Defending The American Dream Summit 2-4 Aug 2012
Posted on | July 19, 2012 | 6 Comments
by Smitty
I just signed up for DTADS next month. Gov. Scott Walker, Michelle Malkin, Paul Ryan, Mark Levin. The list goes on. Hopefully I’ll catch up with Stacy McCain’s chum Tabitha Hale. She’s actually pretty cool, despite the chip collection on Stacy’s shoulder.
The Axis of Fedora, of course, will be on the prowl for enrollees. So sign up and get yourself here for some good times.
LIVE AT FIVE: 07.19.12 (MOUNTAIN STATES EDITION)
Posted on | July 19, 2012 | Comments Off on LIVE AT FIVE: 07.19.12 (MOUNTAIN STATES EDITION)
— compiled by Wombat-socho
TOP NEWS
Rebel Bomb A Decisive Blow To Assad Regime?
Deaths of three senior regime officials in bombing costly
Seven Dead In Bus Suicide Bombing
Bulgarian bus had Israeli tourists aboard
Judge Orders County To Complete Mosque Inspections
Strikes down lower court injunction that held insufficient notice given
POLITICS
Obama Heads For Florida To Keep Heat On Romney
Continues calls for Romney to release returns, pursues military and seniors
Lawyers Argue Over Damage Done By Wikileaker
Scalia: No “Falling Out” With Chief Justice
Stacy’s Crazy Cousin John Defends Clinton Aide From Muslim Brotherhood Questions
Congress Preserves Military Sports Sponsorships
Key Figures In Sheriff Joe Profiling Lawsuit
THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Oil Rises For Seventh Day As US Gasoline Stockpiles Drop: NYMEX $90.96, Brent $106.17
US Stocks Rise As Intel, Techs Rally
$8 Corn Joins $16 Beans
Spain Confronts Bond Market Access Threats As Protests Loom
Ag Secretary Tells White House Drought Worsening
GM Pension Fund To Sell Private Equity Assets To Chicoms
The LIBOR Scandal Explained: What Rate-Rigging Means To You
Explaining The Complex Data Plans Of AT&T, Verizon
Judge Orders Apple To Make Public Climbdown On Galaxy Tab Claims
EU Microsoft Fine Could Reach $7.3 Billion
World’s #3 Botnet Shut Down, Global Spam Estimated To Drop By 20%
Facebook Users In India, ROK And Japan Increasing
SPORTS
Ross, Gonzo Provide Muscle For 10-1 Thrashing Of White Sox In Boston
Ross hits two 3-run dingers, Doubront pitches six, Gonzo adds solo homer to pick up slack as Big Papi hits the DL
Blockbuster trade proposed by Marlins
Lin: Honestly, I Preferred New York
Flyers Sign Weber To 14-Year Offer Sheet
Grant Hill Follows Steve Nash To LA But Signs With Clippers
A’s Beat Rangers 4-3 On Hicks’ Sayonara Homer
Fister Restrains Angels For 8 As Tigers Batter Wilson
Just Another Night At The Office For Jordan Zimmerman As Nats Edge Mets 4-3
FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Sofia Vergara Is TV’s Top-Earning Woman
$19 million for “Modern Family”, ads, endorsements
Has The Co$ Already Chosen The Next Mrs. Cruise?
Janet Jackson Furious Over Niece Paris’ Film Role
Lindsay Lohan Poses With Her Lawyer
Harper Beckham Takes Her First Steps
Is Penelope Cruz Pregnant With Baby #2?
Jessica Biel Is Off “The Wolverine”
Sarah Michelle Gellar Expecting A Boy
Heidi Klum Calls Runaway “Project Runway” Contestants Cowards
White Powder Found In Sage Stallone’s Bedroom
FOREIGNERS
Peres, Netanyahu Vow Vengeance For Bulgarian Attack
Former Egyptian VP Omar Suleiman Dies In US
UNSC To Vote Today On Syria
PM Cameron Visits Troops In Afghanistan
PRC Pledges $20 Billion In Credit To Africa
BLOGS & STUFF
Marc Thiessen: Romney’s Self-Inflicted Tax Wound
Riehl World View: CBS/NYT Survey Shows Obama Attacks Ineffective; Romney 47%, Obama 46%
Jihad Watch: Senator McCain Ignoring Extensive Evidence On Clinton Aide’s Muslim Brotherhood Connections
Robert Bryce: Inside The Strange World Of Green Energy Politics And How It’s Ruining America
Lonely Conservative: So How Much Money Did Obama Raise From Bain, And Who Was In Charge During All That Outsourcing?
Weasel Zippers: Another Obama-funded “Green Energy” Company Bites The Dust – Amonix Solar Closes After Getting $15.6 Million DOE Grant
PJ Tatler: WI Judge Who Signed Walker Recall Petition Tosses Voter ID Law
Rush Limbaugh: World On Fire Over Batman And El Rushbo
Reihan Salam: Quick Thought On Privacy
Washington Free Beacon: Cronyism Built That
Atlas Shrugs: Former SEAL Team Six Commander Launches Anti-Obama Offensive
Jammie Wearing Fools: UK Police End Climategate Inquiry
How to Become Irrelevant
Posted on | July 19, 2012 | 32 Comments
The key to becoming irrelevant is to develop an irrational obsession — an idée fixe — and ride that hobby horse without regard for changes in circumstances or public interest. Become tedious by ranting against obscure scapegoats and obsolete controversies that have no signficance except to you and whatever tiny clique of like-minded kooks share your fanatical fixation.
About a half-hour ago, I learned that Edward “Crawfish” Sebesta is still online raving about the neo-Confederate menace. He’s got an entire blog devoted to the topic, and has been tilting at that particular windmill for more than 15 years now.
To make a long story short: Ed Sebesta is a guy from Up North who moved Down South, and immediately commenced to make himself obnoxious to his new neighbors, beginning in Dallas, Texas, where he lives. Like most towns in the South, Dallas has a Confederate monument. Sebesta decided this monument was a symbol of evil and petitioned the city to remove this awful blight.
His request was declined, and Sebesta’s resulting mad rage turned him into a one-man Permanent Committee of Vengeance, a bizarre single-issue derangement that endeared him to the Southern Poverty Law Center and to no one else. The controversies that consume Sebesta’s demented mind haven’t gotten any widespread attention since about 2006, when the absurd accusation that George Allen was a “neo-Confederate” got all tangled up in the “macaca” nonsense. (Fact: Jim Webb is a lot more neo-Confederate than Allen ever was, and the Sons of Confederate Veterans in Virginia supported Webb over Allen in 2006.)
Without regard for his irrelevance, Sebesta still toils away, evidently convinced that sooner or later this will matter to somebody again. And who know? Maybe he’s right. But it’s 2012 now, and most people are worried about issues like economics and deficit spending. However, the dim prospects for a revival of the “neo-Confederate” scare haven’t deterred Sebesta from carrying on in the same way he’s been carrying on since he declared a jihad against that monument in Dallas.
Sebesta reminds me of nothing so much as diehard 9/11 Truther kooks — “Fire can’t melt steel! Inside job! Bush lied!” — or perhaps a better analogy would be JFK assassination conspiracy theorists endlessly replaying the Zapruder film and muttering about the “grassy knoll.”
Sixteen years after I first encountered Sebesta doing his Chicken Little act, the sky still has not fallen, and the dreaded neo-Confederate menace still has not staged a bloody coup or whatever ever other evil clandestine activity he claimed they were up to.
That Confederate monument still stands 60 feet tall in downtown Dallas.
It’s a conspiracy!
The Democrat Agenda 2012
Posted on | July 18, 2012 | 34 Comments
Far be it from me to be intolerant or judgmental, you understand, but when I check Memeorandum and see a story like this . . .
Web campaign targets Romney’s
‘extreme anti-LGBT agenda’
A pair of liberal super PACs are teaming up on a new Web campaign that accuses Mitt Romney of advancing an “extreme anti-LGBT agenda” that would make life worse for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Americans.
. . . I can’t help but think of this:
Is it just me? Is there anyone else who has a hard time imagining Harry Truman doing a 1948 whistle-stop tour, proclaiming that Tom Dewey was hostile to “transgender Americans”?
Has the Democratic Party given up on winning over blue-collar workers and small farmers, and decided that its most important constituency now is the cast of the Rocky Horror Picture Show?
Race Conditions
Posted on | July 18, 2012 | 11 Comments
by Smitty
Let’s face it: “the idea of two signals racing each other to influence the output first” is a real challenge we face in trying to dig our way to the top of the debt pit.
For example, consider the efforts of the Nobel Committee and #OccupyResoluteDesksince 2009, as captured in this simple graphic:

Racism is an ugly thing. How about meritocracy instead?
via Twitchy
O’Keefe Moves From Planned Parenthood Abortions To Economic Abortions
Posted on | July 18, 2012 | 7 Comments
by Smitty
How to abort an economy, as a hole. Glad to see that James O’Keefe is staying busy.
VIDEO: New Mitt Romney Ad Slams Obama’s Wasted Stimulus Money
Posted on | July 18, 2012 | 11 Comments
Here is the press release from the Romney campaign:
ROMNEY FOR PRESIDENT RELEASES TELEVISION AD, “WHERE DID ALL THE MONEY GO?”
Boston, MA – Today, Romney for President released a new television advertisement titled “Where Did All The Money Go?” President Obama’s time in office has been marked by political payoffs to the donor class and layoffs for the middle class. He showered his friends with stimulus funds and sent millions of taxpayer dollars overseas. If we can’t trust him with our money, why should we trust him for another four years?
To View “Where Did All The Money Go?” Please See: http://mi.tt/OS7psJ
AD FACTS: Script For “Where Did All The Money Go?”
VIDEO TEXT: “Where Did All The Obama Stimulus Money Go?”
VOICEOVER: “Where did all the Obama stimulus money go?”
VIDEO TEXT: “Friends, Donors, Campaign Supporters, Special Interest Groups”
- Top Obama Fundraisers Worked In His Department Of Energy “As It Showered Billions In Taxpayer-Backed Stimulus Money On Alternative Energy Firms.” “Several of Barack Obama’s top campaign supporters went from soliciting political contributions to working from within the Energy Department as it showered billions in taxpayer-backed stimulus money on alternative energy firms, iWatch News and ABC News have learned.” (Ronnie Green and Matthew Mosk, “Bundlers On The Inside,” iWatch, 9/29/11)
- “Several Political Allies” Of President Obama Had “Ties To Companies Receiving Chunks” Of Taxpayer Money From The Stimulus. “A joint investigation by ABC News and the Center for Public Integrity that will air on World News with Diane Sawyer tonight has found that Westly is just one of several political allies of the president who have ties to companies receiving chunks of that money through loans, grants, or loan guarantees.” (Brian Ross and Matthew Mosk, “Did Obama Administration Play Favorites With Energy Loans?,” ABC News, 10/30/11)
- “Nearly 200 Of [President Obama’s] Biggest Donors Have Landed Plum Government Jobs And Advisory Posts, Won Federal Contracts Worth Millions Of Dollars For Their Business Interests…” “More than two years after President Obama took office vowing to banish ‘special interests’ from his administration, nearly 200 of his biggest donors have landed plum government jobs and advisory posts, won federal contracts worth millions of dollars for their business interests or attended numerous elite White House meetings and social events, an investigation by iWatch News has found.” (Fred Schulte, et al, “Obama Rewards Big Bundlers With Jobs, Commissions, Stimulus Money, Government Contracts, And More,” iWatch News, 6/15/11)
- Obama Fundraiser Steve Westly “Has Had A Stake In At Least Five Companies That Have Won DOE Support.” “Obama’s political supporters were also investors in companies that had applied for loans. Westly has had a stake in at least five companies that have won DOE support; four won funding before he joined Chu’s board. While it is common for presidents to reward top donors with ambassadorships or other political posts, the Sunlight Foundation’s Bill Allison said it is unusual to see a major donor such as Spinner given a position inside a relatively obscure government loan program.” (Ronnie Green and Matthew Mosk, “Bundlers On The Inside,” iWatch, 9/29/11)
VOICEOVER: “Friends, donors, campaign supporters, special interest groups”
VIDEO TEXT: “Where Did All The Obama Stimulus Money Go?”
VOICEOVER: “Where did the Obama stimulus money go?”
VIDEO TEXT: “Solyndra”
VOICEOVER: “Solyndra”
VIDEO TEXT: “500 Million Taxpayer Dollars”
VOICEOVER: “500 Million taxpayer dollars”
VIDEO TEXT: “Bankrupt”
The Obama Administration Awarded Solyndra A $535 Million Loan Guarantee – The Company Went Bankrupt In 2011.
- President Obama’s Stimulus Sent More Than $2 Billion In Taxpayer Funds To Foreign-Owned Businesses. “For those of you keeping score at home, I also updated the numbers. Here are some key figures to date: More than 1,100 projects have been funded under the Section 1603 program. Only about 75 are wind farms, but they have received $4.4 billion worth of grants. 54 percent of that — $2.38 billion — has gone to foreign developers. A total of 4,232 turbines were erected on those 75 farms, and 2,760 were built by foreign manufacturers – that’s 65.2 percent.” (Russ Choma, “Workshop’s Wind Stories Kicking Up Political Dust,” Investigative Reporting Workshop, 9/27/10)
- Foreign-Owned Companies Receiving Stimulus Funds Included Companies From Spain, Germany, Japan, And China. “As we know from Choma’s exhaustive research, it is true that foreign-owned companies have received $2.4 billion in grants to build wind farms in the U.S. Choma gives this breakdown: Spain, $1.1 billion; Germany, $474.4 million; Portugal, $333 million; Australia, $178 million; Japan, $130.5 million; Italy, $84.2 million; France, $69.5 million; United Kingdom, $42.2 million; China, $2.6 million.” (Eugene Kiely, et al, “Stimulus Jobs In China?,” FactCheck.org, 10/29/10)
- In 2009, The Department Of Energy Granted Fisker A $529 Million Stimulus Loan Guarantee That Was Intended To Help Revive A Former GM Plant In Delaware. “In September, Secretary Chu announced a $528.7 million conditional loan for Fisker Automotive for the development of two lines of plug-in hybrids, which will save hundreds of millions gallons of gasoline and offset millions of tons of carbon pollution by 2016. Of the total loan, $359 million is going to revive manufacturing at the Boxwood Plant. The Boxwood Plant will support Fisker Automotive’s Project NINA, the development and build of a mass-market plug-in hybrid sedan.” (Press Release, “Vice President Biden Announces Reopening Of Former GM Boxwood Plant,” Office Of The Vice President, 10/27/09)
- “With The Approval Of The Obama Administration,” Fisker Began Assembling Its First Line Of Cars In Finland. “With the approval of the Obama administration, an electric car company that received a $529 million federal government loan guarantee is assembling its first line of cars in Finland, saying it could not find a facility in the United States capable of doing the work.” (Matthew Mosk and Brian Ross, “Car Company Gets U.S. Loan, Builds Cars In Finland,” ABC News, 10/20/11)
- “Fisker Used The First $169 Million In Taxpayer Funds To Bring To Market The Karma, A Flashy $100,000 Hybrid Sports Sedan That It Assembles In Finland.” (Matthew Mosk, “Fisker May Never Build Electric Cars In US,” ABC News, 5/30/12)
- Today, The Fisker Plant In Delaware Is “Absolutely Empty” After Laying Off Workers. “Fisker Automotive has laid off another dozen workers at the former General Motors plant in Delaware that it has been refitting with federal and state money to build a new sedan. The layoffs, which occurred quietly Friday, come as California-based Fisker continues talks with the U.S. Energy Department to unfreeze loan money that could determine whether it ever builds a car at the plant. … Jeffrey Garland, a Delawarean who was spearheading community affairs and business development efforts in the state for Fisker, said the Fisker plant, shut down by GM in 2009, is ‘absolutely empty.’” (“Fisker On Ropes? Delaware Plant ‘Absolutely Empty,’” USA Today, 4/18/12)
- SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER: “A recent report by the Investigative Reporting Workshop revealed that since this program began, 79 percent of the $2.1 billion in stimulus grants awarded through it went to overseas companies — $2.1 billion. At a time when millions of American are unemployed, this is beyond outrageous. How do you think it looks to workers at the wind turbine plant at Vestas in Windsor, Colorado, who were just laid off? Or in other states where workers are also being let go because there is not enough manufacturing work?” (Senator Chuck Schumer, Press Conference, Washington, DC, 3/3/10)
- “In a blow to the Obama administration’s efforts to create green jobs, solar-cell maker Solyndra announced Wednesday that it will close its remaining Fremont factory, lay off its 1,100 employees and file for bankruptcy. The news marked an abrupt end for a company once considered among the most innovative in a fast-changing industry. The bankruptcy also represents a high-profile failure for a federal stimulus program that gives loan guarantees to green-tech manufacturers. Solyndra was the first company to win one of the guarantees, receiving $535 million in 2009 to build its second factory in Fremont less than a mile from the company’s original plant.” (David R. Baker and Carolyn Said, “Solyndra Closes Fremont Plant – Stimulus Hopes Dim,” San Francisco Chronicle, 9/1/11)
VOICEOVER: “Bankrupt”
VIDEO TEXT: “So Where Did The Obama Stimulus Money Go?”
VOICEOVER: “So where did the Obama stimulus money go?”
VIDEO TEXT: “Windmills From China”
VOICEOVER: “Windmills from China”
VIDEO TEXT: “Electric Cars From Finland”
VOICEOVER: “Electric Cars from Finland”
VIDEO TEXT: “Democrat Senator Charles Schumer”
SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER: “79 percent of the 2.1 Billion in stimulus grants awarded through it went to overseas companies.”
MITT ROMNEY: “I’m Mitt Romney and I approve this message.”
* * * END PRESS RELEASE * * *
BTW, thanks to my wonderful friends at the Romney campaign for finally getting me on their press release e-mail list. I take back all the things I wrote about the campaign manager being a “scurvy-ridden incompetent douchebag,” etc. Let bygones be bygones, I say.
MITT ROMNEY for PRESIDENT
Because He Didn’t Spend Your Tax Money to Build “Fiskers”
LIVE AT FIVEEIGHT: 07.18.12
Posted on | July 18, 2012 | 5 Comments
— compiled by Wombat-socho
TOP NEWS
Damsacus Fighting Enters Third Day
Rebels claim to have downed government helicopter
Millions Of School Kids Sing “Happy Birthday” To Nelson Mandela
South Africa celebrates its iconic former President’s 94th birthday
Romney Goes On The Attack In Ohio
Condemns President Obama for wanting America “to be ashamed of success”
POLITICS
Cheney To House GOP: Say No To Defense Cuts
Says any defense reductions must be driven by strategy, not budget
States’ Fiscal Woes To Persist, Experts Warn
Brown’s Big Bucks Coming From Massachusetts; Warren’s, Not So Much
Arizona Immigration Law Opponents Head For Court Again
Compton May Declare Bankruptcy By September
Obama Plans To Spend $1 Billion To Create “Master” Science And Math Teachers
WaPo Columnist William Raspberry Dies, 76
President Visits Democrat Island In GOP-Friendly Texas
Sarah Silverman Is Being A (Attention) Whore Again For Obama
Obama Campaign Sues Ohio Over Early-Voting Restrictions
THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Oil Falls On Fed’s Gloomy Outlook: NYMEX $88.77, Brent $103.62
Asian Shares Slide After Bernanke Testimony
Earnings Surprises Buoy Wall Street
US Drought Reaching Levels Not Seen In 50 Years, Pushing Up Corn Prices
PRC Companies Warn Profits Plunging As Slowdown Spreads
Intel Lowers Forecasts As First World Economies Fail To Rebound
Heartland Hungry For Engineers Beckons Foreign Graduates
No Office 2013 For Windows XP, Vista
AT&T: Too Early To Comment On Facetime 3G Fees
Texting Overtakes Talk In UK
Washington State Enables Voter Registration Via Facebook App
Secrecy Bid In Apple v. Samsung Patent Fight Denied
GM Owners Now Able To Rent Out Their Cars Using OnStar
SPORTS
Say Goodbye To Linsanity, New York
Knicks fail to match Rockets’ offer
Houston Now Poised To Win PRC
NCAA Action Against Penn State May Be Limited
Trout, Trumbo Spark Angels’ 13-0 Rout Of Tigers
Halladay Solid In Return As Phillies Edge Dodgers 3-2
Ohlendorf, Yonder Help Padres Top Astros 8-2
Youk Goes Yard At Fenway, White Sox Beat Red Sox 7-5
Wild Pitch Gives Nationals Win In 10th
FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Tom And Suri Together Again
First visit with daughter since divorce from Katie Holmes
Jospeh Gordon-Leavitt Rips GQ: Drugs Didn’t Kill My Brother
Russell Brand Dating Isabella Brewster As His Divorce From Katy Perry Is Finalized
Fight Between Demi & Her Daughters Started Over Ashton
Demi Lovato Still Partying Hard, Says Anonymous Coward
“Catching Fire” Eyes Claflin, Leo, Shalhoub
“John Carter” Director Andrew Stanton Back At Work On “Finding Nemo” Sequel
Lady Gaga Bares All In Ad For Black Liquid Perfume
Vera Wang & John Lysacek: How Does An Olympic Skater Fit Into This Designer’s Life?
FOREIGNERS
Syrian Defense Minister Killed In Damascus Bombing
Norks Name Kim Jong Un Marshal
Hungarian War Crimes Suspect Detained
Kadima Bolts Netanyahu Coalition Over Haredi Draft Deferments
Romania PM Seeks To Take Heat Out Of EU Dispute
Libyans Rebuff Islamist Parties In Post-Ghadafi Elections
With UN Summer Camps Closed, Hamas Now Main Source Of Entertainment For Gaza Kids
Greek PM Issues Ultimatum To Ministers Over Budget Cuts
ASEAN War Of Words Over South China Sea Continues
Teenaged Tibetan Monk Immolates Self In Sichuan Province
BLOGS & STUFF
Conservatives4Palin: McCain Says He Picked Palin For VP Over Romney Because Palin Was A Better Candidate
National Review: Release The Returns
Riehl World View: National Review Caves On Tax Returns, Stabs Romney In The Back
Robert Costa: Interview With Mitt Romney
AmSpecBlog: Romney’s Tax Returns Revisited
Weekly Standard: Star Of Pro-Obama SuperPAC Ad Unleashed – “Obama’s a Jerk, A Pantywaist, A Lightweight, A Blowhard”
Right Scoop: Schumer Calls For First Amendment Limits During Debate
Weasel Zippers: Reid Claims Cheney Opposes Defense Cuts Because “He Only Cares About Halliburton”
Power Line: How The Democratic Media Spin The News
Shark Tank: Wasserman-Schultz Has Unreported Second Home In New Hampshire, Lives Large On The High Seas
Israel Matzav: Despicable Debbie Heckled At Pennsylvania Synagogue
American Thinker: Adelson Threatens DCCC With Libel Suit
Scared Monkeys: Romney Rips Obama A New One In Pennsylvania
Rush Limbaugh: The Batman Campaign?
Lonely Conservative: Who Knows, Maybe Obama’s Proud Of These Charts








