I know I don’t usually say this, but now seems like the perfect time: What the fuck is wrong with California?? This is just outrageous:

She was forced to have sex with him, and now she’s being forced to pay his bills.

Crystal Harris of Carlsbad, Calif., had been financially supporting her unemployed, abusive husband Shawn Harris for years. But after he sexually assaulted her in 2008, she took him to court.

The jury heard a damning audiotape of the attack secretly recorded by Crystal Harris, and her husband was convicted of forced oral copulation.

Even so, in 2010, the year their divorce became finalized, he requested spousal support. The judge awarded him $1,000 a month, and also asked Crystal Harris to pay $47,000 of her ex-husband’s legal fees from the divorce proceedings.

“It stunned me and I think it’s shocking,” said San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, who is fighting to close a loophole in the law that allows judges to exercise this kind of judicial discretion. “It’s a priority for our office.”

Did you catch that? The judge has DISCRETION in this case, and is CHOOSING to force Crystal Harris to pay her deadbeat, abusive ex-husband ALIMONY and his LEGAL bills, which he incurred from her taking him to court for RAPING HER. This is insanity. Sheer insanity.

There’s more:

Harris, who turned 39 Thursday, makes between $110,000 and $120,000 a year as a financial analyst, and says she has been supporting her husband — a former car salesman — ever since their first son was born in 2002.

Under normal circumstances, Harris would have been required to pay $3,000 a month in spousal support after the divorce, but because of the domestic violence she endured, the judge said he would lower that amount to $1,000.

“I call that the rape discount,” Harris said.

She appealed the judge’s ruling, pointing out that her ex-husband will have no expenses while he’s in jail.

The judge agreed, but when Shawn Harris, 40, is released from Donovan State Prison in 2014, he’s entitled to ask for spousal support again. And California law entitles him to have it.

[...]

In a statement received by ABCNews.com on Friday afternoon, spokeswoman Karen Dalton from the San Diego Superior Court said, “Per the California Code of Judicial Ethics, canon 3B(9), which prohibits a judge from making public comment about a pending or impending proceeding, Judge Pollack will be unable to discuss the details of the proceedings.” California family code currently states “the criminal conviction of an abusive spouse shall be considered in making a reduction or elimination of a spousal support award” and it’s that language that gives the judge discretion when making a spousal support ruling.

Holy shit, this is just crazy. The judge HAS the discretion to not compel a victim of domestic violence to pay anything. That this judge IS, after the years of abuse, is mighty telling about HIM, if you ask me. Wow.

There is much, much more to this article, including a more in-depth look into their relationship, the years of abuse, and his threats when she tried to get out (as many of you know, the most dangerous time for a woman in an abusive relationship is when she tries to leave. That is when many women are murdered.) Click here to read the rest, if you wish. Like I said, the whole thing just makes me sick. There is something seriously, seriously wrong with this.

Incredible. Now for a complete 180, something happening in another state that is very right. Back in June, I wrote a post about an editorial a Chicago lawyer named Thomas Geoghan wrote. He was targeting Boeing for building a plant here in the Charleston, SC, area (“What A Bunch Of Southernist BS...”). I’ll sum it up for you: we dumbass Southerners ain’t capable of building our way out of a paper bag, much less one of them fancy dancy aeroplanes, dontcha know. What the sam hill was Boeing thinking dissing the union in Washington State like that by allowing us redneck yahoos who probably ain’t ever even flown to build their durn planes for ‘em? Yeah, something pretty close to that (click here if you wish to read his screed for yourselves).

Well, you wanna guess which plant is outperforming the other? Uh, yeah – the Charleston team:

Speaking to the Goldman Sachs Global Industrials Conference on Thursday, Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Jim Albaugh said he is “very encouraged” by the South Carolina mid- and aft-body operations, which are performing above the Everett, Wash., assembly line’s production rate of 2.5 airplanes per month.

“Those two operations are performing very, very well,” Albaugh said. “In fact, many of the work cells that we have there are performing at about 3.5 airplanes a month, and we’ve also demonstrated in one or two areas that we can sustain the 10 airplanes a month rate that we’ll need when we go to peak.”

[...]

Albaugh also revealed South Carolina’s first Dreamliner, the first Boeing commercial airplane to be assembled outside of Washington state and scheduled to be the 46th 787, is officially in one piece.

“We put the airplane on the gear in the last couple of days, all the final joins have been done, and we expect to fly the first airplane out of Charleston sometime in the middle of the year,” Albaugh said, referring to 2012. (Click here to read the rest.(

Well golly gee willikers, could that really be true? Hell to the yes, it is. Just goes to show the folly of such sheer ignorance and prejudice that still exists toward the South. We got it going on, y’all, and doing pretty damn well at it, too.

Consider this an open thread, y’all. Have at it.

First to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Reid has declared that the problem with unemployment isn’t the lack of private sector jobs. Nope, it is the lack of government jobs, see. Never mind that the massive $787 Billion Stimulus bill added a whole slew of Federal government jobs (in the thousands). Oh no, as over 400,000 people have been added to the roles this past week, surely it is because the Obama Administration just isn’t hiring enough people! Ahem. Seriously, Reid is talking about firefighters, police officers, and others. Though he is still wrong on the numbers.

Good grief. What is WRONG with this man? Here is Reid’s “logic” on this topic:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Wednesday indicated Congress needs to worry about government jobs more than private-sector jobs, and that this is why Senate Democrats are pushing a bill aimed at shoring up teachers and first-responders.

“It’s very clear that private-sector jobs have been doing just fine; it’s the public-sector jobs where we’ve lost huge numbers, and that’s what this legislation is all about,” Reid said on the Senate floor.

Reid was responding to recent comments from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who accused Democrats of purposefully pursuing higher taxes as part of the teacher/first-responder bill, S. 1723, so that Republicans would oppose it. McConnell said the bill was meant to fail in order to give Democrats an issue to run on in the 2012 election, but Reid said the Republicans are simply trying to defeat President Obama any way they can.

The legislation Reid is defending is part of Obama’s jobs package. Vice President Biden was in Pennsylvania, an important election state, on Tuesday to push for the administration’s plan on increasing the number of teachers. (Click here to read the rest.)

Right. And since the Stimulus worked OH so well (not) the last time around, spending over $228,000 for EACH job SAVED or created, it does not appear they are doing a very good job of managing the funds they want us to pony up. Again.

I love this whole smoke and mirrors action around the “saved” jobs. The whole point of the Stimulus Bill was to STIMULATE the economy and CREATE jobs, not just “save” jobs, a sleight of hand accounting by any measure. What a joke.

Not that we can’t use police officers and firefighters. Of course we do, But this is a far more complex issue than Reid is making it appear. My guess is he’s trying to deflect for failing to pass the Jobs Bill.

Speaking of Biden and his little campaign for Obama’s jobs bill, what this article leaves out in its description was how completely unhinged Vice President Biden appeared on Wednesday, yelling about how women will be raped and people robbed if this flawed Jobs Bill that was never meant to be passed didn’t pass. Don’t take my word for it, here he is in his own words:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Gee, Joe – fearmonger much??

And then there was this “testy” exchange with a Human Events reporter who asked VP Biden if he wanted to back down a bit on his claim that women would be raped and people murdered if this Jobs Bill isn’t passed:

On Wednesday, Biden gave a speech saying budget cuts had drastically impacted police forces in many cities and “the result has been, and it’s not unique, murder rates are up, robberies are up, rapes are up.”

“I didn’t use … no, no, no,” Biden said to Mattera. “Let’s get it straight, guy. Don’t screw around with me. Let’s get it straight.”

Mattera followed up, asking the vice president, “You didn’t use a rape reference?”

“I said rape was up three times in Flint,” Biden replied. “Those are the numbers. Go look at the numbers. Murder is up; rape is up; burglary is up. That’s what I said.” (Click here to read the rest.)

This kind of browbeating, yelling, and threats from the Office of the Vice President to blackmail Congress into passing a flawed bill is disturbing on a number of levels. And one pesky fact Reid and Biden keep forgetting – the Senate is controlled by Democrats, and the bill failed there as well.

Both of these men, Reid and Biden, are appearing a bit desperate in their attempts to force this bill down our throats (shades of Obamacare). But these lengths to which they are going are far afield, and need to be ratcheted back. A lot. What we need is reasoned discussion on both sides of the aisle to come up with a workable program that will address the 9.1% unemployment and over 16% underemployment in this country, not this dear mongering, and blame game being played by Reid, Biden, and Obama. We need a real plan, not a political campaign slogan (at our expense, I might add – you cannot tell me this whole bus tour wasn’t a campaign event).

That’s what we need, and we need it now. What do you think?

Wow. Don’t you just love it when the president is all kumbaya and stuff? Doesn’t it make you all warm and fuzzy when he is so bipartisan? Uh huh, sure. Here he is, in his own words (or whoever writes this crap and slaps it on TOTUS):

President Obama launched a three-day bus tour through two states critical to his 2012 reelection campaign by kicking Senate Republicans for blocking his jobs bill, saying he is breaking up his plan because “maybe they just couldn’t understand the whole thing at once.”

Right. That’s the problem with it. Not that the plan sucks, or is yet another stimulus bill, like the other one worked Oh-so-well.

He wasn’t done yet:

“I need you to give Congress a piece of your mind,” Obama said. “These members of Congress work for you. If they’re not delivering, it’s time to let them know.”

Obama also discussed the Republican jobs plan, called the “Real American Jobs Act,” saying it “boils down to a few basic ideas: they want to gut regulations, they want to let Wall Street do whatever it wants, they want to drill more and they want to repeal healthcare reform.”

The president said that the Republican plan means “dirtier air, dirtier water, less people with health insurance.”

“So far, at least, I feel better about my plan,” Obama said. (Click here to read the rest.)

Here’s the thing, Mr. Obama. The Senate is actually controlled by the Democrats (as one astute commenter noted). You are aware of that, aren’t you? If not, maybe you shouldn’t be casting stones about who isn’t the brightest bulb in the pack. Just sayin’.

In another classic Obama flip flop, the president is now claiming he is all for the long term care provision in his terrible Obamacare law (pushed through solely by Democrats, just to remind everyone, against the wishes of the vast majority of Americans – and he is saying the Republicans don’t get it? Gotcha). Yes, just last week, his Administration acknowledged this about the “CLASS Act”:

The administration announced late Friday it did not see a way to make the long-term care CLASS Act, which was crafted by the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), pay for itself. But perhaps even more damning is how the White House mishandled the controversy; consumer advocates accused the administration of being disingenuous and gutless.

But that was then, this is now:

“We do not support repeal,” said White House spokesman Nick Papas. “Repealing the CLASS Act isn’t necessary or productive. What we should be doing is working together to address the long-term care challenges we face in this country.”

Huh? Which one is it, exactly? Repeal it or leave it?

Senator John Thune had this to say about the initial admission that this was a terribly flawed plan:

After ignoring repeated warnings from my Republican colleagues and me about the fiscal solvency of the CLASS Act, the Obama Administration jammed Obamacare through Congress in order to score a political win. Now, over a year later, the administration is finally admitting the CLASS Act entitlement is unsustainable and cannot be implemented. Simply setting aside the program for the near-term is not enough. Repeal is the only solution to ensuring American taxpayers will not be on the hook in the future for this disastrous entitlement.

And before Obama opened his big mouth to say he DOESN’T want the CLASS Act removed, there was this acknowledgment from the White House (according to The New Republic) about the repeal:

It’s worth noting that, behind the scenes, the administration was never wild about CLASS. Internally several officials argued against including it, precisely because they were worried about the finances and sustainability. But some supported it, partly because the case for action was so unambiguous. Harold Pollack, the University of Chicago professor and regular TNR contributor, put it well when he said “CLASS seeks to address a huge need – helping disabled men and women live with dignity in their own homes.”

And skeptical administration officials took solace in the fact that, thanks to a provision inserted by Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, the Secretary of Health and Human Services had discretion to modify the program if, upon further consideration, it appeared unlikely to remain stable. It’s precisely that authority that HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius exercised last week. (For more details on the administration’s thinking, see Sarah Kliff‘s account in the Washington Post.)

I see. They didn’t really like it, but figured they would shove it through anyway, and muck around with it if they took too much heat for the expense of it. I see. Oh, wait – no, I don’t. Again, I guess this is what happens when they shove a law down our throats without truly considering the implications or the real costs.

As for where Obama stands now, which one is it? Obama wants it, he doesn’t want it, he wants it, he doesn’t want it. I guess it depends on the day and which way the wind is blowing, or how many petals the daisy has.

What I do know is that people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, and that is precisely what Obama is doing. He can’t even decide within a couple of days where he and his Administration stand, and he is attacking other people’s intelligence? Please.

I guess I should not be surprised at Obama’s massive flip flop on this. The initial reaction about how crappy an expensive a plan this was was probably one of the more honest things that came out of this White House, so naturally, Obama had to try and walk it back. Ahem. Thank heavens for TOTUS, huh?

And speaking of TOTUS, isn’t it great that Obama had some spares since the truck full of the podiums and stuff got stolen in Virginia? I am not kidding, and no, this isn’t from The Onion. They really did get stolen. It does beg the question, though – just how many of these things does this guy have? The truck the thieves made off with had about $200,000 worth of equipment in it. Just remember, folks, all these TOTI (I assume that is the proper Latin plural form) are YOUR tax dollars at work. He had MORE than the $200,000 worth of audio and TOTUS equipment in that truck. Good grief, how many does he really need?? And, how the hell was the truck stolen in the first place???

One thing all of this highlights is just how free and easy Obama is with OUR money. Frankly, I am pretty sick of it, and pretty sick of the disparaging remarks directed at anyone who doesn’t toe the Obama line. That’s no way to lead, and no way to govern. Enough of the badgering and bad mouthing, Mr. President. Try a little civility and honesty for a change. I suppose I can count on that happening about the same time I get my unicorn, right?

And speaking of talking, or should I say, gaffing, once again, Vice President Biden opened his mouth and a bunch of BS came spewing forth:

Click here to view the embedded video.

As for the Jobs Bill, it seems it is nothing more than political theater, as Megan McArdle highlights in The Atlantic:

If the president were serious about providing stimulus, he would pay attention to the work of his old CEA chair, and pay for the jobs bill by decreasing the growth rate of something-or-other in the future by 0.2%. This is also what he would do if he were serious about getting any part of it through Congress. Instead he is apparently sending them a less-stimulative bill designed to be maximally embarrassing to the GOP–which by definition means minimally politically viable.

You can say that Obama has no choice, because the GOP is just so damn obstructive that they won’t pass anything anyway. As it happens, I disagree–I don’t think that he could have gotten the whole thing through, but the GOP would probably have given him a few pieces to avoid looking like total jerks, and while that might not have done too much for Obama’s re-election chances, it probably would have meant a lot to the schmoes trying to make their mortgage payments in a tough economy.

But say it’s true. If it is, I really wish that Obama hadn’t wasted my Thursday evening, and that of 31 million other Americans, listening to a jobs plan that was only designed to produce one job–a second term for Barack Obama. I mean, I don’t blame him, exactly. But I get a little pang when I realize that I could just as well have spent that time bleaching the grout in the master bath. (Click here to read the rest.)

Uh, yeah, bleaching grout, washing one’s hair, watching grass grow, any number of things would be more enjoyable than watching Obama blather on and wading through this piece of “theater.” Not to mention Obama’s taking this opportunity for Obama to do little more than go around the country attacking Republicans. Oh, he’ll go easy on Iran in his threats, mind you, but he has no qualms giving hell to the Republicans, as Stephen Hayes pointed out on Thursday night’s “Fox All Stars” (10/13/11). Yep, Obama has his priorities in order.

Speaking of jobs creation, some enterprising thieves in our area created their own jobs. Our local Publix and another store had to shut down part of their stores because thieves stole the copper lines out of the freezer refrigeration systems. Needless to say, not only was this a rather brazen theft, and one where the thieves had to climb on top of the stores, but it was a great inconvenience to shoppers. Even more than the inconvenience was the tremendous loss of products for the stores. They could not sell meats, dairy, seafood, or frozen items due to “safety concerns.” Can you imagine how much money these stores lost because of these thefts? Wow. People. Sheesh.

What a day, huh? No doubt there are more stories out there. Feel free to share. But I can’t leave it at this, with all this crapola about Obama, Solyndra, and Copper Thieves. I have to share the funniest kitten video I have seen in a while. Hey, it’s Saturday, and I am sure we can all use a break (you must put on the sound – it really makes it):

Click here to view the embedded video.

Hope that gave you a laugh. I am sure we can all use one!

There are the swelling numbers of unemployed now homeless, including military veterans. Now students are joining the ranks of the homeless. There is no government funding for homeless shelters. And existing shelters are swamped. Meanwhile, Obama’s administration is trying to shutter the Boeing plant in South Carolina. The Boeing story is becoming a major campaign issue, infuriating middle-class people who believe that the federal government shouldn’t mess with companies that want to hire Americans rather than get cheaper labor overseas. But Obama is more interested in keeping his Labor groupies happy and Labor’s campaign cash flowing.

Why did I post the photo of Michelle Obama — besides noticing that TOTUS is part of the group hug? Do you see the “cuff” bracelets she is wearing? Well, here we go: “Michelle Obama dazzles New York in $42,150 diamond bracelets“:

Michelle Obama dazzled in true First Lady style at the DNC fundraiser this week, her left wrist dripping with diamonds as she supported her husband at the party event.

In total, she sported an astonishing $42,150 worth of bracelets to the New York Democratic Party dinner.

Designed by Texas-based jeweller, Katie Decker, the three white gold cuffs glittered and sparkled, catching the spotlight as she spoke to the high-powered audience.

The First Lady, 47, chose to wear Miss Decker’s Lotus cuff, with 2.9 carats of diamonds, costing $15,000, the Gothic cuff with 2.17 carats of diamonds, costing $15,350, and the $11,800 Quatrefoil bracelet with 1.73 carats of diamonds to the Gotham Hall event.

According to Houston’s culturemap.com, Mrs Obama’s stylist found the sparkling cuffs in Miss Decker’s showroom at SoHo’s Fragments store. …

So Michelle has a stylist. Every woman needs one.

In Steve’s excellent post — “The Real Barack Obama” — we learn how the indolent, disinterested Obama spends his days — in shorts and flip-flops, watching sports on TV — while earning a $400,000 annual salary. About the only times we see Obama are when he is feigning concern for the nation’s unemployed while his real agenda is to raise money for his reelection campaign.

By the way, several months ago, Larry Johnson posted material that sounds eerily similar to what Steve posted. I wonder if the White House source is the same person. Maybe not — there are some differences in style and the person’s self-described access to the White House. Check out Larry’s post, “Is Barack Losing It?”

So if Obama doesn’t appear interested in the job of president, what does he do day after day? Well, he takes his meetings just like any other president would, though even then, he seems to lack a certain focus and on a few occasions, actually leaves with the directive that be given a summary of the meeting at a later date. I hear he plays a lot of golf, and watches a lot of television – ESPN mainly.

I’ll tell you this – if you want to see President Obama get excited about a conversation, turn it to sports. That gets him interested.

You start talking about Congress, or some policy, and he just kinda turns off. It’s really very strange. I mean, we were all led to believe that this guy was some kind of intellectual giant, right? Ivy League and all that. Well, that is not what I saw. Barack Obama doesn’t have a whole lot of intellectual curiosity.

When he is off script, he is what I call a real “slow talker”. Lots of ummms, and lots of time in between answers where you can almost see the little wheel in his head turning very slowly. I am not going to say the president is a dumb man, because he is not, but yeah, there was a definite letdown when you actually hear him talking without the script. . . .

You’ll also want to revisit Larry’s post to read about Obama’s serious problem with paranoia and his inappropriate behavior with staff (such as throwing temper tantrums).

Here we have it: A president who is utterly unconcerned about the jobs crisis and lives a lifestyle the rest of us can only dream of.

A $42,000 bracelet would keep a single mother and children in housing and food for over two years, if they budget carefully.

Just saying …

I AM FURIOUS.

Politico has a good article about the Boeing plant situation. From “South Carolina Boeing factory turns sour for Obama“:

“It’s like a lightning rod,” said Gary Chaison, an industrial relations professor at Clark University in Worcester, Mass. “The Boeing case is so dramatic. All the anti-union forces and all anti-Obama people are coalescing.”

At the same time the president was selling his American Jobs Act in the Rose Garden last week, Mitt Romney was visiting Boeing’s South Carolina factory. The former governor of Massachusetts drew loud cheers for suggesting that any stimulus package should include legislation telling the board to drop its complaint.

“It’s an egregious example of political payback where the president is able to pay back the unions for the hundreds of millions of dollars they have put into his campaigns at the expense of American workers,” Romney said.

Newt Gingrich toured the new plant and called for cutting the NLRB’s funding, while Jon Huntsman did his own swing through the manufacturing facility, advocating that the president step in before it scares business from South Carolina. Rick Perry has accused Obama of stacking the board with “anti-business cronies.”

Despite the assertions of his critics, Obama’s hands are tied — and the case could get dragged out for years with delays and appeals. Beyond vetoing any congressional proposals, if they make it to his desk, the president has little influence over the complaint or the board’s acting general counsel Lafe Solomon. [WHEW!]

P.S. That airplane that Boeing is building in South Carolina? It is “the world’s most fuel-efficient commercial jet.”

Wouldn’t that classify the positions held by the thousands of workers Boeing has hired in South Carolina as “green jobs”?

Uh, yeah. That sounds about right.

Here’s something I don’t get. President Obama is trying to paint the Republicans as the ones who are trying to kick the can down the road. Correct me if I am wrong, but didn’t they just come to power THIS YEAR? Wasn’t it under Nancy Pelosi’s rule that they decided to not even make a budget because of the soaring debt?? Wasn’t it the Democrats solely in power for a while there, and over the entire Congress even before Obama’s ascension? So, how is this all the Republicans’ fault? That doesn’t make sense to me.

As reported in the Washington Post (and mentioned here), First Lady Betty Ford lamented the days gone by when Republicans and Democrats were friends, when, even if they didn’t see eye to eye, they were able to look past those differences.

Just this morning, I saw Governor John Kasich of Ohio, and he said much the same thing. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives back in the ’90′s. Gov. Kasich offered some advice to his former colleagues about how to deal with this whole budget/debt issue, and had something to say about civility near the end:

I think that sums it up nicely, on both fronts.

What I don’t get is, when did this polarization happen? WHY did it happen? How can we change it back to a more civil discourse, not just in Congress, but among us all? Is it just a lack of impulse control? Sense of entitlement that we can say or do whatever the hell we please? I just don’t get how our discourse has so deteriorated. Something’s gotta give. Maybe a national Miss Manners class is in order…

There’s something else I don’t get about how we treat one another. How is it, in the 21st century, we still have 2 million women battered by their partners each year, and 10 million children at risk because of domestic violence? How is it that we have not dealt with this issue, worked to change attitudes about women to the extent that their partner would never even DREAM of hitting them (or psychologically abuse them)? Or that, at least, these numbers would be greatly decreased?

I raise this because Dr. Phil, at the invitation of Senator Patrick Leahy, will be testifying on Capitol Hill today to request that an Act passed in 1994, the Violence Against Women Act, providing funds for prosecution, requiring restitution, and other issues, be re-authorized (which it was in 2000). Isn’t it sad that in this day and age, the following holds true:

[snip] # According to the U.S. Surgeon General, domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women in the United States.
# The American Medical Association estimates that their male partners assault 2 million American women each year.
# The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that 95% of the victims of domestic violence are women.
# A woman is beaten every 15 seconds in the United States. (Bureau of Justice Statistics, Report to the nation on Crime and Justice. The Data. Washington DC Office of Justice Program, US Dept. of Justice. Oct 1983)
# 35% of all emergency room calls are a result of domestic violence.
# Of those who abuse their partner, well over 65% also physically and/or sexually abuse the children.
# Each day …..4 women die as a result of abuse.
# Each day …..3 children die as a result of abuse.
# The Federal Bureau of Investigation reports that 32% of female homicide victims are killed by their intimate partners. (Federal Bureau of Investigation, Crime in the United States 1999.2000)
# Anywhere from 1-3 million women are battered each year by their intimate partner. (Bureau of Justice Statistics, Intimate Partner Violence. Washington DC, 2000.)
# In the United States, a woman is more likely to be assaulted, raped, or killed by an intimate partner than by any other type of assailant. (ibid.) [snip] (Click here to read the rest.)

Here’s the truly tragic aspect of the list above – that is less than a THIRD of all of the issues of violence facing women in this country. Holy shit.

And one more thing I don’t get. How is it that Quinnipiac Poll finds that Obama still holds 50% over Republican challengers? How can that possibly be? After the Stimulus that wasn’t anywhere close to one, the Obamacare Debacle that will cost us big time, Unemployment going up, housing values going down while foreclosures are going up, the number of golf trips of Obamas going up, along with the number of Executive Orders to circumvent that pesky Congress(about which we screamed bloody murder when Bush did it), and the number of lies he tells daily, including about his own mother’s insurance coverage while he was campaigning in 2008 (that one was a DOOZY – using his dying mother for political gain, and lying about it – wow, that speaks VOLUMES about the kind of person he is), and I could go on, and on, and on.

I just don’t get it. Do you?

That hasn’t had an impact on the NLRB, though, which filed a suit against Boeing since it will not be using union labor here (SC is a “right to work” state). Bear in mind that NO union jobs were cut because of this move, Boeing still has plants in Washington State, and in fact, their union positions have increased.

This has been an on-going battle, with the tacit acceptance by the White House of the NLRB trying to dictate to what states companies can, and cannot, have their businesses.

So, it is in that framework that Thomas Geoghegan, an attorney in Chicago, wrote this WSJ editorial, “Boeing’s Threat to American Enterprise; When major firms move to the South, it’s usually a harbinger of quality decline. Why let that happen?”

I’m sorry, what? Is he really saying that companies that move their business South automatically suffer in quality? Why, yes he is:

[snip] We should be aghast that Boeing is sending a big fat market signal that it wants a less-skilled, lower-quality work force. This country is in a debt crisis because we buy abroad much more than we sell. Alas, because of this trade deficit, foreign creditors have the country in their clutches. That’s not because of our labor costs—in that respect, we can undersell most of our high-wage, unionized rivals like Germany. It’s because we have too many poorly educated and low-skilled workers that are simply unable to compete.

We depend on Boeing to out-compete Airbus, its European rival. But when major firms move South, it is usually a harbinger of quality decline. Over and over as a labor lawyer in the 1980s and ’90s, I saw companies move away from Chicago, where the pay was $28 an hour, to some place in South Carolina or Louisiana where the pay was about half that. While these moves aggrieved me as a union lawyer, it might have consoled me as an American if those companies went on to thrive globally.[snip] (Click here to read the rest of this drivel.)

See, because if you are having to pay twice as much to compensate the unions, you are better off. Uh huh.

It’s a miracle we Southerners can even get our dumb asses out of bed every day, ain’t it??

Now, I thought about going on my own little rant, and believe you me, I could – but there were a whole bunch of comments at the WSJ that really say it all:

Buck Hebner: After reading y’all’s comments, I realize what an astute move the WSJ made publishing this lawyer’s editorial. The WSJ staff must be howling with laughter. This one editorial accomplishes what a hundred conservative viewpoints fail to do, show readers the true stakes of this battle. In a few paragraphs, Mr. Geoghegan unmasks the true intentions of big Labor and progressive policy. They believe stirring up sectional hate and class-warfare will help them achieve their goals of unlimited Federal power and personal gain.

150 years after the Civil War was fought, the South is rising again. Not as an antagonist to the North, but as a economic engine that will help all of America become stronger through economic competition. The WSJ should be commended. Thank you.

Roger Simpson: First, Boeing did not “move” any work from Washington; as they have repeatedly stressed, the work to be done in South Carolina is new work, and there is nothing wrong economically with adding jobs to a state that could sure use them. Second, the notion that Washington citizens are somehow more “skilled” than South Carolinians is sheer arrogance, and has no basis in reality. Such babble was used when the auto manufacturers moved jobs there, and we have seen how ridiculous it was.

The real issue is that Big Labor cannot afford for people to find out that the work of $28/hour workers (who still are not satisfied with their lot) can be done just as well by $14/hour workers in another state, and without complaint. Especially a state which does not cater to the class of self-important, professional protesters, who take a cut from every worker’s check to line their own pockets, while presuming to negotiate en masse for an entire group of indivdual free citizens.

Wilson Jones II: I hope this cat remembers that Southerners probably made the steel that holds his building up (Nucor), made his blood pressure meds (Glaxco Smith Kline), assembled his BMW…. AND we were smart enough to put together a rocket that put man on the moon… Now give me some Kickapoo Joy Juice as i listen to the theme from Deliverence…

Millard Ramsey: I can’t stop laughing long enough to compose a response to this piece. I live in Chattanooga where VW has seen fit to invest $1 billion in a plant that will employ thousands of those “unskilled” Southern workers. Looks like VW has given up on quality too.

Alan Davis: Kia in Georgia, Hyundai in Alabama, BWM in South Carolina, and the list goes on and on. The rush to low quality must be the new business model.

I might add, Gulf Stream Jets are made in Savannah, GA, Toyotas are made in Kentucky, oh, and not only are Hyundais made in Alabama, but so are Mercedes Benz SUVs, and NASA is there, too, with Peterbilts being built in Denton, TX.

If you want some good laughs, though, go read the 40+ pages of comments about this incredibly offensive, arrogant, condescending, and flat out Southernist BS from this Chicago lawyer.

Boeing has every right to build its plants wherever the hell it sees fit. And our government should not be in the business of telling businesses where they can have those plants. Hell, even the Seattle Times is claiming that “Obama Administration Putting Politics Before The Economy” with this misguided assault against Boeing, and SC. No freakin’ kidding. This is all payback.

And speaking of payback – remember when Obama shoved the (also misguided) stimulus down our throats to bail out companies like GM? He claimed that the Administration would not be micromanaging GM? Well, hold on to your seats – he lied. Yes, Obama lied. In fact, the Treasury Department DID essentially run GM, and get this:

[snip] These messages reveal that Treasury officials were involved in decision-making that led to more than 20,000 non-union workers losing their pensions. [snip] (Click here to read the rest.)

Holy shit. Well, that just goes to show you this NLRB debacle is not an aberration, but business as usual. Cutting TWENTY THOUSAND non-union pensions – are you kidding me with this?

Oh, but then again, what the hell do I know? I’m just a Southerner, after all…

As it turns out, about half of the adult population in Detroit is functionally illiterate. Almost HALF. That is a staggering number.

How in the sam hill can that possibly be? I am serious – how in the world, in the United States of America, can this be? Here are just some of the issues they face:

“The National Institute for Literacy estimates that 47% of adults (more than 200,000 individuals) in the City of Detroit are functionally illiterate, referring to the inability of an individual to use reading, speaking, writing, and computational skills in everyday life situations,” a report from the Detroit Regional Workforce Fund reads.

Karen Tyler-Ruiz, the Fund’s director, explained the difficulties this presents to the average illiterate.

“Not able to fill out basic forms, for getting a job — those types of basic everyday [things]. Reading a prescription; what’s on the bottle, how many you should take…just your basic everyday tasks,” she said. “I don’t really know how they get by, but they do. Are they getting by well? Well, that’s another question,” she told WWJ Newsradio 950. [snip]

Uh, yeah – not being able to fill out basic forms is a bit of a problem.

Who is to blame for this deplorable condition? Well, depending upon whom you ask, it is either the teachers’ union, or the city. Let’s start with the union:

In a town where unions rule, some have pointed to the teachers’ union as a possible reason for the city’s high illiteracy rate.

Andrew J. Coulson, director of the Cato Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom, told The Daily Caller that the teachers’ union monopoly has contributed to much of the educational deterioration in the city.

“Apparently [the school system is] not learning that the cause of the problem is the monopoly because they would have gotten rid of it by now. That is the big message from this report, [it] is not what this particular organization is doing to try to alleviate the problem,” Coulson told TheDC. “What they need to do is get rid of the monopoly.”

According to Coulson’s calculations, Detroit spent $15,945 per pupil for the 2010-2011 school year. By comparison, the average per pupil expenditure during the 2007-2008 school year nationally was $10,259.

It is embarrassing as hell for a city, and its teachers, to have this result, especially since they pay over a THIRD more per student in Detroit than the national average. Sounds to me like they are not getting their money’s worth there. Ahem. Wow.

Who do the teachers blame? The city:

The Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT), however, is adamant that the problem actually lies with the city’s failure to effectively enforce school attendance.

“I don’t think that that the teachers’ union has a responsibility for making sure that adults can read,” DFT president Keith Johnson told TheDC.

“I think the unfairness of the criticism [against the union] comes from the fact that there is a direct correlation between student attendance and student performance,” Johnson added. “During the 2008-2009 school year, the average Detroit school student — you ready for this — missed 46 days of school. That was on average. There were 10 percent of our students that missed 100 days or more. It may shock you to know that Detroit public schools do not have an attendance standard.”

According to Detroit’s attendance policy statement in their “Orientation Kit,” students are expected to attend 92 percent of classes, or miss no more than 14 days annually. Johnson believes there have to be harsher consequences for those who miss significantly more days.

Uh huh. Okay. Well, there may be some truth in that since students do need to be there.

But there’s one more group who deserves some blame:

Some say the responsibility for the absentee epidemic falls at the feet of parents who fail to supervise their children. Richard Rivers, a counselor at Cody’s Academy of Critical Thinkers and Medicine and Community Health, said that the best way to fix the literary problem is to get parents involved.

“I talk to truants all the time, and I call their parents,” he told the Detroit Free Press. “I do believe that truancy can be prevented when parents are working with me to get the students to school every day and on time.” [snip] (Click here to read the rest.)

Indeed, parents must be active participants in the education of their children, especially when it is something so basic, so necessary, as literacy.

It sounds to me like there is plenty of blame to go around. The citizens of Detroit are certainly not getting their money’s worth, not with this outcome. Whatever the truancy policy is, it sounds like it might use some revamping. And parents need to get involved with their own children and what they are learning (or not). Regardless of with whom the lion’s share of blame lies, something needs to change, and now.

Speaking of reading, I just have to quickly share this article with you. My aunt sent it to me yesterday, and I just could not believe my eyes. Here is the headline: ‘Burn a Bush’? Michelle Obama Invites Rapper Common To A Poetry Reading.

Say wha? Oh, yes:

[snip] First Lady Michelle Obama has scheduled a poetry evening for Wednesday, and she’s invited several poets, including a successful Chicago poet and rapper, Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr., AKA “Common.” However, Lynn is quite controversial, in part because his poetry includes threats to shoot police and at least one passage calling for the “burn[ing]” of then-President George W. Bush.

[...]

By the way, ‘Uzi’ is slang for a compact machine gun:

A Letter to the Law

Dem boy wanna talk… [indistinguishable]

Whatcha gon do if ya got one gun?

I sing a song for the hero unsung

with faces on the mural of the revolution

No looking back cos’ in back is what’s done

Tell the preacher, god got more than one son

Tell the law, my Uzi weighs a ton

I walk like a warrior,

from them I won’t run

On the streets, they try to beat us like a drum

In Cincinnati, another brother hung

A guinea won’t see the sun

with his family stung

They want us to hold justice

but you handed me none

The same they did to Kobe and Michael Jackson

make them the main attraction

Turn around and attack them

Black gem in the rough

You’re rugged enough

Use your mind and nine-power, get the government touch

Them boys chat-chat on how him pop gun

I got the black strap to make the cops run

They watching me, I’m watching them

Them dick boys got a lock of cock in them

My people on the block got a lot of pok* in them

and when we roll together

we be rocking them to sleep

No time for that, because there’s things to be done

Stay true to what I do so the youth dream come

from project building

Seeing a fiend being hung

With that happening, why they messing with Saddam?

Burn a Bush cos’ for peace he no push no button

Killing over oil and grease

no weapons of destruction

How can we follow a leader when this a corrupt one

The government’s a g-unit and they might buck young black people

Black people In the urban area one

I hold up a peace sign, but I carry a gun.

Peace, ya’ll.”

Wowie zowie. Gosh, so glad the Lefties got Laura Bush to cancel HER scheduled poetry reading of Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes, and Walt Whitman, those crazy rabble rousers (and I oughta know. Cough, cough.)

Who here is surprised by this? Yeah, me neither. As my aunt noted, such a classy, classy bunch the Obamas are. Not. And, I might add, this is what passes for poetry these days? Yikes. I’ll stick with my Maya Angelou, Willa Cather, Emily Dickinson…

But apparently, “Big Pharma” was just the beginning of the companies getting their hands into the Obamacare Pie. And how, as this headline attests, “Upton Expands Investigation Into ’Secret’ Obamacare Meetings.” Indeed, this confirms what many of us suspected to be true – Obamacare was not written with the American people in mind, but as paybacks, if you will, to certain groups. I guarantee you, you will not be surprised by some of the groups mentioned below:

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton is expanding his investigation into the meetings between special interest groups and the Obama White House that set the stage for the passage of Obamacare, sending document requests to 12 industry groups and unions that played a key role in the negotiations.

In April 18 letters to the groups, Upton asks for extensive details and documents about each organization’s interactions with the White House in regards to the health care law.

The requests come as the Obama White House has so far declined to provide its documents about the meetings.

At issue are special deals struck between interest groups and President Obama to either garner the support of major industry sectors or soften their criticism of the health care law.

Oh, what a surprise, huh? Yeah, I know – I was being snarky. But what I particularly love is how the White House is refusing to cooperate with this investigation. Oh, yes, “Mr. Transparency” has proven to be even more secretive than Bush. Oh, but you don’t hear the same hue and cry over that, not by a long shot. Hey, you know the rules, “they apply to thee, not to me…”
In one major instance, the pharmaceutical drug sector agreed to back the legislation as long as the costs to that sector did not exceed $80 billion. The drug sector eventually spent over $100 million on television advertisements touting the law.

Now to the groups involved in this behemoth law affecting the entire country, and not in a good way:

The industry groups and unions subject to Upton’s request are AARP, AFL-CIO, AdvaMed, AFSCME, American Hospital Association, American Medical Association, America’s Health Insurance Plans, Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, Business Roundtable, Federation of American Hospitals, PHRMA, and SEIU.

Wow. That is quite a roll call. Is anyone surprised to see the AFL/CIO and SEIU listed above? I wasn’t either, but I have to wonder just what their medical expertise is that their opinions were even solicited. I guess they were making sure there were sufficient loopholes that they would never have to be a part of this. And they were successful in that regard. Unbelievable.

Now that we have this law, and the funding thereof, looming over our heads, investigating what is in it, and WHO helped craft it, seems a bit overdue, but I guess better late than never, right? Right. The investigation actually began two months ago:

Feb. 18, Upton wrote to Nancy-Ann DeParle, who served as Obama’s health care reform “czar” during the period during which Obamacare was considered in Congress and has since been promoted to the president’s deputy chief of staff, requesting a range of documents relating to meetings and negotiations over the health care law.

The letter requested a list of staff working for the White House Office of Health Reform, a list of their meetings on health care with special interest groups, notes or minutes from those meetings and all written communications between the White House and outside groups on changes to the health care system.

In response, White House counsel Robert Bauer suggested the inquiry was too time consuming to comply with.

The request “would constitute a vast and expensive undertaking,” Bauer wrote in a March 4 letter. Instead, the White House sent Upton a series of public relations materials related to public events related to health care reform and a summary of the publicly available White House visitor logs.

Congressional Republicans say the administration has resisted complying with a series of inquiries such as the request for information on the Obamacare meetings.

This does not seem to be an unreasonable request to me. Isn’t this kind of information supposed to be available anyway? We’re not talking major secrets here, we are talking about how outside corporations and agencies influenced one of the costliest pieces of legislation ever. Show us the damn records already, and stop beating around the bush. Sheesh. That is, in essence, what the Republicans said, too, though a little nicer than that:

In a response to Bauer, Upton said in a March 10 letter Republicans were “concerned and disappointed,” and reiterated their request for the documents. [snip] (Click here to read the rest.)

I’ll say. I’m “disappointed,” too, that this Administration has made the Bush Administration look like an open book, but they surely have.

The Republicans are trying a different tack, though, to obtain the information they seek, “Faced With Obama ’Slow Walking’ Document Requests, GOP Aims At Outside Groups.”

Well, that’s one way to do it, though it is disturbing that a president, any president, would stonewall those who were elected to do the work of the people, in this case, protecting them from undue influence by certain groups:

[snip] “There is a coordinated effort, I assume being led by the White House, to, I would describe it as slow walking or slow rolling these things,” says an investigator on the Energy and Commerce Committee, “No one’s told us ‘no, we’re not gonna do that.’ They say they’ll do it every time. But they’re doing as much as they can to stall.”

The administration’s resistance to cooperate with requests that could expose damaging information about the president’s health care law and other issues is shaping the latest GOP salvo, aimed, not at the administration, but at a series of industry trade associations and unions. [snip] (Click here to read the rest.)

All I can do is just shake my head in disgust – at Obama, Pelosi, and those spineless cowards who passed this horrific, pork-laden, influence peddled, law. If they were capable of shame, they should surely feel it over this, this law that will increase our deficit higher and higher.

We knew this was happening – we knew it, they knew it, and they passed it anyway. Wow.

Former Sen. Russ Feingold and progressive group MoveOn today called on General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt to resign from the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness in the wake of a report that despite $14.2 billion in worldwide profits – including more than $5 billion from U.S. operations – GE did not owe taxes in 2010.

They also expressed anger over the fact that the company has cut its U.S. workforce by roughly one fifth since 2002.

“How can someone like Immelt be given the responsibility of heading a jobs creation task force when his company has been creating more jobs overseas while reducing its American workforce?” Feingold asked in an email to supporters, as The Hill reports. “And under Immelt’s direction, GE spends hundreds of millions of dollars hiring lawyers and lobbyists to evade taxes.”

MoveOn asked its members to sign a petition calling on Immelt to leave the administration, and Executive Director Justin Ruben called G.E.’s tax status “outrageous.”

“At a time when many in Washington, including the President, are worried about our nation’s deficit we should be punishing–not rewarding–companies like GE who are robbing the US Government and taxpayers of billions of dollars,” he said in a statement. “This sort of bad corporate behavior should not be rewarded with a top White House appointment.”

Why did it take the honorable Mr. Feingold so long to notice? Please forgive my cynicism but it is quite apparent that most politicians no longer speak out to help the American people – they speak out to help themselves. If indeed he does have a mind to challenge Barack Obama for the nomination in 2012, this is awfully good timing to start noticing corruption that was all too apparent to the rest of us three years ago.

Ironically, CBS also reports that President Obama has lambasted the very tax loopholes that companies like GE take advantage of. So are you telling me he is not aware of this contradiction?

The only people not aware are the ones who don’t follow the news closely enough to know the President is railing against the very people he has been helping all along. There seems to be a current bent to punish small businesses who create the bulk of jobs in this country in favor of crony capitalism and powerful über companies who wield far too much political influence as it is.

By the way, during 2008, GE owned NBC/MSNBC and also owned Newsweek. These are three organizations that morning, noon and night posted grossly favorable press to Mr. Obama in 2008 while trashing his primary opponent Hillary Clinton with a zest not before seen. That’s quite the coincidence…

MoveOn was so busy denigrating Hillary and trumpeting Obama beyond all sense, I suppose they did not notice the coincidence either. Did they not think there would be some sort of quid pro quo?

And if President Obama finally notices the “coincidence,” you can be sure he will not throw Immelt under the bus unless and until it is politically advantageous to do so.

Yes, it is true. This is but one of the many, many jobs currently available courtesy of the Federal Government. I guess it wasn’t enough that Obama doubled the number of people making $150,000 or more since his ascension in Washington. Nope, now you can get a job with the Department of the Interior, and run their Facebook page. This article highlights some of the positions available – on your dime, of course,
Uncle Sam Shelling Out Big Bucks For Government Jobs, GOP Says Time To Out:

If you’re one of the millions of Americans still looking for a job, the federal government is hiring, and (especially for the unemployed) the pay is excellent. While private sector job growth creeps along at a snail’s pace, the roster of available federal jobs is booming.

The Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs needs someone to run the Facebook page for the Dept. of the Interior and they’ll pay up to $115,000 a year. Over at the Dept. of Defense, they’ll drop nearly 50k a year for a new mail room clerk, plus the glorious benefits that comes with government work.

In Washington, D.C., there are more than 1,000 openings this month alone. These include a “student internship” program at the Federal Housing Finance Agency that pays the equivalent of $48,304 a year; a $155,000-a-year gig at the Peace Corps to ensure the agency is complying with Equal Opportunity Employment standards; and a similar job at the Dept. of Transportation that promises nearly $180,000 a year.

Wow. I gotta say, when I was doing internships, I never got anywhere CLOSE to $50,000 a year. One of those internships was a full-time residency which involved spending the night at the trauma hospital in which I worked once a week, after working a full day, and then having class the next morning. Nope, it was NOWHERE near $50k, I can tell you, even though each of us put in a lot of time there.

I guess this is what happens when the Democratic Congress decided not to pass a budget last year, and has been stalling on getting one passed this year, too: thousands of jobs with some mighty decent pay and benefits. Surely, some of these positions will have to be cut, right? Well, some folks think so:

[snip] Republican policymakers looking for more ways to slash government spending think Uncle Sam is being mighty too loose when it comes to how he doles out the cash to his employees, and if the GOP has its way, the $115,000 taxpayer-funded Twitter gurus at the Dept. of the Interior could become a thing of the past.

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which held a subcommittee hearing earlier this month to address federal pay rates, is gearing up for even more action, with plans to release a study comparing public worker salaries to similar jobs in the private sector. According to Committee Chair Rep. Darrell Issa of California, the goal is to show the rest of the country just how good federal workers really have it.

“It’s abundantly clear that many federal employees are being paid significantly more than their counterparts outside government service,” committee spokesman Ali Ahmad told The Daily Caller. “The committee is working to more fully expose the compensation divide by developing comparisons that don’t just look at salary but also the expensive benefits and job security federal employees have that is rarely found in the private sector.”

Well, that’s an understatement, isn’t it? I would say the federal employees make out like bandits comparatively speaking. Check this out:

[snip] Federal employees raked in an average of $101,628 in total compensation in 2010, which includes health care and other benefits, according to the Office of Personnel Management. That’s far more than the average private-sector worker, although simple side-by-side comparisons don’t necessarily tell the whole story. Many federal jobs require highly-skilled workers, while the data on the private sector lumps in more low-waged jobs that aren’t present in the public sector and bring down the average.

[...]

Issa’s committee wouldn’t be the first to compare federal pay with the private industry. An investigative report from USA Today last year found that “in more than eight out of 10 occupations” federal employees “earn higher average salaries than private-sector workers” and that doesn’t include the government’s generous package of benefits.

President Obama in November proposed a two-year pay freeze for nearly two million federal workers, but that would still allow them to collect bonuses and receive automatic pay raises when they move up the ladder on the General Schedule system.[snip] (Click here to read the rest.)

I cannot help but think of the theme song from Cybill Shepherd’s sitcom, “Cybill,” “Nice work if you can get it, if you can get it, won’t you tell me how?” Ahem.

I bet many of us would like to receive bonuses, or even “automatic pay raises” in our jobs. Especially when there is a “freeze” on pay. See, to me, when I hear that phrase, I think there will be NO automatic pay raises, or bonuses, etc., etc. Then again, I don’t work for the government, thus utilizing that kind of “logic.” So there you go.

And if you want to take a look at some of the benefits available to federal employees, click here. Hey, might as well search for one of the positions above, while you are at it.
And if you get it, or any others listed, do tell!

While I am at it, talking about government expense, that is, since the US government is the largest employer in the US. Um, what happened to wanting smaller government? I guess that was so 1990s…

Anywho – how about this little expenditure? That would be NASA being compelled to spend over $1 million a DAY on a program that is now defunct, the Constellation. It has been defunct since last year, which means a quarter of a billion dollars has already been spent since then. And there is more being shelled out while Congress keeps kicking the Budget Can down the road.

I can’t say it any better than this:

[snip] Industry and congressional sources attributed the failure to the fact that the amount of money involved simply wasn’t enough to attract the attention of congressional leaders.

“Maybe $1 million a day isn’t a big deal when you have a $1.6 trillion [federal] deficit,” said Thomas Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste, a non-partisan budgetary watchdog. But, he added, that’s “not the kind of decision any normal organization would make.” [snip] (Click here to read the rest.)

Yeah, I’m thinking that kind of cash adds up pretty quickly. But the bottom line is, when the vast majority of American citizens are having to watch our money more and more carefully, as gasoline prices go up, thus raising food and utility costs as well, and our elected officials cannot take better care of the money we are sending to Washington, whether it is through programs like this, or the number of positions available in DC, it makes me just a little cranky.

How about you?

Yes, Rep. Moran made this ludicrous charge in an interview with an Arab TV station (honestly, I am having a hard time writing this, I am just so incredulous that this is his delusional rationale for the Election results. WOW.). Here is what the Representative from Virginia said:

[snip] The Virginia Democrat told Alhurra that Republicans gained 63 seats in the House “for the same reason the Civil War happened in the United States.”

“The Civil War happened because the Southern states, particularly the slaveholding states, didn’t want to see a president who was opposed to slavery,” Moran said. “In this case a lot of people in this country, I believe, don’t want to be governed by an African American, particularly one who is inclusive, who is liberal, who wants to spend money on everyone and who wants to reach out to include everyone in our society.” [snip] (Click here to read the rest.)

Can you believe this shit? Bringing up the Civil War as a justification for this absurd, obscene, ridiculous charge? What the hell is wrong with Moran?

Let me help you understand what happened in 2010, Rep. Moran. The reason for the huge shift was your party shoving a massive, costly health care law, that none of you bozos bothered to read, down the throats of Americans after we screamed our heads off telling you in every way we could we DID NOT WANT IT. It is because Unemployment in this country is still EXCEEDINGLY high, currently being touted at 9.4%, but that does not include the underemployed. It is because foreclosures in this country are expected to hit a record high in 2011. It is because the debt you and your cronies are running up just this year is $1.5 TRILLION dollars, added to the over $14 trillion we are in debt, a debt that has escalated under your party’s, and Obama’s, “leadership.”

I could go on and on, but it is clear you aren’t listening to what the people have been saying. No matter how clearly we have been telling you. This isn’t about race, this is about one party dominating the political landscape and doing what they wanted to do, and not what they people who sent them to DC wanted them to do. Seriously, using a charge of racism in the face of the reality of what is going on in our country is delusional at best. Using a charge of racism, or Nazism, as your colleague, Rep. Cohen (D-TN), did recently, is offensive, gutless, and an attempt at silencing all opposition.

With all due respect (as much as I can muster for someone who uses such a ridiculous charge), you need to look in the mirror, look at your party, look at what you are doing to this country, rather than cast aspersions. The Democratic Party has no one to blame but itself for what happened in 2010, and it has zero to do with race.

And now to the sexism portion of the post. I received a lovely email from a faithful No Quarter reader, Candy*, who wrote about the way Google organizes responses to a search on Sarah Palin. She noted that the primary results are largely negative, with only a few favorable ones tossed in here or there. I have no doubt she is right. (Photo credit: October 22, 2010, Photo by Matt Stroshane/Getty Images North America)

For instance, if you did a search right this minute, one of the very top articles is one that made me throw up in my mouth a bit. Here is the headline: “Tracy Morgan: Palin Is ‘Good Masturbation Material,’” complete with video of Morgan saying this. TNT was quick to apologize for this remark on their show, “Inside The NBA,” after they started getting emails about it, that is. But hey, still, they did apologize. One of the hosts, Ernie Johnson, did try to change the topic quickly, and to cut Morgan off, but it was already out there. Wow.

Many of us remember all too well how Google operated during the 2008 campaign. Many people complained about the bias way it presented its search results. Apparently, with some justification, as this article in Politico would indicate, “Obama-Google Connection Scares Competitors.” Uh huh, I bet. Though I would not hold my breath for any official acknowledgment, as the article makes clear:

[snip] Google says that Schmidt was acting on his own, and his politics don’t reflect the company’s official stance.

“Eric’s endorsement of Sen. Obama was a personal matter, and as a company Google was neutral in the campaign,” said Adam Kovacevich, Google’s senior manager of global communications and public affairs. “We look forward to working with the new administration and congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle to keep the Internet open and to promote economic growth.”

Obama’s transition team declined comment. [snip] (Click here to read the rest.)

Show of hands – who believes the Google guy? Anyone? Anyone? Yeah, me neither. Especially since Obama’s own team declined comment. Many of us remember having to grab snapshots of images before they got scrubbed from Google (yes, they may have gone up initially, but often got taken down). And, many of us remember Google not allowing anti-Obama blogs during the 2008 campaign. I am going to guess there may be more of the same now, especially given the close relationship between Obama and Google’s owner, Eric Scmidt.

But hey, don’t take my word for it. How about a little exercise – do a search on Google for Sarah Palin, and see what comes up. See how far you have to go to find something positive on her that does not come from, say, Fox News or American Thinker. Better yet, try to find a site for photos of her that do NOT have sexually suggestive photo-shopped pictures. Then try another search engine and see what happens. I am curious to see what you all find. Please feel free to share.

Finally, here’s a challenge for the Democrats as they gear up (or continue) the campaign for Obama for 2012: Please refrain from calling those who do not support Obama racists, or Nazis, or any of the other smears you have used against us in the past. Our opposition has absolutely nothing to do with the color of Obama’s skin, but with his policies and actions (along with the actions of many others in the Democratic Party, like Nancy Pelosi, who helped to craft Obamacare). Instead of using such highly charged rhetoric, try listening for a change at why people in this country are unhappy. Try looking at what is really going on with the economy, with the deficit, with people’s very lives. You know, what you were sent to Washington to do. Just a thought.

*Candy, thank you so much for the email. I appreciate your taking the time to write me, and appreciate your kind words. Thank you!

You may recall during the 2008 Democratic Primary Campaign, Hillary Clinton was attacked by Barack Obama about her connections to Wal-Mart while First Lady of Arkansas. Oh, yes, he got just a tad testy as she was highlighting his constant “WORM”-ing (What Obama Really Meant). So he lashed out at her.

In case you forgot that little window into how quick Obama is to hurl accusations , here it is:

And the media, already well into Obama’s pocket, did this “expose” on Hillary Clinton’s connection to WalMart:

Gee – if they could actually do some investigative reporting on HER, and send a legion of AP reporters to Wasilla, how is it they could not be bothered to do anything of the kind to Obama? Oh, right – I forgot – the JournoListers who were protecting him from any hard writing on his unsavory connections. Silly me.

Had the media actually bothered to do their jobs, instead of reacting with glee when Obama reacts so defensively, perhaps they could have taken a little look see at what Obama’s wife’s connection was to WalMart. But, no. Why would they do anything to impede their narrative of Obama’s holiness, or in any way shift his blame off of Hillary Clinton.

So, let’s just see how the media deals with this new announcement, as reported by the Washington Post, “Michelle Obama, Wal-Mart Announce Healthy Food Campaign.” Now, on the face of it, that looks like a great thing. Except for the arrogant, condescending way Barack Obama talked to Hillary Clinton for having had ANYTHING to do with this company, and Arkansas based company, while her husband was governor. Yet, here is ol’ Michelle, teaming up with that very same company. As far as I have heard, not a whole lot has changed with Wal-Mart, how it treats women, how it treats its workers in general, or any of the other general complaints about this company.

Now to the article:

First lady Michelle Obama joined Wal-Mart executives at a Southeast Washington community center Thursday morning to announce a campaign by the low-priced retail giant to offer more healthful foods and push its suppliers to do the same.

Obama has made fighting childhood obesity and increasing nutritious food options in poor neighborhoods a top priority. She will join Wal-Mart, which recently announced plans to open its first stores in the District, to announce “a major initiative to provide its customers with healthier and more affordable food choices,” Wal-Mart said.

[...]

Wal-Mart said it will make thousands of the packaged food items that it sells more healthful over the next four years, make healthful food choices more affordable and more clearly labeled, build more stores in underserved areas and increase its charitable donations to nutrition programs.

[...]

Wal-Mart praised Obama’s “spirit of collaboration,” and called her a “catalyst that helped make today’s announcement a reality.”

Wal-Mart has drawn criticism from advocacy groups in the District and elsewhere because of its anti-union policies.

Obama resigned from the board of a Wal-Mart vendor in 2007, days after her husband – then vying for the Democratic presidential nomination – said he would not shop at the store. [snip] (Click HERE to read the rest.)

If you needed any more proof of Michelle’s connection to WalMart during the campaign, that last line should suffice. If her board position was NOT closely aligned, there would be no need for her to retire, would there?

Yes, it is amazing what just a couple of years will do. Now the once hated, despised, union busting, women hating Chinese-product selling behemoth is now the shining light for the First Lady’s pet project (not that there is anything wrong with healthy eating – I am all for it – it is the hypocrisy that bugs me).

I cannot WAIT to see how Obama’s supporters are going to spin this one. Any guesses? Feel free to talk about that, or anything else on your minds today!

NOTE: Friends, my partner and I are embarking on a major construction project at our home starting Monday, Jan. 24th. I am not sure how much this will impact my writing, but I am assuming it may affect the regularity of my posts. That is to say, I will write when I can, but no promises about how often. And, I will certainly keep checking in to see what’s going on with the awesome readers here at NQ.

What a blessing. This is just the kind of good news that is welcomed as we continue to deal with a struggling economy, political bickering, severe storms across the country, creating all kinds of havoc. Wow.

Here is some of what Rep. Giffords can anticipate while in rehab: [snip]

(Dr. Edwardo) Lopez said that for patients with traumatic brain injuries, or TBIs, there is a basic comprehensive method that almost all rehabilitation centers follow, which is exactly what Giffords and her family can expect in her continuing recovery.

“This phase of inpatient rehab provides the patient stability because the patient still requires day to day nurse care, this is the best time for her to begin a structured program,” he said.

Before Giffords’ current doctors at University Medical Center in Tucson were able to consider moving her into a rehab program, Lopez said there are certain criteria that a patient in her condition must meet, with the most important being medical stability.

“The patient must be able to tolerate at least three hours of daily therapy. There can be breaks and resting periods. The first phase would be to see how her tolerance to upright activity is without any major changes in the cardiovascular system or to vital signs,” he said. “The goal is gradual build up of endurance.”

Once Giffords is transported successfully to TIRR Memorial Hermann and settled into her room, there will be a number of medical professionals she will deal with on a daily basis, Lopez said.

“She will of course continue receiving physical therapy, which is anything related to mobility and strengthening of her body. The use of various equipment and devices facilitates this process,” he said.

Lopez said she will also get treated by occupational therapists. Their job is to deal with activities of daily living, like personal hygiene, dressing and bathing, as well as other cognitive components. They try to get patients to develop their attentiveness and ability to respond to questions. It will also be the duty of the occupational therapists to work with Giffords’ surgeons and decide what kind of therapy her damaged eye requires.

Speech therapy for Giffords will address all language and speech issues. It will also help her in her ability to swallow.

“A neuropsychologist team will provide a more formal type of testing to where the patient is cognitively in regards to sensory and motor function as well as arousal,” Lopez said.

In addition to daily therapy with a physical, occupational and speech therapists, Lopez said TBI units definitely have vast experience in the use of psychopharmacological agents that might help in the healing process and the deficits that patients may have. [snip] (Click here to read the rest.)

This is great news, indeed. I hope, and pray, for the Representative’s full recovery, and for all of those who were injured in this horrible attack.

And while we are talking about Tucson, and the shooting, here is a tidbit from the Fox News All Stars discussing the “civility” issue, the one the Left was able to frame this attack as being the root cause of Loughner’s insanity. With no evidence then or now to justify this meme. Pay particular attention to Dr. Krauthammer’s response, and then the discussion with Stephen Hayes:

Um, so what’s the deal with SEIU?? Their behavior has been outrageous for quite some time. Who could forget their showing up on the door of a Bank of America bigwig, banging on the door, and terrorizing a 14 year old boy? That poor child had to hide in the bathroom. And that was after they had assaulted a Tea Party member down in Florida.

But apparently, they didn’t get the memo that Obama put out, on this ginned up issue about civility. Even discounting that manufactured issue, how about Michelle’s connection to WalMart, about which I wrote just this Thursday?? Oopsy daisy – is there a little disconnect between this SEIU (ACORN) union? Possibly. Still, their tactics have been out of control for some time now, and this is just one more illustration of the same violent behavior they have exhibited for a while. That they continue to be tolerated is shocking in and of itself.

Wow. Who knows, maybe this crafted “civility” issue will be the beginning of their undoing. One can hope. And one can hope that Rep. Giffords continues down the road of recovery.

It’s Friday. Thank heavens!

And she said it to President Obama. But she wasn't talking about taxes per se. Not too long ago, the incoming governors had the opportunity to meet with President Obama.

During the course of the meeting, Governor-Elect Nikki Haley had a little chat with Obama on the issue of the new health care law (which, after Monday's ruling that parts of it were un-Constitutional may make this a moot argument). In this article, Obama Opens Door For S.C. Opt-Out, Haley Says, Haley lays out her argument to President Obama:

Haley said she told Obama that South Carolina could not afford the health care mandate, and that it would cripple small businesses.

"I respectfully asked him to consider repealing the bill," she said, to which he clearly stated he would not. "I pushed him further and said if that's the case, because of states' rights, would you at least consider South Carolina opting out of the program?"

Obama told her he would consider letting South Carolina opt out, she said, if the state could find its own solution that included a state exchange, preventing companies from bumping people for pre-existing conditions and allowing insurance pooling. [snip]

That is an important concession, is it not? And again, it may end up being meaningless, should the current health care law be struck down.

But then there was this:

[snip]Haley said she also asked the president if he would honor the federal government’s commitment on developing a nuclear waste repository. When he said he would not revisit opening Nevada’s Yucca Mountain, “I said, ‘Then give us our money back.’ ”

The site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas was proposed to house more than 4,000 metric tons of high-level nuclear waste from South Carolina’s Savannah River Site. The state and Washington have sued over Obama’s attempt to kill plans for the storage site after decades of study.

“SRS has done a good job, but that was a temporary solution. It was never meant to be a permanent solution,” Haley said she told him. “The federal government has reneged on its promise, and the people of South Carolina want their money back.” [snip]

Oh, SNAP!!! My immediate response when I read this? “Dang!” And that was meant in the most positive way possible. I was impressed by her commitment to the state, but also her gumption in making such a statement to the President of the United States (even if it is Obama) upon her first meeting. Holy smokes.

Oh, and Obama’s response? Very Obama-like:

[snip]She said Obama pledged that he would have Energy secretary Steven Chu call her promptly. (The state has shelled out over $1 billion for the Yucca study.)

“I will wait for that phone call, and if I don’t get it, I will be calling, but I feel he was being genuine,” she said.

Haley described the tone as respectful and said she appreciated that Obama and Vice President Joe Biden allowed for open dialogue with the governors-elect, with no topic off-limits.

“It was a level of communication where we felt like we were being heard,” she said. [snip]

I am glad she felt that the incoming governors were being heard. But I also love that she is going to hold Obama’s feet to the fire in waiting for that phone call. For a state that continues to have double-digit unemployment, over a billion bucks would come in mighty handy about now.

Haley raises a good point. If the government is not going to make use of a program it has spent billions on, then hell to the yes, it should be returning our money.

As you may recall, Governor-Elect Nikki Haley was endorsed by Governor Sarah Palin. Haley was asked if she would endorse a candidate for president, to which she responded:

[snip] Haley said she will endorse a Republican candidate at some point before the first-in-the-South primary for the 2012 White House race.

“Absolutely!” she said. “But only after every one of them has had the opportunity to go out and meet with the constituents of South Carolina and hear their concerns. … What I want to do is let the people of South Carolina see them without any sort of emphasis on who I think is right.” [snip] (Click HERE to read the rest.)

Well, that will sure be interesting. I wonder if Sarah Palin runs, if Governor-Elect Haley will return the favor?

Governor-Elect Haley continues to impress with her cabinet choices, and on Monday, hosted a meeting of state leaders, including both US Senators, and US Rep. Jim Clyburn. Not only is Haley capable of speaking out for her state, she is also capable of diplomacy:

[snip]“There were no egos in that room,” Haley said at a post-meeting news conference with the delegation. “It was a group of people that understood South Carolina needed to come first and it was very much one of great spirit — great energy — in how we are going to get things done.” [snip] (Click HERE to read the rest.)

This kind of interaction does give me hope for this state, I have to say. And while Haley’s query to President Obama regarding the funds spent on Yucca Mountain clearly was state-specific, it very well may set a precedent. If she is able to get money returned to the state of South Carolina, surely other states can follow.

I must say, I am impressed with our Governor-Elect. Her strength and dedication will certainly pay off for this state, but hopefully, will be an asset for all governors in the country as they work together.

Oh, and President Obama? I’m with Nikki Haley – give us our money back, please.