Great News: Two Yahoos Break Into the White House

Can't imagine why two derelicts breaking into an event with the President of the free world and the Prime Minister of the world's largest democracy would be such a big whoop. From NY Times:

In fact, the couple — Michaele Salahi and her husband, Tareq — are Virginians who have been auditioning for a possible role in a different housewives TV franchise: “The Real Housewives of Washington.”

They swept past the camera crews and followed the trail of other bigwigs attending the dinner.

But neither Mr. nor Mrs. Salahi, best known in the Washington area for promoting wine and polo in Virginia, were on the guest list for the event, a fact first reported Wednesday morning on the Washington Post Web site.

A White House official confirmed Wednesday that the Salahis had not been invited nor seated for dinner.

It was not clear Wednesday night how close the Salahis got to Mr. Obama and his wife, Michelle, or to the guests of honor, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India, and his wife, Gursharan Kaur.

This type of nonsense might be common in LA, but in DC these theatrics threaten national security and cost the taxpayers money. It goes to show that DC is becoming the new home of the glamorous and self-indulgent as they mooch off the wealth of the rest of the country. What a shame.

Say What? Sex Change Operations in Obamacare

This is one of the Miss Tiffany contestants from 2009 in Thailand, and it's probably one of the hottest babes that's actually a dude you've ever seen. Thailand is world-renown for its Katoeys (transgender/transvestite peoples), and they often work in the bars of Bangkok, Pattaya, and Phuket to save up for that expensive surgery, which Thailand is also well-known for. But, according to some culture warrior types, the new Obamacare plan may allow for taxpayer dollars to pay for these types of operations in the States. From Politico:

A senior aide to a Republican senator said that a public insurance plan could easily end up covering sex-change procedures if that’s not specifically banned in the bill.

“It's not that hard to imagine that a new federal health plan crafted and implemented by this administration would cover sex-change surgeries. Anything not explicitly prohibited in the bill is effectively on the table. Most Americans probably would prefer that their tax dollars not pay for or subsidize transgender surgery,” the aide said.

The obvious libertarian take on this issue is that people can live their life however they want, just don't expect me to pay for it. But as government increasingly gets mixed up in every facet of human existence, it puts the libertarian in an ethical dilemma where you are forced to side with either progressives (who want to spend everybody's money, as they see fit) or social conservatives (who want to tell everybody how to live, as they see fit). There isn't really a viable position one can take in this case, and a true libertarian alternative isn't going to come around in this lifetime or the next the way things are going.

Our National Boneheadedness

An article in Reuters points out something that absolutely no politician in America wants to say (unless of course it's a boring Ron Paul monologue), America's entitlement spending is sending it into collapse. This article is in reference to the $250 checks for old people to keep them from making trouble:

Two examples — one ridiculously expensive, one just ridiculous. But both reveal a nation completely unwilling to deal with current trillion-dollar deficits or long-term shortfalls many multiples of that number.

What confidence should dollar investors have that America will really cut entitlement spending? Very little. Instead, we are more likely to see huge tax increases that could cripple productivity, or further dollar neglect, or a central bank that turns dovish on inflation. Or perhaps all three.

If Washington doesn’t care to support the dollar, why should investors?

But who cares about the long-term economic stability when you can demonize Fox news for another news-cycle to distract the public. Politicians could care less about long-term viability and only seem to give two shits about pleasing their pet interests so they have campaign cash for the next go-around. But sooner or later, we have to blame ourselves for continuously electing these yahoos.

Dems Freaking Out Over DC Tea Party

Not Really

Bomb threats against Tea Party organizers, the inept GOP trying to capitalize on the rowdiness, and even though the press is predicting "thousands" of protesters in DC on 9/12, the Dems in Washington are fearing two million. From The Plum Line:

Looks like there’s serious concern among Dems about the big 9/12 rally that’s being heavily promoted by Glenn Beck, Fox, and the tea partiers for tomorrow.

A top House Dem leadership aide has emailed a memo to Dem aides on the Hill and outside liberal groups warning they should brace for a turnout of up to two million people, suggesting Dems worry that if enough conservatives descend on the Mall it will amount to a major PR victory for the right.

The aide, Doug Thornell, warned in the memo that the dust-up over Joe “you lie” Wilson has been invigorating conservatives. “It looks like Saturday’s event is going to be a huge gathering, estimates ranging from hundreds of thousands to 2 million people,” Thornell wrote in the memo, which was forwarded by a source.

Speaking as no good bitter and as previous observer of a DC Tea Party, I can assure you that libertarian-conservative types are really bad at organizing these types of things. The one I went to in April had permit SNAFU and the protest in front of the Treasury Department got nixed. There was a few clever signs here and there, but I felt like I was at a family reunion on Grandma's farm rather than something which was really going to shake up the system. So, I'm not sure what the Dems are so worried about. Perhaps it's the fact that their shoddy leadership of the country has led us into an irreversible deficit spiral whereby the dollar will be as valuable as old VHS tapes of Mr. Belvedere, but why take responsibility when you can blame "teabaggers" and Sarah Palin for all your problems.

Anyhoo, sounds like the protest might be kind of interesting, so we'll see how it plays out.

Fighting Back

Even though Massachusetts' near-universal health coverage is bankrupting the state by the second, liberal types are making the rounds saying that government-run health programs (like the VA) are actually swell. I guess veterans-related scandals were only the meme of the day when Bush was president. You can take a look at Joe's comment if you want to see what a pain in the ass it is to deal with the VA, and you can read this IBD editorial on how much this monstrous Obamacare is going to cost:

Few of the plans now coming out of Congress will save anything, says the CBO's current chief, Douglas Elmendorf. In fact, he says, they'll lead to substantially higher costs in the future — costs that will be "unsustainable."

As it is, estimates for reforming health care range from $1 trillion to $3.6 trillion. Much will be spent on subsidies to make a so-called public option more attractive to consumers than private plans.

To pay for it, the president has suggested about $600 billion in new taxes, meaning that $500 billion to $2.1 trillion in new health care spending over the next decade will be unfunded. This could push up the nation's already soaring deficit, expected to reach $10 trillion through 2019 without health care reform. Massive new tax hikes will probably be needed to close the gap.

If the Obama administration is going to throw taxpayer money around, you'd think they would wait at least a year to blow another trillion dollars. After a while, these trillions really start adding up.

Obamacare is On the Way

Can you hear that slow death rattle of American civilization? Not even the "blue dogs" are going to save us from this turd. Yesterday, Ed Morrissey noted that the government can't even get the VA under control, so why the fuck are they going to try and supervise health care coverage for everybody. Having been in the military, most of us are pretty good at filling out ridiculous paperwork and dealing with bullshit, I feel sorry for everybody else.

Obama-Care to Put America on the Carbon-Neutral Train to Squaresville

Your Mandatory Saturday Afternoon Fun in 2010

If you're a politically-correct American who lives in a carbon-neutral home, rides a bike with matching spandex to work, gets plenty of time in at the gym, and only eats organic shit from Whole Foods, then these new policies aren't going to affect you much. But for the rest of us who aren't total fucking dorks and enjoy having a beer or six once in awhile, the creeping nanny-statism in Obama's health care plan should make libertarians out of all of you.

Many of the same autocratic creeps who brought you anti-smoking campaigns in the 90s to tax the bejeezus out of the nation's working class are back with similar plans for soda, alcohol, and anything else they deem morally unfit. I guess they still haven't learn how to mind their own damn business. From Politico:

Any health care reform plan that Obama signs is almost certain to call for nutrition counseling, obesity screenings and wellness programs at workplaces and community centers. He wants more time in the school day for physical fitness, more nutritious school lunches and more bike paths, walking paths and grocery stores in underserved areas.

The president is filling top posts at Health and Human Services with officials who, in their previous jobs, outlawed trans fats, banned public smoking or required restaurants to provide a calorie count with that slice of banana cream pie.

Even Congress is getting into the act, giving serious consideration to taxing sugary drinks and alcohol to help pay for the overhaul.

The problem has never been that it's wrong to exercise, eat healthy foods, etc. The problem is that it's not supposed to be the job of federal government to regulate the conduct of every citizen's life. Do the people proposing these regulations really think they are so morally superior as to micromanage everyone's affairs? Them and the Religious Right should get a goddamn room.

Obama to Save Economy by Employing Teens to Keep Them Off Your Lawn

Because Children are the Future

You're doing a heckuva job, Obama. Recent unemployment figures show that we are turning into a nation of hobos, and the reasons behind the economic collapse are, I admit, not all the fault of President O. But we could at least demand that he stop blowing smoke up our asses with hokey numbers from his spendulus plan.

Innocent Bystanders has some analysis on how the figures originally predicted by the administration were way too optimistic. See graph below to further your anxiety:
Now, to silence any criticism that maybe this monstrous $787B program was a lousy idea, Obama says that 600,000 jobs are going to be created this summer. Unfortunately, that number factors in teenage gigs working at the DQ and goofing off behind the cash register at the local Goodwill. CNS explains:

The biggest of the youth jobs program is in Cleveland, where 7,000 teens will be employed to work summer jobs through a $6.4 million program funded by stimulus money. About $3 million went to support 2,500 summer teen jobs in Riverside County, Calif., according to the report. Another 200 California teens will get summer jobs as a result of a $465,000 stimulus grant to Yuba County.

The Desert Sun out of Palm Springs has some more specifics on what kind of jobs the stimulus money created: minimum-wage jobs at state-run buildings so teenagers aren't making trouble during their summer break. Not that teenage employment is a bad thing, but using it to factor into the narrative about economic recovery for the American middle class is a bit sheisty.

More Humiliation For Michigan; Some Skinny-Jeaned Hipster In Charge of GM

Seeing how the state of Michigan is heavily invested both financially and emotionally with the auto industry, and the Governor had to go begging for cash from Obama like a schmuck to keep people employed, you'd think it couldn't get any lower for the Great Lakes state than having the former #1 company in the world go bust. Well, not unless the new person in charge of GM is some law-school dropout/pizzafaced-politico dweeb who has probably never worked a day in his life. From New York Times:

But that, in short, is the job description for Brian Deese, a not-quite graduate of Yale Law School who had never set foot in an automotive assembly plant until he took on his nearly unseen role in remaking the American automotive industry. Nor, for that matter, had he given much thought to what ailed an industry that had been in decline ever since he was born. A bit laconic and looking every bit the just-out-of-graduate-school student adjusting to life in the West Wing — “he’s got this beard that appears and disappears,” says Steven Rattner, one of the leaders of President Obama’s automotive task force — Mr. Deese was thrown into the auto industry’s maelstrom as soon the election-night parties ended.

Yeah! I'm sure the thousands of newly unemployed are breathing a sigh of relief that some no-experience hipster is taking charge. God bless our political system.

GM said that they have sold Hummer to an "undisclosed buyer". Maybe it's to this Deese guy so he can have his buddies chauffeured to some party in Brooklyn where none of us are invited.

DC Elites To Get Reality Show To Further Their Self-Importance

Seeing how the President has embraced the celebrity scene of yuk-yuk jokes on late night TV and commemorating himself in coronation-style ceremonies, it's only fitting that the "look-at-me!" culture trickles down to the parasite class in DC. While they aren't busy figuring out new and improved ways to fuck over and fuck up the rest of America, DC lawmakers are going to be filmed in a new series of reality shows. Politico explains:

To be sure, the nation's capital certainly has some of the key ingredients of a hit realty series. Insiders note that "great personalities and an interesting story" are essential to successful reality show. By that measure, Washington is a perfect fit.

And in a town with as many egos as Washington, finding a cast might not be such an impossible task. After all, participating in a realty show has one big upside: exposure.

Your tax dollars at work.

President Obvious Realizes Diplomacy With a Psychopathic Despot Might Not Work

With North Korea testing nukes and short range missiles, as well as threatening a military strike against South Korea, the President is comprehending that the "Strongly worded UN Resolution" with all bite and no bark might not be the way to go. From Bloomberg:

In Washington, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said yesterday that the U.S. wants North Korea to “pay a price” for its “reckless behavior.” The U.S. is working within the UN Security Council to toughen sanctions on Kim’s regime. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, due in Singapore later in the week for a regional conference, will confer with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts on the North Korean threat.

SECSTATE Clinton is certainly swinging more to the "stick" approach, and even Japan is talking about drawing up plans for a preemptive strike.

Al-Jazeera talks about what motivates the most oppressive and delusional regime in the modern world:

But that is not all North Korea wants - it also wants to survive.

North Korea's leaders and its most senior military commanders have too much at stake to risk the collapse of the secretive, highly militarised, and deeply paranoid state over which they rule.

North Korea is a country built on illusion, lies, half truths and propaganda - reality comes a long way down the list.

But that does not mean it is not a danger.

The more belligerent it becomes, the more agreements it scraps, the more talks it walks away from, the less likely it is that the process of peaceful disarmament remains an option.

Sort of like the white trash guy at the end of the block who can't feed his own kids but always has the most impressive fireworks on July 4th.

RNC Goes 0-2 With Two No-Good, Terrible Ads

Normally, I profess to having a huge mancrush on RNC Chairman Michael Steele, because he gives a shit about getting the party on the fiscal conservative/socially libertarian bandwagon. But one really has to question the effectiveness of the two latest ads they've been pushing.

The first one implies that Democrat hand-wringing over Gitmo is going to get us all nuked by utilizing the infamous 1964 Daisy Ad. It was run by the LBJ campaign in which Goldwater described as using "every dirty trick in the bag". But the original Daisy Ad was designed to characterize Goldwater as a militant lunatic who was going to lob nukes left and right, so is that what the RNC wants to portray the Dems as? Or, is the RNC making an ironic reference that no under the age of 80 is going to understand...uh, what are we doing.

The next ad shows Pelosi as some campy early 60s Bond babe. Predictably, the left has leveled charges of sexism, which Legal Insurrection points out seems to be a new-found moral outrage among some bloggers. But the real reason the video sucks is because it's a fucking geezerly cultural reference (we're talking the pre-Easy Rider dark ages of cinema here). At least portraying Adam West using the shark repellent on a photoshopped Pelosi would have had some kitsch value. Plus, if they were going with old movies and weren't afraid to piss off the Vagina Monologues set, they should have used the crazy, botoxed mother-figure from Brazil, which is an eerie resemblance.

Soda Tax On Working Americans Proposed To Fund Health Care

Is there anyone out there that still wants to defend Obama's promise of "no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase". First there was the tax on cigarettes (62 cents/pack) to fund S-Chip, and now a federal tax on pop is in the works under the guise of making America less lardassish and to fund the outlandishly expensive health care reform. From WSJ:

On Tuesday, the Senate Finance Committee is set to hear proposals from about a dozen experts about how to pay for the comprehensive health-care overhaul that President Barack Obama wants to enact this year. Early estimates put the cost of the plan at around $1.2 trillion. The administration has so far only earmarked funds for about half of that amount.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a Washington-based watchdog group that pressures food companies to make healthier products, plans to propose a federal excise tax on soda, certain fruit drinks, energy drinks, sports drinks and ready-to-drink teas. It would not include most diet beverages. Excise taxes are levied on goods and manufacturers typically pass them on to consumers.

Too bad Pepsi's new PR campaign to alter their logo to a "Yes, We Can!" motif didn't win any hearts and minds with the political class. Perhaps if Washington spent less time concocting new schemes to tax working Americans and more time figuring out how to not send dead people social security checks, they'd save some money.

Democrats Can't Stand Up To Their Own Polarizing Rhetoric on Torture

Feed Me Abu Ghraib Pics, Seymour

After years of congressional Democrats whipping up "Impeach BushCheneyHalliburton" rhetoric amongst the far-left base, they suddenly don't feel so comfortable discussing their involvement with EITs. Nancy Pelosi has tried to save her own tits and ass by saying she was briefed on EITs, but didn't know they were going to be used. Sensing that the argument was extremely shoddy, the Dems have revised their defensive strategy to just go for "The CIA is out to get us!". From Politico:

Dems, including Sens. Dick Durbin, Dianne Feinstein and Carl Levin, charge that the CIA has released documents about congressional briefings on waterboarding in order to deflect blame away from itself.
Photo: AP

Democrats charged Tuesday that the CIA has released documents about congressional briefings on harsh interrogation techniques in order to deflect attention and blame away from itself.

“I think there is so much embarrassment in some quarters [of the CIA] that people are going to try to shift some of the responsibility to others — that’s what I think,” said Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), who sat on the Senate Intelligence Committee and was briefed on interrogation techniques five times between 2006 and 2007.

These are the same people who for years under Bush tried to convince the beret-wearing wing of the Democrats that waterboarding three terrorists was equivalent to The Holocaust. Now they back down when their own feet are in the fire. You created this mess, you fucking deal with it.

Pelosi Actually Quite Knowledgeable About Water Boarding

Whoops.

Penny-Pinching Obama Offers Up a 0.5% Savings To Monstrous Federal Budget

The Prez held a press conference today outlining cutting federal spending on wasteful programs to a tune of $17 Billion. Sure that sounds like a lot of cash, but it ain't much when you're dealing with $3.5T budget. As an analogy, it'd be like if you were $150,000 in the hole to angry Chinese mobsters, living on $1000/week, and decided it was time to cut back on your Saturday morning bagel with cream cheese and lox. From Political Punch:

The president laid out a number of examples of the more than 100 programs that will face cuts or termination, saying that many of them were outdated or ineffective.

The $17 billion in cuts add up to roughly one half of one percent of the $3.55 trillion budget. Still, the president said the savings are significant.

"These savings, large and small, add up. The 121 budget cuts we are announcing today will save taxpayers nearly $17 billion next year alone. That’s a lot of money, even by Washington standards," he said.

The real problem with the budget is that entitlement spending (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid) is out of control, rife with fraud, and will only get worse as the boomers approach geezerdom. In Obama's defense, it's difficult to have the political capital to take on these leviathans, because no politician has the mojo. If Jesus himself came down to become Messiah-in-Chief of America, he probably wouldn't be able to cut back on Social Security without fear of an AARP smear campaign.

When America is reduced to ashes being crushed by its exorbitant debt, remember that Democracy has it's own pitfalls as people tend to vote "What's in it For Me?" instead of any long-term viable strategy for the republic.

New Democrat Sponsored Bill To Kill Blogging

In response to the worst person on the internet (Lori Drew) who used MySpace to get a 13-year old to kill herself, Linda Sanchez (D-CA) is introducing a bill to outlaw provocative internet ramblings with a whole slew of unintended consequences. Law Professor Volokh gives one such example:

I try to coerce a politician into voting a particular way, by repeatedly blogging (using a hostile tone) about what a hypocrite / campaign promise breaker / fool / etc. he would be if he voted the other way. I am transmitting in interstate commerce a communication with the intent to coerce using electronic means (a blog) "to support severe, repeated, and hostile behavior" -- unless, of course, my statements aren't seen as "severe," a term that is entirely undefined and unclear. Result: I am a felon, unless somehow my "behavior" isn't "severe."

The bill calls for a 2-year sentence for anyone classified as "hostile", which I suppose would characterize any commenter who disagrees with a post and doesn't sugar-coat words. Maybe it's part of the big conspiracy to turn the internet into a stupid den of LOLCatz as opposed to any political discussion.

Wired criticizes the bill as setting up "gulags" for malcontent bloggers, and with rhetoric like that, they're setting themselves up for an extended stint in the box like Steve McQueen in The Great Escape if this law goes into effect.

Swine Flu Propaganda with 70s Porn Music and Joe Biden

Here's a funny find by Jason at Sith By Sithwest, who I believe works in the health care biz, and is no doubt getting no less than 50 relatives calling him a day asking if they have the swine flu because they have a headache.



Notice that the Emmanuelle-style porn music kicks on at ~0:35 and talks about people "giving it" to everyone else. Perhaps they filmed this as an anti-STD ad first and didn't bother to edit? Also notice that the only "ethnics" in the ad are speaking jive and playing basketball. You probably couldn't get away with that nowadays. But, if you're the Vice President you can work everyone into a scare about having to wear a clean suit and live in a bubble. Must have been the GOP's fault. This is what our culture has degraded to in 2009: no funny ads, just Biden being his usual gaffe-tastic self.

Porkers in DC Really Have No Shame: Murtha's Ozymandias Airport

I drove by a freeway exit on I-77 today in West Virignia called "Robert Byrd Drive" near the town of Beckley. Jeez, I know the Senator and ex-Klansman is taking forever to kick the bucket, but aren't you supposed to wait until the obituary has been written before you name high schools, roads, and monuments after a person? It reminded of the opulent Norm Dicks Government Center (a congressman from WA) located in the working class city of Bremerton that I shuddered everytime I drove past on my way to the ferry. It also reminded me of Saddam commemorating himself with all sorts of crazy shit in Baghdad, but it's the weekend so I'll be polite and not compare DC politicians to the Ba'ath party in this post.

But, CDR Salamander draws our attention to an ABC report on an airport named after King of the BBQs, John Murtha. Of course the airport is federally subsidized and only has 20 passengers a day.

It's just like a modern version of the definitive poem on mankind's hubris: Ozymandias.

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Timothy Geithner the Toxic Avenger

Timothy Geithner has had a metamorphosis from "Melvin the DC Mop Boy" to the great avenger of Toxic Assets plaguing our economy by unveiling his master plan to save America. The trillion-dollar investment seems to involve a lot of cronyism by backing up hedge-fund purchases with taxpayer money, but don't take it from me. More knowledgeable folks from all over the political spectrum are weighing in with serious criticism:

• Krugman: Triumph of the zombie economy
• TMV: Like a Nicolas Cage film, it's worse the more you look at it
• Professor Hilzoy: The Taxpayers are assuming a lot of khere.
• Commentary: "Positively Frightening"

But the most devastating rebuttal of Obamanomics in general comes from Senator Gregg (R-NH), no drive-by pundit. From CNN (video here):

“The practical implications of this is bankruptcy for the United States,” Gregg said of the Obama’s administration’s recently released budget blueprint. “There’s no other way around it. If we maintain the proposals that are in this budget over the ten-year period that this budget covers, this country will go bankrupt. People will not buy our debt, our dollar will become devalued. It is a very severe situation.”

Unfortunately, America doesn't have the luxury of crashing in its mother's basement for a few months after making a series of boneheaded financial mistakes. All Obacalyptic rhetoric aside, the issue of a rising debt and the dollar going bust seem to be very real: