… that this is one heck of a fine example of PhotoShopping!  Ben Sley put it up on Facebook.

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ancy Pelosi’s lame defense of her ignorance regarding the use of harsh interrogation techniques is hanging like a thread on the derrier of an over-dressed S&M Folsom Street Fair reveler back home in her district.  CNN reports today that she knew, oh boy, did she know:

A source close to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi now confirms that Pelosi was told in February 2003 by her intelligence aide, Michael Sheehy, that waterboarding was actually used on CIA detainee Abu Zubaydah.

This appears to contradict Pelosi’s account that she was never told waterboarding actually happened, only that the administration was considering using it.

Sheehy attended a briefing in which waterboarding was discussed in February 2003, with Rep. Jane Harman, D-California, who took over Pelosi’s spot as the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.

This source says Pelosi didn’t object when she learned that waterboarding was being used because she had not been personally briefed about it — only her aide had been told.

The source said Pelosi supported a letter that Harman sent to the administration at the time raising concerns. The source asked not to be identified because of the sensitive nature of matters discussed in classified intelligence briefings.

Faced with a complete meltdown of their integrity (something that can happen at room temperature, BTW), the Dems rose to her defense – by attacking the CIA, natch. Here’s Politico:

Democrats charged Tuesday that the CIA has released documents about congressional briefings on harsh interrogation techniques in order to deflect attention and blame away from itself.

“I think there is so much embarrassment in some quarters [of the CIA] that people are going to try to shift some of the responsibility to others — that’s what I think,” said Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), who sat on the Senate Intelligence Committee and was briefed on interrogation techniques five times between 2006 and 2007.

Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, said he finds it “interesting” that a document detailing congressional briefings was released just as “some of the groups that have been responsible for these interrogation techniques were taking the most criticism.”

Asked whether the CIA was seeking political cover by releasing the documents, Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said: “Sure it is.”

Levin, Durbin and Feinstein … what do they remind me of … oh yeah, that’s it.

If I understand it right, a federal agency is supposed to take direct attacks on it by the president silently, then sit back, gagged and blindfolded like an interrogation recipient, as the Dems lie about what they knew, when they knew it and who told them, further damaging the agency’s ability to function.

That might be OK if we were talking about the DMV here, but we’re not; we’re talking about the CIA, whose efforts have kept our country free of terrorist attack since 2001 – something the Dems can hardly lay claim to as they work feverishly to expose our country to greater risk in the name of protecting the freedoms of those who would take our freedoms away. I mean the terrorists, not Barbara Boxer.

The CIA document in question, which provided attendees, dates and content of various briefings, was requested by Congress, Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.), to be exact.  The CIA is overseen by Congress and responds to its requests, which is a good thing if the Dems request the document, but is a cover up if the GOP does.

This is why the Founding Fathers saw the need for good education, and didn’t believe the Republic could survive without it.  That the Dems can get a majority of the vote only means a majority of the people aren’t paying attention.

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Last week, eight Dems joined with 80 percent of the GOP in the House and stopped NanPo, handmaiden of Gaea and Hades, from jamming through a controversy-stuffed omnibus public lands bill.  Congressmen had been granted a leisurely 40 minutes to reach the 1,000-page bill, which was crammed full o’ crapola (here, here).

Well, it’s back, and Obamarx’s and Pelostalin’s promises to run the most ethical, transparent government ever notwithstanding, the Dems are still trying to avoid any public scrutiny of the bill. Check this out – it’s a gushing LA Times blog item about a massive federal land grab in the bill, with highlights by me:

A sweeping conservation bill that would designate more than 700,000 acres of California public land as wilderness passed the Senate — again.

Today’s 77-20 vote cleared the way for House approval, perhaps next week.

The Senate approved a similar version of the lands bill in January. But it took the measure up again after it narrowly fell short of the two-thirds approval required in the House for noncontroversial matters. Democratic leaders brought the bill back before the Senate in a procedural move designed to set up a House vote that would allow it to be approved on a majority vote while preventing opponents from attempting to amend it.

Opponents complained that the bill would infringe on private property rights and close off areas to energy production.

Non-controversial?  If opponents say it’ll do little itty bitty things like crush private property rights and keep us dependent on Mohammed’s oil pumpers, how exactly is it non-controversial?  And if it is in fact non-controversial, why the need to prevent opponents from amending it?  What do they want to attach, an amendment about how non-controversial it is?

The Dems are continuing to shred the constitution and suppress freedom.  Sound vaguely familiar?

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anPo, handmaiden to Gaea and Hades, has her surgically enhanced butt firmly planted on a bill that would put an end to automatic Congressional pay raises.

Pelosi refused to commit to allowing a House bill putting an end to the practice – which would then force the oh-so-public roll call votes on pay raises.

Given that the Senate had earlier rejected a similar notion on a 52-45 vote, the Dems have struck another bold blow for transparency opaqueness.

Pinkie Reid, facing a tough re-election campaign, says he’s committed to the idea of ending automatic congressional pay raises.  So is there any money where your mouth is, Pinkie?

“I will bring it up some other time.”

That’s a terrif promise, Pinkie. (source)

Up until 1989, Congress stuck with the Constitution, which requires Congress to set its own pay, then go home and face the voters when they run for re-election.  The 1989 fix established automatic cost of living increases unless Congress voted not to take one.  They get a big, fat public vote when they decline a raise, and total stealth when they’re feathering their nest.

Current Congressional paycheck:  $174,000.  I’m surprised it’s not $249,999, so they can milk us for the max, while staying south of PrezO’s Transfer of Wealth Tax.

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ow committed are the Dems to transparent government? You heard NanPo, handmaiden of Gaea and Hades, promise the most transparent Congress in history when she became Speaker. You heard what the PrezO said just this morning when he signed the pork-laden, corrupt Omnibus Spending Bill:

“But the fact is that on occasion, earmarks have been used as a vehicle for waste, and fraud and abuse. Projects have been inserted at the 11th hour, without review, and sometimes without merit, in order to satisfy the political or personal agendas of a given legislator, rather than the public interest.”

He said today’s omnibus bill was a “departure point” for this practice. And maybe you believe him, because he is our president after all, and he’s the leader of the Dem party, which owns the Hill. Then what about this, from MN Rep. Michele Bachmann:

Today, the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 failed to pass in the U.S. House – but only by a very small margin. Its defeat today is a rare, fiscally responsible action in a Congress that has been gung-ho on spending since being sworn into office in January. The Democrat majority had hoped to sneak this 1,200-page, $10-billion package through with no more than 40-minutes of debate.

This omnibus bill today cobbled together over 170 different bills, including 75 measures that we never even reviewed in the House.

Forty minutes of debate? On $10 billion? Let’s see, that’s a minute of debate for every $250 million.  Hmmm – I wonder what were they trying to hide. Glad I asked myself that:

Hidden amongst its pages are 19 provisions to restrict American-made energy production and jobs by withdrawing federal land from mineral leasing – such as oil, gas, and coal exploration. It withdraws 3 million acres from energy leasing and recreation use. And, it eliminates 331 million barrels of recoverable oil and 8.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas resulting from energy exploration in Wyoming.

The bill did not pass, but the process by which it was handled was Dem-dreamed up and Dem-run. They either are not listening to Obama, or they know he was just blowing smoke when he was giving us all that talk about transparency and bipartisanship. Or as Bachman put it:

[T]he bipartisanship that the Democrats promised on the campaign trail continues to remain nonexistent. Their procedural maneuvers and failure to require proper vetting continue to show a level of disrespect not only to the Congressional minority – but the American taxpayer.

But what did you expect? Bipartisanship only interests those who aren’t in power.

hat-tip: Jenfidel

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tand back, folks, it’s an accident scene here.  This is the very spot where “If you’re in a hole, rule #1 is stop digging” crashed into “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”  But don’t worry – it’s only the U.S. economy and your livelihood that’s smashed up into a steaming mess.

Accident witness #1:  Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Economy.com, one of a group of economists the Dems called on to give them guidance regarding how to set expectations for the second stimulus.  Zandi, according to George Stephanapolus, told them the first stimulus will fall “far short” of Obama’s job-generation goal.  Like somewhere about 1.5 million jobs short, based on Obama’s specious promise that the stimulus would create 4 million jobs.

Accident witness #2:  The Hill:

House Democrats are looking at yet another economic stimulus bill beyond the $787 billion one just enacted as investors and consumers continue to show little faith in the economy.

At a special meeting of the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee on Tuesday morning, Democrats heard again from their trusted band of economists and came away reinforced that Congress would need to spend billions of additional taxpayer dollars in the coming months to help pull the economy out its severe recession.

So the $2.3 trillion we’ve stimulated the economy with so far is leaving the body pretty much flatlined.  The Dems, greasing up their de-fib paddles, want to shock the sucker again, and again if need be, paying no attention to the tab, as if they were rich Canadians fleeing managed health care to get good treatment here in the U.S.

But don’t worry.  No, be inspired!  Be confident !  NanPo, the economy’s nurse practitioner, handmaiden to both Gaea and Hades, says:

“The word of the day is confidence. Confidence in our markets, confidence in lending, confidence in our financial institutions.”

And the word for tomorrow?  “Dig! Dig, slaves! Keep digging!”

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Porkasaurus Summary

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here is still hope – students in Boulder, Colorado aggressively turned back a proposal to rename their high school Barack Obama High. But pore through the 1,000+ pages of the stimulus spending bill, and a sense of hopelessness becomes overwhelming.

As a small business owner, I see nothing in Obama’s largess to help me, even though we all know that small business s the primary job generator.   I don’t want a government handout, but …

The government’s economic stimulus plan doesn’t include many provisions that directly benefit small businesses, but economists say those companies are more likely to find a cure for their financial ills closer to home _ with their own customers.

The plan does extend two provisions of 2008′s economic stimulus bill that allow small businesses to take a bigger upfront deduction for the cost of new equipment. But companies whose sales are hurting may be reluctant to make big expenditures, putting those tax breaks out of reach. (source)

We’re trying to shed leased equipment; we’re hardly in the market to buy it.  So it’s a zero there.  Then let’s look into what a bill purportedly about economic stimulus does for that scandal-plagued friend of Obama, ACORN:

The total amount of money for which groups like ACORN would be eligible in the bill is $4.2 billion, under a provision for “neighborhood stabilization activities.”  According to the bill, the money can be utilized by state and local governments and also “nonprofit entities or consortia of nonprofit entities.”

ACORN can possibly collect more money under this legislation that it has over the past 15 years, and you can bet that ACORN is expert at accessing those funds. (source)

And as I’ve written previously, the spending bill is the official kick-off for universal health care, quoting Bloomberg:

Tragically, no one from either party is objecting to the health provisions slipped in without discussion. These provisions reflect the handiwork of Tom Daschle, until recently the nominee to head the Health and Human Services Department.

Gun owners are concerned that the health care provisions of the stimulus bill will be used against gun owners:

But of even greater concern to gun owners is the fact that a government-coordinated database (which government can freely access) will now contain all records of government-provided and private psychiatric treatment -– including, in particular, the drugs which were prescribed. (source)

The green industry – which employs relatively few and offers products that are not popular – loves the bill …

“I think what we’re seeing in the final bill is the best of the House bill combined with the best of the Senate bill (and) provides a strong boost for renewable energy, and solar in particular,” said SEIA President Rhone Resch. (source)

… but the housing and auto industries, which absolutely must get back on their feet if we are to get out of the recession, isn’t:

Instead of reducing the rampant non-stimulus spending in the bill, House-Senate negotiators …Cut $35.5 billion in tax incentives to boost the housing industry and encourage Americans to buy homes. The Senate bill included a provision to give Americans a $15,000 tax credit to purchase a new home, but negotiators reduced the credit to $8,000, only allowed it for first-time homeowners, and limited the relief to purchases made by this August.

[Negotiators also] cut $8.5 billion in tax incentives to boost auto sales and put Americans back to work. The Senate bill included a provision to allow Americans to deduct from their income taxes both the sales tax from a new car purchase and the interest on the auto loan. Negotiators eliminated the loan interest write-off – the bulk of the incentive – and instead allowed the sales tax deduction to remain. What was a $1,500 tax benefit was slashed to about a $300 benefit, not really enough to encourage someone to buy a new vehicle. (source)

And all this crazy, useless misspending is happening when the nation’s deficit in 2008 was a mind-numbing $455 billion.  No; check that – it was $5.1 trillion before Porkasaurus, because the budget should be figured on an accrual basis to compensate for known future payments, not on a cash basis, which ignores little things like future Social Security payments. Continue Reading »

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ancy Pelosi has her own favorite mathematical formula that, if not quite Einsteinian in its validity, has served her well in her political career.  It is:  Really big number (of dollars) + really big number (of listeners) = really big number (of votes).  Here it is in action:

Yes, you heard it right:

If we don’t have an economic recovery package, 500 million Americans will lose their jobs. I don’t think we can go fast enough.

So by gumbos, get out there and vote for that package today, Senators!  We can’t have 250 million as yet unborn Americans losing their jobs!

OK, OK, sure – she meant to say 500,000, not 500 million. But even that rash overstatement meets the Pelosi Math test. In December, 1.1 million Americans were unemployed, so Pelosi is saying that without the precious-little-stimulus plan, that number will grow by nearly 50 percent. She offers no proof of course, and economic trends, while generally downward, don’t point to such an explosion in unemployment.

So she’s hysterical.  Again.  If there’s one thing we know about the economy, it’s that it responds hysterically to bad news.  If Pelosi cared more about the economy and less about cheerleading shriekleading her porkstrosity through Congress, she’d start cooing reassuring thoughts and stop her unsubstantiated hyperbole.

hat-tip: Jim

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The Greens Go Very, Very Red

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just logged onto Terra Daily, a Greenie/Warmie hysteria site that books itself as “Earth News, Earth Science, Energy Technology, Environment News.” I often look at Terra while writing Sunday Scan because it’s so amazingly gloomy – all about environmental disasters and (related, they claim)  higher CO2. But today it reads like the People’s Daily. Have the Chinese bought the environmental movement lock, stock and barrel?

The lead story, China says Somali mission signals no change in military policy, is a statement from the Chinese military saying, in effect, “Don’t worry just because we have ships engaged off the coast of Somalia. We’re still just a passive little defensive navy.”  And this has what, exactly, to do with the environment?

The second lead is China pledges more support for impoverished Malawi, noting that last year Malawi switched its backing from Taipei to Beijing. The green connection seems to be missing here.  That’s followed by, under the heading “Farm News,” China couple first to take milk pay-out: State media, and under “Sino Daily,” China awash with fake 100 yuan notes. Again, does anyone see green here instead of red?

There are two more stories out of China before we finally get to the typical Terra Daily fare of surging CO2 levels and death tolls from floods (nothing to be seen about the various deep cold snaps, though).  Nothing on the site explains this transformation since I last looked at it last Sunday. It’s all presented totally matter of factly, as this news is the news that appeals to the Gaian deep greeners.

Maybe it does.  Maybe they’re finally letting their true colors show.  Or possibly, Terra Daily was flailing, unable to find enough readers to keep the owners in their metro-yuppie-hipness, so they sold out to the Chinese.  If so, it’s very heavy-handed, which is what we’d expect.  And if so, it won’t stop with little ol’ Terra Daily.  From sea to shining sea, major newspapers are looking for buyers.

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et’s take a break from all the newsy frivolity – the economic recovery plan, the market mayhem, Ahmadinejad’s latest threats against Israel, oh, I don’t know … the election – and deal with something really, really serious. Sarah Palin’s lip liner. We join the world’s largest leftyblog:

On September 10th, Wonkette received a tip that Sarah Palin’s lipliner is a tattoo.

From: C______@gmail.com>
To: tips@wonkette.com
Date: Wed, Sep 10, 2008 at 2:59 PM
Subject: tip on Sarah Pallin Notes: Sarah’s sister in-law owns a beauty parlor in Wasilla…apparently Sarah’s lip liner is tattooed on…not sure what to do with that one.
leak to wonkette

So although the allegation comes in a strangely cryptic email and there is no actual proof that this procedure was performed, we’ve been studying Sarah Palin’s mouth very closely …

Are they obsessed? Yes, I’d say they’re obsessed. The 43.49% that say it is a lip tattoo are obsessed, the 23.24% that say it’s not are obsessed, and even the 28.68% who have studied and pondered and pondered and studied and just couldn’t make up their minds are terribly, terribly obsessed.

By the way, Incredible Daughter #2, who is trained in this sort of stuff (she’s not just a beauty, she’s a beauty professional) took one look at the picture above and said:

No way. It’s uneven … but WHO CARES?

Smart girl. Do you think we’ll see a poll next on whether Joe Biden’s got hair plugs? No, of course not. It doesn’t matter because he’s a man so let’s not get catty, and more to the point, he’s not a woman who has done the unspeakable sin of not goose-stepping with the bra-burners. Conservative women, we are led to believe by this obscene obsession withe Palin, aren’t allowed to think, work, run for vice president, and they certainly aren’t allowed to get lip liner tattoos.

Here’s a question that we conservatives might want to spend the next day or two on: Do you think Nancy Pelosi has a new face tattooed over her old one?

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