Doppelgänger Week

It's Doppelgänger Week, where frightening similarities are pointed and laughed at. Today's entrant is a troll with poor personal hygene.

Yes, this troll was made famous by her suicidal husband and most recently by her many stints in rehab. Courtney Love is what we like to call a walking disaster. It's sad to say but her kid, Francis Bean has more sense than Courtney does. Courtney's just living her life by that old adage, 'Die young and leave a pretty corpse*." On second thought, maybe not.

*For President Obama, this word does have an audible 'p' unlike corpsman which does not. Just trying to help.

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Hump Day Hottie

It's once again a Wednesday morning which must mean that it's time for another Hump Day Hottie post. Good news for you, I'm real tight with Nadine Velazquez from 'My Name Is Earl.' So close are we in fact that she sent me over these pictures from a photo shoot that's going into some fancy magazine. Anyway, she thought these would be good HDH fodder, and I figger she's probably right. So here you go, Nadine Velazquez

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Doppelgänger Week

It's Doppelgänger Week, where frightening similarities are pointed and laughed at. Today's installment features The First Dog, Bo.

Here's a little about Bo from the Wikipedia:

[Bo is] an American singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. [Bo] was a popular R&B and funk singer in the late 1970s and 1980s, scoring four #1 hits on the U.S. R&B charts. Among his best-known songs are "Super Freak" and "You and I". In addition to his music, he gained notoriety for his wild lifestyle: later in life, [Bo's] drug abuse led to widely publicized legal problems.

Who knew Bo was such a famous dog before he shacked up with PeeBo? Of course, he went on to be lampooned by Dave Chappelle on the Dave Chappelle Show where the quote "I'm Rick James, bitch!" was attributed to him. I'm not sure why he said that all the time. Maybe because they look similar? I'm not really sure.

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Family Matters

A family emegency has arisen and the wife and I have flown to Green Bay, WI to attend to the matter. I'm sorry that I will not be around for the next few days, but I am keeping in touch with Paul. We'll let you know if something happens. Thanks in advance for your prayers.

CL

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Pat Sajak Gets It

Pat Sajak has to be one of the brightest guys on TV. He's one of the few in Leftywood that actually get it. He's written a piece for Human Events that covers Frank Rich's libel of the Tea Party movement.

Anyway, Mr. Rich has apparently been able to get to the bottom of the vocal opposition to the “healthcare reform” bill that was recently gently shepherded through Congress.

It turns out, according to his well-crafted analysis, that it’s not the bill that’s got people in an uproar; rather, what we’re facing is the death rattle of a dwindling cadre of white, racist, sexist, homophobic males terrified by the ascent of people of color, women and gays.

As the ever-tolerant Rich reasons: “The conjunction of a black President and a female speaker of the House — topped off by a wise Latina on the Supreme Court and a powerful gay congressional committee chairman — would sow fears of disenfranchisement among a dwindling and threatened minority in the country no matter what policies were in play.”

Go read the whole post, and give Wheel another look. This guy is one of the few on TV that deserves to keep his job.

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Expiration

Ever wish there was a comprehensive list detailing each Obama promise along with it's corresponding expiration date? Well stop wishing, and live the dream! You might remember some of these:

STATEMENT: “No family making less than $250,000 will see any form of tax increase.” (multiple times on the campaign trail)

EXPIRATION DATE: Broken multiple times, including the raised taxes on tobacco, a new tax on indoor tanning salons, but most prominently on February 11, 2010: “President Barack Obama said he is “agnostic” about raising taxes on households making less than $250,000 as part of a broad effort to rein in the budget deficit.”

STATEMENT: Executive Order stating, "The detention facilities at Guantánamo for individuals covered by this order shall be closed as soon as practicable, and no later than one year from the date of this order." January 22, 2009.

EXPIRATION DATE: November 19, 2009: "Guantánamo, we had a specific deadline that was missed."

STATEMENT: “We can, then, more effectively deal with what I consider to be one of the greatest threats to the United States, to Israel, and world peace, and that is Iran,” Obama speaking to American Israel Public Affairs Committee in Chicago, March 5, 2007

EXPIRATION DATE: “Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, these countries are tiny...They don’t pose a serious threat to us the way the Soviet Union posed a threat to us.” – May 20, 2008

STATEMENT: "Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided." — speech before AIPAC, June 4, 2008

EXPIRATION DATE: June 6, 2008: "Jerusalem is a final status issue, which means it has to be negotiated between the two parties" as part of "an agreement that they both can live with." – an Obama adviser clarifying his remarks to the Jerusalem Post.

Go check out the whole post, you wont be disappointed!

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Fewer People Support Closing Gitmo Than Support Health Care Reform

On the wrong side of history again, Hippy.

Public support for closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay has dropped from 51 percent in January of last year to 39 percent recently. Hey! That's almost the same support that 'health care reform' gets when it's polled. These Obama Administration people sure have their fingers on the pulse!

The poll, released Sunday, suggests independent voters are contributing to the 12 point overall drop.

"Just Democrats still think that Guantanamo should be closed, but Independents have completely changed - from an even split in January 2009 to three-quarters who want to keep the facility open today," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

More than three out of four Republicans questioned in the poll think that the facility should stay open.

Upon taking office in January 2009, President Obama said he intended to shut down the controversial detention facility in a year. That deadline has slipped, with no specific date announced for closing Guantanamo.

"I believe we're going to get there, but it's complicated," White House senior adviser David Axelrod told CNN's Candy Crowley Sunday on "State of the Union," adding that there has been progress toward closing the facility.

Shouldn't have pissed off those Indie's PeeBo. It's come back to bite you in the keister. That phrase 'One Term President' is becoming more and more real each and every day.

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James Lovelock, Too Stupid To Support

Pack it up, James

So, it's a Tuesday which must mean it's time for another Climate Gate denier to come out of the woodwork and tell us AGW skeptics that we're morons and the world is going to die. Meet, or get reacquainted with James Lovelock, Scientist and AGW advocate. James is the mind behind some of this world's deepest insight on anthropomorphic global warming. Why, here are some of his greatest gems:

"Even the best democracies agree that when a major war approaches, democracy must be put on hold for the time being. I have a feeling that climate change may be an issue as severe as a war. It may be necessary to put democracy on hold for a while."

That's right, Democracy and free societies are the problem. Why, I can just remember like it was yesterday when we gave up our free society to go to war with-- wait, that's right... we've never done that.

Humans are too stupid to prevent climate change from radically impacting on our lives over the coming decades. This is the stark conclusion of James Lovelock, the globally respected environmental thinker and independent scientist who developed the Gaia theory.

But James, you're human...

Lovelock argues that, as a result of global warming, "billions of us will die and the few breeding pairs of people that survive will be in the Arctic where the climate remains tolerable" by the end of the 21st century.

The sky is falling, the sky is falling!

He thinks only a catastrophic event would now persuade humanity to take the threat of climate change seriously enough, such as the collapse of a giant glacier in Antarctica, such as the Pine Island glacier, which would immediately push up sea level. "That would be the sort of event that would change public opinion," he said. "Or a return of the dust bowl in the mid-west. Another Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report won't be enough.

Hmm, where to start here. Let's see, what human activity was it that lead to the dust bowl again? 'Another IPCC report won't be enough,' you mean like the one that was based upon an unsubstantiated college thesis stating that the glaciers were disappearing?

He further predicts, the average temperature in temperate regions will increase by as much as 8°C and by up to 5°C in the tropics, leaving much of the world's land uninhabitable and unsuitable for farming, with northerly migrations and new cities created in the Arctic. He predicts much of Europe will become uninhabitable having turned to desert and Britain will become Europe's "life-raft" due to its stable temperature caused by being surrounded by the ocean. He suggests that "we have to keep in mind the awesome pace of change and realise how little time is left to act, and then each community and nation must find the best use of the resources they have to sustain civilisation for as long as they can".

All aboard for Airstrip 1!

James, you're 90... Time to get an afghan and sit by the fire. Somebody grab his car keys.

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Doppelgänger Week

It's Doppelgänger Week, where frightening similarities are pointed and laughed at. Starting things off right this week is a meat head prop comedian who hangs out in Vegas.

I've never seen Carrot Top's act, but just look what it did to her. I am pretty sure that I never want to see the show. Besides, Alan Grayson is already my favorite prop comedian. I mean, who can forget "Republicans want you to die, quickly!"? Man that was quality comedy! Anyway, don't tell Faces Of Meth that I stole this picture from their site, okay?

H/T Andy!

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Blogger Sucks UPDATE

UPDATE
Blogger has corrected the error. Enjoy the pictures.

--

FYI, Blogger is having issues with their picture system. As such, may of the posts below will not appear correctly. I will update you as soon as things return to normal. From status.blogger.com:

Monday, March 29, 2010

Our image backend is experiencing problems which may affect the display and/or uploading of photos. We are working to resolve this and will update this post when we have more information.

More info can be found here in the Picasa Help Forum.

Posted by at 09:49 PDT

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Only In California

Yeah, that's a Prius with Dubs and a Body Kit.  That's how we roll!

A friend who works for a state official reported that they have today off. What, you don't know about the holiday of today?! What are you, some kind of holiday denier? Oh! That's right, you're probably not from California and don't know about all the batshit crazy things we do here. Good news for you, I am going to attempt to compile a list of some of them so you can learn. Ready? Only in California:

• We celebrate illegal immigration. March 31st is Cesar Chavez day in CA and 7 other states. It's the day that California has set aside to celebrate Cesar Chavez's contribution to provide illegal immigrants with better working conditions. !Viva California!
  


• The courts protect useless fish. What, your fish aren't court protected? In California, we provide legal rights to fish. Especially bait fish. Why? Who the f*ck knows. Apparently, Delta Smelt are on the brink of extinction because they're so goddam stupid that they swim into pumps designed to move water from California's delta system into the aqueduct system which supplies water to everywhere else in the state. No water, means no agriculture in central California. No Ag means no grapes, tomatoes, almonds, cotton, peaches, apples, citrus, roses, garlic, onions and virtually every other selection in your produce department.
  


• We have unelected bureaucrats that dictate pollution standards for the rest of the nation! Drive a truck? Know someone who does? Ask them about DPF's and Urea. Diesel Particulate Filters are part of a heavy trucks emissions equipment which collect and trap diesel particulates. Everyone in the nation who owns a truck has or will have one of these in the very near future because California's Air Resources Board says so! You see, when DPF systems and ACR systems were added to trucks, the conservative cost increases for each technology were roughly 10% of the cost of the vehicle. Figure an average class 8 truck runs about $110,000 then do the math. All courtesy of California!
  


• If it's yellow, let it mellow, but if it's brown flush it down. Have you ever given a thought to what to do with your business once you've, you know, off loaded it? We do in California. See, since about 1987, we've been in a perpetual state of drought. This means when you finish up, you have to remember, if it's yellow, let it mellow. This means that you don't flush. I'll let your mind take it away from there.
  


• We let gay men take over a downtown street and perform explicit sexual acts in public. What, you don't do this in your home town? It's called the Folsom Street Fair and there are pictures of it up at Zombie Time. The link is here, but do not click it unless you haven't eaten recently and there are no kids within a quarter mile. EXTREME CONTENT WARNING.
  

So now that you're all jealous and stuff, California is just aching to have you! Hell, we've only lost 112 businesses explicitly seeking another location from which to conduct business. Probably has something to do with the tax rate:

• California's State/Local Tax Burden is above the national average
  


• California's 2010 Business Tax Climate ranks 48th nationally.
  


• California's Top Individual Income Tax Rate is 4th highest in the nation.
  


• California's Corporate Income Tax Rate is highest in the west.
  


• California's Sales Tax Rate is highest in the nation
  

As long as we're on the subject of how great California is, here's a list from The Business Relocation Coach of the top ten reasons businesses leave California.

#10 -- Unfair Taxes: The Tax Foundation in their newest report lists California at No. 48 for tax fairness – ahead of only New York and New Jersey.

#9 -- Most Expensive Business Locations: The Rose Institute of State and Local Government reported in the latest "Cost of Doing Business Survey" that California cities continue to be some of the most expensive locations to do business in the United States.

#8 -- Worst Performing Labor: The Pacific Research Institute found that California’s labor performance in a recent five-year period is among the worst performing in the nation.

#7 -- Dreadful Legal Treatment: The Civil Justice Association of California said the state ranks 44th in legal fairness to business. Los Angeles was again named the least fair and reasonable litigation environment in the entire country.

#6 -- Worst Regulatory Burden: A study by the consulting firm Bain & Co. measured the cost, uncertainty and complexity of regulations and in constructing a “regulatory hassle index” found that "California is farworse than any other state by a very significant margin."

#5 -- Harsh Treatment Motivates Exists: Again Bain & Co. (they’re a busy group) found that more than half of California business leaders – an astonishing 60 percent – said they have policies in place to restrict job growth in the state or move jobs to other U.S. locations.

#4 -- Downright Unfriendliness:: The Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council in Virginia found that California ranked 49th overall in terms of business friendliness.

#3 -- High Misery Index: The Associated Press calculates what it calls a monthly "misery index" – California is close to the bottom of the list.

#2 -- Uncontrollable Spending: Extravagant state spending continues and pollsters have found people are much angrier about California government – more than they've ever been in recorded polling history.

And the #1 reason why California companies are calling the moving companies” – Chief Executive magazine recently found California to be the worst state in the nation in which to do business. Texas was found to be the best.

It’s no wonder that California has lost more than one million jobs in recent years while Texas employment levels have remained relatively stable.>

So, you know, we got that going for us. What've you got?!

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Nobel Economist Gary Becker: It's A Bad Bill, But We're Stuck With It

In a Wall Street Journal Op-Ed, Nobel Economist Gary Becker explains how health care reform could have been made to actually work. You know, reduce costs and meet demand?

"The health-care legislation? It's a bad bill," Mr. Becker replies. "Health care in the United States is pretty good, but it does have a number of weaknesses. This bill doesn't address them. It adds taxation and regulation. It's going to increase health costs—not contain them."

Drafting a good bill would have been easy, he continues. Health savings accounts could have been expanded. Consumers could have been permitted to purchase insurance across state lines, which would have increased competition among insurers. The tax deductibility of health-care spending could have been extended from employers to individuals, giving the same tax treatment to all consumers. And incentives could have been put in place to prompt consumers to pay a larger portion of their health-care costs out of their own pockets..."

Go right now and read the rest at CARPE DIEM. You need to read the post at CARPE DIEM if for nothing more than the outstanding graph at the top of the post. I was shocked to find out what it shows.

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Rule Number 5 Sunday

Good news, the gods have smiled upon us and we've survived to witness another Sunday morning. As you look out your window this morning, it's probably a beautiful day, unless you live in the Midwest or the Pacific Northwest where the weather and life in general, for that matter, are always shitty. So you enjoy whatever your Sunday brings. Mine will bring 80°, a bike ride, sunbathing in the back yard and wine and cigars at dusk upon the back patio. Why is it you live where you live again? But, I digress.

Let's get to it shall we? This week we're featuring submissions by the sultry Monica Bellucci. Paul was kind enough (yes, you read that correctly kind) to supply us with a "link to the MOTHERLODE of hump day hotties," and I promised to flog it for all it's worth. So sit back, turn up the heater a notch or five and enjoy some pictures of the beautiful Monica Bellucci. The driveway can stand to be snowed in for another couple hours...

Links to other Rule Number 5 posts will go up when I get around to it.

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I'm around toit.

The Grandaddy of all Rule #5 Posts, here.

Mr. Mayor has a submission here. Or maybe it's here. I'm not really sure what he's going for.

Nation of Cowards has Bar Rafaeli. If you don't know what a Bar Rafaeli is, you need to go find out.

The Camp of the Saints has a worthy submission here.

Smash Mouth Politics gets into the act. Venus Williams is HOT, yo...

Pirates Cove has a picture up and a Rule 5 Link Dump.

Starting From the Middle of the Story has a great submission.

That'll about wind 'er up unless y'all know something I don't. Peace out!

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Slow Jam Saturday Night

God rest his soul. Johnny Cash - Personal Jesus



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Shocker!!

This is freaking hilarious! I couldn't stop snickering after reading Dr. Wes' account of a recent interaction with a patient who had a implantable cardiac defibrillator (ICD) implant. An ICD administers a shock to the patient's heart when an irregular heartbeat is detected in order to shock the heart back into a regular rhythm. Head over to Dr. Wes' place for the epic conclusion.

"Mr. Smith, are you aware that you had an ICD shock about two weeks ago?"

"Yeah."

"Why didn't you call us?"

"I don't know."

"Did it bother you?"

"Not really."

"Why not?"

There was a pause. I looked up from the programmer and took a quick look at him. He was looking away.

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Friday Night Comedy Jam

This one is brought to you by Blue Dog Democrats who agree with our assessment on the federal deficit, 'The roof is on fire' but, they insist 'we don't need no water, let the mother**** burn.'



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Tatoo Mispellings Weak

Welcome too Tatoo Mispellings Weak. Where mistakes arent just funny, there perminent! Hour final instalmint of mispelled tatoos is a treeo of win.

Don't lie, how many of you had to read what was printed on his arm more than once to find the error. That many, huh? You guys are better copy editors than I thought. Well, this is the exciting conclusion to Tatoo Mispellings Weak. I hop you injoyed it!

Listen, do us a favor and don't tell The Mayor that we put a picture of his tattoo up. He's kinda touchy about that sort of thing.

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HCR: Done; Public Option: Next

If you're wondering just how tone deaf the liberals in Congress are, get a load of this. The house liberal caucus is set to introduce new legislation to 'revive the public option.'

Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.), the co-chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said she plans to unveil legislation to add the government-run option to the national healthcare exchange established by legislation President Barack Obama is to sign tomorrow.

"We will introduce a robust public option bill on the very day the president signs the reconciliation bill into law," Woolsey said Monday during an interview on MSNBC.

This has been the goal from day one, and the Democrats are closer than they ever should have been to getting it done. If there is any fight left in your body, you'd better begin to voice your opposition to this latest effort to completely destroy the private sector health insurance business and personal medical choice rights.

Make no mistake, this will drive the final nail into the coffin of the greatest health care system that the world had ever known. When the public option goes into effect, the last traces of the private medical system in the United States will be replaced with an NHS and Canadian style health care system. Write, call, email, throw a brick or a coffin, whatever you have to do to get your Congress critter to listen to you. Public Option: DO NOT WANT!

HT: QandO

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Party of Compassion Supports Increased Taxes For Wounded Soldiers?

Ooh, did we forget to mention the 10% medical device tax?  Yeah, we're going to need that.

I am shocked, SHOCKED I say. I would never have fathomed that the benevolent party full of racist, murdering, lying, cheating, stealing Democrats would go on record opposing a tax exemption for wounded soldiers. And yet, that's exactly what they've done. Along with endorsing additional taxes for cancer patients, voting against an amendment to deny E.D. drugs to sex offenders, and, well see below. From Michelle, via Moonbattery:

* Amendment to Remove Sweetheart Deals, Bribes, and Payoffs - voted down by Democrats
* Amendment to Bar Tax Hikes on Families Earning Under $250,000 - voted down by
* Amendment to Remove the Employer Mandate - voted down by Democrats
* Amendment to Require the President and Congress Enroll in Exchange - voted down by Democrats
* Amendment to Prevent Sex Offenders from Receiving E.D. Drugs - voted down by Democrats on a party-line vote
* Amendment to Remove New Taxes on Investments - voted down by Democrats
* Amendment to Protect Wounded Soldiers from Medical Device Tax - voted down by Democrats
* Amendment to Protect Pediatrics and Disabled from Medical Device Tax - voted down by Democrats
* Amendment to Protect Cancer Patients from Medical Device Tax - voted down by Democrats

So, who wants to make a campaign commercial first? This is a gold mine, and as such should be exploited for it's natural resources, namely the ouster of Democrats from office in November.

Was this a thinly disguised effort by Senate Republicans to attempt to derail the health care bill, yes. However, it paints a very clear distinction between Republicans and Democrats. If Republicans know what is good for them, they'll beat this like the rented mule that it is.

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Tatoo Mispellings Weak

Welcome too Tatoo Mispellings Weak. Where mistakes arent just funny, there perminent! Hour next entry is sweat!

I guess there's something to be said for being able to see the tattoo going on, eh? In reality, I would venture to guess that the customer had to write out exactly what they wanted printed on their body. The funny part here is that the customer and the tattoo artist were too stupid to know what they were committing to. Laugh it up, fuzzballs!

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The Health Care Myth Perpetrated By Obama

iOwnTheWorld has a post up this morning covering the health care myths perpetrated by candidate and President Obama versus the reality. It's a great post, excerpted from Huff'n Puff so be sure to check out the iOwnTheWorld post, and spare yourself the eye infection you're sure to receive at Ariana's place. Here are a few of the Myths and Facts:

Myth 1: This is a universal health care bill.

Fact: The bill is neither universal health care nor universal health insurance. According to the Congressional Budget Office:

* Total uninsured in 2019 with no bill: 54 million
* Total uninsured in 2019 with Senate bill: 24 million

Myth 4: The bill will make health care affordable for middle class Americans.

Fact: The bill will impose a financial hardship on middle class Americans who will be forced to buy a product that they can’t afford to use.

A family of four making $66,370 will be forced to pay $5,243 per year for insurance. After basic necessities, this leaves them with $8,307 in discretionary income — out of which they would have to cover clothing, credit card and other debt, child care and education costs, in addition to $5,882 in annual out-of-pocket medical expenses for which families will be responsible.

Myth 6: This bill provides health care to 31 million people who are currently uninsured.

Fact: This bill will mandate that millions of people who are currently uninsured purchase insurance from private companies, or the IRS will collect up to 2% of their annual income in penalties. Some will be assisted with government subsidies.

Myth 7: You can keep the insurance you have if you like it.

Fact: The excise tax will result in employers switching to plans with higher co-pays and fewer covered services.
Older, less healthy employees with employer-based health care will be forced to pay much more in out-of-pocket expenses than they do now.

iOwnTheWord has great blogging and some of the best photohshop work and comedic creations I've ever come across. Be sure to stop by!

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First Comes Special Prosecutor, Then Comes Impeachment

Obama and Sestak sitting in a tree... I thought this might heat up, and it certainly hasn't cooled down. Republican Darrell Issa is moving forward with calls for an investigation into alleged bribery by the Obama Administration.

Rep. Darrell Issa, the top Republican on the House Oversight committee, told CBS News Wednesday that he will call for a special prosecutor to investigate the White House if it does not address Rep. Joe Sestak's claim that he was offered a federal job in exchange for dropping out of the Pennsylvania Senate primary.

"If the public doesn't receive a satisfactory answer, the next step would be to call for a special prosecutor, which is well within the statute," Issa (pictured) told Hotsheet.

The California Republican has been pushing for the White House to provide details of conversations between Sestak and administration officials in the wake of Sestak's comment during a radio interview last month that he was offered a high-ranking administration job in exchange for dropping his primary challenge against Sen. Arlen Specter.

You see, it's a federal offense to attempt to bribe anyone with a promise of employment for some sort of political activity. I.e. bribing Sestak with a postition as the Secretary of the Navy in return for dropping out of the race against Arlen Specter. Just so we're all on the same page here:

18 U.S.C. § 600. Promise of employment or other benefit for political activity

Whoever, directly or indirectly, promises any employment, position, compensation, contract, appointment, or other benefit, provided for or made possible in whole or in part by any Act of Congress, or any special consideration in obtaining any such benefit, to any person as consideration, favor, or reward for any political activity or for the support of or opposition to any candidate or any political party in connection with any general or special election to any political office, or in connection with any primary election or political convention or caucus held to select candidates for any political office, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

However, I would like to note that before any taxpayer money is spent to hire the special prosecutor, PeeBo is innocent because only eeeevil Republicans are the ones who violate the law from the White House. Democrats only mean well, but their benevolent intentions are misconstrued into something sinister by Republicans who only want to steal your Medicare.

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Tell Them How You Really Feel

Fair warning, you may need to employ earmuffs. Or eyemuffs as it were.

So, let's take a poll: Would you say that you generally pleased with the outcome of the 'health care reform' bill and process? Or, would you say that you're f#cking pissed and you want blood revenge. Well if you chose the later, then you're feelings are in line with about 98 percent of the country judging from these headlines at Memeorandum.

Democrats care about few things, but one of the those things which they treasure above most others would be power. They know that by creating a new entitlement, they have in effect created a more dependent society which will be less likely to desire the overturn of the welfare that has been given them. This also means that when it comes time for elections, the numb, fat and dumb voter is more than likely going to choose the Democrat candidate versus the jerk that's trying to cut his medicare, welfare, health care, etc.

Back to the present and the overwhelming anger aimed at Democrats, over which they are indignant. From Politico:

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer is warning that some of his Democratic colleagues are being threatened with violence when they go back to their districts — and he wants Republicans to stand up and condemn the threats.

The Maryland Democrat said more than 10 House Democrats have reported incidents of threats or other forms of harassment about their support of the highly divisive health insurance overhaul vote. Hoyer emphasized that he didn’t have a specific number of threats and that was just an estimate.

TheFederal Bureau of Investigation, Capitol Police and sergeant at arms briefed Democrats behind closed doors today about the incidents of violence — the most high profile of which have been toward Democratic Reps. Thomas Perriello of Virginia, Steve Driehaus of Ohio and Louise Slaughter of New York.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0310/34953.html#ixzz0jAWkL1EM

From The Hill:

House Democratic and Republican leaders have conferred to discuss a response to a "significant" number of threats against lawmakers.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said that he, along with Democratic and Republican leaders, have discussed new security precautions that lawmakers should take after a spike in threats to lawmakers following a controversial healthcare vote this past weekend.

"Any member who feels themselves at risk is getting attention from the proper authority," Hoyer said during brief remarks on Wednesday.

From The New York Times:

Democratic lawmakers have received death threats and been the victims of vandalism because of their votes in favor of the health care bill, lawmakers and law enforcement officials said Wednesday, as the Congressional debate over the issue headed toward a bitter and divisive conclusion.

Representative Steny H. Hoyer, Democrat of Maryland and the majority leader, said at least 10 House members had raised concerns about their personal security since Sunday’s climactic vote, and Mr. Hoyer characterized the cases as serious.

At least two Congressional district offices were vandalized and Representative Louise M. Slaughter, a senior Democrat from New York, received a phone message threatening sniper attacks against lawmakers and their families.

Ms. Slaughter also reported that a brick was thrown through a window of her office in Niagara Falls, and Representative Gabrielle Giffords, Democrat of Arizona, said Monday that her Tucson office was vandalized after the vote.

Are you beginning to get the picture here?

From CNN:

Democratic congressional leaders Wednesday demanded Republicans join them in condemning a spate of threats and vandalism that has followed Sunday's vote on a sweeping overhaul of the U.S. health care system.

More than 10 Democrats have reported trouble since the weekend vote, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told reporters. Windows have been smashed at Democratic offices in at least three states, and federal agents were investigating whether a cut gas line at the home of a Virginia congressman's brother was related to the lawmaker's yes vote.

Democracy "is not about violence," Hoyer said at a news conference with South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn, the No. 2 Democrat in the House of Representatives.

And on, and on, and on...

The American people have not been so unitedly against something since, damn I dunno, Prohibition. Yet the Democrats are proud enough of this legislation as to wear it as a badge of honor. Excuse me if I don't just jump down and kiss your feet as you walk by because you've decided how my health care should be provided, by whom and at what cost. Oh, and fuck you for driving good, honest people out of business because of your damn burdensome, redistributive taxes, ass monkeys. As if it wasn't hard enough to find a job in this goddam economy. I'm very tempted to grab a brick.

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So You're Saying Hump Day Is Over?!

Howdee ho, kids! Yeah, I promised I'd be back yesterday and well, I didn't make it so I guess that makes me a filthy stinking liar. But, in my defense, it was the best 48 hours in an out of a hospital that I can ever recall. Anywho, The Mayor was kind enough to mention me in his Hump Day Hottie post, as a sort of chiding to get me to post something already. Unfortunately, my Hump Day Hottie post is going to be a day late and a dollar-- wait, what the hell is a dollar even worth anymore?! So, we'll just agree to forget that I missed Wednesday and get on with our lives. I should be around today, but my afternoon is booked. We'll see how she blo--uh, that is to say, how she goes.

By the way, did you know that Naomi backwards is I moan? Yeah, me too. Well, it was worth a shot. So, here you go, Tricia Helfer.

Hump Day, it's not. However, a hottie she is. You're welcome

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Tatoo Mispellings Weak

Welcome too Tatoo Mispellings Weak. Where mistakes arent just funny, there perminent! Hour next tatoo is just to awsome not too post.

I'm not quite sure what that means, but I know it's important to that young individual. At least it's not permin-oh wait... Well, at least it's not on a visible part of your bod-oh wait... Well, at least it can be easily alter-oh wait... Sorry, you're screwed.

Paul, in his infinite wisdom, asked me to post this picture. It's not misspelled, but it's pretty damn... unique. I decided to link to it instead. Strong content warning. That's right, soak it in.

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Chauvinistic Society Refuses To Pay Women Equally... Or Something

If you ever have the misfortune to get into a conversation with a liberal, one of the things that they are likely to bring up, now that we never have to talk about health care again, is equal pay for equal work, or more specifically, equal pay for women. You see, in our highly chauvinistic society, we value the work produced by a man more than that of a woman, regardless of quality. This of course is because we a are a backward, racist, sexist and homophobic society which needs government intervention at all levels in order to insure that every thing is fair.

Often cited by unthinking liberals when arguing the lessor points of gender pay equality is the raw gender wage gap between men and women in the workplace which stands at 20.4 percent, currently. There, of course, is no logical explanation for this, except that we are a male centric society which degrades women. Or, maybe these reasons:

1. A greater percentage of women than men tend to work part-time. Part-time work tends to pay less than full-time work.

2. A greater percentage of women than men tend to leave the labor force for child birth, child care and elder care. Some of the wage gap is explained by the percentage of women who were not in the labor force during previous years, the age of women, and the number of children in the home.

3. Women, especially working mothers, tend to value “family friendly” workplace policies more than men. Some of the wage gap is explained by industry and occupation, particularly, the percentage of women who work in the industry and occupation.

Be sure to read them all, and make sure to catch the money shot which is the result of the statistical study as to why the raw gender wage gap should never be considered when determining the real wage gap between men and women in the work place.


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Just A Reminder: Democrats Are Racists

Just a friendly reminder, Democrats legislate racism. BTW, the Senate bill that is referenced in the post is the same Senate bill that was just signed into law by PeeBo.  You're welcome.
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U.S. Financial Markets Return To Pre-Crisis Levels

My apologies on not having been around today. Late night trips to the emergency room suck goat balls. By the way, I have to admit, the level of care I witnessed increased dramatically today almost as soon as PeeBo signed the 'health care deform' bill.

Anywho, this will be my only substantive post of the day, as I need to catch up on what I missed last night. Via one of the few financial blogs I follow, CARPE DIEM, the CBOE and Bloomberg Volatility Indexes have returned to pre-crisis levels:

Taken together, the return of these two important market indicators of: a) stock market volatility (VIX), and b) the overall conditions in U.S. financial and credit markets (BFCIUS), to their pre-crisis levels of the summer of 2007 provide further evidence that the worst is far behind us, and U.S. financial markets are once again stable and healthy.

Until the taxes from Obamacare go into effect and amnesty is passed. Those should be sufficient enough to drive the final stake through the heart of the economy.

Take the time to read the entire post (it's only three paragraphs long).

See you, tamale!

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Tatoo Mispellings Weak

Welcome too Tatoo Mispellings Weak. Where mistakes arent just funny, there perminent! Hour next tatoo lets everyone no where this guy is form.

That's right, he hails from the President's very own Chi-tonw. Maybe there's just something in the water over in Chicago that causes the brilliance to shine?

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Tatoo Mispellings Weak

Welcome too Tatoo Mispellings Weak. Where mistakes arent just funny, there perminent! Hour frist entry is a real tradgey of a tatoo.

Don't let your share go to waste! Head on down to your local taxpayer funded tattoo removal location to get this fixed, ASAP!

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His Hands Were Tied UPDATED Opponent Information Added

Last week there was a stunning bit of honesty from Tom Perriello (D-VA) regarding the power and money grabbing tendencies in Washington DC.



Any guesses as to who voted for another power/money grab? You guessed it, Tom Perriello. Listed below are the 36 Democrats who opposed the 'health care reform' bill, and absent from the list is one Tom Perriello.

Rep. John Adler (N.J.)
Rep. Jason Altmire (Pa.)
Rep. Michael Arcuri (N.Y.)
Rep. John Barrow (Ga.)
Rep. Marion Berry (Ark.)
Rep. Dan Boren (Okla.)
Rep. Rick Boucher (Va.)
Rep. Bobby Bright (Ala.)
Rep. Ben Chandler (Ky.)
Rep. Travis Childers (Miss.)
Rep. Artur Davis (Ala.)
Rep. Lincoln Davis (Tenn.)
Rep. Chet Edwards (Texas)
Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (S.D.)
Rep. Tim Holden (Pa.)
Rep. Larry Kissell (N.C.)
Rep. Frank Kratovil (Md.)
Rep. Dan Lipinski (Ill.)
Rep. Stephen Lynch (Mass.)
Rep. Jim Marshall (Ga.)
Rep. Jim Matheson (Utah)
Rep. Mike McIntyre (N.C.)
Rep. Mike McMahon (N.Y.)
Rep. Charlie Melancon (La.)
Rep. Walt Minnick (Idaho)
Rep. Glenn Nye (Va.)
Rep. Collin Peterson (Minn.)
Rep. Mike Ross (Ark.)
Rep. Heath Shuler (N.C.)
Rep. Ike Skelton (Mo.)
Rep. Zack Space (Ohio)
Rep. John Tanner (Tenn.)
Rep. Gene Taylor (Miss.)
Rep. Harry Teague (N.M.)

Anyone in Virginia have something to say about that?

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Update:

There are several candidates running in the GOP primary for this seat. Although there is no definitive leader as of yet, Robert Hurt is polling ahead of the pack.

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Health Care Tips, From Our Sibling To The North

I really used to hate Canadians. No, I mean it. With they way they slaughter the pronunciation of any word with 'ou' in it. But, you know, I got over it and I'm glad I did because we have some good friends up there who are looking out (pronounced owt, not oat) for us. Take Right Girl for example. She is looking out for us suckers to the south (pronounced sowth, not soath) and passing along a little medical care 101. God Bless Her!

So Americans, here’s a few tips, from one “free” “health” “care” sucker to another:

* Expand your home first aid kit to include a defibrillator, gallons of rubbing alcohol, ether if you can get your hands on it, and a dozen brand-new, sparkling clean x-acto knives
* Learn to give stitches
* Get over any squeamishness about lancing boils or any other messy-but-simple procedures - you’re on your own now
* Keep enough cold medicine on hand, and don’t run to the doctor for sore throats
* Learn to recognize dangerous childhood diseases like meningitis and appendicitis, because publicly paid doctors usually skip that course, especially if they were trained in Cameroon
* Locate your nearest large animal veterinarian, and pay them well to take x-rays and MRIs

Another great friend from the north is Mr. Mayor. He also has some sage advice for us Yankees. Be sure to check out his post, but fair warning on the animated gif. Just saying...

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Oblivious Statement of the Day

H/T Treacher:

On MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Luke Russert just said that one member who voted for the legislation last night told him (this may be a slight paraphrase): I’m glad I don’t have to go back to my district and talk about this again.

These people are so in touch, it's scary.

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Reason For Hope?

Angry White Man

In a piece humorously titled 'Revenge of the white men,' The LA Times lays out the case that November 2010 could make 1994 look like any other election.

Pollsters regularly ask voters whether they would rather see a Democrat or Republican win their district. By February, support for Democrats among white people (male and female) was three points lower than in February 1994, the year of the last Republican landslide.

Today, among whites, only 35% of men and 43% of women say they will back Democrats in the fall election. Women's preferences have remained steady since July 2009. But over that same period, white men's support for a Democratic Congress has fallen eight points, according to Gallup.

White men have moved away from Obama as well. The same proportion of white women approve of him -- 46%, according to Gallup -- as voted for him in 2008. But only 38% of white men approve of the president, which means that millions of white men who voted for Obama have now lost faith in him.

The migration of white men from the Democratic Party was evident in the election of Republican Scott Brown in Massachusetts. His opponent won 52% of white women. But white men favored Brown by a 60%-to-38% margin, according to Fabrizio, McLaughlin & Associates polling. Once again, Democrats could not win enough other votes to compensate for the white male gap.

It's no accident that the flight of white males from the Democratic Party has come as the government has assumed a bigger role, including in banking and healthcare. Among whites, 71% of men and 56% of women favor a smaller government with fewer services over a larger government with more services, according to ABC/Washington Post polling.

Obama's brand of liberalism is exactly the sort likely to drive such voters away. More like LBJ's than FDR's, Obama-style liberalism favors benefits over relief, a safety net over direct job programs, healthcare and environmental reform over financial reform and a stimulus package that has focused more on social service jobs -- healthcare work, teaching and the like -- rather than the areas where a majority of job losses occurred: construction, manufacturing and related sectors.

The Democrats will lose power in the short term, but unless the Republicans can come up with a way to replace major portions of the bill with free market alternatives, the long term is likely to favor Democrats. When you create an entitlement society, the prospect of working to receive anything you desire seems archaic.

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So Begins The Process

Reuters is reporting that at least 9 states are prepared to file suit alleging that Obamacare is an infringement upon states rights:

"On behalf of the State of Florida and of the Attorneys General from South Carolina, Nebraska, Texas, Utah, Pennsylvania, Washington, North Dakota, South Dakota and Alabama if the President signs this bill into law, we will file a lawsuit to protect the rights and the interests of American citizens."

I can't see that this is going to hurt, but it's a long shot. It's also a long shot for Republicans to overturn and/or repeal the effects of the bill in November. The Republicans will have to have a 2/3rds majority to overturn any veto by the President. Even the most generous predictions at this point do not have the Republicans picking up that many seats.

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Boehner's Wikipedia Page Defaced UPDATED

In the wake of the 'health care reform' bill being passed in the House, someone has defaced House Minority Leader, John Boehner's Wikipedia page:

Defaced

The added text at the top of the page reads:

IM A BADASS WHO LIKES TO YELL HELL NO IN CONGRESS AND I SHOULD OF VOTED FOR HEALTHCARE REFORM NOW I'M SCREWED!!!!!!!

Wonder how long until Wikipedia takes it down?

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Update:

Wikipedia has taken the defacement down. Below is a screen grab of the edit history to the page, along with IP address of the offender.

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BREAKING: Health Care Reform Passes In House

Hot Air has the vote count.

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Tonight Rome Burns

As the greatest experiment constituted amongst men begins her final death throws the comparisons to Rome come easy. So tonight, as America begins to burn, we'll fiddle.


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David Frum Still Doesn't Get It

Don't tease, David!

David Frum, former Bush speach writer, and current self-loathing Republican has a post over at 'The Frum Forum.' In it, he lays a significant amount of the blame for the passage of health care upon Conservatives:

At the beginning of this process we made a strategic decision: unlike, say, Democrats in 2001 when President Bush proposed his first tax cut, we would make no deal with the administration. No negotiations, no compromise, nothing. We were going for all the marbles. This would be Obama’s Waterloo – just as healthcare was Clinton’s in 1994.

Only, the hardliners overlooked a few key facts: Obama was elected with 53% of the vote, not Clinton’s 42%. The liberal block within the Democratic congressional caucus is bigger and stronger than it was in 1993-94. And of course the Democrats also remember their history, and also remember the consequences of their 1994 failure.

This time, when we went for all the marbles, we ended with none.

Could a deal have been reached? Who knows? But we do know that the gap between this plan and traditional Republican ideas is not very big. The Obama plan has a broad family resemblance to Mitt Romney’s Massachusetts plan. It builds on ideas developed at the Heritage Foundation in the early 1990s that formed the basis for Republican counter-proposals to Clintoncare in 1993-1994.

Barack Obama badly wanted Republican votes for his plan. Could we have leveraged his desire to align the plan more closely with conservative views? To finance it without redistributive taxes on productive enterprise – without weighing so heavily on small business – without expanding Medicaid? Too late now. They are all the law.

No illusions please: This bill will not be repealed. Even if Republicans scored a 1994 style landslide in November, how many votes could we muster to re-open the “doughnut hole” and charge seniors more for prescription drugs? How many votes to re-allow insurers to rescind policies when they discover a pre-existing condition? How many votes to banish 25 year olds from their parents’ insurance coverage? And even if the votes were there – would President Obama sign such a repeal?

We followed the most radical voices in the party and the movement, and they led us to abject and irreversible defeat.

The causes which Frum fails to blame for the legislative loss are many, here are a few.

1. The Democrats held, for most of the process, an insurmountable super majority.

The Democrats had huge majorities in both chambers of congress, allowing them to craft a bill with no input from the minority party. They also used tactics rarely seen in Washington, including locking the minority party out of negotiations on the final iterations of legislation.

2. Democrats in Congress, absolutely refused to listen to their constituents, and the citizenry of the United States.

As mentioned previously, the Democrats engaged in behavior seldom seen in Washington, DC. The Democrats knew from the moment they achieved the dramatic majority in both houses of Congress, and the Presidency what thier objective was. It mattered not whether, or how much, their constituents were against the legislation. This has been referred to in times past as taxation without representation.

Finally, it's worth pointing out that we all lost.
It does not matter your politics, the nation as a whole lost when the 'Health Care Reform' bill was enacted. Government control, increased bureaucracy, rationed care, reduced access to treatments, etc. These are the reasons that we all lost, David.

Without Frum's sharp wit, where would this party be? Considering that no one has been listening to him for the last 5 years, I'd say our prospects in November look pretty damn good. Wouldn't you?

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Stupak Holds All The Power, Maybe...

Once again, it comes down to the anti-abortion coalition within the Democrat party, headed by Bart Stupak (emphasis mine):

There have been various reports on Sunday that Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) and other anti-abortion lawmakers have agreed to an abortion deal involving an executive order from the Obama administration. However, Stupak's office are strongly denying those reports.

Even though several Democratic leaders said they had the votes on Saturday, Stupak said on Sunday he and others were involved in intense negotiations with the White House late on Saturday night. The Saturday night talks strongly suggest Democrats are short of the 216 necessary.

On Sunday morning, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) said Democratic leaders did not have 216 hard commitments.

Some believe there are a few lawmakers on The Hill's Firm No, Leaning No, Likely No list who could vote yes, including Reps. Marion Berry (Ark.), Rick Boucher (Va.) and Mike McMahon (N.Y.) and perhaps others.

The problem for Pelosi is that is she gets Stupak on board, she may lose abortion rights legislators, such as Rep. Mike Quigley (Ill.).

Keep praying to the G_d of free markets and private medicine, this thing ain't over yet.

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Former CBO Director: Here Are The Real HCR Numbers

As the future of the country sits upon the precipice of a toilet bowl, some enlightening numbers from a former CBO Director.

In a NYT Op-Ed, former CBO Director, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, lays out what the true numbers are for the Senate drafted health care bill. Buh bye deficit reduction!

ON Thursday, the Congressional Budget Office reported that, if enacted, the latest health care reform legislation would, over the next 10 years, cost about $950 billion, but because it would raise some revenues and lower some costs, it would also lower federal deficits by $138 billion. In other words, a bill that would set up two new entitlement spending programs — health insurance subsidies and long-term health care benefits — would actually improve the nation’s bottom line.

Could this really be true? How can the budget office give a green light to a bill that commits the federal government to spending nearly $1 trillion more over the next 10 years?

The answer, unfortunately, is that the budget office is required to take written legislation at face value and not second-guess the plausibility of what it is handed. So fantasy in, fantasy out.

In reality, if you strip out all the gimmicks and budgetary games and rework the calculus, a wholly different picture emerges: The health care reform legislation would raise, not lower, federal deficits, by $562 billion.

Mr. Holtz-Eakin details what we know, i.e. taxation starts immediately with benefits being pushed out 3 years, as well as a few things we didn't:

Consider, too, the fate of the $70 billion in premiums expected to be raised in the first 10 years for the legislation’s new long-term health care insurance program. This money is counted as deficit reduction, but the benefits it is intended to finance are assumed not to materialize in the first 10 years, so they appear nowhere in the cost of the legislation.

Another vivid example of how the legislation manipulates revenues is the provision to have corporations deposit $8 billion in higher estimated tax payments in 2014, thereby meeting fiscal targets for the first five years. But since the corporations’ actual taxes would be unchanged, the money would need to be refunded the next year. The net effect is simply to shift dollars from 2015 to 2014.

Make sure to read it in it's entirety, even if it's only academic at this point.

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