Morning Must Reads: Balk

What did I miss?

Later, Christie also stated, “So what if it gets warmer? The air conditioning over at the Four Seasons is great…And it only cost you taxpayers $475 per night for me to find that out. You’re welcome.”

“The governor, a new darling of the Republican Party, made the remark at a town hall meeting he hosted in Toms River Tuesday afternoon.

Asked by a man attending the event whether he thought mankind was responsible for global warming, Christie says he’s seen evidence on both sides of the argument but thinks it hasn’t been proven one way or another.

Christie says ‘more science’ is needed to convince him.”

When you got nothin’, blame it on the liberal media, talk over whatever facts are being stated, and attack the show’s host.

“Eliot Spitzer and Rand Paul had a rather contentious debate over his income, his stance on Medicare payments for doctors being reduced and just what he’d cut to balance the federal budget on CNN’s Parker Spitzer. After Paul’s reaction at the end of the segment, I don’t think he’ll be coming on with Spitzer again any time soon. He might be more likely to show up on Rachel Maddow’s show first.”

(video at link, fireworks near the end)

The US-Afghanistan (media) war heats up.

“Yet another unsourced rumor is leaked, this time to McClatchy, who dutifully reported it without so much as one single named source:

The Obama administration has decided to begin publicly walking away from what it once touted as key deadlines in the war in Afghanistan in an effort to de-emphasize President Barack Obama’s pledge that he’d begin withdrawing U.S. forces in July 2011, administration and military officials have told McClatchy.

They will most certainly argue that having said unnamed military officials grouped with unnamed administration officials lends credibility, but it’s worth noticing that they distinguished the ‘administration officials’ apart from the White House.

The White House retorts after the article is published, with attribution, by the way:

The White House vehemently denies that there is any change in policy. “The president has been crystal clear that we will begin drawing down troops in July of 2011. There is absolutely no change to that policy,” said Tommy Vietor, a White House spokesman.

Just another installment of the military and Department of Defense/CIA officials’ push to keep the permanent, everlasting war going, brought to you courtesy of the generals and the brass in the Pentagon.”

Stuff like this is why the false equivalencies made involving MSNBC and FNC bother me.

“…as Milbank noted in his column today, that wasn’t to be.

On Thursday night, the Fox News host asked, as part of a show that would be seen by 5.5 million people: “Does sharia law say we can behead Dana Milbank?” He then added, “That was a joke.”

Hilarious! Decapitation jokes just slay me, and this one had all the more hilarity because the topic of journalist beheadings brings to mind my late friend and colleague Danny Pearl, who replaced me in the Wall Street Journal’s London bureau and later was murdered in Pakistan by people who thought sharia justified it.

The next night, O’Reilly went after Milbank again. And then again the night after that.

On Thursday night, he made an eerie reference to The Post’s editorial page editor. “Would you put Fred Hiatt’s picture up on the screen here?” he asked. “This is the editor, Milbank’s editor, Fred Hiatt. And, Fred won’t do anything about Milbank lying in his column. I just want everybody in America to know what The Washington Post has come to. All right, you can take Fred’s picture off. Fred, have a nice weekend, buddy.”

Shortly after this, O’Reilly proposed to his fellow Fox News host, Megyn Kelly, a way to handle their disagreement with me: “I think you and I should go and beat him up.”

Also, too:
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[Stuff like this is why the false equivalencies made involving the rhetoric coming from the left and right bother me.]
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“A newly named GOP chief of staff called the outgoing Democratic majority — and in particular Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) — ‘garbage.’

Joyce Kaufman, the incoming chief of staff to Rep.-elect Allen West (R-Fla.), said: ‘Over these months I have been blessed to form very wonderful relationships with the West family. I looked at this family and [told] myself, ‘How do you not fight and put them up on the pedestal when we’ve got this garbage up on the pedestal now, people like Nancy Pelosi?’[...]

Kaufman, who’s hosted her own talk radio show since 2001, is no stranger to controversy. In 2007, she told her audience that illegal immigrants found committing crimes should be killed and then deported.”

The Republican agenda of tax cuts and healthcare reform repeals have mixed support:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101111/ap_on_go_co/us_ap_poll_gop_agenda

Interesting that the polls once again say the ACA doesn’t go far enough. Conservatives say that the ACA isn’t very popular but they’re not being honest about why that is.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b6e3d086-ed12-11df-9912-00144feab49a.html#axzz14zPyjSfN
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Greenspan warns over weaker dollar

White House intends to kick the can further down the road and slit its own throat on the sharp lid.

“President Barack Obama’s top adviser suggested to The Huffington Post late Wednesday that the administration is ready to accept an across-the-board, temporary continuation of steep Bush-era tax cuts, including those for the wealthiest taxpayers.

That appears to be the only way, said David Axelrod, that middle-class taxpayers can keep their tax cuts, given the legislative and political realities facing Obama in the aftermath of last week’s electoral defeat.

‘We have to deal with the world as we find it,’ Axelrod said during an unusually candid and reflective 90-minute interview in his office, steps away from the Oval Office. ‘The world of what it takes to get this done.’”

China buying stake in GM.
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General Motors Co [GM.UL] is in the final stage of talks to sell equity to long-time Chinese partner SAIC Motor Corp (600104.SS) in conjunction with its landmark initial public offering, two people familiar with the matter said.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSWEN287720101110

England going to stop welfare payments….for those who refuse to work.
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101111/wl_uk_afp/britainpoliticssocietywelfare

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/lawrence-odonnell-expounds-on-shocking-admission-we-are-all-socialists-now/
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MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell – “We are all socialists now”

Nancy’s Party. Who paid the bill?
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In celebration of all their epic achievements, Nancy Pelosi held a “celebration” of the 111th Congress.
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But, who paid for this celebration Nancy? Who indeed.
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http://www.theblaze.com/stories/who-paid-for-pelosis-party/

Who counted the votes in California?
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http://www.theblaze.com/stories/are-seiu-members-really-counting-ballots-in-tight-ca-house-race/
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Why SEIU, of course!!

“B-b-b-but it’s gonna impact our quarterly profits…”

“Seeking to reassure major power plant and factory owners that impending regulation of climate-altering gases will not be too burdensome, the Environmental Protection Agency emphasized on Wednesday that future permitting decisions would take cost and technical feasibility into account.

Under the Obama administration, the E.P.A. declared that gases that contribute to global warming are a danger to human health and the environment and thus must be regulated under the Clean Air Act. The agency is starting with the largest sources of such emissions — coal-burning power plants, cement factories, steel mills and oil refineries — and then will extend the regulations to smaller facilities.

Utilities, manufacturers and oil companies have challenged the new rules, saying that the E.P.A. arbitrarily chose the plants it will regulate and that the Clean Air Act never envisioned limitations on carbon dioxide, a ubiquitous substance that is not in itself toxic or hazardous to health. The State of Texas has said it will not abide by the greenhouse gas regulations no matter how the E.P.A. decides to define or enforce them.”

Maybe, maybe not. This from Greg Sargent:

UPDATE: White House denies giving in on Bush tax cuts: The White House is sharply denying the Huffington Post story I noted below claiming that David Axelrod signaled a willingness to accept a temporary extension of all the Bush tax cuts, claiming that their position remains unchanged.
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Axelrod emails:
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There is not one bit of news here. I simply re-stated what POTUS and Robert have been saying. Our two strong principles are that we need to extend the tax cuts for the middle class, but we can’t afford a permanent extension of the tax cuts for the wealthy.
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And White House comm director Dan Pfeiffer adds:
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The story is overwritten. Nothing has changed from what the President said last week. We believe we need to extend the middle class tax cuts, we cannot afford to borrow 700 billion to pay for extending the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, and we are open to compromise and are looking forward to talking to the Congressional leadership next week to discuss how to move forward. Full Stop, period, end of sentence.
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The question remains, though, whether the White House will hold fast to Obama’s demand last week that the extension of the tax cuts for the middle class remain permanent while extending the high end ones temporarily. The main sticking point is that Republicans won’t allow the two categories to be extended for different durations, because that would force them to push for just an extension of the cuts for the rich later.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2010/11/the_morning_plum_129.html#comments

Also, too:
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[Well, that makes me feel a whole lot better.]
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“Representative John Shimkus of Illinois is vying to chair the House Energy Committee as the Republicans organize their caucus. Shimkus would have jurisdiction over any global warming legislation to come through the House of Representatives in the coming session if appointed. Shimkus is an unlikely victor, as Representative Joe Barton of Texas has seniority. Shimkus has served on the committee since 1997, and promises a more aggressive approach than Representative Fred Upton of Michigan, his other competitor.
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Shimkus sees climate change in a biblical context. In March 2009, speaking to the House Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment, Shimkus quoted Chapter 8, Verse 22 of Genesis to explain his belief that the earth will not be destroyed by climate change.
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‘Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though all inclinations of his heart are evil from childhood and never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done. As long as the earth endures, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, will never cease.’
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He went on to say, ‘I believe that is the infallible word of god, and that’s the way it is going to be for his creation… The earth will end only when God declares its time to be over. Man will not destroy this earth. This earth will not be destroyed by a flood.’”

“…and we are open to compromise and are looking forward to talking to the Congressional leadership next week to discuss how to move forward.”
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Well, what sorts of compromise are there to be open to? Options are to let the cuts:
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1) Expire for all as the Republicans planned, which would bring in additional revenue, decreasing the deficit.
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2) Expire for income over 250K, a compromise which should bring in additional revenue, decreasing the deficit. (increased revenues from over 250K income presumed to outpace revenue losses from under 250K income)
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3) Temporarily extend for all, adding some higher number of billions to the deficit, which may or may not be renewed indefinitely, with an unknown impact on the deficit. (higher deficit if extended, lower if not)
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4) Temporarily extend for over 250K, permanently extend for under, which may or may not be renewed indefinitely, with an unknown impact on the deficit (but would presumably increase it, especially if those temporary extensions were further extended.)
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5) Permanently extend for all, adding over 700 billion to the deficit.
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I mean, sure, you can monkey around with the percentages, but that’s pretty much it, right? Please correct me if I’m wrong.
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If the deficit is a real concern, then the only sane options are 1 and 2, the current state of Bush’s cuts and what Pfeiffer says is the White House’s position. 3, 4, and 5 are the compromise positions.

“O’Reilly went after Milbank again”
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Went after? You mean calling him out for the lying weasel he is? Again hypocrisy reign supreme. Twist words then whine while avoiding hate from the left:

MIKE MALLOY: I don’t think Adolf Hitler ever executed anyone. Did he? He never dropped the pellets of poison into, into the machine that then gassed the Jews. George Bush didn’t fly any of the airplanes that incinerated children. But will somebody, is it just a quantitative difference? Is there a qualitative difference here between George and any mass killer? If there is, I, I don’t see it. […]

David Sirota channels Dick Cheney in this bit of needed media criticism.

(language alert..hey, I did say ‘channels Dick Cheney, amiright?)

“For example, I could have told you that a washed-up has-been like Evan Bayh would publish a New York Times op-ed insisting that Democrats ‘were too deferential to our most zealous supporters’ (read: liberals) even after the Democratic Party crushed a public option, watered down Wall Street “reform,” extended Bush-era civil liberties atrocities, escalated the Afghanistan War, further ballooned the defense budget and began moving to extend the Bush tax cuts.

Likewise, I could have told you that those careerists in D.C. who make their livelihood off this kind of pablum would publish a ‘strategy memo’ in something self-importantly called ‘The Democratic Strategist’. And I could have told you that this “strategy memo” would defend the bash-the-liberals meme with bromides about how ‘all of the major perspectives within the Democratic Party have a legitimate place and role in today’s Democratic coalition’ and about how ‘the present moment categorically demands a basic level of Democratic unity from every element of the coalition’ (read: liberals shouldn’t criticize the corporatists who destroyed the Democratic Party — and the country).

I could have told you all of this because, as I said, it’s pre-programmed. It’s not spontaneous. It’s not reacting to any reality out here in the real world. It’s not responding to a changing country. It’s pre-written, pre-conceived, pre-packaged feces sprayed at us in liquid form, all to justify a continuation of how it’s always been — and, frankly, how it probably will always be.

In the past, I may have contributed to some sort of organized pushback. But not this year. No, this time I can muster only one Cheney-esque response to the whole grotesque kabuki theater surrounding the inane ‘Future of the Democratic Party’ debate…”

Freeper, don’t you have a bet that you should honor? You know which one…now shoo.

Sore loser and hypocrite.

Here’s the quote, which seemed to vanish in the pre-election haze. It was reported at the time in the Scranton Times:

“That Scott down there that’s running for governor of Florida,” Mr. Kanjorski said. “Instead of running for governor of Florida, they ought to have him [sic] and shoot him. Put him against the wall and shoot him. He stole billions of dollars from the United States government and he’s running for governor of Florida. He’s a millionaire and a billionaire. He’s no hero. He’s a damn crook. It’s just we don’t prosecute big crooks.”
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“Cornerstone” of Corruption?NRCC Releases Detailed Ethics Report on Paul Kanjorski’s Checkered Tenure in Congress.
WASHINGTON–Paul Kanjorski was the subject of two ethics reports released this week as the National Republican Congressional Committee unveiled a report detailing the troubling legislative actions taken by the Pennsylvania Congressman.
Earlier in the week, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) released a report scrutinizing Kanjorski’s campaign expenditures.
Both reports point out a possible conflict of interest as Kanjorski’s family members have been reported to be the beneficiaries of a whole host of legislative and campaign actions. “Part One” of the NRCC’s report titled “The Democrat Ethics Report: Get the Facts on Who’s Running the ‘Most Ethical Congress in History,’” includes a specific section on Kanjorski’s questionable “earmarks” that were directed to a business that was run by members of his family. The company has recently gone bankrupt.
The “Democrat Ethics Report” states:
“Congressman Kanjorski has steered over $9 million in federal funding to a company called Cornerstone Technologies, a company run by Mr. Kanjorski’s daughter and nephews. These grants were administered through the Office of Naval Research over the course of several years (1999-2002) via earmarks that Representative John Murtha placed in the Department of Defense Appropriations/ Authorization acts at the behest of Representative Kanjorski. ONR did not request this money nor did they know how to spend it. The agency had to call congressional staff to inquire as to how the money was to be spent. ONR was directed to Cornerstone Technologies by congressional staff.”
Earlier this week, CREW released a report regarding Kanjorski’s doling out tens of thousands of dollars to his family members out of his campaign committee funds.
The second report states:

“Rep. Paul Kanjorski’s (D-PA) campaign committee and leadership PAC have paid his own company (which he co-owns with his brother) over $40,000 in rent and his campaign committee paid two of his nephews over $70,000. In addition, two companies, which are partly owned by Rep. Kanjorski’s family members, have received over $9.4 million in earmarks.

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Good thing for Kanjorski we don’t prosecute big crooks!

And for dessert, a double-scoop of fun.

Just click the link. That is all.

A Brave New take on PAC-man. Watchout for the heads.

I mean, sure, you can monkey around with the percentages, but that’s pretty much it, right? Please correct me if I’m wrong.
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If the deficit is a real concern, then the only sane options are 1 and 2, the current state of Bush’s cuts and what Pfeiffer says is the White House’s position. 3, 4, and 5 are the compromise positions.

Well, I don’t think you’re entirely off base. What I was pointing out was that it is undecided at this point. Much of what has come out today seems to portray the issue as decided and I don’t believe that it is.
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While it’s not what I would prefer, I think #3 or #4 could be be reasonable alternatives (given that Obama is all about the art of possible) and anything other than #1 would increase the deficit. I believe the WH should strive for option #2 and make the Repubs vote against the bottom 98% but I’m not holding my breath.

And since he’s never been wrong of course….

Flying over Japan, Obama looks out of the window of Air Force 1 and glimpses a pair of…buttcheeks? “No, that can’t be…”, he thinks to himself.
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Pulling up his trousers and turning to face the departing plane, JC smiles…

“”B-b-b-but it’s gonna impact our quarterly profits…”

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Which will get passed on to consumers giving the left something else to whine about even though they caused it.– Moral responsibility checked at the door!

The other reality is to just let all the tax cuts expire. Taxes on my income are one thing I don’t mind paying–and I’m on the low end. Taxes on the food, ect., that buy is another story.

The thing I don’t understand about the Bush tax cuts is why would would any responsible president reduce taxes in a time of war? War needs to be paid for and it is always to pay for things up front than to put it on credit. That is the one thing most economists will agree on. If I am remembering my history correctly, Bush’s two wars are the only time in this country’s history in which taxes did not go up during war. We need a return, not to the days of the robber barons of the 1880s or of 1929 in which 1% of the wealthiest controled 80% of the economy, but to the 50s and 60s when 80% of the economy was controled by 50+% of the population.

Bush’s two wars are the only time in this country’s history in which taxes did not go up during war.

While I’m not certain if that is true, it was the only occasion where a tax cut was passed during a time of war.

Supreme Court Justice Alito as Republican, right wing fund raiser.
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http://thinkprogress.org/2010/11/10/sam-alito-republican-fundraiser/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/10/AR2010111005194.html
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David Broder gave us his brilliant advice to Obama to invade Iran to insure his reelection.
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His latest column advices defeated Senate and House members of both parties to just go along. Don’t bother supporting those things you really believe. Just sit down and shut up. Step back. More wise punditry from the Village Dean.
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http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/11/stephen-colbert-schools-michelle-obama-on-diplomatic-etiquette.php?ref=fpb
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Something just for fun. The always brilliant Colbert schools Michelle Obama on how to do those dipolmatic handshakes. Andrea Merkel will be most pleased.

Sore loser and hypocrite. freeinpa

Fox News & the NY Daily News are irate.
Whooda thunk?

new,
Be sure to put this one in your clip jar, and fish it out for posting at any random moment.

Good stuff. JC General can always be counted on to cut through the bs.
Did you hear Rush said today that Clyburn should be Nancy Pelosi’s chauffeur? You know driving Ms Daisy.
This is the guy the traditional media gives respect to and consider him just funny.
What a pig.