The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Who’s Getting Rich in California?

Posted on | August 2, 2011 | 36 Comments

Government employees, that’s who!

Orange County’s nearly-three-dozen city managers were paid a total of $9.6 million last year, according to data in a recent grand jury report on city compensation.
That’s 34 big cheese municipal executives earning an average $281,699 each, including $207,808 in salary and $73,891 in benefits.
A dozen of them earned more than $300,000.

The city manager of Santa Ana, for example, collects an annual salary of $262,272 and benefits worth $75,079; Anaheim’s city manager gets $258,351 in salary and $80,077 in benefits; Irvine’s city manager gets $250,307 in salary and $85,485 in benefits.

By comparison, a U.S. Senator’s annual salary is $174,000.

The Secretary of Defense gets $199,700 a year.

The FBI director gets $165,300 a year.

But city manager of Anaheim . . . that’s an important job!

Category: California

Let’s Celebrate the Debt Deal!

Posted on | August 2, 2011 | 53 Comments

“I stand here in abject stupefaction. The so-called ‘right’ or ‘Tea Party’ in this republic is being so thoroughly rolled and defeated that I am struggling to come up with an adequate violent submission metaphor that does not involve prison rape . . .”
— Ann Barnhardt , American Thinker

Category: Budget

Ramen In The Jell-O Makes It Easier To Nail To The Wall

Posted on | August 2, 2011 | 4 Comments

by Smitty

Some ramen noodles, orange Jell-O, nails, and a plank; that’s my visual representation of the professional output of one of Maryland’s finest, Steny Hoyer. After riding shotgun in the clown car that was the Congress That Shall Live In Infamy, Hoyer sports the stones to wonder aloud if the butt hurt over passing ObamaCare could have affected the debt ceiling fracas:

Hoyer, speaking on CNBC, said he thought part of the reason Republicans have refused to compromise with Democrats on the debt-ceiling package was because of how House Democrats pushed through the Obama administration’s healthcare law.
“I think that’s accurate,” Hoyer said Friday. “I don’t think healthcare was handled the way it should’ve been, but let me tell you why: There was an openness to compromise, but the Republicans said, ‘Look, we don’t like your plan, we’re not going to go there at all,’ ” Hoyer said.

When you connect the dots about the House having passed a third debt ceiling bill, while the Senate has concurrently fiddled, with this clip of Meat Puppet Carney confidently asserting that the White House will “take action”, whatever that means, if the legislation breaks down:

I’ve got a ticket to Afghanistan that says things are all going according to plan. After barely passing the House, the third debt ceiling bill fails in the Senate, fingers are pointed at the GOP, and the conditions are set for yet another vast kick in the Constitutional nuts, as the separation of powers must be further destroyed to “save” the economy. The President, magically, is going to assert the authority to raise new debt without Congressional approval.The Devil, you see, is a Cheap Trick fan:

Merely asserting power and sending in the Union goons isn’t interesting; tricking a formerly free people to beg for fetters: art.
I want to be wrong. I want the gnawing sensation that this Crisis Administration is systematically demolishing the Congress to be some mad bit of midnight paranoia. And it may be that the Senate passes legislation to retire this artificial crisis, to kick it past the next election.
In a way, that’s a fair cop. The Constitution has the House turn over ever two years, to make it more responsive to the will of the people. Congress is in a hung state at the moment, torn between the GOP in the House that are reflecting a vague sense from We The People that Stuff Has Gone Very Wrong, and a Senate that is as deeply committed to protecting the people as, say, the Senate of Rome was against Caesar. Thus, the idea that we shouldn’t make any major course changes until after 2012, to see if We The People are serious and actually care about the Constitution, while stupid, can at least be followed.
However, if the Senate fails to pass a debt ceiling bill, and the Executive commences to rule by fiat, then it will be time for the Tea Parties to do what they did all last year. This evil cannot pass unchallenged.
A related podcast at Volokh:

Rob Natelson explains why unilateral presidential creation of new debt is:
1. Utterly contrary to the Constitution’s structure of limiting executive power.
2. Directly contrary to the text of the 14th Amendment.

These next days will show whether even the lip service to the Constitution will fail. What’s next? A state of emergency that precludes an election next year?

Update: further queasiness at The Sundries Shack.

Category: Barack Obama

LIVE AT FIVE – 08.02.11

Posted on | August 2, 2011 | 2 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
Senate Likely To Pass Debt Limit Bill Shortly After Noon Today

Speaker of the House John Boehner

Bill virtually assured of passage with bipartisan backing from McConnell, Reid after Boehner, Cantor and Pelosi get bill through the House yesterday
GOP Piles On VP Biden For Calling Them “Terrorists”


Human Rights Groups Says 24 Killed, 150 Detained In Syria
Assad starting off Ramadan with a bang

US Stocks Fall In Volatile Session; DJIA Posts Seventh Straight Loss
Early gains erased by weak marketing data, continued concern over debt



POLITICS
Giffords Returns To Congress To Vote On Debt Bill

Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, D-AZ

Congresswoman returns seven months after shooting

Long Island Voters Nix $400MM Bond Sale For Islanders’ Arena Renovation


Conservatives Warn 2012 Candidates On Debt Deal
Romney, Huntsman hardest hit

Justice Department Sues Alabama Over Immigration Law

Woman Arrested At Nashville Airport To Fight TSA Charges

Cuomo Signs Law Further Restricting Gun Purchases

Central Falls, RI Declares Bankruptcy After Unions Refuse To Accept Pension Cuts



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
The Lurking Fear: Wall Street’s Growing Concern About Debt Rating
Tokyo Shares End Down On Strong Yen, Uncertain US Economic Outlook
Manufacturing Growth Shrinks In July; Weakest In Two Years
San Francisco Fed Says High Inflation Unlikely To Last
Revenue Loss From FAA Shutdown Could Reach $1 Billion
Defying Quake And Yen, Toyota Posts Q1 Profit, Hoists FY Outlook 40%
BMW Profit Soars As PRC Seeks Luxury
Skype For iPad Appears Briefly In App Store
Study Shows Data Centers Using Less Power Than Expected
Diablo 3 To Let Players Buy And Sell Items For Real Money
Google Chrome Now #2 Browser In The UK



SPORTS
Stern Rips NBA Players Union

NBA Commissioner David Stern

Commish says he doesn’t think players are negotiating in good faith

Randy Moss Calls It Quits

Sabathia Notches 16th Win, Lifts Yankees To 4th Straight

Tribe Pounds Red Sox 9-6

Astros Rookie Altuve Delivers: Drives In Winning Run In 10th Against Reds

Five Named To US Hockey Hall Of Fame

Kershaw Goes The Distance In 6-2 Win Over Padres

Former NBA Player Samaki Walker Tries To Eat His Weed

Stanton’s Slam Lifts Fish Over Mets In 10th

Ankiel Makes Most Of Leadoff Sport, Lifts Nats To Win Over Braves



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Reese Witherspoon Joins Disney’s “Wish List”

Reese Witherspoon

Comedy to tell the tale of a little girl’s wishes coming true – twenty years late

Samantha Ronson Busted For DWI

Kings Of Leon Cancel Remainder Of US Tour; More Problems Than Just The Heat


Tim Gunn: Lady Gaga’s Meat Dress Was Nauseating

Maya Rudolph Gets a Bigger Role On “Up All Night”

Tragic Figures Ryan And Heidi Give Tragic Interview About Tragic Lives

Rep Says Ryan Kwanten Full Frontal Nude Pix Fake

Rihanna Goes Back To Rude Girl Ways For Carnival

Vanessa Minnillo Refers To Jessica Simpson As “The Elephant In The Room”



FOREIGNERS
Syria’s Body Count Rises
Ramadan Brings Resolve, Uncertainty For Libya Rebels
Somalis Waste Away As Jihadis Bar Escape From Famine
Italy Struggles With Influx Of Would-Be Migrants From Africa
Riot Police Backed By Army Clear Protesters From Cairo Square
Putin Mum On 2012 Polls
ROK Foreign Minister To Visit Russia For Nork Talks
Turks Question Power Of Prime Minister After Generals’ Resignations



BLOGS & STUFF
Allahpundit: Biden Says Republicans Acted Like Terrorists, Then Walks It Back
Toby Young: The Real Story Isn’t The Triumph Of The Tea Party But The Death Of The Socialist Left
Weasel Zippers: Hollywood Moonbat Matt Damon On Tea Partiers
Babalu: The Political Placebo
Hit & Run: Debt Deal’s Defense Cuts A Win For Libertarians?
This Ain’t Hell: Damning With Faint Praise…Or Something
The Blaze: Hudson, Hancock To Headline Obama’s Birthday Fundraiser, Er, Party
NRO Agenda: Debt Deal Less Than Meets The Eye
Glenn Beck: Why The Debt Deal Is Bad News
Maggie’s Notebook: ObamaCare Buys Your Birth Control
The Lonely Conservative: The Largest Debt Ceiling Increase In The History Of The US
AmSpecBlog: The Dealmaker Who Wasn’t
Via Meadia: Gallup Says Conservatives Outnumber Liberals 2-1


SOTD: Juno Reactor – Samurai

Category: Live at Five

Give An Over-Reaching Government A Sales Tax: What Could Go Wrong?

Posted on | August 1, 2011 | 28 Comments

by Smitty

Ace toys with the notion of a national sales tax. Let’s put it like this. Once upon a time, a certain uncle had too much crap. He had houses, boats, cars, furniture, businesses, sweethearts, the works. Managing all the crap was a significant burden, with all of the insurance, maintenance, travel time, licensing, paperwork, &c. Finally the guy breaks down and buys a computer. Simplifies matters. All of information required to manage the large collection of crap gets automated. Streamlined. Woo hoo.
Did the guy, Sam, let’s call him, benefit from this? Why, no: no, he did not. All of the time freed up by the information technology was spent on new crap: planes, bikes, extreme sports equipment. This was because Sam did not have an information management problem; Sam had a crap problem.
My contention is that a national sales tax is just going to be an enabler, avoiding the grown up realities of what Uncle Sam properly should be doing. You know, the whole Constitutional enumerated power thing.
With a national sales tax firmly in hand, Uncle Sam is just going to ratchet that thing up, at say, 0.1% per year, and find new crap to spend it on. When that becomes politically untenable, other “balancing” tricks, or whatever the godforsaken weasel-word for taxation of the day happens to be, will be employed in a vain effort to make the stalling Keynsian cart draw the Hayekian horse.
All I’m doing here is adapting a theme from the brilliant Andrew Klavan:

This is by no means a defense of the Byzantine nightmare that is the IRS; certainly, that organization, and that fine blend of Stephen King and Franz Kafka called the tax code need to be eliminated outright.
However, a sales tax without proper analysis just moves the problem.

Update: linked by That Mr. G Guy

Category: Ace of Spades, Taxes

House Passes Debt Deal 269-161

Posted on | August 1, 2011 | 17 Comments

The latest news:

The House on Monday approved bipartisan legislation to raise the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling and reduce long-term budget deficits, endorsing the agreement President Obama struck with Republican leaders. . . .
The bill now heads for a Tuesday vote in the Senate . . .
The vote was 269-161, as Republicans largely carried the measure over the opposition of a majority of the Democratic Caucus. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) backed the bill, as did Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), but neither leader made a public effort to win Democratic support. . . .

We will have the roll call momentarily.

UPDATE: While awaiting the roll call, we will note the Lonely Conservative’s observation that this is “the largest debt ceiling increase in the history of the United States.”

Yeah, what a triumph for those Tea Party “terrorists,” huh? “We got nothing,” as Norah says — but who is this “we”?

UPDATE II: Fredo denies using the “T-word”:

Vice President Joe Biden tells CBS News that published reports that he compared Tea Party-linked lawmakers to “terrorists” during a closed-door meeting Monday are “absolutely not true.”
“I did not use the terrorism word,” Biden told CBS Evening News anchor and managing editor Scott Pelley.

If Joe Biden says it, buddy, you can take that to the bank!

UPDATE III: Wait — this is the roll call? This? “To make a technical amendment to the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002”? The roll call on this gargantuan monstrosity is recorded as a vote on “a technical amendment”?

Please tell me I’ve got the wrong roll call, because this seems like some kind of sick joke.

UPDATE IV: Informed friends tell me that this is indeed the roll call, the measure having been brought to a vote in the House as a “technical amendment” to a Senate bill, in order to expedite passage once the Senate votes on it.

So . . . 66 Republicans voted “no” and 95 Democrats voted “aye,” which makes it the Great Bipartisan Screw-Over of 2011.

Remember that we are prepared to meet all your “bipartisan compromise” lubrication needs.

UPDATE V: The New York Times:

On the Senate floor on Monday, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, said: “People on the right are upset. People on the left are upset. People in the middle are upset.”
But he called it a “remarkable agreement which will protect the long-term health of our economy.”

And let’s call out a few names of the radical Tea Party extremists who voted for it in the House: James Clyburn (D-S.C.), Chaka Fattah (D-Pa.), Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-Texas), Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.), Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-Fla.) . . .

Yep, just like Joe Biden said: “Terrorists”!

UPDATE VI: Ed Driscoll on Obama and the “terrorist” vote.

UPDATE VII: Rounding up the “calm, rational rhetoric,” Jimmie Bise Jr. reminds us of the Missouri Democrat who said Republicans had allowed “a small number of extremists to take the House of Representatives and the economy of the world as hostages.”

That was Rep. William Clay — who voted for the final bill!

Category: Budget, Congress

Extremist Ad Hints That Non-Union Control Of Schools Might Be Good

Posted on | August 1, 2011 | 1 Comment

by Smitty

What a jacked-up pile of crazy talk this is:

I mean, really: parents having any say about schools? How regressive a notion is that? To top it off, if you read Luther Olsen’s bio page, he has six kids. Clearly a conservative Gaia-hater, committed to ensuring his progeny upset the Progressive fair-adise that has been so long in the making.

(via Orit Sklar on Twitter)

Category: Uncategorized

Rule 5 Monday

Posted on | August 1, 2011 | 12 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


Welcome to Bring The Heat, Bring The Stupid, who makes his Rule 5 debut here with some nice pix of Connie Britton! Also, Hookers and Booze, who didn’t include a link to a specific post, so I just went over and snarfed one. Next week you gotta bring your own, though!


Meanwhile, from our regulars…Fishersville Mike brings us heat relief, The Rio Norte Line finds Rule 5 in Orbit along with a new reason to demand the Fox Business Channel, and the Eye of Polyphemus shows us the best thing about The Smurfs, while Reaganite Republican is getting jealous of the Russians. Randy’s Roundtable offers a triple feature this week: Kristen Cavallari, Genevieve Morton, and Carla Ossa; A View From The Beach looks at Scarlett Johansson in the wake of her decision not to attend the Marine Ball, as well as other redheads.

Proof Positive is also doing things by threes, with Emily Scott, vintage babe Betty Brosmer and Smurfette feeling blue. Three Beers Later brings us a Jay Scott Pike pinup and Jane Russell. Maggie’s Notebook spotlights Annie Ilonzeh, soon to be co-starring in the Charlie’s Angels remake. At Dustbury, it’s Iekeliene Strange and Kate Beckinsale. This week, Jake Finnegan’s Burkalesque Babe is Brooklyn Decker, and the POH Diaries this week goes with Pamela Geller.


This week, El Opinador Compulsivo is EN FUEGO! Starting with an introduction to the how-to site Eye Handy, congratulations to Soylent Green on reaching his first million hits, Larissa Riqelme (even though Paraguay lost), Penny Argentinita, Iga Wyrwal, Motorhead’s “Whorehouse Blues”, a pretty Commie, an illustration of two types of discipline (one with King Crimson, one without) and finally a fast Quebecois chick if there ever was one.


Soylent Green’s Monday Motivationer is a twofer this week, followed by Dalene Kurtis, Joanna Krupa, a young lady getting locked down, Corset Friday, and a celebration of his million hit milestone. Glad we could help!


The Camp of the Saints, beset by real life as bloggers sometimes are, nontheless managed to get three Rule 5 posts in last week: Luisa Ranieri, It’s All About The V, and the weekly Rule 5 News.


The DaleyGator’s DaleyBabes this week include Naomi Campbell, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Asian Babe Friday, Hilary Fisher, Crista Nicole, Melanie Iglesias and Rhona Mitra.


Thanks to everyone for their links! To be included in next week’s Rule 5 Monday (which will appear on its proper day of Sunday next week), send your links to me at Rule 5 Wombat no later than midnight August 6.

Category: Rule 5
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