Are We Ready?

I remember during the Presidential campaign, when it was really heating up and Obama was officially nominated, a co-worker and I were tossing around who might actually win-McCain or Obama. This was when it was still a fairly close race. The guy I was talking to said that without a doubt, McCain would win. I didn’t think so. I asked him why he thought that, and he said, “America is not ready for a black president. We can’t handle it.”

“Oh, come on,” I started.

“We’re too racist!” he persisted. By the way, my friend is a conservative, like me. I was irritated he would say that. I mean, really. It was ridiculous to me. We had come such a long way in this country, why not have an African-American president? Even if a lot of us don’t agree with him.

I told my friend that we probably would have a black president, if only because so many white liberals were voting for him solely because he’s black.

Flash-forward to today. I’m driving around, running some errands while the kids are in school, and listening to Rush. As usual, Rush says what so many of us are thinking. (How does he do that?) He mentioned two things that occurred to me this morning as I was doing stuff around the house: 1) Was my friend right? Are we really not ready for a black president? and 2) It’s incredibly ironic that the action that was supposed to move us past race-election of Barack Obama-may be used to move race relations back 40-50 years. If honest criticism and debate cannot occur without so many highly-placed officials calling the rest of us racist for criticizing and debating, for actually holding the current President as accountable as his predecessors, then we are moving backward.

I think my friend was partially right. Only, it’s the most defensive of the President’s supporters who have shown themselves not ready for an African-American president. The rest of us are.

“You Suck!”

My “outburst” when I read that “House Admonishes Joe Wilson for Outburst”, from AOL news. Is the Democratic leadership trying to look stupid? I mean, can you really look so petty and stupid without trying, or is it a genetic defect that they all happen to share?

And, just to make sure everybody is clear on the rules of conduct with The One so this ugliness never happens again, clear guidelines have been established by House Mother-I mean, House Rules Committee Chairwoman Louise Slaughter (D-NY). “D”? Now that’s a shock!

From Glenn Thrush at Politico, via Drudge:

“Especially useful: The section on how to properly insult the executive branch in the in the chamber.

“Disgrace” and “nitwits” — okay.

“Liar” or “sexual misconduct” — ixnay.“

To be more specific on the acceptable use of the word “nitwit”:

“• refer to unnamed officials as “our half-baked nitwits handling foreign affairs.” “

But you cannot, under any circumstances, do any of these:
• call the President a “liar.”
• call the President a “hypocrite.”
• describe the President’s veto of a bill as “cowardly.”
• charge that the President has been “intellectually dishonest.”
• refer to the President as “giving aid and comfort to the enemy.”
• refer to alleged “sexual misconduct on the President’s part.””

(Politico)

Notice all the prohibitions on referring to the President in a negative fashion, even if any of it is true, like, oh, sexual misconduct. (Now that would have been a useful rule about 12 years ago, eh, Mr. Clinton? Ha ha!) So, it’s okay to sound immature and petulant by the use of the word “nitwit” directed at no one in particular, but to call the President out on specifics and actually challenge him is not allowed.

So does that mean we still can’t talk about his ears? He put Maureen Dowd “on notice” and if she’s on notice, the nation is, too.

This man can take absolutely no criticism, no matter how it’s put. I mean, no criticism from Americans. I guess the rest of the world still kinda sorta loves him, except in the Middle East, like Israel and Iran, and China, and North Korea. Not only do they not love him, they don’t respect him, which is far worse. Europe claims to love him, but not so much that they’ll commit more troops to Afganistan,the certainty of which was a key part of his campaign. We just knew that if elected Obama, we’d get more help from them because everybody loves him so much. Now, South America! That’s where Obama really shines! (Except for Honduras.) Chavez, Castro-all the cool revolutionaries (except the Hondurans) love Obama. They want to “help” him. Shudder.

Joe Wilson shouted out “You lie!” to the President during his speech. He ap0logized for it, the President accepted his apology, and that should be the end of it. And it would be, if adults were in charge. But the Dems are not satisfied. They want him to grovel. They are circling the wagons around Obama, viciously attacking anything that might be perceived as the least bit of criticism or-gasp!-dislike of him. You can’t criticize him in Congress, and you can’t hold massive, peaceful, bipartisan rallies because of the “undercurrent” of racism. Obama knows how his supporters are playing the race card, but instead of trying to diffuse the situation he’s allowing it, even encourging it. Instead of seriously addressing the 9/12 rally attendees’ concerns, he holds his own “rally” on 9/12, carefully planned and staged and filled with die-hard supporters and talks about how critics of his health-care bill are just trying to “bring Obama down”. He doesn’t hold town meetings; he arranges events at GM plants to talk only to the AFL-CIO members about how great his health-care plan is. The media are allowed; the public is not. He spends an awful lot of time preaching to the choir.

It’s getting harder to take this man seriously in the role of President.

It Must Be Love…

…or somethin’ else, as the song goes. Personally, I can’t imagine what the hell happened to make one suggest to the other to do it in a dumpster. No man, not even Colin Farrell, is hot enough to convince me to do that. This was at Drudge today: Couple Robbed While Inside Dumpster. Police described the couple as having an “intimate moment”.

Here’s what I’m also curious about: who reported this to police? If I had actually been carnal in a dumpster with someone, you can bet I would’nt tell a single soul, even if I had been robbed.

Idiots.

Talitards Blow Themselves Up So We Don’t Have To

From 610wtvn.com, here in Central Ohio:

A group of insurgents emplacing a makeshift bomb in a dirt road in southern Afghanistan inadvertently blow themselves up while U.S. Apaches from the 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade look on.

Favorite quote: “Never mind.”

(The story came from 610, but the video came from YouTube, as I couldn’t get it from the news site.)

Don’t worry, this is not a graphic video. I hate anything gory, even if it is the Taliban. What impressed me most while watching this was the intense concern our guys had for the kid who kept wandering around the insurgents while they buried the IED. They wanted to get these guys but they wouldn’t do anything until the child was well away from there.

Pres is in Ohio (again), Talking to AFL-CIO (again)

The radio reports that Obama is at the Lordstown GM plant, talking to 12 employees “selected by union leaders” about health care.  Oh, to be a fly on the wall!  Of course, we all know what Obama does to flies!

“Both the arrival and speech at the plant are open to the media but closed to the public.”

The Most Tech-Savvy President Ever Shows He Has Finger On America’s Pulse

President Obama had tweeted that Kanye West is a jackass before his tweet was taken down.  I agree, but whither the tweet about ACORN?

This is why I did not vote for John McCain!

So, John McCain decided to sit out the ACORN vote. I suppose he thinks that was politically prudent. Maybe, as far as other politicians, bureaucrats, and special-interest groups are concerned. But that’s it. No one else is impressed, John. By “no one”, I mean voters, and I guess he thinks we are no one. No one important.

This just sums up why I could not vote for him to be President. I remember that I really made up my mind against him the day I found out that he had chosen Sarah Palin for his running mate. Not that I have anything against Sarah Palin, but until then I had never heard of her. But McCain was having getting conservatives to trust him, and since Hillary was not the Dem nominee, the “woman” vote was up for grabs. So he thought he was getting two for one in Sarah Palin. That showed me he didn’t really believe anything he was trying to sell. And he demonstrated that throughout the campaign afterward.

John McCain worked closely with ACORN during the Amnesty debacle (MichelleMalkin.com)

Malkin updates that McCain and Graham had to be at a townhall meeting during the vote. As of yet, the timing of the meeting and the vote itself is in question. I’m still not convinced McCain would have voted the right way. We’ll see about it soon. In any event, I’m still curious about the rest of the people who chose not to take a stand on this issue.

Damn, I Missed It!

I would have loved to have been at the 9/12 rally!  But I’m broke!  Maybe next time…

Leftist coverage of the rally was drearily predictable. It’s both amusing and irritating that lefties are hauling out the tired old “racist” theme for anyone who dissents.  Remember when dissent was patriotic?  Now it’s racist.  Because we have a black president.  Having a black president at long last was supposed to take care of racism once and for all.  And it would, if bitter, gun-and-Bible-clinging white people would just go along.  (Never mind the fact that not all who protest are white.)  But these stupid Red-Staters keep bringing up boring subjects like taxes, TARP, corrupt czars, and a complicated, no one-knows-what’s-in-it health care bill, etc.  Everyone knows that they’re only doing it because he’s black!

You see, it was okay to vote for Mr. Obama while maintaining blissful ignorance regarding his policies, because of his skin color.  But it is not okay to ignore his skin color and protest his policies, as those at the rally have done.  That is racist.  Those are the rules. 

If you have enough people looking hard enough for a problem, it will kinda sorta be found, even if it’s not really there.  It’s almost funny that the only real criticisms that can be made of the rally are over the attendence numbers, and that the flag shown at half-mast was really for Ted Kennedy and that the photo is therefore fake.  Both points have been easily disproved.  What really takes the cake for me, though, is the sinister “undercurrent” of racism, made implicit by the rally’s very existence.  No actual racism;  no nooses or white hoods-not even any lousy Nazis or skinheads, for crying out loud!  Jeez, you’d think some would have shown up. 

But…

There was one, terrifying, evil display of the hate so cunningly hidden by the orderly, smiling, and peaceful throngs-mostly white throngs, by the way! 

It…was…this!

And this!

Oh, no…

Oh, sure, it might look like these African-Americans are exercising their right to freely and peacefully express their own opinion and dissent according to their own beliefs, values, and consciences, but as this is clearly a right-wing racist gathering, I think we all know the truth, don’t we?

Can you feel the shame, America? 

(Images from Looking at the Left.)

Is it necessary to point out that Obamacare has a lot to do with Ted Kennedy, and that’s the meaning behind the sign?  Some are dismayed that anyone would bring up Ted Kennedy in this fashion so soon after his death-okay.  But really, is this what the fuss is about?  Is this what makes liberals grab for the smelling salts?  Where was all this decorum and restraint at leftist rallies for the past eight years? 

Do we need to bring all that up again?  Yes, we do. 

Ah, there’s that noose I was wondering about.

Go to Zomblog for the excellent post and the rest of the pictures.

Federal Treasury to Test Banks for Liquidity and Capital

…thereby incrementaly nationalizing banks that don’t pass the test.

Via Bloomberg, Feb 7:

The Obama administration is considering subjecting banks to a new test to determine whether they require fresh capital injections as part of the rescue plan to be unveiled by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner next week, people familiar with the matter said.

The Treasury may increase its stake in lenders that are judged short of capital, the people said on condition of anonymity. Should extra taxpayer funds result in majority ownership by the government, officials would then decide whether to liquidate the institutions, place them into receivership or retire the companies’ assets over time, they said. [emphasis mine]

So, the pruning that used to be done by the market will now be done by “taxpayers”, except not really by us. It will be decided by the Fed, which is not really a government institution per se and is run by people we have no control over.

Meanwhile, it looks like banks stocks are rising on the on the assumption that any kind of stimulus package is good, but:

Bank of America, the largest U.S. lender by assets, rallied $1.29 to $6.13 to pare its year-to-date slide to 56 percent. CEO Kenneth Lewis told CNBC that nationalization of the bank, which last month received a $138 billion lifeline from the government to support its acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co., wasn’t even a “remote possibility.”

And:

“It’s based on a hope that Geithner’s going to come out with a plan that will not nationalize the banks,” said Peter Kovalski, who manages financial services stocks at Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC in Purchase, New York. “There was a lot of speculation the worst was going to happen.” Alpine manages $8 billion.

(Also from Bloomberg, from a separate article on the same day, amusingly enough.)

Mr. Kovalski’s hopes may soon be dashed.  To bits.  Judging by the way the market goes up and down, investors are doing an awful lot of hoping.  It’s interesting that stock in troubled banks went up significantly just on the whiff of a stimulus package regardless of what’s in it, and simultaneously on the “hope” that the government won’t get too involved.

So what happens to bank stocks should the Fed start determining who gets money and who gets liquidated?

Winter Storm Warning in Central Ohio-Citizens Advised to Start Driving Like Idiots Immediately

Here in Central Ohio, we are under a winter storm warning. We’re expecting 3, possibly 5, inches of deadly white stuff sometime before midnight. No, there’s no ice. High winds are not expected. It will get damn cold, though. I guess that’s enough to make Central Ohioans scared into wrecking on the freeway, just to get it out of the way. Already, even before the snow started falling, there were the usual collisions, one serious enough to need LifeFlight.

We’re expecting snow, not a plague of locusts.

Now this is a winter storm, from My Way News:

The falling temperatures – wind chills made it feel like 50 below zero in the far north of Wisconsin – kept towing and auto repair companies across the state busy, as well as public works crews dealing with frozen pipes and water mains.

And:

Temperatures in Minnesota were minus 40 in International Falls and minus 35 in Roseau. Farther south, Minneapolis hit 18 below zero with a wind chill of 32 below and black ice was blamed for numerous accidents.

Here in the Columbus area, the lowest it’s supposed to get is -5.