Romney: Romneycare Good. Obamacare Bad.

Yesterday, Former Governor of Massachusetts and potential Republican Presidential Nominee Mitt Romney wrote the following op ed post for nationalreviewonline.com:

If I Were President: Obamacare, One Year In

March 22, 2011 8:20 P.M. By Mitt Romney

If I were president, on Day One I would issue an executive order paving the way for Obamacare waivers to all 50 states. The executive order would direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services and all relevant federal officials to return the maximum possible authority to the states to innovate and design health-care solutions that work best for them.

As I have stated time and again, a one-size-fits-all national plan that raises taxes is simply not the answer. Under our federalist system, the states are “laboratories of democracy.” They should be free to experiment. By the way, what works in one state may not be the answer for another. Of course, the ultimate goal is to repeal Obamacare and replace it with free-market reforms that promote competition and lower health-care costs. But since an outright repeal would take time, an executive order is the first step in returning power to the states.

Back in 2006, Romney was singing a different tune as he signed a massive health-insurance overhaul into law as Governor of Massachusetts. “Romneycare” was packed with subsidies, exchanges, and mandates to extend coverage to the uninsured. Four years later, it became the model for the national nightmare known as Obamacare.

David Boaz, vice president of the libertarian Cato Institute once said:

As President Obama himself has pointed out, Romney is the guy who created the prototype for Obamacare. How can he lead the charge against a health-care plan that is modeled on his own?

Appearing at a Lincoln Day dinner in the early voting state of New Hampshire on Saturday, March 5th, Romney spoke on what he perceives as the difference between the passage of Romneycare and his pre-campaign promise to repeal Obamacare if he is elected president.

Romney proclaimed:

Our approach was a state plan intended to address problems that were in many ways unique to Massachusetts.

Our experiment wasn’t perfect-some things worked, some didn’t, and some things I’d change. One thing I would never do is to usurp the constitutional power of states with a one-size-fits-all federal takeover.

I would repeal Obamacare, if I were ever in a position to do so. My experience has taught me that states are where health care programs for the uninsured should be crafted, just as the Constitution provides. Obamacare is bad law, bad policy, and it is bad for America’s families.

So, what is the truth concerning Romneycare?  Well, according to this article, posted on wsj (Wall Street Journal).com on January 21st, 2010:

Using the Census Bureau’s current population survey, University of Kentucky economist Aaron Yelowitz and Michael Cannon of the Cato Institute studied RomneyCare between 2005 and 2008—that is, two years on either side of its passage. The share of uninsured residents did fall to 5.4% in 2008 from 9.8% in 2005 (though the authors argue this reduction is overstated).

But Messrs. Yelowitz and Cannon show that most of the new coverage was concentrated among people earning under 300% of the federal poverty level, or about $66,000 for a family of four. Those happen to be the same people who qualify for subsidies in the heavily regulated insurance “connector,” the prototype for the “exchanges” that Democrats were contemplating before Mr. [Senator-Elect Scott] Brown so rudely interrupted.

Coverage for adults in this group increased by 14.2 percentage points—which merely proves that “universal” coverage isn’t much of a problem if health care is cheap for consumers. But another way of thinking about it is that the subsidies amount to a taxpayer-funded insurance discount. The same increase in coverage might be achievable if health care were less expensive. But rather than deregulate and reform the private market to lower costs, Mr. Romney and Democrats defaulted to the same public transfer payments that define ObamaCare.

…Meanwhile, although Mr. Romney promised that his plan would lower costs, the liberal Commonwealth Fund reports that Massachusetts insurance costs have climbed anywhere from 21% to 46% faster than the U.S. average since 2005. Employer-sponsored premiums are now the highest in the nation.

Let’s go a step further.  In 2008, in a debate in New Hampshire, Romney said:

I like mandates…The mandate works.

He was speaking about the individual mandate in Romneycare requiring the purchase of health insurance by every citizen of Massachusetts.

Sound familiar?

According to a survey by the state Division of Health Care Finance and Policy, 98 percent of Massachusetts residents had health insurance in 2010; a March 2011 report issued by Gallup put the figure close to 95 percent. However, that did not happen without a cost.  An analysis from the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation found that state spending on health care reform grew from $1.04 billion in 2006 to about $1.75billion in 2010.

This hypocritical argument from Governor Romney appears, at present, to be ringing hollow with potential Republican voters.

Hopefully, the GOP will realize For Whom the Bell Tolls.

When You’ve Lost Calypso Louie…

Did you hear about what Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan said about to the man he once told an audience of young people was “The Messiah”.  No? Watch this:

Per the Chicago Sun Times, Calypso Louie (as the great El Rushbo has named him) said recently at the annual Saviours’ Day convention at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois that Moammar Gadhafi has always been a friend and he won’t distance himself from the Libyan dictator.

And the President of the United States of America, Barack Hussein Obama’s Pastor, who he sat under for 20 years, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, loves Minister Louis Farrakhan:

In fact, Jeremiah Wright traveled with Farrakhan to visit Gadhafi in 1984.

 Obama’s former Pastor and Mentor said about the trip:

When [Obama’s] enemies find out that in 1984 I went to Tripoli to visit [Gadhafi] with Farrakhan, a lot of his Jewish support will dry up quicker than a snowball in hell.”

Farrakhan, a close friend and associate of Wright, has been financed by Kadhafi, including a $5 million interest-free loan in 1985.

Later that year, Kadhafi spoke by satellite to Farrakhan’s Saviour’s Day Convention in Chicago.

But, I digress…

During this recent speech, Farrakhan,77, had to admit that no leader has ever been loved by 100 percent of his people and went on to say that if Gadhafi is persecuted for crimes against humanity, the same should apply to former President George W. Bush for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As I  noted earlier, Farrakhan visited Gadhafi in the 1980s and in 1996 accepted a humanitarian award from him.

Calypso Louie, speaking to around 18,000 of his cult that Sunday, shared a vision concerning America:

What you are looking at in Tunisia, in Egypt, in Yemen, in Jordan, in Libya, in Bahrain will soon, very soon be in all the nations of the world . . . and even sooner take place in America.

What you see happening there, you’d better prepare because it will be coming to your door, America.

I hope that President Obama will remember his instructions to all nations — be careful how you attack and kill innocent people who are protesting. Take your own words into your bosom and be reminded when it comes to your home.

His mind-numbed followers gave him several wild standing ovations during the four-hour speech.

Farrakhan joked:

Don’t leave until I close — that might be a year from now.

Teach on! 

his sycophants responded.

Farrakhan had nothing but praise for fellow cultist L. Ron Hubbard and his Church of Scientology, saying that he was impressed with the church’s method of “auditing”which he compared to therapy.

He also proclaimed that Hubbard had a mission to “civilize white people,” adding that Hubbard “is so exceedingly valuable to every white person on this earth.”

Scientology books were available for sale at the Savior’s Day event, but the Nation of Islam Leader said that he was not converting to Scientology.

Farrakhan’s speech also included his usual diatribe, featuring a focus on the common beliefs of Christians and Muslims who he said “should not be at war with one another,” explaining how the Nation of Islam believes that white people were created from blacks 4,000 years ago on an Aegean island by a black scientist, and on problems affecting the black community, including street gangs.

He then slammed the overtly sexual performances of pop star Rihanna, proclaiming the performances as “filthy” and that people who enjoyed such antics were “swine,” a description he also applied to homosexuals and lesbians.  He also criticized immigrant Muslims in the Chicago area for moving to white suburbs and looking down at black Muslims.

Calypso Louie said that during Black History Month, schools should teach from Nation of Islam books that say Jewish people took advantage of blacks.

In other words: Same ol’, same ol’.

He also gave the dire warning that non-believers and the sinful would face the wrath of God through high-technology UFOs or “wheels” that he has often described in previous addresses.

Again: Same ol’, same ol’.

Obama’s dithering  appears to be eroding away at his Far Left Wacko Base.  Now, considering that Liberals only make up about 18 % of America’s population, that probably is not a very high percentage of voters.  But, still, it is possible that whatever Moderates and Independents out there who are still unsure about how they are going to vote in 2012 will finally realize who it is that Obama has actually been community organizing for these past two years and vote Republican.

Michele Obama in picture with Khadijah Farrakhan, Louis Farrakhan’s wife

…That is, if the Republican Elite don’t nominate another Dole or McCain.

Arab League to Obama: Hey, Waitaminute!

Before President Barack Hussein Obama and a “coalition” of UN allies came riding to the rescue of the citizens of Libya, the U.S. President had the support, and possibly, a mandate from the League of Arab Nations.

Per thefreedictionary.com:

[The League of Arab Nations], popular name for the League of Arab States, formed in 1945 in an attempt to give political expression to the Arab nations. The original charter members were Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Transjordan (now Jordan), Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen. A representative of Palestinian Arabs, although he did not sign the charter because he represented no recognized government, was given full status and a vote in the Arab League. The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was granted full membership in 1976. Other current members include Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea (pending in 1999), Kuwait, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia, and the United Arab Emirates.

When the state of Israel was created in 1948, the league countries jointly attacked it, but Israel resisted successfully. The league continued to maintain a boycott of Israel and of companies trading with Israel. The summit conferences of 1964–65 established a joint Arab military command, which proved unsuccessful in implementing a united strategy for the liberation of Palestine. Egypt’s membership was suspended from 1979 to 1989 because of its treaty with Israel, and the league’s headquarters were moved to Tunis. In 1988 the league endorsed the PLO’s plan for a negotiated settlement with Israel, and in 1991 Cairo once again became its headquarters. In 2002 the league for the first time offered Israel normal relations with Arab countries if it met certain conditions, but many of those conditions were not acceptable to Israel.

For many years, closer political unity among members was hampered by a division between pro-Western member countries and neutralist or pro-Soviet ones; more recently the division has been between militant Islamic fundamentalists and Arab moderates. The league ultimately supported Iraq in the Iran-Iraq War Iran-Iraq War, 1980–88, a protracted military conflict between Iran and Iraq. It officially began on Sept. 22, 1980, with an Iraqi land and air invasion of western Iran, although Iraqi spokespersons maintained that Iran had been engaging in artillery attacks on but was divided over the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990 First Persian Gulf War, Jan.–Feb.  In 1993 the league issued a statement condemning all forms of terrorism. 

Now that the war against Kadhafi has begun, the League appears to be having second thoughts.

The League’s Secretary general, Amr Moussa, is now whining about the amount of bombing that the coalition forces are doing in Libya. He announced Sunday that he was going to call for a league meeting to possibly rescind their approval of the war.

According to Moussa, the Arab League’s March 12th approval of a no-fly zone was given in order to stop Kadhafi’s air force from attacking civilians. According to him, the heavy bombing and missile attacks, including on Tripoli, the capital, and on Libyan ground forces, were not part of the deal.

What is happening in Libya differs from the aim of imposing a no-fly zone. And what we want is the protection of civilians and not the shelling of more civilians.

Moussa issued his statement because some of the 22 Arab League members were apparently shocked by what they have seen and want to take back their approval. They don’t want to be seen as supporting the infidels by the rest of the Arab (Muslim) world. the leaders and people of the Middle East have always gone off at the first hint of Western intervention, even though, in this case, they all know that Kadhafi is a madman.

The removal of the League’s endorsement would be a serious blow against Obama and his coalition. They’ve been using the Arab League decision as a justification for obtaining a U.N. Security Council resolution two days before going to war with Kadhafi.

Most of the Arab nations are keeping their mouths shut as the prosecution of the war begins its second day.

The usual Peanut Gallery all expressed their displeasure with the war, including Arab Presidents Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, Evo Morales of Bolivia and former Cuban president Fidel Castro. They, of course, claim that the coalition is attacking Libya in order to get their hands on Libya’s oil reserves.

Russia and China have also come out against the war.

I’m shocked.

Despite Obama’s announcement that all the Arab Nations are on board, Qatar is the only one that has announced that it would participate in the campaign.

Qatar’s prime minister, Hamad bin Jasim al-Thani, told reporters that the kingdom made its decision in order to “stop the bloodbath” that he said Kahdafi was inflicting on rebel forces and civilians in opposition-controlled cities.

However, Qatar has not said exactly what their contribution will be to the coalition’s action.

But, hey, even if Obama’s support among the League of Arab Nations crumbles around him, he still has one Arab Leader who loves him:  The one he’s sent us to bomb.

In a letter, sent to Obama before the war began in earnest, Libyan leader Moammar Kadhafi wrote:

To our son, his excellency, Mr Baracka Hussein Obama. I have said to you before, that even if Libya and the United States of America enter into a war, god forbid, you will always remain a son. Your picture will not be changed.”

Does  that have anything to do with the announcement that Admiral Mullen made yesterday, when he stated on Fox News that our goal was not to oust Kadhafi from power?

Naw, probably not.

A Weird War

As you and I slept, American Armed Forces began Operation Odyssey Dawn.

Per reports, heard this morning on Fox New’s Fox and Friends, Admiral Mullen has announced that stealth bombers from our shores hit Libya’s runways last night, dropping dozens of bombs, and crippling the madman’s Moammar Kadhafi’s ability to launch airstrikes against his own people.

The Pentagon has also announced that 114 Tomahawk cruise missiles have been launched from U.S. and British ships in the Mediterranean, hitting more than 20 Libyan targets along the Mediterranean coastline.

Our country has at least 11 naval vessels in the Mediterranean, including three submarines, two destroyers, two amphibious warfare ships and the USS Mount Whitney, a command-and-control vessel that is the flagship of the Navy’s 6th Fleet. Also in the area are Navy P-3 and EP-3 surveillance aircraft.

The U.S. military strikes are supposed to clear the way for European and other planes to enforce a no-fly zone designed to ground Kadhafi’s air force and cripple his ability to inflict further violence on rebels, according to U.S. officials said.

President Obama gave the go-ahead for limited military action against Libya Saturday.

He did not ask for a vote from Congress, as, in his mind, a UN consensus trumps whatever his country’s elected representatives think.

In his statement from his vay-cay in Brazil, he said:

We cannot stand idly by when a tyrant tells his people there will be no mercy.

The president also assured us that the U.S. will not be deploying ground forces into Libya.

Is it just me, gentle reader, or, did you also think that it was inappropriate for the President of United States to announce that we were going to war, while he was on a trip with his family in Brazil?

Explosions and gunfire were heard in the Libyan capital of Tripoli Sunday morning as Kadhafi proclaimed on state-run radio that the allied bombings were “acts of terrorism”.

He also claimed that all of Libya’s people were now carrying weapons to defend the nation:

We will not leave our land and we will liberate it.

The madman announced that he has opened up the weapons depots to Libyans, and he said that everyone is armed with “automatic weapons, mortars, bombs.

It is now necessary to open the stores and arm all the masses with all types of weapons to defend the independence, unity and honor of Libya.

We promise you a long war.

I thought Obama said that this would only take “a few days”?

Pro-Kadhafi forces are fighting back, firing anti-aircraft weapons back at the allied forces bombing them. Thousands of these forces have gathered in the huge

Bab al-Aziziya military camp in Tripoli where the madman lives to protect against attacks.

According to a New York Times report, supporters have also packed the interior halls of Kadhafi’s compound as human shields, offering to protect the leader against bombings.

And yet, on Fox and Friends this morning, Admiral Mullen said that the goal was not to oust Moammar Kadhafi from his throne of power.

Then, what are we doing? The Libyan rebels do not have the firepower to oust the madman on their own. Given the opportunity, Kadhafi’s thuggish ground forces will murder them all while they sleep…and their loved ones, too.

President Reagan knew exactly who Kadhafi was. He called him “the mad dog of the Middle East”

But, I digress…

British forces have launched air attacks on Libya early Sunday, U.K. defense officials said.

Our other “allies” are not quite so bold. NATO is trying to decide whether the alliance will join in on the strikes in Libya. According to diplomats sources, NATO’s military planners are due to present final action plans to the North Atlantic Council on Sunday.

Libya’s state television claims that 64 people have been killed during the military attacks. So far, that report cannot be verified.

There are a total of 25 coalition ships in the Mediterranean, 11 of which are U.S. warships.

It is the largest international military action since the beginning of the Iraq war, launched almost exactly eight years ago.

Fox News is now reporting that Russia is demanding that America and our allies stop this war against Libya. 

Let’s review.  After 31 days of sitting around and making vague threats while Libyan madman Moammar Kadhafi murdered his own countrymen, the President of the United States of America, Barack Hussein Obama, seen here shaking hands with Kadhafi at the G2 Summit, his administration, and a coalition from the UN, who, just recently, suspended Libya from their Human Rights Council on March 1st, made the decision to prosecute a “limited war” against the madman Moammar Kadhafi.

The goals of this war are uncertain, as Admiral Mullen announced this morning that Kadhafi may still be in power when this conflict is over. 

Everything about this “limited war”, the timing, the “coalition”, and the prosecution, smells like week-old fish.  Meanwhile, our Best and Brightest are the ones over there in harm’s way.

What in the Wide, Wide World of Sports is a-goin’ on here?

Obama’s UN Resolution: Too Little, Too Late?

The United Nations has given the go-ahead to begin military action against crazy Libyan leader Muammar Kadhafi.  His threat to storm the rebel stronghold of Benghazi overnight, showing “no mercy, no pity.”, appears to have been the last straw.

Kadhafi announced in a radio address:

We will come, zenga, zenga. House by house, room by room.

As he readied his offensive, Al Jazeera television was showing thousands of Benghazi residents in a central square celebrating the U.N. vote, waving anti-Kadhafi tri-color flags and yelling chants of defiance aimed at their tormentor, of four decades. Fireworks could be seen in the skies about the city.

The madman, Kadhafi, had previously told the citizens of Libya that only those who lay down their arms would be spared the vengeance that he was going to exact on ‘rats and dogs’.

Kadhifi said:

It’s over. The issue has been decided. We are coming tonight…We will find you in your closets.

We will have no mercy and no pity.

The U.N. Security Council’s resolution, which they passed yesterday, calls for a no-fly zone to around 100 km (60 miles) from Benghazi. The resolution also calls for “all necessary measures” (military action) to protect civilians against Kadhafi’s thugs.

However, the flame of Revolution is very close to being extinquished.

According to Libyans, Kadhafi’s air force launched three air raids on the city of 670,000 yesterday. There has also been horrendous ground fighting along the Mediterranean coastal road.

France’s diplomants have announced that the UN attack could come within hours, and may include France, Britain and possibly the United States and one or more Arab states. However, a U.S. military official said no immediate U.S. action was expected following the vote.

Only five of the UN Security Coucil’s fifteen members refused to vote for the attack on Libya. Russia, China and Germany were among the five that refused to vote for the resolution. There were no votes against the resolution, which was co-sponsored by France, Britain, Lebanon and the United States.

According to Rebel National Council head Mustafa Abdel Jalil, Al Jazeera television air strikes are essential in stopping Kadhafi.

We stand on firm ground. We will not be intimidated by these lies and claims… We will not settle for anything but liberation from this regime.

Nobody knows if Kadhafi was just running off at the mouth, or if he was serious in his threat to take over the city.  However, the UN could not take that chance.

A lot of Arabs feel that if Kadhafi were to take the day, it would be a severe blow against “pro-democracy” (their words) movements that have unseated the governments in Tunisia and Egypt and started huge protests in Bahrain, Yemen and elsewhere.

After the vote, Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., proclaimed that the resolution sends a “strong message” to Kadhafi that the violence against his own people must stop:

This resolution was designed to do two important things. Protect civilians as well as strengthen the pressure on the Kadhafi regime through a substantial tightening of sanctions.

Excuse me, Ma’am.  Do you and your boss actually think that a resolution is going to scare a madman?  You had better be prepared to back it up.

Compare and Contrast:

April 5, 1986 – The discotheque “La Belle” in West Berlin, a hangout for US troops, is bombed. Two people are killed, and more than 200 are injured. The CIA suspects Libya is behind the plot.

April 14, 1986 – US war planes bomb military bases in Libya, including the barracks of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi. Two of Kadhafi’s sons are injured. A girl whom he claims was his adopted daughter is killed.

March 17, 2011 – 31 days after a revolution to overthrow the madman, Moammar Kadhafi, begins, President Barack Hussein Obama backs a UN resolution to establish a “no-fly” zone is Libya.

Perhaps Obama’s reluctance is due to the fact that Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s spiritual adviser for more than 23 years, is “buds” with the madman, Kadhafi.

Or, perhaps, it’s because the Libyan dictator also has financed and strongly supported the Nation of Islam and its leader, Louis Farrakhan, another one of Obama Chicago “friends”.

You know, like Bomber Bill Ayers, “just a guy in the neighborhood”.

Jeremiah Wright, traveled with Farrakhan to visit Gadhafi in 1984, Obama’s former Pastor and Mentor said about the trip:

When [Obama’s] enemies find out that in 1984 I went to Tripoli to visit [Gadhafi] with Farrakhan, a lot of his Jewish support will dry up quicker than a snowball in hell.”

Farrakhan, a close friend and associate of Wright, has been financed by Kadhafi, including a $5 million interest-free loan in 1985.

Later that year, Kadhafi spoke by satellite to Farrakhan’s Saviour’s Day Convention in Chicago.

Whatever the reason, Obama’s milksoppy dithering, on foreign and domestic issues, sends a horrible message to our enemies.  The only deterrent that our enemies understand is the iron will of a strong American President.

And, right now, they’re grinning like a bunch of Cheshire Cats.

Obama’s Surgeon General (What you DON’T Know)

Remember a couple of days ago when the Surgeon General of the United States of America, Dr. Regina Benjamin was asked by a reporter about what she thought about the fact that panic-striken Californians had stripped the state’s pharmacies’ shelves of their supply of iodine, trying to protect themselves from radiation drifting over from Japan? 

Well, now she’s trying to clarify what she said.

Tuesday, while on a visit to California, Benjamin told a Bay-area reporter that:

We can’t be over-prepared — we learned that with 9/11, we learned that with Katrina and we learned that this week with the tsunami. Even if it’s one life we save by being prepared, it’s worth it.

It’s a precaution.

The Surgeon General of the U.S. went on to tell the reporter she had not heard about the iodide panic.

Californians were stocking up on Potassium iodide, or KI, because it can prevent the thyroid from absorbing radioactive iodine.

Dr. Jonathan E. Fielding, Los Angeles County’s public health chief, held an opposite view from Benjamin:

We want to urge you not to take potassium iodide unnecessarily.

It’s definitely not recommended as a precautionary medication.

Fielding noted that some people may be allergic and suffer side effects including intestinal upset, nausea and rashes.

Yesterday, Kate Migliaccio, a spokeswoman for the federal Department of Health and Human Services, sent out an e-mail in an attempt to clarify Benjamin’s (and the government’s) position:

She commented that it is always important to be prepared, however she wouldn’t recommend that anyone go out and purchase KI for themselves at this time.

It’s important for residents who have concerns to listen to state and local health authorities.

 So, Who is Dr. Regina Benjamin and why is she Obama’s Surgeon General?

According to the website of the Surgeon General:

Regina M. Benjamin, MD, MBA is the 18th Surgeon General of the United States…Dr. Benjamin oversees the operational command of 6,500 uniformed health officers who serve in locations around the world to promote, protect, and advance the health of the American People.

Dr. Benjamin is Founder and Former CEO of the Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic in Alabama, former Associate Dean for Rural Health at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine in Mobile, and immediate Past Chair of the Federation of State Medical Boards of the United States In 1995, she was the first physician under age 40 and the first African-American woman to be elected to the American Medical Association Board of Trustees. She served as President of the American Medical Association Education and Research Foundation and Chair of the AMA Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs (CEJA). In 2002 she became President of the Medical Association State of Alabama, making her the first African American female president of a State Medical Society in the United States.

Dr. Benjamin has a BS in chemistry from Xavier University, New Orleans; MD degree from the University of Alabama, Birmingham; an MBA from Tulane University and eleven honorary doctorates. She attended Morehouse School of Medicine and completed her family medicine residency in Macon, Ga. She established a clinic in a small fishing village in Alabama to help its uninsured residents. Dr. Benjamin persevered through Hurricane Georges in 1998, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and a devastating fire, in 2006, often putting up her own money to cover expenses. She also became nationally prominent for her business acumen and humane approach to preventive medicine.

Dr. Benjamin is a member of the National Academy of Science’s Institute of Medicine, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians. She was a (1) Kellogg National Fellow and a (2) Rockefeller Next Generation Leader. Some of her numerous board memberships include the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, Catholic Health Association, and Morehouse School of Medicine.

Let’s look at 2 of those awards, shall we?

Per discoverthenetworks.org:

1.  Kellogg  National Fellow – Will Keith Kellogg, founder of the Kellogg cereal company, created the W. K. Kellogg Foundation in 1930. Being a man of principle, he generally opposed most forms of economic assistance, placing greater value on the long-term process of striving to overcome obstacles and become prosperous through hard work. Believing that education was the key to all long-term success, most of Kellogg’s early donations were geared towards helping children.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Foundation moved to the Far Lef and concentrated its focus on funding groups and causes that sought to counteract what they believed were the widespread injustices against minorities in the United States.

Per their website,the Foundation strives “to facilitate and assist in the process of social change for the betterment of people in society, particularly in the interest of the most vulnerable and marginalized populations.

The Kellogg Foundation is chaired by Hanmin Liu, a longtime community organizer who has been a Trustee on the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Board of Directors since 1996. He is also President of the United States-China Educational Institute.

Among  recipients of Kellogg Foundation grants are:

the Tides Foundation; the Tides Center (can you say Soros?); the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN); the United States Student Association; the Waterkeeper Alliance; the Council on Foundations; Save The Children Fund; the American Civil Liberties Union; the Center for Community Change; World Vision International; the National Council of La Raza; the Mexican American Legal Defense & Education Fund; and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

2.  Rockefeller Next Generation Leader – The Rockefeller Foundation was established in 1913 by John D. Rockefeller, Sr.  Rockefeller was one of the “robber barons”, who gained his vast fortune as the founder and developer of the Standard Oil Company. According to the Foundation’s current President,

RF’s philanthropy is concentrated in 5 main program areas:

  • Creativity and Culture
  • Food Security
  • Health Equity
  • Working Communities
  • Global Inclusion

The Rockefeller Foundation is a member of the Peace and Security Funders Group, an association of individual philanthropists and foundations that give money to anti-war and environmentalist organizations. They are also a member of the International Human Rights Funders Group, (as is George Soros’ Open Society Institute) a network of more than six-dozen grantmakers dedicated to funding leftwing groups and causes.

Among those RF gives money to, are:

the Tides Foundation; the Tides Center; the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund; the National Council of La Raza; the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund; the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund; the American Civil Liberties Union; the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy; the Institute for Policy Studies; the Ploughshares Fund; the Council on Foundations; the Earth Trust Foundation; the Brennan Center for Justice; the American Land Institute; the Center for Community Change; the Islamic Circle of North America; Amnesty International; the Brennan Center for Justice; the Center for Community Change; the Center for Economic and Policy Research; and Gay Men’s Health Crisis.

As I asked you yesterday, Are you beginning to see a pattern here, gentle reader?

A Transparent Award for a Transparent President

Today, the most transparent President evah had 5 meetings on his schedule. Only one was open to the public. In a wonderful moment of irony, this meeting was a ceremony in which President Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm) accepted an award for being open to the press.

At approxiamately 2:55 p.m., (around 3:20 p.m. Obama Standard Time), the smartest person in the room accepted, according to the White House Propaganda, err, statement “an award from a coalition of good government groups and transparency advocates to recognize ‘his deep commitment to an open and transparent government—of, by, and for the people’ in conjunction with Sunshine Week”.

I don’t know how he responded, but I’ll bet he didn’t say that his administration responded to fewer requests for information last year, than any other recent administration. The sad thing is, they received more requests for information in that period than any other White House.

He also probably didn’t say a mumblin’ word about trying to prosecute federal workers who leak information to shed light on wrongdoing.  And,  I’m positive that he did not talk about his aides’ clandestine meetings with lobbyists away from the White House, so that there is no public record.

The White House identified the award as coming from organizers of the Freedom of Information Day Conference. The award was presented by a curious group of five “so-called” transparency advocates:

1. Gary Bass, Founder and Executive Director of OMB Watch

Per sourcewatch.org,

Gary Bass has been named one of the top 50 most influential people in the nonprofit community by the NonProfit Times.

OMB Watch “was formed in 1983 to lift the veil of secrecy shrouding the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which oversees regulation, the budget, information collection and dissemination, proposed legislation, testimony by agencies, and much more.”

It’s Board of Directors include:

  • Edwin S. Jayne, AFSCME
  • Ben Jealous, NAACP
  • Sylvia Johnson, United Auto Workers
  • Bill Kamela, Microsoft Corporation
  • Margaret Seminario, AFL-CIO

One of its former Directors is Mark Lloyd of the Soros-funded Center for American Progress.

Funding sources for OMB Watch include:

  • AFSCME
  • Carnegie Corporation of New York
  • Ford Foundation
  • Global Fund for Women
  • Nathan Cummings Foundation
  • Open Society Institute (George Soros)
  • Rockefeller Brothers Fund
  • Other Anonymous Funders (wouldn’t you like to know?)

2. Tom Blanton, Director of the National Security Archive at the George Washington University

Per sourcewatch.org, this organization is:

An independent non-governmental research institute and library located at The George Washington University, the Archive collects and publishes declassified documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. The Archive also serves as a repository of government records on a wide range of topics pertaining to the national security, foreign, intelligence, and economic policies of the United States. The Archive won the 1999 George Polk Award, one of U.S. journalism’s most prestigious prizes, for-in the words of the citation-“piercing the self-serving veils of government secrecy, guiding journalists in the search for the truth and informing us all.”

The Archive’s $2.5 million yearly budget comes from publication revenues, contributions from individuals and grants from foundations such as the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Ford Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. As a matter of policy, the Archive receives no U.S. government funding.

Funding Sources include:

  • Arca Foundation
  • Benchmark Fund
  • Carnegie Corporation of New York
  • Center for Global Partnership (Japan Foundation)
  • Central European University
  • Cold War International History Project Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
  • Compton Foundation
  • Congressional Quarterly
  • Cox Newspapers
  • Dow Jones & Company
  • Mike Farrell and Shelly Faberes
  • Ford Foundation
  • Ford Foundation Program-Related Investment Division
  • Freedom Forum (formerly the Gannett Foundation)
  • Fund for Constitutional Government
  • Fund for Friendship and Justice
  • Fundación Ford (Santiago, Chile)
  • General Service Foundation
  • German Marshall Fund of the United States
  • J. M. Kaplan Fund, Inc.
  • National Community Funds
  • New World Foundation
  • New York Times Company Foundation
  • Open Society Fund, Inc. (George Soros)
  • Open Society Institute (George Soros)
  • Partnership for Democracy (formerly the Youth Project)
  • Public Welfare Foundation
  • Rockefeller Associates
  • Rockefeller Family Fund
  • Rockefeller Foundation
  • Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
  • Philip M. Stern Family Fund
  • Streisand Foundation
  • Time, Inc.
  • Washington Post Company
  • Weiss Foundation

3. Danielle Brian, Executive Director of the Project on Government Oversight

From their website, pogo.org:

Founded in 1981, the Project On Government Oversight is a nonpartisan independent watchdog that champions good government reforms. POGO’s investigations into corruption, misconduct, and conflicts of interest achieve a more effective, accountable, open, and ethical federal government.

Funding sources include:

  • The Arca Foundation
  • Francis Beidler Trust
  • The Herb Block Foundation
  • Harold and Stephanie Bronson Fund of the Liberty Hill Foundation
  • Carnegie Corporation of New York
  • Cavallo Foundation Inc.
  • Connect US Fund of Tides Foundation
  • Colombe Foundation
  • C.S. Fund
  • Everett Philanthropic Fund of the New York Community Trust
  • The Ford Foundation
  • The Fund for Constitutional Government
  • HMJS Marks Fund of The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region
  • The Lawrence Foundation
  • The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
  • The New-Land Foundation, Inc.
  • Open Society Institute (George Soros)
  • Pew Charitable Trusts
  • The Purple Lady/Barbara J. Meislin Fund
  • Ploughshares Fund
  • Revenue Watch Institute
  • Rockefeller Family Fund

4. Lucy Dalglish, the Executive Director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

From their website, rcfp.org:

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press was created in 1970 at a time when the nation’s news media faced a wave of government subpoenas asking reporters to name confidential sources.

Their Steering Committe includes:

  • SCOTT APPLEWHITE
  • The Associated Press
  • WOLF BLITZER
  • CNN
  • DAVID BOARDMAN
  • Seattle Times
  • ERIKA BOLSTAD
  • McClatchy Newspapers
  • JESS BRAVIN
  • The Wall Street Journal
  • MICHAEL DUFFY
  • Time
  • RICHARD S. DUNHAM
  • Houston Chronicle
  • ASHLEA EBELING
  • Forbes Magazine
  • FRED GRAHAM
  • InSession
  • NAT HENTOFF
  • United Media Newspaper Syndicate
  • DAHLIA LITHWICK
  • Slate
  • TONY MAURO
  • National Law Journal
  • DOYLE MCMANUS
  • Los Angeles Times
  • ANDREA MITCHELL
  • NBC News
  • BILL NICHOLS
  • Politico
  • SANDRA PEDDIE
  • Newsday
  • DANA PRIEST
  • The Washington Post
  • DAN RATHER
  • HDNet
  • JIM RUBIN
  • Bloomberg News
  • BOB SCHIEFFER
  • CBS News
  • ERIC SCHMITT
  • The New York Times
  • ALICIA SHEPARD
  • National Public Radio
  • PAUL STEIGER
  • Pro Publica
  • PIERRE THOMAS
  • ABC News
  • SAUNDRA TORRY
  • USA Today
  • JUDY WOODRUFF
  • PBS/The NewsHour

While they do not publish a Donors’ List, I was able to find out, through research, that Lois Lloyd, their Business Manager, came to them from the Center for Law and Social Policy, which, according to discoverthenetworks.org is: 

…a Washington, DC-based think tank claiming to have approximately 22,000 affiliates nationwide—mostly law students, law professors, practicing attorneys, and judges.

Several foundations have contributed large sums of money to ACS, most notably the Streisand Foundation, the Deer Creek Foundation, the Ford Foundation, George Soros’ Open Society Institute, the Overbrook Foundation, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

5. Patrice McDermott, Director of Open The Government.

Per sourcewatch.org, redirected from Open The Government:

OpenTheGovernment.org is a coalition of journalists, consumer and good government groups, environmentalists, library groups, labor and others united to make the federal government a more open place in order to make us safer, strengthen public trust in government, and support our democratic principles.

Funding Sources include:

  • Angelina Fund
  • The CS Fund
  • Educational Foundation of America
  • HKH Foundation
  • The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
  • Open Society Institute (George Soros)
  • Stewart R. Mott Charitable Trust (through Philanthropic Ventures Fund)
  • Warsh-Mott Legacy Fund
  • Fund for Constitutional Government
  • National Security Archive
  • OMB Watch

Are you beginning to see a pattern here, gentle reader?

Ain’t transparency wonderful?



Japan Melts. Scooter Salsas.

In a statement released yesterday, a Washington-based think tank, the Institute for Science and International Security, said that the situation at the quake-hit Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant in northeastern Japan ”has worsened considerably,”

The Institute was referring to a series of explosions that happened earlier in the day at the site and problems in a pool storing spent nuclear fuel rods. They went on to say that:

This accident can no longer be viewed as a level 4 on the International Nuclear and Radiological Events scale that ranks events from 1 to 7.

While saying that a level 4 incident involves ”only local radiological consequences,” it also announced that the ongoing crisis is ”now closer to a level 6, and it may unfortunately reach a level 7”. As you’ve probably guessed, a level 7 is a worst case scenario with extensive health and environmental consequences.  The Institute went on to advise that:

The international community should increase assistance to Japan to both contain the emergency at the reactors and to address the wider contamination. We need to find a solution together.

In a related story, Reuters News Agency has reported that:

Japan may seek direct U.S. military help to end a crisis at a quake-damaged nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan, the chief government spokesman said on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, on the Left Coast of the United States, Californians have stripped pharmacy shelves of Iodine tablets, reacting to the possibility that a nuclear cloud could float from the shores of Japan to their state.

State and county officials had their hands full Tuesday trying to keep the citizenry calm by telling them that getting the pills wasn’t necessary, but the, Obama’s United States Surgeon General stuck her nose in, saying that thee idea was a worthy “precaution.”

Kelly Huston of the California Emergency Management Agency disagreed. She countered , by saying that state officials, along with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the California Energy Commission, were monitoring the situation and that people don’t need to buy the pills.

So, what is the leader of the Free World going to do about this, you ask?

He and his family are heading to Rio.

Obama will arrive in Brazil on Saturday, where he will mix a little bit of business with a lot of vay-cay.

He’ll be in Brasília first, where he will focus on business of the visit. Globo has reported that Dilma and Obama will sign a bilateral agreement that will allow Brazilians paying Social Security in the US to count their Social Security earnings towards their retirement/Social Security benefits in Brazil, and vice versa for Americans working in Brazil. Obama will have a series of meetings with business leaders, which will also hopefully help ease trade tensions from recent years. They will also probably discuss Brazil’s attempt to land a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

In Rio, the First Family will visit the Christ Statue, and then will visit a UPP (a branch of the Military Police) in the Cidade de Deus favela, which was chosen for security reasons, since it is relatively flat with wider streets than other favelas that were proposed.

And, of course, what would a Foreign Trip by Scooter be without an opportunity to demonstrate how well he can read a teleprompter?

Obama is scheduled to a speech open to the public in Cinelândia, a historic site in Rio’s downtown. Of course, the speech will be aimed at “all Brazilians” and will have been translated into Portuguese.

Scooter will bring along his usual huge entourage and will, by necessity, have an incredible amount of security during the whole trip, particularly during the speech, and will have protection from not only the Secret Service, but the Brazilian Federal, Civil, and Military Police, the Brazilian armed forces, and BOPE (Elite Forces).

Besides his trip this weekend, Scooter tackled the important task of filling out his NCAA Basketball Tournament Brackets yesterday.

And, before that, last week, he and Moochelle hosted a White House Conference on Bullying, attended by an enormous crowd of 100 people.

Then, he had to play his 61st game of golf as POTUS last Saturday, and go entertain all the sycophants at the annual Gridiron Club Banquet that night.

So, you see, he’s just waaay too busy to get personally involved in a little thing like the Japanese Disaster.

After all, a man’s got to have his priorities.

An Earthquake, a Tsunami, Nuclear Radiation, and a Duck

I  have been putting off writing a whole lot about the horrible situation over in Japan, because:  1)  Everybody and their mother are reporting it and 2)  I ain’t no nuclear engineer. 

Jimmuh Carter was, but I digress. 

Having said all that, it is too important not to write about it.

The latest explosions at the Fukushima Power Plant have released low levels of radiation in to the atmosphere, which the wind is taking toward Tokyo. This is causing some people to get the heck out of Dodge and others to go into survival mode, stocking up on essential supplies.

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan has urged people within 18 miles of the facility north of Tokyo to stay inside their homes, while Japanese authorities try to deal with the world’s most serious nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine in 1986.

Radiation levels in Maebashi, 60 miles north of Tokyo, and in Chiba prefecture, closer to the city, were up to 10 times normal levels, according to Kyodo news agency. Only small levels have been found in the capital itself, which so far were “not a problem,” according to city officials.

A grim-looking Prime Minister Kan said:

The possibility of further radioactive leakage is heightening. We are making every effort to prevent the leak from spreading. I know that people are very worried but I would like to ask you to act calmly.

There were two explosions on Tuesday at two of the reactors at the nuclear facility. Kyodo news agency has reported that the nuclear fuel pool at the No. 4 reactor may be boiling, which suggests that there is more danger to come.

Per Koji Yamazaki, professor at Hokkaido University graduate school of environmental science, says the atmospheric radiation is no big deal:

Radioactive material will reach Tokyo but it is not harmful to human bodies because it will be dissipated by the time it gets to Tokyo. If the wind gets stronger, it means the material flies faster but it will be even more dispersed in the air.

Tell that to this little girl, Professor.

10-year-old Lucy Niver of Egan, Minnesota, who was on holiday in Japan, said:

I’m scared. I’m so scared I would rather be in the eye of a tornado. I want to leave.

The Japanese Stock Market plunged 10.6 percent on Tuesday (our Monday). The worst two-day drop since 1987 was triggered by reports of rising radiation near Tokyo. This is an indicator that any further deterioration at the Fukushima nuclear plant could trigger more panic selling,led by hedge funds.

The yen dropped due to talk of intervention. At the same time, bond yields rose as scared investors sold debt to offset losses in the stock market. The rate and amount of the equity selloff, set a record volume for a second day running, forcing fund managers to sit on the sidelines.

After Prime Minister Naoto Kan said the risk of nuclear contamination was rising at the Fukushima Daiichi complex on Japan’s ravaged northeastern coast, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo,the Nikkei plunged 14 percent.

The two-day fall has wiped some $620 billion off the market.

Obama’s response?  He’s got top men on it.  Top men. 

U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos is President Obama’s top man on the ground. Shortly after the Tsunami struck, Roos let everyone know that he will be playing a lead public role as the United States determines how best to direct its resources toward saving lives, getting control of the country’s nuclear reactors, cleaning up the devastation and ultimately rebuilding.

Roos said at a press briefing Monday:

This is a time when our country needs to step up for the country of Japan.

So, we can all expect to see Roos as the Obama Administration’s public face concerning the horrible disaster in Japan.  In fact, Roos has been providing round-the-clock updates on disaster response efforts and efforts to track down U.S. citizens.

And his boss?

 Oh, he had a White House Conference on Bullying, a golf game,  the Gridiron Club banquet to attend to last week.  And now, he has a family vay-cay in Rio to deal with.  However, as soon as he gets time in his busy schedule, I’m sure he’ll roll up his sleeves and aim his legendary laser-like focus toward helping one of our greatest allies.

There has been an American “casualty” from this horrible disaster.

Aflac Inc. announced on Monday that it has fired Gilbert Gottfried, the fingernails-on-the-chalkboard-voiced comedian who has made a ton of money as the voice of the world-famous Aflac Duck since 2000.

The Liberal idiot lost the best job he’s ever had by posting a string of offensive, insensitive jokes about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan on Twitter over the weekend.

The Amos Family, who own Aflac, canned this clown because he put them in a unattenable position. You see, Aflac does 75 percent of its business in Japan. 1/4th of the Japanese population buys their health insurance from Aflac.

CEO, Daniel Amos, hopped a jet to Japan on Sunday to show support for the company’s employees and agents.

Aflac released a statement yesterday, saying that Gottfried’s jokes do not represent the feelings of the company, which had previously announced that it would donate 100 million yen ($1.2 million) to the International Red Cross to help with disaster assistance.

Aflac Chief Marketing Officer Michael Zuna proclaimed:

There is no place for anything but compassion and concern during these difficult times.

As of yesterday, Gottfried had removed his idiotic jokes from his Twitter Feed.

Instead of Aflac!!!, Gottfried should now be walking around saying: STUPID!!!

Maybe the Amos Family could hire Obama.  He’s not doing anything.

Tsunami or Tee Time?

According to authorities, those killed in the largest earthquake recorded in Japan since 1900, an 8.9 magnitude, may exceed 10,000 in the prefecture of Miyagi, alone.

In the meantime, around 800 deaths had been confirmed so far in Miyagi and other areas in northeastern Japan, which were levelled Friday by the quake and a tsunami. there has been no word at all from the 10,000 residents of the town of Minamisanriku.

Am official in Fukushima said that about 90 percent of the houses in three coastal communities had been washed away by the tsunami.

390,000 people have fled their homes, many of them staying at the more than 1,400 emergency shelters set up in schools and community centers.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan has doubled the number of soldiers sent to stricken areas. However, rescue workers are having a difficult time reaching some of the affected areas, due to many of the access roads being blocked by debris.

The Prime Minister made an announcement, saying:

I ask for utmost efforts to save the lives of as many people as possible. We will put all-out efforts into rescuing people who have been isolated.

According to a top official, a partial meltdown was already likely under way at one nuclear reactor, as the nuclear plant technicians were frantically trying to keep temperatures down at the power plant’s other units, to prevent an unfathomable disaster.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano reported today that a hydrogen explosion could occur at Unit 3 of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex:

At the risk of raising further public concern, we cannot rule out the possibility of an explosion. If there is an explosion, however, there would be no significant impact on human health.

More than 170,000 people had been evacuated as a precaution, but Edano said that the radioactivity released into the environment so far was too small to cause any health problems.

If the nuclear power plant were to experience a complete meltdown, meaning the collapse of a power plant’s systems and its ability to keep temperatures under control, it would release uranium and dangerous contaminants into the environment and pose major, widespread health risks. On the bright(?) side, officials say it would be smaller than the Chernobyl Disaster.

Yikes.

Edano admitted to reporters that a partial meltdown in Unit 3 of the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant was “highly possible.”

When he was asked if a partial meltdown had already occurred, Edano replied:

…because it’s inside the reactor, we cannot directly check it but we are taking measures on the assumption [that it had.]

Unit 3 at the Fukushima plant is one of the three reactors that had automatically shut down and lost cooling functions necessary to keep fuel rods working properly due to power outage from the quake. The facility’s Unit 1 is also in trouble, but Unit 2 has been less affected.

Yesterday, the walls of Unit 1 were destroyed by an explosion as operators desperately tried to prevent it from overheating and melting down.

Because the plant lost power, and with its pipes and pumps destroyed, authorities had to resort to drawing seawater mixed with boron to try to cool the unit’s overheated uranium fuel rods. Boron disrupts nuclear chain reactions.

Officials said the seawater will remain inside the unit, possibly for several months, rendering it unusable.

Per Robert Alvarez, senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies and former senior policy adviser to the U.S. secretary of energy, the seawater was a desperate measure:

It’s a Hail Mary pass.

So, yesterday, as one of our greatest allies faced nuclear peril, where was The Leader of the Free World?

No, not Sarkozy.  Obama.

One word:  Fore!

ABC News’ Tahman Bradley reported:

President Obama just could not wait for spring weather to arrive.

For the second week in a row, the most powerful man in the world stepped away from the White House to hit the golf course.

Even as his administration and the U.S. military help Japan recover from a devastating earthquake, and as the world worries about Fukushima’s nuclear reactor, the president could not resist taking advantage of the 48-degree weather in the Washington, D.C., area.

The president left the White House Saturday afternoon for a short trip to Joint Andrews Base in Camp Springs, Md.

With cloudy skies, it’s not the best weather for golf, but Obama loves to spend his Saturdays on the greens. Last fall, Obama went golfing darn near every weekend.

These are never quick “work on your swing” trips; usually the president plays 18 holes, as he did last week.

And, of course, Scooter never lets a small thing like a nuclear disaster get in the way of a par-tahy.

President Barack Hussein Obama performed at the annual Gridiron Club Dinner last night.

To quote The Washington Post:

Yes, America, it’s one of those Washington dinners: Where top politicians and media elite dress up in their finest — white tie, in this case — to eat, drink and lob passive-aggressive jokes at each other, celebrity roast-style, in a way that seems pointed and mean but only serves to feed the beyond-the-Beltway suspicion that They Are All In Bed Together.

For instance:   Mr. Truce, himself, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels joked that he got his duds from:

…the bearded guy at Men’s Wearhouse. Anyone else notice, you never see him and Wolf Blitzer in the same place at the same time?

Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Mitt Romney:

We have more in common than our hairstyles: We both used to think health care reform would advance our careers.

Al Hunt of Bloomberg feigning surprise that the absent Sen. Chuck Schumer would miss a chance to schmooze reporters:

It’s like Charlie Sheen missing a hooker’s convention.

So, while the world is imploding, our country’s citizens are struggling to feed their families, and Japan is in danger of a nuclear meltdown, the Leader of the Free World was out partying, doing his Rodney Dangerfield impression with the rest of the Beltway Elite.

Obama’s funniest unintentional (or possibly, intentional) snark came when the Marine Band struck up “Hail to the Chief” to welcome the president. Obama waved them off, saying:

Play that song we talked about..

And they did: “Born in the U.S.A.”

The lackadaisical manner in which this poor excuse for a President has been carrying out his duties certainly makes one wonder…