Ouch

clipped from pajamasmedia.com Presently this country is facing a skills crisis because many of those skilled tradesmen & women who were the centurions of industry when this country was really great, are aging and retired or on the brink of it. When that institutional memory is lost we will not get it back because we have an education establishment that no longer values technical skills and has abandoned an entire generation of young people. As Dr. Ken Ryan at Alexandria Technical College has said, “We have duped ourselves into believing we can build a sustainable economy without the durable manufacturing activities that characterize those nations threatening to eclipse us.” So very true. I have been thinking and saying that, though not so succinctly, for years. So ask yourself, when you are trying to add that room, repair leaky pipes, find the short in the wiring or fix the flood damage in your home, who do you want doing it?

Heh

clipped from www.zerohedge.com

WTWT.

Actually, That Would Be The Wilson Administration

clipped from www.powerlineblog.com Christopher Caldwell argues in the Weekly Standard that neither political party is serious about financial reform. And he wonders why. Caldwell appears to adopt the explanation offered by Simon Johnson and James Kwak, two men of the left, in their book 13 Bankers. Johnson and Kwak contend that the U.S. has become a kind of oligarchy, characterized by tight links between the business elite and the political elite. The business elite consists of the giants of the financial industry. Johnson and Kwak argue that the bankers gained control of the levers of power during the Clinton administration. They call it a "historical curiosity" that "this shift happened within a Democratic administration, headed by a president elected largely because of middle-class economic insecurity." He shows that, of the 20 zip codes that pour the most money into the political system, all but one give the majority of it to the Democrats.

Hammered

clipped from hotair.com Via JWF, in case you’re under any illusions that this issue isn’t a winner in Arizona — the national media’s hysteria notwithstanding — look no further than this. It reminds me of The One’s vow to have Democrats run on ObamaCare in the fall, the only difference being that Brewer’s approval rating bounced 16 points in two weeks after the immigration law passed and Obama’s approval bounced … ahem. This makes two jokes now from the White House Correspondents Dinner that have come back to haunt him. Think he’ll be more self-deprecating next year or is he psychologically incapable of that?

Heh

clipped from nalert.blogspot.com The Obama administration is preparing to produce tougher regulations that could reduce the amount of federal financial aid flowing to for-profit colleges, cutting the companies’ annual revenue growth by as much as a third. In response, the $29 billion industry and its supporters have enlisted top Washington lobbyists and are courting black and Hispanic legislators to fight the proposed rules, which could be released as early as this month. The companies draw students from low-income and minority communities. Federal aid to for-profit colleges has become an issue because it jumped from $4.6 billion in 2000 to $26.5 billion in 2009, according to the Education Department, prompting concern that these students are taking on too much debt. You can't say the Bush years didn't increase spending on education.

Nazi!

clipped from www.moonbattery.com

Animals

clipped from ace.mu.nu Do as we say, not as we do. ...That's right. Members of Congress are currently allowed to profit on insider trading! The bill, which has been languishing in the House for four years, would require elected officials "to make their financial transactions public within 90 days of a purchase or sale" and "prohibit lawmakers from trading in financial markets based on nonpublic information they learn on the job," the WSJ reports. It seems they're above the transparency they've been calling for on Wall Street... Of course congress members would never try and profit by knowing ahead of time which way regulatory/legislative winds are blowing even before private sector stockholders/executives victims know. Of course not, that's just crazy talk. After all, this is THE MOST ETHICAL CONGRESS EVER! Tar, feathers, congress. Some assembly required. All animals are equal, but... ...some are more equal than others.

George Obama

clipped from pajamasmedia.com May 5, 2010 HMM: Report: Shahzad told cops he wanted revenge for U.S. drone strikes. If the Taliban hate ‘em, that’s no reason to quit. But it’s kind of ironic, since these strikes are the signature Obama anti-terror technique, and since Obama’s partisans claimed he’d inspire less hatred. . . . . Posted by Glenn Reynolds at 10:31 pm

Narrative Fail

clipped from pajamasmedia.com SHOCKER: Source: Terrorist Faisal Shahzad Was Anti-Bush, Anti-War. “Wow! It’s a wonder the guy wasn’t co-anchoring at MSNBC. Maybe he didn’t have the right skin color for that gig? They pretty much have a white only policy over there, as I recall.” Indeed.

Alinsky Update (Part IV)

clipped from rightwingnews.com It should be remembered that you can threaten the enemy and get away with it. You can insult and annoy him, but the one thing that  is  unforgivable and that is certain to get him to react is to laugh at him. This causes irrational anger. -- P.134-135 I have on occasion remarked that I felt confident that I could persuade a millionaire on a Friday to subsidize a revolution for Saturday out of which he would make a huge profit on Sunday even though he was certain to be executed on Monday. -- P.150 Many of the lower middle class are members of labor unions, churches, bowling clubs, fraternal, service, and nationality organizations. They are organizations and people that must be worked with as one would work with any other part of our populations -- with respect, understanding, and sympathy. You can't switch channels and get rid of them. This is what you have been doing in your radicalized dream world but they are here and will be. -- P.189

Alinsky Update (Part III)

clipped from rightwingnews.com Always remember the first rule of power tactics: Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have. The second rule is: Never go outside the experience of your people. ...The third rule is: Whereever possible go outside the experience of the enemy. Here you want to cause confusion, fear, and retreat. ...the fourth rule is: Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules. ...the fourth rule carries within it the fifth rule: Ridicule is man's most potent weapon. ...the ninth rule: The threat is usually more terrifying than  the thing itself. The tenth rule: The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition. ...The eleventh rule is: If you push a negative hard and deep enough it will break through into its counterside. ...The twelth rule: The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative. ...The thirteenth rule: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it. -- P.126-129

Alinsky Update (Part II)

clipped from rightwingnews.com The moment one gets into the area of $25 million and above, let alone a billion, the listener is completely out of touch, no longer really interested because the figures have gone above his experience and almost are meaningless. Millions of Americans do not know how many million dollars make up a billion. -- P.96 If the organizer begins with an affirmation of love for people, he promptly turns everyone off. If, on the other hand, he begins with a denunciation of exploiting employers, slum landlords, police shakedowns, gouging merchants, he is inside their experience and they accept him. -- P.98 The job of the organizer is to maneuver and bait the establishment so that it will publicly attack him as a "dangerous enemy." -- P.100 The organizer dedicated to changing the life of a particular community must first rub raw the resentments of the people of the community; fan the latent hostilities of many of the people to the point of overt expression.

Alinsky Update (Part I)

clipped from rightwingnews.com The tenth rule of the ethics of rules and means is that you do what you can with what you have and clothe it in moral arguments. ...the essence of Lenin's speeches during this period was "They have the guns and therefore we are for peace and for reformation through the ballot. When we have the guns then it will be through the bullet." And it was. -- P.36-37 Eight months after securing independence (from the British), the Indian National Congress outlawed passive resistance and made it a crime. It was one thing for them to use the means of passive resistance against the previous Haves, but now in power they were going to ensure that this means would not be used against them. -- P.43 But to the organizer, compromise is a key and beautiful word. It is always present in the pragmatics of operation. It is making the deal, getting that vital breather, usually the victory. If you start with nothing, demand 100 per cent, then compromise for 30 per cent, you're 30 per cent ahead. -- P.59

O Amereffacing

clipped from www.powerlineblog.com But Obama chose instead (as he did last year) to depart from only that part of the tradition that involves self-deprecating humor. As the Washington Post reports, "except for a mild joke pegged to his falling approval ratings, Obama mostly spared Obama during his 14-minute stand-up routine." By contrast, "Obama went all Don Rickles on a broad range of topics and individuals: Vice President Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, presidential advisers David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel, the news media, Jay Leno, and Republicans Michael Steele, Scott Brown, John McCain and Sarah Palin." As has often been the case, Obama's ungracious approach to the event stands in marked contrast with that of his predecessors. At the height of the Whitewater scandal, President Clinton told the audience: "I am delighted to be here tonight, and if you believe that, I have some land in northwest Arkansas I'd like to sell you."

Pakistani Tea Party Update

clipped from news.yahoo.com NEW YORK – The search to find out who planted a car bomb that fizzled out in crowded Times Square took an international turn Monday as law enforcement officials said they were seeking a potential suspect who had recently traveled to Pakistan and had used cash to buy the SUV from a Connecticut man. Authorities identified the buyer of the SUV used in the botched bombing after interviewing the registered owner of the vehicle. One of the officials told The Associated Press that the potential suspect is a man of Pakistani descent who recently traveled to Pakistan. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the case is at a sensitive stage. The registered owner of an SUV that was parked in Times Square and rigged with a crude propane-and-gasoline bomb told investigators he sold the vehicle to a stranger for cash three weeks ago, a law enforcement official said Monday.

Disillusioned English "Nazis"

clipped from legalinsurrection.blogspot.com It appears that all the Gillian Duffys are fed up with Brown. She is the voter who dared to raise the issues no politicians wanted to discuss - and derailed Gordon Brown's election campaign in the process. Gillian Duffy, a pensioner from Rochdale, was called a "bigot" by Gordon Brown after she questioned him over immigration and the economy. But what would have happened if the Prime Minister had met Gillian Duffy from Dundee, or Gillian Duffy from Neath or Sheffield, or Richmond? The Sunday Telegraph contacted Mrs Duffy's namesakes around the country in a unique test of voter opinion. We found a group which had largely voted Labour in 2005 who were now mostly undecided ahead of Thursday's election. They are concerned about education, pensions, care for the elderly, immigration and health. But they are also, on the whole, disillusioned with the political process. Can charges of racism and Nazism and Apartheidism be far behind?