Alan Greenspan says you’re wrong if you think President Obama’s massive $timulu$ had absolutely no impact on the economy.
Alan Greenspan says you’re wrong if you think President Obama’s massive $timulu$ had absolutely no impact on the economy. To the contrary, the former head of the Fed says it weakened the dollar and made everything from food to commodities cost more.
Far be it from us to speak for Greenspan, though, so let’s let CNBC deliver the details:
In a blunt critique of his successor, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, Greenspan said the $2 trillion in quantative easing over the past two years had done little to loosen credit and boost the economy.
“There is no evidence that huge inflow of money into the system basically worked,” Greenspan said in a live interview.
“It obviously had some effect on the exchange rate and the exchange rate was a critical issue in export expansion,” he said. “Aside from that, I am ill-aware of anything that really worked. Not only QE2 but QE1.”
That’s quite a little legacy Ben Bernanke and Barack Obama are leaving: Massive debt, a weaker dollar and a crippled economy.
And to paraphrase President Obama, “It worked so well the first time, let’s do it again.”
Watch the entire video, he has a lot more to say on what we’ve done and where we’re going, and it ain’t pretty.
Thinking wistfully of the DREAM Act, Dick Durbin said that a young person who’s an illegal alien today could someday become president.
Maybe there’s just no need to actually learn what the Constitution says when you’re going to ignore it anyway. That’s the only explanation we can think of to explain Democrat Dick Durbin’s comment in a congressional hearing Tuesday.
Dick Durban gives the term "running for office" a whole new meaning
Thinking wistfully of the DREAM Act, he said that a young person who’s an illegal alien today could someday become president.
CNS News has the quote:
“When I look around this room, I see America’s future, our doctors, our teachers, our nurses, our engineers, our scientists, our soldiers, our congressmen, our senators, and maybe our president,” Durbin said immediately after having asked all young persons in the room to stand if they were currently undocumented aliens who would be eligible to become citizens if the DREAM Act were passed.
Dick, buddy, the Constitution expressly prohibits aliens from becoming president. Except for the clause that says Barack Obama is an exception to the rule.
Based on her first question to President Obama, we don’t think Jessica Yellin will keep that front row seat in the White House press briefing room much longer.
Based on her first question to President Obama, we don’t think Jessica Yellin, CNN’s new White House correspondent, will keep that front row seat in the White House press briefing room much longer.
She might have couched her question in polite terms, but there’s no doubt that she was mocking the president. Maybe even calling him a liar.
Go to the 4:15-ish mark.
Obama: Jessica Yellin. Congratulations, your first question here. Yellin: Thank you, Mr. President. Obama: No pressure. You’re going to do great. (Laughter.) Yellin: Thank you. Your administration has laid out four different dates by which you’ve said that the debt ceiling must be raised or the U.S. would face potential dire consequences. Three of those dates have come and gone and we haven’t faced financial calamity. Some of your critics have argued that these are then scare tactics to force a deal. So why should the American people believe that the August 2nd deadline is the final deadline by which a deal must be raised? And would you also spell out for us what you believe will happen if the debt ceiling is not raised by that date?
Seems to us that Victor Davis Hanson is logical and clear-thinking with a firm grasp of reality. In other words, a raaaaacist.
Seems to us that Victor Davis Hanson is logical and clear-thinking with a firm grasp of reality. In other words, a raaaaacist.
His latest column notes the discrepancy between the words and deeds of John Kerry, Tim Geithner, Charles Rangel, Bono, et al, who strive mightily to avoid paying the higher taxes they themselves advocate.
The $1000 sunglasses are a sure clue that Bono is a socialist
Here’s his assessment via Pajamas Media:
This discussion is, of course, a belabored example of why and how socialists do not like socialism. Indeed, statism is not a desired outcome, but rather more a strategy for obtaining power or winning acclaim as one of the caring, by offering the narcotic of promising millions something free at the expense of others who must be seen as culpable and obligated to fund it — entitlements fueled by someone else’s money that enfeebled the state, but in the process extended power, influence, and money to a technocratic class of overseers who are exempt from the very system that they have advocated.
Their real-world analogs are called “termites”. Natural ones serve a purpose, clearing dead wood from forests to make resources available for new growth. The political version wrecks things to serve themselves….
So what is socialism? It is a sort of modern version of Louis XV’s “Après moi, le déluge” – an unsustainable Ponzi scheme in which elite overseers, for the duration of their own lives, enjoy power, influence, and gratuities by implementing a system that destroys the sort of wealth for others that they depend upon for themselves.
We’re always being told “it’s for the children.” Nice to know who the children are.
This is just too damn funny. Political analyst Mark Halperin – normally a good liberal – just got suspended by MSNBC for calling President Obama “a dick” on today’s Morning Joe show
This is just too damn funny. Political analyst Mark Halperin – normally a good liberal – just got suspended by MSNBC for calling President Obama “a dick” on today’s Morning Joe show.
“I thought he was a dick yesterday,” Halperin said in reference to the President’s conduct during his press conference.
One might say that Halperin was suspended for telling the truth, a commodity in very short supply at MSNBC.
Of course, Halperin later fell on his sword after he was suspended and issued a statement saying, “I completely agree with everything in MSNBC’s statement about my remark. I believe that the step they are taking in response is totally appropriate. Again, I want to offer a heartfelt and profound apology to the President, to my MSNBC colleagues, and to the viewers. My remark was unacceptable, and I deeply regret it.”
So the way we now understand liberal philosophy, you can serve in the United States House of Representatives if you send a photo of your dick to a young woman, but you can’t call someone a dick.
Surely no one who’s ever attended the University of Oregon was surprised to see that the Eugene city council has come out against the Pledge of Allegiance.
A personal note from the Editor: I’m a Duck. I graduated from the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism back when devices known as “typewriters” were still state of the art.
When I arrived in Eugene a stinky haze hung over the city. Locals blamed it on the local pulp mills, but what I smelled was actually the stench of liberalism.
Surely no one who’s ever attended the University of Oregon was surprised to see that the Eugene city council has come out against the Pledge of Allegiance.
One fine member of the council compared it to the Communist Manifesto. Not to be outdone, another wacko announced that she couldn’t pledge allegiance to the United States because she’s a citizen of the world.
She didn’t specify which world, but we assume she meant the third world into which we are rapidly descending.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) gave a press conference in Syria this week and appeared to heap praise upon Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
We’re going to miss little Dennis Kucinich if his district is gerrymandered out of existence. Really miss him.
After all, what other representative who’s not a member of the Congressional Black Caucus can give us so much crazy material on such a consistent basis?
Dennis Kucinich is always good for a laugh. The same cannot be said for the 1300 dead Syrians.
The Hill comments on Kucinich’s latest comments:
Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) gave a press conference in Syria this week and appeared to heap praise upon Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is being widely criticized for the brutal crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in that country.
… A story by the Syrian Arab News Agency on Tuesday has Kucinich at a press conference in Syria taking a highly controversial position toward al-Assad. In May, the U.S. imposed sanctions against al-Assad as a means of pressuring him to end the violent repression there.
“President al-Assad is highly loved and appreciated by the Syrians,” Kucinich said, according to the Syrian news site. “President Bashar al-Assad cares so much about what is taking place in Syria, which is evident in his effort towards a new Syria and everybody who meets him can be certain of this.”
In his defense, Kucinich said his words were mistranslated.
A more accurate translation is, “I’m a little pissed that former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney has been getting more press lately than I have. I need to up my crazy quotient.”
The Obama reelection campaign’s $5-per-chance dinner-with-the-president raffle is now a two-for-the-price-of-one deal.
Quick, write down all the dumb ways there are to waste five bucks.
Never mind. Crumple up that list and throw it away because we’ve found the absolute dumbest. It cannot be topped.
What do you expect for five bucks?
CNSNews explains the losing proposition:
The Obama reelection campaign’s $5-per-chance dinner-with-the-president raffle is now a two-for-the-price-of-one deal.
The winners will not only get dinner with President Barack Obama but with Vice President Joe Biden, too.
In an email sent out June 15, President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign announced that in return for a $5 donation the president was offering supporters a chance to participate in a raffle to win a “casual” dinner with him at an unstated location. Four lucky contributors would win this prize.
It’s not a misprint, they did say the “winners” get to eat with Obama and Biden. Second prize is two dinners with them (it’s an old joke but so is Biden.)
Naturally, it’s all legal:
In order to comply with federal law, no donation is actually required to participate in the president’s campaign dinner raffle. While the e-mail prominently displays a donation form, a separate link to register for the contest without making a donation to the campaign is included in the email’s fine print.
We suspect those who enter without donating have as much chance of winning as Obama does of naming all 57 states.
Bill Clinton peddling nights in the Lincoln bedroom seems classy in comparison. Obama’s next fundraising plan will probably feature him hustling 3-card monte on the White House lawn. Kinda makes us nostalgic for 2008 when they simply accepted unverified credit card donations from the Middle East.
We haven’t had an Inexplicable Photo Caption Contest in a few months, but we’re doing it now because this photo just screams out for one.
We haven’t had an Inexplicable Photo Caption Contest in a few months, but we’re doing it now because this photo just screams out for one.
No prizes. No winners. Just the warm inner glow you get when you know you’ve come up with a funny caption to accompany a photo of Michelle Obama sticking her tongue out at Desmond Tutu while they both appear to be doing push ups.
The liberal media “missed” this story about the Netherlands officially abandoning that most cherished of crackpot liberal schemes, multiculturalism.
Every once in a while – far more often than can be called mere coincidence – the mainstream American media miss a story of great import. Of course, the thread that ties all those missing stories together is that they contain news that runs counter to liberal dogma.
Like this story about the Netherlands officially abandoning that most cherished of crackpot liberal schemes, multiculturalism.
After an absence of several years, sanity is returning to the Netherlands
The mainstream media won’t cover it, so we have to depend on a podunk publication like Hudson New York:
A new integration bill, which Dutch Interior Minister Piet Hein Donner presented to parliament on June 16, reads: “The government shares the social dissatisfaction over the multicultural society model and plans to shift priority to the values of the Dutch people. In the new integration system, the values of the Dutch society play a central role. With this change, the government steps away from the model of a multicultural society.”
The letter continues: “A more obligatory integration is justified because the government also demands that from its own citizens. It is necessary because otherwise the society gradually grows apart and eventually no one feels at home anymore in the Netherlands. The integration will not be tailored to different groups.”
From now on, more will be expected of immigrants to the Netherlands. They’ll have to learn the Dutch language and obey Dutch laws and adopt Dutch values.
And best of all, no more extra subsidies for Muslim immigrants, no more burqas, no more forced marriages.
AP does its damnedest to prove that Janet Napolitano is justified in saying it’s those right wing non-Muslim terrorists we need to worry about
You can always count on the Associated Press to push liberal positions. In this case, for example, it does its damnedest to prove that Janet Napolitano is justified in saying it’s those right wing non-Muslim terrorists we need to worry about – even if the evidence of their existence is virtually non-existant.
Beautiful Flathead Lake, where you can catch huge trout and even bigger non-Muslim terrorists
Let’s travel now to bucolic Kalispell, Montana, land of the Editor’s ancestors, where we apparently find those pesky non-Muslim terrorists water skiing on Flathead Lake:
It also is a cradle for sometimes-violent anti-government activity — a reputation most recently rekindled by the search for David Burgert. The former Kalispell militia leader is accused of opening fire on sheriff’s deputies on a remote logging road in Lolo National Forest.
After a lull following the demise of the Idaho-based neo-Nazi Aryan Nations in 2000, anti-government and white supremacist groups and individuals may be reviving in the Inland Northwest. It’s a mostly white, mostly rural area with few job opportunities and a history of extreme activists.
May be reviving? Translation: We don’t actually know of any problems, but this is the approved narrative and we’re sticking with it.
Experts say the number of radical right groups is growing across the country because of the poor state of the economy, rising immigration and fears that President Barack Obama’s administration has an agenda to curtail individual liberties.
They include so-called patriot groups, which fear one-world government and don’t accept the federal government’s authority. And they like northwest Montana because there is no dominant major city with liberal politics. It also has a deep libertarian streak and live-and-let-live attitude, said Travis McAdam, executive director of the Helena-based Montana Human Rights Network, an anti-hate group.
It has a deep libertarian streak and a live-and-let-live attitude.
Well, there you have it. Everyone knows what a “deep libertarian streak and live-and-left-live attitude” can lead to:
Representative Jerrold Nadler attacked the President’s go-it-alone policy the other day and now Virginia Senator Jim Webb has attacked the President, too.
George Bush made his case to the Congress and got two – count ‘em, two – resolutions approving our invasion of Iraq. Yet the same leftists who roundly condemned him for conducting “an illegal war” applaud our current Nobel Peace Prize-winning President and ignore his unilateral action in Libya.
Unfortunately, members of his own party in Congress are starting to peel away. Representative Jerrold Nadler attacked the President’s go-it-alone policy the other day and now Virginia Senator Jim Webb has attacked the President, too.
“The president did not come to congress…We weren’t under attack. We weren’t under an imminent attack. We weren’t honoring treaty commitments. We weren’t rescuing anyone.”
We think more condemnation will be forthcoming in a matter of days, not weeks.
(Just in case you didn’t get it, that last line was really clever, because it used the President’s prediction that the Libyan action would last “days, not weeks” against him. Move over, Will Rogers. IHTM is here.)
Good thing Michelle Obama is a liberal Democrat. Otherwise the media would be reading her emails and calling her a fascistic racist hypocrite.
Good thing Michelle Obama is a liberal Democrat. Otherwise the media would be reading her emails and calling her a fascistic racist hypocrite.
The Washington Examiner gives us a taste:
… First Lady Michelle Obama stopped by the University of Cape Town for an event with young people. She told the audience how she came from modest circumstances and was able to attend top schools and build a career at a big law firm, saying they too can achieve their dreams if they try hard enough.
"Mmmm-mmmm. French fries. Now do as I say, not as I do."
We’ve heard America is a mean country. It’s not nearly as easy for talentlesss, lazy whiners to get rich as it should be. Moochy and Barry are the exceptions. But we digress.
…one young person in the audience asked Mrs. Obama, who has devoted much of her time in the White House to promoting nutrition and healthy eating, what her favorite foods are.
Obama mentioned Indian food, and then Mexican food, and then said: “No, if I picked one favorite, favorite food, it’s French fries.” The audience began to laugh. …”I can’t stop eating them.” As the students laughed more, the First Lady quickly returned to her role as advocate of health eating. “But eat your vegetables,” she said, to still more laughs. “And exercise.”
Lefty trans-fat heads are exploding as we speak. Oh, sorry, Michelle Obama said those words, not Michele Bachmann, so cooler fatheads prevail.
If we’re not mistaken those giggling South African kids were laughing at her, not with her. Us, too.
First Lady Michelle Obama visited a restaurant in Botswana village and began chowing down on French fries and a local delicacy called fat cakes like that night’s dinner was an unachievable dream.
We were confused when we saw the words “Michelle Obama” and “Fat Cakes” in the same headline. We thought the latter was a nickname for the former, but we were wrong.
First Lady Michelle Obama visited a restaurant in Botswana village and began chowing down on French fries and a local delicacy called fat cakes like that night’s dinner was an unachievable dream.
Of course, this was a direct violation of the nanny state food rules she laid out for the rest of us, but that matters now because she is, after all, Michelle Antoinette and we are the little people.
In a recent interview with a highly regime-friendly news network First Lady Michelle Antoinette expressed considerable gratitude for the help they’ve been given by the media.
In a recent interview with a highly regime-friendly news network First Lady Michelle Antoinette expressed considerable gratitude for the help they’ve been given by the media.
NewsBusters busts this news:
The media consider all the Obama children are off-limits, including young Barack Obama
First Lady: You know, it’s — we’re — we’re ready. You know, our children, you know, could care less about what we’re doing. We work hard to do that. And…
Curnow: How do you do it?
First Lady: Well, we — fortunately we have help from the media. And I — I have to say this, that I’m very grateful for the support and kindness that we’ve gotten, and people have respected their privacy. And in that way, I think, you know, no matter what people may feel about my husband’s policies or what have you, they care about children. And that’s been good — good to see.
Granted the help she was referring to was the media’s hands off approach to the Obama children.
But before we are too quick to dismiss the value of the media’s kindness to children, let’s take a moment to consider how they’ve treated a couple of kids named Bristol and Trig.
The European Union’s grand experiment in open borders and multiculturalism has become a grand failure. Europe has suddenly rediscovered the old adage that says, “Good fences make good neighbors.”
The European Union’s grand experiment in open borders and multiculturalism has become a grand failure. Europe has suddenly rediscovered the old adage that says, “Good fences make good neighbors.”
We really hope the Danish People's Party made a nice profit on this real estate transaction
The New York Times almost chokes while reporting the story:
Ten years ago, as Denmark joined the European Union’s visa-free open travel zone, the outraged Danish People’s Party bought a decommissioned border guardhouse, vowing that one day it would be in use again. Back then, most Danes dismissed the move as a colorful publicity stunt by the newly formed right-wing party.
Ahhh, yes, in Europe, just as in the United States, leftists dismiss every right wing worry as uninformed at best and racist at worst.
But last month, the Danish People’s Party was doing a victory dance, offering to donate its picturesque brick guardhouse at the German border to the government. The party had achieved its goal: Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen had agreed to restore 24-hour customs control in exchange for support on a difficult budget package.
The deal set off an outcry in the European Union as tiny Denmark became the first member to seriously challenge the union’s crowning achievement: the free movement of goods and services across borders. Italy and France, wrangling over a huge influx of immigrants from North Africa, have been pushing for a lesser step — the ability to temporarily close borders in an emergency. This got the official nod of approval during a meeting of European leaders on Friday.
The Danes’ plan, on the other hand, has garnered a warning from the Eurocrats in Brussels who said the Scandinavian country’s plans are incompatible with its “obligations under European and international law.”
We think that’s what it said, but it’s difficult to tell because the Eurocrats’ warning was nearly illegible. But it’s not really their fault. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to write legibly while wearing blinders.
Greece is socialism’s future, a country split between those getting ludicrous government benefits and those who don’t want to pay for them.
Greece is socialism’s future, a country split between those getting ludicrous government benefits and those who don’t want to pay for them.
The Daily Mail probes the rift:
…the average salary on Greece’s railways is $95617 US… treble the earnings of the average private sector employee [in the UK].
Poor, impoverished Greeks enjoying a meager meal alongside their yachts
[The overground rail network’s] annual income is only $127.4m US from ticket sales, the wage bill is more than $796.8m US a year — prompting one Greek politician to famously remark that it would be cheaper to put all the commuters into private taxis.
Ridiculously, Greek pastry chefs, radio announcers, hairdressers and masseurs in steam baths are among more than 600 professions allowed to retire at 50 (with a state pension of 95 per cent of their last working year’s earnings) — on account of the ‘arduous and perilous’ nature of their work.
Mattress testers? They probably retire at 45.
If there were any taxpayers, they’d be complaining.
….only 5,000 people in a country of 12 million admit to earning more than $143000 US a year — a salary that would not be enough to buy a garden shed in [the wealthy suburb of] Kifissia.
Manipulating a corrupt tax system, many of the residents simply say that they earn below the basic tax threshold of around $15900 US a year, even though they own boats, second homes on Greek islands and properties overseas.
And, should the taxman rumble this common ruse, it can be dealt with using a ‘fakelaki’ — an envelope stuffed with cash.
Don’t worry about the Greeks, though. Since our economy is in such outstanding condition, President Obama has pledged that we will help Greece out with its “crisis.”
A rabbinical council in Israel has convicted a dog of housing the spirit of a lawyer and has sentenced the unfortunate creature to death by stoning.
A rabbinical council in Israel has convicted a dog of housing the spirit of a lawyer and has sentenced the unfortunate creature to death by stoning.
While this may be an off-the-wall sentence, we’re sure the court must have had its reasons. In the meantime, having PETA attempt to claim some form of moral superiority is absurd.
Law school was easy compared to the circumcision
“By sentencing an innocent animal to a painful death for such an absurd reason, this rabbinical court has not only completely discredited itself but also violated tza’ar ba’alei chayim (“the suffering of living creatures”) — one of the most important principles in Judaism,” PETA said in a statement Thursday.
“Rabbi Levin should be given a mandatory psychiatric evaluation, and PETA intends to call for criminal charges against him for inciting cruelty to animals,” the statement continued.
There’s a lot of posturing and douchebaggery in the comments surrounding this article, but the case does raise one vital question:
How can you tell if your dog houses the reincarnated spirit of a lawyer?
Sounds like a cry for a top five list:
5) Screws everything in sight.
4) Miserable cur is no one’s best friend.
3) Screws everything in sight.
2) Chases only ambulances.
And the number one way to tell if your dog houses the reincarnated spirit of a lawyer?
As we near the half way mark of 2011, Chris Matthews and Ed Schultz are locked it a tight race to determine which MSNBC host can say the most stupid things in one twelve month period.
As we near the half way mark of 2011, Chris Matthews and Ed Schultz are locked it a tight race to determine which MSNBC host can say the most stupid things in one twelve month period.
Schultz currently holds a narrow lead despite serving a one week suspension for calling Laura Ingraham a slut.
Matthews seems determined to win this competition for the third year in a row (the famed Three-peat) and racked up another point Tuesday night for saying this:
“I hate that so-called evenhanded so-called objective journalism. You know, you know, you can’t say something isn’t true if it’s true in the interest of evenhandedness.”
Matthews is, of course, an expert at so-called journalism, since it is the the only kind of journalism practiced at MSNBC.
The topsy turvy world of black politics now defines a white candidate seeking black votes as an attempt to suppress the black vote.
Just as saving the lives of black babies is now called racism, the topsy turvy world of black politics now defines a white candidate seeking black votes as an attempt to suppress the black vote.
And that’s not us editorializing, it’s a direct quote from the preeminent arbiter of all things racial, the Reverend Al Sharpton.
Mediaite.com reports the racial revisionism:
Sharpton, who spoke to host Cenk Uygur yesterday, explained his outrage against Gingrich for telling Republicans to “have the courage” to sell their ideas to the most Democratic African-American voting block. Sharpton argued that black people received “disproportionate injury from Republican policy” that was so obvious it was offensive for him to promote those policies at all. In doing so, he argued, Gingrich “assumes that we’re stupid,” or “is trying to throw something out at the media to cover up the fact that his campaign is falling apart.”
Well, yes, the Gingrich campaign is falling apart, but that’s about the only thing Sharpton got right. But hold on just a goldanged minute, because the Reverend hasn’t run out of stupid yet.
Sharpton went further to propose that it was possible that Gingrich was also “hoping to suppress the black vote” by speaking ill of President Obama such that those that voted for him in 2008 and would never vote Republican would simply stay home. That theory aside, Sharpton was still outraged. “The audacity of even saying something like that,” he argued of Gingrich’s attempt to court the black vote, “is something that insults us.” It was not exclusively the idea of a Republican courting the black vote that outraged him, however, but what he perceived as Gingrich’s hypocrisy in using language such as “the food stamp president” and citing President Obama’s “anti-colonial, Kenyan” views in order to, according to Sharpton, court the racist vote as well.
A white politician reaching out to black voters? The audacity! The horror! The outrageosity!
When will those uppity white politicians learn their place in life?
California is experiencing the fastest rate of disinvestment events in the three years since a specialized tracking system was put into place.
Must be something about warm climates and beautiful scenery that alienates businessfolk. How else does one explain the way they seem to shun locales like Greece, Spain and California?
There's a reason no one's doing cover versions of "California Dreamin'" in 2011
Professor Mark Perry explores the phenomenon:
“Today, California is experiencing the fastest rate of disinvestment events based on public domain information, closure notices to the state, and information from affected employees in the three years since a specialized tracking system was put into place.
Our losses are occurring at an accelerated rate. Also, no one knows the real level of activity because smaller companies are not required to file layoff notices with the state. A conservative estimate is that only 1 out of 5 company departures becomes public knowledge, which means California may suffer more than 1,000 disinvestment events this year.
Layoff notices? The Golden State must have a lot of ATMs.
Based on the legislature’s recent rejection of business-friendly legislation and Sacramento’s implementation of additional regulations, signs are that California’s hostility towards business will only worsen. California is such fertile ground that representatives for economic development agencies are visiting companies to dissect our high taxes, extreme regulatory environment and other expenses to show annual savings of between 20 and 40 percent after an out-of-state move.”
California’s problem must be a lack of high-speed rail. Business dissatisfaction couldn’t be the fault of the state’s politicians, the same ones have been in office for eons.
We’re mystified, but luckily California has zillions of bright, highly compensated employees on the state payroll. They’ll surely figure this thing out sooner or later.
Pity poor Al Tayyeb. He hoped to end up with a fat wallet, but when his Saudi “investors” find out what he did, he’ll probably end up with a fatwa instead.
Trading commodities is a harrowing way to make a living. These lunatics risk millions of dollars on split second bets for tenths of a cent. The good ones end up absurdly wealthy, but the bad ones end up with holes in their stomachs. And they all end up with teeth ground down to the roots.
Losing $20 million on the Chicago futures exchange probably limits your future in Al-Qaeda
The Chicago Tribune explains how Al-Qaeda fits into the story:
Abu al Tayyeb, who had allegedly considered a biological attack and other terror plots against U.S. citizens, wired $35 million to an associate, of which $26.7 million was deposited into an account in 2005, according to the federal lawsuit by the U.S. Justice Department.
In less than a year, the account plummeted to less than $7 million because of poor trading decisions by the associate, according to the lawsuit, filed in federal court in Chicago over the weekend.
… While the civil lawsuit does not link al Tayyeb’s money to any terror activity, it portrays him as an al-Qaida operative who raised money for the terror group and plotted attacks on U.S. citizens and allies.
“Al Tayyeb began raising significant amounts of money through … a Saudi Arabian-based investment scheme,” the lawsuit alleged. “Al Tayyeb then used the funds raised, in part, to finance jihadist-related activities.”
Pity poor Al Tayyeb. He hoped to end up with a fat wallet, but when his Saudi “investors” find out what he did, he’ll probably end up with a fatwa instead.
A Dutch court acquited populist politician Geert Wilders on Thursday. He had been accused of inciting hatred of Muslims by telling the truth.
You may find this hard to believe, but the world isn’t completely insane. A Dutch court acquited populist politician Geert Wilders on Thursday. He had been accused of inciting hatred of Muslims by telling the truth.
Speech is a little freer in the Netherlands now that Geert Wilders is free
Reuters has the report:
The case was seen by some as a test of free speech in a country which has a long tradition of tolerance and blunt talk, but where opposition to immigration, particularly from Muslim or predominantly Muslim countries, is on the rise.
Instantly recognizable by his mane of dyed blond hair, Wilders, 47, is one of the most outspoken critics of Islam and immigration in the Netherlands.
His Freedom Party is now the third-largest in parliament, a measure of support for its anti-immigrant stance, and is the minority government’s chief ally. But many of Wilders’ comments — such as likening Islam to Nazism — are socially divisive.
A selection of the Australian aborigines who are suing blogger Andrew Bolt
Really nice impartial work, Reuters. You didn’t even attempt to disguise your editorializing by saying, “Some people say his comments are socially divisive.” You went straight to they are socially divisive.
Unfortunately, the Wilders case isn’t an isolated incident. Australian newspaper columnist, blogger and TV star Andrew Bolt is currently being tried under his nation’s Racial Discrimination Act.
His offense? Suggesting in a series of columns that some light or white-skinned Aussies who identify themselves as aboriginal may have motives that are less than pure. The overly-sensitive “aboriginal” plaintiffs say they were offended, insulted, humiliated or intimidated by Bolt’s articles.
Rand Paul racked up another one for his highlight reel when TSA Chief John Pistole appeared before the U.S. Senate. Paul looked him in the eye and told him what we’d all like to tell him:
Rand Paul racked up another one for his highlight reel when TSA Chief John Pistole appeared before the U.S. Senate.
Paul looked him in the eye and told him what we’d all like to tell him:
It makes me think you’re clueless, if you think she (a 6-year old) is going to attack our country and you’re not doing your research on the people who want to attack our country.
Myself and a lot of other Americans think you’ve gone overboard and you’re missing the boat on terrorism because you’re doing invasive searches on 6-year-old girls.
Of course, this concept makes liberal heads explode because it’s not politically correct.
In Liberalville, 6-year old girls from Muncie, Indiana are more likely to hijack airplanes than nervous 25-year old Muslim men who pray to Mecca just before take-off.
NPR’s Jack White’s goal isn’t to educate or elucidate, but to impress others with his own education and intellect. And he doesn’t like Andrew Breitbart.
We found a guy at NPR who doesn’t like Andrew Breitbart. Jack White’s a writer. One of those writers who writes and endlessly rewrites his words until he’s absolutely certain that the dolts who read them will say, “This guy sure is smart.” His goal isn’t to educate or elucidate, but to impress others with his own education and intellect.
We, of course, are mere bloggers, but we highly recommend that White enter the first sentence of his Breitbart article in the 2011 Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest that honors bad opening sentences. We think he has a real shot at taking home the 2012 prize.
Without further delay, here is how White started his article at bias-free NPR.org:
Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, inspiration for NPR writer Jack White
It’s a pity that the 19th-century Austrian novelist Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach was not still around this week to witness a spectacular vindication of her most famous aphorism: Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
That old adage applies to Andrew Breitbart, the right-wing-media hit man previously best known for manufacturing a charge of racism that forced the heroic Shirley Sherrod to resign from the Department of Agriculture and for publicizing a highly edited sting videotape supposedly showing employees at the now defunct community organization ACORN advising a prostitute on how to avoid paying taxes. His track record establishes that Breitbart’s grasp of the facts is no firmer than Sarah Palin’s command of American history.
But in, er, exposing the eponymously named Rep. Anthony Weiner, Breitbart finally managed to hit his target. It will be a relief when Weiner finally realizes that he should resign from Congress and devote himself to his pregnant wife. He is an embarrassment.
Ahhh, yes. We, too, love 19th century Austrian novelists. The eponymously named Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach is one of our particular favorites. We can’t begin to tell you how many hours we’ve spent chortling at her droll observations on the human condition. Her aphorisms never cease to delight, just as Jack White’s words never ceases to annoy.
Sadly, we’re unable to quote any 19th century Austrian novelists, but to paraphrase the words of the Editor’s 20th century Dutch farmer father, “Jack White is the south end of a horse going north.”
