Daschle Thought Limo and Driver Was Non-Taxable

Daschle Inconvenienced

Those Dems are really the party of the average Joe, lemme tell ya! All of my friends at the country club have the same trouble reporting their limo and driver on the IRS 1040 form. From ABC:

ABC News has learned that the nomination of former Senator Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., to be President Obama's secretary of health and human services has hit a traffic snarl on its way through the Senate Finance Committee.

The controversy deals with a car and driver lent to Daschle by a wealthy Democratic friend -- a chauffeur service the former senator used for years without declaring it on his taxes.

It remains an open question as to whether this is a "speed bump," as a Democratic Senate ally of Daschle put it, or something more damaging.

Why can't Democrats (so inclined to tax the piss out of the rest of us) figure out how to pay their own damn taxes? This follows closely on the heels of Geithner (Obama's Treausry Sec) who couldn't figure out how to pony up his share either. But, Daschle will most likely get confirmed to head the HHS and the media will lose interest in this story faster than the Mystery of Chris Dodd's Mortgage Papers (where are those things anyways?).Tax problems are only for regular Americans, not self-righteous Americans that claim they can renew America.

-Famine

Stimulus Passes House

Not a single Republican voted for this turd. It's your problem, Democrats.

Obama Tries to Go In Thru Window at White House

D'oh!

So The Obama really is human! The president accidentally tried to get into the White House through a window. From NY Daily News:

It looks like President Obama hasn't gotten acquainted to his White House surroundings. On the way back to the Oval Office Tuesday, the President approached a paned window, instead of the actual door -- located a few feet to his right.

We're going to cut him some slack, since he was probably out back for a smoke break. Any smoker can empathize.

Geithner Limits Access for Lobbyists to TARP Funds...Then Hires Ex-Lobbyist as Chief of Staff!

It's Good to Be Connected

Geithner, the recently appointed Treasury Secretary who couldn't figure out TurboTax, has vowed to continue giving the imbeciles on Wall Street that ruined the American economy our taxpayer dollars. However, he has vowed to restrict lobbyist access to what's left of $700B TARP bonanza. From WaPo:

"American taxpayers deserve to know that their money is spent in the most effective way to stabilize the financial system," Geithner said in a statement yesterday. "Today's actions reaffirm our commitment toward that goal."

This sounds like a move in the right direction, since the American public has no clue how the first $350B of TARP funds was spent, and all we here from these greedy banks is that they want more. But Geithner is just putting on a dog-and-pony show, because he just hired a former Goldman Sachs lobbyist to be his Chief of Staff. From USA Today:

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner picked a former Goldman Sachs lobbyist as a top aide Tuesday, the same day he announced rules aimed at reducing the role of lobbyists in agency decisions.

Mark Patterson will serve as Geithner's chief of staff at Treasury, which oversees the government's $700 billion financial bailout program. Goldman Sachs received $10 billion of that money.

So lobbyists might be barred from stealing your tax dollars under this bailout scam, but it's okay for former ones to be the go-to guy in the Treasury department...W-T-F.

It's long been known that DC is a cesspool of sleaze and corruption, but the Obama administration rode into power vowing to change all that and impose restrictions on former lobbyists working for its staff. But, already there's a Raytheon lobbyist at the DoD, this Goldman Sachs shill, and the "global warming" czar was on the board of directors for a carbon-offsets firm in 2008. Obama must think the American public and media are so stupid that they wouldn't notice these "minor details". Unfortunately, it's already too late to make a difference.

One humorous anecdote from the USA Today article:

Dave Wenhold, of the American League of Lobbyists, said lobbyists bring expertise to the job. "Just because you are registered to lobby doesn't mean that you are evil, " he said.

Maybe not "evil" in the Hitler sense, but having a career based on manipulating public funds to your private employers benefit certainly makes you an asshole.

Stimulus Bill a Big Sloppy BBQ

Obama's stimulus package has little to do with making long-term infrastructure investments and everything to do with dishing out money to keep the government afloat for a few more years while we go deeper into debt. Net Right Nation discusses the details of the stimulus to be voted on today:

But, of course, in the final analysis, that does not mean that the $825 billion legislation will be any less wasteful. Because, it will not matter to the American taxpayer whether the bacon was added to the package piecemeal—or if the entire pig was served up upon introduction, as appears to be the case here.

As ALG News reported yesterday in “The Top-Ten Bottom Feeders,” the debt stimulus has plenty of pork: $300 billion to bail out state governments from record deficits, $4.19 billion for “neighborhood stabilization” that’s really a disguised payout to groups like ACORN that are made eligible for said funds, $650 million for digital TV coupons, and $21 million for sod.

According to top Capitol Hill sources close to the process, instead of the typical earmark process—the Christmas tree decoration approach as described by Mr. Obama in the above quotation—pet projects have been inserted as specific sections of the bill itself. In short, why nickel and dime it, when you can just go whole hog?

Sleazy payday-loan type places are already trying to cash in on the Leskonomics that pervades the Democrat party by promising free government grants and loans. How much longer can our country sustain itself by going further into the stink hole? When we as a nation believe that the government should provide everything from free health care to digital TV coupons, we probably won't be able to last very long.

1000 Words

Thanks madtom.

Biden Continues to Depress the Nation with Economic and War News

Authorities Talk With Young Man Who Saw Biden's Face The Nation Appearance

Shortly before he became the Vice President, Joe Biden declared a Carter-esque "War on the Economy" in an attempt to whip up support for the Obama stimulus plan and save America's prosperity. But after only a week on the job, he's already throwing in the towel and saying that the economy is pretty much a goner. From IHT:

As the administration pressed for quick action, Vice President Joseph Biden Jr. offered a bleak assessment of the current situation but predicted that the stimulus package would ultimately pass Congress with support from both parties. Speaking to Bob Schieffer on CBS's "Face the Nation," Biden said of the economy, "It's worse, quite frankly, Bob, then everyone thought it was, and it's getting worse every day."

"There's no good news, and there's no good news on the horizon."

Biden doesn't offer any good news for armed forces serving in Operation Enduring Freedom either. From the same Face the Nation appearance:

"We're about to go in and try to essentially reclaim territory that's been effectively lost. ... All of this means we're going to be engaging the enemy more now."

Asked if this would lead to more losses of U.S. soldiers, Biden said: "I hate to say it, but yes I think there will be. There will be an uptick."

With high approval ratings for Obama, they must feel confident to let gaffe-master Joe out of his cage. If polling falters for Obama, expect Joe to go back in hiding from the media along with Rahm Emanuel.

Embarrassingly Drunk Diane Sawyer Rails on About Obama

Most people get fired when they show up for work this blatantly intoxicated, but in the Oboner media, you can probably use the excuse that you were just "so moved" by the spirit of The One. (h/t Subrookie)

Susan Sarandon Compares Obama to Jesus

At a swanky, celebrity-ridden inaugural ball, The Hill picked up this quote from The One:

Movie star Susan Sarandon compared President Obama to Jesus. Broadway and film actor Alan Cumming thought of him more like Mahatma Gandhi.

“He is a community organizer like Jesus was,” Sarandon said Tuesday night on the bright blue carpet leading into the Creative Coalition’s 2009 Ball at the Harman Center for the Arts in Chinatown. “And now, we’re a community and he can organize us.”

Sarandon said she planned to push hard for veterans’ rights. “That’s going to be my personal b---h,” she said.

What is it with the far left comparing Obama to Jesus? Funny how they like to claim to be dubbed "The Reality Based Community" and we're the weirdos. As for Sarandon making veterans' causes "her bitch", don't count on much from her. Here's what she had to say about notorious emo-traitor/deserter Lt. Watada last year:

If the definition of a hero is one who is distinguished by exceptional courage then Lieutenant Ehren Watada is a hero as he knowingly and freely faces courtmartial and conviction and the likely possibility of imprisonment, hard labor, and harassment. Lieutenant Ehren Watada is a loyal American patriot and a hero, setting a shining example for all Americans and for this I and all Americans should be supportive and in his debt.

Odd, most people just think he's a big pussy. Perhaps this type of mentality amongst America's cultural elite is why Obama skipped out on the Medal of Honor recipients inaugural ball.

-Famine

Leper Messiah Inauguration

My tribute video to commemorate this historic event.. Sorry I couldn't bring the hope and change, because the montage has a bit of a despair quality to it. Cynicism and skepticism aren't dead just yet!

The Real Obama Cheerleaders

Politico has a video clip of a young high school troupe of cheerleaders doing a montage for the President Elect prior to inauguration. No harm, no foul, as anything that keeps young people off my lawn is a good, wholesome activity. But the video fails to mention the real Obama cheerleaders, which has been the media reluctant to criticize The Obama and unashamedly partisan in their "objective" reporting. No wonder they won The Fiskie this year, even beating perennial nuisance Code Pink.

Be The Coolest Guy at Whole Foods With an Obama Tat!

If you thought you just couldn't take seeing another Obama/Biden bumper sticker on the Subaru Outback going 20 MPH below the speed limit in the left lane of the highway, you'll probably not going to want to see this. A DC Tattoo shop is reporting record business by inking up Obama. From NY Daily News (h/t Pirate's Cove):

The crew at Fatty’s Custom Tattooz in Washington, D.C., is gearing up for the new administration with “Obamathon.” Starting Friday and running through Inauguration Day, patrons can get a free Obama ’08 tattoo with the purchase of another tat costing $200 or more. And if a chest piece featuring the First Family isn’t fanatical enough, Fatty’s is also offering an “Obama piercing.”

I have no idea what an "Obama piercing" entails, but it's probably on par with a Prince Albert accompanied with a massive gangrene infection, which summarizes the pain felt by this blogger on 2008 election night. If hard-line Obamatrons wanted to get a horrendous tattoo, they could have at least picked something that delivered on promises. One example would be the Power Glove from 1989 movie The Wizard. Fred Savage never said Americans would be getting free health care, just that Super Mario Brothers 3 would be totally wicked (and it was).

Dear Obama...

...please, save me from your followers. Thanks.


More Obama art presented without irony at CNN.

Historic Inauguration To Be Interrupted With Sham-Wow Commercials

Change We Can Believe In!

JammieWearingFool directs our attention to the Obama team selling off "exclusive rights" to TV networks to broadcast the coming festivities in DC. Despite the fact that this inauguration fit for a Pharaoh is being paid for with taxpayer dollars, the Obama team still finds a way to cash in. From WaPo:

Barack Obama's inaugural organizing committee has struck deals with three television networks to the tune of more than $5 million, giving the networks exclusive access to inaugural events. But the arrangement is prompting questions about the president-elect's efforts to raise money by turning his inauguration into made-for-TV productions.

To pay off this outlandish expense for a public ceremony, ABC is going to have to air commercials:

The ABC program will carry commercial breaks, meaning the network may be able to turn a profit on the event.

So if you were planning an inauguration orgy to celebrate the second-coming of the messiah, plan on interruptions from Billy Mays hocking Orange-Glo cleaner and that Sham-Wow putz spoiling the mood.

-Famine

Organizing for America: Obama's Brownshirts Get $75M Annual Budget

I Want You!...to hassle people that don't support my agenda

With unemployment on the rise, it appears The Obama has a solution to allow legions of young people to pay the bills for their tofu diets, yoga lessons and whatnot. He has enlisted an army of community organizers, pamphleteers, and annoying new media people to "push his agenda", despite the fact that America may not even survive until the 2012 campaign season. Ben Smith of Politco has the scoop:

In a video message to supporters, Obama gives his campaign organization a name -- "Organizing for America" -- and a mission: running a permanent campaign for his legislative and governing agenda.

It's a potentially hugely, uniquely powerful tool, enhancing the muscle of the official who is already the most powerful man in America.

Organizing for America sounds a lot like the standard political apparatus in this country to humiliate the opposition, silence critics in the media, and usher forth a new era of cornball propaganda, but do we have to pay for it? LA Times reports that this boondoggle has a $75M budget of taxpayer money, which is pretty generous since I thought the sheer awesomeness of Obama's "Change" message was enough to transcend mere monetary transactions. Better take those "un-revolutionary" bumper stickers off your car, unless you want a government-funded brick through your windshield.

-Famine

Guy To Oversee Obama's IRS Goobed Up His Taxes

Sorry we're a bit late on this story, but Obama's nominee for Treasury Secretary, the department that oversees the much-hated IRS, boned up his taxes a few years back. From Fox News:

But as a result of a 2006 audit, Geithner paid $16,732 in back taxes and penalties for the 2003-2004 period. Just before he was nominated, the Obama team found that he had failed to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes for the 2001-2002 period as well. Geithner ended up paying to the IRS $25,970 in back taxes and penalties for a total of $42,702 in late payments.

Honestly, can you blame the guy? When even simple investments in mutual funds require complicated forms around the dreaded April 15th deadline (Foreign Tax Credit Deduction...WTF?!?), it's no surprise that even a person with a graduate-level education would goof it up. This should be a sign that Geithner should maybe consider simplifying the tax code. But phonebooks full of laws and regulations keep tax lawyers, DC bureaucrats, and other parasites who provide no value for society gainfully employed. Don't expect any "change" to come to that regulatory-industrial complex.

Obama Wear Gets Kinky

A reporter from across the pond ponders our American obsession with Barack Obama kitsch. From the Guardian:

But anyone walking around Washington, and likely most cities in this country, you will see all manner of Obama-themed schlock: flags, glasses, tee-shirts, everything, sold without authorisation from Obama or the inaugural committee. And then today, looking over the CafePress website, I found a whole page of Obama thong knickers in a variety of different styles.

He's not joking, there are literally thousands of thongs of various design on sale at Cafe Press.

Hypothetically, say you brought a lovely-looking vixen home from the bar at closing time, got her back to your pad, and saw that she was wearing a "Barack My World" thong? Would you rather find that during foreplay or discover that she was a dude?

The Global Warming Commissar

During the campaign, The Obama took some well-deserved heat for having economic policies that reeked of the failed economic model of socialism. The Obamarama water-carriers in the media did everything they could to ensure the campaign wasn't derailed, and they were, of course, successful. That's why news that Obama's new Global Warming Czar was a member of a socialist umbrella organization will be met with yawns. Washington Times has some of the details (h/t GP):

Until last week, Carol M. Browner, President-elect Barack Obama's pick as global warming czar, was listed as one of 14 leaders of a socialist group's Commission for a Sustainable World Society, which calls for "global governance" and says rich countries must shrink their economies to address climate change.

By Thursday, Mrs. Browner's name and biography had been removed from Socialist International's Web page, though a photo of her speaking June 30 to the group's congress in Greece was still available.

Don't say we weren't warned.

It's Official, Obama is Now Mr. Cool

Move over, Fonz, because Obama has usurped the title of "Mr. Cool", according to the media. David Ignatius has a good Monday morning stroke-fest at WaPo:

As the days tick down toward inauguration, Obama remains Mr. Cool. His advisers say he makes decisions more confidently than anyone they've ever watched in politics. He's fashioning a new style of governing, as if by instinct. He's rebuilding a center that many analysts thought was impossible. He's heading into the loneliest, most difficult terrain on earth, and he's still making it look easy. But it won't be.

It should be noted that this is not the first time Ignatius has referred to Obama as Mr. Cool. From back in May:

What's compelling about Obama is that fusion of grace and ambition. He's playing for the highest stakes, but he makes it look easy. That cool, graceful quality evokes John F. Kennedy and the Rat Pack -- all these sleek, handsome men in silk suits and skinny ties who never break character, never miss a beat.

Damn dude, just blow the guy while you're down there.

With a hard-hitting, attack-dog press corps like this, why would the President even bother having competence or transparency in office. Even ball-busting media programs like PBS: Frontline are giving Obama a pass. What a joke. On the plus side, it makes this blog look like it's run by huge assholes, haha.

-Famine

My Call to Service

Well, it's still a week from the Inauguration, but Michelle Obama is calling me to service;

She writes in the email;

Volunteers of all ages and backgrounds are committing to renew America together, one community at a time.

Whatever service activity you organize or take part in -- cleaning up a park, giving blood, volunteering at a homeless shelter, or mentoring an at-risk youth -- you can help start this important journey. But this is about more than just a single day of service, it's the beginning of an ongoing commitment to your community.

Um, aren't all of those things reasons they give me to pay my taxes? Every year I pay tens of thousands of dollars of my earnings to the State and Federal governments because they think they can do those things better than I can do those things. Now they're admitting that my money goes down a black hole and I need to do those things in addition to pay my taxes on time?

But I've been "enabled to serve";

Don't worry, if fewer people than expected want to serve, more of us will be "enabled", I'm sure.

Obama To Reneg on Promises of Massive Tax Cuts, Unicorns

Uh, The Country's Broke Dummy

Anyone with a rudimentary understanding of economics or an 8-year old with an allowance would have understood that Obama made way too costly campaign promises that could never come to fruition. Now, Obama is admitting that times are going to be tough for everybody and all the free shit you thought you voted for yourself isn't coming soon. From Politico:

"George, I want to be realistic here: Not everything that we talked about during the campaign are we going to be able to do on the pace we had hoped," Obama said in brief excerpts released by ABC.

Obama also hinted at future tax increases and spending cuts.

"Everybody's going to have to give," Obama said. "Everybody's going to have to have some skin in the game."

To his credit, I am pleased that Obama is being straight up with the American people and that he has stopped trying to buy the public's support with ridiculous largesse. But if you thought you were getting a pony by voting for your guy, you're a ma-roon.

-Famine

Pardon Us For Not Supporting the Government Gospel

In regards to Obama's big speech on big government spending, Reason is a bit skeptical about the following statement from our President-Elect:

Only government can break the vicious cycles that are crippling our economy—where a lack of spending leads to lost jobs which leads to even less spending; where an inability to lend and borrow stops growth and leads to even less credit.

To parlay this crass intervention, progressive blogger John Amato writes at Crooks and Liars that the era of the "anti-government" mantra is over:

Good government is crucial in restoring this country to prosperity and as we have all witnessed, conservatism has indeed unleashed its destructive influence over every part of our society.

Sorry to not run with open arms into the "pro-government" aura there, Mr. Amato, but the last 30 years have seen the federal government turn our once great inner cities into war zones through misguided policies, run up an obscene national debt plus $50 Trillion in unfunded future entitlements, and scandal after scandal of politicians in the highest ranks of government. Can you blame the skeptics or the majority of Americans who think the federal government is doing a rotten job at managing and leading our nation? Is there any reason to believe that subsidizing the "zombie" banks by printing more money is going to work? Obama might talk a lot about "change", but the 111th Congress that decides on how money is spent is already off to a pretty shaky start. $3.5M in taxpayer money to celebrate St Augustine, FL 450th birthday might be a part of this economic stimulus. And, if it's not on the President's desk Jan. 21st, "More Dreams Will Be Deferred and Denied" according to our savior.

-Famine

Guy Under Federal Investigation Gave Obama $28,500 At Fancy Dinner

Those Napkins Aren't Free Y'Know

Michael Rubin, who forced Obama's Commerce Secretary into resignation due to alleged "pay-2-play" corruption, seems to have gotten around quite a bit in elite Dem soirees. From ABC (by way of Hot Air):

In late September, Rubin attended an exclusive Los Angeles fundraiser for Obama, held at the Beverly Hills' Greystone Mansion. Attendees gave tens of thousands of dollars which the campaign split between its own coffers, the Democratic National Committee and state-level campaign groups supporting Obama and Democratic candidates. The technique helps campaigns take in from individuals far more than the $2,300 maximum they are allowed to give to a single campaign fund.Rubin's money went to a joint Obama-DNC fund ($28,500), the DNC itself ($26,200), and to the Obama campaign ($2,300), according to the database of campaign donations at OpenSecrets.Org. News of the federal investigation into Rubin's New Mexico dealings had broken less than three weeks earlier.

Seeing how Obama did not refuse campaign cash from a bundler who openly called for the death of U.S. troops in Iraq, the bar is already set pretty low. Consider this a non-issue, let's move it along people.

-Famine

Joe "The Terrible" Declares War on America! Evokes the Prose of Jimmy Carter

Why is this man trying to kill us all?

We may have been at war with Islamic extremism since 9/11, but, apparently, you ain't seen nothing yet. Channeling the legendary wisdom of Jimmy Carter's famous malaise speech, where an economic crisis was considered "the moral equivalence of war", our incoming vice prez has taken it a step further and simply declared "We're at War!" in regards to the economy. Politico has the scoop:

Vice-president-elect Joe Biden likened the country’s economic crisis to the attacks of 9/11 Monday in a private meeting on Capitol Hill.

“We’re at war,” Biden told congressional leaders of both parties during their sit-down with Barack Obama in the Capitol, according to two sources familiar with the exchange.

It’s not the first time the vice-president-elect has used stark language to underscore the perilous state of the economy. In an interview last month on ABC’s “This Week,” Biden said that a stimulus package was needed to keep the economy from “absolutely tanking.”

Since the meeting was private, the article is a bit terse on who will be the targets in this new begotten battlefield. Will it be gubernatorial boobs, like The Governator, who ruined their state's economy through irresponsible fiscal spending? Will it be sheisty banks that offered shady loans and made off like bandits during the housing bubble? Or will it be the emerging American tendency to saddle yourself so badly with debt that, in the old days, you would have gotten your legs broken on more than one occasion by the neighborhood loan shark.

Regardless of who we are at war with, Biden seems to be whipping up support for the Obamarama fiscal stimulus package, which promises to inject more funny money into the economy that the government doesn't have. Politico also had an article about the GOP predicting an Obama backlash. As a blogger, I welcome poor policy decisions wrought with bad ideas from the administration, strictly for entertainment value. But as Americans, we should all be shitting in our pants that collapse of the dollar will make America look like Germany in the 1920s, with kids flying around kites made out of Deutschemarks. We all know how that turned out in the end...

-Famine

Panetta? Are you kidding me?

Barack Obama has chosen clintonista Leon Panetta as his CIA director. Can anyone tell me why? Seriously. The Wall Street Journal writes;

The pick was unexpected because many of the names discussed for the job had been intelligence professionals. Mr. Panetta, whose background is in politics and government, has not worked for an intelligence agency.

With a war raging across the globe, do we really need a poltician with no intelligence experience running our intelligence service? A guy who is going to consider the political impact of every decision instead of the welfare of the nation and the American? And where's this damn change we were promised?

Of course, the Washington Post defends the choice;

In choosing Panetta, Obama, appears to have opted for a fresh start at an agency plagued by numerous scandals during the Bush tenure. Obama bypassed several candidates with CIA backgrounds for a politically savvy manager with personal ties to Obama and to Congress.

Officials familiar with the choice noted that Panetta, as Clinton's chief of staff, participated in the daily intelligence briefings in the Oval Office and had intimate knowledge of the interaction between the agency and the White House. Panetta also was a member of the Iraq Study Group.

"He has sufficient gravitas to ensure that CIA equities are going to be protected, and the agency continues to have a strong voice," said a former senior CIA official told of Obama's choice.

Isn't that dandy? He sat in on briefings eight years ago. Then I guess I'm qualified for a lot of stuff I know nothing about, because I've sat in on tons of briefings over the last 53 years. If he was going to be Agriculture Secretary, I'd expect him to have grown a plant at least once in his life. Why can't I expect the CIA director to have some intelligence experience.

Oh, and who was the guy apologizing for the Clinton Administration's pilfering of the famed FBI records? Um, Clinton chief-of-staff Panetta. Imagine the fun he can have with CIA files. Of course, it could have been worse. he could have named failed super spy Sandy Berger.

Terrorist Bill Ayers Now Blogging at Huffington Post...with suggestions for Obama

I'm Sure He's a Swell Guy in Person Though!

One disturbing trend of the Obama victory has been a resurgence of far-left 60s kooks into our political zeitgeist, energized by the cult of personality surrounding "change". The guy that should have been imprisoned or, at the very least, gone away many decades ago has some groovy new ideas for an Obama administration. From Bill Ayers at the Terl-awarded Huffington Post (h/t GP):

Obama is not a monarch -- Arne Duncan is not education czar -- and we are not his subjects. If we want a foreign policy based on justice, for example, we ought to get busy organizing a robust anti-imperialist peace movement; if we want to end the death penalty we better get smart about changing the dominant narrative concerning crime and punishment. We are not allowed to sit quietly in a democracy awaiting salvation from above. We are all equal, and we all need to speak up and speak out right now.

Seeing how Bill Ayers never repented for his crimes against America, the "anti-imperialist peace movement" would probably involve a Maoist purge of those with non-revolutionary points of view. The fact that this assface gets primo internet space and a legion of sympathizers shows America isn't ready to go beyond 60s radical chic. It's annoying that these people think Obama is one of them, when they should be quietly retiring to geezer homes and living off social security.

-Famine