Author: kingsjester

64 year old Christian Conservative husband, father, and grandfather who has been writing since April 2010.

Like Obama, Hollyweird is Out-of-Touch

On By kingsjesterIn Politics5 Comments

On the heels of President Barack Hussein Obama’s un-constitutional Presidential Decree of last Friday, Hollyweird is proving themselves to be just as out-of-touch with average Americans as their messiah.

Deadline.com reports on a couple of “surefire hits” that are examples of a movie industry who is wrapped up in its own little world:

After the tsunami that was Marvel’s The Avengers, five major studio movies disappointed. Then DreamWorks Animation’s Madagascar 3 and Fox’s Prometheus performed better than expected and are still easily holding #1 and #2 their second weekends with $33.5M and $20.5M respectively. (Even though the Ridley Scott scifi thriller dropped a whopping -73% from last Friday to today because of all those gaping plot holes.)

Contrast that with Friday’s newcomers which each should have earned over $20M this weekend because of their star power. But New Line/Warner Bros’ Rock Of Ages (3,470 theaters) fell to earth with a thud. Which Hollywood expected because the pic had been tracking poorly for weeks (and even went down at one point week to week). The studio felt the 1980s period piece was a hard sell to younger moviegoers. I suspect the problem was casting. Russell Brand has been repellant to moviegoers, while Tom Cruise as iconic rocker proved just too incredulous for audiences. The PG-13 musical is looking to open to only $15.5M this weekend after taking in just $5.3M Friday. Given that the pic was based on the Broadway warbler, it did far worse than Mamma Mia which with the same pedigree opened to $27M. Warner Bros was holding out hope for this $75M-budget pic, thinking that a good CinemaScore could generate great word of mouth and therefore great legs for the film. It didn’t materialize: audiences only gave Rock Of Ages a mediocre ‘B’. There’s just no way to save this s(t)inker with hack director Adam Shankman at the helm: weekend gross may fall below $15M.

Columbia/Sony’s That’s My Boy (3,030 theaters) starring Adam Sandler also was bottoming. It will hurt further that audiences only gave it a ‘B-’ CinemaScore. (“But ‘B’s with everybody under 50,” a Sony exec emails me.) Hollywood didn’t expect Sandler to attract his usual family friendly audience with an ‘R’ rating. But an actor who reliably takes in $30M to $40M every opening weekend and then dropping to $14M after grossing only $4.5M today can’t go unchastized. Especially if he hurt his brand with his most recent pic, that execrable flop Jack & Jill. (How much you wanna bet Andy Samberg is rethinking that SNL exit now?) Weekend gross may fall below $12.5M.

Let’s dissect these brilliant pieces of cinematic skill, shall we?

First, according to fandango.com, Rock of Ages goes this way:

A small-town girl and a big-city boy find their fates intersecting on the Sunset Strip, riding a wave of romance through the height of the “hair metal” scene as the off-Broadway musical rocks its way to the big screen courtesy of choreographer-turned-director Adam Shankman (A Walk to Remember, Hairspray). Arriving in Hollywood with stars in her eyes, Sherrie (Julianne Hough) meets Drew (Diego Boneta), and together they plunge headlong into the local rock scene. Meanwhile, as Sherrie struggles to stay afloat in a churning sea of rock ‘n’ roll excess, she gets swept off her feet by audacious rock star Stacee Jaxx (Tom Cruise). Russell Brand, Paul Giamatti, and Bryan Cranston co-star in a movie featuring music by Journey, Def Leppard, Poison, Whitesnake, Bon Jovi, Foreigner, Joan Jett, and REO Speedwagon. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

And, “That’s My Boy” wastes 2 hours in the following manner, per fandango.com:

While still a teen himself, Donny (Adam Sandler) fathered a son,Todd (Andy Samberg), and raised him as a single parent. On Todd’s 18th birthday, Donny cut the youth loose. After years of estrangement,the older man shows up unexpectedly on the eve of his son’s wedding day, sending the young man’s life into a tailspin. Donny wants desperately to reconnect with Todd, but he must now deal with the repercussions of the bad parenting he exhibited in the past. Cast: Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Leighton Meester, Vanilla Ice, James Caan

Evidently, this movie is leaving everyone as cold as Ice, Ice, Baby.

The producers expected average Americans to find a story about a guy who slept with his teacher and got her pregnant, funny?

Epic failure.

As I sit here, on Father’s Day morning, thanking God for all the children I’ve helped to raise, my grandson, and my wonderful bride, I wonder how many other Americans Fathers here in the Heartland are doing the exact same thing?  

Answer: a lot.

Because, whatever the East and the West Coast, and all of the Main Stream Media tries to tell you, average Americans, there are a whole lot more of us than there are of them.

Believe it.

Just how out-of-touch are Hollywood Liberals?

Well, they expect us to buy the idea of Scientologist Tom Cruise as a rock star, Alec Baldwin as a long -haired hipster, and Barack Obama as a great president.

No wonder Arnold, Bruce, and Sly named their restaurant Planet Hollywood…because Hollyweird Liberals sure don’t live on this one.

Obama and Romney Vie for Illegals’ Votes

On By kingsjesterIn Politics13 Comments

I knew a fellow named Jose several years ago.  Jose’s family had immigrated from Puerto Rico to Milwaukee when he was 6 years old.  When we met, he lived in Northeastern Mississippi with his wife and 3 children.  Jose had a good job at Fed Ex.  Then, he got laid off.

After he lost his job, Jose became a handy man to make ends meet.  He mowed yards and painted houses.  He wound up with a solid business.

One time, when he was painting a room for me, I asked Jose about illegal immigration.  A grimace came over his usually smiling face.  He said that he resented these people sneaking into this country, while he and so many others, came in the right way.

Then there’s George.  George is a 3rd generation Hispanic American.  George served in Vietnam, and now lives outside of Detroit, after retiring from GM.  George can’t speak a word of Spanish.  A few summers ago, George was riding his Harley all the way to Arizona to visit a buddy whom he served with.  My bride and I were dating at the time.  Since George is married to her cousin, he spent the night at my place.

We talked all afternoon.  While we were talking, I asked George what he thought about the “newcomers”.  He said they needed to become citizens, period.

He was right.

However, I don’t think that he meant the way President Barack Hussein Obama wants to git-r-done.

The Obama Administration announced Friday it will stop deporting illegal immigrants who come to the country at a young age.

The politically charged decision comes as Obama faces a tough reelection fight against Republican Mitt Romney, and Hispanic voters in swing states will play a crucial role in the contest.

The change in policy could allow as many as 800,000 immigrants who came to the United States illegally not only to remain in the country without fear of being deported, but to work legally, according to a senior administration official speaking to reporters Friday.

In a Rose Garden statement, President Obama said the measure would “lift the shadow of deportation” from immigrants, some of who have made “extraordinary contributions” by “serving in our military and protecting our freedom.”

“That we would treat them as expendable makes no sense,” Obama said.

“They study in our schools, play in our neighborhoods … they pledge allegiance to our flag, they are Americans in their hearts and minds … and in every single way but one: on paper.”

Obama was briefly interrupted by a reporter during his statement, a rare breach of protocol that caused the president to lose his temper.

“Excuse me sir, it’s not time for questions, sir, not while I’m speaking,” Obama said.

Later in his statement, Obama, pointing his finger at the reporter in front of the live TV cameras, said: “And the answer to your question, sir — and the next time I prefer you to let me finish by statements before you ask a question — is this is the right thing to do for the American people. I didn’t ask for an argument, I’m answering your question.”

The new policy will not grant citizenship to children who came to the United States as illegal immigrants, but will remove the threat of deportation and grant them the right to work in the United States.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, the policy change will apply to those who came to the United States before they were 16 and who are younger than 30 if they have lived here for five years, have no criminal history, graduated from a U.S. high school or served in the military.

A memo from DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano ordering the “prosecutorial discretion with respect to individuals who came to the United States as children” argued that those covered by the order “only know this country as home.” It said these people “lacked the intent to violate the law.”

The new policy will apply to individuals who are already in deportation proceedings, the memo said.

The policy change will accomplish portions of the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, legislation that has stalled in Congress amid Republican opposition.

Never fear, Americans.  Mitt Romney will save us from this unconstitutional abuse of power!

Err…ahhh…never mind:

Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney suggested Friday that he was open to helping young illegal immigrants but said the new policy announced Friday by the Obama administration to suspend their deportations complicates efforts to find a permanent solution.

“I believe the status of young people who come here through no fault of their own is an important matter to be considered and should be solved on a long-term basis so they know what their future would be in this country,” Romney told reporters after a rally in New Hampshire. “I think the action that the president took today makes it more difficult to reach that long-term solution,” noting the new policy “could be reversed by subsequent presidents. I’d like to see legislation that deals with this issue.

His comments represented a sharp change in rhetoric from the Republican primaries, when Romney repeatedly sought to outflank his rivals with a hard line on illegal immigration.

I have a question for Scooter and Mittens…

What part of the word “illegal” do you not understand? What makes the current influx of illegal immigrants exempt from the rules and regulations that every other generation of immigrants to this country had to abide by in order to become legal citizens of the greatest nation in the world? By being here illegally, they are not entitled to the same rights as natural born or naturalized American citizens. In fact, their entry into this sacred land is no better than that of someone who breaks into someone’s home, does their dishes, cuts their yard, cleans their house, and then helps themselves to their food and drives their car without asking. This is in no way a human rights issue. Freedom is God-given. And with freedom comes responsibility. With citizenship comes responsibility, like paying taxes and making your own way. Illegal immigration reminds me of the amorous boyfriend who wants everything a young woman will give him, but will leave her at the first mention of marriage.  This is not a civil rights issue. Illegals do not have the same rights as American citizens. With our rights, come the responsibilities of being an American citizen.

I understand that people want a better life for themselves and their children.  We are all immigrants in this land, expect for American Indians, and they got here by crossing the Bering Straight.  But there is a huge difference between immigrating here legally and sneaking in illegally, between assimilating into an existing culture, and insisting on replacing a country’s existing culture with that of the country you left.

I’m all for assisting anyone in becoming a legal citizen of the United States, if that is their wish.  But, it must be done the right way, and they must accept responsibility for their illegal entry, show a willingness to learn our language, and embrace our American way of life, including respecting the American Flag.

But, hey…I guess that’s just me.

Obama: Style Over Substance

On By kingsjesterIn Politics5 Comments

Yesterday, a desperate-looking 44th President of the United States, one Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm), delivered a speech that was supposed to turn around his rapidly-tanking presidency.

To say that he failed is an understatement.  Even the Liberals were disappointed in their messiah.

Politicker.com reports that

Despite the hype, the speech was mainly a rehash of themes and ideas from the president’s recent stump speeches and his remarks were widely panned as overly long by the political press corps.

In the speech, President Obama outlined his view that this election is a choice between “two fundamentally different views of which direction America should take.” He characterized Mitt Romney’s vision as being the same as the “policies of the last decade,” specifically deregulation and tax cuts for the wealthy while he described his own “vision for America” as boiling down to five things: “Education. Energy. Innovation. Infrastructure. And a tax code focused on American job creation and balanced deficit reduction.” President Obama also stressed that the economic crisis began during the Bush administration and that is “started growing again” after he took office and has since “continued to grow.”

All of these points have already been featured in the president’s other recent speeches. Between the pre-speech hype from the campaign, the lack of new material and the overall length of the speech reporters were clearly dissatisfied with end result. Read on for a sampling of Tweets from the political press slamming the president’s speech.

Before the speech was over, Politico’s Mike O’Brien begged the president to stop.

Evidently, ol’ Scooter is now an embarrassment to the Liberals.

But, hey, Libs…there’s good news!  What Obama lacks in substance, he makes up for in style. Yeah, right…

Anna Wintour is becoming quite the fashionable fixture on President Obama’s campaign team this election season.

The Vogue editrix hit Chicago on Tuesday – flanked by supermodels Iman and Chanel Iman, designer Rachel Roy and Obama campaign manager Jim Messina – for an evening of haute fund-raising at Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Studios.

Wintour was on hand to preside over the Windy City debut of the “Runway to Win” collection, a line of Obama-themed clothes and accessories by designers like Prabal Gurung, Jason Wu, Marc Jacobs, Beyoncé & Tina Knowles, Tory Burch, Tracy Reese and Narcisco Rodriguez – several of whom are favorites of First Lady Michelle Obama.

Tickets ran from $150 for a guest pass to sip cocktails and shop the collection to $1,000 for a VIP package, including a photo reception with Wintour and Iman (aka Mrs. David Bowie) and a limited edition bag, to $2,500 for access to the show, the reception and an exclusive dinner party at Oprah’s Harpo headquarters. Donations benefited the Obama Victory Fund, according to a dedicated page on Obama’s website.

The “Runway to Win” line is also being promoted on the site, with most tops, bags and accessories going for under $100 – a much lower price point than those designers’ creations typically command.

Wintour has been ramping up her involvement, and her visibility, in the president’s reelection effort of late. Proving she’s good for far more than dispensing fashion tips to FLOTUS, Vogue’s longtime editor-in-chief has emerged as one of President Obama’s top boldfaced bundlers, raising over $500,000 for his second run on the White House.

The British-born Wintour’s rising profile in the American political arena has stirred up rumors that the 62-year-old fashion doyenne could be in the running to become America’s next ambassador to the United Kingdom, replacing the outgoing Louis Susman. However, an individual with knowledge of the situation told TheWrap that Wintour is happy at her current job.

Tuesday’s summit for Chicago-area fashionistas was a repeat of a “Runway to Win” campaign event co-hosted by Wintour and Scarlett Johansson in New York on February 7. On Thursday, Wintour will return to Manhattan for yet another fund-raiser, this time with the high-end asking price of $40,000 per guest to join Barack and Michelle Obama and Sarah Jessica Parker at the “Sex and the City” star’s home.

Okaaaay…let me try to get a handle on this:  Obama gives an speech on the economy , sporting all the gravitas of Peter Noone of Herman’s Hermits singing “I’m Henry VIII I Am”.

Second verse, same as the first…

Meanwhile, Mr. Class Warfare himself is hanging out and begging money from the nation’s Liberal Elite…the 1%, if you will, while Moochelle is picking out her Fall Wardrobe while clutching the White House Credit Card in her hot little hands.

Remember back in October of 2008, Presidential Candidate Obama urged Joe the Plumber to “spread the wealth around”?

Well, hypocrite thy name is Soetoro…errr…Obama.

UPI.com reported on 5/16/11 that

President Barack Obama’s wealth reaches upward of $3.8 million and possibly much higher, financial disclosure reports issued by the White House Monday show.

The forms, which only provide wide ranges for each category, show most of his assets are tied up in treasury notes and bills — $1 million to $5 million each, with another $1 million to $5 million in book royalties. Obama and his wife, Michelle, also have at least hundreds of thousands of dollars more tucked away in retirement funds and education funds for their two daughters.

At the lower level, Obama probably is worth $3.8 million and at the upper end would have as much as $16.8 million, the reports indicate.

Huh.  I wonder why OWS didn’t Occupy the White House Lawn?

Oh, yeah.  The Proletariat never picketed the Politboro, either.

Back on the Choom Gang

On By kingsjesterIn Politics4 Comments

A couple of weeks ago, veteran presidential biographer David Maraniss, whose book about “Bubba” Clinton, First In His Class, is considered the finest recount of the life of young Bubba, published his new book about the mysterious young life of the 44th President of the United States titled Barack Obama: The Story.

According to Maraniss:

A self-selected group of boys at Punahou School who loved basketball and good times called themselves the Choom Gang. Choom is a verb, meaning “to smoke marijuana.”

…As a member of the Choom Gang, Barry Obama was known for starting a few pot-smoking trends. The first was called “TA,” short for “total absorption.” To place this in the physical and political context of another young man who would grow up to be president, TA was the antithesis of Bill Clinton’s claim that as a Rhodes scholar at Oxford he smoked dope but never inhaled.

…Along with TA, Barry popularized the concept of “roof hits”: when they were chooming in the car all the windows had to be rolled up so no smoke blew out and went to waste; when the pot was gone, they tilted their heads back and sucked in the last bit of smoke from the ceiling.

…When you were with Barry and his pals, if you exhaled precious pakalolo (Hawaiian slang for marijuana, meaning “numbing tobacco”) instead of absorbing it fully into your lungs, you were assessed a penalty and your turn was skipped the next time the joint came around. “Wasting good bud smoke was not tolerated,” explained one member of the Choom Gang, Tom Topolinski, the Chinese-looking kid with a Polish name who answered to Topo.

…[Choom Gang member] Mark Bendix’s Volkswagen bus, also known as the Choomwagon. … The other members considered Mark Bendix the glue, he was funny, creative, and uninhibited, with a penchant for Marvel Comics. He also had that VW bus and a house with a pool, a bong, and a Nerf basketball, all enticements for them to slip off midday for a few unauthorized hours of recreation…

…Barry also had a knack for interceptions. When a joint was making the rounds, he often elbowed his way in, out of turn, shouted “Intercepted!,” and took an extra hit. No one seemed to mind.

Fast Forward to 2012.  Could the former Barry Soetoro be plotting another “interception”?  Because if he tries to do what this writer is surreptitiously suggesting he might, ol’ Scooter must still be chooming:

Elspeth Reeve reports for theatlanticwire.com that

In 2004 George W. Bush’s re-election campaign worked to put anti-gay marriage ballot initiatives up for vote in several swing states in order to turn out more hard-core conservatives to the polls. This year the question is whether marijuana legalization measures will turn out young voters for Obama.

Bush’s plan to use gay marriage bans — in states that did not actually allow gay marriage — as a turnout booster led to signs featuring icky public restroom symbols proliferated and liberal panic that the Christian right had taken over. The press obsessed over “values voters.” One of Bush’s aides, Ken Mehlman, who later came out as gay himself, has apologized for the strategy, two others say it didn’t work.

This year there’s another incumbent president with modest approval ratings who could turn out his base with controversial ballot measures. But this time, the issue features no biblical or scatological imagery. In 2012, voters in swing states will decide whether they’ll allow their fellow citizens to bear joints. Unlike the gay marriage votes, there’s no indication that Obama’s re-election team is behind any of the pot legalization initiatives, but there are Democrats who are hoping that it will boost turnout among weed’s biggest fans: young people.

Getting more young people to vote has long been a Democratic fantasy, since they tend to vote so heavily Democratic. But past attempts to bong the vote have been disappointing, in part because stoners aren’t the group anyone would most count on to bother filling out a ballot. Ahead of the 2010 midterms, The Wall Street Journal ran the story, “Democrats Look to Cultivate Pot Vote in 2012,” noting that California’s pot-legalizing Proposition 19 was being studied to see if similar measures “could energize young, liberal voters in swing states for the 2012 presidential election.” But exit polls that year showed no spike in young voter turnout, and marijuana legalization was the top issue for just 1 in 10 voters, the Los Angeles Times reported. (Also: Californians ended up voting down Prop. 19.) Still, there were hopeful signs: 64 percent of voters 18-to-24 supported it, and 52 percent of voters 25-to-29 did. In March, the pro-legalization site Just Say Now suggested that the presidential election will draw more young people to the polls, and they’ll vote for pot legalization while they’re there.

That being said, several have argued that this could be the year for pro-marijuana turnout. After all, 2011 was the first year more young people smoked pot than cigarettes, the CDC says. There is a marijuana initiative on the ballot in Washington, and there might be one in Nebraska and Massachusetts, but those states are pretty solid for one party or the other.

I wouldn’t put it past Obama to support legalization in a last ditch effort to avoid a political massacre.  

Why do you think they call it DOPE?

Liberals: A Study in Intolerance

On By kingsjesterIn Politics11 Comments

I’ve spent the last two days engaging in a “discussion” with an anonymous Moderate/Liberal/Moby, who took offense to my suggestion that the idiot Coney Island Principal who forbade 5 year olds from singing God Bless the USA, should go ahead and leave our country, if she hates it that much.

The anonymous woman (I presume) in question said, that I did not have the right to express my opinion in that way because it was rude.

Oh yeah?  Well, what do you call this, precious?

Noel Sheppard, posted the following at newsbusters.org:

Joy Behar, Al Gore’s new employee at Current TV, said Tuesday in response to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s comments on the need for more police, teachers, and firefighters, “I’d like to see his house burn, one of his millions of houses burning down.”

During an interview with the liberal website Mediaite, Behar added, “It would be kind of cool – the Mormon fire patrol”

MEDIAITE: What would you ask Romney if you could?

JOY BEHAR: I would ask him plenty of questions about, is he planning to endorse the Ryan budget? And I think that would be a terrible mistake. I don’t want to see people on the streets begging for food, thank you. And why does he hate Planned Parenthood? You know, he didn’t used to hate Planned Parenthood. I want to ask him about all the flip-flopping he’s been doing. That’s why he doesn’t want to come on, because he’s afraid of the questions.

MEDIAITE: I saw that you used to be a school teacher. What did you think about what he said about “teachers, firemen, and police?”

BEHAR: What did he say? Tell me what he said.

MEDIAITE: He was making fun of the President for wanting to hire more policemen and firemen and teachers saying, you know, “Didn’t he get the message of Wisconsin that we want less government?”

BEHAR: Oh, less government? That is an idiotic statement. Can I just say that?

MEDIAITE: Yes.

BEHAR: I mean, I’d like to see his house burn, one of his millions of houses burning down. It would be kind of cool – the Mormon fire patrol.

MEDIAITE: Is that a thing?

BEHAR: You know what I mean? Come on. What am I supposed to do if my apartment gets caught on fire? Am I gonna call Mitt Romney to come and put it out? See what I mean?

No, you belligerent Beltway Heifer, I don’t.  

You’ve made a living being an obnoxious loudmouth.  I can’t believe somebody would actually pay a no-talent whiney Lib like you, to express opinions which 80% of the country think are nothing but vacuous vulgarities.

But, that’s the double standard so prevalent in America today.  Liberals can say whatever they want to, about anybody they want to, no matter how vulgar and hurtful it is.

Sometimes, like David Letterman’s failed joke concerning Bristol Palin and a New York Yankee, they wind up having to apologize.  Most of the time, as in the case of all the unfunny oral diarrhea flowing from the walking, talking orifice known as Bill Maher, they don’t have to.

It’s viewed as witty and urbane by those Libs and Moderates on the East and West Coasts.

Those of us here in the Heartland, know the reason why his eyes are brown.

But, I digress…

It’s not just Liberal celebrities who are acting like idiots.

I’ve already written about the idiot principal up in Coney Island. Here’s another very educational example:

Gerald Molen won a best picture Oscar for co-producing Schindler’s List with Steven Spielberg and has produced such Hollywood blockbusters as the first two Jurassic Park films and Twister. He’s a former U.S. Marine and is a sought-after motivational speaker.

So he’s not accustomed to being shunned.

Such was the case, though, when he was invited to speak to the graduating class at a Montana high school. But upon arriving, was told by the principal he would not be allowed to deliver the speech he had prepared.

The reason, he believes, is politics.

Molen is one of those rare conservatives in Hollywood (he’s even making a documentary called 2016, based on the Dinesh D’Souza book The Roots of Obama’s Rage) and because of that, he says, Ronan High School principal Tom Stack decided to disinvite him — and he didn’t tell him so until after Molen made the 90-minute drive from his home in Bigfork, Mont.

Well, I’ve got some good news and some bad news for you: The good news is that the school district apologized to Molen. The bad news is that it was too late for him to speak at the graduation:

The incident as described by Molen “did, in fact, occur,” superintendent of schools for the Ronan district Andy Holmlund told The Hollywood Reporter on Friday.

“It is my understanding that the high-school principal made the decision based on his point of view. It is not the view of the district. That’s not the expectations that the district maintains. That principal will not be serving in this school district for the upcoming school year.”

Holmlund said Stack has accepted a position with a school in Clinton, Mont., though he refused to say when or why that decision had been made. Residents say it was likely unrelated to Stack’s decision to disinvite Molen.

Asked why Stack had not responded to several phone calls, Holmlund said: “I can’t speak to the fact that Mr. Stack isn’t talking.”

Asked about the public’s response to the sudden, nationwide pubicity to the controversy, Holmlund said: “Oh, it’s on fire, sir. Justifiably so. We don’t expect people to be treated poorly.”

Uh huh.  But, just like those 5 year olds up in Coney Island, Mr. Molen was.

Isn’t it funny, how those among us who claim to be the most tolerant, are actually the least tolerant of all?

You’ve Got to Know When to Hold(er) ’em…

On By kingsjesterIn Politics3 Comments

Our nation’s chief law enforcement office is standing accused of deliberately lying to Congress.

Per  CBSNews.com:

The House Oversight Committee will vote next week on whether to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress. It’s the fourth time in 30 years that Congress has launched a contempt action against an executive branch member.

This time, the dispute stems from Holder failing to turn over documents subpoenaed on October 12, 2011 in the Fast and Furious “gunwalking” investigation.

The Justice Department has maintained it has cooperated fully with the congressional investigation, turning over tens of thousands of documents and having Holder testify to Congress on the topic at least eight times.

However, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., says the Justice Department has refused to turn over tens of thousands of pages of documents. Those include materials created after Feb. 4, 2011, when the Justice Department wrote a letter to Congress saying no gunwalking had occurred. The Justice Department later retracted the denial.

“The Obama Administration has not asserted Executive Privilege or any other valid privilege over these materials and it is unacceptable that the Department of Justice refuses to produce them. These documents pertain to Operation Fast and Furious, the claims of whistleblowers, and why it took the Department nearly a year to retract false denials of reckless tactics,” Issa wrote in an announcement of the vote to be released shortly. It will reveal the vote is scheduled for Wednesday, June 20.

Issa says the Justice Department can still put a stop to the contempt process at any time by turning over the subpoenaed documents.

If the House Oversight Committee approves the contempt citation, the matter would likely be scheduled for a full House vote.

On 8/31/2011, heritage.org told the story of this fatally botched operation:

A U.S. government gun-trafficking investigation gone horribly wrong has resulted in the death of a U.S. Border Patrol officer, some 2,000 firearms in the hands of criminals, and the dismissal of a 24-year veteran law enforcement official. This is the story of Fast and Furious, and yesterday the latest chapter unfolded when two top officials associated with the operation were removed from their positions, while a third individual resigned.

The story begins in the fall of 2009, when the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) office in Phoenix, Arizona, began selling weapons to small-time gun buyers in the hopes of tracing them to major weapons traffickers along the southwestern border and into Mexico. Their efforts failed, the number of arms unaccounted for numbers around 1,500 as of late July, and about two-thirds of those guns ended up in Mexico, according to congressional testimony.

Tragically, the botched operation has had serious consequences. On the night of December 15, 2010, U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was shot and killed during an effort to catch several bandits targeting illegal immigrants in Arizona near the border. When law enforcement rushed to the scene, they discovered two of the killers’ assault rifles that were among those sold as part of Operation Fast and Furious. Additionally, 57 Fast and Furious weapons have been connected to at least an additional 11 violent crimes in the U.S.

Of course, the Obama Administration is incredulous over Congress’ accusations regarding the Attorney General’s role in this fatal fiasco:

RollCall.com reported yesterday that

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney today defended Attorney General Eric Holder’s cooperation with the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s investigation into the “Fast and Furious” gun smuggling operation.

Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) announced today that his committee will hold a vote June 20 on a report relating to the committee’s efforts to hold Holder in contempt of Congress for failing to produce some documents subpoenaed by the panel.

Carney said Holder has taken the allegations that a gun-running sting resulted in thousands of guns being lost to criminal elements in Mexico “very seriously” and has asked his own inspector general to investigate.

He added that the Justice Department has handed over more than 7,600 pages of documents to the committee and has appeared eight times before Congress to discuss the scandal.

Carney then referred reporters to comments by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), who told the Hill in March that the investigation is, in part, “politics.”

“Given the Justice Department’s efforts to accommodate the committee investigation, I can only refer you to the Republican House Judiciary member who recently conceded that this investigation is ‘politics,’” Carney said.

King’s comments appeared in a story about House GOP’s leadership’s reluctance to pursue the contempt citation against Holder. King reportedly said, “I think leadership doesn’t want to be seen as using the gavels here for political purposes. I think there’s a bit of an aversion to that. Me? I have no reservations about that. This is politics.”

Since then, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) have gotten behind Issa’s efforts to compel the Justice Department to comply with the committee subpoena.

Carney also said the White House does not see a need to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate national security leaks relating to cyber-attacks against Iran, the U.S. drone strike program, the president’s involvement in selecting which terrorism suspects should be targeted for assassination and other stories that have recently appeared in the news.

Carney cited the administration’s record in prosecuting leaks of classified information in the past in indicating that the White House believes that the two U.S. attorneys Holder has appointed will be able to independently investigate the source of the information.

“I think our seriousness about this matter in general — about these matters in general has been demonstrated while the president has been in office. I would refer you to the Department of Justice and the FBI when it regards questions of matters under investigation or potential investigation. So there is no need for a special counsel. These things have consistently been investigated when that’s appropriate,” Carney said.

Yeah, right.  And America’s Private Sector is doing just fine.

Liberal Coney Island Principal Indoctrinating 5 Year Olds

On By kingsjesterIn Politics25 Comments

Just when you think Liberals can’t get any dumber…

A controversial Coney Island principal has pulled the plug on patriotism.

Her refusal to let students sing “God Bless the USA” at their graduation has sparked fireworks at a school filled with proud immigrants.

Greta Hawkins, principal of PS 90, the Edna Cohen School, won’t allow kindergartners to belt out the beloved Lee Greenwood ballad, also known as “Proud to be an American,” at their moving-up ceremony.

Five classes spent months learning the patriotic song, which skyrocketed in popularity after the 9/11 attacks and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

It was to be the rousing finale of their musical show at the June 20 commencement. The kids, dressed up for their big day, would wave tiny American flags — which, as the lyrics proclaim, “still stand for freedom.”

But Hawkins marched in on a recent rehearsal and ordered a CD playing the anthem to be shut off, staffers said.

She told the teachers to drop the song from the program.

“We don’t want to offend other cultures,” they quoted her as explaining.

The curt edict stunned both staff and parents.

“A lot of people fought to move to America to live freely, so that song should be sung with a whole lot of pride,” said mom Luz Lozada, whose son, Daniel, is in kindergarten.

The song has been sung at previous school events. Last year’s fifth-graders, including another Lozada child, performed it at graduation.

“Everybody applauded and whistled,” the mom said. “They gave it a standing ovation.”

Parents — many immigrants from Pakistan, Mexico and Ecuador — “love it,” Lozada said.

A teacher agreed: “It makes them a little goosebumpy and teary-eyed. I’ve never come across anyone who felt it insulted their culture.”

Department of Education spokeswoman Jessica Scaperotti gave The Post an explanation staffers said they never heard — that Hawkins found the lyrics “too grown up” for 5-year-olds.

Oh, yeah?  Here are the lyrics to Beiber’s “Baby”:

Featuring: Ludacris

You know you love me, I know you care

Just shout whenever, and I’ll be there

You are my love, you are my heart

And we will never, ever, ever be apart

Are we an item? Girl, quit playin’

“We’re just friends,” what are you sayin’?

Said “there’s another,” and looked right in my eyes

My first love broke my heart for the first time

And I was like baby, baby, baby, oh

Like baby, baby, baby, no

Like baby, baby, baby, oh

I thought you’d always be mine, mine

Baby, baby, baby, oh

Like baby, baby, baby, no

Like baby, baby, baby, oh

I thought you’d always be mine, mine

For you, I would have done whatever

And I just can’t believe we’re here together

And I wanna play it cool, but I’m losin’ you

I’ll buy you anything, I’ll buy you any ring

And I’m in pieces, baby fix me

And just shake me ’til you wake me from this bad dream

I’m goin’ down, down, down, down

And I just can’t believe my first love won’t be around

And I’m like baby, baby, baby, oh

Like baby, baby, baby, no

Like baby, baby, baby, oh

I thought you’d always be mine, mine

Baby, baby, baby, oh

Like baby, baby, baby, no

Like baby, baby, baby, oh

I thought you’d always be mine, mine

When I was 13, I had my first love

There was nobody that compared to my baby

And nobody came between us who could ever come above

She had me going crazy, oh I was starstruck

She woke me up daily, don’t need no Starbucks

She made my heart pound

I skip a beat when I see her in the street

And at school on the playground

But I really wanna see her on a weekend

She know she got me dazin’ ’cause she was so amazin’

And now my heart is breakin’ but I just keep on sayin’

Baby, baby, baby, oh

Like baby, baby, baby, no

Like baby, baby, baby, oh

I thought you’d always be mine, mine

Baby, baby, baby, oh

Like baby, baby, baby, no

Like baby, baby, baby, oh

I thought you’d always be mine, mine

I’m all gone

(Yeah, yeah, yeah)

(Yeah, yeah, yeah)

Now I’m all gone

(Yeah, yeah, yeah)

(Yeah, yeah, yeah)

Now I’m all gone

(Yeah, yeah, yeah)

(Yeah, yeah, yeah)

Now I’m all gone, gone, gone, gone

I’m gone

And this idiot principal wants 5 year olds singing about “hein’ and shein'”?

Listen,  little Miss Lib, if you find these lyrics offensive…you need to move to another country.

If tomorrow all the things were gone

I’d worked for all my life

And I had to start again

With just my children and my wife

I’d thank my lucky stars

To be living here today

‘Cause the flag still stands for freedom

And they can’t take that away

And I’m proud to be an American

Where at least I know I’m free

And I won’t forget the men who died

Who gave that right to me

And I gladly stand up next to you

And defend her still today

‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land

God Bless the U.S.A.

From the lakes of Minnesota

To the hills of Tennessee

Across the plains of Texas

From sea to shining sea

From Detroit down to Houston

And New York to L.A.

Well there’s pride in every American heart

And it’s time we stand and say

That I’m proud to be an American

Where at least I know I’m free

And I won’t forget the men who died

Who gave that right to me

And I gladly stand up next to you

And defend her still today

‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land

God Bless the U.S.A.

And I’m proud to be an American

Where at least I know I’m free

And I won’t forget the men who died

Who gave that right to me

And I gladly stand up next to you

And defend her still today

‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land

God Bless the U.S.A.

Ignorant censorship in the name of Political Correctness, is just one of the reasons the Libs and their messiah are going to lose in November.

And she is supposed to be an educator?  Puhleeze.

Obama: Data Mining for Fun and Profit

On By kingsjesterIn Politics2 Comments

In this technology-driven age, where you can remotely view the lives of other Americans, through the magic of Web 2.0, the art of data mining has become more and more valuable.

What is data mining?  Is there a little tiny prospector living in my computer?

According to theatlantic.com:

Discovering information from data takes two major forms: description and prediction. At the scale we are talking about, it is hard to know what the data shows. Data mining is used to simplify and summarize the data in a manner that we can understand, and then allow us to infer things about specific cases based on the patterns we have observed. Of course, specific applications of data mining methods are limited by the data and computing power available, and are tailored for specific needs and goals. However, there are several main types of pattern detection that are commonly used. These general forms illustrate what data mining can do.

Anomaly detection : in a large data set it is possible to get a picture of what the data tends to look like in a typical case. Statistics can be used to determine if something is notably different from this pattern. For instance, the IRS could model typical tax returns and use anomaly detection to identify specific returns that differ from this for review and audit.

Association learning: This is the type of data mining that drives the Amazon recommendation system. For instance, this might reveal that customers who bought a cocktail shaker and a cocktail recipe book also often buy martini glasses. These types of findings are often used for targeting coupons/deals or advertising. Similarly, this form of data mining (albeit a quite complex version) is behind Netflix movie recommendations.

Cluster detection: one type of pattern recognition that is particularly useful is recognizing distinct clusters or sub-categories within the data. Without data mining, an analyst would have to look at the data and decide on a set of categories which they believe captures the relevant distinctions between apparent groups in the data. This would risk missing important categories. With data mining it is possible to let the data itself determine the groups. This is one of the black-box type of algorithms that are hard to understand. But in a simple example – again with purchasing behavior – we can imagine that the purchasing habits of different hobbyists would look quite different from each other: gardeners, fishermen and model airplane enthusiasts would all be quite distinct. Machine learning algorithms can detect all of the different subgroups within a dataset that differ significantly from each other.

Classification: If an existing structure is already known, data mining can be used to classify new cases into these pre-determined categories. Learning from a large set of pre-classified examples, algorithms can detect persistent systemic differences between items in each group and apply these rules to new classification problems. Spam filters are a great example of this – large sets of emails that have been identified as spam have enabled filters to notice differences in word usage between legitimate and spam messages, and classify incoming messages according to these rules with a high degree of accuracy.

Regression: Data mining can be used to construct predictive models based on many variables. Facebook, for example, might be interested in predicting future engagement for a user based on past behavior. Factors like the amount of personal information shared, number of photos tagged, friend requests initiated or accepted, comments, likes etc. could all be included in such a model. Over time, this model could be honed to include or weight things differently as Facebook compares how the predictions differ from observed behavior. Ultimately these findings could be used to guide design in order to encourage more of the behaviors that seem to lead to increased engagement over time.

Predictive behavior.  Hmmm.  Like, which presidential candidate an American is going to vote for?

The Obama Administration is betting the house that they can predict the mood of the country through data mining.

Per politico.com:

The depth and breadth of the Obama campaign’s 2012 digital operation — from data mining to online organizing — reaches so far beyond anything politics has ever seen, experts maintain, that it could impact the outcome of a close presidential election. It makes the president’s much-heralded 2008 social media juggernaut — which raised half billion dollars and revolutionized politics — look like cavemen with stone tablets.

The article goes on to say that the difference between 2008’s campaign and 2012’s is the fact that Obama’s Campaign Staff have:

• Created a holistic, totally in-house digital operation that is the largest department at campaign headquarters. In 2008, much of the social media and video was generated organically from supporters. As one campaign official put it, “digital is no longer a part of the campaign. It is the campaign.”

• Hired a number of nonpolitical tech innovators, software engineers and statisticians. “It has been incredibly freeing, because all election campaigns are a slave to history, and the history here is just nonexistent,” says Obama campaign manager Jim Messina. “So, we’ve been able to kind of reinvent it.”

• Invested mightily in cutting-edge technology that scales the website to fit the screen of any device. With nearly half of the U.S. population using smart phones, “responsive design” allows a user to give money and volunteer without bifocals. “More than 40 percent of all our donors are new, and a lot of them are coming in because of things like this,” says Messina. “Call up our website and try to donate on your phone and then do Romney’s. … Those things are important, because people are busy and people want to help us and they think about — ‘Oh, yeah, I saw the president on TV. I want to give them money. How hard is it?’ ”

• Developed a more complex symbiosis between the campaign and Facebook, which is 10 times bigger than it was four years go, and has far more personal information available to mine. “Facebook was just a site to see friends four year ago now it is part of people’s DNA,” notes a senior campaign adviser. Obama invites supporters to log on to the campaign through their Facebook accounts, which gives the campaign one more avenue for data.

• Opened the first all-volunteer. all-digital office in San Francisco where knowledgeable techies drop in for a few hours and strive to develop new software for the campaign under the supervision of paid staff.

• Staffed a full-time digital director in each of about a dozen battleground states to effectively run mini-general election campaigns in those states.

Now, it seems to me, that, analyzing results gleaned from a data base, is a poor substitute for actually listening to the American people.

But, hey, I guess that’s just my opinion.

Overcoming Obama’s Economy

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics15 Comments

Have you ever said something really ig’nant and had to back off from it?

President Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm) had to deal with that embarrassing situation yesterday.

He did some moondancing that the late Michael Jackson would be envious of:

President Obama on Friday afternoon backed away from his earlier comments that the “private sector is doing fine,” telling reporters that he does not believe the economy is doing fine.

“That’s precisely why I asked Congress to start taking some steps that can make a difference,” Mr. Obama said in brief remarks to reporters during a meeting with the visiting Philippines president.

Republicans had seized on comments Mr. Obama made during an earlier news conference, in which he repeatedly made the point that hiring at private businesses is doing well, while hiring by state and local government is not.

“The private sector is doing fine,” Mr. Obama said at the news conference.

But by later in the day, Mr. Obama had decided to emphasize that he does not believe that the overall economy is doing fine, as Republicans were trying to suggest.

“Listen, it is absolutely clear the economy is not doing fine,” he said. He suggested that Republicans had misstated his words from earlier in the day.

“I think if you look at what I said this morning, what I’ve been saying consistently over the last year, we’ve actually seen some good momentum in the private sector,” he said. “There’s been 4.3 million jobs created, 800,000 this year alone, record corporate profits.”

He added: “And so that has not been the biggest drag on the economy.”

Mr. Obama said the economy “needs to be strengthened,” adding that “I believe that there are a lot of Americans who are hurting right now, which is what I’ve been saying for the last year, two years, three years, what I’ve been saying since I came into office.”

Obama’s feckless Economic Plan has done about as much good for our country as a screen door on a submarine.

I know.  I was one of those affected by it.

Beginning in January of 2009, I attempted to sell Health Insurance, first with AFLAC, then as an agent with an Independent Broker.

I gave it my best shot, battling against Obama’s war on the American Healthcare System.  However, as I soon found out, creditors don’t take promises as collateral.

Desperate to try to bring some money into the household, a good friend of mine told me about an opportunity for a technology internship, working with a quasi-governmental non-profit agency that came in from Canada to work with the schools after Hurricane Katrina.

At the age of 52, I became the world’s oldest intern.

I began with them in January of 2011, working at a local school for 30 hours a week and the local branch of the state Employment Office for the remaining 10 hours each week.

It was a good experience.  The Lord taught me humility, while allowing me to catch up with technology, such as Skype and interactive whiteboards.  I also had the opportunity to work with some great professionals, and some great young interns.

While at the Employment Office, I was able to observe folks down on their luck, struggling to find work and survive in this economy.

I also saw American families whose existance living on the Government Dole, had become generational.

It is these people whom Obama and the Democrats have hypnotized into believing that Uncle Sugar loves them, and is their only solution to surviving a stifling existence.

They are so, so wrong.

The strength and vitality of America does not come from the benevolence of a Nanny-state Federal Government.

As the greatest American President of our lifetime, Ronald Reagan said:

The nine words you never want to hear are:  I’m from the Government and I’m here to help.

Being enslaved to the Government Dole steals one’s ambition.  It takes away any impetus or desire to create a better life for yourself and your family, to challenge yourself to pick yourself up by your bootstraps and pursue the American Dream.  It makes you reliant on a politically-motivated spider’s web full of government bureaucrats who view you and your family as job security.

I watched American citizens trapped in this web of government bureaucracy,  so numbed of any initiative that they once had, that they seemed offended that they actually had to prove that they inquired about three jobs that week in order to keep their “benefits”.  Others seemed puzzled that they had to search through the state data base and pick out a job that they wanted to talk to an interviewer about receiving a referral to, and weren’t just simply handed a job when they walked through the door.

My last day as an intern was yesterday.  This Monday, I begin an new adventure.  Thanks to another very good friend, I was given the opportunity to interview for a position at a 100 person, 5-company corporation.

Last Saturday, my friend called me with the good news:  I got the job!

The title:  Vice-President of Marketing.

I’ll be doing some Internet Marketing, including Blogging and Tweeting, writing press releases and newsletters, attending Chamber of Commerce Meetings, and, of course, other duties as assigned.

It wasn’t Uncle Sugar/the Obama Administration that gave me this job.  

It was a God thing and I hope you understand.

May his days be few; may another take his office!

Psalm 109:8 – English Standard Version (©2001)

Conservatism Rules! My 800th Blog

On By kingsjesterIn Politics8 Comments

Today, I am writing my 800th blog.  It seems like just the other day that my good friend, Col. Manly Rash, Gene Hoyas, now known as the Bulldog Pundit (genehoyas.com), was asking me to contribute my thoughts to his website.  Thank you, Gene, for all of your advice and unflinching support.

I began my own blog in April of 2010.  Since then, I’ve had the opportunity to share my thoughts with 113, 504 readers, and have been quoted on such websites as Texas Conservatives for Palin, OpenCongress,The Top Ten Conservatives to Follow on Twitter, and, of course, genehoyas.com.

So, my Conservative friends…are we making a difference?

You betcha!

Mark Halperin is singing a Democratic Dirge on time.com:

With five months until Election Day, Barack Obama faces a grim new reality: Republicans now believe Mitt Romney can win, and Democrats believe Obama can lose … Last week’s anemic job-creation and economic-growth data was sandwiched between two Bill Clinton specials: in one television interview, the 42nd President lauded Romney’s business record as “sterling”; in another, he veered from the Obama line on the extension of Bush-era tax cuts … The failure to unseat Wisconsin’s Republican governor Scott Walker in a recall election was another bad sign for Democrats since it will rev up conservatives nationwide, including the kind of millionaires who gave big bucks to Walker’s effort … Veteran Democratic strategists from previous presidential bids and on Capitol Hill now wonder if the Obama re-election crew is working with the right message … The White House remains on a rough political trajectory, with a potentially adverse Supreme Court decision on the Obama health care law looming, additional bad economic news from Europe coming and more worrisome polling pending … Another danger for the President: the media freak show. Stalking that circus’ center ring is Matt Drudge, whose caustic website continues to help drive the news cycle with an emphasis on negative, mocking items about Obama and Vice President Joe Biden and their wives. The latest sign of Drudge’s potency: Ed Klein, the author of the virulently anti-Obama book The Amateur, was barred from major TV appearances and mostly ignored by the mainstream media, but the book’s prominence on Drudge’s website propelled it to the No. 1 slot on the New York Times nonfiction list.

Cry me a river, Mark.  You guys have been supporting a socialist, anti-American, pompous jackwagon and a poor excuse for a president since the Great Pretender somehow got his amaciated hindquarters elected to the most important job in the Free World.

Well, about now, some of you “Fiscal Conservatives”, up in the Northeastern Corridor, otherwise known as Liberals, are saying:

Wait a second, you Mississippi Hick!  You can’t call Obama a SOCIALIST!  He’s just a “good guy who’s in over his head”.

Yeah, right.  And I’m a 22 year old, blonde Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader named Buffy.

Stanley Kurtz writes on nationalreview.com that

On the evening of January 11, 1996, while Mitt Romney was in the final years of his run as the head of Bain Capital, Barack Obama formally joined the New Party, which was deeply hostile to the mainstream of the Democratic party and even to American capitalism. In 2008, candidate Obama deceived the American public about his potentially damaging tie to this third party. The issue remains as fresh as today’s headlines, as Romney argues that Obama is trying to move the United States toward European-style social democracy, which was precisely the New Party’s goal.

In late October 2008, when I wrote here at National Review Online that Obama had been a member of the New Party, his campaign sharply denied it, calling my claim a “crackpot smear.” Fight the Smears, an official Obama-campaign website, staunchly maintained that “Barack has been a member of only one political party, the Democratic Party.” I rebutted this, but the debate was never taken up by the mainstream press.

Recently obtained evidence from the updated records of Illinois ACORN at the Wisconsin Historical Society now definitively establishes that Obama was a member of the New Party. He also signed a “contract” promising to publicly support and associate himself with the New Party while in office.

Minutes of the meeting on January 11, 1996, of the New Party’s Chicago chapter read as follows:

Barack Obama, candidate for State Senate in the 13th Legislative District, gave a statement to the membership and answered questions. He signed the New Party “Candidate Contract” and requested an endorsement from the New Party. He also joined the New Party.

Consistent with this, a roster of the Chicago chapter of the New Party from early 1997 lists Obama as a member, with January 11, 1996, indicated as the date he joined.

So…where was the Main Stream Media, back in 2008, when this Marxist was running for president?

Why, they were proclaiming him as their messiah.  He was going to make the oceans rise and fall with the wave of his majestic hand.

Sho’ ’nuff, he’s made a lot of things fall in this nation:

the number of Americans that have a job, our financial rating, our international prestige, our world academic standing, and the inherent class and decorum of the office of the American President.

On the other hand, he did make one thing rise:  Americans’ blood pressure.

Fear not.  Better days are ahead.  

The past is a memory.  The future is a promise.  Today is a gift.  That’s why it is called the present.

Thank you for putting up with me. God Bless You All!