Open Bar – The ‘Last Call’ For Get Drunk

February 8th, 2009

Alas, we only created this site (née Get Drunk And Vote 4 McCain) for the recent Presidential campaign.

And we all know how that turned out.

So we think it is probably time to close up shop here. At least for the foreseeable future.

But before doing so we want to thank each and every one of our gentle readers – and especially those who posted comments and who sent in news tips.

It was a lot of fun, except for the final results.

Please come over to our sister site, Sweetness & Light, for more of the same – only different.

Cheers!

We’ll always have Paris.

16 Comments »

New Dealer Obama Blasts ‘Old Theories’

February 7th, 2009

Another entry in the annals of Mr. Obama’s bi-partisanship, via the Politico:

Obama blasts ‘tired old theories’

By NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON | 2/7/09

In his weekly address, President Barack Obama hailed the Senate’s apparent Friday deal on the economic stimulus plan, saying that Republicans and Democrats "responded appropriately to the urgency this moment demands"—but continued to criticize Republicans for pushing what he called "tired old theories." …

Obama surrogates fanned out yesterday to spread the sharper message that president kicked off on Thursday with his campaign-style partisan speech before House Democrats hammering Republicans for pushing tax cuts in the stimulus bill…

"Let’s be clear: We can’t expect relief from the tired old theories that, in eight short years, doubled the national debt, threw our economy into a tailspin, and led us into this mess in the first place. We can’t rely on a losing formula that offers only tax cuts as the answer to all our problems while ignoring our fundamental economic challenges – the crushing cost of health care or the inadequate state of so many schools; our addiction to foreign oil or our crumbling roads, bridges, and levees," he said. "The American people know that our challenges are great. They don’t expect Democratic solutions or Republican solutions – they expect American solutions." ..

What is older or more tired than the theory that you can spend your way out of a recession?

The theory even predates its most famous proponent John Maynard Keynes. And Keynes was born in 1883 and began his financial career in England during WWI.

And of course variations on what would come to be known as Keynesian economics were all the rage during the Great Depression, and are credited by many with prolonging it for seven years.

In contrast, tax cuts have gotten us out of recessions every time they have been tried. With Mr. Reagan and both Bush Presidencies.

No, Mr. Obama’s idea of hope and change is a return to the early twentieth century. He is pining for bread lines and the WPA.

And the socialism agenda those artificially prolonged hardships begat.

4 Comments »

White House To Take Over The Census?

February 6th, 2009

A press release from House Republican Leader John Boehner:

Leader Boehner Questions White House Takeover of U.S. Census Bureau

Nonpartisan Census Should Remain Independent of Politics, Republican Leader Says

Washington, Feb 6 – House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) today issued the following statement regarding reports that control of the U.S. Census Bureau will be stripped from the Department of Commerce and placed with the White House staff:

“I am disturbed by reports that control of the traditionally nonpartisan Census Bureau is being stripped from the Commerce Department and placed with the White House staff.  This action appears to be motivated by politics, rather than the interests of our country, and the burden will be on the new administration to prove otherwise during Senator Gregg’s confirmation hearings.  The United States Census should remain independent of politics; it should not be directed by political operatives working out of the White House.”

This is beyond preposterous.

Do we really want former ACORN thugs activists, like Messrs Obama and Emanuel, running the US Census?

Where is the outrage?

Where is any media coverage?

9 Comments »


Stabenow’s Stake In ‘Fairness Doctrine’

February 6th, 2009

From the Politico:


Sen. Stabenow wants hearings on radio ‘accountability’; talks fairness doctrine

This morning, radio host Bill Press brought up the recent closing of liberal station Obama 1260 when speaking with Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow, and talked about whether there needs to be a balance to right-wing talk on the radio dial.

BILL PRESS: Yeah, I mean, look: They have a right to say that. They’ve got a right to express that. But, they should not be the only voices heard. So, is it time to bring back the Fairness Doctrine?

SENATOR DEBBIE STABENOW (D-MI): I think it’s absolutely time to pass a standard. Now, whether it’s called the Fairness Standard, whether it’s called something else — I absolutely think it’s time to be bringing accountability to the airwaves. I mean, our new president has talked rightly about accountability and transparency. You know, that we all have to step up and be responsible. And, I think in this case, there needs to be some accountability and standards put in place.

BILL PRESS: Can we count on you to push for some hearings in the United States Senate this year, to bring these owners in and hold them accountable?

SENATOR DEBBIE STABENOW (D-MI): I have already had some discussions with colleagues and, you know, I feel like that’s gonna happen. Yep.

Although Obama has been publicly opposed to reinstating the fairness doctrine, conservative radio has talked nonstop about the fear of it returning (or perhaps something like it with another name) while there’s a Democrat in the White House and a Democratic majority in Congress.

UPDATE: A commenter points out that Stabenow is married to Tom Athans, a liberal talk radio executive.

Mr. Athans is not just a “liberal talk radio executive.” If one goes to the Wikipedia entry linked in the article, one learns:

Tom Athans

He is a co-founder and former CEO of the liberal-progressive Democracy Radio, an organization that produced and supported liberal talk radio shows that formerly included the Ed Schultz Show. He is now the executive Vice-President of another liberal talk radio organization Air America…

On November 4, 2005, Athans stepped down as CEO of Democracy Radio, ending the organization.

After stepping down from Democracy Radio, Athans became the Executive Vice-President of Air America, a much larger but similar organization. Athans is in charge of developing new programming to expand Air Americas lineup. He will also head Air America’s Washington, D.C. corporate office…

On April 2, 2008, the Detroit Free Press reported that Athans had been implicated in a prostitution sting:

Thomas Athans, the husband of U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow and cofounder of a liberal talk radio network, told Troy police detectives that he paid a prostitute $150 for sex at a Troy hotel in late February, according to a police report obtained Wednesday by the Free Press under the Freedom of Information Act. Athans, 46, was not arrested or charged, but agreed to fully cooperate with police in their investigation of Internet-based prostitution at hotels in the city, according to the report. Athans was pulled over by police on I-75 minutes after leaving the Residence Inn on Livernois, just east of I-75 and south of Big Beaver, the evening of Feb. 26. He was driving a Cadillac DeVille registered jointly to him and Stabenow at their address in Lansing. He was ticketed for driving on a suspended license. When questioned during the stop, he acknowledged he had been at the hotel with a woman he met on the Internet. On further questioning, he acknowledged he had paid the woman $150 for oral sex.

All in all, Mr. Athans is the epitome of a liberal Democrat.

A failure in business, who now wants the rules changed.

And of course he is a moral reprobate.

(Thanks to John Galt for the heads up.)

3 Comments »

Cheney: Obama Ups Chances Of Attacks

February 5th, 2009

From the Politico:

Cheney warns of new attacks

By Jim VandeHei, John F. Harris and Mike Allen

Wed Feb 4

Former Vice President Dick Cheney warned that there is a “high probability” that terrorists will attempt a catastrophic nuclear or biological attack in coming years, and said he fears the Obama administration’s policies will make it more likely the attempt will succeed.

In an interview Tuesday with Politico, Cheney unyieldingly defended the Bush administration’s support for the Guantanamo Bay prison and coercive interrogation of terrorism suspects.

And he asserted that President Obama will either backtrack on his stated intentions to end those policies or put the country at risk in ways more severe than most Americans — and, he charged, many members of Obama’s own team — understand.

“When we get people who are more concerned about reading the rights to an Al Qaeda terrorist than they are with protecting the United States against people who are absolutely committed to do anything they can to kill Americans, then I worry,” Cheney said.

Protecting the country’s security is “a tough, mean, dirty, nasty business,” he said. “These are evil people. And we’re not going to win this fight by turning the other cheek.”

Citing intelligence reports, Cheney said at least 61 of the inmates who were released from Guantanamo during the Bush administration — “that’s about 11 or 12 percent” — have “gone back into the business of being terrorists.”

The 200 or so inmates still there, he claimed, are “the hard core” whose “recidivism rate would be much higher.” (Lawyers for Guantanamo detainees have strongly disputed the recidivism figures, asserting that the Pentagon data have inconsistencies and omissions.) Cheney called Guantanamo a “first-class program,” and “a necessary facility” that is operated legally and with better food and treatment than the jails in inmates’ native countries.

But he said he worried that “instead of sitting down and carefully evaluating the policies,” Obama officials are unwisely following “campaign rhetoric” and preparing to release terrorism suspects or afford them legal protections granted to more conventional defendants in crime cases.

The choice, he alleged, reflects a naive mindset among the new team in Washington: “The United States needs to be not so much loved as it needs to be respected.

Sometimes, that requires us to take actions that generate controversy. I’m not at all sure that that’s what the Obama administration believes.” …

Of course it does not take a Nostradamus to realize that the terrorists will probably strike again — big time.

And as even Mr. Biden noted, probably sooner rather than later, with such a naive neophyte in the White House.

But to hear this from the unflappable Mr. Cheney is especially unnerving.

5 Comments »

Dems Stop All Efforts To Trim Stimulus

February 5th, 2009

From the economic mavens of the New York Times:

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, right, accompanied by Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., left, and Sen. James Webb, D-Va., testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, Feb. 2, 2009, before the Wartime Contracting Commission hearing into Iraq inspector general Stuart Bowen’s critical account of the Bush administration’s blunders in post-war reconstruction efforts.

Centrists in Senate Push to Cut Billions From Stimulus

February 6, 2009
By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN

WASHINGTON — Anxious over the ballooning size of the proposed economic stimulus package, now at more than $900 billion, lawmakers in both parties are working on a last-minute plan to strip tens of billions of dollars from the bill.

The effort is being led by two centrist senators, Ben Nelson, Democrat of Nebraska, and Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, who say they would like to pare from $50 billion to $200 billion from the package. The final Senate vote on the stimulus package is expected late on Thursday,

Among the initiatives that could be cut are $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts, $14 million for cyber security research by the Homeland Security Department, $1 billion for the National Science Foundation, $400 million for research and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, $850 million for Amtrak and $400 million for climate change research. But so far, none of the suggestions come close to being enough to shrink the package on the scale proposed…

Ms. Collins, one of just a few moderates left in the diminished Republican minority, and Mr. Nelson, one of the most conservative members of the strengthened Democratic majority, have teamed up before to bridge partisan gaps, including an effort in July 2007 to change the mission of American troops in Iraq while not setting the hard deadline for withdrawal opposed by President Bush…

On Wednesday, Ms. Collins and Mr. Nelson met together at the White House with President Obama, who earlier in the day had met one-on-one in the Oval Office with another Republican moderate, Senator Olympia J. Snowe, also of Maine.

Ms. Snowe personally delivered a list of cuts, totaling about $100 billion, that she said should be made. On leaving the White House, she said it was imperative that “every provision has a job creation component.”

But even as Mr. Obama expressed continued willingness to compromise, he warned critics of the stimulus bill that they were standing in the way of his agenda, and he urged Congress to act fast.

“I’ve heard criticisms of this plan that echo the very same failed theories that helped lead us into this crisis, the notion that tax cuts alone will solve all our problems, that we can ignore the fundamental challenges like energy independence and the high cost of health care and still expect our economy and our country to thrive,” he said.

“I reject that theory,” Mr. Obama continued, “and so did the American people when they went to the polls in November and voted resoundingly for change. So I urge members of Congress to act without delay.” …

Later, in a series of votes on amendments to the bill on Wednesday evening, Senate Democrats easily beat back a number of efforts by Republicans to vastly change the stimulus measure by stripping out spending programs and broadening the tax cuts.

In a number of those votes, the Democrats were joined by Ms. Collins and Ms. Snowe, as well as Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and George V. Voinovich of Ohio…

Ever notice whom the New York Times calls “centrists” or “moderate” Republicans?

Later, in a series of votes on amendments to the bill on Wednesday evening, Senate Democrats easily beat back a number of efforts by Republicans to vastly change the stimulus measure by stripping out spending programs and broadening the tax cuts.

In a number of those votes, the Democrats were joined by Ms. Collins and Ms. Snowe…

Somehow they always turn out to be Republicans who vote along with the Democrats, even against their own expressed wishes – indeed, even against our troops in the field.

But of course that is all bi-partisanship means to The Times.

It’s the same kind of Orwellian newspeak that says repeats the canard that garnering 52% of the vote without any clear agenda is now a resounding mandate for whatever Mr. Obama now decides he wants to do:

“I’ve heard criticisms of this plan that echo the very same failed theories that helped lead us into this crisis, the notion that tax cuts alone will solve all our problems, that we can ignore the fundamental challenges like energy independence and the high cost of health care and still expect our economy and our country to thrive,” he said.

“I reject that theory,” Mr. Obama continued, “and so did the American people when they went to the polls in November and voted resoundingly for change. So I urge members of Congress to act without delay.” …

Hugo Chavez would be proud.

1 Comment »

Obama: Catastrophe If Stimulus Delayed

February 4th, 2009

From a breathless Associated Press:

Obama warns of catastrophe if stimulus delayed

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama says the recession will turn into a "catastrophe" if the economic stimulus is not passed quickly.

Obama rejected several criticisms of the plan: that tax cuts alone will solve the problem, or that longer-term goals such as energy independence and health care reform are not also critical to address at the same time. The White House released some of Obama’s remarks ahead of an event on executive compensation limits.

Obama subtly referenced his win in November while arguing that recalcitrant lawmakers need to get behind his approach.

Obama urged members of Congress "to act without delay" while also promising to "work to make it stronger."

Historically, recessions and depressions used to be called “panics.” Such as in the “The Great Panic Of 1873.”

And for a real reason. For much of these things are psychological.

Mr. Obama must know this.

So why is he doing his best with his histrionics to drive down the economy?

Mr. Emanuel knows why. As did Mr. Alinsky.

Mr. Obama even admitted it in his second autobiography, The Audacity Of Hope – Thoughts On Reclaiming The American Dream, pp 90-91:

Opportunity

Finally—and most controversially—government has helped structure the social compact between business and the American worker…

Again, it took the shock of the Great Depression, with a third of all people finding themselves out of work, ill housed, ill clothed, and ill fed, for government to correct this imbalance. Two years into office, FDR was able to push through Congress the Social Security Act of 1935, the centerpiece of the new welfare state, a safety net that would lift almost half of all senior citizens out of poverty, provide unemployment insurance for those who had lost their jobs, and provide modest welfare payments to the disabled and the elderly poor. FDR also initiated laws that fundamentally changed the relationship between capital and labor: the forty-hour workweek, child labor laws, and minimum wage laws; and the National Labor Relations Act, which made it possible to organize broad-based industrial unions and forced employers to bargain in good faith…

For a while this seemed to be where the story would end—with FDR saving capitalism from itself through an activist federal government that invests in its people and infrastructure, regulates the marketplace, and protects labor from chronic deprivation. And in fact, for the next twenty-five years, through Republican and Democratic administrations, this model of the American welfare state enjoyed a broad consensus. There were those on the right who complained of creeping socialism, and those on the left who believed FDR had not gone far enough…

Obviously, Mr. Obama is of the second camp. those who believe “FDR had not gone far enough.”

Which is why, like Mr. Roosevelt, he needs a terrible crisis to push through his radical socialist agenda.

And the country be damned.

3 Comments »

Daschle Withdraws As Health Nominee

February 3rd, 2009

From a deeply saddened Reuters:

Daschle withdraws as Obama’s healthcare nominee

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle withdrew his nomination as President Barack Obama’s health secretary on Tuesday, saying he did not want to be a distraction after tax errors forced him to pay $140,000 in back taxes.

"This morning, Tom Daschle asked me to withdraw his nomination for secretary of health and human services," Obama said in a statement. "I accept his decision with sadness and regret."

Daschle also will not be taking the White House job he was slated to hold concurrently to spearhead a major reform of the costly U.S. healthcare system.

Daschle said in a statement he was withdrawing because he did not want to be a distraction.

"This work will require a leader who can operate with the full faith of Congress and the American people, and without distraction," Daschle said in a statement released by the White House.

"Right now, I am not that leader and will not be a distraction," he said.

Don’t tell me the Democrats can be shamed over just a little tax cheating and lobbying.

There must be a lot more to the story.

Well, anyway, it’s back to being a multi-millionaire for Mr. Daschle.

6 Comments »

Third Obama Nominee Tax Cheat Quits

February 3rd, 2009

From the Politico:

U.S. President elect Barack Obama appears with Nancy Killefer (R), his appointee as White House Chief Performance Officer to oversee budget and spending reform during a news conference at his transition office in Washington January 7, 2009.

Tax problems fell OMB official

By JONATHAN MARTIN | 2/3/09

Failure to pay taxes will fell at least one of President Obama’s appointees.

Nancy Killefer, who was slated to be the White House’s first chief performance officer, withdrew her nomination Tuesday, saying in a letter to the president that her tax delinquency would cause political hardships.

Killefer, in a five-sentence letter released by the White House, said she had “come to realize in the current environment that my personal tax issue of D.C. Unemployment tax could be used to create exactly the kind of distraction and delay those duties must avoid.”

The former McKinsey consultant faced a nearly $950 lien in 2005 on her Washington, D.C. home after not paying taxes for a year and a half on household help.

The lien was disclosed when Killefer was appointed in early January to a new OMB position aimed at streamlining government and rooting out waste and inefficiency…

“She has nanny tax problems that may not have been insurmountable on their own, but given the Geithner and Daschle cumulative effect, she had to withdraw” said a Senate source informed of the withdrawal.

Obama aides didn’t immediately answer a barrage of questions from reporters about Killefer, the most pressing of which was: how did her appointment go through in the first place and did she disclose her lien upon being tapped?

The questionnaire Obama made all nominees fill out is explicit on the matter, asking them if taxes and Social Security obligations were paid on household help.

The “current environment,’ as Killefer put it in her letter, poses political danger to Obama…

Obama ignored a shouted question Monday morning from CNN’s Ed Henry after a White House ceremony announcing the selection of Sen. Judd Gregg as Commerce Secretary as to why so many administration appointees are having tax troubles…

This is craziness.

Aren’t there any Democrats who pay their taxes?

Can we question their patriotism now?

2 Comments »

Biden Fumbles His Oath-Giving – Twice

February 3rd, 2009

From Fox News:

Biden Fumbles Clinton Oath

Vice President Biden learned on Monday how hard it can be to deliver an oath of office, when he slipped during the mock swearing-in of Secretary of State Clinton.

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Mockery of and apologies to the Supreme Court chief justice aside, Vice President Biden on Monday learned how difficult it is to deliver an oath of office.

The vice president fumbled his words while swearing in Hillary Clinton as secretary of state in a  mock ceremony held at Foggy Bottom.

After smoothly saying and having Clinton repeat that she does "solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic," Biden, who was using a note card, faltered.

"… that I will bear — excuse me … that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same …"

He then continued without incident after a hearty laugh from the audience.

The laughter may have been an acknowledgement of the irony following Biden’s recent joke at the expense of Chief Justice John Roberts, who slipped when he was administering the oath to President Obama.

Roberts came back and repeated the oath in a private ceremony the following day after Biden, who was holding a swearing-in ceremony for senior staff, joked about Roberts’ mistake.

Biden reportedly later called Roberts to apologize. The vice president had another chance to get it right on Tuesday when he swore in Eric Holder to be attorney general.

Hilariously, this is not the first time Mr. Biden has botched his own version of oath-giving.

Indeed, the very next day after mocking Judge Roberts, Mr. Biden screwed up:

But as we have long since learned, with Democrats it is always a matter of “do as I say, not as I do.”

2 Comments »

Obama: Re-Election Hangs On Stimulus

February 2nd, 2009

From the Politico:


Obama: Re-election rests on stimulus

By ANDY BARR | 2/2/09

President Barack Obama acknowledged Monday that the fate of his re-election four years from now likely rests on the success of the proposed $825 billion stimulus package.

“A year from now, I think people are going to see that we’re starting to make some progress. But there’s still going to be some pain out there,” Obama predicted during an interview on NBC’s “Today Show.”

“If I don’t have this done in three years, then there’s going to be a one-term proposition.”

In acknowledging that his political fortune hinges on the state of the economy, Obama urged the country to be patient in waiting for the stimulus to take effect.

“I do have confidence that we’re going to be able to get it right. But it’s not going to be overnight,” he said. “There are no silver bullets to this. The fact of the matter is that we are suffering from a massive hangover from a binge of risk-taking.”

Obama also said he is not worried about the long term political impact of the partisan House vote on the stimulus last week, saying that building relationships across the aisle will take time.

“Listen, it’s only been ten days,” the president said. “People have to recognize that it’s going to take some time for trust to be built, not only between Democrats and Republicans, but between Congress and the White House; between the House and the Senate. We’ve had a dysfunctional political system for a while now.”

Once again we see that Mr. Obama is more concerned about his re-election than he is the fate of our country.

And never mind the logic here:

“There are no silver bullets to this.

Is he not claiming that his stimulus bill is a silver bullet? If not, why the rush?

And won’t the country be out of this recession in four years? If not, it will be one of the longest in the history of mankind.

As for Mr. “We Won” Obama’s comments about partisanship, one can only laugh a sad laugh.

3 Comments »

The House Republicans’ Stimulus Plan

February 2nd, 2009

The House Republican Whip, Eric Cantor, has posted an alternative to the Obama/Pelosi stimulus bill on his website:

House Republican Economic Recovery Plan

House Republicans are proposing:

Immediate Tax Relief for Working Families:

Rather than a refundable credit based on payroll taxes, House Republicans propose reducing the lowest individual tax rates from 15% to 10% and from 10% to 5%. As a result every taxpaying-family in America will see an immediate increase in their income with an average benefit of $500 in tax relief from the drop in the 10% bracket and $1,200 for the drop in the 15% bracket. A married couple filing jointly could save up to $3,200 a year in taxes.

Help for America’s Small Businesses:

Small businesses (those employing less than 500 individuals) employ about half of all Americans, yet they can be subject to tax rates that siphon away one-third or more of their income. House Republicans propose to allow small business to take a tax deduction equal to 20% of their income. This will immediately free up funds for small businesses to retain and hire new employees.

No Tax Increases to Pay for Spending:

The stimulus proposal pending in Congress includes record levels of government spending that will substantially increase the current deficit. House Republicans are concerned that this level of spending will result in some proposing near-term tax increases on American families. House Republicans are insisting that any stimulus package include a provision precluding any tax increases now or in the future to pay for this new spending. House Republicans believe that any stimulus spending should be paid for by reducing other government spending, not raising taxes.

Assistance for the Unemployed:

Incredibly, the Federal Government actually imposes income taxes on an individual receiving unemployment benefits. House Republicans propose to make unemployment benefits tax free so that those individuals between jobs can focus on providing for their families. The plan would also extend unemployment benefits from March to December, 2009.

Stabilizing Home Values:

The real-estate market is paralyzed as potential buyers wait on the sidelines waiting for prices to fall even further. This is becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. In order to encourage responsible buyers to enter the market and stabilize prices, House Republicans propose a home-buyers credit of $7,500 for those buyers who can make a minimum down-payment of 5%.

This proposal makes a lot of sense. (Though not as much sense as our plan of spending the $900 billion building nuclear power plants.)

Which of course means Mr. Cantor’s plan will never have a chance.

After all, the Obama/Pelosi “stimulus” bill is nothing more than a payback to their loyal foot soldiers like ACORN and the SEIU, and a way to buy future votes and create more Democrats.

2 Comments »

Obama’s Hut Brother Arrested For Drugs

January 31st, 2009

From a sympathetic Associated Press:

Obama’s Kenyan relative arrested on drug charge

By TOM ODULA
Saturday, January 31, 200

NAIROBI, Kenya — The half-brother of President Barack Obama was arrested for alleged possession of marijuana on Saturday near his home in a Nairobi shantytown, police said.

George Obama, who is in his 20s and barely knows the president, had one joint of marijuana on him, said Joshua Omokulongolo, the police chief in the area.

"He is not a drug peddler," Omokulongolo told The Associated Press. "But it’s illegal, it’s a banned substance."

George Obama has a court appearance scheduled Monday morning…

Several of President Obama’s Kenyan relatives went to Washington, D.C., for his inauguration, but George was not among them. He lives in Huruma with extended family…

He also said he was studying to be a mechanic and works with a local youth group in Huruma.

In President Obama’s book "Dreams From My Father," he describes George Obama as "a handsome, roundheaded boy with a wary gaze." …

Luckily our watchdog media has already pronounced that all stories about Mr. Obama’s extended family will only be treated as “human interest.”

Still, where does Mr. Obama (George) find the money for recreational drugs? Or does he grow his own?

Or maybe like his half-brother, he has his own set of priorities.

(Thanks to Confucius for the heads up.)

6 Comments »

Obama’s Own Blind Spot About Bonuses

January 30th, 2009

Mr. Obama is once again decrying the bonuses and excessive pay from Wall Street CEO’s.

From an equally outraged Politico:

Obama: Bonuses ’shameful’

By CARRIE BUDOFF BROWN AND LISA LERER

President Barack Obama said it was “shameful” for Wall Street to walk away with $18.4 billion in bonuses last year . . .

. . . in the depths of a recession. Leaning his elbows on his knees, with his mouth clenched, Obama lashed out at the executives and employees who were found by the New York state comptroller to have earned the sixth largest bonus haul on record last year.

“That is the height of irresponsibility,” Obama said before a meeting with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

We will skip over the part about responsibility and tax cheat Timothy Geithner being mentioned in the same sentence.

Instead, we will remember that the selfsame Mr. Obama gave his campaign staff bonuses after the November election.

From the New York Daily News:

Barack Obama gives campaign staffers extra cash, BlackBerrys, laptops

BY KENNETH R. BAZINET and MICHAEL McAULIFF

Friday, November 14th 2008

Barack Obama is sharing the wealth with campaign staffers.

WASHINGTON – Barack Obama ended his campaign so flush with cash he’s telling staffers to keep the change – and then some.

Long-suffering political footsoldiers who toiled tirelessly, at least since September, to put Obama in the White House recently learned they will be getting extra paychecks worth a month’s salary, the Daily News has learned.

And boy, are they grateful.

"I think it’s a very nice gesture for people who slaved away and sacrificed for the past year," said one pleased ex-staffer.

Given that so much of Mr. Obama’s campaign contributions supposedly came from the average citizen, would it not have been better to give back what was left over from his $750 million dollar war chest?

Also note that when Mr. Obama gave out bonuses the Daily News called it “sharing the wealth.”

And yet when Wall Street gives out bonuses it is called “corporate greed. “

Moreover, if Mr. Obama is so offended at excessive Wall Street salaries, why did he pick Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff?

From Wikipedia:

Rahm Emanuel

After serving as an advisor to Bill Clinton, in 1998 Emanuel resigned from his position in the Clinton administration. He then became an investment banker at Wasserstein Perella (now Dresdner Kleinwort), where he worked until 2002. In 1999, he became a managing director at the firm’s Chicago office. Emanuel made $16.2 million in his two-and-a-half-year stint as a banker, according to Congressional disclosures.

Rahm Emanuel – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Add to that $16.2 million dollars the $250,000 Mr. Emanuel got from his brief stint at Freddie Mac, which we have previously noted.

And mind you, Mr. Emanuel got that money from Freddie Mac when they were running completely amok.

Lastly, and closer to home, as we have also previously noted, it is fairly hypocritical for Mr. Obama to get so exercised about signing bonuses when his own wife received one.

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Barack and Michelle Obama earned $991,296 in 2006

By Lynn Sweet
April 16, 2007

WASHINGTON — White House hopeful Sen. Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, reported $991,296 in income in 2006, boosted by a $506,618 payout in advances and royalties for his books, according to returns released by his campaign Monday…

Michelle Obama’s income of $273,618 from the University of Chicago Hospitals. She will get paid less in 2007 because she cut back on her job because of the campaign. She made more in 2005 because of a signing bonus from the U. of C. given when she was promoted to vice president of community and external affairs in January 2005, just as Obama was sworn in as senator…

Moreover, Michelle’s job now seems to have been a make work position to encourage kickbacks earmarks from her husband, the Illinois Senator. (And, indeed, the hospital did enjoy earmarks from Mr. Obama.)

For as soon as Mrs. Obama left her job the position was dissolved.

From the University Of Chicago’s News Office:

Michelle Obama Resigns Position at University of Chicago Medical Center

January 9, 2009

Michelle Obama has resigned her leadership post at the University of Chicago Medical Center as she prepares to take on her new role at the White House as First Lady.

During the presidential campaign, she had been on leave as Vice President for Community and External Affairs at the Medical Center…

In light of her departure, Madara announced that the Medical Center’s Office of Community and External Affairs has been reorganized under the leadership of Dr. Eric Whitaker, Executive Vice President for Strategic Affiliations and Associate Dean for Community Based Research.

Madara said the move would enhance support for the Urban Health Initiative, an ambitious effort to reshape health care on Chicago’s South Side.

Leif Elsmo will continue his role as Executive Director of the Office of Community Affairs, reporting to Whitaker, and coordinating all aspects of the office’s functions…

So isn’t this once again a case of the pot calling the kettle half-black?

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Obama Likes It Hot, While The US Freezes

January 29th, 2009

From an oblivious to hypocrisy New York Times:

White House Unbuttons Formal Dress Code

By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
Published: January 28, 2009

WASHINGTON – The capital flew into a bit of a tizzy when, on his first full day in the White House, President Obama was photographed in the Oval Office without his suit jacket. There was, however, a logical explanation: Mr. Obama, who hates the cold, had cranked up the thermostat.

“He’s from Hawaii, O.K.?” said Mr. Obama’s senior adviser, David Axelrod, who occupies the small but strategically located office next door to his boss. “He likes it warm. You could grow orchids in there.”

Thus did a rule of the George W. Bush administration — coat and tie in the Oval Office at all times — fall by the wayside, only the first of many signs that a more informal culture is growing up in the White House under new management. Mr. Obama promised to bring change to Washington and he has — not just in substance, but in presidential style…

Gee, it seems like only yesterday (perhaps because it was) that Mr. Obama was chiding the denizens of Washington, DC for not being tough enough because they closed some of the schools due to the winter ice storms:

Moreover, it seems like only a few months ago (actually, back in May 2008) that candidate Obama opined:

If we lead by example, then we can actually export and license technologies that have been invented here to help them deal with their growth pains. But keep in mind, you’re right, we can’t tell them don’t grow. We can’t drive our SUVs and, you know, eat as much as we want and keep our homes on, you know, 72 degrees at all times, whether we’re living in the desert or we’re living in the tundra and then just expect every other country is going to say OK, you know, you guys go ahead keep on using 25 percent of the world’s energy, even though you only account for 3 percent of the population, and we’ll be fine. Don’t worry about us. That’s not leadership.

And now Mr. Obama has the White House thermostat turned up so high you can grow orchids while many of the citizens of the United States are freezing in their houses without heat or electricity?

Where is the leadership, Mr. President? Where is your skin in the game?

Do notice, by the way, that the explanation for why Mr. Obama has his jacket off still makes no sense.

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