“Joel McNally is a racist”

No? Try this on for size which is no worse than some I”ve seen on the left including Mr. McNally.

“…in a democracy, the loudest bullies win no matter how extreme a fringe they represent or how nonsensical their arguments are.”

Obama won the last election.

Therefore Obama is a loud bully.

If you say anything negative about Obama, you’re a racist (see, for example, Ms. Dowd).

Therefore Joel McNally is a racist.

It’s really quite simple.

Filed under: Barack Obama, Politics , Barack Obama, Joel McNally, political debate, racism

Things we wouldn’t know unless Bill Maher told us

Obama’s bright but still has learning curve.

Amazing. No wonder this guy still makes news with earth shattering punditry like this.

Filed under: Barack Obama, Humorous , Barack Obama, Bill Maher, humorous headlines

Cause and Effect?

Does this [Emphasis is mine throughout]

Twenty-six percent (26%) of American voters say the nation is moving in the right direction, while 66% say it is heading down the wrong track, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

The number of voters who think America is moving in the right direction is down slightly from last week’s high of 29%, but it marks the third straight week in which over a quarter of voters share that opinion despite increasing bad economic news.

stem from this?

The Rasmussen Consumer Index, which measures the economic confidence of consumers on a daily basis, fell to a new record low for the second straight day on Thursday. Just two days after Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s presentation of the White House financial rescue plan, the Consumer Index fell to 56.2, surpassing the all-time low set the day before. During 2008, record lows for consumer confidence were recorded on a regular basis. Consumer confidence is down two points from a week ago and one point from a month ago.

Rasmussen pegs the low to Geithner’s presentation of the rescue plan, but couldn’t it simply be the downturn/recession/depression that’s making folks nervous and causing low approval ratings?

I suppose we won’t know until we start to pull out of this mess.

Filed under: Barack Obama, Economics, policy , Barack Obama policy, consumer confidence, Economics, financial rescue plan, polls, recession

Waukesha Carnival 02/08/2009

Welcome to this week’s edition. It’s gettin’ late and I have to work tomorrow, so let’s get to it.

First sad news, Darryl Enriquez at Waukesha FYI tells us about the Waukesha Freeman layoffs. One of those laid off was photographer and Waukesha blogger Byron Houlgrave, who shared the last picture he clicked for the Freeman.

Continuing in Waukesha city, Jeff reviews the fish fry at Michael’s Italian America Restaurant at Five Points Blog.

James Wigderson went to the Waukesha Common Council meeting and shares his thoughts with us at Wigderson Library & Pub.

Spiralling out a little, Linda Richter at Inside New Berlin finds the security cameras in schools unsettling and it’s not just the price tag.

At peterepublic, Pete Fanning drops by to remind us he’s still alive, just very, very very busy.

Kyle Prast at Practically Speaking reminds us that US Rep. Sensenbrenner and state Rep. Leah Vukmir will have several town halls. One is past, two are upcoming.

In posts about state news, Wisconsin Sen. Mary Lazich (chief aide Kevin Fischer?) points out at Conservatively Speaking that the Wisconsin Covenant program could be costly.

In a couple of miscellaneous posts, Curt Otto gives us the question to last week’s answer, or something like that. Any way it’s all over at Maple & Main.

Meanwhile, over at the Spring City Chronicle, Michael Phelps gets the Bonehead of the Week award. Pretty much a unanimous vote, I would say.

Then in posts on national issues, MommaBlogger takes time out to rant over that Florida case of the botched abortion at Homemakers Guide to the Galaxy.

Dan Deibert shows us how fast government can move when they want to, with pictures at The D Spot.

Alex has some thoughts about Republican votes and raises at A Little off Main.

At The Other Side of  My Mouth, Tim Rock has some thoughts on the Republican vote on the stimulus package.

Silent e tells us why Democrats are unpatriotic at silent e speaks.

Cindy Kilkenny has a two-parter over at Fairly Conservative on building our own stimulus package.

Dad29 points out that the American people seem to be understanding the ramifications of the stimulus package.

Whew, that’s it for another long one. As usual, if you have one you liked add the link in the comments below or e-mail me at thoughtfulconservative [at] yahoo [dot] com. Same for posts you’d like to nominate for next week’s carnival. It doesn’t have to be one of your own. Links to our archives and future editions can be found here.

Filed under: Barack Obama, Blog carnivals, Democrats, Economics, Ethics, Fifth Cong. District, Republican, Sports, Taxes, Waukesha, Waukesha Carnival, Waukesha blogs, Wisconsin, government spending, policy , Republican, Waukesha, Waukesha Freeman, Wisconsin, Blog carnivals, Waukesha Carnival, New Berlin, blogs, privacy concerns, Democrat, abortion, Mary Lazich, James Sensenbrenner, recession, Waukesha Common Council, Rod Blagojevich, Stimulus package, layoffs, Leah Vukmir, Michael Phelps

Charges against Cole terrorists dropped

A possible fight between the Pentagon and Obama was averted as Cole charges dropped

President Obama will meet with the families of victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and of the USS Cole bombing on Friday, a day after the judge charged with convening the military trials at Guantanamo ordered charges withdrawn against Saudi national Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, who is accused of being the former Persian Gulf Operations Chief for al Qaeda and the mastermind of the attack on the Cole.

One important note on the charges,

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Crawford dismissed the charges against al-Nashiri without prejudice. That means new charges can be brought again later. He will remain in prison for the time being.

It may not be any consolation to the families. I’m not too excited either.

But this was a pretty prominent part of Obama’s platform, and it’s one promise he was going to do his best to keep.

The best thing from this is that he remains at Guantanamo.

Filed under: Barack Obama, campaign promises, policy , Barack Obama, campaign promises, Guantanamo, policy, War on Terror

Obama breaks a promise – again

Sadly, Obama broke one of his promises again. As you can see, the SCHIP bill was posted Feb. 1 and signed Feb. 4.

Why is he doing this? John McCormick at The Weekly Standard has an opinion,

Why do I have the feeling that the White House’s pledge to implement the policy “soon” means “after we ram the trillion-dollar ’stimulus’ bill through Congress”? Public opinion has now turned against the “stimulus” bill as it stands. Maybe Obama thinks the public will more easily swallow billions of dollars in pork and social welfare spending if they don’t have a chance to look at the text of the bill online. But breaking a promise about transparency on a more controversial measure like the “stimulus” will surely create problems of its own.

Maybe, maybe not. But with all the talk of urgency, one can bet that the stimulus bill, once passed won’t get the five day wait either.

Sticking with the breaking promises, the Senate Armed Services Committee Approves Lynn Nomination

The Senate Armed Services Committee “has voted in favor of William Lynn, a Raytheon lobbyist, to become the next deputy defense secretary,” the AP reports.

This was covered here.

Filed under: Barack Obama, campaign promises , Barack Obama, PoliFact, SCHIP bill, transparency

Obama creates faith-based office

Via the AP

Obama said the office would work with nonprofit organizations “both secular and faith-based” and would help them determine how to make a bigger impact in their cities, learn their obligations under the law and cut through government red tape.

I don’t have any problem with this and, in fact, I’m glad to see it. As a conservative, I believe that private entities are more efficient than the federal government, and in most cases already have programs in place.

Filed under: Barack Obama, policy , Barack Obama, faith based initiatives

Agreeing with Feingold twice since the inauguration

UPDATE: This is getting ridiculous. Once again I agree with Mr. Feingold,

[Gregg] is well qualified for this position. But the apparent behind-the-scenes deal-making that went on to determine who will fill Senator Gregg’s vacancy is alarmingly undemocratic. Once again, Americans will be represented in the Senate for nearly two years by someone they had no hand in electing. As the number of Senators appointed to their seats continues to rise, it’s increasingly clear that we need to fix this constitutional anachronism. It is time to pass a constitutional amendment to end appointments by governors and the political gamesmanship they encourage.

First his call for to end Senate appointments by state governors and now he votes against confirming Geithner

Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa, Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia and Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin. Independent Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont, who caucuses with the Democrats, also voted against confirmation.

I gotta go check the sky and make sure it’s not falling.

Filed under: Barack Obama, US Senate, appointments , appointments, Barack Obama, Russ Feingolc

Democratic scandal round-up

UPDATE III: Daschle is out.

UPDATE II: And the hits keep coming,

Tom Daschle backed the patron who paid him a million-dollar salary and supplied him with a free car and driver for a job inside the Obama administration, two Democrats said Monday.

Leo Hindery, whose InterMedia Partners employed the former Senate majority leader, had been mentioned as a possible secretary of commerce or U.S. trade representative.

“Tom was pushing for him,” said one Democratic source.

To Obama’s credit,

Obama’s aides rejected Daschle’s suggestion that a top job go to Hindery, for whose private equity fund Daschle had served as a rainmaker and adviser.

UPDATE: And another one bites the dust

Nancy Killefer, who failed for a year and a half to pay employment taxes on household help, has withdrawn her candidacy to be the first chief performance officer for the federal government, the White House said Tuesday.

Killefer was the second major Obama administration nominee to withdraw and the third to have tax problems complicate their nomination after President Barack Obama announced their selection.

And Michelle Malkin has another tax problem for Daschle.

We’re gonna need a scorecard pretty soon.

Amanda Carpenter has a collection which includes the recent newsmakers, Daschle, Geithner and Rangel and reminds us the Al Franken still has some tax problems.

Franken, who is still fighting incumbent GOP Sen. Norm Coleman for Minnesota’s Senate seat, failed to pay at least $70,000 in taxes to 17 states prior to running for office.

Michelle Malkin reports on the White House’s opinion on Daschle’s troubles. If only the Democrats had been as understanding the last eight years.

Via TheHill.com Here’s what Gibbs said

It’s a serious mistake, but laying that mistake next to a three-decade career in public service, the president believes that Sen. Daschle is still the best suited to shepherd healthcare reform through Congress and get something to the president’s desk that will save the American people money and make the quality of healthcare better.

Can you imagine this being said about a Republican? Yeah, me either.

And now via the Instapundit and The Corner, we hear that Chris Dodd is refinancing his mortgage.

Sen. Dodd, whose committee has oversight over the mortgage and banking industries, faced heavy criticism in his home state for not releasing details of his mortgages when the controversy erupted last year.

Sen. Dodd said Monday he received a $275,000 30-year, adjustable rate loan at 4.5% interest for his East Haddam home. The Washington home was financed with a 30-year adjustable loan of $506,000 with a 4.25% rate.

The terms of the mortgages are under investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee.

The TaxProf has more on Daschle than you will want to read (H/t Instapundit).

Filed under: Barack Obama, US Senate, appointments , Al Franken, appointments, Barack Obama, Charles Rangel, Chris Dodd, Democratic Party, Tim Geithner, Tom Daschle, US Senate

“Obama breaks promise on ’sunlight before signing’”

I was going to mention this but PolitiFact beat me to it.

Barack Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act on Jan. 29, 2009, keeping a longstanding promise to counter a Supreme Court decision that limited workers’ ability to sue for pay discrimination. We moved the Obameter and gave him a Promise Kept.

But we also had to give him his first Promise Broken for the same signing. As part of his agenda to bring more transparency to government, Obama said he would institute “sunlight before signing” — posting laws to the White House Web site for five days of public comment before he signed off on them. [Ed. - I added the links]

More here.

Filed under: Barack Obama, campaign promises , Barack Obama, campaign promises, PoliFact