Video: “Fear the Boom and Bust” A Hayek vs.Keynes Rap Duel

Have you seen this yet?

I don’t want to give anything away…but Keynes is puking in the toilet towards the end….

Hat tip: The Weekly Standard Blog

UPDATE:

The story behind the video.

Video: Las Vegas Mayor: “This President Is A Real Slow Learner”

Oh, hahaha.

I didn’t even think the Las Vegas comment was the most egregious moment in that NH speech on Tuesday. The idea Obama was selling,  that it was time for the government  to “prioritize”, and “tighten its belt” was flat out preposterous in light of his budget busting fiscal plan.

More on that score from Doug Powers in the Hot Air Green Room.

But to the folks struggling in Nevada’s beleaguered economy, the Las Vegas comment stood out. The Mayor was NOT amused:

I wonder if a Presidential bow to the Mayor would help?

Obama did damage control, today:

After sparking a firestorm of criticism from Nevada’s elected officials for suggesting that people saving money for college shouldn’t blow it in Las Vegas, Obama told U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in a letter that he wasn’t saying anything negative about Las Vegas.

It was the second time since taking office that Obama singled out Las Vegas as a potential example of spending excessively.

“I was making the simple point that families use vacation dollars, not college tuition money, to have fun,” Obama said, according to the letter released by Reid’s office. “There is no place better to have fun than Vegas, one of our country’s great destinations.”

Obama said he always enjoys his visits to Las Vegas.

A White House spokesman referred to Obama’s letter to Reid and said the administration had no further comment.

Dan Riehl says of the brouhaha: It’s Time To Face The Facts On Obama: He’s A Moron

Video: Glenn Beck Responds To Arianna Huffington’s Attack

You could say he slaughtered her, but perhaps that’s an unfortunate metaphor…

Newsbusters reported:

Glenn Beck on Tuesday addressed recent attacks by liberal publisher Arianna Huffington and in so doing thoroughly demolished the proprietor of the Huffington Post on national television.

Beck did such a good job that even the left-leaning website Mediaite took his side.

As NewsBusters reported Sunday, Huffington went on ABC’s “This Week” and accused Beck of “inciting the American people” to commit violence against Obama by talking about “people being slaughtered.”

The Fox News host, after calling her “Media Matters after a few drinks,” walked viewers through specifically what he said on the “Glenn Beck” installment in question, and exactly how wrong Huffington was (video embedded below the fold with transcript):

This video is a joy to watch:

I have to disagree with Beck on one point, though. Nobody is lower than the bottom feeders at Media Matters. Not even Arianna Huffington.

Breaking: Geithner and Bernanke: Partners In Crime?

You’ll want to read this Frank Gaffney interview of David Yerushalmi, Securities specialist and senior litigator in Murray v. Geithner et al.

Breaking News: Evidence of criminal wrongdoing in Treasury’s handling of AIG?

This story/scandal is likely to dominate the next news cycle.

In a nutshell, Yerushalmi alleges  that Geithner and Bernanke were Laundering Money Through an Illegal Trust.

See Also:

Obama’s mother, Stanley A. Dunham, worked for Tim Giether’s Father Peter Geither at the Ford Foundation.

Hat tip: Hot Air Headlines

Krauthammer: “We Are Seeing A Collapse Of Obama’s Policy”

Video via Keep America Safe, (which was created to fight this fight). Thank God sanity is ruling the day.

Longer Krauthammer here, as he discusses the collapse in depth with Frank Gaffney:

Second video via Center For Security Policy.

The DOJ’s Disgusting Double Standard In the O’Keefe Affair

Yes, when I heard yesterday, via Andrew Breitbart that James O’Keefe was denied an attorney for 28 hours, the first thing I thought of, was: @#$%&*???? Is it possible that they would grant an attorney to the panty-bomber (an enemy combatant who aimed to slaughter a plane load of people) after only 50 minutes…and they would deny a conservative activist an attorney for 28 hours????

Yes, it reminded me of Janet Napolitano’s Dept. of Homeland Security report on right-wing extremism, last year,  which signaled an Obama administration shift in the War on terror away from Islamic terrorists to imagined right-wing domestic ones.

Yes, this episode gives credence to the widespread notion that the Obama administration’s approach to terrorism is tragically wrong-headed and dangerous not only in terms of our personal safety, but in terms of our civil liberties, as well.

Ace of Spades broached this subject in his post about the dangers of treating enemy combatants like common criminals:

The point is: Either the government has the power to do something to a suspect or it does not. Either the Constitution forbids a certain practice or it does not.

Bush, the supposed idiot, established a bright-line distinction between citizen suspects and illegal combatants. Bush, the fascist cretin who couldn’t pronounce “nuclear,” set up an analytical structure wherein it was clear that citizen suspects were owed the full panoply of constitutional protections, and only terrorist illegal combatants were to be treated with lesser protections.

But Obama the Genius With the Nicely Creased Trousers has created a system wherein Mad Maxipad is sorta like me, as far as the law goes, and I, unfortunately, am sorta like him.

And instead of there being a bright-line distinction between us, I sort of have to trust that the Obama Administration will be restrained by its own conscience and judgment, because there isn’t any strong paper command about this any longer.

And how are they doing so far?

Well, gee: If Breitbart’s reportage is true, James O’Keefe was denied a lawyer for a full 28 hours.

Seems a pretty big departure from constitutional norms, doesn’t it?

But, you know, just as Mad Maxipad is sort of a citizen deserving some but not all citizen rights, James O’Keefe is now sort of a terrorist also deserving some but not all citizen rights.

And Andrea Shea King at Big Government elaborated:

When the Christmas Day panty bomber was arrested for trying to blow up himself and the plane he rode in on, he was questioned for approximately 50 minutes before an attorney was brought in to advise him.  What happened next?  Mister Burning Briefs clammed up.

Contrast that with James O’Keefe, American citizen, who was denied an attorney for 28 hours after he was arrested and accused of trying to tamper with the phones of Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu.  During that time, the FBI issued a press release on the arrest and leaked the criminal complaint.  The mainstream media salivated, while ACORN’s Bertha Lewis scambled to appear before TV cameras.

The Christmas Day bomber was given Constitutional rights and Miranda’d within an hour of his arrest but a U.S. citizen was not given a lawyer until more than a day had passed?

How — and why — did a terror suspect get kid glove legal treatment?  And as another conservative journalist asked, “Where was the ‘don’t rush to judgment’ media when someone killed innocents while shouting Allah Akbar?  But at the first hint of a scandal, they crucify O’Keefe?”

Could it be that one of the two is considered to be a clear and present danger to the Obama administration…and it ain’t the Islamic terrorist?

RELATED article by Byron York on the mounting pressure Republicans (and a few Democrats) are putting on Attorney General, Eric Holder:

…unanswered questions about the Justice Department’s terrorism policies are piling up on Holder’s desk. There are still questions about the Khalid Sheikh Mohammed decision, as well as the administration’s misbegotten effort to close Guantanamo. And a bipartisan group of senators wants to know who decided to cut short the interrogation of accused Detroit bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, granting him full American constitutional rights in the civilian justice system and killing the chance to gain potentially valuable intelligence about the al Qaeda group that sent Abdulmutallab to the United States on his deadly mission.

It is impossible to overstate how seriously Republicans view these issues, and, despite their weaknesses as the minority party, they are determined to get answers out of Holder. “He needs to go to Congress and say, ‘I made that decision. Here’s why,’ ” GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander said Sunday on Fox News. “And based on that, perhaps he should step down.”

So far, few other senators will go that far — Grassley won’t — but the demands for answers will only grow. Put them all together, and Holder is facing a very rough future.

Don Surber thinks Republicans should take a look a the O’Keefe affair, as well:

I seriously hope that Republicans on the House judiciary committee and the Senate judiciary committee demand a full-scale investigation of this case.

“James O’Keefe sat in jail for 28 hours without access to an attorney, while the U.S. attorney leaked the information about his arrest, helping the media frame it as ‘Watergate Junior,’” Breitbart said.

MORE:

Pamela Geller focuses on the equally egregious media side of things.

Breitbart t.v: McCain: Holder ‘Has Obviously Botched This One Very, Very Badly’

Linked by Michelle Malkin, Buzzworthy, and Doug Ross, thanks.

Video: Obama’s SOTU Doublethink Doubletalk

From Reason T.V.:

My head was spinning by the end of it, too.

See Also:

John Boehner’s,  10 Things Every American Should Know About President Obama’s Budget

Newsweek: White House Signals Pessimism on Cap and Trade

Time: Republican Surprise: 10 More Scott Browns

Scott Brown’s surprise victory in the Massachusetts Senate Race has given Republicans new confidence in challenging Democrats in the 2010 midterm elections. Here’s a look at ten GOP congressional contenders who could follow in Brown’s wake

Eric Cantor: Debt Limit Increase: A Look Inside The Numbers

Daily Inter Lake: America: Are we being ‘transformed’ and … if so … into what?

AlFonzo: Not Just Our Hard Earned Pay, Democrats Are Taxing Our Patience, Too

WSJ: A Tale Of The Two Terrorists

Mike Pence: Pence: “This Budget Is Insane”

Rep. Gresham Barrett (S.C.): The President’s Record Spending Budget Doesn’t Help

GOP.gov: The Party Of What?

Ed Schultz Describes West Wing As Shrine To Obama

Newsbusters found this vignette shared by MSNBC talker, Ed Schultz to be telling:

Here’s Schultz on his radio show Friday talking about meeting with Obama advisor David Axelrod at the White House the day before, along with fellow liberal radio host Bill Press and several other left-wing media types Schultz did not identify (click here for audio) –

SCHULTZ: First of all you walk into the White House, in the West Wing, and there are picture all over, I mean everywhere! Of President Obama! I mean, of his life in the first year as president of the United States. Now I don’t know if that’s the way it is with every president, but it was almost a shrine. I mean, well, here’s a picture of Obama the president with his kids over here. There he is getting on Air Force One. Here he is with some military people. Here he is on the line working the line at one of his campaign stops. I mean, just, it was just one picture after another! (laughs)

And so I got the message right away that there’s nothing but Obama fans in the White House which I think is a good thing. ‘Cause it’s always good to have the team together, right? (laughs)

Newsbusters’ Jack Coleman found it bizarre that 1.) Schultz wasn’t able to grasp that this didn’t speak well of the President, and 2.) this constitutes a message?

Since, I have no idea what is standard fare for West Wing decor, I searched the web for some descriptions of WH decor under Bush, and  found this post written by a guy who had visited the White House two days before the 2008 election:

The ground floor entry area is pretty interesting, the walls lined with photographs of recent visitors, such as the Pope. (The White House Photo Office is down there too, so no wonder. The official photographers are the only ones allowed to take photos inside.) We could look into the Mess Hall, which is run by the U.S. Navy (and is separate from the president’s dining room on the first floor).

Another one, here, from September 22nd, 2004 :

Upon entering the building, we went into a small reception area where there were several large (approx. 18″ x 24″) and very recent photographs of President Bush on each wall.  Lonnie told us that the pictures are rotated on a weekly basis.  Most of the pictures were from the President’s visit to Florida the prior weekend. All of them were quite good.  I asked what was happens to them once they are taken down and was told that some are saved for use in the Presidential Library, and some are given away to the individuals appearing in the photographs with the President.

And I found this WSJ piece about GW’s last day in the White House:

Past and current Bush staffers attended a final gathering of 600 or so on Sunday night at the Spanish Ballroom, a 1930s dance hall maintained by the National Park Service in Washington’s Maryland suburbs. Mr. Bush, an early riser, stayed for all of five minutes, long enough to thank the attendees and tell them how proud he was of them. He left around 8:50 p.m. so he could be back at the White House before 9:30 p.m.

When aides returned to work at the White House on Monday morning, the big action photos of the president and First Lady that covered the walls were largely gone.

Sooooo, although no one had described the WH as a “shrine” to Bush, it seems that photos of the President and first family are pretty much the standard thing in the West Wing reception area. I’ve never been, so I didn’t know. I wonder if the Obama WH rotates the photos on a weekly basis like the Bush WH did?

I do find it interesting that noted  “genius envy” sufferer, Ed Schultz was invited to the White House for a meeting with David Axelrod. He must get his talking points directly from the WH spin machine.

That should work out well since both Axelrod and Schultz are so well known for their class and charm.

Video: Andrew Breitbart On MSM: These Decadent Bast**ds Are Going Down!

I was actually looking for that Fox video of Breitbart claiming  O’Keefe wasn’t granted an attorney for 28 hours. It’s not up yet, but in the meantime, you might enjoy this:

UPDATE:

Here’s the video from Breitbart’s telephone interview with Megyn Kelly:

video via DrudgeReportUSA

Linked by Michelle Malkin, Buzzworthy, thanks!

Rep Hensarling Strikes Back After Exchange With Obama At Republican Retreat

Obama got a little testy with Rep. Jeb Hensarling at the House Republican retreat in Baltimore, last Friday, calling his question a “talking point for running a campaign”:

Quin Hillyer at the The American Spectator found the President’s demeanor in answering the question  to be arrogant, offensive and obnoxious:

The Washington Post has the whole exchange here. It captures some of the nature of the president’s supercilious attitude towards Hensarling, but you had to see it live to see how peeved, how thin-skinned, how arrogant, and how insulting his demeanor towards Hensarling was — an attitude that, if you watched, was SO different from Hensarling’s question, which while pointed and a bit long-winded, was in both words and demeanor respectful toward the president as a person — a respect Obama did NOT return. Not only that, but Obama had no business acting as if Hensarling was obnoxiously filibustering (actually, Hensarling specifically had just said he was about to actually ask the question when Obama cut him off), when Obama himself spoke at much much much greater length than most of his Republican questioners. He himself spoke longer than Hensarling in “answering” Hensarling.

“I am happy to have any independent fact-checker out there take a look at your presentation versus mine in terms of the accuracy of what I just said.” That is what Obama said while lecturing Hensarling. Again, I’ll put the Hensarling link here and invite the president to refute Hensarling’s facts. He can’t. Hensarling’s facts are accurate.

Hillyer concludes:

I think that this is why — this demeanor of his — is one big reason why he has been so polarizing. His attitude almost always is: If you are not with me, you are either stupid or ill-motivated.

I think Quin may have inadvertently discovered the Obama Doctrine.

In the War on Terror, President Bush declared a Bush Doctrine, which emphasized the notion that “If you are not with us, you are against us”.

In Obama’s War on Prosperity, his Doctrine is, “If you are not with me, you are either stupid or ill-motivated”.

Nice, that should help close the partisan divide.

Here are the facts from Hensarling’s press release:

Assertion: “The Republicans proposed a (Fiscal Year 2010) budget that ensured that government did not grow beyond the historical standard of 20% of GDP.”

FACT: Under the budget proposal put forward by House Republicans, spending as a percent of GDP is 20.7% of GDP in 2015, and in 10 years is at 20.7% of GDP.  Source:  House Budget Committee Republicans “The Path to American Prosperity” Budget Alternative, Table S-1 http://www.house.gov/budget_republicans/press/2007/pr20090401_gopbudget.pdf.  Historical standard is 20.7% of GDP.  Source: Heritage Foundation http://s3.amazonaws.com/thf_media/2010/pdf/wm_2780.pdf

Assertion: “It was a budget that actually froze immediately nondefense, discretionary spending.”

FACT: The House Republican budget froze non-defense/non-veteran spending for 5 years (FY2010-14).  Source:  House Budget Committee Republicans “The Path to American Prosperity” Budget Alternative, Page 39  http://www.house.gov/budget_republicans/press/2007/pr20090401_gopbudget.pdf

Assertion: “It spent $5 trillion less than what was ultimately enacted into law.”

FACT: The House Republican budget called for $36.913 trillion in spending over 10 years, whereas CBO estimated in March that the President’s budget would spend $41.726 trillion over 10 years.  This is a difference of $4.813 trillion over a 10 year period.
Source: House Budget Committee Republicans “The Path to American Prosperity” Budget Alternative, Table S-1 http://www.house.gov/budget_republicans/press/2007/pr20090401_gopbudget.pdf and CBO’s Baseline and Estimate of the President’s Budget, June 2009 http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/102xx/doc10296/06-16-AnalysisPresBudget_forWeb.pdf

Assertion: “What were the old annual deficits under Republicans have now become the monthly deficits under Democrats.”

FACT: According to CBO’s September 2009 Monthly Budget Review  http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/105xx/doc10552/09-08-mbr.htm, July 2009’s deficit was $181 billion.  According to CBO’s December 2009 Monthly Budget Review  http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/108xx/doc10825/12-4-09MBR.htm, October 2009’s deficit was $176 billion.  Comparatively, according to OMB’s Historical Tables (Table 1.1) http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Historicals/, Republicans’ last annual deficit was $160.7 billion in FY2007.

Even Republicans worst annual deficit – $412.7 billion in FY2004 according to OMB’s Historical Tables (Table 1.1) http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Historicals/ – pales in comparison to Democratic deficits.  According to CBO’s January Monthly Budget Review http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/108xx/doc10869/December2009MBR.pdf, in the first 3 months of FY2010 (October-December 2009) alone, Democrats have run up a deficit of about $390 billion – $22.7 billion shy of the GOP’s worst annual deficit.

Assertion: “The national debt has increased 30%.”

FACT: According to CBO’s January 2010 Budget and Economic Update (Table F-1) http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/108xx/doc10871/AppendixF.shtml#1096834, the debt held by the public at the end of FY2008 was $5.803 trillion, and at the end of FY2009 was $7.544 trillion.  This is an increase of 30%.

Assertion: “Your administration proposed a budget that would triple the national debt over the next 10 years.”

FACT: According to CBO’s June 2009 estimate of the President’s Budget http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/102xx/doc10296/06-16-AnalysisPresBudget_forWeb.pdf, debt held by the public would rise from its 2008 level of $5.803 trillion to $17.126 trillion in 2019, which is 2.95 times larger than the 2008 level.

Assertion: “Will that new budget, like your old budget, triple the national debt and continue to take us down a path of increasing the cost of government to almost 25% of our economy?”

FACT: According to the President’s FY2010 budget (Table S-1) http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2010/assets/summary.pdf, debt held by the public is set to rise from $5.803 trillion in FY2008 to $16.027 trillion in FY2019, which is 2.76% times larger.  Also, the President’s budget shows spending as a percentage of GDP at 24.4% for FY2010.  CBO’s June 2009 estimate http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/102xx/doc10296/06-16-AnalysisPresBudget_forWeb.pdf of the President’s budget also shows federal outlays at 24.5% of GDP in 2019.

Hensarling updates with this post:

President Obama Finally Answers Hensarling’s Budget Question:

Upon the release today of his record breaking $3.8 trillion fiscal year 2011 budget, President Barack Obama finally answered the question posed to him by Congressman Jeb Hensarling, a question the President declined to answer during the Friday, January 29 House Republican retreat: “Mr. President, will that new budget, like your old budget, triple the national debt and continue to take us down the path of increasing the cost of government to almost 25 percent of our economy?” To view budget documents go to http://www.house.gov/budget_republicans/

Hensarling said, “Although it came 72 hours after I posed this very important question to the President, the American taxpayers and I finally have an answer to the simple question I asked him on Friday. The answer is YES. The president released a 10-year budget today that will triple the national debt, and keep government spending on a path that equals as much as 25% of the entire U.S. economy.  This budget sends a clear signal to American taxpayers who are tired of the spending, deficits and bailouts – and who recognize that they are not working – that the President is taking the policies they have rejected to a new high. This is clear evidence that the President is ignoring the will of the American taxpayers who want Washington to go on a diet.”

See also:

Pence Response to President Obama’s Speech At the GOP Retreat

Video: Marc Thiessen On EWTN Justifies Enhanced Interrogations on Just War Theory Grounds

Marc Thiessen appeared recently with Raymond Arroyo on EWTN and explained why it was important to him as a practicing Catholic, (and initially a skeptic) that we make sure that the interrogations were “effective, necessary, (there was no other way to get the information), and that they were carried out in a moral way”.

Part One:

Part Two:

Videos via The Right Scoop.

Incidentally, Thiessen’s book, Courting Disaster has debuted at #31 on the NYT bestseller list. You can order the book, here.

Video:Juan Williams Struggles To Defend Obama Administration’s Interrogation Policies

His explanation as to why the FBI considered Abdulmutalib a lone wolf even after being told he was from Yemen, fails to convince:

But it was a valiant effort.

The Obamabow Follies – Tampa Edition

I don’t even know what say about this, except that the Obamabow will surely be a returning feature on many blogs for the next several years.

Here, he bows to Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio at MacDill Air Force Base on Thursday, Jan. 28, 2010 in Tampa, Fla.

I’m not sure if Obama is bowing out of cultural sensitivity, (she looks Asian, although her father was Italian)….

…..Orrr maybe he has something else in mind…

Pam Iorio, who has approval ratings comparable to pre 2008 election Gov Sarah Palin’s, was considering a run for the US Senate on the Democrat ticket, but bowed out for reasons unknown, (at least to this blogger). She was considered a dark horse for the Democrats.

That leaves this motley crew:

• Tyrone K. Brown, Sr., Pastor from Daytona Beach ^[11]
• Kevin Burns, North Miami mayor ^[12]
• Kendrick Meek, U.S. Congressman Florida’s 17th congressional district^[5][13]
• Whitney Mutch^[14]
• Maurice Ferre, Former Miami Mayor ^[15]

Meek is the strongest of the bunch, but he is still wiped out in poll match ups between either he and Crist, or he and Rubio.

See what I’m sayin’?

Hat tip: Weasel Zippers

Previously:

Video: Obama Bows Again In China

Sorry, Had To Be Done

Obama Bows Yet Again

White House Doubles Down On Lie: Obama Didn’t Bow To King Abdullah

A Tale Of Two Bows