Soviet of California to end welfare?

Arnold is now proposing to end welfare in CA as a means to try and close the budget gap.  I have to think he's bluffing to pressure the Democrats into finally starting to move toward cutting stupid/unnecessary programs and state jobs, or to make California's extensive dependent class freak out so bad it scares some GOP squishes into signing on to some tax hikes.  Can never tell with him.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 12:23 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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I'm about to be an enormous hypocrite here

I'll admit to being very uncomfortable with the attacks on Michelle Obama's appearance.  I do understand, hell I even support, the position that this is in response to the MSM putting her out there as a paragon of beauty and thus is totally fair.  But still, I do think there's a bit too much glee to some of it.

Now that I've disclaimed, what.  the.  ever.  loving.  hell.  is.  she.  wearing?



I would say the same thing if Sarah Palin were wearing it.  What *is* that?  Not only is it ugly but it's incredibly unflattering to her.  Seriously, did she piss someone off that much that she was advised that it was hip and trendy?  Really, are there no mirrors around? 

Pallete cleansers below the fold - mildly NSFW (and stunningly Dita free but don't let that dissaude you) [also bipartisan so y'all don't whine at me you bunch of whiners]. 
more...

Posted by: alexthechick at 12:13 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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Pluggy Joe Is Confused As To What Sonia Sotomayor's Occupation Is

I wonder if he thinks she's a cop or a janitor with this comment.

Posted by: eddiebear at 10:32 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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"In the year 2000"

"It's time to look into the future..."

"The future, Conan?"

"Yes, all the way into...this Thursday, apparently."

(Via hehindeedreadthewholethingpundit.)

BTW: If you're not sure what's going on here, watch this clip, which aired several years after, well...

Posted by: Sean M. at 04:04 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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And the Brady Campaign says the Democrats never listen to them!

We've all seen the idiotic "gun buyback" schemes, where some gun control group or leftist church or whoever hands out $100 gas cards or whatever to people with shitty broken Lorcins worth the cost of the metals they're made of or taking war bringbacks, antiques, collectors items or hunting rifles worth hundreds or thousands from clueless old widows living on a small fixed budget. 

Well, now the Democrats want to give people $4500 for cars not on the Official Environmentalist Approved Unless You're a Prominent Democrat, Then You Can Drive Whatever the Fuck You Want List^TM, to go toward buying a car on the Approved List, a Car Buyback.  Basically, tax dollars are going to be paying $4500 for sub one thousand shitmobiles, and who knows, maybe they'll trick old widows into giving up their $5000-15000 Buicks and Cadillacs that they drive to the grocery store and mass once a week, too.  It's like they're literally throwing every shitty leftist idea they've got at the economy, and just like the Bradys, they'll fail miserably. 

I'm not worried about the left anymore, they're going to implode (along with our economy, alas), I'm more worried about the corrupt/breathtakingly stupid shitbags in the GOP leadership fucking up a golden opportunity when the Democrats get routed in the next few elections.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 02:47 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Har de har har!

Boy, there's nothing funnier than statutory rape! (As long as the victim is the child of someone with whom you disagree.)

Via Moe Lane, who notes that Letterman is making a joke at the expense of 14-year-old Willow Palin. Note the audience reaction.

Dan Collins is tough but fair in his response.

Oddly enough, there doesn't seem to be any mention of this from some of the top "feminist" bloggers. You'd think they might strenuously object to an old man making a joke about the statutory rape of an underage girl, but...silence so far. Huh. Strange, no?

Well, er, no.

Update: The NYT has a transcript of Letterman's monologue. Curiously, one of his jokes goes unmentioned. Strange, no?

Well, er, no. Again. Yeah.

(h/t)

Posted by: Sean M. at 12:44 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Excuse me for being juvenile...

...but some Spanish soccer team just paid $94million for Kaka. Doody, however, remains unsigned.

Posted by: Sean M. at 10:41 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Hyperbole much?

I haven't said much (if anything) about the George Tiller murder because, frankly (and I don't want to offend anyone here who feels passionately about the subject) abortion isn't one of my main issues. I have qualms about it, sure, and I think Roe is terrible Constitutional law, but it's just not really something I think about a lot.

All of that said, this is just a leeeeetle bit over the top:

A Nebraska abortion provider has likened the murder of fellow late-term abortion Dr. George Tiller to the assassination of this country's most renowned civil rights leader. The Washington Times reports that Dr. LeRoy Carhart says: "This is the equivalent of Martin Luther King being assassinated. This is the equivalent of Pearl Harbor, the sinking of the Lusitanian [sic] and any other major historic event where we've tolerated the intolerable for too long."

Um, really? I have no idea what MLK thought about abortion, but I suspect that as a clergyman, he might have disapproved of it. Especially the late-term variety. But comparing Tiller's murder to the events that plunged our country into two World Wars? Yeah, that's kind of fucking stupid. Dumbass.

Posted by: Sean M. at 09:15 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Oh SNAP!

Among Democrats who are aware of both Benedict Arlen and Joe Sestak, 52% of them favor Sestak.  On one hand, as much as I despise Specter, Sestak may be an even bigger scumbag, but on the other hand, HAHAHAHAAAAAAA!!!!!  How'd that betrayal work out for you, Arlen?

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 09:13 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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A Message To The UN Envirodorks

Fuck off. Seriously. FUCK OFF!

"Single use plastic bags which choke marine life, should be banned or phased out rapidly everywhere. There is simply zero justification for manufacturing them anymore, anywhere," said Achim Steiner, executive director of the U.N. Environment Programme. His office advises U.N. member states on environmental policies.

Steiner's declaration accompanied a UNEP report that identifies plastic as the most pervasive form of ocean litter. According to the report, "Plastic, the most prevalent component of marine debris, poses hazards because it persists so long in the ocean, degrading into tinier and tinier bits that can be consumed by the smallest marine life at the base of the food web."

The ban is already being tested in China, where retailers giving out thin bags can be fined up to $1,464. According to one nationwide survey, 40 billion fewer plastic bags were given out in grocery stores after the law's enactment. In addition, Ireland managed to cut single-use plastic bag consumption 90 percent by levying a fee on each bag that consumers use.

In the United States, only San Francisco has completely banned plastic bags. Los Angeles will do so in 2010. Also, Washington, D.C.'s city council is set to vote on a five-cent-a-bag tax later this month. On first reading, the bill passed unanimously. Similar proposals have failed in New York and Philadelphia.

Keith Christman, senior director for the plastics division of the American Chemistry Council, responded that the term "single-use" is misleading because most people actually reuse plastic bags, "for example, to line their trash cans."

"A ban on plastic bags could also cause some unintended consequences," he said. In particular, the increased demand for paper bags would double greenhouse emissions and create "a dramatic increase in waste," Christman said.

No shit, Sherlock!

I always love the whole unintended consequences bit that crops up as a result of do-gooder leftist crapola.

Posted by: eddiebear at 01:57 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Why Do I Get The Feeling This Is An Empty Gesture By The Messiah?

Seriously, do you believe The One wants to enforce tighter rules on spending?

Obama added: "Paying for what you spend is basic common sense. Perhaps that's why, here in Washington, it's been so elusive." He recalled that two years ago during the presidency of George W. Bush, the new Democratic-controlled Congress adopted rules to restore the pay-as-you-go principle, also known as PAYGO, but could not pass it into law without support from the administration.

"I want you all to know, you now have that support," Obama said to applause from the gathering.

Calling pay-as-you-go "essential," Obama said, "The reckless fiscal policies of the past have left us in a very deep hole. Digging our way out will take time, and patience, and tough choices." He said Americans are "not wrong" to be skeptical, but he expressed confidence that political leaders can seize "an extraordinary moment" and summon the resolve to "restore fiscal responsibility."

Obama has said since taking office that he would support a push to enact budget rules similar to those that were in effect during the Clinton administration, when big deficits were briefly transformed into surpluses.

If approved by Congress, the rules would forbid lawmakers from expanding entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security, creating new entitlement programs or cutting taxes unless the cost is covered by spending cuts or tax increases. If lawmakers fail to pay for their initiatives, Obama's rules would subject some entitlement programs to automatic cuts, according to details of the plan released by the White House.

Deficit hawks applauded the move, saying the automatic trigger, known as sequestration, would mark a return to more serious budget restraint, though they expressed concern about the administration's plan to exempt some programs from automatic cuts, particularly the massive and popular Social Security program.

Posted by: eddiebear at 01:51 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Golfers arrested in UK for beating down attackers

A group of yoots armed with boards approached a group of golfers and demanded they hand their clubs over.  Golfers told the yoots to fuck themselves, melee ensued, the yoots got their shit handed to them, and the golfers get arrested.  We'll see if the other yoots are arrested after they leave the hospital, one already has. 

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 01:14 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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If You Love CanadaCare, You'll Love Obama Care

This should end well.

Overall, according to a study published in Lancet Oncology last year, five-year cancer survival rates are higher in the U.S. than those in Canada. Based on data from the Joint Canada/U.S. Survey of Health (done by Statistics Canada and the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics), Americans have greater access to preventive screening tests and have higher treatment rates for chronic illnesses. No wonder: To limit the growth in health spending, governments restrict the supply of health care by rationing it through waiting. The same survey data show, as June and Paul O'Neill note in a paper published in 2007 in the Forum for Health Economics & Policy, that the poor under socialized medicine seem to be less healthy relative to the nonpoor than their American counterparts.

Ironically, as the U.S. is on the verge of rushing toward government health care, Canada is reforming its system in the opposite direction. In 2005, Canada's supreme court struck down key laws in Quebec that established a government monopoly of health services. Claude Castonguay, who headed the Quebec government commission that recommended the creation of its public health-care system in the 1960s, also has second thoughts. Last year, after completing another review, he declared the system in "crisis" and suggested a massive expansion of private services -- even advocating that public hospitals rent facilities to physicians in off-hours.

And the medical establishment? Dr. Brian Day, an orthopedic surgeon, grew increasingly frustrated by government cutbacks that reduced his access to an operating room and increased the number of patients on his hospital waiting list. He built a private hospital in Vancouver in the 1990s. Last year, he completed a term as the president of the Canadian Medical Association and was succeeded by a Quebec radiologist who owns several private clinics.

In Canada, private-sector health care is growing. Dr. Day estimates that 50,000 people are seen at private clinics every year in British Columbia. According to the New York Times, a private clinic opens at a rate of about one a week across the country. Public-private partnerships, once a taboo topic, are embraced by provincial governments.

In the United Kingdom, where socialized medicine was established after World War II through the National Health Service, the present Labour government has introduced a choice in surgeries by allowing patients to choose among facilities, often including private ones. Even in Sweden, the government has turned over services to the private sector.

Posted by: eddiebear at 10:42 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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More proof that Sarah Palin is teh awesomez.

She's pissing off Senate Republicans left and right. 

Posted by: It's Vintage, Duh at 09:47 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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I hate to be too glib about this...

...but, well...

North Korea's sentencing of two American TV journalists to 12 years of hard labor Monday could imperil the Obama administration's already difficult goal of curtailing the authoritarian nation's nuclear weapons ambitions.

Um, what? Are they going to have to send the Norks an even more sternly worded letter? Is Barack maybe gonna squint and wag a finger at them if he finds time to bother to actually offer a statement about this situation?

Because, yeah, I wish I was fucking kidding. Really, I do.

Posted by: Sean M. at 02:20 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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GOP coup in the Soviet of NY Senate

Two Democrats who are more social con have defected to the GOP, giving control of the NY Senate to the GOP,

After the results of the vote were read aloud, the in-house television station that carries Senate proceedings live in the Capitol went dark. All that appeared on the screen was a still photo of the Senate chamber and the words “Please stand by.”

Reminds me of the coup in Thailand a few years ago, all the TV stations had nothing but pictures of the King and patriotic songs playing. 

Of course, both of these guys are being investigated, so who knows, this could just be a ploy to try and make the Democrats in NY call in some favors and make the investigations go away.  I wouldn't put that past any NY politician. 

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 10:03 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Do my ears deceive me?

I was listening to Mark Levin in the car while on a run to pick up some Val-U-Rite and a pack of smokes, and during the ABC News break, they had their White House correspondent (I forget her name) talking about the "600,000 jobs created or saved" thing that Obama is bandying about and (GASP!) she actually said something to the effect that there was no possible way to actually, you know, verify that figure.

I nearly crashed into the car in front of me.

Posted by: Sean M. at 07:46 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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PETA needs to diaf

(yes that's related somehow. it is. accept and move on)

I want to go on record as saying that I'm rooting for the bear.

Posted by: alexthechick at 05:46 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Talk About Irony

The Energy Department fails an energy audit.

All told, the auditors estimated that DOE could save more than $1.5 million annually on energy bills if the staff just implemented the government’s own power-saving guidelines. And that’s just at the seven facilities surveyed, the report noted. Department-wide the savings could be greater.

The episode highlights one of the toughest challenges in curbing energy usage: changing behavior isn’t easy. The most sure path to improving efficiency might be measures that don’t rely on human nature to work—like putting more insulation in the walls.

Posted by: eddiebear at 02:52 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Throbbing Package Deeply Penetrates Eagerly Submissive Unemployment Numbers

I had no idea how deeply and vigorously my package would effect the unemployment numbers:*

In other news, it seems a great many people seem to be unwilling to accommodate my enormous stimulus package.  Unfortunately, I have deemed that, like many other invasive government activities, accepting the insertion of my stimulus to your person or business is mandatory. 

We know this may be difficult so we have established the General Help Bureau (GHB) to more easily facilitate the embrace of my giant package.  This way, even if you are opposed to accepting my generous exhertions, you will still receive the vast bulk of my assistance.

* - Yes, I did this just so I could test out my new art form, graph-cocking.

Posted by: Moron Pundit at 02:11 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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