White Horse
"Thou shalt have horses of the fairy breed,
Thou shalt have hounds that can outrun the wind;
A hundred chiefs shall follow thee in war,
A hundred maidens sing thee to thy sleep.
"Thou shalt have horses of the fairy breed,
Thou shalt have hounds that can outrun the wind;
A hundred chiefs shall follow thee in war,
A hundred maidens sing thee to thy sleep.
French tourists are the worst in the world, coming across as bad at foreign languages, tight-fisted and arrogant, according to a survey of 4,500 hotel owners across the world. [snip]Of course it's the Brits reporting here, but somehow this is not a surprise. Perhaps they should strive to be a bit more multicultural in their outlook."It's mainly the fact that they speak little or no English when they're abroad, and they don't speak much of the local language," Expedia Marketing Director Timothee de Roux told radio station France Info.
"The French don't go abroad very much. We're lucky enough to have a country which is magnificent in terms of its landscape and culture," he said, adding that 90 per cent of French people did their traveling at home.
Think of an American visiting France who believes that if he just speaks louder, he will be speaking French.Think of the liberal MSM as a French tourist in America.
The word "populist" could mean many things, both good and bad. To my mind, Palin currently has both good and bad populist qualities. But these include the very best quality: a real, visceral identification, amounting to love, for the people who actually do America's work, take America's risks, raise America's children, and believe in God. These people are held in contempt by the progressive elites -- they are tax fodder -- just as Palin is held in contempt, as "Caribou Barbie."Um, and our President Barack Obama is trying to reach out to non-urban America. Perhaps a dim light dawns.

Iranian police fired tear-gas and shots into the air today to disperse thousands of demonstrators who had defied official warnings and staged a march to mark the 10th anniversary of a bloody student uprising.
Protesters chanted “Death to the dictator” as they gathered in the streets around Tehran University, the epicentre of the 1999 protests, which were crushed by police and Basiji vigilantes.
Today, police deployed reinforcements after a first volley of tear-gas failed to disperse the demonstrators, who continued to grow in number, according to eyewitnesses. Police then fired a second volley of the gas.
Our President Barack Obama? And what about those nukes?But the effort to halt the protest quickly turned violent. A middle-age woman ran through the crowd, her coat covered with blood stains. Trash fires burned, cloaking the streets in black smoke, as protesters lobbed rocks at security forces. Two men held a huge floral arrangement of yellow and purple flowers on green leaves aloft through the smoke in commemoration of those killed in the last month and 1999, a witness said.
“Tell the world what is happening here,” one 26-year old engineering student demonstrator said. “This is our revolution. We will not give up.”
Asked what he wanted, he said: “We want democracy.”
A 55-year-old woman on the streets in support the marchers said: “This is Iran. We are all together.”
When the economic costs of Waxman-Markey are included, the harm to American families skyrockets. According to Heritage’s Center for Data Analysis Waxman-Markey will decrease GDP in 2020 by $161 billion (2009 dollars). For a family of four, that is $1,870 that the CBO simply ignores.For a while his popularity was unaffected by the profligate spending (for no jobs) and radical liberal agenda he shares with the Dem-run Congress, but that's changing, as we've seen in recent polling. Obama's job approval is slipping, (no wonder) among a key group. Politico:
But a source of the shift appears to be independent voters, who seem to be responding to Republican complaints of excessive spending and government control.The Tea Party movement and many in the GOP are running against the power of the center--Obama and his Chicago Way Crony [Illinois still managed to screw it up] Big Government. As President Obama once at least paid lip service to, Americans want a government that works. And Americans want a country that prospers--a government that's part of the problem needs to get out of the way, or we'll throw them out of office. Roll back the planned big government spending, cut debt, cut taxes to put money back in people's pockets and get America moving again.
“This is a huge sea change that is playing itself out in American politics,” said Democratic pollster Doug Schoen. “Independents who had become effectively operational Democrats in 2006 and 2008 are now up for grabs and are trending Republican.
“They’re saying, ‘Costing too much, no results, see the downside, not sure of the upside,’” he said.
Those purported healthcare savings the Obama administration is hyping are elusive to non-existent. In fact, the reverse is true--especially with an aging population.Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) – an orthopedic trauma surgeon and former President of the Wyoming Medical Society – and Senator Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) – a family practice physician specializing in obstetrics – will be regular hosts, with guests making appearances. The show will focus on policy discussions, with constituents sharing their questions, stories, concerns, and comments about health care proposals being debated in Congress.I know it sounds like a soap opera. Better it's not your own personal soap opera if Big Brother ObamaCare passes.
The world as style. The purple shall govern. First Lady O as history: “Why are people so interested in what I wear?” Jackie Kennedy once asked a friend. That naïveté could be forgiven, considered charming even, of a fledgling First Lady in 1961. But almost half a century later, we were craving a First Lady who was culturally astute and media-smart. One who understood full well the power of clothes and the profound influence of image. And on this historic night in 2008, with her symbolically rich purple sheath punctuated with carefully edited accessories, Michelle Obama looked like she might be the one to deliver the goods."Women-who-rule pearls"? Should Barack step aside now?
This was, indeed, a defining political and fashion moment.
However, the White House, which had Mrs. Obama actively announce millions in economic stimulus spending last week, might want to be careful mixing her up with policy initiatives a la Hillary Clinton. Very few (9%) think the unelected first lady should have a lot of influence over government policy (14% of Democrats, 8% of independents and 5% of Republicans). Back in 2006, 13% thought that was a good idea.Oh, and Michelle Obama Wears a Green Flower Pin to Italy! Michelle Obama Look Book. The Cut. Illuminating comments.
A former top aide to ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich has pleaded guilty to taking part in a plan to sell or trade President Barack Obama's former Senate seat in exchange for financial benefits for the governor or his wife.Charged with one count of wire fraud, reportedly Harris is cooperating with the Feds:
"I have never met a person who is going to be a better witness than John Harris is going to be," Ekl told reporters after his client pleaded guilty.There are lots more shoes to drop. Blago's earlier chief of staff, Lon Monk, is also expected to plead guilty later this month. Harris also served as Mayor Daley's chief of staff.
However, the uncertainty created by a centrally planned recovery jeopardizes America’s long-term economic health. The stated purpose of Obama’s stimulus is to create jobs via government largesse. Permitting people the liberty to make their own investment decisions by easing their tax burden would have been far better.And--it's called incentives!
Holman Jenkins, WSJ: These incentives would very likely prevail in the highly flexible airline alliances. Such alliances are no miracle cure for what ails the domestic carriers, but they would open a window to let us see beyond antitrust's indiscriminate prejudice against cooperative acts by competitors.Where does this end? Government Air, Aeroflop? Too big to crash? God help us, Obama probably does want to take them over. Then he can paint his logo on the tail.
Of course, this would fly in the face of Ms. Varney's agenda, which is to expand the bailiwick of the Washington antitrust bar. Even now, she has turned her attention from airlines to the mobile-phone business on the theory that any industry that hasn't collapsed into government receivership must be doing something wrong.
Rasmussen records a -5%. And the generic Congressional ballot gives the GOP a slight edge, the second week running. This follows his 13 point slip in a poll in swing state Ohio, released yesterday. For some comic relief, food fight in California budget battle. The president is out of the country. How will he fare when he comes back? He's apparently sending the hapless Joe Biden to Ohio. From slip to slide.What's odd is that when the stimulus bill was under consideration, the President said there was no time for a real debate. Why the need for speed if the bill wouldn't begin to take effect for months? This seemed like a rhetorical trick designed to deflect criticism from what was a questionable bill.No kidding. The other foot on the throat of the American people is the enormous tax and debt burden this Democrat administration and Congress has run up in just a few months-- and they continue to spend like there's no tomorrow. At this rate there won't be--our kids and grandkids will be wage slaves their entire lives. The cap and tax bill--the largest tax increase in American history--was rushed through the same way. At least the Senate has yet to vote on it, hopefully it will die there.
Without their lower administrative cost talking point, the left knows their justification for government run health care in a time of dangerously high deficits evaporates.Dangerously high deficits they created. Man does not live by bread alone, but earning and eating our daily bread is pretty damn important. We can't afford to go into huge debt without dealing with what's already on our plate. It's the economy, stupid.
If health care were expensive because much of it is provided by for-profit entities, then why haven't not-for-profit entities already solved the problem? "Non-profit organizations could go in and undercut the people who are making these supposedly unwarranted profits, lowering the cost of health care for all of us," Sowell said. "Why don't they do it?" Because, of course, they cannot.Most people know this, it's common sense. But it's in short supply in Washington. And this on the Obameconomy, from Politico:
"All the examples I have been able to find," Sowell continued, "show that profit-making organizations operate so efficiently that they are encroaching on the non-profits." Consider, to name just one instance, colleges and universities. One institution of higher learning after another has hired private, for-profit enterprises to run its student bookstores. Has any college or university ever asked the government to do so? Sowell thought not.
"Right now, every headline across the board is the stimulus isn’t enough, states are in bankruptcy, states aren’t paying their bills,” says Wendy Schiller, a Brown University political scientist. “This is really deadly for the Democratic Party, because what it suggests is the Democratic Party cannot run the country.”
Michelle requires twenty ladies in waiting, uh attendants. Some commentary:“In my own life, in my own small way, I have tried to give back to this country that has given me so much,” she said. “See, that’s why I left a job at a big law firm for a career in public service, “ Michelle Obama
No, Michele Obama does not get paid to serve as the First Lady and she doesn’t perform any official duties. But this hasn’t deterred her from hiring an unprecedented number of staffers to cater to her every whim and to satisfy her every request in the midst of the Great Recession. Just think Mary Lincoln was taken to task for purchasing china for the White House during the Civil War. And Mamie Eisenhower had to shell out the salary for her personal secretary.
NPR worries, "Is the White House changing Michelle Obama?" Actually, I think she's blossoming. Full-blown.
Wanna get away from MJ? Well, this certainly never occurred to me. How to choose a surfboard for your dog.
Give 'em hell, Sarah!Today, it is hard to see who the next guy in line is, but the party mandarins, the pooh-bahs, are agreed on one thing: Sarah Palin ain’t it.
She is a dumb hick, a nobody from nowhere. She hunts moose with a chainsaw from the back of a snowmobile or something. Just listen to her resignation speech. It was not slick or polished or written by somebody else. She appeared to deliver it off the top of her head as if she were a real person. What a doofus!
Doesn’t she know that the highest form of political communication today is to exactly regurgitate a speech written for you by a speechwriter who has crafted, vetted and polled every phrase, line and word?But listen to Palin. Listen to how “rambling” and “disjointed” she is. Once upon a time in American politics, this was known as being “plain-spoken,” but that time has gone. An entire industry of political consultants has grown up to make sure politicians are never plain-spoken.
What do you think is particularly wrong with what Obama is doing now?Another view, from Purdum's colleague at VF, Michael Wolff--Palin as a long distance runner, not a train wreck. Fox interview.
President Obama is growing government outrageously, and it's immoral and it's uneconomic, his plan that he tries to sell America. His plan to "put America on the right track" economically, incurring the debt that our nation is incurring, trillions of dollars that we're passing on to our kids, expecting them to pay off for us, is immoral and doesn't even make economic sense. So his growth of government agenda needs to be ratcheted back, and it's going to take good people who have the guts to stand up to him, stand up to him and debate policy, not personalities, not partisan politics, but policy to effect the change that we need there. And allow free enterprise and the industrious Americans who run our small businesses and want to raise a family, allowing our families to grow and prosper and thrive, Americans who still believe in those ideals to get in there and effect change. I want to work for people who believe in that.
The U.K. has recently been absorbed by the cases of several young women who developed cervical cancer after being denied pap smears by a related health authority, the Cervical Screening Programme, which in order to reduce government health-care spending has refused the screens to women under age 25.This is our future...or should we say no future, unless we push back against a government healthcare monopoly. No government "option"--that's a myth. It'll kill our choices.
$1 million to study the health benefits of living in "green" public housing. The study will look at 300 people living in the City of Chicago to determine whether living in ‘green’ public housing will lead to lower healthcare costs.No mention of what the green public housing will cost us. More unaffordable affordable housing. (Then there's the collateral damage to us--chumps for the pols lining their pockets.) And what about the environment surrounding the housing? How healthy will that be. (Is this a plan to bring back Cabrini-Green?)
Ana F. wrote:The State of Illinois must bring expenses in line with existing revenue immediately, period! Let the programs find other sources of donation and/or adjust accordingly. Do not add to the existing debt. Then, twelve months from now, we can discuss a tax increase to pay the existing debt. That is what I had to do in my small business and home.
One more time--the Illinois Policy Institute's blueprint for streamlining Illinois without raising taxes.J J. wrote:@Vincent B.
I'm not advocating cutting services to the most needy. BUT I am also not falling for the politicians scare tactics. There are lots of other places to cut the budget. Although this isn't very scientific, take a look at an LA Times "state budget balancer" program, that shows where cuts can be made to balance their $26 billion dollar deficit: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-statebudget-fl,0,95571.htmlstory
As you can see there are many places where the budget can be cut to make up the gap, not just cutting from cutting services for the most needy. Of course Illinois is run by powerful unions who will make sure that those vital services are cut before their benefits are.
What is the world coming to? Looks kind of like Jasmine, Aladdin. Truth, justice and the Islamic way, American style?They are superheroes battling injustice and fighting evil the Islamic way, and they are teaming up with some of the west's biggest comic book icons. Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are among those joining forces with The 99, who personify the 99 attributes of Allah, according to Islamic tradition.What will unfold on the pages of the collaboration between DC Comics in the US and Teshkeel Comics in Kuwait is yet to be seen, but the appearance of The 99 – who already appear in comics in the Muslim world – alongside archetypal American heroes would have been unlikely during the Bush years. DC Comics' president and publisher, Paul Levitz, believes the cross-cultural project is unprecedented.
Could be just the thing in Iran. No more death to America. And you can see the women's faces, though there is a "burka-wearing Bettina the Hidden". But what to do about Wonder Woman?
And magic isn't allowed? Sorry Harry Potter.
But an improvement over the Hamas children's programs.
The Tribune likens it to a hurricane. Now the (stimulus, spend and spend but no jobs) disaster that is our economy is Obama's. James Pinkerton:Roll back the wasteful spending and the repressive regulations. NOW. Give us some air to breathe and Americans will recover on their own.The problem the Democrats have--and come to think of it, the country has it, too--is that even if you want to build something, you can't do it. That is, you can't do it without plowing through years' worth of lawyers and environmental-impact-statement-writers, nor without enduring endless hearings and lawsuits where every last NIMBY gets a whack at the project. And so even before this terrible recession, America's capacity actually to build anything--build a highway, build a bullet train, build a power plant -- had been crippled.
So piling on new money does no good, because the old money hasn't been getting spent. Getting spent, that is, on bricks and mortar and technology, as opposed to lawyers and consultants. In the past, "stimulus" was a way to put blue collars and hardhats back to work. Yet now, the only people being stimulated are white-collar lobbyists and litigators.
Maureen Dowd writing about narcissistic personalities in positions of power. Now that's rich.It seems that some blamers know that the bullshit published about Palin (and unfortunately repeated here) was just that — bullshit. Palin considers herself a feminist, and except for the abortion thing, she’s more explicitly feminist than the average American. When a regular Jane with that kind of background proclaims her feminist sympathies, it doesn’t seem terribly productive to ridicule her or indulge in the misogynist slander put out by the political hacks running against her. I mean, sure, by the standards of pure feminism, she’s an enabling godbag. But so are most American women."Like the NAACP sponsoring a lynching". Politics always trumps principle among leftist feminist "leaders". Always. The lie is king. The lie for The One this time. Angry haters. More:
Her speech also delivered some welcome punctures to the national gasbag known as Obama. And that’s another thing: it has not escaped my attention that many of the things Palin is accused of, falsely, are actually true of Obama. This is a guy who, as a U.S. senator from Illinois, didn’t even know which Senate committees he was on or which states bordered his own. (And don’t even get me started on Joe “The Talking Donkey” Biden, who thinks FDR was president during the stock market crash and that people watched TV in those days.) I’m not saying Obama’s a moron, but he’s sure as hell no genius. People say Sarah Palin rambles; excuse me, but have you actually heard Obama speak extemporaneously? As for being a diva, surely we all remember the Possomus sign and the special embroidered pillow on the Obama campaign plane. The fact is, Obama is an intellectually mediocre narcissist with a thin resume who’s lost without a teleprompter and whose entire campaign had all the substance and gravity of a Pepsi commercial. Yet people say Sarah Palin is a fluffy bunny diva.I saw Palin's speech at the convention, she successfully mocked Obama's mystique. This woman is going to be pilloried by the left herself. Welcome to the rest of America.
Related posts: Happy Fourth!, Palin, Angelina Jolie of Politics, Snark City, No Surprise, AOL Playboy Cover-up, Classy Post Christie, Personal Attack After Attack, Miss FIRE, Why do they hate her?, Liberal Chauvinist Pigs.The punditocracy can't predict Palin because she shares neither their perspective nor their assumptions. Her ascent to political stardom has been treated as a fluke by most of the GOP establishment for the simple reason that she doesn't slavishly follow the standard script of Republican politicians.
Of course, in recent years this script usually has ended with "…and then the Democrats won," suggesting the need for a re-write.
Ramirez. Among the wonders of Waxman-Markey: 21. The bill regulates every light fixture under the sun. Actually, the sun might be the only light source that isn’t regulated specifically in this legislation. There are rules governing fluorescent lamps, incandescent lamps, intermediate base lamps, candelabra base lamps, outdoor luminaires, portable light fixtures — you get the idea. The government actually started down this road by regulating light bulbs in the 2005 energy bill. This bill merely tightens the regulations, which means the unintended consequences produced by the 2005 bill — more expensive light bulbs that burn out quicker — will probably get worse.Then there are all the appliances that come under the EPA's harsh eye--and your home. Will your leaded-glass windows cost you an arm and a leg? Will your old house become an eyesore to the eco-police? Will you go broke being forced to green-up your home? There goes more of your shrinking retirement nest egg. All in thrall to an iffy possibility of a slight shift in climate in a hundred years--from people who can barely predict tomorrow's weather. Dump this dim bulb of a bill that will ruin us.
Good morning! Some good news with that morning brew--it may reverse Alzheimers...at least for mice.
The Obama administration is getting into the global-warming beads and kaftan just as everyone else is beginning to toss 'em into the recycling bin. Same with government automobiles: Been there, drove that – from Eastern Europe to Northern Ireland.Yeah, he's like a prissy old hippie lady.
There's something weirdly parochial about Obama, the supposed "citizen of the world."
The scheme will cause gas and electricity prices to skyrocket - to the immediate benefit of the big private energy conglomerates (thus setting them up for further demonization, and the next round of nationalization). By triggering a massive inflation of energy prices, it will do most harm to those on fixed incomes - to the poor and the elderly most of all. Like all such gargantuan schemes, it will create a circus of fraud and corruption. And yet, at the end of the day, it will have no significant impact on the environment.P.S. Crain's: Local winners and losers. Carbon trading is sure to be a scam. Stop this bill in the Senate. 50 ways to ditch this loser.