POWIP Piece of Work In Progress

Harry Reid Sings Bob Dylan

If Not for Me

If not for me, babe, you couldn't find the door
Couldn't even see the floor
You'd be up a tree
If not for me.

If not for me, baby, you'd lay awake all night
Wait for the morning light
To shine in bright
That you would never see
If not for me.

If not for me, your sky would fall, rain incessantly
Without my deeds you'd be nowhere at all
You'd be lost if not for me
You would not be free.

If not for me, your sky would fall, rain eternally
Without my laws you'd be nowhere at all
Oh where would you be, baby
[pause . . . pause . . . pause]
If not for me?

If not for me, recession would never end
You wouldn't see that tax and spend
Is what we mustn't flee
Anyway you wouldn't agree
If not for me
If not for me, if not for me.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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Land of Dumbchantment

The political blogosphere has been overwhelmed today by the news that NPR terminated Juan Williams' contract for speaking the truth about his feelings regarding traditionally garbed Muslims about to get on the same flight with him: it makes him nervous. Vivian Schiller (V-Schill, we'll call her) then said that Juan should have kept his feelings between himself and his psychiatrist. In every other walk of life, of course, the liberals want to elevate the importance of feelings above reason. It's not about the truth, but about how people express truths that might be perceived as hurtful by others. And as Ace notes, referencing Matt Welch, most liberals will not admit to their fear of Muslims, which they manifest by self-censorship and the appeasement policy of calling for others to censor themselves. Here's Megan Kelly losing her patience with CAIR spokesmonster Ibrahim Hooper, via Breitbart.TV:

Fox signed Williams to a contract to expand his role, and a variety of people have called for the cutoff of all federal funding for NPR, CPB, and the affiliates.

V-Schill stated that the reason for Williams' firing was that he had undermined his role as a hard news reporter by expressing his opinions. Honestly, I don't know who might have a more valid opinion regarding Juan Williams' feelings, but there you have it. Many have pointed out that Nina Totenberg seems hardly reluctant to interject her feelings and impressions into discussions. More to the point, perhaps, is V-Schill's online chat from last year when she was asked about Daniel Schorr:

Derwood, Md.: Why do you keep Dan Schorr around? His analysis is reliably faulty, liberally-biased, and mean-spirited (yeah, I guess I'd feel the same way after what Nixon did to me). But still — he really knocks down any credibility you have of being 'unbiased', especially since he is a part of the news wing, not entertainment.

This is a question I get from time to time from people asking when NPR will have a conservative commentator to balance what they see as liberal commentary from Schorr.

"The only way to answer is that Dan is a news analyst - not a commentator - and that he isn't representative of any one side of the debate," said Ellen Weiss, NPR's senior v.p. for news. "In other words, we don't expect him to naturally side with the left. But rather to take a position based on his reporting. In those cases where we are looking for a conversation or commentary that spans left to right, we bring together people who are happily identified with one side or the other."

Dan is a news analyst, see, so, by definition, what he says can't possibly be biased. From what I've witnessed of how NPR used Williams, I don't see how he doesn't fit their tautological definition of news analyst. But perhaps some very perceptive philosopher can let me know where I'm going wrong with this BS.

Dan Riehl is quite right to state that this comes conveniently during their pledge drive, and as I've stated elsewhere, just judging from the titles of what comes through my reader, and from peeks at the contents, NPR has decided to ditch any pretense of objectivity as the elections approach. In that vein, it was announced yesterday that NPR had accepted $1.8 million from Soros to boost reporting of the elections. It's also been pointed out that, apart from CAIR, NPR seemed to be responding to the threats of Soros-funded Think Progress and the HuffPo. My guess is that they've really been disgruntled with Williams ever since he published a book that traced the ills attending the breakdown of black families and communities in America to root causes for which conservatives weren't solely culpable.

Even Anderson Cooper wasn't buying Ben Jealous's nonsense about the NAACP report casting accusations of racism on the Tea Party movement:

The NAACP rollout of this crap in St. Louis didn't go very smoothly, either, though as far as I know they didn't go as far as the union jackass who claimed Tea Partiers want to bring back slavery.

Much other crazy shit was spouted by many other crazy people today, overwhelming such legitimate news as a judge's statement that he never finally approved the sale of Lehman to Barclay's and the California woman who drove for months with a rotting corpse in her passenger seat. Some of the craziest came from Harry Reid, who seems to believe that, if not for him, the world would be one enormous catastrophe (also via Breitbart.TV):

This is what happens when an asshole stays in government for too long.

As kooky as that was, the prize goes to Valerie Jarrett, video at RCP:

"The fact is that people are frustrated and angry, we completely understand because of what happened before the president [Obama] came in and so it's going to take some time," senior Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett told CNN.

Dennis the Peasant had some more Jarrett gobbledygook:

JARRETT: You know what, the Justice Department is required to defend the law of the land. Believe me, we wish there were another way because the President has been so clear. And I think there are many members of the gay community who actually understand this and who are working with us to try to put pressure on Congress to repeal it. It’s clear that the vast majority of American people think that it should not be the law. And we are determined to have Congress revoke it. But we have to go through that orderly process.

Uh-huh. Well, there you have it: It isn't that Barack Obama is a gutless wonder, it's that all you gay types just don't understand the process. (You know, the process where Obama stands around saying he'd love to end DADT while telling the Justice Department to do whatever it takes to keep DADT from ending.)

Obama has made a total hash of this issue. He doesn't much mind legislation from the bench, as long as it serves his agenda. He's made that clear in discussing the role of judges, and how constrained they are by precedent. But he counts on the minority vote, and he's afraid that he's going to lose his remaining cred if he doesn't keep this one caveat in his pocket till after the elections. That said, there's never been a more auspicious moment to do away with DADT than this, because with all the other shit we're in, it's not particularly near the top of anyone's agenda, including most social conservatives'.

Yep, they're in full meltdown. And boy, do they deserve it.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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$320k Salary Paid Out to Jersey Turnpike Employee

You know what? If they were going to pay me that, I probably would have taken it, too. But it just shows how they view the public's dime.

Auditors say the New Jersey Turnpike Authority wasted $43 million on unneeded perks and bonuses. In one case, an employee with a base salary of $73,469 earned $321,985 when all payouts and bonuses were included.

The audit says that toll dollars From the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway were spent on items ranging from an employee bowling league to employee bonuses for working on birthdays and holidays.

It took place as tolls were being increased.

The biggest expense uncovered in the audit was $30 million in unjustified bonuses to employees and management in 2008 and 2009 without consideration of performance.

A related revelation would be the extent of salary increases for workers at the Federal Reserve:

In recent years, the average wage in the Fed’s regional banks has soared, reaching $84,054 in 2009, or 67 percent greater than the private sector average wage of $50,462. Meanwhile, the average wage of the 2,100 workers in the Fed’s Board of Governors in Washington reached $116,030 in 2009.

I guess it's expensive to live in DC. Still . . . it's the mismatch between stagnant private sector wages and soaring public ones that rankles.

In Chicago, an audit of work performed in weatherization programs---part of the wonderful Stimpulus!---showed that in 14 of 15 cases it was shoddy, and in some downright dangerous. Change! Oh, and fraud, naturally.

And while I'm getting you all riled up, even more on Kinsey's "research".

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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Stacy and Da Techguy, Plus Other Political Blogging of Note

You're probably aware---if you aren't, where have you been? that Stacy and Da Techguy went on an extended road trip that ended just yesterday. Peter's posts on Stacy are numerous, and infused with an admirable detachment, reminiscent of Joan Goodall's work. The admonitory piece, Driving with Stacy McCain is here. At the bottom of that post, you will find related entries.

Stacy has up an AmSpec piece on the Democrats' desperate attempts to change the subjects in the last days of their campaigns. Here's Stacy's latest post on the desperation of Barney Frank, begging for abortion bucks.

Here, you'll find the story of a Pennsylvania Democrat supporting the campaign of a "Tea Party" candidate in an attempt to split the vote. Chances are you're not going to hear much about that in the MSM. If you tweet about Murkowski's likely election finance law violation (Facebook), you're going to get trolls trying to make you click on ugly links. And there's plenty more electiony goodness over at Dan Riehl's.

For my money, of which I haven't any, the best political article of the day goes to Ace's piece on the WaPo lying that actually precipitated a lot of the brouhaha over whether Christine O'Donnell is a constitutional airhead. Go over there and read what she actually said, how it was reported, and how the Post has tried to finesse down the memory hole without anyone noticing the meretricious device (and mission accomplished).

Heartland Murmurs is shaping up to be one of the consistently best blogs out there, and you'll probably enjoy this piece on Russ Feingold. Paco's got a lot of good stuff, and this post on the self-delusions of the Proggies is schadenfreudelicious. The young and beautiful Veronica Estrada is a rising star.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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Archaeological News: Swiss Door, Remains of Reputed Mona Lisa Model

I love these kinds of stories, and just needed a breather from the political stuff.

In Switzerland, archaeologists discovered the remains of a 5000-year old door and several neolithic villages where excavation for an underground car park has been going on. Dendrological information allows them to pinpoint the time of manufacture fairly precisely, which yields a date of about the time of the construction of Stonehenge in England.

Near Stonehenge, a recently excavated skeleton proves to be that of a boy from the Mediterranean, suggesting that it was a pilgrimage destination for much of Europe. A kind of "mirror site" to Stonehenge has also been discovered.

An art history sleuth from Italy believes he knows the identity of the model for Leonardo's great Mona Lisa: one Lisa Gherardini from Florence, who died in 1542. Unfortunately, her remains and those of others buried at the Convent of St. Ursula were removed to a common grave to make way for an underground parking structure for the Financial Police. The bones were reinterred in a tree-covered mound in 1989. The article is in Italian. How da Vinci created the strangely enigmatic smile of his subject has also been matter for new study.

In completely unrelated news, the ever-beautiful Michelle Malkin's birthday is today, so go over there and wish her the best.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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Wednesday Morning Tab Clearing, 10-20-10

Topping the list, Melissa Clouthier's piece on voting shenanigans in Texas.

Democrats trying to paper over impending pension armageddon:

One example of a company that would likely go out of business is YRC trucking, which employs approximately 35,000 Teamsters. While the freight currently carried by YRC would likely be picked up by other carriers (many of which are non-union), the loss of members (and their dues) would be devastating for the Teamsters and the Democrats.

Right now, before November 2nd, Democrats don’t want voters to know that their union benefactors may further cause the economy to fall further or more companies to close and jobs to be lost. As a result, Democrats are not talking about it on the campaign trail. Instead they’re hoping they can work out a scheme during a lame duck session, sticking taxpayers with another $165 billion union bailout.

Without the bailout though, as we noted in July, unions and Democrats face a bleak future:

On the other hand, even though Democrats know that another union bailout will likely make them even bigger pariahs with the American people, the very survival of their party rests on their ability on passing this poisonous piece of legislation. If they fail, the ramifications for the Democrats are disastrous.

ForeclosureGate provokes constitutional crisis:

But back to that thing called The Constitution of the United States. I submit that all defendants, whether they respond to the case or not, are entitled to due process. Those defendants are entitled to due process and the whole of society is entitled to due process. I am entitled to due process in every foreclosure courtroom across this state. Every citizen is entitled to due process….but we are not getting due process if the courts do not have the ability to go through documents and challenge and question those documents. And a judgment that lacks due process in a foreclosure case results is a seizure of property that is not reasonable. The application of the Fourth Amendment applies because the real party at interest that is seizing this property is the United States government through its agents Fannie and Freddie. (Ignore the Plaintiffs in these cases, they are straw parties used to obscure the real party in interest, Uncle Sam.)

Carol Browner heads up the cast of radical "mean girls" in the White House:

You want to talk about “mean”? Browner has plenty of “experience” bullying American business executives. She infamously told auto industry execs last year “to put nothing in writing, ever” regarding secret negotiations she orchestrated on a deal to increase federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. She is salivating at the prospect of ramming through the massive, increasingly unpopular cap-and-tax plan in the lame-duck session.

Frank J. on comparative suckitude:

It’s Godzilla-smashing-through-a-city level of suck — but a really patronizing Godzilla who says you’re just too stupid and hateful to see all the buildings he’s saved or created as he smashes everything apart. Or, to use Obama’s favorite analogy, you have a car stuck in ditch, so you call the mechanic, but the only tool he brings with him is a sledgehammer. And then he smashes your car to pieces and charges you $100,000 for his service. Finally, he calls you racist for complaining. Obama and the Democrats have been so awful, it’s hard for the human brain to even comprehend.

Alex Knepper's latest defense: those pedophile postings were all a kind of performance art. Yeah, that's the ticket.

You know those Twitter direct messages? They're direct, but they're not exactly private.

Boozing: Why I'm not an alcoholic. Why I should be. What my excuse is.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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A Governor Moonbeam Rudolph Christmas Special

Says every illegal alien child is entitled to a free college education in California:

Well, our adventurers drifted along, until they came to dry land.

Yukon Cornelius: Land ho!
Hermie: No kidding!
Rudolph: I wonder where we are.
Yukon: Hey, I see a fire over there!

Polka-dot Elephant: Oh, will our utopia ever come?
Charlie in the Box: I was sure Obama was going to bring it this time.
Doll: Guess I'll have to go listen to my Phish albums . . . a-fucking-gain!
Polka-dot Elephant: Look! Somebody's coming!
Yukon Cornelius: Well, lookie here! I think we stumbled into a freak show!
Rudolph: We're travellers, and we've just landed here, and there's a big-ass Debt Monster on our tail. Where are we?
All the Toys: California!
Hermie: Ca-California?
Charlie in the Box: Ye-es. You're in California, and King Moonbeam is the Governor here. Every night, he flies clear around the world, gathering up strange and damaged beings that no other state or country wants. He brings us all here, and gives us medical marijuana.
Hermie: Well, we're damaged beings, too.
Rudolph (to Hermie): You're just gay, Hermie.
Hermie (to Rudolph): That Charlie's kind of cute!
Hermie: I wonder whether your King Moonbeam might let us stay.
Yukon Cornelius: Not me! I'm a free-market capitalist!
Charlie in the Box: We-ell, I suppose it's worth asking.
Doll: How come you just take things over, you chauvinist pig?
Jelly Pistol: Shut up, ho!
Polka-dot Elephant: Dude!

[sennet]
Moonbeam: Yes, what the fuck is it now?
Rudolph: Your highness, we are all damaged beings, and we were hoping that you'd let us stay here in . . .
Hermie: California.
Rudolph: What he said.
Moonbeam: Are you black or Hispanic, or something?
Rudolph: No, sir.
Moonbeam: Muslim?
Rudolph: No, sir.
Moonbeam: You don't look like a lesbian.
Hermie: I just want to be a choreographer!
Yukon Cornelius: I'm just trying to stay one step in front of this big-ass Debt Monster!
Moonbeam: You may stay here, faggoty elf. You other two have to shove off. You're too white, hetero and conservative for California. Maybe you should try Arizona. And if you see that motherfucker Obama, tell him he'd better bail our asses out, or he can kiss 45 electoral votes that he can't afford to lose goodbye. Now scram.

TO BE CONTINUED. IF I FEEL LIKE IT.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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