Brown Breaks With GOP To Back Dem Jobs Bill – Washington Examiner

A group of “moderate” Senate Republicans Monday helped a job creation bill pass a key test vote in the Senate, giving Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Democratic lawmakers a desperately needed political victory as they struggle to show voters they are working to fix the nation’s sour economy.

The Senate voted 62-30 to begin debate on the $15 billion bill, which includes a combination of tax incentives and state federal aid aimed at boosting job growth.

Since Democrats no longer control a 60 vote supermajority required to prevent the GOP from blocking legislation, they needed the help of Republicans to start debate on the bill. They got it from five GOP lawmakers, including newcomer Scott Brown, of Massachusetts.

Brown said he wanted the bill to include bigger tax cuts, “but I voted for it because it contains measures that will help put people back to work.”

Click HERE For Rest Of Story

Another must read from The Classic Liberal

Conservatives and Lbertarians Great piece. like I said a MUST READ!

Another great line from Greg Gutfeld

Greg Gutfeld is a good writer, great host on Fox’s Red Eye, which is the best political commentary show on TV. The only thing that could make it better would be for me to be invited on, but, until that happens, check out the funniest line of the day

And if you disagree with me, you’re probably a racist leperchaun who eats babies.

Go read the entire piece, funny stuff.

YEP! Liberals WILL tax anything!

Like, oh say, 911 calls!

In an outrageous example of government failure, the town of Tracy, CA has decided to start charging residents to use 911 for medical emergencies. They can choose to pay a $48 a year “subscription” or pay $300 per call. If you’re an out-of-state resident dialing 911 for a medical emergency, then you get charged $400. Unbelievable:

Taxaholics!

 

Bob Belvedere: Hokeybee is a Douchebag, and even cool guys can make bad hat decisions

Bob has a nice look back at C-Pac, including the whiny reaction of the phoniest Republican evah!

-The party’s over, and a very successful party it was, by all accounts.  Well, that is unless you’re Mike Hucksterbee and you turned down an invitation to be at the successful party and you’re now reduced to trying [and failing] to save face.  From the Politico, Jonathan Martin reporting: 

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee blasted the Conservative Political Action Conference Saturday as outdated, nearly corrupt and unrepresentative of the conservative movement. 

Huckabee, a 2008 Republican presidential contender and potential 2012 candidate who had spoken at the conference for years, said the reason he blew it off this year was that the meeting has become dominated by libertarian activists.

Bob goes on to unload on Hokeybee 

Back in December, I think I called it right when I labeled The Hucksterbee a PATHETIC WEASEL LOOOSA. 

Stacy McCain has the right idea

Heh. So now that he’s got his own Fox News show, Huckabee’s too good for CPAC? I’m thinking of calling Lisa De Pasquale and suggesting that next year’s CPAC feature the Mike Huckabee Award for Outstanding Douchebaggery. 

Excellent idea. My own feelings about Hokeybee are well known. He is the Republican version of John Edwards, without the good hair or the Whore addiction. He is a Televangelist with a better suit. He will say anything to get a vote, in short he is a political whore. And even worse, Michael Medved LOVES the guy, is there a better sign that a politician is a RINO than that?

Bob also exposes some, well, troubling hat choices by some other wise excellent bloggers.

Actually, Da Tech Guy on the far right, looks respectable enough. Those two characters on the Left though? Shady.

Uh Oh! Someone has Racial Obsession Syndrome!

Thanks to Dave C for pointing out Frank Schaeffer, who has a severe case of Racial Obsession Syndrome.

Here’s the truth: when the electoral high and hype wore off America woke up to the fact we had elected a black man for president. And then right wing America decided nothing he did could be right.

Odd, Frank started out accusing the Right of being racist, but quickly turns to accusing the entire nation of it. Oddly enough, I  wonder if Frank had any qualms about so many voting for Obama just because he is Black?

If Frank had been paying attention during the 2008 campaign, he would have noted that for much of it, we Conservatives were vehemently opposed to Hillary Clinton, because of her ideals. And John Edwards, because of his ideals, and in 2004, to John Kerry because of, say it with me Franky, HIS IDEALS! And yes, Frank, if any president, were pushing the things that President Obama is pushing, then YES, we would oppose them with equal vigor.

Franky continues his incoherent ramblings

It’s not about race it’s just a coincidence that the Tea-Party movement is lily white and just happened to come along now!

It’s just a coincidence that the all-white militia movement has become reanimated.

It’s just a big fluke that the Republicans are voting against things they’ve always asked for as soon as the black man in the White House says he’s for them.

Ah, here we go with the Lily-White smear. If I could get an interview with Franky, I would ask him two questions. First off Franky, are White folks bad? Is there something inherently racist in being White? Or perhaps Franky has not taken note, that several people like Walter Williams, Michelle Malkin, Thomas Sowell, all vehemently oppose the Obama agenda. They are not White Franky, not that that matters, because yes, Franky it IS about ideals, not race.

Perhaps Mr. Schaeffer does not consider these people, and many other non Whites who are opposing Obama’s agenda, as legitimate. Is that it Franky? Are minorities ONLY minorities if they think as racist pricks like you dictate they think?

And yes, Franky, I did just call you a racist, because, well, only a racist could be so obsessed with skin color. Franky, you are suffering from Racial obsession Syndrome. A malady that strikes Liberals like you causing them to look ONLY at the skin color of anyone. To a sufferer of ROS, everything centers on race. And oh yes, those suffering from ROS certainly are ill enough to believe that Blacks think as a group, not as individuals.

So there is my diagnosis for Franky Schaeffer, one SICK PUPPY, suffering the ravages of ROS, go ahead and read the rest of his incredibly hate-filled, racially obsessed screed folks. Some highlights? He accuses Fox News of calling Obama a racist, and a Communist, and OF course, damns America  as a cesspool of racism, who frankly, just does not deserve Obama. Of course, Schaeffer, continues to accuse those damned White folks of being a bunch of racists. Odd, millions and millions of White folks voted for Obama, but, I guess it was racism that drove them to that right Franky?

A final suggestion for Franky. You might want to actually attend a few Tea Parties, and LISTEN, to the people. Do not just believe what the “lily White” hosts on MSNBC tell you Franky.

Oh, and Franky, I am here for you. I, Doctor Gator not only diagnoses maladies like ROS, I also treat them. My first prescription is this. Read this blog twice a day.

So, exactly how crazy ARE Democrats?

Clifton asks if they are crazy enough to vote for the same pig, but with different lipstick

Well, the White House unveiled ObamaCare 2.0 today and the first thing that comes to my mind is; this is the same pig as before, but now with bright red lipstick!

The price for ObamaCare 2.0 is supposed to be $950 billion and  ”deficit neutral”. If you believe that, you have not been paying attention. All the nasty aspects of the Senate bill are there, new taxes, mandates, the union exemption and the Louisiana Purchase.  Added into the mix are price controls.

What is missing is any public option, which is sure to be a problem for the more liberal Democrats. Federal funding of abortion is still in there and that will be problematic for the now skittish moderates.

It is clear to me that the president is willing for House and Senate to commit political suicide to pass this. But are enough Democrats stupid enough to ignore their constituents and jump off the Healthcare Cliff? Or does the president believe that more lipstick can make this pig acceptable?

Moments ago, the White House just released a $950 billion health care proposal bridging the differences between the House and Senate health care bills. Administration officials described the President’s legislation as “our take on how to bridge those differences” and explained that the language was informed by meetings between House and Senate officials. “We view this as the opening bid for the health meeting [on Thursday]. The President believes strongly that the meeting would be most productive were we to come to the table with one proposal that addresses these concerns as a pose to different proposals,” White House Communications Director David Pfeiffer explained.

The Obama plan maintains key elements of the Senate proposal but also incorporates stronger anti-fraud provisions and allows the federal government to review insurance rate hikes. On a call with reporters Pfeiffer insisted that the administration has not determined “on which path to move forward with”, but the bill’s substance suggests that Obama is hoping to bypass a prolonged-Senate debate and use the reconciliation process to fix the Senate bill and convince reluctant House progressives to pass the Senate legislation. “The American people deserve up or down vote on health reform,”Pfeiffer said. “We can get an up or down vote if opposition decides to take extraordinary steps of filibustering health reforms.”

Surely the Democrats do not think they can please the people by voting for this. The American people hated both the House and the Senate bills. So, now, they think we will suddenly like a combination 0f these two? They must be crazy. Or, perhaps they are willing to lose elections to “fundamentally change” America forever?

Maybe the question is not “How crazy are the Democrats” after all. Perhaps the proper question is “How Marxist are the Democrats?”

White House Accused Of Federal Crime In Specter, Bennett Races – American Spectator

A bombshell has just exploded in the 2010 elections.

For the second time in five months, the Obama White House is being accused — by Democrats — of offering high ranking government jobs in return for political favors. What no one is reporting is that this is a violation of federal law that can lead to prison time, a fine or both, according to Title 18, Chapter 11, Section 211 of the United States Code.

The jobs in question? Secretary of the Navy and a position within the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The favor requested in return? Withdrawal from Senate challenges to two sitting United States Senators, both Democrats supported by President Obama. The Senators are Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania and Michael Bennet in Colorado.

On Friday, Pennsylvania Congressman Joe Sestak, the Democrat challenging Specter for re-nomination, launched the controversy by accusing the Obama White House of offering him a federal job in exchange for his agreeing to abandon his race against Specter.

In August of 2009, the Denver Post reported last September, Deputy White House Chief of Staff Jim Messina “offered specific suggestions” for a job in the Obama Administration to Colorado Democrat Andrew Romanoff, a former state House Speaker, if Romanoff would agree to abandon a nomination challenge to U.S. Senator Michael Bennet. Bennet was appointed to the seat upon the resignation of then-Senator Ken Salazar after Salazar was appointed by Obama to serve as Secretary of the Interior. According to the Post, the specific job mentioned was in the U.S. Agency for International Development. The Post cited “several sources who described the communication to The Denver Post.”

The paper also describes Messina as “President Barack Obama’s deputy chief of staff and a storied fixer in the White House political shop.” Messina’s immediate boss is White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel.

Sestak is standing by his story. Romanoff refused to discuss it with the Denver paper. In both instances the White House has denied the offers took place. The Sestak story in the Philadelphia Inquirer, reported by Thomas Fitzgerald, can be found here, While the Denver Post story, reported by Michael Riley, from September 27, 2009, can be read here.

Click HERE For Rest Of Story

Gold Post Police Dress As Bandits In Mock Pharmacy Robbery – Courier-Mail

Queensland police are in trouble again, accused of dressing as bandits to stage a prank robbery, leading to a tense gunpoint stand-off with undercover detectives.

The incident is under investigation in the latest setback for the Gold Coast police region already reeling from allegations of drug-related corruption.

The fake robbery, which involved officers from the Coomera police station in April 2008, is the subject of an ongoing investigation from the Ethical Standards Command.

It is one of the ever-increasing number of incidents to attract the attention of the Crime and Misconduct Commission.

The police service was rocked last week with allegations of drug dealing involving several Gold Coast officers – a storm that is the subject of a CMC inquiry.

Since then, allegations have emerged of a culture among some junior officers of bribery and standover tactics.

It was revealed on Saturday that two officers from the Gold Coast’s liquor licensing squad were suspended for allegedly taking bribes.

The Coomera “robbery” has not been linked to any corruption inquiry but highlights a trend of officers behaving badly.

Click HERE For Rest Of Story

Israel Unveils New Drone Fleet That Can Reach Iran – My Way

Israel’s air force on Sunday introduced a fleet of huge pilotless planes that can remain in the air for a full day and could fly as far as the Persian Gulf, putting rival Iran within its range.

The Heron TP drones have a wingspan of 86 feet (26 meters), making them the size of Boeing 737 passenger jets and the largest unmanned aircraft in Israel’s military. The planes can fly at least 20 consecutive hours and are primarily used for surveillance and carrying diverse payloads.

At the fleet’s inauguration ceremony at a sprawling air base in central Israel, the drone dwarfed an F-15 fighter jet parked beside it. The unmanned plane resembles its predecessor, the Heron, but can fly higher, reaching an altitude of more than 40,000 feet (12,000 meters), and remain in the air longer.

“With the inauguration of the Heron TP, we are realizing the air force’s dream,” said Brig. Gen. Amikam Norkin, commander of the base that will operate the drones. “The Heron TP is a technological and operational breakthrough.”

The commander of Israel’s air force, Maj. Gen. Ido Nehushtan, said the aircraft “has the potential to be able to conduct new missions down the line as they become relevant.”

Israel’s military refused to say how large the new fleet is or whether the planes were designed for use against Iran, but stressed it was versatile and could adapt to new missions. The plane’s maker, state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries, has said it is capable of reaching the Persian Gulf, which would put Iran within its range.

Click HERE For Rest Of Story

Lufthansa Pilots Begin 4-Day Walkout – New York Times

Air travellers endured cancellations and disruptions Monday as pilots for Lufthansa, Europe’s largest airline, began a four-day walkout that has already forced the grounding of hundreds of flights.

The German flag carrier was operating a sharply reduced schedule that involved scrubbing roughly half of Monday’s 1,800 scheduled flights, up from an initial plan of 800 daily cancellations for the duration of the strike. The airline said some pilots that had been scheduled to work through the strike were not showing up and a spokesman estimated that as many as 1,000 flights might not get off the ground Monday.

The airline said most of the canceled flights were on domestic German routes, where Lufthansa was offering to rebook passengers on trains to their destinations. For European and intercontinental flights, the carrier said it was re-booking passengers whenever possible with its partners within the Star Alliance. Lufthansa said it planned to maintain all flights on routes where it has no airline partners.

Lawyers for Lufthansa asked a Frankfurt labor court to issue a temporary injunction to halt the strike by the Cockpit Association union, arguing that a four-day work stoppage would cause excessive harm to the airline. A hearing on Lufthansa’s request was expected later Monday.

Click HERE For Rest Of Story

Ralph The 42 Pound Rabbit – CBS News

Ralph the rabbit seems to be the stuff of fairy tales:

Once upon a time, there lived a rabbit named Ralph. He lived in England. But he wasn’t any ordinary rabbit…

But this rabbit isn’t the stuff of Peter Cottontail. Ralph the rabbit would likely frighten Peter by his immense size. Ralph weighs in at 42 pounds and is about two feet long — bigger than most 3-year-old kids. And he’s still growing, eating about four pounds of food a day.

One could claim Ralph’s the biggest bunny ever. However, it can’t be officially verified because the Guinness Book of World Records no longer measures pets because they don’t want their owners to overfeed them.

86% Of Americans Think The Government Is Broken – Say Anything

Couple this with the New York Times/CBS poll which had just 8% of Americans wanting this Congress re-elected and the picture becomes clear: This is going to be an ugly, ugly year for incumbents.

Washington (CNN) – Americans overwhelmingly think that the government in this country is broken, according to a new national poll. But the CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey, released Sunday morning, also indicates that the public overwhelmingly holds out hope that what’s broken can be fixed.

Eighty-six percent of people questioned in the poll say that our system of government is broken, with 14 percent saying no. Of that 86 percent, 81 percent say that the government can be fixed, with 5 percent saying it’s beyond repair.

Obama campaigned on change. But it seems as thought he chief accomplishment of his first year in office is to make Americans want to change the Democrat domination of the federal government.

Though, to be sure, Republicans have a long way to go before they convince me that they’re ready to take over and govern.

DNA, Hot Line Lead To Arrests In Texas Church Fire – USA Today

Investigators say DNA evidence collected at the site of one of several Texas churches destroyed by arson links one of two suspects to the blaze, and they haven’t ruled out more charges.

Jason Robert Bourque, 19, and Daniel George McAllister, 21, were arrested and charged Sunday with one count of felony arson for the torching of a church in rural Smith County, said Tom Crowley, spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Crowley declined to say which suspect produced the positive DNA match.

The church near Tyler, about 90 miles east of Dallas, was among 10 in east Texas burned since the beginning of 2010. Authorities believe those fires, along with another in central Texas, were arson. No injuries have been reported in the fires.

MORE: 10 Texas church fires under investigation
FEAR: String of church arsons worries congregations

“Because they are charged with one doesn’t mean they’re not going to be charged with some of the others,” Crowley said.

Crowley said a telephone hot line established as the number of church fires mounted produced a tip that implicated one of the pair, and that they had been “on our radar” for several weeks. Officials declined to discuss a motive at a news conference Sunday.

Investigators collected DNA from the site of several of the fires, and samples from one of the suspects matched evidence found at the scene of the Smith County fire, Crowley said.

Bourque and McAllister could face life in prison if convicted. Bond is set at $10 million apiece. Crowley and Smith County jail officials said they had no information on attorneys for either man.

Click HERE For Rest Of Story

City Thinks Woman’s $1,600 Water Bill Is Correct – Yahoo News

A Minneapolis woman has received a $1,600 water bill, a bill the city believes is accurate even though it’s 20 times the woman’s usual bill. Erica Kocur said her bill is generally $70 to $80 per month. She said her “heart just dropped” when she got her latest bill. The city said she must have a running toilet or dripping faucet.

But KSTP-TV said the bill is charging for almost 200,000 gallons of water. That’s three times the volume of her entire home. A shower would have to run nonstop for almost two months to use that much water.

The city’s director of treasury is LeeAnn Stagg. She said the city believes the bill is accurate, but the city will check Kocur’s meter one more time.

Man Drives Over 1,000 Miles Round-Trip To Work – Washington Post

In the early dawn, after another week building cars, Michael Hanley leaves his job in Kansas. He quickly zips into Missouri, then heads up a ribbon of highway past grain silos and grazing deer, across the frozen fields of Iowa, over the Mississippi River and into the rolling hills of Wisconsin. Finally, he pulls into his driveway – 530 miles later.

It’s one heck of a haul: more than 1,000 miles roundtrip, 16-plus hours of driving, every week.

“I like to say I gave up an eight-minute commute for an eight-hour commute,” he says wearily, running a hand though salt-and-pepper hair as he watches his two sons play basketball for the first time this season.

After the aging General Motors plant where he worked for 23 years was idled about a year ago, Hanley faced a Hobson’s choice: Stay with his family and search for an autoworker’s salary ($28 an hour) in a county where more than 40 percent of its manufacturing jobs disappeared from 2006 to 2009. Or hang on to his GM paycheck and health insurance and follow the job, no matter where it leads.

Click HERE For Rest Of Story

Climate Scientists Withdraw Journal Claims Of Rising Sea Levels – Climate Change Fraud

Scientists have been forced to withdraw a study on projected sea level rise due to global warming after finding mistakes that undermined the findings.

The study, published in 2009 in Nature Geoscience, one of the top journals in its field, confirmed the conclusions of the 2007 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It used data over the last 22,000 years to predict that sea level would rise by between 7cm and 82cm by the end of the century.

At the time, Siddall said the study “strengthens the confidence with which one may interpret the IPCC results”. The IPCC said that sea level would probably rise by 18cm-59cm by 2100, though stressed this was based on incomplete information about ice sheet melting and that the true rise could be higher.

Many scientists criticised the IPCC approach as too conservative, and several papers since have suggested that sea level could rise more. Martin Vermeer of the Helsinki University of Technology, Finland and Stefan Rahmstorf of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany published a study in December that projected a rise of 0.75m to 1.9m by 2100.

Siddall said that he did not know whether the retracted paper’s estimate of sea level rise was an overestimate or an underestimate.

Announcing the formal retraction of the paper from the journal, Mark Siddall, from the Earth Sciences Department at the University of Bristol, said: “It’s one of those things that happens. People make mistakes and mistakes happen in science.” He said there were two separate technical mistakes in the paper, which were pointed out by other scientists after it was published. A formal retraction was required, rather than a correction, because the errors undermined the study’s conclusion.

Click HERE For Rest Of Story

Shuttle Back On Earth After Rare Night Landing – ABC News

Space shuttle Endeavour and its six astronauts closed out the last major construction mission at the International Space Station with a smooth landing in darkness that struck many as bittersweet.

Only one flight remains for Endeavour, the baby of the shuttle fleet. Overall, just four missions remain.

“We’ll go into it with our heads held high,” launch director Mike Leinbach said early Monday, a few hours after Endeavour landed in Florida. “A little bit sad note, but a great ending to a great mission.”

During the two-week, 5.7 million-mile journey, commander George Zamka and his crew delivered and installed a new space station room, Tranquility, and a big bay window with commanding views of Earth. Their success resulted in the virtual completion of the space station, described by NASA as 98 percent finished.

For a while Sunday, it seemed as though Endeavour’s homecoming might be delayed. All morning and afternoon, forecasters said rain and clouds probably would scuttle any touchdown attempts. But the rain stayed away, and the sky cleared just in time.

“It’s great to be home. It was a great adventure,” Zamka said after the shuttle rolled to a stop on the 3-mile-long runway, awash in xenon lights.

Click HERE For Rest Of Story

Not much from me today

I feel like Hell, headache, sore throat, body aches, pretty much wiped out, so, there will be not much from me today my friends.

Why yes, Obama IS obsessed with taking over health care

Ruby Slippers notices that President Obama is nearing pathological where health care “reform” is concerned

The White House obsession with health care borders on the pathological at this point. A month after Scott Brown won his earthquake victory in Massachusetts, the Obama administration is reportedly writing its’ own bill which is then to be passed through reconciliation. Are we to believe they think the American people will suddenly adore this bill if it is passed by what is commonly referred to as “the nuclear option?” They can not let it go. It’s nearly impossible to believe they can be so staggeringly ignorant they would pass this bill by the most divisive means possible. Still they persist.

Political analyst Charlie Cook likened this administration’s obsession with health care to Bush’s decision to go to war in Iraq. Whether you agree or disagree with the analogy, it is stunning to hear a decidely left-leaning but fair analyst discuss the magnitude of the health care failure and its implications for this White House and the Democratic Congress. Cook makes some grim statements on the fate of Democrats in the following clip. Full transcript available at National Journal 

Yes, Obama, as well as Reid and Pelosi are Hell-bent on forcing this stinking pile of Marxism on the American people. They know, beyond any doubt that this is not what the people want. Yet, they are redoubling their efforts to force it upon us anyway.

 

This, my friends, is what happens when we, the people, make the mistake of electing Neo-Marxists who do not believe in our Constitution, or in personal liberty. This is what we get when we vote for empty suits who are more closely alligned ideologically with Marx, Engels and Lennin than with Madison, Franklin, or Jefferson.

 

Now, my dear friends, we must do two things. First, we must beat this attempt back by redoubling OUR efforts. Second, we must toss these miscreants out of office beginning this November! And yes, we must continue that electoral purge in 2012 as well.

 

These people have proven themselves incapable of obeying our Constitution. They have forgotten their place. They are the enemies of liberty, and of our Constitution. Again, vote them out, vote in leaders who WILL do their duty.