Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Doubleplusungood

Zero Hedge: "If It Wasn't For Obamacare, Q1 GDP Would Be Negative"

Tell that to the paper merchants

The Hill: "John Paul Stevens: 'Money is not speech'."

Here we go again: a former Supreme Court justice makes unethical comments to once again demonstrate that Democrats hate free speech.  This isn't the 18th-century anymore where free speech means standing on a soapbox in the village square or slathering your fixed-type pamphlet press with an ink brush.

The New York Times spends millions in ink, paper, and electricity to spread a nearly (nearly!) monolithic line of left-wing propaganda.  But nobody would say that so-called Paper of Record should be limited in how much money they can blow to continue their self-regarding blather.  Unless the Koch brothers buy it!  Then all free speech bets are off.

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Operation Protect Obama (and Hillary)

Jake Tapper on CNN: "Newly released Benghazi documents reinforce that White House was pushing that video was to blame"
New documents obtained by conservative watchdog Judicial Watch reinforce that the White House strongly argued that an anti-Muslim video was the reason for the deadly 2012 terror attacks on U.S. compounds in Benghazi.
This was done even though intelligence and diplomatic sources on the ground were more convinced the attacks that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans in eastern Libya were carried out by terrorists and not the spontaneous work of an angry mob.
Confirming what most of us paying attention already knew, White House political operative Ben Rhodes set the "goals":
To underscore that these protests are rooted in an Internet video, and not a broader failure of policy.”
And Susan Rice complied on the Sunday morning talk shows, over and over.  Well, hats off to Ben Rhodes and noted national security adviser David Plouffe.  They ran out the clock with their YouTube prevarication and all it really cost them was Susan Rice at the State Department.  Mission Accomplished.



Extra - Washington Free Beacon quoting Charles Krauthammer: "I find the most scandalous element of this from purely just a human point of view, is the fact that the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, with the bodies of the dead lying in front of her and with the families there, brought up the video and said a video with which we had nothing to do, and then according to one of the family members, when she went over to console that family member, she said ‘We’re going to get the guy who did the video.’ Now, that to me, if she knew that this was a phony story and I’m not sure I can understand how it would be otherwise, is a form of deception that I think is truly scandalous.”

More - Roger L. Simon: "We will now see if there is even a figment of honesty in our mainstream media and if our elected representatives are to be trusted in any way."  Oh, yeah, the MSM, who did not bother to file a FOIA request; it took Judicial Watch.

And this - More from Instapundit.

I-Phorth Amendment

Hit and Run: "SCOTUS seems inclined to limit police access to your cellphone."  As a recent convert to smartphones (HTC One) I can see merit in the argument that people keep their entire lives on their phones.

Part of a continuing series

Pocketful of Liberty: "Media embarrasses itself: Obama/Donald Sterling edition."
Public opinion of the US media has continually declined. And why shouldn’t it? When the President’s press secretary admits the Obama’s toughest interview in 2012 was with a comedian on a sketch program, don’t sit around wondering why nobody likes or trusts you.
Americans distrust the media and simultaneously consider it too liberal.  But if the continued existence of David Gregory is any indication, there's no teaching these people.

Monday, April 28, 2014

He loves his straw men

Hey, the media is starting to notice that Obama loves to contradict critics that don't exist.  Mediate: "CNNers Rip Obama for Responding to Straw Men ‘Critics’"

Extra - Hot Air: "It seems the only people Obama will challenge are Republicans and straw men."

Saturday, April 26, 2014

That's enough media reviews for today

Hit and Run: "Paying for Obamacare."  "But as the law settles into place, the pretense that the Affordable Care Act actually makes health care more affordable is increasingly difficult to sustain."

Super-suspension of disbelief

There's a Futurama episode where Leela says: "This is, by a wide margin, the least likely thing that has ever happened."

Tonight I watched "The Family" where mobsters are searching for Robert DeNiro's family who are hiding out in Normandy, France - because the Witness Protection Program will go anywhere.  How does the Mafia find where they are?  The son writes a mundane quote in his school paper.  This French school paper arrives in New York City via the only businessman in Normandy traveling to America.  It arrives at the dump where a mafioso uses that very paper to wrap up some homemade hooch which just happens to be delivered to the very mob boss looking for the family.  This sequence of events is so improbable you could write a mathematical formula for it.

Why did they cancel that show?

Hey, it can't be politics all the time, right?  There's a thread on Reddit today called "What is your favorite cancelled television show?" and my first thought was "Terriers."

If you missed it - and you probably did - the FX show starred Donal Logue as a recovering-alcoholic ex-policeman now running a detective agency with his former-criminal buddy.  It was gritty and funny with sharp dialogue.  The critics loved it but the show was axed after a single season.

I think it's on Netflix if you want to give it a try.

Friday, April 25, 2014

Gratuitous

So I'm watching "Game of Thrones" on Netflix and I'm up to season 3 episode "The Bear and the Maiden Fair."  After it was done, I texted my wife to say it was the worst episode I've seen so far.  Then I checked the Internet and it turns out I'm not alone in that assessment.

Somewhere along the way, GoT crossed the line into torture porn:
In a nutshell, my argument is that at some point, the gore and violence and torture and depravity no longer serve the plot. They are the plot.
So Theon Greyjoy was made joyless and the Hound growled and Tyrion got drunk and insulted the blonde King.  When Daenerys Targaryen flashed her boobies to seal a military pact, I rolled my eyes, no longer shocked by anything.

Well, I hope Robb Stark has a nice wedding.

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Chicag-no

Breitbart: "Bulletproof Subway restaurant sign of Chicago violence."

In completely unrelated news: "Gallup: Illinois tops the list of states whose residents think they live in the worst state possible."  By a wide margin.

Small businesses prep for Obamacare

It's a comin'.
Some owners have begun to weigh strategies that might help them avoid complying with the law later on, such as opting out of providing the required coverage and instead paying a federal penalty of $2,000 for each full-time worker after the first 30.
Others have begun restructuring their businesses, reducing their employees' hours, for example, or trimming their total head counts to fewer than 50 full-time workers.
What!?!  Who saw that coming?  Oh yeah, everyone outside Nancy Pelosi's sphere of delusion.

A pyromaniac in a field of straw men

George Will reviews the rhetorical stylings of our boy-wonder: "The adolescent President"
Finally, the real discussion-stopper for the righteous — and there is no righteousness like an adolescent’s — is an assertion that has always been an Obama specialty. It is that there cannot be honorable and intelligent disagreement with him. So last week, less than two minutes after saying that the argument about the ACA “isn’t about me,” Obama said some important opposition to the ACA is about him, citing “states that have chosen not to expand Medicaid for no other reason than political spite.”
Peter Wehner noted the same cheap stereotyping a year ago:
This is a president who, when he’s not sermonizing on the importance of civility in public discourse, is accusing Republicans of being social Darwinists and members of the “flat earth society,” of putting their party ahead of their country, and of wanting dirty air and dirty water.
We love us our rich people, too.  Obama's shortcut to political discourse saves time since it shuts down debate and has the added benefit of stroking his ego.  After all, only the crazy and evil could possibly oppose the pure and virtuous, the One who stops the oceans from rising.

Related - WashTimes: "President Obama's 'selfie doctrine'."

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Down the pipe

Washington Post editorial: "Keystone XL’s continued delay is absurd."  "The administration’s latest decision is not responsible; it is embarrassing. The United States continues to insult its Canadian allies by holding up what should have been a routine permitting decision amid a funhouse-mirror environmental debate that got way out of hand. The president should end this national psychodrama now, bow to reason, approve the pipeline and go do something more productive for the climate."

Monday, April 21, 2014

Pipeline to nowhere

Here's Jonah Goldberg in the L.A. Times with "Obama's Keystone pipeline trap."  "Obama, who is rarely reluctant to act unilaterally when it benefits him politically, and who regularly brags about his red-tape cutting, is paralyzed by perhaps the only big shovel-ready jobs project he's been presented with."

The McLaughlin Group is rising fast

Everybody's having a good laugh at David Gregory's declining ratings at "Meet the Press" with the Vodkapundit quipping: "Honestly, it couldn’t happen to a nicer group of shills."

The comparison to Tim Russert is inevitable.  Russert would open each show with a news update and a sincere thanks to his guest before checking his notes then going full-on hammer and tongs.  Russert's staff would find obscure position papers or transcripts and spring it on unsuspecting guests.  It was great television.

Even Garrick Utley managed to bring a little conflict to MTP by - get this - making guests meet the press.  There would be a little panel and they would take turns asking questions.  There is no such interrogation on Gregory's show where it's mostly a panel of politicos sitting around a table regurgitating talking points.  I couldn't bear to watch Debbie Wasserman-Schultz this past Sunday since I knew Gregory wouldn't knock her off her spiel.

Which leads to another gripe about most Sunday morning shows in general.  What happened to guests of opposing viewpoints appearing together?  They just shuttle in-and-out of the green room to make speeches instead of engaging in debate.  David Gregory's MTP is just the worst example of this parade.

Friday, April 18, 2014

C'mon, you knew this was coming

Fox News: "Obama administration extends review period for Keystone XL oil pipeline."  Only a 90-day review which will be extended until mid-November, fer sure.

But...sign ups

City Journal: "The doctor won't see you now."  "The drafters of the ACA presumably had noble intentions, but the law is failing in all of its intended goals. Unless the ACA is redrafted to provide insurance coverage that most physicians and hospitals will accept, many patients will find that when they need medical care, the doctor is not in."

Thursday, April 17, 2014

"Shut up" they explained

Mark Steyn wrote a fine essay on "The slow death of free speech - How the Left, here and abroad, is trying to shut down debate —  from Islam and Israel to global warming and gay marriage".  Comedian Patton Oswalt tweeting something complimentary about it and, brother, the speech police swooped in.

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Deceive inveigle obfuscate


If you wondered if this White House would ever present the unvarnished truth about the train wreck known as Obamacare, wonder no more.  The book-cooking and goalpost-moving will continue until morale improves.  Here's Megan McArdle:
For several months now, whenever the topic of enrollment in the Affordable Care Act came up, I’ve been saying that it was too soon to tell its ultimate effects. We don’t know how many people have paid for their new insurance policies, or how many of those who bought policies were previously uninsured. For that, I said, we will have to wait for Census Bureau data, which offer the best assessment of the insurance status of the whole population. Other surveys are available, but the samples are smaller, so they’re not as good; the census is the gold standard. Unfortunately, as I invariably noted, these data won’t be available until 2015.
I stand corrected: These data won’t be available at all. Ever.
The Administration claims the change to the way the Census Department calculates the uninsured is designed to make the count more accurate.  But nobody outside of kiss-ass Ezra Klein believes it's anything more than a way to obscure an honest apples-to-apples comparison of health coverage after Obamacare.  The numbers look good: success!  The numbers look bad: oh, well we can never know because of the new calculation.

Extra - Ace: "Obamacare Is So Successful We're Going To Make Sure It's Impossible To Measure Just How Awesome It Is"

More - Twitchy: "Nothing to see here."

Sunday, April 13, 2014

The not-so-sure deal

NY Times: "Thought secure, pooled pensions teeter and fall"
In February, the Congressional Budget Office projected that the federal multiemployer insurer would run out of money in seven years, which would leave retirees in failed plans with nothing.
Tell me the story once again about how the shift from defined benefit program to defined contribution programs is bad for workers.  Anybody from Detroit want to sound off?

Thursday, April 10, 2014

The Greendale sellout

Did anybody see "Community" tonight?  The plotline was essentially that the entire college was sold to the Subway Corporation, who then proceeded to rename dorms and plaster their logo everywhere.  Senor Chang was singing the "$5 footlong" jingle.


What was interesting (to me) about the episode is that Subway must have agreed to this spoof.  Subway wasn't exactly portrayed as a rapacious corporation, but there was a patina of exploitation.  It was cool though: they were obviously comfortable enough to poke fun at themselves.

Let the confirmation hearings begin!

Fox News: "HHS secretary Sebelius resigns."  Twitter is suggesting the Next Job for Sebelius.  What is Baghdad Bob doing nowadays?

Tuesday, April 08, 2014

The White House war on women

Taking a page from this Administration, I need to ask: why does Obama hate the women in his White House?  After all, he only pays them 88 cents for every dollar earned by the Y-chromosome set.   In this day and age!

What's humorous about this ham-handed election ploy is that the media - for once - isn't playing along.  Even the New York Times can't let it slide.

Clothed in righteousness

There was a brief moment in time, according to Bob Woodward, when the Campaigner-in-Chief had some qualms about his casual slandering of political opponents who just happen to hold different beliefs:
President Barack Obama credits Congressional Republicans for Washington’s partisanship and gridlock, but a new book by Bob Woodward, The Price of Politics, reveals Obama may be the one who poisoned the well and now regrets it.
According to ABC News, Obama told Woodward the tone of his speech at George Washington University in April of 2011, which he used to denounce Paul Ryan’s budget before meeting or discussing it with Ryan, was “a mistake.” 
Well, he got over his qualms.  Here's the Federalist explaining Obama's recent press conference where opponents of Obamacare have only one nefarious goal: to deny Americans health insurance.
This may explain why the President suggests that his opponents are “working . . . hard for people not to have health insurance.” There are two options: either you’re an advocate of Progressive justice who wants people to have healthcare, or you’re actively trying to keep people from getting it. To imagine a person who seeks a just administration of human affairs, who is not a Progressive, and who does not support the principle of predetermined, state-enforced positive rights is to dream of a man who lacks both a head and a heart, yet who claims to be on the road to virtue. Late bloomers and the repentant are always welcome. But qualified dissent is not.
Oh but rest assured that Mr. Reasonable is always willing to work with these puppy kickers and Grandma shovers, because that's how hope and change works.  Until it doesn't: "Carney Suggests Republicans are like Racists."
It just boggles the mind that we have a White House that routinely villainizes half the country, over which it also presides. What a sad moment this is.
Hey, there are elections ahead and an ego to protect.

Sunday, April 06, 2014

Culture spinout

Today's NASCAR race in Texas was postponed until Monday due to persistent rain showers.  I was flipping back and forth on the TV and, when they finally gave up, the race was replaced by an infomercial for "Soul Hits of the 1970s."  Culture-wise, this is a 180-degree neck-snap.

Tough times ahead

Americans are not saving for retirement and Social Security can't save us from the poorhouse.  Prepare to work into your 80s.

Saturday, April 05, 2014

Pier One Imports!

There's a lot of space in this mall...now.  Buzzfeed: "Completely Surreal Photos Of America’s Abandoned Malls."  Includes the one from "Minority Report" and the one in "The Blues Brothers."  Now they look like they're ready for any zombie apocalypse movie.  Hat tip: Maggie's Farm.

Just because, they explained

The Corner: "Head of Obama's $26 million advocacy group laments Koch money in politics."  It is ever thus with the Left: free speech for me but not for thee.

Friday, April 04, 2014

I'm pretty sure E.J. Dionne is just trolling here

Here's the Obamacare apologist finally coming to his senses:
Is there any accountability in American politics for being completely wrong? Is there any cost to those who say things that turn out not to be true and then, when their fabrications or false predictions are exposed, calmly move on to concocting new claims as if they had never made the old ones?
Yes! YES!  Is there any accountability to the clowns who said that you could keep your doctor, could keep your insurance, a family's premiums would go down, and a whole other list of outright lies?

Oh wait: E.J. is stoked about the 7 million who have signed up for Obamacare...after they were kicked off their regular insurance.
So let's say it out loud: The ACA is doing exactly what its supporters said it would do. It is getting health insurance to millions (right now, it looks like around 10 million) who didn't have it before.
Please do "say it loud" Democrats, during the midterm elections.  Marc Thiessan explains:
Recall that between 5 million and 6 million Americans lost their health plans because of Obamacare last fall. If the administration now succeeds in signing up 5 million to 6 million previously insured Americans, it will have achieved . . . nothing. Breaking even is no great accomplishment.
Ah, but don't forget about the higher taxes, the restricted access, the attenuation of religious liberties, the cost to businesses that will lead to job loss, and the lawlessness of delay and "selective enforcement."

Now that Obamacare is a reality and not just an abstract, there will be accountability.

Tuesday, April 01, 2014

Baseball is back



I'm a NASCAR fan but watching guys turn left is not grabbing the attention like it used to.  I blame the Gen-6 car.  So I'm kinda excited to see baseball back in swing.