'Jolly Old St. Obama'

Another song to make your Christmas merry--



Lyrics:

Jolly old St. Nicholas
You have been replaced
The followers have sold their soul
To me for other gifts
Christmas Eve just stay at home
Make some other plans
That suit of yours, it don't fit me
So sell it if you can

Johnny gets more food stamps
Pedro gets to stay
Susie gets an Obama Phone
Patients get to wait
ObamaCare is comin' soon
So trim down if you can
Michelle insists you lose the weight
She don't like fat old white men

When the clock is striking twelve
On this New Year's Eve
I'm jumping off that fiscal cliff
And taking you with me
All your reindeer you will find
Missing from their stalls
Their emissions don't pass EPA
And we indicted you and Mrs. Claus

After that the 21st
Is my inauguration
I've been chosen once again
To add more regulation
GDP is slowin' down
Things are almost fair
Rest assured I will not stop
Till everyone's suckin' air


Uh, has Boehner called yet?
He'll give in.
You wait.

Parody performed by the great Paul Shanklin.
___________________

Other holiday favorites:

"Baracka Claus is Coming to Town"

"Forward: Obama Phones Ringing"

"Santa Baby"

"Let It Grow"

"Welfare Wonderland"

Obama's $4 Million Hawaiian Vacation

Obama is always yapping about spreading the wealth around. His class warfare rhetoric obviously appeals to the people who voted to reelect him. They bought into his demonization of the rich and successful.

So if Obama is truly a champion of the middle class as he claims to be, if he's really looking out for the little guy, why does he waste so much of the taxpayers' money on his TWENTY DAY VACATION?

From Hawaii Reporter:

Residents living near the beachfront homes where President Barack Obama and First Family vacation with their friends every year since 2008 were alerted on Monday to some specifics of the Obamas' holiday vacation plans.

The report delivered to residents living along the ocean and canal that surrounds the multi-million dollar homes at Kailuana Place where the President stays, informed them of restrictions that will be implemented for 20 days beginning December 17 and running through January 6.

In a matter of weeks, Kailua residents will see the familiar street barricades fronted by U.S. Secret Service agents and Navy Seals and the U.S. Coast Guard stationed in canal and ocean waters.

...The homes where they stay are just a two-minute drive from Kaneohe Bay and the Marine Corps Base Hawaii, where the Obamas and friends can access private white sand beaches and military workout facilities.

While many residents welcome the First Family, others are disheartened by the restrictions put on air, water and road travel while the President and family are in town, especially because it is the holiday season and many families on vacation want to use their boats or surf and paddle in the welcoming ocean waves fronting the Kailua homes. In addition, the President's caravan of at least 22 vehicles including an ambulance can easily overwhelm the community that typically has single lane streets.

Adding to the controversy surrounding the President's visit is the cost of the trip.

With the staff, special forces, local police presence and equipment, the President's visit adds up annually to at least a $4 million vacation courtesy of the Hawaii and federal taxpayers.

While the President and his friends pay for their own rental homes, taxpayers pick up the cost of security and waterfront housing for the Secret Service, Navy Seals and Coast Guard as well as staff accommodations at a plush beachfront Waikiki hotel.

TRAVEL: $3,629,622

Four million dollars.

Obama is such a hypocrite. He's such a fraud.

Why don't the Leftists call Obama out for this extravagance?

Shouldn't those tax dollars be applied to help the middle class?

Just imagine all the women Obama could supply with some of his favorite things, birth control and abortifacients, if he gave up his $4 million vacation.

Why not help thousands of people with $4 million in taxpayers' dollars than use it for the Obamas to spend three weeks vacationing in Hawaii?

Doesn't seem right to me.

Obama demonizes the rich, but he doesn't hesitate at all to take his family on a lavish vacation on our dime.

It makes me sick.

Krauthammer: Geithner's 'Insulting' Deal (Video)

Charles Krauthammer gives his take on the "fiscal cliff" deal offered by Timothy Geithner yesterday.

Here's video:

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: It's not just a bad deal. This is really an insulting deal. What Geithner offered, what you showed on the screen, Robert E. Lee was offered easier terms at Appomattox, and he had lost a civil war.

The Democrats have won by three percent of the vote and they did not hold the House. Republicans won the House, so this is not exactly unconditional surrender, but that's what the administration is asking of the Republicans.

This idea there not only are no cuts in this, there's an increase in spending with a new stimulus. I mean, this is almost unheard of. I mean, what do they expect? They obviously expect the Republicans will cave on everything. I think the Republicans ought to simply walk away.

The president is the president. He's the leader. They are demanding that Republicans explain all the cuts that they want to make. We had that movie a year and a half ago where Paul Ryan presented a budget, a serious, real budget with real cuts.

Obama was supposed to give a speech in which he would respond with a counter offer. And what did he do? He gave a speech where he had Ryan sitting in the front row. He called the Ryan proposal un-American, insulted him, offered nothing, and ran on Medi-scare in the next 18 months. And they expect Republicans are going to do this again?

The Republicans are going to walk on this, and I think they have leverage. Yes, for Congressional Democrats, it will help them in the future if Republicans absorb the blame, because we're going to have a recession.

But Obama's not running again, unlike the Congressional Democrats. He's going to have a recession, 9 percent unemployment, 2 million more unemployed, and a second term that's going to be a ruin.

I do find Obama's cockiness and arrogance and flat-out incompetence to be stunning.

I can't help but think of what might have been.

Everything would be so different right now if Romney and Ryan had won.

#My2K and Obama (Video)

Obama wants Americans to tweet.

It is amazing that the president of the United States is asking citizens to go on Twitter and Facebook. He's promoting a hashtag!

That's part of his plan.

Stunningly lame.

Here's video:



Transcript

OBAMA: So today, I'm asking Congress to listen to the people who sent us here to serve. I'm asking Americans all across the country to make your voice heard. Tell members of Congress what a $2,000 tax hike would mean to you. Call your members of Congress, write them an email, post it on their Facebook walls. You can tweet it using the hashtag 'My2K.'

Is Obama really such a dunce when it comes to the economy?

Why doesn't he tell Americans the truth?

Obama's plan to tax the "rich" would be effective, but not for long.

How long?

EIGHT DAYS!

President Barack Obama has proposed raising taxes on the rich to put America's fiscal house in order, but critics say federal spending is so massive that the wealthy don't have enough money to cover the nation's unprecedented debt.

In an interview with MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell, Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) said President Barack Obama's plan to raise taxes on the wealthy would only generate enough revenue to fund the federal government for eight days.

"The president’s plan to increase taxes on the upper two percent covers the spending by this federal government not for eight years, not for eight months, not for eight weeks but for eight days. Eight days only," said Mr. Price. "It’s not a real solution. So, again, I’m puzzled by an administration that seems to be more interested in raising tax rates than in gaining economic vitality."

The problem is that the rich don't have enough money to put so much as a dent in America's $16 trillion national debt. "If the IRS grabbed 100 percent of income over $1 million, the take would be just $616 billion," writes John Stossel. "That’s only a third of this year’s deficit. Our national debt would continue to explode."

Still, Mr. Obama's supporters persist in proposing tax hikes on the wealthy.

This is all so depressing.

Obama is selling a plan that would solve our problems for just EIGHT DAYS?

Good grief.

We're witnessing the country commit suicide. Obama is overseeing its self destruction.

I certainly don't trust Obama to be responsible.

I no longer trust the majority of the American people to behave responsibly. Most will mooch. Why bother working?

Taxing the "rich" isn't a solution at all, but Obama wants us to tell our representatives in Congress to do it anyway.

What leadership!

Happy tweeting!

Obama: 'Forward'

I dread the future.

No hope is on the horizon.

Sandy Victim, Donna Vanzant: Abandoned by Obama

Obama has left a trail of broken promises.

He promised to help victims from Hurricane Sandy, like Donna Vanzant.

This image of Obama embracing Vanzant was shared around the world to show his alleged compassion.



With the storm hitting the week before the election, Obama benefited politically by the embrace with Donna Vanzant.

What's terribly sad is that Vanzant didn't receive the benefits Obama pledged to give.

She was used as a prop in a photo op.

From FOX News:

After Hurricane Sandy hit along the New Jersey Shore and throughout New York City, President Obama traveled to the affected area and delivered a message to both victims and the federal government, advising the fed to use “no bureaucracy, no red tape … get resources where they’re needed as fast as possible.” To the victims, he promised assistance. “We are standing behind you and we are going to do everything we can to help you get back on your feet.”

It was that same day that an emotional embrace between the president and a New Jersey businesswoman, Donna Vanzant, was caught on camera and shared around the world. It’s a photo of which Vanzant now says, “It’s frustrating for me that that picture is even out there right now.”

...“I was very excited and felt warmed by the embrace, thinking, ‘This is really gonna happen, I’m going to get the help I need, because you promised that,’ and it’s been almost a month now and I’ve gotten no help,” she said.

Believe it or not, because the destruction was caused by the storm waters rising in a flood instead of falling down, financial assistance from insurance has been null. Vanzant says her only option offered by FEMA was to ‘get a loan’ at six percent interest, but she says she wouldn’t be able to make the monthly payments at such a rate.

Obama exploited her.

He has no shame.

I'm glad the victim is telling her story. Don't look for her to be interviewed on MSNBC.

Here's video.

(Blogger is still blocking the embed codes from FOX News videos.)

Susan Rice for Secretary of State

I desperately want Obama to nominate Susan Rice to be Secretary of State because I want to find out the truth about Benghazi.

I want Rice to answer questions under oath.

I want her awful judgment, her incompetency, to be clearly exposed.

I'm sick of Obama and his hacks, like Harry Reid and Jay Carney, insisting that Rice is being criticized because of her gender and her race.



That's crap, plain and simple.

I am convinced that sending Rice out on the talk show circuit was a calculated move by the Obama administration.

Rice was willing to parrot the White House's ludicrous talking points about a video being responsible for the 9/11/12  terrorist attack that resulted in four dead Americans. Rather than question that ridiculous explanation of events, given the intelligence she received, she dutifully did Obama's bidding.

Either she showed no intellectual curiosity on the matter whatsoever and accepted the White House's twisted account, or she suspected she was dishing out lies. Either way, she is utterly unfit to serve as Secretary of State.

Why did the White House send out Rice on the pre-election Obama damage control mission?

I think they chose Rice because they fully intended to play the race and gender card when she was caught giving false information to the American public, as they knew she would be.

Obama's bizarre, rehearsed reaction to the Benghazi question during his rare news conference, the "If Senator McCain and Senator Graham and others want to go after somebody, they should go after me" performance, was a clear indication that was the plan.

The administration could use Rice's race and gender to deflect from the real issue: the cover-up of the terrorist attack.

Disgraceful. We can't have such a weak Secretary of State that she needs tough guy Obama to come to her rescue.

Bottom line: It's obvious to me that Obama doesn't really care about the four Americans who died in the terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. He cares about saving his political hide.

Obama is a bad president. Obama is also exposing himself to be a bad person, at least when it comes to the handling of the 9/11/12 terrorist attack on our nation and the deaths of four Americans.

We deserve answers, not this stonewalling and obfuscating from Obama.

Four Americans are dead, and Obama continues to play politics.

Disgraceful.

I hope we have the opportunity to have Rice testify under oath. We deserve the truth. Obama needs to be held accountable.

TIME WARNER CABLE CUSTOMER SERVICE

Expletives deleted.

Worst customer service on the planet!

Obama Crucified - Michael D'Antuono

Nearly four years ago, Michael D'Antuono unveiled a painting of Obama called "The Truth."

The artist is a 21st century P.T. Barnum.

D'Artuono is attempting to capitalize on Obama's reelection, recycling his old work for an exhibit at the Bunker Hill Community College Art Gallery, "Artists on the Stump – the Road to the White House 2012."

The crucified Obama, depicted as Christ on the cross, was NOT an expression of "the Road to the White House 2012."

Here's my post from April 2009, the first time D'Antuono clawed for attention:


Michael D'Antuono's painting, "The Truth"


Artist Michael D'Antuono

In honor of Obama's 100th Day in office, artist Michael D'Antuono is unveiling his painting, "The Truth."

There's been an effort to hype the painting and stir controversy, which is exactly what D'Antuono wants.

Can You Handle "The Truth"?

Painter Michael D'Antuono To Unveil Controversial New Work at NYC's Union Square

More than a presidential portrait, Michael D'Antuono's new painting "The Truth" is a politically, religiously and socially-charged statement on our nation's current political climate and deep partisan divide that is sure to ignite a passionate dialogue. Until now, D'Antuono's subject matter has been purely non-political, choosing instead to paint iconic celebrity portraits and hard-luck romantic narratives but now the artist feels the need to make a statement. "The Truth, like beauty is often in the eyes of the beholder" says D'Antuono "and this piece is merely a mirror, reflecting the personal and political emotions and opinions of the individual". What is your truth?

On D'Antuono's website hyping "The Truth," he asks people to tell him what they think of his work via e-mail, thetruth@dantuonoarts.com. He wants you to express "your truth."

He sees his painting as a mirror that will reveal "truth" about the viewer. The meaning of the painting is intentionally ambiguous. It doesn't have one "truth." It has many interpretations.



I'm interested in knowing Obama's interpretation of the painting. With Obama being a Christian, I would think he would be very uncomfortable being depicted as the crucified Jesus.

Maybe it doesn't bother him. Maybe he thinks he's earned his place in popular culture as being Christ-like, "more popular than Jesus."

There was an uproar in 1966 when commenting on the popularity of the Beatles, John Lennon innocently referred to Jesus.

Lennon took an incredible amount of heat for his remarks. The Vatican even weighed in on the controversy.

But this is a much different time. Unlike the Beatles controversy, there's not a massive uproar when Obama is compared to Christ or seen as the savior. Whether Obama as Jesus is accepted as legitimate or decried as blasphemous, it's not really a big deal in 2009.

I'm not sure D'Antuono will get the reaction he seeks.

Todd Pruitt writes that "anytime we invest a politician (any politician) with messianic qualities then we are headed down a very dangerous road."

I agree with Todd that it's dangerous to consider a politician to be a messiah, to believe that our salvation lies in the hands of a human being.

Personally, I don't think D'Antuono is interested in making Obama out to be Christ. I don't think he really cares whether people interpret his painting to be elevating Obama to a god-like status or to be slamming the ludicrousness of Obama as Jesus.

I think D'Antuono is interested in pure self-promotion. In that sense, the artist is a lot like the lib media, the White House, and Obama himself. He hopes to exploit the First 100 Days-mania, too. Hype, hype, hype.

D'Antuono's painting is a stunt. This is all about him, not Obama and not Jesus Christ. He wants personal recognition and he thinks this is the way to achieve it, by potentially offending many Christians.

It's really kind of pathetic.

That's the truth.
___________________

UPDATE, April 30, 2009: Artist Michael D’Antuono was interviewed on April 29, by Marc Maron on Air America's "Break Room Live."

D'Antuono cancelled his Union Square unveiling yesterday because he says that he was bombarded with over 3,000 e-mails (as of yesterday) from people outraged over the painting.

Maron wanted to know the tone of most of the e-mails.

D'ANTUONO: That's the reason why I didn't... I didn't... I cancelled the event today is because the overwhelming, 98 percent, were very upset on a religious level. And they were, you know, calling it blasphemy. And, I mean, I don't apologize for, you know, for showing it, creating it and showing it, but I really didn't mean to disrespect people's religion. It's meant as a political piece.

Yeah. D'Antuono's self-promotion continues. It's all about hype.

Of course he knew that he would offend some people. He claims that he had no idea people would be so hurt by his painting. What?

He says it was a sort of sociological experiment. He knew that he was pushing people's buttons on a very sensitive subject -- their faith.

Maron takes the opportunity to express his outrage over religious groups and individuals exercising their right to free speech and expressing their outrage. He bashes Christians as hypocrites, encouraging D'Antuono to do the same.

In my opinion, Maron has the right to express himself, as does D'Antuono and every other American.

Free speech is not a one-way street.

Watch the interview.

Greg Gutfeld: Reagan Forum (Video)

Greg Gutfeld talked about common sense, tolerance, intolerance, and unicorns at the Reagan Library last night.

Video:

TIME'S Person of the Year

TIME's Person of the Year is a joke, mainly because TIME is a joke.

It's like the Nobel Peace Prize, a farce.

Nonetheless, it has been a yearly ritual since 1927, when Charles Lindbergh was declared TIME's Man of the Year.

The Person of the Year, formerly the Man of the Year, is not necessarily supposed to be an honor.

It's more of a recognition.

TIME's selection criteria:

TIME's Person of the Year is bestowed by the editors on the person or persons who most affected the news and our lives, for good or ill, and embodied what was important about the year.

TIME is encouraging readers to participate in its Person of the Year poll.

Of course, Internet polls have no controls whatsoever. They are worthless.

Anyway, TIME's editors wants the public to be part of the Person of the Year lunacy.

As always, TIME's editors will choose the Person of the Year, but that doesn't mean readers shouldn't have their say. Cast your vote for the person you think most influenced the news this year for better or worse. Voting closes at 11:59 PM on December 12th and the winner will be announced on December 14.

Sandra Fluke is among the candidates.

From Ben Shapiro, Breitbart's Big Journalism:

Just when you think Time magazine can’t make any more of a mockery of itself, they nominate Sandra Fluke, contraception advocate extraordinaire, as a candidate in their Person of the Year 2012 poll:

Fluke, of course, is the condom rights advocate turned Georgetown Law School martyr who testified before Congress about the hardships encountered by young female law school students who couldn’t afford to pay for their own birth control pills.

...Leave it to Time to make her its Person of the Year. Of course, in the year of the dependent American voter, they might be right.

As Shapiro notes, 2012 was the year of the dependent American voter.

Dependency has gripped the U.S. and countries around the world.

It's a massive step backward for civilization.

It's un-American.

Our nation wasn't founded on dependence. The American Revolution wasn't fought to give an all-powerful government authority to control individuals.

This used to be the Land of the Free.

Now it's the Land of the "Free" Stuff, except it's not really free.

Chumps, like me, are paying for the dependents.

The dependents and their advocates succeeded in dooming our country to four more years of economic misery, bigger government, and the erosion of our freedoms by electing Obama.

Without question, this woman should be TIME's Person of the Year.



She's the face of dependence, the end of the America Dream, trading freedom for a free phone.

The woman in this video, was protesting outside a Mitt Romney rally in Bedford, Ohio, near Cleveland, saying minorities in Cleveland need to vote for Obama because he gives them phones.

They did vote for Obama. They voted to get free stuff, rather than be free.



Transcript

INTERVIEWER: You've got an Obama phone?

WOMAN: Yes, everybody in Cleveland, low minority, got Obama phone. Keep Obama in president, you know. He gave us a phone...

INTERVIEWER: He gave you a phone? How did he give you a phone?

WOMAN: You sign up if you on food stamps, you on Social Security, you got low income, you disability...

INTERVIEWER: I have a question. OK, what's wrong with Romney again?

WOMAN: Romney-- He sucks! Bad!

Truly sad.

It's the "Obama stash" mentality.

This is Obama's America.

He, OBAMA, is the victimizer. Obama and his cohorts are creating a nation of victims.

Frankly, I don't like it. Every American should be troubled by this dependency.

We're better than this.

This woman shouldn't be satisfied with a phone and Obama's other "perks" of dependency.

We need more than phones. We need jobs and a robust economy, not a massive centralized government "caring" for the people.

The problem: "Obama Phone Woman" won in 2012.

The dependent is the Person of the Year. The dependent is the person "who most affected the news and our lives, for good or ill, and embodied what was important about the year."

The dependent most affected the news and our lives - for ill.

Liz and Dick and the Packers

I think I would have been better off watching Liz and Dick instead of the Packers.

At least that Lindsay Lohan train wreck is supposed to be amusing, albeit unintentionally.

In his review, THR's Tim Goodman says "don't miss 'Liz & Dick,'" but only because it "is spectacularly bad" and a "classic of unintentional hilarity." Goodman says the star is "woeful as Taylor from start to finish."

"At one point, Lohan has to shout, 'I won’t live without you!' and then run down a hall. It’s like a high school play," Goodman writes.

"By the time Lohan is playing mid-’80s Taylor and it looks like a lost 'Saturday Night Live' skit, your body may be cramped by convulsions," he says, then suggests the movie was made for drinking games.

Alessandra Stanley echoes Goodman's observation in The New York Times: "There are moments in 'Liz & Dick' when Lindsay Lohan looks a lot like Elizabeth Taylor," Stanley writes. "There are others in which she looks like Elizabeth Taylor doing a 'Saturday Night Live' impersonation of Lindsay Lohan."

Stanley nevertheless says the actress isn't "ridiculous" in the role, but that "she is oddly passive, sleepwalking through scenes that call for passion and caprice."

Entertainment Weekly's Ken Tucker was similarly underwhelmed, giving "Liz & Dick" a C- rating and describing it variously as "very peculiar," "dinky" and "tin-eared."

Sounds great compared to the Packers game.

Shooting, 1st and Howard

This sort of thing does not happen on 1st and Howard.

Gunfire is not heard in this neighborhood.

Armed robbery suspects and police don't fire weapons there.

But, it did happen on Saturday AFTERNOON, shortly after 4:00 PM.

Unreal.

Shortly after 4:00, I was in a car going east on Howard, after exiting the freeway. Squad cars were arriving on the scene. Other than the activity of the cars rushing there and the sirens wailing, it looked to be pretty much business as usual. Traffic was moving along. There were more people than normal walking on Howard and standing on the street, but there was no crowd. There didn't seem to be any panic, just more and more police.

Two squads were blocking 1st Street, closing it to traffic. Clearly, something serious was happening.

As we passed, I looked down the little hill of the sloping street. About halfway down the block between Howard and Tripoli, I saw a man lying in the street. Another man was kneeling over him, doing chest compressions.

I freaked out. It was seconds but the sight was awful. I thought maybe the man on the ground had a heart attack. But that wouldn't elicit that sort of police response.

What was going on?

Squads kept coming. Had there been a robbery at the gas station on the corner of Howell and Howard?

I had a sick feeling. Something terrible had happened.

Later, I learned a 28-year-old Germantown man, an armed robbery suspect, was killed by police.

The media are offering dramatically conflicting information on the fatal shooting that occurred near 1st and Howard on Saturday afternoon.

TMJ4 aired a report at 10:00PM that strongly suggested the suspect was unnecessarily gunned down. It included an interview from a male witness whose identity was concealed. An earlier report on TMJ4 stated witnesses said the Citgo station was robbed, and the suspect fired at the police officer prior to the officer firing the shots that killed the suspect.

FOX6 News gave a different account on its 9:00PM newscast, featuring a witness saying he thought the suspect fired first and the officer returned fire.

Here's video, from FOX6 News:



From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee cop fatally shoots armed robbery suspect

From WISN: Police shoot, kill man suspected in armed robbery

It's terribly irresponsible and unprofessional for the media to put witnesses on the air, making judgments about what happened, giving the story as they perceive it to be, and report that as news.

I don't want to hear what witnesses have to say. Who cares? I want to hear facts.

The media should report information from officials. They should talk to Mayor Tom Barrett and what he's going to do to address crime.

There's nothing wrong with the media getting reaction from bystanders or people living in the neighborhood, but what they have to say should not be reported as factual accounts. The media should wait and get it right.

I feel so bad for the people in the neighborhood. So much can change so fast. One afternoon and everything changes.

Walmart Fight (Video)

Look at this video of people fighting over phones at Walmart.



Why not just get an Obama phone? That's probably a lot easier and a lot less dangerous.

Good advice: If you don't qualify for a government handout yet, and you have to buy your own stuff rather than having others pay for you, shop online. Avoid this insanity. People are crazy.

Black Friday Shopping Victims

Mobs and mobs of people shopping in the middle of the night, standing in lines to get in the stores and then standing in lines to check out, in some cases for hours.

Have Americans lost their minds?

It's insanity.

There's nothing normal about it.

I shopped online on WEDNESDAY, getting the "doorbusters" and free shipping, no minimum. It was great.

As far as going to the stores, I prefer shopping late rather than early. The late night hours work for me.

I did go out briefly, but long enough to see some incredibly bad parenting.

Past midnight, little kids, toddlers and infants, were being dragged around by their parents. If they weren't crying, they were slumped over in strollers, groggy and miserable.

UNBELIEVABLE!

No bargain is good enough to take your little ones out of their warm beds, out into the cold and windy night, and subject them to the shopping madness.

Happy Thanksgiving

Proclamation Establishing Thanksgiving Day

October 3, 1863



The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years, with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.

A. Lincoln

Have a blessed Thanksgiving Day!

Thankful for Twinkies

Elmo and Cecil Singleton

Elmo puppeteer Kevin Clash claimed he was innocent of having sex with a minor.

Sheldon Stephens, the 23-year-old man making the allegations, recanted, presumably after he received a settlement.

All was well again on Sesame Street, at least well enough.

Not for long though.

Today, we learn that Clash as the voice of Elmo is history.

Another individual, Cecil Singleton, came forward to accuse Clash of having sex with him when he was 15.

From the Associated Press:

Elmo puppeteer Kevin Clash has resigned from "Sesame Street" in the wake of an allegation that he had sex with an underage youth.

In its statement Tuesday, Sesame Workshop said "the controversy surrounding Kevin's personal life has become a distraction that none of us want," leading Clash to conclude "that he can no longer be effective in his job."

"This is a sad day for Sesame Street," the company said.

The first sentence of this AP report isn't clear.

Readers familiar with the original story could think Clash's resignation is related to that, when in fact, it's due to ANOTHER allegation.

In a statement of his own, Clash said "personal matters have diverted attention away from the important work Sesame Street is doing and I cannot allow it to go on any longer. I am deeply sorry to be leaving and am looking forward to resolving these personal matters privately."

As the announcement was made, a lawsuit was being filed in federal court in New York charging Clash with sexual abuse of a second youth. The lawsuit alleges that Cecil Singleton, then 15 and now an adult, was persuaded by Clash to meet for sexual encounters.

The lawsuit seeks damages in excess of $5 million.

$5 million?

TMZ reported that the first accuser received a six-figure settlement, $125,000.

Kevin Clash -- the voice of Elmo -- agreed to pay his accuser $125,000, with one string attached -- that the accuser recant his story that Clash had sex with him when he was a minor ... TMZ has learned.

...We've learned although Stephens signed the document, he continues to insist Clash had sex with him when he was a minor and was pressured into signing the settlement.

One source privy to the negotiations tells TMZ ... Stephens was crying during final negotiations and repeatedly insisted he didn't want to sign.

Stephens must be kicking himself for agreeing.

Clash has not been proven guilty of having sex with minors.

I'd like to think the voice of the beloved Elmo, sweet little Elmo, wasn't a sexual predator.

I hope Clash is not a criminal.

It's all so creepy.

Elmo had the distinction of being the first and only non-human to testify before Congress.

From CNN:

In what may be the first appearance of a Muppet before a congressional committee, "Sesame Street" favorite Elmo donned his best suit and tie and took his cause to Capitol Hill. The red furry friend to toddlers everywhere gave evidence before the Education Appropriations Subcommittee to urge more spending on music research and musical instruments for school programs.But why was this issue so close to the red-furry heart of the oft-tickled one, who's only 3?

His mission was to ensure that "when Elmo goes to school, there will be the instruments to play," he explained before joining Joe Lamond, head of an international trade association of musical instrument makers, in the committee room.

If Clash is found guilty of having sex with a minor, will he be the first sexual predator to testify before Congress?

Doubtful.

Very creepy.

This is the end of Elmo as we know him.

___________________

Read Read Sesame Workshop’s Statement on Kevin Clash, Voice of Elmo, Resigning Amid Sex Accusations
___________________

Sadly this week’s episode of Sesame Street is brought to you by the letters F and U.

— Joan Rivers (@Joan_Rivers) November 20, 2012

JCPenney Black Friday

JCPenney's CEO, Ron Johnson (not to be confused with Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin), has a message for customers.

Dear valued customer,

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year, we're going to kick off the holiday shopping season with the most exciting Black Friday in our history. And yes, we're going to start our Black Friday--on Friday.

I know that some retailers are opening on Thanksgiving this year. But spending Thanksgiving with family is one of America's greatest traditions. Since jcp was founded on the Golden Rule, I'm proud to honor this tradition by keeping our stores closed on this special day.

I hope our customers and employees all enjoy a wonderful holiday with loved ones.

And when we open at 6:00am the following day, we'll be honoring another great American tradition--Black Friday--with our one big sale of the year.

Of course, this is a marketing ploy, capitalizing on the backlash to Black Friday creep.

Johnson wants points for not opening the stores on Thanksgiving.

How odd that a store being closed on a holiday has become worthy of a special announcement!

The focus of Thanksgiving is becoming shopping. Very sad.

The talk of the Golden Rule by JCPenney is also rather strange for a department store.

It gets even more unusual. JCPenney is embracing CHRISTMAS. Yes, CHRISTMAS!

...On Black Friday, we also launch our Merry Christmas America campaign. We'll be giving away 80 million commermorative buttons, 20 million of which will win a great gift.

...I hope Merry Christmas America helps add some cheer to your holidays. On behalf of everyone at jcpennney, best wishes to you and your family.

See you Friday!

Yours truly,

Ron

This must be giving Annie Laurie Gaylor and her Freedom From Religion Foundation fits.

The Merry Christmas America campaign is a step back for the atheists and secularists in their war on Christmas.

'Consequential Pursuit'

Board game idea: Consequential Pursuit, where the questions are all big, like "Who won the Second World War?"

— Dennis Miller Show (@DennisDMZ) November 19, 2012

'Forward: Obama Phones Ringing'

More sounds of the season, featuring Baracka Claus.

"Forward: Obama Phones Ringing"



Lyrics:

Just hear those Obama Phones ringing
That ringtone will be singin' my tune
Come on, it's lovely weather
To go forward together with you

Outside as stocks are falling
Occupiers are calling me 'dude'
The Senate doesn't matter
ObamaCare is headed for you

Give it up, give it up
Give it up, let go
Turn off the radio
There's nothing on from noon to three, you know

Give it up, give it up
Get it up, it's grand
Free phone in your hand
We're puffing along on a bong
That'll take you to the Promised Land

There's a happy feeling
Knowing all the votes you'll buy
When you pass around the presents at election time
It's nearly just like when Barney Frank first saw his future wife
Ooooo
These wonderful phones are the things
These wonderful phones are the things
These wonderful phones are the things
That in 2012 saved my hide

Just hear those Obama Phones ringing
That ringtone will be singin' my tune
Come on, it's lovely weather to
Go forward together with you

We'll pave the road before us
With borrowed roses and boot
Come on, it's lovely weather now
Get together now
Cell phones ring-a-ling
Ring-ting-ting-a-ling
Stocks are falling
Your friends are calling
It's lovely weather
It's lovely weather
It's lovely weather
To go forward together with you

Forward!

Parody performed by the great Paul Shanklin.

__________________

Other holiday favorites:

"Baracka Claus is Coming to Town"

"Jolly Old St. Obama"

"Santa Baby"

"Let It Grow"

"Welfare Wonderland"

Scott Walker: Reagan Foundation (Video)

The Gettysburg Address

Today, 149 years ago, President Abraham Lincoln delivered one of the most enduring speeches in American history - The Gettysburg Address.

Transcript

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that "all men are created equal"

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of it, as a final resting place for those who died here, that the nation might live. This we may, in all propriety do. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow, this ground-- The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have hallowed it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here; while it can never forget what they did here.

It is rather for us, the living, to stand here, we here be dedica-ted to the great task remaining before us -- that, from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here, gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve these dead shall not have died in vain; that the nation, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people by the people for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Cardinal Dolan: HHS Mandate - Catholics Won't Give In

At his news conference on Wednesday, Obama insisted the American people gave him a mandate to pursue his agenda.

Is Obama really that delusional?

Does his failure to acknowledge that half the country voted for Mitt Romney to be the president, making the mandate claim absurd, point to his arrogance?

Whatever, Obama's second term isn't going to be smooth sailing. He needs to admit that reality.

The divisiveness he campaigned on is going to come back to bite him.

His oppression of Catholics isn't going to be accepted by Church leaders.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan realizes Catholics must fight Obama's war on the Church and religious liberty in general.

From Dr. Susan Berry, Breitbart's Big Government:

Dolan asserted that the Church will not comply with the mandate that requires most employers, even those affiliated with religious organizations, to provide free contraception, sterilization, and abortifacients through health insurance plans.

“The only thing we’re certainly not prepared to do is give in,” Dolan said at a news conference. “Not violate our consciences, and not obey what we consider to be something immoral. That we’re committed on.”

Dozens of Catholic dioceses and other Catholic organizations have filed lawsuits in federal courts over the mandate, which is included in ObamaCare.

Though Cardinal Dolan admitted the bishops waited until after Election Day to see if the results of the election could change the health care requirements, he said, “now I think the bishops have taken a deep breath and said, we better get back to work and decide just what we are going to do.”

Dolan stated that though the Church is still willing to work with the administration, “I would say no door is closed except for the door to capitulation.”

I am so thankful for leaders like Cardinal Dolan.

He's not surrendering to Obama. He won't accept his assault on our fundamental freedom to exercise our religion. He won't give in.

Twinkies: Craigslist, eBay

John Stansel of Tampa, Florida, spent $100 on Hostess snacks, hoping to turn his investment into $1000.

From the Associated Press:

Hours after Twinkie-maker Hostess announced its plans to close its doors forever, people flocked to stores to fill their shopping baskets with boxes of the cream-filled sponge cakes and their sibling snacks -- Ding Dongs, Ho Hos and Zingers.

Late Friday and Saturday, the opportunists took to the websites eBay and Craigslist. They began marketing their hoard to whimsical collectors and junk-food lovers for hundreds -- and in some cases -- thousands of dollars. That's a fat profit margin, when you consider the retail price for a box of 10 Twinkies is roughly $5.

...John Stansel of Tampa, Florida, blanches at the thought of eating a Twinkie. He's a self-described health nut.

Yet he, too, rummaged shelves late Friday at a neighborhood Walgreens and then again early Saturday at Target and a grocery store. He spent about $100 for 20 boxes of Twinkies and Ding Dongs. His goal: sell them for about $1,000 and put the money to good use.

"Maybe I will hire a personal trainer for myself or go do some shopping at Whole Foods or donate the money to a charity to fight diabetes," Stansel, 40, said. "No matter what, I figure I am getting sugar off the streets."

Stansel plans on making a big profit from his Hostess haul.

Do you believe he's going to "donate the money to a charity to fight diabetes"?

If you believe that, you'd probably be foolish enough to pay $50 for a $5 box of Twinkies.

Even funnier, Stansel, who has a "disdain for junk food," considers himself to be a health crusader.

Although he may not succeed in turning his hoard of Hostess into big bucks, he says, "No matter what, I figure I am getting sugar off the streets."

"Off the streets"?

The guy is going to SELL them. How is that getting "sugar off the streets"?

Stansel is a "self-described health nut."

I think he's a nut.

Weakland: Economy and Catholic Social Teaching

On Friday, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel saw fit to publish the opinions of the disgraced former Archbishop of Milwaukee, Rembert Weakland.

Retired Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland, who led the drafting of the U.S. Catholic Bishops’ 1986 pastoral letter “Economic Justice for All,” comments on the bishops’ failure to draft a new letter this week, in Commonweal magazine.

Meeting in Baltimore this week, the bishops could not come up with enough votes to pass an economic letter titled "The Hope of the Gospel in Difficult Times," which some bishops criticized for ignoring the roots of the current economic crisis and not suggesting solutions provided by Catholic social teaching, according to coverage of the bishops' conference from the Religion News Service.

...He offers a history of Catholic social teaching on economic justice and explores the myriad factors that would shape any new statement today. Weakland says, in part:

“Almost every aspect of human life is touched by economic concerns.

“As markets have become increasingly international and interdependent, economic questions have become more complicated and more difficult to answer. But that does not mean we can just sit back and let market forces determine our future. Rather, we should continue to reflect on the values of solidarity that the church has begun to inculcate—even if that virtue demands we make sacrifices that might force us to re-evaluate aspects of our American lifestyle. In short, we must become truly Catholic."

Weakland was archbishop of Milwaukee from 1977 to 2002.

Why is Weakland cited as an authority on Catholic teaching of any sort?

Although the article notes that "Weakland was archbishop of Milwaukee from 1977 to 2002," it makes no mention of the scandal that caused him to retire in disgrace. It makes no mention of the hundreds of thousands of dollars that southeastern Wisconsin Catholics indirectly and unknowingly paid in hush money to his lover, Paul Marcoux; nor does it mention the untold amount of money spent on legal bills.

We are supposed to value Weakland's comments on economic issues, but there is no mention of his role in the child abuse scandal that rocked the Church.

Weakland preaches that we may need to "make sacrifices that might force us to re-evaluate aspects of our American lifestyle. In short, we must become truly Catholic."

I'm sorry. Given Weakland's history here as archbishop, the scandal and his astronomical failures as a Church leader, I don't think it's right for the Journal Sentinel to present his judgment on the actions of Catholic Bishops of the United States without providing the reader with information about his background.

Why does the Journal Sentinel cut the disgraced Weakland so much slack?

"We all considered sexual abuse of minors as a moral evil, but had no understanding of its criminal nature."

--REMBERT WEAKLAND

SNL: Chris Christie (Video)

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was yucking it up on Saturday Night Live.

Appropriate while people in New Jersey are still suffering, still without power?

Here's video:

ObamaCare Waivers: Update

It turns out the ObamaCare waivers, that most treasured exemption, aren't exactly what they're cracked up to be.

Michelle Malkin explains:

Exactly two years ago this week, the Obama administration announced it had issued more than 100 waivers en masse to a select group of companies, unions and other health insurance providers seeking relief from the onerous federal health care law. The Obamacare waiver winner’s club now totals 2,000. Where are they now?

Answer: In the same miserable boat as every other unlucky business struggling with the crushing costs and burdens of the mandate.

...Darden Restaurants, the Florida-based parent company of Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Red Lobster and other chains, was a member of the Obamacare waiver early bird special. Their get-out-of-Obamacare card helped spare the company’s health insurance benefits for nearly 34,000 employees. Breathing a sigh of relief that it would allow chains to continue offering all employees access to affordable health insurance, Darden said in a statement in the fall of 2010 that “the waiver allows us to continue to do that as the various phases of the health care law are implemented.”

Fast-forward to 2012. Darden announced last month that it would begin shifting full-time workers to part-time status to save money, cut health costs and circumvent Obamacare’s coverage mandate scheduled for full implementation in 2014. The move would reduce full-time employees’ hours to less than 30 hours a week; part-time workers are exempt from the insurance mandate. McDonald’s, another big Obamacare waiver recipient, is considering the same move.

In fact, a survey of members of the Chain Restaurant Compensation Association (CRCA) conducted last year by Hay Group reported that a whopping 77 percent of “quick serve” restaurant operators said they were considering reducing employee hours to change their status from full-time to part-time. At least one Denny’s restaurant franchise owner in Florida is cutting hours and has openly contemplated an Obamacare surcharge. Jimmy John’s and Papa John’s are also slashing work hours. Applebee’s is mulling a freeze on both hiring and expansion.

“There’s no such thing as a free lunch” is a race-neutral truth. But economically illiterate Obama supporters have now called for boycotts of these businesses and accused them of vengeful “racism” against the president.

In response to these businesses trying to stay in business and deal with the oppression of the federal government mandates, crazed Leftists are organizing boycotts against the employers.

Yeah, that'll work.

That will help all the employees - LOSE THEIR JOBS.

The fact is ObamaCare is a disaster and we're not even talking about the sort of rationed, inadequate health care we'd receive under the scheme. This mess is all the pre-ObamaCare stuff.

Wait for the actual nightmare of a government-run health care system to begin.

Scott Walker: ObamaCare, No State Exchange

I am in complete agreement with Governor Scott Walker's decision to let Obama implement ObamaCare.

Since the federal government will be calling all the shots, there is no reason for our state to take responsibility.

Charlie Sykes writes:

Here is the real key to the decision:

"I'd much prefer control at the state level," Walker told The New York Times, "but the problem is, I don't think they are really state-run."

"Why do I want to take on the potential risk to my taxpayers if I don't really have any true authority about what's going to happen?" Walker added.

The bottom line here: the state-run exchanges would be "state-run" in name only. They would have responsibility, without authority, simply providing the illusion that Obamacare is something that it is not.

Walker's decision is likely to be distorted by critics (that goes with the territory.) But it neither defies the federal government nor refuses to comply with the law. Walker is well within his rights -- and the law -- to defer to federal control of a program that is federally controlled from top to bottom.

ObamaCare is a federal law.

Obama is not giving the states "flexibility." (We know how much Obama cherishes "flexibility," having the freedom to impose his will on Americans with impunity. Putin knows.)

Let the feds figure it out. They forced ObamaCare on Americans. They control it. They can make it happen. Have at it.

Gov. Walker had three options under the law and he made his choice, the right one.

No problem.

He's not defying the law. Walker is fully complying with the law.

Have fun, Feds!

The Last of the Twinkies

Hostess history?

Oh, NOOOOOOOO!

From the Associated Press:

Hostess Brands Inc., the maker of iconic childhood treats including Ding Dongs, Wonder Bread and Drakes, is winding down its operations after struggling to keep up with rising labor costs and the ever-changing tastes of Americans, who have grown accustomed to a dizzying array of new snacks flooding supermarket aisles every year.

The company, whose roster of brands date as far back as 1888, filed a motion to liquidate Friday with U.S. Bankruptcy Court after striking workers across the country crippled its ability to maintain production.

Hostess CEO Greg Rayburn said in an interview that there was no buyer waiting in the wings to rescue the company. But without giving details, he said that there has been interest in some of its 30 brands, which include Dolly Madison and Nature's Pride snacks. Experts agreed that it was likely the biggest brands would survive.

...The shuttering of Hostess means the loss of about 18,500 jobs. Hostess said employees at its 33 factories were sent home and operations suspended Friday. Its roughly 500 bakery outlet stores will stay open for several days to sell remaining products.

The move to liquidate comes after a long battle with its unions. Thousands of members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union went on strike last week after rejecting a contract offer that slashed wages and benefits. The bakers union represents about 30 percent of the company's workforce.

And the unions win their battle with Hostess.

What an accomplishment!

Goodbye, 18,500 jobs.

More than 180 Wisconsin workers could lose Hostess jobs.

Goodbye, Wonder Bread.

So many sandwiches. So many hot dog and hamburger buns.

Goodbye, Ho Hos.

My grade school brown bag lunch: Milk, sandwich, apple or orange, Ho Ho.

Goodbye, Twinkies.

A world without Twinkies?

Very sad.

Way to go, unions. Way to go.


Get 'em while you can, the last of the Twinkies.
__________________

Vintage Hostess commercials:

John McCain Misses Benghazi Briefing

Obama and his allies, the media Leftists, are trashing John McCain because he dared to challenge Obama about Benghazi. He dared to speak up.

Naturally, the New York Times attacks McCain, punishing him for demanding accountability on the part of Obama and his surrogates.

The Leftists are crucifying McCain, criticizing him for missing a briefing on Benghazi.

Poor John McCain. The senior senator from Arizona, former presidential candidate and general Republican big-man-in-Washington was so busy on Wednesday complaining about President Obama’s handling of the Benghazi mission killings that he just didn’t have time to do his actual job and attend a hearing on the Benghazi mission killings.

Mr. McCain has said he wants to get to the bottom of what he seems absolutely certain was a catastrophic bungling of the Libyan situation by Mr. Obama and his team. He is proposing holding “Watergate-style” hearings on the matter, with lots of witnesses and of course, lots of television cameras.

But yesterday, when the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee received a classified briefing on the Benghazi issue, Mr. McCain was absent. His spokesman Brian Rogers blamed a “scheduling error.”

CNN's Dana Bash is also slamming McCain. Wolf Blitzer joins in the fun.

Here's video:



Good grief.

This Benghazi cover-up is a disgrace.

The story should not be about McCain's attendance at a briefing, especially given that Obama, the PRESIDENT, doesn't bother to show up for his daily intelligence briefings.

The liberal media didn't care about the revelation that Obama was MIA for his PDB, attending only about 38 percent. No, of course not. They're much more concerned about McCain missing one briefing on Benghazi.

Obama, as always, relies on the lib media to support his narrative and they're eager to oblige.

It's outrageous.

Instead of digging for answers about Obama's handling of Benghazi, they're berating McCain.

Sometimes, I really can't believe how over-the-top the media are when it comes to the lengths they go to protect their beloved leader, Obama.

I can't believe how shamelessly they play the race card.



What Susan Rice did, giving the American people false information on five Sunday shows in one day, has nothing to do with the color of her skin or her gender. Obama sent her out to lie about Benghazi. Maybe she didn't know she was deceiving Americans, but she did play a part in an orchestrated cover-up. Her race and sex have nothing to do with McCain wanting the truth about the 9/11/12 Benghazi attack.

The racial BS from the Leftists drives me nuts.

Dana Bash reported how a "Democratic source" framed McCain and Lindsey Graham's call for an investigation into the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi. The source wants the focus of the story to be on the Republicans attacking Susan Rice, framing it in racial terms.

DANA BASH: I talked to a good Democratic source here asking, "Do you think if she is nominated you could overcome a filibuster?" The answer was yes, and I'd have to tell you this, that this source said, 'If anybody wants to watch two old white guys,' speaking of course of Graham and McCain, 'beat up on a black woman, I'll sell tickets to that.' So there is politics all around here.

I am so sick of this "old white guys" stuff.

We had a terrorist attack on our consulate. We have four Americans killed. And Obama and his allies are deflecting from the legitimate concerns about that terrorist attack by turning the issue into a racial attack on Susan Rice.

Disgraceful.

In reality, the Leftists have turned being white into a fatal flaw. It's crazy. Being white is not a crime.

Furthermore, Lindsey Graham is not exactly old. He's six years older than Obama. Is Obama an "old half-white, half-black guy"? (Sounds offensive, doesn't it?)

I never heard Ted Kennedy marginalized as an "old white guy." Bill Clinton is 66. No one is beating up on him for being an "old white guy."

Harry Reid is about to turn 73. When he would beat up on Condoleezza Rice, his age and race never were discussed as factoring into his motivation.

Do the Leftists realize how inconsistent their remarks are when it comes to age and race?

Do they realize how ridiculous they appear for bashing McCain for missing a single meeting when Obama habitually relies on his "Sgt. Schultz" routine?

Jobless Claims Up

It's been less than two weeks since Obama was reelected.

What's happened?

The stock market has plunged.

War is bubbling up in the Middle East.

And the economy sucks worse than Obama and his hacks admitted.

From Joel B. Pollak, Breitbart's Big Government:

The Department of Labor has announced that new jobless claims rose by a staggering 78,000 in the first week after the election, reaching a seasonally-adjusted total of 439,000. Over the past year, and in the weeks leading up to the election, jobless claims were said to be declining, dipping as low as 339,000, with the media proclaiming that they had reached the "lowest level in more than four years." Now, suddenly, the news seems far less rosy.

From the Department of Labor press release this morning:

In the week ending November 10, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 439,000, an increase of 78,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 361,000. The 4-week moving average was 383,750, an increase of 11,750 from the previous week's revised average of 372,000.

Some of the new claims, especially in New Jersey, were due to Hurricane Sandy--but these were offset by a decline in claims filed in New York. The highest numbers of new filings came from Pennsylvania and Ohio, where there were thousands of layoffs in the construction, manufacturing, and automobile industries.

The question: How the hell did Obama get reelected?

Four more years, of THIS?

Nauseating.

Frightening.

Christi Parsons and Obama

Christi Parsons is a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, Washington Bureau.

One would expect her to behave in a professional manner and exhibit appropriate journalistic integrity.

At Obama's rare news conference yesterday, the starry-eyed Parsons wasn't professional. She checked her journalistic ethics at the door of the East Room.

Parsons gushed like a groupie.

Here's video of the embarrassing scene:



Transcript of the improper exchange:

OBAMA: Christi Parson. Hey.

CHRISTI PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. President, and congratulations, by the way.

OBAMA: Thanks.

PARSONS: One quick follow up --

OBAMA: Christi was there when I was running for state Senate.

PARSONS: That’s right, I was.

OBAMA: So Christi and I go back a ways.

PARSONS: I've never seen you lose. I wasn't looking that one time. (Laughter.)

OBAMA: There you go.

Oh, my God.

What was she thinking?

It appears that Obama may have been a bit embarrassed, or he wouldn't have taken the time to mention that they "go back a ways." Obama probably sensed that her gushing might be criticized and he tried to explain it away. He failed and I don't think he cared.

I think Obama loved the adoration from Parsons.

I don't care how far back they go. Parsons' behavior was awful. She's a disgrace to her profession. Unfortunately, she has a lot of company.

Chris Larson: Disorderly Conduct

On his radio program yesterday afternoon, Mark Belling shared information about an incident involving Chris Larson, the new Democrat minority leader in the Wisconsin State Senate.

It's yet another case of Larson behaving badly.

We know he's a crook. That's documented.

We know he conducts himself in a very uncivil manner when referring to his colleagues in the Senate.

We have case after case of his immaturity, mental instability, and overall poor character.

Larson, the new Dem leader, has had numerous scrapes with the law.

Belling told his audience about the unhinged Larson's disorderly conduct arrest on May 21, 2004.

Relatively speaking, that's not terribly long ago. At the time of the incident, Larson was an adult. He can't chalk up his behavior as some youthful indiscretion.

Larson's car was towed for a parking violation on N. Bartlett Avenue, on the east side of Milwaukee.

At 9:45 in the morning, the tow truck driver hooked up Larson's car, which was in a tow-away zone. Larson came out, "yelling and screaming and jumped into the vehicle after it had been hooked up to the tow."

The car was hooked up and Larson actually got in the car! He refused to get out. As the tow truck driver pulled away, headed for the tow lot on the south side, around 38th and Lincoln, Larson was honking his horn the entire time.

It's not a short trip from Bartlett to Lincoln. Larson threw a lengthy tantrum. He wouldn't get out of the car until the police were called. Larson received a citation for disorderly conduct for his honking hissy fit.

What a loon!

This is not normal. Honking the horn all the way from Bartlett to Lincoln?

I've seen plenty of cars being towed. I've never seen a person in the car, honking the horn continuously.

How bizarre!

Why haven't the media informed the public about Larson's antics?

Now that Larson is the minority leader in Wisconsin's Senate and he's in a high profile position of authority, I think it's appropriate for these incidents to be discussed.

On Tuesday, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published an article about the Republicans' amazement that Larson was chosen to lead the Democrats, "Republicans poke fun at new Democratic leader in Senate."

Not one word about Larson's shoplifting and disorderly conduct was included.

Why would the Journal Sentinel omit that?

He's a Democrat.

___________________

Listen to audio.

Obama and Susan Rice (Video, Transcript)

Unlike in his recent public appearances, Obama didn't cry during his news conference yesterday.

He was having a great time, refusing to give direct answers to questions, if he answered them at all.

He lapped up the congratulations on his reelection from a reporter. Embarrassing.

Obama looked relaxed, like someone who knows he has all the "flexibility" in the world, like someone who intends to do whatever he chooses.

He came off as arrogant and cocky, the imperial president.

In his news conference yesterday afternoon, Obama also acted like a street thug.

He made a fool of himself, defending the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, picking a fight with Senator John McCain and Senator Lindsey Graham.

Here's video:



Transcript

JONATHAN KARL: Thank you, Mr. President. Senator John McCain and Senator Lindsey Graham both said today that they want to have Watergate-style hearings on the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, and said that if you nominate Susan Rice to be Secretary of State, they will do everything in their power to block her nomination. As Senator Graham said, he simply doesn’t trust Ambassador Rice after what she said about Benghazi. I’d like your reaction to that. And would those threats deter you from making a nomination like that?

OBAMA: Well, first of all, I’m not going to comment at this point on various nominations that I’ll put forward to fill out my Cabinet for the second term. Those are things that are still being discussed.

But let me say specifically about Susan Rice, she has done exemplary work. She has represented the United States and our interests in the United Nations with skill and professionalism and toughness and grace.

As I’ve said before, she made an appearance at the request of the White House in which she gave her best understanding of the intelligence that had been provided to her. If Senator McCain and Senator Graham and others want to go after somebody, they should go after me. And I’m happy to have that discussion with them. But for them to go after the U.N. Ambassador, who had nothing to do with Benghazi, and was simply making a presentation based on intelligence that she had received, and to besmirch her reputation is outrageous.

And we’re after an election now. I think it is important for us to find out exactly what happened in Benghazi, and I’m happy to cooperate in any ways that Congress wants. We have provided every bit of information that we have, and we will continue to provide information. And we’ve got a full-blown investigation, and all that information will be disgorged to Congress.

And I don't think there’s any debate in this country that when you have four Americans killed, that's a problem. And we’ve got to get to the bottom of it, and there needs to be accountability. We’ve got to bring those who carried it out to justice. They won’t get any debate from me on that.

But when they go after the U.N. Ambassador, apparently because they think she’s an easy target, then they’ve got a problem with me. And should I choose, if I think that she would be the best person to serve America in the capacity of the State Department, then I will nominate her. That's not a determination that I’ve made yet.

Good grief.

Obama is playing the War on Women card again. Poor helpless Susan Rice.

Why would Rice be an "easy target"?

I hope the U.S. ambassador to the UN has a backbone. If she doesn't, if she's such an "easy target," she needs to be replaced immediately.

It's particularly disturbing that Obama became so angry, charging McCain and Graham with "going after" the ambassador. It was a rehearsed response, but it still was weird.

Remember how the Leftists went berserk over John Bolton?

Our ambassadors to the UN obviously are not off limits in terms of criticism.

The cocky Obama says he'll select Susan Rice to replace Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State if he feels like it.

He has a mandate to do whatever he wants.

That's delusional. Obama is delusional.

He has no mandate. He didn't win by a landslide. Half the country doesn't want him as our president. Mandate, shmandate.

The next four years are going to be a nightmare if Obama keeps up with this crap.

Obama: Petraeus, Trayvon Martin, Henry Louis Gates

In his news conference, Obama said he doesn't comment on ongoing investigations, like the David Petraeus scandal. That's his policy.

Oh, really?

BS.

Barack "If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon" Obama believes one is innocent until proven guilty?

Clearly, Obama breaks his own policy about staying quiet.

Remember the Henry Louis Gates incident, the Beer Summit?

In a July 2009 news conference, Obama admitted he didn't know all the facts but went on to trash the Cambridge Police Department, declaring "Cambridge police acted stupidly."

Again, that investigation was ongoing, but Obama yapped about it anyway.

What a hypocrite!

Obama News Conference

Obama, the self-proclaimed most transparent president in U.S. history (What a load!), will face the press for his first news conference since MARCH.

From the New York Times:

Finally, President Obama is holding a news conference.

The last time the president stepped on a podium to take questions from reporters was in June, at the Group of 20 economic summit in Los Cabos, Mexico. And even then, he took only three, leaving the press assembled before him grumbling that even Vladimir V. Putin, the Russian president, had answered more queries from journalists at the meeting.

Mr. Obama will presumably take more than three questions this time when he shows up in the East Room of the White House — the scheduled time is 1:30 p.m. Wednesday — now that he has won re-election. And reporters have been storing them up for five months, so there should be a broad array of topics.

Topping the list of subjects likely will be the affair that has upended the C.I.A. career of David H. Petraeus and is now threatening the career of Gen. John R. Allen, the commander of the war effort in Afghanistan.

...The president is also likely to be asked about the attack on the American diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11. While Mr. Obama addressed the issue during the second debate with Mitt Romney, he has not had a news conference since before the attacks, so the reporters who cover him have not had a chance to engage in a public back-and-forth on the issue.

Also likely is a focus on the debt negotiations with Congress that will soon be gathering steam, although asking Mr. Obama about that may just give him more space to repeat what he said last week — that he wants to see tax increases on the wealthy, and that he believes that exit polling shows that most Americans agree with him.

Though the president’s spokesman reaffirmed his $1.6 trillion target for new revenues on Tuesday, while Mr. Obama reassured progressives and labor leaders that he would stand firm against Congressional Republicans on tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, expect plenty of questions about the “fiscal cliff.”

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Blah, blah, blah.

I want Obama to address specifics on the 9/11/12 terrorist attack in Benghazi.

I want to Obama to admit he lied in the second presidential debate when he claimed he called it a "terrorist" attack immediately, and Candy Crowley, moderator of the debate, had the transcript.

I want a reporter to ask for the release of the photo of Obama monitoring the hours-long attack in Benghazi from the situation room, just like the photos of him "taking care" of bin Laden and Superstorm Sandy.

I don't want to hear about Petraeus and Broadwell and Kelley and Allen and the shirtless FBI guy, other than how they relate to the colossal, inexcusable breakdown in Benghazi. I do want to know why the Petraeus affair was revealed when it was.

Obama supposedly didn't know anything about it. Why???

I want Obama to specifically explain to the American people why he blamed the 9/11/12 TERRORIST attack on an obscure YouTube video. I want Obama to address why he allowed Susan Rice to lie for him.

I hope the media are tough. It is their job. They should play an important role in protecting the American people from abuse by their leaders, by holding the leaders accountable and providing the truth.

I expect Obama to blather on and on and filibuster the way he always does at his infrequent news conferences. I don't expect any answers of significance from Obama because I don't think there will be questions of significance from the press.

Do you think Obama will sing Al Green to his media allies?



They're so in love. He owes them his reelection.
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UPDATE: Obama's first news conference in months and months is a joke. No hard-hitting questions, mostly touchy, feely crap.

He talks like he's still on the campaign trail.

That's unacceptable.

This personality cult stuff is an embarrassment.
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UPDATE: The Benghazi cover-up continues. Obama says Susan Rice is being besmirched by John McCain and other Republican senators. He became angry and accused them of "going after the UN ambassador."

Obama, champion of helpless women!

Sen. Lindsey Graham responds to Obama's attacks.

Macy's Parade: Six New Floats (Video)

Ready or not, the holiday season is upon us.

The 86th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is just a week away.

Here's raw video of six new floats:



Another holiday tradition: Milwaukee's 86th Annual Holiday Parade, this Saturday at 9:30 AM, sponsored by Johnson Controls.

Johnson Controls volunteers will be collecting your non-perishable food items along the route to benefit the Hunger Task Force's Food For Families.

Please help Hunger Task Force and Johnson Controls make a difference this Holiday Season.

Enjoy the parades. Seize the day, because the fiscal cliff awaits.

Elmo Puppeteer: Accuser Recants Sex Allegations

It seems everybody is happy.

Kevin Clash, Elmo puppeteer, is no longer accused of having a sexual relationship with a minor.

And the unnamed accuser has suddenly recalled that the sexual relationship he had with Clash happened when he was an adult, not when he was 16.

Gee, what caused his memory to clear up so dramatically?

From TMZ:

The man who claims he had a sexual relationship with Kevin Clash -- the voice of Elmo -- is RECANTING his story ... claiming he WAS an adult during their relationship after all.

The accuser's lawyer just released a statement saying, "[The accuser] wants it to be known that his sexual relationship with Mr. Clash was an adult consensual relationship. [The accuser] will have no further comment."

It's unclear why the accuser suddenly changed his story ... but sources close to the situation tell TMZ ... the accuser's attorney had been meeting with Clash's attorney as recent as an hour ago, discussing a financial settlement and 6-figures were on the table.

From Reuters:

The unnamed man, now 23, had claimed that Elmo puppeteer Kevin Clash had a sexual relationship with him when the accuser was 16 years old, potentially engulfing one of the biggest childhood brands in an underage sex scandal.

"He wants it to be known that his sexual relationship with Mr. Clash was an adult consensual relationship," the law firm Andreozzi and Associates, who represent the man, told U.S. media outlets in a statement.

Clash, 52, who had denied the allegations, said in a statement obtained by Reuters on Tuesday: "I am relieved that this painful allegation has been put to rest. I will not discuss it further."

..."We are pleased that this matter has been brought to a close, and we are happy that Kevin can move on from this unfortunate episode," Sesame Workshop said in a statement on Tuesday.

Andreozzi and Associates "represented some of the people victimized by Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky."

The firm seeks "maximum recovery for victims of sexual abuse." On its website, it promises "Multimillion dollar results - Big firm experience - Small firm attention."

According to TMZ, "6-figures were on the table." Not exactly multimillion dollar results.

Whatever, the settlement was enough for the accuser to agree to have his lawyers issue a statement recanting his previous claim of underage sex with Clash.

It's amazing what money can buy.

So, was the Elmo puppeteer a victim or the victimizer in the case?

Who knows? The scandal is over. Those involved will be quiet, at least for now.

Sometimes accusers return. Disgraced Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland paid his lover, Paul Marcoux, $450,000 in hush money to stay silent about their affair.

Marcoux resurfaced 20 years later and Weakland was exposed. Catholics in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee learned how their money was spent. It was a mess.

The difference there was Marcoux didn't go public at the time of the original shakedown, the way Clash's accuser did.

Clash already has been publicly smeared. I think the accuser got all he's going to get.

Of course, he could write a tell-all book.