As far as change or a 'reset' in the next 5 years, not a chance.
In 2008, I said D.C. wouldn't change until a few presidential elections passed and there were significant changes in party make up. As of today, I am even more pessimistic.
Party leadership on both sides are delusional. They assume that when voters reject the opposing party, that automatically translates to a mandate for their policies. There is still a long way to go before they realize the truth. It probably won't happen until the current leadership is gone, dead or defeated at the polls. That may take a while and there are no guarantees.
As for a 5 year timeframe, not likely. If Obama and the Dems win, it will pretty much be business as usual. The Dem leadership has been doing things the same way for years and that is unlikely to change.
If the GOP wins or makes gains, they will, as they did in 2010, take that as a mandate. They are just that stupid. There will be no change. There was some hope that the Tea Party would be change agents but they have disappointed. Of the freshman class, those who have not proven themselves incapable of adult leadership have been co-opted by Boehner and his crew. The young guns in the party leadership, Cantor, Ryan, et al, will merely lead the party into a darker place.
There will be no revolution. It will be a gradual transition as the current ideologues are phased out or die. The process has started with a number of big names being voted out. However, there is a long way to go.
With regard to where the reset has to start, Washington or Wall Street, I would say it has to start in Washington. Some will say that Wall Street and K Street control D.C. While that is true to a degree, you can only corrupt the corruptible. Diogenes was a cynic so I doubt in his search for an honest man he was spending much time around politicians. However, out of a country of 320 million we ought to be able to find some who are statesmen, willing to negotiate to get things done, and unlike the famous drinking bird are not continually dipping their beak. Unfortunately, it will probably be quite a while before we have enough of these in Congress to make a difference.
Once D.C. is cleaned up, we at least have a fighting chance at restraining Wall Street. It's unfortunate that Pelosi's promise to 'clean the swamp' was just talking point and political pap and twaddle.
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Entrenched politicians convince themselves that they are doing a great job. They inately believe that only they, with their vast reservoir of experience, are capable of guiding the complex nation which is the United States through the tricky shoals of governance. They are tightly bound to a system that has become so inward looking that they have become incapable of perspective. Each and every one believe that while government in its entirety may have some shortcomings, they personally are pricipaled stewards of the publics trust, never erring in judgement.
ReplyDeleteWake up!!!!! I am a long time conservative and someone like a Dick Lugar or an Arlen Spector will not be missed by me or many others. He no longer represented anyone other than himself. There are plenty on both sides of the aisle that need to be shown the door. Political office was never meant to be the equivalent of royalty.
Kent Conwell: Beware of the media
ReplyDeleteKent Conwell
Published 05/01/2012 - 11:40 p.m. CST
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kent Conwell
Email:
Email
Have you ever heard of Bob and Nancy Strait? Married over 65 years, the elderly couple lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
You haven’t? Are you sure? Their home is in the 3300 block of modest, but neat homes on East Virgin Street.
Still say you’ve never heard of them?
Well, I’m not surprised.
A man broke into their home March 14 and assaulted them. Eighty-five year old Nancy was raped and beaten to death. Her ninety-year-old husband was hospitalized for multiple injuries.
The next day, Tyrone Woodfork, 20, was arrested driving the couple’s Dodge Neon.
Bob and Nancy are white. Tyrone is black.
Now do you understand why you have not heard of the incident?
The national media has been too involved with the white on black killing of Trayvon Martin to give any more than minimal back-page space to a black on white killing.
Naturally, there are more headlines up for grabs in the Martin-Zimmerman circus than the Strait-Woodfork assault and murder. White on black is sensational, made even more so by the biased advocacy of zealous firebrands. Black on white or black on black is not sensational.
There is a chilling concept here if you look hard enough.
Did you hear about the mayor of Chicago shutting down the beaches because gangs of blacks were assaulting white families?
Nope!
Did you hear about the two black youths in Kansas City who threw gasoline on a thirteen year old and shouted “how do you like that, white boy?”
Nope!
There were only a handful of journalists who covered the Woodfork-Strait story among them Jerry Wofford, a World Staff writer. Walter E. Williams, a professor of economics at George Mason University, penned a perceptive OpED article in the Times-Dispatch on the dishonesty of the media. Professor Williams is black. He’s worth reading.
I guess Bob and Nancy Strait did not remind Obama of his parents.
ReplyDeleteGenerations of Jabareens, a Palestinian family, were born in the cave hewn into the rugged hillside just a few miles from the Green Line delineating the occupied West Bank from Israel. Over the decades, the cave has acquired a few comforts, including generator-run electricity, a door offering protection against the elements, and a toilet installed at the expense of the British government.
ReplyDeleteThe Jabareens, though, are all too aware this rough comfort is transient. Ever since Israel declared this area a live firing zone in the 1970s, they have lived under threat of eviction. That situation is now coming to a head.
Israel's Defence Ministry is to rule on the fate of the Palestinian communities within days, a decision that will then come up before the Supreme Court before a final ruling. Activists anticipate that the government will demand the total or partial expulsion of the 12 impoverished farming villages, home to some 1,600 people, that lie within the firing zone, a designation that rights groups say is a land grab concealed as a security need.
"We don't have any other land to go to," says Khaled Jabareen, 41, whose family's cave is surrounded by makeshift homes and farmsteads scattered on the hillside.
A Defence Ministry official declined to be drawn on its position, saying that there was, as yet, "no concrete decision on the matter". In 1999, Israel evacuated the villagers by force, demolishing homes and property. A year later, the Supreme Court said the farmers could return, pending a final decision, abandoning them to a state of limbo.
What Public Relations Problem?
No one cares except those that hate Israel.
DeleteCOUNTLESS of people are butchered, raped and driven from their homes across the globe from Mexico to Sudan and no one cares.
In the article you present it is clear no one from Israel is violently removing them, as Israel did to the Jews of Gaza.
The arabs you site are squatters, no deed or title to the land, actually have more due process rights and the right to petition than most people in the world who actually had a legal right to the land.
I guess in America we NEVER remove illegal squatters from "impoverished homesteads"
better question is?
What of the 650,000 Jews driven from their homes by the arabs in 1948?
Why do you obsess about the Palestinians, a fake nationalistic people that have no actual nationalistic history?
Why do you not have one standard for all?
Just how many people were driven from their homes in Sudan? How many raped, murdered in the same time period?
How many Coptics driven from their homes, murdered and raped?
do you care?
Of course not..
You only care about showcasing Israel's sins...
Thus you prove once again why more and more people think of you as an anti-semite
How about a column about the arabs driven from their homes by arabs in Gaza?
DeleteWhat is the population of christians driven from their homes in Iraq SINCE America liberated it?
Deleteyawn, WiO's standard 2 wrongs make a right defense of Israel.
Deleteno, it's the standard..
Delete"one standard for Israel, no standards for anyone else"
btw, Israel did NOTHING wrong in clearing out squatters using the law and court system.
I guess that no other nation has laws that address this issue?
Oh that is right most nations simply drive off and or kill squatters...
Just like Canada did?
The Kennedy media protection machine goes into action
ReplyDeleteThe estranged wife of Robert F Kennedy Jr has been found dead in her home in Bedford, New York, according to the family.
Mary Richardson Kennedy, 52, was RFK Jr's second wife. The couple was married for 16 years and had four children together before separating in 2010.
"We deeply regret the death of our beloved sister Mary, whose radiant and creative spirit will be sorely missed by those who loved her," read a statement from Mary Kennedy's family. "Our heart goes out to her children who she loved without reservation. We have no further comment at this time."
The past couple of years had been troubled ones for Mary Kennedy. She was charged with driving while intoxicated in May 2010, when she was pulled over with a blood alcohol level of .11. The legal driving limit is .08.
They really did love her, to death.
If I were a woman, I'd avoid that bunch like the plague.
ReplyDeleteAlong about February the American people are going to start to realize how much smoke has been blown up their asses by the Oil Companies, Wall St., CNBC Pundits, and the Republican Party as regards "fracking," and ultra-cheap natural gas, forever.
ReplyDeleteWe still have a huge, some say existential, energy problem to deal with.
let's just keep buying opec dirty oil
ReplyDeleteoops - I've been posting in a dead thread...
ReplyDeleteMax quoted:
"The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the increase in debt relative to GDP due to the last crisis will end up being 50 percent of GDP, call that $7 trillion dollars, $7.5 trillion dollars in today's money."
The only references I could find to this on the intertubes were at huffingtonpost and commondreams. How realistic are those big numbers?
Re reset - I think the bond market will take the US to the woodshed in the next 5 years and that will have a profound effect. Does that amount to a "reset" - you be the judge.
As to Quirk's headline post:
ReplyDeleteGiven Wall Streets influence on the political class I don't see how Washington can be cleaned up before Wall Street. The only way Wall Street will be contained is through the effects of their own folly and the bond market beating up US debt may be do just that. The two 'factions' are gripped in a death dance and will most probably fall together. Won't be very nice on the common man though.
The only references I could find to this on the intertubes were at huffingtonpost and commondreams. How realistic are those big numbers?
ReplyDeleteBill Moyers interviewed Simon Johnson, once chief economist of the International Monetary Fund and now a professor at MIT's Sloan School of Management and senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. He and his colleague James Kwak founded the now-indispensable website baselinescenario.com. They co-authored the bestselling book 13 Bankers and a most recent book, White House Burning, an account every citizen should read to understand how the national deficit affects our future.
If this guy references a formal CBO report, I am not only inclined to take it on face value, but would suggest you follow up with him for details. Or maybe read one of his publications?
How does Bill Moyers interviewing Simon Johnson support the assertion that 7 trillion in debt is due to the 08 financial crisis?
DeleteThose numbers may very well be true but then again there may be a whole bunch of flawed assumptions behind them (or the CBO never made such a statement) but I guess if you read it on the internet it must be true and I will bow to your superior analysis.
Man's gotta know his limitations Asher. The road to Jesus is paved with humble admissions. Delighted you found The Light. Now go away and gaze at something.
DeleteObviously I'm not going to be gazing on any support for your assertions.
Delete.
ReplyDeleteYou could be right Ash. We both have our opinions and I am not arguing that mine is necessarily right.
However, mine is based on the fact that we have some type of financial crisis every decade or so. We usually here a lot about how the players have learned their lesson and won't let it happen again. And then it does. What will constrain Wall Street if not the government?
You seem to imply that eventually they will learn their lesson, that the leadership will willingly change or be booted out by the stockholders. That appears a naive hope to me.
The Street is built on short-term thinking and results. Rewards are allocated on that metric. That's why assets are eschewed and leverage and risk glorified. The mantra is "It's return on assets stupid." Eventually things may change if we get enough jolts to the system but I doubt it will happen in five years, not on its own, not without government intervention.
I would say it will be interesting to watch and we will see which of us is right but unfortunately there is a third distinct possibility that is that neither will change, Washington nor Wall Street. In that case, it will just be you and me continuing to speculate on what might have happened.
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I think the status quo will prevail unless some strong forces come to bear. The bond market is a very strong force. Some financial crisis are more traumatic than others. History is littered with them some transformational.
DeletePeering at the current situation of chronic US current account deficits and US government fiscal inbalances coupled with the demographic trends could mean some traumatic events are still in the cards. The US having the exchange currency and an activist Fed allows for maintaining these imbalances for a long time. How long can it go? I don't know but I think there is a limit to the effectiveness of quantative easing in addressing these issues. If confidence is lost in the US dollar then things can change quickly. Maybe they will be able to keep on as they have been keeping on...
quirk wrote:
Delete"You seem to imply that eventually they will learn their lesson, that the leadership will willingly change or be booted out by the stockholders. That appears a naive hope to me."
No, quite the opposite. I'm trying to say that things will muddle on until shit hits the fan, and then, and only then, will things change.
The trading losses suffered by JPMorgan Chase have surged in recent days, surpassing the bank’s initial $2 billion estimate by at least $1 billion, according to people with knowledge of the losses.
ReplyDeleteWhen Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan’s chief executive, announced the losses last Thursday, he indicated they could double within the next few quarters. But that process has been compressed into four trading days as hedge funds and other investors take advantage of JPMorgan’s distress, fueling faster deterioration in the underlying credit market positions held by the bank.
If the Wall St Four start to wobble, that could be a Precipitating Event. There's a bunch of them who don't want the Big Four disassembled and I see no way that Congress will be able to formulate another taxpayer bailout..
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Great Artwork
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DeleteA $4 billion loss on this deal by that JPM unit. On the other side, I heard the same unit made $9 billion on other deals.
Reminds me of a documentary I saw on one of the major drug bosses and his cartel (I can never keep the names straight). At any rate, over time they had figured out that the increased DEA activity associated with the WOD was impacting 12% of their shipments. However, they were shipping so much drugs that they merely wrote that 12% off as the necessary cost of doing business.
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Senators to Unveil the ‘Ex-Patriot Act’ to Respond to Facebook’s Saverin’s Tax ‘Scheme’
ReplyDeleteEmail 284 Smaller Font Text Larger Text | Print
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has a status update for Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin: Stop attempting to dodge your taxes by renouncing your U.S. citizenship or never come to back to the U.S. again.
Bastards. Ex-patriotism is a long honored American tradition. Ernie Hemingway, and his third wife, Martha Gelhorn too, for instance, were always trying to dodge taxes by living out of the country. Hence the place in Cuba. It got so bad with Gelhorn, that Hemroid finally said, "Are you my lawfully bedded wife, or a war correspondent?"
Martha was ahead of her time on the muzzies. She wrote a long article tearing them apart. "Why do they hate so much?" she wondered.
I intend to see my way through the next financial crisis or precipitating event by watching Ash closely.
And then doing whatever he is doing.
He must know what he is talking about, as he always has money to sail and golf, and no source of funds from any employment that I can discern. :)
1%er.
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ReplyDeleteIt's early to be projecting the presidential race; however, the info on the swings states might be a little interesting.
The Fix (appropriate or what?)
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You can paint Florida, North Carolina, and Iowa red at this point.
Deleteb
Romney wins N. Carolina. Fl is a toss-up. Iowa? I doubt it.
DeletePuzzling break-ins over the last month at the offices of at least three House members and several committees have U.S. Capitol Police gumshoes working to find a pattern and the culprits, with missing items ranging from cash and expensive computer equipment to autographed baseballs and alcohol.
ReplyDeleteNow we get an inside glimpse of how the boys spend their time back there.
An 'inside job', or a new Watergate?
http://hotair.com/archives/2012/05/17/republicans-capitol-hill-offices-being-burgled-an-inside-job/
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Senate rejects Obama budget in 99-0 vote
ReplyDeleteBy Erik Wasson and Daniel Strauss - 05/16/12 04:30 PM ET
A budget resolution based on President Obama’s 2013 budget failed to get any votes in the Senate on Wednesday.
In a 99-0 vote, all of the senators present rejected the president’s blueprint.
It’s the second year in a row the Senate has voted down Obama’s budget.
Obama's 2012 budget failed 97 to 0 last May after Obama himself last April said he wanted deeper deficit cuts.
The House earlier this year unanimously rejected Obama's budget.
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Goddamn the democrats -
ReplyDeleteMedia Trackers Uncovers Massive Ballot Irregularities in Montana
Posted by Sean Davis (Diary)
Thursday, May 17th at 10:06AM EDT
No Comments
From the diaries by Erick . . .
In at least two counties in Montana, the home of a competitive U.S. Senate race that could tip the balance of power in the upper chamber, massive mail-in absentee ballot irregularities have been uncovered by Media Trackers Montana, a non-partisan investigative research organization with operations in five states across the country. In Broadwater county alone, where Sen. Jon Tester received only 35 percent of the vote in the 2006 general election, up to 600 erroneous mail-in ballots have been reported. Over a dozen Billings-area voters have complained that they received incorrect ballots. Yellowstone county officials have also reported numerous complaints from voters receiving the wrong ballot.
And to top it all off, even a sample ballot available to individual voters on the Montana Secretary of State’s website is incorrect (this particular ballot allows the voter to select a state representative in two separate districts — districts 68 and 83). A majority of Montana voters are expected to vote by mail this November.
The Media Trackers investigation found state political officials in total disarray. One county elections supervisor gave Media Trackers Montana several conflicting reasons for the ballot snafu. Broadwater County elections officer Rhonda Nelson, a Democrat, told Media Trackers that the county experienced a “computer glitch with the software vendor” which resulted in numerous ballot anomalies. But when pressed for more specificity, Nelson seemed to contradict herself, stating, “This happened because I was in the hospital the day the ballots were approved and while my deputy was watching things, it was one less set of eyes on the process.” Despite the widespread and significant ballot problems, Nelson told Media Trackers that she was confident in the integrity of the mail-in ballot system and that she planned to “personally call everyone who received a bad ballot and let them know they will be getting correct ballots.”
Scott Aspenlieder, a Republican seeking to unseat current Secretary of State Linda McCulloch, a Democrat, issued a scathing press release after Media Trackers first reported the ballot irregularities. “I call on our Secretary of State to begin a comprehensive audit of all of the 2012 absentee ballots to identify every single error, and immediately take steps to fix this process so a Montanan’s right to vote is never threatened again,” he wrote. “This failure of leadership is simply unacceptable, and Montanans deserve better.”
Montana’s primary is scheduled for Tuesday, June 5. Follow Media Trackers Montana on Facebook and Twitter to receive breaking updates on this developing story.
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My darling Sarah picks her shots, will be the second most powerful voice at the Republican Convention -
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/05/17/sarah-palin-s-latest-triumph-deb-fischer-wins-nebraska-gop-primary.html
This is a shameless plug for Sarah.
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ReplyDeleteGeorge Will takes a conservative position on student loans and the current effort to minimize the interest rate charged on them.
Student Loans [LINK]
IMO, education is so important to this country, the government should support it to the degree possible including support for a college education. However, at the college or university level, they should not be losing money on the deal. That being said, they also should not be making money on the deal.
In the current fight, both sides are arguing about the approprite rate to charge for these government loans, 3.4% vs. 6.8%. In the argument, that rate is compared to what private lenders charge, around 12%, I think this is the wrong argument.
IMO, the government should be charging a rate that covers their expenses, overhead (administrative, etc.) and reserves to cover defaults and collections. There should be no profit on the loans.
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Agree.
Deleteb
That's fine; but let's not forget to take into account the much lower unemployment rate of those with a college, or technical, education, and the attendant savings on entitlement programs, and the higher income taxes collected.
DeleteBasically, G. Will is just another shithead republican that wants to, as Max put it, "Keep Control of the Franchise."
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DeleteI put up the Will article just to illustrate the debate. I disagree with Will's view on this one since he misses the point I was making.
I admire Will's facility with words and his writing (although I suspect he has people hired to do research for him. Or, perhaps it is just that I'm jealous). However, I only agree with him on about half the positions he takes. I disagree on this one. I disagree on his fawning admiration of the Tea Party and Paul Ryan's budget and his hostility towards the Occupy movement. There are a number of others.
What I do like about him is that he offers up legitimate arguments sans bullshit and euphemisms and rewrites of history even though I might disagree with those arguments or his interpretations.
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What is the Statue of Liberty holding in her left arm?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.freakingnews.com/Statue-of-Liberty-Pictures--2357.asp
Inscribed July 4, 1776, I maintain it represents the tablets of the law given to Moses.
Thus, the first sight many see on coming to America is a representation of our Judeo/Christian heritage, and a remembrance of the Hebrew escape from servitude in Egypt and the crossing of the waters to freedom on the other side.
This has nothing to do with our topic but I was just reading about it, as Glen Beck was talking about it yesterday.
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http://www.statueofliberty.org/Statue_of_Liberty_Picture_02.html
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe Vetting - Exclusive - Obama's Literary Agent in 1991 Booklet: 'Born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia and Hawaii'
ReplyDeletefrom Drudge
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/05/17/The-Vetting-Barack-Obama-Literary-Agent-1991-Born-in-Kenya-Raised-Indonesia-Hawaii
I am shamelessly trying to induce Deuce to repeat his objections to that birth certificate Obama came up with.
Remember his granny or auntie back there is reported to have said she was there in Kenya with the mom when the miraculous birth occurred.
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It's possible his father may have been Ngai, a supreme god in Kenya, making him divine.
Deleteb
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DeleteBob, you're wasting your time on this similar to that reporter I pointed out yesterday who has spend weeks trying to prove that Elizabeth Warren 'was not' 1/32 Cherokee. No one really gives a shit. The State of Hawaii, 'the controlling legal entity', has said he was born there. The current rants will change nothing even if they were true. There is no going back.
If you want to talk about violations of the constitution, concentrate on something that really affects you such as your current campaign against the constitutional rights this administration is taking from us. There is some value in that.
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People would really 'give a shit' if it were really shown he actually was born in Kenya and has been lying his ass off all the time.
DeleteAs far as Warren, the Cherokees themselves are demanding she 'come clean'.
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Quirk, I know you are a 'dead horse' on this issue, but I'll whack anyway.
DeleteWhere o where did the publishers of this pamphlet get the information that he was born in Keyna? At the time he wasn't exactly running for President, and he was an unknown. They got the information from - Barack Obama. And as the article says, he would most likely have reviewed his entry.
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DeleteI repeat, who gives a shit.
I could be wrong. There may be more people out there that care about this than I think.
That being said, what would be the practical result if it were proven true in the opinion of a majority of the population (other than one more thing you can whine about regarding Obama just as the Dem deniers did with GWB after the 2000 election)? In my opinion it will amount to zip.
You just can't write of the last four years and say they didn't happen. They are done and gone. We keep hearing about lawsuits but so far none have been drawn. If one was lodged, I suspect it would take a long time if ever before it came to trial. Any decision would go through the appeal process and eventually end up in the Supreme Court. It's not going to happen before the election.
With the election, either Obama loses and it becomes a moot point or he wins and the Court must decide whether to overturn the election, that or impeachment hearings are started in the Senate (I assume). Based on the history of the court, I don't see them overturning the will of the people in a free election. Congress is more of a crap shoot, but if Obama wins he will likely have enough votes in Congress to stop any impeachment hearings.
End result: A lot of sound and fury signifying nothing.
Just my opinion.
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Based on the history of the court, I don't see them overturning the will of the people in a free election.
DeleteThis is unfortunately true. So we will have been, if true, betrayed by two branches of government.
Everyone should 'give a shit'. If true it undermines the whole basis of our way of life, and is the biggest historical fraud since the Donation of Constantine.
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Dale at least 'gives a shit' even though Quirk doesn't.
DeleteBOB
WE KNEW THAT THAT EVIL THING WAS NOT AN AMERICAN YEARS AGO, IN FACT I KNEW THAT 4 YEARS AGO BUT NO ONE HARDLY BELIEVED ME.
BLESSINGS DALE
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No one, no one, would vet a promotional book about himself without reading it, especially a narcissist like Obama. Based on this and previous evidence, I am convinced that Obama was born in Kenya. The piece is written to show Obama’s exotic past. He was born in Kenya.
Delete.
Delete... If true it undermines the whole basis of our way of life...
:)
Hyperperbole or have you after that long steady trek actually made it around the bend?
Again, just my opinion Bob, but your wife shouldn't allow you to play with Dale. He is a bad influence on you.
There are so many things you can complain about wrt Obama, yet you fixate on this. I don't get it.
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She likes Dale, but refuses to gamble with him.
Delete:)
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ReplyDeleteI agree with you. It's not just a gridlock, it's a quagmire. Pelosi's swamp has turned in to quicksand.
Update (Allahpundit): Miriam Goderich, who helped represent Obama at the same literary agency, issued this statement to Political Wire:
ReplyDelete“You’re undoubtedly aware of the brouhaha stirred up by Breitbart about the erroneous statement in a client list Acton & Dystel published in 1991 (for circulation within the publishing industry only) that Barack Obama was born in Kenya. This was nothing more than a fact checking error by me — an agency assistant at the time. There was never any information given to us by Obama in any of his correspondence or other communications suggesting in any way that he was born in Kenya and not Hawaii. I hope you can communicate to your readers that this was a simple mistake and nothing more.”
...
Miriam Goderich began working at that agency in 1995…That’s 4 years AFTER someone at the agency wrote Obama’s bio info. Check out these links to 2 short articles about Miriam Goderich and you’ll figure it out, too.
http://www.netwo.org/conference/bios-07.htm
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http://www.dystel.com/staff-e-mail/
centre on May 17, 2012 at 6:37 PM
Someone forgot to fact-check her bio.
The Rogue Tomato on May 17, 2012 at 6:40 PM
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How many people have been fired or resigned in disgrace because of a phony entry on their resume? Either the claim or the denial is a lie. One of them is a false claim. I have had security clearance up to Top Secret. Every statement had to be signed and prescribed a stiff penalty for misrepresenting facts. Misrepresenting your country of origin is a serious matter. Obama is a liar and a fraud.
ReplyDelete.
DeleteInteresting question.
A more interesting one, how many politicians have?
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Quirk, please, movie buff, I will put it in a form you may understand.
ReplyDeleteIt is Eddie Murphy in "Beverly Hills Cop" pulling a fast one on whitey.
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DeleteOh, I understand the form alright. It's the statement and its relevance I don't quite savvy.
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from the dreaded American Thinker -
ReplyDeleteMay 17, 2012
Hard to believe Obama didn't approve literary agent listing him as born in Kenya
Rosslyn Smith
It is going to be hard for the media to argue this was some inadvertent error as almost all the big names there have literary agents and know the unwritten rule that an author controls what gets said about the author.
It should be noted that many of the talking heads on cable TV have have authored books and therefore presumably have literary agents. Thus they are familiar with practices in the industry. I suspect their experience mirrors that of PJ Media founder Roger L. Simon.
... as the author of 11 books, I can say that in EVERY instance that I have been published, I have seen such material in advance. It could be that Obama is the exception, but that is highly unlikely.
It's always been my understanding the author controls what is said about the author's background by the literary agent, the editor and the publisher. That certainly was my experience both when I worked for a professional magazine and when I've written articles in professional and general interest publications. We might advise that some aspect of their background be highlighted over another but everything got double checked with the author.
Since the blurb that appeared in the 1991 promotional booklet by literary agents Acton & Dystel appears to contain information about Obama's place of birth that he presumably never got to see I think both his supporters and detractors can agree: Obama must be considered sui generis among authors of memoirs, law school professors and presidents. If Bill Clinton was first in his class when it came to his relationship with the truth, Obama is a class all of his own.
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2012/05/hard_to_believe_obama_didnt_approve_literary_agent_listing_him_as_born_in_kenya.html#ixzz1vAmHUPDo
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I guarantee you Obama read that publicity piece 25 times. He took it to the bathroom with him. He placed it next to his plate at the table. He showed it to everyone who was in reach. He directed them to particular parts. He read pieces aloud. He asked people what they thought about it. It sat on the passenger side of his car so that he could read it at red lights.
DeleteAbsolutely he did. No doubt at all of that.
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Defense Secretary Leon Panetta already has publicly has acknowledged U.S. operations in Yemen. Mr. Panetta said recently that the military has been "very successful at going after the leadership" of al Qaeda in Yemen.
ReplyDelete...
While Mr. Brennan in his speech last month offered a list of al Qaeda affiliates that pose a danger, U.S. officials have never publicly listed which terrorist groups are considered associated forces of al Qaeda that can be targeted by the military.
Some legal scholars have asked for a fuller accounting of what terrorist groups the administration believes can be targeted under the congressional authorization. Robert Chesney, a professor at the University of Texas Law School, said it would be helpful for the administration to clarify which groups or individuals can be targeted under its definition of the congressional authorization.
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Delete...it would be helpful for the administration to clarify which groups or individuals can be targeted under its definition of the congressional authorization.
It will never happen.
This is the kind of stuff about Obama the country should be up in arms about not where he was born.
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Moreover, as the chart shows, if you add in other safety net programs (such as federal unemployment, food stamps, and housing assistance — but excluding Social Security), under Kennedy we spent 7 percent of our federal budget on health programs and safety net programs combined — or $1 for every $7 that we spent on defense. Under Obama, the share of federal spending that has gone to health programs or safety net programs has ballooned to 36 percent — or $11 for every $7 that we spend on defense.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, according to Obama’s own figures, we could have eliminated all defense spending last year, and we still would have run a deficit of almost half a trillion dollars — which (at least in actual dollars) is larger than any pre-2009 deficit. Again, that’s without spending a penny on defense, which accounted for more than half of Kennedy’s 1962 budget.
Just imagine what percentage of the federal budget would come to be spent on health care if Obamacare isn’t repealed — and just imagine how hard it would be for future generations to ever dig out of our $15,700,000,000,000 hole, which is growing deeper by the day.
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DeleteThis is similar to the argument that if the rich had to pay 100% in taxes it would still not eliminate the deficit. True but irrelevant when discussing the issue of should the rich be paying more taxes.
Since true to form, Sam has offered no link to the original article one can only assume it is an argument for defense spending as opposed to health care in our allocation of scarce resources. But like the argument on taxes, discussion of healthcare is irrelevant with regard to whether the current level of defense spending is an optimal level. Once and optimal level is identified, you can argue over how to split up the pie.
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In New York, in a speech to the UN, the President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, was due to pledge support to the Greek people provided they honoured their commitments. A pre-released text of his speech said: "We want Greece to stay in the euro area and the European Union will do all it takes to ensure it.
ReplyDeleteWe will honour our commitments toward Greece and we expect the Greek government – current and future – to fulfil jointly agreed conditions for financial assistance." However, delivering the speech, Mr Barroso omitted any mention of Greece.
Stuart Gulliver, the group chief executive of HSBC, said that there was a risk that markets would take a drastic downward lurch even before next month's Greek election. "It's absolutely how the eurozone plays out and whether Greece stays in, and/or whether firewalls are high enough to protect Spain and frankly whether markets take things into their own hands before 17 June," he said.
A report (PDF) compiled by the Republican staff of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and released last week found that the agency charged with making air travel (and so much more) such a hassle "is wasting hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars by inefficiently deploying screening equipment and technology to commercial airports."
ReplyDeleteSome highlights:
85 percent of the approximately 5,700 items of major transportation security equipment currently warehoused had been stored for longer than six months
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TSA had 472 carry-on baggage screening machines warehoused, more than 99 percent of which have remained in storage for more than nine months
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TSA possessed 1,462 explosive trace detectors in storage, each purchased at a cost of $30,000.
On this day in 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education, declaring racially segregated schools was unconstitutional.
ReplyDeleteAn elderly, white-haired man walked into a jewellery store one Friday evening with a beautiful young blonde at his side.
ReplyDeleteHe told the jeweller he was looking for a special ring for his girlfriend.
The jeweller looked through his stock and brought out a £5,000 ring. The old man said, "No, I'd like to see something more special."
At that statement, the jeweller went to his special stock and brought another ring over. "Here's a stunning ring at only £40,000," he said.
The young lady's eyes sparkled and her whole body trembled with excitement. The old man seeing this said, "We'll take it."
The jeweller asked how payment would be made and the old man stated, "By cheque. I know you need to make sure my cheque clears so I'll write it now, and you can call the bank on Monday morning to verify the funds and I'll pick the ring up on Monday afternoon," he said..
On Monday morning, the jeweller 'phoned the old man and said "Sir, there's no money in that account."
"I know," said the old man, "but let me tell you about my weekend!"
Despite that rationale, the publication will no doubt fuel "birthers" who refuse to believe Obama was born in the United States.
ReplyDeleteWho could possibly believe Obama was born in Kenya or OJ did it?
heh
DeleteI was a borner (natural born citizen, two citizen parents required) but now I am becoming a birther as well.
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Sheriff Joe is open to the possibility. He is reported to have added it to his 'ton of evidence' he is pursuing.
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America hit a demographic milestone last year, with new census figures showing for the first time more than half the children born in the U.S. were minorities.
ReplyDeleteIn a recorded interview, a man identified as the Rev. Jeremiah Wright claimed that an associate of President Obama, through an intermediary, offered him money to stop preaching during the 2008 presidential campaign.
ReplyDeleteMorgan Stanley, which won the coveted lead left spot in the deal, was considered a shoo-in for its experience in technology IPOs. Goldman Sachs was expected to come in second because of its $1.5 billion private offering in January 2011, but was beat out by JP Morgan, which put its top bankers on the effort to woo Facebook and is playing a central role in the IPO.
ReplyDeleteFor J.P. Morgan, the plum underwriting role is a bright spot given the bank's recent troubles with trading losses. So far this year, the bank ranks as the top bookrunner on U.S. listed IPOs for a total deal value of $1.5 billion, excluding Facebook's public offering, according to Dealogic data.
At Facebook's Menlo Park, Calif., headquarters, employees planned to usher in the IPO with an all-night computer programming session, or "hackathon," until Mr. Zuckerberg presses the opening bell on the Nasdaq Stock Market at around 6:30 a.m. local time.
Book report: "Son of the Morning Star, Custer and the Little Bighorn" (wife is reading this)
ReplyDeleteGeneral Reno could drink General Grant right under the table. General Reno had the distinction of having the most demerits of anyone who graduated from West Point at the time. At the battle itself, he was really, really 'lit up'.
The enlisted men, who really had no means to carry liquor of their own, sometimes took to sealing the gun barrels of their rifles, and carrying three or four shot of whiskey in that manner.
We all known Custer was a vain fool who lead his troops right into an impossible situation.
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Ten months into South Sudan’s independence, the hazards of building a Western-leaning country in a region that’s being shaped by conflict, mass migration, and war criminals like Omar al-Bashir are clear. In ten years, South Sudan could be stable and prosperous.
ReplyDeleteIt could just as easily become a dysfunctional failed state. Samaritan’s Purse has little control over which course the country will take.
The organization can dig wells and rebuild churches, but it cannot solve the oil issue or stop the war in South Kordofan.
As a prelude to a broader analysis of China’s GDP, and the accuracy of its official GDP figures, I want to start by examining the national real estate statistics for the first four months of 2012. This discussion feeds into the broader GDP picture, but the property story that has been unfolding is important and interesting enough to be worth taking a close look at on its own.
ReplyDelete...
All that being said, I’m seeing some rather striking patterns in the data that tell us two main things:
The market is not poised to recover, but will continue to see greater downward pressure on prices; and
Real estate investment is likely to flatten out or start falling, erasing several percentage points of GDP growth.
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I think most readers will agree, this is pretty powerful stuff. At least one major sector of the Chinese economy (10-13% of GDP), which had been a leading growth driver, is undoubtedly in contraction.
Real Estate Unravels