Patterico's Pontifications

10/31/2009

Time to Fall Back

Filed under: Current Events — DRJ @ 11:27 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

Daylight Saving Time changes at 2:00 A.M. Sunday morning. Don’t forget to fall back if you live in a location that observes DST. In other words, you folks in Hawaii, Arizona, and the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and the Virgin Islands don’t have to do a thing.

— DRJ

Yankees Win Game 3

Filed under: Obama — DRJ @ 10:15 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

The New York Yankees beat the Philadelphia Phillies 8-5 in Game 3 of the World Series to take a 1 game lead. The game included the first use of instant replay to reverse a call in a World Series:

“[Alex] Rodriguez’s shot in the fourth inning was originally called a double. It was his first hit in the Series, and became a two-run homer after umpires reversed the call and correctly ruled it hit a camera above the right-field wall.”

Speaking of bat-men:

— DRJ

NCAA Football, Week 9

Filed under: Sports — DRJ @ 6:56 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

This is a good time for a commenter-created post: Share today’s scores and highlights in the comments.

And congratulations to #8 TCU who beat UNLV 41-0 to up their record to 8-0. Go Frogs.

— DRJ

At Least Dick Cheney Never Really Showed Up as Darth Vader

Filed under: Obama — DRJ @ 6:45 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

Tonight the White House hosted what looks like a fun Halloween party for 2,000 area schoolchildren. The First Lady dressed as Catwoman and it looks like the President went as “the President”. At a separate reception for children of military and White House staff families, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice appeared in her Halloween costume. [Edit: In case you don’t have time to click the link, she went as Goofy.]

Meanwhile, outside, Code Pink showed up to “taunt local school children with chants about the war in Afghanistan.”

— DRJ

PS — I doubt he was paying tribute to Dick Cheney but Obama Press Secretary Robert Gibbs did show up as Darth Vader.

Happy Halloween

Filed under: Current Events — DRJ @ 3:52 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

Time for me to go hand out candy to Halloween princesses, Supermans, ghosts and goblins. Here’s hoping everyone gets all treats and no tricks.

— DRJ

UPDATE BY PATTERICO: Make sure you give the kids candy. Or else.

Obama Again Delays Afghanistan Troop Decision

Filed under: International,Obama,War — DRJ @ 3:41 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

The Washington Post reports President Obama may not decide whether to send more troops to Afghanistan until after he returns from his trip to Asia scheduled for November 11-20:

“Asked if Obama’s review was drawing to an end, Gibbs said: “I think it’s nearing its conclusion, yes.”

He left unclear whether Obama would announce his new plan immediately after Afghanistan’s November 7 presidential election runoff or wait until after he returns from a November 11-20 Asia trip.”

McChrystal’s report requesting 40,000+ more troops was in the Pentagon August 30, 2009 but transmittal to the President was reportedly delayed for political reasons. That’s three more months of dithering … or to the Obama Administration, three more months meetings, reports, and assessments.

Given recent reports and events, there’s no doubt in my mind Obama is laying the groundwork to deny McChrystal’s full request. First there was a New York Times report that Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s brother has been involved with the CIA and is an influential but possibly corrupt player in Afghanistan. The Times would be a good place for the Administration to leak such a story, especially if it suggests American lives and money may be wasted in Afghanistan.

Then there was Obama’s trip to Dover Air Force Base last week to honor returning American troops killed in battle, a trip on which Obama callously took along the media to document in photos and words the ultimate tragedy of war. As Hot Air and others noted, the New York Times’ reporter may have been too obvious in making the point of Obama’s visit clear:

“Originally, the New York Times reported on President Barack Obama’s visit to Dover AFB and the arrival of fallen serviceman by explaining that the White House wanted Obama to be seen as concerned and aware of the sacrifices made in America’s war policies:

A small contingent of reporters and photographers accompanied Mr. Obama to Dover, where he arrived at 12:34 a.m. aboard Marine One. He returned to the South Lawn of the White House at 4:45 a.m.
<…>
The images and the sentiment of the president’s five-hour trip to Delaware were intended by the White House to convey to the nation that Mr. Obama was not making his Afghanistan decision lightly or in haste.

Following that link now, the second paragraph quoted is nowhere to be seen.”

Then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton engaged in some blunt talk in Pakistan. Her comments indicate she, and almost certainly the Administration she speaks for, believe America’s al Qaeda enemies are really in Pakistan. This opens the door for Obama to claim America’s real enemies aren’t in Afghanistan.

In August, President Obama told a military audience Afghanistan was a “war of necessity” he vowed to fight. But as Michael Barone said last month, apparently now it’s no longer necessary.

— DRJ

Scozzafava Out

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 2:21 pm



Hot Air has the details. Apparently she quit the race after a particularly bad poll. It is not clear to me whether she threw her support to Hoffman or not.

Good news or bad news? Well . . . turns out her supporters like the Democrat better.

Maybe at least the GOP can get behind Hoffman now?

10/30/2009

Government By the (Page) Numbers

Filed under: Government — DRJ @ 8:38 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

CNN’s Jack Cafferty compares the number of pages in the health care reform bill (1,990) to the number of pages in other important government documents (I’ll leave the numbers blank so you can guess):

  • The original draft of the 1935 Economic Security Act, which established the Social Security Administration was _____ pages.
  • The Civil Rights Act of 1964 – forbidding discrimination based on race and sex: _____ pages.
  • The 19th amendment to the Constitution, giving Women the right to vote in 1920: _____ page.
  • The Emancipation Proclamation, with which Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves in 1863: _____ pages.
  • Or, if you really want to get back to basics: The Declaration of Independence came in at _____ page in 1776.
  • As suggested by the singular “page,” the 19th Amendment and the Declaration of Independent were both 1 page. The other answers are at the link.

    — DRJ

    Buffy and the Peeps

    Filed under: Government,Obama — DRJ @ 5:43 pm



    [Guest post by DRJ]

    Remember the NEA telephone conference call that encouraged artists to help promote Obama Administration policies (prior posts here, here and here)? Pursuant to an FOIA request, Judicial Watch has obtained former NEA communications director Yosi Sergant’s correspondence … and it leads to the White House:

    “The documents consist of internal NEA correspondence, including emails involving disgraced former NEA Communications Director Yosi Sergant, who resigned over the scandal, and former actor and current Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, Kalpen Modi. The emails newly document detailed White House involvement in the controversial conference call. (The Corporation for National and Community Service, which runs the AmeriCorps program, also was represented during the call.)”

    Here are excerpts from 4 emails listed at the JW website:

  • August 10, 2009, 10:23 am: Email from Yosi Sergant to Kalpen Modi: “[The call is] organized by me…I’d ask you to come on and give the exact spiel you gave on Saturday. Walk them through the WH Arts Policy. They won’t know it. Then I will take them into United We Serve and the NEA.”
  • August 10, 2009, 10:29 am: Email from Kalpen Modi to Yosi Sergant: “Oy. This would be awesome to be a part of. Let me know if you think it’s going long, or maybe I can get someone from here to do it if I can’t because of the Social Security mtg.”
  • August 10, 2009, 11:04 am: Email from Kalpen Modi to Yosi Sergant: “Let me see if we can move Social Sec by a few mins. Agreed, it would be great to be on the call and helpful for us also.”
  • August 10, 2009, 1:37 pm: Email from Yosi Sergant to Buffy Wicks, Deputy Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement: “We have an important call at 2pm for UWS (United We Serve) and the Arts with my peeps. Indie producers around the country. Kal can’t join the call. Any chance you can hop on for 5 minutes and intro with Nellie and I?”
  • More at the Judicial Watch link.

    H/T Washington Examiner.

    — DRJ

    Say It Again, Joe

    Filed under: Government,Obama — DRJ @ 3:09 pm



    [Guest post by DRJ]

    VP Joe Biden admitted the Stimulus information provided by the government is not 100% accurate:

    Biden: “Making this amount of information available to the public, in this level of detail, this quickly, is quite simply something that has never happened before in the federal government. *** And so, folks, this is an unprecedented undertaking … and we know, we know that it’s not 100% accurate. This has never been attempted before, and that further updates and corrections are going to be needed. But we are pleased, we’re pleased to make this information available publicly and so promptly …”

    Once again, we learn the government can’t provide accurate information about the money it spends. But, hey, it’s fast!

    So tell me again how the government is going to provide health care for Americans.

    — DRJ

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