:: June 2009 ::









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Canada's gaining tax appeal

[canada.com] In a clear indication that Canada is starting to be considered a low-tax place to do business, Tim Hortons Inc. announced Monday plans to shift its base of operations from Delaware to Canada for tax purposes.

Further, analysts indicate this is also a sign of unease among corporations regarding the U.S. business environment, where taxes are likely heading upward to deal with trillion-dollar deficits and proposed health-care reforms; and the White House is looking to crack down on companies that invest abroad.

The move by Tim Hortons makes good on a promise contained in the company’s filing with U.S. securities regulators earlier this year, in which it said it was exploring such a reorganization because it could potentially drive down its effective tax rate closer to Canadian statutory levels.

In Canada, the federal corporate tax rate is headed to 15% in 2012, and the federal Conservative government has called on the provinces to get to a 10% business levy by the same timeframe – for a combined 25% rate on corporate income. Alberta is already at 10%, British Columbia will be there in 2011, Ontario by 2013, and New Brunswick will go down further, to 8%, in 2012.

In the United States, the top corporate tax rate is in the mid-30% range. As a result, the U.S. now has about the highest combined corporate tax rate, second only to Japan among industrialized countries. [...]

“If the U.S. tightens up on the tax treatment on foreign income, many Canadian companies — as well as other foreign entities operating in the U.S. – might look to put headquarters and holding company functions in Canada since dividends from foreign affiliates are not taxed by Canada,” said Jack Mintz, a public policy expert from the University of Calgary and a renowned tax expert.

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June 30th : Iraq Celebrates : National Holiday :

[presstv] Iraq is filled with joy as American troops hand security duties over to Iraqi forces and end their presence on the streets of the country's towns and cities.

Tens of thousands of Iraqi people rushed to the streets and held giant parties on Monday and Tuesday to mark the withdrawal of US soldiers.

As part of a security accord between Baghdad and Washington, American soldiers will only be able to enter cities if requested by the Iraqi government.

Iraq has declared June 30 a national holiday, calling it "a day of national sovereignty" with large parties planned to mark the US pullout, which will hand over more security control to Iraqi forces.

Fireworks over Baghdad as Iraqis take over cities

[yahoo] Iraqi forces assumed formal control of Baghdad and other cities Tuesday after American troops handed over security in urban areas in a defining step toward ending the U.S. combat role in the country. A countdown clock broadcast on Iraqi TV ticked to zero as the midnight deadline passed for U.S. combat troops to finish their pullback to bases outside cities.

"The withdrawal of American troops is completed now from all cities after everything they sacrificed for the sake of security," said Sadiq al-Rikabi, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. "We are now celebrating the restoration of sovereignty." [...]

Al-Maliki declared a public holiday and proclaimed June 30 as "National Sovereignty Day."

Midnight's handover to Iraqi forces filled many citizens with pride but also trepidation that government forces are not ready and that violence will rise. Shiites fear more bombings by Sunni militants; Sunnis fear that the Shiite-dominated Iraqi security forces will give them little protection.

If the Iraqis can hold down violence in the coming months, it will show the country is finally on the road to stability. If they fail, it will pose a challenge to President Barack Obama's pledge to end an unpopular war that has claimed the lives of more than 4,300 U.S. troops and tens of thousands of Iraqis.

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Energy Czar Actually Read Cap and Trade Bill? Wha? / Press Sec. Gibbs Gibbles : Taxes On Middle Class? Uh, uh...



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Who Killed ACORN Probe?

[wt] Who told House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Michigan Democrat, to lay off the radical activist group ACORN?

The 23-term congressman, who has been enamored of the aggressively partisan group for years, gave a truly odd explanation last week when he reaffirmed a May 4 statement that a probe of ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) "appears unwarranted at this time."

"The powers that be decided against it," he said Wednesday, refusing to elaborate. His spokesman Jonathan Godfrey later said Mr. Conyers was referring to himself as "the powers that be." Unless you believe that "the powers that be" is a novel variation of the editorial "we," it's clear Mr. Conyers wasn't referring to himself and that somebody "got" to him.

Judiciary Committee member Steve King, Iowa Republican, doesn't believe Mr. Godfrey. "Who are the powers that be?" he asked Friday. "Speaker Pelosi or President Obama, who has been both an employee and employer of ACORN?"

We may have been naive to believe that Mr. Conyers, whose famously obstreperous wife Monica, a Detroit City Council member, pleaded guilty Friday to felony bribery charges, really wanted to examine ACORN's underbelly. After all, Mr. Conyers is a longtime ACORN ally who until recently fought demands to investigate the group.

As recently as October the far-left lawmaker called the group that helps bring out the Democratic vote in droves "a long-standing and well-regarded organization that fights for the poor and working class." ACORN gave him a 100 percent rating in its 2006 legislative scorecard. Last June, he received enthusiastic applause as he addressed the group's national convention and denounced U.S. corporations as "capitalist predators."

Despite Mr. Conyers' affinity for ACORN, there is so much to investigate.

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The Debt Tsunami : CBO's latest warning on the long-term deficit

[wapo] The Congressional Budget Office has a tough job: to provide America's lawmakers with a reality check on their tax and spending plans. Not surprisingly, the CBO's projections are not always received cheerfully. Both President Obama and leading congressional Democrats were less than thrilled when the CBO estimated that the costs of universal health coverage would be much higher than advertised. To be sure, projecting the cost of legislation involves making assumptions and constructing models that may or may not prove accurate 10 years down the road. Nonetheless, the CBO, with its tradition of scholarly independence, is the best available arbiter, and Congress must heed its numbers -- like them or not.

Now comes the CBO with yet more news of the sort that neither Capitol Hill nor the White House is likely to welcome: its freshly released report on the federal government's long-term financial situation. To put it bluntly, the fiscal policy of the United States is unsustainable. Debt is growing faster than gross domestic product. Under the CBO's most realistic scenario, the publicly held debt of the U.S. government will reach 82 percent of GDP by 2019 -- roughly double what it was in 2008. By 2026, spiraling interest payments would push the debt above its all-time peak (set just after World War II) of 113 percent of GDP. It would reach 200 percent of GDP in 2038.

This huge mass of debt, which would stifle economic growth and reduce the American standard of living, can be avoided only through spending cuts, tax increases or some combination of the two. And the longer government waits to get its financial house in order, the more it will cost to do so, the CBO says.

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Authoritarian Regimes Censor News From Iran

[wapo] Out of fear that history might repeat itself, the authoritarian governments of China, Cuba and Burma have been selectively censoring the news this month of Iranian crowds braving government militias on the streets of Tehran to demand democratic reforms.

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Iraqis have second thoughts over June 30 date for US troops to leave

[t] [...] However, with only days to go before the last American soldiers are due to pull out of Baquba and other Iraqi cities, the residentshaving doubts.

There are fears that a premature departure will lead to a return of sectarian violence or allow al-Qaeda to re-establish itself. Many would like the Americans to remain until security is restored permanently.

“After you guys pull out from the city I don’t know what our enemies are going to do,Thaban Hassan said. The head of an Iraqi Army battalion in Baquba, he told the American soldiers gathered in his office that “safety is not 100 per cent . . . why are the Americans leaving?”

“If it was up to me,” a US army captain said, “we would stay in the city, take a more active role, even.”

Colonel Burt Thompson, the commander of US forces in the area, whose troops still patrol Baquba, admitted that Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister, had taken a gamble by insisting that his forces take control according to an agreed timetable. [...]

First Lieutenant Hatem, head of an Iraqi Emergency Response Team in Baquba, said that his troops have been hit by roadside bombs and targeted by kidnappers. One soldier was seized last week and a ransom demanded.

“After you guys pull out,” he said to his American allies, “the situation is going to be bad.”

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The Climate Change Climate Change

[wsj] [...] Among the many reasons President Barack Obama and the Democratic majority are so intent on quickly jamming a cap-and-trade system through Congress is because the global warming tide is again shifting. It turns out Al Gore and the United Nations (with an assist from the media), did a little too vociferous a job smearing anyone who disagreed with them as "deniers." The backlash has brought the scientific debate roaring back to life in Australia, Europe, Japan and even, if less reported, the U.S.

In April, the Polish Academy of Sciences published a document challenging man-made global warming. In the Czech Republic, where President Vaclav Klaus remains a leading skeptic, today only 11% of the population believes humans play a role. In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy wants to tap Claude Allegre to lead the country's new ministry of industry and innovation. Twenty years ago Mr. Allegre was among the first to trill about man-made global warming, but the geochemist has since recanted. New Zealand last year elected a new government, which immediately suspended the country's weeks-old cap-and-trade program.

The number of skeptics, far from shrinking, is swelling. Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe now counts more than 700 scientists who disagree with the U.N. -- 13 times the number who authored the U.N.'s 2007 climate summary for policymakers. Joanne Simpson, the world's first woman to receive a Ph.D. in meteorology, expressed relief upon her retirement last year that she was finally free to speak "frankly" of her nonbelief. Dr. Kiminori Itoh, a Japanese environmental physical chemist who contributed to a U.N. climate report, dubs man-made warming "the worst scientific scandal in history." Norway's Ivar Giaever, Nobel Prize winner for physics, decries it as the "new religion." A group of 54 noted physicists, led by Princeton's Will Happer, is demanding the American Physical Society revise its position that the science is settled. (Both Nature and Science magazines have refused to run the physicists' open letter.)

The collapse of the "consensus" has been driven by reality. The inconvenient truth is that the earth's temperatures have flat-lined since 2001, despite growing concentrations of C02. Peer-reviewed research has debunked doomsday scenarios about the polar ice caps, hurricanes, malaria, extinctions, rising oceans. A global financial crisis has politicians taking a harder look at the science that would require them to hamstring their economies to rein in carbon.

Credit for Australia's own era of renewed enlightenment goes to Dr. Ian Plimer, a well-known Australian geologist. Earlier this year he published "Heaven and Earth," a damning critique of the "evidence" underpinning man-made global warming. The book is already in its fifth printing. So compelling is it that Paul Sheehan, a noted Australian columnist -- and ardent global warming believer -- in April humbly pronounced it "an evidence-based attack on conformity and orthodoxy, including my own, and a reminder to respect informed dissent and beware of ideology subverting evidence."

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Ch ch ch Changes...uh, uh, uh....

Obama prepares to hold Gitmo guys indefinitely, just as Bush did

[lat] In yet another sign of political perfidy, the White House of President George W. Bush has drafted a presidential executive order that would allow that double-dealing Republican chief executive to hold suspected terrorist detainees indefinitely.

According to the president's intentions, such suspects could be detained for long periods of time, virtually indefinitely. Is this really what the nation voted for last November?

Oh, wait. No. According to an exclusive Washington Post/Pro Publica report this afternoon, it's the refreshing new Democratic administration of Barack Obama that's now preparing this new executive order to hold certain terrorist suspects indefinitely.

This is an obviously inspiring sign of the new style of leadership the Democrat promised and is finally bringing to the White House. As one blogger put it, George W. Obama. And it shows the kind of powerful political pragmatism with which the ex-senator from Illinois approaches this job at such a crucial and globally turbulent time.Strangely, it was leaked to the Post on a slow summer Friday afternoon when it wouldn't gain much attention.

According to the Post report, the 44th president is now starting to think that closure of the internationally-reviled Guantanamo Bay detention facility, which Obama announced with so much fanfare on his first day in office last winter, may be impossible to actually accomplish before the one-year deadline he set for himself before actually planning where else to put these prisoners.

In other words, fanfare aside, status quo ante. Democrat or Republican, same deal. Ex-Vice President Dick Cheney will be so pleased that the Obama-Biden folks finally accepted his advice to protect national security.

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US will not use force to inspect NKorean ship

[yahoo] The United States will not use force to inspect a North Korean ship suspected of carrying banned goods, an American official was quoted as saying Friday.

An American destroyer has been shadowing the North Korean freighter sailing off China's coast, possibly on its way to Myanmar.

Defense Undersecretary Michele Flournoy met with South Korean officials in Seoul on Friday as the U.S. sought international support for aggressively enforcing a U.N. sanctions resolution aimed at punishing Pyongyang for its second nuclear test last month. The North Korean-flagged ship, Kang Nam 1, is the first to be tracked under the U.N. resolution.

North Korea has in response escalated threats of war, with a slew of harsh rhetoric including warnings that it would unleash a "fire shower of nuclear retaliation" and "wipe out the (U.S.) aggressors" in the event of a conflict. [...]

The U.S. and its allies have made no decision on whether to request inspection of the ship, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said Wednesday in Washington, but North Korea has said it would consider any interception an act of war.

If permission for inspection is refused, the ship must dock at a port of its choosing, so local authorities can check its cargo. Vessels suspected of carrying banned goods must not be offered bunkering services at port, such as fuel, the resolution says.

A senior U.S. defense official said the ship had cleared the Taiwan Strait. He said he didn't know whether or when the Kang Nam may need to stop in some port to refuel, but that the ship has in the past stopped in Hong Kong's port.

Another U.S. defense official said he tended to doubt reports that the Kang Nam was carrying nuclear-related equipment, saying information seems to indicate the cargo is banned conventional munitions. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity in order to talk about intelligence.

North Korea is suspected to have transported banned goods to Myanmar before on the Kang Nam, said Bertil Lintner, a Bangkok-based North Korea expert who has written a book about leader Kim Jong Il.

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Awesome. Another, massive bill passed that few, if any of these people, whose existence is paid with taxpayer earnings, just don't have the time to even read. Nice job attaching some 300 pages (under cover of darkness) to the already 1200 as well. Most transparent congress ever.

House Democrats win key test vote on climate bill

[breitbart] House Democrats narrowly won a key test vote Friday on sweeping legislation to combat global warming and usher in a new era of cleaner energy. Republicans said the bill included "the largest tax increase in American history."

The vote was 217-205 to advance the White House-backed legislation to the floor, and 30 Democrats defected, a reflection of the controversy the bill sparked.

The legislation would impose limits for the first time on carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas pollution from power plants, factories and refineries. It also would force a shift from coal and other fossil fuels to renewable and more efficient forms of energy. Supporters and opponents agreed the result would be higher energy costs, but disagreed widely on the impact on consumers. [...]

There was widespread agreement that under this cap-and-trade system, the cost of energy would almost certainly increase. But Democrats argued that much of the impact on taxpayers would be offset by other provisions in the bill. Low-income consumers would qualify for credits and rebates to cushion the impact on their energy bills.

Two reports issued this week—one from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and the other from the Environmental Protection Agency—seemed to support that argument.

The CBO analysis estimated that the bill would cost an average household $175 a year; the EPA put it at between $80 and $110 a year.

Republicans questioned the validity of the CBO study and noted that even that analysis showed actual energy production costs increasing $770 per household. Industry groups have cited other studies showing much higher cost to the economy and to individuals.

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Eight Republicans voted for the bill:

John McHugh (NY)
Dave Reichert (WA)
Chris Smith (NJ)
Leonard Lance (NJ)
Frank LoBiondo (NJ)
Mary Bono Mack (CA)
Mike Castle (DE)
Mark Kirk (IL)

.......Forty-four Democrats voted against the bill.

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The Cap and Tax Fiction

[wsj] House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has put cap-and-trade legislation on a forced march through the House, and the bill may get a full vote as early as Friday. It looks as if the Democrats will have to destroy the discipline of economics to get it done.

Despite House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman's many payoffs to Members, rural and Blue Dog Democrats remain wary of voting for a bill that will impose crushing costs on their home-district businesses and consumers. The leadership's solution to this problem is to simply claim the bill defies the laws of economics.

Their gambit got a boost this week, when the Congressional Budget Office did an analysis of what has come to be known as the Waxman-Markey bill. According to the CBO, the climate legislation would cost the average household only $175 a year by 2020. Edward Markey, Mr. Waxman's co-author, instantly set to crowing that the cost of upending the entire energy economy would be no more than a postage stamp a day for the average household. Amazing. A closer look at the CBO analysis finds that it contains so many caveats as to render it useless. [...]

Low-income Americans, who devote more of their disposable income to energy, have more to lose than high-income families.

Even as Democrats have promised that this cap-and-trade legislation won't pinch wallets, behind the scenes they've acknowledged the energy price tsunami that is coming. During the brief few days in which the bill was debated in the House Energy Committee, Republicans offered three amendments: one to suspend the program if gas hit $5 a gallon; one to suspend the program if electricity prices rose 10% over 2009; and one to suspend the program if unemployment rates hit 15%. Democrats defeated all of them.

The reality is that cost estimates for climate legislation are as unreliable as the models predicting climate change. What comes out of the computer is a function of what politicians type in. A better indicator might be what other countries are already experiencing. Britain's Taxpayer Alliance estimates the average family there is paying nearly $1,300 a year in green taxes for carbon-cutting programs in effect only a few years.

Americans should know that those Members who vote for this climate bill are voting for what is likely to be the biggest tax in American history. Even Democrats can't repeal that reality.

Minority Leader John Boehner On The Clean Energy & Climate Change Bill pt.1



[nb]Just before the House passed what could end up being the largest tax increase in U.S. history, Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Oh.) took to the floor and dissected the disgusting "American Clean Energy and Security Act" while accusing Democrats of shamefully adding 300 pages to the bill at 3 AM Friday morning.



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Arab Activists Watch Iran And Wonder: 'Why Not Us?'

[wapo] Mohamed Sharkawy bears the scars of his devotion to Egypt's democracy movement. He has endured beatings in a Cairo police station, he said, and last year spent more than two weeks in an insect-ridden jail for organizing a protest.

But watching tens of thousands of Iranians take to the streets of Tehran this month, the 27-year-old pro-democracy activist has grown disillusioned. In 10 days, he said, the Iranians have achieved far more than his movement has ever accomplished in Egypt.

"We sacrificed a lot, but we have gotten nowhere," Sharkawy said.

Across the Arab world, Iran's massive opposition protests have triggered a wave of soul-searching and conflicting emotions. Many question why their own reform movements are unable to rally people to rise up against unpopular authoritarian regimes. In Egypt, the cradle of what was once the Arab world's most ambitious push for democracy, Iran's protests have served as a reminder of how much the notion has unraveled under President Hosni Mubarak, who has ruled the country for 30 years. [...]

"When Obama does not take a stance, the very next day these oppressive regimes will regard this as a signal. This is a test for his government," said Ayman Nour, a noted Egyptian opposition politician who was recently released from jail. "If they can turn a blind eye to their enemy, they can turn a blind eye to any action here in Egypt."

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Oh Oh...Outrageous!

[spectator] A friend who teaches at an old-fashioned Sussex boarding school has a zero-tolerance approach to racism. The moment he hears one of the foreign boys claiming to be a victim of it, that’s them chucked out of the class for the rest of the lesson. ‘Well I’m sorry,’ says my friend Duncan, quite unapologetically. ‘But they’re bright kids and they’re enjoying the best education money can buy in a multi-ethnic school where racism just isn’t an issue. I think it’s an absolute bloody outrage that they should try that line…’

Had he been working in the state sector, of course, he would be out of his job by now. Which is an awful pity because people of Duncan’s courage and robust convictions are what the world sorely needs. That overused ‘r’ word has done more to stifle open political debate and poison social cohesion than perhaps any other word in the English language.

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The 2nd Annual Troopathon



JUNE 25th : Ronald Reagan Presidential Library : From 1pm PST to 9pm PST : Webcast hosted by Melanie Morgan and Andrew Breitbart.

"This cutting edge live webcast event brings together talk radio hosts, megastars of film and television, musical guests, journalists, military and Gold-star families, pro-troop groups and many more.

The goal of this charity fundraiser is to send the largest ever shipment of care packages to our brave men and women of the armed forces serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay.

Viewers are encouraged to sponsor care packages (donations are tax deductible) for the troops and each one includes a personalized message and items that our troops have requested that make their life a little easier while they are far from home, such as sun-screen, Gatorade, deodorant, coffee, cookies and much more. "

[Home] :::: [UStream] :::: [Blog]

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[More than $600,000: Thank you America]

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Time Warp : Barney Frank : Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Should Lower Lending Standards For Condo Buyers

[wsj] Back when the housing mania was taking off, Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank famously said he wanted Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to "roll the dice" in the name of affordable housing. That didn't turn out so well, but Mr. Frank has since only accumulated more power. And now he is returning to the scene of the calamity -- with your money. He and New York Representative Anthony Weiner have sent a letter to the heads of Fannie and Freddie exhorting them to lower lending standards for condo buyers.

You read that right. After two years of telling us how lax lending standards drove up the market and led to loans that should never have been made, Mr. Frank wants Fannie and Freddie to take more risk in condo developments with high percentages of unsold units, high delinquency rates or high concentrations of ownership within the development.

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[b] [...] A young woman who was shot through the heart and died on the streets of Tehran has become the face of the opposition movement in Iran.

Neda Agha Soltan was killed by a Basij militiaman during a protest march on June 20, according to people who said they were eyewitnesses and posted videos of her death on the Internet. The videos on Facebook and YouTube show her collapsing, losing consciousness and dying.

Her death has resounded worldwide and become a symbol of the crackdown by Iranian authorities against demonstrations over President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s disputed June 12 re-election. Police used tear gas and batons to disperse about 1,000 people who had gathered in Haft-e Tir Square in central Tehran yesterday to mourn the university student. [...]

Mourners were prevented from holding a remembrance ceremony in a mosque yesterday, and Soltan’s family was told to take down a black banner they had hung outside their home, the Los Angeles Times reported.

“Neda had said that even if she lost her life and got a bullet in her heart, she would carry on,” Caspian Makan, Soltan’s fiancé, told the British Broadcasting Corp.’s Persian Television by phone from Tehran. “She gave a big lesson to everyone even though she was very young.”

Seventeen people have been killed in the protests, Iranian state television reported.

Soltan was a 27-year-old philosophy student, according to the text posted with the video on YouTube. Heat and frustration led her and her music teacher to abandon their car when it was blockaded by the demonstration. Minutes later, she was shot.

[t] The fiancé of Neda Agha Soltan, the girl who became the symbol of Iran's protesters after being shot dead on a Tehran street, has revealed that he begged her to avoid the demonstrations.

"She went to the silent protests even though I'd asked her not to," Caspian Makan said in an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, conducted through an intermediary in Tehran. "She said: 'I'll go even though I'm not part of any of these groups. My only goal and hope is freedom and democracy for the people of Iran.'"

Mobile telephone footage of Neda's death was quickly circulated around the world, encapsulating the brutality of the government response to the demonstrators and inspiring many more to take to the streets in following days. Poignantly, Mr Makan said Neda had been ready to face death if her presence at opposition rallies helped achieve democracy.

[cbc] An Iranian doctor who tried to save a woman shot on the streets of Tehran during a protest over the country's election says she was slain by a member of the Basij militia, a voluntary paramilitary group.

Dr. Arash Hejazi, who is studying at a university in the south of England, said in an interview with the BBC Thursday that he was standing a metre away from Neda Agha-Soltan when she was struck in the chest by a bullet. [...]

Despite his desperate attempts to save Agha-Soltan, he said she died within a minute.

Hejazi said he initially thought the bullet was fired from a rooftop, but moments later, others on the street seized an armed Basij militia member who shouted to the crowd that he "didn't want to kill her."

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9 of 10 Americans worry about Obama's spending deficits

[lat] [...] But just a few months after congressional passage of the administration's whopping $787-billion economic stimulus plan, a new national poll shows Americans' confidence in its efficacy fading, especially in the Midwest, where Biden is heading.

Just about half (52%) believe the much-touted stimulus plan will or has had any impact restoring the economy, down from 59% in April. The Washington Post-ABC Poll found Obama's personal popularity remains high, in part because his Republican opposition remains in such disarray unable to offer a coherent political alternative.

The poll found:
The shift in public assessments of the stimulus package has clear political ramifications: At the 100-day mark of Obama's presidency, 63 percent of people in states that were decided by fewer than 10 percentage points in November said the stimulus act had or would boost the economy.

Today, in the telephone poll of 1,001 Americans conducted Thursday through Sunday, the number has plummeted to 50 percent in those closely contested states, with nearly as many now saying the stimulus program will not help the national economy.

The new poll confirms other surveys showing the president's popularity dipping slightly, his disapproval rating jumping about 5% and particular unhappiness focused on his handling of the automobile manufacturing crisis and the federal deficit. They add up to a serious warning signal, with unemployment lines expected to increase even further.

Currently, 90% of Americans are worried to some degree about the exploding federal spending deficit, a galactic number certain to gain politicians' attention on both sides. And yet the come is the final bill for Obama's healthcare legislation.

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NY Times : Selective Secret Keepers

[pl] Today the New York Times reports that its David Rohde had been kidnapped and held by the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan over the past seven months. Why did the Times sit on this story? The Times states: "Until now, the kidnapping has been kept quiet by The Times and other media organizations out of concern for the men's safety." [...]

The Times's concern for the safety of its reporter, however, provides a bizarre contrast with the Times's illegal exposure of the NSA terrorist eavesdropping program in December 2005, as well as its exposure of the Treasury Department's terrorist-finance tracking program in June 2006. Whereas the reporting of Rohde's apprehension may have endangered his life, the disclosure of the NSA terrorist eavesdropping and terrorist finance tracking programs only threatened the security of the United States.

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ACORN Changes Tarnished Name

[we] Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (ACORN) leaders are using the threat of a law suit to silence and intimidate critics, according to current and former members of the liberal activist group.
In a letter dated June 11 an attorney for ACORN advised top whistleblowers that their unauthorized use of the organization’s name could make them liable for monetary damages and injunctive relief.

ACORN executives have also changed their organization’s name, which was tarnished by investigations in at least 14 states of allegations of voter registration fraud during the 2008 presidential campaign, and charges by current and former members of financial mismanagement and misrepresentation.
The new name will let ACORN leaders continue their operations without worrying about prior bad publicity, according to Marcel Reid of ACORN 8, a group of present and former members.

“We’ve known for many months now that the name ACORN is going to be retired,” Reid said. “The name has been so damaged to the point where the leadership knows it simply can’t go on as it has with the ACORN label out front and center, especially after all of the reporting.”

In fact, the process has already begun, she noted. Wade Rathke, who founded the organization, announced on his blog that ACORN International has officially changed its name to “Community Organizations International.”

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Say It Isn't So! Democrat 'The Weeper' Durbin : Insider Trading
The latest example of congressional hypocrisy

[wt] [...] Sen. Richard J. Durbin, Illinois Democrat and assistant majority leader, looked like such a great investor. On Sept. 19, he sold off $42,696 in mutual-fund shares, and quickly sold off another $73,000 during the rest of September. The stock market collapsed after that. Within two weeks, by Oct. 3, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had fallen by 9 percent. A month later, by Oct. 17, it had plummeted over 22 percent. On Tuesday this week, the average is still down about 25 percent from Sept. 19.

If Mr. Durbin ever leaves his day job as a Democratic politician, he should have a plum position waiting for him as a market timer. On second thought, maybe not. It turns out that on Sept. 18, Mr. Durbin participated in a closed-door meeting with then-Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke. The Fed chairman and Treasury secretary briefed Mr. Durbin and other congressional leaders on the financial crisis and efforts to help financially troubled banks.

Mr. Durbin's great sell-off started the day after this privileged briefing.

Mr. Durbin's temptation to profit on inside information is a base human instinct that reminds why insider trading is wrong. There were Americans - possibly even some of Mr. Durbin's constituents - who bought the shares that he was peddling.

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ABC Self-Nationalizes For Obama

As much of the U.S. private sector, including health care providers, resists government takeovers, what a sorry sight to see ABC News leap forward to make itself a propaganda arm of the government.

[ibd] But that's the story as ABC crosses the line from journalism to advocacy in turning its coverage of health care over to the White House.

This Wednesday, on every show from "Good Morning America" (kicking things off with an interview with the president) to "World News Tonight" (broadcast from the Blue Room) to a prime-time special called "Prescription for America" (and emanating from the East Room), the network will puff the Obama administration's trillion-dollar plan to nationalize U.S. health care.

The all-day, White House-based coverage itself amounts to a nationalization — this one of a major media outlet in support of an administration that will return the favor for access at the cost of objectivity and the public's right to know. [...]

Under the cover of news, ABC can present the president's side of the health reform issue as "factual" and leave out the real costs and concerns about government control and rationing of health care. Personal stories that tug at the heartstrings will be featured prominently, as will unchallenged canards about the wonders of socialized medicine.

Long and repetitive coverage will numb the public into thinking all sides have been explored. A token few seconds of time given over to a critic or two will enable ABC to call its coverage "fair." But expect the opposition to be portrayed as heartless or wacko.

The only thing such propaganda can't do is admit its real aims.

ABC insists it will present a balanced picture — as balanced, we suppose, as the political contributions of ABC News employees who gave 80 times more to Obama's campaign ($124,421 to $1,550) as they did to his opponent, John McCain.

With numbers like that, it doesn't take a genius to know what ABC's political atmosphere is like. In any case, ABC's output speaks for itself. The Media Research Center's Business & Media Institute has shown that in the first half of 2009, ABC sources quoted in health care stories shilled for ObamaCare 55 times to its opponents' 18 — a 3-to-1 margin.

The best proof that the public is getting propaganda is that ABC is refusing to take ads from critics who are offering to pay for them. Among those turned away: the Republican National Committee and a group called Conservatives for Patients' Rights.

"Our organization is more than willing to purchase ad time on ABC to present an alternative viewpoint, and our hope is that ABC will reconsider having such viewpoints be part of this crucial debate for the American people," said Rick Scott, group spokesman.

This is a disgrace.

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Obama Misses The Point

[wapo] Millions of Iranians take to the streets to defy a theocratic dictatorship that, among its other finer qualities, is a self-declared enemy of America and the tolerance and liberties it represents. The demonstrators are fighting on their own, but they await just a word that America is on their side.

And what do they hear from the president of the United States? Silence. Then, worse. Three days in, the president makes clear his policy: continued "dialogue" with their clerical masters.

Dialogue with a regime that is breaking heads, shooting demonstrators, expelling journalists, arresting activists. Engagement with -- which inevitably confers legitimacy upon -- leaders elected in a process that begins as a sham (only four handpicked candidates permitted out of 476) and ends in overt rigging.

Then, after treating this popular revolution as an inconvenience to the real business of Obama-Khamenei negotiations, the president speaks favorably of "some initial reaction from the Supreme Leader that indicates he understands the Iranian people have deep concerns about the election."

Where to begin? "Supreme Leader"? Note the abject solicitousness with which the American president confers this honorific on a clerical dictator who, even as his minions attack demonstrators, offers to examine some returns in some electoral districts -- a farcical fix that will do nothing to alter the fraudulence of the election.

Moreover, this incipient revolution is no longer about the election. Obama totally misses the point. The election allowed the political space and provided the spark for the eruption of anti-regime fervor that has been simmering for years and awaiting its moment. But people aren't dying in the street because they want a recount of hanging chads in suburban Isfahan. They want to bring down the tyrannical, misogynist, corrupt theocracy that has imposed itself with the very baton-wielding goons that today attack the demonstrators.

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Don't Accept This Coup

[wsj] Ahmadinejad has taken revenge on the students of Iran during these violent days. The regime's aim is to damage universities, since they are the first base of change, movement and protest.

I live in the dorms at Tehran University. I was asleep when Basij militiamen entered my room early Monday morning, demolished everything and started beating us. A man with a long beard broke my notebook and said: "It is destroyed, this book that you were using against Islam and Ahmadinejad."

They beat students more when they saw posters of Mousavi in their rooms. And they carried big knives and guns.

They also attacked the women's dormitory next door. The Supreme Leader calls us rioters, but I want to ask him: How can sleeping women in their beds be rioters? Is this the Islamic justice he believes in?

President Obama's speech was good; he says that he will support us. He also said that nations must decide the fate of their countries by themselves. I agree with him, but now we don't have any power to change the situation, so we need help and attention.

We ask the president not to accept this coup d'etat.

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Lost Count : Yet Another Obama Pick With Tax Problems

[nyt] President Obama’s choice as chief of protocol for the State Department, a position that carries the status of an ambassadorship, did not file tax returns for 2005 and 2006, errors she corrected last November. [...]

The nominee, Capricia Penavic Marshall, has placed blame for the problem on the Postal Service and on miscommunication between her husband and their accountant. [...]

Tax issues have bedeviled several high-level Obama appointees and cost the administration at least two of its picks.

Ms. Marshall may fare better because, after ultimately filing the 2005 and 2006 federal and local paperwork, she was entitled to $37,259 in refunds, according to data she provided to Mr. Lugar.

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Hope and Change Congress : No Dough To Close Gitmo

[yahoo] Legislation to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan this year is on its way to President Barack Obama, but it provides no money for closing the Guantanamo detainee prison and sets tough restrictions on the transfer of its inmates.

The $106 billion emergency war bill is not all for war fighting. It includes many unrelated items, including a "cash for clunkers" incentive to swap gas guzzlers for more fuel-efficient vehicles; and funds for UN peacekeeping, air service to rural communities, Gulf Coast housing for hurricane victims and the response to a flu pandemic.

Lawmakers sent Obama, who wants to close the prison, not one but two messages Thursday to prove they don't like the idea.

In addition to the war fighting bill, which received final congressional approval, the House used the first spending bill for 2010 to deny the president money to close the prison next year. The legislation funds law enforcement and science programs.

Many lawmakers are upset at the possibility that alleged terrorists could end up in their states or districts.

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Word

[gj] : [...] "It's not surprising that street crime flourishes in a climate where people run almost as great a risk of a criminal charge if they defend their property as they do if they try to take somebody else's. Where a man is less likely to find himself before a tribunal for snatching a woman's purse than for 'ogling' -- that is, taking a prolonged look at her.

"The same climate that has ensured the general wimpification of the West has simultaneously given rise to a miniscule minority of hardened militants. These desperadoes, whether they're muggers, house-invaders or political-religious-environmental-feminist-animal-rights terrorists, think nothing of stopping traffic. They'll disrupt, threaten or mob individuals, institutions, businesses or cities to extort their demands -- and the authorities give in to them.

"Our society has split into two distinct groups: A placid majority, conditioned or intimidated into believing that giving up their property, opinions, traditions or habits is a sign of maturity and civilization and a vicious minority that thinks disrupting and terrorizing peaceful citizens is a sign of commitment and justice. We're truly reaping what we have sown."

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North Korea may fire a missile toward Hawaii

[ap] North Korea may fire a long-range ballistic missile toward Hawaii in early July, a Japanese news report said Thursday, as Russia and China urged the regime to return to international disarmament talks on its rogue nuclear program.

The missile, believed to be a Taepodong-2 with a range of up to 4,000 miles (6,500 kilometers), would be launched from North Korea's Dongchang-ni site on the northwestern coast, said the Yomiuri daily, Japan's top-selling newspaper. It cited an analysis by the Japanese Defense Ministry and intelligence gathered by U.S. reconnaissance satellites.

The missile launch could come between July 4 and 8, the paper said.

While the newspaper speculated the Taepodong-2 could fly over Japan and toward Hawaii, it said the missile would not be able to hit Hawaii's main islands, which are about 4,500 miles (7,200 kilometers) from the Korean peninsula.

A spokesman for the Japanese Defense Ministry declined to comment on the report. South Korea's Defense Ministry and the National Intelligence Service — the country's main spy agency — said they could not confirm it.

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Statistics? Let Me Be Clear...Uh, uh...

[pol] : President Obama himself in his speech cited the "100,000 deaths a year" figure as if it's reliable and well established, as did yesterday's New York Times. And of course it's a figure eagerly spread by the Litigation Lobby. But as Zachary F. Meisel and Jesse M. Pines note in Slate, it's a really, really, really soft number [slate] :

...one of the biggest headlines of all was the 1999 Institute of Medicine report To Err Is Human, which announced that up to 98,000 preventable deaths occur each year in U.S. hospitals. Since then, health care improvement organizations such as Leapfrog Group have invested copious resources in reducing preventable errors. But a key issue has been overlooked in this movement: The original estimate -- the 98,000 deaths -- may have been way off. In fact, some of the researchers who conducted the original studies used in the IOM report re-evaluated their data in 2002 and reported that had they used a different calculation method, the number of estimated deaths would have been less than 10 percent of the original. Oops.

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The Art of The Blowhard : Example #8536

[bh] [...] D.L Hughley boasts of catching conservatives in an act of hypocrisy. He complains that conservatives are all for states rights when abortion is in question but oppose the idea with regards to marijuana laws. [video]

This is not exactly true. Conservatives are remarkably consistent in their views on the states rights, even when we’re talking about legalizing marijuana. In fact, when the issue was brought before the Supreme Court in the 2005 landmark case Gonzales v. Raich, states rights advocate William Rehnquist (the only justice remaining from Roe v. Wade abortion case, which he opposed) voted in favor of California’s right to legalize marijuana. He was joined by Reagan-appointee Sandra Day O’Connor and über-conservative Clarence Thomas. Thomas, in his dissenting opinion, wrote:

“If Congress can regulate this under the Commerce Clause, then it can regulate virtually anything and the Federal Government is no longer one of limited and enumerated powers…

“In the early days of the Republic, it would have been unthinkable that Congress could prohibit the local cultivation, possession, and consumption of marijuana…”

On the other hand, it was the liberals on the bench, those who believe that the Constitution is a flexible document that must continually bend to changing social mores, who voted unanimously against California’s right to provide a little grass to sick people. (I guess the document just isn’t that flexible.)

It is not a surprise that Hughley is not informed–most left-wing comedians aren’t. They are better at parroting the rhetoric of the left than actually presenting informed opinions. In fact, later in the show, Hughley goes so far as to claim there were no “drugs, drive-bys, or homeless people” in his neighborhood until Ronald Reagan was elected.

But the ultimate buffoon of the evening is Bill Maher. Bill, in his typical condescending way, actually says that Roe v. Wade gave states the right to make their own decisions about abortion, which is 180 degrees from the truth.


"This makes the charge of anti-intellectualism continually lobbed at the right all the more irritating. The left is blind to its own ignorance of historical fact and current affairs while mistaking conventional wisdom (knowledge based on actual experience) and traditional values (which have held up for centuries) as anti-intellectualism.

Speaking as a research scientist, it's obvious to me that most leftist intellectuals start with the result they want -- affirmation of their own biases or proclivities -- and use cherry-picked/shoddy evidence and twisted reasoning to reach their intellectual conclusions. These conclusions are then parroted by useful idiots and hacks like Maher, who compound their idiocy with ignorance, and denounce anyone who challenges them on reasonable grounds as anti-intellectual. I wish people could see this for what it is." -Stickwick - BigHollywood

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Letterman's Faux Apology

[wt] [...] In fact, according to reports, even Mr. Letterman's mother, Dorothy Mengering, thought his rude joke stepped over the line this time.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Mengering's son doesn't seem to have learned how to deliver an apology. At least, the 3- 1/2 minutes he offered up on Monday wouldn't have passed muster in my house.

Why? For starters, an apology ought to be about the person you offended, not just about yourself.

Mr. Letterman's apology, which the governor graciously accepted on behalf of her family and women everywhere, included 31 uses of the personal pronoun "I" - an average of one every 11 seconds, but never once mentioned the ramifications of his actions for the governor or her family.

In his mea culpa, he said his intent (to insult Mrs. Palin's 18-year-old daughter, rather than her 14-year old) was unimportant, only the perception created by his bad joke, for which he took responsibility. Essentially, he said he was sorry that his joke was misunderstood. [...]

We parents hear these sorts of apologies all the time. One child says something unkind to another one, and what follows is something like, "I'm sorry you're so hormonal and testy," or "I'm sorry you're a humorless nerd." Or my favorite, "I'm sorry you're such a jerk."

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Letterman Should Apologize for Being Lazy

[gg] [...] More important, I didn’t want Letterman to apologize - I just wanted him to say how he screwed up. Letterman repeatedly chose Sarah Palin to make fun of, because no one in his protective, elitist bubble ever assumed she would be a risk. So there were never any limits when it came to her, Bush, or anyone else Letterman considered a right wing dork. And that was Dave’s screw-up. He went too far because - in his lazy, predictable world - he thought there was no such thing.

It would be great for him to admit that. He should say: “I’m not sorry about offending you, I’m just depressed that every night I’m producing worthless wads of no-risk, predictable pap. I made fun of Palin because IT WAS EASY, and that makes me a hack.”

I know that’ll never happen, but it’s fun to pretend.
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Transparency : Obama blocks list of visitors to White House

[msnbc] The Obama administration is fighting to block access to names of visitors to the White House, taking up the Bush administration argument that a president doesn't have to reveal who comes calling to influence policy decisions.

Despite President Barack Obama's pledge to introduce a new era of transparency to Washington, and despite two rulings by a federal judge that the records are public, the Secret Service has denied msnbc.com's request for the names of all White House visitors from Jan. 20 to the present. It also denied a narrower request by the nonpartisan watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which sought logs of visits by executives of coal companies.

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The Graying Of Comedy Central

[forbes] On their late night talk shows, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert love to refer to their audiences as dorm-living, pot-smoking couch potatoes. But the reality is that their average viewer is more likely to be a hard-working Dad or even a retiree.

So while Stewart's show grabbed big buzz this week for skewering The New York Times' for being the kind of news a "grandmother" would love, in May the median age of The Daily Show viewers crept up five years to 41.4, and the median age of The Colbert Report viewers was up five years to 38.3 , according to Nielsen. [...]

Compared to May 2008, the number of people between the ages of 18 and 34 (the most coveted demographic) watching The Daily Show fell 14%, 15% for The Colbert Report. At the same time, the number of people older than 55 watching The Daily Show rose by 25%, 22% for The Colbert Report.

Overall viewership is up for both shows (8% for The Daily Show and 9% for The Colbert Report), but advertising rates are based as much on who the ad is reaching as on who is watching.

"Advertisers pay a premium for younger viewers," say Brad Adgate head of research at Horizon Media. "There's all sorts of talk about targeting baby boomers because they have more disposable income, but if you get a young person brand-loyal on a product they'll be buying it for 50 years." [...]

"When you start to see the age creep up on a show like that, you wonder whether the show is sustainable," says Laura Caraccioli-Davis, head of entertainment at Starcom ( SCME.PK - news - people ), a media planning agency. "It's systematic of the fact that at Comedy Central they need to continue developing shows for younger viewers."

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Enough with the Letterman / Palin 'joke offense. It's a waste of time and simply produces the 'sign of the times,' cliche "apology" and furthers this seemingly endless stream of being 'offended' - by both side of the political divide. This along with succumbing and conforming to nonsense political correctness has created a zeitgeist of meaningless bullshit, melding into what is all but the norm. Of course, apologies are important if they are sincere, but for too long now this has become a too often employed ruse, cover-your-ass, load of excrement.

I've written often that I think people should be able to and feel no fear of saying what they wish. How else can one distinguish between the charlatans and degenerate and be able to choose who one associates or gives time to? This has been rendered almost impossible in the current mindset charade of apologies. I'd much rather have people say what they mean and mean what they say.

The 'jokes / humor', well, speaks for itself. You have to wonder what kind of mentality considers these jokes actually funny, laughs and says "OK, that's our best stuff, let's go with that." Sad and intellectually weak mofo's, that's who, perhaps missing part of their brains. Oh, but yes, as always they are the 'elites,' the ones that are really concerned about 'the every person,' 'society,' fairness etc. etc. Hypocritical garbage.

Enough of the tired, 'I'm a comedian" spiel that so many now fall back on. Apology? Is that what that was? Sounds more like an excuse really and then worse. The first one? The second or furthermore? Uh, yea, OK Dave. Good one. David Letterman is what is known in modern day parlance as an A-Hole, or perhaps the term 'asshat,' which is tossed about suits.

Funny? Occasionally, sure. I do remember when his program was entertaining though. I think that was somewhere around 1982. The best thing about the show and one thing that set it apart way back then was the rocking band, which changed over the years in some regards, but that was the best aspect.

Classless clowns like Letterman, Maher and the rest of this festering stench really think they are something. Even when given opportunity to pretend they have a speck of class, they can't muster it.

Need an example of class? Sure thing.

"In a statement to FOXNews.com early Tuesday, the Alaska governor said, “Of course it’s accepted on behalf of young women, like my daughters, who hope men who ‘joke’ about public displays of sexual exploitation of girls will soon evolve.”

“Letterman certainly has the right to ‘joke’ about whatever he wants to, and thankfully we have the right to express our reaction,” Palin said. “This is all thanks to our U.S. Military women and men putting their lives on the line for us to secure America’s Right to Free Speech - in this case, may that right be used to promote equality and respect.” "

That's precisely accurate. Everyone has the right to be an ignorant jack-ass, since as evidenced by the Mahers' and Lettermans....some people just can't help it because they just do not know any other way. Make your parents proud kids. Nice job.

Here's the impetus behind the second 'apology' and I'll raise my glass to Embassy Suites and here's to hoping more advertisers follow suit....:

Letterman's Palin Joke Costs CBS an Advertiser

[seattlepi] [...] Embassy Suites, part of the Hilton Hotels Corp., pulled advertising on CBS' site because of complaints, company spokeswoman Kendra Walker told TVGuide.com. The company was not an advertiser on Letterman's show.

"We received lots of e-mails from concerned guests and we assessed that the statement that he made was offensive enough to our guests and prospective guests that we elected to take the ads down," Walker said. She declined to release the cost of the ads.

CBS declined to comment Tuesday.

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Hypocrisy: The Democrats Silence on Obama Medicare Cuts



" While President Bush was in office, the Democrats spoke out vehemently against any proposed cuts in Medicare & Medicaid. Now that President Obama has proposed $622B in Medicare/Medicaid cuts to help pay for his healthcare plan, where are the Democrats now? "

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"Seriously, this guy gets in office and is tremendously incompetent. He backtracks on every one of his promises he doesn't openly negate. He fills his offices with cronies, tax cheats, and lobbyists. But people like Maher aren't mad at him; they're mad at Republicans. They're mad that he's not "doing enough" - as if he has these grand ambitions, but is just too timid. When in reality what happened is he told everyone exactly what they wanted to hear, and is governing exactly as everyone who disliked him said he would: as a celebrity, only concerned with making himself look good as often as possible, and with no real position on anything.

Worse, the liberals don't see his inaction or embarrassing defeat on big issues as repudiation of their idiotic beliefs, but as "he's not doing what I wanted". Gee, maybe what you wanted makes no sense? They see how the thugs around the world respond to Obama's "open dialogue" and they have nothing to say about it." - AtheistCon - BigHollywood

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NHL :: Playoff Tracking


[click for latest ESPN]  [click for latest TSN]

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Stanley Cup Victory : Pittsburgh Penguins



[wapo] The Pittsburgh Penguins claimed their revenge and a Stanley Cup with a nervy 2-1 Game Seven win over the Detroit Red Wings Friday. The Penguins, who lost the Cup to the Red Wings in six games a year ago, join the 1971 Montreal Canadiens as the only team to drop the opening two games of a final on the road and then claw their way back to win the title.
::
Here we are winding down another season. 2-1   3-2 3-3. Eggzellent. That's how it should be. 7 game final. Can Pitts pull it off? That's not where my wager goes. By the by, TGP has been calling the series dead eye. Complete shot in the dark, since all record keeping has been bundled until the conclusion this year, but...yea, they probably took it again. Just a feeling.

** Congratulations to the Pens in winning the cup last night. Yes, we're Wings people in these parts, but that's OK. It's nice to see someone else win once in a while. Cheers!

Internal Wagering etc....Next year....we'll see. Usually after a break we're ready to get back at it, but not so sure. The magic has faded somewhat, but we would like to retire the thing and go out on a 5 year stint. Time will tell, but barring unforeseen changes...we'll probably do it again for one last season.

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Letterman : A Boor and a Coward

[nro] Smug, hip David Letterman offered a smirky non-apology about his ongoing class and sexist slurs against the Palins, his apparent social inferiors. [...]

Examine the logic. First, Letterman makes a gutter joke about Palin and her unnamed 14-year-old daughter attending a NY Yankees game. Then when a bit of outrage follows, he apparently claims he really meant to slur the other 18-year-old daughter who, back in Alaska, of course did not attend the game but was not named by Letterman. That would be okay, you see.

Second, then he evokes the now common straw man "they" who are apparently "upset" with him, hoping to play the victim card. Then he dribbles out something about his "last show" as if we are to weep that some mob is out to silence him. (But the reason he picked the Palins, and not the Obamas, Gores, Bidens, or Kerrys, was precisely because he knew it would not equate to his "last show").

Third, he strangely amplifies his joke by confessing it really was about "raping" and "having sex of any description," but just not with a "14-year-old girl," suggesting it would have been okay had he just been more explicit and named Bristol, the 18-year-old. In Letterman's world, because Bristol is 18, she is a year past most statuary rape clauses and thus the joke would have only been about "raping or having sex of any description with a [18-year-old] girl."

Nothing offered about his slurs against airline attendants and Governor Palin herself, when he sneered that she had a "slutty flight-attendant look," or his remark that Palin "was keeping Eliot Spitzer away from her daughter."

The self-serving, creepy apology was as bad as the initial slur. Letterman is emblematic of an aging, baby-boomer culture, that dresses up street vulgarity with a tie and coat. The only thing that saves him is his care to do this with the Palins from Alaska who don't figure into the usual no-go race/class/gender paradigm.


Obama Surprise

[pj] By comparison, almost every move the new Administration has made regarding entrepreneurship seems to be targeting at destroying it in this country. It has left Sarbanes-Oxley intact, added ever-greater burdens on small business owners, called for increasing capital gains taxes, and is now preparing to pile on cap-and-trade, double taxation on offshore earnings, and a host of other new costs. Even Obamacare seems likely to land unfairly on small companies.

Entrepreneurship has been the single most important contributor to the economic health of this country for at least a century now - and if you were going to systematically destroy that vitality, you couldn’t come up with a better strategy than the one Washington has put in place over the last six months. Indeed, you can make the case that the sole contribution the Obama administration has made to entrepreneurship in America to date is to force all of those millions of unemployed people to desperately set up their own businesses in order to survive.

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Ballots Over Bullets

[nyt] [...] First, a solid majority of Lebanese Christians voted against the list of Michel Aoun, who wanted to align their community with the Shiite Hezbollah party, and tacitly Iran, because he viewed them as being best able to protect Christian interests — not the West. The Christian majority voted instead for those who wanted to preserve Lebanon’s sovereignty and independence from any regional power.

Second, a solid majority of all Lebanese — Muslims, Christians and Druse — voted for the March 14 coalition led by Saad Hariri, the son of the slain Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri. This U.S.-supported coalition sees Lebanon’s future as a state independent of Syrian and Iranian influence and committed to its pluralism, modern education, a modern economy and a progressive outlook.

Saad Hariri, with 71 out of 128 seats in Parliament, is likely to be the next prime minister. He knows that his cabinet will have to include significant elements of the Aoun faction and Hezbollah. But to the extent that anyone came out of this election with the moral authority to lead the next government, it was the coalition that wants Lebanon to be run by and for the Lebanese — not for Iran, not for Syria and not for fighting Israel. [...]

Ballots were the only weapons the March 14 coalition had against an Iran-Hezbollah-Syria alliance that is widely suspected of having been involved in murdering Rafik Hariri, as well as six progressive members of the last Parliament and two of Lebanon’s best journalists — Gebran Tueni and Samir Kassir — for having insisted on their country’s independence. And yet, the allies, sons and, in one case, daughter — Nayla Tueni — of these slain activists still stood for election and won.

I watched the voting at a school in the mountain village of Brummana. People came by car, by wheelchair, by foot — young, old and sick. One very elderly lady walked in hooked up to a small oxygen tank. The tube was in her nose helping her to breathe. A young man was carrying the silver oxygen canister on one side of her and a young woman was holding her steady on the other side. But, by God, she was going to vote.

“People never turned out like this before,” Sebouh Akharjelian, 29, a businessman in the voting line said to me. “The stakes are very high. It is either surrender to Ahmadinejad or be in the pro-Western camp.”

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What If Israel Strikes Iran?
JOHN BOLTON | JUNE 11, 2009

[wsj] Whatever the outcome of Iran's presidential election tomorrow, negotiations will not soon -- if ever -- put an end to its nuclear threat. And given Iran's determination to achieve deliverable nuclear weapons, speculation about a possible Israeli attack on its nuclear program will not only persist but grow.

So what would such an attack look like? Obviously, Israel would need to consider many factors -- such as its timing and scope, Iran's increasing air defenses, the dispersion and hardening of its nuclear facilities, the potential international political costs, and Iran's "unpredictability." While not as menacingly irrational as North Korea, Iran's politico-military logic hardly compares to our NATO allies. Central to any Israeli decision is Iran's possible response.

Israel's alternative is that Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs reach fruition, leaving its very existence at the whim of its staunchest adversary. Israel has not previously accepted such risks. It destroyed Iraq's Osirak reactor in 1981 and a Syrian reactor being built by North Koreans in 2007. One major new element in Israel's calculus is the Obama administration's growing distance (especially in contrast to its predecessor).

Consider the most-often mentioned Iranian responses to a possible Israeli strike:

1) Iran closes the Strait of Hormuz. Often cited as Tehran's knee-jerk answer -- along with projections of astronomic oil-price spikes because of the disruption of supplies from Persian Gulf producers -- this option is neither feasible nor advisable for Iran.

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Letterman, et al', Always Classy

[dsurber] [...] So-called feminists stand on the sidelines like so many Silda Spitzers or Elizabeth Edwardses or Hillary Clintons, standing by their menfolk while the boys treat women like dirt. Heck, Mrs. Edwards even served as her husband’s attack dog against any critic — even as she knew he was sleeping with his mistress of many years.

Consider the lack of any reaction by the left to David Letterman’s crude remark that Gov. Palin is buying make-up for that “slutty flight attendant look” insulted not just her but every woman. How could any woman respect such a man?

And yet the left said nothing.

The next night, Letterman hid behind joking to fantasize about the statutory rape of Palin’s 14-year-old daughter. His later “apology” only underscored his perversion [...]

Perez Hilton calling Carrie Prejean the C-word and the B-word. Liberals said nothing.

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Stanley Cup mysteries etched into history

[otc] For as long as there is a Stanley Cup, famed hockey executive Frank J. Selke will be the “ass man.”

Selke was the assistant to Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Conn Smythe when the team won the Stanley Cup in 1945 by defeating the Detroit Red Wings in seven games.

In keeping with tradition, the names of the Leafs players, coaches and managers were engraved on the Cup, which had been donated in 1892 by Canada’s governor general as a trophy for the country’s best hockey team.

When Lord Stanley of Preston’s cup came back from the engraver in 1945, the position of Toronto’s assistant manager had been abbreviated.

Frank Selke was set in sterling silver as the “ass man.”

It is but one of the enduring curiosities of hockey’s greatest treasure, the Stanley Cup.

“We try and tell a lot of the players about Selke because it’s kind of a neat story,” said Phil Pritchard, vice-president and curator of the Hockey Hall of Fame.

A total of 2,112 names have been hammered into hockey’s holy grail. Some are misspelled; one has been covered with X’s and still another can’t be explained. Yet in spite of its blemishes — or maybe because of them — the Stanley Cup remains this country’s most powerful talisman: a three-foot trophy that can make hard men weep and whole cities dance in the street.

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Media Fall for Phony 'Jobs' Claims

[wsj] [...] Mr. Fratto was a colleague of mine in the Bush administration, and as a senior member of the White House communications shop, he knows just how difficult it can be to deal with a press corps skeptical about presidential economic claims. It now appears, however, that Mr. Fratto's problem was that he simply lacked the magic words -- jobs "saved or created."

"Saved or created" has become the signature phrase for Barack Obama as he describes what his stimulus is doing for American jobs. His latest invocation came yesterday, when the president declared that the stimulus had already saved or created at least 150,000 American jobs -- and announced he was ramping up some of the stimulus spending so he could "save or create" an additional 600,000 jobs this summer. These numbers come in the context of an earlier Obama promise that his recovery plan will "save or create three to four million jobs over the next two years."

Mr. Fratto sees a double standard at play. "We would never have used a formula like 'save or create,'" he tells me. "To begin with, the number is pure fiction -- the administration has no way to measure how many jobs are actually being 'saved.' And if we had tried to use something this flimsy, the press would never have let us get away with it."

Of course, the inability to measure Mr. Obama's jobs formula is part of its attraction. Never mind that no one -- not the Labor Department, not the Treasury, not the Bureau of Labor Statistics -- actually measures "jobs saved." As the New York Times delicately reports, Mr. Obama's jobs claims are "based on macroeconomic estimates, not an actual counting of jobs." Nice work if you can get away with it.

And get away with it he has. However dubious it may be as an economic measure, as a political formula "save or create" allows the president to invoke numbers that convey an illusion of precision. [...]

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ACORN Enters the Global Warming Business

[tas] Now the ACORN crime family is jumping on the global warming alarmism bandwagon, according to (the left-leaning) Worldwatch Institute.

The radical community group, which is now facing voter registration fraud charges in Nevada, has joined forces with Al Gore and other groups for the ultimate taxpayer shakedown: carbon emission controls.

From the Worldwatch article:

Brian Kettenring, ACORN's deputy director of national operations, said his group - the largest grassroots community organization of low- and moderate- income people in the United States - was inspired to join the Climate Equity Alliance and work with groups such as the Sierra Club after seeing the vulnerability of cities such as New Orleans to rising sea levels and more intense climatic events. The group, which lobbies for affordable housing and improved education in urban areas, is also encouraged by the hope of "green jobs," environmentally sustainable employment opportunities.

"ACORN families understand that building a green economy that's sustainable and builds jobs for working families is good for them, good for the environment, and good for communities," Kettenring said.

ACORN's contribution will include direct lobbying of Congress. In the long term, Kettenring expects more ACORN chapters to become involved in green jobs initiatives, such as efforts to collect federal funding for weatherizing urban buildings. [...]

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" I notice it seems like every time Gov. Palin moves and breathes, leftist stalkers of Gov. Palin invent faux stories to send around the internet, in the Saul Alinsky Marxist style, in hopes that if you lie about something enough, it will break through the other side and be adopted as truth. This is Rule 11 of Alinsky's 'Rules for Radicals', which is the field guide of Obama and his minions for attacking Gov. Palin and other opponents. " -LallyGagr

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Conservatives racing ahead in EU parliament voting

[yahoo] Conservatives raced toward victory in some of Europe's largest economies Sunday as initial results and exit polls showed voters punishing left-leaning parties in European parliament elections in France, Germany and elsewhere.

Some right-leaning parties said the results vindicated their reluctance to spend more on company bailouts and fiscal stimulus amid the global economic crisis.

First projections by the European Union showed center-right parties would have the most seats — between 263 and 273 — in the 736-member parliament. Center-left parties were expected to get between 155 to 165 seats.

Right-leaning governments were ahead of the opposition in Germany, France, Italy and Belgium, while conservative opposition parties were leading in Britain and Spain.

Greece was a notable exception, where the governing conservatives were headed for defeat in the wake of corruption scandals and economic woes.

Germany's Social Democrats headed to their worst showing in a nationwide election since World War II. Four months before Germany holds its own national election, the outcome boosted conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel's hopes of ending the tense left-right "grand coalition" that has led the European Union's most populous nation since 2005.

"We are the force that is acting level-headedly and correctly in this financial and economic crisis," said Volker Kauder, the leader of Merkel's party in the German parliament.

France's Interior Ministry said partial results showed the governing conservatives in the lead, with the Socialists in a distant second and the Europe Ecologie environmentalist party a close third.

French Socialists said their defeat signaled a need to rethink left-wing policies if they are to have any hope of unseating President Nicolas Sarkozy. [...]

"Tonight is a very difficult evening for Socialists in many nations in Europe," Martin Schulz, the leader of the Socialists in the European Parliament, told party faithful in Brussels via video link from Berlin. "(We will) continue to fight for social democracy in Europe."

Many Socialists ran campaigns that slammed center-right leaders for failing to rein in financial markets and spend enough to stimulate faltering economies.

Graham Watson, leader of the EU's center-right Liberal Democrat grouping, said early results suggested a rejection of the Socialist approach.

"People don't want a return to socialism and that's why the majority here will be a center-right majority," he said.

In Spain, the conservative Popular Party won two more seats than the ruling Socialists — 23 to 21 seats — with over 88 percent of the vote counted.

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Wishful Thinking and Indecisive Wars

[tjisa] The most troubling aspect of international security for the United States is not the killing power of our immediate enemies, which remains modest in historical terms, but our increasingly effete view of warfare. The greatest advantage our opponents enjoy is an uncompromising strength of will, their readiness to “pay any price and bear any burden” to hurt and humble us. As our enemies’ view of what is permissible in war expands apocalyptically, our self-limiting definitions of allowable targets and acceptable casualties—hostile, civilian and our own—continue to narrow fatefully. Our enemies cannot defeat us in direct confrontations, but we appear determined to defeat ourselves. [...]

Furthermore, our expectations of war’s results have become absurd. Even the best wars do not yield perfect aftermaths. World War II changed the planet for the better, yet left the eastern half of Europe under Stalin’s yoke and opened the door for the Maoist takeover in China. Should we then declare it a failure and not worth fighting? Our Civil War preserved the Union and abolished slavery—worthy results, surely. Still, it took over a century for equality of opportunity for minorities to gain a firm footing. Should Lincoln have let the Confederacy go with slavery untouched, rather than choosing to fight? Expecting Iraq, Afghanistan or the conflict of tomorrow to end quickly, cleanly and neatly belongs to the realm of childhood fantasy, not human reality. Even the most successful war yields imperfect results. An insistence on prompt, ideal outcomes as the measure of victory guarantees the perception of defeat. [...]

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Coyotes Fate...Still Unknown

[espn] The highly contentious fight over who will own the bankrupt Phoenix Coyotes and where the team will play reaches a critical stage this week with a Canadian billionaire on one side and the National Hockey League on the other.

More than 300 documents have been filed on the case in U.S. Bankruptcy Court since Coyotes owner Jerry Moyes filed for Chapter 11 protection on May 5, much to the surprise of the NHL.

A hearing is scheduled Tuesday on whether Judge Redfield Baum should order the team sold to Blackberry maker Jim Balsillie and moved to Hamilton, Ontario, over the heated objection of the NHL.

Major League Baseball, the NFL and the NBA have weighed in supporting the NHL's contention that such a ruling would undermine the integrity of professional sports leagues.

The NHL wants the team sold to an owner who would keep it in Arizona, where the Coyotes have lost more than $300 million since the franchise moved from Winnipeg in 1996. Commissioner Gary Bettman says four potential buyers who would do just that have filed preliminary applications with the league.

The prospective buyers, according to Bettman's declaration filed in court Friday, include Jerry Reinsdorf, owner of the baseball's Chicago White Sox and the NBA's Chicago Bulls; Las Vegas-based businessman John Breslow, who owns 3 percent of the Coyotes; and Howard Sokolowski and David Cynamon, owners of the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League.

The fourth would-be buyer asked not to be named pending further investigation of the purchase.

None of the offers to keep the team in Arizona is expected to come close to the $215.5 million that Balsillie is offering. But the NHL contends Balsillie's offer is quite smaller once factors are considered, including a payout to Wayne Gretzky, Coyotes coach and owner of 1.5 percent of the team.

Balsillie, who lists his worth at more than $3 billion, contends that a franchise would flourish in hockey-crazy southern Ontario. [...]

The Coyotes have yet to show a profit or have much success on the ice. Balsillie has produced expert testimony that hockey will never succeed in the desert, while Glendale's case is supported by an analyst who lists many improvements that could be made to make the franchise viable.

Among those suggestions: slashing the money paid annually to Gretzky from $8 million to $2 million.

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Despite Campaign Rhetoric, Obama 'Pivots' On Taxing Health-Care Benefits

[wapo] President Obama, in a pivot from some of his harshest campaign rhetoric, told Democratic senators yesterday that he is willing to consider taxing employer-sponsored health benefits to help pay for a broad expansion of coverage.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said Obama expressed a willingness to consider changing the existing tax exclusion. The decision would probably anger liberal supporters such as labor unions, but such a tax change would raise enormous sums of money as Congress and the White House are struggling to find the estimated $1.2 trillion needed to pay for health-care reform over the next decade.

"Yeah, it's something that he might consider," Baucus told reporters after the meeting between Obama and Democratic lawmakers. "That was discussed. It's on the table." Obama had summoned about two dozen senators to the White House to keep up the pressure to enact a comprehensive health-care overhaul this year.

White House officials moved quickly to clarify that taxing the health insurance provided by businesses is not Obama's first choice, but aides refused to rule out the possibility.

"The president made it clear during the campaign that he has serious concerns about taxing health-care benefits, and he has introduced his own revenue proposal, which he reiterated in today's meeting," spokesman Reid Cherlin said.

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JD Salinger sues over unauthorised sequel to Catcher In The Rye

[timesonlineuk] JD Salinger, author of the acclaimed American novel Catcher In The Rye, has gone to court to try to block the publication of an unauthorised sequel written by a fan calling himself John David California.

The reclusive 90-year-old writer claims that 60 Years Later: Coming Through The Rye infringes his copyright, and is suing for damages from its author and publishers.

The new book is dedicated to Salinger and features Mr C, a character apparently based on Holden Caulfield, the rebellious teenage hero of Salinger's classic 1951 novel. He is portrayed as a 76-year-old escapee from an old people's home.

In a touch that could be construed as either admiring or cheeky, the book also includes Salinger himself as a character, and depicts him agonising over whether to continue Caulfield's story.
Related Links

Salinger has not published an original work since 1965, has not given an interview since 1980 and has repeatedly resorted to law in his determination to protect his privacy.

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The Wind Blows : Obama on Islam -- then and now

[we] As Barack Obama sends his message to the Muslim world, it's fascinating to compare his statements, and those of his staff, with things he said during the presidential campaign. In his speech this morning, he said:

I am a Christian, but my father came from a Kenyan family that includes generations of Muslims. As a boy, I spent several years in Indonesia and heard the call of the azaan at the break of dawn and the fall of dusk. As a young man, I worked in Chicago communities where many found dignity and peace in their Muslim faith.

While the president was a little vague about his father's religion, in a briefing before the speech, national security aide Denis McDonough was a bit more explicit:

I think the fact is, that the President himself experienced Islam on three continents before he was able to -- or before he's been able to visit, really, the heart of the Islamic world -- you know, growing up in Indonesia, having a Muslim father -- obviously Muslim Americans [are] a key part of Illinois and Chicago.

Contrast those statements to remarks Obama made to a Jewish organization in Cleveland in February 2008:

My grandfather, who was Kenyan, converted to Christianity, then converted to Islam. My father never practiced; he was basically agnostic. So, other than my name and the fact that I lived in a populous Muslim country for four years when I was a child, I have very little connection to the Islamic religion.


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Treasury Sec. Geithner Performs Comedy In China To Great Review

[reuters] BEIJING, June 1 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Monday reassured the Chinese government that its huge holdings of dollar assets are safe and reaffirmed his faith in a strong U.S. currency.

A major goal of Geithner's maiden visit to China as Treasury chief is to allay concerns that Washington's bulging budget deficit and ultra-loose monetary policy will fan inflation, undermining both the dollar and U.S. bonds.

China is the biggest foreign owner of U.S. Treasury bonds. U.S. data shows that it held $768 billion in Treasuries as of March, but some analysts believe China's total U.S. dollar-denominated investments could be twice as high.

"Chinese assets are very safe," Geithner said in response to a question after a speech at Peking University, where he studied Chinese as a student in the 1980s.

His answer drew loud laughter from his student audience, reflecting scepticism in China about the wisdom of a developing country accumulating a vast stockpile of foreign reserves instead of spending the money to raise living standards at home.

But later in the day, Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan said it was important for the two nations to show the world they are working together through their joint economic dialogue.

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Higher Ed Bubble

[twe] [...] Over the past quarter-century, the average cost of higher education has risen at a rate four times faster than inflation—twice as fast as the cost of health care. [...]

The 2006 Economic Report of the President presents a remarkable fact: Between 2000 and 2005, the average wages of college graduates declined after adjusting for inflation.

From an economic point of view, in other words, a college degree costs more and more and returns less and less. Kind of like a hot stock with a price-to-earnings ratio of 32, it’s a prelude to a crash.

Why are the wages of the college-educated declining? A big part of the answer is that the pool of college graduates is rapidly expanding. It’s not surprising that as college becomes more universal, the return on a college education falls.

As the number of job applicants with degrees rises, employers become more sophisticated in assessing the value of any particular degree. The degree itself matters less than the institution that granted it, the subject areas of concentration, and the grade point average earned. A 4.0 math degree from Cal Tech is a very different thing from a 2.8 communications degree from San Francisco State University. [...]

In their own ways, universities indulge in some of the worst faults of the corporate sector, overcharging their customers in order to allow managers and staff to engage in wasteful or destructive activities that could never be justified on their own.

With the boom lowering, universities have begun feverishly looking for solutions to their problems. Options include broad admissions of international students, many of whom attend U.S. universities less in hope of obtaining a U.S. degree than of gaining entry to the U.S. labor market.

Over the longer run, however, universities, like other troubled institutions, will have to rethink the fundamentals of their work. Why does it take four years to complete a BA degree? Maybe liberal arts studies make more sense later in life?

But this rethinking should not stop with the universities. The entire American education establishment needs reform.

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[rcp] Three months into President Obama’s first term, one of his most prominent pro-life opponents, Robert P. George, engaged in a debate with one of his most prominent pro-life supporters, Douglas W. Kmiec.

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Columnist : Vladimir Putin

[cbc] After having demonstrated his talents as an outdoorsman, in the martial arts and even as a painter over the years, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has now added a new role to his extracurricular slate: magazine columnist.

Trendy lifestyle magazine Russky Pioner (Russian Pioneer) published on Friday a first-person reflection entitled "Why is it hard to fire a person?" — billed as the leader's first such piece of writing for Russian media.

The magazine's editor-in-chief Andrei Kolesnikov, a prominent Russian journalist, has said in interviews that he thought the theme of dismissing an employee might be one that would pique Putin's interest.

"I myself don't know how I pulled this off," said Kolesnikov, according to Agence France-Presse.

"I believe that any editor in chief dreams of publishing such a columnist on his pages at least once in a lifetime."

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