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Under the Fedora, Israel, Kimberlin and Chicks who love Doctor Who
I’m hearing the MSM yell out that Barack Obama has a mandate after winning in 2012. Funny the GOP managed to keep the house by a wide margin and as George Will it noted just about every one of those congressmen won by a larger margin than Obama.
That’s 230+ mandates the media doesn’t want you to see against.
Another thing the media doesn’t want to see is Senator Kelly Ayotte. They’ve been hitting the Susan Rice Benghazi business pretty hard throwing brickbats at Senator John McCain and Senator Lindsey Graham over it. The left has played the “two old white guys” meme to the hit, forgetting that Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) was at that press conference and made points like this:
Let’s also not forget that, I think you all appreciate you don’t end up on every single major Sunday show without affirmatively putting yourself out there of wanting to carry forward a message on behalf of the administration.
Senator Kelly Ayotte is not only a smart accomplished woman, but she is a tall statuesque and beautiful woman. Normally a person with that description would never be left out of the media stories but she doesn’t fit the meme which must be protected…
…and she is also the highest ranking CONSERVATIVE republican north of NYC so she definitely must not get publicity.
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I haven’t talked much about the Brett Kimberlin case lately but the legal gears continues to move and they appear to be rolling right over him and his pals
John Hoge’s latest news in the Virginia case of Aaron Walker v. Brett Kimberlin, et al., is that Walker’s attorney Dan Backer has filed motions for default judgments against Kimberlin’s co-defendants Ron Bryanert and Neal Rauhauser. Backer is requesting that the court in Prince William County schedule the hearing on this motion for Dec. 4, the same date as a hearing on Backer’s motion for procedural sanctions against Kimberlin.
Furthermore, Backer has filed notice that Brett Kimberlin has breached the court’s order on the sealed discovery for the fifth time.
It is perhaps about time to point out the hazards of amateurism illustrated here. As every student of Kimberlin’s criminal career knows, the Speedway Bomber became somewhat renowned as a “jailhouse lawyer” during his 17 years in federal prison, filing more than 100 actions on his own behalf. But what was his success rate? I’m not sure anyone has ever bothered to check.
These cases like most court cases roll slowly forward but they continue to roll and I suspect while Kimberlin & Co were feeling confident once the President was re-elected the wheels of justice keep turning and continued daylight seems to be hazardous to their continued success.
All the boring legal motions btw are findable at the Hogewash site if you’re into that kind of dry legal stuff.
I’ve had Dan Backer, the lawyer currently trouncing the Kimberlin Crew, on the show. I should have him back before the end of the year if he’s free.
Some sports, people don’t say much about Tom Brady anymore it’s as if he’s passé but not only is his team 7-3 and leading its division but last weekend his offense scored 59 points against the Colts.
Now people might say Indy is overachieving but if you score 59 points in an NFL game against a team that’s 6-3 , either that team is over rated or you’ve still got it.
Brady’s still got it
You know what really gets me about the stupid story of Lindsey Stone who decided it was a good idea to give the finger next to the sign saying “Silence and Respect” at Arlington National Cemetery. The sheer amounts of stupid acts done in sequence by this woman
1. Doing the act
2. Doing it in front of a camera
3. Posting it on Facebook
And the crowning idiocy in this collection of foolishness, doing all of this on her employers time and an employer’s event, that’s smart!
Now I might understand if a person my age or older still did not appreciate the power of the internet, but this young lady was born into the internet age, there is no excuse for not understanding how the internet works. That’s just dumb.
You’ll note that I don’t say a word about the nature of this act, that’s simply because there any person willing to do this either doesn’t know or care that how wrong it is, so why waste my breath explaining it to her?
Speaking of things foolishly done on the net Anderson Cooper is being attacked by the friendly folks of Hamas and their supporters for displaying pictures of Hamas dragging the bodies of summarily executed supposed “collaborators” on the backs of motorcycles through the streets of Gaza.
Mind you they are not upset about the executions, the dragging of the bodies through the streets or even them being on the net, Pam Geller for example has a huge collection of them on the net, but because it was Anderson Cooper of CNN who tweeted it out.
Cooper tweeting it gives legitimacy to the simple fact that when we are dealing with Hamas and their supports we are dealing with murderous barbarian bastards and people who support murderous barbarian bastards. If I say it, it doesn’t have the same impact.
Even worse optics for the Pro-Hamas crowd are the people publicly supporting summary execution and declaring those killed “had it coming”.
That’s the totalitarian left for you, they love civil rights and due process and respect as long as you are with them, but if you are not on their side, having your body dragged from the back of the motorcycle is too good for you.
I give Cooper some credit here, I figure the reason why so much of the press kowtows to these murderous bastards is…because they are murderous bastards and they on occasion have to work within their range.
Speaking of Gaza anybody notice that this wasn’t considered a crisis while Hamas was firing rockets into Israel but it became one once Israel started shooting back. Sort of like the Yon Kippur war, it wasn’t until Israel was about to destroy the Egyptian 3rd Army that the world decided a cease fire was needed?
All of this is bad for Egypt btw. As long as Hamas was firing and Israel was not shooting back, they looked great, but if Israel keeps pounding Hamas and Egypt sits back and lets them they lose face in the Arab world and the Muslim Brotherhood looks like the feckless cowards they are.
Still it’s better than going to war with Israel and being utterly destroyed…again. And if Israel takes Gaza one more time, I’m betting they keep it.
Israel needs to realize that no matter what they do the left and the Arab world will call them murderous and genocidal. Facts don’t matter. That being the case they might as well protect themselves as best they can.
Sort of like the GOP. We could nominate Jon Huntsman on a pro-abortion platform pro-gay marriage platform and he would immediately find himself tagged a racist sexist homophobic misogynistic pig.
That’s the left, it’s what they do.
Mediation has not saved the Twinkie, and liquidation seems to be the next step.
I’m sure the Hostess brands and hopefully the Drakes brands that I like much better will be picked up by somebody but it just goes to show what small amounts of union members can do to 18,500 jobs when they decided to take their ball and go home.
This BTW is a great chance for the right, jobs and layoffs at companies far away have no meaning, but taking away people’s Twinkies, THAT they understand.
Incidentally did you note how the Unions blamed MITT ROMNEY for the Twinkie business? Can you imagine what they’d be blaming them for if he won?
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Finally I had the pleasure of interviewing some excellent female writers and artists at Anne’s Book stop in Worcester where they were talking Doctor Who and two books Chicks Unravel Time: Women Journey Through Every Season of Doctor Who and Chicks Dig Time Lords A Celebration of Doctor Who by the Women Who Love It with contributors K Tempest Bradford, and Jennifer Pelland.
The most interesting thing about the interviews was the totally opposite experiences we have had as Doctor Who fans in America. In England everybody has known Doctor Who for three generations it’s part of the culture but here it not. My experience has always been with a mostly male fan base. I really knew only one woman who was into Dr. Who but their experience was totally opposite, it was all “chicks” who are the fans they know and were shocked to see so many guys at some events.
Still can’t wait for the next season and the 50th anniversary.
If you aren’t watching the show or listening to the Big Finish audios you ought to be.
Happy Thanksgiving to all and to all a good week.
Obama Begins Push for New National Retirement System
A recent hearing sponsored by the Treasury and Labor Departments marked the beginning of the Obama Administration’s effort to nationalize the nation’s pension system and to eliminate private retirement accounts including IRA’s and 401k plans, NSC is warning.
The hearing, held in the Labor Department’s main auditorium, was monitored by NSC staff and featured a line up of left-wing activists including one representative of the AFL-CIO who advocated for more government regulation over private retirement accounts and even the establishment of government-sponsored annuities that would take the place of 401k plans.
“This hearing was set up to explore why Americans are not saving as much for their retirement as they could,” explains National Seniors Council National Director Robert Crone, “However, it is clear that this is the first step towards a government takeover. It feels just like the beginning of the debate over health care and we all know how that ended up.”
A representative of the liberal Pension Rights Center, Rebecca Davis, testified that the government needs to get involved because 401k plans and IRAs are unfair to poor people. She demanded the Obama administration set up a “government-sponsored program administered by the PBGC (the governments’ Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation).” She proclaimed that even “private annuities are problematic.”
Such “reforms” would effectively end private retirement accounts in America, Crone warns. “These people want the government to require that ultimately all Americans buy these government annuities instead of saving or investing on their own. The Government could then take these trillions of dollars and redistribute it through this new national retirement system.”
Deputy Treasury Secretary J. Mark Iwry, who presided over the hearing, is a long-time critic of 401k plans because he believes they benefit the rich. He also appears to be one of the Administration’s point man on this issue.
“This whole issue is moving forward very quickly,” warns Crone. “Already there is a bill requiring all businesses to automatically enroll their employees in IRA plans in which part of every employee’s paycheck would be automatically deducted and deposited into this account. If this passes, the government will be just one step away from being able to confiscate all these retirement accounts.”
NSC has taken the lead in warning the nation about this new government onslaught and is plotting ways to stop it.
“This effort ultimately is designed to grab the retirement nest eggs of America’s senior citizens. This new government annuity scheme, even if it is at first optional, will turn into a giant effort to redistribute the wealth of America’s older citizens,” explains Crone. “This scheme mirrors what I expect the President will try to do with Social Security. He wants to turn that program into a welfare program, too.”
NSC will likely unveil a new grassroots campaign effort later this year or early in January to coincide with the seating of the new Congress.
From the National Seniors Council
Hostess Brands- It’s Over
The New York Times Dealbook blog reports that the emergency mediation talks between Hostess Brands and its Bakery Workers Union have failed. Liquidation now appears inevitable.
Bankruptcy judge Robert Drain arranged the negotiations in a last ditch effort to save the troubled company, but to no avail:
“It’s over,” said David Durkee, secretary-treasurer of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Union.
Unlike the Teamsters, the union would not accept a concessionary contract and continues to blame management for the company’s problems.
In all likelihood, the court will now oversee the breakup of the company and the sale of individual pieces to interested competitors. There is considerable value in the Hostess collection of brands, but it is highly unlikely that steep job losses in the company’s 18,500 strong workforce can be avoided.
A sad Thanksgiving, indeed.
Photo credit: Larry D Moore via Wikipedia
Walter E Williams – Central Planning Defined
Professor Williams boils down central planning to its essence. http://www.LibertyPen.com
Rob Portman: Pelosi-Obama Position On Tax Rates Based On “Democrat Dogma”
From HuffPo:
WASHINGTON — A senior Republican senator on Tuesday accused House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi — and President Obama by extension — of basing their tax policy position on “Democrat dogma.”
“I saw Nancy Pelosi’s comments … saying you can’t get enough revenues through the itemized deductions and closing loopholes. That’s just not accurate. I mean, it’s just not accurate. You can,” Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) told The Huffington Post.
“You can get more revenue if you wanted to. So I don’t know where her math is coming from. It sounds to me like it’s more just a matter of Democrat dogma that they want to be sure that people’s tax rates go up,” Portman said in a phone interview.
“The problem with that is, it’s going to result in more lost jobs at a time when we’ve already lost too many. Rates do affect people’s behavior. They do make the small business owners I was with today less likely to take a risk, make an investment, add the job, buy the truck,” he said.
Heritage: Should We Pay Government Employees More?
Federal employees—who work on average a month less than private-sector workers and get paid more—are lobbying for higher pay.
Government unions know that Congress is looking for ways to nip and tuck the federal budget, and they’re counting on being left out of the deal.
“The Federal-Postal Coalition—a group representing more than two dozen federal employee unions—pleaded with Congress on Monday to spare their members in any deal related to the ‘fiscal cliff,’” Government Executive reports.
Government unions went all out to re-elect the President—the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) spent more than any other outside group on Obama’s campaign. While only about seven out of 100 private-sector workers are unionized, in government, that number rises to 36 out of 100.
Now they’re complaining that they don’t get paid enough.
Federal employees and Members of Congress are working under a two-year “pay freeze,” though “individual employees still remain eligible for raises if they receive promotions, step increases or performance awards,” explains Government Executive.
Of course, these are employees who are paid by the taxpayers. So their compensation deserves every measure of scrutiny. Unfortunately, faulty comparisons to the private sector have been muddying the waters—something Heritage’s Jason Richwine and the American Enterprise Institute’s Andrew G. Biggs have been working to correct.
When Richwine and Biggs wrote in The Washington Post November 18 that government unions were using bogus numbers to push for raises, a firestorm of reader comments erupted. As of this morning, there were 2,480 comments on the piece.
One of the main issues: “The Federal Salary Council, an advisory body of academics and leaders of public employee unions, suggested last month that federal workers are underpaid by an average of 35 percent relative to nonfederal employees.”
What’s behind the huge gap the council is claiming? For starters, a huge omission: benefits packages. Richwine and Biggs note:
First, the pay agent doesn’t consider fringe benefits, even though benefits for federal workers are famously generous. In addition to a 401(k)-type pension with a handsome employer match, federal workers receive a traditional defined-benefit pension—for which they contribute less than 1 percent of salary—as well as retiree health coverage. A Congressional Budget Office study published in January found that the federal retirement package was 2.7 times more generous than what is paid by large private-sector firms. Federal workers also receive more paid vacation and sick days.
According to their own reporting, government employees work fewer hours than private-sector employees. To measure this in the fairest way possible, the American Time Use Survey allows workers to record all of their time, including any hours spent working from home or outside normal business hours. Using this data, Richwine found that government employees worked about one month less per year than private-sector workers.
And not only do they work less, they get paid more.
A January 2012 report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) showed that federal government employees receive substantially higher compensation than similarly skilled workers in the private sector. The report’s methodology and conclusions were broadly similar to previous studies from both The Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute. Richwine, Biggs, and Heritage’s James Sherk concluded:
Federal compensation should be scaled back and reallocated to reward the most productive federal workers. The government should replace the seniority system with performance pay, paying higher salaries to good workers without guaranteeing raises for mediocre performers.
Government unions worked hard to re-elect President Obama, and now they’re expecting a payout at the expense of taxpayers. Any suggestion that their pay is below market levels is completely false.
Originally posted at The Foundry by Amy Payne
Rough start for fiscal cliff talks
Politico – The opening round of negotiations this week between White House and senior GOP congressional staffers left both sides pessimistic about their ability to reach a quick deal on averting the fiscal cliff, according to sources familiar with the talks.
Hill Democrats say Republicans aren’t serious about crafting a deal that President Barack Obama can accept. The GOP’s opening offer, the sources said, would freeze the Bush-era tax rates, change the inflation calculator for entitlement programs, keep the estate tax at 2012 levels and authorize a major overhaul of the Tax Code — although they did not provide a revenue target.
The behind-the-scenes clash in negotiations stands in contrast to the more conciliatory rhetoric both sides have used in public statements, casting doubt on the coming four weeks of talks before Christmas.
In addition to wanting to keep the Bush tax rates, Republicans also want to postpone the sequester, or tens of billions of dollars in automatic spending cuts for the Pentagon and domestic programs set to kick in on Jan. 2.
The People vs. Unions: Cash, Credit and Corruption
Townhall Finance – While it’s a truism that for every finger you point at someone else you’ve got three pointed right back at you, for liberals it’s part of their laws of physics.
It would be impossible for the laws of liberals to govern without this binding hypocrisy that keeps them in orbit.
That’s why it shouldn’t surprise you that for all the leftist rhetoric about corporations and greed contributing the decline of the country, there’s one corporate outfit that’s really screwing up this country- and it’s a creation and a creature of the left.
Like most Big Left organizations it is a corporate body that is funded by you and I, but serves only the holy trinity of liberals, leftists and liars.
How many balloons would it take to float Batman’s house?
CNET – Some eternal questions vex us through history. How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop? How do cats purr? How many balloons would it take to lift my house into the air like in the “Up” movie? That last question is no longer a mystery.
An online calculator from real estate blog Movoto will tell you how many helium balloons you’ll have to order from Party City to get your house off the ground. You tell it how big your house is and it gives you the number. For the record, my 1,100-square-foot house will require a mere 28,470,200 balloons to battle gravity.
