Republicans AWOL On Obama’s Expanded Americorps

We’ve known for nearly a year that Obama has a disturbing interest in creating an authoritarian, mandatory “National Service Corps”. It caused quite the furor in the right wing blogosphere whenever it was brought up. Why in God’s name, in the face of a financial crisis, would Republicans vote for something which if seen in the very best light is an expensive expansion of a needless boondoggle, and in the very worst light the beginnings of some sort of “World War II-era paramilitary group”? Does anyone think this will be anything but the recruitment of our kids into left-wing causes? Can you see your kid joining ACORN in one of their house squatting missions?

From The Washington Examiner:

With almost no public attention, both chambers of Congress in the past week advanced an alarming expansion of the Americorps national service plan, with the number of federally funded community service job increasing from 75,000 to 250,000 at a cost of $5.7 billion. Lurking behind the feel-good rhetoric spouted by the measure’s advocates is a bill that on closer inspection reveals multiple provisions that together create a strong odor of creepy authoritarianism. The House passed the measure overwhelmingly, while only 14 senators had the sense and courage to vote against it on a key procedural motion. Every legislator who either voted for this bill or didn’t vote at all has some serious explaining to do.

Once again, the feckless, “Stupid Party” has been intimidated by the possibility that they’ll be called nasty names like “The Party of NO” if they don’t go along with Obama’s insane agenda. Good God, Republicans… We are depending on you to be THE PARTY OF NO during these troubled times. *Just thought!*  of a poster slogan for the next  for tea party: “Hey Republicans!: Be the party of No! -PLEASE!!!”

…the legislation threatens the voluntary nature of Americorps by calling for consideration of “a workable, fair, and reasonable mandatory service requirement for all able young people.” It anticipates the possibility of requiring “all individuals in the United States” to perform such service – including elementary school students. The bill also summons up unsettling memories of World War II-era paramilitary groups by saying  the new program should “combine the best practices of civilian service with the best aspects of military service,” while establishing “campuses” that serve as “operational headquarters,” complete with “superintendents” and “uniforms” for all participants. It allows for the elimination of all age restrictions in order to involve Americans at all stages of life. And it calls for creation of “a permanent cadre” in a “National Community Civilian Corps.”

But that’s not all. The bill also calls for “youth engagement zones” in which “service learning” is “a mandatory part of the curriculum in all of the secondary schools served by the local educational agency.” This updated form of voluntary community service is also to be “integrated into the science, technology, engineering and mathematics curricula” at all levels of schooling. Sounds like a government curriculum for government approved “service learning,” which is nothing less than indoctrination. Now, ask yourself if congressmen who voted for this monstrosity had a clue what they were voting for. If not, they’re guilty of dereliction of duty. If yes, the implications are truly frightening.

I wish we were merely over-reacting and being paranoid, like many on the left are accusing conservatives of being. But every morning we wake up to some new outrage that confirms our worst fears.

UPDATE:

In fairness to the 14 Senate Republicans who dissented, via Michelle Malkin, here are their names:

Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Coburn (R-OK)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Ensign (R-NV)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Kyl (R-AZ)
McConnell (R-KY)
Risch (R-ID)
Roberts (R-KS)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Thune (R-SD)
Not Voting – 11
Begich (D-AK)
Boxer (D-CA)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Enzi (R-WY)
Harkin (D-IA)
Inouye (D-HI)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Martinez (R-FL)

Here’s Senator Demint’s principled speech on the Senate floor:

UPDATE:

Allahpundit at Hotair reports that the “mandatory volunteerism” requirement was stripped from the bill…..for now.  Still, this bloated program will almost certainly be used for political and propaganda purposes, at a time when we should be cutting government waste.

Michelle Malkin has the details:

Quin Hilyer takes a closer look at the creepy national service expansion plans in today’s DC Examiner, and posts an update on one troublesome provision:

Between being first officially “reported” to the House and being voted on by the full House, bill managers stripped one whole section of the measure that created a Congressional Commission on Civil Service, thus removing the section that contained the language cited above concerning “a workable, fair, and reasonable mandatory service requirement for all able young people” and a possible requirement for “all individuals in the United States” to perform such service. The section could be restored during the Senate-House conference committee meeting. A new, separate bill containing that language has since been introduced in the House.

Looks like they’re going to keep trying.

UPDATE:

Well, that didn’t take long.

ObamAcorn America

GAH!

I wish I could say this is one of Michelle Malkin’s cute ACORN photoshops, but noooo, I found this disturbing image at ACORN’s own website where they announce their latest efforts to bully companies into complying with Obama’s plan to prevent foreclosures:

In the first effort of its kind, ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) surveyed all major mortgage servicing companies in the nation, and has found that at least 76% of outstanding mortgage loans are serviced by companies who have committed to implementing the Obama plan. ACORN expects further progress in the coming weeks as the Obama Administration releases the contracts mortgage servicing companies will sign to participate in the program. ACORN will continue to encourage all mortgage servicers to join the program, with plans to target those outlier companies that refuse to engage in sensible foreclosure prevention.

Other ACORN actions include:

Tell Your Senator to Support President Obama’s 2010 Budget!

Call on Homeland Sec. to Suspend Sheriff Arpaio’s 287g Agreement

Be a Home Defender

Tell Your Senator to Support the Job and Economic Recovery Bill

Stop Foreclosures for Real Economic Recovery

Urge Your Representative to Make Bankruptcy Laws Fair to Protect Homeownership

Needless to say, patriotic Americans should do the exact opposite of what ACORN suggests. Tell your Senator to not support Obama’s budget. Tell Your Senator to not support Obama’s ruinous bills. Support Sheriff Joe Arpaio. If you see any “home defenders” in your neighborhood, call the cops, etc.

Hat tip: Atlas Shrugs.

RELATED:

Report:

More than half the voter registrations turned in by ACORN canvassers during the last election were not valid, according to testimony to be presented before a House Judiciary subcommittee.

Anyone surprised?

If a canvasser was caught committing fraud, ACORN threw the individual “under the bus,” MonCrief said. ACORN employees were briefed on how to deny that voter registration fraud existed, she said.

According to MonCrief, the Obama presidential campaign called her in October 2007 asking for coordination in soliciting donations from people who had already made the maximum contribution to Obama allowed by election laws. MonCrief testified that she was given a massive database of Obama donors who had already reached the limit. Her task was to cull it for potential donors who would then donate to Project Vote, an ACORN affiliate which targets individuals and entities to solicit donations.

If true, MonCrief’s allegations constitute violations of the Internal Revenue Code, federal campaign finance laws, and laws against voter registration fraud, according to a memo by Cleta Mitchell, co-chairman of the Republican National Lawyers Association.

I expect Republicans to act on this immediately…3…2..1…..HELLO?

Nobody’s home.

Hey! Is there anyway we can give this group more money? What? Obama’s already taken care of that?

ADDITIONAL ACORN-ELIGIBLE BLOCK GRANTS

DIP: $1 Billion in Stimulus: “For an additional amount for `Community Development Fund’ $1,000,000,000, to remain available until September 30, 2010 to carry out the community development block grant program under title I of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5301 et seq.)” (H.R.1, Enrolled As Agreed To By Both House And Senate)

RE-DIP: $3.9 Billion in Omnibus: “The bill provides $3,900,000,000 for the Community Development Fund…” (“Division I – Transportation, Housing And Urban Development, And Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2009; Joint Explanatory Statement” Rules Committee, U.S. House Of Representatives, Pg. 106)

Awwwwesome!

Republicans Fight Back

Feeble, but better than nothing:

Brought to you by GOP.Gov.

Hat tip: Flopping Aces

Obama’s Teleprompter’s Lies

It’s so sad that the Washington Press Corps lets Obama get away with all of these whoppers. He started out last night with a hum dinger:

At the end of the day, the best way to bring our deficit down in the long run is not with a budget that continues the very same policies that have led us to a narrow prosperity and massive debt. It’s with a budget that leads to broad economic growth by moving from an era of borrow and spend to one where we save and invest.

(?!)

Then in answer to a question about the national debt, he blamed Bush:

QUESTION Chip Reid: Thank you, Mr. President.

At both of your town hall meetings in California last week, you said, quote, ”I didn’t run for president to pass on our problems to the next generation.”

But under your budget, the debt will increase $7 trillion over the next 10 years. The Congressional Budget Office says $9.3 trillion. And today on Capitol Hill, some Republicans called your budget, with all the spending on health care, education and environment, the most irresponsible budget in American history.

Isn’t that kind of debt exactly what you were talking about when you said passing on our problems to the next generation?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: First of all, I suspect that some of those Republican critics have a short memory, because as I recall, I’m inheriting a $1.3 trillion deficit, annual deficit, from them.

Well, here’s the truth:

As Ed Morrissey says:  “They’re not doing everything they can do to eliminate the deficit.  They’re doing everything they can do to make them exponentially worse”.

Here is a chart of the national debt since the Great Depression:

Notice how it’s shooting back up to 1940′s era  levels with no promise of ever decreasing?

The Heritage Foundation explains:

President Obama has framed his budget as a break from the “failed policies” of the Bush Admin­istration. Actually, his budget doubles down on President George W. Bush’s borrow, spend, and bail­out policies. For example:

* President Bush expanded the federal budget by a historic $700 billion through 2008. President Obama would add another $1 trillion.[3]
* President Bush began a string of expensive finan­cial bailouts. President Obama is accelerating that course.[4]
* President Bush created a Medicare drug entitle­ment that will cost an estimated $800 billion in its first decade. President Obama has proposed a $634 billion down payment on a new govern­ment health care fund.
* President Bush increased federal education spending 58 percent faster than inflation. Presi­dent Obama would double it.[5]
* President Bush became the first President to spend 3 percent of GDP on federal antipoverty programs. President Obama has already in­creased this spending by 20 percent.[6]
* President Bush tilted the income tax burden more toward upper-income taxpayers. President Obama would continue that trend.[7]

President Bush ran budget deficits averaging $300 billion annually. After harshly criticizing Bush’s budget deficits, President Obama pro­posed a budget that would run deficits averaging $600 billion even after the economy recovers and the troops return home from Iraq.

The President’s tax policy is the only sharp break in economic policy. President Bush reduced taxes by approximately $2 trillion; President Obama has proposed raising taxes by $1.4 trillion. In doing so, President Obama has rejected the most successful Bush fiscal policy. In the 18 months following the 2003 tax rate cuts, economic growth rates doubled, the stock market surged 32 percent, and the econ­omy created 1.8 million jobs, followed by 5.2 mil­lion more jobs in the next 27 months.[8] Not until the housing bubble burst several years later did the economy finally lose steam.

There is something deeply wrong with a person who tells us with a straight face, that these are policies “where we save and invest”. The best way to “bring the deficit down in the long run” is to decrease taxation, and stop spending so damn much.

But maybe Obama’s really not interested in reducing the deficit.

James Lewis at The American Thinker asks: What kind of President thrives on chaos? “Is it conceivable that a president would want matters to get worse”?

What’s the actual evidence that Obama is trying to make things worse? At this point, it can only be inferred from his actions and statements. Outright proof of sabotage would trigger a political earthquake. Imagine a White House insider leaking Blackberry emails between Obama and Axelrod about how to make the economic crisis last longer. Imagine evidence coming to light that the five-hour electronic assault on the financial markets on September 17, 2008, was timed to elect Obama. Imagine Rahm Emanuel actually advising the President in a concrete policy discussion, “Never let a crisis go to waste!”

I’m not claiming it’s true. It’s a question.

Read on.

Meanwhile Senator Judd Gregg continues to sound the alarm.

Obama taunted Republicans during the press conference for not coming up with a plan of their own. Well, they’re in the vast minority, right now, and he knows that nothing they come up with has a prayer of passing. Why on earth should they be wasting their time with that, and taking their eyes off what he’s doing? I want them to focus on the bills that the Dems are trying to pass, and working to limit the damage.

“Overseas Contingency Operation” To Combat “man-caused” disasters.

George Orwell is spinning in his grave…

The Washington Post reports:

The end of the Global War on Terror — or at least the use of that phrase — has been codified at the Pentagon. Reports that the phrase was being retired have been circulating for some time amongst senior administration officials, and this morning speechwriters and other staff were notified via this e-mail to use “Overseas Contingency Operation” instead.

“Recently, in a LtGen [John] Bergman, USMC, statement for the 25 March [congressional] hearing, OMB required that the following change be made before going to the Hill,” Dave Riedel, of the Office of Security Review, wrote in an e-mail.

“OMB says: ‘This Administration prefers to avoid using the term “Long War” or “Global War on Terror” [GWOT]. Please use “Overseas Contingency Operation.’”

Riedel asked recipients to “Please pass on to your speech writers and try to catch this change before the statements make it to OMB.”

Last week,  Janet Napolitano introduced the term, “man caused disasters” to describe terrorists.

Aren’t liberals, cute?

Teleprompter v.s. No Teleprompter

That clever, snarky David Letterman came up with an ingenious way to display the wisdom of  Obama’s reliance on his teleprompter… taking the opportunity to gratuitously bash former President Bush, to make his point.  Obama’s suave and debonair performance using it is compared to an inarticulate moment of  Bush’s, while not using a teleprompter:

Oh, haha. See how cool Obama is, and what a dolt, Bush was?

Apparently, Letterman hasn’t visited YouTube much at all during the past year, or he wouldn’t have brought this up.

A YouTube  wise-ass has a little bit of fun, calling his creation, “the rough cut, original version of TelePrompTer vs. No TelePrompTer”:

Now, that’s more like it.

UPDATE:

A good example of George Bush without his teleprompter:

Notre Dame “Stop The Scandal” Petition Update

The petition opposing Notre Dame University’s decision to host and honor Barack Obama at Commencement now  has over 75,000 signatures and has attracted the attention of Fox News:

David Constanzo, communications director for the Cardinal Newman Society, said Notre Dame’s tradition of inviting sitting U.S. presidents to its commencement should be rethought.

“There is a time when policies need to be reconsidered in light of the fact that the individual invited may have a history of standing in direct opposition to some of the most prominent aspects of our faith — the biggest case in point is that of the pro-life agenda,” Constanzo said. “The obligation of Notre Dame as a Catholic institution is to follow the directives of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, who clearly stated in 2004 that Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles.”

Meanwhile, the Bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend has indicated he will not attend the commencement ceremony.

“President Obama has recently reaffirmed, and has now placed in public policy, his long-stated unwillingness to hold human life as sacred,” Bishop John D’Arcy said in a statement issued Tuesday. “While claiming to separate politics from science, he has in fact separated science from ethics and has brought the American government, for the first time in history, into supporting direct destruction of innocent human life.”

D’Arcy said he learned that Obama had accepted Notre Dame’s invitation just before White House officials announced the move on Friday.

“I wish no disrespect to our president, I pray for him and wish him well,” the statement continued. “I have always revered the Office of the Presidency. But a bishop must teach the Catholic faith ‘in season and out of season,’ and he teaches not only by his words — but by his actions.”

George Weigel, a Catholic theologian and distinguished senior fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, said the invitation is not a “neutral act” and will significantly damage Notre Dame’s reputation in Catholic circles following Obama’s decision to reverse restrictions on embryonic stem cell research and for family planning groups that provide abortions.

“I think Notre Dame should not have issued the invitation,” Weigel told FOXNews.com. “This is a colossal mess. This is their mess to fix right now, but they should know that they have forfeited an enormous amount of credibility as an institution that takes moral reasoning seriously.”

Weigel said he was not surprised by the outpouring of criticism following the university’s announcement on Friday that Obama would become sixth U.S. president to speak at its commencement. Obama will also become the ninth U.S. president to receive an honorary degree from the university.

“Major donors have the most effective leverage in situations like this,” Weigel said. “I hope the donors are paying attention.”

University spokesman Dennis Brown, when asked if Notre Dame was considering rescinding its invitation, said: “I can’t foresee that occurring. We made an invitation to the president and he’s accepted. We expected criticism and it’s nothing beyond what we expected.”

You can sign the petition, here.

Also see the WSJ for a good oped by William McGurn.

Mark Levin Book, Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto #1 With A Bullet

The book, released today, is already #1 at Amazon. There’s clearly a hunger out there for the conservative argument against the Statism that’s being foisted upon America.

Here he is talking about it on The Sean Hannity Show, last  night:

Levin will be appearing on the Rush Limbaugh Show, tomorrow.

Reviews of this important book can be found at:

The American Thinker

Town Hall, David Limbaugh

Sweetness and Light

NRO, Kathryn Jean Lopez

Giant Inflatable Penis Spooks Police Horse, Sparks Riot

I thought I’d take a break from politics for a moment, to present you with this story out of Wichita, which illustrates why drinking and giant inflatable penises don’t mix:

Officers were patrolling the Old Town area on horseback at about 1:20 a.m. when they came across a large group of women in their early- to mid-20s who had been celebrating at a bachelorette party, police said.

Also in the group was a 24-year-old man, a brother to one of the women at the party. He was carrying a 5-foot-long inflatable penis, police said.

“While he was joking around with this toy, he launched this large toy toward one of our officers, who was on horseback,” police spokesman Gordon Bassham said.

The toy struck the officer’s horse, causing the horse to get spooked, he said.

Police arrested the man, of Eastborough, on suspicion of battery of a law enforcement officer, in this case, the horse.

Unfortunately, things escalated:

A woman, upset at the arrest, grabbed the arresting officer’s arm, police said. She too was arrested.

While the crowd was being dispersed, another woman in the party was arrested when she struck a horse’s head, police said. The horse stepped on the foot of that woman, who was treated on the scene, then taken to jail.

No word on what became of the inflatable penis.

Hat tip: Crime Scene KC

Related:

From the UK Sun:

CHEEKY student Rory McInnes did some DIY at the family home — painting a 60ft WILLY on the roof.

Guess what “willy” is a British slang for.

Thanks to Geoff, who’s actually posting about serious stuff, today.

Islamberg Revisited

Remember Islamberg?

Paul Williams, Ph.D, along with assistants Patrick Walsh, and Michael Travis returned to Islamberg, New York, recently, and filed this report:

Islamberg resembles a ghost town.The Muslim settlement captured national attention two years ago when a story entitled “Springtime in Islamberg” appeared in Atlas Shrugs, Canada Free Press, and other news pages. Since the publication of this expose, Islamberg became an item of interest for ABC News, Fox News, CNN, and other national news outlets; a subject of attention by such best-selling authors as Robert Spencer and Brigitte Gabriel; and the centerpiece of a documentary by Christian Action Network.

But much has changed within this 70 acre Islamic settlement that is located in the dense forest between the small rural villages of Deposit and Hancock in upper New York State.

The sentry post is gone and no guards are in sight.

A handful of children play in the mud and muck before rows of rusty old trailers and a few women in full burqas saunter along the rutty dirt road that leads to the heart of the squalid Muslim compound.

Young men in Islamic garb no longer congregate before the makeshift mosque, and no students are in attendance at the one room shack that serves as Sheikh Gilani’s “International Quranic Open University”.

The few residents who remain, clearly are not environmentalists. Sewage seeps from septic tanks and outhouses into the creek that flows at the base of the settlement. Bags of rotting garbage remain stacked between the trailers. And the once pristine countryside is now littered with junk cars, moldy mattresses, empty tanks of propane, and old appliances.

Gunfire no longer can be heard from the firing ranges along the eastern parameter of the 70 acre property – - and no grunts come from new recruits at the obstacle course.
A new sign at the entranceway reads, “Welcome to Holy Islamberg: The International Quranic Open University.” Next to this sign, which features the image of a mosque emerging from the mountains, is a pot of plastic carnations. Another sign proclaims that the community is home to the “United Muslim – Christian Forum.”

Such statements of welcome are offset by the “No Trespassing” signs that have been nailed to trees throughout the compound.

On the opposite side of the road leading into the community is a rack of metal mailboxes bearing such names as Abdul-Haqq, Abdul Jalil, Mumim Roberts, Abdullah Simonds, and Salam Insan.

What has happened to this once bustling complex of radical Islamists – - a place where the cries of muezzins were accompanied by the incessant rat-tat-tat of machine gunfire? Where are the Arab dignitaries that used to visit this remote community in chauffeur-driven limousines? Where are the armed sentries who warded away all intruders?

“The place was scary,” a barfly at Cuzin’s Tavern in Deposit, says. “The last time I went there, I was surrounded by twenty-five Muslims with shotguns and Uzis. I haven’t heard much about it lately.”

Is the place still scary?

In short…. yes, but you’ll need to read the rest of the report, here, since I’ve already posted plenty enough of it. Suffice it to say…the place is still a little scary, complete with massive underground bunkers where paramilitary training now takes place.

If nothing was ever done about this when Republicans were in power…what chance is there that anything will be done, under Obama?

Obama’s Zombie Army Canvassing Effort A Bust

The big canvassing effort launched last weekend has not made much of a splash with the blue dog Democrats Obama needs to lobby in Congress, as of yet, McClatchy reports:

Obama supporters knocked on an estimated 1 million doors in all 50 states. Canvassers asked people to sign a two-point pledge saying that they support Obama’s “bold approach for renewing America’s economy,” and that they’ll ask family, friends and neighbors to back it.

Ed Morrissey puts into words the involuntary shivering douchechills we all got when we first heard about this:

But the mission here seems very, very strange, and not in line with traditional politicking at all. The creepy, ubiquitous Obama logo on their material gives the game away. They’re not supporting the economic policies, which by the way have yet to be fully explained. How can they encourage people to support Obama’s economic policies when even the Obama administration has trouble articulating them and providing details? And even if they could, the omnibus budget bill and Porkulus have already passed Congress and been signed into law. So why do they need a door-to-door campaign?

The policies don’t need the door-to-door campaign; Obama does. They’re pushing their Obama fetish, not grassroots policy change. And that’s very, very creepy.

Alas, it doesn’t seem to have made much of a difference:

•”News to me,” said Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, a House Budget Committee member, of the canvassing. Later, his staff said that his office had heard from about 100 voters.

•”How many of these folks have read the budget?” wondered Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., a House Financial Services Committee member.

•”You live in Terre Haute, Indiana, or suburban Denver, and someone you don’t know knocks on the door and talks politics — the election is over,” said Peter Brown, the assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute in Connecticut. “I’m not sure if it will make a big difference.”

•Rep. Melissa Bean, D-Ill., once a coalition member but now vice-chair of the New Democrat Coalition, said she wasn’t aware of the effort and has heard no response to it from her district.

Moderate Dems, however,  need to brace themselves as more liberal groups add pressure:

The Campaign for America’s Future and other groups have scheduled a joint news conference for Tuesday to announce what they term a “new campaign to dog the Blue Dogs.”

In a statement, they said that “President Obama is back in campaign mode as he pushes for a budget proposal that has faced opposition from a group of Democratic senators led by Sen. Evan Bayh,” a moderate from Indiana.

In addition, Obama is expected to tout his budget on Tuesday night in a prime-time news conference.

Once again, I’ll be cleaning out my kitchen cupboards, so I’ll have to miss it, darn the luck. I’ll read all of the highlights from the Teleprompter’s speech online.

Stop The Scandal: Obama Invited To Notre Dame Commencement

Obama is easily the most radical, pro abortion President, this nation has ever elected, having voted 4 times against a bill to protect babies born as a result of botched abortions, while he was in the IL legislature.

Cardinal James Francis Stafford, head of the Apostolic Penitentiary of the Holy See, criticized Obama as “aggressive, disruptive and apocalyptic.

He predicted a “time of trial” for Americans with the election of Obama.

The Vatican has said that Obama signing the Freedom of Choice Act (which he has promised to do) “would be the equivalent of a war.”

The Vatican also sharply criticized Obama for his executive order to overturn the ban on state funding for overseas abortions.

Archbishop Chaput warned of the “spirit of adulation” that surrounds Obama. He also lamented the election of Obama, scolding Catholics:

“November showed us that 40 years of American Catholic complacency and poor formation are bearing exactly the fruit we should have expected. Or to put it more discreetly, the November elections confirmed a trend, rather than created a new moment, in American culture.”

So why oh why would a Catholic University invite such a person to deliver their Commencement speech, when his core values, and sensibilities so profoundly conflict with the Catholic Church’s?

You can sign the petition against this scandal, here. There are over 17,000 signatures so far.

Hat tip: Gateway Pundit

UPDATE:

Must read: AN NRO Symposium on the controversy.

Video: 60 Minutes Interviewer Asks Obama; “Are You Punch Drunk”?

60 Minutes reporter, Steve Kroft actually asked a chuckling Obama if he was “punch-drunk” in the 60 Minutes interview he did for Sunday’s show:

That was really an amazing question to ask a sitting US President.

punch-drunk

adj.

1. Showing signs of brain damage caused by repeated blows to the head. Used especially of a boxer.

2. Behaving in a bewildered, confused, or dazed manner.

We are on the verge of a total economic collapse, people are taking to the streets in the thousands, two months into his Presidency to protest the reckless spending, and he’s giggling like a fool.

Punch drunk, indeed.

UPDATE:

The world is beginning to notice what a clueless noob, Obama is.

Say Anything Blog excerpts this quote from a UK Telegraph article:

Obama seems incapable of balancing the need to be a national leader and his childish desire to retain his image as the uber cool dude he so clearly believes that he is.

This is an embarrassing situation as it pertains to our allies. It’s a horribly dangerous one as it pertains to our enemies.  As I said, here, the world may have hated President Bush…but at least they respected him, and our enemies had reason to fear him.

Gird your loins…it looks like that “test” Biden spoke of during the campaign is becoming more and more likely.

More on that score from Frank Gaffney Jr., today:

President Obama’s stewardship of the national security portfolio to date amounts to a wrecking operation, a set of policies he must understand will not only weaken the United States but embolden our foes. After all, the Communist agitator Saul Alinsky, a formative influence in Mr. Obama’s early years as a “community organizer,” made Rule Number One in his 1971 book Rules for Radicals: “Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.”

According to this logic, the various steps Barack Obama is taking with respect to the armed forces, the foreign battlefields in which they are engaged, our allies as well as our adversaries will not only diminish our power.  They will encourage our enemies to perceive us as less powerful – with ominous implications.

UPDATE II:

Holy cow…Michelle Malkin reports on more inappropriate mirth coming  from the Obama administration, this time from Robert Gibbs during the daily WH briefing:

…he managed to irk one of the Obamedia’s biggest cheerleaders, journalist April Ryan, who asked a few questions about America’s reliance on foreign governments buying up our debt and whether there would be any “news” coming out of tomorrow’s presidential press conference.

When Gibbs tried to snark his way out of one of her questions, Ryan retorted: “Stop being flip!”

When he chuckled through her follow ups, she complained: “I’m serious.”

I’ll be on the lookout for that video.

Senator Gregg Says Obama’s Budget Will Bankrupt Country

Senator Judd Gregg of NH, appearing on CNN this morning said Obama’s massive budget proposal will bankrupt the country:

Partial transcript via Gateway Pundit:

“Your listeners have to understand how staggering the numbers are. We’re talking about a deficit in the trillion-dollar range for as far as the eye can see. We’re talking about deficits which are 4% to 5% of GDP – which is not sustainable under any form of government. We’re talking about a public debt – this is a debt that people own of the federal government – that will be around 80% of GDP. Historically, it’s been around 40% of GDP in the out years. The practical implication of this is bankruptcy for the United States. There’s no other way around it.”

The  CBO projected last week that Obama’s budget would produce a dismal 9.3 trillion in deficits over the next decade.

But Obama insisted on Friday that his agenda is still on track.

“What we will not cut are investments that will lead to real growth and prosperity over the long term,” Obama said. “That’s why our budget makes a historic commitment to comprehensive health care reform. That’s why it enhances America’s competitiveness by reducing our dependence on foreign oil and building a clean energy economy.”

Obama’s $3.6 trillion budget for the 2010 fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 contains ambitious programs to overhaul the U.S. health care system and initiate new “cap-and-trade” rules to combat global warming.

That’s an example of what pundits mean when they say Obama “can’t get the words to match the situation”.

60 Minutes reporter Steve Kroft incredulously asked Obama if he was “punch drunk”  during their interview, as they were discussing the very dire state of the economy,and he kept giggling inappropriately.

What in the world is going on with him?

UPDATE:

Powerline lists a few of the earmarks Dems think are worth risking financial ruin for.

For instance: Removing tattoos from gang members (California): $200,000.

Just awesome.

ACORN AIG Protest FAIL

While the tea parties, (which are popping up all over the country, drawing hundreds and even thousands of people every week), are attracting scarce attention from the media, a motley troupe of 40 ACORN malcontents that go by the name of the Connecticut Working Families Party attracted dozens of reporters from around the world for their protest of AIG working family homes, today:

The reporters outnumbered the protesters.

I’ve been to three tea parties so far, all of which were considerably larger than this sad little  exercise in class envy. Only the last one was covered by anyone in the MSM; one lone reporter from the local Fox affiliate.

But the AIG bonuses are apparently what the media insists we  be outraged about, not the insane spending spree Obama and the Dems in Congress have been on. I could have worked up a little indignation over the bonuses, myself,  but all of the maudlin emoting that came out of Congress, and the White House over them, knocked it right out of me.

Not so with CT Working Families Party.

Oh brother, here come the sob stories:

“We think $165 million could be used in a more appropriate way to keep people in their homes, create more jobs and health care,” said Emeline Bravo-Blackport, a gardener.

She marveled at AIG executive James Haas’ colonial house, which has stunning views of a golf course and the Long Island Sound. The Fairfield house is “another part of the world” from her life in nearby Bridgeport, which flirted with bankruptcy in the 1990s and still struggles with foreclosures and unemployment.”

“Lord, I wonder what it’s like to live in a house that size,” she said.

Another protester, Claire Jeffery, of Bloomfield, said she’s on the verge of foreclosure. She works as a housekeeper; her husband, a truck driver, can’t find work.

I’m not sure how protesting the AIG executives’ homes is going to help with any of that. They could be, you know… working.

Hat tip: Jammie Wearing Fool.

UPDATE:

Verrrry interesting: More about the protest/”protesters”, here.

UPDATE II:

Via Instapundit: