Donald Trump: 'Now We Can Move On to Other Issues' — Like Obama's Occidental Transcripts!

I guess you had to've been there. The top clip features an ecstatic Donald Trump saying how "honored" he was to force the release of President Obama's birth certificate. The segment closes with "now we can move on to other issues," but apparently the press had more questions on what Hussein's hiding, so at bottom Trump says, well, now the president can release the transcripts. You gotta admit he's working it. A little inconsistent, but Trump's working it:

In any case, Glenn Reynolds has the roundup, "TRUMP 1, OBAMA 0" (via Memeorandum).

And it's still early and I'm not up to speed on all the reactions, so more on this later. Meanwhile, Joan Walsh is a pretty good proxy for progressive opinion, and she's not pleased, "When Bullies Win":

Donald Trump is basically birther Orly Taitz with better hair. Or do I have that backwards? The idea that this "carnival barker," in President Obama's words, got the White House to bow to filthy birther rumors about his ineligibility to be president, and belatedly produce his long-form birth certificate, makes me deeply sad.

But was it the right thing to do politically? We can't know that yet. Certainly I was encouraged by seeing an indignant Obama take the podium, note he was getting attention he likely wouldn't get for a foreign policy announcement, and tear into the media for letting Trump's birther sideshow drown out all other news.

"Normally, I wouldn't comment on something like this … I've got other things to do," Obama told reporters, but watching Birtherism drown out the budget debate, he lamented that "the dominant news story wasn't about these huge monumental choices we were going to make as a nation, it was about my birth certificate. I just want to make a larger point here. We've got some enormous …We're not going to be able to [solve these problems] if we just make stuff up and pretend that facts are not facts; if we get distracted by sideshows and carnival barkers."

Will the media, and the majority of likely Republican primary voters who say Obama wasn't born here, get the message? My fear is that they won't. Trump the Carny beat the president to the media, taking credit for the release of the birth certificate, but moving on to demand that Obama now show Americans the grades that got him into Columbia and Harvard. "I've heard he was a terrible student at Occidental," Trump blathered. "I don't know why he doesn't just release his records." The cretins at World Net Daily told Justin Elliott that Obama's still lying.

It goes on like that for a while.

The cretins?

Oh gosh, life is just so unfair.

More later ...

Donald Trump Claims Credit for Release of President Obama's Long Form Birth Certificate

Well, I ran this earlier, but it's more relevant than I expected. Trump's now claiming credit for the release of Obama's long form birth document.

Now perhaps Obama will release his academic transcripts. Seriously. I hope folks start hammering on that. I say B+ average: "Barack Obama's Transcripts."

This is going to be a long day. I'm going to read around and follow the reactions. Some new conspiracies are bound to pop up.

ADDED: William Jacobson's thinking along the same lines:

The story is not over, I'm sure, but this will help Obama, since the document was issued just days after his birth.

The ease with which the White House obtained the documents demonstrates the rank idiocy of the mainstream media, which has been feeding us a steady stream of excuses as to why Obama could not obtain the document.

Banning Trolls

James B. Webb is a lot of fun to have around. The amusement factor is seriously unmatched, which is why as obnoxious as he is, I've never banned him. These are good lulz. Some time back I gave JBW a hard time about his radical atheistic progressivism: "James Webb, Atheist Hypocrite, Loves teh Gays." Come to find out then that the dude's seriously homophobic. Anyway, he was trolling away in the comments all day yesterday. It's not high-brow illumination, but what can you do? JBW's never made a principled empirical argument that he could back up, so WTF?

And speaking of trolls, the proprietor of Common Sense Political Thought's got a problem, so check the discussion that's broken out: "Open Letter to Dana Pico." Some folks are having a hard time with the free speech argument, but it's simple: Ban the pricks. It's like Amy Alkon said of the Sadly No! progressives: They're a bunch of "sick fuck adult losers." Yeah, but unlike RacistRepsac3, some are good for a few laughs, like the atheist hypocrite homophobe JBW.

Barack Obama's Transcripts

I think I mentioned this some time back, after attending the David Horowitz West Coast Retreat. One of the very best talks was by Victor Davis Hanson. He said he didn't really care so much about the birther controversy, but the lack of information on President Obama's academic record should be a big deal. And VDH recycles the theme in a discussion of Obama's fiscal policy postmodernism:

The president is cynical and says whatever he wishes without worry of consequences, because based on the past abyss between laurels and achievement (Harvard Law Review, offer of Chicago Law School tenure, record in the Senate, Nobel Prize, etc.), he feels exempt from scrutiny and audit. Indeed, he expects that he can always “hope and change” or “millions of green jobs” his way out of any rare, nit-picking journalistic follow-up. (A journalist will always declare him a “god” even if speech A nullifies speech B a day later).

Now here's Ace of Spades reporting on Obama's pick as editor of Harvard Law Review:

Obama may have had outstanding grades and may have earned every inch of the Law Review and magna honors. But the fact that his grades are kept as state secrets, while only the honors themselves are mentioned, makes me think we're looking at C+/B- situation here.

And Donald Trump's on the case:

Rep. Allen West Won't Be Intimidated

Progressives just aren't too bright of late. At some point, even the Democrat-Media-Complex reports this stuff, and it's getting pretty bad.

Javier Manjarres has the report, at The Shark Tank, "Allen West- “You’re Not Going to Intimidate Me”, Heckler Arrested at Townhall":

RELATED: At The Other McCain, "Former Air America Host Arrested After Heckling Rep. Allen West at Town Hall." (Via Memeorandum.)

'Dear Ayub, FYI — Most Terrorists Are Muslims. Bite Me'

More excellent stuff from the inimitable Blazing Cat Fur: "Intelligent Muslim: Only Support Dhimmi Candidates Who Agree To Make It "A Hate Crime to Associate Islam to Terrorism."

"Ayub" is Ayub Hamid of the Canadian Islamic Congress, who writes at the website's political magazine:

We should support only those non-Muslim candidates who are willing to present and support a Private Members’ Bill making it a hate-crime to publicly associate Islam to terrorism, whether in written, spoken, printed, broadcast or electronic media. At the same time, we must take a balanced approach instead of being carried away by a single issue. The following are examples of other important issues against which we should evaluate all candidates ...

Hey, killer platform. That oughta win a lot of progressive support!

But no matter, this Ayub guy's not too bright. Be sure to check out the rest of the post at the link. BCF hammers this freak terror-enabling airhead. Reminds me of RacistRepsac3 denying honor killings. These people are monumentally stupid --- evil even.

Rabbits at Long Beach City College

My college was in the news, on Easter:

Donald Trump Political Contributions Favor Democrats

I like him, but I can't see how this is going to help.

At WaPo, "Trump’s donation history shows Democratic favoritism":

Billionaire Donald J. Trump, an early presidential favorite among tea party activists, has a highly unusual history of political contributions for a prospective Republican candidate: He has given most of his money to the other side.

The real estate mogul and “Celebrity Apprentice” host has made more than $1.3 million in donations over the years to candidates nationwide, with 54 percent of the money going to Democrats, according to a Washington Post analysis of state and federal disclosure records.

Recipients include Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.), former Pennsylvania governor Edward G. Rendell, and Rahm Emanuel, a former aide to President Obama who received $50,000 from Trump during his recent run to become Chicago’s mayor, records show. Many of the contributions have been concentrated in New York, Florida and other states where Trump has substantial real estate and casino interests.

The donations provide another view into the odd political spectacle surrounding Trump, who may be the most unlikely of possible GOP presidential hopefuls in an already eclectic field. Although candidates such as Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty have spent years carefully crafting and plotting a White House run, the tycoon and fixture of the New York tabloids has leapt onto the scene with loud proclamations and surprisingly strong poll numbers among likely Republican voters.

The iconoclastic developer and television personality is attempting to appeal to social conservatives, even with a record of failed marriages and earlier statements in favor of abortion rights. His attacks on Obama have focused on conspiracy theories about the president’s birth in Hawaii that make many Republican leaders nervous. And Trump is considering a run for the nomination in an increasingly conservative Republican Party, despite years of donations to prominent Democrats.

None of which has stopped him from forging ahead with a potential candidacy, including a scheduled trip on Wednesday to the early primary state of New Hampshire.

Well, despite Frank Luntz comments at the video, Trump's starting to look pretty serious about all of this. That earlier support for abortion rights is also gonna hurt, but this pre-primary season's been quirky, so let's see how it things play out.

Poly Styrene, X-Ray Spex Singer, Dead at 53

One of the first British punk bands I listened to back in the day. Poly Styrene, RIP.

At New York Times, "Poly Styrene, Punk Singer of X-Ray Spex, Is Dead at 53":

Marianne Elliot-Said, who as Poly Styrene, the pioneering, braces-wearing frontwoman of the 1970s British band X-Ray Spex, made a place for feminine brashness in punk, died on Monday in East Sussex, England. She was 53.

Her death was reported on her Web site, and confirmed by her manager. She had been treated for cancer at a hospice in East Sussex, near her home in St. Leonards-on-Sea, in the south of England.

Ms. Said (pronounced sah-EED), the daughter of a Somali father and a British mother, who raised her alone, began performing as a free-spirited teenager, leaving home at 15 and ending up in London, where she studied to be an opera singer, said her manager, Shirin Koohyar. In 1976 she released a pop-reggae single under the name Mari Elliot on the GTO label.

But after stumbling upon an early performance by the Sex Pistols, she was inspired to place an ad in a British music magazine, searching for “young punx who want to stick it together.”

After a handful of rehearsals, the X-Ray Spex — whose early lineup included Jak Airport, Paul Dean, Rudi Thomson, BP Hurding and Lora Logic — quickly became fixtures on the 1977 London music scene. They performed in Chelsea and at the Roxy, the Covent Garden club that served as a punk incubator, adding a new instrument, the saxophone, to the chopping guitars and brazen lyrics of the genre.

More at the link above.

WikiLeaks: Khalid Shaikh Mohammed Says He Beheaded Daniel Pearl Against Warnings

A nice background report on the WikiLeaks Guantanamo files, at Los Angeles Times:

The documents are part of thousands of pages of Pentagon dossiers that describe how the detainees were captured, the nature of their alleged crimes and what they had told interrogators — often under duress — in interviews between 2002 and 2008. In all, there are 779 total documents that are in the process of being released. The files are officially titled Detainee Assessment Briefs.

In the Daniel Pearl slaying, according to the newly released material, Sayf al-Adl, a former top Al Qaeda military commander, was outspoken in cautioning Mohammed against killing the reporter. But Mohammed turned for guidance to another Al Qaeda leader, identified as Sharif al-Masri, the group's chief financial officer, and the two of them "disagreed with Adl on this point." Next, "Pearl was taken to the house of Al Qaeda's finance chief in Pakistan, Saud Memon, and murdered" there.

Mohammed boasted in the documents that the "planes operation" of Sept. 11 was his "dream and life's work." A Pakistani raised in Kuwait, he was captured in March 2003, totally disheveled but wearing a ring and a Casio wristwatch, and later was forced to undergo 183 separate water-boarding treatments to get him to talk.

He described a plan to build remote-controlled firing devices disguised as Sega video game cartridges. He began preparations for bombing "the tallest building in California" — presumably the Library Tower (now the U.S. Bank tower) in Los Angeles, "using at least two separate shoe bombs to gain access to the cockpit."

He wanted to hit CIA and FBI headquarters and nuclear power plants, hack into U.S. bank computers and hijack U.S. cargo planes. He discussed a series of natural gas explosions he wanted to perpetrate in Chicago and researched "the feasibility of an operation to set fire to a hotel or gas station" there.

More at the link above.

RELATED: At Telegraph UK, "WikiLeaks: Guantánamo Bay terrorists radicalised in London to attack Western target," and "WikiLeaks: leaked files accuse BBC of being part of a 'possible propaganda media network." No surprise there. Next we'll see files showing NYT as part of a propaganda media network, etc.

Change! More Americans Dependent on Federal Welfare Payments Than Ever Before

Federal social welfare benefits now make up a record share of the nation's personal income. At USA Today, "Americans depend more on federal aid than ever":

Americans depended more on government assistance in 2010 than at any other time in the nation's history, a USA TODAY analysis of federal data finds. The trend shows few signs of easing, even though the economic recovery is nearly 2 years old.

A record 18.3% of the nation's total personal income was a payment from the government for Social Security, Medicare, food stamps, unemployment benefits and other programs in 2010. Wages accounted for the lowest share of income — 51.0% — since the government began keeping track in 1929.

The income data show how fragile and government-dependent the recovery is after a recession that officially ended in June 2009.

The wage decline has continued this year. Wages slipped to another historic low of 50.5% of personal income in February. Another government effort — the Social Security payroll tax cut — has lifted income in 2011. The temporary tax cut puts more money in workers' pockets and counts as an income boost, even when wages stay the same.

More at the link.

Earned income is still 51 percent of total income, so the progressives haven't won the battle over personal industry quite yet.

Syria Crackdown

The Wall Street Journal reports, "Gunfire, Arrests as Syria Continues Crackdown":

Gunfire reverberated Tuesday in the southern Syrian city of Daraa where the dead still lay unclaimed in the streets a day after a brutal government crackdown on the popular revolt against President Bashar Assad, residents said.

Meanwhile, diplomats scrambled to find a way to stop the violence, appealing to Mr. Assad to withdraw his forces and seeking a special session of the United Nations's top human-rights body to condemn the bloody crackdown on protesters.

A Syrian human-rights group said authorities detained dozens across the country, mainly in several Damascus suburbs and in the northern coastal city of Jableh.

The Syrian army, backed by tanks and snipers, launched a deadly raid before dawn Monday on Daraa, where the uprising in Syria started more than a month ago. At least 11 people were killed in the southern city.

A relentless crackdown since mid-March has killed more than 400 people across Syria, with 120 dead over the weekend, rights groups said. That has only emboldened protesters who started their revolt—inspired by uprisings in the Arab world—with calls for modest reforms but are now increasingly demanding Mr. Assad's downfall.

See also earlier graphic video, at Pajamas Media, here and here (content warning). And at check The Lede for updated coverage, here and here.

Further, there's analysis at Frontpage Magazine, "The Bloody Streets of Syria." And especially, Fouad Ajami, "The Freedom Movement Comes to Syria":

Terrorism has always been part of the Assad regime's arsenal. It killed and conquered its way into Lebanon over three decades starting in the late 1970s. It fought and bloodied American purposes in Iraq by facilitating the entry of jihadists who came to war against the Americans and the Shiites. And in the standoff between the Persian theocracy and its rivals in the region, the Syrians had long cast their fate with the Iranians.

Under Bashar, the Syrians slipped into a relationship of some subservience to the Iranians—yet other nations were always sure that Syria could be "peeled off" from Iran, that a bargain with Damascus was always a day, or a diplomatic mission, away. It had worked this way for Assad senior, as American statesmen including Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton were confident that they could bring that man, at once an arsonist and a fireman in his region, into the fold.

The son learned the father's tricks. There is a litter of promises, predictions by outsiders that Bashar Assad is, at heart, a reformer. In 2000, our emissary to his father's funeral and to his own inauguration, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, praised him in such terms. He was part of the Internet generation, she said.

But Bashar is both this system's jailer and its captive. The years he spent in London, the polish of his foreign education, are on the margin of things. He and the clans—and the intelligence warlords and business/extortion syndicates around him—know no other system, no other way.

"We need our second independence in Syria," an astute dissident, Radwan Ziadeh, recently observed. "The first was the freedom from the French and the second will be from the Assad dynasty." Would that the second push for freedom be as easy and bloodless as the first.

Because Communists on Campus Are Figments of the Imagination

I'm not exactly sure if it's denial, or simply defining communism down. Probably a bit of both, but it could also be actual ignorance. At communist Henry Farrell's Crooked Timber, for example:

There’s a few Marxists left in academia (like me, although being in math what parent would notice or care…?) but in all honesty the idea that someone’s kids could be indoctrinated into communism is sadly even" more absurd now than it was then. Anyway I’d guess that in 1951 there were even fewer communists on campus than today – the Legion didn’t need actual examples to create the spectre of the (Jewish, as has been mentioned) communist undermining the moral and character of American youth.

Folks should check the whole post for the context.

And then check the videos at Big Journalism, "Taking Bets On Whether the Media Will Cover Marxist Union Instruction," and Robert Stacy McCain, "Why Aren’t You Homeschooling Yet?"

Lots of communists on my campus, which I've documented many times, and will continue to do so.

RELATED: An event announcement from UCLA, "Intellectual Terrorism: The Left's War on Free Speech":

Bruin Republicans present...
Intellectual Terrorism: The Left's War on Free Speech
with David Horowitz
Featuring invited guest: Academy Award Winner, Jon Voight
Wednesday, May 11 · 7:30pm - 9:00pm

Voters Support Benefit Rollback for Public Workers in California

Jammie had yesterday's headline of the day, "Shock Poll: Extremist Teabagger Californians Want Givebacks From Public Employees."

See Los Angeles Times, "California voters want public employees to help ease state's financial troubles":

California voters want government employees to give up some retirement benefits to help ease the state's financial problems, favoring a cap on pensions and a later age for collecting them, according to a new poll.

Voter support for rolling back benefits available to few outside the public sector comes as Gov. Jerry Brown and Republicans in the Legislature haggle over changes to the pension system as part of state budget negotiations. Such benefits have been a flashpoint of national debate this year, and the poll shows that Californians are among those who perceive public retirement plans to be too costly.

Voters appear ready to embrace changes not just for future hires but also for current employees who have been promised the benefits under contract.

Seventy percent of respondents said they supported a cap on pensions for current and future public employees. Nearly as many, 68%, approved of raising the amount of money government workers should be required to contribute to their retirement. Increasing the age at which government employees may collect pensions was favored by 52%.

Although pension costs today account for just a fraction of the state budget, they are putting local governments under considerable financial strain, and analysts say effects on the state may not be far off.

"It's pretty clear that there's broad support for making changes in the area of pensions," said Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg, who co-directed the bipartisan poll for The Times and the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.

RTWT at the link above.

I've been making this argument at my college, especially during last year's negotiations over contract renewal. And earlier today I e-mailed this story to the college community, and one of my colleagues wrote back, saying: "I don't think the union leadership reads the newspapers."

Ouch.

Rachel Maddow is Definitely Not an 'Autocutie' a Cutie

She's a lying progressive lesbian dirtbag, at London's Guardian, "Rachel Maddow: 'I'm definitely not an autocutie' (via Memeorandum). (A really crappy piece of pseudo-journalism. See Jammie, "Newsflash: Rachel Maddow 'The Top US News Anchor', MSNBC Has 'No Political Agenda'".)

Gay Marriage Advocates Threaten Rule of Law

This is not new, actually.

I wrote at length about the extreme progressive thuggery in California upon the passage of Proposition 8 in 2008. And Michelle Malkin had outstanding coverage of the legal challenges to the initiative in federal court, for example: "The anti-Prop. 8 mob strikes again." (And breaking, as I write this: "California Judge's Partner Cited in Push to Uphold Same-Sex Marriage Ban.")

So what's interesting today about the latest gay marriage news is how progressive thuggery is once again driving developments in this controversial area of civil rights. The left can't win on the merits, so we get extremist cries of bigotry enforced by intimidation in order to carry the day.

The main story's at New York Times, "Law Firm Won’t Defend Marriage Act."

It turns out that Atlanta-based law firm King & Spalding caved to leftist intimidation and withdrew from representation. And in a very interesting development, former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement (pictured) resigned from the firm to protest its craven political correctness. Commentary at Althouse, Legal Insurrection, National Review, and Wall Street Journal.

Clement's letter is here.

And at Weekly Standard, "Gay Rights Group Contacted Law Firm's Clients in Campaign to Intimidate DOMA's Defenders":

King and Spalding's vague reason for dropping the case is that its vetting process was "inadequate," but Republicans are accusing the firm of putting "politics and profit" first. Indeed, the Human Rights Campaign, the country's leading gay rights activist group, took credit for applying the "pressure points" needed to "make it happen."

In addition to its public efforts, the Human Rights Campaign "contacted many of the firm's clients" as part of its campaign against King and Spalding, according to the email sent on behalf of HRC vice president Fred Sainz. The email doesn't provide details about what HRC officials said to King and Spalding's clients, and a spokesman for HRC could not be reached for comment ...

Check the link for the full intimidation e-mail from Human Rights Campaign.

Also, at Power Line, "THE LEFT POLITICIZES THE PRACTICE OF LAW" (via Memeorandum):

When a major law firm like King & Spalding puts politics above its duty of loyalty to its client, it is a sad day for our profession and for our country.

Word.

Video Blogger Rebel Pundit Threatened With 'Negative Repercussions'

At Rebel Pundit, "Citizen Journalist’s Rights THREATENED Over “Imbalanced Protester” Video":

Concerning one of your videos

You have a video of a gentleman at the tea party rally in Chicago this past tax day (Monday). I am requesting that you please remove it from Youtube as well as your website “rebelpundit.com“. If nothing is to be done on your side to remove this material from the internet, actions will be taken to make sure this video is removed and negative repercussions may follow. It is quite evident that you were harassing this man, and there is no evidence of a video/photo release statement. If this video is not taken down in a timely manner, please be aware that you will be contacted again quite soon. If you have any questions or concerns, please send them to my email account: (We have unpublished the email address from this post upon polite request from the author of the letter.).‬

None of this is surprising at all.

Of course I can already hear the refrain from the progressive chorus: "These people don't represent the Democrats or the progressive movement," blah blah ...

Wrong.

This is the progressive movement encapsulated.

P.S. The threatener's e-mail is still available at Big Journalism, "Citizen Journalist Threatened Over Youtube Videos." Rebel Pundit is too kind.

More From Las Vegas!

I took my youngest son to "Shark Reef" at Mandalay Bay. I love that place. And my son's still a few months short of his 10th birthday, so he's still endlessly fascinated by animals and nature. We had a great time. The photos are okay, but what the heck? They're worth sharing.

The jellyfish exhibit:

My kid really liked the Komodo dragon. We got all the way to the end the facility, to the "ship wreck" shark tank, and he wanted to go back up to see the Komodo! And he made sure to justify it, since we somehow missed the python exhibit, which we then noticed was right next to the dragon. Hanging with my kid's a riot:

He liked the piranhas too. Big suckers:

Everybody loves sharks:

But the sawfish was another one of my son's favorites. This shot's blurry because the sawfish swims up over the top of the glass after skimming along the bottom. He surprises you, unlike the sharks, who just kinda hover around:

Walking back out to find my wife, who hit the casino and then the Red, White and Blue restaurant, here's the "beach" at Mandalay Bay, which features a wave pool:

There's a tram that takes you back to the Excalibur Hotel, and then a skywalk leads back over to New York New York, and then MGM Grande. A view of the interesection:

We always have fun, but this was our first time staying at MGM and I'm completely sold. An excellent experience all around. I'll have another update on this later ...

Excavating Pure Evil — Failed New York Actor Carl Salonen Revealed as 'Tintin' at Sadly No!??

Take a few minutes to listen to this PJTV segment. Dr. Helen Smith interviews Barbara Oakley and Amy Alkon. The former has a new book out called Cold-Blooded Kindness: Neuroquirks of a Codependent Killer, or Just Give Me a Shot at Loving You, Dear, and Other Reflections on Helping That Hurts. And she's also the editor of Pathological Altruism, the thesis of which forms the basis for much of the discussion. Also interviewed is Amy Alkon. She's an author and a blogger at The Advice Goddess.

Especially interesting is the discussion, about a third of the way through, of Sadly No!'s attack on Alkon, which included a campaign of fake book reviews at her Amazon book page, as well as earlier allegations that she's a transsexual (Tintin at Sadly No! slurs her as Amy Arnold Alkon). This apparently became quite involved, and included a defacement of Alkon's Wikipedia entry (obviously by the "Sadly Nauts" but denied by Tintin). At the clip, the PJTV techs display a picture from Sadly No!'s post, "The “Lady” Doth Protest Too Much, Methinks." It's interesting that Alkon herself claims to be an independent, and thinks that "both sides do this." But there are key differences, as she notes in a blog post:

These are leftists, all these losers, and while I'm neither left nor right (I'm fiscally conservative and socially libertarian), it's my experience that people on the right will tell me they think I'm an idiot right to my face or openly, on a blog (because I was against the Iraq war, for example), while the left has resorted to denigrating me by trying to hurt my livelihood. And they do it anonymously.

And then, there's the manner in which they do it, by using transsexuality in hopes of derogating me. Who has a harder time in this world than somebody who's born one sex and feels very strongly they're another? They're using this to put me down? Ugly. And they're the left?

Alkon identifies Tintin as a "a 52-year-old unsuccessful actor in New York City named Carl Salonen ..." (And she slams the folks at Sadly No! as a bunch of "sick fuck adult losers.")

Interestingly, notice how Barbara Oakley doesn't hesitate to place these fuckers in the historic pantheon of history's most diabolical killers.

In any case, I'm glad I took the time to watch this clip, because boy was this like a treasure trove of information on the true lies of the progressive left, and especially the progressive thugs at Sadly No!

I'm not done with this. Because some claim that Sadly No! is a European blog --- no doubt to avoid lawsuits --- it's possible that Tintin's entire enterprise is based on lies and deceit. But I need more information. (And maybe I'm slow on the uptake here, but there's no way a Belgian blogger would have that degree of U.S. knowledge and American parochialism, so again, this PJTV clip has been quite a revelation.)

Lady Gaga 'Judas' No Shows in Easter Debut

I've been keeping my eyes open for this, given the major press for the video, with claims about an Easter release. At NME, "Lady Gaga to release 'Judas' video over Easter?" And Gigwise, "Lady Gaga 'Judas' Video to Debut Over Easter." Perhaps not, since no sign yet, and no clue at Gaga's Twitter feed.

Anyway, there's an interesting background report from Steve Pond, "Lady Gaga's Easter Marketing Plan for 'Judas': Tweets, Leaks, Sacrilege." Also, at In This Week, "Lady Gaga is In Love with 'Judas' and the Catholic Church is Pissed: What Would Madonna Do?"

RELATED: At Hollywood Life, "Catholic League On Gaga’s ‘Judas’: ‘If She Had More Talent, We’d Be More Offended’."

Lyrics here.

Road Trip Roundup

We're on the road from Vegas back to the O.C.

Should see regular posting pick up late tonight or in the morning. I have more photos to post. And some stories to tell.

Until then, check Bob Belvedere's, "Rule 5 Saturday." Also, William Teach, "Sorta Blogless Pinup Sunday."

And The Other McCain's 10 year-old son got one hella haircut.

BONUS: Theo Spark's "Bedtime Bunny."

President Reagan's 1983 Easter and Passover Address

Via Marathon Pundit:

British Monarchy Tottering

Says John Burns, at New York Times, "A Royal Wedding, a Tarnished Crown":

For years, polls have been showing support for the monarchy running at levels that have made republicanism more than the marginal phenomenon it has been for most of modern times. While many Britons retain a bulletproof affection for the 85-year-old Elizabeth, their support beyond her seems conditional. This is especially so in the case of Prince Charles and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall; they stand first in line to the throne on Elizabeth’s death, but far behind Prince William and Miss Middleton in public preference. A clear majority in the polls favors the younger couple’s jumping past Charles and Camilla and acceding directly to the throne.

RTWT at the link above.

It's no big mystery that if Britons want the monarchy to continue and thrive, William should become king, and right away, not long after the wedding. The couple are perfectly modern, and they can help modernize the institution. Kate's as beautiful as Diana was, and perhaps she might come to be even more popular than Diana in the public's eye. At stake is the Britain the world knows as the preeminent democratic system, with a constitutional monarchy that's the symbol of political continuity. Things just wouldn't be the same should republicanism prevail. Political correctness and multiculturalism have already challenged the basic survival of the British state as it's long been known. Get rid of the monarchy and you can call it a day.

RELATED: At CBS News, "Poll: Brits, Americans think Prince William should be king."

Spring Spheres

Read this essay from Matt Gurney at the National Post, on yet another effort by progressives to destroy the culture. Hint: They're not Easter eggs. They're "spring spheres."

UPDATE: An anonymous leftist commenter slams this as a fake story. So, for the record, here's the other side: "Can KIRO Prove Its "Spring Spheres" Easter Egg Story?"

Naturally progressives would go on the offensive against this, given how much they hate all American holidays, especially Christian holidays. And I'm especially delighted that progressives are coming over here to fact check, anonymously or not. Freakin' progressive asshats.

The End of Family Practice

Or, at least the end of the neighborhood family practitioner who knows everyone's name, some of the same folks he spends time with out on the lake.

This is one more of those reports on the decline of traditional America, at New York Times, "Family Physician Can’t Give Away Solo Practice." It's Dr. Ronald Sroka in Maryland, who's been in practice for 32 years. He was looking to sell the practice, but no buyers. Sheesh, he couldn't give it away:

He tried to sell his once highly profitable practice. No luck. He tried giving it away. No luck.

Dr. Sroka’s fate is emblematic of a transformation in American medicine. He once provided for nearly all of his patients’ medical needs — stitching up the injured, directing care for the hospitalized and keeping vigil for the dying. But doctors like him are increasingly being replaced by teams of rotating doctors and nurses who do not know their patients nearly as well. A centuries-old intimacy between doctor and patient is being lost, and patients who visit the doctor are often kept guessing about who will appear in the white coat.

The share of solo practices among members of the American Academy of Family Physicians fell to 18 percent by 2008 from 44 percent in 1986. And census figures show that in 2007, just 28 percent of doctors described themselves as self-employed, compared with 58 percent in 1970. Many of the provisions of the new health care law are likely to accelerate these trends.

“There’s not going to be any of us left,” Dr. Sroka said.

RTWT at the link. And there's a video as well, at NYT's homepage.

When my wife and I moved to Orange County, in 2000, to get resettled for my new job at LBCC, we ended up looking through a big fat book of doctors who were part of our Blue Cross HMO. We picked a doctor just by the sound of his name, and we've been happy ever since. It's been just like the family doctor we had as kids. The doctor gets to know you. He's friendly and even offers his own personal counseling if necessary. It feels like the old days.

Yet it's been quite different with the pediatricians. Our oldest son was 5 when we moved down here from Fresno, and the first doctor we found --- also looking in the HMO physicians catalog --- was a prick. When my son was referred to a specialist for breathing problems, we ended up going with the new doctor, who had a large practice in Newport Beach, with about a half-a-dozen doctors. We're still visiting that office. Our youngest son is 9 and he's had a couple of different doctors from that medical group, but for a while it was just one women who was a specialist on learning disabilities. She helped us with some attention issues my son was having, and it worked out really well. But it's definitely a crap shoot if you don't have good references. You're picking names out of a book and ending up with these fancy, modern multi-physician practices where you'll be lucking if the doctors remember your kids' names. It's a nightmare, frankly, especially with a baby. So I can relate to this story about Dr. Sroka in Maryland. It's just him at the office. Unless he has some other local doctors to fill in for him on call he's screwed. That's why no one wanted to buy his practice. Here's the quote from NYT:

Indeed, younger doctors — half of whom are now women — are refusing to take over these small practices. They want better lifestyles, shorter work days, and weekends free of the beepers, cellphones and patient emergencies that have long defined doctors’ lives. Weighed down with debt, they want regular paychecks instead of shopkeeper risks. And even if they wanted such practices, banks — attuned to the growing uncertainties — are far less likely to lend the money needed.

That's interesting. It shows again how social changes --- especially affluence and the pursuit of leisure --- have influenced the way coming generations view traditional occupations.

In any case, what can you do I guess?

More later ...

Communists Coming to UCLA!

Once again, these folks must be "imaginary communists" --- or at least check it out with Tintin, the blogging asshat at Sadly No! Maybe he'll set the record straight, or not:

Because we do in fact hate commies, at least real commies, not the imaginary commies that community college Assistant Associate Professor Douglas sees lurking behind every potted plant."

More lurkers will be speaking at UCLA on April 29th. See, "A Dialog Between Cornell West and Carl Dix":

Live From the MGM Grand Las Vegas!

We're on the 18th floor. This is the view from my suite, looking north from the MGM Grand. A blogging room with a view:

A look inside:

Peter O'Toole and Richard Burton out in the foyer, near the elevators:

And the view south from the elevator landing. Excalibur Hotel is kitty corner across the from the MGM. And that's Mandalay Bay at center and Tropicana at left:

Guests gather around the lion exhibit:

Now coming back around under the glass canopy, some close-ups of one of the lions:

The view from the skywalk over to Tropicana Hotel, here's New York New York. That replica Statue of Liberty recently made it onto a U.S. Postal Service stamp by mistake:

Looking from the Tropicana across to the MGM:

David Copperfield is a big draw for the hotel, although my wife is taking me and my oldest son to see KÀ| Cirque du Soleil, which is supposed to the most popular among the many Cirque du Soleil productions in Las Vegas.

I'll have more blogging either very late tonight or in the morning. I'm looking forward to meeting up with The Vegas Guy tomorrow as well.

In any case, I'll be back ...

Henry Farrell, Political Scientist at George Washington University, Calls (Vaguely) for Easter Egg Bombing of Charles Krauthammer

In a blog post at Crooked Timber (at Memeorandum), George Washington University Political Scientist Henry Farrell suggests that columnist Charles Krauthammer celebrate "Charles Krauthammer Day" with exploding Easter Eggs:

And so the year rolls around yet again to Krauthammer Day, the day on which we all celebrate Charles Krauthammer’s confident assertion eight years ago that:

Hans Blix had five months to find weapons. He found nothing. We’ve had five weeks. Come back to me in five months. If we haven’t found any, we will have a credibility problem.

Or nearly all of us celebrate it anyway. Charles Krauthammer himself seems to prefer to mark the occasion with an entirely unrelated Run, Paul Ryan Run! column ... It would be nice to see him (and others) mark the occasion more formally ...

The post continues, in deliberately vague fashion, and notice how Professor Farrell would like it that Charles Krauthammer and "others" be blown to bits in a "Krauthammer Day" celebration featuring Easter egg bombs, and even that might not in fact be "dangerous enough to really mark the occasion properly." A little screencap to remember this occasion.

Added: Linked at Instapundit, "THE “NEW CIVILITY” FACES another grim milestone." Also, Newsbusters links, "Liberal Suggests an 'Exploding Easter Egg Hunt' for Charles Krauthammer."

Inside Job: More Than Half of Democrats Believed George W. Bush Was Complicit in September 11 Attacks

It's the mother of all conspiracy theories. As Ben Smith reports, in 2006 a majority of Democrats believed President Bush had a hand in the September 11th attacks, "More than half of Democrats believed Bush knew" (via Memeorandum).

Pure evil. There's no other word for it.

But Democrats are evil, so no surprise there (or at least the Obama-Pelosi-Reid Democrats are evil, and their base, folks who are working their hardest to destroy America).

$5.00 a Gallon Gas Prices

Here's the photo from last night, after getting gas at the California-Nevada state line. That's a first for me: $5.00 a gallon fuel prices. So I can tell you, it's not the "prospect" of $5.00 gas prices the president will face. He should be facing them right now, freakin' presidential asshat.

At USA Today, "Obama: We will end 'manipulation' of gas prices" (via Memeorandum):

Faced with the prospect of $5-a-gallon gas this summer, President Obama said today his Justice Department is creating a team to "root out any cases of fraud or manipulation in the oil markets that might affect gas prices."

"That includes the role of traders and speculators," Obama said at a town hall-style meeting in Reno, Nev. "We are going to make sure that no one is taking advantage of American consumers for their own short-term gain."

"This gas issue is serious," Obama said, adding that the best solution is developing alternative energy sources.

Yeah, better hurry up with that. The White House itself is doing its best to deplete existing reserves. See Paul Bedard, "Earth Day Ends Obama's 53,300 Gallon Trip" (via Mememorandum and Doug Powers).

Earth Day Founder Murdered and Composted Helen 'Holly' Maddux

Because of all the tea party action last weekend, I missed the chance to cover CSU Fullerton's 7th Annual Social Justice Summit. The keynote speaker was Captain Paul Watson, who is extolled in a quote at the announcement as "the world's most aggressive, most determined, most active and most effective defender of wildlife." What's not indicated to students attending is that Captain Watson's also known as one of the world's most notorious eco-terrorists. See, "The Greens' Favorite Terrorist." It's an affront to decency and the public trust that a violent activist like this was given a platform at the state-sponsored university to spit hate and vitriol against the system with calls for anti-capitalist revolution.

But no one should be surprised. It's all part of the left's Big Lie of progressive goodness, compassion, and benevolence.

The truth is, people like this are murderers and tyrants.

Case in point today is the surprising story at MSNBC on Ira Einhorn, said to be a co-founder of Earth Day, which is today, and who also murdered his girlfriend and kept her remains in a box in his apartment for 18 months. Facing trial for murder, Einhorn jumped bail and fled to Europe. As MSNBC reports:

After 23 years, he was finally extradited to the United States from France and put on trial. Taking the stand in his own defense, Einhorn claimed that his ex-girlfriend had been killed by CIA agents who framed him for the crime because he knew too much about the agency's paranormal military research. He was convicted of murdering Maddux and is currently serving a life sentence.

Unsurprisingly, no one is writing about this currently at Memeorandum. Doesn't fit the narrrative.

Five Guys Takes On In-N-Out

LAT had a write-up a couple of weeks ago: "Will Five Guys Overtake In-N-Out?"

It's a great restaurant. A couple of weeks ago I ate at Five Guys with my wife and the boys. And yesterday on the way to Las Vegas we stopped in Corona, where a brand-new Five Guys just opened off the I-15:

The place was packed. You can help yourself to some peanuts (on the counter) while you're waiting:

I had the single-patty cheeseburger "all the way" (with everything), which includes lettuce, mushrooms, onions, pickles, and tomatoes.

The food's more like home-made compared to In-and-Out, and so far the quality has been excellent. The french-fries are cooked in peanut oil, which gives them a different look and flavor. I could eat Five Guys regularly. The only problem is the price. A small, single-patty cheeseburger, small fries and a coke runs almost $9.50. That's about $4 more than In-and-Out. Both are good, but the restaurants are pretty different actually. Five Guys has no drive-through service, which is a disadvantage IMHO. And while Five Guys is delicious, In-and-Out remains the industry standard for service, speed, and quality. And unlike Five Guys, In-and-Out doesn't come on like it's got a lot to prove (restaurant reviews aren't splattered across the walls at In-and-Out). The rivalry could become a Coke-Pepsi, Hertz-Avis kind of thing. And it all might boil down to location. And personal preference, too, which for a lot of people will mean affordability.

Check it out, by all means!

I'll have some blogging from Vegas later.

Bright Light City Gonna Set My Soul ... Gonna Set My Soul On Fire...

I'm on the way to Las Vegas.

I'll be blogging from the strip at the MGM Grand. Check back late tonight or in the morning for more of the great stuff!

Until then ...

Marxism in the Classroom

At Washington Times, "NYC school teacher: Here's how you promote socialism in the classroom":

I'll have more on this later. Progressive asshats keep claiming there are few (if any) "real" communists in America, but they're actually coming out of the woodworks like a mass infestation. Must be "imaginary" communists, messin' with my head. Freakin' cobags.

High Gas Prices

From Doug Powers, "Obama: Gas Prices are High Because Climate Change Deniers Refuse to Tackle Global Warming." And Aaron Worthing, "Obama Cries Crocodile Tears Over High Gas Prices."

And at Wall Street Journal, "Oil-Price Fraud Targeted in Crackdown," and CNN, "High gasoline prices prompt Justice Department to eye energy industry."

Advertisers Flee Wonkette

From Steve Ertelt, at Life News, "More Companies Pull Ads From Wonkette After Trig Palin Post" (via Weasel Zippers).

Check that post. That's a beefy list of companies. Ouch.

Progressives Never Miss an Oportunity to Let the Mask of Hatred Slip

You gotta love this, from Michael Walsh, "The Tolerant Left" (via Memeorandum).

Just go read it.

Sarah Palin on Sean Hannity's Show, April 19, 2011

I'm going to have to catch up with all the Trig Palin news a little later.

Meanwhile, check Linkmaster Smith at The Other McCain, "Once In A Lifetime."

And Sarah Palin seems positively vibrant of late, and she's already the most politically vibrant woman in America!

More later.

Obama's 4/20 Facebook Fat Ones

Last time he hosted something like this the stoners came out in full force, putting the pressure on for marijuana legalization.

And apparently attempts the block the Bogarts didn't work out so well: "Obama's Facebook Forum Fails to Silence Marijuana Legalization Advocates." Which is like, duh. The Obamunist scheduled the event on April 20th, the date coinciding with 420 Magazine, apparently the main online journal for the drug decriminalization crowd.

Man, the White House planning office sho' be gettin' jiggy wit' it!

RELATED: At King Shamus, "4/20, Stoners, Legalization."

And actually, WaPo wants to ignore the pot promotions, "At Facebook, Obama seeks friends for deficit plan."

IMAGE CREDIT: The People's Cube.

Added: At The Hill, "Obama gets warm reception from Facebook crowd" (via Memeorandum).

Stanley Ann Dunham's 'Naughty Mama' Pics Left Out of New York Times Report, 'Obama's Young Mother Abroad'

Here's this at the New York Times (via Memeorandum):

The president’s mother has served as any of a number of useful oversimplifications. In the capsule version of Obama’s life story, she is the white mother from Kansas coupled alliteratively to the black father from Kenya. She is corn-fed, white-bread, whatever Kenya is not. In “Dreams From My Father,” the memoir that helped power Obama’s political ascent, she is the shy, small-town girl who falls head over heels for the brilliant, charismatic African who steals the show. In the next chapter, she is the naïve idealist, the innocent abroad. In Obama’s presidential campaign, she was the struggling single mother, the food-stamp recipient, the victim of a health care system gone awry, pleading with her insurance company for cover­age as her life slipped away. And in the fevered imaginings of supermarket tabloids and the Internet, she is the atheist, the Marx­ist, the flower child, the mother who abandoned her son or duped the newspapers of Hawaii into printing a birth announcement for her Kenyan-born baby, on the off chance that he might want to be president someday.

Also, some perhaps not-so fevered Internet imaginings, at The Astute Bloggers, "Naughty Obama Mamma."

That said, Janny Scott wrote a commendable piece, drawn on her new book, A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama's Mother.

Combat Photographers Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros Killed by Mortar Strike in Libya

At LAT, "Libya blast kills photojournalists Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros."

Hetherington directed "Restrepo," which I saw and wrote about last year.

More at ABC News, " 'Restrepo' Partner: War Photographer Tim Hetherington Never Thought Himself Brave: Colleague Sebastian Junger on Friend and Veteran War Photographer Killed in Libya Attack."

Lady Gaga 'Judas' Video Controversy

From Kurt Schlichter, at Big Hollywood, "Lady Gaga, Fearless Artistic Visionary, Risks It All By Taking on Christians."

Image Credit: NME, "Lady Gaga to release 'Judas' video over Easter?"

Advertisers Ditch 'Wonkette' After Diabolical Attack on Trig Palin

You have to check Robert Curlin's Twitter page, which is lighting up with tweets and re-tweets about major advertisers pulling their ads from the despicable left-wing blog, Wonkette.

See Weazel Zippers, "Über-Classy: Liberal Website Relentlessly Mocks Palin’s Son With Downs Syndrome – Update: Papa Johns, Huggies Pull Their Ads From Wonkette…"

And NewsBusters, "Liberal Website Wonkette Disgracefully Attacks Trig Palin On His Third Birthday" (via Memeorandum).

And for the record: This is not an aberration. This is not an anomaly. Try denial as they might, progressives simply can't get around this, for this is what they do.

God help them.

ADDED: From Glenn Reynolds, "EVEN TODAY, AND EVEN FOR WONKETTE, THERE ARE LINES. Wonkette crossed one. Now people are boycotting advertisers."

Soak the High Achieving Students

From each according to ability, to each according to need:

And don't miss William at Pirate's Cove, who has video from the petition drive at UC Merced to redistribute grades. Not going over too well, (un)surprisingly: "Libs Love Redistributing Everything But What Is Their Own."

Ban the Burka?

Perhaps.

See Licia Corbella, at Calgary Herald, "More evidence why the West should ban the burka" (via Blazing Cat Fur):

"Women who do not wear head scarves are being threatened with violence and even death by Islamic extremists . . .," states opening sentence of an April 18 story in the Daily Mail in Britain.

Sadly, nothing unusual there, except that these threats are being made to non-Muslim women. Again, this is not unusual, since that happens throughout much of the Islamic world that imposes rules about dress on all women, regardless of their religion.

What makes the above news so disturbing is the women who are being threatened with violence and even death by Islamic extremists for not wearing a hijab (the Muslim head covering) and a veil (the niqab) are non-Muslim women living in . . . wait for it . . . Great Britain. Yes, you read that correctly. Non-Muslim women in a free and democratic country are being threatened with violence or death in a predominantly Muslim neighbourhood of London, no less.

But hey, no need to worry about creeping sharia in the West.

RTWT.

President Obama's Addiction to Lies

"We Lost By a Few Percentage Points in Texas?" Sorry, Mr. President, it was by about 10 percentage points, as WFAA-TV's Brad Watson pointed out on Monday, to the scorn of the Thugger-in-Chief.

And yesterday we heard about "Millionaires and Billionaires" (yet again) and "Collapsing Bridges."

Here's the video from Northern Virginia Community College, Annandale, Virginia:

The Wall Street Journal, in a Monday editorial, corrected the president on his "millionaires and billionaires" claim: "Obama targets the middle class while pretending to tax only the rich."

And lots of folks are picking up on the failed bridge dishonesty, including Ed Morrissey: "Video: Obama uses false bridge-collapse argument to argue for more taxes," and CBS News --- CBS News!! --- "Obama invokes bridge collapse in criticizing GOP budget plan."

Progressives lie.

Lying is the basic foundation of the progressive model for the socialist political economy. But it's not just top conservative blogs taking exception. The local Texas news channel grabbed some glory on Monday, but hey, even the folks are CBS News are getting tired of the deception.

More at The Blog Prof, "Video of Obama's Madness: Raising Taxes On Rich Will Encourage Them To Keep Their Businesses In America or Something." And Memeorandum.

Los Angeles Times Wins Pulitzer Prize for Public Service

No begrudging this.

The Los Angeles Times did good. When I first blogged on this last year I had a hunch the paper would get a Pulitzer, and sure enough, what d'ya know? A throwback to old-school journalism. Good to see we still have some reporters keeping alive a tradition of excellence in investigative reporting. See: "The L.A. Times' coverage of the Bell scandal, which led to multiple felony charges against city officials, wins the Pulitzer for public service. Images that document the lives of crime victims win for feature photography."

California Teachers Union Plans 'State of Emergency Week'

It's embarrassing, but this is my union.

I just got the word that a mass protest is planned next month at Pershing Square in Downtown Los Angeles on Friday the 13th, naturally. It's the culmination of the union's State of Emergency Week, May 9-13.

Allyshia Finley had a report earlier, at Wall Street Journal, "When Unions Get Desperate" (via The Last Refuge):

There haven't been any major earthquakes or wildfires in California recently, but teachers apparently think that the potential budget cuts to education merit a "State of Emergency Week."

The California Teachers Association, the state's largest teachers union, is planning a week of activities in May. The goal is to pressure Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown and the state legislature to raise taxes rather than cut education spending.

Earlier this week the union posted a 10-page list of potential activities on its website, CAstateofemergency.com. Ideas included stalking legislators for a day; boycotting corporations like Microsoft that advocate for education reform; attempting to close down major roads; dyeing their hair red; holding night-time vigils with coffins and black arm-bands; picketing companies; and withdrawing funds from banks that "are not paying their fair share of taxes." They also planned to work with Ben & Jerry's to create a "labor-union flavored ice cream."

Apparently, the union didn't realize that documents posted to the Internet are available for public consumption. Once the CTA heard that the list was bouncing around blogs, it was removed. Soon, a new three-page list appeared that omits many of their more ludicrous and heavy-handed ideas but still includes plans to use students as props. Instead of bullying and boycotting businesses, the union now intends to meet with local chambers of commerce and to "focus [their protests] on how much money has gone to bail out Wall Street and big corporations."

These people aren't too smart.

More at the link above.

God and History Will Judge

Via Theo Spark:

The Face of Progressivism

Yeah, you know, because radical progressives are just so much more intelligent than everyone else:

BONUS: Progressive anti-school choice thugs show their true colors in D.C., at Washington Times (via Memeorandum):

Sixteen Years After the Oklahoma City Bombing

From Garrett Graff, at Fox News, "How the Attacks Led to the FBI's Counterterrorism Focus":

Also, at Time, "Oklahoma City Remembers Terrorist Attack, 16 Years Later."

Jerry Brown's Sweetheart Deal For Corrections Union Members Could Lead to Massive Payouts, in $100s of Millions, When Prison Guards Retire

This is extraordinary.

No other interest group in California politics is getting this kind of deal. See LAT, "New contra for California prison guards lifts cap on saved vacation":

Deep in the 200-page contract that Gov. Jerry Brown recently approved for state prison guards is a provision that could generate a cash windfall to the officers when they retire.

The guards, who are among Brown's largest political benefactors, would be able to save an unlimited number of vacation days under their new deal. When they leave state service, those days could be exchanged for cash at their final pay rate, which would probably be higher than when they earned the time off.

The governor is extending this benefit only to members of the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn., a union that spent nearly $2 million to help him win election last year.

Removing the decades-old limit on accrued vacation — now 80 days for most state employees — would be a "huge liability" for taxpayers, said Nick Schroeder of the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office. Schroeder said he had not determined the cost of lifting the cap, but his analysis of the deal showed the average corrections union member has accumulated nearly 19 weeks of leave time to date. All of that time off has "a current cash value of over $600 million," he said.

The deal also would give the members 18 more days off over the life of the two-year contract, according to Schroeder, bringing the typical prison guard's time off to more than eight weeks in the first year.

Also in the proposed contract is a change in a provision that encouraged corrections officers to remain physically fit. In the past, they could get up to $130 extra each month if they met certain fitness standards. In the new contract, they would be eligible for the money if they simply go to the doctor for an annual physical, Schroeder said.

Hmm ...

No exercise recommendations. Prison guards as fat cats, literally.

More at the link.

California's going down, and I thought Schwarzenegger was bad. This is ridiculous. People in the private sector just don't get sweetheart deals like this. Brown campaigned on reform and reinventing government, but this might as well be news from today's Party Congress in Cuba. Propping up the old guard and delaying any meaningful Perestroika.

Trumka-Obama-Moonbeam Democrats.

Lord have mercy.

Fidel Castro Resigns as Head of Cuba's Communist Party

Actually, Los Angeles Times says he was removed as leader: "Fidel Castro officially removed as head of Cuban Communist Party." And noted there, Castro received a "sustained standing ovation" as he walked to the dais with the help of an aide. Also, at Wall Street Journal, "Cuba's New Guard Borrows From the Old Guard":

Cuba's ruling Communist Party named President Raúl Castro as its new leader and chose an aging former guerrilla as second-in-command Tuesday, dashing hopes the party might choose younger politicians to implement key reforms to the island's economy and introduce fresh ideas.

At the end of the first Communist Party assembly in 14 years, Mr. Castro, 79 years old, was ratified as first secretary, succeeding his brother Fidel, who last month said he had vacated the position. The party also tapped José Ramón Machado, 80, a hard-liner, as Mr. Castro's second-in-line.

While the choice of Mr. Castro was expected, the appointment of Mr. Machado, a vice president and former guerrilla fighter during the 1959 revolution, disappointed those who thought the party might introduce new faces to help manage major economic reforms that are planned.

The Cuban economy grew just 1.9% last year and the country's top leaders, including Fidel Castro, are old men. The party summit had been seen as a key chance for party leaders to manage change before it is thrust upon them by events, be it death or demands for change by the Cuban people.

"They're keeping to the hard-line, ideological old guard," said Uva de Aragón, associate director of the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University. "The problem is you can't have Stalin and Lenin trying to be Gorbachev at the same time."

Andrew Breitbart on Sean Hannity's Show, April 18, 2011

I watched this last night. Breitbart has come into his own. He timed his talk with Hannity very carefully, stressing the history of his personal life transformation. He notes at 6:00 minutes that "people come out of the woodworks and thank you for doing what is right." So true. But he continues --- and I love this --- with his discussion of folks from Hollywood wanting to come out of the ideological closet, including "punk rockers, people with mohawks" who are conservative.

A great interview. Buy the book here.

EXTRA: Folks will have noticed the Ann Coulter banners at the sidebar. She announced her forthcoming book last night during Hannity's broadcast: Demonic: How the Liberal Mob Is Endangering America. And right on cue, progressives have attacked her (as racist?) because --- get this --- the book's cover is black. Of course the slam's from Demon TBogg, so no doubt Coulter's hit the bullseye at the heart of progressive evil. Expect far more diabolical assualts and who knows what else from these genuinely demonic freaks. Coulter's got 'em down cold, and the book's not even out yet.

Thugger-in-Chief!

Oh boy, Obama Hussein was not cottoning to this interview, discussed by Doug Powers, "‘Let Me Finish My Answers’."

And at the end of the clip, Chief Thug indicates his displeasure, "Let me finish my answers the next time we do an interview, all right?"

Yeah, and don't forget the cannoli Mr. President:

And see WFAA-TV Dallas-Ft. Worth, "News 8 goes one-on-one with President Obama," (via Memeorandum).