[Guest post by DRJ]

The Instapundit links a Bloomberg report that Las Vegas entrepreneur Steve Wynn may relocate his hotel empire to Macau because of Obama’s policies:

“In a subsequent interview with Bloomberg News, Wynn was critical of the economic policies of President Barack Obama.

“The governmental policies in the United States of America are a damper, a wet blanket,” Wynn said in a separate interview aired today on Bloomberg Television. “They retard investment, they retard job formation, they retard the creation of a better life for the citizens in spite of the rhetoric of the president.”

Wynn said he was concentrating his efforts on Macau and would skip potential opportunities in Las Vegas. “I don’t think the Las Vegas market at the moment beckons a large investment,” Wynn said. “The economic outlook in the United States, the policies of this administration, which do not favor job formation, do not encourage investment at all.”

Wait a minute. Aren’t wealthy guys like Wynn the people Obama promised to tax to pay for education, health care, government, and all his other giveaways? Wow. I guess he never saw this coming.

— DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

Some airline executives claim flights were improperly grounded after the Iceland volcano eruption so governments should compensate the airlines for their losses:

“The International Air Transport Association (IATA) put the overall cost to the airline industry at 1.7 billion dollars (1.3 billion euros): at its peak, said IATA, the crisis was costing 400 million dollars a day.

“For an industry that lost 9.4 billion dollars last year and was forecast to lose a further 2.8 billion dollars in 2010, this crisis is devastating,” said IATA chief Giovanni Bisignani in Berlin.

“Airspace was being closed based on theoretical models, not on facts.”

Now governments needed to look at how to compensate the airlines, he said.

“I am the first one to say that this industry does not want or need bailouts. But this crisis is not the result of running our business badly.”

An extraordinary situation had been exacerbated by “poor decision-making” from the governments,” he argued.

“Governments should help carriers recover the cost of this disruption.”

British Airways chief executive Willie Walsh had already branded the ban unnecessary, and British opposition leader David Cameron called for a public inquiry into the government’s handling of the crisis.”

I sympathize but wouldn’t any payment be a bailout? The best solution is to elect a more responsible government.

— DRJ

This is beyond mere incompetence. This shows Steele has no idea what it means to be a Republican:

Why should an African-American vote Republican?

“You really don’t have a reason to, to be honest — we haven’t done a very good job of really giving you one. True? True,” Republican National Chairman Michael Steele told 200 DePaul University students Tuesday night.

Steele — a former Maryland lieutenant governor and seminarian serving as the first African-American head of the Republican Party — offered a frank assessment of the American political system.

It’s not a “frank” assessment, it’s a monumentally clueless one that assumes people need to be courted by political parties — as if the only issue for black voters is whether a party sucks up to them sufficiently.

At least in theory, the Republican Party is supposed to be better because it stands for principles that help all people, including blacks. You want to see what Steele should say? Check out Larry Elder addressing the same issue to a skeptical black correspondent:

Do you know that inner-city parents want vouchers — the right to determine where their children go to school? Do you know most Democrats, including Barack Obama, oppose this? Republicans, for the most part, support vouchers. Where vouchers have been tried, kids appear to perform better, with higher parental satisfaction. You tell me, how many things are more important than a child’s education?

Do you know that 36 percent of babies aborted are black, while blacks make up 17 percent of live births? Do you know that polls show blacks are more pro-life than are whites? Yet the Democratic Party — to which over 90 percent of blacks belong — is the party of Roe v. Wade, requiring states to legalize abortion on demand. Do you know that Margaret Sanger, the founder of the organization that became Planned Parenthood, believed that poor blacks were inferior and that aborting their babies made our society better? Look it up.

Do you know that blacks stand to benefit more than whites through Social Security privatization, a position opposed by Obama but supported by McCain? Are you even familiar with the issue and what a powerful income-generating vehicle it would be for blacks? If not, take a look at the research done by the libertarian think tank Cato Institute and the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation.

Good, huh? He’s just getting warmed up.

You speak of policies that have “proven not to work.” What about the “war on poverty” that began in the ’60s, the policies that Obama and his party want to continue and expand? Do you know that today 70 percent of black children and over 50 percent of Hispanics are born outside of wedlock? The welfare state — which Democrats want to expand — has played a huge role in discouraging marriage and destabilizing families. . . . Compassion is not about making people dependent on government. Compassion is about encouraging personal responsibility, and getting people to understand that life is about making choices.

Read it all at the link.

If Michael Steele can’t think of a reason that blacks should vote Republican, get rid of him and install someone who can.

UPDATE: Dan Riehl disagrees:

By focusing on only one line from remarks RNC Chair Michael Steele made to a group, one has to wonder if some folks don’t have issues with blacks they actually do need to resolve. Slamming Steele for these remarks is not helpful to the GOP because Steele is correct. He isn’t calling for the GOP to change it’s [sic] positions, as many white so called RINOs regularly do. He’s speaking to the GOP’s inability to pierce barriers built up by the Left in his own effort to do that very thing. And for that, he should be criticized? I don’t get it. I really don’t.

I agree, Dan. You don’t get it. You really don’t.

[Guest post by DRJ]

There are new problems at MSNBC:

“A week-long anchoring stint on MSNBC by Donny Deutsch ended abruptly on Wednesday, and four people briefed on the decision said the cancellation stemmed from an unflattering mention of that channel’s No. 1 anchor, Keith Olbermann, a day earlier.

Mr. Deutsch had labeled his hour on MSNBC “America the Angry,” and Mr. Olbermann was shown briefly in a series of clips of media bloviators during a segment that pondered what role the media plays in fomenting the public’s anger. The four people briefed on MSNBC’s decision said Mr. Olbermann’s anger about the segment prompted the cancellation of the weeklong “America the Angry” series…

Mr. Olbermann’s detractors have repeatedly claimed in the past that he has refused to host his show on occasions when he was unhappy with management…

“The segment did not go unnoticed and we’re dealing with it internally,” said Jeremy Gaines, an MSNBC spokesman.”

Hugh Hewitt was on the offending program and adds more.

MSNBC suspended David Shuster earlier this month and now Deutsch has been ousted. I can see why they might cringe at an Olbermann boycott. But the question remains: At this point, which will melt down faster — Olbermann or MSNBC?

— DRJ

UPDATE: MU789 reminds me of this recent MSNBC moment on Morning Joe where the hosts dared not say Olbermann’s name when the topic of leftwing extremists came up. The Deutsch story shows they were right to be hesitant.

[Guest post by DRJ]

GM sent this email to me and other owners of its products today:

“Dear D__,

We value and appreciate your loyalty more than anything. We are proud to announce we have repaid our government loan – in full, with interest, five years ahead of the original schedule. We realize we still have more to do. Our goal is to exceed every expectation you’ve set for us. We’re designing, building and selling the best cars and trucks in the world. Like the award-winning Chevy Malibu, the all-new Buick LaCrosse, the versatile Cadillac CTS Sport Wagon and the innovative GMC Terrain, just to name a few. As we move into the future, we’re thankful to have loyal owners like you. We invite you to learn more about the new GM and join our community, by visiting gm.com. And once again, thank you for your support.

Susan E. Docherty
Vice President, U.S. Marketing”

Congratulations, Susan, on paying off that debt. Unfortunately the U.S. has a long way to go before it can say the same, and your loan helped set that precedent. Plus, I’d feel better about your products if they didn’t dominate the list of America’s worst vehicles:

“Four of the seven vehicles on our list of the worst-made cars on the road come from GM brands. And all of the cars on the list — including Chrysler’s Dodge Nitro and Jeep Wrangler — are made by Detroit’s Big Three. Only one car on the list is made by Ford Motor.”

My new favorite vehicle is BMW, Susan, and you can take me off your email list.

— DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

President Obama added a new name to the Supreme Court nominee list. He also claimed there is no abortion litmus test but his nominee must take “women’s rights” into account:

“The president is considering about 10 people, including a newly confirmed name, federal appeals court Judge Ann Williams of Chicago.

Among the others are appeals court judges Diane Wood, Merrick Garland and Sidney Thomas, former Georgia Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears, Solicitor General Elena Kagan, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Harvard Law School Dean Martha Minow.

When asked if he could nominate someone who did not support a woman’s right to choose, Obama said: “I am somebody who believes that women should have the ability to make often very difficult decisions about their own bodies and issues of reproduction.”

He said he would not judge candidates on a single-issue abortion test.

“But I will say that I want somebody who is going to be interpreting our Constitution in a way that takes into account individual rights, and that includes women’s rights,” Obama said. “And that’s going to be something that’s very important to me, because I think part of what our core constitutional values promote is the notion that individuals are protected in their privacy and their bodily integrity. And women are not exempt from that.”

Obama puts his own success before issues, but it seems there is one issue he won’t compromise on — abortion. I suspect his Supreme Court nominees feel the same way.

— DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

Allahpundit quotes reports that say Charlie Crist will run as an Independent in the Florida Senate race, billing himself as a Tea Party candidate:

“Yes, three cheers for Charlie Crist, the candidate of entrenched incumbent power, whose awakening to political independence was inspired by the noble virtues of naked ambition and transparent opportunism. And of course he’s a stimulus supporter and a newly minted union crony to boot. Truly he is the very incarnation of the tea-party ethos.”

I guess any transformation is possible in politics. After all, instead of listening to Obama1260AM, now Washington DC can listen to Townhall Talk Radio.

— DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

Some say President Obama’s goal is to make America more like Europe. If so, he’s on the right track and we could all have free vacations to look forward to:

“The Times of London is reporting that the European Union could declare tourism to be a basic human right, and if you can’t afford to travel, then government should take care of the expense for you.

Under the pilot program, citizens living in Northern Europe will be encouraged to travel to Southern Europe and vice versa.

Not only do you get a free trip, but the program will help “promote a sense of pride in European culture and bridge the north-south divide in the continent and prop up resorts in their off-season.”

Life, liberty and vacations for everyone!

— DRJ