Obama: Iraq Speech, Prime Time

FACT: Obama opposed the surge early and often and definitively. Period.

Combat operations end in Iraq -- Absolutely NO THANKS WHATSOEVER TO OBAMA and his Democrat comrades.

Obama says it's "time to turn the page."

I think it's time to remember just how terribly, terribly wrong Obama was about Iraq.

Video, Gateway Pundit.


Robert Gibbs lies about Obama's position on the surge.



Disgraceful.

Thank you to President Bush, for his leadership.

Most of all, thank you to the military men and women, for their tremendous achievement in Iraq, for liberating millions.

My heartfelt sympathies to the loved ones of the fallen. They are heroes, and I will never forget their sacrifice.

Ahmed Mohamed Nasser al Soofi and Hezam al Murisi

Ahmed Mohamed Nasser al Soofi and Hezam al Murisi were arrested on suspicion that they were on a dry run, a test to commit an act of terror.

Now, an AP source claims that it's unlikely the men are involved in a plot.

The FBI probe of two men arrested in Amsterdam after suspicious items turned up in one of the men's luggage is finding they were probably not on a test run for a future terror attack, a U.S. official said Tuesday, casting doubt on earlier suggestions even as Dutch authorities held the pair on suspicion of conspiring to commit a terrorist act.

The U.S. does not expect to charge the men, a law enforcement official said. The two men arrested in Amsterdam — both traveling to Yemen — did not know each other and were not traveling together, a U.S. government official said.

The officials spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the investigation.

...Earlier, U.S. officials said they were investigating whether the two men had been conducting a dry run for a potential terrorist attack. But as the probe evolved, officials said that appeared unlikely.

Both of the detained men missed flights to Dulles International Airport from Chicago, and United Airlines then booked them on the same flight to Amsterdam, the U.S. government official said. The men were sitting near each other on the flight, but not together.

The men were not on any U.S. terror watch lists, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told CNN Tuesday.

When Customs officials discovered one passenger was not on the flight from Dulles to Dubai, they called the plane back to the gate and removed his luggage. It was then they discovered suspicious items in his bag, a cell phone taped to a Pepto-Bismol bottle, multiple cell phones and watches taped together, and a knife and box cutter, according to another U.S. official who had been briefed on the investigation.

Kip Hawley, the former Transportation Security administrator, said it is not unusual to find items like watches and cell phones bound together on flights to countries like Yemen.

...A U.S. official identified the men as Ahmed Mohamed Nasser al Soofi and Hezam al Murisi. Al Soofi had a Detroit address. Alabama's director of homeland security, Jim Walker, said he had been living in Tuscaloosa, Ala., and working at a convenience store for about the last three months. He said there was nothing that al Soofi had done in Alabama that brought him to the attention of Alabama officials.

Al Soofi was questioned by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration as he went through security in Birmingham, Ala., Sunday on his way to Chicago, one of the officials said. He told the authorities he was carrying a lot of cash. Screeners found $7,000 on him, but he was not breaking any law by carrying that much money. It is not unusual for people to carry large amounts of cash when they travel to Third World countries.

Good grief.

How many more red flags are necessary?

It's common to travel with a cell phone taped to a bottle of Pepto-Bismol? Really?

It's common to pack multiple cell phones and watches taped together? Really?

It's common to travel with a knife and BOX CUTTER? REALLY?

Nothing suspicious about that.

Yeah, right.

Al Soofi has a Detroit address but had been living in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and worked at a convenience store for about the last three months.

"[T]here was nothing that al Soofi had done in Alabama that brought him to the attention of Alabama officials."

So what?

Who cares what authorities knew of him there?

What matters is what they know of him now -- on an international flight with $7,000 in his pocket, and some really disturbing items in his luggage.

Robert Gibbs says not to worry. The men weren't on terror watch lists.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the terrorist who failed to bring down Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Christmas Day, wasn't on a watch list either.

The suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was added to a catch-all terrorism-related database when his father, a Nigerian banker, reported concerns about his son's "radicalization and associations" to the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria, a senior administration official said. Abdulmutallab was not placed on any watch list for flights into the United States, however, because there was "insufficient derogatory information available" to include him, another administration official said.

Do you trust the watch lists?

I don't.

Ron Johnson Talks with Mark Belling - Rush Limbaugh Guest Host

Ron Johnson, Oshkosh businessman and U.S. Senate candidate, is getting a massive national audience today.

He's joining Mark Belling, who's Rush Limbaugh's guest host.

At the top of the program's final hour, Belling talks with Johnson, the front running Wisconsin Republican candidate for U.S. Senate.

Johnson discusses why he decided to run. He tells a personal story. His older daughter, now 27 years old, was born with a heart defect and was saved by the American medical system.

When ObamaCare passed, Johnson was prompted to run.

Obviously, that assault on our freedom touched him deeply given his personal experience.

Johnson talks about American exceptionalism, something Democrats like Feingold don't do.

"I really think we're losing America," says Johnson.

He also talks about the "out of control spending and debt."

Johnson says he believes America is a shining city on a hill, and now, under Obama, we're squandering it.

Johnson vows he will never vote with reelection in mind, saying he loves his life in Oshkosh. He's a reformer who won't get sucked in by Washington, D.C. culture and join that insiders' club.

Belling raises the global warming sunspot issue that Democrats have used to attack Johnson.

Johnson says the mockery is one of the reasons guys like him don't step off the sidelines.

Belling says he thinks that this year attacks such as that won't work.

I agree.

Johnson was very well-spoken. His message is resonating with Wisconsinites. We're ready for change.

Ed Flynn, Voter Fraud, and Poll Watchers

Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn calls on citizens to fight voter fraud by volunteering to be poll watchers.

ED FLYNN: In the United States, it's not the criminal justice system that delivers clean elections. It's people getting involved.... There's still no substitute for that first line of defense, which is citizens participating in their election process.

Feisal Abdul Rauf: Marriage Counselor

The Ground Zero mosque imam, Feisal Abdul Rauf, considers himself to be playing the role of "bridge builder," a marriage counselor to work through the issues between al Qaeda and the United States. Rauf sees the U.S. and the barbaric, murderous terrorists as a quarrelling married couple.

Video.


Isn't that sweet?

Al Qaeda and the U.S. are having a lovers' spat, and Rauf wants to assist in getting the couple to kiss and make up.

Good grief.

If Rauf is sincere, he should drop his efforts to build the Ground Zero mosque and stage an immediate intervention for Ahmed Mohamed Nasser al Soofi, of Detroit, MI, and Hezem al Murisi. Both men are from Yemen.

Two men taken off a Chicago-to-Amsterdam United Airlines flight in the Netherlands have been charged by Dutch police with "preparation of a terrorist attack," U.S. law enforcement officials tell ABC News.

U.S. officials said the two appeared to be travelling with what were termed "mock bombs" in their luggage. "This was almost certainly a dry run, a test," said one senior law enforcement official.

...The two were allowed to board the flight at O'Hare airport last night despite security concerns surrounding one of them, the officials said.

...Airport security screeners in Birmingham, Alabama first stopped al Soofi and referred him to additional screening because of what officials said was his "bulky clothing."

In addition, officials said, al Soofi was found to be carrying $7,000 in cash and a check of his luggage found a cell phone taped to a Pepto-Bismol bottle, three cell phones taped together, several watches taped together, a box cutter and three large knives. Officials said there was no indication of explosives and he and his luggage were cleared for the flight from Birmingham to Chicago O'Hare.

Rauf should be working on a bridge for Ahmed Mohamed Nasser al Soofi and Hezem al Murisi.

They appear to want to kill innocent people.

Of course, the Leftists will continue to paint people against the Ground Zero mosque as Islamophobes and racists.

And what kind of "phobes" are al Soofi and al Murisi?

DCCC Ad Attacks Sean Duffy

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has released its first attack ad.

Sean Duffy is its target.



FactCheck.org, where are you? Busy carrying water for Obama and other Dems?

Sean Duffy's campaign responds to the Democrats' lies:

The ad flat out lies to Wisconsin seniors by saying Sean Duffy wants to privatize Social Security. But the record is clear. Sean opposes privatizing Social Security and in Congress, will fight to keep Social Security safe and sound for current recipients and future generations.

As Sean told the Wausau Daily Herald's Editorial Board last week, "One component I don't think is part of the equation is privatizing Social Security. Privatizing is not an option."

The fact that national Democrats would make Sean the first candidate in the country to get this kind of attack speaks volumes. They've seen the polls, and they know they could lose this seat for the first time in 40 years. The DCCC isn't disclosing how much it's spending on these ads but they say the ads will completely saturate the Wausau area.

To fight back, we need you to do two things. First, arm yourself with the facts. Don't let the national Democrats win another election by scaring seniors like they try to do every election.

Next, contribute whatever you can so we can fight back on the air and online. The fact that we're first means there's more to come. They're running scared. They've seen what you've built. Let's knock them back on their heels and show them they've picked the wrong fight.

There's a word for the national Democrat strategy in the 7th district: Desperation. Don't let them get away with it. Stand with Sean and fight back now.

I suppose in a way it's an honor to be the DCCC's first victim. The Dems obviously consider Duffy to be a real threat. Maybe the attack is payback for pushing David Obey out of his seat.

Whatever, the Dems are lying.

I don't think Wisconsinites will be buying the Dems' lies this time around.
________________

Sean Duffy's statement on the attack ad:

"Today, Julie Lassa and her pals at the Democratic National Congressional Campaign Committee will begin airing what is projected to be at least $100,000, and two weeks worth of negative, false attacks against me in the Wausau TV viewing area. Given our strong polling, Wisconsin's 7th Congressional District is the first race in the country that national Democrats are targeting.

"In the attack ad, Lassa and her Democrat friends in Washington accuse me of supporting the privatization of Social Security. This ad is a lie. This ad confirms that Julie Lassa is the same old career politician who will do and say anything to get elected, and that the only job she is worried about protecting is her own. Democrats pretending Social Security is just fine, scaring seniors, and making partisan attacks pose the biggest threat to securing Social Security for future generations, as well as to getting our country headed in the direction it needs to go.

"This is my first campaign. I'm not a career politician and I don't claim to know all the answers. I'm a father of six kids who saw a serious problem with the government mortgaging our children's future with outrageous spending and decided to enter this race to make a difference. I'm worried that my children, and the children in Wisconsin, will not grow up in the same great America that I grew up in.

"Our residents deserve to hear facts in campaigns, not constant mudslinging and distortions. I call on Julie Lassa to stop this fear mongering and start focusing on what really matters: getting government spending under control, putting Wisconsin back to work and passing a fiscally sound budget so that we leave our children with a promising future."

Obama: Labor Day Event Tickets, Milwaukee

UPDATE, September 6, 2010: OBAMA: They talk about me like a dog.
_______________

UPDATE: MORE DETAILS HERE.
_______________

Details on the event are still sketchy.

Tickets will be required, but the procedure is being worked out.

I doubt the non-union members of the public will have fair and equal access to the event.

President Barack Obama will be in Milwaukee on Labor Day - his third visit to the area in a little over two months - to talk directly to working families.

Obama will appear at Laborfest on the Maier Festival Grounds. The event, to be held from noon to 7 p.m., is open to the public, but a ticket will be required to see the president. The ticketing procedure is still being worked out.

In addition to Obama, Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis and Richard Trumka, president of the national AFL-CIO, will be at the event.

In 2008, Obama appeared at Laborfest as a candidate for president. Instead of his planned speech, then Sen. Obama asked the crowd to remember the victims of Hurricane Gustav.

The festival, held annually, is organized by the Milwaukee Area Labor Council. Sheila Cochran, secretary-treasurer and chief operating officer of the council, said 8,000 people attended the event last year. More people are expected this year.

Cochran said 150 different labor unions will be represented at Laborfest. "I have been told the president wants to talk to working families," Cochran said.

Sure. Obama wants to talk to "working families."

How many "working families" were in the crowd at his very pricey August 16 fundraiser for Tom Barrett?

Working families were shut out of that event.

Obama doesn't care about working families. He cares about holding on to power and keeping the unions in his pocket.

If he really cared about working families, he wouldn't be raising their taxes and destroying jobs. He would be empowering them, not making them dependent on big government and running up historic debt. Obama would be taking steps to get out of the current recession/depression rather than prolonging the misery.

I wish Obama would spend Labor Day playing golf. He does less damage to the country when he's on the golf course.

Wisconsin's Government Accountability Board and Voter Fraud

The Government Accountability Board should change its name.

Where's the accountability?

It appears to be actively engaged in dodging its responsibility to clean up the voter rolls. It's shirking it's responsibility to guard against voter fraud in Wisconsin.

Election officials are likely to make about 18,000 people ineligible to vote because letters to them from the state were returned as undeliverable.

The state tried to contact the voters because their names, birth dates or driver's license numbers do not match information in other government databases. If marked as ineligible to vote in the voter database, they would have to re-register to vote with municipal clerks or at the polls before they could cast ballots.

About 42,500 other voters whose information does not match will remain eligible to vote, sparking frustration from critics. Federal law requires states to compare the state's voter database to state driver's license records and, in some cases, the Social Security Administration.

State officials spent the past 16 months trying to clean up information for 777,500 people who registered to vote between January 2006 and August 2008. They have verified information for most of those people, but data for about 66,500 voters still does not match.

Letters were sent to those voters, and 18,443 were returned as undeliverable, officials said Monday at a meeting of the state Government Accountability Board, which runs elections.

Local election clerks will be told to send those voters another letter and mark them as ineligible to vote on the state's voter list if the letters are again returned as undeliverable, said the board's director, Kevin Kennedy.

About 42,500 other voters did not respond to letters about their mismatched data. Thousands of others updated their information, but their data still does not match.

Those voters will remain eligible to vote. Board members said they should not - and some said they cannot - make people who do not respond to the letters ineligible to vote because of their constitutional right to vote.

But they also said they wanted to clear up the matches to boost confidence in the voter rolls.

"There's a perception out there that there's a lot of fraud because of the non-matches," board member Thomas Barland said.

Board members said they want to explore having poll workers talk to voters about their non-matching data when they come in to vote, but they said they have to study whether poll workers have time to perform such duties while trying to keep lines short on election day.

This is ridiculous.

What is the board's goal? To keep lines short on election day or to have an honest election?

It's as if members are arguing both goals are impossible to achieve. That's not the case, but if it were, having short lines should not take priority over preventing voter fraud.

I want my vote to count. I want to be confident in the integrity of the process. There's nothing satisfying about a short line if the entire exercise is a joke.

The Government Accountability Board should focus on how to clean up the voter rolls rather than making excuses for tens of thousands of potentially fraudulent voters and providing justification to maintain a fertile environment for disenfranchisement in Wisconsin.

I can't be sure my vote isn't being stolen by those intending to exploit Wisconsin's sloppy rolls. But who cares? As long as the lines aren't bad on election day, I'm happy.

That's nuts.

Bottom line: Wisconsin remains a haven for voter fraud. It's a disgrace.
___________________

The Government Accountability Board has another disgrace on its hands -- the disenfranchisement of Wisconsin's military members and others living abroad.

 

What gives the Government Accountability Board the right to ignore the law?

It's not OK to put up hurdles for Wisconsin citizens in the military while enabling people with questionable identities to cast votes with ease.

Accountability?

I don't think so.

ALL candidates running for office in Wisconsin should be concerned about the board's incompetence.

If some candidates don't share that concern, that's very revealing.

Leno: Favre and Barney - Dinosaurs

JAY LENO: Brett Favre back with the Vikings -- how about that? That's good. So it looks like Barney's no longer the only purple dinosaur on TV.

Another joke at Favre's expense, during "Headlines":

Leno: Obama's Economic Plan is Health Care Plan

JAY LENO: According to a report in TIME magazine, experts say that this recession... I love when they do this. You know, they always try to make lemonade here. They say the recession is good for people because fewer people drive to work, which means fewer deaths in auto accidents. Fewer people can afford to eat so we don't gain as much weight. That's what it said. You know what that means? President Obama's economic plan is also his health care plan. It's genius! It's genius, I tell you!

More jokes on the economy--

JAY LENO: The economy is so bad today President Obama had to play golf on a public course. That's how bad it is.

JAY LENO: In fact, the only housing starts in the United States now are mosques in New York City. Those are the only housing starts at all.

Leno: Putin, Socialism, and the Democrats

JAY LENO: According to the latest polls, Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin has an approval rating of 59 percent. Very high. Experts say this is because he has put socialism behind him and improved the economy. In fact, it worked so well many Democrats in Congress are thinking of trying it here.

Leno: Miss Universe and Obama

JAY LENO: The new Miss Universe says she likes to spend her time walking, taking long walks on the beach, playing sports, and eating at fancy restaurants. Oh, I'm sorry. That's the president of the United States.

National Trail Mix Day

CELEBRATE!

It's National Trail Mix Day!

Trail Mix Recipe

Prep Time: 5 Minutes Ready In: 5 Minutes
Servings: 10

"From the kitchen of Nestle. A great energy-boosting mixture to take with you on a hike!"

Ingredients:
2 cups chopped dried mixed fruit
2 cups mixed nuts 1 (10 ounce) package NESTLE® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate-Covered Raisins

Directions:
1. COMBINE dried fruit, nuts and chocolate-covered raisins in large bowl. Store in airtight container.

Happy trails!

Obama: Labor Day, Milwaukee

UPDATE, September 6, 2010: OBAMA: They talk about me like a dog.
_______________

UPDATE: DETAILS HERE.
_______________

UPDATE: Details on the event still sketchy.

President Barack Obama will be in Milwaukee on Labor Day - his third visit to the area in a little over two months - to talk directly to working families.

Obama will appear at Laborfest on the Maier Festival Grounds. The event, to be held from noon to 7 p.m., is open to the public, but a ticket will be required to see the president. The ticketing procedure is still being worked out.

In addition to Obama, Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis and Richard Trumka, president of the national AFL-CIO, will be at the event.

In 2008, Obama appeared at Laborfest as a candidate for president. Instead of his planned speech, then Sen. Obama asked the crowd to remember the victims of Hurricane Gustav.

The festival, held annually, is organized by the Milwaukee Area Labor Council. Sheila Cochran, secretary-treasurer and chief operating officer of the council, said 8,000 people attended the event last year. More people are expected this year.

Cochran said 150 different labor unions will be represented at Laborfest. "I have been told the president wants to talk to working families," Cochran said.

Sure. Obama wants to talk to "working families."

How many "working families" were in the crowd at his very pricey August 16 fundraiser for Tom Barrett?

Working families were shut out of that event.

Obama doesn't care about working families. He cares about holding on to power and keeping the unions in his pocket.

If he really cared about working families, he wouldn't be raising their taxes and destroying jobs. He would be empowering them, not making them dependent on big government and running up historic debt. Obama would be taking steps to get out of the current recession/depression rather than prolonging the misery.
____________________

Again?

Obama is coming to Milwaukee again?

So soon?

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

President Obama is coming back to Milwaukee next Monday for a Labor Day speech, his third visit to southeast Wisconsin in a little over two months.

According to a White House official, the president will talk about the economy at Laborfest, the festival organized by the Milwaukee Area Labor Council. The same event drew Democratic President Bill Clinton during his 1996 re-election campaign.

Wisconsin is a vital state for Democrats and for Obama in a perilous mid-term election cycle. The party is defending the governor's office, Russ Feingold's U.S. Senate seat, both chambers of the state Legislature and at least two U.S. House seats against competitive Republican campaigns.

I think instead of giving a few remarks at Laborfest, Obama should bring the family to Wisconsin and vacation at the Dells.

Photos of Obama at Noah's Ark, slipping and sliding and riding the Scorpion's Tail, would get more press and be more beneficial to the campaigns of the floundering Tom Barrett and Russ Feingold than some dry speech at Laborfest.

BORING!

What's Obama going to say? Is he going to tell the truth?

I'm raising your taxes. Letting the Bush tax cuts expire is bad for the economy. I know it stifles economic growth and investment, but I don't care. More jobs are leaving Wisconsin. Oh, well.

He should definitely go to the Dells. Obama could ride Flash Flood. Maybe not. That might remind Milwaukee flood victims about being denied assistance from FEMA.
_________________

Remember when Obama spoke in Milwaukee on Labor Day 2008?

He gave the crowd a whopping 14-minute speech!

I hope Obama can muster up a little more than that this time.

TIME: 'Rethinking Homeownership'

Here's another disturbing TIME magazine cover:



The cover story: "Rethinking Homeownership: Why owning a home may no longer make economic sense."

TIME makes the case against homeownership.

Homeownership has let us down. For generations, Americans believed that owning a home was an axiomatic good. Our political leaders hammered home the point. Franklin Roosevelt held that a country of homeowners was "unconquerable." Homeownership could even, in the words of George H.W. Bush's Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Jack Kemp, "save babies, save children, save families and save America." A house with a front lawn and a picket fence wasn't just a nice place to live or a risk-free investment; it was a way to transform a nation. No wonder leaders of all political stripes wanted to spend more than $100 billion a year on subsidies and tax breaks to encourage people to buy.

But the dark side of homeownership is now all too apparent: foreclosures and walkaways, neighborhoods plagued by abandoned properties and plummeting home values, a nation in which families have $6 trillion less in housing wealth than they did just three years ago. Indeed, easy lending stimulated by the cult of homeownership may have triggered the financial crisis and led directly to its biggest bailout, that of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Housing remains a drag on the economy. Existing-home sales in July dropped 27% from the prior month, exacerbating fears of a double-dip. And all that is just the obvious tale of a housing bubble and what happened when it popped. The real story is deeper and darker still.

For the better part of a century, politics, industry and culture aligned to create a fetish of the idea of buying a house. Homeownership has done plenty of good over the decades; it has provided stability to tens of millions of families and anchored a labor-intensive sector of the economy. Yet by idealizing the act of buying a home, we have ignored the downsides. In the bubble years, lending standards slipped dramatically, allowing many Americans to put far too much of their income into paying for their housing. And we ignored longer-term phenomena too. Homeownership contributed to the hollowing out of cities and kept renters out of the best neighborhoods. It fed America's overuse of energy and oil. It made it more difficult for those who had lost a job to find another. Perhaps worst of all, it helped us become casually self-deceiving: by telling ourselves that homeownership was a pathway to wealth and stable communities and better test scores, we avoided dealing with these formidable issues head-on.

In sum, TIME is suggesting that we kiss the American Dream as we know it goodbye.

From a Leftist standpoint, good riddance.

Owning a home and the rugged individualist don't fit their vision for America.

Homeownership is the enemy of enormous government bent on "spreading the wealth around" and creating a dependent class.

There's no question that giving loans to people unable to afford to pay them back was irresponsible and setting up a disaster. That's a different issue. But arguing against the very notion of owning a home and private property? What the hell?

Homeownership isn't the problem.

Individual irresponsibility is the problem. Government handouts are the problem. Runaway government spending is the problem.

Instead of "rethinking homeownership," I think some Americans need to "rethink" their acceptance of the direction that Obama and the Leftists want to take the country. They need to understand what the Left's vision entails. They need to take a close look at liberalism and its many pitfalls.

If homeownership no longer makes economic sense, our way of life is in for a radical transformation.

Rejecting homeownership as a desirable goal is economic suicide. Great idea, TIME. Destroy more jobs. Take out entire industries.

In addition to economic suicide, it would mean the death of the American character.

Jimmy Fallon: '24,' 'Law & Order,' 'Lost' Medley

A comedy highlight of the 2010 Emmys was Jimmy Fallon's musical medley paying "tribute to three shows we lost this year."

Fallon's impressions - Elton John, Boyz II Men, Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day - were funny. In just seconds, he transformed from one artist to the next.

The altered lyrics were great.

JIMMY FALLON (Elton John): Goodbye 24, Though I never watched you on TV, I missed one episode, had to buy the DVD. And Jack saved the day, He saved our lives when the show came to an end. Never going to the men's room, how did he hold it in? I would like to thank you for all the torturin' For Jack and Chloe and CTU, and the first black president.

Music: Boyz II Men's "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" Altered lyrics:

 

JIMMY FALLON (Boyz II Men): How do I say goodbye to Law & Order? The good crimes, the changing cast-- Everybody in New York City with a SAG card had a blast. And how did we get to Season 21? But now the sound has gone away. (Law & Order's signature notes) But at least there's still that one with Mariska Hargitay.

Music: Green Day's "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" Altered lyrics: 
 

JIMMY FALLON (Billie Joe Armstrong): Another show is gone 'cause Lost is over, too. Locke was the smoke monster and Jacob was some dude. Goodbye to Kate and Sawyer, Hurley, Ben, and Jack. He grew a crazy beard and said, 'We have to go back, WE HAVE TO GO BACK!' The island it was mythical, but in the end they died. I didn't understand it but I tried. The island it was mythical, and in the end they died. I didn't understand it but I tried.

August and September

August.

Another summer is ending.

September's coming soon.

Obama: Summer of Recovery

Emmy Preview

Video.

Albert Pujols: 'Restoring Honor' Rally

Albert Pujols received the Hope Award today at the Restoring Honor rally in Washington, D.C. He was introduced by St. Louis Cardinals Manager Tony La Russa.

Video.

Obama: Biking, with a Helmet

In a departure from last summer's Martha's Vineyard vacation, Obama is being a good role model this year.

He's wearing a helmet while biking.

A year ago to the day, Obama went biking during his summer vacation on Martha's Vineyard.

Last year, he opted to bike without a helmet.

Where's your bike helmet, Mr. Obama?

Obama's daughters are wearing helmets. That's good.

Unfortunately, Obama opted to go without one. I guess he's too cool for a helmet. Not good. Not good at all.

Considering the Obama administration wants to reach into what seems like every aspect of our lives and control what we do, especially when it comes to our bodies, it seems odd that Obama would exercise his freedom to choose to ride without a helmet. His choice is kind of reckless and certainly not setting a good example for adults.

He's putting his safety at risk.

The lib media like to call Obama the "Father-in-Chief."

Father Obama isn't being a very good role model. He's not making a healthy choice.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: 'I Have a Dream'

Text of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, August 28, 1963, Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C.

Stevie Ray Vaughan

It was TWENTY years ago today that Stevie Ray Vaughan and four others were killed in a helicopter crash following a concert at Alpine Valley.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

He wasn't the headliner, but some say Stevie Ray Vaughan stole the show that night 20 years ago. His wailing Stratocaster and Texas brand of blues had people on their feet.

It would be the guitarist's last performance. At age 35 and with his career peaking, Vaughan was killed when the helicopter carrying him from Alpine Valley Music Theatre crashed on takeoff in the fog.

Death came instantly early that morning of Aug. 27, 1990, yet it would be nearly six hours before the wreckage was located on the side of a 150-foot ski hill at the adjoining Alpine Valley Resort.

The nearly 40,000 people who witnessed the show made their way home on foggy highways without knowing what had happened. The earliest reports said Eric Clapton, who had top billing, might have been on board the helicopter. Finally, the truth was known. It was Vaughan along with three members of Clapton's entourage and the pilot. All were dead.

It was such a terrible loss.

It speaks to Vaughan's brilliance that twenty years after his death his talent is still respected and he remains an admired and beloved performer.






_______________

Unfortunately, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel had a glaring error in its online coverage of the sad anniversary.





In two places online, the Journal Sentinel refers to the crash being FORTY years ago.

1990 wasn't 40 years ago.
_______________

UPDATE: Someone at the Journal Sentinel woke up and made the appropriate correction.

ABC News: Ground Zero Mosque Wrongdoing

ABC News didn't report the story of Sunday's rally in New York protesting the Ground Zero mosque. It created a story.

Andrea S. Lafferty, Big Peace, witnessed "provocative behavior" by an ABC News staffer.

Story and photos here.

ABC News was busted. Eventually, it released a statement admitting the wrongdoing.

However, according to Lafferty, the statement from Jeffrey W. Schneider, senior vice president and spokesman for ABC News, was inadequate and deceptive. Although Schneider acknowledged there was inappropriate behavior, he misrepresented what happened and failed to be forthcoming about the ABC employees involved in the situation.

From Breitbart TV:



Where is the journalistic integrity?

ABC was at the rally to make news rather than report it.

And the mainstream media wonder why the public doesn't trust them to be fair.

Tom Barrett: Go Daddy Domain Expired

Tom Barrett's campaign website, barrettforwisconsin.com, was temporarily shut down this morning.

HE LET THE DOMAIN NAME EXPIRE!

NOTICE: This domain expired on 08/25/2010 and is pending renewal or deletion.

Sloppy, lazy, incompetent.

Those qualities don't exactly inspire confidence.

If Barrett and his team can't manage to keep their website online, are we supposed to trust them to lead and manage the state of Wisconsin?

Barrett for governor?

Yeah, NO!

Feisal Abdul Rauf: U.S. Terrorism Fostered Islamic Terrorism

Here's more from Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf:

In 2006, Rauf said that U.S. "terrorism" is at the root of Islamic terrorism.

Video.

Ron Johnson: Green T-Shirts

Get your Ron Johnson green t-shirt and join Team Freedom!

Ken Mehlman: Gay

NEWSFLASH: Bush Campaign Chief and Former RNC Chair Ken Mehlman: I'm Gay

Andy Levy reacts to the revelation:

Safe to say the news that Ken Mehlman is gay sent shock waves through absolutely nowhere.

Fact Check: 'Stimulus Assessments Overly Optimistic'

Now and then, the Associated Press offers a Fact Check article and actually cuts through its usual Obama cheerleading.

Its most recent Fact Check: "Stimulus assessments overly optimistic."

This really is no revelation. We know the administration has been touting the effectiveness of the stimulus and we know it's BS.

Still, I find it amusing to see AP actually report that what Obama, Biden, and the rest of team claim is actually "overly optimistic."

The Obama administration claimed this week that $100 billion invested in innovative technologies under the economic stimulus law is "transforming the American economy" by putting the nation on track for technological breakthroughs in health care, energy and transportation.

But an examination of details in the 50-page report unveiled Tuesday by Vice President Joe Biden reveals something a bit different: a collection of rosy projections that ignore many of the challenges, pitfalls and economic realities in all those areas.

A look at how the administration's claims compare to the facts:

Increasing renewable energy

The claim: Thanks to the stimulus, the U.S. is on track to "doubling U.S. renewable energy generation capacity and U.S. renewable manufacturing capacity by 2012."

The facts: While the Recovery Act has helped increase renewable energy, the fact that it is a one-time jolt makes it difficult to project that the growth will continue for the next couple of years. George Sterzinger, executive director of the Renewable Energy Policy Project, a Washington think tank that promotes renewable energy, said the Recovery Act's cash grant program for renewable energy projects "jump-started a lot of stuff. But there's nothing beyond that."

...

Cutting the cost of solar power

The claim: Government stimulus money will lead to "cutting the cost of solar power in half by 2015, putting it on par with the cost of retail electricity from the grid."

The facts: That projection assumes a huge payoff from stimulus spending on technology improvements in solar energy. Nelson, who has worked in renewable energy for 25 years, called the prediction "highly unlikely," unless there is a big increase in utility-scale solar power projects.

...

Quicker, cheaper genetic mapping

The claim: Stimulus funding is spurring National Institutes of Health research to make unraveling people's individual genetic codes, or genomes, easy and cheap enough that the number completed could "dwarf, by 50 times or so" the number so far finished.

The facts: NIH research kicked off the revolution in human genome sequencing and continues to play a crucial role, but it has lots of help today from universities, international research foundations and even private companies jockeying to sell better gene-scanning machines.

This one caught my eye:

High-speed rail

The claim: "With $8 billion in funding, the Recovery Act is beginning to make high-speed rail a reality across the country." Projects selected for funds represent "strategic investments" that will yield high-speed service or lay the groundwork for future service.

The facts: The largest project is one that would connect San Francisco with Los Angeles, using trains traveling up to 220 mph. But some of the projects getting stimulus money would primarily upgrade existing freight rail tracks so they could be used for faster passenger service, reaching speeds of up to 110 mph at least part of the time — well short of the speeds in other developed countries.

Not everyone shares the White House's optimism about the prospects for high-speed rail. A recent analysis by the Government Accountability Office concluded that building high-speed rail service in the U.S. "is a difficult, multiyear effort" that hinges on financing that goes "far beyond the funds provided by the Recovery Act in a time of continuing federal and state deficits."

To say not everyone shares the White House's optimism about the prospects for high-speed rail is an understatement.

Health information technology

The claim: Stimulus spending is "a significant boost" to goals of converting to electronic health records, computerized prescriptions and remote treatment of patients in hard-to-reach locations.

The facts: The effort to get doctors' offices and hospitals using electronic medical records is in its earliest stages. Economic dividends from greater efficiency and fewer costly medical mistakes could be years away.

And there's plenty of potential for glitches. People involved with the issue give the administration high marks for trying, but many do not expect Obama's goal of getting all of America's medical records computerized within five years to be met.

...

Electric vehicles

The claim: The stimulus has helped produce "significant steps toward affordable electric cars that can drive 300 miles on a single charge, powered by $10 of clean electricity instead of $50 dollars of oil. Ultimately this means consumers may have the choice among a range of vehicles from a combustion vehicle with over 50 miles per gallon or an electric-drive vehicle for the same price."

The facts: While strides are being made, this vision of the future rests on assumptions that many regard as overly optimistic. Even a White House task force on the auto industry's recovery said while General Motors' extended-range plug-in hybrid, the Volt, "holds promise, it will likely be too expensive to be commercially successful in the short term." At $41,000, the Volt is about twice the price of a conventional midsize car. The price of electric cars will drop, but automakers are years from being able to sell them at the same price as cars with internal combustion engines.

In short, regarding the stimulus, Team Obama has lied repeatedly to the American people.
________________

Read the Washington Times editorial:

Cooking the books on job claims
Stimulus does more for politicians than American work force

Macaulay Culkin - 30th Birthday

Macaulay Culkin is 30 years old today!



Home Alone was released in November 1990. Twenty years ago!

It doesn't seem possible.

Letterman: One Term Obama

David Letterman seems to be disillusioned.

What's wrong, Dave?

Maybe it's old age, but he seems so tired and dejected, not to mention bitter.

It's sad. Long, long ago, Letterman was funny. Now, he's a pathetic figure.

DAVID LETTERMAN: You know who else is on vacation? President Barack Obama. And this is his, since he's been in office, this is his sixth vacation. Yup, he'll have plenty of time for vacations when his one term is up. Plenty of time.

(Applause)

Letterman looks so unhappy.

Ron Johnson: DSCC Attack

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has Ron Johnson in its crosshairs.

Obviously, the Dems realize that Russ Feingold is very vulnerable.

Rasmussen has bad news for Feingold.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in the state finds Johnson earning 47% of the vote, while Feingold, who is seeking a third-term, picks up 46% support. One percent (1%) prefers some other candidate, and five percent (5%) are not sure.

Two weeks ago, Johnson held an identical 47% to 46% lead. These findings show little change since Johnson, a plastics manufacturer and businessman, entered the race in late May. Support for Johnson has ranged from 44% to 48%. In those same surveys, Feingold has consistently picked up 46% of the vote.

This really is bad news for Feingold and the Dems:

Among unaffiliated voters, Johnson leads Feingold by 10 points.

10 POINTS!

Feingold is in trouble.I guess his attack ads and lies aren't resonating with Wisconsin voters.

Understandably, the Dems are trying to help the floundering Feingold.

In a fundraising e-mail from Paul Begala for the DSCC, Johnson is attacked as an extremist.

These aren't your Mama's old-fashioned Eisenhower Republicans they're trying to elect. These folks are so far outside the political mainstream, roaming rates should apply:

---Wisconsin Senate candidate - and BP shareholder - Ron Johnson doesn't think burning fossil fuels - or any human activity, for that matter - causes global warming. He blames sunspots. Yep, sunspots. I think Ol' Ron has been out in the sun too long.

---Kentucky's Rand Paul thinks the federal government should butt out of making sure people with disabilities are treated fairly and coal miners don't die on the job. He opposes nearly all federal spending - except Medicare reimbursements for eye surgeons (Three guesses as to what Dr. Paul does for a living when he's not running for office.)

---Nevada's Sharron Angle wants to eliminate Social Security - leaving 390,553 vulnerable recipients to fend for themselves. She wants to abolish the U.S. Department of Education, and even supports a nuclear waste depository in Nevada. (Which one Nevada Republican once famously called a "nuclear waste suppository.")

These right-wingers will have history - and plenty of outside money - on their side. That's why I'm asking for your help once again. Without it, we won't be able to do everything we need to fight back. And we're facing one HECK of a fight.

Click here to give $5 or more to the DSCC. Aug. 31 is one of the final FEC deadlines before the election, and I'm asking you to help Democrats fight back. You'll be automatically entered for a chance to win* an iPad prize pack!

Money talks, but it can't drown out the voices of millions of grassroots supporters. We saw what our voices could do in 2008. It's time to start hollering again.

Sincerely,

Paul Begala

The Dems are desperate, trying to paint Ron Johnson as a loon.



The EXTREME candidate in Wisconsin's U.S. Senate race is Russ Feingold.

Recall Feingold's horrific extremism on partial-birth abortion in this exchange he had with Senator Rick Santorum.

On September 26, 1996, during debate on partial-birth abortion, Feingold revealed just how radically pro-abortion he is.

Transcript

Sen. Santorum: Will the Senator from Wisconsin yield for a question?

Sen. Feingold: I will.

Sen. Santorum: The Senator from Wisconsin says that this decision should be left up to the mother and the doctor, as if there is absolutely no limit that could be placed on what decision that they make with respect to that. And the Senator from California [Sen. Barbara Boxer] is going up to advise you of what my question is going to be, and I will ask it anyway. And my question is this: that if that baby were delivered breech style and everything was delivered except for the head, and for some reason that that baby's head would slip out -- that the baby was completely delivered -- would it then still be up to the doctor and the mother to decide whether to kill that baby?

Sen. Feingold: I would simply answer your question by saying under the Boxer amendment, the standard of saying it has to be a determination, by a doctor, of health of the mother, is a sufficient standard that would apply to that situation. And that would be an adequate standard.

Sen. Santorum: That doesn't answer the question. Let's assume that this procedure is being performed for the reason that you've stated, and the head is accidentally delivered. Would you allow the doctor to kill the baby?

Sen. Feingold: I am not the person to be answering that question. That is a question that should be answered by a doctor, and by the woman who receives advice from the doctor. And neither I, nor is the Senator from Pennsylvania, truly competent to answer those questions. That is why we should not be making those decisions here on the floor of the Senate.

That exchange is absolutely chilling, so chilling that Feingold had the Congressional Record altered.

Feingold actually refused to say that the life of a baby who survived a late-term abortion should be protected.

That's not just being pro-abortion. That's pro-infanticide. Apparently, standing up against infanticide is above Feingold's pay grade.

The reality is Feingold does not represent the views of most Wisconsinites.

Again, who is the extremist in this race?

It's not Ron Johnson.

Ernest Borgnine: Lifetime Achievement and 'Brokeback Mountain'

Last week, it was announced that the Screen Actors Guild will be honoring Ernest Borgnine with a lifetime achievement award.

Ernest Borgnine will receive a lifetime achievement honor during the Screen Actors Guild's annual awards on January 30, the union said Wednesday.

Borgnine, who won a best actor Oscar for 1955's "Marty," has appeared in nearly 200 films and TV shows, including "From Here to Eternity" and the series "McHale's Navy."

"Whether portraying brutish villains, sympathetic everymen, complex leaders or hapless heroes, Ernest Borgnine has brought a boundless energy which, at 93, is still a hallmark of his remarkably busy life and career," SAG president Ken Howard said.

Borgnine has had an incredible career and is certainly worthy of recognition.

However, not everyone is pleased with giving Borgnine the honor. The problem is his "personal politics." Some SAG members don't like Borgnine's views and are making noise about bestowing the award on him.

The Los Angeles Times asks: "Should SAG be honoring Ernest Borgnine?"

While Borgnine's work ethic is admirable — he has three films due out this year — his personal politics are less than laudable. Four years ago, he waded into the discussion about the merits of the movie "Brokeback Mountain," the first film to feature A-list talent in a gay love story. As Borgnine told Entertainment Weekly, "I didn’t see it and I don’t care to see it. I know they say it’s a good picture, but I don’t care to see it." Then he added, "If John Wayne were alive, he’d be rolling over in his grave!"

Such sentiments were widespread enough in Hollywood to cause "Brokeback Mountain" to stumble in the home stretch of the awards derby. The film was the front-runner after having been named the best picture of the year by 23 award groups, including the Producers Guild, BAFTA, Indie Spirits, Los Angeles Film Critics Assn., New York Film Critics Circle, the Broadcast Film Critics Assn. and the Golden Globes (where "Crash" wasn't even nominated).

...While academy voters rewarded "Brokeback Mountain" director Ang Lee and screenwriters Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana as well as composer Gustavo Santaolalla, they could not award this breakthrough film the best picture prize. How many of them were like Borgnine and didn't even watch it?

This is nuts.

Brokeback Mountain didn't win the Best Picture Oscar and somehow that makes Borgnine a poor choice for a lifetime achievement award?

Years ago, he expressed his opinion. He has the right to do that even if some in Hollywood don't like what his opinion is.

John Nolte, Big Hollywood, discusses the blacklisters at the LA Times.

If nothing else, you have to give the entertainment media credit for its inability to hit bottom. There is no low low enough for these people and just when you think they can’t possibly sink any lower, somehow they always manage to summon up that little something necessary to go the extra mile in the department of outright cruelty.

Last week the Screen Actors Guild announced that Ernest Borgnine will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at next years awards ceremony. Obviously this decision is a no-brainer. The 93 year-old Oscar-winner’s been making films since 1951 and is still active today, including a role in the upcoming Bruce Willis blockbuster “Red.” But now, no less than the L.A. Times is suggesting that SAG reconsider their decision to honor the man because of — their words, not mine — “his personal politics.”

...Yes, someone’s still childishly stoking their outrage over ”Brokeback Mountain’s” loss to “Crash” at that year’s Academy Awards, and that someone has a spirit mean enough to want to see Borgnine pay for the “homophobic snub.” And you can bet that for all these years these vicious cultural enforcers have been sitting on Borgnine’s comment, just waiting for the opportunity to strike back. And not just for the cheap thrill found in petty revenge either, but to put the entire industry on notice with a very intimidating and chilling warning that says, ”No one gets a pass. No one. Not even 93 year-old legends. You will conform, or you will pay a heavy price.”

What kind of bastard gets off on the idea of making miserable a man in his 90s by labeling him a bigot on a site read by everyone in the industry — you know, because he wasn’t interested in watching two men have explicit big-screen sex? Just how hateful and intolerant do you have to be to publicly float the suggestion that the rug be pulled out from under someone because he wasn’t interested in seeing the movie you wanted to win the Oscar?

Nolte goes on ripping the LA Times, concluding that justice would be served if the paper folded and Borgnine would be the "Grand Marshall leading the miles-long parade made up of many thousands of decent people from all over the country who have gathered to piss on its grave."

Obviously, Nolte is livid over the attack on Borgnine.

I think his anger is justified.

The attempt to blacklist Borgnine because his personal politics aren't in line with some in Hollywood is chilling. He didn't see Brokeback Mountain. He didn't want to. That was his choice. So what?

Does Borgnine need to watch the 5-year-old movie and apologize for his previous remarks to make him worthy of a lifetime achievement award?

Is there a litmus test for recognition by SAG?

The LA Times is making Borgnine out to be a bigot and a homophobe. Good grief. The man has worked in Hollywood for 60 years. He certainly has worked with homosexuals. How did he manage to keep his career alive if he's truly homophobic and a hater, as the LA Times suggests? It would have been impossible.

Borgnine isn't responsible for Brokeback Mountain losing out to Crash. The outcome of the Oscars in 2006 has nothing to do with Borgnine's contributions to American culture and his achievements in his field.

Hollywood is really a close-minded little community. If you don't march in lock-step with the prevailing political agenda of the elite, you're tossed aside. Actually, it's worse than being tossed aside. You're pummeled and kicked around and demeaned before being discarded. Even a 93-year-old man and legendary actor is shown no mercy simply because he voiced a truth, that he didn't "care to see" Brokeback Mountain.

Hollywood is full of hypocrites. The holier-than-thou Hollywood crowd has a history of bigotry and condemning people while it deserves condemnation.

For example, members of the Hollywood elite, including some that were very young or weren't alive during the proceedings of the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950s, have acted as if they themselves were victims.

In 1999, when Elia Kazan received an honorary Academy Award for lifetime achievement, some Hollywood royalty reacted with outrage, not ready to forgive Kazan for "naming names" decades earlier during the era of the Red Scare and blacklisting.

I can still remember Amy Madigan and Ed Harris sitting in the front row, refusing to applaud, and glaring at Kazan when he received his award. It was a childish display.

In the early morning hours of March 21, 1999, Hollywood was completing the final preparations for its annual celebration of itself. Workers were laying red carpet and polishing huge statues. Cameramen and reporters jockeyed for position to catch glimpses of Hollywood’s royalty as they arrived at the Academy Awards. Over these images we hear news reports that set the stage for what promised to be a uniquely controversial evening.

There was the normal buzz about Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Outfit. But this year, along with the manufactured glitz and glamour, there was an anger and vitriol nearly fifty years old. Elia Kazan, one of America’s great directors, was to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award, and this honor had divided Hollywood.

Now eighty-nine years old, Kazan’s impressive body of work includes such late 1940s and early 50s films as ON THE WATERFRONT, EAST OF EDEN, A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, GENTLEMAN’S AGREEMENT, and A FACE IN THE CROWD. On the surface, the controversy is straightforward. In 1952, Kazan appeared before the House Committee on Un-American Activities and named eight of his old friends from the Group Theater who in the 1930s, along with him, had been members of the American Communist Party.

Many in Hollywood are still outraged about that time in U.S. history when people who were blacklisted by the studios-writers, directors, and actors-never worked again, fled the country, worked under aliases, or even, in one extreme case, committed suicide.

Five hundred protesters gather outside the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, with placards that read “Elia Kazan: Nominated for Benedict Arnold Award,” “Don’t Whitewash the Blacklist,” and “Kazan-the Linda Tripp of the 50s.”

...One of Kazan’s defenders is Arthur Miller, much to the disappointment of many on the left. Miller is one of the heroes of the McCarthy Era. He defied the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) in 1956, and refused, unlike Kazan, to name those whom he knew to be “fellow travelers.” For this he was held in contempt of Congress, fined, and sentenced to jail time.

And yet, Miller sided with those who believed Kazan should be honored. “My feelings toward that terrible era are unchanged,” he wrote in The Guardian, “but at the same time history ought not to be rewritten. Elia Kazan did sufficient extraordinary work in theater and film to merit acknowledgement.”

Lives were ruined by the blacklisting, yet today's Hollywood elite have no problem engaging in blacklisting themselves.

Hypocrites.

Will Borgnine, like Kazan, face protesters when he arrives at the SAG awards? Will he, like Kazan, be greeted with hostility by his colleagues?

I hope not, but I don't have faith in the Hollywood Leftists to behave in a civil fashion.

Forget it, Ernie. It's Hollywood.
__________________

Mark Levin comments on the trashing of Ernest Borgnine.

Holocaust Survivor - Ground Zero Mosque Rally

A Holocaust survivor attending last Sunday's rally opposing the Ground Zero mosque was the victim of an extremely abusive supporter of the project.

The crazed man verbally assaulted the elderly man, cursing him out.

The guy certainly is not about building bridges. His hate just boils over. He can't contain it.

Would Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf approve?

Video.


Who is the hater here?

MAN WITH CAMERA: Hey, bro! Bro, how does it feel to curse out an old man who's a Holocaust survivor? How does that feel?

PRO-MOSQUE MAN: I have no problem cursing out an unpatriotic, treasonous piece of garbage that wouldn't know the G-- damn Constitution if it hit him in the f---ing face. OK? Got that?

.....

PRO-MOSQUE MAN: (Speaking to the man taping the incident) So that's how it feels, OK? Holocaust victim? You know what? Obviously he didn't learn his lesson all this time he was a Holocaust victim because right now he wants to do the same G-- damn f---ing thing to the Muslims that had to happen to him.

MAN WITH CAMERA: Oh, nobody wants to kill Muslims.

PRO-MOSQUE MAN: That is a disgusting, and obviously you're on his side. You know what? Who cares? You don't know what you're doing either, camera guy!

Oh, man.

What tolerance!

Ron Johnson Interview with Liz Cheney

Last night on Hannity, Liz Cheney interviewed Wisconsin Republican U.S. candidate Ron Johnson.

Could Wisconsin Decide Direction of Senate?

GOP Senate candidate Ron Johnson putting pressure on prominent Democrat Russ Feingold

Here's the video:

Reuters/Ipsos Poll: Obama and Bush Tax Cuts

How bad can things get for Obama?

Obama is now failing in his effort to sell class warfare to the majority of Americans.

What's a radical Leftist like Obama to do?

A new poll shows that people do not want the Bush tax cuts to expire.

From Reuters:

Almost one-third of Americans support President Barack Obama's proposal to allow tax rates to rise for the wealthiest, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found on Tuesday.

Nearly half of those surveyed think the tax breaks, which were enacted under former President George W. Bush, should be extended for everyone, including those who make more than $200,000 a year and would be excluded under Obama's proposal.

Fifteen percent back stronger action than Obama has proposed -- letting all the lower tax rates expire, a view typically held by those worried about the yawning budget deficit.

Overall, that implies Americans are closely divided over the Bush era tax cuts. The poll found 49 percent favored extending all of Bush's tax cuts, while 46 percent favored letting them expire at the end of this year for all or some Americans.

...When asked to rate their top economic concerns, the respondents listed government spending second, behind unemployment. Sixty-seven percent said they are "very concerned" about government spending, the poll found.

That finding implies the Republicans' message about excessively high government spending is resonating with voters.

However, when asked whether lower taxes or cutting the budget deficit was a higher priority, majorities among both parties rated the deficit as more important.

...Obama and his fellow Democrats want to raise tax rates for individuals earning $200,000 or more, and for couples making more than $250,000. Republicans back extending historically low federal tax rates on all, including the upper income groups.

...With unemployment stubbornly stuck near 10 percent, Republicans and several conservative Democrats argue raising taxes could derail the fragile economic recovery.

It has to worry Obama that so many Americans aren't buying into his class warfare, "stick it to the rich" stuff anymore.

It has to bother him that Americans WANT President Bush's tax policy to be extended and they're rejecting his plan.

It has to concern Obama that Americans don't trust him and the Dems to get the economy back on track.

And let's not forget, that Obama and his fellow Democrats have already raised "tax rates for individuals earning $200,000 or more, and for couples making more than $250,000."

Here's Obama and his big lie:



He broke that pledge on February 4, 2009.

If Obama allows the Bush tax cuts to expire, chances are your taxes will go up. That's a tax increase, an OBAMA tax increase.
__________________

Joe Biden tries to defend Obama's tax increase policy.

He claims:

Vice President Biden tells Rep. John Boehner that he appreciates his advice but that the administration will be fine with its own plan ...Vice President Biden told House Minority Leader John Boehner on Tuesday that he appreciates his advice — fire the White House’s economists — but that the administration will be fine with its own plan.

“After months of promising a look at his party’s agenda for their plans for America ... he made what was billed this morning as a major economic address,” Biden said at a Recovery Act event on Tuesday. “His chief proposal was that the president should fire his economic team — very constructive advice, and we thank the leader for that.”

Biden accused Republicans of having run the economy “into the ground” during the Bush years and favoring “special interests.”

“I respect them for their honesty,” he said. “ respect them for stating what they think. But there are millions upon millions of Americans who saw their paychecks sink. ... Mr. Boehner is nostalgic for those good old days, but the American people are not.”

According to the Reuters/Ipsos poll, Biden is wrong. It seems that Americans are nostalgic for the good old days of the Bush tax cuts.

Biden wants Americans to blame Bush for the current economic situation. They don't. Obama owns the economy. It's his recession.

Video here.

Walker Aide Tim Russell: Computer Seized

Now I understand why Dan Bice, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, wrote about Tom Barrett and Jeff Fleming yesterday -- to avoid the appearance of being a Barrett hack and disseminating propaganda for Barrett's campaign.

With all Bice's blabbering about journalistic integrity and ethics, is it any wonder that he's trying to seem fair?

Just a day after Bice's piece on Barrett and Fleming, he gets to the BIG story. Of course, it's anti-Scott Walker.

Bice writes:

A longtime aide to Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker had his work computer seized by authorities last week, sources familiar with the situation said Monday.

Those sources said the computer was removed Friday while Tim Russell - the county housing administrator and a former Walker campaign aide - was away from his office.

Russell did not return numerous calls regarding the confiscation of his computer as part of an investigation by county prosecutors. He has an office in the Marcia P. Coggs Human Services Center on W. Vliet St.

Assistant District Attorney Bruce Landgraf, who is overseeing the probe, refused to respond to questions.

"I have absolutely no comment," said Landgraf, who typically handles cases involving election and campaign fraud.

The action by the DA's office is made all the more interesting in that it is occurring just weeks before the Sept. 14 gubernatorial primary. Walker is running against former U.S. Rep. Mark Neumann for the Republican nomination, with the winner squaring off in November against Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, a Democrat.

More interesting? Why? In what way?

Is Bice suggesting that this story could break Walker?

Reached Sunday at a car show, Walker said he knew nothing about the situation.

"Tim's not said anything to me," he said.

Walker also declined to offer any criticism of the office of Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm, a Democrat, for pursuing this investigation so close to the upcoming election.

Asked if he was surprised by the timing of the probe, Walker said: "I can't be surprised by something I don't know about."

The county CEO wasn't the only one pleading ignorance.

Walker spokeswoman Fran McLaughlin said she had no comment because she knew nothing. Also mum was Tom Nardelli, Walker's chief of staff.

"I know nothing of it," said the former alderman. He said Russell, who used to work with him as deputy chief of staff in Walker office, had not contacted him to discuss what had happened.

Why doesn't Bice just come right out and say that he thinks Walker and his staff are lying, "pleading ignorance"?

This doesn't seem like investigative reporting. It seems more like a press release from the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.

Russell, 47, used to run former Gov. Tommy Thompson's Milwaukee office and has been with Walker since he ran for county executive in 2002.

It remains unclear what Landgraf is pursuing.

There are several possibilities.

Oh, goody. Bice is going to speculate. What fun!

A number of groups have been making open records requests about Walker and his staff because of the governor's race, said Cynthia Archer, a Walker aide.

It's possible that one of those requests turned up information that prompted a complaint to Landgraf's office.

In addition, Landgraf has repeatedly declined to say if his office is investigating Darlene Wink, a former Walker staffer who resigned in May after admitting that she was frequently posting comments on Journal Sentinel stories and blogs while on the clock for the taxpayers and the county. Nearly all of her posts praised Walker or criticized his two opponents, Neumann and Barrett.

Hers was admittedly a minor offense.

But not long after that, Citizens for Responsible Government, a pro-Walker outfit, complained that a liberal blogger, Christopher Liebenthal, was using his county computer for political activity.

That led prosecutors to seize Liebenthal's computer earlier this summer. The investigation concluded that Liebenthal had engaged in extensive political blogging, but prosecutors said the matter should be considered a personnel matter, not a criminal one.

Of course. Chris "Capper" Liebenthal is the author of Whallah! It's a despicable blog, founded on cruelty and harassment. (Russ Feingold likes it enough to include it on the blogroll of his official campaign website. Go figure.)

Naturally, good Barrett soldier Bice points out that Liebenthal's offenses are deemed to be a personnel matter and not criminal.

But what about Russell???

Why was his computer seized?????

So many questions, so very, very, few answers. No matter.

It's less likely that the investigation has to do with Operation Freedom, an annual military appreciation day held at the zoo.

A couple of months ago, Russell said the Walker administration had asked Chisholm to investigate what had happened to $11,000 raised in 2007 for the event. The DA confirmed that his office was looking into the matter.

"Nobody's making accusations about anything here," Russell said in June. "Maybe there are records in somebody's bottom drawer that would demonstrate that money was appropriately spent."

But an official with the local chapter of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, which acted as fiscal agent for the program in 2006-'08, said the investigation appeared dormant.

"I have not been contacted by prosecutors, period," said Kevin Kavanaugh, treasurer of the Milwaukee Purple Heart chapter.

Of course, it could be something that has yet to surface.

Whatever it might be, Walker said he can't be considered out of touch for not knowing that one of his aides had his computer seized as part of a criminal probe.

"I've been busy on other things," he explained.

This is so Bice.

He writes at length about nothing factual.

Russell's computer was seized. Fine. Report that, but why go on and on with guesses regarding the reason? It's stupid, empty blathering by Bice; but I'm sure Tom Barrett appreciates the innuendos.

Anything to help ol' Tom.

Sterling Hall Bombing - 40 Years Ago

Forty years ago, anti-Vietnam War radicals bombed Sterling Hall on the UW-Madison campus, killing 33-year-old researcher Robert Fassnacht.

Give peace a chance?

Sure.

Of those involved in the bombing and subsequent murder, only Leo Burt remains a fugitive.

For 40 years, Burt has evaded the law. He's never paid for his crimes.

MADISON, Wis. -- University of Wisconsin student Leo Burt approached his former journalism instructor at the student union one day in August 1970.

The intense 22-year-old thanked the man for encouraging him to write for a left-wing student newspaper, where he covered the Vietnam War protests raging on campus and where his politics had become radicalized. And he said goodbye because he was planning to live underground in Canada for reasons he wouldn't share.

"Only 10 days later, there he was on television," the instructor, Jack Holzhueter, recalled. "And I was shocked to know that Leo had participated in this event."

Forty years after a powerful bomb exploded on the Madison campus, Burt remains the last fugitive wanted by the FBI in connection with radical anti-Vietnam War activities. He vanished almost immediately after the bombing, and is now what one former prosecutor calls "Wisconsin's state ghost."

This week, the university will mark the anniversary by opening a recording booth in the library, where people can relate their memories of the event for inclusion in the university archives and in a documentary theater project. A small plaque honoring Robert Fassnacht, the 33-year-old scientist killed in the blast, is the only permanent sign on campus that the bombing happened.

Burt and three other radicals parked a stolen van packed with fertilizer and fuel outside the university's Army Math Research Center in Sterling Hall and lit the fuse in the early morning hours of Aug. 24, 1970. The bomb attack, the nation's most powerful until the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, killed a graduate student who was doing research in the middle of the night, injured others and caused millions of dollars in damage. The bombers fled to Canada.

Three of the four men were captured in the 1970s after trying to live underground; they were convicted, served short prison terms and resumed their lives. One, Karl Armstrong, operates a juice stand near the bombing site. His brother, Dwight, died of lung cancer in Madison in June. David Fine has worked as a paralegal in Portland, Ore.

...But nobody knows what happened to Leo Burt, an Irish Catholic kid from the Philadelphia suburbs who came to Wisconsin on an ROTC scholarship and joined the rowing team. He would now be 62.

Those who knew Burt are growing increasingly skeptical the student they remember as hardworking, smart and disciplined will ever be found.

"The FBI's guess is as good as mine as to where he is, if he's even alive," Armstrong said. "I have absolutely no clue."

Asked how Burt was able to elude authorities when he and his brother could not, Armstrong laughed. "Well, maybe because he's a smarter guy," he said, explaining that Dwight Armstrong had confided in others about their identities.

Armstrong said the FBI should offer Burt amnesty to turn himself in since history has proved the war in Vietnam a failure. He said the bombing "was the right thing to do at the time" in response to the shooting of protesters at Kent State and they did not intend to harm anyone.

...Holzhueter, the instructor who had urged Burt to write for the Daily Cardinal, said he remains haunted by Burt's disappearance.

"Whatever Leo did, it was principled," he said. "He was a man of great integrity. Some would say he was a killer and stop there, but he was far more complex than that."

The bombers aren't heroes. I don't see how anyone can view them in that light. There's nothing heroic about them or what they did. It's sick to romanticize them or their actions.

Holzhueter is pretty screwed up himself to call Burt "a man of great integrity." Such a man doesn't bomb a building.

Burt and his fellow bombers are homegrown terrorists. Period.

If Burt is still alive, I wonder what he does on the anniversary of the bombing. Does he look back and believe he did the right thing in August 1970? Is he like Dwight Armstrong in that respect, unrepentant? Is he dead, like Dwight Armstrong?

It's so strange that these radicals thought it was a good idea to wage war because they were against the war.

It's creepy to think that Burt, this terrorist, may still be alive and living among us. Maybe he hangs out with fellow terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn. Maybe he's in Canada with other fugitives of his era. Maybe on August 24th he celebrates that magical day in his life when he became famous.

Burt isn't "Wisconsin's state ghost."

I think "Wisconsin's state terrorist" is a more appropriate label.


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From the Wisconsin State Journal: Sterling Hall bombing: 40 years later, Robert Fassnacht's family opens up