TAKING DICTATION: Obama Tells Press To Focus On Negligible Cuts – Free Press Obliges!
Archive for 2009
May 9, 2009
THAT’S DR. DOLLY PARTON TO YOU.
MAYBE A LIST OF PEOPLE ON THE HILL WHO DIDN’T KNOW WOULD BE SHORTER? Top Pelosi Aide Learned Of Waterboarding in 2003. Let the prosecutions begin!
BEST HEADLINE ON THE STORY: Obama Administration Agrees With Sarah Palin on Polar Bears.
And Obama already agrees with her on gay marriage . . . .
TIGERHAWK: I stand in naked solidarity with Carrie Prejean. And Barack Obama!
RELATED: “Thank you, however, for the intimate revelation that you are a ‘hetero-American.’ This is a startling admission to hear from a Harvard graduate.”
Speaking as a former Yalie Of The Week, all I can say is: Heh. Indeed.
SUBJECTING CYBERWAR to the law of armed conflict.
ALBUQUERQUE: Protestors Prep for Obama Visit.
BILL WHITTLE, STEPHEN GREEN, AND ANDREW IAN DODGE: How PJTV Could Have Saved Taxpayers $357,000 in the White House/AF-1 Kerfuffle.
KANSAS CITY STAR: The Pelosi Circus Rolls On.
HAS YOUR MARRIAGE BEEN AFFECTED BY THE RECESSION? The Insta-Wife and PJTV want to know.
THIS IS NOT THE jobs number I knew.
YOU CAN VOTE FOR THE NEXT BLU-RAY RELEASE from the Criterion Collection.
MY GUESS IS, HE’LL DO WHATEVER THE BOSS SAYS:
Today’s Washington Post reports: “The Obama administration is preparing to revive the system of military commissions established at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, under new rules that would offer terrorism suspects greater legal protections, government officials said.”
But State Department legal adviser nominee Harold Koh has maintained that no set of modifications to the rules governing military commissions can “dispel[] the fatal global perception of unfairness” that he believes they suffer from.
Of course, when Obama does it, the “global perception” is likely to be less fatal, because, you know, it’s Obama doing it.
GAY RIGHTS: Time to Play “Who is the Rube?” That’s always the question, isn’t it?
DO YOU THINK? Pelosi Has Lost ‘Credibility’ on Interrogation Tactics. “ABC News’ Rick Klein reports: The top Republican on the House intelligence committee told ABC News Friday that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ‘doesn’t have any credibility’ in her claim that she was never briefed by intelligence officials that waterboarding and other hard interrogation techniques had been employed.”
Plus, Pelosi folds.
But maybe it was just a big misunderstanding?
May 8, 2009
MORE “TEA PARTY” ACTIVISM: “Dozens of Jefferson Area Tea Party activists marched through downtown Charlottesville Friday afternoon and into Congressman Tom Perriello’s office. This comes more than three weeks after Charlottesville’s first ever Tax Day Tea Party.”
SO THE MARKETS ARE way up. Well, compared to their low, anyway, not compared to where they were when Obama was sworn in. But is it a sucker’s rally? Hey, if I knew that, I’d be trading, not blogging. I don’t really see how the economic future looks brighter, though, given the out-of-control spending and growing unemployment numbers. On the other hand, if you’re worried about inflation, maybe it makes sense to pile into equities?
UPDATE: Retired steel mill engineer William Casey emails:
All the self-styled economic experts and business commentators, and even Ben Bernanke can look at all the charts and and computer models they want, but there is one clue to where the recession is. More steel companies are idling coke making facilities. Coke is an essential ingredient for making steel and these multi-million dollar facilities are not shut down for short term forecasts. The process is too costly and potentially damaging to the facilities, so that these decisions are not made on a whim or a guess, but on a firm view of future sales.
Not a good sign for recovery. Here’s a related item: U.S. Steel’s Fairfield Works in Alabama to suspend production, affecting most of 1,700 workers. “U.S. Steel said Wednesday that it plans to temporarily idle primary steelmaking operations at the Fairfield Works, affecting most of the 1,700 workers there, as steel demand slumps. . . . U.S. Steel has now shut or announced plans to shut five of its seven North American steelmaking operations. The company lost $440 million in the first quarter, and the World Steel Association projects that U.S. demand for steel will fall 36 percent in 2009.”
ANOTHER UPDATE: More on the “sucker’s rally” side, here.
CIVIL RIGHTS PROGRESS IN TENNESSEE: House OKs guns in eateries. “The state House voted 66-23 Thursday to accept the Senate version of legislation authorizing handgun permit holders to take their weapons into restaurants that serve alcoholic beverages. The Senate, which approved the bill 26-7 last month, is expected Monday night to reaffirm its previous position, making way for Gov. Phil Bredesen’s review. Bredesen has not taken a public position on the bill, saying he would wait until it reaches his desk to review it. Most legislators expect he will either sign the bill or let it become law without a signature.”
WHAT’S HAPPENED TO the dollar’s purchasing power. Disturbing chart.
WALL STREET JOURNAL: Republicans and ObamaCare: The Sound of Silence is Deafening.
ED MORRISSEY: What if we held an auction and no one came?
A NICE, GESTURE, EMPHASIS ON THE “GESTURE” PART: Obama sends handwritten letter to gay soldier ousted from the military promising to repeal DADT.
THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN, WE’D BE SPENDING UNACCOUNTABLY ON DEFENSE. AND THEY WERE RIGHT! Pentagon’s Black Budget Grows to More Than $50 Billion.