March 1st, 2011
Late last month, journalist Timothy Rutten wrote a scathing review of the anonymously written “O: A Presidential Novel” in the Los Angeles Times. A few days later, Rutten again criticized the book, its publisher Simon and Schuster and its presumed author, former McCain aide Mark Salter. Rutten called the book’s publication a “shoddy and deceptive little enterprise” because of Salter’s “demonstrated history of antagonism for Obama” and “carload of political scores to settle.” (more)
December 29th, 2010
1.) John Shadegg: House GOP is ‘on probation’ — After 16 years in the House, Rep. John Shadegg is retiring to Arizona. The Daily Caller’s Jon Ward caught up with the son of Barry Goldwater altar ego Stephen Shadegg on his way out the door. Ward asked him, for instance, what makes the Tea Party different from previous conservative waves, such as Newt Gingrich’s 1994 production, in which Shadegg had a walk-on part as a newly elected congressman. “When the Gingrich revolution happened, the Gingrich revolution collapsed,” Shadegg told Ward. “It had betrayed its supporters.” By “it” Shadegg means Republican detractors and other “old bulls” like Tom DeLay, who claimed in 2005 that the government could not cut its spending any further. Now the party is getting a second chance, Shadegg said. “What happens to this class? Does this class get turned by Washington? Does the class change or does this class actually change Washington? I personally think that’s the $64,000 question.” Or, you know, the $1.7 trillion question. (more)
December 10th, 2010
| Obama must convince liberal rich people that it is OK for them to keep their money – We’re gonna need a bigger shoe: Carbon footprint of Cancun climate conference significantly larger than last year – WaPo finds GAO flat-out lied in for-profit report – Indian ambassador groped by TSA for second time in three months – Cruel irony: This year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner earned it, but can’t attend – Earmarks may be dead in the House, but phone-marks are alive and well |
1.) Deep Democratic pockets may dry up after tax-cut deal – “President Obama’s advisors are confident that liberals dismayed by his agreement to extend tax breaks for the wealthy will forgive him by the time the 2012 election kicks into gear,” reports the LA Times. But will less forgetful and more moneyed liberals be as starry-eyed? The Times found that “some stalwart party donors are vowing to withhold funds because of their anger over the tax-cut deal.” Hedge fund manager Art Lipson, for instance, told the paper, “I do not plan to support Obama and his reelection effort,” because Obama is not willing to steal more of Lipson’s money. The Times counters its own thesis by pointing out that the DNC raised some big bucks “despite anger in the liberal wing about the lack of a public option in healthcare reform and the slow pace of repealing the ban on gays serving openly in the military.” New York Magazine’s John Heileman explained best what Obama must do to keep the money rolling in: “If he is going to climb up on top of Casa Blanca and urinate all over congressional Democrats, he will need to learn the trick that Bill Clinton mastered: doing it with such a big bright smile that they mistake his piss for Champagne.”
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2.) Cancun climate conference run by hypocritical clowns – “In the middle of all the global-warming demagoguery and calls for developed nations to shell out $100 billion per year by 2020 in climate reparations to help less-developed countries cope with the unfair burden of climate change, one thing has very obviously not changed,” notes The Daily Caller’s Amanda Carey–”the hypocrisy.” Yes, that’s right. There was lots of “Do what I say, but not as I do,” at this week’s freakout fiesta. “The carbon footprint of the Cancun conference is five times larger than it was for the 2009 conference in Copenhagen, despite the fact that attendance this year was significantly lower,” writes Carey. “The figure of the carbon footprint released by the Mexican government is 25,000 tons.” The pollution caused by guests’ use of private jets, round-the-clock but oft-empty shuttle buses, and electricity use at the resort’s five-star hotel will be “offset” by planting trees in nearby poor-person communities.
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3.) The GAO lied, stock prices dived – In August, the Government Accountability Office released a damning report exposing unethical recruiting practices by some of the country’s top for-profit colleges, many of which make the bulk of their profit from government-backed student loans. The Department of Education seized on the findings as evidence that new regulations for the for-profit industry were needed. The feeding frenzy had begun: Liberal bloggers, then mainstream papers like the New York Times, wielded the GAO report like a bludgeon, causing for-profit stocks to plummet. This week, the Washington Post uncovered its own unethical practice: The GAO had lied. And it had lied to such an extent, in fact, that it quietly released a heavily revised version of its report in late November. For some reason, “Oops” just doesn’t seem adequate, does it?
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4.) TSA gropes the wrong diplomat – “The foreign minister said Thursday that it was unacceptable that the Indian ambassador to the United States was patted down by a security agent at a Mississippi airport, and that he would complain to Washington,” the Associated Press reports. “The ambassador, Meera Shankar, was returning from giving a speech at Mississippi State University last week when she was pulled out of line at the airport and given a pat-down by a female Transportation Security Administration agent. Foreign Minister S. M. Krishna said this was the second time the ambassador had been chosen for a pat-down in the past three months.” If only Ambassador Krishna were an American politician, she could forego the screening process altogether!
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5.) Winner of Nobel Prize actually earned it this year– “Imprisoned in China and with close family members forbidden to leave the country, the Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, this year’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate, is to be represented at the prize ceremony here on Friday by an empty chair,” reports the New York Times. Not since 1935, when Adolf Hitler imprisoned Count Carl von Ossietzky in a concentration camp, has a Nobel prize winner been prohibited from attending by his government. In response to the news, Pres. Obama payed Xiaobo the highest compliment an egomaniac can pay another human being: “Mr Liu Xiaobo is far more deserving of this award than I was.” Meanwhile, the Russian government has suggested that Australian activist Julian Assange should have won the award for nearly giving Hillary Clinton an aneurysm.
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| 6.) Earmarks are only half the problem – While the House may have taken up an earmark ban, there’s nothing to stop representatives from ordering their pork over the phone. “They still will be able to call or write to federal agencies to ask that funds are spent on projects they recommend, and there’s currently no official record of how often representatives and senators do this,” reports TheDC’s Matthew Boyle. “Though the process, dubbed ‘phone-marking,’ doesn’t forcibly require those federal agencies to grant a congressional members’ request, they frequently do because of the clout representatives and senators carry in Washington. Brian Riedl, a fellow for The Heritage Foundation, said the only difference between phone-marks and earmarks is that there is no ‘paper trail’ of members’ requests. Riedl said federal agencies grant the requests more often than not for fear of their budgets being cut by spurned legislators.” Will Republicans take up a phone-mark ban as well? Probably not! |
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October 8th, 2010
In a private conversation captured on audiotape, California Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown or one of his aides can be heard referring to Republican rival Meg Whitman as a “whore,” the Los Angeles Times reported late Thursday. (more)
August 16th, 2010
Reporting from Atlanta — Nothing went right for the Dodgers on Sunday. (more)
June 28th, 2010
Deceased U.S. Sen. Robert Byrd will be remembered by lots of things: His love for dogs and hyperbole, his ability to funnel federal dollars into make-work jobs in his native West Virginia, his loathing of balanced budgets and the fact that he skillfully conned several generations of Appalachian woodhicks into voting for him, over and over again, for almost six decades. (more)
June 15th, 2010
The arguments over media bias are not just tiresome – they don’t go far enough. In fact, much of the mainstream media, especially in their opinion pages and talking-head analysis, have crossed the line into propaganda. Where bias reflects a particular way of looking at the world that emphasizes some facts over others, propaganda is an echo-chamber effort to skew facts in order to serve a larger “truth.” (more)
May 25th, 2010
It has been big news everywhere that “Shrek Forever After” took a big tumble at the box office this weekend, barely scraping together $71 million in revenues, a dramatic fall from the grosses of the franchise’s past sequels. What happened? The reviews weren’t so bad and the DreamWorks Animation 3-D film earned an A from CinemaScore, signaling that the movie was still greeted with enthusiasm — at least by the people who went to see it. (more)
May 21st, 2010
Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong on Thursday defiantly denied charges made by disgraced former teammate Floyd Landis that he had used performance-enhancing drugs. Armstrong then dramatically crashed out of the Amgen Tour of California, caught in a tangle of at least 20 falling cyclists, leaving the race with a bloodied eye and swollen elbow. (more)
April 20th, 2010
It’s official. An Iraqi court has ordered a partial recount of the March 7 election results despite assurances from the United States and United Nations that the vote was fair and free. Shortly after the elections, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called the results “unacceptable and unreasonable” and demanded a recount. The ruling is limited to the province that includes Baghdad but the Prime Minister hopes that’s enough to move him ahead of former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi in a vote that is reminiscent of the 2000 Presidential election in the United States. “Baghdad, with a total of 70 seats, was by far the biggest prize for parties competing,” according to AFP. Mr. Maliki has said he will accept the final results but the potential for Mr. Allawi to be upended has everyone on edge and fearful of looming violence. (more)
April 13th, 2010
Google has just announced that they will now begin factoring page speed in their search algorithm rankings. That means the faster a website loads, the higher up they show up in Google searches. Sluggish sites on the other hand will be knocked down the search rankings even if they have the most relevant information. While I believe that Google’s latest actions are rational and that it serves consumer interests since no one wants a slow results, it does raise an interesting dilemma for “Network Neutrality” advocates who propagate the myth that all websites should operate at the same speed. (more)
April 7th, 2010
From Augusta, Ga. (more)
April 5th, 2010
The man who made perhaps the most famous shot in cinematic hoops history never played high school basketball. (more)
March 31st, 2010
There weren’t enough hankies in the land of Yankees a few weeks ago when the sound system blasted “Country Roads” after West Virginia won the Big East Tournament title at New York’s Madison Square Garden. (more)
March 24th, 2010
In the midst of California’s fiscal crisis a report has been released by a state board that says a host of new climate regulatory measures will not cost the state a dime. Not only will these measures not hurt California the board says, but they will even end up increasing job numbers and promoting growth. Unsurprisingly, many organizations and people found reasons to be critical of the report. (more)
March 17th, 2010
They are selling secrets along the shining corridors of the Savyolovsky Market: Unlisted numbers. Tax returns. Customs declarations. Wanted lists. Police reports. Car registrations. Business permits. (more)
