Thursday, December 31, 2009

Putin vs. Obama (Pictorial) ::: Ouch! Putin Answer About Terrorism Stuns Press Conference to Silence | NewsBusters.org

From Newsbusters, followed by a pictorial. Make sure you watch the linked video.

=)

Ouch!

This video of Russian ex-President (now Prime Minister) Vladimir Putin's response to a question about terrorism at a G-8 summit press conference was posted in early 2008. However, his answer is worth noting now in light of Barack Obama's rather dispassionate first response to the Nigerian Christmas Day bomb plot terrorist which came off as sounding like a tepid legalistic statement from a deputy district attorney. Here is a transcipt of the question from a French journalist and the blunt response from Putin which stunned the press conference to silence:

FRENCH JOURNALIST: ...Don't you think that by trying to eradicate terrorism in Chechnya you are going to eradicate the civilian population of Chechnya?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: If you want to become an Islamic fundamentalist and be circumcised, come to Moscow. We are multiconfessional. We have very good specialists. I can recommend one for the operation. He'll make sure nothing grows back.


Hmmm... doesn't sound like something our guy would say, does it?


vs.

http://scottthong.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/obamacontempt.jpg


and



http://callitmilehigh.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/putin_shooting-gun1.jpg



vs.




Tuesday, December 29, 2009

More (cr)AP ::: Jennifer (in) Loven (with Obama): Analysis: Many question 'system worked' comment

There is so much screamingly wrong and insane with this article, but I have not the time right now (unfortunately) for a worthy read-between-the-lines. That said, the bias is so outrageous in this one, I don't think anyone will need my help to find it.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Obama administration claim that "the system worked" after a failed aircraft bombing wasn't quite as jolting as President George W. Bush's "Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job" when New Orleans was sinking under deadly Hurricane Katrina. But both raised disturbing questions about presidential response in a time of crisis.

Bush's praise for his beleaguered FEMA director, Michael Brown, came while starving storm evacuees remained trapped in the Louisiana Superdome and victims' bodies bloated in the flooded streets. It became a clarion call for all that his administration did wrong during the 2005 calamity - and grew into a symbol for all that people disliked about Bush.

Obama is dealing with a crisis of an entirely different sort, Friday's attempt by a 23-year-old Nigerian to blow up a Detroit-bound flight from Amsterdam.

But though it ended with only a fire that was quickly put out, no lives lost and the man in custody, it has raised alarm about the government's performance.

- How did airport security, improved at much cost after the 2001 terrorist attacks, miss the explosives concealed on the bomber's body?

- How did the terrorist watchlist system allow Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to both keep his American tourist visa and avoid extra flight screening despite his father telling authorities his concerns about the younger man's radicalization?

- Why didn't Abdulmutallab's lack of luggage, and cash purchase for an international flight, raise suspicions?

- Why was the plot thwarted only by an apparent explosive malfunction and fellow passengers' aggressive action?

Amid those questions, administration officials' repeated statements Sunday that "the system worked" were jarring. They made it sound like the administration doesn't get it, like it is paying too much attention to political fallout and too little to public fears.

Officials insist the assertion, made by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and White House press secretary Robert Gibbs on television talk shows, referred only to procedures scrambled into place after the incident to protect flights and heighten security.

They say it is being purposely taken out of context by partisans.

They note Obama ordered two reviews, of the nation's multilayered terrorist watchlist system and of airport security procedures, something he clearly wouldn't do if he believed there were no flaws.

Gibbs and Napolitano also were hoping, with the busy holiday travel season still in full force, to instill public confidence in the nation's air safety system.

"The system worked," Napolitano declared on CNN during questioning about the lapses that let Abdulmutallab and his devices onto the plane. Gibbs used nearly the same language on CBS, saying that "in many ways, this system has worked," without elaborating.

Later that same day, Napolitano put it differently on ABC, saying "once the incident occurred, the system worked." She tried again on Monday, saying in a round of TV interviews that "our system did not work in this instance. No one is happy or satisfied with that."

But the damage was done.

Members of Congress - Republicans, but Democrats too - were incredulous that the "system worked" could be used in any context to describe what happened. "It is insulting that the Obama administration would make such a claim," Rep. Pete Hoekstra, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee - who is running for governor in Michigan - said in a campaign e-mail.

Phrases do matter. Sometimes they take on a life of their own, with context and nuance forgotten, and come to represent larger beliefs or fears about a politician.

For Bush, the "heckuva job" comment more than four years into his presidency fit into an already well-developed critical narrative, that he was loyal to lieutenants to a fault, hands-off on even important matters and uninterested in detail.

For Obama, still short of one year in office, his narrative, critical or otherwise, isn't set yet.

Nonetheless, rumblings keep resurfacing about emotional distance, even coldness. Whether it's Wall Street bonuses or terrorist near-disaster, people wonder whether he feels as they do or ever acts out of passion.

And the comment isn't the only part of Obama's response that is drawing questions.

Until Monday, the president had not been heard from publicly since the Christmas Day scare. He was ordering stepped-up security measures and after-action reviews behind the scenes, but also enjoying his Hawaiian vacation with games of golf, basketball and tennis and trips to the beach.

He drew questions about his level of involvement by not getting his first briefing on the incident until two hours after it was all over - and then only for 15 minutes, when he departed for the gym.

Aides defended the low-key approach as purposeful, designed to not glorify the attempted attack with undue presidential attention and perhaps encourage other terrorists.

Regardless, on Monday, the White House shifted strategy.

Napolitano was sent out to clarify the Sunday comments.

And Obama - still the administration's best, some say only, fixer - decided to talk to the public himself.

Benefiting from not being the one who made the initial remarks, he added his own words, mixing calm with urgency and resolve.

"Had the suspect succeeded in bringing down that plane, it could have killed nearly 300 passengers and crew, innocent civilians preparing to celebrate the holidays with their families and friends," he said, then adding: "We will do everything in our power to protect our country."

Obama also made a promise he may find hard to keep: "We will not rest until we find all who were involved and hold them accountable."

Bush made a similar pledge in the early days after the Sept. 11 attacks, promising the capture of terrorist leader Osama bin Laden "dead or alive.""He may hide for a while, but we'll get him," Bush said. But after years went by with that promise unfulfilled, Bush stopped making such statements.

Late in Obama's White House run, now-Vice President Joe Biden made newspaper headlines and caused campaign headaches by saying his running mate would, if elected, face international crisis early on from those eager "to test the mettle of this guy."

With the first year still not over, that test has come.

---

EDITOR'S NOTE - Jennifer Loven has covered the White House for The Associated Press since 2002.



My Way News - Analysis: Many question 'system worked' comment

Monday, December 21, 2009

Crikey! ::: Apple-Pie Jihad by Judith Miller

The way the media goes on you would think the main threat to American stability is 72-year old grandma with her killer walker threatening mayhem at a congressman's town hall.

How about the fact that one-third of young American Muslims support suicide bombings? Is that interesting at all to anyone? (Or, shhh... is that racist?)

Apple-Pie Jihad
Homegrown terror takes root.
11 December 2009

They are named David. They are clean-shaven dental students and attendees of community colleges. They study hard, play sports, and open Facebook accounts. Their friends call them “normal Joes.” And they’re being arrested in ever-growing numbers, would-be terrorists plotting to kill their fellow Americans and conduct “holy war” at home and abroad. Wednesday’s arrest in Pakistan of five Muslim-American men attests to a growing phenomenon: the radicalization of young American Muslims on American soil.

When the New York Police Department first issued a 90-page report in August 2007 asserting that what it called “homegrown radicalization” was destined to become a major terrorist threat, many of the nation’s civil libertarians, self-proclaimed Muslim spokesmen, and even law enforcement officials were outraged. Civil libertarians warned that the NYPD’s conclusions would lead to religious and ethnic profiling in policing. Muslim groups demanded and got meetings with senior NYPD officials. FBI analysts and officials disputed the NYPD’s findings in interviews and congressional testimony.

But the department stood its ground, and police commissioner Raymond W. Kelly backed his troops. The department’s intelligence division continued its research, and the report gradually found supporters in Washington. With the arrest of the five young Americans in Pakistan, and with the charges filed last month against recruiters from al-Shabaab alleged to have enlisted Somali teens in Minnesota to fight in the Somali civil war, the report’s once-controversial conclusions appear to be all too true.

At a Tuesday conference for Operation Shield, an NYPD program that shares intelligence and security tips with local businesses and private security firms, Mitchell D. Silber, the NYPD’s director of intelligence analysis, outlined his analysts’ updated findings. His bottom line hadn’t changed, he told the audience of over 200. While al-Qaida remained a vital source of “inspiration and an ideological reference point,” the more insidious terrorist threat was younger Muslim men between the ages of 15 and 35 who had no direct al-Qaida connection but who had become radicalized by exposure to extreme interpretations of Islam. The NYPD had seen nothing that would mitigate its concern that members of New York’s diverse Muslim population of 600,000 to 750,000 people—about 40 percent foreign-born—might be vulnerable to radicalization.

What was new, Silber said, was the department’s understanding of the growing importance of the “spiritual sanctioner”—a religious figure who provides justification for violence, often through mosque lectures or radical websites. A prime example, he said, was Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical Sunni imam who had preached at Dar al-Hijrah in Falls Church, Virginia in 2001 and 2002. The 9/11 Commission concluded that two of the 9/11 hijackers—Hani Hanjour and Nawaf al-Hazmi—had worshipped at that mosque in spring 2001. So, too, did Major Nidal Hasan, the army psychiatrist whom the government has charged with the murder of 13 fellow soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas last month. Silber added that al-Awlaki’s radical tracts had been linked to plotters in three other terrorist schemes: plans by six radical Islamists in 2007 to attack the Fort Dix military base in New Jersey; the 2006 plot to blow up multiple jet aircraft in flight; and the plot by the so-called “Toronto 18” to detonate powerful truck bombs in downtown Toronto in 2005 and 2006.

Silber said that the key plotters in 30 of some 33 plots that the NYPD had examined, or 90 percent, had been radicalized in the West and were targeting the country in which they had been radicalized. In the past year alone, Silber went on, U.S. authorities had uncovered nine plots that had elements of homegrown radicalization, indicating that radicalization was an ongoing problem in the U.S. In half a dozen of these cases, he said, people who had contemplated traveling abroad to carry out violence decided instead to try to do it within the United States. This kind of threat “is substantially greater than what we have seen in the past,” Silber said.

I was reminded of a Pew poll of American Muslims three years ago that showed that a third of American Muslims between the ages of 18 and 29 said that they supported suicide bombings.

[snip]

Read the rest here:Apple-Pie Jihad by Judith Miller, City Journal 11 December 2009

Serenity Now ::: Wilhelm Kempff plays Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, Mvts. 1 & 3

Relax and enjoy.




Friday, December 18, 2009

Unspun with AnnaZ: Jinglegate... Get It On!: 12/18/09 3pmE Live Call-in or Podcast


Since this is our Christmas show, I'm only going to spend the first half hour on the madness that is America, 2009.

Walpingate, Climategate, Jenningsgate, the Health care debacle... nah... we've got to find some sneaky subversive way to forget, if briefly, the insanity, and find something that can make us happy and give us hope. I call this conspiracy Jinglegate.

Merry Christmas call-in! (347) 327-9710



Also, while you're waiting for the show, if you haven't seen my 10 minute Fort Hood mini-documentary yet, now's a good time: Remembering a Massacre

Archived shows are available here and on iTunes as free podcasts.









Unspun with AnnaZ: Jinglegate... Get It On!: 12/18/09 Live Call-in or Podcast

Thursday, December 17, 2009

!!! ::: Mysterious Group Buys Building Next to Ground Zero For Mosque | Gateway Pundit

This is a little disturbing.

A mysterious Muslim group with unknown sponsors has purchased a building steps away from Ground Zero.
Hudson New York reported:

An identified group with unknown sponsors has purchased building steps away from where the World Trade Center once stood — to turn it into potentially one of the largest New York City mosques.

At the moment the building, the old Burlington Coat Factory, already serves as a mini-mosque: an iron grill lifts every Friday afternoon for a little known Imam leading prayers a few yards away from where Osama Bin Laden’s airborne Islamist bombers killed nearly 3000 people back in 2001.

The Imam, Feisal Abdul Rauf, told the New York Times — which put the story on its front page Wednesday — that he has assembled several million dollars to turn it into ‘’an Islamic center near the city’s most hallowed piece of land that would stand as one of ground zero’s more unexpected and striking neighbors.’’
The 61-year-old Imam said he paid $4.85 million for it — in cash, records show. With 50,000 square feet of air rights and enough financing, he plans an ambitious project of $150 million, he said, akin to the Chautauqua Institution, the 92 Street Y or the Jewish Community Center.

The origins of such monies are unexplained; neither are the countries or entity advancing such huge donations. Most US mosques, including many in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx are funded directly or indirectly by Saudi Arabia the country to which 15 of the 19 hijackers who bombed the World TradeCenter belonged. The UAE, Qatar and Iran are other major sponsors across the USA.

At the very best, this is incredibly tacky.

Source: Gateway Pundit

*Runs, Screaming* ::: Putting our economy in the hands of Chavez fans | Andrew Bolt

This is just insanity. Who listens to a man in a red beret?

image

These maniacs in Copenhagen are voting on your future:

President Chavez brought the house down.

When he said the process in Copenhagen was “not democratic, it is not inclusive, but isn’t that the reality of our world, the world is really and imperial dictatorship…down with imperial dictatorships” he got a rousing round of applause.

When he said there was a “silent and terrible ghost in the room” and that ghost was called capitalism, the applause was deafening.

But then he wound up to his grand conclusion – 20 minutes after his 5 minute speaking time was supposed to have ended and after quoting everyone from Karl Marx to Jesus Christ - “our revolution seeks to help all people…socialism, the other ghost that is probably wandering around this room, that’s the way to save the planet, capitalism is the road to hell....let’s fight against capitalism and make it obey us.” He won a standing ovation.

UPDATE

And at the end of this first clip, Chavez rouses the rabble with more anti-Americanism, too:

I don’t think Obama is here yet. He got the Nobel Peace Prize almost the same day as he sent 30,000 soldiers to kill innocent people in Afghanistan.

UPDATE 2

And a mass-murderer at Copenhagen lectures us about our crimes:


The anti-capitalist theme was picked up on by Mr Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s veteran President, who is the target of Western sanctions over alleged human rights abuses.

“When these capitalist gods of carbon burp and belch their dangerous emissions, it’s we, the lesser mortals of the developing sphere who gasp and sink and eventually die.”



Putting our economy in the hands of Chavez fans | Herald Sun Andrew Bolt Blog

Shocker! Respecting Palin at HuffPo ::: Stephen H. Dinan: Dissolving the Palin Prejudice

Yes... the Huffington Post.

I just have the first part of it here. The writer is not a future Palin voter, but he is thoughtful and honest, and quite a big dreamer. I wish him all the best.

Over Thanksgiving, I was hiking with my brother-in-law when he commented that he only knew two kinds of people: those who loved Sarah Palin and those who hated her. Nobody was in the gray zone. While I didn't consider myself a "hater," I also knew that she had triggered intense reactions in me when she joined the Republican ticket. After Obama's victory, the fear of her becoming President subsided along with the negative charge, but I had to confess to a lingering prejudice beneath the surface.

One week later, I bought her autobiography, Going Rogue. Why? To dissolve my own prejudice and to better understand how we as a culture can go beyond the extreme political polarizations that have so paralyzed our country. What I know from years of psychological and spiritual explorations is that whenever we judge or fight something in the world, there is an aspect of ourselves that we are battling against. In creating walls of separation in the world, we reinforce them within ourselves, which is ultimately to our detriment.

I truly believe that everyone has their divine role to play in the world, even those with very different politics, beliefs, and values. While I have held that truth, though, I still had a visceral reaction to Palin - a sure signal that some work remains.

So reading Going Rogue was something of a test for myself - could I find the place of appreciation, respect, and even love for Sarah Palin?

What I found is that it wasn't really that hard, actually, simply by taking the time to meet her on her own turf rather than through sounds bites, spin, and polarized media battles. Reading someone's personal memoir is an intimate journey into their inner sanctum, and I developed a real appreciation for Sarah in reading the book. Aspects of her that seemed coarse, simplistic, or combative during the campaign were revealed to be a product of frontier values and growing up in a culture that is faced with subzero temperatures and constant tests of survival.

Her journey from high school basketball captain to Governor revealed itself as an impressive triumph of hard work, resiliency, and willingness to challenge the status quo. Many of the most caricatured and vilified aspects of her history turned out to be lopsided depictions and sometimes gross misrepresentations.

For example, while her belief in God is deep and sincere, she wasn't fanatical about it or dismissive of others. I found a real appreciation for the spiritual depths she went to when first faced with having a Down's syndrome child. Her ultimate celebration of the beauty and perfection of that child, a child that 90% of people would have aborted according to statistics, was profoundly moving and it led hundreds of thousands of special needs children to feel championed through her campaign.

On other fronts, her pro-development views on energy and oil did not exclude a deep love for the environment and even an appreciation for alternative energy and reducing our carbon footprint. She wrote in moving terms about her husband's indigenous ancestry and connection with the natural world, as well as the devastation wrought by the Exxon Valdez spill. Despite being pro-business she was heroically willing to face down the oil industry when it was corrupting the government of Alaska, a kind of bravery we need more of on both sides of the aisle.

Perhaps the most moving aspect of the book is the way in which she never waivers in her family commitments throughout the political journey. She passes up an opportunity to contest a Senate seat in order to manage her son's hockey team. She breast feeds in front of a taken-aback lawmaker. Team Palin is a part of every campaign and a constant presence in her official roles. Her family is at the center of her life in a way that feels whole and balanced, which is both impressive and commendable as we all seek to balance competing demands on our time.

In reading the book, I started to see a lot more of myself and my upbringing in Sarah. I too had grown up in a frozen land - Northern Minnesota - a place of unpretentious, middle-class, hardworking people who believe in personal responsibility and straight-talking integrity. We, too, had our sled dog races, subzero temperatures and a spirit of camaraderie to make it through. I began to see her political values as a natural extension of those tough-minded virtues, enabling her to take on daunting tasks and succeed at each level of life.

My developing appreciation of her formative years in the book led to a different view of the pressure cooker of national, presidential politics - I felt far more compassion for the ugly way in which she was attacked by the press, dismissed by the opposition, and muzzled by patronizing campaign bosses. She faced strong prejudices from people like myself who were scared that her more black-or-white, provincial-seeming perspective would someday be in the Oval Office. We were also worried by her folksy appeal and ability to attack Obama aggressively while appearing quite charming. The result of that reaction was a barrage of distorted stories, inflated fears, and downright misrepresentations, some of which were quite damaging to her family. After reading in her own words what she went through, I felt more compassion for her and dismay about the meat grinder that we've created for political leaders - an occupation for which we truly need our best and brightest.

Reading Going Rogue makes me understand that Sarah is not the ruthlessly ambitious and cutthroat caricature we feared; she is a woman who has befriended Democrats personally and professionally, shown real leadership in fighting corruption, and taken a more nuanced position on several issues in which she seemed far more polarizing. She seems quite sincere in her desire to serve in whatever way the universe calls for that service.


Read the rest here: Stephen H. Dinan: Dissolving the Palin Prejudice

ACLU Wakes Up ::: Creating a 'Gitmo North' an Alarming Step

Looks like somebody finally took off their Obama-tinted glasses.

The following can be attributed to Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU:

"The creation of a 'Gitmo North' in Illinois is hardly a meaningful step forward. Shutting down Guantánamo will be nothing more than a symbolic gesture if we continue its lawless policies onshore.

"Alarmingly, all indications are that the administration plans to continue its predecessor's policy of indefinite detention without charge or trial for some detainees, with only a change of location. Such a policy is completely at odds with our democratic commitment to due process and human rights whether it's occurring in Cuba or in Illinois. In fact, while the Obama administration inherited the Guantánamo debacle, this current move is its own affirmative adoption of those policies. It is unimaginable that the Obama administration is using the same justification as the Bush administration used to undercut centuries of legal jurisprudence and the principle of innocent until proven guilty and the right to confront one's accusers.

"It is also greatly disturbing that the administration will continue the use of military commissions, which are no more acceptable in Illinois or any other U.S. state than in Guantánamo. Despite some improvements, the commissions still fall far short of the legal standards necessary to comply with constitutional and international standards, allowing, for example, the use of coerced and hearsay evidence that would not be allowed in federal court. The proceedings will achieve neither reliable justice nor a restoration of America's credibility around the world.

"The administration must also make very clear what category of detainee will be transferred to Thomson in the future and what kind of prison conditions will apply. Detainees not charged with a crime should not be subject to punitive conditions meant for sentenced prisoners who have been found guilty in a court of law, and all conditions must comply with the Geneva Conventions.

"The administration will no doubt be looking to Congress for legislative buy-in for this facility, and as both branches work together, we strongly urge lawmakers to legislate responsibly and not set any policies or precedents for indefinite detention on U.S. soil, or create any violation of the Geneva Conventions.

"The Obama administration's announcement today contradicts everything the president has said about the need for America to return to leading with its values. American values do not contemplate disregarding our Constitution and skirting the criminal justice system. After detaining hundreds of individuals without the basic due process rights that define our justice system for almost eight years, it is time to charge suspects where evidence exists and repatriate and transfer the rest to countries where they won't be tortured."


Now all I need is the media to wake up to the fact that this move is also a crony payoff to unions and the like in Illinois who were "robbed" of the Olympics. It's disgusting, and should rightly be a huge (but just one of many) scandal.

Creating a 'Gitmo North' an Alarming Step, Says ACLU | American Civil Liberties Union

Drugs Are Bad, M'Kay? Vol. 2 ::: Courtney Love brands daughter Frances Bean 'deceptive and deluded ' on Facebook

Courtney displays some real class in her Facebook postings about her daughter. Gee, I wonder why she just lost custody (again).

Courtney Love has lashed out at daughter Frances Bean Cobain after losing temporary legal control of the teenager to her paternal grandmother.

And in a series of angry posts on social networking website Facebook, Love has attacked her 17-year-old daughter for choosing to live with her in-laws.

She wrote: 'I hate to sound cold but any kid of mine who pulls this s**t has lost her position... she was deceptive, she lied and she's lying to herself... My daughter is not always honest.'

The 17-year-old was placed under the temporary guardianship of her late father Kurt Cobain's mother, Wendy O'Connor, and his sister, Kimberly Dawn Cobain, last week, giving rise to speculation that she had had a drug relapse.

Courtney's lawyer insists his former drug addict client is completely 'clean', but the reasons behind the change of custody are not clear, but that it was teenager Frances decision.

Love also gave an insight into her troubled financial situation, saying her daughter isn't as rich as she thinks she is: 'The fact is fbc (Frances Bean Cobain) is deluded.

'She thinks she has all this money. The point is I have all the money she has.'

In 2006, Love reportedly sold 25 per cent of Nirvana’s catalogue for $50million. And last year she claimed $20million was embezzled from her by members of her entourage.

'Frances is clearly deluded that she can buy her grandmother a small house in la (Los Angeles). I'd love to see how that works. They'll incubate her (sic) til shes 18 and then have her sign all the (sic) indnemofications.'

Court papers revealed Love lost custody of her teenage daughter for the second time yesterday.

But despite calling her daughter a liar, she holds out an olive branch, saying: 'Don't worry, Frances is a wonderful kid, she's got bad people around her and wants it both ways.

'You could've asked for emancipation... you realise this will put you in juvenile family circus three times in your little life? I love you and always will unconditionally.

This is her latest magazine cover:

courtney love

And here's a totally off-topic comment... the above cover talks about the "decade" and "ten years"... I think the decade started in '01 and ends next year. Why are all sorts of people doing these retrospective things already? Yeesh. The year 2000 ended the 20th century. Morons.

Courtney Love brands daughter Frances Bean 'deceptive and deluded ' on Facebook after losing custody | Mail Online

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

When Even Lefties Get It ::: [San Fran] The Worst-Run Big City in the U.S.

This was a great read. Here's part of the first page:
Despite its good intentions, San Francisco is not leading the country in gay marriage. Despite its good intentions, it is not stopping wars. Despite its spending more money per capita on homelessness than any comparable city, its homeless problem is worse than any comparable city's. Despite its spending more money per capita, period, than almost any city in the nation, San Francisco has poorly managed, budget-busting capital projects, overlapping social programs no one is certain are working, and a transportation system where the only thing running ahead of schedule is the size of its deficit.

It's time to face facts: San Francisco is spectacularly mismanaged and arguably the worst-run big city in America. This year's city budget is an astonishing $6.6 billion — more than twice the budget for the entire state of Idaho — for roughly 800,000 residents. Yet despite that stratospheric amount, San Francisco can't point to progress on many of the social issues it spends liberally to tackle — and no one is made to answer when the city comes up short.

The city's ineptitude is no secret. "I have never heard anyone, even among liberals, say, 'If only [our city] could be run like San Francisco,'" says urbanologist Joel Kotkin. "Even other liberal places wouldn't put up with the degree of dysfunction they have in San Francisco. In Houston, the exact opposite of San Francisco, I assume you'd get shot."

Who is to blame for this city's wretched state of affairs? Yomi Agunbiade, that's who. Metaphorically, that is.

An engineer by trade, Agunbiade was appointed by Mayor Gavin Newsom to head the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department in 2004. Even before Agunbiade's tenure, Rec and Park was the department other city departments pointed and laughed at — but under Agunbiade, it became Amy Poehler funny.

During his reign, an audit revealed, rec centers frequently didn't open, because staff simply didn't show up — and the department had no process to do anything about it. Good news: New rec centers were slated to open. Bad news: Agunbiade's department had no plan for how to staff them. But that wasn't enough to cost Agunbiade his job.

When the city controller's office made the common-sense recommendation that groundskeepers ought to be where they were assigned to be when they're supposed to be there, Agunbiade fought them on it for three years. Running a department where no one knows where anyone is — and no one even wants to know? Not a problem.

Then a report by the city's budget analyst found massive fiscal mismanagement at the Marina Yacht Harbor, which is run by Rec and Park. Perhaps so much money wouldn't have gone unaccounted for, the audit suggested, if the department had installed a cash register. Still, not a problem for Agunbiade. Other reports exposed one organizational or fiscal snafu after another, but his position was secure. In San Francisco, running a city department like a Franz Kafka nightmare doesn't cost a decisionmaker his job.

[snip]

Here are a few examples of the best of San Francisco at its worst.

Finding books in the library is easy: There are logical, organized systems in place. Finding where the money to build libraries went — that's hard. Last year, the Civil Grand Jury could not find — we reiterate, could not find — up-to-date budget numbers for the city's Branch Library Improvement Program. The numbers that were available aren't pretty: Voters approved a $106 million bond in 2000 to rebuild 19 libraries, and $28 million more was ponied up by the state and private donors. That money was spent without a coherent building plan being formulated between the Library Commission and Department of Public Works — leading to such large cost overruns and long delays that the commission abandoned five of the projects. In 2007, the city went back to the voters, asking for another $50 million for libraries — without publicizing that this would fund the five unfinished projects voters had already paid for. Voters approved it. After all, who doesn't like libraries?

Read it all, starting here: San Francisco News - The Worst-Run Big City in the U.S. - page 1

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

I Know It Isn't Friday Yet, But... ::: 2 women reach plea deals in gluing of Wis. lover

Oh, boy...

CHILTON, Wis. (AP) -- Two Wisconsin women accused of seeking revenge on a cheating lover by gluing his penis to his stomach have reached plea deals.

Forty-eight-year-old Therese Ziemann, of Menasha, was accused of doing the actual gluing. She pleaded no contest Monday to reduced charges of disorderly conduct and misdemeanor battery.

Her sister, 43-year-old Michelle Belliveau, of Neenah, pleaded no contest to disorderly conduct.

District attorney Ken Kratz agreed not to seek jail time for either one.

The women allegedly lured the 37-year-old Fond du Lac man to a motel and tied him to a bed in July.

A third defendant pleaded not guilty last month to false imprisonment. A false-imprisonment charge against the man's wife was dropped earlier.


According to that last line, there were either three or four people involved... including his wife?

Bizarre.


Anyway... want pictures?



Forty-eight-year-old Therese Ziemann, was accused of doing the actual gluing, while her sister Michelle Belliveau, 43, pleaded no contest to disorderly conduct



TBO.com - News From AP

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Awesome. From Power Line - What Astroturf Looks Like

I direct an outstretched finger in Madame Pelosi's general direction.

Earlier today, thousands of protesters turned out in Copenhagen to demonstrate in favor of an economy-wrecking climate deal. This is how they looked:

1climateprotestsaturday.jpg

Note the identical, professionally printed, color-coordinated yellow and black signs. This is what Astroturf--fake grass roots--looks like. The signs use the same colors as the International ANSWER signs that are ubiquitous at far-left rallies here in the U.S., but carry no identifier. It would be interesting to know who paid for the signs, and whether the same organization that bought the signs also paid for the demonstrators.



Power Line - What Astroturf Looks Like

Interview w/ Nat Hentoff ::: America under Barack Obama 'Most dangerous president ever'

I have always had the greatest respect for Nat Hentoff.

Nat Hentoff has had a life well spent, one chock full of controversy fueled by his passion for the protection of civil liberties and human rights. Hentoff is known as a civil libertarian, free speech activist, anti-death penalty advocate, pro-lifer and not uncommon critic of the ideological left.

At 84, Nat Hentoff is an American classic who has never shied away from an issue. For example, he defended a woman rejected from law school because she was Caucasian; called into a talk show hosted by Oliver North to agree with him on liberal intolerance for free speech; was a friend to the late Malcolm X; and wrote the liner notes for Bob Dylan's second album.

A self-described uncategorizable libertarian, Hentoff adds he is also a “Jewish atheist, civil libertarian, pro-lifer.” Accordingly, he has angered nearly every political faction and remains one of a few who has stuck to his principles through his many years of work, regardless of the trouble it stirred up. For instance, when he announced his opposition to abortion he alienated numerous colleagues, and his outspoken denunciation of President Bill Clinton only increased his isolation in liberal circles (He said that Clinton had "done more harm to the Constitution than any president in American history," and called him "a serial violator of our liberties.").

Born in Boston on June 10, 1925, Hentoff received a B.A. with honors from Northeastern University and did graduate work at Harvard. From 1953 to 1957, he was associate editor of Down Beat magazine. He has written many books on jazz, biographies and novels, including children's books. His articles have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Commonwealth, the New Republic, the Atlantic and the New Yorker, where he was a staff writer for more than 25 years. In 1980, he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in Education and an American Bar Association Silver Gavel Award for his coverage of the law and criminal justice in his columns. In 1985, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Laws by Northeastern University. For 50 years, Hentoff wrote a weekly column for the Village Voice. But that publication announced that he had been terminated on December 31, 2008. In February 2009, Hentoff joined the Cato Institute as a Senior Fellow.

[snip]


John W. Whitehead: When Barack Obama was a U.S. Senator in 2005, he introduced a bill to limit the Patriot Act. Now that he is president, he has endorsed the Patriot Act as is. What do you think happened with Obama?

Nat Hentoff: I try to avoid hyperbole, but I think Obama is possibly the most dangerous and destructive president we have ever had. An example is ObamaCare, which is now embattled in the Senate. If that goes through the way Obama wants, we will have something very much like the British system. If the American people have their health care paid for by the government, depending on their age and their condition, they will be subject to a health commission just like in England which will decide if their lives are worth living much longer.

In terms of the Patriot Act, and all the other things he has pledged he would do, such as transparency in government, Obama has reneged on his promises. He pledged to end torture, but he has continued the CIA renditions where you kidnap people and send them to another country to be interrogated. Why is Obama doing that if he doesn't want torture anymore? Throughout Obama's career, he promised to limit the state secrets doctrine which the Bush-Cheney administration had abused enormously. The Bush administration would go into court on any kind of a case that they thought might embarrass them and would argue that it was a state secret and the case should not be continued. Obama is doing the same thing, even though he promised not to.

So in answer to your question, I am beginning to think that this guy is a phony. Obama seems to have no firm principles that I can discern that he will adhere to. His only principle is his own aggrandizement. This is a very dangerous mindset for a president to have.

JW: Do you consider Obama to be worse than George W. Bush?

NH: Oh, much worse. Bush essentially came in with very little qualifications for presidency, not only in terms of his background but he lacked a certain amount of curiosity, and he depended entirely too much on people like Rumsfeld, Cheney and others. Bush was led astray and we were led astray. However, I never thought that Bush himself was, in any sense, "evil." I am hesitant to say this about Obama. Obama is a bad man in terms of the Constitution. The irony is that Obama was a law professor at the University of Chicago. He would, most of all, know that what he is doing weakens the Constitution.

In fact, we have never had more invasions of privacy than we have now. The Fourth Amendment is on life support and the chief agent of that is the National Security Agency. The NSA has the capacity to keep track of everything we do on the phone and on the internet. Obama has done nothing about that. In fact, he has perpetuated it. He has absolutely no judicial supervision of all of this. So all in all, Obama is a disaster.

JW: Obama is not reversing the Bush policies as he promised. But even in light of this, many on the Left are very, very quiet about Obama. Why is that?

NH: I am an atheist, although I very much admire and have been influenced by many traditionally religious people. I say this because the Left has taken what passes for their principles as an absolute religion. They don't think anymore. They just react. When they have somebody like Obama whom they put into office, they believed in the religious sense and, of course, that is a large part of the reason for their silence on these issues. They are very hesitant to criticize Obama, but that is beginning to change. Even on the cable network MSNBC, some of the strongest proponents of Obama are now beginning to question, if I may use their words, their "deity."

JW: Is the so-called health commission that you referred to earlier what some people are referring to as death panels? Is that too strong a word?

NH: That term was used with hyperbole about the parts of the health care bill where doctors are mandated, if people are on Medicare and of a certain age or in serious physical condition, to counsel them on their end-of-life alternatives. I don't believe that was a death panel. It was done to get the Medicare doctors to not spend too much money on them. The death panel issue arose with Tom Daschle, who was originally going to be the Health Czar. Daschle became enamored with the British system and wrote a book about health care, which influenced President Obama.

In England, you have what I would call government-imposed euthanasia. Under the British healthcare system, there is a commission that decides whether or not, based on your age and physical condition, the government should continue to pay for your health. That leads to the government not doing it and you gradually or suddenly die. The present Stimulus Bill sets up the equivalent commission in the United States similar to that which is in England. The tipoff was months ago on the ABC network. President Obama was given a full hour to describe and endorse his health plan. A woman in the audience asked Obama about her mother. Her mother was, I believe, 101 years old and was in need of a certain kind of procedure. Her doctor didn't want to do it because of her age. However, another doctor did and told this woman there is a joy of life in this person. The woman asked President Obama how he would deal with this sort of thing, and Obama said we cannot consider the joy of life in this situation. He said I would advise her to take a pain killer. That is the essence of the President of the United States.

JW: Do you think Obama is shallow?

NH: It's much worse than that. Obama has little, if any, principles except to aggrandize and make himself more and more important. You see that in his foreign policy. Obama lacks a backbone—both a constitutional backbone and a personal backbone. This is a man who is causing us and will cause us a great deal of harm constitutionally and personally. I say personally because I am 84 years old, and this is the first administration that has scared me in terms of my lifespan.

JW: But he is praised for his charisma and great smile. He can make people believe things just by his personality.

NH: That was a positive factor in his election. A good many people voted for Obama, and I'm not only talking about the black vote. A lot of people voted for Obama because of our history of racial discrimination in this country. They felt good even though they didn't really know much about him and may have had some doubts. But at least they showed the world we could elect a black president. And that is still part of what he is riding on. Except that, too, is diminishing. In the recent Virginia election, the black vote diminished. Now why was that? I think a lot of black folks are wondering what this guy is really going to do, not only for them but for the country. If the country is injured, they will be injured. That may be sinking in.

JW: One of the highest unemployment rates in the country is among African-Americans.

NH: Not only that, the general unemployment rate is going to continue for a long time and for all of us. I have never heard so many heart-wrenching stories of all kinds of people all across the economic spectrum. As usual, the people who are poorest—the blacks, Hispanics and disabled people—are going to suffer more than anyone else under the Obama administration. This is a dishonest administration, because it is becoming clear that the unemployment statistics of the Obama administration are not believable. I can't think of a single area where Obama is not destructive.

JW: A lot of people we represent and I talk to feel that their government does not hear them, that their representatives do not listen to them anymore. As a result, you have these Tea Party protests which the Left has criticized. What do you think of the Tea Party protests?

NH: I spent a lot of time studying our Founders and people like Samuel Adams and the original Tea Party. What Adams and the Sons of Liberty did in Boston was spread the word about the abuses of the British. They had Committees of Correspondence that got the word out to the colonies. We need Committees of Correspondence now, and we are getting them. That is what is happening with the Tea Parties. I wrote a column called "The Second American Revolution" about the fact that people are acting for themselves as it happened with the Sons of Liberty which spread throughout the colonies. That was a very important awakening in this country. A lot of people in the adult population have a very limited idea as to why they are Americans, why we have a First Amendment or a Bill of Rights.

JW: Less than 3% of high school students can pass the immigration test while over 90% of people from foreign countries can pass it. The questions are simple—such as, "What is the supreme law of the land?" or "Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?" Civic education in the United States is basically dead.

NH: I have been in schools around the country, and I have written on education for years. Once, I was once doing a profile on Justice William Brennan and I was in his chambers, and Brennan asked, "How do we get the words of the Bill of Rights into the lives of the students?" Well, it is not difficult. You tell them stories. When I speak to students, I tell them why we have a First Amendment. I tell them about the Committees of Correspondence. I tell them how in a secret meeting of the Raleigh Tavern in Virginia, Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry, who did not agree with each other, started a Committee of Correspondence.

Young people get very excited when they hear why they are Americans. It is not hard to do. We hear talk now about reforming public education. There are billions of dollars at stake for such a reform. But I have not heard Arne Duncan, who is the U.S. Education Secretary, mention once the civic illiteracy in the country.

JW: Adults are constitutionally illiterate as well.

NH: A few years ago, I was lecturing at the Columbia Journalism School of Education. I asked them about what was happening to the Fourth Amendment. I said, "By the way, do you know what is in the Fourth Amendment?" One student responded, "Is that the right to bear arms?" It's hard to believe these are bright students.

[snip]

Read the whole thing here: America under Barack Obama

Friday, December 11, 2009

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Photo of Sarah Palin and Barney Frank (With His Hate On)

Reminds me of the photo I posted a few weeks back of Palin and Andrea Mitchell. The left is not too adept at hiding the contempt.


http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/IMG_0899.jpg

Maybe he's irritated 'cause her speech is the one that keeps getting all the press.

=)

Sarah Palin at the Gridiron Dinner. Excerpts, Photos - Lynn Sweet

Bringin' Home The Lolz ::: Sarah Palin's Gridiron Speech (Transcript)

Some very funny lines. Good girl. (If you know me at all, you know that my philosophy is, if it ain't funny, it's crap).

(If you're not familiar with what the Gridiron is, it's D.C.'s oldest most exclusive journalistic org. See the wiki here.)

Following is a transcript of Sarah Palin's speech at the 2009 Gridiron Club Winter dinner.

Good evening. It's great to be in Washington and I am loving the weather. I braved the elements and went out for a jog! Or, as Newsweek calls it, a cover-shoot.

From my hotel room, from there I can see the Russian Embassy, right there.

It's a privilege to be here tonight at the Washington D.C. Barnes & Noble. Tonight, I'll be reading excerpts from my new book. Perhaps you've heard of it? "Going Rogue"

Yukon wasn't sure if I'd go with that title and somebody suggested I follow the East Coast self-help trend and go with, "How To Look Like A Million Bucks…For Only 150 Grand."

Todd liked, "The Audacity of North Slope."

Hey, I considered not having a title at all. I've said it before, but you Beltway types just don't seem to get it. You don't need a title to make an impact.

But anyway, let's get started. I'll begin my first reading on Page 209. It was pitch black when we touched down in Arizona late on August 27, 2008. The next morning we drove to John McCain's ranch in Sedona. John was waiting on the porch.

Before he can say a word, I tell him, I'm quoting now. "I know why I'm here, and I'm ready. But, I'm worried. The cost of credit protection for the largest U.S. banks is rising precipitously. Have you given any thought to the run on the entities in the parallel banking system? Do you realize the vulnerability created when these institutions borrow short term in liquid markets to invest long term in illiquid assets?"

John said, "you betcha!" I thought, "you betcha?" Who talks that way?

Well, sometimes you just have to trust your instincts. When you don't, you end up in places like this. Who would have guessed that I'd be palling around with this group? At least now I can put a face to all the newspapers I read.

It is good to be here and in front of this audience of leading journalists and intellectuals. Or, as I call it, a death panel.

To be honest, I had some serious reservations about coming to visit your cozy little club. The Gridiron still hasn't offered membership to anyone from my hometown paper in Wasilla, the Matanuska-Susitna Valley Frontiersman.

And my dad thought it was just a plain bad idea to leave the book tour for some football game. He might have a point!

I've been touring this great, great land of ours over the last few weeks. I have to say, the view is much better from inside the bus, than under it!

But really, I am thrilled to be with you. And I'd like to thank the Gridiron for the invitation and Dick Cooper for his introduction.

To paraphrase John F. Kennedy, this has to be the most extraordinary collection of people who have gathered to viciously attack me since the last corporate gathering at CBS.

Despite what you have read, or more likely, despite what you have written, I do feel a real bond with all of you. I studied journalism, earned a communications degree and for a time only wanted to be a journalist. I was even a television sportscaster back home. I'm guessing some of you probably got your start the exact same way… once there was television.

Let me get back to the book. I know that many of you are still upset because I wouldn't play that silly Washington game. You know, the one where all of you read a book in its entirety, from the first page of the index to the last.

But think about it, because you actually had to read the whole book in the vein hope of finding your name, you now know all about Denali, mom, dad, ungulate eyeballs, slaying salmon on the Nushagak and Ugashik near Alegnigak, where we make AGOOTAK and moose chili! You're welcome.

Still, I want to do something very special for this audience of Washington elite. So, I'll read from the index–which I chose not to include in the hardback.

Would you believe me if I said I didn't include it because we wanted to save trees?

Under A we have…Alaska, media not understanding. Pages 1-432.

Under B…Biased media. Pages 1-432

And under C…Conservative media. See acknowledgments.

I'll stop there. I know this can be a long night, and as I understand it, we're going to break with a Gridiron tradition. Normally, the Democrat speaker would deliver a speech after me. But instead, John McCain's campaign staff asked if they could use that time for a rebuttal.

A lot has been made of a few campaign relationships. The closeness. The warm fuzzy feelings. John and I both agree all those staffers should just move past it. It's history.

Let's just say, if I ever need a bald campaign manager, it appears all I'm left with is James Carville.

I don't want to say that I've burned a bridge, but I know all about canceling a bridge to nowhere.

That Democrat speaker I referred to is, of course, the one-and-only Barney Frank. And I'm the controversial one? Barney, the nation owes you and the government a debt. A huge, historic, unbelievable debt.

But, it's good to be here with you, Mr. Chairman. Because by Chairman, I don't just mean the House Financial Services Committee. As far as I can tell, Barney's also the Chair of AIG, CITI, and the Bank of America.

I don't want to say that the U.S. Government is taking over the role of the private sector, but I have to admit, on the flight here, thumbing through a magazine and looking at a photo of President Obama with the President of China, the person next to me pointed at it and said, "Hu's a communist." I thought they were asking a question.

Still, when I see this administration in action, I can't help think of what might have been. I could be the Vice President overseeing the signing of bailout checks. And Joe Biden would be on the road, selling his new book, Going Rogaine.

Speaking of books….Did I mention mine? "Going Rogue" Makes a great stocking stuffer. Available now at a bookstore near you. Hey, I have to pay for my campaign vetting bill somehow.

Really, the response has been great. So I'll close by reading a final passage. Page 403:

I've been asked a lot lately, "Where are you going next?' Good question!

Wherever I go I know that, as with anyone in the public eye, I'll continue to have my share of disagreements with those in the media. Maybe even more than my share. It will come as no surprise that I don't think I was always treated fairly, or equally.

But despite that, I respect the media very much. It's important. A free press allows for vigorous debate! And that debate is absolutely vital for our democracy.

So as hard as it can sometimes be, we must all look past personal grievances. We must move beyond petty politics. And we must allow these incredibly talented and hard-working women and men to ask the hard questions and hold us, and our government, accountable. Because their mission is as true as the sun rising over the Talkeetna and Susitna Mountains.

Okay – so none of that is actually in the book. Not a word. But I do believe it!

And I believe we live in a beautiful country blessed with so many different people who want the best for their children, families and for our great nation. I'm so proud to be an American.

And that is what I'll be talking about when I travel to, really where I'm headed. No better place than here to announce where I'm going. I'm going to Iowa!

I'll be there tomorrow from noon to 3:00 pm at the Barnes & Noble on Sergeant Road in Sioux City. Come early. Long lines are expected.

Thank you everyone. God Bless the U.S.A!

=)

Source: / Sarah Palin Gridiron Speech Transcript - Funny Palin Speech Transcript

Oh Geez ::: Al Gore Reads His Global Warming Poem To CNN Reporter

Will this farce ever end?




YouTube - Al Gore Reads His Global Warming Poem To CNN Reporter

Acorn Cookies?! The White House Is Nuts

Ob. Nox. Ious.

Any fan of Cookie Monster on Sesame Street knows that “C” is for cookie.

But at the Obama White House, “A” may be for acorn. As in acorn cookies served at Monday’s annual Christmas party.

Chocolate cookies shaped like an acorn were quite a hit with Rep. Steve King (R-IA).

ACORN is a is community organizing group that helps low-income families with housing and economic assistance. President Obama worked with ACORN in the mid-nineties. But now ACORN faces a host of allegations related to voter fraud in the 2008 election.

The irony of the White House dishing out acorn-shaped chocolate cookies seemed a little, well, “nutty” to King. The Iowa Republican is one of the loudest voices calling for Congress to investigate of ACORN.

“I didn’t expect to see such stark symbolism,” King said in an e-mail.

King pocketed several of the acorn cookies at the White House soiree and even stowed a few at home in his freezer. King even delivered a real acorn to House Judiciary Committee John Conyers (D-MI) in an effort to launch a dialogue about the organization’s legal woes.

“Bill Clinton redefined a two and a three-letter word,” King said. “But from the man who wrote The Audacity of Hope, we were served the very redefinition of the word ‘audacity.’”
The fact that the symbol of the D party is an ass is unfortunately, due to their behavior, never far from my mind.

� Acorn Cookies Surprise Iowa Congressman The Speakers Lobby � FOXNews.com

"As if [they] simply guessed" ::: Detroit's public schools post worst scores on record

This was truly a painful read.
The Detroit Public Schools posted the worst scores on record in the most recent test of students in large central U.S. cities.

The scores came on the Trial Urban District Assessment, a national test developed by the Governing Board, the National Center for Education Statistics of the U.S. Department of Education and the Council of the Great City Schools.

The test for urban districts is part of the National Assessment of Educational Progress test given to school districts nationwide.

“There is no jurisdiction of any kind, at any level, at any time in the 30-year history of NAEP that has ever registered such low numbers,” said Michael Casserly, executive director of the Council on Great City Schools, a Washington, D.C.-based coalition of urban school districts.

“They are barely above what one would expect simply by chance, as if the kids simply guessed at the answers,” he said.

Read the rest here: Detroit's public schools post worst scores on record in national assessment

Not A Joke ::: NYC Admin Announce Tougher Penalties on Toy Gun Sales

Okay, okay... of course it's a joke. But not intentionally, I presume.
THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK

OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS
City Hall
New York, NY 10007
Release #122-2009

Speaker Quinn, Council Members and Administration Announce Tougher Penalties on Toy Gun Sales
Stores Would Face Up to $5,000 for a first-time violation
City Also Launches Public Awareness Campaign About the Dangers of Toy Guns That Look Real and Real Guns That Look Like Toys

City Hall – Speaker Christine C Quinn, together with Council Member Al Vann, today announced legislation that would increase penalties for selling a toy gun by 500 percent. The legislation would also enhance the Department of Consumer Affairs’ enforcement ability and allow the agency to shut stores that are repeat offenders of the law. Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) Commissioner Jonathan Mintz and Criminal Justice Coordinator John Feinblatt joined the Speaker and Council Members at the announcement. The officials also announced a new citywide public awareness campaign about the dangers of toy guns that look real and real guns that look like toys.

Download a copy of the Public Awareness Campaign ad (pdf)

“Despite the fact that New York City’s toy and imitation gun law has been in existence for several years many merchants continue to sell items that resemble real guns,” said Council Speaker Quinn. “Our communities are at risk when they cannot tell a fake toy gun from a real one and the dangers these items present are all too real. Children have been hurt and even killed as a result of these guns being out in our communities.”

The City Council’s Consumer Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on the legislation this afternoon. The proposed bill would increase the fine for a first violation from $1,000 to up to $5,000. It would also increase the fines for subsequent violations within a two year period from $3,000 to up to $8,000. Finally, it would also permit DCA to seal, for up to five days, the premises of a store found guilty of three or more violations within a two year period.


[snip]


I guess The Onion can take the day off again today.

Source: New York City Council - Speaker Quinn, Council Members and Administration Announce Tougher Penalties on Toy Gun Sales

Wednesday, December 09, 2009

The Embarrassment Continues ::: It's high time Barack Obama learnt some manners

Although the majority of Americans don't believe that Obama deserved to be awarded the Nobel (and we now know the exact percentage of knuckleheads in America (26%) ... those who did), he's actually too good for the trappings that come with the nod. Unbelievable.
We here in Britain are well-aquainted with the haughty disdain with which U.S. President Barack Obama likes to treat his European allies. We might have the largest military force of any European country fighting alongside the Americans in southern Afghanistan, but that doesn’t seem to count for much at the White House, where Mr Obama’s shabby treatment of our prime minister has now become the norm. Whether it is offering him a box set of dvds, or forcing him to conduct important bilateral meetings in the kitchens of the U.N. complex in New York, Mr Obama’s charmless treatment of Gordon Brown has become a standard feature of the so-called special relationship.

But now, with his dismissive treatment of the Nobel peace prize committee, Mr Obama’s supercilious behaviour has plunged new depths. One might question why on earth the worthy souls responsible for awarding the prize decided on someone whose main claim to fame so far is simply to have got himself elected. But having accepted the award, the least Mr Obama could do would be to show the Norwegian hosts some respect. But no, Mr Obama insists on doing everything his way, even when it comes to something as banal as accepting a peace prize, and on this occasion he has managed to cause immense offence to the peace-loving Scandawegians.

First Mr Obama declines an invitation to lunch with King Harald V, the Norwegian monarch, an event every other winner, from the Dailai Lama to Al Gore, has graciously accepted. Then he announces he won’t have time to visit the Oslo Peace Centre, where the achievements of previous winners are celebrated. As one Norwegian public relations expert puts it: “The American president is acting like an elephant in a porcelain shop.”


Will it ever end?

Source: It's high time Barack Obama learnt some manners – Telegraph Blogs

Tuesday, December 08, 2009

A Sad and Perfect Title ::: Obama's Buggery Czar (WT Editorial)

What will it take for this story to get legs?

The media is trying to keep this story in the closet, but it's important not to wink at all the serious problems surrounding President Obama's controversial "safe schools czar," Kevin Jennings.

Mr. Jennings is the moral malefactor who gave a speech about how he merely advised a 15-year-old high-school sophomore who was having sex with an older man that, "I hope you knew to use a condom." He knew the boy had met the adult in a bus-station restroom. Mr. Jennings also expressed admiration for Harry Hay, a notorious and extremely prominent supporter of the North American Man Boy Love Association. "One of the people that's always inspired me is Harry Hay," he said. Despite numerous requests to the Obama administration and Mr. Jennings, we have not received any answers to inquiries about these troubling issues.

Now revelations have surfaced that Mr. Jennings not only thought there was nothing wrong with boys having sex with older men (or girls having sex with older women), but he also played a role in promoting such relationships.

In 1990, Mr. Jennings founded the Gay and Lesbian Independent School Teachers Network, which later became the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN). He was the group's first full-time staffer and executive director, a position he held until August 2008. One of GLSEN's tasks was to put together lists of suggested readings for K-through-12 students and their teachers. The reading lists categorize books by the ages for which they purportedly are appropriate. The organization Web site reassures us, "All BookLink items are reviewed by GLSEN staff for quality and appropriateness of content."

Some of these shocking readings clearly promote homosexuality and promiscuity. Consider what GLSEN put forward as appropriate for children 13 years or older. Eleven of the recommended books were examined by Scott Baker from Breitbart.tv and re-examined by The Washington Times. Numerous passages discuss kids having sex with adults. Many of the sexual discussions and scenes are too explicit for us to publish, so what follows are greatly sanitized versions.


Continued here: EDITORIAL: Obama's buggery czar - Washington Times

Typical Obama Narcissism... In A Sentence

He's talking about Springsteen here. And, of course, himself:

"Bruce was a great fan -- a great friend over the last year, and when I watched him on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial when he rocked the National Mall before my inauguration, I thought it captured as well as anything the spirit of what America should be about. On a day like that, and today, I remember: I'm the president, but he's The Boss."

*rolls eyes*

Source: Michelle Obama, Hanging Out With Bruce Springsteen -- Politics Daily

Monday, December 07, 2009

Ohnoz! AlGore Wrote A Poem... Quick... A Pulitzer! ::: Al Gore: The Poet Laureate of Climate Change/Vanity Fair

Dear goodness... Vanity Fair has lost it completely...

But first, the poetry:

One thin September soon
A floating continent disappears
In midnight sun

Vapors rise as
Fever settles on an acid sea

...

Snow glides from the mountain
Ice fathers floods for a season
A hard rain comes quickly

Then dirt is parched
Kindling is placed in the forest
For the lightning’s celebration

...

The shepherd cries
The hour of choosing has arrived
Here are your tools


Oh, good grief.

Even worse?

This nugget from the reviewer :

...with the publication of his new book, Our Choice, Gore has unveiled a fresh and most unexpected talent: the book’s opening chapter of concludes with a poem he wrote—21 lines of verse that are equal parts beautiful, evocative, and disturbing.


or this:

The result is a surprisingly accomplished, nuanced piece of writing. The images Gore conjures in his (untitled) poem turn a neat trick: they are visually specific and emotionally arresting even as they are scientifically accurate.


I'm going to need my dram of kool-aid soon. But, in case I don't get it, this commenter at VF gave me this choice piece of hilarity, and sanity.



The alarums sound
And the frightened creatures
Run to higher ground
Across the skies
Silver eagles soar
Trailing clouds of smoke
In their wake
Foregathering in their sacred aerie
They make their plans
To gather all the sheep together
In the valley of the shadow
Of pretended death Calling out
To the lambs who huddle in every corner of the world
They promise the protection of eagles
While preparing for the feast

Posted 12/7/2009 by jayspry


Al Gore: The Poet Laureate of Climate Change: Mark Hertsgaard | Vanity Fair

Sunday, December 06, 2009

Typical NYT Headline ::: Charities Rise, Costing U.S. Billions in Tax Breaks

Government can't stand the competition that the goodness of man is... they hate charity as much as they hate self-reliance, and the New York Times is but the mouthpiece.

I love the "costs U.S. billions" part especially. Like as if it was their money in the first place. They all make me sick.

You can read the whining here: More Charities Seek Tax Break for Donors, Costing U.S. Billions - NYTimes.com

Tuesday, December 01, 2009

Please forgive my absence...

...but I am in editing mode all week and probably won't have time to post much of anything. (But I'll hopefully have a new mini-doc by the end of it all -- subject: Fort Hood.)

My guest on Unspun with AnnaZ this week will be Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson... if you're not familiar with him or his organization B.O.N.D., you can learn a little here.


Videos

:: Rebel Evolution ::

2005 Liberty Film Festival Short-Doc Nomination: :: Sealed For Your Protection ::

:: Boomerang ::

:: Fort Hood Documentary

Remembering A Massacre
::

:: Sarah Palin Rocks Texas

for Governor Perry
::

:: Texas Starts with T

The Tea Party in 12 Easy Minutes
::



Clips and Interviews

:: Governor Rick Perry:

On the Tea Party Movement, Senator Hutchison, and Debra Medina
::

:: Breitbart's Challenge to New Media:

Destroy Those Who Would Destroy You
::

:: Andrew Breitbart:

Time To Start Returning The Punches of the Bully Media
::

:: Rick Perry / Austin Tea Party

On Secession and "Right Wing Extremism"
::











:: Follow me on Twitter ::



:: Unspun with AnnaZ on BlogTalkRadio ::

:: Unspun podcast on iTunes ::