Quick Takes, March 31, 2011

ITEM: In Maine, a major international crisis is brewing. From Hot Air (here) we discover that Governor Paul LePage has ordered that the state’s Department of Labor building be redecorated after receiving” feedback” that that building isn’t 
“perceived as equally receptive to both businesses and workers.” The remodeling, has been removing a 36-foot mural of the state’s labor history and renaming conference rooms which have to date been named for Cesar Chavez (picking fruit in Maine?) and other big labor icons. As one might expect, the usual suspects have proclaimed this provocative, immoral brutality by governor LePage to be, well, provocative and immoral. Even Robert Reich, Clinton Labor Secretary weighed in on the Christian Science Monitor site (here), asking “Are we still in America?” Hmm. So let me see if I have this straight: Anything relating to labor must not only be laudatory toward unions, must not only be displayed and celebrated, but it must remain in place forever, even if potential changes will be essentially neutral. Seems reasonable. But as for Mr. Reich: “The Horror; the horror!” (Repeat in Elmer Fudd voice until everyone in sight is laughing themselves silly)

ITEM: In the SIGNS OF THE APOCALYPSE? Department comes news from the Telegraph of London (here and here) that in an ABC News and People Magazine poll, Forrest Gump was rated the greatest film character of all time. James Bond came in second, followed by Scarlett O’Hara, Hannibal Lecter (?!) and Indiana Jones. The comedy was “Airplane!, followed by “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.”
Check the links for additional categories. “Airplane!” and “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” but of course, but Forrest Gump?

ITEM: What do you do with a person who was a key advisor to AG Janet Reno during the Branch Davidian disaster in Waco, TX, who was singlehandedly responsible for keeping our intelligence agencies and law enforcement agencies from communicating, directly leading to 9-11, who served on the 9-11 commission investigating herself, who also worked at Fannie Mae, making 26 million in just seven years, also earning a $800,000+ bonus based on falsified data from its management in 1998, who also received preferred a rate loan from the discredited Countrywide Mortgage? If you’re the Obama administration, you put her--Jamie Gorelick--on the short list for FBI director! Oh, by the way, she has no actual law enforcement experience whatever--unless you count helping to immolate innocent men, women and children--obviously making her the perfect candidate for the Obamites. More here.

ITEM: In the Flying The Sleepy Skies Department, we learn (here) that Reagan National Airport’s control tower went off the air early March 23rd when the sole Air Traffic Controller on duty went to sleep. Despite repeated radio, phone and alarm calls, the ATC remained in sleepy land and two passenger jets had to land without any direction or clearance. FAA officials had no idea that the tower was apparently regularly manned with only a single controller. Of course, it’s all the fault of George W. Bush (here), who when last I checked has not been president for more than two years. Reliable sources indicate that it is unlikely that he will be president again at anytime in the near future. But that’s OK, because the nation is in the very best of hands.

ITEM: In the “You’re Kidding, Right? Nobody’s That Politically Correct! Department, we travel (here) to Pottawattamie County and Treynor High School where a terrorism scenario drill will take place. The scenario? Two teenage white supremacist/ “firearms enthusiasts” shoot up the school because they’re upset about illegal immigration, of course! Those Californians! What would you expect from such...what’s that? It’s not in California? It’s where?! IOWA?! Iowa. According to the DesMoines Register, Doug Reed, “lead exercise planner” for the County emergency management agency said “the exercise is not intended to be political and shouldn’t be interpreted as criticizing gun owners or opponents of illegal immigration.” Reed, whose obfuscatory rhetorical skills obviously belong in the White House, also noted “This is purely the backdrop and the setup, if you will, to help create a perception of reality for the responders.”

Ah yes, a perception of reality! So let’s see, how many school shootings have been perpetrated by anti-immigrant firearms enthusiasts? None, so obviously this scenario represents the most currently realistic threat of attack on a school in a town with a population of 919 people. Here’s my scenario: An attack by federal bureaucrats who sue the school for violations of the ADA, the Clean Air Act and an obscure treaty protecting a rare ant. That’s arguably more realistic. Discuss.

ITEM: And This Week’s Louis Renault Award goes to: Anyone who ever thought a progressive’s brain could contain a rational, economic thought. I’m shocked, shocked! As I’m sure the ridiculously smart and lovely Michelle Malkin (here) is, and from whom comes news of Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich on Chris Matthews--our national leg tingler’s--Hardball show presenting his solution to the nation’s economic woes. To wit: “You don’t want government to hold back, you want government right now, yes, the deficit’s a long-term problem, but right not you don’t want to cut government spending, yet Eric Cantor and the Republicans are indulging, you hear it over and over.” You just can’t make this stuff up, folks.

ITEM: Regular readers know that I’ve been following the dubious fortunes of the Government Motors Chevy Volt. Now, from autobloggreen (here) comes news that Washington, Texas and Oregon are considering levying a special tax on electric vehicles! Why? They don’t generate gasoline taxes yet use the same roads as those who do. There is justice in the world after all. And irony, loads and loads of irony. This is just electric (ar, ar) with irony!

ITEM: I think the headline of this article says all you need to know about Joe Biden and the Democrats: “Biden Aide Apologizes After Reporter Kept In Storage Closet During Fundraiser.” According to Biden spokeswoman Elizabeth Alexander, the closet wasn’t really a closet, it was a “hold room.” Yeah. Sure. Hope. Change. Transparency. Tell me again why reporters have to wear drool buckets whenever they’re around Obama or his lackeys? Imagine the media outrage if this had been done by a Republican? And no, I’m not making this one up, honest.

ITEM: You Just Can’t Make This Stuff Up: In a Media Myth Alert (here) we find this actual correction from the paper of record, the New York Times:

“An article in The Times Magazine last Sunday about Ivana Trump and her spending habits misstated the number of bras she buys. It is two dozen black, two dozen white, not two thousand of each.” Uh, don’t they actually employ any editors at that paper? To normal folks with a normal number of breasts, 2000 is just a bit larger than 24, and a bit more obvious.

ITEM: This headline says it all too: “US: most energy resources in the world and most incoherent energy policy.” Well yeah...read the whole thing from Hot Air (here). Oh well. At least we’re helping Brazil with their oil industry...hey!

ITEM: I know you’ve asked yourself this question: Why are Russians so unsmiling? Find the answer at Pravda, (here). Well, if you’d lived under Communism for a century--just a guess, mind you...

ITEM: Mr. Obama failed to get a poll bounce after his Libya attack that wasn’t an attack with clear goals that weren’t and with a victory plan that wasn’t clearly led by America but not really led by anyone... From the New Republic, via The Daily Caller (here), we discover that the reason for this lack of bounce is (drum roll please, Maestro!) John Boehner didn’t praise it! That’s right, the Republican Speaker of the House’s praise is apparently responsible for the popularity of Democrat presidents. And I thought it was just because Mr. Obama was late and incoherent, but what do I know?

ITEM: Something To Think About Department: What happens to American unity when enough major companies and businesses move to states that actually recognize that businesses and productive citizens are preferable to boarded up storefronts and non-productive entitlement takers? Explore one of the indicators of this potential future divide in a post by Doug Powers at Michelle Malkin’s blog (here). Caterpillar is currently telling the government of the Democrat People’s Republic of Illinois that if they don’t get business friendly in a hurry, Caterpillar is going to move elsewhere. Will the Dem. machine pols that run Illinois listen? Will they listen in other Dem-controlled states? What happens to a state when everyone is taking and there is no one left around to produce?

ITEM: Doesn’t Work and Play Well with Others! Department: At Michelle Malkin (the blog, not the charming Michelle), Doug Powers (here) notes a dust up between Secretary of Defense Gates and Secretary of State Clinton. More evidence of the utter incoherence and disarray of Obama foreign policy, as if you needed any more. Interesting and telling nonetheless.

ITEM: Sharia Goes To School! At National Review Online (here), the highly competent Mona Charen has a nice article about a Muslim teacher who demanded three weeks off in the middle of a school year to perform the Hajj, which is a pilgrimage to Mecca all observant Muslims are expected to make--if possible--once in a lifetime. Why is this noteworthy? Because the school reasonably refused, the teacher resigned and did it anyway, but she also contacted the Justice Department, and guess what, Holder’s boys and girls are suing the school district! By the way, I covered this issue for Pajamas Media back in December. Go here for that article.

ITEM: When someone gets shot by a shotgun in the movies, they fly backwards 20 feet. That’s the way it really is, right? To find out about some great movie/gun myths, go here. And no, getting shot by a shotgun doesn’t fling people any distance. Basic physics: Any firearm that could, from the energy delivered by its projectile, fling someone 20 feet would have the same reaction on the shooter. People fall down and/or backwards when shot out of surprise, shock, and the “Oh s**t! I’ve been shot!” reaction.

ITEM: LOUIS RENAULT AWARD OF THE MONTH! We are shocked, shocked! to learn (here and here) that in a letter to Congress delivered on March 19, Eric Holder’s Department of Justice noted that it had diligently investigated Eric Holder’s DOJ and concluded that Eric Holder’s DOJ is absolutely blameless, blameless! in dismissing the infamous voter-intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party, one of the leaders of which has been immortalized on video exhorting fellow blacks to kill white babies. C’mon, what’d you expect? Eric Holder knows were all cowards because we don’t obsess sufficiently about race, so his DOJ and he are filling the race gap all by themselves. Hope. Change. Race-baiting.

ITEM: President Obama has spent substantial time bragging about his “coalition” of which we’re not really a leader, no, that NATO, sort of, maybe is the leader, and how we’re protecting Libyan lives, except maybe they could be virulent terrorists, and it’s the right thing to do and all, and Qaddafi has to go, except we’re not going to do anything to make that happen, except he knows he has to go, and he didn’t talk to Congress, but if they, you now, want to talk about this, that’s OK with him, and Hillary Clinton is talking to just bunches of people, you know, just bunches. Hmm. Let’s see if I have this straight: Both Bushes had much, much bigger coalitions for their wars--which they actually called wars--and both got Congressional resolutions for their wars. If it’s so morally right, why do we need a coalition to act in the first place? Aren’t we the good guys anymore? And what the hell is Mr. Obama talking about anyway? And don’t get me started on Hillary Clinton. Discuss.

ITEM: Black Flight! No, I’m not talking about levitating black people, but about blacks moving, in record numbers, out of the blue states where decades of social experimentation have devastated the black family. Read this article by Walter Russell Mead. A significant shift in political reality may well be underway. Guess where most are moving? The South. Hope. Change. Cosmic irony.

ITEM: GREAT MOMENTS IN SMART DIPLOMACY! Department. Visit NewsBusters (here) to see the post-Obama Libya speech reaction by Libyans as reported by NBC. In a nutshell: They’re enormously relieved and emboldened. But wait a minute, shouldn’t a speech by the POTUS in wartime make our enemies quake with trepidation and fear instead of making them want to party? I’m sure, being one of those cloddish God and gun clingers, that I’m just too dense to appreciate the nuance inherent in Mr. Obama’s foreign policy. No doubt Sen. John Kerry (D, John Kerry) could explain it in an appropriately nuanced fashion.

ITEM: We’re All Disabled Now! From Fox News (here) comes the news that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, following the Obama Administration’s practice of getting through regulation what it can’t through legitimate means, has redefined “disability” under the Americans With Disability Act. If Congress doesn’t act, the new regulations, which could actually result in most Americans being able to claim disabled status, will take effect in May. More disabled Americans equals more demands on business, equals less profit, equals fewer jobs, equals less business, equals higher unemployment, equals less tax revenue, equals greater reliance on the all-powerful government, equals our continuing descent into third world status. Hope. Change. Obama domestic policy.

ITEM: Just A Thought: Pundit after pundit is writing that Mr. Obama’s Libya speech was “eloquent,” but contradictory, confusing, and/or made little or no sense. Hmm. If a speech is contradictory, confusing and made little or no sense, is it really eloquent, or was it, at best, a reasonably competent teleprompter reading? Can saying essentially “blah, blah, blah, and more blah” be eloquent?

ITEM: Cash For Clunkers II: This Time It’s Personal! Yes, gentle readers, Cash For Clunkers was so successful the first time around, it wasted $3 billion dollars, depressed the numbers of vehicles available on the used car market and increased the cost of those remaining so much that it only makes sense the Obamites would try it again--sort of. And as you suspected, it’s tied into the ridiculously unpopular Chevy Volt. According to The Blaze (here) the Obamites are planning to change the current $7500 tax credit for green cars--the only two currently available are the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf--to a rebate immediately available at the point of sale. Who is excited about this--apart from the Obama Administration? General Motors, another subsidiary of the Democrat party. So let’s see, Volts are currently selling for as much as $65,000, so with the rebate, that’s only $57,500! Buy one for each day of the week! Meanwhile, Nissan’s Leaf sales are, to put it mildly, uninspiring, perhaps even more uninspiring than Volt sales.

ITEM: Here’s a delightful bit of history about the Slinky! Yes, as you always suspected, it was originally intended to be a tension spring in the engine horsepower meters of battleships! Go here.

ITEM: Yes, Once Again, I’ve Read Your Minds! I Know Exactly What You Want to See! Go here for a video on a slingshot/crossbow hybrid that shoots--wait for it--machetes! The video reveals that no piece of cardboard within two feet is safe. Nor is the maker’s arm.

And with that bit of whimsy, I’ll bid you adieu for this week. Thanks for stopping by, and I’ll see you again next Thursday!.