Day by Day cartoon on Fast and Furious

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The Politicized Hiring of Eric Holder’s Voting Section

All sixteen new hires to the Voting Section have far-left resumes — which were only released following a Pajamas Media lawsuit.

Recently released documents — disclosed by the Obama Justice Department only after a court battle — reveal that the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice is engaging in politicized hiring in the career civil service ranks. Typical Washington behavior, you say? Except the hiring in question is nearly unprecedented in scope and significantly eclipses anything the Bush administration was even accused of doing. And the evidence of the current political activity is far less impeachable than what was behind the libelous attacks leveled at officials from the Bush years.

Pajamas Media » Every Single One: The Politicized Hiring of Eric Holder’s Voting Section

Remember, Holder is the guy who says he won't go after blacks intimidating whites at the polls because there is no violation of civil rights if blacks are the perps. And to prove his point, he hires radicals and ACLU lawyers.

The Growing Bipartisan Consensus--Obama is worse than Carter

I really hate to see these unflattering comments about Jimmy Carter. Yes, he made himself look spiteful and resentful when he was a has-been, but he did many good things. He is a devout Christian, and he is a patriot who loves our country. Obama can't tie his shoes. And these journalists who think Obama is oblivious and dumb need to get some new tea leaves. I believe he knows exactly what he is doing.

The American Spectator : The Growing Bipartisan Consensus on Obama

Self esteem and housing bubbles

If you were a child or a parent in the 1970s-1980s, you were caught up in the self-esteem bubble. Even Christians like James Dobson did well on this misguided movement with books, TV shows, government grants, workshops for teachers, special session for child psychologists, NIH grants, etc. I know I certainly bought into it. Even Seseme Street got into the act. The idea was that instead of deriving healthy self-esteem from accomplishments, children could become accomplished by artificially ratcheting up their self-esteem. Although that’s been disproven (very evil and narcissistic sociopaths as well as deprived, abused and homely people can have very high self esteem) the memory and movement lingers on in “fairness” and “everyone is a winner” education movements. Everyone gets a prize, everyone is a success--and even 5 years ago during the booming Bush economy supervisors were looking for ways to reward workers (besides a paycheck) by inflating titles and having gimmicky staff awards for those employees who‘d had their self-esteem artificially inflated by these 30 year old, disproven concepts.

And along came the housing bubble of the Bush years. Although the idea that housing changes people instead of the other way around didn’t originate in the GWB presidency (it was birthed during the Carter years), it certainly flourished . Brilliant, educated academicians looked around and saw that very often successful, educated, well off people owned their own homes. So the idea developed, and then caught on with the unions, construction trades, real estate, and city planning professions, that if the poor and lower class and less educated or immigrant peoples could live in nicer homes and have mortgages like those people living in the suburbs who also paid higher taxes to support better schools, streets, parks, police, etc., then gradually people with a completely different set of values, would want to mimic middle class values. The pride of home ownership would somehow transform them! They would want to sit down with teachers and plan IEPs for the kids, they would decide to get married, they would not leave cars sitting on rims in front of trash filled lawns, they would choose chocolate Labs instead of white Pit Bulls, crime rates would go down, and it would all be kum ba ya.

Banks, lobbyists, think tanks, politicians, and all construction trades and their unions, did very well. The poor didn’t change. With no skin in the game, and still with that pesky low self-esteem they just moved with their values and standards, just like an earlier generation had done with public housing (now torn down because yuppies want to live downtown).

But, just as with the self-esteem movement, the memory lingers on, and the government is still shelling out billions to rescue the poor through housing--even though we all know that it’s the industries surrounding housing that are being propped up and controlled by the government. People still need shelter; they don’t need big brother or even big church to manage their lives.

Waller book gets dropped off at the Hotel reading room

I wrote about buying a "bag of books for $1.00" in Sunday's Women's Club Book Sale. Only one was fiction, James Waller's Slow excrutiating waltz somewhere in Iowa. PW gushed: "Only little old ladies with blue permed hair need be wary of Waller's second foray into fiction: this time around, his saccharine tale of middle-aged lovers gets to sex scenes right away. When Michael Tillman, an Iowa economics professor with a rebel streak, first lays eyes on his colleague's wife, Jellie Branden, he immediately wonders ``how it would feel to grab a big handful of her hair and bend her over the dean's kitchen table.'' A few pages later--still in the first chapter--he is fantasizing about stripping Jellie naked and flying to the Seychelles."

As a male romance writer, Waller just doesn't cut it. After an excrutiatingly boring page or two (autobiographical apparently) about his basketball career in college, I decided even for $.20 this book had no merit. Save your time to cut your toe nails or clean up dog poop from the yard.

So in search of a stronger internet connection today, I left it off in the reading room of the Hotel Lakeside. It's in excellent condition. I don't think any of the previous owners got past his huge ego and male parts.

"Fast and Furious" Goes All the Way to the White House

"Who exactly was behind the Gunwalker and Fast and Furious operations. Was it the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives)? Yes. Was it also Attorney General Eric Holder? Well, there’s no doubt he was instrumental in Gunwalker, and it’s now known that his chief of staff was briefed on Fast and Furious. So how about President Obama? What did he know? According to information that has surfaced during ongoing investigations by Rep. Darrell Issa (R.-Calif.) and Sen. Charles Grassley (R.-Iowa), it’s certain that knowledge of Fast and Furious went all the way to the White House."

"Fast and Furious" Goes All the Way to the White House - HUMAN EVENTS

Physical Activity Levels of High School Students

Healthy People 2020 recommends 60 min. a day 7 days a week of aerobic exercise for teens. What is it now (self reported)?

Nationwide, 15.3% of high school students met the HP 2020 objective for aerobic activity. A higher percentage of male (21.9%) compared with female (8.4%) students? Combined with muscle activity, only about 12% of today's teens meet the HP 2020 objective.

Physical Activity Levels of High School Students—United States, 2010, July 27, 2011, 306 (4): 367 — JAMA

But here's the phrasing you need to look out for--it's where the money is. This will be a cash cow for every city block grant, non-profit community organization and probably even churches. The KEY phrase is "multisector approach." NEPLB. No exercise plan left behind.

These strategies are being included in programs such as the First Lady's Let's Move! campaign, CDC's Communities Putting Prevention to Work program, and the Safe Routes to School program. Additionally, the National Physical Activity Plan identifies the need to use a multisector approach involving schools, communities, families, and the private sector to facilitate integrated approaches to increasing population activity levels. Continued efforts to implement these evidence-based strategies and programs will help to meet the HP 2020 objective target for aerobic activity as well as the targets for muscle-strengthening activity and both aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities (once these targets have been set based on findings from the 2011 national YRBS). Public health efforts to improve participation in aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities among U.S. high school students might be most relevant for female students, students in upper grades, and students with obesity.

Review & Outlook: A Downgrade Awakening - WSJ.com

"Let's recall how we arrived at this crossroads. A credit mania of several years that no one wanted to end suddenly turned into a financial panic in 2008. In their anxiety, and with Republicans holding the White House but having no explanation, the voters turned to the candidate who seemed coolest under fire. Though relatively unknown, Barack Obama was at least promising "hope and change."

Upon taking office, Mr. Obama proceeded to unleash the entire liberal economic and social policy arsenal in the name of ending the panic. Whether or not these were his own convictions, the President allowed the Pelosi Congress to use that rare political opening—and 60 Senate Democrats—to pursue a 40-year wish list."

Review & Outlook: A Downgrade Awakening - WSJ.com

How did purchasing this van help the economy?

I noticed a white van parked at the hotel this morning. There are several high school sports teams in town for sports camps--we see them running past our cottage with their coach on a bike. I suppose this was their transporation. Just curious how this van helped either the town or the state since federal stimulus funds were used to purchase it. I looked up Louisville, Ohio + ARRA and discovered it received about $330,000 to fix an intersection. Didn't see anything about purchasing vehicles for the schools.

Farmers' Market August 2011 Lakeside

It was a beautiful day for the farmers' market today. There was even a street musician. I bought a red cabbage and a cucumber.

Krauthammer on Obama blame game

“Leadership starts at the top with the presidency. Here he is way into our crisis, way in this issue of the double-dip, low growth rate, high unemployment, instability. After all of this, in office three years and today he says, ‘I will have recommendations on reducing the debt.’ Where was he in December when his own commission reported and he ignored it? Or with the budget in February, which increased our deficit and increased the debt by $10 trillion. All of a sudden he discovers the virtues of presenting the proposal. He has put nothing on the table and he blames everybody else.”

Krauthammer | Obama | The Daily Caller

ABC suggests there is a free lunch (coupons)

ABC News last night was pushing coupons as a way for Americans to save money in “these difficult times.” The usual coupon queen interviews--trying to convince you that companies on stay in business to give away stuff. Manufacturers use coupons to grab a larger share of the market, and since they don’t build brand loyalty, they primarily just reduce competition, and eventually raise prices for everyone as there are fewer companies to compete for your dollar. And since ABC ‘s advertisers are also the promoters of these schemes, this really wasn’t a news story at all but a pay-off for their sponsors and owners.

Whether it's Groupon, the newest version on the internet, the wooden nickle the oldest from my grandparents' days, or S&H green stamps your mother stuck in little books, . . . I tell you for the umpteenth time THERE IS NO FREE LUNCH!

Female mosquitoes tricked by spermless males : Nature News

Unlike human females who are tricked by spineless males.

Female mosquitoes tricked by spermless males : Nature News

Obama's Close Friend Arrested During Prostitution Sting in Hawaii - FoxNews.com

His "friends" list is starting to rival Bill Clinton's.

Obama's Close Friend Arrested During Prostitution Sting in Hawaii - FoxNews.com

Obama will succeedd--in destroying the country!

Obama has succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. Didn’t he warn the Republicans if they didn’t play ball, or call his bluff, or eat their peas, or kick the can they’d be blamed for the downgrad? Laughs are on them. The game was fixed either way. They might as well have played hard ball.

The spending the first day of his new slush fund was higher than the cuts agreed to for the duration. No other President has been able to do what he has done and it took him less than 3 years! As a bonus play, he made the Republicans look like absolute dupes and fools and the Tea Party members brilliant political strategists.

Democrats over 60 hoping to retire with that 403-b or 401-k: I hope you like the change your guy has brought to your living standard. Democrats under 60: unless you work for the government or Hollywood, better stick with the job you have even if there is no hope and lots of change.

Dollar a bag book sale!

At 4 p.m. yesterday the Women’s Club book sale went to a $1/bag, so I went back and picked up some I had noticed earlier.

1. Lutheran Book of Worship, 1978, (the green book). HC. I’ve been looking for one. Our church has not given it up for traditional services, and I often see something on Sunday I’d like to look at later. I've tried some sections of the newest Lutheran hymnal, but it just doesn't have the lovely flow and rhythm of the LBW. Originally Missouri Synod was in on this one, but never adopted it.

2. Founding Brothers by Joseph J. Ellis. (2000) PB originally $14.00

3. A nostalgia for camels by Christopher Rand (c1952, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957). HC. I noticed a number of books on the middle east with Sally Sue Witten’s name in them, but which had been written in and annotated by “Siegfried” and dated 2011. He noted ”54 years later not much has changed but we are deeply involved in A/P (Afghanistan/Pakistan?). Sorry about that.” This collection was written from 1948-1956. Unfortunately, the 2nd owner marked it up with ballpoint ink. Hate that. But for 20 cents, what can you expect?

4. Traveling mercies; some thoughts on faith by Anne Lamott (1999). PB I read excerpts from this about 10 years ago when I discovered her writing.

5. Slow waltz in Cedar Bend by Robert James Waller (1993) HC. Fiction, and this is an example of why I usually don’t buy it--it’s got a pretty cover and a one hit wonder author, but not much else to recommend it.

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The "Oslo Syndrome" and the Terror Attack in Norway

Barry Rubin is being attacked for pointing out:

One of the most sensitive aspects of the very sensitive subject of the murderous terrorist attack in Norway by a right-wing gunman is this irony: The youth political camp he attacked was at the time engaged in what was essentially (though the campers didn’t see it that way, no doubt) a pro-terrorist program.

The camp, run by Norway’s left-wing party, was lobbying for breaking the blockade of the terrorist Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip and for immediate recognition of a Palestinian state without that entity needing do anything that would prevent it from being a terrorist base against Israel. They were backing and justifying forces that had committed terrorism against Israelis and killing thousands of people like themselves.

A terrorist on the right takes his justification for terrorism from the left. Now the messenger must be attacked.

If you argue politically that terrorists are justified in the Middle East or, to put it a different way, that they aren't terrorists at all, you are making terrorism more likely to happen. It is tragic--not justifiable or deserved but horrible--that such people or such a country then becomes the target of terrorism.

RubinReports: The "Oslo Syndrome" and the Terror Attack in Norway

John Kerry: Media Has "Responsibility" To "Not Give Equal Time" To Tea Party

SEN. JOHN KERRY: "And I have to tell you, I say this to you politely. The media in America has a bigger responsibility than it's exercising today. The media has got to begin to not give equal time or equal balance to an absolutely absurd notion just because somebody asserts it or simply because somebody says something which everybody knows is not factual."

"It doesn't deserve the same credit as a legitimate idea about what you do. And the problem is everything is put into this tit-for-tat equal battle and America is losing any sense of what's real, of who's accountable, of who is not accountable, of who's real, who isn't, who's serious, who isn't?"

The only Media source that claims to be fair and balanced about Tea Party coverage is Fox, all the rest are in the pocketbook of the Democrats, so is that what he's suggesting? Or does he want to be the Big Czar who decides which ideas are "real" and who is "accountable?" It certainly can't be that he thinks ABC or NBC has given the Tea Party too much time, unless it is time denigrating them.

I'm amazed that people like Kerry, the war protestor who probably extended the VietNam war with his post-military antics, continue to get elected since they are diametrically opposed to everything that is American, but then I thought that about the Kennedys too. Maybe it's Massachusetts.

John Kerry: Media Has "Responsibility" To "Not Give Equal Time" To Tea Party | RealClearPolitics

Being poor and not too bright is a plus

"OSU is conducting a clinical research study of an investigational oral medication for birth control. Qualified participants will receive at no cost for up to 12 months: periodic gynecological exams, investigational oral birth control medication. Females that are 18-40 years of age, sexually active, and have regular menstrual cycles may be eligible for participation. Compensation is available for time and travel."

I wonder if there is compensation for the abortion or live delivery if the medication doesn't work? Or the health problems if this turns out to be something not so great for the female body. Of course these days, even abortificants are called birth control.

Congress Should Come Back Now says LaHood

It's a labor union issue--card check (aka no secret ballot)--and the Democrats are holding the bill hostage in the Senate. They messed around on the phony baloney ceiling which no one else in the country enjoys who can't print money, and let thousands get furloughed, and returned billions to the flyers in tax money. So the Democrats further mucked up the economy. I doubt that even the Democrats (i.e. everyone) at Obama's birthday party believed him when he whined about it.

"All it will take to end this crisis is for the Senate to pass the House-approved FAA extension," Boehner said in a statement. "I respect the fact that Senators have certain objections, but they have had two weeks to respond to the House bill and done nothing, leaving tens of thousands of workers in limbo. The House has done its job, and now it’s time for Senators to do theirs.”

Ray LaHood: Congress Should Come Back Now And Pass Clean FAA Bill