Regarding Obama's Special Olympics comment on Leno:
“I was shocked to learn of the comment made by President Obama about Special Olympics,” Governor Palin said. “This was a degrading remark about our world’s most precious and unique people, coming from the most powerful position in the world.“These athletes overcome more challenges, discrimination and adversity than most of us ever will. By the way, these athletes can outperform many of us and we should be proud of them. I hope President Obama’s comments do not reflect how he truly feels about the special needs community.”
Given that she has a special needs child, she has every right to respond.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Palin Responds
Let's get this out of the way....
Ok, ok. Pres. Obama said "Special Olympics' when referring to his bowling skills on Leno last night. Yes, it made me wince, but it's not the stupidest thing he has ever said so far. Are we really going to slice and dice every slip up he makes like the left did with Bush? Didn't we get SICK of it?
Payback may be a b*tch, but I think we have enough substantive issues and differences that we don't need to pick apart a not well chosen phrase.
What bothers me is that a sitting President even went on The Tonight Show. Just seeing him sitting on that couch like a TV sit com star wanna be, made me uncomfortable.
Obama is trying to keep his ratings up so he can keep passing all his legislative goals (bigger govt), but it's time for him to stop campaigning and start governing (had to add this to further the point, First Read points out that yesterday Obama accidently referred to "voters", showing him to still be in "candidate mode"). Just saying that he is there to "fix problems" isn't enough. He needs to stop townhalls, stop basketball charts, stop Tonight Show appearances, and sit down at the White House, listen to people who know their stuff, and make the tough decisions.
Be the President, Mr. President, not a celebrity.
Payback may be a b*tch, but I think we have enough substantive issues and differences that we don't need to pick apart a not well chosen phrase.
What bothers me is that a sitting President even went on The Tonight Show. Just seeing him sitting on that couch like a TV sit com star wanna be, made me uncomfortable.
Obama is trying to keep his ratings up so he can keep passing all his legislative goals (bigger govt), but it's time for him to stop campaigning and start governing (had to add this to further the point, First Read points out that yesterday Obama accidently referred to "voters", showing him to still be in "candidate mode"). Just saying that he is there to "fix problems" isn't enough. He needs to stop townhalls, stop basketball charts, stop Tonight Show appearances, and sit down at the White House, listen to people who know their stuff, and make the tough decisions.
Be the President, Mr. President, not a celebrity.
Update: Let's take a look at someone who really understands Special Olympics. Here is Gov. Palin addressing the 2009 Special Olympics:
Thursday, March 19, 2009
The Bait and Switch
Don't let this "distraction" of taxing the AIG bonuses, the blowhards in Congress railing against the bonuses, and Obama denying that he had anything to do with it, keep you from understanding the truth.
The truth is this. Make no mistake about it. These AIG bonuses are the fault of President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senator Chris Dodd. It was under their watch and advocacy that the language that allowed these bonuses to be paid to AIG employees was able to make it into the stimulus bill and became law.
If you remember, Republicans were shut out of the legislative process of the stimulus debate both in the House and the Senate. Period. No one actually read the bill, and then, in the middle of the night, the Democrats in the Conference Committee added the provision that allowed these bonuses. Republicans had NOTHING to do with it.
Now the Dems are trying to cover their a** with all this fake outrage. It's that simple.
President Obama, if you remember, lied about always allowing five days of review online before he would sign the stimulus bill into law. That didn't happen and the legislation was RUSHED though. If we could have had a good look at this, then the bonus language would have been caught.
The Democrats are hoping that their "outrage" will be the soundbites Americans hear, not the truth. Given the liberal media, that might well be the case.
Pathetic.
ACORN, Fraud, and the Obama Campaign
Just got off a conference call that I thought you all might find interesting. It was with Republican National Lawyers Association Vice President Heather Heidelbaugh.
Today in testimony to the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, Republican National Lawyers Association Vice President Heather Heidelbaugh asserted that ACORN's Project Vote violated Internal Revenue Code by participating in voter registration and turn out operations for President Obama's campaign.
This isn't just about voter fraud. It's is clear they participated in during the election, in my view. No. It's more than that.
There is a lot of legalese, but let me boil it down for you. There are two whistleblowers helping out Ms. Heidelbaugh. One is Anita Moncrief. She worked as a development associate for ACORN and during the election she was working on the sly with the New York Times regarding all the nefarious things going on with ACORN. She says that the Obama campaign sent a list of maxed out donors to ACORN asking them to contact the donors to give to ACORN since they could no longer give any more money to Obama. This is a clear violation of federal election law. Moncrief shared this with the New York Times, who (surprise!).....killed the story. This is why Moncrief went to Ms. Heidelbaugh.
If that isn't enough to make you sick, then maybe the fact that ACORN is one of about 250 national partners picked to help publicize and recruit employees for the Census might get you a bit nauseous.
What could possibly go wrong? A Democratic front group helping the U.S. Census. It's outrageous and we should all let Congress know that it is.
Enough Obama
Even the network people are complaining about Obama's constant need to explain himself or make excuses:
You know who this global economic implosion is really hurting? Broadcast networks. How can they mint money if Overlord Obama is constantly doing TV addresses, like a Soviet Secretary General?
The president has done all of two primetime TV speeches, and now he's requesting a third, during sweeps. If he's taking this much airtime now, what's Obama going to do when there's, like, a war or two going on, or maybe some kind of looming depression?
The network suits are all bitching, anonymously, to the Hollywood Reporter:
"These repeated interruptions — and the rumor of even more to come — really make it difficult to build audience flow and loyalty. We will all lose one or two million dollars for this."
And tonight you can catch the leader of the free world on Jay Leno! What's next? Is he going to star in a movie? A guest spot on "24" perhaps?
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
More Good News...
Some Guantanamo prisoners could be released in US
Every day seems worst than the day before.
The Conscience of the Christian Healthcare worker
The conscience of the Christian healthcare worker doesn't seem to be much of a concern of President Obama:
On January 20, 2009, President Bush implemented regulations that would protect health care workers who refuse to participate in abortion-related activities from discrimination. President Obama and his Department of Health and Human Services have published their intent to overturn these regulations. The regulations are intended to educate health care professionals, as well as the general public, about the rights of medical personnel to treat their patients in accordance with their conscience, free from discrimination or intimidation. They also give health care professionals a way to press charges in the event that they experience discrimination. By law the Obama Administration must leave a 30 day period open for the public to comment on his repeal of the right of conscience. Please write into the Department of Health and Human Service today and tell them that you oppose discrimination on account of conscience!
Please let your voice be heard!! Email at proposedrescission@hhs.gov.
Existing federal law allows health-care workers to refuse on moral grounds to provide abortions. This rule Bush strengthened and extended those protections. Overturning these regulations would result in Christian Doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals (and especially Catholic Hospitals, which would close rather than comply) not being able to opt out of performing or helping in abortion if their conscience dictates this.
Cardinal Francis George, the head of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) met with Pres. Obama for half an hour this week in a meeting not on Obama's schedule, and kept on the down low. The meeting was "private," and few details were given, but the Cardinal released a video the same day regarding the conscience protection regulations, which may suggest what he talked to Pres. Obama about.
According to LifeSiteNews, the Cardinal says the following in the video:
Cardinal George, the president of the USCCB, taped the video released today after the Obama Administration announced in early March that it was rescinding the regulations which guarantee that health workers cannot be forced to provide services that violate their consciences, including abortions.
"As Catholic bishops and American citizens, we are deeply concerned that such an action on the government's part would be the first step in moving our country from democracy to despotism," says the Cardinal in the video.
"Respect for personal conscience and freedom of religion as such ensures our basic freedom from government oppression. No government should come between an individual person and God - that's what America is supposed to be about. This is the true common ground for us as Americans. We therefore need legal protection for freedom of conscience and of religion-including freedom for religious health care institutions to be true to themselves."
The Cardinal observed that the country respects conscientious objection in the case of those who object to war, "even though it's good to defend your country," and for physicians who do not want to participate in the death penalty.
"Why shouldn't our government and our legal system permit conscientious objection to a morally bad action, the killing of babies in their mother's womb?" he asks. "People understand what really happens in an abortion and in related procedures - a living member of the human family is killed - that's what it's all about - and no one should be forced by the government to act as though he or she were blind to this reality."
The Cardinal concluded by urging concerned citizens to contact the government and tell them to retain the conscience protection regulations: "I ask you please to let the government know that you want conscience protections to remain strongly in place. In particular, let the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington know that you stand for the protection of conscience, especially now for those who provide the health care services so necessary for a good society.
The Abortion President strikes again. Let your voice be heard folks.
Dems Fake Outrage
If you really want to understand the absolute hypocritical nature of the Democratic Congressmen in this afternoon grilling of AIG chief executive, Edward Libby (who btw, came out of retirement to help Congress and AIG out of this mess and takes no salary) then look no further than David Freddoso at NRO. It really is laughable that the Congressmen (especially Barney Frank) express such faux outrage at the $165 million in bonuses paid by AIG to its executives. Why? Because they approved it to begin with :(emphasis mine)
One after another, members of the subcommmittee asked some version of the question: How could the company, in the midst of raking in $173 billion from the government and its Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), do something so “unconscionable?”
Rep. Paul Hodes (D., N.H.) declared that the AIG employees’ contracts containing the bonuses “should be held to be invalid or unenforceable on the grounds of public policy.” (No one is sure exactly what that is supposed to mean.) Rep. Barney Frank (D., Mass.), chairman of the Financial Services Committee, suggested that the government use its status as 80-percent owner of AIG to sue and recoup employees’ contractually obligated bonuses. “They gave themselves contracts that insulate them from the losses,” Frank complained. “We’re the effective owners of this company. We ought to exercise our rights as the owners . . . . Let’s bring a lawsuit, as the owners, against people who really did damage to the company.”
But Frank, Hodes, and 244 other congressmen — all Democrats — voted last month for a stimulus package that explicitly allows TARP funds to be used for such bonuses. To be precise, President Obama’s $789 billion stimulus package contained the following provision, which deals specifically with executive compensation at AIG and other companies that receive TARP money:
The prohibition required under clause (i) shall not be construed to prohibit any bonus payment required to be paid pursuant to a written employment contract executed on or before February 11, 2009, as such valid employment contracts are determined by the Secretary or the designee of the Secretary.
Rep. Ed Royce (R., Calif.) read this statutory language to the subcommittee twice during the hearing’s early-afternoon session, just in case anyone was unaware. The executive compensation loophole was not merely a holdover from President Bush’s original bailout plan. It was laid out in clear statutory language that was enacted and signed by Democrats over vigorous Republican opposition. The provision was inserted in conference committee by Senate Banking Committee chairman Christopher Dodd (D., Conn.), one of the biggest beneficiaries of political contributions from AIG employees.
As Royce noted, “Some Democrats were aware of the bonuses, and went out of their way to protect those bonuses.” President Obama was one of them, but you would not know it from his dramatic performance on Monday, when he addressed the issue of AIG bonuses. “I mean, how do they justify this outrage to the taxpayers who are keeping the company afloat?” Obama asked. “This is not just a matter of dollars and cents. It’s about our fundamental values . . . excuse me, I’m choked up with anger here.”
Yet it was Obama who signed the very bill that made the rules for bonuses under TARP, and that bill clearly allowed these bonuses.
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In Congress, true outrages are not intended to be remedied in realistic ways. Rather, they represent opportunities for politicians — in this case Democrats — to pretend outrage at their own legislation, and then to score points with populist rhetoric.
Update: Here is a bit more interesting tidbits:
Don't look to the Associated Press to hold the relevant actors accountable for the AIG bonus scandal. This piece buries the lede, leaving all mention of the stimulus package for the 14th paragraph, and mentioning the Dodd amendment only in the 26th paragraph:
Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., won passage of a provision earlier this year that they said would have prevented the type of payments now at the center of a storm.
It was dropped without explanation in the final compromise on the economic stimulus measure, replaced by a less restrictive set of conditions backed by Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., and accepted by the White House.
"The president goes out and says this is not acceptable and then some backroom deal gets cut to let these things get paid out anyway," said Wyden.
Good grief. The Foxes were watching the hen house and now they are outraged that some hens are gone. It's beyond ridiculous.
I've got two words for you my friends. Tea. Party.
The pathetic story of the Octo-Mom
I never posted on the Octo-Mom. I mean, why should I? Everyone seem to agree that she was reprehensible, immoral, and wrong to do what she did. We all said she should be banned, ignored and possibly have the children taken away.
She said she just wanted more children. She claimed she wanted to write a book about raising children. She clearly wanted some fame out of it.
Almost as disturbing as what she did, is the fact that our fascination (horror) of her and these poor babies has gotten her everything she wanted. Nannies, nurses, a house, and a reality show as icing on the cake.
At least this Angelina Jolie shaped faced woman won't be depending on the American taxpayer for a living anymore (or will that continue as well?)
What have we learned here?
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Veterans to pay
If you aren't angry enough over the whole AIG thing, this will really make your blood boil.
From Tony Perkins:
The president has proposed a plan that will force veterans to pay for their own treatment of injuries and disabilities resulting from military service to help fund his massive expansion of government spending. Under the plan, the Department of Veterans Affairs would generate revenue by billing veterans' private health insurance providers.
We have a moral obligation to care for those who have been harmed while serving to protect us; not exploit them for cash.
Petition to President Obama on Care for Wounded Veterans
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
"Diary of a Mad Black Conservative"
Couldn't agree more:
The fact that some people would actually attempt to replace Michael Steele this early shows a grotesque amount of racial insensitivity and would even push loyal GOPers like me to the door. Imagine, to an outsider, how it would look if the Republican Party overthrew its first black chairman.Overthrowing Michael Steele before even one political election has taken place is suicide.
Read the whole thing.
It's all spin folks...
Obama goes on TV to tell us how outraged he is over the AIG bonuses. He gives us ear candy (a phrase I got on twitter, and will continue to use because it just so perfectly describes Obama and his rhetoric) and he tells us what we want to hear. He tells us they will fight to keep the AIG guys from getting their bonuses. But the truth is, his administration knew about them all along. This is from the lefty Talking Points Memo:
I was reading this very dispiriting article in the Times about how folks in the administration have known about the AIG bonuses for months, how the folks at AIG are now saying they'd never have done any of it without the go-ahead from the Treasury and -- best of all -- how the plan to get AIG to pay the bonus money back appears to involve giving AIG still more taxpayer money which they can then hand back to us as 'repayment', while the new bonused execs (bonees?) get to keep the money anyway.
Forget Tax Problems, Obama Taps a Thief
Fromm Gawker:
In the annals of vetting, this will go down as the most laughable miss ever: Vivek Kundra, the D.C. official tapped by Obama to run government technology, pleaded guilty to a theft charge in 1997.
Kundra is currently suspended from his White House job as Yusuf Acar, a manager in the D.C. office Kundra headed, faces bribery charges unrelated to Kundra's 12-year-old theft. When Kundra, an advocate of free Web-based software like Gmail, was first named to the CIO post, tech enthusiasts hailed his nomination as proof that Obama took their concerns seriously. They have fallen strangely silent as Kundra's reputation has grown tarnished. One of Kundra's few remaining defenders, TechPresident's Micah Sifry, noted Kundra's work in "theft and fraud prevention" as he wrote Sunday, "We believe people are innocent until they're proven guilty, right?"
Right. Here's some guilty for you!
Maryland state records show that a Vivek Kundra pleaded guilty to a theft of less than $300, for which he received supervised probation before judgment and a fine of $500, $400 of which was suspended.
This and That
The government solving problems that didn't exist. An excellent piece by Thomas Sowell about the roots of the housing crisis.
The Stem Cell Sham by P.J. O'Rourke. So good, I insist you stop right now and read it.
In Memory of Ron Silver.
Could WH Press Secretary Robert Gibbs be any more classless? I know they think that if they can get people to focus on Rush Limbaugh, then maybe Americans won't notice that they don't really seem to know what they are doing, but it's not working.
I mentioned before that I had trouble finding bullets for my gun. They were sold out everywhere. I thought gun owners might be overreacting, but maybe not.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Chili Recipe
1lb ground meat (I usually use a bit more)
1 can of ranch beans (or any beans)
1 diced onion8 garlic cloves minced
1 29oz diced or crushed tomatoes
1 15 oz tomatoe sauce
3 Tbl chili powder
2t cumin
1t black pepper
1t salt
1 Tbl tobasco sauce
Brown the meat with onion on stovetop. Drain fat. Add the rest of the ingredients. Cook on low for a while. If you like jalapenos, put them on top as it cooks for smoky heat. Really good.
Steele Does Get It
Forget all the critics of Michael Steele. He gets it:
"I love this battle because what I see right now is leading to the ultimate political Armageddon between conservatism and liberalism," Steele declared at one point. "And the idea that free enterprise, free markets, free people are going to battle an oppressive, repressive, domineering government. I love that. That's what we are lining up for you folks. So you better get ready, strap it on, because it's coming. And you better pick your sides, you better choose now."
Huffpo is trying to bring him down, of course, but you can catch the audio there.
The Intolerance of the Left
Justice Antonin Scalia speaking with Peter Robinson of Uncommon Knowledge:
“My youngest child went to Amherst. I went to graduation there, and while I was there I gave a lecture. The lecture was boycotted by all of the faculty members at Amherst. It’s no skin off my nose…but it shows a closed-mindedness that should certainly not exist in the academy.”
This is truly appalling to me. This is a Supreme Court Judge. I would be just as appalled if it were a liberal Judge boycotted by the faculty. They should serve as examples of free thought and ideas. This behavior is antithetical to that end.
The left never fails to disappoint with their intolerance of people who don't agree with them.
Shame on Amherst indeed.
Success In Iraq
I know the left would like to forget Iraq because we didn't fail there, but while we might be depressed by what is going on here, It's good to take a look at what so many of our finest gave their lives for, and to thank them in our hearts for it's success.
Dick Cheney with John King:
Cheney said on CNN's "State of the Union with John King": "We have succeeded in creating, in the heart of the Middle East, a democratically governed Iraq. And that's a big deal. And that is, in fact, what we set out to do."
Even ABC news admits it:
Dramatic advances in public attitudes are sweeping Iraq, with declining violence, rising economic well-being and improved services lifting optimism, fueling confidence in public institutions and bolstering support for democracy.
...................................................
While deep difficulties remain, the advances are remarkable. Eighty-four percent of Iraqis now rate security in their own area positively, nearly double its August 2007 level. Seventy-eight percent say their protection from crime is good, more than double its low. Three-quarters say they can go where they want safely – triple what it's been.
It's clear that the negative media campaign against Bush and the United States in general, from our own media, skewed the Iraqi's view of us. The constant anti- American drumbeat had it's affect, but nonetheless, 64 percent of Iraqis, "now call democracy their preferred form of government."
Amazing.
Revolution and Tea Parties!!
You are going to be hearing a lot here about the American Tea Party. Here is the central location, although I think it is more of a state by state thing. Here is the facebook page. Here is the Houston Tea Party facebook page. via WND
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April 15th is the next big one. And you need to be a part of it.
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The New American Tea Party website states, "This isn't a conservative or liberal thing. This is about government forking over billions of dollars, our money, to businesses that should have failed. This is about taking money from responsible people and handing it over to CEOs who squandered their own." (via WND)
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Powerline has an amazing picture from yesterday's Cincinnati's tea party.
The Cincinnati Enquirer covers the rally:
Thousands of people filled Fountain Square this afternoon for the Cincinnati Tea Party, a grassroots-effort designed to show their disapproval for bailouts and the massive federal stimulus plan. People wore Revolution-era costumes and raised anti-bailout signs with messages like "Give us Liberty, not debt" and "No more bailouts." ...
The rally at Fountain Square was one of dozens staged across the country.
Sorry for the overload of info here, but this intro into a John Stossel report is a MUST SEE. (via HotAir):
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