Hugo Chavez Dies, Left Has a Sad

Mark Noonan59 Comments

So, Chavez is dead and his VP is blaming us for giving him cancer – but we know that is a lie because only Republicans give people cancer (though, perhaps Bush gave it to him before he left office?).  As we could expect, the useful idiots of the left wasted little time in mourning the loss of another Dear Leader:

Hugo Chavez was a leader that understood the needs of the poor. He was committed to empowering the powerless. R.I.P. Mr. President. – Rep Jose Serrano (D)

He was known for his grand overtures and bold attacks. – Bianca Jagger (she still alive?)

A good man and a friend of the USA has passed on.. Vaya Con Dios, Hugo. I hope they wear tight red dress shirts in heaven. – Colin Quinn

Hugo #Chavez has died. Commiserations to his family & the people of #Venezuela .Tragedy for Latin America & Caribbean. – Diane Abbott, MP, Shadow Public Health Minister, Great Britain

Farewell Comandante Hugo Chavez champion of the poor the oppressed everywhere. Modern day Spartacus. Rest in Peace – George Galloway

The working class people of Venezuala, Latin America and the world have today lost a fine socialist champion. RIP Hugo Chavez – Colin Fox, Scottish Socialist Party

Of course, not everyone is distressed…

In honor of Chavez, burrito warmers at Citgo rolling at half-speed – Iowahawk

Obama’s Sequester Backfire?

Mark Noonan44 Comments

So argues Dan Mitchell:

…he miscalculated in thinking that the fiscal cliff tax hike somehow meant that he had permanently neutered the GOP, and he definitely goofed when he tried to use the sequester as a weapon to bully Republicans into another tax hike.

Ignoring the President’s hyperbole about the supposed catastrophic effects of a very modest reduction in the growth of the federal budget, Republicans have held firm.

And the President has suffered a painful political and policy defeat…

I won’t go that far – but I will say that I am pleased that the House GOP wasn’t stampeded by the “sequestageddon” hype being shouted by Obama and his MSM lapdogs.  It certainly isn’t working out as Obama hoped – what he clearly hoped for is a divided GOP providing him with more tax hikes…and then a dispirited GOP to be defeated in the 2014 mid terms.  He still might get that (the GOP can always surrender later, after all), but so far, so good.

At the end of the day, Obama has done the very worst political thing a leader can do – show himself to be a nasty,  unreliable negotiating partner.  Knee to groin tactics are one thing:  they are, indeed, expected in the rough and tumble of politics.  And even a bit of goal-post moving can be part of a larger political strategy to get what you want.  But when you are knee to groin and goal post moving all the time, eventually the other side gives up on negotiating.  Obama has proven himself a terrible politician – not just now, but all through his Administration.  True, he has won some victories, but only by the application of raw, political power.  He’s failed to co-opt or divide the GOP while also failing to really give his side all that it wants.  Had he at least some times kept his word and had he allowed even a few fig leaves to cover the GOP’s failure, he would have gotten a lot more – and would continue to get a lot more for at least another year (the thing about a 2nd term President is that authority oozes away at a remorseless rate…by this time 2014 everyone will be concerned with the mid-terms and after that all politics will be the growing fight on both sides to win in 2016).

We’ll see how all this comes out but right now the debate is about cutting spending (a strong GOP point), gun control (another strong GOP point) and gay marriage (polls show GOP weakness but when it comes to votes – especially in 2014 – I think this will work to the GOP’s advantage).  The GOP mostly just has to sit tight and start working on 2014 messaging – there’s not much Obama can do and what Obama has done promises to make things progressively worse in the United States.  The chickens are coming home to roost for Obama and he’s alienated the GOP…whom he needs to help get him out of his jam.  This could get mighty entertaining.

It Is No Wonder That The Proggies Want to Remove the Debt Clock!!!

tiredoflibbs46 Comments

obAMATEUR ADDS $6 TRILLION to the national debt IN FOUR YEARS!!!!  He, his fellow proggy looters, his drones and lemmings all believe that he can spend this nation into prosperity – along with cranking up the printing presses.

I seem to remember these same proggies, looters and drones mindlessly whining about Bush with his measly $4.9 trillion in EIGHT YEARS.  We never heard the end of their CONSTANT whining!  Now they are in charge and they are on track to spend more and add to the debt than the first 43 Presidents COMBINED!

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/obamas-now-added-6-trillion-national-debt_704980.html

Again they don’t want their “irresponsible and unpatriotic” activities on display for all to see!  Remember those are obAMATEUR’s words when criticizing the spending under Bush!

Here is a reminder of that for slow-witted drones like mitchie:

At the time: the debt “obligation” for each citizen was $30,000 at obAMATEUR says.  Now it is over $50,000 “that we are going to have to pay back” and we have crickets coming from the left on the subject. Mindless drones, like mitchie, are doing exactly what the pResident expects, NOTHING!

Now back to our program……

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/341725/democrats-gop-take-down-debt-clock-nathaniel-botwinick

Now that we are in sequestration, thanks to obAMATEUR (his plan and his initiation of it yesterday).  If he just followed his rhetoric – a balanced approach (tax increases with spending cuts) –  none of this would have happened.  He received his tax increases on the “evil” rich (to delay the sequestration date) where are the spending cuts?  He failed AGAIN to deliver the budget as required by law – since when does this pResident worry about law anyway?

He will and expect his mindless drones to regurgitate the dumbed down talking points that it is all the Republicans’ fault and the reason for the pathetic economy.

For once this is all about him!

UPDATE, by Mark Noonan:  Quote of the day from Mark Steyn

…Can you pierce the mists of time and go back all the way to the year 2007? Back then, federal spending was 40 percent lower than it is today. In a mere half-decade, has all that 40 percent gravy become so indispensable to the general welfare that not even a teensy-weensy sliver of it can be cut?

If you really believe that, then America is going to die, and a gullible citizenry willing to give this laughable charade the time of day will bear ultimate responsibility. We have seen the boobs, and they are us.

The Brain Damage Of The Left – Open Thread

Cluster33 Comments

Currently, there is such a target rich environment of liberalism gone awry and just good old fashion Democratic incompetence that it has become difficult to zero in on just one issue to write about, so I thought I would compile a hodgepodge of liberal haughtiness if you will in a fun weekend thread. So here goes – first up;

– The impoverished school children of Alabama score a huge victory much to the chagrin of state Democrats who were hoping to keep them as subjects of the oppressive teachers unions.

– Despite VP Joe Biden’s recent insistence to buy a shotgun and randomly squeeze off a few a rounds for protection – the Colorado State government is seeking to ban the weapon.

– Harry Reid has called on reporters to do their duty, and just report the Democratic talking points

– Either not knowing the best path forward, or actually asking his advance team, otherwise known as the liberal mainstream media, for advice, President Obama asked a reporter yesterday “What do you want me to do”

– The Obama recovery is in full swing – yesterday it was reported that personal incomes realized the most dramatic decline in 20 years. Important to note here that despite the drop in personal income, President Obama just ended a vigorous campaign trying to convince Americans that a 2.4% reduction in Government spending would result in something just short of an apocalypse.

– And speaking of the sequester apocalypse, the President is now backing away from that claim, saying; and I quote: “This is not going to be an apocalypse I think, as some people said”. This despite the fact that just two days ago, he said this: “If Congress allows this meat-cleaver approach to take place, it will jeopardize our military readiness, it will eviscerate job-creating investments in education and energy and medical research,” Obama warned in a speech at the White House”.

– And not to be outdone by the White House, Democratic Representative Maxine Waters claimed that the sequester would result in the loss of 170,000 jobs – WOW!

– And last, but certainly not least – a three year Democratic witch hunt on Gov. Scott Walker has come to a quiet end with no charges being filed, and no crimes committed. This of course was cause for State Democrat communications director Graeme Zielinski to compare Walker with notorious serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.

A head spinning week of liberal brain damage to be sure. Can’t wait for next week.

Revisited: The Rationing Has Already Started and obAMATEUR-CARE Is Not in Full Swing Yet….

tiredoflibbs85 Comments

We told you so……

It was estimated that 9-25 million people with pre-existing conditions were not insured.

The “high risk pools” set up under 2010 obAMATEUR-care law will be closed to new applicants by March 2nd (some states by Sunday) because funding is running low.

A sign of things to come…. We have seen this in Europe, especially in England, but warnings went unheeded to the pResident and Democrats hell bent on 1/7th of the nations wealth.

What will happen next?

Update: Following are the smear attacks by Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman on Republicans and Sarah Palin:

  • August 13, 2009 “Right now, the charge that’s gaining the most traction is the claim that health care reform will create “death panels” (in Sarah Palin’s words) that will shuffle the elderly and others off to an early grave. It’s a complete fabrication, of course.”
  • August 20, 2009 “It seems as if there is nothing Republicans can do that will draw an administration rebuke: Senator Charles E. Grassley feeds the death panel smear, warning that reform will “pull the plug on grandma,” and two days later the White House declares that it’s still committed to working with him.”
  • February 25, 2010 “So what did we learn from the summit? What I took away was the arrogance that the success of things like the death-panel smear has obviously engendered in Republican politicians. At this point they obviously believe that they can blandly make utterly misleading assertions, saying things that can be easily refuted, and pay no price. And they may well be right.”
  • August 30, 2009“Moderate Republicans, the sort of people with whom one might have been able to negotiate a health care deal, have either been driven out of the party or intimidated into silence. Whom are Democrats supposed to reach out to, when Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who was supposed to be the linchpin of any deal, helped feed the “death panel” lies?”
  • October 4, 2009 “The Republican campaign against health care reform, by contrast, has shown no such consistency. For the main G.O.P. line of attack is the claim — based mainly on lies about death panels and so on — that reform will undermine Medicare. And this line of attack is utterly at odds both with the party’s traditions and with what conservatives claim to believe.”
  • March 21, 2010: “Politicians like Sarah Palin — who was, let us remember, the G.O.P.’s vice-presidential candidate — eagerly spread the death panel lie, and supposedly reasonable, moderate politicians like Senator Chuck Grassley refused to say that it was untrue. On the eve of the big vote, Republican members of Congress warned that “freedom dies a little bit today” and accused Democrats of “totalitarian tactics,” which I believe means the process known as “voting.”

http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/krugman-death-panels-palin/2010/11/14/id/377013#ixzz2MEa6Iss9

The New York Times columnist, economist and political advisor said that within less than 20 years the US will need to raise taxes and ration healthcare to deal with rising costs under Obamacare and yes, he said “death panels.”

Turns out to be true!! Krugman confirms RATIONING AND DEATH PANELS!

So, what’s next?

Oh yeah the ultimate goal:  Single payer system totally in the hands of the government – total control of 1/7th of the economy.  It works so well with Medicare and the VA!

 

Patriotism, Texas and Chris Kyle

Retired Spook18 Comments

The following letter was written by the mother of a SEAL compatriot of Chris Kyle’s and was included in a military newsletter I regularly receive. The sentiments encapsulated in it are the reason why the Left will NEVER triumph in America; they simply don’t understand the principles of duty and honor, nor do they comprehend the power and determination of those among us who DO understand and subscribe to such principles.

I just wanted to share with you all that out of a horrible tragedy we were blessed by so many people. Chris was Derek’s teammate through 10 years of training and battle. They both suffer/suffered from PTSD to some extent and took great care of each other because of it. 2006 in Ramadi was horrible for young men that never had any more aggressive physical contact with another human than on a Texas football field. They lost many friends.
Chris became the armed services number #1 sniper of all time. Not something he was happy about, other than the fact that in so doing, he saved a lot of American lives. Three years ago, his wife Taya asked him to leave the SEAL teams as he had a huge bounty on his head by Al Qaeda. He did and wrote the book The American Sniper. 100% of the proceeds from the > book went to two of the SEAL families who had lost their sons in Iraq. That was the guy Chris was. He formed a company in Dallas to train military, police and I think firemen as far as protecting themselves in difficult situations. He also formed a foundation to work with military people suffering from PTSD. Chris was a giver not a taker. He along with a friend and neighbor, Chad Littlefield, were murdered trying to help a young man that had served 6 months in Iraq and claiming to have PTSD.

Now I need to tell you about all of the blessings. Southwest Airlines flew in any SEAL and their family from any airport they flew into free of charge. The employees donated buddy passes and one lady worked for 4 days without much of a break to see that it happened. Volunteers were at both airports in Dallas to drive them to the hotel. The Marriott Hotel reduced their rates to $45 a night and cleared the hotel for only SEALs and family.  The Midlothian, Tx. Police Department paid the $45 a night for each room. I would guess there were about 200 people staying at the hotel. 100 of them SEALs. Two large buses were chartered (unknown donor paid the bill) to transport people to the different events and they also had a few rent cars (donated). The police and secret service were on duty 24 hours during the stay at our hotel.

At the house the Texas DPS parked a large motor home in front to block the view from reporters. It remained there the entire 5 days for the SEALs to congregate in and all to use the restroom so as not to have to go in the house. Taya, their two small children and both sets of parents were staying in the home. Only a hand full of SEALs went into the home as they had different duties and meetings were held sometimes on a hourly basis. It was a huge coordination of many different events and security.  Derek was
assigned to be a pall bearer, to escort Chris’ body when it was transferred from Midlothian Funeral Home to Arlington Funeral Home and to be with Taya. Tough job. Taya seldom came out of her bedroom. The home was full with people from the church and other family members that would come each day to help. I spent one morning in a bedroom with Chris’ mom and the next morning with Chad Littlefield’s parents (the other man murdered with
Chris). Tough job.

Nolan Ryan sent his cooking team, a huge grill and lots of steaks, chicken and hamburgers. They set up in the front yard and fed people all day long.  The 200 SEALs and their family. The next day a local BBQ restaurant set up a buffet in front of the house and fed all once again. Food was plentiful and all were taken care of. The family’s church kept those inside the house well fed.

Jerry Jones, the man everyone loves to hate, was a rock star. He donated use of Cowboy Stadium for the services as it was determined that so many wanted to attend. The charter buses transported us to the stadium on Monday at 10:30. Every car, bus, motorcycle was searched with bomb dogs and police. I am not sure if kooks were making threats trying to make a name for themselves or if so many SEALs in one place was a security
risk…I don’t know. We willing obliged. No purses ino the stadium! We were taken to The Legends room high up and a large buffet was available.  That was about 300 people. We were growing. A Medal of Honor recipient was there, lots of secret service and police and Sarah Palin and her husband. She looked nice, this was a very formal military service.  The service started at 1:00 and when we were escorted onto the field I was shocked. We heard that about 10,000 people had come to attend also. They were seated in the stadium seats behind us. It was a beautiful and emotional service. Bagpipe and drum corps were wonderful and the A&M men’s choir stood through the entire service and sang right at the end. We were all in tears.

The next day was the 200 mile procession from Midlothian, Tx. to Austin for burial. It was a cold, drizzly, windy day, but the people were out. We had dozens of police motorcycles riders, freedom riders 5 chartered buses and lots of cars. You had to have a pass to be in the procession and still it was huge. Two helicopters circled the procession with snipers sitting out the side door for protection. It was the longest funeral procession ever in the state of Texas. People were everywhere. The entire route was shut down ahead of us, the people were lined up on the side of the road the entire way. Firemen down on one knee, police officers holding their hats over their hearts, children waving flags, veterans saluting as we went by.  Every bridge had fire trucks with large flags displayed from their tall ladders….people all along the entire 200 miles standing in the cold weather. It was so heartwarming. Taya rode in the hearse with Chris’ body so Derek rode the route with us. I was so grateful to have that time with him.

The services were at Texas National Cemetery. Very few are buried there and you have to apply to get in. It is like people from Civil War, Medal of Honor winners a few from the Alamo and all the historical people of Texas. It was a nice service and the Freedom Riders surrounded the outside of the entire cemetery to keep the crazy church people from Kansas that protests at military funerals away from us. Each SEAL put his Trident
(metal SEAL badge) on the top of Chris’ casket one at a time. A lot hit it in with one blow, Derek was the only one to take 4 taps to put his in and it was almost like he was caressing it as he did it.  Another tearful moment.

After the service the governor’s wife, Anita Perry, invited us to the governor’s mansion. She stood at the door and greeted each of us individually and gave each of the SEALs a coin of Texas (she was a sincere, compassionate, and gracious hostess). We were able to tour the ground floor and then went into the garden for beverages and BBQ. So many of the team guys said that after they get out they are moving to Texas. They remarked that they had never felt so much love and hospitality. The charter buses then took the guys to the airport to catch their returning flights. Derek just now called and after a 20 hours flight he is back in his spot, in a dangerous land on the other side of the world, protecting
America.

I just wanted to share with the events of a quite an emotional, but blessed week.

Sequestration Stance

Cluster25 Comments

The anticipated cuts, or more accurately, the slow down in growth rates of federal government spending as a result of the Obama endorsed Sequestration HAS to happen, and if the GOP folds, they will hasten their own demise. Despite the doomsday rhetoric of President Gloom, a 2.4% cut in spending will hardly make planes fall out of the sky, and will be a needed lessen in fiscal restraint that the federal government, and Obama ironically imposed on themselves in 2011. It’s important to note that even after the $85 billion in cuts, the federal government will still be spending more in FY2013 than they did in FY2012, yet Obama and the Democrats will have us believe that the federal government is so lean, so efficient, that the only choice they have will be to lay off first responders and allow children to go hungry – which should also tell you a lot Obama’s priorities. First of all, he doesn’t acknowledge that most first responders are paid for by their local municipalities and not by the federal government, and rather than scale back the Dept. of Education, the Dept. of Energy, or the Dept. of Labor just to name a few of the incredibly bloated federal bureaucracies, he will choose to release prisoners, and let children go without Head Start Programs. Is it possible to have a more divisive, more bitter, more incompetent President, with more contempt for America? I don’t think so. Think about this – wages have been stagnant, if not in decline since 2008, gas prices have nearly doubled, taxes have gone up, GDP has been revised to .1% in Q4 2012 and not expected to be much better in Q1 2013, grocery prices are increasing as a result of fuel prices, unemployment is 8% and really 10%+ if you’re actually counting and business investment in new facilities and employment is on hold. So Obama expects all of us to make do with less, but despite almost doubling federal expenditures in the last 4 years, he wants us to believe that any slight reduction will result in chaos and force him to cut children off. As I said, the sequestration cuts MUST happen but with spineless leaders like McConnell and Boehner, I am not holding out much hope.

One last item to note, our resident liberals have been awfully quiet on threads related to spending, unemployment, and the overall economy, but bring up gay marriage and they are out in force. Just exactly how Obama wants them to be – distracted by issues of little consequence.

What Media Bias? Part 194

Mark Noonan26 Comments

Geesh:

ABC is defending its decision to edit out an apparently erroneous claim by Michelle Obama in its broadcast of the first lady’s interview on Good Morning America today, saying it made the changes “solely” for the sake of time.

As The Washington Examiner reported this morning, the first lady claimed during an interview with Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts that 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton, who was killed in Chicago shortly after performing during the President’s Inauguration, was shot because “some kids had some automatic weapons they didn’t need.”

In fact, Chicago Police reported Pendleton was shot by a man who “opened fire with a handgun before fleeing in a waiting car,” according to the Associated Press…

Yeah, for the sake of time.  Now, any time President Bush inadvertently mangled English, the MSM always had plenty of time to show it – over and over and over again.  Now here’s the First Lady making a flat out false statement and all of a sudden, “oh, we’re so pressed for time, can’t even show it once!”.

You believe that, then I’ve got a bridge for sale in Brooklyn…

The Daily Chuckle

Cluster24 Comments

Time for a humor thread, and who better to kick things off, than the clown in the White House:

“At some point, we’ve got to do some governing. And, certainly, we can’t keep careening from manufactured crisis to manufactured crisis.” – Barack Obama, Monday, February 25, 2013

Can’t keep going from manufactured crisis to the next?? Why not? You’ve built your entire Presidency around doing just that. I will tell you folks, you will have to keep a sense of humor over the next four years, or you might just lose your mind. There is a lot of comedic material with this White House, especially when Joe Biden is the side kick – so let’s all post the nonsense that emanates from this regime and have some laughs.

From “Spending Cuts” to “Spending Reform”

Mark Noonan47 Comments

Allahpundit points out what is going to be for many conservatives a depressing poll – boiled down, no one wants to cut anything.  At least, that is, when a pollster asks a question like, “do you want to cut aid to the needy in the United States?”.  To that question, 27% want to increase it, 44% want to keep it the same and only 24% want to cut it.  Like I said, rather depressing to most conservatives.  To me?  Its delightful.  Shows we can easily win this debate and get America back to fiscal rationality.

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