1.) Obama doesn’t like separation of powers — Some say the Obama administration is blatantly lawless. Others say the Obama administration ignores laws it finds inconvenient. They’re both right! TheDC’s Neil Munro reports: “Obama administration officials are increasingly using regulation and litigation to bypass Congress, say free market advocates and social conservatives. ‘It is outrageous,’ said Dan Kish, vice president at the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Energy Research and a former Capitol Hill staffer. ‘Like it or not, Congress has the power to write laws.’ But these critics also say little can be done about it before November 2012, especially because they’re getting no support from the liberal critics who once lambasted George W. Bush for ignoring domestic and international laws, and for releasing ‘signing statements’ when he signed bills into law. In June, immigration officials announced this they will no longer apply immigration law against illegal immigrants who are studying, who have family relations in the U.S. military, or who are caring for ailing relatives. In August, officials announced they would drop deportation procedures against up to 300,000 illegal immigrants who are now being held, but not suspected of having committed major crimes. Those who are released will get a work permit, even though national unemployment is at least 9.1 percent … ‘This is being done because Congress didn’t pass the DREAM act,’ which Obama wanted to boost his 2012 support among Hispanic advocacy groups, said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies think tank.” Rules are important, unless you have to ignore them to get what you want. Welcome to the United States of Chicago.
2.) The Department of Just Us — You might not have noticed how politicized the Department of Justice has become, unless you’ve been paying the least bit of attention. Now we’ve got some numbers to bear that out, as TheDC’s Caroline May reports: “Former Department of Justice officials are calling for an investigation into current hiring practices, which they say have become politicized under Attorney General Eric Holder and the Obama administration. Pajamas Media conducted an analysis of the resumes of hired individuals in five Civil Rights Division sections. The conservative media outfit was only able to obtain the documents after filing a federal lawsuit in response to DOJ’s 10-month delay in responding to a Freedom of Information Act request. Based on their investigation, the researchers found that every single new hire — 70 in all — boasted far-left résumés. They found no conservative or apolitical new hires in the Voting Section (16 hires), the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices (5 hires), the Special Litigation Section (23 hires), the Education Section (11 hires), or the Employment Section (15 hires). ‘The Department’s political leadership clearly recognized that the resumes of these new attorneys would expose the hypocrisy of the Obama administration’s polemical attacks on the Bush administration for supposedly engaging in ‘politicized hiring’ — and that everyone would see just how militantly partisan the Obama Civil Rights Division truly is,’ wrote former Justice official and Pajamas Media investigator Hans von Spakovsky, explaining why the Department stonewalled FOIA requests for nearly a year.” Rules, Chicago, etc.
3.) Ponzi Security? — You can safely ignore the following, unless you’ve ever earned an honest paycheck in your life. TheDC’s C.J. Ciaramella reports: “There goes Rick Perry again, saying things that make liberals’ heads explode. Speaking to a crowd in Iowa this weekend, the Texas governor and GOP presidential hopeful doubled down on statements he made in his book, Fed Up!, that Social Security is essentially a pyramid scheme. ‘It is a Ponzi scheme for these young people,’ Perry said. ‘The idea that they’re working and paying into Social Security today, that the current program is going to be there for them, is a lie. It is a monstrous lie on this generation, and we can’t do that to them.’ The left reacted, predictably, with shock and outrage. Liberal blog Firedoglake called Perry’s rhetoric ‘wingnutty talk’ and ‘crazy s***.'” It’s fun when they panic. And in case you’re wondering exactly what a Ponzi scheme is, Ciaramella provides a definition: “A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment plan that pays returns to investors with their own money, rather than with actual profits. It lures investors with higher-than-usual payouts — money coming, of course, from new investors.” AKA new taxpayers. There’s one important difference, though: investors in a Ponzi scheme actually have a choice.
4.) Wonkette: All wet — Elsewhere in the race for the GOP nomination, here’s today’s smear against Michele Bachmann. TheDC’s Amanda Carey reports: “Ever a magnet for controversy, Minnesota Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann is once again the subject of a vicious rumor. A doctored video surfaced this week that appears to show Bachmann asking an audience, ‘Who likes white people?’ Accusations of racism followed, as blogs and websites including Wonkette used the video as evidence of Bachmann’s supposedly extreme views. Alice Stewart, a spokesperson for Bachmann’s presidential campaign, explained to The Daily Caller: ‘She said, “Who likes wet people?” It was pouring down rain that night.'” See for yourself, you can check out the full version of the video at the link. Oddly enough, the deceptively edited version has now been made private. Whoops! At least it fooled the suckers at Wonkette, although that’s really not much of an achievement.
5.) Lady Gaga is so CRAZY, you guys — Recently a basic-cable channel that used to play music videos held an awards ceremony for music videos like the ones it used to play. Isn’t that nice? TheDC’s Laura Donovan reports: “Performance artist Lady Gaga continues to outdo her own weird award-show behavior, and the 25-year-old took her odd antics to a new level during Sunday’s MTV Video Music Awards ceremony. Lady Gaga dressed and spoke in the character of male alter-ego ‘Jo Calderone,’ a drunk, chain-smoking, foul-mouthed man. The ‘Monster’ singer repeatedly referred to herself in the third person, saying, ‘[Gaga] left me! She said it always starts out good and then the guys — meaning me, I’m one of the guys — we get crazy.’ But according to FOX411’s Pop Tarts, the peculiarity continued off-camera. An insider told the news outlet that Lady Gaga made trips to the men’s restroom throughout the day as part of her drag act.” Wow, she’s like totally subverting gender roles and stuff. How original. How rebellious. Just like every other pop star who ever became rich and famous by slutting it up, and then decided to teach us all a lesson about how appearances are deceiving or something. Every generation gets the Madonna it deserves.
6.) Today’s words of wisdom from Alec Baldwin’s Truther, er, Twitter feed — “Home in NY where hurricanes just aren’t the same. No dune erosion, no shutters rattling. No neighbors calling, asking u 2 board their horse.”
VIDEO: Kinky Friedman: ‘Obama has done for the economy what pantyhose did for foreplay’
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