Obama Defends Failed Stimulus to the End

I think he should just give up defending this failed bill since no-one other then him believes it was anything but a giant waste of money.

Obama even delighted in recounting a section of his State of the Union address last month in which he talked of the tax cuts from the stimulus plan and watched Republican lawmakers fail to applaud the idea.

"They were all kind of squirming in their seats ... It was interesting to watch," Obama said.

Yeah, I wouldn't rush to my feet to just clap about an extra $13 in your paycheck either. I still think they should have just took that $787 billion and divided it evenly among every tax payer in the form of a check for $2000. Then used the left over and given it to the states or something.

Imagine all of the debt that could have been paid off with that money alone. A family with a few kids could get rid of all of their credit card debt in one fell swoop. Even if people saved the money (which I would have done) it would have been a pretty easy way to create some cushion for many people. Some people would have blown it on a TV or something but that is still "stimulus."

Captain America Slanders the Tea Party Movement

Well, that will pretty much do it for Marvel Comics from here on in. They can't keep their liberal ideas out of the comics then DC will gladly all of my future comics money. This charge that all Tea Party protesters are racist is simply beyond the pale:

Issue 602 of the comic features Captain America investigating a right-wing anti-government militia group called "the Watchdogs". Hoping to infiltrate the group, Captain America and his African-American sidekick The Falcon observe an anti-tax protest from a rooftop. The protestors depicted are all white and carry signs adorned with slogans almost identical to those seen today in Tea Party rallies like "tea bag libs before they tea bag you" and "stop the socialists."

The Falcon mentions that the gathering appears to be "some kind of anti-tax protest" and notes that "this whole 'hate the government' vibe isn't limited to the Watchdogs." He then tells Captain America that he doesn't think their plan will work because "I don't exactly see a black man from Harlem fitting in with a bunch of angry white folks." Captain America then explains that his plan entails sending The Falcon in among the group posing as an IRS agent under the thinking that a black government official will most certainly spark their anger.

Until they fire Joe Quesada the Marvel Comics editor-in-chief I have bought my last Marvel book. His sad-assed mea culpa is a joke:

Quesada then went on to say that Marvel would "apologize for and own up to" a series of "stupid mistakes" that led to them "accidentally identifying" one of the members of the protest group "as being a part of the Tea Party instead of a generic protest group." He explained that they were on deadline to get the issue to the printer for publication, and in the course of sending it off it was noticed that the signs in the scene contained no words or phrases. He said the editor then asked the letterer to "fudge in some quick signs" and that in the "rush to get the book out of the door," the letterer "looked on the net and started pulling slogans" from signs captured in photographs at Tea Party protests in order to make them appear "believable."

They were rushing so they "fudged some quick signs" that accidentally slandered the Tea Party movement as a bunch of racists. They could have written just about anything they wanted on those signs but chose to put Tea Party slogans on it.

It then had to have been checked by Quesada before it was passed to the printer so he can't say it was the letterers fault. Instead of a quick call to change that sign to something else and then 5 minutes with PhotoShop Quesada passed it through. His far-left liberal views get old fast and there really isn't a reason to read a Marvel book until he is out on his ass.

Obama Changes his Tone About Wall Street

Hmm, maybe the idea of turning his back on all that campaign money from hedge funds and banks is finally starting to change his thinking.

The president, speaking in an interview, said in response to a question that while $17 million is “an extraordinary amount of money” for Main Street, “there are some baseball players who are making more than that and don’t get to the World Series either, so I’m shocked by that as well.”

“I know both those guys; they are very savvy businessmen,” Obama said in the interview yesterday in the Oval Office with Bloomberg BusinessWeek, which will appear on newsstands Friday. “I, like most of the American people, don’t begrudge people success or wealth. That is part of the free- market system.”

It all comes down to the fact that almost no one on Main Street can effectively do Jamie Dimon or Lloyd Blankfein job. Just like these same people cannot hope to do A-Rods job. So these CEOs are paid in a way that is commensurate with their skills. If they weren't running their companies there is pretty good chance that they could set up their own Hedge Funds and make millions that way instead.

The whole idea that Dimon and Blankfein caused this mess is absurd. It was the unregulated multi-trillion dollar derivatives market that was most of the problem. You add to this the ratings agencies that were running up profits by giving liar loans an A+ rating and things get even worse. The people at fault were Democrat and Republican, Wall Street players, the home builders and that idiot on Main Street that signed that liar loan in the first place. So it is good to see Obama backing off the bankers at least a little bit.

The Air Force in Afghanistan

This is a pretty interesting up close look at flying logistics in Afghanistan is like.

Without the U.S. Air Force, we would need thousands more troops here just to run convoys, and bringing in those troops would require more convoys to supply their needs. It’s okay to use contractors to bring supplies in from Pakistan or from the north, but driving up into those mountains and other remote locations would be suicidal.

Amnesty International is Pro Taliban?

It seems that way according to a letter sent to their headquarters by one of their members:

Gita Sahgal, head of the gender unit at Amnesty’s international secretariat, believes that collaborating with Moazzam Begg, a former British inmate at Guantanamo Bay, “fundamentally damages” the organisation’s reputation.

In an email sent to Amnesty’s top bosses, she suggests the charity has mistakenly allied itself with Begg and his “jihadi” group, Cageprisoners, out of fear of being branded racist and Islamophobic.

Sahgal describes Begg as “Britain’s most famous supporter of the Taliban”. He has championed the rights of jailed Al-Qaeda members and hate preachers, including Anwar al-Awlaki, the alleged spiritual mentor of the Christmas Day Detroit plane bomber.

I wonder if Amnesty International is also against the brutality toward women by the Taliban? I mean it doesn't take much to see how badly treated women when they were in power. I guess a Jihadi scumbag rotting in Guantanamo is more worthy of their attention then some 12 year girl in the Taliban held parts of Afghanistan.

Obama's Major Failing: The Chicago Way

Ah even the Los Angeles Times is starting to turn on Obama by saying his problem is too much of the Chicago way.

Warning that Obama needs to take action quickly, Clemons adds that needed advice from a broader range of advisers "is getting twisted either in the rough-and-tumble of a a team of rivals operation that is not working, or is being distorted by the Chicago political gang's tactical advice that is seducing Obama towards a course that has not only violated deals he made with those who voted him into office but which is failing to hit any of the major strategic targets by which the administration will be historically measured."

Yup, he is getting the worst of all worlds. First he isn't getting any advice from people that might actually help him achieve goals and they are missing targets one after another. I found this part especially telling:

For instance, remember how much we heard all last year about the need for healthcare legislation before early August, before October, before Thanksgiving, before Christmas, before the State of the Union? And how spanked the White House was by the Massachusetts Senate upset that Obama said his laser-vision for 2010 was on jobs and the economy?

So, what did he announce during a Super Bowl interview? More healthcare meetings, designed to politically box Republicans into the No-Nothing corner.

Then they try to paper over all the graft and special closed door deals in the Health Care bills which is just par-for-the-course for Chicago. I think Obama needs to realize that the majority of Americans hate Chicago style politics and will rather throw the bums out in 2010 rather then continue to endure it.

If Obama actually wants to win a second term he needs to eject all of the Chicago people from the cabinet and start listening to other voices that will work with him to actually achieve goals. He also needs to be less arrogant and condescending if that is possible.

Baidu Hammers Earnings

I guess Baidu is well on the way to being the Google of China even though Google has admitted that they are going to stay in China.

Sales rose 39.8% to $184.7 million, 2.6% over views, as customers adopted Baidu's new "Phoenix Nest," advertising platform.

"This year ended on a positive note as Phoenix Nest's better-than-anticipated performance helped us to exceed expectations for the fourth quarter," said Baidu CEO Robin Li, in a statement released after the market closed.

For its first quarter Baidu said it expects sales of between $176 million and $181 million. Analysts expected $170.23 million.

I like that revenue estimate increase as well. What was really interesting was how various Chinese interviewed about Google said that they wouldn't miss it or barely use it. It would be interesting to see the market share break down going forward.

The Battle of Marja Begins

Hmm, this could be an actual turning point in the Afghan war much like Fallujah was in the Iraq war.

But U.S. and Afghan officials know that die-hard Taliban forces have been burying hundreds of improvised explosive devices around the town in recent weeks. "It's giving time and space to those who want to fight to dig in," says Ali Jalali, who served as Afghanistan's first post-Taliban Interior Minister and now works with the Pentagon's National Defense University in Washington. "It could be very bloody, and that could affect public opinion in Europe and the U.S."

I hope they have the escape routes hemmed in because city fighting is the worst kind of fighting. Luckily unlike Stalingrad or Huế the Taliban do not have armies in reserve to envelope any attacking Americans.

Iran Moves Closer to the Getting the Bomb

Still the world fools around and sits on its hands.

Iran pressed ahead Monday with plans that will increase its ability to make nuclear weapons as it formally informed the U.N. nuclear agency of its intention to enrich uranium to higher levels.

Alarmed world powers questioned the rationale behind the move and warned the country it could face more U.N. sanctions if it made good on its intentions.

I'm seeing a hot war between them and Israel before the end of the year if they keep pushing forward on this. Too bad the Green Revolution hasn't swept these madmen from power yet.

Card Check Might Get Shoved into "Jobs" Bill

I wonder if the Dems are going to see middle of the night voting and other rush tactics to get the jobs bill through without anyone reading it?

On labor law, Bill Samuel, the AFL-CIO’s legislative director, said the union would try to enlist moderate Republicans but acknowledged the difficulty of achieving a bipartisan bill. He said the federation might consider “other tactics,” meaning the card-check legislation or key parts of it could be placed into a larger jobs bill this year.

Yup, the AFL-CIO will put their industry killing bill right in with the "jobs bill" and dare the GOP to go against "finding jobs for out of work Americans." Thank God for the bloggers because they will have to be the ones to catch this fast one in any "jobs bill" going forward.

How Anti-Banker Rhetoric Hurts Small Business

This is the result of all that talk about "Fat cat bankers" that Obama always throws around.

The source told me that the reason the program has not been officially utilized was twofold.

One, almost every potential participant declined to cooperate because they didn't want the stigma of using TARP funds given the tremendous public anger towards Wall Street and resentment about the $700 billion bailout.

Yup, they didn't want to perticipate in a TARP program to help small businesses because they didn't want the stigma (and the strings) attached to the money. This is what happens when you talk about "bank taxes" and other crap when small businesses need loans. What is also bad is that Obama wants banks to "pay back every penny" through his asinine tax even though they have already paid pack all the money with interest.

Some of these small businesses are afraid that they will end up paying a "TARP money utilization tax." I mean some small businessmen who make over $250,000 might still be hit with a tax to pay for some other guys insurance. Mark my words, this uncertainty is going to strangle the recovery for years.

The Answer to Bipartisan Health Care Summit

It seems that the GOP can start to throw their weight around again. Gridlock is what makes Washington do its own thing while Americans can go about their business1.

Just as important, scrapping the House and Senate health care bills would help end the uncertainty they are creating for workers and businesses and thus strengthen our shared commitment to focusing on creating jobs. Assuming the President is sincere about moving forward on health care in a bipartisan way, does that mean he will agree to start over so that we can develop a bill that is truly worthy of the support and confidence of the American people? Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said today that the President is “absolutely not” resetting the legislative process for health care.

If they start over and craft an actual bipartisan bill that puts some GOP parts in like capping lawsuits while keeping in Dem things like a National Health Care exchange would be a good step forward. If it is more Obama "bipartisanship" that amounts to I'll listen to your ideas and then do my own thing then forget it.

First Conan vs. Leno now Racism in the Lunchroom: NBC Can't Buy a Clue

I would hate to be an NBC exec right about now.

So who at NBC thought it would be a good idea for the special today to be, among other things, fried chicken, “in honor of Black History Month”?

Because, spoiler alert – it wasn’t a good idea at all. And now NBCU employee Questlove is bringing it to the attention of his 1 million plus Twitter followers.

Questlove, the band leader and drummer for The Roots (the house band on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon) tweeted this picture from the NBC Commissary at 30 Rock, with the comment: “Hmm HR?”

I think the next thing NBC is going to do is make Brian Williams to do his newscast in blackface to "make things more ethnic." I guess the obligatory apology form letter has been sent to black leaders who won't raise an uproar since it was NBC and not Fox News.

What the Glaciers Aren't Melting? Time to Sell that Beachfront Land in Idaho

This is exactly why this whole Global Warming thing is such a joke.

But so what? His musings were wafted upwards through the New Scientist to the World Wildlife Fund to the IPCC to a global fait accompli: the glaciers are disappearing. Everyone knows that. You’re not a denier, are you? India’s environment minister, Jairam Ramesh, says there was not “an iota of scientific evidence” to support the 2035 claim. Yet that proved no obstacle to its progress through the alarmist establishment. Dr. Murari Lal, the “scientist” who included the 2035 glacier apocalypse in the IPCC report, told Britain’s Mail on Sunday that he knew it wasn’t based on “peer-reviewed science” but “we thought we should put it in”—for political reasons.

So some speculation by a glacier scientist (man that sounds like a boring job) went from an article in New Scientist to a WWF report to the IPCC report and was taken as an undeniable fact? No one checked anything on the way up the chain? I think they need to tear everything down and build the science anew like when drug research fails. Then they can get it right without trying to see who lied or who was speculating and when.

Obama about to Throw in the Towel on Health Care

Now everyone understands why it was such a hurry to get this done. There was a deadline by August, then it passed to the Holiday Recess, then it passed to the State of the Union. Now it just passed on it seems.

"And it may be that ... if Congress decides we're not going to do it, even after all the facts are laid out, all the options are clear, then the American people can make a judgment as to whether this Congress has done the right thing for them or not," the president said. "And that's how democracy works. There will be elections coming up, and they'll be able to make a determination and register their concerns."

I think taking his eye off of jobs and the economy and spending all your political capital foolishly on something that 70% of Americans don't care about may just put Obama into the bottom 1/3 of Presidents so far. I hope the President understands that if you really want something and will take the hit for not getting it don't outsource it to Pelosi and Reid.

An Apology Considered too "populist" by IPCC head

This has to be the lamest excuse for not admitting to egregious falsehoods in their 2007 climate report.

In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said it would be hypocritical to apologise for the false claim that ­Himalayan glaciers could melt away by 2035, because he was not personally responsible for that part of the report. "You can't expect me to be personally responsible for every word in a 3,000 page report," he said.

The IPCC issued a statement that expressed regret for the mistake, but Pachauri said a personal apology would be a "populist" step.

"I don't do too many populist things, that's why I'm so unpopular with a certain section of society," he said.

Um, assclown Pachauri the "certain section of society" that you sneer at are going to bear the burden of all the new "carbon taxes" that go from the First World to pay for for the Hind Attack Helicopters of 3rd World dictators.

Also a "populist" step would be to apologize like a man when your agency screws up and includes lies in the most important report they have ever published. He needs to step down right now before he gets a no-confidence vote and has to join the populist scumbags again.

Obama Talks Crap About Vegas

You would think that Obama being from Hawaii would soften his anti-Vegas rhetoric but I guess he just can't help himself.

"You don't go buying a boat when you can barely pay your mortgage," Obama said. "You don't blow a bunch of cash on Vegas when you're trying to save for college. You prioritize. You make tough choices."

The comments quickly sparked a flurry of reaction from federal, state and local lawmakers in the Silver State, which had an unemployment rate of 13 percent in December.

I guess he wants the Vegas unemployed rate to reach the same heights as Detroit or something. I'm sure he knows that people "blowing money in Vegas" is what keeps that town in business.

It is true that Americans need to prioritize their money but who is Obama to tell them what to spend that money on? As long as their decision doesn't hurt the economy as a whole (like taking out a liar loan on a house they can't afford then walking away from the mortgage) then who cares if they shoot dice with their kids college money.

I love this Mayor of Vegas, Oscar Goodman's, skewer as well:

"He has to step up right away and say, you know, he wasn't thinking," Goodman said. "Sometimes when he's not using his monitors and reading what he says, he doesn't think. And this is one of those times he didn't think, and he should straighten out the record because he's been here, he knows Las Vegas is a great place."

Why are we Pissing off Our Banker (Red Chinese) By Selling Arms to Taiwan?

When I read this article I thought it was dated during the Bush years or something but it does say that it was Obama that approved these arms sales to Taiwan.

In the meeting with U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman, Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei said the arms package for Taiwan "constitutes a gross intervention into China's internal affairs," according to a foreign-ministry statement. China is "extremely indignant," it said.

Beijing previously suspended military exchanges with the U.S. after George W. Bush authorized a separate weapons package for Taiwan in October 2008. But military ties were re-established last year and had been gradually mending before the Obama administration announced the latest arms sale Friday.

I thought Obama was supposed to be the great intentional healer but instead he pisses off the Red Chinese by selling arms to their so-called "break-away province?" I guess this is some Chicago style politics as revenge for China making Obama look like a doof at the Copenhagen Climate Klatch last year.

Burger King "Super-Fan" Demographics Change with Recession

It seems that going after "super-fans" ie 18 - 34 year old males might not be a good idea during a recession.

For five years, Burger King Holdings Inc. was on a roll, successfully courting its "super fans" -- 18- to 34-year-olds who account for half of all visits to Burger King restaurants.

Thanks to high unemployment and healthier eating habits, those super fans haven't been so super lately. Burger King has felt the impact more acutely than its main rival, McDonald's Corp., whose sales are growing.

Couple this with the fact that much of the "super-fan" demographic is now unemployed at a record rate and you have the recipe for an earnings decline. I guess eating Ramen that is $1.23 per serving might be a better deal then even a $5 value meal.

IPCC Climate Change Document Uses World Wildlife Fund Report as Evidence

Why is the head of the IPCC still in his job? This mess up is like having Goldman Sachs publishing the GDP data for the US.

A STARTLING report by the United Nations climate watchdog that global warming might wipe out 40% of the Amazon rainforest was based on an unsubstantiated claim by green campaigners who had little scientific expertise.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said in its 2007 benchmark report that even a slight change in rainfall could see swathes of the rainforest rapidly replaced by savanna grassland.

Actually Goldman has economists on staff so maybe that is an unfair comparison. Maybe this latest Climate Change screw-up is more like having TMZ publishing the GDP report. If these guys have any credibility left it just got siphoned away. The idea of an environmental pressure group writing part of your Climate Change report is beyond the pale.