Beheaded on the Streets of London

Civilization versus...well, the opposite...

I dunno, seems like civilization is losing.

Racism In America

As we are constantly reminded by our betters in the elite media and the halls of academia, an enduring and pernicious racism continues to plague America (yes, the America that elected and re-elected a mixed-race, foreign-raised black dude).

Behold the enduring pernicious racism that infects America.

"The Grave and Mortal Danger of Olive Oil in Dipping Bowls Has Been Removed"

While Europe's fiscal meltdown continues along, the world can rest assured that the massive problem of olive oil of unknown provenance on your dining table has been solved by the geniuses at the EU.

Olive oil jugs and dipping bowls will be banned from restaurant tables from next year following a controversial ruling by the European Commission.

From January 1, restaurants will only be able to serve olive oil in pre-packaged, tamper-proof, factory bottles which adhere to EU labelling standards.

The decision has unsurprisingly not gone down well with restaurant-goers and chefs alike.
European Commission spokesman Oliver Bailly tried to alleviate some of the criticism by claiming the new regulation would actually benefit consumers.

He told a news briefing in Brussels: ‘We are just making clear that when you want to have olive oil of a certain quality in a restaurant, you get exactly the one you are paying for.’

Europeans should feel better already.  Courtesy of Nigel Farage's latest beauteous rant.

Cheers to Energy States Hitting the Singles and Doubles

Readers of this blog and Mark Perry's blog know that Texas and North Dakota are America's great energy success stories of recent years, rare bright spots in Obama's centrally planned anemic economy.  They are the home run hitters.  But let's not forget the littler guys doing yeoman work to bring vitality and jobs to their economies and the wondrous blessing of cheap hydrocarbon energy to our country - the states that hit the singles and doubles of our energy game.

Take a bow Oklahoma, New Mexico, Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah.

While Texas and North Dakota's boom in oil production have been well-publicized, five other western U.S. states made a notable contribution to the growth in U.S. oil production since 2010, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported Tuesday.

Production in the Williston Basin in North Dakota and Texas' Eagle Ford play and Permian Basin outpaced other regions. However, gains in other Lower 48 states added up to approximately 320,000 bopd of production from February 2010 to February 2013, including the 290,000 bopd in Oklahoma, New Mexico, Wyoming, Colorado and Utah.

And there is this little tidbit.

Oklahoma and New Mexico production averaged over 530,000 bopd in February 2013, roughly the same as California's oil production in February.

All part of the "Reverse Grapes of Wrath".  Funny, there's no debt or pension crisis in Oklahoma...just sayin'

Is Liberal Scandal Outrage Phony or Are They Finally Realizing Obama Is a Cypher?

It is deeply enjoyable to watch the liberal media have to bash Obama over the multi-scandals now washing over his thuggish and incompetent administration.  I don't believe for one minute that the MSM is at all outraged by any of this or that they are willingly covering the omniscandal, but their backs are against the wall.  They have lost so much credibility over the years at the hands of their biases and have accelerated their downward spiral with their slobbering love affair with Obama, but four concurrent scandals are too much.  The notion of the Koch brothers buying the LA Times is swirling in the air, the NY Times has been rescued by Carlos Slim, and Fox News continues to grind every cable news competitor into dust; so crank up the faux outrage and the faux journalistic inquisitiveness because the dying patient that is the Democrat/Media complex can ill afford to lose its last lung and kidney in one fell swoop.

Us conservatives have said, time and again, that this is precisely what you get when you elect a man such as Obama.
- When you elect a man that has never had a real job, you will not get economic vitality
- When you elect a radical Alinskyite Chicagoan, you will get unsavory, bare-knuckled politics, not unifying optimism
- When you elect somebody nobody knows anything about, you will get unpleasant surprises
- When you get someone who disparages America, you will get policies that hurt America
- When you elect a man who has achieved nothing save getting elected, you will get nothing but campaigning

They've called us crazy for years.  How dare you call Obama incompetent.  How dare you call him empty. How dare you call him feckless in foreign policy.  How dare you call him economically ignorant.  How dare you call him thuggish.  How dare you call him radical.  How dare you call him narcissistic  How dare you.

Well, he is turning out to be all those things and more.  And it is your own fault, liberals, for placing all your hopes and dreams in such an empty vessel.

As I have said before, history will not wrestle with the question of why Obama turned out to be so disappointing, rather it will wrestle with the question of why Americans placed such lofty expectations onto a man of no consequence and no achievement.  Why did we pluck a small man out of obscurity and raise him up on a cloud of delusional hope?

That anybody expected even the most basic level of governance from Obama, let alone monumental and transformative things, is the story of greatest import here. And it is not that the hope, dreams and expectations placed into the Obama vessel were so grand, it is that the vessel that is Obama is so small. I have said it before - in November of '08 I said we bought ourselves a pig in a poke. Later I said that disappointment and pain is what we deserve given that we elected a man of no consequence and no achievement to the highest office in the land. Why we expected a man with no discernable track record or proven record of leadership to lead and to achieve in the name of this massive and complex society is a story of historical proportions. Did we think that plucking just any man off the street - essentially what we did - to wield enormous power was wise? And a young man to boot. And a man who never held a job at a profit-making organization. Why did we think that the wisdom acquired over a long life and the first hand knowledge of commerce gained by private sector work somehow weren't relevant anymore? Why did we think that - after over 200 years of electing (with a few exceptions) staid, boring, but presumably wise, adults, who could draw to them the counsel and assistance of many more wise, older adults - we needed a rock star of relative adolescence? Why did we think that a man with no knowledge of the private sector would lead a mostly private sector nation out of a severe economic slump? Why did we think that a man who consorted with raving America-haters would inspire a mostly proud and patriotic nation to excellence? Why did we think that a man who views our role in the world as flawed would draw our allies nearer to us? Why did we think these things?

Historians will gussy their conclusions up, but I think they will boil down to these:
Brain Fart and Affirmative Action Hire.

Cuomo Slush Fund Drys Up Without Secrecy

I missed this one.  Here is an awesome tidbit...without secrecy, donations to Cuomo slush fund dry up.

Donations for a lobbying group that promotes Gov. Andrew Cuomo's policies dropped from $17 million to zero after the state ethics board began requiring that donors be named, a 2012 federal tax filing provided Friday to The Associated Press shows.

The business-based Committee to Save New York has funded statewide TV ad blitzes boosting Cuomo's popularity and has lobbied the Legislature and public to support his proposals. The committee spent millions spinning Cuomo's image, without requiring the Democrat to touch his own massive campaign account, whose donors must be identified.

This is what Democrats are all about, and New York Democrats about 100x so.

Hey, Reject the Voices That Say Government Is Creeping Towards Tyranny

OK, so the IRS is targeting you for special scrutiny based on your political beliefs, the DOJ is illegally tapping the phone lines of the press (and these are their friends?!?!?!), the White House is lying to us about the existence of Islamic terrorism that is targeting us abroad and home, and cabinet officials are shaking down private businesses to fund an already lavishing funded entitlement.

But,naturally, us idiots have apparently a third thing that we inexplicably and irrationally cling to, and that is Rush Limbaugh.

This, of course, on top of what I have talked about that average Americans see every day:

Now, stop and think of what Americans are seeing and hearing every day.  First, their government just concluded a massive and contentious, but ultimately successful, effort to demand that they buy a product which many do not want and/or cannot afford.  This is on top of thousands of smaller petty tyrannies, such what lightbulbs one can use, how much water a toilet or washing machine may use, or what processing must be done to the milk you buy.  Then Americans look to some of the policy ideas that get put forth here and there, such as forcing the installation of tracking devices in all automobiles ostensibly so that government can tax you by the mile (good heavens, no, never to track your movements) or taking your retirement nest egg in return for a government provided annuity.  These are serious proposals put forth by credentialed people with access to those in power.

Finally, we see our elected representatives passing laws that no one has read let alone analyzed carefully.  Sometimes they do this in contravention of the rules and sometimes even with a sickening pride in bypassing the rules.  We have other officials suggesting the suspension of elections and there are countless examples were those in power don't seem to want or tolerate the rules applying to them, so we are increasingly living under a set of rules that the elites have exempted themselves from.  And I haven't even mentioned what to many is an obviously bloody-minded statist President who no one would ever accuse of valuing modesty in the exercise of power.

So, if Pat Caddell is right and Americans were "pre-revolutionary" prior to the IRS/AP/Benghazi/Sebelius crap, what are they now?

IRS Scandal, Sasha and Malia Hardest Hit...?

We know that Obama joked about targeting his political enemies using the IRS, and then he did it.  We also know that he joked about using Predator Drones to target boys that showed a romantic/sexual interest in his daughters. 

Knowing what we now know, how on Earth are these two girls ever gonna get a date?

Resurrecting the Democrat Calculus: How Much Pain Will the Party Take for Obama?

As readers know, I predicted a Lightworker re-election loss and was proven wrong.  (I along with Michael Barone and many other respected political prognosticators.)  In pondering this though, I think I was correct directionally but wrong electorally.  I claimed Obama was essentially a spent force, his initial intoxicating effect now irreparably diluted and anemic throughout the nation.

And I think this is true in terms of leadership, it just wasn't true electorally.  The Lightworker touched enough low information voters and Mitt Romney didn't inspire much enthusiasm, thus four more years of Obama.  But, it's four more years of Obama in office, not necessarily four more years of traveling Obama's path for America.  Yes, we will continue to give the Islamist threat short shrift and continue to be unprepared (or just lie about it);  yes, we will spend more and more taxpayers dollars on utopian bullshit, and yes we will have a feckless foreign policy that sacrifices our ideals and friends at the expense of courting rogues and liberal totems.  BUT, we will not feel the inexorable pull to the transformed America of Obama's inner vision (I say inner because nothing about where he wants to take us is ever revealed to the public).  I claimed Obama was done and wouldn't be President.  He is President but that doesn't mean he isn't done.  So, I'm salvaging a bit of analytical victory in this whole affair.

Indeed many in the press are (perhaps prematurely) entertaining the possibility of Obama 2.0 as one very long lame duck period, and the recent tsunami of scandals (real scandals that the press will be hardpressed to ignore unlike the myriad petty scandals which have been coming fast and furious (see what I did there?) since the day Dear Leader took office) is just the latest.  The press was coming around to this view after Obama's failure on the sequester and gun control.  But the key analytical framework for evaluating Obama's prospects for a successful second term is how the party leadership reacts.  I outlined the calculus that the Dem poobahs must be contemplating during Obama 1.0.

So in looking at the entire string of events from Virginia, New Jersey, and Scott Brown to what is shaping up to be a very bad Nov 2nd, what will Dem party poobahs conclude? Will they conclude that Obama is damaging to the party? Maybe, maybe not, but it is hard to draw any other conclusion. And what if they conclude he is? How will this affect the spending of resources and ability to attract competent individuals to the administration? As I state here, it will be difficult, making a turnaround very unlikely. This will be gut-wrenching for Dems, they are likely facing an intra-party debate on the fundamental question of whether to go all in for Obama and resurrect his presidency or pull the plug entirely on Hopeandchange and, as they so famously put it, "move on."

The calculus is still the same, and in fact, much more pressing as the emergent wave of scandals will resurrect the conversation in the smoke-filled rooms again and party poobahs will be assessing how much Obama is ruining the Democrat brand morphing it from champion of the downtrodden to thuggish would-be tyrants.  The answer will be critical to whether Obama 2.0 becomes the Guinness Book of Records Longest Lame Duck Presidency or something closer to what fanboy Obamabot nation had hoped for.

UPDATE:  Way back in 2009 I posited the theory that the stock market would rise on Obama's stumbles and sustain an upward trajectory as Obama's political power waned (see here and here).  So I present without comment this chart of the S&P 500 Index.  OK, here is the comment: note the pronounced slump right around early November and the sharp recovery that has gained momentum as Obama's 2.0 troubles have mounted.

Why Do Jews Vote Like Battered Spouses?

Despite crap like this (on top of his hatred of Israel and love of Palestinian terrorists) American Jews voted for the Lightworker in near lock-step.  I'll never understand the "battered spouse" voting habits of Jews.

Nobody Believes His Bullshit Anymore

Obama calls IRS targeting of conservative groups outrageous and nobody will believe him.

Obama gets are worked up over whatever in Benghazi and no one will believe him.

This POTUS has racked up such a record of insincerity, dissembling and misdirection that no one believes him any more. 

Hey Soledad...

This kinda rhetoric might get you a spot at Harvard, but that's about it.  Your musings don't make white America uncomfortable, they make us sigh.  Your "conversations" are jejune, banal, tiresome, empty, flat, bland, childish.  We're not not reacting because we are paralyzed by logical dissonance, we are not reacting because it is all so lame and ignorable.

Case in point.  Today's headlines bring us news that Detroit is bankrupt, that the ongoing municipal shit show that is the Motor City is worse that anybody thought.  The apotheosis of black America, the quintessential black run municipality is a disaster of epic proportions.  It is a model of the politics and theories that minorities would love to extend across the land and have.  And it is a fucking disaster and we can't say anything because of political correctness and the infernal effort to cow whites away from honest analysis with the accusation of racism.  Call Detroit what it is, a shit show if municipal corruption and malfeasance, and you are branded the worst sort of racist.  So what do we do?  Civically retreat - shut up, not care, and let places like Detroit burn.  If we're going to be branded racists for advancing the revolutionary concept that you shouldn't spend more than you take in, then we say "Screw this tiresome tripe, we might as well move out.  Disengage." 

We're down to the point where eating tacos is racist and a college logo of a dog is sexist.  It's all a magnificent farce and you and your fellow travelers have built this farcical world for us.  So, no, it's not uncomfortable.  It's silly.  And thus we treat YOU as silly, and you interpret that rejection as some sort of racial animus or defense mechanism.  It's not.  It is an old school purge of ridiculous voices in the public square.  It has been going on since time immemorial, in an open square there are always too many voices, a cacaphony.  To save time and energy, and get on with business, society dispenses with the useless ones so we can give those with something to say more time.

Scandal? What Scandal?

Dumb question of the day comes from Susan Collins.

The answer is that Obama and his ilk probably aren't upset about the IRS targeting "scandal", because they probably ordered it. Obama's base would probably be very angry to find out that the IRS wasn't targeting conservative groups.  Harassing conservative groups is what an Obama administration is supposed to be doing.  No scandal here.

They're probably just pissed that they got caught, but not that pissed because the MSM will protect them.

Meanwhile, Americans will grow ever more cynical about their government, buy more guns, demand more gridlock, refrain from taking economic risks (i.e. hiring) and wait for the storm of the Obama administration to pass.

No , Seriously, Where Is the Outrage?!?!?!?

I reproduce in whole the following from Instapundit.  This development is truly chilling.  This couldn't be any more vindication of our side's long standing claims that bigger and more empowered government will abuse it's power as a matter of standard operating procedure (kinda like this).  But I guess we're all a bunch of paranoid right wing nuts.  Is it even worth positing the notion of what the media would do if a Republican administration pulled this kinda shit...?  No I guess not, because when they do it, it's all for the good, or something...

SO WHEN HE WAS NEW IN OFFICE, BARACK OBAMA JOKED ABOUT TAX AUDITS FOR PEOPLE WHO DISPLEASED HIM. Now the IRS has admitted that it targeted conservative and Tea Party groups in 2012.

This won’t exactly be news to InstaPundit readers, but now the story has broken open.

My take: The employees involved should be fired and prosecuted. The affected groups should be compensated for the additional costs they incurred in responding to this illegal harassment, and Congress should take the money out of the IRS’s travel-and-entertainment budget.

More here: “Using the IRS to target political opponents is banana-republic stuff, a clear and intolerable violation of the public trust, not to mention relevant criminal statutes. This is not the sort of offense that should get these IRS workers fired from their jobs — it is the sort of offense that should get them five years in prison.”

Also: Do you think ObamaCare will be administered with any more fairness?
And some history.

UPDATE: They’re from the IRS and they’re here to apologize. An apology is not sufficient.
We need Congressional hearings, and the individuals involved need to explain what happened under oath.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Rick Hasen: “Wow, this is not the way for the IRS to maintain credibility in a very politically sensitive area.”
Also:

Some conservative and libertarian groups have long suspected that the Internal Revenue Service has targeted right-leaning non-profits for extra scrutiny, but such allegations were always difficult to prove (and often sounded a bit conspiratorial). Now, however, the head of the IRS division that oversees tax-exempt organizations has admitted her division targeted “tea party” and “patriot” groups — and apologized for it. In addition, the IRS apparently asked some groups for donor lists, even though such requests are usually contrary to IRS policy. (Hat tip: Rick Hasen, whose first comment was ”Wow.”) As they say, just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean people aren’t out to get you.

Indeed. We do need hearings. Plus: “With IRS apology/disclosure, will Boehner/Issa know how to react to actual scandal?” Well, Benghazi is a real scandal. But the IRS scandal is a straightforward abuse of power that any voter can understand.

MORE: “If you were looking to establish a pattern, the McConnell bugger’s WH visit, Benghazi emails, & IRS targeting conservatives might be a start.”

Where Is the Outrage...?

In what form should the outrage over this take?

Idaho?  The highest paid government employee in Idaho is a football coach?  Do they even play football in Idaho?  Actually, that's not fair, I did see a few bleachers at ISU Pocatello last time I drove by.

Law School Dean in Maine?  Really?  Since when is the Pine Tree State a hotbed of legal talent?  Why the hell aren't they the state with a hockey coach as top earner?

This has got to be a little embarrassing for New Jersey...just saying.

Good for Dan Snyder

As a lifelong fan of the New York Football Giants, I loathe the Washington Redskins, but I have to say that I am in admiration of the Redskins organization today for taking a stand against idiotic political correctness. 

In Energy News

New Zealand looks to ramp up energy exploration.

Brazil looks to ramp up energy exploration.

Norway is expanding drilling in its territorial waters.

Even the EU says "Hey, this shale gas thing could be good for us."

California?  Not so much.

The Norwegians and New Zealanders are hardly callous despoilers of Gaia.  If they can do it, why can't California? 

The answer is, of course, Californians can do it.  And they will whether they like it or not.

Ugh. John Kerry. Just Ugh.

As per the British Daily Mail, “Russian President Vladimir Putin kept Kerry waiting three hours before their meeting at the Kremlin on Tuesday and continuously fiddled with his pen as the top American diplomat spoke about the ongoing crisis in Syria.”

I’m told that when Kerry landed in Russia, he was told a) that his hotel rooms weren’t ready, and b) that a military parade made it impossible for the Americans to drive to the Kremlin anyway, so he’d just have to wait.  Add two hours (check-in delay at the hotel) to the Mail version.

Seriously, my first thought was "why didn't Kerry turn around and go home?"  Answer:  Because he is John Kerry.

It would have been a great opportunity.  The ensuing media attention would have raised the obvious question, "Why didn't you wait to meet with Putin?" to which Kerry could have replied, "Because Russia has a GDP the size of New Jersey, it's just not worth too much headache."  Alas, not to be, because, well, John Kerry, who is a doofus of legendary proportions.

UPDATE:  Ouch.  Ouch.  And Triple Ouch.  The title here is just so devastating.  And this no right-wing hit job website.  Did I say "Ouch"?

Yes, Greece Is Still a Disaster

When a nation's youth unemployment rate hits 60%, which it has in Greece, it is not a "recession".  It is a total collapse of the the economy.  Let's diagnose the problem correctly here, this has nothing to do with this level of "austerity" or that amount of "stimulus".  The Greek state effectively ran the economy and the state has collapsed into a pit of insolvency, thus has the economy done so as well.

It is just worth noting every time we are reminded of the catastrophe that is Greece that the US is heading in that direction under Obama.  We may or may not ever get there, but it is undeniable, that is the general direction in which we are headed.

Lastly, it is worth noting again that we ought to think deeply about whether we showing the "compassion" that many of us think we are showing by expanding government into every corner of our lives.  How compassionate is it to build a giant structure that collapses in on everybody?

Just Remember, Those Oil Companies Are Evil

Chevron Wins Suit Against U.S. Over California Oil Field

By Andrew Zajac & Tom Schoenberg - May 9, 2013 2:07 PM ET

Chevron Corp. (CVX) is entitled to unspecified damages against the federal government in a contract dispute over oil deposits in California worth $37 billion, the U.S. Court of Claims ruled.
The Department of Energy “repeatedly and materially violated” two agreements governing determination of equity interests in oil and gas deposits located in the Elk Hills Reserve of California, Judge Susan Braden in Washington wrote in a 90-page ruling.
Chevron “is entitled to be compensated for damages, in an amount to be determined, including sanctions for DOE and the government’s ‘bad faith’ conduct and abusive discovery tactics,” Braden wrote in the ruling made public yesterday.

 First, take note of the elemental premise here - the US government is in the oil business, big time.  Second, they are a very bad partner, major bullies.

Full article here.