Russia Introduces New Stealth Fighter

It looks kind of like a Raptor with a Mig cockpit.

The sleek twin-engined jet closely resembling the Raptor flew for 47-minutes from an airfield at Sukhoi's production plant in the Far Eastern city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur on Friday. Development of the so-called fifth-generation fighter has been veiled in secrecy and no images of it had been released before the flight.

Here is a pic:

Media Double Standard: RNC out of Touch Going to Hawaii for Retreat but Obama going to Hawaii Okay

Sometimes the media just lets the mask slip with their double standards. This has to be the most egregious version of it that I remember. Hawaii is fine for Obama to vacation in while the Republicans are "out of touch."

Yet at a moment when millions are out of work and millions more struggling to get by, the party’s governing board will plot its comeback on the island of Oahu, sipping drinks poolside, catching rays on the beach that abuts the villa and raising questions about whether they’re as politically tone-deaf as they accuse the president of being.

This is the same Hawaii that Obama just got back from vacation last month. He was sipping drinks poolside at a million dollar villa, catching rays on the beach, and taking in rounds of golf. The media didn't jump all over him for going to an "island paradise" when so many are hurting. So in Politico's estimation Obama can come to Hawaii to relax in a million dollar mansion but the RNC has to meet at a Ramada in Sheboygan?

Oh, and has anyone mentioned to Politico that Hawaii is in a midst of an economic crisis and we have to cut teaching days and furlough state workers so we can balance our budget. We even had to take out a collection to keep our High School sports running. Our main industry, which is tourism, is on the ropes and is just barely starting to recover.

So every GOP functionary that brings money into our state and leaves it here is more than welcome. Hell, have the Democratic Committee meeting here at the same time since they will come here and spend money too.

Climate Change Unit Found Guilty of Breaching the Freedom of Information Act

But they can't be prosecuted because of a loophole in British law.

The Information Commissioner’s Office decided that UEA failed in its duties under the Act but said that it could not prosecute those involved because the complaint was made too late, The Times has learnt. The ICO is now seeking to change the law to allow prosecutions if a complaint is made more than six months after a breach.

Wow these climate change scientists might be in for some jail time (or most likely fines) for trying to cook the Climate Change books. This is why I winced when Obama mentioned "settled science" in his State of the Union. The science certainly isn't settled when you have crooks hiding information about it.

Obama Slams Supreme Court in State of the Union Speech

It sure is strange to see Obama disrespect the Supreme Court so openly in such an important speech. It is good that Alito silently stood up for the Court as well:

Obama had taken the unusual step of scolding the high court in his State of the Union address Wednesday. "With all due deference to the separation of powers," he began, the court last week "reversed a century of law that I believe will open the floodgates for special interests -- including foreign corporations -- to spend without limit in our elections."

Alito made a dismissive face, shook his head repeatedly and appeared to mouth the words "not true" or possibly "simply not true."

I'm wondering if they will show up at all to the next State of the Union speech because technically they shouldn't be there. The Constitution doesn't mention them being there at all:

Section. 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient;

It says he needs to give this State of the Union speech to Congress and not to the Supreme Court. They actually shouldn't be there at all since you would figure that the drafters would have put "the entirety of the 3 branches" or something like that.

After this ham-handed disrespect the Supreme Court really should just stay home. The idea of a President slamming the Supreme Court, to their face, in a speech that he is constitutionally required to give each year is beyond the pale.

Here Comes the IPad

It sure looks pretty cool but $499 for a giant IPhone is not what I am willing to pay. However if it gets into the $299 range I will probably seriously look into it just so I can read books on it.

I hate reading books on the computer and this thing just looks like it would be easier on the eyes. I plan to go to the Apple store before too long so I can do some "market research" on the thing. I'm hoping that the touchscreen will be responsive and easy manipulate.

Wow Even the ObamaGirl wants Obama to Focus on Jobs

I think that it is official Obama it is time for you to find some people some jobs. You have just lost even the most generally in-the-tank of your supporters you have lost eveyone.

Now, the bikini-clad "Obama Girl" -- who famously cooed about her "crush" throughout the presidential campaign on YouTube videos -- admits the thrill is gone.

Amber Lee Ettinger -- the buxom sensation who lip-synched about her love for then-candidate Barack Obama -- said she wishes he spent his first year in office more fo cused on fixing the abysmal economy.

"I think he's doing an OK job," said Ettinger, whose original "Crush on Obama" video, first shown in 2007, has had more than 16.5 million views on YouTube.

"I know he's getting a lot of flak for things that he's not doing," she told The Post. "In my opinion, I feel like he should be focusing a lot more on jobs and the economy."

The so-called ObamaGirl:

SEIU Head calls Sen. Joe Lieberman and Sen. Ben Nelson Terrorists

This guy has lost his mind. I wonder why he didn't just call them Nazis and be done with it.

Even with all that, you’ll probably still manage to be shocked that Stern has criticized Sen. Joe Lieberman and Sen. Ben Nelson for halting disastrous health care legislation by saying, “There are a lot of terrorists in the Senate who think we are supposed to negotiate with them when they have their particular needs that they want met.”

Stern has flown the cuckoo nest. We wonder if the rest of the labor movement really wants to tie their wagon to this guy.

I wonder if Leiberman is upset by this crazy person lumping him in with guys that would stop at nothing in order to kill as many Jews that they could?

Now Specter is Down by 14 Points in Pennsylvania?

The defection to the Democrats is going to cost Arlen Specter his job. Mark my words.

That’s an 8-point swing for Toomey in just five months, showing that Pennsylvania voters have had enough of Specter and the Democrats. After all, Specter is the incumbent — and if he can’t get above 30%, he’s not going to be the incumbent for much longer. Thirty-five percent is a high number for undecided, too, even at this stage, which means that most aren’t sold on their current Senator.

The more I read this stuff the more I think there is going to be a GOP landslide in 2010. All GOP candidates have to do is push an agenda of small government, spending cuts, and giving working people their money back. Obama might actually save the Dems bacon by pushing a jobs program with a middle class tax cut that amounts to more than $33 a month.

CNN Poll Has ObamaCare down by 20 points

You would think that a CNN poll would be mostly liberals so this has to be some seriously scary news for Dems.

This is the obvious reason that Democrats “slam[med] the brakes” on health-care reform. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that their own internal polling on this issue took a dive over the last four weeks, starting with the slimy deals cut by Harry Reid in getting to cloture and continuing with the closed-door conferences at the White House, with the President and union lobbyists fighting with House and Senate Democrats to cut any kind of deal they could to let unions off the hook for the Senate’s Cadillac tax. The orgy of special-interest horse-trading has not only turned off the general populace on ObamaCare, but made Democrats into the kind of caricature they like to accuse Republicans of being.

Yup the sausage making part of the Bill had to turn off nearly everyone even if they wanted Health Care reform last year. That Union exemption from the Cadillac tax should have rubbed quite a few people the wrong way. The middle class may have looked at it as everyone is cutting a deal while they get stuck with the bill.

Now Evan Bayh at Risk in Indiana?

I guess the throw the bums out mantra will be repeated all over the Nation even toward moderate Democrats.

Pollster Scott Rasmussen has taken the first poll on the 2010 Senate race in Indiana—a race that until the last couple of weeks no one thought would be seriously contested. Rasmussen shows Democratic incumbent Evan Bayh trailing Republican Congressman Mike Pence 47%-44% and leading former Congressman John Hostettler 44%-41% and state Senator Martin Stutzman 45%-33%.

He is barely leading a Democratic State Senator. Bayh has been a Senator since 1999 and his dad had the seat since 1963. So the idea that a couple of nearly unknown people are within the margin of error of him is pretty shocking.

He seems to be running scared as well because he quickly jumped in against reconciliation on the Obamacare bill. He should be because reconciliation is the same thing as a resignation letter from the Democrats.

Obama Needed a Teleprompter to Talk to 6th Graders?

I'm sure that the children enjoyed the big black boxes and presidential podium as well. I wonder what was wrong with Obama just sitting in one of those tiny grade school chairs or just standing in front of the kids?

Here is an imagined excerpt from Obama's speech that day: *look left* Today children *look right* I am going to speak to you *look left* about "socialism." *look at 6th graders*



Here is what he really said:

Obama Plans Mealy-Mouthed Middle Class Relief

It seems that Obama is finally getting around to offering something to the middle class. Too bad it sounds like so very little.

Among the president's economic ideas:

• Nearly doubling the tax credit that families making under $85,000 can receive for child care costs, with some help for families earning up to $115,000, too.

This seems like a laudable credit if you have children under 12. If not then you can pretty much ignore this increase.

• Capping the size of periodic federal college loan repayments at 10 percent of borrowers' discretionary income to make payments more affordable.

I guess you can afford the payments but it will be over a longer period of time. $300 a month for 20 years and $600 a month for 10 years amounts to the same thing. Too bad this government cap will probably just extend the life of your loan. Also I wonder what happens if your discretionary income drops does your loan go out to even more years?

• Increasing by $1.6 billion the money pumped into a federal fund to help working parents pay for child care, covering an estimated 235,000 additional children.

This seems like a good enough goal. Hopefully the $6808 per child will not be a big waste of money.

• Requiring employers who don't offer 401(k) retirement plans to offer direct-deposit IRAs for their employees, with exemptions for the smallest firms.

Well, this is a good idea from an investors perspective because you have suddenly signed up everyone working for a small business for mutual funds. This should be great for the Vanguard, T.Rowe Price, Fidelity and any other mutual funds companies out there.

It would be bad for small businesses who can't afford to hire new workers due to the added cost of offering 401Ks. I do however see Fidelity or whomever jump into the small business 401K administrator role and offer low cost, hands-off plans. This is a lucrative new field that has just opened up a ton of new investment capital for mutual fund operators.

Also maybe the more entrants into the investment classes will curb some of Obama's propencity for shooting off his mouth about taxing fat cat bankers which tanks the market. The idea that he will be hurting millions of 401K owners will make him think twice.

• Spending more than $100 million to help people care for their elderly parents and get support for themselves as well.

$100 million sounds like almost nothing and probably amounts to like $1.50 per person or something minuscule like that. It smacks of the call to cut a few million from his cabinet that amounted to reducing the deficit by like .0003% or something like that.

Somehow I was expecting more sweeping plans for the middle class like tax relief or maybe a cut in payroll taxes or something. Instead this stuff sounds like some picking on the surface when what the middle class needs is jobs, jobs, and more jobs.

Uh oh, the White House Retreats into "It's the Message, Not the Policies"

I think Obama needs to understand it is not the delivery and framing of the message but the substance of the thing.

Well, with one caveat: "One thing I regret this year is that we were so busy just getting stuff done . . . that I think we lost some of that sense of speaking directly to the American people. . . . I think the assumption was, if I just focus on policy, if I just focus on the, you know, this provision, or that law, or are we making a good, rational decision here, that people will get it."

Um, it seems you have "spoken to the American people" and they just don't like what you are currently saying. He sure has spoken to them as well:

In his first year as president, Obama has broken all records for talking directly to the American people. According to CBS News, he has delivered 411 public "speeches, comments, and remarks" and 158 interviews - more than one public statement per day and roughly an interview every other day.

Just start saying different things that people agree with (and govern from the center) and independents will start to listen again. If you tell people "I purpose across the board tax cuts" and it is something more significant then $400 people will cheer. If you say "here is my job bill" and point out how much the payroll tax will be cut businesses can begin planning. It's not how you say it; it is what is said.

I Thought I would never see the day but I agree with Barney Frank: Abolish Freddie and Fannie

It is about time that this guy gets something right when it comes to financial matters.

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said Friday he supports replacing the two companies entirely.

"I believe this committee will be recommending abolishing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in their current form and coming up with a whole new system of housing finance," Frank said at a hearing on executive compensation issues. "That's the approach, rather than the piecemeal one."

They are a giant hungry maw that eats nothing but tax payer money and will probably do it in perpetuity. They should never have been allowed to grow into a 5.5 trillion dollar colossus in the first place. But guys like Barney Frank kept the money train going and they became sort of a mini-Democratic retirement home.

Now at long last the Dr. Franken-Frank wants to kill off his own monster. Too bad they couldn't have done this a few trillion dollars ago. In any case course corrections need to be put into place and this thing needs to get unwound.

Obama Suddenly Finds His Populism

I guess it is about damn time.

He said a jobs bill emerging in Congress must include tax breaks for small business hiring and for people trying to make their homes more energy efficient — two proposals he wasn't able to get into a bill the House passed last month. And he used the word "fight" or some variation of it well over a dozen times. The House-passed $174 billion stimulus package faces a stern test in the Senate, in part because it is financed with deficit spending.

I like thing one but that energy efficient thing sounds like a waste of money that will probably not generate many extra jobs. He should think bigger by adding a one year payroll tax holiday or even a permanent cut in payroll taxes. True economic populism comes from from people being able to keep the money they work for instead of having some Washington bureaucrat waste it.

Could Sean Duffy be the Next Scott Brown? It Might be Time to Coakley, Obey?

He seems to think so from his David vs. Goliath run against 40 year Congressman David Obey.

Q: What does Senator-elect Brown mean for your race?

A: If Scott Brown can win in a state that President Obama won by 26 points, I can win in a district that Obey won by just 20 points against an unknown, underfunded challenger in the Democratic landslide of 2008. It means there is not a single Democrat in the country who is safe. And, as the author of the failed stimulus bill, David Obey will be at the forefront of the debate about jobs, the economy, and wasteful government spending. If he continues to tax and spend our country into bankruptcy, he’s going to get Coakley’d.

I like the idea of a so-called "Army of Davids" Coakleying incumbents. I'll provide a definition of:

"Coakley'd:"

1. To lose a campaign against an unknown after being 30 points ahead in the polls. eg: "Did you hear that David Obey just got Coakley'd by some guy that used to be on the Real World?"

2. To take a vacation during a campaign either literally or figuratively. eg: "We are so kicking that GOP candidates butt that we need to Coakley down to Barbados for a few weeks."

3. To claim that a Red Sox great is a Yankees fan. eg: "I hear Carlton Fisk is all Coakley'd about the Yankees winning the World Series."

4. To misspell the name of your state in your campaign literature. eg: "We need to reprint the mass mailing. We Coakley'd Hawaii to read Hewai'iid."

5. To piss off Catholics during a campaign ie: "What do you mean David Obey just Coakley'd that the Pope listens to Wagner Operas while wearing his old Hitler Youth outfit?"

6. To not react when one of your goons pushes a reporter. "Did you see what happened to Shepard Smith? He got kneed in the groin by an Obey homunculus and the Congressman just stood there and Coakley'd."

Dems Cut Back Health Care Plan

I guess the "alarm went off" that a sweeping change of a huge swath of the nations economy is not going to fly with the American people. Their pared down bill actually sounds palatable if they can find money to pay for it.

No decisions have been made, lawmakers said, but they laid out a new approach that could still include these provisions: limiting the ability of insurance companies to deny coverage to people with medical problems, allowing young adults to stay on their parents' policies, helping small businesses and low-income people pay premiums and changing Medicare to encourage payment for quality care instead of sheer volume of services.

"The helping businesses and low-income people" doesn't sound cheap but maybe taxing Cadillac plans could make up the difference. If you add tort reform to this mix and maybe allow people to stash away more tax-free money in their health savings account you might get some Republicans to come across the aisle.

The Recession Ended at 10 p.m. Eastern Time?

I have to agree with this blogger when he says that Brown winning in Massachusetts may have finally created certainty with businesses.

Businesses, investors and individuals require a level of confidence before they will make certain economic decisions. A corporation is merely a collection of humans and humans, when confronted a gigantic unknown--like how health care reform will affect them--lack the confidence to move forward.

The election of Mr. Brown is a signal that gridlock on major legislation affecting massive swaths of the economy will return within a year. Gridlock is good, because it removes the uncertainty of government action.

Now they don't need to have a reserve for possible health care losses or a cash hoard to pay for higher electric bills due to cap-and-trade. Now they can start to open up hiring and using their capital to grow again. Now a bipartisan jobs bill with a payroll tax holiday and corporate tax cut should be next on the agenda.

Brown Wins Massachusetts!!!

I am convinced that my $100 put him over the top.

In an epic upset in liberal Massachusetts, Republican Scott Brown rode a wave of voter anger to defeat Democrat Martha Coakley in a U.S. Senate election Tuesday that left President Barack Obama's health care overhaul in doubt and marred the end of his first year in office.

I am usually the vulture when it comes to this kind of thing but I was proven wrong this time. Actually in many ways I thought of it as an investment against Cap & Trade which I am convinced would have put us in a second recession. Now Cap & Trade is as dead as dirt.

In any case, I think Obama is the true vulture in all this. He waits until the last minute, swoops in and then immediately loses the election for the person he is supporting. He lost the Olympics, New Jersey, and now Massachusetts. He is the perpetual "vulture circling the dying candidate."

Seas of Liquid Diamond? Could be Possible on Neptune and Uranus

Now that sounds like a cool sight. I just got a "vision from the future" of massive diamond trawlers scooping up liquid diamond from the surface of Neptune. You can picture the thing firing off specialized diamond- filled rocket pods to a waiting De Beers orbiting collection station. The cost of harvesting and returning the diamond pods back to earth still makes them a very valuable commodity.

Oceans of liquid diamond, filled with solid diamond icebergs, could be floating on Neptune and Uranus, according to a recent article in the journal Nature Physics.

This also reminds me of Diamond Valley from Magic the Gathering:

Boston Talk-show Host Calls it a Brown Victory

I have to admit that this was the first election I have seen where there has a ton of ass-covering and finger pointing even before the voting was over.

You don’t start trashing the White House—a.k.a. the people who hand out jobs and control DNC money—if there is any chance you’re going to win. And the White House wouldn’t offer that “one reason” if they hadn’t seen the same internal polls the Coakley campaign has.

The Coakley insiders who are throwing down on the Obama administration are in full CYA mode, and they got there five hours before the polls closed. At 3pm today, they knew the election was lost.***

I mean the White House have already blamed some pollster for not warning them earlier. I mean Obama might have affixed his name to yet another loser. Win or lose though Brown going from 30 points down to a dead heat/slightly ahead should put national Democrats on notice. This "tea party" rejection of all their schemes might cost them control of the Senate if they aren't careful.

Hoyer Blames GOP "obstructionism" for Voter Angst

This has to be the most clueless, out-of-touch pronouncement I have read in a long time.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) on Tuesday said that angst voters have expressed early this election year is the result of GOP obstructionism, not the Democrats agenda.

Hoyer's remarks come as Republican state Sen. Scott Brown has surged in the Massachusetts special Senate election in part due to his pledge to be the GOP's 41st vote to filibuster healthcare reform legislation.

"I think what the public is angry about is they see, first of all, an opposition for opposition's sake," Hoyer told reporters.

What can the GOP do to "obstruct" a 60 vote super-majority? They can only suggest things and the Dems can pass whatever they want to. It is Democratic "obstructionism" on abortion that is stalling ObamaCare. Also all those back-room deals and bailouts to unions is what is getting people angry.

I think the 8% unemployment promise if the failed stimulus is passed by Obama when the current unemployment is 10% is extremely damaging as well. It shows that they don't know how to fix a problem even if they got a trillion dollars to do it with.

Roaming Gangs Start to Loot in Haiti: A Nostradamus Connection?

This has to be some scary news for all the aid groups pouring into the country.

Pockets of looting flared across the capital. Small bands of young men and teenagers with machetes roaming downtown streets helped themselves to whatever they could find in wrecked homes.

"They are scavenging everything. What can you do?" said Michel Legros, 53, as he waited for help to search for seven relatives buried in his collapsed house. A Russian search-and-rescue team said the general insecurity was forcing them to suspend their efforts after nightfall.

I'm afraid that once the wrecked homes are cleaned out they will go after the survivors. Once the survivors are picked clean they will then go after the aid workers. That is a bad situation that might get even worse depending on how wide spread these gangs are.

This statement from Ban-Ki-moon set off my fear meter:

"Obviously, that is only a drop in the bucket in the face of the massive need, but the agency will be scaling up to feed approximately 1 million people within 15 days and 2 million people within a month," he said. The U.N. would set up 15 food-distribution centers, he said.

The WFP already had food warehoused in Haiti before the quake, and would be flying in much more. Spokeswoman Emilia Casella noted the regular food stores in the city had been emptied by looters.

I really hope they actually have 15 days to start feeding a large number of the people because I don't think this situation will keep until then. Most people have lost everything and maybe haven't eaten in 50 hours. For some reason this Ban Ki-Moon comment got me to think about Nostradamus and this quatrain:

Quatrain 2.75
The voice of the insolent bird,
Above the respirator pipe from the floor:
So high will the wheat come to rise,
That man towards men shall become a Man-eater.

The insolent bird could mean that weird near earth object that passed on Wednesday. It is described as a "mystery object" in this article.

Asteroid 2010 AL30, discovered by the LINEAR survey of MIT's Lincoln Laboratories on Jan. 10, will make a close approach to the Earth's surface to within 76,000 miles on Wednesday January 13 at 12:46 pm Greenwich time (7:46 EST, 4:46 PST).

This is the weird object AL30.


The Haiti Earthquake happened fairly close to the time that this object passed the earth.

M7.0 - Haiti region - 2010 January 12 21:53:10 UTC
Nostradamus
The "respirator pipe from the floor" could be the earthquake itself if you think about it. I mean the earthquake did happen below the earths surface and the destruction was above the sea floor.

The "so high the wheat come to rise" could be a vision of the destruction of the white buildings and rubble of Port-Au-Prince that in Nostradamus' dark water could easily look like piles of threshed wheat.

The last part of the quatrain is what I hope does not come to pass from this prophesy. But 15 days is an awfully long time when so many people will soon be starving and looking for food. I am afraid that things could get far worse in the next few days.

Coakley Says: No Cathloics in the ER

This woman can't do anything right.

Ken Pittman: Right, if you are a Catholic, and believe what the Pope teaches that any form of birth control is a sin. ah you don’t want to do that.

Martha Coakley: No we have a separation of church and state Ken, lets be clear.

Ken Pittman: In the emergency room you still have your religious freedom.

Martha Coakley: (……uh, eh…um..) The law says that people are allowed to have that. You can have religious freedom but you probably shouldn’t work in the emergency room.

Wow, in other words Coakley just said that Papists need not apply. I though anti-Catholicism went out in the 30s but it seems that it is alive and well in Massachusetts.

Also how is the subject of contraception coming up in the emergency room anyway? Maybe on ER or Grey's Anatomy but not in the real world. I have never seen a campaign burst into flames like this a mere week before an election.

Union Sweet Heart Health Care Deal a Mistake

I have to agree with this article saying the deal that the White House had to cut with unions on the health care monstrosity will hurt them even more.

This may backfire. If you think that the Nebraska deal was unpopular, just wait until the administration announces higher taxes on everyone but its friends in the labor movement. We may see if the popularity of the health care bill still has room to fall.

Update: The more I think about this, the more I think it's a huge mistake. Support for unions is at a record low, and the GM deal has already made people think that the Democrats are doing sweetheart deals for Big Labor with our money. Republicans will have a field day.

I have to agree that many Americans view the GM deal as a strait union pay-off and as a result will probably only buy Fords from here on in. Any way you look at this deal is that the unions will just lean on the President whenever they don't like something and the offending legislation will be fixed.

Wow, Brown Now Ahead of Coakley by 15%?

It seems that negative campaigning, reporter smack-down, and spelling the name of the state wrong may be costing her. A 15% move in a few weeks should have the Dems running scared.

A new poll taken Thursday evening for Pajamas Media by CrossTarget – an Alexandria VA survey research firm – shows Scott Brown, a Republican, leading Martha Coakley, a Democrat, by 15.4% in Tuesday’s special election for the open Massachusetts US Senate seat. The poll of 946 likely voters was conducted by telephone using interactive voice technology (IVR) and has a margin of error of +/- 3.19%.

Union Deal Reached! Health Care can Proceed

I'm glad that unelected union heads get to give their nod of approval. Forget Putin or Ahmadinijoke the only people that can get the White House to quake with fear is the SEIU and and the AFL-CIO. The new Obama motto "Hope the Union Approves of our Change!"

In a major breakthrough, union leaders bowed Thursday to White House demands for a new tax on high-cost insurance plans as part of landmark health care legislation taking final shape in intensive negotiations. "We are on the doorstep" of success, President Barack Obama said.

The tentative agreement on the tax, which included significant concessions by the administration, was disclosed as leading lawmakers set an informal timetable of Friday for a compromise on the health care bill that Obama made a top priority in taking office a year ago.

Coakley Calls out the Big Guns

This was supposed to be an open and shut race but now Obama has to be called in to save the day.

"They believe that by defeating Martha, and replacing Ted Kennedy with her Republican opponent, they'll be in a position to tie up the Senate and prevent a vote on health insurance reform, financial reform and other issues so important to working families in Massachusetts and the nation," Obama said. "The outcome of these fights will probably rest on one vote in the Senate."

That shows how tenuous their advantage is. It sure sounds like a fear-based message as well. If you don't vote for Coakley then the "evil Republicans" will stop all of our failed and yet-to fail reforms. I can understand why Healthcare reform is such a rush job.

Davy Jones Prospect Yields Massive Potential

It seems that Davy Jones Locker might be full of oil according to this.

Shares of oil companies McMoran Exploration, Energy XXI and Plains Exploration & Production are jumping this morning amid news that the trio has made a nice oil discovery at its Davy Jones prospect in the Gulf of Mexico. Drilling logs on the 28,000-foot-deep well (that's 5 miles down!) show a likely prize of as much as 165 million barrels of oil and natural gas.

The well seems to be in a relativity shallow area in 20 feet of water. Which means you can get at it with jack-up rigs and don't need those expensive deep water rigs. Jack-up rigs have been in a kind of slump recently so this should be good news for companies like Rowan (RDC) that own them.

I looked at the financials for McMoRan (MMR) seem okay for the most part with a large nonrecurring entry due to derivative accounting. Their annual revenue is about $1 billion so this find could easily ramp up that number by several billion. The only problem is that they have all sorts of dilutive ways to get capital on their books so any slip up might be costly.

The next few weeks will be crucial according to this Forbes piece.

McMoRan is holding its quarterly conference call on January 19. I am sure the company would love to have more news for shareholders by then. It is more likely that it will take two to four more weeks to complete this work. What is really the key here is that the 150 feet of pay dirt already announced was found in sands not expected to bear hydrocarbons because in other wells they held nothing. It seems that the targeted sands which have resulted in very rich discoveries offshore in several very big wells drilled by others are just below the drill bit.

They already have 150 feet of oil but this number could go way higher depending on their findings. They might also drill a deeper well in their other finding called Blackbeard West. If that guy has oil in the same amount as Davy Jones this company might suddenly become a big player overnight.

John Kerry Asks Donots for money. Does he mean Donuts?

I'm not sure how much John Kerry thinks that donuts have so I think he is going after the tasty pastry looking for money. I would target cupcakes if I were him because they are the new "In" baked good right now.

Hello Donot,

Not a lot of time left, so here are the three quick reasons why I need you to dig deep and help Martha Coakley in these final crucial days in her slugfest down to the wire battle against the national Republican Party and the powerful special interest bankrolling his campaign:

Maybe he wants people to give donuts to the Coakley campaign. You would think that dollars would be better since you can buy TV ads with that. Perhaps Homer Simpson is running the show down there in "Massachusettes."

Coakley Goon roughs up Reporter at Fundraiser

Wow now this is a pretty high stakes campaign when they start to litterly push around reporters.

As I walked down the street, a man who appeared to be associated with the Coakley campaign pushed me into a freestanding metal railing. I ended up on the sidewalk. I was fine. He helped me up from the ground, but kept pushing up against me, blocking my path toward Coakley down the street.

He asked if I was with the media, and I told him I work for THE WEEKLY STANDARD. When I asked him who he worked for he replied, "I work for me." He demanded to see my credentials, and even though it was a public street, I showed them to him.

I thought it was SEIU goons up to their old tricks but it seems that this guy is some kind of image consultant to Democratic causes named Michael Meehan. Well he just gave an image that the Coakley campaign likes to rough up reporters that they don't agree with. Luckily the reporter just suffered some torn pants and not a head injury from being pushed into a metal railing.

December Deficit Hits Record

Well at least Obama is setting some kind of record. Too bad it is in the debt category and not some other place.

The Treasury Department said Wednesday that the deficit last month totaled $91.85 billion, the largest December deficit on record. The figure was in line with economists' expectations.

For the first three months of the current budget year, which began on Oct. 1, the deficit totaled $388.51 billion, 16.8 percent higher than the $332.49 billion imbalance recorded during the same period a year ago.

Last year's deficit surged to $1.42 trillion, more than three times the record of the previous year, an imbalance of $454.8 billion set in 2008.

President Thune?

Hmm I think the GOP might have a true contender to pit against Obama in 2012.

Tall, handsome, not yet 50 and with the sort of sunny demeanor that winning national Republicans usually possess, the former high school hoops star looks the part.

He’s also something of a national party favorite for slaying a political giant — then-Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle in 2004.

I think some midwestern charm and a platform of fiscal discipline that rails against bailouts and the failed stimulus could get him pretty far. However, this trait could take him all the way:

A former aide recalled that when the then-candidate greeted scores of fans by name at a 2002 South Dakota State football game, a national TV crew got angry, thinking the campaign had planted a group of supporters to come through the gate while Thune was working the crowd.

“I told them, ‘John is just amazing at remembering people’s names,’” said the former aide. “He proved it when he later remembered the entire four-person TV crew’s names two hours after he met them while walking in.”

I think this alone might win him the Iowa Caucus. Imagine giving a shout out to a few people in a crowd that he recently met at a diner in Ceder Rapids or at speaking engagement at the American Legion Hall in Des Moines. A handshake and an "I'm glad you can make it to this event, Joe" can easily swing a dozen votes his way.

Plus he was a star high school basketball player and could do a one-on-one event with Obama instead of a debate. I could see him crossing-over and then dunking on Obama in a pick-up game then helping him up.

The affable Midwesterner mold gave us both Lincoln and Reagan and they were pretty good Presidents to say the very least.

Massachusetts Senate Race Tied

Who would have thought that one of the bluest of blue states would have a tied race like this?

Can Republican Scott Brown really win? If you look at just those who say they are the most interested in voting on Jan. 19, the answer is yes. Among those in the recent Boston Globe poll who said they were "extremely interested" in the race, Coakley and Brown were tied at 47 percent.

I just gave a $100 to the Brown campaign on their online giving site. A 60 Democratic votes in the Senate is already going to doom us to ObamaCare and I am convinced that Cap-and-Tax is going to take us into a second recession. Even one vote will be enough to reign in these abuses. I read his platform and he more-or-less matches my stance on issues even Israel.

It also has to help him when his opponent cannot even spell the name of the state correctly in her campaign ad.

Paid for by Massachusettes Democratic Party and Authorized by Martha Coakley for Senate. Approved by Martha Coakley.

Close observers will notice that there is an extra 'E' tacked onto the end of 'Massachusetts. It's a trivial oversight, for sure, but you can bet that the jokes and jabs the typo will inspire will blunt at least some of the impact of the ad.

Maybe she is running to be the Senator form one of those fake stimulus districts.

It's Almost Official; Conan Out at NBC

It seems that Conan is going to leave NBC judging by his statements.

"Last Thursday, NBC executives told me they intended to move the Tonight Show to 12:05 to accommodate the Jay Leno Show at 11:35. For 60 years, the Tonight Show has aired immediately following the late local news. I sincerely believe that delaying the Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn't the Tonight Show.

"Also, if I accept this move I will be knocking the Late Night show, which I inherited from David Letterman and passed on to Jimmy Fallon, out of its long-held time slot. That would hurt the other NBC franchise that I love, and it would be unfair to Jimmy."

I think NBC should just live with their mistake and let Conan go to Fox ASAP. I watched the Tonight Show last night and it was as anti-NBC as you could get. Imagine that sort of thing continuing until the Olympics. A three way race for the late night crown will be interesting to watch and I can't wait to see how it spools out.

Goalposts Moved on Stimulus "Jobs" Created

Well, it seems that all those errors and fake congressional districts are not enough to inflate the jobs "created or saved" to a high enough level.

Despite mounting a vigorous defense of its earlier count of more than 640,000 jobs credited to the stimulus, even after numerous errors were identified, the Obama administration now is making it easier to give the stimulus credit for hiring. It's no longer about counting a job as saved or created; now it's a matter of counting jobs funded by the stimulus.

That means that any stimulus money used to cover payroll will be included in the jobs credited to the program, including pay raises for existing employees and pay for people who never were in jeopardy of losing their positions.

In other words now every construction firm that even gets a dime of stimulus money no matter how well they were doing before just got "created or saved." That also goes for every weather-proofer or broadband installer as well.

They should just count all the unemployed as "saved jobs" since they will be getting stimulus money in the form of extended unemployment benefits. I think the White House needs to come to the conclusion that the stimulus was a dismal failure and start working on a "jobs bill" with the leftover stimulus money. Maybe that might actually lower the unemployment rate.

Unions Say Jump, White House says How High

I thought we are supposed to be bending the cost curve downwards but it seems that organized labor still controls everything like this was still Chicago.

Underscoring the stakes in the dispute, Obama met with about a dozen heads of the country's biggest unions Monday evening at the White House, after a day when labor leaders fired broadsides at the president over the insurance tax.

The president of the AFL-CIO, Richard Trumka, warned that Democrats risk catastrophic election defeats similar to those in 1994 if they fail to come up with a health bill labor likes. Disillusioned union members might just not show up to vote, he said.

"A bad bill could have that kind of effect ... where people sit at home," as happened in 1994, when Democrats lost control of Congress, Trumka told reporters.

Wow a direct threat to the White House from organized labor. I wonder if SEIU goons will be "visiting" voters to make sure they "sit at home" if the union doesn't get what it wants? I mean the unions already got partial ownership of two of the three American car makers.

Too bad Obama couldn't just tell them "this is how it is going to be, if you don't like it who are you going to support? Republicans?" and laugh in their faces. Too bad the Dems are in the pocket of organized labor and are going to cave no matter what.

Harry Reid Bitterly Clings to Post Despite Racist Remarks

How this idiot still has the Majority Leader post is totally beyond me.

Reid apologized to Obama and a handful of black political leaders after a new book reported that he was favorably impressed by Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign and, in a private conversation, described the Illinois senator as a "light-skinned" African-American "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one."

The way that the black Dems closed ranks on what is a pretty racist remark is even more telling. I guess it is racist only when a Republican says something like that. If it was Mitch McConnell saying something like that then every member of the Black Caucus would do everything they could to get him ousted. But all Reid has to do is apologize and that is that. It doesn't matter because Reid won't win in Nevada no matter what he does.

White House Seeking a "Bank Fee" in 2010 Budget

I think these people just don't understand what imposing a fee on a business means.

The Obama administration is considering imposing a fee on banks to help recover some of taxpayers' costs of bailing banks out from the financial crisis, according to multiple reports on Monday.

The White House said President Barack Obama wants to ensure that taxpayers are paid in full. "That's the president's goal," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters. He declined to provide details on how that might be done.

Um, we were paid in full with interest on the bailout funds. But this fee will just be passed right along to depositors and borrowers in the form of a government surcharge without impacting the banks bottom lines in the slightest. This is just like the "windfall profits tax" that they tried to stick to oil companies. You can tell these guys have never actually run a business that had to turn a profit.

The Government is Finally Letting Second Mortgages Die

It was a bad idea from the very beginning but it seems that the government is just going to let these things go into default and not try to bail them out anymore.

These arguments are getting less traction as time goes by. The destination media have lately begun taking an interest in HAMP's counterproductive results. The HAMP's underwhelming numbers, ineffectiveness, and costly efforts to limit redefaults (which have met with limited success) have been well documented. And the public, which never even wanted to bail out responsible homeowners, can't get excited about saving somebody's cigarette-boat-financing HELOC. If the Treasury Department is looking at that grim battlefield and putting up a white flag, that's the better part of valor.

This might be another shoe to drop for smaller lenders who might have to write off even more HELOCs. Perhaps the Fed is finally understanding that some people should just not be bailed out especially if they refinance for like $200 less a month and then lose their jobs and end up defaulting anyway. Maybe sometimes people just need to lose their houses and end up just renting instead.

Conan Might Move to Fox?

It seems that we might get a three man race when it comes to Late Night.

Comedian Conan O'Brien is mulling his options, including moving to a rival television network, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday in its online edition, citing people familiar with the matter. A person familiar with O'Brien's camp said other networks had approached the comedian since reports emerged that NBC may return Jay Leno to his old timeslot of 11:35 p.m., which would displace O'Brien. One potential suitor is News Corp.'s (NWS 16.34, -0.09, -0.52%) Fox network, which has held discussions with O'Brien's team about the possibility of hosting a late-night show, the newspaper said.

Now this would be interesting to see only of Conan can get a little edgier at Fox. If he is doing the same thing as he does on the Tonight Show (generally stink up the joint) then it might not work. Although Fox might just go "all in" to try to siphon late night advertisers away from CBS and NBC. I mean Conan O'Brien would be much more lucrative to affiliates then reruns of some syndicated crap any day.

The Reason Why Someone Needs to Be Fired as a Result of the Christmas Day Bombing Attempt

I think this statement sums up the outrage that many Americans feel about this whole mess.

Most grating in the White House report is the repeated notion that Abdulmutallab's plot failed. It didn't. Nine years after 9/11, and after billions of spent dollars in needless security, confiscated fingernail clippers, and dumped breast milk, he succeeded in smuggling explosives onto an airliner destined for American soil. He succeeded in igniting the explosive. If not for dumb luck involving bad chemistry and a brave Dutch film director, there might today be a smoldering crater in Detroit.

Yup, luck saved the day this one time. I'm pretty sure that we cannot have another try at this. The Bush people were right when they said: the terrorists have unlimited tries at this and we have to be right 100% of the time. It is just that simple. Luck should not be involved.

45% of Americans Would Rather Vote For a Random Name from the Phone Book

I mean a random person out of the phone book might actually say "how much is this thing going to cost" every now and again.

“More voters have greater confidence in the telephone book these days than in the current Congress, and most think their national legislators are paid too much to boot,” Rasmussen reported.

45% of voters would rather pick names randomly from the phone book to run Congress than to have Nancy Pelosi, et al, in charge, a Rasmussen Poll found.

Only 36% disagree.

Maybe it is time to switch to the Athenian System where everyone serves in the Congress by random pick just like Jury Duty.

Jay Leno Show to be Cancelled? Jay to Move Back to Tonight Show?

Wow, now these are just rumors but too bad for Conan O'Brien.

An industry Web site called FTV declared that Leno's show would be cancelled as soon as the Winter Olympics begin next month, when much of the regular programming on NBC will be pre-empted for Olympics coverage.

Then the TMZ Web site, citing undisclosed sources, said Leno's show would go on hiatus Feb.1. Following the Olympics (which take place in Vancouver from Feb. 12-28), Leno will take back the 11:30 p.m. EST time slot he occupied for 17 years that ended last May.

This would make Leno's successor at "The Tonight Show," Conan O'Brien, "the odd man out," TMZ said.

Hmm, maybe Conan could jump ship to ABC or Fox and make his show a little edgier like his show was before. I mean the Tonight Show might frown on Triumph the Insult Comic Dog but Fox would love it. I know Conan on the Tonight Show has been pretty lame for the most part so a move might do him good.

Obama Backs Taxing "Cadillac" Health Insurance Plans

He is really anti-union when it comes to rushing the legislation out as fast as they possibly can.

In a meeting at the White House, Obama expressed his preference for the insurance tax contained in the Senate's health overhaul bill, but largely opposed by House Democrats and organized labor, Democratic aides said. The aides spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was private.

Although they need to call these "Mercedes" Health Insurance Plans because Cadillac which is part of GM is now owned by the government. I guess you can call the failed "government option" the "Cadillac plan" (although Gremlin plan is more apt.)

Obama's Oval Office Makerover

This is an interesting article on how Obama has remade the Oval Office in his image. This part was kind of neat:

Also new to the Obama bookshelves are three mechanical devices on loan from the National Museum of American History's patent collection: models for Samuel Morse's 1849 telegraph register, John Peer's 1874 gear-cutting machine and Henry Williams' 1877 feathering paddlewheel for steamboats.

It kind of speaks to his technocrat roots. Too bad the White House has been so boneheaded when it has come to technology as all the mistakes on the Recovery.gov site showed. It is kind of cool that he keeps fresh apples at the ready as well:

Could the US Government Have Sparked the 2009 Rally?

Well at least some players have said so.

"We know that the U.S. government has spent hundreds of billions of dollars to support the auto industry, the housing market, and the banks and brokers. Why not support the stock market as well?"

The Federal Reserve or the Treasury, Biderman said, could have easily manipulated the stock market by purchasing $60 to $70 billion worth of futures of the S&P 500 Index (SPX 1,137, +3.53, +0.31%) on a monthly basis.

$60 - $70 billion is walking around money when it comes to government spending so it is somewhat plausible to say the least. It makes sense from a social engineering point of view. A sustained downward stock market would destroy quite a few 401Ks and thus create quite a few angry voters. Investors are the kind of people that give to financial campaigns and could make or break a candidate.

Consumer sentiment and reelection chances seem tied quite well to stock market gains and losses for the most part. I remember there was quite a bit of blame that there was an "Obama Crash" right before the market turned around.

"It bobs up and down from day to day," the president said Tuesday. "And if you spend all your time worrying about that, you're probably going to get the long-term strategy wrong."

Most of the bobbing lately has been in one direction, relentlessly down. But Obama suggested that now is a good time for investors with "a long-term perspective" to buy stocks.

This was said on March 4th and the S&P 500 hit bottom on March 9th at 676.53. The S&P 500 is now at 1136.52 which is nearly a double. So the conspiracy theorist in me has Obama telling Treasury to peel off a few billion from the TARP money and then go out and buy some S&P 500 futures.

If it is true then I commend Obama for making me a pile of money that I probably wouldn't have right now. It might be illegal as hell but the government usually makes their own rules when it comes to this kind of stuff. I mean who would have thought the American people would own 2 mortgage buyers(with unlimited, uncapped losses,) an insurance company, and 2 car makers right now?

The Final HealthCare Debate to be Held in Smoke-Filled Back Room

I love "transparency" from the Dems.

Democrats reacted defensively to criticism that they are taking the final, most crucial stage of the debate behind closed doors. "We will continue to keep the American people informed, as we have in the earlier stages," Van Hollen said, noting that hundreds of hearings and town hall meetings have been held.

But Obama as a candidate pledged during a presidential debate in January 2008 that he would be "bringing all parties together, and broadcasting those negotiations on C-SPAN so that the American people can see what the choices are."

Thanks for "keeping us informed." I know they are afraid to have the light of day shined on this whole mess.

Clinton Slams "ruthless" Iranian Government

Finally, someone associated with the White House tells it like it is.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday slammed what she called the "ruthless repression" of demonstrators against the Iranian regime.

"We have deep concerns about their behavior, we have concerns about their intentions and we are deeply disturbed by the mounting signs of ruthless repression that they are exercising against those who assemble and express viewpoints that are at variance with what the leadership of Iran wants to hear," Clinton said.

Too bad she didn't beat Obama in the Democratic Primary. I think the Iranian government would be sliding into the dustbin of history that much faster with her at the helm.

2010 Predicions: Economy and the Stock Market

Economy:

1. The economy will recover for the most part but GDP growth will remain sluggish and will stay at about 1% for most of the year.

2. Housing prices improve very slowly and much of the toxic assets have been flushed out of the system. There is no substantive financial reform of any kind. There is much talk of Glass-Stegall being reinstated but it does not come to pass. Wall Street continues to own Washington.

3. Oil Prices will spike as the Iranian crisis spirals out of control. It will again peak above $150 and will stay above $100 for much of the year. Oil will close at $98 by the end of 2010.

4. Unemployment will stay at about 10% for the whole of 2010 but Americans will slow their spending considerably due to high energy prices. There will be a jobs bill passed in early 2010 that will slowly drop the unemployment rate. Democrats will crow that they saved the economy with this measure.

5. Interest rates will creep up and be several points higher by this time next year. Large deficits will dog the economy for years to come.


Stock Market:

1. S&P: 1100, Dow: 10,500, NASDAQ: 2500
2. The Top 3 Industries: Technology, Oil and Natural Gas, Hospitals
3. Bottom 3 Industries: Steel, Consumer Goods, Gold

2010 Predictions: Politics and Foreign Affairs

Well it is time again to make some wild predictions about what will happen in 2010.

Politics:

1. The Democrats will be ushered out of office in large numbers but it will not be as bad as the Contract With America Rout in 1994. Harry Reid will lose in Nevada but Dodds will still stay on in Connecticut. Although ill-health will have him retire in the next few years and a special election will be held. Blanche Lincoln will also lose her job as well. Democrats will also lose Obama and Biden's old seats.

2. Health Insurance Reform passes but is widely hated by many Americans. It will be an albatross around the Democratic neck for decades. The insurance mandate will be struck down by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional. Insurance will become even more pricey then before.

3. Cap and Trade will be a spectacular failure with coal state Democrats coming out against it. Climate Change will start to recede from national consciousness and the Mexico climate conference will be a back page story that mostly mentions protester violence.

4. Much of the bloom will be off of the Obama rose as he is considered even more Carter-like by the day. The press will talk openly about his "failed promise" and "rhetoric without substance." Obama will be angered by this and have an unscripted and public tantrum sometime during the year. His approval ratings remain dismal throughout 2010.


Foreign Affairs:

1. Iran's government will fall into chaos and there will be a civil war as the military turns against the Republican Guard. Much of it will be out of the world's eye but there will be desperate, pitched battles fought all throughout Iran. UN peacekeepers will have to be called in to prevent large scale killings as the hard-liners become more and more brutal. Fighter jets will be used against Tehran University students and it will shock the entire world.

2. The US will continue to distance themselves from Israel and Netanyahu will start a large-scale building plan in the West Bank. The Palestinian government will be a total shambles with Hamas losing their funding from Iran and Fatah being paralyzed by a search for a successor to Abbas. Peace will look like a distant memory with Obama unable to do anything.

3. North Korea comes back to the bargaining table with Kim's health starting to decline. China will force their client state into more openness but negotiations will get nowhere.

4. Afghanistan will be a major hotspot where US casualties start to mount. However, a joint US and Pakistani presence will cripple the Taliban and Al-Quida in the region by the end of the year. The new battleground will switch to Yemen and Somalia and other failed states with a strong fundamentalist prescience. Al-Quida will be successful in committing a terrorist act in 2010 but it will not be on the same level as 9/11.

A 3rd Person Made it Past White House Security?

Why don't they just do away with security all together because this is getting stupid already.

As the Secret Service was reviewing how an attention-hungry couple — Tareq and Michaele Salahi — got into the dinner without being on the guest list, officials discovered that a third person made it through security without an invitation as well. The Secret Service said the man — whom they would not identify — did not get close to the president or the first lady.

Good thing these guys were just inept attention seekers and Indian businessmen who didn't have ill attentions toward the White House.