Liberals...covering Obama Administration

Charles says it all:

Fast & Furious

The only news program wiling to actually cover the corrupt and probably illegal FBI/ATF gun running operation that was started by the Obama Dept of Justice is Univision.  Here's their preview of that news report.

Watch More News Videos at ABC | 2012 Presidential Election | Entertainment & Celebrity News

People died...because of the actions and direct approval of our Dept of Justice.  So far Eric Holder has avoided having to take responsiblity, yet he HAS lied to Congress about what he knew, and when he knew it.  I suspect that he approved of the operation in order to charge that we needed curbs to the 2nd Amendment.   His deputy's resignation, I believe, is intended to deflect attention from him till after the election.  The fact that the MSM has so far minimized coverage just goes to show how damaging this is to the Obama regime.

Fast & Furious: Afterburner by Bill Whittle

Here's Bill Whittle's Afterburner on Fast & Furious

Obama Votes Present on Job Creation

This week Mr. Obama had the opportunity to launch a huge job creating business...instead he voted present.  An oil pipeline is being proposed to extend from Canada to Texas oil refineries.  This  would create thousands of jobs...instead, Mr. Obama, voted present by booting'>http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/editorials/2011/11/obama-votes-present-oil-pipeline">booting the decision on this until 2013.

President Obama faced a tough political decision this  week on the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada. He could order the  State Department to approve it, thus alienating his environmental activist  supporters, or he could kill the pipeline, thus angering his union  allies.

Obama chose to do what he had done 130 times while he  was in the Illinois state Senate. He voted present.

The State Department announced Thursday that it would  begin developing a second, redundant environmental impact statement for the  1,700-mile pipeline that traverses six states on its route from Alberta, Canada,  to Houston, Texas. This buys Obama time well past November 2012. The first  environmental assessment, three years in the works, was completed in August.  This second assessment will take at least as long the first.

This president isn't serious about changing the dire economic situation this country is in.  Instead he's trying to raise a billion dollars so buy the 2012 election.

The Obama Presidency: By The Numbers

Here's a link to some excellent graphics on the Obama presidency...by the numbers.  Many won't be a surprise...but the quotes will!

HatTip:  Instapundit

Obama Hasn't A Clue

You know the president doesn't have a clue what to do about the econimic crisis that faces  the nation when he proposes a "Department of Jobs."  Holy Shit!  More beauracracy, that's  what the country needs.  We're drowning in it and Mr. Obama wants more of the same.  Problem solved...

The administration may also merge the Department of Commerce, the Office of the United States Trade Representative and some economic divisions at the State Department into a new agency, administration officials said. Possible names include the Department of Jobs or the Department of Competitiveness.        

That is just what is wrong with the Democratic Party...

Obama's Accomplishment's

Via JamieWearingFool,

Barack Obama, with the strong assistance of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid (and with the willing aquiesence of the GOP Congressional leadership) has managed to destroy the credit rating of America.

Credit rating agency Standard & Poor's says it has downgraded the United States' credit rating for the first time in the history of the ratings.

The credit rating agency says that it is cutting the country's top AAA rating by one notch to AA-plus. The credit agency said late Friday that it is making the move because the deficit reduction plan passed by Congress on Tuesday did not go far enough to stabilize the country's debt situation.
A source familiar with the discussions said that the Obama administration believes S&P's analysis contained "deep and fundamental flaws."

It took the nation 200+ years to build that credit rating...and jsut 4 years of reckless Democratic Party control of first Congress (2007) and then the White House (2008) to wipe it out.  Thanks Obama.

Obama: I'm A One Termer...

Here's video of Mr. Obama saying that, "if in three years, the economy doesn't turn around, I'm a one-termer." 

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

I got the video through a link from the blog father, whose link to hotair, who got it from Ace, who got it from this guy.  I think that this will get a lot of play  next year...if the GOP is smart.  Not of course that the Republicans are actually smart.  After all, they do have the ability to snatch defeart from the jaws of victory.

ObamaVille: Carter's Redeaux...Only Much Worse

Pundits here on the right (Instapundit most often) have been saying since 2009 that a redeaux of Jimmah Carter's recession was a best case senario...I think that we're beyond that now.  Though, Mr. Obama doesn't seem to get the idea that blaming voters is the right way to go...Mr. Carter tried that very same strategy and lost...Obama's done it and may very well lose.

 

 

And...since the economic news is so bad, he's stopped getting a daily economic briefing as well.

 

 

That of course is a great strategy on his part.  Now, he can claim "not to have known" just how bad things are.  Mark Steyn, in the OC Register has hit the nail on the head.  In Toledo, Mr. Obama talked about how bumpy the road to economic recovery is,

"There are always going to be bumps on the road to recovery,'' President Obama said at a Jeep plant in Toledo the other day. "We're going to pass through some rough terrain that even a Wrangler would have a tough time with.'' His audience booed. They're un-fire-able union members with lavish benefits, and even they weary of the glib lines from his 12-year-old speechwriters.

 

 

At this point...with a double dip recession looming and job creation falling behind even LEGAL immigration, Mr. Carter's recession would be nice to have about now.  I lived through the late '70's and early '80's...it was tough.  I didn't have year'round, full-time employment until I volunteered for the military (USMC of course).  My wife is employed part-time and has been for two years, because NO-ONE is hiring retail managers (she has 17+ years of management experience).  So, as Mr. Steyn says,

 

 

This is Main Street, Obamaville: All bumps, no road. But shimmering on the distant horizon, beyond the shuttered diner and the foreclosed homes, is a state-of-the-art electric car, the new Fiat Mirage, that should be wheeling into town in a half-decade or so provided it can find somewhere to charge. "We will be able to look back and tell our children," declared King Barack the Modest of his own candidacy in 2008, "this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow." Great news for the oceans! Meanwhile, back on dry land, a quarter of American mortgages are "underwater" – that's to say, the home "owners" owe more than the joint is worth. In Harry Reid's Nevada, it's 63 per cent. Perhaps Obama's Aquatic Bodies Water-Level Regulatory Authority, no doubt headed by Jamie Gorelick or Franklin Raines or some other Democrat worthy, could have its jurisdiction extended to the Nevada desert.

 

It's time for a change...and Mr. Obama isn't it. His campaign slogan for the comming election s "It's Morning In America."  Sorry, Mr. Obama, it's not, and your policies as well as those of your enablers in the Democratic party have made things immensely worse.  Charles Krauthammer was right when he said it's "dusk in America,"

 

 

Here's some poll numbers for you approval-disapproval of his policies:

• Economy – 40/59, was 40/55
• Deficit – 33/61, was 39/58
• Afghanistan – 52/41, was 60/29
• Terrorism – 60/34, was 69/21

Ed Morrisey of HotAir says that,

Republicans in Congress took the lead on public trust on the economy, 45/42 over Obama, for the first time since December. The outlook on the economy remains doggedly pessimistic, with only 11% rating it as positive at all, and 89% rating it negatively, the highest since the midterms. Eighty-one percent now rate the economic recovery as “weak,” up from 75% in February 2010. A large majority, 57/42, do not feel the effects of a recovery on their personal economic situation. These are not re-elect numbers by any stretch of the imagination.

In 2012, unless they completely blow it (not out of the realm of possibility after all, this IS the GOP we're talking about), the Republican (unless it's Mitt Romney) should be able to hammer Obama on ObamaCare as well as the economy. 

Obama To Bail Out Greece?

BigGovernment.com is reporting on a speech by Barack Obama in Berlin today.  They quote him as saying

President Barack Obama on Tuesday…pledged U.S. support to help tackle the country’s debt crisis. …After a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, he stressed the importance of German “leadership” on the issue – a hint that he expects Berlin to help – while expressing sympathy for the political difficulties European Union countries face in helping a struggling member state.…”we have pledged to cooperate fully in working through these issues, both on a bilateral basis but also through international and financial institutions like the IMF.”

Not just no, but HELL NO!  This is the auto bail out writ large.  This would require at least $100 billion  dollars just to make a dent in the profligate spending practices of the moribund Greek government.

What makes this development so unpleasant is that this new bailout (Greece already has been bailed out several times, with both direct and indirect handouts) will make things worse. Another bailout will be a case of throwing good money after bad. And it will exacerbate the economic damage by delaying the economic reforms that are needed to put Greece’s economy in better shape.

Here's a graph linked to in the article that will explain just how much the EU has sunk into the PIGS of Europe.

Basically, the EU has sunk almost $3 trillion dollars  into the PIGS, and Mr. Obama wants to sink even more of your hard earned dollars into the cess pool.  NOT JUST NO, BUT HELL NO!

Obama's Energy Policy

Here's what candidate Obama had to say about his future administration would do to energy prices...



Well, tomorrow has arrived with skyrocketting energy prices.  I expect that the new EPA regulations being promulgated to regulate the coal industry will next force up electricity prices...

HOW'S THAT HOPE & CHANGE working out for you now?

Government Changing National Emblem

The following is by a retired journalist in the Denver area...

The government today announced that it is changing its emblem from an Eagle to a Condom because it more accurately reflects the government's political stance.

A condom allows for inflation, halts production, destroys the next generation, protects a bunch of dicks, and gives you a sense of security while you're actually being screwed!

It just doesn't get any more accurate than that.

Unfortunately, I think he''s right.

Hat Tip:  JP

U.S. Dep of Justice ditches red, white, and blue stars and stripes.

I find  it deeply troubling that this administration's Dept of Justice has changed it's website from the traditional "Red White and Blue"

 to a very austere black and white.

http://www.justice.gov/



Futhermore, instead of a quote from one of the founding father's or a notable jurist, this administration has chosen a quote from a very obscure figure of the 1930's. "The common law is the will of mankind, issuing from the life of the people."  C. Wilfred Jenks, and  was a leading supporter of the "international law" movement.  The goal of this movement is to replace national laws with a "global common law" that gives all workers basic rights.

I suspect that this is yet another example of the Obama Curse.  Hopefully this won't turn to shit, like everything else he's done the past 2 years.

Inflation

Once upon a time, my wife and I were members of the middle class...then came the economic meltdown of late 2008.  Since then, we've been barely ekeing  by with less than half what were making prior to October 2008.  Only at the beginning of this year was I able to find full-time work.  My wife yet has...to obtain a job that will give her more than 40 hours a week.  Karen-Anne  Shiver has an excellent desciption of just what inflation means.

Inflation stalks like a thief in the night, filling the nightmares of homemakers and breadwinners alike.


Inflation is the invisible beast that steals the long-awaited raise before it has a chance to hit the bank account.

Inflation is the disease that ravages the arduously saved dollars of decades.

Inflation is the bandit that steals from the poor while hardly ever even noticed by the likes of the politicians who guilefully prod its crime spree.

Inflation is the monster who gobbles up the goodies of responsible citizens no matter their station.

So, when Obama and Bernanke and all the Fed gurus like Mr. Dudley put their little heads together and formulate a monetary policy, it would really be nice if they remembered — just once — that while the iPads and the Guccis and the golf clubs they love so much are simply wonderful if they cost a little less, the rest of us do have to worry about the rising cost of our groceries and our gas.

In our world, the necessities of life don’t get paid for with other people’s money.

We in the middle class pay the most taxes and fuel the government engine.

It would be nice if we weren’t told to eat our iPads when we notice that our government has set out to deflate the middle class.

But the most telling part is this:

ObamaCare alone has caused a nearly 40% hike in insurance premiums for individual policies such as the one my self-employed husband and I have. The Democrats’ save-the-deadbeats credit card law caused an immediate rise in interest rates for us always-pay-on-time consumers to cover the cost of the mandated write-offs.

The company I work for...offers a great insurance plan, that doubled in cost on January 1...from $248 per month to over $526.  Think about just how much of a pay check that eats up when you make $17 hour.  Now with a huge increase in both food and gas costs, our barely getting by has placed us back in the "oh shit, how are we going to pay for..." category.  Thanks a lot Washington.

Between Barack & A Hard Place...

Since the Obama administration has refused nearly all new drilling, we'll likely see gas prices top $5 per gallon by the end of summer.  This will...kill off any economic recovery that's occured.  Furthermore, it will set off a round of inflation as business increase prices to cover the costs of transporting goods and providing services that will further erode the ability of lower paid workers to make ends meet.  But then, Obama administration officials are record  as saying that they want to see $9 per gallon gasoline.  Links here and here. 

“Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe,” Steven Chu, the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, told the Wall Street Journal in September.

While Ken Salazar cancelled 77 drilling leases immediately after being sworn in as Secretary of the Interior.  This administration in general, and the Democratic party in particular seem bend on destroying the economy of this country.  The crippling debt load that has been inflicted over the past 4 years by the Obama, Pelosi, Reid trioka will take decades to payoff...if ever, when combined with vastly increased energy costs, will add ever more to the burden working Americans are saddled with.

Is this the "hope" or the "change"?  At this point, I'm just hoping for a change...

Military Pay

This was sent to me by Linda D. from the Left Coast.  She says that,

"We do not appreciate our military enough! Be thankful for the freedoms you have. While they are fighting for our freedoms - there are the evil so called Elite trying to take them away from us.  CINDY WILLIAMS was appointed by Obama as an Assistant Director for NATIONAL SECURITY in the Congressional Budget Office.....

Here is Ms. Williams Original Article via Yes-23.com:

Cindy Williams
The Washington Post, January 12, 2000; Page A19

This month every member of the U.S. military is getting a 4.8 percent pay raise, the biggest inflation boost the military has seen in 18 years. The ink on the paychecks is not yet dry, but already some politicians and lobbyists are clamoring for bigger raises in future years. Just this week the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) reported that most military people feel they are not paid fairly.

Proponents of additional hefty raises argue that even after this month’s raise, the military suffers a 13 percent “pay gap” relative to the private sector. But in fact there is no pay gap worthy of the name; our armed forces are already paid very well compared with the rest of America. It makes no sense to pour money into outsized pay raises. The 25 percent pay hike that some proponents are backing would cost taxpayers more than $12 billion a year.

The “gap” of 13 percent does not measure the relative levels of military and civilian pay. Rather, it is supposed to reflect the differences between military and private sector raises since 1982. The calculation is set up to make the differences seem as large as possible. For example, it includes the growth in what the military calls “basic pay” but not the growth in allowances for food and housing. And it compares the military and civilian raises over separate time periods. Just correcting for those two problems cuts the result in half.

Comparing raises and calling it a pay gap makes no sense anyway. If you get a 5 percent raise this year and your neighbor gets 10 percent, it hardly means your pay has fallen behind your neighbor’s: If you earned twice as much as your neighbor to start with, you still earn more than he does. Wage data show that our troops typically earn more money than 75 percent of civilians with similar levels of education and experience.

For example, after four months in the Army, an 18-year-old private earns about $21,000 a year in pay and allowances. In addition, he or she gets a tax advantage worth about $800, because some of the allowances are not taxed. That’s not bad for a person entering the work force with a high school diploma. By way of comparison, an automotive mechanic starting out with a diploma from a strong vocational high school might earn $14,000 a year. A broadcast technician or communications equipment mechanic might earn $20,000 to start but typically needs a year or two of technical college.

At the higher end of enlisted service, a master sergeant with 20 years in the Marine Corps typically earns more than $50,000 a year–better than a senior municipal firefighter or a police officer in a supervisory position, and comparable to a chief engineer in a medium-sized broadcast market. Among the officers, a 22-year-old fresh out of college earns about $34,000 a year as an ensign in the Navy–about the same as the average starting pay of an accountant, mathematician or a geologist with a bachelor’s degree. A colonel with 26 years makes more than $108,000.

In addition to these basic salaries, there are cash bonuses for officers and enlisted personnel with special skills. There are also fringe benefits: four weeks of paid vacation, comprehensive health care, discount groceries, tuition assistance during military service and as much as $50,000 for college afterward. Enlistment and reenlistment bonuses can run to $20,000 and more.

Advocates of additional big raises maintain that military people should be paid more because they are more highly qualified–they exceed national averages in verbal and math skills and percentage of high school graduations. But while these facts may help explain why the majority of our soldiers already earn more money than 75 percent of Americans, they don’t explain why their future raises should exceed civilian wage growth by a large amount.

Some advocates contend that we need a large boost in military pay because the services are finding it difficult to attract and keep the people they need. But recruiting can be improved much less expensively by pumping up advertising, adding recruiters and better focusing their efforts and expanding enlistment bonuses and college programs. Pay is not necessarily the most important factor in a person’s decision to stay in or leave the military. We might get better results by reducing the frequency of deployments, relaxing antiquated rules and improving working conditions.

Proponents of higher pay also note that military people put up with hardships such as long hours and family separations. Yet many civilian occupations make similar demands, and firefighters, police and emergency medical personnel, like many in the military, risk their lives on the job.

The report that CSIS released this week points to problems of morale and dissatisfaction across the military. But those problems are not all about pay. According to CSIS, they reflect concerns about training and leadership, the demands of frequent overseas deployments and unmet expectations for a challenging and satisfying military lifestyle. Higher pay will not fix these problems.

The writer, a senior research fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was assistant director for national security in the Congressional Budget Office from 1994 to 1997.

This is an Airman's response to Cindy Williams' editorial piece in the Washington Times about MILITARY PAY, it should be printed in all newspapers across America . Ms. Cindy William wrote a piece for the Washington Times denouncing the pay raise(s) coming service members' way this year citing that she stated a 13% wage increase was more than they deserve.  A young airman from Hill AFB responds to her article below. He ought to get a bonus for this."

"Ms Williams:

I just had the pleasure of reading your column, "Our GI's earn enough" and I am a bit confused. Frankly, I'm wondering where this vaunted overpayment is going, because as far as I can tell, it disappears every month between DFAS (The Defense Finance and Accounting Service) and my bank account. Checking my latest earnings statement I see that I make $1,117.80 before taxes per month. After taxes, I take home $874.20. When I run that through the calculator, I come up with an annual salary of $13,413.60 before taxes, and $10,490.40 after.

I work in the Air Force Network Control Center where I am part of the team responsible for a 5,000 host computer network. I am involved with infrastructure segments, specifically with Cisco Systems equipment. A quick check under jobs for "Network Technicians" in the Washington , D.C. Area reveals a position in my career field, requiring three years experience in my job. Amazingly, this job does NOT pay $13,413.60 a year. No, this job is being offered at $70,000 to $80,000 per annum............ I'm sure you can draw the obvious conclusions.

Given the tenor of your column, I would assume that you NEVER had the pleasure of serving your country in her armed forces.

Before you take it upon yourself to once more castigate congressional and DOD leadership for attempting to get the families in the military's lowest pay brackets off of WIC and food stamps, I suggest that you join a group of deploying soldiers headed for AFGHANISTAN ; I leave the choice of service branch up to you. Whatever choice you make though, opt for the SIX month rotation: it will guarantee you the longest possible time away from your family and friends, thus giving you full "deployment experience."

As your group prepares to board the plane, make sure to note the spouses and children who are saying good-bye to their loved ones. Also take care to note that several families are still unsure of how they'll be able to make ends meet while the primary breadwinner is gone. Obviously they've been squandering the "vast" piles of cash the government has been giving them.

Try to deploy over a major holiday; Christmas and Thanksgiving are perennial favorites. And when you're actually over there, sitting in a foxhole, shivering against the cold desert night, and the flight sergeant tells you that there aren't enough people on shift to relieve you for chow, remember this: trade whatever MRE's (meal-ready-to-eat) you manage to get for the tuna noodle casserole or cheese tortellini, and add Tabasco to everything. This gives some flavor.

Talk to your loved ones as often as you are permitted; it won't be nearly long enough or often enough, but take what you can get and be thankful for it. You may have picked up on the fact that I disagree with most of the points you present in your open piece.

But, tomorrow from KABUL , I will defend to the death your right to say it.

You see, I am an American fighting man, a guarantor of your First Amendment right and every other right you cherish...On a daily basis, my brother and sister soldiers worldwide ensure that you and people like you can thumb your collective noses at us, all on a salary that is nothing short of pitiful and under conditions that would make most people cringe. We hemorrhage our best and brightest into the private sector because we can't offer the stability and pay of civilian companies.

And you, Ms. Williams, have the gall to say that we make more than we deserve?

A1C Michael Bragg, Hill AFB AFNCC

Way back when, in the early 1980's, I had the privilege to serve in the USMC.  We received a 3% COLA increase that after taxes were taken out, I ended up taking home about $50 per month LESS than I did before the increase.  At that time, a Lance Corporal received $663 per month, before taxes.  On the up side, I did get "3 hots and a cot", plus "80 cent bar drinks and $2 pitchers" at the Non-Rate Club...all for the privilege of, as a banner in our ready room said...

"USMC First to Go, Last to Know, We Will Defend To The Death, Your Right To Be Misinformed!"

(1st time I saw that outside of HMM-266's Ready Room @ MCAS New River, was in the movie "Full Metal Jacket.").  So, I applaud the Airman for taking the time and trouble to set this bureaucrat right.  Furthermore, My wife also served as a Hospital Corpsman in the US Navy, while my father was in the Army Air Corps/US Air Force, my Grandfather served in WW1 in the Army...my brother Tom is a Colonel in the US Army, and has served in both Iraq (1st Gulf War, Op Iraqi Freedom), and twice in Afghanistan.  My civil war ancestor was killed (along w/4 brothers) at the Battle of Peachtree Creek, outside of Atlanta, my Revolutionary ancestor was captured at Fort Washington, on Manhattan Island and died of the plague on the HMS Jersey and was buried on Staten Island...so we're a military family from way back.

I was medically discharged on June 6, 1984. Thanks to the fine work of the VA office in Panama City, Florida, they screwed up my paper work so badly, that in the now nearly 27 years since my discharge, I've never received a dime of the pension I'm supposed to receive. A year or two ago, I figured that the government owed somewhere in the neighborhood of $20k+...someday, I'll get things unscrewed enough to actually collect...but with bureaucrats like Ms. Williams, I'm not holding my breath.



We don't pay our servicemen and women enough, nor do we offer them enough in terms of retirement, just so that sanctimonious asshats like Ms. Williams can write derogatory opinion pieces trying to drum up support to strip them of needed pay raises.

SOTU Address

In his SOTU Address, Mr. Obama never actually talked about the dismal current state of the union.  He talked about continuing his current spending policies while only wanting "tinkering" with ObamaCare, not repealing it altogether.

Clean Energy:

We’re issuing a challenge. We’re telling America’s scientists and engineers that if they assemble teams of the best minds in their fields, and focus on the hardest problems in clean energy, we’ll fund the Apollo Projects of our time.

With more research and incentives, we can break our dependence on oil with biofuels, and become the first country to have 1 million electric vehicles on the road by 2015. We need to get behind this innovation.
Now, clean energy breakthroughs will only translate into clean energy jobs if businesses know there will be a market for what they’re selling. So tonight, I challenge you to join me in setting a new goal: by 2035, 80% of America’s electricity will come from clean energy sources.

It's too bad Mr. Obama hasn't learned from the Spanish clean energy debacle...the Spanish government has spent billions and billions of Euro's only to lose the vast majority.  Professor Peter Grossman wrote a paper entitled, “The History of U.S. Alternative Energy Development Programs: A Study of Government Failure.” in which he details the failure of every single government energy program starting with the 1950's "investment" in nuclear energy.
ObamaCare:

Now, I’ve heard rumors that a few of you have some concerns about the new health care law. So let me be the first to say that anything can be improved. If you have ideas about how to improve this law by making care better or more affordable, I am eager to work with you. We can start right now by correcting a flaw in the legislation that has placed an unnecessary bookkeeping burden on small businesses.


What I’m not willing to do is go back to the days when insurance companies could deny someone coverage because of a pre-existing condition.

Ann Althouse, an Obama voter has this take on Mr. Obama's signature legislation:

He'll work together with Republicans, but only if they offer little tweaks to the big overhaul he rammed through, with no consideration for their opinion, when they didn't hold the seats in Congress.

Emphasis is mine.  Even the Associated Press was confused at just exactly what Mr. Obama meant in his speech. 

"The ledger did not appear to be adding up Tuesday night when President Barack Obama urged more spending on one hand and a spending freeze on the other. Obama spoke ambitiously of putting money into roads, research, education, efficient cars, high-speed rail and other initiatives in his State of the Union speech. . . . But Obama offered far more examples of where he would spend than where he would cut, and some of the areas he identified for savings are not certain to yield much if anything.”

High Speed Rail:  Mr. Obama wants billions dollars in new spending on high speed rail.  In California, in order not to lose federal funding, they have opened the first section of track...without a station and it literally goes from nowhere to nowhere...and have already spent $5 billion on it.


So...a meaningless speech outlining more spending without meaningful cuts anywhere.  If the past two years is any sort of meter, his "targeted investment" will merely be billions in political payoffs to cronies.  In 2012, if unemployment doesn't fall below 8%, and his "laser-like focus" on job creation is a big a failure as his economic policies, he'll be a one term president, like James Earl Carter.

In the next 18 months, you'll see the MSM focus on any possible GOP contenders and work very hard to tear them down. 

If This Is Economic Recovery, Where Are The Jobs?

Major media keeps talking about the recovery...and how the economy is one the road to recovery.  If this is the case...then where are the jobs?  My wife and I have been sending out an average of 50-60 resumes each, each week.  We've long since begun looking for employment outside of the metro-Baltimore/Washington DC area.  Yet, with well over 400 resumes out, collectively, we've only had one phone interview...that has yet to bear any fruit.

Think about that.  Just one phone interview.  We're both educated and have at least 10 years of management experience under our belts with 20 or so years of total industry experience (I have 20 years in restaurants, 10 years in cabinetry, my wife has 24 years in retail and 17 of that in management positions) yet, no-one is hiring.

We'd move just about anywhere, excepting the failed economic states of Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Illinois or California...at our own expense, if only we could find work.  But, the Obama Adminstration wants to tell us that "all is well."



However, pretty much all the economic indicators are showing just the opposite...I'm worried, and you should be too.

TSA Will Excempt Muslims From Pat downs....

This is by an unknown author.  I received it from a regular reader.

Government, which grows not out of necessity but by insisting upon itself, needs to slow down. We need to revisit the balance among freedom, cost and security and not continue to double down on bad policies.

The latest is the TSA's (stands for "Thousands Standing Around") directive to be more intrusive in its new "enhanced pat-down" policy. Maybe the TSA seeks to expand its self-serving role, or maybe the unionized agents of the behemoth TSA were just getting bored and wanted a better way to feel up women and explore some new boundaries. Either way, it is unnecessary.

This is the part that will scare Juan Williams: the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has told the government - and Muslims - that this procedure violates their religious rights. Now it looks like our government will back off from frisking and even body scanning Muslim women. When female Islamic terrorists blow themselves up, I don't think they are rewarded with 72 virgin men in Paradise. I think they would prefer one good man who cuddles and picks up after himself. We have these in America; they are called gay men.

Since the TSA won't be able to aggressively pat down Muslims, they will now have more time to pat down Irene Smith, the 62-year-old, retired school teacher from Canton, Ohio. Irene, this is your lucky day! If you are subjected to ten "random" pat downs in a row, the eleventh one is free!

In a feeble attempt to justify her decision, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano said "women can opt for a same gender pat-down," no doubt something she would like to do herself to other women. So ladies, your choice of who gets to feel you up is either a creepy male who has not even bought you a cocktail yet or a woman in comfortable shoes.
The new body scans are no less troubling. It was recently reported that the U.S. Marshals Service admitted to storing images from courthouse body scans. The TSA is suspected of doing the same, so when the Obama administration started its big push against obesity, it was because they wanted to look at better bodies.

In lieu of full body scans or pat-downs, and to accommodate Muslims, Nancy Pelosi will have her personal California feng shui guy look passengers in the eye and read their Karma. As we know, liberals are OK with their policies being a disaster as long as their stated intentions are good.

To recap the new TSA intrusion, Muslims will be subjected to less security, we average Americans will get more and, as an added bonus, even longer lines at airports.

When the TSA was formed, mall cops from all over our nation had their salaries and job security tripled by becoming government union workers and Democratic voters.

The TSA seems accountable to no one. Increasingly big brother-ish airports have been running a scary message over their PA systems which begins ominously, "Effective immediately: By order of the Department of Homeland Security Transportation Security Administration, liquids or gels weighing more than three ounces cannot be carried on planes." Why have they run that for over four years now? This from the same TSA that does not provide shoe horns, and which brought us the confusing color-coded threat levels. If I have it straight, we are supposed to worry when we hit the "lavender" level, but that could be wrong.

If authorities want to assist the flying public, they should taser anyone behind you who is a seat-kicker. Flying is hard enough. I don't like being around kids on airplanes. With all the whining, drooling, fidgeting and childishness, I just feel I am setting a bad example for them.

Why we are so afraid to try to change the TSA? The high-handed, Obama/Pelosi/Reid-like, "it's for your own good" attitude they display somehow discourages inquiry into what the heck they are really doing. Such is the nature of a government bureaucracy or a corrupt church: avow your moral justification and superiority and let no one question what you do.

Sadly, our government, founded on liberty and tasked with "providing for the common defense," is being slowly taken down by deluded notions of political correctness while bestowing equal rights on our enemies. Common sense - and our safety - are being sacrificed.

If there is a simpler, less intrusive and more efficient way to do something, we should try it. Our country was founded by a bunch of folks who thought there was a better way

Big Media - Andrew Who?

Since the MSM doesn't seem interested in publishing information about Andrew Traver, I'm republishing his entire post as well as ALL the pertinent links on just how anit-2nd Amendment he and the Obama Administration really are.  The original post can be found here. 

If one was to depend on the mainstream media or big media to know that Andrew Traver had been nominated by President Obama to be the Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, you'd be out of luck.

Only two of the 25 largest newspapers in the country have any mention of the Traver nomination. The New York Times had a report on Nov. 15th and originally spelled Traver as "Taver". They didn't give much info other than that Traver is the SAC for the Chicago Field Division and that his confirmation would probably be opposed.

Al Kamen had a brief mention of Traver in his In The Loop column yesterday. Kamen's column was where Traver's nomination was first floated as a trial balloon back in August. He had this to say about it:

As we mentioned back on Aug. 4, if approved, Traver would be the first-ever Senate-confirmed ATF director. The position had been filled (at the Treasury Department and more recently at Justice) without Senate input. Since the job became Senate-confirmable in 2006, it seems, no one has made it past the watchful eyes of the gun lobby.


Hard to imagine Traver will be approved by the new Senate.

The only mention of Traver's nomination in the Chicago area was on the WLS-TV, the ABC affiliate. Even then all they did was reprint the relevant parts of the press release from the White House announcing the nomination. No other newspaper or TV/radio station has any mention of Traver on their websites and that includes both the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times.

So what about the major broadcast and cable networks? Nothing. No ABC, NBC, or CBS. No CNN, Fox, or MSNBC.

One must wonder why Andrew Traver is being treated as such a stealth candidate in the media. Is it because his appointment only matters to the gun culture and the anti-gun rights forces and for the rest of the world it is considered ho-hum news? Or is it because the intent is to sneak Traver through the confirmation process?

Sebastian at Snow Flakes in Hell is of the opinion that Obama is just waiting until Congress goes into recess to make this a recess appointment which wouldn't require the advice and consent of the Senate. Traver would hold the office until the end of the next Congress or until the 112th Congress ends in 2012. We'll just have to wait a few more days and see.

UPDATE: David Codrea agrees with Sebastian on the possibility of a recess appointment for Traver. He goes over the details in his National Gun Rights Examiner column.

UPDATE II: Welcome Instapundit readers and thanks to Glenn for the Instalanche!

Here are links to my earlier posts on Andrew Traver.

NRA on Traver
Brady Center on Traver
Jesse Jackson, Jr. on Traver
Who is Andrew Traver
I Don't Believe in Coincidences
First Post on Traver

Feel free to post any or all of these blog entries on your favorite forum. Since the Big Media isn't going to publicize the nomination, it will take an Army of Davids to do it instead. All I ask is that you include a link back to the original.

So as the author John Richard said, feel free to copy this in it's entirety and post it on your own blog...send the links to anyone who will listen...then call your US Senators and voice your opinion on this.

UPDATE: Via Say Uncle, the NRA has come out to oppose the  appointment of Mr. Traver. 

The National Rifle Association Strongly Opposes the Nomination of Andrew Traver to Head BATFE


Calls on President Obama to withdraw the nomination
Statement from Chris W. Cox, executive director, NRA Institute for Legislative Action

The National Rifle Association of America strongly opposes President Obama’s nomination of Andrew Traver as director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE). Traver has been deeply aligned with gun control advocates and anti-gun activities. This makes him the wrong choice to lead an enforcement agency that has almost exclusive oversight and control over the firearms industry, its retailers and consumers. Further, an important nomination such as BATFE director should not be made as a “recess appointment,” in order to circumvent consent by the American people through their duly-elected U.S. Senators.

Traver served as an advisor to the International Association for Chiefs of Police’s (IACP) “Gun Violence Reduction Project,” a “partnership” with the Joyce Foundation. Both IACP and the Joyce Foundation are names synonymous with promoting a variety of gun control schemes at the federal and state levels. Most of the individuals involved in this project were prominent gun control activists and lobbyists...

Please follow the link above to read the whole thing.