Patterico's Pontifications

5/28/2010

Obama’s Depth

Filed under: Obama — DRJ @ 7:45 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

McCain on Obama:

“On President Obama’s visit to the Senate:

“The president had very strong disagreements with Senator Barrasso and Senator Corker,” McCain says. “Barrasso was chronicling how Obamacare was a failure and the president just ripped into him, saying ‘you know, John, there’s no press here.’ That took me aback. You think Barrasso thought press was in there? Then the president spoke repeatedly about how he’s supposedly taken on the left wing of his party. Please, does he really want our sympathy? It’s laughable.” Is the president as serious as you once thought? “There are legitimate questions as to whether he’s out of his depth or not,” McCain says.”

— DRJ

Hillary Clinton: U.S. Should Be Like Brazil

Filed under: International — DRJ @ 6:40 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

Hillary Clinton thinks rich Americans don’t pay their share of taxes and the United States should be more like Brazil:

“Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a rare foray into domestic politics today, offering her view that — given America’s high unemployment — wealthy Americans don’t pay enough taxes.

“The rich are not paying their fair share in any nation that is facing the kind of employment issues [America currently does] — whether it’s individual, corporate or whatever [form of] taxation forms,” Clinton told an audience at the Brookings Institute, where she was discussing the administration’s new National Security Strategy.

Clinton said the comment was her personal opinion. “I’m not speaking for the administration, so I’ll preface that with a very clear caveat,” she said.

Clinton went on to cite Brazil as a model.

“Brazil has the highest tax-to-GDP rate in the Western Hemisphere and guess what — they’re growing like crazy,” Clinton said. “And the rich are getting richer, but they’re pulling people out of poverty.”

Brazil is not a good model for Ameridca America. With its expansive spending on social welfare programs and few funds for its decaying infrastructure, Brazil’s economic system is unsustainable.

— DRJ

Mexican Pirates Threaten Texas Lake

Filed under: General — DRJ @ 6:15 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

That’s the headline I never thought I’d write. Here’s the story from the Houston Chronicle:

“Two weeks ago, the Texas Department of Public Safety warned boaters to avoid the international boundary that zig-zags through the lake, which is 25 miles long and 3 miles across at its widest point. Authorities also urged anyone on the water to notify relatives of their boating plans to help law enforcement in case of trouble.

Since issuing the warning, most boats have stayed on the U.S. side.
***
Men armed with assault rifles robbed fishermen on the Mexican side of Falcon Lake on April 30 and May 6. They traveled in the low-slung, underpowered commercial Mexican fishing boats that are familiar here. They asked for money, drugs and guns, and took what cash was available. No one was hurt.

A third incident happened a couple of days before the warning was issued, but Cervantes said the fishermen were able to escape without the thieves boarding their boat.

The attacks “were really unusual,” Cervantes said. “We had never seen it, and then they started up.”

Violence on the Mexican side of the lake has been climbing for several months.

A fractured partnership between the region’s dominant Gulf Cartel and its former enforcers, the Zetas, plunged many of the area’s Mexican border cities into violence. Police stations were attacked, officers killed and rolling gun battles between the gangs and with the Mexican military became commonplace.

“To me, this is spillover violence,” Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez Jr. said. “I don’t do the Chamber of Commerce talk. I talk reality.”

Still, the sheriff says, boaters should safe provided they stay on the American side.”

We say “Don’t Mess with Texas” but the corollary should be “Really Don’t Mess with Mexico.”

— DRJ

Bill Clinton to the Rescue

Filed under: Obama — DRJ @ 4:24 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

Former President Bill Clinton was the conduit between the White House and Pennsylvania Senate candidate Joe Sestak:

“At the urging of White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, former President Bill Clinton spoke to Rep. Joe Sestak about an unpaid position in the administration if he dropped out of the Senate Democratic primary in Pennsylvania, the White House confirmed Friday.

The executive branch position would have been made available to Sestak under the assumption that Sestak would stay in his House seat, White House counsel Bob Bauer said in a two-page memo released Friday morning.

Bauer asserted that the discussions were “fully consistent with the relevant law and ethical requirements.”

The crucial provision is Clinton offered Sestak an “unpaid” position. Everyone who believes that, raise your hand.

I see no hands.

After his “success” with Sestak, Clinton has been given a new assignment to support Arkansas Senator Blanche Lincoln:

“Maybe Clinton will have more luck with his next political rescue mission — saving embattled Democrat Sen. Blanche Lincoln in Arkansas, the state they both call home. Democratic Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, backed by the unions and liberal advocacy groups like moveon.org, is surging as the two head for the finish line in the June 8 primary.”

I don’t see how lurching to the left will help the Democrats win in red states like Arkansas. But Arkansans like their Democratic Governor so maybe they will vote for Halter, too.

— DRJ

A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words: Screenshots of the Government’s Admission That James O’Keefe Did Not Attempt to Tamper With Landrieu’s Phones

Filed under: ACORN/O'Keefe,General — Patterico @ 12:25 pm



It’s a court document signed by the Assistant U.S. Attorney representing the Government:

O'Keefe Government Admission 1

O'Keefe Government Admission 2

The document can be read in its entirety here.

As I noted in a more detailed post below, the Government sought to bury this admission by omitting it from their press release, and attempting to avoid reading it aloud in court when setting forth the factual basis.

I have updated that post to note that I have now obtained the filed version of the document, with the signature of the Government’s representative.

Now I think it’s time to start asking the U.S. Attorney’s Office why they tried to hide this language from the public.

It’s also time to ask Big Media why they aren’t reporting on this.

LAPD Chief Joins Ranks of Arizona Bashers

Filed under: Crime,Deport the Criminals First,Immigration — Jack Dunphy @ 12:48 am



[Guest post by Jack Dunphy]

LAPD Chief Charlie Beck is the latest to weigh in with criticism of Arizona’s SB 1070, saying that “[c]rime will go up if this becomes law in Arizona or any other state.” Sadly, in his critique of the law he resorted to a common distortion of what it actually says. Today on Pajamas Media, I respond:

Assuming the L.A. Times has accurately paraphrased Beck’s statement, we can reach either of two possible conclusions: that he is misinformed on the language of the new law, or he is deliberately distorting the truth to serve a political agenda. Neither choice is comforting.

Read the whole thing.

(And my thanks to DRJ for referring me to the story of a Houston police officer murdered last year. Two illegal immigrants, both with prior criminal records, are now on trial for the crime.)

–Jack Dunphy

Exclusive: Court Document Reveals Government’s Admission That It Lacked Evidence That O’Keefe Intended to Commit Felony — A Fact the Government Omitted from Its Press Release!

Filed under: ACORN/O'Keefe,General — Patterico @ 12:05 am



The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana has filed a court document admitting that James O’Keefe did not intend to tamper with the phones at Mary Landrieu’s office, or commit any other felony.

Oh — and the good folks at the Department of Justice don’t particularly want you to know that. This post reveals that, at O’Keefe’s hearing, the Assistant U.S. Attorney tried not to read that part of the document in court. What’s more, the U.S. Attorney pointedly omitted this critical information from their press release.

(more…)


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