm stand to return us to our agrarian roots.

For that reason, it's probably just as well that the first lady didn't stop by the Endless Summer Harvest tent yesterday. The Virginia farm had a sign offering "tender baby arugula" -- hydroponically grown, pesticide free -- and $5 for four ounces, which is $20 a pound.

Obama, in her brief speech to the vendors and patrons, handled the affordability issue by pointing out that people who pay with food stamps would get double the coupon value at the market. Even then, though, it's hard to imagine somebody using food stamps to buy what the market offered: $19 bison steak from Gunpowder Bison, organic dandelion greens for $12 per pound from Blueberry Hill Vegetables, the Piedmont Reserve cheese from Everson Dairy at $29 a pound. Rounding out the potential shopping cart: $4 for a piece of "walnut dacquoise" from the Praline Bakery, $9 for a jumbo crab cake at Chris's Marketplace, $8 for a loaf of cranberry-walnut bread and $32 for a bolt of yarn.

The first lady said the market would particularly appeal to federal employees in nearby buildings to "pick up some good stuff for dinner." Yet even they might think twice about spending $3 for a pint of potatoes when potatoes are on sale for 40 cents a pound at Giant. They could get nearly five dozen eggs at Giant for the $5 Obama spent for her dozen.
I wonder of the veggies are as health as the ones in the WH guarden....
And she spoke of her own culinary efforts: "There are times when putting together a healthy meal is harder than you might imagine."
Ok - Does anyone really believe that Michelle actually does the cooking at the WH? That is for little people.
Particularly when it involves a soundstage, an interpreter for the deaf, three TV satellite trucks and the closing of part of downtown Washington.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 09/18/2009 08:34 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'm no fan of this administration, but I think the veggie thing is actually a positive move on their part. There are a whole lot of inner city people who have no model for healthy choices and who don't have easy access to affordable fresh fruits and vegetables. Mrs. Obama is respected there and can serve as a good role model and educator. Nutrition is tied to health status, which in turn enables people to be more productive and less reliant.

Moreover this is a savvy move politically, because the urban farming / apartment container garden theme resonates with a lot of urban professionals. Whether it's for health, to lower costs or to have a bit of self-reliance in the case of emergencies, urban farming is starting to be a real trend ... there are a couple buildings in NY whose roofs have been turned into commercial herb/vegetable farms, for instance.
Posted by: lotp || 09/18/2009 9:35 Comments || Top||

#2  how about sending "the help" to buy it, and avoid the waste of staff time, disturbance of the neighborhood, and yeti-sized carbon footprint? Oh, but then "several hundred people" wouldn't get the opportunity to watch those excellently toned arms squeeze the veggies. Typical Milbank tongue-bath. We can agree to disagree, Lotp
Posted by: Frank G || 09/18/2009 10:02 Comments || Top||

#3  So ... the defense agency I work at has a big push on right now re: obesity, nutrition and physical fitness for employees and family, too.

I'd rather there were rah rah awareness campaigns on such health issues than that we start seeing very intrusive fines health care directives with financial penalties for noncompliance. Or, as in the UK, the food police checking refrigerators of families deemed not to be feeding their children correctly ....

So yeah, this was a photo-op with more than a hint of overdoing it. But not totally indefensible IMO and a far better approach than some alternatives.
Posted by: lotp || 09/18/2009 10:08 Comments || Top||

#4  how about sending "the help" to buy it, and avoid the waste of staff time, disturbance of the neighborhood, and yeti-sized carbon footprint?

Then it's not a 'Teaching Moment'. (So what if it cost the taxpayers thousand and thousands of dollars and screwed up the businesses and people on H Street, Vermont Avenue, I Street and the McPherson Square Metro station.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 09/18/2009 10:44 Comments || Top||

#5  All heil your new royalty!
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 09/18/2009 10:48 Comments || Top||

#6  Hopefully in another 3.5 years she can put that arugula - food stamp theory to the test herself. Nicely done Michelle. I hope we see more of this kind of buggering public extravagance again very soon.
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/18/2009 11:12 Comments || Top||

#7  tooo funny.
Posted by: newc || 09/18/2009 11:15 Comments || Top||

#8  I seem to be missing a bet. "organic dandelion greens for $12/lb?"
contemplates his yard ...
Posted by: James || 09/18/2009 11:21 Comments || Top||

#9  Conservations can use this kind of thing in a comparable way that liberals blast them oversexual indiscretions. THOU SHALT ONLY EAT ORGANIC FOODS AND THOU MUST DISPLAY THY PURITY AT EVERY OPPORTUNITY. That, or something like it is one of their sacred commandments like not fooling around is one of the Christian commandments. If they get verbally challenged on these things they wont be able to ignore it like they do when charged with infidelities. If you worship Gaia then what Michelle did was a moral sin.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon || 09/18/2009 11:27 Comments || Top||

#10  I have never seen a grocery store where the greeter has a cowbell and lei just sitting around ready.

Know what - tumbleweeds are very nuitritous and quite tasty; strengthens the colon. Let me know, I only have a limited supply but call now and I'll get you one for only $20 plus shipping.

This reminds me of that article which came out a while ago where the writer seemed starstruck that yes, you too could prepare a homecooked meal for less than $200.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 09/18/2009 11:35 Comments || Top||

#11  Yeah...dandelions as in the weeds that I find in my back yard? You mean I should be eating those things instead of spraying them with RoundUp?
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 09/18/2009 13:13 Comments || Top||

#12  This administration is starstruck.


With itself.


No matter the message, they are more than ready to step out into the SPOTLIGHT and ham it up for the camera.

Never miss an opportunity.
Posted by: Jame Retief || 09/18/2009 13:56 Comments || Top||

#13  Ok so the Economy is in the tank. More and more people are 'scraping by' on unemployment and food stamps.

So Mrs. Obama gives they all a 'They can eat cake Tuscan kale' by shopping at (what seems to me by the description) a yuppie 'farmer's market who's prices are 3-4 times that in a regular grocery (even for organic).

If she wanted to have a 'teachable moment' she should have went to a regular supermaket or better yet a 'whole foods'.

She didn't even pay for it herself.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 09/18/2009 13:59 Comments || Top||

#14  Sooo, you would have her shop at Aldi's?
Posted by: badanov || 09/18/2009 14:25 Comments || Top||

#15  She could have sent some flunkie over to get the certified organic Tuscan kale.

Alternatively, she and a low-impact security detail (3-4 people) and one press pool camera could have hoofed it over, bought the certified organic Tuscan kale, gotten a nice photo op out of it, and displayed the "common touch" that politicians so like to claim.

The bull-in-a-china-shop approach only reinforces the negative (but accurate! oh, so accurate!) impression that these people are full of themselves and think they're better than the rest of us.

IIRC, the Clintons would occasionally go out to DC restaurants for dinner with close friends--under the radar, small footprint security detail, no cameras--just to get out of the spotlight for a few hours. I hold no brief for the Clintons, either one of them, but I give them props on this point for showing some restraint.
Posted by: Mike || 09/18/2009 14:47 Comments || Top||

#16  Easy on her, she has to look after her old man. Using that Jedi sword sure uses up a lot of energy.
Posted by: tipper || 09/18/2009 16:20 Comments || Top||

#17  More cowbell.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 09/18/2009 17:28 Comments || Top||

#18  Was she wearing her $540 sneakers? Of course, everyone knows you can't serve $100/lb. kobe beef (a Wednesday night tradition at the Obama White House) without organic Tuscan kale (we should be happy she didn't have it flown in).

I'd been wondering where that stimulus money had gotten to.
Posted by: Woozle Uneter9007 || 09/18/2009 17:45 Comments || Top||

#19  LOL tipper - I saw that earlier today - link by Insty, I think. That was her weightlifting belt
Posted by: Frank G || 09/18/2009 18:53 Comments || Top||

#20  I hope this thread doesn't descend to the level of Palin-style stereotyping. For the most part, it hasn't.

"We can do better."

/Actually, arugula is good. Try it.

// Fever. Prescription.


Posted by: Mizzou Mafia || 09/18/2009 19:05 Comments || Top||

#21  They shut down several streets for the bitch to shop.

Sickening. Basically...

"Fuck you, peasants! Get out of my holy way!"

Our political elite are about to be taught a very valuable lesson on who they work for.
Posted by: DarthVader || 09/18/2009 19:21 Comments || Top||

#22  Dead is about the only way I'd be caught shopping for Tuscan kale. Just not part of my diet.

More of a bok choy man myself anyways...

If Mrs. Obama shoves a buncha yuppies and hippies out of her holy way to shop at a place none of us would part our hard earned money to shop, what skin is it off my ass?


Posted by: badanov || 09/18/2009 19:55 Comments || Top||

#23  badanov, to me the point isn't that she went shopping at some yuppie place,it is that in order to do it, she took along a platoon of Secret Service agents and a company of DC police just to go a block from the White House.
She has servants to do that - and they don't need secret service, police, bomb squad et al. to do it. It was all about the image. And trying to impress the peasants.
Me, if I worked in the District, and got delayed just because Her Majesty wanted to show off, I would be royally pissed.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 09/18/2009 20:12 Comments || Top||

#24  Understand.

I guess I am speaking out of turn then. Forgive me.

But ultimately we are talking different lifestyles.
Posted by: badanov || 09/18/2009 20:26 Comments || Top||

#25  They truly are "Legends in their own minds."
Posted by: James Carville || 09/18/2009 20:29 Comments || Top||

#26  James, you nailed it.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 09/18/2009 21:33 Comments || Top||

#27  So if the first lady went to Von's and bought ribs and greens folks would be screaming the bitch needs to act and eat like a president's wife. Good lord, she is a captive in the white house, self inflicted, but captive the same. I'm just glad the woman cooks for her kids. Her desire to go to the store is her right and the store seems to do business in DC, I say so what.

As for the secret service, if any of the last five first ladies decided to go shopping, and it not be scheduled three weeks out, the same crazyness would happen. She does not decide the threat levels, the precautionary measures, or how the secret service manages the event, she is along for the ride. I'm sure after the kaos of short notice trips she will learn to plan ahead or send an aid out. As much as I cant stand this woman, she is the the wife of the president, one that a large segment of our population hate, and the other think they are rock stars, the secret service acted according to protocol.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 09/18/2009 23:52 Comments || Top||

#28  I'm wearing body armor, and remember we're all friends here... LOL
Posted by: 49 Pan || 09/18/2009 23:55 Comments || Top||


US firms, others may gain from shield pullback
Investors could see some long-term trade and other benefits if a U.S. move to back away from a missile shield in Eastern Europe yields improvements in relations with Russia.

But it could raise other risks.
Like Iran threatening the spineless Euros ...
U.S. President Barack Obama has told eastern European states he is abandoning plans to place interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar complex in the Czech Republic aimed at defending against missile launches from "rogue" states.

While Washington might hope to gain Russian co-operation on everything from nuclear weapons cuts to efforts to curb Iranian and North Korean weapons programmes, the risk remains that the move could also embolden Kremlin hardliners.
Putin's already said he won't pressure the Iranians. Seems like "Washington's hopes" are off to a bad start ...
A more assertive Russia would unnerve investors taken aback by war in Georgia last year, but if relations do genuinely improve potential benefits could include easier trade between Russia and the eastern EU as well as a softer ride for U.S. firms in Russia. "U.S. companies have arguably lost out to some European companies in joint ventures, and better diplomacy will likely improve the chances for investors in the strategic sectors of the Russian economy," said Carlo Gallo, senior Russia analyst at London-based consultancy Control Risks.
Posted by: Fred || 09/18/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Russians are consummate chess players. In chess, you trade pieces either to gain an advantage or simplify the position. (the "we'll pull our missiles out of Cuba if you don't deploy in Europe" is classical) The idea of giving something away with nothing in return is simply laughable. Putin and his boys must be rolling on the floor.
Posted by: SteveS || 09/18/2009 3:02 Comments || Top||

#2  "Smart Diplomacy" also led to making the announcement on the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland at the start of WWII. Freaking amateur idiots
Posted by: Frank G || 09/18/2009 10:43 Comments || Top||

#3  Rooters doing their 'positive thing' spin.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 09/18/2009 10:45 Comments || Top||

#4  Benefits to Russia.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 09/18/2009 10:53 Comments || Top||

#5  Trade? The only thing Russia produces of Western use is oil & a few other natural resources. We already get that, if you haven't noticed all of those "Lukoil" reminders sitting on every fifth streetcorner.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 09/18/2009 11:09 Comments || Top||

#6  Russia's eastern half has large deposits of critical rare metals IIRC, including niobium (used for steel alloys and the superconductors for MRI scanners), lithium (batteries, high tech ceramics, aircraft skins) and vanadium (high speed drills and other specialized tools).
Posted by: lotp || 09/18/2009 12:38 Comments || Top||

#7  Pragmatically, as US-specific BMD-GMD Techs grows more accurate and complex, IMO the USDOD will just simply shift the TMD mission to Euro-based US forces e.g. e.g. USAF + ABLS, etc.; USN + AEGIS SBMD, US Army + advanc Patriots.

GOOD NEWS for the USN + its Programmes, includ as per ARSENAL SHIPS, ORBITAL DIRIGIBLES, etc.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 09/18/2009 19:34 Comments || Top||

#8  RUSSIA > has to survive both the INTERNAL + EXTERNAL ISLAMIST THREAT AGZ RUSS SOVEREIGNTY + NUKES, + CHINA's desire for "LIVING SPACE" in Asia + RECOVERY OF LOST ANCIENT CHIN TERRITORIES [lost "national honor"]. Read, RUSSIA'S FAR EAST + CENTRAL ASIA.

* YEAR 2012 BENCHMARK > IRAN will likely get its Nukes, BUT NOT NECESSAR ONLY "URANIUM" NUCTECHS [read, PLUTONIUM]??? By definition, RADICAL ISLAM = MILITS-TERRS will also be Nukulaar.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 09/18/2009 19:42 Comments || Top||


John Boehner struggles to keep up with base
House Minority Leader John Boehner spent much of last week trying to persuade a stubborn Rep. Joe Wilson to apologize to the House -- telling associates he needed to "get to" Wilson before the weekend to elicit an apology.

But as the days dragged on, Boehner had to back off: Wilson's spine was stiffened by $1.5 million in campaign contributions, the Democrats' anti-Wilson rhetoric had become increasingly extreme, and the South Carolina Republican was rapidly accumulating support from the conference's dominant right wing.

"At some point, he realized he had no choice but to get behind Wilson because that's where his conference was going -- and he was just so angry that the Democrats had pushed this thing so far," said a GOP aide with knowledge of the situation.

Like a surfer riding the heavy waves before a hurricane, Boehner, a conservative with a penchant for compromise, has spent the past few months trying to harness the anger of the GOP base without allowing his conference to veer too far to the right.

But never were the strains of that balancing act more apparent than during the Wilson vote, as the Ohio Republican tried to juggle his commitment to bipartisan civility with his responsibility to a besieged member of his conference.

"It's very hard these days to be a leader like John Boehner who tries to find the middle ground," said former Connecticut Republican Rep. Chris Shays, one of the last Northeastern moderates, who was beaten by Democrat Jim Himes last year.

"He's a conservative, but he's less conservative than his base," Shays added. "And he's got to lead a party that has been so battered and beaten that it's incredibly angry -- angry at what's going on in the country, angry at the way it's being treated by the majority."

On Tuesday, Boehner -- who had worked with Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) to avoid an ugly confrontation over Wilson's "resolution of disapproval" -- took to the floor to accuse the Democrats of a "publicity stunt" in pushing for a Wilson reprimand. But many observers, including Republicans, noted that the leader, a wise-cracking chain smoker who sometimes finds it hard to mask his emotions, seemed just as disgusted with Wilson, making little eye contact with the man he was supposed to be defending.

Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said his boss has no conflict with Wilson -- and that the House GOP's complaints about President Barack Obama's programs represent the concerns of the wider public and not just conservatives.
Posted by: Fred || 09/18/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "his commitment to bipartisan civility"

Ummm, John? I think you misunderstand the meaning of bipartisan.

It does NOT mean Republicans have to be nice while Democrats act like assh*les and badmouth decent Americans.

Maybe you should take the Democrat President's advice: Get in their faces and push back twice as hard. And if the Dems complain, remind them you're just following their Dear Leader's advice.

Now that's bipartisan.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 09/18/2009 1:55 Comments || Top||

#2  so anything here on the 9/12 rally that was so huge it stretched back to the Washington Monument, or so Im told?
Posted by: liberalhawk || 09/18/2009 11:26 Comments || Top||

#3  A "conservative with a penchant for compromise"? As in trying to get the best deal you can out of nationalized health care? As in compromising with the likes of Teddy Kennedy and Bawney Fwank so we get affirmative action, amnesty for illegal aliens and a collapsed banking system?

Instead of compromising he should be screaming bloody murder.

Maybe it's time for Boehner to step aside and let Joe show him how it's done.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 09/18/2009 13:24 Comments || Top||


Fired Inspector General Files Motion to Return to His Job
The government watchdog President Obama fired earlier this year for allegedly being "confused" and "disoriented" filed a motion Thursday to get his job back immediately.

Gerald Walpin was the inspector general for the Corporation for National and Community Service until President Obama pink-slipped him in June. Walpin filed one lawsuit in July arguing that the dismissal was politically motivated and broke a 2008 law governing how watchdogs can be removed. Thursday's request for an injunction asked for Walpin to be reinstated immediately.

The motion comes on the heels of the federal government seeking an additional five-week delay to file a response to Walpin's complaint.

The motion claims that Obama violated the law which prohibits the removal of an inspector general unless the president first notifies both chambers of Congress with an explanation 30 days in advance.

Walpin argues that violation of this law has a "chilling and adverse impact" on all inspectors general, "creating substantial worries about performing their responsibilities to root out fraud and waste" if the subject of their investigation has politically powerful friends or may publicly tarnish a presidential program.

The White House did not respond to an e-mail seeking a response.

Obama hastily fired Walpin after a board meeting in May in which, the White House says, he was "unduly disruptive," and displayed a "lack of candor" in providing information to decision makers.

Walpin insists the charge is baseless and believes his firing was the result of bad blood between him and the board over his investigation of Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, an Obama supporter, for alleged misuse of federal funds.

Walpin's office found that Johnson and his academy, St. HOPE, which received $850,000 in AmeriCorps money, had misused the funds and AmeriCorps volunteers for personal purposes, including enlisting their help in political campaigns and washing his car.

The U.S. attorney's office reached a settlement, under which Johnson and the academy reportedly were ordered to repay about half of the federal grants.

But at the meeting in May, Walpin announced to the AmeriCorps board that he wasn't done with the Johnson investigation. A Republican on the board of directors of the Corporation for National and Community Service, which oversees AmeriCorps, reportedly said Walpin wanted to issue a public statement asserting the need for further investigation in the case, a move that aggravated board members.

In the motion, Walpin called the charges by the White House a "character assassination" that has been disputed by a memo that noted Walpin's "clear and well-understood presentation."

Walpin asked in the motion whether the charge was motivated by a view that his performance was too effective "in uncovering fraud, waste, and abuse, which made persons in power uncomfortable."

Walpin has garnered support from a bipartisan group of officials -- including four former U.S. attorneys, three former federal judges, one former attorney general and a former counsel to President Clinton -- who sent a letter to the Senate in June defending Walpin's integrity and competence.
Posted by: Fred || 09/18/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Senate Democrats pull back on Specter's card-check prediction
Democratic senators on Wednesday downplayed Sen. Arlen Specter's (D-Pa.) prediction that the chamber would pass a contentious union-organizing bill this year, saying they are in the process of shoring up support for a compromise that is being hashed out.

Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), one of several negotiators working to reach agreement on a modified version of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), also known as card-check, said they have made progress toward a deal but have yet to ink one.

Several Democrats on Wednesday confessed to knowing nothing about a proposed deal, and the party's top two leaders in the conference called the card-check proposal a work in progress.
"We have had real good discussions," Carper said. "As they say, frank and honest discussion. I think we have made real progress and narrowed somewhat of the differences between organized labor and the business community. We are not quite there yet. My hope is we will finish what we have started."

Specter on Tuesday told the AFL-CIO convention in Pittsburgh that senators "have pounded out an Employees Choice bill which will meet labor's objectives" and predicted it would pass before the end of this year. That set off a flurry of activity from lawmakers and union officials saying no agreement had been reached.

Carper said while negotiations over the bill have come closer to a "consensus approach," no deal has been brokered. Centrist Democrats, Carper said, have not been included in talks among negotiators so far.
Posted by: Fred || 09/18/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Employee Free Choice Act

A fine name and a most excellent example of Newspeak. Calling it the Piss On The Secret Ballot Act, while descriptively correct, would simply give the game away. War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery.
Posted by: SteveS || 09/18/2009 3:15 Comments || Top||

#2  Some workers at Boeing just voted to de-certify their union.

I don't know the details of why they did that, but I love the irony: you can form a union with a simple card-check but to disband a union you have to have a vote.
Posted by: Steve White || 09/18/2009 8:02 Comments || Top||

#3  Steve, I think that workers have to vote to form or to disband a union. Right now the vote is secret. The "EFCA" would replace that with an open vote - so that the union thugs would know who should have an unfortunate accident for voting wrongly.
It would probably apply to votes for disbanding a union as well - unless the bill outlaws disbanding.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 09/18/2009 18:26 Comments || Top||

#4  I wouldn't doubt that it applies to disbanding - as well as allowing several 'revotes' (to allow the Thugs to convince people to vote the right way).
Posted by: CrazyFool || 09/18/2009 18:50 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Tovarich Albright: USA No Longer Intends To Be World's No.1 State
Madeleine Albright said during the meeting that America no longer had the intention of being the first nation of the world.

Ms. Albright started her speech in Russian. "Hello and thank you! It's a pleasure for me to be here," she said in Russian. Albright wrote in her autobiography that she was trying to learn some Russian during the 1960s.

The former US Secretary of State surprised the audience with her speech. She particularly said that democracy was not the perfect system. "It can be contradictory, corrupt and may have security problems," Albright said.

America has been having hard times recently, Albright said.

"We have been talking about our exceptionalism during the recent eight years. Now, an average American wants to stay at home -- they do not need any overseas adventures. We do not need new enemies," Albright said adding that Beijing, London and Delhi became a serious competition for Washington and New York.

"My generation has made many mistakes. We give the future into the hands of the young. Your prime goal is to overcome the gap between the poor and the rich,' the former head of the US foreign political department said.
All very high-minded and eloquent --albeit fallacious -- but seriously unhelpful in keeping the world running right. And very, very inappropriate sentiments when uttered by a former American secretary of state to a foreign audience, especially one that still fancies itself in competition with America for world dominance.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 09/18/2009 20:22 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


ACORN's Internal Audit - The Fix is In
Bertha Lewis, who helped Wade and Dale cover up Dale's embezzlement,
[thats the Rathke brothers who embezzled funds from ACORN]
wants the same kind of committee packed with corrupt friends of ACORN to whitewash all the institutional corruption that is the essence of the ACORN network. Bertha says that the panel will include

* John Podesta, President and CEO, Center for American Progress
Leftist Polemist
* Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Board Member, RFK Foundation, former MD Lt. Governor
leftist, the Phi Beta Kappa who couldn't remember the names of the counties in Maryland when she was running for Governor
* Andrew Stern, International President, Service Employees International Union
head of thug enforcers of the left
* Henry Cisneros, Executive Chairman, Cityview
Apologist for Leftist Causes, himself having pled guilty to making false statements to Congress
* John Banks, Vice President of Government Relations Con Ed
representing a company that has been extorted into giving money to ACORN
* Eric Eve, Senior VP of Global Consumer Group, Community Relations, Citigroupalso representing a company that has been extorted into giving money to ACORN
* Harvey Hirschfeld, President, Lawcash
head of a company that finances lawsuits, many frivolous, against corporations
*Dave Beckwith, Executive Director, Needmor Fund
This Fund supports 'Social Justice'
Posted by: lord garth || 09/18/2009 12:28 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This is such BULL SH!T.....If congress let's this happen there WILL be a revolt!!
Posted by: armyguy || 09/18/2009 13:24 Comments || Top||

#2  I should have elaborated on the Rathke brothers.

Dale Rathke, working with ACORN, embezzled about $1M back in the late 1990s (it was finally discovered in about 2007 and made the newspapers in 2008 after some internal ACORN reports were published). Most of the funds were from ACORN but also there were funds from the many ACORN affiliated organizations. Wade Rathke, the founder of ACORN and a close associated of Bill Ayers, while working for ACORN, covered up the embezzlement.
Posted by: lord garth || 09/18/2009 13:36 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
50[untagged]
5TTP
2Govt of Iran
1Govt of Syria
1Lashkar e-Jhangvi
1Lashkar e-Taiba
1Taliban
1al-Qaeda in North Africa

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2009-09-18
  Colo. Man in Suspected NYC Subway Plot Admits Al Qaeda Ties
Thu 2009-09-17
  Noordin Mohammad Top: Dead Again!
Wed 2009-09-16
  IDF nabs Park Hotel attack terrorist
Tue 2009-09-15
  Baghdad Green Zone attacked during Biden visit
Mon 2009-09-14
  U.S. Special Forces Kill 2 Al Qaeda, Capture 2 in Somalia
Sun 2009-09-13
  Taliban in Swat Surrender?
Sat 2009-09-12
  Pakistan arrests Muslim Khan
Fri 2009-09-11
  Hariri quits
Thu 2009-09-10
  Drone attack leaves 12 dead in N. Waziristan
Wed 2009-09-09
  Supply for Nato stops again after row with Afghans
Tue 2009-09-08
  Two foreigners among seven dead in NWA drone strikes
Mon 2009-09-07
  33 militants killed in Khyber Agency
Sun 2009-09-06
  'Taliban' kidnap NYT reporter in Afghanistan
Sat 2009-09-05
  Yemen suspends offensive on northern rebels
Fri 2009-09-04
  Andhra Pradesh CM killed in chopper crash


Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
18.116.239.195
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Operations (20)    WoT Background (13)    Non-WoT (14)    Opinion (6)    (0)