Tattoos and Scars

Insanity--Lindsey Graham, Trent Lott blast Tea Party, Palin - National conservative | Examiner.com

2010-11-08T06:16:00.000-08:00

graham,lott and rove can suck each other's dick in a three way...
who the fuck do they think they are??....they have no clue about real conservatism and are certainly not the face of the republican party...assholes,that's what they are and they need to get out of the way....period.
excellent article ..Insanity--Lindsey Graham, Trent Lott blast Tea Party, Palin - National conservative | Examiner.com

NRSC

2010-01-24T09:47:00.001-08:00

NRSC

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Senator Brown | Brown for US Senate

2010-01-24T09:45:00.000-08:00

Senator Brown | Brown for US Senate

How Now? Brown Wow! - Mark Steyn - The Corner on National Review Online

2010-01-15T06:17:00.000-08:00

How Now? Brown Wow! - Mark Steyn - The Corner on National Review Online

Are planned airport scanners just a scam? - Home News, UK - The Independent

2010-01-03T07:35:00.000-08:00

Are planned airport scanners just a scam? - Home News, UK - The Independent

The Top 10 Conservative Movies of the Last Decade – Telegraph Blogs

2010-01-02T08:19:00.000-08:00

The Top 10 Conservative Movies of the Last Decade – Telegraph Blogs

end of the year

2009-12-27T07:43:00.000-08:00

well...
the leftist,commie ,rat bastards in the democratic party have foisted their plans on the country....
from stealing the election in minnesota with acorn for al franken, to changing laws in mass. when teddy died to get a 60th democrat in to vote for their leftist agenda..... controlling the banks,to the auto industry, and healthcare...
hope all the dumbasses that wanted "change",and that voted for this sack of shit "cause he's only got one house...mccain has 10"....are happy...
merry xmas and a happy f%*kin' new year!!.....

where to start?....

2009-10-25T07:30:00.000-07:00

unbelievable...

Did Democrats put ACORN in charge of regulation for financial institutions?

posted at 9:00 am on October 24, 2009 by Ed Morrissey

From the pages of Government Doesn’t Listen, Part MMXLVII, we have this stunning example from the House Financial Services Committee. Yesterday, Reps. Maxine Waters, Barney Frank, and the rest of the Democrats decided to grant community organizers governing powers by giving them a role in shaping and enforcing new regulations on the American financial industry. That seems to include, although not explicitly, ACORN:

During consideration of H.R. 3126, legislation to establish a Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA), Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee voted to pass an amendment offered by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) that will make ACORN eligible to play a role in setting regulations for financial institutions.

The Waters amendment adds to the CFPA Oversight Board 5 representatives from the fields of “consumer protection, fair lending and civil rights, representatives of depository institutions that primarily serve underserved communities, or representatives of communities that have been significantly impacted by higher-priced mortgages” to join Federal banking regulators in advising the Director on the consistency of proposed regulations, and strategies and policies that the Director should undertake to enforce its rules.

By making representatives of ACORN and other consumer activist organizations eligible to serve on the Oversight Board, the amendment creates a potentially enormous government sanctioned conflict of interest. ACORN-type organizations will have an advisory role on regulating the very financial institutions from which they receive millions of dollars annually in direct corporate contributions and benefit from other financial partnerships and arrangements. These are the same organizations that pressured banks to make subprime mortgage loans and thus bear a major responsibility for the collapse of the housing market.

Parsing this carefully, it does not appear that Democrats on the HFSC explicitly included ACORN on this panel. Instead, the Waters amendment leaves spots open for representatives from organizations like ACORN, and probably does nothing to exclude ACORN representatives for consideration on these slots. The headline and lead on this release seem to be somewhat misleading in stating that Waters explicitly added ACORN as a regulator.

However, that doesn’t make the amendment any better. It would not matter whether these institutions were holier than the Church, more all-American than the Boy Scouts, more trustworthy than the Marines, and better looking than Hannah Giles. Regulation should be precise and enforced by the government, not made up as a board makes up arbitrary strategies as it goes along. As the article points out, these groups will have conflicts of interest with some or all of these financial institutions, which makes their inclusion even more odd.

Congress has a duty to pass rational regulation that can be precisely and consistently enforced without “strategies” and agendas, or better yet, just provide resources to enforce the regulation we already have.

back again...more leftist sh#t to talk about than ever!!....

2009-07-19T08:56:00.000-07:00

of all the hispanics in America that would be good...we get yet another idiot (see douche)..that shows us that idiocy knows no racial boundaries...

fer mother's day...douchebags that are mothers...

2009-05-09T07:24:00.000-07:00

these three immediately come to mind...
sorry rosie...lesbos that adopt don't count....

Texas is right!!

2009-04-14T06:15:00.000-07:00

Republic of Texas flag

WAKE UP CALL: TEXAS GOV. BACK RESOLUTION AFFIRMING SOVEREIGNTY
Tue Apr 14 2009 08:44:54 ET

AUSTIN – Gov. Rick Perry joined state Rep. Brandon Creighton and sponsors of House Concurrent Resolution (HCR) 50 in support of states’ rights under the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

“I believe that our federal government has become oppressive in its size, its intrusion into the lives of our citizens, and its interference with the affairs of our state,” Gov. Perry said. “That is why I am here today to express my unwavering support for efforts all across our country to reaffirm the states’ rights affirmed by the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. I believe that returning to the letter and spirit of the U.S. Constitution and its essential 10th Amendment will free our state from undue regulations, and ultimately strengthen our Union.”

Perry continued: "Millions of Texans are tired of Washington, DC trying to come down here to tell us how to run Texas."

A number of recent federal proposals are not within the scope of the federal government’s constitutionally designated powers and impede the states’ right to govern themselves. HCR 50 affirms that Texas claims sovereignty under the 10th Amendment over all powers not otherwise granted to the federal government.

It also designates that all compulsory federal legislation that requires states to comply under threat of civil or criminal penalties, or that requires states to pass legislation or lose federal funding, be prohibited or repealed.

pat buchanan...nuff' said

2009-04-13T06:38:00.000-07:00

Why Europe Won't Fight
by Patrick J. Buchanan
04/10/2009

"No one will say this publicly, but the true fact is we are all talking about our exit strategy from Afghanistan. We are getting out. It may take a couple of years, but we are all looking to get out."

Thus did a "senior European diplomat" confide to The New York Times during Obama's trip to Strasbourg.

Europe is bailing out on us. Afghanistan is to be America's war.

During what the Times called a "fractious meeting," NATO agreed to send 3,000 troops to provide security during the elections and 2,000 to train Afghan police. Thin gruel beside Obama's commitment to double U.S. troop levels to 68,000.

Why won't Europe fight?

Because Europe sees no threat from Afghanistan and no vital interest in a faraway country where NATO Europeans have not fought since the British Empire folded its tent long ago.

Al-Qaida did not attack Europe out of Afghanistan. America was attacked. Because, said Osama bin Laden in his "declaration of war," America was occupying the sacred soil of Saudi Arabia, choking Muslim Iraq to death and providing Israel with the weapons to repress the Palestinians.

As Europe has no troops in Saudi Arabia, is exiting Iraq and backs a Palestinian state, Europeans figure they are less likely to be attacked than if they are fighting and killing Muslims in Afghanistan.

Madrid and London were targeted for terror attacks, they believe, because Spain and Britain were George W. Bush's strongest allies in Iraq. Britain, with a large Pakistani population, must be especially sensitive to U.S. Predator strikes in Pakistan.

Moreover, Europeans have had their fill of war.

In World War I alone, France, Germany and Russia each lost far more men killed than we have lost in all our wars put together. British losses in World War I were greater than America's losses, North and South, in the Civil War. Her losses in World War II, from a nation with but a third of our population, were equal to ours. Where America ended that war as a superpower and leader of the Free World, Britain ended it bankrupt, broken, bereft of empire, sinking into socialism.

All of Europe's empires are gone. All her great navies are gone. All her million-man armies are history. Her populations are all aging, shrinking and dying, as millions pour in from former colonies in the Third World to repopulate and Islamize the mother countries.

Because of Europe's new "diversity," any war fought in a Muslim land will inflame a large segment of Europe's urban population.

Finally, NATO Europe knows there is no price to pay for malingering in NATO's war in Afghanistan. Europeans know America will take up the slack and do nothing about their refusal to send combat brigades.

For Europeans had us figured out a long time ago.

They sense that we need them more than they need us.

While NATO provides Europe with a security blanket, it provides America with what she cannot live without: a mission, a cause, a meaning to life.

Were the United States, in exasperation, to tell Europe, "We are pulling out of NATO, shutting down our bases and bringing our troops home because we are weary of doing all the heavy lifting, all the fighting and dying for freedom," what would we do after we had departed and come home?

What would our foreign policy be?

What would be the need for our vaunted military-industrial complex, all those carriers, subs, tanks, and thousands of fighter planes and scores of bombers? What would happen to all the transatlantic conferences on NATO, all the think tanks here and in Europe devoted to allied security issues?

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the withdrawal of the Red Army from Eastern Europe and the breakup of the Soviet Union, NATO's mission was accomplished. As Sen. Richard Lugar said, NATO must "go out of area or out of business."

NATO desperately did not want to go out of business. So, NATO went out of area, into Afghanistan. Now, with victory nowhere in sight, NATO is heading home. Will it go out of business?

Not likely. Too many rice bowls depend on keeping NATO alive.

You don't give up the March of Dimes headquarters and fund-raising machinery just because Drs. Salk and Sabin found a cure for polio.

Again, one recalls, in those old World War II movies, the invariable scene where two G.I.s are smoking and talking.

"What are you gonna do, Joe, when this is all over?" one would ask.

Years ago, we had the answer.

Joe stayed in the Army. He couldn't give it up. Soldiering is all he knew. Just like Uncle Sam. We can't give up NATO because, if we do, we would no longer be the "indispensable nation," the leader of the Free World.

And, if we're not that, then who are we? And what would we do?

Happy Easter

2009-04-12T08:04:00.000-07:00

George Beverly Shea...
the best...

sunday's douche...pick a biden...apparently if yer young...having a baby out of wedlock (see the palins)..is HORRIBLE!!!) but being filmed doing lines

2009-03-29T08:12:00.000-07:00

OF COCAINE IS OK!!

if you base it on media coverage...

An explosive video being shopped to media outlets has plunged the White House and Vice President Joe Biden into a cocaine scandal, RadarOnline.com has learned exclusively.

The video shows a woman, who is represented by the seller and his attorneys to be Biden’s daughter Ashley, snorting several lines of cocaine.

The tape has been viewed by a RadarOnline.com freelance reporter who confirms the woman looks identical to Ashley Biden.

Tom Dunlap, an attorney for Dunlap, Grubb and Weaver in Washington D.C. is representing the seller of the tape in brokering a deal and several news organizations have seen the footage.

In addition to RadarOnline.com, representatives for the New York Post, a large British newspaper and the National Enquirer have all viewed the tape.

The woman on the tape clearly resembles Ashley Biden, 27, who is a social worker employed with the Delaware Department of Children, Youth and Families. She is also a board member of the Delaware YWCA organization.

The tape was shot this year.

On the tape a man cuts up five lines of what is said to be cocaine. The woman who the seller says is Ashley then jokes with the man that the lines aren’t big enough.

The man hands her a rolled-up dollar bill and she proceeds to walk a few steps to a table where the cocaine is cut. She pulls her hair back, bends down and snorts a line.

Four lines of white powdery substance are clearly visible on the table, which is in front of a computer.

After she snorts the first line, the woman said to be Ashley lifts her head and wipes her nose. She then snorts a second and third line before the tape cuts off.

The tape was made without her knowledge. It is being shopped for $250,000.

The events on the tape are represented as taking place at a party in Wilmington, Delaware and the woman said to be Ashley is with a boyfriend.

The cocaine is done amid a party scene with loud music playing and several people talking at the same time.

The tape is approximately two minutes in length.

News clips show that Ashley Biden was once arrested for marijuana possession while she was a college student in New Orleans in 1999. The charges were later dismissed.

In 2002, The Los Angeles Times reported that Ashley, then 21, was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of obstructing a police officer outside a Chicago bar.

RadarOnline.com is attempting to reach Ashley Biden for comment.

ann coulter....always right

2009-03-29T08:04:00.000-07:00

click link to go to ann's site

GORDON GEKKO IS A DEMOCRAT
March 25, 2009

How did Republicans get saddled with Wall Street? Obama just got the biggest campaign haul from Wall Street in world history, and Republicans still can't shake the public perception that they are tied at the hip to Wall Street bankers who hate them.

It's as if National Rifle Association members conspired with Republicans to bankrupt the country and everyone blamed the Democrats for being shills of the NRA.

Maybe if the financial capital of the nation were located in Salt Lake City, rather than Manhattan, the financial community would support Republicans. But Wall Street is a street located in New York City.

No one in the top echelons of the financial industry who has a weekend place in the Hamptons is a Republican.

No, there is one. Teddy Forstmann. He has to throw his own parties and fly guests in. Otherwise, if they want to go to any half-decent parties, bankers must be Democrats. At their income bracket, multimillionaires will trade a little extra tax money for good cocktail parties.

Even the "Republicans" on Wall Street don't care about national defense or social issues. They just want to trade with China and hire illegal aliens.

Last September, The New York Times reported that individuals associated with the securities and investment industry had given $9.9 million to the Obama campaign, $7.4 million to the Hillary Clinton campaign and only $6.9 million to the McCain campaign. Either they're all Democrats or some commodity named "hope" was going through the roof last year.

Employees of Lehman Bros. alone gave Obama $370,000, compared to about $117,000 to McCain. (No wonder Bush let them go under.)

According to an analysis of Federal Election Commission records by the Center for Responsive Politics, the top three corporate employers of donors to Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Rahm Emanuel were Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and JPMorgan. Six other financial giants were in the top 30 donors to the White House Dream Team: UBS AG, Lehman Bros., Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse Group.

Since 1998, the financial sector has given a total of $37.6 million to Obama, compared to $32.1 million to McCain. But Obama ran for his first national office only in 2004. So McCain got less from the financial industry in a decade that included two runs for president than Obama did in four years.

As we've seen in recent weeks, Wall Street gets what it pays for. Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd included language in the stimulus bill allowing executives of the bailed-out banks to collect million-dollar bonuses.

And yet the Democrats' endless favors for their Wall Street friends never sticks to them because everyone treats Democrats' shilling for their own contributors as if it's a Nixon-goes-to-China moment.

On the March 23 edition of MSNBC's "Hardball," The Nation's David Corn said: "Remember -- What was it? A year or two back when there was talk about taxing hedge fund managers at the rate that the rest of us pay? Who intervened in that? Chuck Schumer."

But Corn then quickly added that this "got a lot of Democrats really mad. Here was a Democrat, you know, getting in the way of a populist issue at a time when the economy was already heading in the wrong direction."

Which Democrats got "really mad"? Chris Dodd? George Soros? Warren Buffett? Jon Corzine? Tim Geithner? Roger Altman? Bob Rubin? Jamie Dimon? Lloyd Blankfein?

Corn's formulation was wonderfully subtle: Admit that a Democrat preserved a sweetheart deal for hedge fund managers -- but then claim that his fellow Democrats were furious with him.

People are more likely to believe something if they think they came to it themselves. Hearing a liberal muse on TV that it was an aberration for Chuck Schumer to intervene to protect hedge fund managers -- risking the wrath of other Democrats -- the average person thinks: So Democrats must be the party of the people. I always thought George Soros was a Democrat, but he must be a Republican.

Democrats take care of the financial industry -- and the financial industry takes care of Democrats. After honing his financial skills as the bagman for Bill Clinton's White House, Rahm Emanuel was hired by the investment bank Wasserstein Perella, where he worked for 2 1/2 years.

For that, Emanuel was paid more than $18 million. (Maybe Rahm Emanuel was the Democrat livid at Schumer for preserving a sweet tax deal for hedge fund managers!)

Democrats have a beautiful system: They're showered with Wall Street money, but they also get to pillory Republicans for being the party of "Wall Street." The bankers don't care if Democrats attack them. They still get their bailout money.

COPYRIGHT 2009 ANN COULTER
DISTRIBUTED BY UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE
1130 Walnut, Kansas City, MO 64106

happy st. patricks day....

2009-03-17T05:37:00.000-07:00

i don't know if this can be said enough....she is a shitbag!!!

2009-03-16T21:03:00.000-07:00

to ms. mccain.....being round doesn't mean you are curvey....

2009-03-15T08:16:00.000-07:00

jamie gumm said it best.....
"is she a great big fat person?"

The Politics of Size

by Meghan McCain

Meghan McCain
From Laura Ingraham to Cindy McCain and Hillary Clinton, how did a woman’s weight become the last frontier in socially accepted prejudice? And why is the media fueling it?

Recently my not-size-zero body has come under fire again by the conservative pundit Laura Ingraham. On her radio show recently she sarcastically commented that I was “too plus sized to be a cast member on the television show The Real World” and needled me about my weight with a comment about Barbie's 50th Anniversary. Instead of intellectually debating our ideological differences about the future of the Republican party, Ms. Ingraham resorted to making fun of my age and weight, in the fashion of the mean girls in high school. I responded on twitter by saying “To all the curvy girls out there, don’t let anyone make you feel bad about your body. I love my curves and you should love yours too.”

My mother was constantly slammed for being too skinny, so the weight obsession of the media and our culture goes both ways. It also goes to both parties.

But now that numerous media outlets seem to have picked up on our tiff, I believe it warrants a more thoughtful response than can be contained in 140 characters. I have been teased about my weight and body figure since I was in middle school, and I decided a very long time ago to embrace what God gave me and live my life positively, attempting to set an example for other girls who may suffer with body image issues. I have nothing to hide: I am a size eight and fluctuated up to a size ten during the campaign. It’s ridiculous to even have this conversation because I am not overweight in the least and have a natural body weight.

But even if I were overweight, it would be ridiculous. I expected substantive criticism from conservative pundits for my views, particularly my recent criticism of Ann Coulter. That is the nature of political discourse, and my intent was to generate discussion about the current problems facing the Republican party. Unfortunately, even though Ms. Ingraham is more than twenty years older than I and has been a political pundit for longer, almost, than I have been alive, she responded in a form that was embarrassing to herself and to any woman listening to her radio program who was not a size zero.

In today’s society this is, unfortunately, predictable. Everyone from Jessica Simpson to Tyra Banks, Oprah and Hilary Clinton have fallen victim to this type of image-oriented bullying. Recent pictures of Pierce Brosnan’s wife Keely Shaye Smith on the beach in her bikini raised criticism about her weight and choice of bathing suit (like the woman should be wearing a giant mumu to swim in the ocean). After Kelly Clarkson’s recent appearance on American Idol, the first commentary I read on the internet was about her weight gain instead of her singing.

My weight was consistently criticized throughout the campaign. Once someone even suggested I go to a plastic surgeon for liposuction. Afterwards, I blogged about loving my body and suggested critics focus their insecurities about women’s bodies elsewhere. On the other side, my mother was constantly slammed for being too skinny, so the weight obsession of the media and our culture goes both ways. It also goes to both parties. Hilary Clinton has consistently received criticism for her pantsuits and figure. Whatever someone’s party, these criticisms are quite obviously both wrong and distracting from the larger issues at play.

The question remains: Why, after all this time and all the progress feminists have made, is weight still such an issue? And, in Laura’s case, why in the world would a woman raise it? Today, taking shots at a woman’s weight has become one of the last frontiers in socially accepted prejudice.

I also thought the media outlets that reported on Laura’s comments about me were out of line. I don’t listen to Laura’s show, so if journalists hadn’t picked up on it and reported on it, I never would have known what she said. I wonder how Laura would feel if at some point someone were to criticize her daughter’s weight and broadcast it nationally on the radio.

At this point, I have more respect for Ann Coulter than I do Laura Ingraham because at least Ann Coulter didn’t come back at me with heartless, substance-less attacks about my weight. All I can do is try and be a positive role model for women of my generation and hopefully help show that no matter what industry you are in, what size you are has nothing to do with your worth.

Meghan McCain is originally from Phoenix, Arizona. She graduated from Columbia University in 2007. She previously wrote for Newsweek magazine and created the website mccainblogette.com.

been out sick...whole family had flu....

2009-03-11T05:35:00.000-07:00

so many douchebags to choose from though...

dancing....idol....castle....
take your pick

Most-watched 'Dancing' premiere ever

Melissa dancing UPDATED: The eighth edition of ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" had the most-watched premiere in the show's history, dramatically reversing a two-year slide.

The "Dancing" kickoff was seen by 22.5 million viewers -- a larger audience than Thursday's edition of ratings titan "American Idol." The dancing competition earned a 5.9 preliminary adults 18-49 rating and 15 share -- up 9% from last fall's premiere and 5% from last spring. This is first time a "Dancing" premiere has climbed in the ratings since 2007.

The show's producers had to scramble after dancing celebs Nancy O'Dell and Jewel dropped out last week. But the eleventh-hour casting of scorned "Bachelor" contestant Melissa Rycroft was a stroke-of-genius move that not only capitalized on the dating competition’s success this season, but also managed to extend ABC's Monday night reality show "story" from one series to another. Complete with a judge praising Rycroft's performance and dissing her ex-fiance Jason Mesnick, last night's "Dancing" debut played like a feel-good "Bachelor" finale do-over with Cinderella finally going to the ball.

"Dancing" led in to the series premiere of the Nathan Fillion mystery comedy "Castle" (11.6 million, 3.3/9), which opened with a number that would have been more impressive if not for its enormous lead-in. "Castle" placed second in the hour, and outperformed the average of "Boston Legal" in the time period and was on par with the year-ago debut of "Bachelor: London" in the spot.

Fox ranked second with "House" (12.1 million, 4.8/13), down 13% from its last episode to post its lowest number in four years, and "24" (11.3 million, 3.6/9), which improved slightly from last week's two-hour run.

That left CBS in an uncharacteristic third place among total viewers and the demo, with lower-than-usual (and up against stiffer competition than usual) episodes of "Big Bang Theory" (9.5 million, 3.6/10), "How I Met Your Mother" (8.5 million, 3.5/9), "Two and a Half Men" (13.3 million, 4.7/11) and "Rules of Engagement" (10 million, 3.7/9). "Rules" was down but slightly from last week's premiere. CBS re-asserted itself at 10 p.m. with hour-topping "CSI: Miami" (14.1 million, 4.3/11).

Fourth-place NBC had some bad news for "Chuck" (5.7 million, 2.0/5) fans. The show fell 17% from last week to a serious series low. "Heroes" (6.6 million, 3.2/8) matched last week's preliminary-rating series low. Yet "Medium" (7.1 million, 2.5/6) was up a tick. The CW continued crossing a desert of "Gossip Girl" repeats.

UPDATE: In the nationals, the "Dancing" finale improved to 22.8 million viewers and 6.1 rating, while "Castle" crumbled to 10.6 million and a 3.0 rating.

one of hollyweird's favorite liberals..seanie boy penn,wins the oscar fer his portrayal of a queer in milk...what a surprise!!

2009-02-23T20:22:00.000-08:00

douchebags one and all....

sack o' shit holder...douchebag emeritus...

2009-02-19T19:48:00.000-08:00

is he ever gonna shut up about evil whitey?!?...

double douches...WHAT'S THE RUSH!!??

2009-02-16T06:36:00.000-08:00

WHAT'S THE RUSH?
'URGENT' $TIMULUS ON HOLD FOR BAM'S WEEKEND OFF

February 15, 2009

After pushing Congress for weeks to hurry up and pass the massive $787 billion stimulus bill, President Obama promptly took off for a three-day holiday getaway.

Obama arrived at his home in Chicago on Friday, and treated wife Michelle to a Valentine's Day dinner downtown last night. The couple was spotted leaving upscale Table Fifty-Two, which specializes in Southern cuisine, with the first lady toting what appeared to be a doggie bag.

The president plans to spend the Presidents' Day weekend in the Windy City, and is not expected to sign the bill until Tuesday, when he travels to Denver to discuss his economic plan.

Both the House and Senate passed the bill Friday night.

The push to get the bill through before the holiday weekend was so frantic, members of Congress didn't have a chance to read all 1,071 pages of the document before they could vote.

"In a perfect world it would have been nice to have had more time to process it," said Ilan Kayatsky, a spokesman for Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY).

Meanwhile, Gov. Paterson called yesterday for fiscal restraint with the massive influx of federal aid. His budget office estimated that New York will receive $24.6 billion over the next two years, $4 billion more than first believed. brendan.scott@nypost.com

douches for the Lord's day...the united soviet socialist states congress!!

2009-02-15T10:59:00.000-08:00

U.S. Congress Gives Final Approval to $787 Billion Stimulus

By Brian Faler

Feb. 13 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Congress gave final approval to President Barack Obama’s $787 billion economic stimulus package in hopes of wresting the economy out of recession through a mix of tax cuts and federal spending.

The Senate approved the package 60 to 38 with three Republicans joining Democrats in voting “yes.” Earlier today, the House passed the measure 246 to 183 with no Republicans in favor and seven Democrats opposed. The bill, Obama’s first major victory on Capitol Hill, now heads to his desk to be signed into law.

“After all the debate, this legislation can be summed up in one word: Jobs,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, during today’s floor debate. “The American people need action and they need action now.”

Because of paperwork that needs to be done, the legislation will reach the president’s desk “no earlier than Monday,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said.

Democrats predict the plan would save or create 3.5 million jobs. Its biggest item is a $400 payroll tax cut for individuals and $800 for couples. Retirees, disabled veterans and others who don’t pay payroll taxes would get a $250 payment.

Republicans argued that the bill contained too much government spending and, because of that, wouldn’t do enough to boost the economy.

‘Spending, Spending’

“I think everyone in this chamber on both sides of the aisle understands we need to act,” said House Minority Leader John Boehner, an Ohio Republican. “But a bill that’s supposed to be about jobs, jobs, jobs has turned into a bill that’s all about spending, spending and spending.”

Businesses won several tax breaks, including faster write- offs for equipment purchased in 2009 and incentives for companies that produce and invest in renewable resources such as solar and wind power. A business tax break pushed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce would ease near-term tax burdens on companies and buyout firms that restructure debt without entering bankruptcy. The bill also includes an alternative minimum tax cut.

Democratic congressional leaders negotiated the final version of the bill this week after the House and Senate passed their own proposals.

When the House voted on its version last month, it passed 244-188 with no Republicans in support and 11 Democrats in opposition.

60 Votes

The measure needed 60 votes to pass the Senate. The three Republicans voting for the bill in that chamber were Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, both of Maine. Senator Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrats who is battling brain cancer, didn’t vote and one of Minnesota’s Senate seats remains vacant.

Representative Allen Boyd of Florida was one of the Democrats who voted for the plan today after opposing the original House proposal. He said lawmakers “have worked hard to make this a better product,” in part by reducing some of the spending the House version had included.

Senator Judd Gregg, the New Hampshire Republican who withdrew yesterday as Obama’s commerce secretary nominee, voted against the plan. In a statement, he called it a “so-called stimulus plan” that “has become sidetracked by misplaced spending and a lack of attention to the true problems facing the nation.”

The stimulus plan would provide a half-trillion dollars for jobless benefits, renewable energy projects, highway construction, food stamps, broadband, Pell college tuition grants, high-speed rail projects and scores of other programs. It would raise the nation’s debt limit to about $12 trillion.

Executive Compensation

The package would restrict executive compensation at all companies receiving assistance from the Treasury Department’s Troubled Asset Relief Program, not just those receiving “exceptional” aid as the Obama administration announced last week. The legislation limits bonuses and other incentive pay at those companies on a sliding scale according to how much federal aid they take.

Bonus restrictions would be imposed on senior executive officers and the next 20 highest paid employees at companies that receive more than $500 million from TARP. Companies receiving between $250 million and $500 million would face restrictions on bonuses to their senior executive officers and their next 10 highest-paid workers. The limits would apply to the top five employees at companies receiving between $25 million and $250 million.

Other details of what provisions survived negotiations between the House and Senate were still emerging even as the plan headed for congressional passage.

Museums, Theaters

Lawmakers dropped provisions barring funds from going to museums, arts centers and theaters. A ban on money to casinos, golf courses, zoos and swimming pools was retained. Lawmakers deleted provisions requiring businesses receiving stimulus funding to use E-Verify, a government program used to ensure workers are in the country legally.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said today the stimulus package would cost $787 billion, rather than $789 billion lawmakers estimated earlier this week. The plan would pump $185 billion into the economy this year and $399 billion next year, the agency said.

“This country faces the greatest crisis that we’ve seen in terms of the economy since the ‘30s,” House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, a Wisconsin Democrat, said as he urged passage of the bill. “The other tool normally available to us is monetary policy in the form of low interest rates through actions of the Federal Reserve. We’ve already fired that bullet - - the only bullet left is fiscal policy.”

Representative Jeb Hensarling, a Texas Republican, said “you cannot borrow and spend your way to prosperity” and that Democrats were aiming to “stimulate big government.”

Democrats released the text of the plan late yesterday, prompting complaints from Republicans they didn’t have enough time to review the legislation before voting on it.

“It is over a thousand pages,” said Representative Tom Price, a Georgia Republican. “It is physically impossible for any member to have read this bill.”

for valentine's day...

2009-02-14T19:30:00.000-08:00

friday...always the douchiest of douches....

2009-02-13T06:42:00.000-08:00

mr.hillary clinton!!

FAIRNESS DOCTRINE:..TRANSLATION....NO ADVERTISERS WILL SPEND MONEY ON LIBERALS ON THE RADIO SO WE ARE GOING TO FORCE RADIO STATIONS TO HAVE LIBERALS ON THE RADIO...
GOES HAND IN HAND WITH MR. O'S U.S.S.R. LIKE AGENDA

Clinton wants 'more balance' on airwaves

Even though no member of Congress has scheduled hearings on the Fairness Doctrine, it remains on a hot topic on both liberal and conservative shows.

Today, radio host Mario Solis Marich asked former President Bill Clinton if it was time for "some type of enforced media accountability."

"Well, you either ought to have the Fairness Doctrine or we ought to have more balance on the other side," Clinton said, "because essentially there's always been a lot of big money to support the right wing talk shows and let face it, you know, Rush Limbaugh is fairly entertaining even when he is saying things that I think are ridiculous...."

Clinton said that there needs to be either "more balance in the programs or have some opportunity for people to offer countervailing opinions." Clinton added that he didn't support repealing the Fairness Doctrine, an act done under Reagan's FCC.

In the past week, a couple Democratic Senators, Debbie Stabenow and Tom Harkin, have both spoken favorably about the Fairness Doctrine, or holding hearings on radio accountability.

thursday's daily douchebag....

2009-02-11T19:30:00.000-08:00

be like
mike(michelle)!!!
"ladies.....to get rough in the paint...you got to get down in the taint!!"

our first school!!...
C M U!!!
lesbian bias in women's basketball?...
i am shocked!!

Ex-player sues CMU,
claims sexual bias
Claims heterosexuality was a factor

Updated: Wednesday, 11 Feb 2009, 3:31 PM EST
Published : Wednesday, 11 Feb 2009, 7:54 AM EST

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. (AP) - Central Michigan and its women's basketball coach are being sued by a former player, who claims her heterosexuality was a factor in losing a scholarship after two seasons.

Brooke Heike said she fell out of favor with Sue Guevara immediately after the coach was hired in 2007.

Heike said Guevara told her she wore too much makeup and was not the coach's "type." That meant she wasn't a lesbian, according to a lawsuit filed last week in federal court in Bay City.

The former Romeo High School star lost her scholarship after the 2007-08 season.

"I didn't feel that she did anything to improve herself after being told over and over what she needed to do," Guevara told an appeals committee last June.

Heike's lawsuit claims the appeals panel "simply rubber-stamped defendant Guevara's bad-faith decision to deprive plaintiff of her scholarship and dismiss her from the team" for reasons unrelated to basketball.

Central Michigan spokesman Steve Smith said the allegations have no merit, and the university will "vigorously defend its position in court."

Guevara, a former coach at Michigan, was hired by the Chippewas in 2007. Heike was recruited by the previous coach, Eileen Kleinfelter.

Heike played in 11 games as a freshman but only six in her sophomore season under Guevara.

"I had faith in CMU. I liked CMU. I wanted to give it everything I could," Heike told Guevara during the meeting on her appeal. "I wasn't going to give up. You gave up on me."

Heike has been attending community college since leaving campus, her lawyer, Cindy Rhodes Victor, said.

"She was so traumatized by the experience," Victor said Tuesday.

The lawsuit seeks a jury trial and an unspecified cash award.

tuesday douche.....

2009-02-10T09:54:00.000-08:00

just too many to name....
from the repube icans in the senate that sided with that communist rat bastard in the red house in d.c.(district of communism)
to all the self righteous pricks sitting in judgement and condemning aroid....
"let them without sin cast the first stone"....i guess in the world of sports journalism there are a helluva lot of sinless writers and experts...

mondays douche(shit)bags....

2009-02-08T20:38:00.000-08:00

collins...specter...snowe
asshole traitors one and all

a little late posting this but.....r.i.p. billy powell...

2009-02-08T11:11:00.000-08:00

you boys in skynyrd have meant so much to me as a southerner and as a man...
God Bless you all...

Rock & Roll Daily, Your non-stop music news source.
Lynyrd Skynyrd Keyboardist Billy Powell Dead at 56

Billy Powell, the only keyboardist Lynyrd Skynyrd ever had, died last night at his home near Jacksonville, Florida. He was 56. No cause of death has been announced, and a post on the official Skynyrd Website reads, “A Great Loss — Beloved Pianist for the Lynyrd Skynyrd Band, Billy Powell, passed away last night. We will post more info shortly. The family and band request your respect and understanding during this difficult time. Thank you.” The band is canceling upcoming shows and directing fans to its Website for tour updates.

Powell first joined Skynyrd in 1973 after serving as the band’s roadie for a year. His keyboard work features prominently on the band’s debut (pronounced ‘leh-’nerd ’skin-’nerd), with Powell credited for crafting the intro for their epic anthem “Free Bird” (Number 191 on Rolling Stone’s Greatest Songs of All Time). After impressing Ronnie Van Zant with his work on the song, Powell was officially invited to join the band, and remained a member from their debut album until 1977’s Street Survivors.

Powell survived the 1977 plane crash that took the lives of singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, backup singer Cassie Gaines and other crew members. Despite suffering injuries including facial lacerations and nearly losing his nose, Powell was the first to be discharged from the hospital and was the only member to attend his bandmates’ funerals. After Skynyrd, Powell joined the Christian rock band Vision, but reunited with Skynyrd after a decade-long hiatus for some concerts in 1989, and ultimately remained with the band until now. In May, Skynyrd played their first-ever gig at New York’s Madison Square Garden with Kid Rock.

Powell and the rest of his Lynyrd Skynyrd bandmates were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006. With Powell’s death, guitarist Gary Rossington becomes the lone surviving original Skynyrd member touring with the band.

sports teams as douchebags!!

2009-02-08T07:17:00.000-08:00

THE TEXASS ROIDRANGERS CIRCA 2000-2003
FEATURING(BUT NOT LIMITED TO)....
ARODONNA..PUDGEROD..JUANGONEZALEZ..RANDY VELARDE..RAFAEL LIAR PALMEIRO
AND MANY MORE!!

friday's washed up and used douche would be....

2009-02-05T20:28:00.000-08:00

nancy wilson!!

A recent interview with Nancy Wilson of Heart began with the topic of politics. Probably something that a lot of us have heard enough of for a while, but Wilson seemed willing to talk about the well-publicized flap regarding the McCain campaign’s use of Heart’s hit song “Barracuda” when asked.

Although at the time there seemed to be some uncertainly about whether they had the right to use the song at a campaign event, Wilson admits that “…it’s in the rule books they’re allowed to do that. We just thought we’d have our say because it’s America and we can do that here.”

translated....."we just wanted attention from the liberal media for attacking sarah palin,even though we knew the gop had paid for the rights to use it....we needed to make more money to feed me and especially my sister"....
mmmoooooo!!!!!

thursdays dirty douchey....shepard fairey...

2009-02-04T18:10:00.000-08:00

street artist??...hahahahaha....
street thief....

A poster of President Barack Obama, right, by artist Shepard Fairey is(his had hope,i prefer this one)...

NEW YORK (AP) - On buttons, posters and Web sites, the image was everywhere during last year's presidential campaign: A pensive Barack Obama looking upward, as if to the future, splashed in a Warholesque red, white and blue and underlined with the caption HOPE.

Designed by Shepard Fairey, a Los-Angeles based street artist, the image has led to sales of hundreds of thousands of posters and stickers, has become so much in demand that copies signed by Fairey have been purchased for thousands of dollars on eBay.

The image, Fairey has acknowledged, is based on an Associated Press photograph, taken in April 2006 by Manny Garcia on assignment for the AP at the National Press Club in Washington.

The AP says it owns the copyright, and wants credit and compensation. Fairey disagrees.

"The Associated Press has determined that the photograph used in the poster is an AP photo and that its use required permission," the AP's director of media relations, Paul Colford, said in a statement.

"AP safeguards its assets and looks at these events on a case-by-case basis. We have reached out to Mr. Fairey's attorney and are in discussions. We hope for an amicable solution."

"We believe fair use protects Shepard's right to do what he did here," says Fairey's attorney, Anthony Falzone, executive director of the Fair Use Project at Stanford University and a lecturer at the Stanford Law School. "It wouldn't be appropriate to comment beyond that at this time because we are in discussions about this with the AP."

Fair use is a legal concept that allows exceptions to copyright law, based on, among other factors, how much of the original is used, what the new work is used for and how the original is affected by the new work.

A longtime rebel with a history of breaking rules, Fairey has said he found the photograph using Google Images. He released the image on his Web site shortly after he created it, in early 2008, and made thousands of posters for the street.

As it caught on, supporters began downloading the image and distributing it at campaign events, while blogs and other Internet sites picked it up. Fairey has said that he did not receive any of the money raised.

A former Obama campaign official said they were well aware of the image based on the picture taken by Garcia, a temporary hire no longer with the AP, but never licensed it or used it officially. The Obama official asked not to be identified because no one was authorized anymore to speak on behalf of the campaign.

The image's fame did not end with the election.

It will be included this month at a Fairey exhibit at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston and a mixed-media stenciled collage version has been added to the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington.

"The continued use of the poster, regardless of whether it is for galleries or other distribution, is part of the discussion AP is having with Mr. Fairey's representative," Colford said.

A New York Times book on the election, just published by Penguin Group (USA), includes the image. A Vermont-based publisher, Chelsea Green, also used it—credited solely to Fairey_ as the cover for Robert Kuttner's "Obama's Challenge," an economic manifesto released in September. Chelsea Green president Margo Baldwin said that Fairey did not ask for money, only that the publisher make a donation to the National Endowment for the Arts.

"It's a wonderful piece of art, but I wish he had been more careful about the licensing of it," said Baldwin, who added that Chelsea Green gave $2,500 to the NEA.

Fairey also used the AP photograph for an image designed specially for the Obama inaugural committee, which charged anywhere from $100 for a poster to $500 for a poster signed by the artist.

Fairey has said that he first designed the image a year ago after he was encouraged by the Obama campaign to come up with some kind of artwork. Last spring, he showed a letter to The Washington Post that came from the candidate.

"Dear Shepard," the letter reads. "I would like to thank you for using your talent in support of my campaign. The political messages involved in your work have encouraged Americans to believe they can help change the status quo. Your images have a profound effect on people, whether seen in a gallery or on a stop sign."

At first, Obama's team just encouraged him to make an image, Fairey has said. But soon after he created it, a worker involved in the campaign asked if Fairey could make an image from a photo to which the campaign had rights.

"I donated an image to them, which they used. It was the one that said "Change" underneath it. And then later on I did another one that said "Vote" underneath it, that had Obama smiling," he said in a December 2008 interview with an underground photography Web site.

wednesday's douchebag ...BLIMPOprah

2009-02-04T07:52:00.000-08:00

tub of goo on her show,2/3/2009, lectured us all on how we all need to sacrifice and do with less now that dipshit is in washington...
like she appears to be doing ...

Change!!...daschle same old recycled douchey of the day feces he always was.....

2009-02-02T20:15:00.000-08:00

Daschle apologizes, fights to salvage nomination

beatles cartoon episode...taxman...enjoy

Feb 2, 6:30 PM (ET)

By KEVIN FREKING

WASHINGTON (AP) - Fighting to salvage his Cabinet nomination, Tom Daschle pleaded his case Monday evening in a closed meeting with former Senate colleagues after publicly apologizing for failing to pay more than $120,000 in taxes. President Barack Obama said he was "absolutely" sticking with his nominee for health secretary, and a key senator added an important endorsement.

The White House both underscored the magnitude of the problem and tried to downplay it in the space of seven words. "Nobody's perfect," said press secretary Robert Gibbs. "It was a serious mistake. ..."

Nobody was predicting defeat for Daschle's nomination as secretary of health and human services, but it was proving an unsavory pill to swallow for senators who only last week confirmed Timothy Geithner as treasury secretary despite his separate tax-payment problems. It's an issue that strikes a nerve among lawmakers' constituents who are struggling with their own serious money problems.

On the bright side for Daschle, he got warm words of support from the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, the panel that will have the first say on his fate. Daschle has been "an invaluable and expert partner" in efforts toward health care reform, said Democrat Max Baucus of Montana - an especially important endorsement since the two men have had tussles in the past over Baucus' handling of GOP tax-cut proposals, Medicare changes and other issues.

Republicans weren't so quick to get in line.

Going into the private meeting with Daschle, Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, top Republican on the Finance panel, was asked if supported the nomination. He responded, "Ask me after the hearing a week from tomorrow," a reference to Daschle's public confirmation hearing.

Said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, as he went into the meeting: "I'm going to just listen and pay attention very closely."

Daschle, the former Senate Democratic leader, expressed his remorse in a letter to the Finance Committee, saying he was "deeply embarrassed and disappointed" about what he said was an unintentional failure to pay taxes that he owed. He recently filed amended returns for 2005-07 to report $128,203 in back taxes and $11,964 in interest.

Obama, asked at the White House whether he was standing by his nomination, answered, "Absolutely." He did not elaborate.

In his letter, released Monday, Daschle sought to explain how he overlooked taxes on income for consulting work and the use of a car service. He also deducted more in charitable contributions than he should have.

"I apologize for the errors and profoundly regret that you have had to devote time to them," he told committee members.

White House spokesman Gibbs reiterated Obama's support for the former South Dakota senator and said it would be up to the Senate to weigh a "serious, but corrected mistake against that three-decade career in public service."

"We still think he's the best person to do health care reform and shepherd a very complicated process through Congress to achieve savings and cut costs for the American people," Gibbs said. The White House also had suggested Geithner was indispensable for the national economic revival in arguing for his confirmation despite tax problems.

Melanie Sloan, the executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, noted the Geithner nomination in saying she suspected tax problems would not prevent Daschle from becoming the next health secretary.

"If the guy who is overseeing the IRS can get away with a tax problem, how are you going to hold up the health and human services secretary over taxes?" she asked.

Daschle was an early supporter of Obama's presidential bid, and several of Daschle's former Capitol Hill staffers went to work for Obama after Daschle lost his re-election bid in 2004.

Daschle filed the amended tax returns after Obama announced he intended to nominate him as secretary of health and human services.

"I disclosed this information to the committee voluntarily and paid the taxes and any interest owed promptly," Daschle wrote. "My mistakes were unintentional."

On another matter, a financial disclosure form Daschle filed about a week ago showed that he made more than $200,000 in the past two years speaking to members of the health care industry that Obama wants him to reform.

The speaking fees were just a portion of the more than $5.2 million the former senator earned over the past two years as he advised health insurers and hospitals and worked in other industries such as energy and telecommunications, according to a financial statement filed with the Office of Government Ethics.

Among the health care interest groups paying Daschle for speeches were America's Health Insurance Plans, $40,000 for two speeches; CSL Behring, $30,000; the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, $16,000, and the Principal Life Insurance Co., $15,000.

monday's daily douche(dime)bag.....

2009-02-01T20:41:00.000-08:00

smoke some weed....

don't be like mike phelps

Olympic great Michael Phelps acknowledged "regrettable" behavior and "bad judgment" after a photo in a British newspaper Sunday showed him inhaling from a marijuana pipe.

In a statement to The Associated Press, the swimmer who won a record eight gold medals at the Beijing Games did not dispute the authenticity of the exclusive picture published Sunday by the tabloid News of the World.

"I engaged in behavior which was regrettable and demonstrated bad judgment," Phelps said in the statement released by one of his agents. "I'm 23 years old and despite the successes I've had in the pool, I acted in a youthful and inappropriate way, not in a manner people have come to expect from me. For this, I am sorry. I promise my fans and the public it will not happen again."

News of the World said the picture was taken during a November house party while Phelps was visiting the University of South Carolina. During that trip, he attended one of the school's football games and received a big ovation when introduced to the crowd.

While the newspaper did not specifically allege that Phelps was smoking pot, it did say the water pipe is generally used for that purpose and anonymously quoted a partygoer who said the Olympic champion was "out of control from the moment he got there."

The party occurred nearly three months after the Olympics while Phelps was taking a long break from training, and his actions should have no impact on the eight golds he won at Beijing. He has never tested positive for banned substances. The case is unlikely to fall under any doping rules.

Phelps' main sanctions most likely will be financial - perhaps doled out by embarrassed sponsors who might be reconsidering their dealings with the swimmer.

Phelps was in Tampa, Fla., during Super Bowl week to make promotional appearances on behalf of a sponsor. But he left the city before Sunday's game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals, abandoning his original plan to be at Raymond James Stadium.

The U.S. Olympic Committee said it was "disappointed in the behavior recently exhibited by Michael Phelps," who was selected the group's sportsman of the year. He also was honored as AP male athlete of the year, and his feat in Beijing - breaking Mark Spitz's 36-year-old record for most gold medals in an Olympics - was chosen as the top story of 2008.

"Michael is a role model, and he is well aware of the responsibilities and accountability that come with setting a positive example for others, particularly young people," the USOC said in a statement. "In this instance, regrettably, he failed to fulfill those responsibilities."

USA Swimming said its Olympic champions are "looked up to by people of all ages, especially young athletes who have their own aspirations and dreams."

"That said," the governing body added, "we realize that none among us is perfect. We hope that Michael can learn from this incident and move forward in a positive way."

Phelps was part of a group of elite athletes who agreed to take part in a pilot testing program designed to increase the accuracy of doping tests. His spot in the program could be at risk, said Travis Tygart, head of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

"For one of the Olympics' biggest heroes it's disappointing, and we'll evaluate whether he remains in that program," Tygart said. "But some good education comes from this because he's going to suffer some penalties."

Marijuana is viewed differently from performance-enhancing drugs, according to David Howman, executive director of the World Anti-Doping Agency. An athlete is subject to WADA sanctions only for a positive test that occurs during competition periods.

"We don't have any jurisdiction," Howman said. "It's not banned out of competition. It's only if you test positive in competition."

Phelps returned to the pool a couple of weeks ago to begin preparations for this summer's world championships in Rome. He plans to take part in his first post-Olympics meet in early March, a Grand Prix event in Austin, Texas.

This isn't the first embarrassing episode for Phelps after an Olympic triumph. In 2004, a few months removed from winning six gold and two bronze medals in Athens, the swimmer was arrested on a drunken driving charge at age 19. He pleaded guilty and apologized for the mistake.

In his book "No Limits: The Will to Succeed," Phelps recounted how his first phone call was to his agent, and not his mother or coach Bob Bowman, because he knew they would yell at him.

Later, he called Bowman, who was supportive but told him, "Michael, just because you want to blow off some steam doesn't mean you can be an idiot."

Debbie Phelps, his mother, cried at the news.

"That hurt worse, maybe, than anything," Phelps wrote. "I had never seen my mother that upset."

Bowman did not respond to phone and e-mail messages. Instead, he issued a terse statement through Phelps' agent.

"He regrets his behavior, and I'm sure he'll learn from this experience," the coach said. "I'm glad to have him back in training."

Olympic teammate Dara Torres said Phelps has become such a prominent figure that everything he does is news.

However, she said: "This in no way, shape or form diminishes anything he's done."

"It's sort of a double-edged sword," Torres told the AP on Sunday. "When you're recognizable, you're looked up to as a role model. He is recognizable and everything you do gets looked at and picked apart. I guess that's the price of winning 14 Olympic medals."

Jason Lezak, whose remarkable anchor leg of the 400-meter freestyle relay helped Phelps stay on course to break Spitz's record, said he was "saddened" to hear of the report.

"While I don't condone his conduct, I am a teammate and fan," Lezak said in a text message to the AP. "Unlike many fair-weather people, I am sticking by him. If my wife and I can help him in any way, we will. I believe he will grow from this and be better person, role model and teammate."

Last year, News of the World posted video on its Web site showing Max Mosley, the president of motor racing's governing body, engaging in sex acts with five prostitutes. Mosley admitted to being a part of the scenario but sued for breach of privacy and was awarded $120,000. Another news break involved Prince Harry in 2002, smoking marijuana and drinking before the legal age of 18.

During the 1998 Nagano Olympics, Canadian snowboarder Ross Rebagliati was stripped of his gold medal in the giant slalom after testing positive for marijuana. The victory was reinstated because the sport's governing body did not have a rule banning the substance. Later that year, Olympic swimmer Gary Hall Jr. drew a three-month suspension after testing positive for pot.

"It's one of those substances that every year there's debate over it," said Howman, the WADA official.

The USOC's code of conduct only covers the period from when an athlete makes the Olympic team until the end of the games. But Howman suggested that U.S. swimming officials or the sport's world organization, FINA, could punish Phelps if there is "sufficient evidence to indicate possession, supply or distribution."

FINA officials said they would not comment on the matter until Monday, as did the International Olympic Committee.

"We have to be strong on these things," Howman said. "We certainly are relying on those who are responsible to look into this."

The USOC noted that Phelps acknowledged his mistake and apologized.

"We are confident that, going forward, Michael will consistently set the type of example we all expect from a great Olympic champion," the group said.

a reminder of what it really is all about

2009-01-31T23:07:00.000-08:00

the outlaw...
larry norman

sundays douchebag...

2009-01-31T22:49:00.000-08:00

pepsi!!
with the new dopebama logo and slogan...
they can refresh themselves with a little vinegar and water....
coca cola is the best anyway...

saturday's douchey san fransissyco treat!!

2009-01-30T21:55:00.000-08:00

got milk?....
sean penn!!

liberalism in comic books

2009-01-30T05:07:00.000-08:00

Holy Terror, Batman
by Mike Baron

Part One:

click title to go to site...
In 2006, I had a minor low pressure area in my brain and conceived a P.R. campaign directed against Islamo-fascism which I posted on Nate Tabor’s “The Conservative Voice.” The results were swift and devastating. Like any other branch of the entertainment industry, liberalism is the default position of most comic book creators and fans.

Liberalism has a long and honorable history in comics, nowhere more apparent than in the groundbreaking Green Lantern/Green Arrow comics by Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams which dealt with drug addiction, the trial of the Chicago Seven, corporate pollution and overpopulation. In “Death Be My Destiny,” O’Neil posited a planet called Maltus where over-population was out of control. Denny was channeling the Reverend Thomas Malthus, a nineteenth-century Brit who predicted a Paul Erlich-like doom. In “The Population Bomb” Erlich predicted: “In the 1970s and 1980s . . . hundreds of millions of people are going to starve to death in spite of any crash programs embarked upon now.”

That didn’t happen. It was a test run for today’s global warming baloney, which many libs take on faith. Comics are jammed with corporate villains and group identity politics.

In the eighties, I worked on adaptations of Timothy Zahn’s “Star Wars” novels for Dark Horse and wrangled an invite to Skywalker Ranch to meet my Skywalker editor. We were sitting in her office when I cheerfully offered a non-ideological observation, “You know,” I said, “I have a theory that “Star Trek” and “Star Wars” are two sides of the same coin. “Star Trek” offers a liberal vision. “Star Wars” offers a conservative…”

That was as far as I got before my editor barked, “I’m a liberal!” I didn’t mean anything by my observation beyond what I’d said, but she was so terrified of being associated in any way shape or form with conservatism that she had to nip that line of logic in the protein pool.

Part Two:

Comic fandom is a raucous free-for-all of often juvenile voices. Who else has time to hang on the web all day fantasizing about John Byrne’s sex life? After I posted my “Manifesto,” Newsarama, an excellent source of comic news, quickly smelled blood and posted the following referring to the manifesto:

“Fans of his work on ‘Nexus,’ ‘Badger,’ ‘Punisher’ and countless other titles may be wondering what Mike Baron has been up to lately. Well, you can check out his latest work over at ‘The Conservative Voice,’ where he posted an essay titled “Manifesto” earlier this week. The first line — “What if the United States launched an all-out public relations blitz to convince the world that Islamofascism must be stopped?” — gives you an idea of the flavor of the essay.

“His proposed PR plan does include comics [Newsarama now quotes from my "Manifesto"]:

Comics: The idiot bastard son of newsprint and yellow ink has become the tail that wags the cultural dog. Half the movies made today are based on comic books. The comic itself is making a comeback thanks to the graphic novel and the rise of Japanese manga. Comics are the preferred reading in most of the civilized world. They account for over half the periodicals sold in Britain and Japan. It is only in the United States where they dwindled and almost died from a combination of cultural and economic factors.

But now they’re back, and being read big time by studio executives. Entertainment Weekly and the New York Times regularly review comic books. With the advent of such works as Art Spiegelman’s Maus and Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series they are once again a serious vehicle for ideas.

We need the kind of comics we produced during World War II, when Superman, the Justice League et al went to bat for America against the Nazis and the Japanese. One character from that era cries out for a new beginning: Captain America. Captain America should be taking the fight to Tehran. Captain America should become the unabashed champion of Western civilization and Judeo/Christian values. Considering Marvel’s diversification, world market, and the eagerness of its owners to hobnob with the beautiful people, this is unlikely.

We need a new Captain America.

Here are the responses from the Newsarama comment section:

1. And here, ladies and gentlemen, is why I don’t want to give Baron any of my money anymore.

2. Okay, Baron is officially a Right-wing nut. It makes so much sense to spread hatred in the U.S. against Muslims? Wow, can’t you see the skinheads torching mosques and saying, “Well, Captain America said it was okay!”

3. After Mr. Baron links to a news segment - which starts as a 60 minutues [sic] clip but then almost seamlessly cuts to somebody trying to prove Palestinians fake their own deaths… After he calls for ridicule of a religion (”…comic books satirizing Ahmadinejad—the dude’s eyes are so close together he’s practically a Cyclops. And Nasrallah—did you ever see a more hapless looking shmuck. He looks like a chipmunk with glasses…”), which can only lead to more misunderstanding and violence… After he inadvertantly [sic] agrees that the Palestinians live under Israeli opression [sic] in this paragraph:

Above all, repeat as often as possible the message that suicide bombing is a crime against humanity, it has no justification, and the people who do it are evil. Point to the example of Tibet, under soul-crushing Chinese rule for decades, yet not a single Tibetan has resorted to violence, let alone suicide bombing.

After all this, he actually says this: “Thank God for Fox News. This is one area where civilization has a leg up.” At which point I stopped reading. Mike Baron’s understanding of the world is equivalent to that of a child. A hateful, spoiled child who does not even understand the propaganda he regurgitates.

4. That’s sad. I feel sorry for Mr. Baron. There’s a sickness running wild in America, and he’s the latest casualty. I hope someday he recovers enough equilibrium to be ashamed of that article.

The following most succinctly summed up the tone of the comments:

’Islamofascism’–Interesting that this bullshit word took all of 2 days to seep so deeply into the public conciousness [sic]. Amero-fascism is what has got me scared.

My favorite response:

Mike Baron being conservative is a new development? Yeah, I seem to recall his introduction to a Punisher collection from the 80s making the case that America needs a real life Punisher, someone willing to completely bypass the legal system and dispense summary justice, etc. Mike Baron’s mother is/was a radical feminist professor at UW-Madison, from what I’ve been told.

My mother was a Professor of Business in the UW School of Business. She also had a TV show for kids called “Bouncy Bunny,” but that’s another story. The most radical thing about Mom was the bright red coat she wore on cold days.

Part Three:

A couple true liberals, including Mike Gold and Jackie Estrada, wrote in to defend my right to pop off. I was saddened but not surprised by the majority of responses. As I mentioned above, liberalism is a fall-back position. It needn’t be examined and explained because it is the dominant culture. It makes people feel good about themselves without effort.

Occasionally a conservative voice breaks through what Emmett Tyrell calls the kultursmog. Frank Miller, creator of “Sin City” and “300,” has always had conservative views and is in fact working on a Batman graphic novel called “Holy Terror” in which Batman defends Gotham City from Al Qaeda.

Miller’s been riding high, with film versions of his “Sin City“ and “300.” His latest film, “The Spirit” (based on the classic comic by Will Eisner) went down in flames on its opening day with some of the worst reviews in history. A certain portion of fandom was waiting with sharpened knives. The schadenfreude on the message boards was thicker than the fog in “Sin City.”

Will this affect “Holy Terror?” I hope not. Frank has said “Holy Terror” is “bound to offend just about everybody.”

Well it won’t offend conservatives, but who counts them?

david wells is classier than joe"i am an ungrateful bitch" torre

2009-01-30T04:41:00.000-08:00

bet you never thought you'd read that...

Wells comments on Torre's book
Former Yankee said his former manager broke clubhouse etiquette

By Doug Miller / MLB.com

David Wells is the latest former Yankee to respond to comments made by Joe Torre in the former Yankees manager's upcoming book.

According to the Associated Press, the outspoken left-hander, in a Tampa radio interview that was aired on "The Mason & Ireland Show" 710-AM ESPN Radio in Los Angeles, said he took offense to the line: "The difference between Kevin Brown and David Wells is that both make your life miserable, but David Wells meant to."

"I'm kind of like blown away because of the fact that he's coming out and he's bashing," Wells said, referring to the recently revealed text of "The Yankee Years," co-written by current Los Angeles Dodgers manager Torre and Sports Illustrated writer Tom Verducci.

"I found out last night that he was bashing me and Kevin Brown. He bashed Kevin Brown as a player, when he said he tried to make his life miserable. Nobody tries to make anybody's life miserable out there on the diamond. You're there for one reason and one reason only, and that's to win.

"If I was trying to make his life miserable," Wells continued, "I would have succeeded. ... If he had that many problems with those guys, why didn't he face them while they were there?"

Wells said he hasn't read the book but will likely purchase a copy when it comes out next week. But he did say he can already tell that Torre broke a time-honored clubhouse rule.

"What we do as athletes, that's our problem, our business, and a lot of guys have come out and destroyed that," Wells said. "That's why they don't have any friends. You just don't do that, and that's what Joe did. When you break the code, you're a punk."

fridays douchebag...

2009-01-29T19:36:00.000-08:00

and the winner is....
i really went to hahvaahd for three days...i think i'm good will hunting...
matt damon!!...in his gayass redcocks jersey after man sex in the men's room at fengay park to boot!!

could not be any prouder of the G O P members of the house....

2009-01-28T15:52:00.000-08:00

from ace of spades blog....

House Voting on Stimulus Shit Sandwich
Update: Before Gavel, Every Last Republican Voted Against It
—Ace

It's at times like this I think about my darkest hours during the war, when I fought the aggressive, expansionistic Doozers by eating the beet-sugar crystalline structures they made.

Update: It's unclear if a couple of Republicans flipped at the last moment, but either all Republicans voted against it or all but one or two.

As the below-excerpted WSJ editorial stated:

This is supposed to be a new era of bipartisanship, but this bill was written based on the wish list of every living -- or dead -- Democratic interest group. As Speaker Nancy Pelosi put it, "We won the election. We wrote the bill." So they did. Republicans should let them take all of the credit.

Huzzah.

kentucky fried douche....

2009-01-27T20:49:00.000-08:00

Ashley Judd!!...
on Obama: “It’s so nice to live in America again”

10 douchebag republicans voting with shitbag barryo on geithner

2009-01-26T21:17:00.000-08:00

And here are the 10 B.O. (Barack Obama/Bend Over) Republicans who sided with Obama and the Dems:

Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Crapo (R-ID)
Ensign (R-NV)
Graham (R-SC)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hatch (R-UT)
Shelby (R-AL)
Snowe (R-ME)
Voinovich (R-OH)

Question: Where was GOP Sen. Kit Bond?

Update - Answer: Missed his plane, but would have voted against.

douchebagimus maximus....

2009-01-25T19:40:00.000-08:00

joe torre...
terd cost the yanks two titles and that vomitous series against the red cox with his lousy managing and now he wants to write a book about other people? and the yanks? the same yanks that pulled his career from the dumper?...maybe he should examine what a shitbag he is.....

good response from el rushbo to commie obamie

2009-01-25T19:13:00.000-08:00

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Limbaugh Responds to Obama [Byron York]

According to an account in the New York Post, President Barack Obama yesterday told Republican leaders, "You can't just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done." With George W. Bush now off the stage, it may be that Obama and some of his fellow Democrats view Limbaugh, and not John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, or any other elected official, as the true leader of the Republican opposition. This morning I asked Rush for his thoughts on all this, and here is his response:

There are two things going on here. One prong of the Great Unifier's plan is to isolate elected Republicans from their voters and supporters by making the argument about me and not about his plan. He is hoping that these Republicans will also publicly denounce me and thus marginalize me. And who knows? Are ideological and philosophical ties enough to keep the GOP loyal to their voters? Meanwhile, the effort to foist all blame for this mess on the private sector continues unabated when most of the blame for this current debacle can be laid at the feet of the Congress and a couple of former presidents. And there is a strategic reason for this.

Secondly, here is a combo quote from the meeting:

"If we don't get this done we (the Democrats) could lose seats and I could lose re-election. But we can't let people like Rush Limbaugh stall this. That's how things don't get done in this town."

To make the argument about me instead of his plan makes sense from his perspective. Obama's plan would buy votes for the Democrat Party, in the same way FDR's New Deal established majority power for 50 years of Democrat rule, and it would also simultaneously seriously damage any hope of future tax cuts. It would allow a majority of American voters to guarantee no taxes for themselves going forward. It would burden the private sector and put the public sector in permanent and firm control of the economy. Put simply, I believe his stimulus is aimed at re-establishing "eternal" power for the Democrat Party rather than stimulating the economy because anyone with a brain knows this is NOT how you stimulate the economy. If I can be made to serve as a distraction, then there is that much less time debating the merits of this TRILLION dollar debacle.

Obama was angry that Merrill Lynch used $1.2 million of TARP money to remodel an executive suite. Excuse me, but didn't Merrill have to hire a decorator and contractor? Didn't they have to buy the new furnishings? What's the difference in that and Merrill loaning that money to a decorator, contractor and goods supplier to remodel Warren Buffet's office? Either way, stimulus in the private sector occurs. Are we really at the point where the bad PR of Merrill getting a redecorated office in the process is reason to smear them? How much money will the Obamas spend redecorating the White House residence? Whose money will be spent? I have no problem with the Obamas redoing the place. It is tradition. 600 private jets flown by rich Democrats flew into the Inauguration. That's fine but the auto execs using theirs is a crime? In both instances, the people on those jets arrived in Washington wanting something from Washington, not just good will.

If I can be made to serve as a distraction, then there is that much less time debating the merits of the trillion dollar debacle.

One more thing, Byron. Your publication and website have documented Obama's ties to the teachings of Saul Alinksy while he was community organizing in Chicago. Here is Rule 13 of Alinksy's Rules for Radicals:

"Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it."

hey, barry...

2009-01-25T07:54:00.000-08:00

america still has free speech you scumbag....
they can listen to whomever they want....

Obama: Quit Listening to Rush Limbaugh if You Want to Get Things Done
Obama warned Republicans to quit listening to Limbaugh if they want to get along with Democrats, during a White House discussion on his nearly $1 trillion stimulus package.

WASHINGTON -- President Obama warned Republicans on Capitol Hill today that they need to quit listening to radio king Rush Limbaugh if they want to get along with Democrats and the new administration.

"You can't just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done," he told top GOP leaders, whom he had invited to the White House to discuss his nearly $1 trillion stimulus package.

One White House official confirmed the comment but said he was simply trying to make a larger point about bipartisan efforts.

"There are big things that unify Republicans and Democrats," the official said. "We shouldn't let partisan politics derail what are very important things that need to get done."

That wasn't Obama's only jab at Republicans today.

While discussing the stimulus package with top lawmakers in the White House's Roosevelt Room, President Obama shot down a critic with a simple message.

"I won," he said, according to aides who were briefed on the meeting. "I will trump you on that."

The response was to the objection by Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) to the president's proposal to increase benefits for low-income workers who don't owe federal income taxes.

obama immediately continues the assault on the unborn...

2009-01-24T10:35:00.001-08:00

giuliani,like assholobama thinks we should de emphasize this?....
that makes rudy giuliani our douchebag for saturday....

Change Has Come

By W. James Antle, III on 1.23.09 @ 6:09AM

WASHINGTON -- The crowd was packed close together on the National Mall, as parents pushing young children in strollers stood cheek by with activists carrying placards and students toting homemade signs. Moving at a sluggish pace, the March for Life was reminiscent of the pro-life movement behind it: making progress slowly, in baby steps -- and then suddenly stopping.

The latest obstacle in front of pro-life progress is the man sworn in as president just two days before at the same location. Unlike the March for Life participants, Barack Obama commemorated the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade by issuing a statement saying that the decision legalizing abortion "not only protects women's health and reproductive freedom, but stands for a broader principle: that government should not intrude on our most private family matters."

In case the meaning was lost, Obama continued, "I remain committed to protecting a woman's right to choose." Of that, there was hardly any doubt. In the last years in which he was scored while a U.S. senator, Obama earned 100 percent ratings from NARAL Pro-Choice America, Planned Parenthood, and the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association. He got a big, fat zero from the National Right to Life Committee.

Obama was a co-sponsor of the Freedom of Choice Act, which threatens the incremental progress the pro-life movement has made since 1992's Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision. In Washington and Springfield, Illinois, he has voted against banning partial-birth abortion, against laws designed to protect infants who survive attempted abortions, and against restrictions on taxpayer funding of elective abortion.

Yet among the pro-life marchers, there was very little overt hostility toward the new president. One young man carried a sign depicting Obama with a Hitler moustache and blaring, "Stop the Abortion Holocaust: Impeach Adolf Obama." But the imploring tone of one frequently spotted placard was more representative: "Please Mr. President! Protect the unborn." Former President George W. Bush was seldom so politely addressed at the larger antiwar marches.

Of course, the March for Life is different from most other political protests. Families with small children are everywhere. Yesterday's program of speakers was periodically interrupted by calls from the main stage to pick up children who were separated from their parents. One little boy was even allowed to call out for his mother from the podium. There are also large processions of young people from Catholic high schools and parishes across the country.

The politicians who spoke were mostly conservative Republicans, like Sen. Sam Brownback and Reps. Chris Smith, Scott Garrett, Jeff Fortenberry, Bob Latta, Jim Jordan, Michelle Bachmann, and Jean Schmidt. But a common approach was to take lines from President Obama's inaugural address and use them to call for expanding the circle of legal protection to unborn children.

Perhaps the most creative -- and combative -- paraphrase of Obama's speech was offered by former Congressman "B-1" Bob Dornan. "We will not apologize for our way of life -- I add our love of life -- nor will we waver in its defense," he said, his gravel-filled voice starting to rise. "And for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror -- the terror of abortion -- and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken. You cannot outlast us and we will defeat you."

statesboro blues...

2009-01-22T22:19:00.000-08:00

daily douchebag for friday....

2009-01-22T20:58:00.000-08:00

(let's all get along for obama's sake...
that means if you are white,bend over...grab yer ankles... and spell run, slowly..}

Robert Reich!!

Michelle Malkin
Lead Story
Robert Reich: Keep stimulus money away from skilled workers and “white male contractors”
By Michelle Malkin • January 22, 2009 05:01 AM

I missed Clintonite moldy oldie-turned-Obama economic adviser Robert Reich’s testimony a few weeks ago on how the government should spend federal stimulus money. The Berkeley professor engaged in academic fantasy land talk about getting all the cash out to workers as quickly as possible — a pipe dream debunked by the CBO report I mentioned in my column yesterday.

Even more noteworthy, however, were the comments Reich made about which workers deserve the stimulus bucks most. Reich’s proposal exposes the lie that the Obama administration is actually interested in revitalizing basic infrastructure for the good of the economy. No, what Team Obama really wants is to ensure that the least skilled, least qualified workers get jobs based on their chromosomes and pigment.

Reich wrote on his blog:

The stimulus plan will create jobs repairing and upgrading the nation’s roads, bridges, ports, levees, water and sewage system, public-transit systems, electricity grid, and schools. And it will kick-start alternative, non-fossil based sources of energy (wind, solar, geothermal, and so on); new health-care information systems; and universal broadband Internet access.

It’s a two-fer: lots of new jobs, and investments in the nation’s future productivity.

But if there aren’t enough skilled professionals to do the jobs involving new technologies, the stimulus will just increase the wages of the professionals who already have the right skills rather than generate many new jobs in these fields. And if construction jobs go mainly to white males who already dominate the construction trades, many people who need jobs the most — women, minorities, and the poor and long-term unemployed — will be shut out.

What to do? There’s no easy solution to either dilemma…

People can be trained relatively quickly for these sorts of jobs, as well as many infrastructure j0bs generated by the stimulus — installing new pipes for water and sewage systems, repairing and upgrading equipment, basic construction — but contractors have to be nudged both to provide the training and to do the hiring.

I’d suggest that all contracts entered into with stimulus funds require contractors to provide at least 20 percent of jobs to the long-term unemployed and to people with incomes at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. And at least 2 percent of project funds should be allocated to such training. In addition, advantage should be taken of buildings trades apprenticeships — wich must be fully available to women and minorities.

thursday's douche.....

2009-01-21T20:13:00.000-08:00

tim...it's all turbo taxes fault..geithner!!

from hot air...
Obama Treasury nominee: Hey, sorry for being a tax cheat
posted at 12:55 pm on January 21, 2009 by Allahpundit

A quickie from this morning’s Finance Committee hearing. He made a common mistake, Team Barry assures us. Except that it isn’t true, especially considering that he was reimbursed by the IMF for the taxes he “forgot” to pay. What’s his excuse, then? Simple: He doesn’t have one. Or at least, he didn’t until today, when he kinda sorta blamed … TurboTax. And momentarily sent Intuit’s shares plummeting in the process.

I use TT and pay self-employment tax and have never had a problem, but then I have an incentive to be extra careful: Unlike Geithner, I might face consequences if I make a mistake. Exit question: Should the GOP take Newt’s advice and vote against him? They can’t block him, obviously, so the gesture would be purely symbolic. Do they gain more by standing up for the taxpayer than they lose from appearing obstructionist in the midst of an economic crisis with Obama surfing a wave of Hopenchange goodwill?

song fer thursday...

2009-01-21T20:08:00.000-08:00

vintage stevie nicks...
great song...tom petty's i need to know

song of the moment....

2009-01-20T21:22:00.000-08:00

tuesday's gone...
skynyrd cover from metallica...

douche fer wednesday....

2009-01-20T21:05:00.000-08:00

the little piece of weasel sh*t
rahm me in the rear emmanuel!!

song of the moment...

2009-01-20T05:45:00.000-08:00

been doing a song of the day at facebook for a week or so...
really enjoy doing it so i thought i would try it here...

song for jan.20th,2008 is.....
kool and the gang...
jungle boogie!!

about Mr. King.....

2009-01-19T15:35:00.000-08:00

The Beast as Saint:
The Truth About "Martin Luther King, Jr."

WHEN THE COMMUNISTS TOOK OVER a country, one of the first things that they did was to confiscate all the privately-held weapons, to deny the people the physical ability to resist tyranny. But even more insidious than the theft of the people's weapons was the theft of their history. Official Communist "historians" rewrote history to fit the current party line. In many countries, revered national heroes were excised from the history books, or their real deeds were distorted to fit Communist ideology, and Communist killers and criminals were converted into official "saints." Holidays were declared in honor of the beasts who murdered countless nations.

Did you know that much the same process has occurred right here in America?

Every January, the media go into a kind of almost spastic frenzy of adulation for the so-called "Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr." King has even had a national holiday declared in his honor, an honor accorded to no other American, not Washington, not Jefferson, not Lincoln. (Washington and Lincoln no longer have holidays -- they share the generic-sounding "President's Day.") A liberal judge has sealed the FBI files on King until the year 2027. What are they hiding? Let's take a look at this modern-day plastic god.

Born in 1929, King was the son of a Black preacher known at the time only as "Daddy King." "Daddy King" named his son Michael. In 1935, "Daddy King" had an inspiration to name himself after the Protestant reformer Martin Luther. He declared to his congregation that henceforth they were to refer to him as "Martin Luther King" and to his son as "Martin Luther King, Jr." None of this name changing was ever legalized in court. "Daddy" King's son's real name is to this day Michael King.

King's Brazen Cheating

We read in Michael Hoffman's "Holiday for a Cheater":

The first public sermon that King ever gave, in 1947 at the Ebenezer Baptist Church, was plagiarized from a homily by Protestant clergyman Harry Emerson Fosdick entitled "Life is What You Make It," according to the testimony of King's best friend of that time, Reverend Larry H. Williams.

The first book that King wrote, "Stride Toward Freedom, - -was plagiarized from numerous sources, all unattributed, according to documentation recently assembled by sympathetic King scholars Keith D. Miller, Ira G. Zepp, Jr., and David J. Garrow.

And no less an authoritative source than the four senior editors of "The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.- - (an official publication of the Martin Luther King Center for Nonviolent Social Change, Inc., whose staff includes King's widow Coretta), stated of King's writings at both Boston University and Crozer Theological Seminary: "Judged retroactively by the standards of academic scholarship, [his writings] are tragically flawed by numerous instances of plagiarism.... Appropriated passages are particularly evident in his writings in his major field of graduate study, systematic theology."

King's essay, "The Place of Reason and Experience in Finding God," written at Crozer, pirated passages from the work of theologian Edgar S. Brightman, author of "The Finding of God."

Another of King's theses, "Contemporary Continental Theology," written shortly after he entered Boston University, was largely stolen from a book by Walter Marshall Horton.

King's doctoral dissertation, "A Comparison of the Conceptions of God in the Thinking of Paul Tillich and Harry Nelson Wieman," for which he was awarded a PhD in theology, contains more than fifty complete sentences plagiarized from the PhD dissertation of Dr. Jack Boozer, "The Place of Reason in Paul Tillich's Concept of God."

According to "The Martin Luther King Papers", in King's dissertation "only 49 per cent of sentences in the section on Tillich contain five or more words that were King's own...."!

In "The Journal of American History", June 1991, page 87, David J. Garrow, a leftist academic who is sympathetic to King, says that King's wife, Coretta Scott King, who also served as his secretary, was an accomplice in his repeated cheating. ("King's Plagiarism: Imitation, Insecurity and Transformation," The Journal of American History, June 1991, p. 87)

Reading Garrow's article, one is led to the inescapable conclusion that King cheated because he had chosen for himself a political role in which a PhD would be useful, and, lacking the intellectual ability to obtain the title fairly, went after it by any means necessary. Why, then, one might ask, did the professors at Crozer Theological Seminary and Boston University grant him passing grades and a PhD? Garrow states on page 89: "King's academic compositions, especially at Boston University, were almost without exception little more than summary descriptions... and comparisons of other's writings. Nonetheless, the papers almost always received desirable letter grades, strongly suggesting that King's professors did not expect more...." The editors of "The Martin Luther King Jr. Papers" state that "...the failure of King's teachers to notice his pattern of textual appropriation is somewhat remarkable...."

But researcher Michael Hoffman tells us "...actually the malfeasance of the professors is not at all remarkable. King was politically correct, he was Black, and he had ambitions. The leftist [professors were] happy to award a doctorate to such a candidate no matter how much fraud was involved. Nor is it any wonder that it has taken forty years for the truth about King's record of nearly constant intellectual piracy to be made public."

Supposed scholars, who in reality shared King's vision of a racially mixed and Marxist America, purposely covered up his cheating for decades. The cover-up still continues. From the "New York Times" of October 11, 1991, page 15, we learn that on October 10th of that year, a committee of researchers at Boston University admitted that, "There is no question but that Dr. King plagiarized in the dissertation." However, despite its finding, the committee said that "No thought should be given to the revocation of Dr. King's doctoral degree," an action the panel said "would serve no purpose."

No purpose, indeed! Justice demands that, in light of his willful fraud as a student, the "reverend" and the "doctor" should be removed from King's name.

Communist Beliefs and Connections

Well friends, he is not a legitimate reverend, he is not a bona fide PhD, and his name isn't really "Martin Luther King, Jr." What's left? Just a sexual degenerate, an America-hating Communist, and a criminal betrayer of even the interests of his own people.

On Labor Day, 1957, a special meeting was attended by Martin Luther King and four others at a strange institution called the Highlander Folk School in Monteagle, Tennessee. The Highlander Folk School was a Communist front, having been founded by Myles Horton (Communist Party organizer for Tennessee) and Don West (Communist Party organizer for North Carolina). The leaders of this meeting with King were the aforementioned Horton and West, along with Abner Berry and James Dumbrowski, all open and acknowledged members of the Communist Party, USA. The agenda of the meeting was a plan to tour the Southern states to initiate demonstrations and riots.

From 1955 to 1960, Martin Luther King's associate, advisor, and personal secretary was one Bayard Rustin. In 1936 Rustin joined the Young Communist League at New York City College. Convicted of draft-dodging, he went to prison for two years in 1944. On January 23, 1953 the "Los Angeles Times" reported his conviction and sentencing to jail for 60 days for lewd vagrancy and homosexual perversion. Rustin attended the 16th Convention of the Communist Party, USA in February, 1957. One month later, he and King founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, or SCLC for short. The president of the SCLC was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The vice-president of the SCLC was the Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, who was also the president of an identified Communist front known as the Southern Conference Educational Fund, an organization whose field director, a Mr. Carl Braden, was simultaneously a national sponsor of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, of which you may have heard. The program director of the SCLC was the Reverend Andrew Young, in more recent years Jimmy Carter's ambassador to the UN and mayor of Atlanta. Young, by the way, was trained at the Highlander Folk School, previously mentioned.

Soon after returning from a trip to Moscow in 1958, Rustin organized the first of King's famous marches on Washington. The official organ of the Communist Party, "The Worker,- - openly declared the march to be a Communist project. Although he left King's employ as secretary in 1961, Rustin was called upon by King to be second in command of the much larger march on Washington which took place on August 28, 1963.

Bayard Rustin's replacement in 1961 as secretary and advisor to King was Jack O'Dell, also known as Hunter Pitts O'Dell. According to official records, in 1962 Jack O'Dell was a member of the National Committee of the Communist Party, USA. He had been listed as a Communist Party member as early as 1956. O'Dell was also given the job of acting executive director for SCLC activities for the entire Southeast, according to the St. Louis "Globe-Democrat - -of October 26, 1962. At that time, there were still some patriots in the press corps, and word of O'Dell's party membership became known.

What did King do? Shortly after the negative news reports, King fired O'Dell with much fanfare. And he then, without the fanfare, "immediately hired him again- - as director of the New York office of the SCLC, as confirmed by the "Richmond News-Leader - -of September 27, 1963. In 1963 a Black man from Monroe, North Carolina named Robert Williams made a trip to Peking, China. Exactly 20 days before King's 1963 march on Washington, Williams successfully urged Mao Tse-Tung to speak out on behalf of King's movement. Mr. Williams was also around this time maintaining his primary residence in Cuba, from which he made regular broadcasts to the southern US, three times a week, from high-power AM transmitters in Havana under the title "Radio Free Dixie." In these broadcasts, he urged violent attacks by Blacks against White Americans.

During this period, Williams wrote a book entitled "Negroes With Guns." The writer of the foreword for this book? None other than Martin Luther King, Jr. It is also interesting to note that the editors and publishers of this book were to a man all supporters of the infamous Fair Play for Cuba Committee.

According to King's biographer and sympathizer David J. Garrow, "King privately described himself as a Marxist." In his 1981 book, "The FBI and Martin Luther King, Jr.", Garrow quotes King as saying in SCLC staff meetings, "...we have moved into a new era, which must be an era of revolution.... The whole structure of American life must be changed.... We are engaged in the class struggle."

Jewish Communist Stanley Levison can best be described as King's behind-the-scenes "handler." Levison, who had for years been in charge of the secret funnelling of Soviet funds to the Communist Party, USA, was King's mentor and was actually the brains behind many of King's more successful ploys. It was Levison who edited King's book, "Stride Toward Freedom." It was Levison who arranged for a publisher. Levison even prepared King's income tax returns! It was Levison who really controlled the fund-raising and agitation activities of the SCLC. Levison wrote many of King's speeches. King described Levison as one of his "closest friends."

FBI: King Bought Sex With SCLC Money

The Federal Bureau of Investigation had for many years been aware of Stanley Levison's Communist activities. It was Levison's close association with King that brought about the initial FBI interest in King.

Lest you be tempted to believe the controlled media's lie about "racists" in the FBI being out to "get" King, you should be aware that the man most responsible for the FBI's probe of King was Assistant Director William C. Sullivan. Sullivan describes himself as a liberal, and says that initially "I was one hundred per cent for King...because I saw him as an effective and badly needed leader for the Black people in their desire for civil rights." The probe of King not only confirmed their suspicions about King's Communist beliefs and associations, but it also revealed King to be a despicable hypocrite, an immoral degenerate, and a worthless charlatan.

According to Assistant Director Sullivan, who had direct access to the surveillance files on King which are denied the American people, King had embezzled or misapplied substantial amounts of money contributed to the "civil rights" movement. King used SCLC funds to pay for liquor, and numerous prostitutes both Black and White, who were brought to his hotel rooms, often two at a time, for drunken sex parties which sometimes lasted for several days. These types of activities were the norm for King's speaking and organizing tours.

In fact, an outfit called The National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee, which is putting on display the two bedrooms from the Lorraine Motel where King stayed the night before he was shot, has declined to depict in any way the "occupants - -of those rooms. That "according to exhibit designer Gerard Eisterhold "would be "close to blasphemy." The reason? Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spent his last night on Earth having sex with two women at the motel and physically beating and abusing a third.

Sullivan also stated that King had alienated the affections of numerous married women. According to Sullivan, who in 30 years with the Bureau hadáseen everything there was to be seen of the seamy side of life, King was one of only seven people he had ever encountered who was such a total degenerate.

Noting the violence that almost invariably attended King's supposedly "non-violent" marches, Sullivan's probe revealed a very different King from the carefully crafted public image. King welcomed members of many different Black groups as members of his SCLC, many of them advocates and practitioners of violence. King's only admonition on the subject was that they should embrace "tactical nonviolence."

Sullivan also relates an incident in which King met in a financial conference with Communist Party representatives, not knowing that one of the participants was an infiltrator actually working for the FBI.

J. Edgar Hoover personally saw to it that documented information on King's Communist connections was provided to the President and to Congress. And conclusive information from FBI files was also provided to major newspapers and news wire services. But were the American people informed of King's real nature? No, for even in the 1960s, the fix was in "the controlled media and the bought politicians were bound and determined to push their racial mixing program on America. King was their man and nothing was going to get in their way. With a few minor exceptions, these facts have been kept from the American people. The pro-King propaganda machine grinds on, and it is even reported that a serious proposal has been made to add some of King's writings as a new book in the Bible.

Ladies and gentlemen, the purpose of this radio program is far greater than to prove to you the immorality and subversion of this man called King. I want you to start to think for yourselves. I want you to consider this: What are the forces and motivation behind the controlled media's active promotion of King? What does it tell you about our politicians when you see them, almost without exception, falling all over themselves to honor King as a national hero? What does it tell you about our society when any public criticism of this moral leper and Communist functionary is considered grounds for dismissal? What does it tell you about the controlled media when you see how they have successfully suppressed the truth and held out a picture of King that can only be described as a colossal lie? You need to think, my fellow Americans. You desperately need to wake up.

Sources:

1. The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.- - (an official publication of the Martin Luther King Center for Nonviolent Social Change).

2. "King's Plagiarism: Imitation, Insecurity and Transformation," The Journal of American History, June 1991, p. 87) David J. Garrow

3. New York Times" of October 11, 1991, page 15.

4. "The FBI and Martin Luther King, Jr.", David J. Garrow, (1981).

5. "And the walls came tumbling down," Rev. Ralph Abernathy (1989)

daily douche for tuesday....

2009-01-19T14:20:00.000-08:00

Jim(no way i should be in the hall of fame) Rice
and....he's a biiotch!

Rice Annoyed At Yanks Spending

Jim Rice rips into the Yankees. Via David Lennon -

The complaint is not a new one. With the Yankees spending nearly half a billion dollars on three players this offseason - CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira - it is hardly a surprise that the Steinbrenner family again is being blamed for squashing any remaining bits of baseball’s alleged competitive balance.

And it’s not just the salary-cap chorus that was heard coming from the owners’ meetings this past week in Paradise Valley. With mind-numbing contracts still being handed out in the Bronx despite a flat-lining economy, such talk was to be expected.

It’s debatable whether the Yankees’ practice of buying the sport’s premier players is actually bad for baseball. What they pay in luxury tax is helping to keep other owners rich in Kansas City and Pittsburgh, though those teams remain perennial bottom-feeders.

But it was interesting to hear Jim Rice, finally elected to the Hall of Fame after a 15-year wait, blame George Steinbrenner’s checkbook for The Curse of the Bambino. When asked about Boston’s failure to win a World Series during his career - 1975 to 1989 - up to the Bambino-busting 2004 season, Rice pointed directly to the Bronx.

“During that time, Steinbrenner spent more money than the Red Sox,” Rice said. “He had more free agents. So when you get the best free agents, and you get the superstars from other ballclubs, that’s what made you have a better team. The more money you can spend, the better you should get.”

Even now, Rice remains annoyed by the Yankees’ habit of throwing money at their problems. Not surprisingly, he lauds Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein for doing things the right way. “If you look at the Red Sox now, you see them bringing guys up in the organization,” he said. “That’s why Theo has been the person he’s been over the last couple of years. He’ll bring young kids up and stay within the organization.

“The Yankees haven’t won in the last eight years. What do they do? They go out and buy high-priced players in the hope to get back the winning percentage they had 10 years ago.”

Of course, had the Red Sox signed Mark Teixeira, I doubt we’d be hearing this from Mr. Rice…

douches wild.....

2009-01-18T21:34:00.000-08:00

or double douches..
for today and monday...
a pic says it all!!

a great read on two of my favorites...music and baseball...

2009-01-18T06:34:00.000-08:00

Beck
Who's On First?

Beck is as close as I will designate to a "cultural institution" in my lifetime. From the quintessential quality of "Loser" to the seminal sissynecking of "Odelay" the man has never misfired. With all of his genius, I never thought Beck could take a backseat to anybody. That was until I went upstairs at the State Theater.

Right before Beck took the stage last night my lovely girlfriend Malissa asked if we could sit down for Beck's set. I ache at the slightest spell of standing up, so I was happy to oblige. As we scouted seats and finally sat down on the mezzanine level, section D, I was dumbstruck at whom we were sitting behind.

In front of us, in all his bald-headed glory was Kirk Gibson.

Now some of you may not know this name, but to those of you who are not faithful Detroiters or above-average baseball fans, Kirk Gibson was a quintessential member of the Detroit Tigers in the 1980s. This may seem as no big deal, but as a young chap baseball was my passion, only to be replaced with music around the age of 12.

I spent 90 percent of my childhood summers playing baseball and the rest stuck on I-94 in between games of baseball. I read box scores, kept my own personal statistics and bought packs of baseball cards like it was all that was keeping me alive. For all I know, it was.

You see, my dad was a baseball coach... still is in fact. Morris Blackwell is a fixture on Detroit baseball diamonds for the past five decades. He used to work at Tiger Stadium when he was in college. He claims he was the one who wheeled 3,007 silver dollars onto the field as the club awarded Al Kaline one for each hit of his career.

My father's labor stint at the stadium meant he would never resort to buying tickets for a game at the Corner (of Michigan and Trumbull, i.e. Tiger Stadium for those of you who don't know). Instead, we'd go to the crew entrance and wait for someone he knew to walk by and get them to sneak us in. This enraged my mother to no end, but she never came to games with us anyways.

But back to the point, my father's love of the game was faithfully instilled in me at a young age, a love that I was proud to live and carry on every time I recited the infield fly-rule. I, sometimes to my chagrin, played on his teams and he, much to the test of his temper, coached me. It is by far the most precious time a father and son can spend together.

Little things about baseball just take me back... the gravel dust smell of your bat bag, a cheekful of watermelon-flavored Big League Chew, the fresh cut grass on the fields you played (Clark Park's small diamond, almost exclusively) to the hassle of stirrups that never stayed up over your calves. Looking back at these memories, Kirk Gibson seems to magically appear as if he was always there.

So as I sat there, awaiting the Guero himself to take the stage, I couldn't help but be distracted. For chrissakes it was Kirk Gibson in front of me! The rest of the show would find me racking my brain and realizing that Gibby and Beck shared a lot of similarities in relation to my life.

• Kirk Gibson was the first famous person I ever met. On December 23, 1988, my brother and I walked the two blocks from our home to Jim Saros Realtors where Gibby, Dave Rozema, Dan Petry and Dave Bergman were signing autographs and posing for photos. We were given a Polaroid of the meeting. It stood on my bedroom dresser for a few years.

• I met Beck in Ann Arbor in 2002 after he played an emotionally stirring acoustic show. He didn't have much to say, (I guess Gibby didn't either). There are no photos of us together. I would meet Beck a few more times in later years and even go to a party at his house, where his wife served delicious snickerdoodles.
• Beck wrote "Loser" a song that supposedly defines my generation. After you hear a claim like that enough, people begin to believe it whether or not it is anywhere near the truth. I say screw that... I think that Odelay is the most important album of the '90s, a free-spirited and ambitious response to his being tagged a "slacker" that produced arguably the best music videos and best album artwork of the decade. The fact that he turned down a six-figure offer from Pepsi to license "Where It's At" only makes it all the sweeter. The fact that "Where It's At" the first single off the album and arguably the best song on the disc is track six makes it that much cooler. Odelay has better (and more legal) sampling than Paul's Boutique and explores far more musical genres successfully than anything else in recent memory. And I think Beck himself knows this, as his latest album Guero is, in regards to Beck albums, essentially "Odelay 2."

• Gibby hit two homeruns to clinch the title for the Tigers in Game 5 of the 1984 World Series. He was immortalized on the front page of the Detroit Free Press with his fists in the air with the headline "Gr-r-reat!"

This broadsheet would later be canonized in the form of a glossy poster. Somehow a stack of 50 ended up at my house (my dad could work miracles). It would be on my bedroom wall for quite some time. The moment itself would be considered one of the only bright spots for Detroit in the 1980s (next to crack cocaine, the emergence of Japanese automobiles and Devil's Night) and even though I was too young to remember 1984, I definitely longed for its days, even if it was only for a winning baseball team. Within Detroit, 1984 was viewed as a pinnacle, a time within recent memory (not necessarily mine) where things seemed to be all right.

And this is still evident today in Detroit. You're not a true hipster in town if you don't have a vintage '84 Tigers t-shirt. I found a suitcase full of 'em at a flea market three years ago. Never worn. Three bucks a piece. It was heaven. I began handing them out to friends "Can't be in the scene without a Tigers t-shirt, they may think you're from Toledo." It's one of the few vintage t-shirts that seems to transcend irony, where people can agree "Yeah, the '84 Tigers... they were badass!" And there's never been a better professional baseball logo then the old Tiger with those hypnotizing eyes. That shit is scary.

The way this city pined for 1984 was truly hilarious. My brother's kindergarten class composite photo included a board that read "Stay Alive in '85." The next season hadn't even started and all we were asking was for the team to merely not die.

• Kirk Gibson was never a fan favorite on the Tigers. That spot was always reserved for Alan Trammell. Gibby refused to sing autographs and was often rude to the media. But you couldn't deny the guy on the field, he consistently delivered. Gibby was Fonzie while Tram was Richie Cunningham. No more proof is needed when you see Tram was picked to manage the Tigers while Gibby barely made it as a hitting coach.

Likewise, no matter how long he's around, Beck will always be slightly overshadowed (in my mind at least) by Kurt Cobain. Kurt had the biggest influence on the 1990s, even if he was dead for more than half the decade. Nevertheless, Beck could kill a hooker and hijack a plane to Cuba and he'll still always be seen as not as badass as Kurt Cobain.

• • My best friend in grade school, Rob Topolewski, is by far the biggest Kirk Gibson fan in the world. He had numerous items in his bedroom autographed by Gibby (always the same too, "To Rob, my best, Kirk Gibson"). At the same Jim Saros signing my brother and I attended, Rob showed up too. But he showed up with a Los Angeles Dodgers jersey.

You see, this is considered "quirky" for a first grader because in one of the tragedies of free agency Gibby went to the Dodgers in 1988. Rob, being a loyal fan, simply showed his support for Kirk by getting the jersey for Gibby's new team. I understood it wholeheartedly (especially as a 6-year-old) and probably would have done the same thing if I were his biggest fan. But adults don't seem to get that... Rob's picture with Gibby made it into the Detroit Free Press the next day.

• My good friends the Whirldwind Heat are all rabid Beck fans, moreso than I could ever be. They covered his obscure b-side "Fume" as the b-side to one of their own singles and almost got Beck to play on their debut album (apparently his major label contract made the possibility messy on the legal end). First impression on seeing them live back in 2000 was that lead singer David Swanson seemed to be pulling a little too many tricks from Beck's on-stage persona. Hell, Whirlwind Heat was opening for Beck on this night at the State Theater and would end up on stage jamming with him for the encore of "E-Pro."

• I often cite Beck's show at Pine Knob on June 2, 1998 as a defining moment of my teenage years. My newfound friend Alan Truhan had just gotten his license and was looking for excuses to drive, a Beck concert a half-hour away being the perfect example. The show was my first exposure to pure fucking showmanship... it was as close to James Brown live at the Apollo that a poor white boy like me will ever get. The show was on one of the final legs of touring for Odelay, but Beck's set was nothing short of sensational and was a prime example of how you can make one kid in a 15,000-seat amphitheater feel that the show is only happening for him.

• Without fail, any person close to my age and doing anything creative in this city now seems to have attended that show. That has proven itself time and time again. It's a gauge for me... if I meet some 23 years old from the Detroit area and they weren't at that show, I begin to question how in touch they actually are. Knowing that myself and a couple thousand other youths watched this show together, that idea of a shared moment, really feels significant and pivotal.

• Kirk Gibson was the force behind the most inspiring moment in baseball history. Game 1 of the 1988 World Series found Gibby pinch-hitting with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. He'd been kept out of the starting line-up with a leg injury and was visibly in pain with each swing. Facing the Oakland Athletics' Dennis Eckersley, hands-down the league's best closer at the time, Gibby sends a 3-2 pitch over the right field wall to end the game. He hobbled the bases and pumped his fists. It was his only at-bat of the series. Watching replays of it more than 15 years after it happened it still gives me chills (the only other sports related moment to replicate this feeling is the final fight sequence from The Karate Kid).

• The above-mentioned situation is, without fail, the most imagined hypothetical moment in front yard baseball for any kid. When Gibby put that ball over the fence, there were millions (dads, kids... anyone who ever cared about the sport) who all thought "Holy shit... I practiced that exact same play 20,000 times on my lawn when I was 8-years-old." And it transcends baseball and can be applied to any sport. The idea of stepping in at the last minute, a little weary, to save the day... shit, that's America for you.

• My first time singing karaoke was Beck's "New Pollution." It was a Mexican cowboy bar in Grant's Pass, Ore. and there were whispers around that our table (containing the rest of the Dirtbombs and our label mates the Ponys) "was fags." I even broke my self-imposed vow of temperance and took a shot of whiskey to calm my nerves (never mind that I smeared myself with peanut butter on stage not two weeks before... ). Karaoke is weird, especially considering the fact that I don't think that it's weird when I take the mic and sing with the Dirtbombs. Either way, I busted out my Beck-inspired dance moves and got roaring applause... even if it was only from the Ponys and Dirtbombs. I'd forgot what I did most every day (play in a rock band, duh) and it felt exciting to channel a rock star and live vicariously through their song.

As I dwell on both subjects, it becomes very clear that I identify them with different periods in my life. Gibby is my youth, when all I needed was a ball and a mitt. But deeper than that, I associate Gibby with my father, at a time when he and my mother were still together, when my life was baseball and so was his. It was a time in my life of unparalleled happiness, when the world and its possibilities felt endless. Not only did I really think I could become a professional baseball player, I had to be one, there was just no other option. As much as I'd like to deny it, something kinda changes when your parents separate, especially when you never even consider it a possibility beforehand. As I think back, it seems that my love of baseball is what started to wane when my parent's marriage did.

Beck is me now, and even more, I associate Beck with my Uncle Jack. Forget that Jack played on Guero and all that crap, it's the idea of Beck that I associate with my Uncle Jack. It's the concept of forging your own path in life, not worrying about what other people expect of you, things that I glean from my uncle that I also seem to be able to attribute to Beck. The fact that life sometimes contains disappointments and sadness is clear with Beck (just listen to Sea Change) and has been explained and displayed to me via my uncle. At the same time, the idea that the world is vast sea of possibilities where anything can and will happen is my Uncle Jack's life story.

Just as both Beck and Kirk Gibson hold equal weight as far as significance in my life, my dad and Uncle Jack too both hold equal responsibility in instilling values and appreciations with me while I was still impressionable. While I may have dedicated my life (by this point, at least) to music, I can look back to my time playing and following baseball with unequaled longing and nostalgia. Just as Midnite Vultures will forever be the soundtrack to van tours with the White Stripes, Kirk Gibson will be the guy in the back of my mind when I was 6 years old standing on second base.

Anyway, the Beck show was solid... the tracks off Guero worked well and although his band seemed to be hobbled together they managed to click on a few instances, especially on their dinner table percussion accompaniment of "Clap Hands." Of course, the songs off "Odelay" were impeccable and the highlight of the show would have to be the ten-foot tall ghettoblaster descending from the ceiling during "Where It's At". Gibby left during a solo acoustic song. I didn't say anything to him. I'm glad I didn't. Some things are best left in the past.

—Ben Blackwell
October 2005

rush and ann...the whole interview

2009-01-18T06:06:00.000-08:00

douche for saturday....

2009-01-16T22:08:00.000-08:00

boy george!!
new song a tribute to obama...shocking isn't it?

friday's daily douchebag....

2009-01-15T19:38:00.000-08:00

caroline kennedy!!...
none of this bunch is like jfk....

January 15, 2009
Caroline Kennedy losing ground in another NY poll
Posted: 06:37 PM ET

From Rebecca Sinderbrand
Kennedy is getting more bad news in the latest poll out of New York.

— A new survey of New York voters is the second poll in two days to find Andrew Cuomo pulling away from Caroline Kennedy.

Four in 10 registered New York voters in a Marist poll released Thursday say they would would like to see Cuomo, currently the state’s attorney general, tapped as Hillary Clinton’s Senate replacement. Twenty-five percent of those polled think New York Gov. David Paterson should pick Kennedy for the spot.

A month ago, both Kennedy and Cuomo drew the support of one in four New Yorkers.

Cuomo now holds a clear advantage over Kennedy among Democrats (39 to 31 percent), Republicans (40 to 16 percent), and voters not registered with a political party (42 to 24 percent), and across most regions of the state. Only in New York City is the daughter of former President John Kennedy come close to Cuomo’s showing: she is the favorite of 31 percent of the city’s voters, compared to the 36 percent who favor Cuomo.

Other candidates for the Senate seat — Nassau County executive Tom Suozzi, and Reps. Steve Israel, Carolyn Maloney and Kirsten Gillibrand — each draw single digit support.

There are some more red flags for Kennedy in the new survey. Her favorability numbers have tumbled over the past month, with fewer than half — 46 percent — saying they have a positive impression of her, compared to the 60 percent who felt the same last month. Cuomo’s numbers have held steady, with 60 percent saying they view him favorably, compared to the 64 percent who answered the same way in last month’s survey.

Just 41 percent of the state’s voters think Caroline Kennedy would do an above average job as senator; 62 percent say the same of Cuomo. And 20 percent of those surveyed say Kennedy would perform poorly — double the 10 percent who said the same of Cuomo.

A majority of New Yorkers — including majorities of both parties, and both genders — say Caroline Kennedy has been treated fairly by the media, although that number is lower among women than men. Fifty-one percent of the women polled say Kennedy’s media coverage is nothing to complain about, while 57 percent of men gave the same answer.

The phone survey of 603 registered New York voters was conducted on January 12-14, 2009, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent.

daily douchebag(s) for thursday....

2009-01-14T20:00:00.000-08:00

our first organizational winner...
the APobama!!
AP Slammed Bush’s ‘Extravagant’ Inaugural in ’05, But Now It’s Spend, Baby, Spend

January 14, 2009 - 13:51 ET

Four years ago, the Associated Press and others in the press suggested it was in poor taste for Republicans to spend $40 million on President Bush’s inauguration. AP writer Will Lester calculated the impact that kind of money would have on armoring Humvees in Iraq, helping victims of the tsunami, or paying down the deficit. Lester thought the party should be cancelled: “The questions have come from Bush supporters and opponents: Do we need to spend this money on what seems so extravagant?”

Fast forward to 2009. The nation is still at war (two wars, in fact), and now also faces the prospect of a severe recession and federal budget deficits topping $1 trillion as far as the eye can see. With Barack Obama’s inauguration estimated to cost $45 million (not counting the millions more that government will have to pay for security), is the Associated Press once again tsk-tsking the high dollar cost?

Nope. “For inaugural balls, go for glitz, forget economy,” a Tuesday AP headline advised. The article by reporter Laurie Kellman argued for extravagance, starting with the lede:
Story Continues Below Ad ↓

So you're attending an inaugural ball saluting the historic election of Barack Obama in the worst economic climate in three generations. Can you get away with glitzing it up and still be appropriate, not to mention comfortable and financially viable?

To quote the man of the hour: Yes, you can. Veteran ballgoers say you should. And fashionistas insist that you must.

"This is a time to celebrate. This is a great moment. Do not dress down. Do not wear the Washington uniform," said Tim Gunn, a native Washingtonian and Chief Creative Officer at Liz Claiborne, Inc.

"Just because the economy is in a downturn, it doesn't mean that style is going to be in a downturn," agreed Ken Downing, fashion director for Neiman Marcus.

And if anyone does raise an eyebrow at those sequins, remind them that optimism is good for times like these. "Just say you're doing it to help the economy," chuckled good manners guru Letitia Baldridge.

That spin is a far cry from four years ago, when the AP seemed interested in spurring resentment of the Bush inaugural’s supposedly high cost. Of course, displays of Republican wealth are routinely slammed by the media as elitist or aristocratic, while reporters seem to consider rich Democrats as stylish paragons whom we all should copy.

To get a real feel for the contrast, here’s an excerpt of Lester’s January 13, 2005 piece (as recounted in the MRC’s CyberAlert), starting with a lede designed to rain all over Bush’s parade and including the suggestion from two liberal Democrats that Bush eat cold chicken salad and pound cake instead:

President Bush’s second inauguration will cost tens of millions of dollars — $40 million alone in private donations for the balls, parade and other invitation-only parties. With that kind of money, what could you buy?

■ 200 armored Humvees with the best armor for troops in Iraq.

■ Vaccinations and preventive health care for 22 million children in regions devastated by the tsunami.

■ A down payment on the nation’s deficit, which hit a record-breaking $412 billion last year....

The questions have come from Bush supporters and opponents: Do we need to spend this money on what seems so extravagant?

New York Rep. Anthony Weiner, a Democrat, suggested inaugural parties should be scaled back, citing as a precedent Roosevelt's inauguration during World War II.

"President Roosevelt held his 1945 inaugural at the White House, making a short speech and serving guests cold chicken salad and plain pound cake," according to a letter from Weiner and Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash. "During World War I, President Wilson did not have any parties at his 1917 inaugural, saying that such festivities would be undignified."...

Billionaire Mark Cuban, owner of the National Basketball Association's Dallas Mavericks, voted for Bush -- twice. Cuban knows a thing or two about big spending, once starring in ABC's reality TV show, "The Benefactor," in which 16 contenders tried to pass his test for success and win $1 million.

"As a country, we face huge deficits. We face a declining economy. We have service people dying. We face responsibilities to help those suffering from the...devastation of the tsunamis," he wrote on his blog, a Web journal.

Cuban challenged Bush to set an example: "Start by canceling your inauguration parties and festivities."

Obviously, that’s not the media’s message to Barack Obama this year. And no one in the press is going to argue that, with the nation at war, the new President should be satisfied with cold chicken salad and pound cake.

daily douchebag for wednesday....

2009-01-13T20:37:00.000-08:00

gomer fu*kin' pyle...
i mean...mike fu*kabee!!

from hot air......

Oh my: Couric and Gibson were perfectly fair to Palin, says Huckabee

From what I can gauge of grassroots sentiment these days, this is tantamount to desecrating Reagan’s grave.

Evidently he doesn’t see the bias inherent in questions like, “What do you read to stay informed?”

There are a lot of X factors [about running in 2012]. Including his fellow evangelical Christian Sarah Palin. There’s a natural tension between the two, especially since Palin took the vice-presidential-nominee slot many predicted would go to him. Huckabee, diplomatic and biblical, says the Alaskan governor “energized” the party. I ask him if she was treated fairly by the media. “There were a lot of unfair things. Sexist things that would never have been asked of a male candidate.” He pauses. “Now I must say I did not think that either the Charlie Gibson interview or the Katie Couric interviews were unfair. In fact, if anything, Katie Couric was extraordinarily gentle, even helpful. [Palin] just…I don’t know what happened. I can’t explain it. It was not a good interview. I’m being charitable.”

He pauses. “I think it was overpreparation. She’d been hammered by McCain’s aides, ‘Say this, don’t say that.’”

Huckabee has met Palin a few times and talked to her backstage at the Republican National Convention.

“Did you give her any advice?”

“I didn’t figure that she was shopping for my advice.”

“But she sure was shopping.”

“Yeah,” chuckles Huckabee. Then stays quiet. I set him up for an easy spike, but he holds his tongue.

Even now, the debate is raging in Headlines over whether her point about being able to see Russia from Alaska was taken out of context. Exit question: This is at least the third time he’s taken a dig at her since the election. How worried is he about 2012?

from the desk of pat buchanan

2009-01-13T04:58:00.000-08:00

Patrick J. Buchanan
Obama's Choice: FDR or Reagan
by Patrick J. Buchanan
01/09/2009

Barack Obama, it is said, will inherit the worst times since the Great Depression. Not to minimize the crisis we are in, but we need a little perspective here.

The Great Depression began with the Great Crash of 1929. By 1931, unemployment had reached 16 percent.

By 1933, 89 percent of stock value had been wiped out, the economy had shrunk by one-third, thousands of banks had closed, a third of the money supply had vanished, and unemployment had reached 25 percent -- among heads of households. And in those days, there was no unemployment insurance, no Medicare, no Medicaid, no Social Security, no welfare.

FDR's answer: vast federal spending, tough new regulations on business and higher taxes -- like Herbert Hoover before him, only more so.

The Depression lasted until war orders from the Allies brought U.S. industry back to life. Before 1940, not once did unemployment fall below 14 percent. In May 1939, Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau testified:

"We are spending more money than we have ever spent before, and it does not work. ... I want to see this country prosperous. I want to see people get a job. I want to see people get enough to eat. We have never made good on our promises. ... I say after eight years of this administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started ... and an enormous debt, to boot."

Politically, the New Deal was a smashing success, with FDR's landslides in 1932, 1934 and 1936 virtually wiping out the GOP.

Yet, economically, the New Deal was a bust, failing utterly to restore prosperity. Despite the indoctrination of generations of schoolchildren in New Deal propaganda, that is the hard truth.

Consider, now, how Ronald Reagan responded to the economic crisis of 1980, the worst since the Depression. In the "stagflation" of that Jimmy Carter era, interest rates had reached 21 percent and inflation 13 percent.

Reagan's answer was the tight money policy of Fed Chairman Paul Volcker and across-the-board tax cuts of 25 percent, while slashing the highest rates from 70 percent to 28 percent.

While unemployment hit 10 percent in 1982 and Reagan lost 26 House seats, in 1983 the tax cuts kicked in.

From there on out, it was boom times until Reagan rode off into the sunset, having created 20 million new jobs. "The Seven Fat Years," author Robert Bartley called them.

Reagan had followed the lead of Warren Harding and Cal Coolidge, who had cut Woodrow Wilson's wartime tax rates of near 70 percent to 25 percent, resulting in "The Roaring '20s," a time of unrivaled prosperity.

The JFK tax cuts of the 1960s, also a Reagan model, were equally successful.

Harding, Coolidge, JFK and Reagan all bet on the private sector as the engine of prosperity. All succeeded. Franklin Roosevelt bet on government. And the New Deal failed. It was World War II that pulled the United States out of the Depression ditch of the 1930s.

Comes now the financial collapse and economic crisis of 2008, inherited by Obama, with 40 percent of all stock values wiped out in a year, foreclosures pandemic, and unemployment near 7 percent and surging.

In crafting his solutions, Obama seems to be brushing aside the Reagan, JFK and Harding-Coolidge models, and channeling FDR and the New Deal Democrats.

Already staring at a $1.2 trillion dollar deficit for the year ending Sept. 30, about 8 percent of the entire U.S. economy, Obama intends to add a stimulus package of $700 billion to $1 trillion, yet another 5 percent to 7 percent of gross domestic product. The resulting deficit would be twice as large as Reagan's largest, 6 percent of GDP, which was the largest since World War II.

And how is this Niagara of money to be spent?

Hundreds of billions will go out in checks of $500 to $1,000 to wage-earners and individuals who do not even pay taxes. This is much like the George McGovern "demogrant" program of 1972, where every man, woman and child, if memory serves, was to get a $1,000 check from the U.S. government.

Other hundreds of billions will go to shore up state and municipal spending. Other hundreds of billions will go for "infrastructure" projects, another name for earmarks, which is a synonym for pork.

Now, as Obama does not intend to raise taxes, at least now, he is going to have to borrow this near $2 trillion from foreigners or U.S. taxpayers, or the Fed will have to create the money. Undeniably, this will have an impact upon the economy. But what will that impact be?

Where in history, other than World War II, is there evidence that such a mass infusion of spending restored prosperity?

Obama and the Democrats are taking a historic gamble, not only with their careers but with the country. If this monstrous stimulus package, plus the trillions in hot money, do not work; if the two ignite rampant inflation, rather than real growth, we are all out of options. The toolbox is empty.

And what will follow may truly resemble the 1930s.

Mr. Buchanan is a nationally syndicated columnist and author of Churchill, Hitler, and "The Unnecessary War": How Britain Lost Its Empire and the West Lost the World, "The Death of the West,", "The Great Betrayal," "A Republic, Not an Empire" and "Where the Right Went Wrong."

daily douchebag for tuesday

2009-01-13T04:53:00.000-08:00

too easy...
she could be it everyday....
susan robbins(sarandon)

daily douchebag...

2009-01-12T16:48:00.000-08:00

todays is......
nikolai grushevski!!

Man Wants To Lick Hooters (In The Courtroom)
Fri Jan 09, 2009
Nikolai Grushevski, a man from Corpus Christi, has filed a lawsuit because Hooters wouldn't let him work as a waiter, which we guess would be called a Hooters Boy.

"Hooters tries to circumvent the law by referring to its waiters as 'Hooters Girls.' Hooters is wrong," claims the lawsuit, filed yesterday in federal court in Corpus. "Just as Southwest Airlines attempted nearly three decades ago with stewardesses, the waiter's position addressed herein is being limited to females by an employer '...who merely wishes to exploit female sexuality as a marketing tool to attract customers and insure profitability.'"

Exactly. Thankfully, the lawsuit says that Grushevski isn't trying to stop the restaurant from hiring Hooters Girls.

According to the lawsuit, Grushevski applied in person at a Corpus Christi Hooters, where the manager told him that the restaurant - locally and nationally - doesn't hire men as waiters. The lawsuit calls Hooters "brazen" for denying men the Hooters Girl right, and says that Grushevski didn't want to be a Hooters Girl, he simply wanted to be a food server.

In 1997, Hooters paid seven Chicago men $2 million after they filed a similar lawsuit. As a result of the settlement, the position of kitchen and bartender were deemed "gender neutral."

Hair Balls couldn't reach Grushevski or his lawyer, and a Hooters spokeswoman (no spokesman?!) hasn't responded either. We'll post an update as soon as we hear back from either.

Update: Alexis Aleshire, a spokeswoman for Hooters, e-mailed us some information about another federal lawsuit that eventually determined that in order to be a Hooters Girl, you must be a woman.

Aleshire also included a comment from Mike McNeil, vice president of marketing for Hooters of America: "The good news is that when this happened the last time, Hooters benefitted from an avalanche of positive publicity and public support for keeping Hooters Girls, well, girls. If we lose this go around, you can next expect hairy legged guys in the Rockettes to line up and male models in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. You wonder why people just can't leave good things alone."

the daily douchebag.....

2009-01-11T19:25:00.000-08:00

todays, a double...
fergie and her douchey husband or whatever he is...

From my wife's high school.....

2009-01-11T08:12:00.000-08:00

my wife dawn in the middle,during her heyday as a Ledford cheerleader....

Ledford Panther.....
Madison Hedgecock....

Hedgecock’s Hard Hits Liven Up Giants
Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

With an accent of North Carolina and the style of Gomer Pyle, Madison Hedgecock elicits smiles and prompts banter.

Published: January 9, 2009

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — After a recent practice, fullback Madison Hedgecock stood in the Giants’ locker room discussing facial hair, which has grown on him lately. He mentioned the mustache of the professional wrestler Hulk Hogan.

Despite his tractor-driving persona, Hedgecock has the physique and the showman’s flair for Hogan’s line of work. Might Hedgecock someday consider wrestling? He quickly dismissed the notion, but his smile widened.

“I might be good at it,” he said, pointing to the side of his head and twirling his index finger. “I am a little different.” Then the 6-foot-3, 266-pound Hedgecock grabbed a team aide for a precise pantomime of wrestling techniques.

As the slow-motion demonstration continued, Brandon Jacobs tried to leave the room, dodging Hedgecock’s gyrations as he rolled his eyes and scooted by. “Excuse me, country boy,” Jacobs said. “Cock-a-doodle-doo!”

Hedgecock is the fullback who clears paths for Jacobs, Derrick Ward and Ahmad Bradshaw, the running backs for the Giants, who will play the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday in an N.F.C. divisional playoff game at Giants Stadium.

Before and after practices and games, Hedgecock entertains his teammates with his humor and his random observations. With an accent from North Carolina and the style of Gomer Pyle, he elicits smiles and prompts banter.

When someone asked Hedgecock about the Giants’ linemen, he said they were all “ugly and fat” in a voice loud enough for them to hear. One of the eavesdroppers was Kevin Boothe, a backup lineman.

“He’s a special guy,” Boothe said of Hedgecock. “He’s full of comments. He talks about his farming expeditions. A lot of people don’t realize some of the stuff he says is pretty intelligent. You’ve just got to listen to him.”

And sometimes they just have to watch. When Hedgecock scored the only touchdown of his career, on a 2-yard pass reception in a 37-29 victory at Arizona on Nov. 23, he brushed away his teammates, squatted in the end zone and pumped his arms. He later explained he was “rowing to Hawaii for the Pro Bowl” and added that a Giants executive told him it was the worst touchdown celebration ever.

Earlier, against San Francisco, Hedgecock was bumped by a 49er after a play. He responded by falling over backward as if in a dead faint. This tricked an official into penalizing San Francisco. “That’s one way to get on TV,” Hedgecock said.

Between whistles, however, Hedgecock is all business. Jacobs and Ward each gained more than 1,000 yards this season. Jacobs was asked about Hedgecock’s help. “Madison goes in there headfirst,” he said. “He clears the holes out. I am glad we got Madison in the killer deal from St. Louis.”

The Giants chose him on waivers from the Rams early in the 2007 season.

Hedgecock heard he was cut from St. Louis while driving a combine on his day off. He does similar chores these days in a rural area of New Jersey.

Hedgecock has no tattoos and no plans for any. “I’d write something stupid and have to erase it,” he said. He enjoys topics that are not city slick.

When asked about his beard and mustache this week, he said he was trying to look Amish because the Giants are about to play a Pennsylvania team. Jacobs, Ward and Bradshaw are known as Earth, Wind and Fire, so what should Hedgecock be called?

“We call him the Preacher because he says he likes to baptize people when he hits them,” Ward said. “He’s the best fullback in the N.F.L. by far. The offensive line is the bread and Madison’s the butter.”

On a few passes this season, Hedgecock appeared to have butter on his fingers when he dropped balls. He said this week that he had a dislocated finger that has since healed.

He caught eight passes for 52 yards this season, including a 13-yard gain for a first down in a critical 34-28 victory over Carolina on Dec. 21. His receptions usually come after he blocks: short tosses as a late option for Eli Manning.

Hedgecock carried the ball only once on a handoff this season. He was stopped for no gain on a third-and-1 against Carolina. “They stunted and there was nowhere to go,” he said. “They had us.”

But he excels at blocking. Kevin Gilbride, the team’s offensive coordinator, said that Hedgecock primarily hits linebackers but that he has become sophisticated about rescuing plays when defensive linemen beat offensive linemen.

“It won’t be noticeable necessarily to the outside world, but his teammates appreciate it and I know his coaches do,” Gilbride said. “He adds significantly to the toughness that we have as an offense.”

Danny Clark, a linebacker, said Hedgecock “will bloody his nose and he’ll wipe it off and keep going.” He added: “I don’t think every linebacker in this league looks forward to lining up against him. He’s a stud. He’s a blue-collar guy. He’s the epitome of a New York Giant.”

Hedgecock, sometimes a man of many words, occasionally turns taciturn and speaks mostly with body language: the shrug, the smile, the tap on the shoulder of his questioner. How would he define himself? “I’m just a humble fullback,” he said.

todays daily douche....

2009-01-10T18:04:00.000-08:00

our second female douchebag....
andrea mitchell!!

ROSE: You have covered the Congress well. You have covered the White House well. You have covered foreign policy well. You are a part of the Washington community, saying -- rather than Washington establishment. Tell where your passion is these days? What is the story that turns you on the most?

MITCHELL: Well, I think with a lot of people, it is to see this new president. These are historic times in Washington, and you don’t have to be a supporter or a critic to be fascinated, just as someone who is a journalist and a student of history, by what will this young president, African-American, with experience around the world, with a different set of experiences, and his team, and it is a meritocracy -- you’re seeing an extraordinary group of very large figures coming into play here -- what are they going to do with all the challenges that they face? We have never in my lifetime faced economic crises such as these, and opportunities.

The NeoCon and his successor..The NeoComm...

2009-01-09T22:14:00.000-08:00

boobs come in pairs.....

msnbc and shuster suck....like we didn't know........

2009-01-09T14:24:00.000-08:00

daily douche is.....
david shuster!!

Shuster vs. Palin Interviewer on MSNBC
When "Media Malpractice" filmmaker John Ziegler appeared on MSNBC to discuss the YouTube clips released yesterday of his interview with Gov. Sarah Palin, some fireworks could be expected. The interview did not disappoint.

David Shuster interviewed Ziegler this afternoon, and the filmmaker took on MSNBC as a whole. "I believe that her character was assassinated, David, and I think this network played an enormous role in that process," said Ziegler.

Later, Ziegler said: "You've clearly seen this through the prejudiced eye of MSNBC, which has had an agenda since the beginning of the campaign, pro Obama, against Palin, it continues today. And it's very obvious to everybody you're a joke."

Shuster responded: "Right, as opposed to the agenda of people like you, to boost Sarah Palin, who is clearly unqualified. Most Americans, 65%, say she's unqualified. You and your colleagues are trying to circle back and get her ready for 2012."

from the blog ...scott proctor's arm

2009-01-07T20:40:00.000-08:00

click title to go to site.....
daily douchebag for thursday....
peter gammons!!
Gammons trying to cause trouble

Peter Gammons appeared on WEEI today, and Boston.com's Chad Finn transcribed his comments, mainly about Mark Teixeira. Here is something that really sticks in my craw:

It's going to be interesting. As you probably remember, there was a lot of testiness between Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira when they played in Texas together . . . and I don't think Alex really cares about communicating with other players, we know [that] from Derek Jeter. Also, we haven't really seen Teixeira in a situation where the expectations are really that high, and he's going to have to deal with them in New York. It will be very interesting to see how it goes with the Yankees.

No, it's not going to be interesting because no one is going to care.

"As you probably remember..."

I don't remember this. Do you? Rodriguez and Teixeira were teammates for one season five years ago when Teixeira was a 23-year-old rookie.

I don't buy that this will be an issue, nor should you. The Red Sox correspondent for ESPN is trying to stir up the sediment.

matt lauer is ann coulter's biiotch!!

2009-01-07T10:24:00.000-08:00

daily douchebag....

2009-01-07T10:21:00.000-08:00

today's......
nancy pelosi!!

yesterday's douchebag franken gave me an idea....

2009-01-06T11:30:00.000-08:00

introducing the daily douchebag!...
today's...

Andy Pettitte!!
Rejects Yankees’ Offer, Making Return Uncertain

By TYLER KEPNER
Published: January 5, 2009

In some ways, Andy Pettitte is no different from the dozens of other free agents to start the new year without a team. Players all over baseball are waiting for better offers, and teams are searching for bargains.
Skip to next paragraph
Barton Silverman/The New York Times

Andy Pettitte was offered a one-year, $10 million deal, a 37.5 percent decrease from his $16 million salary last season.

But Pettitte is not like other players, and the Yankees are not like other teams. Pettitte has pledged his loyalty to the Yankees, and the Yankees have spent lavishly this winter at a time when many clubs are scaling back.

A reunion seemed inevitable at the start of the off-season, but now it is uncertain. Pettitte has rejected the Yankees’ one-year, $10 million offer, according to a person with knowledge of the negotiations, and there is no standing offer for now.

Pettitte could return because some in the Yankees’ hierarchy want him back. But in a winter of aggressive activity, the Yankees have been unwilling to bend for Pettitte. As an eight-year, $180 million deal for first baseman Mark Teixeira becomes official with a news conference Tuesday, the awkward Pettitte drama plays out in the background.

The offer to Pettitte represented a 37.5 percent decrease from his $16 million salary last season. Pettitte considered the offer for weeks, then met with General Manager Brian Cashman in Texas after the winter meetings last month.

Pettitte might wonder why the Yankees offered a pay cut at a time when they spent a combined $243.5 million on C. C. Sabathia and A. J. Burnett. If he is, though, Pettitte has not said so. Reached by The New York Times on Dec. 3, he said he wanted to return but was leaving the matter to his agent, Randy Hendricks, who did not respond to e-mail messages Monday.

Derek Lowe is still available in free agency, and after the Yankees’ stealth pursuit of Teixeira, anything seems possible. The fifth spot in the rotation probably belongs to Phil Hughes for now, but the easiest answer is to retain Pettitte. He led the team in innings despite pitching with shoulder pain, going 14-14 with a 4.54 earned run average.

At 36 and a father of four, Pettitte has taken a year-to-year approach to his career. The Yankees let him take his time in deciding whether to exercise a one-year option after the 2007 season, and he waited until early December, just before the release of the Mitchell report.

Pettitte did not tell the Yankees that he might be included in the report, which said he had used human growth hormone. Pettitte admitted his use and the Yankees supported him publicly. But his performance suffered in the second half of the season, when he usually gets stronger, and he admitted his distracting off-season might have been a factor.

In a way, though, such honesty has always been part of Pettitte’s appeal; his sincerity and earnestness have made him a fan favorite. In an interview in September, Pettitte forecast a quick negotiation, even though he knew it might not be wise to do so.

“Obviously anyone else would say, ‘I’ll go wherever I want to,’ because people want to try to get the most money,” Pettitte said before a Yankees-Angels game in Anaheim, Calif. “But, I mean, I’m not going anywhere, you know what I’m saying? The Yankees know me enough, it’s not like I’m going to hold out. I guess if I had spent all my money or whatever, it might be different. But it’s not about that, really, anymore.”

Pettitte also said he would discuss his future with his family, so the possibility exists that he will simply retire. Yet those who have talked to Pettitte, including Manager Joe Girardi, have been under the impression that he wants to play for the Yankees.

“He’s still excited about coming back,” Girardi said on Dec. 18, adding that Pettitte was enthusiastic about the Yankees’ roster moves. For Pettitte to be part of the team again, though, one stubborn party must back down.

how bad does minnesota suck?......

2009-01-05T11:54:00.000-08:00

apparently..
from the powers that be,
this bad.
presenting..
sen. douchebag
(franken)

israel means business....from the ap

2009-01-04T22:03:00.000-08:00

ISRAELI TROOPS SLICE DEEP INTO GAZA

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Thousands of Israeli troops backed by tanks and helicopter gunships surrounded Gaza's largest city and fought militants at close range Sunday, the first full day of an overwhelming ground offensive in the coastal territory.

Israel said it has inflicted a heavy blow against Hamas as it expands a weeklong offensive meant to stop rocket fire on southern Israel. But spiraling civilian casualties among Palestinians fueled an international outcry, even as the U.S. blocked approval of a U.N. Security Council statement Saturday night calling for an immediate cease-fire.

Israel's ground forces moved in after nightfall Saturday following hours of intense, fiery artillery shelling to clear the way, and Hamas warned that its fighters would turn Gaza into an Israeli "graveyard."

On Sunday, Israeli soldiers fought primarily in open areas in the launching zones used by Gaza's militants to send rockets raining down on Israeli cities. As the troops in three brigade-size formations moved in, residents of those Israeli cities began cautiously emerging from bomb shelters in hopes that the rocket fire would taper off.

Backing up the troops, mobile artillery units fired shells that exploded in veils of white smoke over Gaza's urban skyline. Tanks pushed south of Gaza City as deep as the abandoned settlement of Netzarim, which Israel left along with other communities when it pulled out of Gaza in 2005.

That effectively cut off Gaza City, the territory's largest population center with some 400,000 residents, from the rest of Gaza to the south.

Israel's military chief said Hamas fighters were trying to draw soldiers deeper into Gaza's sprawling, densely packed urban areas, where the military said militants were shielding themselves behind civilians.

"You entered like rats," Hamas spokesman Ismail Radwan told Israeli soldiers in a statement on Hamas' Al Aqsa TV. "Gaza will be a graveyard for you, God willing," he said.

Israeli forces have not yet entered urban areas, said Brig. Gen. Avi Benayahu, the chief army spokesman. He warned, however, that the operation was not a "school trip" and would be long and demanding.

The ground invasion risks turning into intense urban combat, with house-to-house fighting, sniper fire and booby-traps. Hamas is believed to have some 20,000 gunmen and has had time to prepare.

To guard against hidden explosives, Israel's ground forces moved through fields and orchards with bomb-sniffing dogs.

Since the ground assault began, 64 Palestinian civilians have been killed, said Dr. Moaiya Hassanain, a Health Ministry official. The new deaths brought the death toll in the Gaza Strip to more than 512 since Dec. 27. The tally is based on figures from the U.N. and Palestinian health officials as well as a count by The Associated Press.

Five Israelis have been killed since the offensive began. One soldier has been killed in the ground operation and about 40 were wounded, some of them in heavy exchanges of fire near the militant stronghold of Jebaliya, a town on Gaza City's northern outskirts, the army said. Heavy Israeli casualties could undermine what has so far been overwhelming public support for the operation.

At one hospital in the northern village of Beit Lahiya, medics carrying three injured children in their arms rushed them to treatment. One of the children had a blood-soaked bandage wrapped around his head and covering his eyes.

An Israeli shell also struck an ambulance in the town, killing a paramedic, said Marwan Abu Ras, a hospital administrator. The relief organization Oxfam, which said the ambulance belonged to a partner organization, al-Awda Hospital, confirmed the shelling.

An airstrike hit another ambulance belonging to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza City, killing three other paramedics, said medic Jamal Hawajiri. That ambulance crew was driving to a Hamas training site where there were reports of wounded.

An Israeli army spokesman said he had no information on the incidents.

The Israeli army said it had killed dozens of armed Hamas gunmen, but Gaza officials could confirm only a handful of dead fighters — in part because rescue teams could not reach the battle zones.

Condemnation of Israel's ground operation poured in from the Middle East and Europe.

"The violence has to stop," said EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner.

U.S. officials maintained their firm support for Israel and squarely blamed Hamas.

Vice President Dick Cheney said Israel "didn't seek clearance or approval from us" before pushing into Gaza.

Sens. Harry Reid and Dick Durbin — the top two Democrats in the chamber — and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell all described Israel's actions as understandable.

"I think what the Israelis are doing is very important," Reid said. "I think this terrorist organization, Hamas, has got to be put away. They've got to come to their senses."

Israeli President Shimon Peres said that Israel had to push forward and that a cease-fire was pointless without a halt to Hamas rocket fire.

"Well, clearly, if there is somebody (who) can stop terror with a different strategy, we shall accept it," he said on ABC's "This Week."

"We shall not accept the idea that Hamas will continue to fire and we shall declare a cease-fire. It does not make any sense."

Palestinians said the Israeli military broke into broadcasts on the Hamas TV channel, Al Aqsa, appealing to Palestinians not to agree to serve as human shields for the militants. The message read, "Israel is acting only against Hamas and has no interest in harming you."

The ground operation is the second phase in an offensive that began as a weeklong aerial onslaught aimed at halting Hamas rocket fire that has reached deeper and deeper into Israel, threatening major cities and one-eighth of Israel's population of 7 million.

More than 45 rockets and mortar shells fell in Israel on Sunday morning, sending residents scrambling for bomb shelters. Four Israelis were lightly wounded.

In Gaza City, civilians cowered inside as battles raged, while terrified residents in other areas fled in fear. In the southern town of Rafah, one man loaded a donkey cart with mattresses and blankets preparing to flee.

Lubna Karam, 28, said she and the other nine members of her family spent the night huddled in the hallway of their Gaza City home. The windows of the house were blown out days earlier in an Israeli airstrike, and the family has been without electricity for a week, surviving without heat and eating cold food.

"We keep hearing the sounds of airplanes and we don't know if we'll live until tomorrow or not," she said.

Severe damage to Gaza's phone network was pushing the territory closer to complete isolation. The Palestinian phone company Paltel Group said 90 percent of Gaza's cellular service was down, as well as many landlines, because of frequent power cuts and the inability of technicians to reach work sites.

In his first public comments on the operation, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told his Cabinet Sunday that Israel could not allow its civilians to continue to be targeted by rockets from Gaza.

"This morning I can look every one of you in the eyes and say the government did everything before deciding to go ahead with the operation. This operation was unavoidable," he said.

Military intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin told the Cabinet Hamas was using mosques, public institutions and private houses as ammunition stores. His comments were relayed to the press by the Cabinet secretary, Oved Yehezkel.

Israel on Sunday approved the mobilization of thousands of reservists, in addition to tens of thousands called up on Saturday. Defense officials said the extra forces could enable a far broader ground offensive.

The troops could also be used in the event Palestinian militants in the West Bank or Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon decide to launch attacks, as Hezbollah did in 2006 when Israel was in the midst of a large operation in Gaza.

© 2009 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

malkin on our non border ....

2009-01-02T15:14:00.001-08:00

Michelle Malkin

The state of the borders
By Michelle Malkin • January 2, 2009 05:04 AM

The bipartisan civility police told us we weren’t supposed to talk about illegal immigration during the 2008 presidential campaign because open discussion would “alienate” swing (read: Hispanic) voters. Is it okay now or do we only get permission when the next major open-borders disaster strikes? My syndicated column today (see below) surveys the state of the borders — particularly the bloody chaos to our south.

On a related note, a new piece by the Associated Press (yes, a surprise) reports more extensively on illegal aliens in public housing. It was a problem highlighted by Barack Obama’s illegal alien aunti Zeituni Onyango (who still remains on the loose after years of evading her deportation order):

…[T]he U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reports that 29,570 people — 0.4 percent of all those in federally funded housing — are “ineligible noncitizens.” Some may be on temporary visas, such as highly educated workers or college students, but many are believed to be illegal immigrants. Frank Bean, director of the University of California, Irvine’s Center for Research on Immigration, Population and Public Policy, estimates at least half of ineligible noncitizens — or about 15,000 — are illegal immigrants with U.S.-born children. Anyone born on U.S. soil is automatically a citizen, making their families eligible for federal housing. The HUD tally does not offer a full picture of how many illegal immigrants are in public housing. It doesn’t include housing funded by state and local governments, where eligibility requirements vary. Massachusetts, where Obama’s aunt occupied one of about 50,000 state-funded units, doesn’t ask immigration status under a 1977 federal consent decree in a class-action lawsuit that prohibits the state from denying the benefit to illegal immigrants.

Other illegal immigrants may live in public housing without notifying authorities.

“It seems that the larger concern would be those who we don’t know about that may be in the U.S. illegally and living in federal housing, yet never risk presenting themselves to HUD,” said Jonathan Graffeo, a spokesman for Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala.

Some prospective tenants and advocates of immigration restrictions are angry about U.S. citizens waiting for housing aid that some number of illegal immigrants are enjoying.
New York City has about 260,000 people in line for housing aid. Chicago recently opened its waiting list for the first time in about 10 years and collected 259,000 names in four weeks for 40,000 slots.

“As long as that waiting list includes American citizens or legal immigrants, there’s no reason an illegal alien should occupy any of that housing,” said Rosemary Jenks, director of government relations for NumbersUSA, a group that supports curbs on immigration.

Onyango, of course, could not be reached for comment.

***

The state of the borders 2008
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2008

If you think the bad economy has “solved” America’s immigration problems, welcome to your end-of-the-year reality check. It’s certainly true that illegal crossings from the south are down and that many foreign workers are returning to their native lands as work dries up. But border chaos, haphazard enforcement, massive backlogs, and deportation negligence remain the order of the day.

A half-million citizenship applications have been pending for more than nine months. Some 700,000 illegal alien absconders — fugitives from deportation like Barack Obama’s aunt Zeituni Onyango — are free. An estimated 4-5 million illegal visa overstayers from around the world remain in the country. Both Big Business and left-wing ethnic groups have colluded to prevent an employer verification program for workers’ citizenship status from getting implemented nationwide. And the borders are still largely borders in name only.

In June, the White House pushed through a $1.6 billion border security spending plan…for Mexico and Central America. While our own border fence remains incomplete, taxpayers shelled out for helicopters, surveillance equipment, computer infrastructure, expansion of intelligence databases, anti-corruption initiatives, human rights education and training, and anti-money laundering programs for our southern neighbors. So, how’s the so-called Merida Initiative working out?

As terrorized citizens of Mexico will tell you, all hell has broken loose. Corrupt police officials and narco-insurgents have left a horrific trail of beheaded and bullet-ridden bodies in their wake on both sides of the border. Mexican Army incursions into U.S. territory are a regular occurrence. In Monterrey, bandits opened fire and threw a grenade at the U.S. consulate this fall. A top Mexican immigration official was arrested in October carrying about 77 kilos of pot in Arizona. On a single weekend in Tijuana, 40 people were murdered, including nine victims who were decapitated. Two weeks ago, famed American anti-kidnapping negotiator Felix Bautista disappeared from the “relatively safe” northern industrial city of Saltillo in Coahuila state. No word on his whereabouts.

The apocalyptic conditions have prompted some Mexican lawmakers to revisit the country’s ban on capital punishment. That’s right. Members of the same foreign government that took America to court over our death penalty laws– and tried to block the state of Texas from executing illegal alien Death Row murderers — are now open to the idea of imposing the death penalty on the thugs on their own soil. And after years of vehement protests against the U.S. for its meager attempts at immigration enforcement, Mexico is cracking down hard on illegal Cuban immigrants caught trying to enter the country from the south. They forged an agreement with Cuba to immediately send back illegal aliens — none of that “undocumented worker” mushiness for them — and punish human smugglers.

Such lawlessness, Mexico has apparently realized, is a grave threat to its people. Without order, there can be no peace. And chaos, as I’ve argued endlessly since September 11, is an invitation for those with far more nefarious intentions. Perhaps this is why Mexico slapped a 60-year prison term on a human smuggler who helped some 200 illegal aliens cross into the U.S. from Mexico — including Hezbollah supporters. In a little-noticed announcement this month, Mexican prosecutors reported the stiff sentence against Salim Boughader Mucharrafille, a Mexican of Lebanese descent who operated a cafe in Tijuana and smuggled terrorist sympathizers into San Diego. Mucharrafille’s accomplice was Imelda Ortiz Abdala, a Mexican foreign service official who helmed the Mexican consulate in Beirut.

No illegal alien demonstrations ensued following the sentencing. No cries of racism and xenophobia clouded the news. No demands for amnesty and open borders arose. One hopes the incoming Obama administration can learn from our neighbors to the south the hard lesson Washington has abandoned since 9/11: Immigration control is a national security issue. Blood-stained reality clarifies the mind.

a picture is worth a thousand(billions) words

2009-01-01T13:35:00.001-08:00

from ms malkin's blog

from the corner at nro....

2008-12-29T07:31:00.000-08:00

A Media Morality Tale [Victor Davis Hanson]

The putative Caroline Kennedy candidacy for senator has had the odd effect of reopening the media can of worms treatment of Gov. Palin. Compared to Sarah Palin's almost immediate immersion into crowds and public speaking, Kennedy seems like a deer in the headlights before the media that is either ignored or asked to submit written questions. Palin was a natural; Kennedy can't finish a single sentence without "You know" or "I mean." Palin's family saga and daily grind were populist to the core; Kennedy is a creature of a few blocks' radius in Manhattan and Martha's Vineyard.

Outsider and lower-middle-class Palin toughed it out in Wasilla for years of politicking on a 16-year slog through Alaskan old-boy politics; Caroline Kennedy in regal fashion apparently skipped voting in about half of New York elections, and has never run for anything.

Reporters swarmed over Palin's pregnancies, and her wardrobe, but apparently took on face value that Caroline's fluff books were really a sign of either erudition or scholarship.

Conservative Palin endured liberal Charlie Gibson's glasses0on-the nose pretentiousness, and Katie Couric's attack-dog questions; insider Kennedy I doubt will meet with either, much less sit down with a hostile questioner like a Glenn Beck or Bill O'Reilly. Her friendly New York Times "interview" proved an embarrassment—rarely have so many words been spoken with so little content.

But, no, the real embarrassment proves to be the media itself that apparently can't see this weird unfolding self-incriminating morality tale: It is not just that Palin is conservative, Kennedy politically-correct (e.g., pro-abortion, gun control, gay marriage, etc), or Palin a newcomer to public attention, Kennedy a celebrity since childhood. Rather it is the aristocratic value system of most NY-DC journalists themselves who apparently still assume that old money, status, and an Ivy-League pedigree are reliable barometers of talent and sobriety, suggesting that the upper-East Side Kennedy's public ineptness is an aberration, a bad day, a minor distraction, while Palin's charisma and ease are superficial and a natural reflection of her Idaho sports journalism degree.

A few generations ago, Democrats would have opposed Palin but appreciated her blue-collar story, and applauded a working mom who out-politicked entrenched and richer male elites. But now the new aristocratic liberalism has adopted the values of the old silk-stocking Republicans of the 1950s—and so zombie-like worship rather than question entitlement.

12/29 12:23 AM

media double standard...it's how they roll......

2008-12-27T23:13:00.000-08:00

Tale of two presidential workout fanatics
By Michelle Malkin • December 27, 2008 09:08 AM

Chris Matthews won the Media Research Center’s quote of the year with his Obamedia-topping Leg O’ Thrill and Tingle remark. But Matthews only took first honors because Washington Post reporter Eli Saslow waited until Christmas to file his tribute to Obama’s sun-kissed pectorals. Have they no shame? No, they do not.

The gushing reminded me of a blog post I did three years ago on how Bush-deranged journalist Jonathan Chait reacted to President Bush’s workout regimen. It’s the subject of my syndicated column today. More liberal double standards: It’s just how they roll.

***

Tale of two presidential workout fanatics
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2008

Ah, the perks of media affection. On Christmas Day, the Washington Post delivered a front-page paean to Barack Obama’s workout habits. The 1,233-word ode to O’s physical fitness read more like a Harlequin romance novel than an A-1 news article.

Sighed smitten reporter Eli Zaslow: “The sun glinted off chiseled pectorals sculpted during four weightlifting sessions each week, and a body toned by regular treadmill runs and basketball games.” Drool cup to the newsroom, stat.

Zaslow imparted us with vital information about buff Bam’s regimen: “Obama has gone to the gym for about 90 minutes a day, for at least 48 days in a row.” The Washington Post enlightened us with more gushing commentary from Obama friends and associates who explain how, as the subtitle of Zaslow’s opus put it, “Gym Workouts Help Obama Carry the Weight of His Position.”

For adoring journalists, you see, Obama’s workout fanaticism demonstrates his discipline and balance in his life. Apparently, what’s good for Obama’s glistening pecs is good for the country. Zaslow quoted Obama Chicago crony Marty Nesbitt, who offered this diagnosis: “He doesn’t think of it as something he has to do — it’s his time for himself, a chance for him to reflect. It’s his break. He feels better and more revved up after he gets in his workout.”

And when Obama feels better, the skies will part, the sun will shine (in moderate, environmentally-correct, non-global warming-inducing amounts, of course) and peace will reign worldwide!

Too bad the doughy, McDonald’s-chomping, coffee-guzzling members of the White House press corps couldn’t see the merits of White House exercise over the past eight years. After giggling about his out-of-shape colleagues in the media, Zaslow mentioned in passing that President George W. Bush shares Obama’s commitment to health. What he failed to acknowledge is that the same reporters who so greatly admire Obama’s lithe figure derided Bush for his training schedule.

Former Washington Post writer Jonathan Chait famously attacked Bush three years ago in an opinion piece for the Los Angeles Times headlined, “The (over)exercise of power.” Recounting how President Bush ran 3 1/2 miles a day and preached more cross-training to a federal judge, Chait fumed: “Am I the only person who finds this disturbing?…What I mean is the fact that Bush has an obsession with exercise that borders on the creepy.”

Chait argued that Bush’s passionate devotion to exercise was a dereliction of duty. “Does the leader of the free world need to attain that level of physical achievement?” he jeered. “It’s nice for Bush that he can take an hour or two out of every day to run, bike or pump iron. Unfortunately, most of us have more demanding jobs than he does.”

Can you imagine any member of the Obamedia mocking the incoming gym rat-in-chief this way?

Chait was not alone. Reuters journalist Caron Bohan weaved the same unhinged themes into a piece on Bush’s two-hour, 17-mile bike ride with cycling champ Lance Armstrong in Crawford, Texas in 2005. After noting his six-day-a-week workout schedule, Bohan steered the piece into an anti-war screed:

“Bush says exercise helps sharpen his thinking. But some of his critics view his exercise obsession as an indulgence that takes time away from other priorities. Among them is Cindy Sheehan, the Vacaville, California, mother of a soldier killed in Iraq, who until late last week was camped out down the road from Bush’s ranch seeking a meeting with him to discuss her opposition to the war. Sheehan, who left her vigil on Thursday to tend to her sick mother, has said she believes Bush should take fewer bike rides to have more time to focus on the “the nation’s work.”

Fit Republican president = Selfish, indulgent, creepy fascist.

Fit Democratic president = Disciplined, health-conscious Adonis role model.

The good news: In just a few short weeks, W. will be able to exercise in peace, free from the disapproving glares of journalists now rushing to mop the sweat — er, the glisten — from Barack Obama’s hallowed brow.

no patriot he....good riddance,deep throat

2008-12-23T09:02:00.000-08:00

Patrick J. Buchanan
On the Death of Deep Throat
by Patrick J. Buchanan
12/23/2008

"De mortuis nil nisi bonum."

Of the dead, nothing but good.

So said Dean Acheson of Sen. Joe McCarthy on his death in 1957. "Tailgunner Joe" had bedeviled the secretary of state for his lassitude toward communist penetration of State in President Truman's time.

But the passing of Mark Felt, associate director of the FBI in the later Nixon years, lately exposed as "Deep Throat," the source for the Woodward-Bernstein stories, calls forth some rebuttal to the tributes lavished upon Felt as the honest lawman who saved our republic.

When the Watergate break-in was traced to the Committee to Reelect the President, Felt was put in charge of the FBI investigation. Almost immediately, he began to leak to Woodward.

Felt, it is said, was justified, as the White House was interfering with his investigation. False.

This is a moral cloak belatedly cast over more base motives.

The truth: Felt was a bitter man. Having risen through the ranks under J. Edgar Hoover, whose black-bag jobs he had overseen, Felt expected to be rewarded by being named director on Hoover's death. Nixon had passed him over for an outsider, L. Patrick Grey.

By secretly colluding with the Post, Felt was ingratiating himself with an establishment that loathed Nixon, even as he exacted revenge for having being denied by Nixon the post he had coveted.

Had Nixon or aides restricted Felt, the Post would have had an explosive story. But the Post never charged the White House with interfering with the FBI investigation that summer or fall, because it was not interfering.

What Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein ran with were such shockers as that Nixon's men had hired a trickster to ape the Democrats' Dick Tuck, and said trickster had sent dozens of pizzas to a Muskie rally.

The FBI had ferreted out the Artful Dodger, and the Post led with the atrocity. "FBI Finds Nixon Aides Sabotaged Democrats," screamed the four-column headline at the top of page one.

Indeed, if what Felt did was honorable, why did he lie and deny it repeatedly when asked if he was leaking to the Post? Why did he lie in his memoir in 1979, when, well into retirement, he emphatically denied he was Deep Throat? Was Felt so noble he could save our republic, yet refuse, to the point of lying in his memoirs, to take any credit?

Answer: Felt knew what he did was dishonorable, corrupt -- and unnecessary. For honest FBI agents were steadily making progress toward proving that higher-ups at CREEP were involved in aiding those caught in the Watergate break-in.

Felt had another reason for lying about his role as snitch for the Post. Former colleagues would be disgusted, for his was not only a breach of law, but of faith and trust, a dishonoring of his oath as an FBI agent.

One wonders what went through the mind of Felt, when, on trial in Manhattan in 1980 for those FBI black-bag jobs against the Weather Underground that had bombed the Pentagon and Capitol, ex-President Nixon walked into the courtroom to testify in Felt's defense?

When Felt was convicted, Ronald Reagan pardoned him, declaring that if the Carter amnesty was proper for those who had defected to Canada rather than serve in Vietnam, it was right to pardon those who risked their careers to protect the nation.

After exposure as Deep Throat, Felt wrote in a 2006 memoir, "The bottom line is that we did get the whole truth out, but isn't that what the FBI is suppose to do?"

No, Mr. Felt, that is not what the FBI is supposed to do.

Do we really want, here in America, our premier investigative and police agency to get the truth out that it decides to get out?

Would it have been right for Hoover to get the "whole truth out" on JFK's liaisons with suspected German spies, Mafia molls and Marilyn Monroe, and destroy his presidency? Would it have been right for the FBI to get the "whole truth out" of Hoover's secret files, and ruin all the public careers the FBI could have destroyed?

Isn't that what the old KGB did to its enemies?

In the early '60s, Robert Kennedy authorized Hoover to bug and tap Dr. Martin Luther King. When the FBI turned up film of King with loose women, LBJ's White House moved the photos to the Washington press.

Felt knew of this. The Post knew of this. The Washington press corps knew of this. Why didn't Felt and the Post blow the whistle on this squalid deed? Was it not so egregious as sending pizzas to Muskie's rally?

In that Scoundrel Time, the liberal establishment -- the press, the politicians and the police bureaucrats -- colluded to destroy Nixon, even as they covered for JFK and LBJ.

Nixon, you see, was not one of them. Is it not always thus?

something to make us smile...

2008-12-23T07:57:00.000-08:00

maybe we have hope after all.....

click title to go to her website...

more of that "peace lovin' religion"....

2008-12-22T19:23:00.000-08:00

Fort Dix jihadists convicted: Thank you, Brian Morgenstern
By Michelle Malkin • December 22, 2008 03:21 PM

The Jersey Jihadists were convicted today of plotting to murder American soldiers at Fort Dix.

Just a reminder that this would not have been possible without the bravery of Brian Morgenstern, the Circuit City employee who blew the whistle on the terror plotters after seeing one of their training videos, which they had dropped off at the store for DVD conversion.

Thank you, Brian.

Your courage has not been forgotten.

***

Also not forgotten (via Allah): How federal immigration officials’ lax enforcement and endless backlogs allowed several of the Fort Dix jihadists to stay in the country illegally.

click title to go to malkin's blog...
do it....do it now....

GLOBAL WARMING!!!!!

2008-12-21T09:11:00.000-08:00

HELP ME ALGORE!..HELP ME BABY JESUS!..HELP ME TOM CRUISE!!
CLINK TITLE TO GO TO STORY!!

change!!!!..........clinton cronies ,clintonesque scandals....and he's not even sworn in yet...

2008-12-20T20:55:00.000-08:00

Michelle Malkin
Obama press conference on Daschle, Blago: “I have never spoken to the governor on this subject;” “appalled”
By Michelle Malkin • December 11, 2008 11:30 AM

Just returned to the office and tuned into Obama’s press conference on Blago-quiddick. Fill me in if you caught the beginning (he intro’ed Tom Daschle as HHS Sec’y nominee).

The One says he’s confident no representative of his “would have any part of” deals for his soon-to-be vacant Senate seat.

Says he was “appalled” and “disappointed” by Blago.

Reporter asks: “What’s wrong with politics in Illinois?”

Obama says Illinois is like other states in having wheeler-dealers mixed in with good public servants.

No, there’s definitely something wrong with Illinois.

Reuters reporter changes the subject to health care.

Because, you know, Reuters is tired of the glee.

***

Major Garrett summing up the presser. Obama repeated call for Blago to step down. Pushed for auto bailout. Addressed Bush tax cuts — hasn’t decided whether to repeal them.

***

Ed Morrissey has photos of Obama and Blago from 11/12/ and 12/2 of this year: “Depends on how you define ‘contact.’”

It’s the Clinton-Gore years all over again.

***

More:

“I have never spoken to the governor on this subject,” Obama said, adding that he has asked his staff to collect the facts about their contact with Blagojevich on the matter.

“This Senate seat does not belong to any politician to trade,” Obama said. “It belongs to the people of Illinois.”

tis the season....

2008-12-03T05:00:00.000-08:00

another example of wild eyed scumbag liberals....
click the title above to go to the weekly standard blog...

Petty, Childish, Liberal Artist Speaks Truth To Power Through Christmas Ornament

What are these people going to do for a muse when their "terrorist-in-chief" is gone? Even their protest art, fueled by such all-consuming righteous indignation, has proven banal and predictable at every turn, fraught with hackneyed Hitler imagery and the occasional bodily fluid. How very 1990s.

The latest fruitless artistic tantrum comes from Seattle artist Deborah Lawrence, who was asked by her local representative, Jim McDermott and Laura Bush to decorate an ornament for the White House Christmas tree. Each representative commissioned an ornament from a local artist of his choosing.

Spurning the honor bestowed upon her, the good will encouraged by the season, and any manners her mother ever taught her, Lawrence set about creating an impeachment ornament, featuring pictures of McDermott and thanking him for his backing of another fruitless tantrum— the effort to impeach Bush. How festive!

The nine-inch ball is covered with swirly red and white stripes -- and, in tiny glued-on text, salutes the Democratic congressman's support for a resolution to impeach President Bush. (Also showcased: Washington state's 1919 labor strike, its suffrage movement and the violent anti-World Trade Organization riots of 1999.) Lawrence sent it off to D.C. in September and was very surprised it was accepted for the tree -- and that she was invited to this afternoon's White House reception for the artists, which she flew to D.C. to attend.

Yes, that's right. The cranky collage artist, apparently unimpressed by the rather rare opportunity of having her elementary arts and crafts admired by foreign dignitaries and heads of state, refused to allow her paste and magazine clippings to work in the service of American hegemony.

Because her brave statement was so subtle as to first escape the notice of the White House, she was subsequently invited to a White House reception for artists, which she attended. Her bravery apparently did not extend to speaking truth to power in person, as there are no reports of Laura Bush's getting a lecture from one of the artists.

She did, however, tell of her glue-stick grievance-mongering to the Washington Post. The White House then informed the Post it would not be displaying the ornament, granting Lawrence her ascendancy to the order of righteous liberals where she will sit alongside other revolutionaries who wage self-serving war from the comfort of their urban lofts risking nothing but the spraining of their elbows in the act of self-congratulation.

So, here's to you, Deborah Lawrence, and your Elmer's-abbetted agitation. But I must say, Obama would be ashamed of you and your partisan divisiveness.

Posted by Mary Katharine Ham on December 2, 2008 04:20 PM | Permalink

seriously Georgia...no,really,...i mean...ARE YOU FU%KING KIDDING ME?

2008-12-02T11:30:00.000-08:00

martin with the leaders of the ebonics constituency....

socialists....you betcha!

2008-12-01T05:48:00.000-08:00

Patrick J. Buchanan
Socialist Republic
by Patrick J. Buchanan
11/27/2008

Barack Obama and George W. Bush seem to have come away from their study of the Great Depression with similar conclusions:

To wit: After the Crash of 1929, the Federal Reserve did not move fast enough to save the banks and inject cash into the economy. Second, the New Deal, far from being wastrel deficit spending, was not bold enough. So it was that America wallowed in depression for a decade until the unbridled spending and mammoth deficits of World War II pulled us out.

Bush and Obama seem determined not to make the same mistake.

We are all Keynesians now.

Thus, we have the $700 billion Bush bank bailout, the $700 billion "stimulus package" Obama wants by inauguration to "jolt this economy back into shape" and the $800 billion fund Hank Paulson created to get consumers borrowing and buying again.

These come on top of Bush $455 billion deficit, the $29 billion bailout of Bear Stearns, the $105 billion in pork to grease the $700 billion bailout, the $100 billion to $200 billion to keep Fannie and Freddie afloat, the $140-billion-and-counting for AIG, the $25 billion for the greening of GM, Ford and Chrysler, the $25 billion more to save the Big Three and the $20 billion for CitiGroup.

Now much of this overlaps, and some will be retrieved. But we are still staring at a deficit that could approach $2 trillion.

How would this stack up historically?

A deficit of $1.4 trillion would be 10 percent of gross domestic product, dwarfing the postwar record 6 percent run by Ronald Reagan in the Jimmy Carter recession.

Bewailing the "Reagan deficits" has been a staple of Democratic oratory. This will stop. But the politics of this is not the point, the policy is.

Consider what we are about to do. Bush in 2008 spent 21 percent of GDP. States, counties and cities spent another 12 percent. Thus, one third of GDP is spent by government at all levels. Obama and Co. propose to raise that by another 10 percent of GDP. We may soon be north of 40 percent of gross domestic product controlled and spent by government.

That is Eurosocialism.

And where, exactly, are we going to get the money?

Americans save nothing. We spend more than we earn. Thus the levels of consumer debt, credit card debt, auto debt and mortgage debt. U.S. foreign-exchange reserves amount to a piddling $73 billion.

The only nation with the kind of cash on hand we need now -- if we don't print the money and invite another gigantic bubble -- is China, with its $2 trillion in foreign-exchange reserves.

Will Beijing lend back the dollars it has piled up by selling to us?

China certainly has an incentive to keep Americans spending. For our purchases of Chinese-made goods have often been responsible for 100 percent of China's growth. China does not want to kill the American goose that lays those golden eggs -- until the goose can't lay any more eggs. Then they won't need the goose.

But should China decide to lend us the money, what will Beijing demand in interest rates and assurances that we will not default. After all, the U.S. debt is 70 percent of GDP, our savings rate is near zero, and our merchandise trade deficit is still running at 5 percent to 6 percent of GDP.

Unlike the 1950s, we are today dependent on foreigners for two-thirds of our oil and for much of our manufactured goods -- toys, TVs, radios, cameras, cars, shoes, clothes, bikes, motorcycles -- and for the $700 billion to $800 billion we borrow each year to pay for these imports.

With U.S. homeowners, consumers, companies and banks now going bust, why must the nation borrow trillions more to bail them out? So we can maintain our status and standard of living as the last superpower.

Bush and Obama are competing to shovel out trillions of dollars, so we can return to the good times of yesterday.

But wasn't yesterday the root cause of today? Didn't saving nothing and spending more than we earn, purchasing what we cannot afford in cars, consumer goods and houses, buying far more from abroad than we sell abroad -- didn't that cause this crisis and crash?

A family man in America's condition, awash in debt, spending more than he makes, would cut back consumption, find a second job and get out of debt. Or declare bankruptcy, accept the shame and humiliation, change his wastrel ways and start anew.

Is it different for a nation?

Yet we seem to believe we can borrow and spend our way out of a swamp of unpayable debt into which borrowing and spending have plunged us.

We are headed either for default on our debts and bankruptcy as a nation, or something less honorable: a quiet cheapening of the debts we have incurred by inflating and destroying the dollar, robbing our creditors of what we owe them and robbing our own people of the value of what they have earned. And so it has come to this.

What would the Founding Fathers think of us now?

Mr. Buchanan is a nationally syndicated columnist and author of Churchill, Hitler, and "The Unnecessary War": How Britain Lost Its Empire and the West Lost the World, "The Death of the West,", "The Great Betrayal," "A Republic, Not an Empire" and "Where the Right Went Wrong."

top ten covers from metal hammer's staff...

2008-11-29T21:08:00.000-08:00

some excellent choices...

Metal Hammer Staff Top Ten: Cover Versions

It’s Top Ten time and this week the Metal Hammer Staff are revealing their top ten cover versions. As always, no more than one band per entry (the band doing the cover that is) and it’s not genre specific. Add your own suggestions in our comments section.

Alexander Milas (editor)
Metallica - ‘Am I Evil?’
Revolting Cocks - ‘Do Ya Think I’m Sexy’
Van Halen - ‘You Really Got Me’
Infectious Grooves - ‘Immmigrant Song’
Celtic Frost - ‘Mexican Radio’
Foo Fighters - ‘Baker Street’
Type O Negative - ‘Cinnamon Girl’
Trouble - ‘Children Of The Grave’
Anthrax - ‘Antisocial’
Black Crowes - ‘Hard To Handle’

Caren Gibson (deputy editor)
Jimi Hendrix - ‘All Along The Watchtower’
Kyuss - ‘Into The Void’
Faith No More - ‘War Pigs’
Machine Head - ‘Hallowed Be Thy Name’
Killswitch Engage - ‘Holy Diver’
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band - ‘War’
White Zombie - ‘Children Of The Grave’
Pantera - ‘Planet Caravan’
The Lovemongers - ‘Battle Of Evermore’
Kill II This - ‘Two Tribes’

Vanessa Hards (production editor)
Sepultura - ‘Procreation (Of The Wicked)’
Metallica - ‘Breadfan’
Marilyn Manson - ‘Sweet Dreams’
Ministry - ‘Roadhouse Blues’
Orgy - ‘Blue Monday’
Fear Factory - ‘Cars’
Johnny Cash - ‘Hurt’
Clutch - ‘Money’
Killswitch Engage - ‘Holy Diver’
Machine Head - ‘Battery’

James Gill (editor at large)
HIM - ‘Wicked Game’
Clutch - ‘Money’
The Wildhearts - ‘Theme From Cheers’
Atreyu - ‘You Give Love A Bad Name’
Killswitch Engage - ‘Holy Diver’
The Revolting Cocks - ‘Supernaut’
KMFDM - ‘Get It On’
Razed In Black - ‘Sin’
The Cardigans - ‘Iron Man’
Skid Row - ‘Children Of The Damned’

Jonathan Selzer (reviews editor)
World Of Skin - ‘Cry Me A River’
Swans - ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’
Laibach - ‘One Vision’
The Young Gods - ‘September Song’
This Mortal Coil - ‘Song To The Siren’
Nanaco - ‘Woodstock’
Loop - ‘Mother Sky
Diamanda Galas - ‘Gloomy Sunday’
Rotting Christ - ‘Lucifer Over London’
Death - ‘Painkiller’

James Isaacs (art editor)
Clutch - ‘Money’
Killswitch Engage - ‘Holy Diver’
Skid Row - ‘Little Wing’
Weedeater - ‘Gimme Back My Bullets’
Orange Goblin - ‘Just Got Paid’
Mastodon - ‘Emerald’
Melvins - ‘Going Blind’
The Bronx - ‘Los Angeles’
Deftones - ‘The Chauffeur’
Alabama Thunderpussy - ‘Man On The Silver Mountain’

Kimberley Tarry (designer)
HIM - ‘Wicked Game’
Marilyn Manson - ‘Sweet Dreams’
Faith No more - ‘Easy’
Pantera - ‘Planet Caravan’
Guns N Roses - ‘Live and Let Die’
Metallica - ‘Mercyful Fate’
Murder Dolls - ‘White Wedding’
Killswitch Engage - ‘Holy Diver’
Johnny Cash - ‘Hurt’
Cradle Of Filth - ‘Temptation’

Terry Bezer (web monkey)
Metallica - ‘Blitzkrieg’
Dropkick Murphys - ‘Fields Of Athenry’
Kiss - ‘Do You Remember Rock N’ Roll Radio?’
Black Label Society - ‘No More Tears’
Pantera - ‘Cat Scratch Fever’
The Wildhearts - ‘Theme From Cheers’
Social Distortion - ‘Making Believe’
Tina Turner - ‘Proud Mary’
Faith No More - ‘Easy’
Thin Lizzy - ‘Rosalie’

today would have been my dad's 85th birthday...happy birthday daddy...

2008-11-22T20:59:00.000-08:00

three men i remember he liked...

will the "alternative lifestyle groups" be pissed?......no,it's obama doing it...not the evil bush...

2008-11-21T07:55:00.000-08:00

click title to go to article in the washington times...

Ladies and Gents...Change!!!!!

2008-11-18T04:42:00.000-08:00

introducing your new secretary of state!!....

faces reunion...awesome.....

2008-11-12T15:06:00.000-08:00

Faces Reunion Still On
Filed under: Classic Rock News — Real Rock News @ 10:32 am

Despite the recent turmoil in Ron Wood’s personal life which involved a stint in rehab and a split with his wife of 23 years, the reunion with his former Faces band mates appears to be on track. Wood’s recent problems had cast some doubt on the possibility of a reunion, but a recent development indicates that they are close to taking their first steps towards that goal.

As reported by RayGigs.com, Wood and Rod Stewart were scheduled to meet Monday in the studio for their first rehearsal to see how their memory of their material has held up through the years. Rod Stewart’s current bassist was set to join them for rehearsal due to the passing of Faces bass player Ronnie Lane last year.

All the remaining original members of the group were also set to show up for the rehearsal.

The Faces formed during 1969 and went on to release a total of four studio albums and toured until 1975 when Ron Wood left the group to join on full-time with the Rolling Stones.

why aren't republicans putting a stop to this bullsh*t

2008-11-11T11:54:00.000-08:00

Minnesota Ripe for Election Fraud

Monday, November 10, 2008

By John R. Lott Jr.

Minnesota is becoming to 2008 politics what Florida was in 2000 or Washington State in 2004 -- a real mess. The outcome will determine whether Democrats get 58 members of the U.S. Senate, giving them an effective filibuster-proof vote on many issues.

When voters woke up on Wednesday morning after the election, Senator Norm Coleman led Al Franken by what seemed like a relatively comfortable 725 votes. By Wednesday night, that lead had shrunk to 477. By Thursday night, it was down to 336. By Friday, it was 239. Late Sunday night, the difference had gone down to just 221 -- a total change over 4 days of 504 votes.

Amazingly, this all has occurred even though there hasn’t even yet been a recount. Just local election officials correcting claimed typos in how the numbers were reported. Counties will certify their results today, and their final results will be sent to the secretary of state by Friday. The actual recount won’t even start until November 19.

Correcting these typos was claimed to add 435 votes to Franken and take 69 votes from Coleman. Corrections were posted in other races, but they were only a fraction of those for the Senate. The Senate gains for Franken were 2.5 times the gain for Obama in the presidential race count, 2.9 times the total gain that Democrats got across all Minnesota congressional races, and 5 times the net loss that Democrats suffered for all state House races.

Virtually all of Franken’s new votes came from just three out of 4130 precincts, and almost half the gain (246 votes) occurred in one precinct -- Two Harbors, a small town north of Duluth along Lake Superior -- a heavily Democratic precinct where Obama received 64 percent of the vote. None of the other races had any changes in their vote totals in that precinct.

To put this change in perspective, that single precinct’s corrections accounted for a significantly larger net swing in votes between the parties than occurred for all the precincts in the entire state for the presidential, congressional, or state house races.

The two other precincts (Mountain Iron in St. Louis county and Partridge Township in Pine county) accounted for another 100 votes each. The change in each precinct was half as large as the pickup for Obama from the corrections for the entire state.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune attributed these types of mistakes to “exhausted county officials,” and that indeed might be true, but the sizes of the errors in these three precincts are surprisingly large.

Indeed, the 504 total new votes for Franken from all the precincts is greater than adding together all the changes for all the precincts in the entire state for the presidential, congressional, and state house races combined (a sum of 482). It was also true that precincts that gave Obama a larger percentage of the vote were statistically more likely to make a correction that helped Franken.

The recent Washington State 2006 gubernatorial recount is probably most famous for the discovery of ballots in heavily Democratic areas that had somehow missed being counted the first and even second time around. Minnesota is already copying that, though thus far on a much smaller scale, with 32 absentee ballots being discovered in Democratic Hennepin County after all the votes had already been counted. When those votes are added in, they seemed destined to cut Coleman's lead further.

Indeed, it is probably through the discovery of new votes that Franken has his best shot of picking up new votes. Despite the press pushing a possible replay of election judges divining voters’ intentions by looking at “hanging chads” to see if voters meant to punch a hole, that shouldn’t be an issue in Minnesota. The reason is simple: optical scan vote counting machines return ballots to voters if no vote is recorded for a contested race.

The Associated Press piece with the title “Most Minn. Senate ‘undervotes’ are from Obama turf” misinformed readers about what undervotes really imply. The Minneapolis Star Tribune headline similarly claimed "An analysis of ballots that had a vote for president but no vote for U.S. senator could have recount implications."

Voters themselves insert their ballot into the machine that reads and records their votes, and if the machine finds that a vote isn’t recorded, voters can either mark the race that they forgot to mark or didn’t mark clearly. Or if voters “overvoted” and accidentally marked too many candidates, voters can also get a fresh ballot. There should be no role to divine voters’ intentions. If a voter wanted a vote recorded for a particular race, the machine tells him whether his vote in all the races was counted.

But voters also have the right not to vote in particular races. In this election, 0.4 percent of Minnesotans didn’t want to vote for president. The number for the Senate race was only slightly higher at 0.8 percent. For congressional and state House races, the rates were 3 and 3.5 percent.

This pattern of fewer people voting in less important elections has been observed as long as people have studied elections. There are always at least a few people who don’t vote for even the most closely contested races at the top of the ballot and fewer people follow and vote for races the farther down the ballot that you go. But this is not evidence of mistakes, quite the contrary.

With ACORN filing more than 43,000 registration forms this year, 75 percent of all new registrations in the state, Minnesota was facing vote fraud problems even before the election. Even a small percentage of those registrations resulting in fraudulent votes could tip this election.

To many, it just seems like too much of a coincidence that Minnesota's one tight race just happens to be the race with the most "corrected" votes by far. But the real travesty will be to start letting election officials divine voter's intent. If you want to discourage people from voting, election fraud is one sure way of doing it.

good news from metalhammer mag......

2008-11-09T13:37:00.000-08:00

Rammstein Begin Recording New Album
terrybezer / News / 07/11/2008 18:10pm

Rammstein have announced that they are to begin recording their new album this weekend.

The german industrial legends have issued the following statement about their new album:

“Now that the band has finished pre-production in Berlin for its new album, Operation ‘Album 6′ is going forward full steam ahead. Christoph Schneider (drummer) arrived in Los Angeles last week to meet with Jacob Hellner and production team (i.e., currently Ulf Kruckenberg and Florian Ammon) to undertake preparations for recording of all the drum tracks. Also to arrive in L.A. this week for the drum sessions, Paul (Landers, guitarist) and Richard (Kruspe, guitarist). Finally, a studio has been rented near San Francisco for the bulk of the main recording work, and the band will go into retreat there for several weeks starting on November 9th, 2008. Clear the decks, the Rammstein tanker is once again under steam!”

from the family guy blog...excellent!!

2008-11-08T13:53:00.000-08:00

click link title to go to his site
A Nation United? Hardly.

November 6, 2008 by thefamilyguy

How amusing this election has become. The left has a new mantra now “The election is over. We must come together and support the new president.” Coming from the group that spawned the term Bush Derangement Syndrome, that is laughable. Did you Democrats afford George Bush the same courtesy? No. You began a smear campaign the very day he was elected… a campaign that did not end until the election of Barack Obama.

I vow to treat Barack Obama with whatever respect that he might “earn” once he takes office, and I vow to hold his feet to the fire when he earns my disdain. He dug himself a big hole during the election process. President-elect Obama deeply divided America and his inauguration hovers under a cloud of national anxiety. Conservative Americans were branded as “racist” for having a different opinion. Now liberals expect us to forget all of the smears and lies of the last 6 months and march in happy lockstep behind President Obama? I rather doubt that will happen. I pray that President-elect Obama learns the wisdom of governance. Liberals have spent eight years schooling Republicans on how to smear and destroy a president. I hope that he won’t challenge half of the nation to play the same vindictive ideological games.

After Bush’s election the headlines read, “ Bush wins with 51%. Nation deeply divided”

How things have changed.

After Obama’s election the headlines read, “Obama wins with 52%. Nation united!”

Hardly.

There are 56,500,000 voters who did not select Barack Obama. They are not racists, they are not uneducated, and they are not mindless red-state gun toting bible clingers. They are Americans. They are truck drivers, police officers, teachers, managers, doctors, firefighters, union employees, small business owners… they are America’s backbone. President-elect Obama ignores them at his (and the nation’s) own peril. Obama has the skills to unite the nation but choosing to steer the ship hard left will create a house divided and turn those McCain voters into a fierce loyal opposition.

Obama carries a vast sea of election promises around his neck like an albatross. His first act of asking a far-left-wing shark (Rahm Emanuel) to be his chief of staff bodes ill for his promise of a bi-partisan future. His campaign trail speeches will have to be reconciled with his policies. He has repeatedly promised tax cuts for 95% of families amid a difficult economy and a credit crisis caused by an America living beyond its means. His supporters will now expect affordable and expanded health care and a speedy withdrawal from Iraq. Promised troop increases in Afghanistan, an emboldened Russia seeking to make a new name for itself, a nuclear Iran, a resurgent Hamas… all looming shadows on a presidency whose short suit is foreign policy. The far left wing (his Pelosi-Reid-MoveOn supporters) will demand: union check off cards, first-amendment-chilling fairness doctrine for radio, financial punishment (wind-fall profit taxes) for petroleum companies, pharmaceuticals and the wealthy, unrestricted abortion, an economy-chilling cap and trade policy and $9.50 minimum wage… and that is for starters.

President-elect Obama has painted himself into a dangerous corner. He will be challenged by foreign powers. His nation is sharply divided. His supporters on the street expect change. His party has gained iron-fisted control of national government, but that comes with total responsibility for the results of their policies. When the euphoria fades and the chill winter winds blow away the abandoned Obama signs, the reality of governance will loom manacingly. No Bush to blame. No Republicans to point fingers at. Just an inexperienced community organizer from Illinois and the weight of the world on his shoulders. Let’s hope he rises to the challenge… but keep a broom and dustpan handy, I suspect there will be some sweeping up of pieces to attend to in 2010.

anne coulter....right again.......

2008-11-06T06:39:00.000-08:00

Ann Coulter
The Reign of Lame Falls Mainly on McCain
by Ann Coulter
Last night was truly a historic occasion: For only the second time in her adult life, Michelle Obama was proud of her country!

The big loser of this election is Colin Powell, whose last-minute endorsement of Obama put the Illinois senator over the top. Powell was probably at home last night, yelling at his TV, "Are you KIDDING me? That endorsement was sarcastic!"

The winner, of course, is Obama, who must be excited because now he can start hanging out in public with Bill Ayers and Rev. Jeremiah Wright again. John McCain is a winner because he can resume buying more houses.
And we're all winners because we will never again have to hear McCain say, "my friends."

After Bill Clinton won the 1992 presidential election, Hillary Clinton immediately announced that, henceforth, she would be known as "Hillary Rodham Clinton." So maybe Obama can now become B. Hussein Obama, his rightful name.

This was such an enormous Democratic year that even John Murtha won his congressional seat in Pennsylvania after calling his constituents racists. It turns out they're not racists -- they're retards. Question: What exactly would one have to say to alienate Pennsylvanians? That Joe Paterno should retire?

Apparently Florida voters didn't mind Obama's palling around with Palestinian activist Rashid Khalidi and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, either. There must be a whole bunch of retired Pennsylvania Jews down there.

Have you ever noticed that whenever Democrats lose presidential elections, they always blame it on the personal qualities of their candidate? Kerry was a dork, Gore was a stiff, Dukakis was a bloodless android, Mondale was a sad sack.

This blame-the-messenger thesis allows Democrats to conclude that their message was fine -- nothing should be changed! The American people are clamoring for higher taxes, big government, a defeatist foreign policy, gay marriage, the whole magilla. It was just this particular candidate's personality.

Republicans lost this presidential election, and I don't blame the messenger; I blame the message. How could Republicans go after B. Hussein Obama (as he is now known) on planning to bankrupt the coal companies when McCain supports the exact same cap and trade policies and earnestly believes in global warming?

How could we go after Obama for his illegal alien aunt and for supporting driver's licenses for illegal aliens when McCain fanatically pushed amnesty along with his good friend Teddy Kennedy?

How could we go after Obama for Jeremiah Wright when McCain denounced any Republicans who did so?

How could we go after Obama for planning to hike taxes on the "rich," when McCain was the only Republican to vote against both of Bush's tax cuts on the grounds that they were tax cuts for the rich?

And why should Republican activists slave away working for McCain when he has personally, viciously attacked: John O'Neill and the Swift Boat Veterans, National Right to Life director Doug Johnson, evangelical pastors Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and John Hagee, various conservative talk radio hosts, the Tennessee Republican Party and on and on and on?

As liberal Democrat E.J. Dionne Jr. exuded about McCain in The Washington Post during the Republican primaries, "John McCain is feared by Democrats and liked by independents." Dionne proclaimed that McCain "may be the one Republican who can rescue his party from the undertow of the Bush years."

Similarly, after unelectable, ultraconservative Reagan won two landslide victories, James Reston of The New York Times gave the same advice to Vice President George H.W. Bush: Stop being conservative! Bush was "a good man," Reston said in 1988, "and might run a strong campaign if liberated from Mr. Reagan's coattails."

Roll that phrase around a bit -- "liberated from Mr. Reagan's coattails." This is why it takes so long to read the Times -- you have to keep reading the same paragraph over again to see if you missed a word.

Bush, of course, rode Reagan's ultraconservative coattails to victory, then snipped those coattails by raising taxes and was soundly defeated four years later.

I keep trying to get Democrats to take my advice (stop being so crazy), but they never listen to me. Why do Republicans take the advice of their enemies?

How many times do we have to run this experiment before Republican primary voters learn that "moderate," "independent," "maverick" Republicans never win, and right-wing Republicans never lose?

Indeed, the only good thing about McCain is that he gave us a genuine conservative, Sarah Palin. He's like one of those insects that lives just long enough to reproduce so that the species can survive. That's why a lot of us are referring to Sarah as "The One" these days.

Like Sarah Connor in "The Terminator," Sarah Palin is destined to give birth to a new movement. That's why the Democrats are trying to kill her. And Arnold Schwarzenegger is involved somehow, too. Good Lord, I'm tired.

After showing nearly superhuman restraint throughout this campaign, which was lost the night McCain won the California primary, I am now liberated to announce that all I care about is hunting down and punishing every Republican who voted for McCain in the primaries. I have a list and am prepared to produce the names of every person who told me he was voting for McCain to the proper authorities.

We'll start with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist. Then we shall march through the states of New Hampshire and South Carolina -- states that must never, ever be allowed to hold early Republican primaries again.

For now, we have a new president-elect. In the spirit of reaching across the aisle, we owe it to the Democrats to show their president the exact same kind of respect and loyalty that they have shown our recent Republican president.

Starting tomorrow, if not sooner.

Ann Coulter is Legal Affairs Correspondent for HUMAN EVENTS and author of "High Crimes and Misdemeanors," "Slander," ""How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must)," "Godless," and most recently, "If Democrats Had Any Brains, They'd Be Republicans."

Reader Comments:
Here are a few of the comments submitted by our readers.

I find it hard to believe that the women voters did not get behind the McCain Palin ticket. This was the best chance to have a well tuned candidate ready to be
> the first woman candidate for president in 4 years. Plus someone that may be able to stand up to some of the greed and corruption in the Democratic party.
>
> As it now stands we have the most socialistic single party system in the history of the US. They now will be trying to cover up all the corruption
> with more give aways of tax payers money. Unless the current trend is brought into check , America is going into a irreversible downhill slide. r
Nov 06, 2008 @ 09:37 AM
R Foster, Corpus Christi Texas

you can't blame me for either of the(STAY OWT DA!!) bushes..or mccain...
primaries i voted for buchanan twice, and alan keyes...
great column!!..keep up the pressure
Nov 06, 2008 @ 09:37 AM
tim, kernersville n.c.

and so it begins....the fight for our freedoms

2008-11-05T06:08:00.000-08:00

from michelle malkins blog...
Gird your loins, conservatives
By Michelle Malkin • November 5, 2008 01:05 AM

There is no time to lick wounds, point fingers, and wallow in post-election mud.

I’m getting a lot of moan-y, sad-face “What do we do now, Michelle?” e-mails.

What do we do now? We do what we’ve always done.

We stand up for our principles, as we always have — through Democrat administrations and Republican administrations, in bear markets or bull markets, in peacetime and wartime.

We stay positive and focused.

We keep the faith.

We do not apologize for our beliefs. We do not re-brand them, re-form them, or relinquish them. We defend them.

We pay respect to the office of the presidency. We count our blessings and recommit ourselves to our constitutional republic.

We gird our loins, to borrow a phrase from our Vice President-elect.

We lock and load our ideological ammunition.

We fight.

***

First assignment for fiscal conservatives in Washington:

1) Oppose the Democrats’ next stimulus boondoggle.
2) Oppose Obama’s windfall profits tax proposal.
3) Oppose new bailouts for states deep in debt.
4) Oppose new foreclosure prevention measures that will simply provide perverse incentives for borrowers to walk away and delay a needed market correction.
5) No more federal loan guarantees for corporations (especially in light of this.