Noted in passing, I see that the Dope from Hope. b/k/a Mike Huckabee is not running for President. If Mr Huckabee wants to be President, he should run as what he is, a democrat. Good riddens
Meanwhile, Dumbo, b/k/a Barack Obama is pretending to support increased domestic production of oil and immigration reform. I got some Louisiana river front property for you.
Politics Chicago style, from Bill Wilson, Daily Caller [1], NLRB to Boeing: Shut up!
Joe “Lips bigger than Lewinsky” Biden as reported by Toby Harden, Telegraph [2] (UK):
Let me briefly acknowledge tonight’s distinguished honorees. Admiral James Stavridis is a, is the real deal. He can tell you more about and understands the incredible, the phenomenal, the just almost unbelievable capacity of his Navy SEALs and what they did last Sunday.
Mr. Vice President, STFU.
Hat tip: Ed Morrissey, Hot Air [3].
They’re the heroes that killed America’s most wanted terrorist in a high-stakes covert mission. Of course they became America’s heroes. They appreciate the outpouring of support, love, and recognition, they really do. But what the Navy SEALs would really like is for people to stop talking about their tactics and leave them alone so they can conduct their business successfully in the future:
Killing Usama bin Laden didn’t make the SEALS heroes. Killing bin Laden was their job. There are heroes for holding up their right hand, taking the Oath and living up to it. Bravo Zulu gentlemen.
Obami bin Laden spin unravels, from Wajid Ali Syed. News [4]:
[Leon] Panetta was directing the operation with both his CIA operatives and the military. The plan was not to capture but to kill bin Laden on sight. Contrary to the news reports, it was Panetta and not President Obama who took the lead on coordinating the details of the mission.
According to the source, the White House staff has compromised the identity of the unit that carried out the mission. The source said the claim that the raid yielded a “treasure trove” of information about al-Qaeda is also exaggerated. Obama meanwhile is “milking” the mission as a tactic to better his chances of re-election in 2012. The concern in intelligence circles is that in his zeal to boost his approval ratings, the president is harming relations with Pakistan.
Evidence that Panetta and not the Obama White House issued the order to take out Usama bin Laden is the fact that the operation remained a secret. Had the White House been in on the planning, “Lewisnsky Lips” Biden would have blabbed it.
Reich comes up short, Robert Reich thinks making a profit is embarrassing. frpm the San Francisco Chronicle [5]:
ExxonMobil’s first-quarter earnings of $10.7 billion are up 69 percent from last year. Other oil companies are also scoring record gains. The five biggest oil companies together report more than $35 billion in profits.
This gusher is an embarrassment for an industry seeking to keep its $4 billion annual tax subsidy from the U.S. government. It’s especially embarrassing at a time when Americans are paying $4 a gallon or more at the pump.
No Mr. Reich, producing a needed product and turning a profit is not embarrassing. It is called good business This is embarrassing, from Debbie Cenziper and Jonathan Mummolo, Washington Post [6]:
The federal government’s largest housing construction program for the poor has squandered hundreds of millions of dollars on stalled or abandoned projects and routinely failed to crack down on derelict developers or the local housing agencies that funded them.
Nationwide, nearly 700 projects awarded $400 million have been idling for years, a Washington Post investigation found. Some have languished for a decade or longer even as much of the country struggles with record-high foreclosures and a dramatic loss of affordable housing.
Or would but it the government had any senses of shame. When I give Exxon/Mobile, well really Mr. Hess, four dollars I get a gallon of gasoline which I need, and Mr Hess gets what a dime? It called win-win.
Conversely when Uncle Sam takes my money, I neither have the money which I need to buy gas and food. and the poor do not get housing. That is called lose-lose, and it ought to shame Reich, if he were but capable of shame. If big oil ran their businesses like HUD, they be all broke, and we’d be all walking.
More Yglesias, if you are to believe Matthew Yglesias [7], Newt Gingrich said:
“You know, folks often talk about immigration. I always say that to become an American citizen, immigrants ought to have to learn American history. [applause] But maybe we should also have a voting standard that says to vote, as a native born American, you should have to learn American history. [applause] You realize how many of our high school graduates because of the decay of the educational system, couldn’t pass a citizenship test.”
To which Mr. Yglesias responded:
For one thing, Gingrich really shouldn’t be running for president on a platform of adding an American history component to the citizenship test without trying some sample questions first. He might realize that history questions already feature prominently on the test. Meanwhile, if Gingrich himself wants to avoid flunking history he might take note of the fact that making US citizens take a poll test would be illegal under the 1965 Voting Rights Act. That’s for the very good reason that the historical purpose of such proposals has been to prevent black people form voting. This is certainly more subtle than Ron Paul’s direct criticism of the Civil Rights Act but either way the spirit is hard to miss.
This is what is called a target rich environment. Did Yglesias even read what he posted? Mr. Gingrich is talking about having native born Americans, as in non-immigrants, take a test on American history. Yglesais expresses no heartburn over non-native born Americans having to take an American history test as part of the citizenship process.
What Gingrich is suggesting is requiring native born citizens to meet the same requirement to know American history as naturalized citizens. Yet for reasons not discernible to rational mankind, Yglesias endorses the latter requirement but calls the former racist. Go figure.