Today we learn the Republican picks in both the House and the Senate. Boehner is sending Reps. Jeb Hensarling (R., Texas), Dave Camp (R., Mich.) and Fred Upton (R., Mich.)(gag). Mitch McConnell is sending Sens. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.), Jon Kyl (R., Ariz.), and Rob Portman (R., Ohio).

I had a feeling that a retiring Senator like Kyl might be added.

It could be a good thing (He’ll make tough choices without reference to re-election concerns) or a bad thing (no qualms about angering the base with his stance. After all, he’s outta there).

We shall see.

 Toomey and Portman are good picks.

I’m decidedly unenthused about Upton.

It’s not getting a lot of great reviews, but see for yourself.

“All Your Junk Are Belong To Us.”

“Keep Grope Alive.”

“Everyone Is innocent until proven Non-Muslim.”

Recruiting poster taglines:

“The TSA:  Where sex offenders can bring their finely honed skills to bear in the workplace.”

“Why pay for porn when you can work our scanners instead?”

And finally, a motto for those who dream of someday working for the TSA:

“Today, the deep fryer. Tomorrow, the world!!”

A suburban Southern California mayor has resigned days after his arrest for a purse-snatching and wild ride through streets with a woman clinging to his sport utility vehicle.

San Gabriel Mayor Albert Y.M. Huang says in an e-mail Tuesday to The Associated Press that he’s confident his reputation will be restored but decided to resign because of overwhelming media attention.

Vacant office space continued to accumulate in the second quarter, the latest indication that businesses aren’t planning significant hiring in the near future.

Office buildings across the U.S. lost 1.8 million square feet of occupied space in the quarter, pushing the national office vacancy rate to 17.4%, the highest level since 1993, according to New York-based research firm Reis Inc.

 

But it’s not all doom and gloom.

There’s at least one boomtown bucking the trend:

Washington, D.C., had the lowest vacancy rate, 10%, among the cities that Reis tracks, due partly to the expansion of the federal government. (Partly?-ed.) In Washington, the Securities and Exchange Commission recently leased 200,000 square feet and is considering taking more. (Gee, I wonder why?-ed.)

And New York’s vacancy rate has “stabilized”.

“Why?” you ask? Well…

The market is turning around in part because nonprofits are adding space now that rent levels have fallen.

So basically, the government and nonprofits are expanding and nothing else is.

Now, I realize that many nonprofits do good work, and I’m pleased that they have a little more leverage to conduct said work.

However, unless the private sector is revitalized, this state of affairs will simply be unsustainable–the lifeblood of nonprofits is the wealth created by the private sector, after all.

And here I thought libs liked “sustainability”.

Obama needs to get his base excited again and the legislative record, as impressive as it is, ain’t going to do it. At the same time, the dude just doesn’t do “mad” very well. 

Mr. Alterman makes a special point of singling out Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe as villains of the piece.

Meanwhile, Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, etc., performed a similar dance all over the health-care bill

And what does EJ Dionne of the Washington Post (for which Journolist founder Ezra Klein also works) have to say? Well, in an article dated June 30th, entitled “Time for Obama and Democrats to Fight” Mr. Dionne asserts that :

It might help if voters saw President Obama and his party in Congress fighting for something going into these elections (including their record on health care and financial reform) rather than reacting, retrenching and retreating.

And:

In the face of these core problems, there is increasing grumbling among congressional Democrats about the Obama administration’s habits. Some wonder if Obama is indifferent to their fate. Others sense that the president is far more solicitous to those who oppose him than to those who bleed for him.

And who are among the dastardly Republicans that come in for particular, opprobrious notice?

Well, let’s see:

Yes, crucial assistance to states that are slashing programs and raising taxes has been blocked by Republican senators –including Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine. Both prize their moderate images, but neither has been willing to break with the GOP leadership.

But what what does Brent Budowsky at The Hill have to say about all of this?

In an article entitled “It’s Time for Dems to Fight” (how’s that for originality?), Mr. Budowsky opines:

Democrats should wage a cavalry-charge battle for the workers of the nation with a Big Bang proposal to create more jobs.

Mr. Budowsky thunders:

Never again should states and cities that are nearly bankrupt, in large measure from policies favored by the same Republicans who obstruct solutions today, be forced to suffer the pain that is imposed by every new filibuster.

If Republicans want to wage a war against teachers who educate our children, police who protect our streets and firefighters who safeguard our homes, Democrats should fight them every hour of every day on the floor of Congress and say, as Clint Eastwood said: Go ahead, make my day.

Or as Mr. Dionne said in his column:

But either Obama and the Democrats really believe that giving the economy another shot in the arm now is essential, or they don’t. If they put no punch behind their argument, voters will have no idea that some state cutbacks or tax hikes they are worried about could be avoided if Congress were willing to act.

Among the many pieces of advice that Mr. Budowsky proffers is the following:

Democrats should say to Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Scott Brown (R-Mass.): Either you are moderates or obstructionists. Either you stand with Wall Street or workers.

Now, if one were of a suspicious cast of mind, they might have the feeling that a memo (Or is it “meme-o”?) has gone out to urge the Dems to fight, while putting heat on GOP moderates–in particular, Senators Snowe and Collins–to support the Dems’ agenda. Of course, that is a very silly notion with absolutely no basis in reality.

Still, I must say I’m looking forward to Ezra Klein’s new column “Dude! The Dems Gotta Fight!”–especially the part where he singles out Snowe and Collins for their obstructionism.

Yep.

Any day now.

Clearly Mr. Calderon believes that Mexico’s immigration laws are far more progressive and fair than our own–so why don’t we adopt Mexico’s legislation on immigration?

This would include the following provisions per J. Michael Waller at the Center for Security Policy (Fox News link)

That immigrants are:

• in the country legally;

• have the means to sustain themselves economically;

• not destined to be burdens on society;

• of economic and social benefit to society;

• of good character and have no criminal records; and

• contributors to the general well-being of the nation

Furthermore, that:

• immigration authorities have a record of each foreign visitor;

• foreign visitors do not violate their visa status;

• foreign visitors are banned from interfering in the country’s internal politics;

• foreign visitors who enter under false pretenses are imprisoned or deported;

• foreign visitors violating the terms of their entry are imprisoned or deported;

• those who aid in illegal immigration will be sent to prison.

But wait! There’s more!

Naturally we would want to be selective as to who we allow into our nation, so the following provisions would apply (Articles are from Mexico’s Ley General de Población, or General Law on Population):

• Foreigners are admitted into Mexico the United States”according to their possibilities of contributing to national progress.” (Article 32)

• Immigration officials must “ensure” that “immigrants will be useful elements for the country and that they have the necessary funds for their sustenance” and for their dependents. (Article 34)

• Foreigners may be barred from the country if their presence upsets “the equilibrium of the national demographics,” when foreigners are deemed detrimental to “economic or national interests,” when they do not behave like good citizens in their own country, when they have broken Mexican American laws, and when “they are not found to be physically or mentally healthy.” (Article 37)

• The Secretary of Governance head of DHS may “suspend or prohibit the admission of foreigners when he determines it to be in the national interest.” (Article 38)

For the sake of national security, we would have the follwing provisions:

• Federal, local and municipal police must cooperate with federal immigration authorities upon request, i.e., to assist in the arrests of illegal immigrants. (Article 73)

• A National Population Registry keeps track of “every single individual who comprises the population of the country,” and verifies each individual’s identity. (Articles 85 and 86)

• A national Catalog of Foreigners tracks foreign tourists and immigrants (Article 87), and assigns each individual with a unique tracking number (Article 91).

• Foreigners with fake immigration papers may be fined or imprisoned. (Article 116)

• Foreigners who sign government documents “with a signature that is false or different from that which he normally uses” are subject to fine and imprisonment. (Article 116)

Failure to obey the rules would result in the following sanctions:

• Foreigners who fail to obey a deportation order are to be punished. (Article 117)

• Foreigners who are deported from Mexico the US and attempt to re-enter the country without authorization can be imprisoned for up to 10 years. (Article 118)

• Foreigners who violate the terms of their visa may be sentenced to up to six years in prison (Articles 119, 120 and 121). Foreigners who misrepresent the terms of their visa while in Mexico the US — such as working with out a permit — can also be imprisoned.

For illegal immigrants:

• “A penalty of up to two years in prison and a fine of three hundred to five thousand pesos dollars will be imposed on the foreigner who enters the country illegally.” (Article 123)

• Foreigners with legal immigration problems may be deported from Mexico the US instead of being imprisoned. (Article 125)

• Foreigners who “attempt against national sovereignty or security” will be deported. (Article 126)

And for Americans who provide assistance to illegal immigrants:

• A Mexican US citizen who marries a foreigner with the sole objective of helping the foreigner live in the country is subject to up to five years in prison. (Article 127)

• Shipping and airline companies that bring undocumented foreigners into Mexico the US will be fined. (Article 132)

I propose that one of our national legislators introduce a bill containing the above language, and call it the American Sovereignty and Security Act. It will probably have to be a Republican who introduces the bill, but if they can get a Dem cosponsor, then so much the better.

After the introduction of the bill, I would be curious to see how many of Calderon’s applauding fans in the House and Senate will praise, and vote for this bill. Since they love Calderon so much, I can only assume that they would be eager to emulate their idol and his nation’s laws.

As a bonus, I would also propose that a reporter show Mr. Calderon the language of this bill, and see if he approves. I can only assume that he’ll love it.

Of course, if he is critical, the reporter can gently point out to him that it is the the exact same language as his own Ley General de Población. I’m sure that his reaction to that news would be worthy of recording on camera.

I hope I’m wrong about this, but consider the following from an analysis by Stratfor dated November 4, i.e., the day before the shootings:

In the 11th edition of the online magazine Sada al-Malahim (The Echo of Battle), which was released to jihadist Web sites last week, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) leader Nasir al-Wahayshi wrote an article that called for jihadists to conduct simple attacks against a variety of targets. The targets included “any tyrant, intelligence den, prince” or “minister” (referring to the governments in the Muslim world like Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Yemen), and “any crusaders whenever you find one of them, like at the airports of the crusader Western countries that participate in the wars against Islam, or their living compounds, trains etc.,” (an obvious reference to the United States and Europe and Westerners living in Muslim countries).

 

The analysis continues:

…with al Qaeda’s structure under continual attack and no regional al Qaeda franchise groups in the Western Hemisphere, the most pressing jihadist threat to the U.S. homeland at present stems from grassroots jihadists, not the al Qaeda core. This trend has been borne out by the large number of plots and arrests over the past several years, to include several so far in 2009.

 

The full analysis is here

IWe know that the shooter was a participant on jihadist message boards, and that he was in a position to carry out an attack in response to such calls. 

There are also reports that the authorities knew about his particpation on jihadist boards for at least six months.

It’s a safe bet that he wasn’t the only person with the motivation and means to perpetrate these horrors.

While the investigation of Hasan continues, I hope that those who are tasked with the protection of the homeland are also busy rolling up any other potential actors of whom they are aware.

The last thing I want to hear in the wake of another attack is: “Oh yeah, we’ve known about this guy for months.”

Oh, and while we’re at it, perhaps AG Holder could find something better to do than prosecute people who are trying to keep us from harm. Heck, maybe he could employ some of his vast resources to investigating and stopping our actual enemies.

Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee have voted down an amendment to make a health reform bill available online for 72 hours before any vote.

AP:

The Democrats noted that unlike other committees, the Finance Committee works off conceptual language that describes policies — instead of legislative language that ultimately becomes law, and which the GOP amendment would have required.

Democrats accepted an alternate amendment to make conceptual language available online before a vote.

No telling what the “conceptual language” might be. Perhaps it will be somethiong along the lines of:

“Democrat health reform good. Two legs Republicans bad!!”

From an article in the Daily Mail:

A paedophile with a 30-year history of abusing children is being prescribed Viagra on the NHS – and there is nothing the authorities can do to stop him.

Roger Martin, 71, merely has to visit his GP to obtain the libido-enhancing drug, even though experts warn it will enable him to continue preying on children despite his age.

Apparently, this is because:

Martin suffers from numerous illnesses including diabetes, for which Department of Health guidelines say Viagra can be prescribed.

Read the whole thing.

According to Ogletree:

“…since Obama is ‘biracial,’ his election won’t prove that racism has receded. White America won’t vote for blacks, Ogletree argues, and Obama’s election is possible only because he’s partly white.”

It looks as if the race huslers are still not appeased by the One’s victory.

Who’da thunk it?

As the story at the link will amply demonstrate, RFK is a Chavez fan and moonbat of the first order.

I’m glad Dr. Hopey Changenstein isn’t hiding his radical light under a bushel, if this is what he really plans to do.

Of course, this could also be a feint to put in someone just as radical after a bruising confirmation fight, but who isn’t as obviously polarizing.

The London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), which is the interest rate banks use to lend money to each other, dropped Oct. 17 to 1.67 percent — not only the lowest level since the recent crisis began, but the lowest in four years. This is a sign that moves to reverse the course of the global financial crisis are taking hold

(Continued)

The critical metric in [the financial] crisis is the LIBOR, and it is moving in the right direction. In the past few weeks, LIBOR has gyrated wildly, and has spent an uncomfortable amount of time flirting with levels three times the Oct. 17 rate. For LIBOR to have fallen so much indicates that banks are once again lending to each other. That will reduce the cost — and increase the availability — of credit for everyone, banks included.

For what it’s worth.

Meanwhile,House Dems are considering spreading the wealth form your 401(k)s around.More to the point, they don’t think you are smart enough to decide where your money goes

The proposal is from Teresa Ghilarducci, who teaches at the New School For Social Research, the left-wing incubator founded by Charles Beard and John Dewey among others.

From Wikipedia (yeah, yeah, I know):

The thought of the Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School: Max Horkheimer, Walter Benjamin, Theodor Adorno, Herbert Marcuse, Jürgen Habermas, et al. holds an especially strong influence on all divisions of the school.

Just to let you know what we have to look forward to.

Estonia is a member of NATO.

This may be “revenge” for Estonia’s hosting of Georgian hackers and others who are standing up to the Russian invasion.

It may lso be a response to this move by NATO

Although this particular “Ossetian Gambit” might gutter out quickly, it’s safe to say that Russia is probing for weak points and hoping NATO’S response will be feckless.

Just a reminder to everyone that the world hasn’t stopped being a dangerous place just because The One was anointed in Denver.

And say, isn’t Sarah Palin the chief executive of one of Russia’s neighbors?

As of this writing, the Parnell/Young race is too close to call.

It looks like the Parnell/Young race is too close to call.

This will come down to how the absentee ballots go, and it could take til mid-September for a final count.

There seems to be a suspicious favoritism toward those who volunteer or donate to the Obama campaign when it comes to a “raffle” for tickets to Obama’s planned speech at Invesco Field.

As one Obama fan says in the article:

(The campaign) “mentioned on the news that it wasn’t going to be preferential treatment, that independents, Republicans, blah, blah, blah, were all going to get an equal shot. It sounds to me like preferential treatment was going on.”

Naturally, the Obama campaign denies all this, but:

Fueling suspicions has been the Obama campaign’s repeated refusal to answer questions about the details of determining who would, and would not, get tickets – or even disclose roughly how many were up for grabs. The campaign also would not reveal how many would be set aside for volunteers or donors.

Actually, to my mind, it’s pefectly valid for the Obama campaign to do this; it’s their standard mealy-mouthed refusal to admit that they are playing politics as usual which is so irritating.

As for the Obama-worshippers who profess to be shocked by all this, all I can say is that, hey, Michelle Obama did tell them that Barack Obama would require them to work.

Did the Children of the Revolution really think they would be exempt from the tasks assigned to them by the Master?

One rather disturbing quote from the article:

Interfax quoted the president of North Ossetia, a Russian area bordering South Ossetia, *as saying hundreds of volunteers were heading to join the fight “and we can’t stop them.” *As many as 1,000 volunteers from Abkhazia, another Georgian breakaway region with close ties to Russia, planned to go to South Ossetia, Interfax quoted Abkhazian President Sergei Bagapsh as saying.

And from Stratfor:

According to Stratfor sources in the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali, Georgian security forces are about to storm the city after the brief cease-fire between South Ossetia and Georgia was broken Aug. 7.

Thus far we know that Georgia has only moved its Joint Peacekeeping Forces (JPKF) — which are interior troops — and the military’s 5th Battalion to the front lines with South Ossetia. There are contradictory rumors with the South Ossetian officials saying that Georgian tanks are on the border near the capital but sources within the city saying that thus far just the JPKF are at least bombarding, if not storming, Tskhinvali.

The South Ossetians have been saying for the past hour that Russian tanks are crossing the border through North Ossetia, through the two-lane Roki Tunnel, though it will take them at least three hours to get from the border to the conflict zone and the tunnel will be a key chokepoint. Moreover, the Russians could respond with combat aircraft and helicopter gunships, but the Russians do not work best at night and it is currently just past 4 a.m. in the country, leaving the next few hours for the Russians to either get their tanks to the point of conflict or prepare their air operations.

The “Obama Girl” clips interspersed images of a scantily clad white girl with those of Barack Obama.

–Which tapped into white sexual phobias.

–Which was clearly an appeal to barely suppressed racism.

–Which means that they were racist.

And how can anyone vote for a man whose own “supporters” are employing racist tropes against him–thereby showing that a vote for Obama is actually a vote for racism?

Or something.

</New York Times Logic>

(Yeah, I know, but remember that I’m using NYT Logic here.)

Apologies to anyone who beat me to the insight re: the Obama Girl clips.

The meat of Ritter’s response?

“I’ve been governor for 18 months. It’s been a great experience. But it’s just 18 months…Obama has to think about experience…levels of experience…”

Later a caller to the show pointed out that Obama had been a Senator for a 143 days when he decided to run for President, and made the obvious point:

“Governor, you said 18 months’ experience wasn’t enough experience as governor to be the vice president. Would you want to contrast that with the 143 days experience Obama as senator before he decided he had enough experience to be president.”

The best Ritter could do was:

“All I can tell ya is I am a fan of Barack Obama’s. Met him in 2004 during his campaign for Senate…You meet him and discover there’s something very different about him. That’s all I’ll say.”

So there you have it–eighteen months in an executive position is insufficient to qualify one for the office of Vice-President, but a bit less than five months as a Senator is more than enough to decide that one is qualified for the Presidency.