THE BLISS INDEX

In The Line Of Fire...

2012-02-08T11:12:00.000-08:00

From reports by The Daily and The Daily Mail:

Clint Eastwood's Super Bowl ad for Chrysler is under fresh fire from the GOP, after it emerged employees from firm behind the controversial spot worked on President Obama's 2008 campaign. The ad, which declares 'it's halftime in America,' has received mounting criticism from conservatives claiming it was a thinly-veiled nod to the president, who bailed out the auto industry during the recession.

(It's even spawned a host of parodies, including the one below...)

“I am certainly not politically affiliated with Mr Obama,” Eastwood told Fox News on Monday. “It was meant to be a message about just about job growth and the spirit of America. I think all politicians will agree with it.”

In a short statement to the network, the 81-year-old actor and director said he believed the ad was being “spun” by political partisans, though that was never the intention of the clip.

Now, ad agency Wieden+Kennedy is bracing for a backlash, amid reports two of its top creatives donated their time to make pro-Obama artwork. The Daily reports WK's global public relations director, Joani Wardell, also worked in the White House Press Office during the Clinton era and continues to work as a political consultant. Despite what may be perceived as political undertones in the ad, Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne insisted it has “zero political content.”

“We are as apolitical as you can make us... and I sincerely hope that it doesn't get utilized as political fodder in a debate,” Marchionne added.

Chrysler's commercial stood out as the automaker sent the veteran actor to strike a serious chord with viewers, among otherwise goofy Super Bowl ads. “People are out of work and they’re hurting And they’re all wondering what they’re going to do to make a comeback. And we’re all scared, because this isn’t a game,” “The Dirty Harry” star says in his roughened growl.

Last year, the Treasury Department reported that taxpayers likely lost up to $1.3billion in the Chrysler bailout. However, the agency touted the finding as a “major accomplishment,”as the government originally predicted that the government would lose $40 billion on the deal, CNN reported.

The parody...

And now the original (below)...

So that's why Iran's nuke facilities keep blowing up

2012-02-03T12:52:00.000-08:00

BOOM! LOL!

In the video clip below (a commercial for Samsung’s iPad-like tablet), a Mossad, agent is shown using his device while in Iran – a “strategic” area south of the capital. Following a brief chat about the features of the tablet with several Iranian “women” (actually men from an Israeli TV show), one of them presses on the tablet and accidentally blows up a nearby uranium enrichment plant.

As you can imagine, this leaves the real mullahs and Revolutionary Guard folks in Iran a tad unhappy. Perhaps it's because the incident - one not altogether uncommon recently - is portrayed as being kind of humorous.

“What? Another mysterious explosion in Iran?” one of the characters asks.

Obviously, it’s a nod to a series of recent sabotage efforts at some of Iran’s nuclear and military facilities. Tehran has blamed many of these explosions – as well as assassinations of key nuclear scientists and military leaders - on Israel, saying its nuclear program is being targeted. (Gee, ya think?)

Head of Majlis Energy Committee Arsalan Fat'hipour said the commercial was “insulting” because it suggested its rival was “powerful enough to easily destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities or assassinate the country’s nuclear scientists.” (Like that hasn’t already been happening…)

This bit of lightheartedness isn’t sitting well with Tehran’s lawmakers, including one who said the country’s parliament was considering cutting trade ties to Samsung. (Samsung issued a statement blaming the commercial on a cable operator in Israel.)

Keep up the good work, Mossad/Samsung/Israeli cable TV operator…

(Taken from a story in today’s Washington Post by Elizabeth Flock.)

Happy anniversary, Mr. President!

2012-02-02T10:53:00.000-08:00

Three years ago today, President Barack Obama made this promise:

“If I don’t have this done in three years, then there’s going to be a one-term proposition.”

We're waiting...

Words of wisdom

2012-02-02T09:59:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, the less said...the better.

In this case, NJ Gov. Chris Christie (R) gets to the root of the problem plaguing his state -- and this country -- with just a few words.

A few, very powerful words.

His talk (video below) is reminiscent of other historical/political/economic observations made by the likes of Churchill, Thatcher and Friedman (to name but a few).

You go, guv!

Before and after...

2012-01-31T07:24:00.000-08:00

In this story by CNN, we learn that some folks are concerned that the TSA -- those wonderful folks watching out for us at the nation's airports -- are now intruding on the privacy of folks traveling by rail.

Apparently, the worrywarts aren't focusing on the big problem: the train protection teams (Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response - VIPR) aren't looking for possible bombs...that is before they can be brought aboard trains.

The CNN story's key quote:

"A high-profile example of VIPR's growing pains, transit officials say, is a VIPR-assisted passenger screening a year ago at Amtrak's station in Savannah, Georgia. Instead of screening passengers as they boarded trains -- which is standard security procedure -- officers were screening passengers as they were getting off trains. Security experts know that makes no sense, because potential terrorists probably would be interested in bringing explosives onto trains, not taking them off."

That's some fine security work there, folks!

The Gaffe-inator Strikes Yet Again!

2012-01-26T10:09:00.000-08:00

Vice President Joe Biden - the gift (of gaffe) that just keeps on giving.

Listen closely to the clip below as the King of Amtrak does his best politically incorrect version of an Indian accent during his speech in New Hampshire.

You go, Joe!

Do as she says, not as she does...

2012-01-13T12:58:00.000-08:00

It's what's expected...

The Daily Show's John Oliver interviews Froma Harrop, the president of the National Conference of Editorial Writers, to find out how to restore civility to America's public discourse.

The results are informative, instructive and hilarious.

Hypocrisy, thy name is Froma...

The Daily Show

Late add on the subject: From the Wall Street Journal's "Best of the Web," which is churned-out by the skillful James Taranto -

Remember Froma Harrop, the civility scold and Baroness Catherine Ashton look-alike who called Tea Party congressmen "terrorists" and couldn't understand why anyone found this hypocritical? She provided us with lots of material last summer and now Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" has recycled it into comedy gold, somehow persuading her to sit for an interview in which she looks utterly ridiculous. You have to watch it to believe it.

A colleague who did watch it posed an interesting question: Was she playing the straight man, or is she really that oblivious? There's no way to know for sure, but based on our back-and-forth with her last year, the hypocrisy and cluelessness ring entirely true.

On the other hand, in previewing the show yesterday on her personal blog, she suggested she was in on the joke: "It's a comedy sketch, needless to say, and the joke will be on me." Then a follow-up comment: "Sure, much of my careful reasoning ended up on the cutting-room floor, but it was fun."

There's no doubt that it was a skillful editing job, but in our dealings with Harrop, she has never proved herself capable of careful reasoning. Our interpretation is that she realizes, at least after the fact, that she looked foolish and is rationalizing it by saying it's only comedy. The true explanation is some combination of obliviousness and the desire to get on television. We are not confident that we can accurately estimate the precise balance of those two factors.

Repeat after me...

2012-01-04T12:14:00.000-08:00

During coverage of last night's Iowa Caucus, MSNBC talking head Rachel Maddow used the same phrase over and over and over and over and...well, you get the idea.

Maybe her Teleprompter wasn't working. (If she's their "star," it's no wonder MSNBC sucks in the ratings.)

Wait -- they told me there wouldn't be any math!

2011-12-22T06:44:00.000-08:00

Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi told reporters this week that 160 million Americans will have their taxes increased if the payroll tax cut extension does not pass. 160,000,000 working Americans? That’s more Americans than there are in the entire work American workforce. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are only 140.5 million Americans employed today. Thanks to Pelosi and Barack Obama the work force is at its lowest rate in years.

This isn't the first time the former Speaker of the House has fudged the math...

By the way… 3,000 mainstream media outlets ran with this bogus number.

(h/t: Gateway Pundit)

Someone thinks they're pretty special...

2011-12-17T09:51:00.000-08:00

How does President Barack Obama stack-up against his predecessors?

Ask him...

On hallowed ground...

2011-12-12T16:26:00.000-08:00

How the "Hawaii Five-O" team treated the real heroes, part 3

The latest post (below) from Steffan Tubbs, KOA-AM newsman, who witnessed the "Hawaii Five-O" production team's lack of respect for those U.S. military heroes visiting their fallen brethren at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific last week...

The show's set: the final resting place of U.S. military heroes...

From Tubbs: "Friends... even if I am lying - which I am certainly not - is this the type of 'Hollywood' respect our dead veterans receive in 2011? Tell me I'm not the only one outraged here! Repost this, share it! LETS GET BACK SOME DIGNITY! Someone at CBS needs be held accountable for this travesty."

Hallowed ground...

UPDATE ON DISSED VETS AND CBS HAWAII FIVE-O

2011-12-12T08:57:00.000-08:00

The latest (below) from KOA-AM morning host Steffan Tubbs on the response to his report of the "Hawaii Five-O" production team "disrespecting" Pearl Harbor/WWII veterans visiting the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific last week -- during the 70th anniversary observances of Pearl Harbor Day.

KOA/Denver host Steffan Tubbs accompanied a group of World War II veterans who traveled to Honolulu to mark the 70th anniversary of the Japanese attack on the American fleet at Pearl Harbor in 1941. That’s Tubbs on the left with 96-year old Pearl Harbor survivor Archie Gregory of Huntington Beach, CA. “He was on the deck of the USS Arizona when the attack began,” Tubbs said. “He was blown into the water. A really amazing man.”

UPDATE ON DISSED VETS AND CBS HAWAII FIVE-O

by Steffan Tubbs on Sunday, December 11, 2011 at 8:21am

Morning, friends:

All of our vets are either home or on their way as I write this. I appreciate the outrage you have shared with me regarding the incident at Punchbowl on Friday. Please know via a friend, actor Daniel Dae-Kim apparently got word of this to the show's executive producer. Please see the EP's response to me via email last night:

===============

Steffan,

I'm appalled by this account of events, and you can be certain I will be questioning my crew about what happened. I fly to Hawaii tomorrow and will get to the bottom of this. In the meantime, please accept my apology for any mistreatment.

Warmest regards,

Peter M. Lenkov

Executive Producer

Hawaii Five-0

==================

TWENTY FIVE MINUTES LATER...

==================

I'm being told that our crew did stop for your ceremony, at least for the time we told you needed, then proceeded with shooting.

Sent from my iPad

==================

And then this morning... the accusations to me:

==================

From Lenkov:

After my email to you, I spoke to approx 30 folks who were there, including reps from Punchbowl. All say the same thing: they paid respect during the anthem, then called lunch to give the vets the privacy and respect they deserve. Now I know it might be fun to trash a TV show, but I can't understand why you would make these claims. Everyone knows how much we respect our military. We couldn't do our show without them. And since 80% of our crew is made up of locals with deep ties to the military, I can't imagine any one of them doing the things you said in your blog.

Also know, we were not told there was a ceremony until we arrived at Punchbowl. If you know anything about production, you would agree that we had to proceed. And we did, with great respect. Albeit you did not see it that way.

Unfortunately the damage is done. Your blog has spread quickly amongst our fan base. I have a meeting with CBS tomorrow to discuss further.

Wish you would have contacted us first so we could discuss your claims before trashing us so aggressively in a blog.

Peter M. Lenkov

Executive Producer

Hawaii Five-0

======================

to which I responded:

There is nothing made up here. If from my location I could not see your crew stop for the anthem, I apologize. I do know during Taps there were people walking around.

What about the assistant in the backpack walking through hushing vets placing roses? How do you explain the caterer?

Yes, at some point the show had to go on. And it did.

I am a newsman, not some gossip columnist. I recounted exactly what happened and this isn't "fun." These "claims" are fact. The attached picture says a lot, even if it is standard procedure for your crew on location.

Most certainly the few individuals did not represent the view of you, your entire crew, H5O or CBS. But this happened and unfortunately its a reflection of all of you.

I wish you all success and I told this like it was.

=====================

And the drama goes on.

Folks, if you are friends of mine or not, please know this was told the way it happened. Period. To those members of the crew who stopped to show their respect, I salute you. It is extremely troubling the vets never saw it.

SEE ATTACHED PICTURE TO GET A FEEL OF HOW IT WAS FOR A TIME...

That's a production assistant's hand trying to block the photographer...

"Hawaii Five-No!"

2011-12-10T11:43:00.000-08:00

Last night at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii (aka: “Punchbowl"), a group of World War II vets were visiting their fallen brethren there as part of the observances of the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

While paying their respects, the vets encountered cast and crew members filming an episode of "Hawaii Five-O" (a CBS program) at the cemetery.

According to Steffan Tubbs (morning show host at KOA-AM in Denver and an advocate for veterans of the Greatest Generation...and someone I'm proud to say is a good friend), the "Hawaii Five-O" crew treated the WWII vets with utter disrespect.

Inquiries to CBS have gone unanswered and comments posted on the "Hawaii Five-O" website reportedly are taken down almost as fast as they are posted. Steffan stands by his report and continues to post reactions to what he witnessed.

Steffan's full, eyewitness account follows. Please share.

CBS HAWAII FIVE-O CREW DISSES PEARL HARBOR SURVIVORS: A Disgrace at Punchbowl

by Steffan Tubbs

FIVE-O CREW DISGRACEFUL TO WWII PEARL HARBOR SURVIVORS

December 9, 2011

(NATIONAL CEMETERY OF THE PACIFIC – HONOLULU)'

It looked strange from the moment we pulled up to the Punchbowl, a sacred Hawaiian site once the location for human sacrifice before Cook's arrival to the islands. Our tour bus, filled with 23 WWII Pearl Harbor survivors as part of The Greatest Generations Foundation came to the beautiful location in an old crater above downtown Honolulu for a closing ceremony and presentation. The National Cemetery of the Pacific pays tribute to those veterans of all faiths who served their country, many who lost their lives during WWII.

Sacred ground: the National Cemetery of the Pacific ("Punchbowl")...

I admit I was not happy two days earlier on the morning of December 7 at the Pearl Harbor Memorial service. Thousands of people in attendance, yet President Barack Obama – born just a few miles from the USS Arizona memorial – was not only a no-show, but did not bother to send a written or videotaped greeting of thanks to these men. And then there was no-show Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, his bio and picture listed in the program and scheduled to deliver remarks in person. The president I can slightly understand, but the former Colorado senator? What was going on that was so important he couldn't make it on a private government jet to attend the last and final major Pearl Harbor survivors gathering? I am not aware of the circumstances, and perhaps there was a truly legitimate reason for Salazar's absence, but I have yet to hear it. Instead, the National Park representative on site read a bizarre partial statement from the Secretary and then stopped mid-sentence, paused awkwardly, and said, "Thank you."

As we drove in to the Punchbowl site with thousands of graves, large U-Haul-type trucks were lined along the boulevard as people with headsets scurried about acting busier than they really were. It took me just a few seconds to realize this was a production crew from the CBS series Hawaii Five-O. Their scene had something to do with lead character McGarrett visiting his father's grave, which in reality was surrounded by the real graves of WWII heroes. It didn't seem right. But I let it go.

Within 30 minutes of our arrival, we conducted a small ceremony that began with the presentation of the Colors by the University of Hawaii Army ROTC. The National Anthem followed. I emceed the event and looked out on men who had been injured December 7, 1941 – they represented the USSArizona, Tennessee, St. Louis, Pennsylvania, Lexington, Medusa, Sacramento, Antares, Maryland,West Virginia, Stoddard, Tanney, Vestal and Pyro. This group of men also represented Ft. Kamahameha, Kanehoe Naval Air Station, Hickam Field, Schofield Barracks, Fort Shafter and Ford Island. At least eight were in wheelchairs. Average age: 91. The others sat in plastic chairs underneath a large, temporary tent. The cemetery representatives could not have been more respectful and there to assist.

Three hundred yards away and clearly visible to them, no one on the CBS production stopped for the anthem or any part of our program. This included the ending of our presentation – Taps and the moment of silence. I was perturbed, but because our veterans faced me, they couldn't see the disrespect. The ceremony ended and several men hopped on golf carts to visit their fallen comrades buried in other parts of the cemetery.

Make-believe heroes...

I decided to take a closer look at the production area from the public thoroughfare and walked closer to see catering trucks, grips, associate directors, production assistants, lighting workers, countless minions and the lead director – a Hollywood-looking middle-aged man wearing a black "AD/HD" t-shirt, a play off the rock band "AC/DC." I stopped well behind the cameras and out of view when a local production assistant politely told me to keep moving. I was not happy and told her we had WWII vets who would likely be in the area. I was told, "Sorry, sir. We rented this part of the cemetery today." My blood started to boil, but I remained calm and moved on. As I stood behind the tent, the director yelled at everyone to: "Get out of the line of sight! If you don't belong here, clear out!"

I made sure to go where I was basically invisible, 40 yards from the nearest camera when the director heatedly walked to me. He was not happy.

"Can you please move?" he said sternly.

"OK," I said. "Where would you like me to go? I have Pearl survivors who are here visiting their fallen comrades at a public cemetery."

He couldn't have cared less and told me that if we stood behind a tent, that would be fine. He walked away completely frustrated and yelled at a local assistant: "I am doing YOUR job! You wanna come back here again? Do your job!" I felt sorry for her. It wasn't her fault a group of vets actually came back for a real reason to this cemetery. Having been around a few movie sets, I knew this was how they were especially if the scene was behind schedule, etc. Keep in mind at this point I was alone. It wasn't as if our entire entourage was milling about. There was only one veteran anywhere near me and was walking toward me from up the road.

Real heroes...

Walter Maciejowski, 90, from Massachusetts soon caught up and I quickly tried to run interference so he wouldn't get yelled at as he stood there in his cream-colored Pearl Harbor Survivors cap. Walter was clueless and was just amazed at the technology. He whispered in my ear as the scene was about to begin 75 yards away. We both stood exactly where the director had told me to stand.

Two minutes later, another guy with an earpiece came up and simply asked us to leave. Period. He was polite, and I politely retorted: "This is a public place and its Pearl Harbor week. These men have made it possible for you to shoot here today. Plus, this is where your director placed us."

He told me he agreed but to please leave with Walter. Oh, he did offer to get us a water or soda to enjoy as we left. We declined.

I told Walter we had to go, and we started to walk away as lead actor Alex O'Laughlin and Terry O'Quinn from Lost did their scene. As we moved out, yet another woman came up to us and with a fake smile told us Walter couldn't take any pictures.

"Our actors get very skiddish around still cameras, sir."

"Funny, and yet they act in front of them," I said, ticked off because we were already leaving.

I wish he hadn’t done it, but Walter asked if they by chance had a hat for him. To his face, she said, "I doubt it but I will try." She never did.

We continued to walk down the road and now 300 yards from where we had stopped previously. At that moment, yet another production assistant, this one in his 20s and with frizzy blonde hair, told us we couldn't stand near the graves because we were in "the line of sight" of the actors. This was physically impossible. We were back near the podium where our ceremony had been held, and oh, we were behind a tree. I let this kid have it with a few select, powerful adult words and basically told him what he could tell his director. I give you my word we were NEVER in the way, NEVER loud and followed every instruction.

It gets worse.

The TGGF program had brought 24 red roses to place at the gravesites on the opposite side of the Punchbowl. The program crew actually had one of their men wearing a backpack and earplug walk through – infiltrate – our rose-laying ceremony hushing everyone.

It was a disgrace.

He ruined the somber mood and my blood was now beyond boiling. Thankfully most of our vets were so focused on placing their roses they didn't catch what was going on. This moron laughed as he communicated with some other crewmember on the other side of the cemetery via his cell phone headset. About this time, a caterer walked over grass and flat headstones, through our vets gathering, with a plate of blackberries and salmon for the actors to snack on.

We loaded our bus after the roses were placed and the vets climbed on and took their seats. Our oldest Pearl veteran 96, youngest 88. One of our crew guys asked the production guy in the backpack if, as we left, one of the actors could take two minutes to hop aboard during a break in shooting to say hello to our veterans as we drove past. Word came about three minutes later via an earpiece, "No."

That didn’t surprise me.

I stayed at the front of the bus with Tim Davis, president and founder of TGGF. He told me to let the vets know what had happened, but I'd already made up my mind I most certainly would. I took the bus microphone and informed the vets in a nutshell what happened. Many of them booed, and then I told them as we drove by, if they felt the urge, to give the CBS crew a one-fingered military salute.

We rolled past and about half our veterans flipped everyone off as we rolled out of the Punchbowl. We all had a good laugh and most agreed we should write CBS and boycott the show and its sponsors.

Having been in the news business nearly 22 years, I understand how the crew was just doing a job and there's big money involved. Shows have to be shot, actors coddled and issues down to rain and daylight come into play. And then, there's common sense and respect.

It would have been an issue if all 24 veterans and 10 staff had come near their "set" (again, on tops of graves of fallen soldiers) and were loud and in the way. Instead, it was just one or two that went to see the on-location production. They didn’t speak, and of course were much friendlier than I was. However, I know many of them were upset. I also thought about the tax incentives this production much receive from taxpayers!

Perhaps you side with the production team, simply trying to film a scene at an historic location. Regardless, I hope I've conveyed how this is just how it is at the end of 2011: people, often consistently, do not show their elders the proper respect they deserve. Of all the weeks of the year – Pearl Harbor week – where fewer than 200 arrived on Oahu for their final goodbye, this was the time for CBS, Hawaii Five-O and the average American to rise up and go the extra mile to accommodate these men. To show respect. To say thank you.

Production on such a grand scale isn't free. To that I say: neither is freedom.

In honor of these men and to show your support, I urge you to share this on Facebook, Twitter, at church, at your poker game, at schools, at work. This shouldn't be a quiet little island secret. Let people know via social networking. Stealing a line from a colleague: Hawaii Five-No!

Mahalo,

Steffan Tubbs

Newsradio 850 KOA, Denver. Colorado's Morning News co-host

Board member, The Greatest Generations Foundation (www.tggf.us)

steffantubbs@clearchannel.com

Twitter: @tubbskoa

Newsroom: 303-713-8500

Steffan Tubbs...

Incompetence...or worse?

2011-12-08T11:09:00.000-08:00

"Operation Fast and Furious" -- the debacle that gives us a view of the administration's efforts to undermine the Second Amendment.

In a video clip (at bottom) from this morning's testimony by the USAG before Congress, Attorney Gen. Eric Holder admits the effort was "reckless," "tragic," "flawed" and that "...more people are going to die."

No big deal, Mr Holder?

U.S. Border agent Brian Terry: Another Fast and Furious casualty...

At the very least, Holder and his team (on this) were criminally negligent. More likely, though, they have been caught in a web of lies they offered in an attempt to cover-up a scheme to subvert the U.S. Constitution – a scheme that resulted in the murders of at least one U.S. Border agent and likely hundreds of other innocent civilians.

It’s not just a crime, it's a national shame.

Insulting the faithful

2011-12-07T12:24:00.000-08:00

Why is this man (Senator Scott Brown) smiling?

New England -- specifically, Massachusetts -- is all about tradition. History there permeates every aspect of life, not the least of which is religion.

And in that part of the country, there is but One True Faith.

So one has to wonder how the person the Democrats have been calling the (new) "smartest woman in the world" could make such a blunder.

From Taegan Goddard's Political Wire: "Elizabeth Warren (D) and the rest of the Democratic field for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts couldn't answer a simple question about the Boston Red Sox at a forum yesterday. Apparently, they learned nothing from Martha Coakley's (D) defeat two years ago when she took heat for refusing to campaign outside Fenway Park and called Red Sox great Curt Schilling a Yankee fan." (See video clip below.)

Somewhere, U.S. Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) is smiling...

'Another embarrassing foreign policy gaffe'

2011-11-29T23:45:00.000-08:00

President Barack Obama did the right thing when he condemned the storming of the British Embassy in Tehran on Tuesday. The sovereign soil was violated "by thugs acting at the behest of the Iranian regime."

There was some concern, seeing as how the president "has been notoriously slow in the past to criticise the brutal actions of the Iranian government after initially extending the hand of friendship to it."

Unfortunately, his comments were marred by yet "another embarrassing foreign policy gaffe while doing so.

"In a press conference this evening, the president referred in stumbling fashion to the 'English Embassy' in Iran instead of the British Embassy. (See video below.) In case the president is unaware, England forms part of Great Britain, which also includes Scotland and Wales, though not Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom. There is no such thing as an 'English' embassy anywhere in the world, and there hasn’t been one for several centuries."

Can you imagine what kind of jokes David Letterman would have been telling over, and over, and over, and over, and over again had George W. Bush said that? Can you imagine the embarrassing YouTube video that would have been released to the world had a GOP candidate said that during an editorial board meeting of some newspaper?

This error doesn’t rate as “disastrous,” but it does prove -- again -- two things: 1.) the so-called “greatest orator,” ain’t; and, 2.) the president has never seemed to care one bit about our long-standing, "special" relationship with Britain.

The president had a golden opportunity...and he managed to snag defeat from the jaws of victory -- again.

(h/t: The Foundry)

A little fun at their expense...

2011-11-25T23:30:00.000-08:00

"The Last Dictator Standing"

Robert Mugabe and Saddam Hussein -- in better times...

South African fast food chicken outlet, Nando’s, has hit a home run with a new, holiday-themed ad campaign. This time it has taken its hunger for parodying current events to the world of dictators, with a new YouTube video (below) featuring a man who bears a striking resemblance to long-standing Zimbabwean commander-in-chief, Robert Mugabe. The ad features “Mugabe” sitting at a dinner table alone reminiscing about the good times he had with his “friends” — all deceased dictators. The star-studded cast features Uganda’s Idi Amin Dada, Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi, Iraq’s Saddam Hussein and South Africa’s P.W Botha.

Brilliant!

No class.

2011-11-22T12:00:00.000-08:00

Snarkiness or cowardice?

The Roots, aka: the house band for NBC’s late night gabfest, “The Jimmy Fallon Show,” decided to take the classy route and play a welcome tune for Congresswoman (and presidential candidate) Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn). The Roots, led by their drummer, nicknamed “questlove,” decided the best way to class things up would be to knock out very recognizable – and lengthy – selection of notes from the group Fishbone’s song, “Lyin’ Ass Bitch.” (See video below...)

From Questlove's Twitter account (screenshot): with malice aforethought...

On Twitter today, Ahmir Khalib Thompson (his real name), seemed to take great pride in his act of “snarkiness” – as he and some of his supporters said. To their credit, a good number of Roots and Fallon fans, as well as self-identified Democrats/liberals, indicated that Questlove owed Bachmann an apology. Some even called for his firing. (Fallon later Tweeted that Questlove was “grounded,” but it’s difficult to know exactly what the former “Saturday Night Live” star was trying to say about his drummer. Was the musician suspended, fired or being kidded with?) There's been no official word on the matter from NBC...yet.

Ahmir Khalib Thompson and President Barack Obama...

Regardless, the incident has put the kind of spotlight on Fallon and his show that isn’t the kind anyone wants. Sure, the Bachmann haters are going to eat this up with a spoon, but this one classless and cowardly act (what’s the matter, Mr. Questlove, couldn’t say it to her face?) is going to be the thing people talk about and think of when Fallon’s show is mentioned. Not Fallon and his remarkable talent.

As Burns & Haberman write in Politico today, "It's not clear exactly why Questlove went this route. But it's safe to say that had Hillary Clinton walked onto the Fallon set - or any other talk show's set - to 'Lyin' Ass Bitch,' there would be an outcry from the left. And Bachmann would be within her rights to complain on this."

Everyone knows the entertainment industry is dominated by the Left, but this was about more than politics. This was about what happens when the adults in the room let down their guard and the immature kid takes control.

Bottom line: no class.

He's lost that lovin' feeling...

2011-11-20T18:29:00.000-08:00

Looks like Tingles' man-crush is history...

(See video below...)

Oh, well...better late than never?

What do they want?

2011-11-17T11:22:00.000-08:00

Whatever they want...

Occupy San Francisco released a declaration this week. Read and decide for yourself -- are they living in reality?

A Declaration from the Occupation
OccupySF / November 15th, 2011
We the People denounce the illegal police actions and evictions against our occupations.
We the People assert our right to peacefully assemble to exercise our right to free speech, and to petition for redress of our grievances.
We reject and repudiate the deliberately complex and prohibitively expensive permit process – a measure in place to curb exercises of this nature and discourage free assembly.
We find it particularly despicable and repugnant that there is a coordinated effort by local and federal officials to neutralize our movement and prevent us from exercising our rights. Let it be known that any action, interdiction, infiltration or other attempts to destabilize, disperse or displace us will be seen as an act against ALL of us. Supporting Occupations and community members will respond in nonviolent solidarity actions.
We stand in solidarity with all Occupiers in the Occupy Wall Street movement everywhere. This movement is bigger than each of us and bigger than our individual Occupations. You cannot evict an idea once that idea is rooted in the hearts and minds of the People.
We invite the 99% to feel empowered to stand up and do heroic things for themselves, for each other, for those that can’t fight for themselves and for those yet to come into this world.
We invite our communities to open dialogues on the pressing issues of mental illness, substance abuse, homelessness, and social and economic injustice as an entree into a greater conversation of the gravely important matters affecting us.
We are the 99% and we are here. We will not be silenced, we will not be removed, and we will not be remiss in our moral calling and natural right to a more just and equitable society.

In other words: gimme, gimme, gimme...

Scenes from a protest

2011-11-14T18:39:00.000-08:00

Tonight, the City of Oakland anxiously awaits another night filled with Occupy Oakland protests.

The question is, will it remain peaceful or will anarchist-driven violence and vandalism prevail as it did following two previous Occupy related-events?

The photo and videos were shot in Frank Ogawa Plaza, just outside city hall, which had been the site of the Occupy encampment -- twice raided by Oakland PD.

For now, there are the speeches and the placards-- young and old -- making their views known under the watchful eyes of the news media and the police.

When Nancy Pelosi has lost Jon Stewart...

2011-11-13T22:18:00.000-08:00

...she's lost.

Within a week's time, her conduct in office has been the focus of "60 Minutes" and she's made a fool of herself on "The Daily Show." Not bad. Not bad at all.

Regarding the latter, former House Speaker and current Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., attacked Republicans for their opposition to debt ceiling increases, but defended President Obama for voting against a debt-ceiling increase when he was in the Senate, during an interview with Jon Stewart. Her effort to reconcile the two positions drove The Daily Show host to distraction. You can see the video below. (Note Stewart's face palm...)

Classic...

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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Portraits in Crassness

2011-11-10T12:29:00.000-08:00

When is a revelation not really a revelation?

When it's about the lack of class that was the hallmark of the late-U.S. Sen. Teddy Kennedy (D-Mass.) and his trusty sidekick, Chris Dodd (D-Conn.). Their boorishness was the stuff of legends.

Kennedy and Dodd, who gained a bit of notoriety for their infamous "Waitress Sandwich" (aka: alleged sexual assault), have a new story being told about their sex prowls. This time, it comes from actress/author Carrie Fisher.

In today's edition of The Hill, piece notes Fisher's claims that Kennedy asked her some pretty frank questions while dining out with the star and Dodd:

According to published excerpts from Fisher’s new book, “Shockaholic,” the entertainer, best known for her role as Princess Leia, was fresh out of her first stint in rehab and on a date with a then single Dodd back in 1985. Kennedy joined the pair at dinner in D.C..

Fisher writes, “Suddenly, Senator Kennedy, seated directly across from me, looked at me with his alert, aristocratic eyes and asked me a most surprising question. 'So,' he said, clearly amused, 'do you think you’ll be having sex with Chris at the end of your date?’”

The celeb adds, “Chris Dodd looked at me with an unusual grin hanging on his very flushed face.”

While Fisher writes that she calmly quipped to Kennedy, “Funnily enough, I won’t be having sex with Chris tonight…No that probably won’t happen…Thanks for asking, though,” the author claims that the rather candid line of questioning didn’t end there.

Fisher continues in her latest tome: “’Would you have sex with Chris in a hot tub?' Senator Kennedy asked me, perhaps as a way to say good night?”

“’I'm no good in water,’ I told him.”

I guess we shouldn't be surprised when pigs act like pigs...

Carrie Fisher and...Ted Kennedy?

Meet the old boss, same as the new boss

2011-11-06T15:16:00.000-08:00

"Rediscovered 2004 Senate ad shows Obama pitching similar rhetorical themes"

A great find by Neil Munro over at The Daily Caller (see video below):

A rediscovered video from Barack Obama’s 2004 Senate race shows him road-testing his current rhetorical techniques, pitching far-left policies, and depicting business and the marketplace as negative forces.

“We all have a set of mutual obligations towards each other — we are our brother’s keeper, we are our sister’s keeper — and that those mutual obligations have to express themselves through government policies,” he said at the tail end of a soft-focus, five-minute autobiographical video entitled “Introducing Barack Obama” that he released during his 2004 campaign for U.S. Senate.

They’re “the kind of values that I’ve been trying to promote through my career,” he says.

Obama won the primary in a landslide. He easily won the 2004 election against a weak GOP opponent, after his main GOP rival quit the race when a Democratic-appointed judge unsealed damaging divorce testimony.

The 2004 video also showcases several recurring features of Obama’s speeches — his use of the passive tense to glide past controversial issues, his passive-aggressive portrayal of himself as the reasonable moderate among extremists, and his promises of benefits without costs.

The video features several segments of Obama pitching himself in an African-American church, complete with a minister’s Sunday cadence. “I believe we can provide homes to the homeless, food to hungry, clothes to the naked,” he preaches while an organist backs him up.

He cites his work as a “political organizer” working with several churches to ameliorate the impact of steel-industry shutdowns. But doesn’t offer any examples where his work, or entrepreneurs’ work, helped attract or create new jobs. However, he does say that his organizing work registered more people to vote for the Democratic Party.

He cites his attendance at Trinity United Church of Christ without mentioning the controversial pastor, Jeremiah Wright.

He mentions his work in the state assembly to further regulate police forces, and he brings up his career as a “civil rights” lawyer.

He uses the passive tense to mention his 1996 race for a state Senate seat. That passive-voice phrase — “seven years ago, this opportunity came up to serve in the General Assembly in Illinois” — avoids any mention of the sharp-elbowed tactics that he used to snatch the seat from a veteran, female African-American Democratic incumbent.

He also displayed a personal interest in what he saw as Arab discrimination in post-9/11 America.

“If there is an Arab American somewhere getting rounded up by [Attorney General] John Ashcroft, without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties even if I am not an immigrant,” he declares, three years after the 9/11 attacks. Ashcroft was not “rounding up” Arab immigrants in 2004, but was actually resisting efforts by police agencies to expand surveillance.

You can hope all you want, but some things never change...

The worm turns

2011-11-05T10:44:00.000-07:00

The hypocrite gets his...

From Real Clear Politics:

As Moore was leaving the Occupy Denver protest to go to a book signing he was confronted by a correspondent at KCNC-TV, the local CBS affiliate. The reporter asked if his rumored wealth made him part of the one percent the "Occupy" movement was protesting against. "I do very well," he replied, "Because I do well, I want taxes raised on people who do well, including mine." But when asked how he is helping the protesters with his $50 million, Moore said, "I don't have $50 million," before growing exasperated and telling the reporter, "You're just punk media is all you are. You lie. You lie to people. Stop lying to people. Stop lying." When asked again, "Are you not part of the one percent?" he replied, "Just don't lie, OK?"

"Occupy South Park"

2011-11-03T09:41:00.000-07:00

The always sharp "South Park," in its take on the Occupy movement, zings multi-millionaire propagandist Michael Moore.

Frankly, I think their depiction of him was too kind.

If you want to see the entire episode, go here. Otherwise, check out the part with Michael Moore below...

1%
Get More: SOUTH
PARK Eric Cartman,Wendy Testaburger,more...

(h/t: Althouse)

Shutdown

2011-11-02T13:22:00.000-07:00

"Shut it down! Shut it down! Shut it down!"

"Shut it down!" is the cry today throughout downtown Oakland, Calif., as Occupy Oakland protesters take to the streets throughout the city's business district during a one-day general strike.

As marchers make their way through the center of Oakland's finance/business district, the Occupiers stop at most every bank along the way and call for higher taxes on "the 1 percent," the abolition of capitalism, the shutdown of financial institutions...and more (the list of grievances and villains is extensive).

Protesters surround a local Chase branch...

In the clip below, protesters make a stop at the local Bank of America branch and demand it be "shut down."

Protests are expected to continue into the night.

LATE ADD: Below - the windows of the same Bank of America branch in the above video.

UPDATE: Several incidents of vandalism did occur, with broken windows at the Chase Bank at 20th and Webster in Downtown Oakland and the Bank of America branch at Kaiser Center, and spray paint to several buidlings including the Whole Foods at 27th and Oakland Ave.

(h/t: CALIFORNIA BEAT)

Occupy...hilarity

2011-11-01T17:38:00.000-07:00

Stephen Colbert takes a hard look at Occupy Wall Street.

You can imagine the results....

(Extra special bonus points for the appropriate send-up of Che Guevara, Colbert mocking OWS' "twinkling hand signals," and the protest being represented by a spokeswoman named, "Ketchup.")

Enjoy the video below...

The Colbert Report
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Who said the revolution died?

2011-10-26T23:23:00.001-07:00

Not Bill Ayers.

You remember...the man who hosted the soiree that kicked off the political career of our current president.

The same Bill Ayers who co-founded the anti-Vietnam War/pro-communism movement known as the Weather Underground.

The same Bill Ayers who was a domestic terrorist, setting off bombs in Chicago, at the NYPD, the U.S. Capitol and the Pentagon (and was allegedly connected to the fatal bombing of a San Francisco PD station).

Well, that same Bill Ayers is still at it -- fomenting revolution. (See video below.)

The leopard doesn't change his spots, does he?

The smartest man in any room makes it easy to understand...

2011-10-26T20:02:00.000-07:00

Why do some people have more than others...and is that wrong?

Watch this video (below) of NYU Law prof Richard Epstein and you'll come to understand several things...better:

-- Economics.

-- That the folks in D.C. are doing it (everything) wrong.

-- That the smart guy(s) at PBS ain't all that smart.

-- That Prof. Epstein packs more into a few minutes of explaining than most teachers/profs do in an entire career.

Watch the video and learn.

Watch Does U.S. Economic Inequality Have a Good Side? on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.

The monster's final moments...

2011-10-20T11:39:00.000-07:00

Muammar Gaddafi killed as Sirte falls, bloody dictator pleads for his life in final moments

Pleading for his life... (photo: Reuters)

WARNING: The video clips below contain graphic/violent/bloody footage.

Today, the people of Libya, the Middle East and the world are free from the evil that was Muammar Gaddafi -- the bloody dictator/terrorist of Libya.

Like other dictators before him -- and certainly others who will come and go for generations to come -- he met his end at the hands of those he oppressed. And the sentence he received for his transgressions -- his inhumanity to man -- was rough justice.

Like other extraordinarily cruel despots before him, Gaddafi -- who fancied himself as a brave warrior -- was found cowering in a hole. After pleading with his captors, including asking them, "What did I ever do to you?," he was summarily executed.

Another dictator, another rat hole... (photo: Reuters)

This cancer on Libya, the region and the world is gone.

Thank God.

Don't mess with Joey Plugs...

2011-10-19T20:11:00.000-07:00

Vice President Joe Biden gives Human Events' Jason Mattera a piece of his mind...

What happens when a reporter confronts Vice President Joe "Plugs" Biden with a quote that he -- the No. 2 guy -- doesn't like (a quote that happens to be Biden's own)?

Human Events' unflinching editor/reporter, Jason Mattera, found out when he asked the veep about a recent speech in which he asserted that additional Stimulus money was needed to fund jobs -- especially extra police.

Check out the "huffy" Joey Plugs (video follows):

Mattera's article follows:

Vice President Joe Biden now says he didn’t make a reference to rape, and got testy with HUMAN EVENTS when we asked if he would like to retract his comments that the number of sexual assaults would increase if Republicans don’t sign on to Barack Obama’s latest “jobs” proposal.

“I didn’t use, no no no…Let’s get it straight, guy. Don’t screw around with me,” Biden lashed out at HUMAN EVENTS. Then Biden confirmed that he indeed did talk about rape in terms of the President’s spending measure. “Murder will continue to rise, rape will continue to rise, all crimes will continue to rise,” if the Democrats agenda isn’t passed, he added.

It was on Tuesday during a speech at the University of Pennsylvania where Biden initially argued that another round of government spending was needed to prevent sexual assaults. “It’s not temporary [administration’s proposed stimulus] when that 911 call comes in and a woman’s being raped, if a cop shows up in time to prevent the rape. It’s not temporary to that woman.” Then in the same speech he wished Republicans were themselves rape victims. “I wish they had some notion of what it was like to be on the other side of a gun, or [to have] a 200-pound man standing over you, telling you to submit.”

Biden’s demagogic language aside, police budgets are the responsibility of each individual state, not federal bureaucrats. And as Ed Morrissey at HotAir notes, the President’s “jobs” bill doesn’t go directly to hire police officers anyway. Instead, “it allows states to paper-over budget gaps for another year rather than address their systemic budgetary issues, and protect unionized bureaucrats whose jobs should be on the chopping block.”

The exchange between the vice president and HUMAN EVENTS was taken on Wednesday after Biden gave a speech calling for yet another government stimulus program. This one is union-backed, and aimed at getting teachers and public-sector employees back to work.

Kudos to Mattera...and shame on Biden.

Biden and his prop cops...

You stay classy, Occupy Boston...

2011-10-13T21:15:00.000-07:00

'Occupy Boston protesters spit on Coast Guard member'

This just in from Fox25/MyFoxBoston.com:

"The Coast Guard in Boston confirmed that a woman in uniform was harassed and spat upon by Occupy Boston protesters. The woman was walking to the train and said protesters spit on her twice, called her foul names and even threw a water bottle at her. Now, the Coast Guard is warning all staff working on Atlantic Avenue to avoid those protesters while in uniform. More than 140 Occupy Boston protesters were arrested earlier this week for refusing to cooperate with police on the Rose Kennedy Greenway." (See video below.)

Yes, those Occupy (insert city's name here) folks are great Americans.

Thin-skinned...

2011-10-13T11:52:00.000-07:00

Talk about acting "un-presidential"...

AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

According to MediaBistro.com's TV Newser, "FNC’s Chief White House Correspondent Ed Henry got the first question at today’s joint news conference between Pres. Obama and Lee Myung-Bak, President of South Korea. Henry asked the president about the alleged Iranian terror plot, and used a quote from GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney who had criticized Obama’s leadership. Obama responded with, 'I didn’t know you were the spokesman for Mitt Romney.' In an interview later with Megyn Kelly, Henry explains, 'I was trying to put it in the broader context of not just Mitt Romney, but there are a lot of Republicans out there who would charge that this president leads from behind.' He decided not to engage with Mitt Romeny. Instead, he decided to go after me a little bit.”

Watch the clip (below) and decide if this is how we expect American presidents should handle tough questions...

(h/t: Wesley J. Smith)

Joe Biden - the GOP's leading spokesman?

2011-10-06T11:43:00.000-07:00

From Vice President Biden's lips to voters' ears?

It's as if the GOP had written the script for him. Boy, it's going to get interesting when the Republicans start using clips from this in their coming campaign ads.

Transcript follows...see video below:

It’s not a united Republican party . . . Absolutely, it’s strong enough to beat both of us. No matter what the circumstance, at the end of the day, the American people right now, many of them are in trouble, an even larger percentage have stagnant wages and a significant majority of the American people believe the country’s not moving in the right direction. That is never a good place to be going into a reelection . . . They’re going to have to choose whether or not the path we have set the country on is the path we should go or whether we should go back to liberating the economy in the terms of . . .[voice trails off]

Fast and (Very) Furious...

2011-10-04T16:12:00.000-07:00

According to CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson (who deserves heaps of praise for being first and foremost in the investigation into Operation Fast and Furious), she's touched a nerve.

Jeff Poor, reporting for The Daily Caller, writes about the Department of Justice's reaction to her ongoing coverage:

Did the White House try to strong-arm a journalist in the wake of the Justice Department’s “Operation Fast and Furious” scandal? CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson says government leaders took a very aggressive tack following her revelations earlier this year.

On Tuesday’s Laura Ingraham Show, Attkisson said DOJ spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler and White House associate communications director Eric Schultz yelled and screamed at her over the story.

“The DOJ woman was just yelling at me,” Attkisson said. “The guy from the White House on Friday night literally screamed at me and cussed at me. Eric Schultz — oh, the person screaming was Tracy Schmaler. She was yelling, not screaming. And the person who screamed at me was Eric Schultz at the White House.”

Attkisson explained the vicious tongue-lashing:

“In between the yelling that I received from the Justice Department yesterday, the spokeswoman — who would not put anything in writing — I was asking for her explanation so there would be clarity and no confusion later over what had been said. She wouldn’t put anything in writing,” she said.

“So we talked on the phone and she said things such as ‘the question Holder answered was different than the one he asked.’ But the way he phrased it, he said very explicitly, ‘I probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks.’”

Attkisson also said the DOJ and White House representatives complained that CBS was “unfair and biased” because it didn’t give the White House favorable coverage on the developing scandal.

“Is it sort of a drip, drip. And I’m certainly not the one to make the case for DOJ and White House about what I’m doing wrong,” she added. “They will tell you that I’m the only reporter, as they told me, that is not reasonable. They say The Washington Post is reasonable, the LA Times is reasonable, The New York Times is reasonable — I’m the only one who thinks this is a story, and they think I’m unfair and biased by pursuing it.”

Following is an audio interview with Attkisson. It's worth a listen...

Gee...ya think?

2011-09-29T16:11:00.000-07:00

The headline says it all:

FBI Said to Be Probing Solyndra for Possible Fraud

In a story from Seth Stern and Jim Snyder at Bloomberg, we see the beginnings of the federal government's case against executives from the company that is becoming increasingly synonymous with government waste, incompetence, politicization, wishful thinking and - perhaps - outright fraud.

That company is Solyndra.

Following is Stern and Snyder's story moving on today's wire:

The FBI is investigating Solyndra LLC for possible accounting fraud and the accuracy of financial representations made to the government, according to an agency official.

The FBI is examining possible misrepresentations in financial statements, according to the FBI official, who requested anonymity because the investigation is continuing.

Solyndra, which made cylindrical-shaped solar panels, filed for bankruptcy protection on Sept. 6 and fired about 1,100 workers with little notice, about two years after winning a $535 million U.S. loan guarantee from the Energy Department.

The company’s offices in Fremont, California, were raided by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents on Sept. 8. The Justice Department hasn’t said why Solyndra is being probed.

“The company is not aware of any wrongdoing by Solyndra officers, directors or employees” related to the Energy Department loan guarantees or other actions and “is cooperating fully” with the U.S. Attorney in San Francisco, according to a Sept. 20 statement from Solyndra. David Miller, a company spokesman, didn’t immediately return a phone call and an e-mail seeking comment today.

Solyndra’s collapse has prompted congressional scrutiny of President Barack Obama’s administration, which issued final approval of the loan that also won support from officials in the administration of George W. Bush.

White House Pressure

Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has investigated the loan since February, have said the administration pressured federal loan officers to expedite the review of Solyndra’s application so it could be promoted as a stimulus success story.

The company was the first to receive a guarantee under the stimulus act and was the largest award given to a solar manufacturer under the program.

Democrats, who dispute claims politics played a role, joined Republicans in criticizing Solyndra Chief Executive Officer Brian Harrison for what they said were misrepresentations of the company’s finances in meetings with lawmakers.

“When Mr. Harrison was in my office in July, he said that Solyndra’s future was bright, with sales and production booming,” Representative Henry Waxman of California, top Democrat on the Energy committee, said at a Sept. 23 hearing on where Harrison was a witness. “I’d like to know why he told me that in July, and then filed for bankruptcy one month later.”

Harrison, Stover

Harrison and Chief Financial Officer Bill Stover invoked their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination and refused to answer questions at the hearing.

Harrison joined Solyndra in July 2010, after Solyndra had received its loan guarantee and its auditor had warned its financial difficulties were deep enough to raise questions about how long it could survive.

Companies seeking guarantees were required to estimate project costs, list private investors and provide a model detailing cash flows for the life of the project, according to the 2006 Energy Department solicitation for loan guarantees.

Solyndra submitted an application in 2006 and added details in October 2007 after the company was identified by the Bush administration as a potential candidate for a guarantee.

It is unlawful for applicants for federal loan guarantees to make untrue, misleading or incomplete statements, according to James F. Bowe Jr., an energy regulatory lawyer with Dewey & LeBoeuf in Washington, who isn’t involved in the Solyndra case.

IPO Withdrawn

The company withdrew a planned initial public offering in June 2010, citing adverse market conditions. A month earlier, Obama toured the new manufacturing factory that U.S. aid helped to build and said Solyndra was a testament to “American ingenuity and dynamism.”

By December, the company was almost out of cash and sought to restructure the loan agreement with the Energy Department. The department at the time knew the company had failed to set aside $5 million in the first of six payments into a reserve fund, Damien LaVera, an agency spokesman, said in an e-mail. The new deal eliminated the payments, he said.

The agreement made the government’s debt subordinate to $75 million in private investment in a last-ditch effort to save the company, Energy Department officials have said.

Harrison replaced Solyndra founder Chris Gronet as chief executive. Gronet remained chairman until Aug. 19, when the company announced his departure, 12 days before it halted operations on Aug. 31.

Gronet, a former executive at Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT), expressed anger when action on the loan guarantee was postponed in January 2009, Energy Department e-mails show.

“I was appalled to learn on Friday that our application is being delayed yet again,” Gronet wrote in an e-mail to Steve Isakowitz, the Energy Department’s chief financial officer, in the early morning hours on Jan. 12, 2009.

He later spurned an apology from David Frantz, director of the loan program under Bush, according to an e-mail sent later that day.

“I find the response completely unacceptable,” Gronet wrote. “An apology from David is not enough.”

Don't make too much about all these bits of breaking Solyndra news - at least not yet. We're early in the process and there is sure to be much, much more coming over the transom before this show closes.

But it also is worth noting that the feds - and the news media - have bitten into this...big time. And the feeling (and the word from sources) is that these "pit bulls" aren't going to let go until they finish their respective jobs investigating and - perhaps - prosecuting those behind this growing scandal.

Stay tuned...

So that's where (some of) the money went!

2011-09-28T18:30:00.000-07:00

Big money, few results...

From Bloomberg:

"The glass-and-metal building that Solyndra LLC began erecting alongside Interstate 880 in Fremont, California, in September 2009 was something the Silicon Valley area hadn’t seen in years: a new factory. It wasn’t just any factory. When it was completed at an estimated cost of $733 million, including proceeds from a $535 million U.S. loan guarantee, it covered 300,000 square feet, the equivalent of five football fields. It had robots that whistled Disney tunes, spa-like showers with liquid-crystal displays of the water temperature, and glass-walled conference rooms."

“The new building is like the Taj Mahal,” John Pierce, 54, a San Jose resident who worked as a facilities manager at Solyndra, said in an interview.

The building, designed to make far more solar panels than Solyndra got orders for, is now shuttered, and U.S. taxpayers may be stuck with it. Solyndra filed for bankruptcy protection on Sept. 6, leaving in its wake investigations by Congress and the Federal Bureau of Investigation and a Republican-fueled political embarrassment for the Obama administration, which issued the loan guarantee. About 1,100 workers lost their jobs.

Amid the still-unfolding postmortems, the factory stands as emblematic of money misspent and the Field of Dreams ethos that seemed to drive the venture, said Ramesh Misra, a solar-industry analyst in Los Angeles for Brigantine Advisors. “When you don’t have the demand, you can’t go into something with the attitude, ‘Build it and they will come,’” Misra said. “You have to make sure the customers are already there when you build it.”

He is skeptical of the company’s statement, in a press release on the groundbreaking for the plant, that it had a backlog of $2 billion in orders for its cylindrical solar modules for commercial rooftops, which it touted as cheaper to install and more efficient than competing flat panels. “Backlog” is a term sometimes used loosely in the industry and may not represent firm orders at all, he said.

Solyndra was the dream of founder Chris Gronet, who received a Ph.D. in semiconductor processing at Stanford University and had spent 11 years as an executive at Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) He adopted as the company’s motto, “What we do here will someday change the world.” Gronet didn’t return a phone call seeking comment.

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and then-California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger attended the 2009 groundbreaking for the plant. At the event, Chu said the U.S. solar-energy industry was losing out to countries like China and the loan guarantee, the first awarded by the department under President Barack Obama’s 2009 economic stimulus plan, would ensure the company’s orders would be filled by U.S. workers.

Even as Chu, Gronet and Schwarzenegger were thrusting their shovels into the dirt, market forces were working against Solyndra. The price of polysilicon, the main ingredient in competing traditional solar panels, had plunged. By the time the plant opened last January, the price would be down about 40 percent from when Solyndra got the loan guarantee. Chinese companies were ramping up production of their ever-cheaper competing flat panels.

Solyndra executives rushed construction in a race to fill orders, putting some work on a 24-hour, seven-day schedule. The factory was up and ready for equipment installation in 10 months. The project employed more than 3,000 union construction workers, according to a Solyndra background sheet.

‘First Class’

“They were anticipating large production,” Juancho Suntay, 51, a former Solyndra equipment maintenance technician, said in an interview. “That’s why they wanted to have a state- of-the-art factory.”

The plant features 19 loading docks, four electric car charging stations in the parking lot and landscaping of wild grass and a rock garden. An automated rail system moved parts through the assembly process.

Robots that resembled “a big freezer with wheels” maneuvered around the factory transporting panels from one machine to another, said George Garma, 49, a former Solyndra equipment maintenance technician from Fremont. The Disney tunes alerted workers to the robots’ presence.

“It was first class,” David Chan, 51, who was an information-technology contractor for Solyndra, said in an interview. “I’ve been in the business for 25 years and have seen some elaborate buildings. I’ve never seen a facility like it.”

Costly Real Estate

The plant caught the attention of competitors. “Everybody I know in the solar industry would remark on it and say ‘Boy, that’s a really, really big factory,’” said Barry Cinnamon, chief executive officer at Westinghouse Solar Inc., a Campbell, California-based solar-panel company that manufactures in China.

“That’s a lot of money that went into that factory,” Cinnamon said in an interview. “It’s one of those neck-snapping things every time you drove down the highway.”

Commercial real-estate agents in the region wondered why a new factory was being built in the Silicon Valley region, the epicenter of some of the priciest real estate in the country, where most new construction consists of office space.

“There hasn’t been a factory or warehouse building built in Silicon Valley in well over 10 years,” Jeff Fredericks, managing partner at Colliers International in San Jose, said in an e-mail.

The asking rate for industrial properties in Silicon Valley is the fourth-most expensive in the U.S., according to Jack DePuy, Bay Area research manager at CB Richard Ellis in Foster City, California.

Machinery Breakdowns

About 11.4 percent, or 950,801 square feet, of industrial space was vacant in Fremont in September 2009, according to data from Colliers.

“There was available space that we talked about with them,” Bob Wasserman, Fremont’s mayor, said in an interview. “It was their decision that they needed a new building. Was that a good decision? It didn’t turn out to be.”

John Olenchalk, senior vice president at Kidder Mathews, a commercial real-estate firm in Redwood City, said Solyndra executives considered existing space, including a former Sun Microsystems Inc. facility in nearby Newark that had 218,000 square feet of production space. The company wanted more space and to be near its existing operations, he said.

Solyndra used the new plant for the first phase of panel production. An older facility nearby finished and assembled the panels, former employees said. Problems developed at the old plant, when machinery wouldn’t work properly and needed constant repair, workers said.

“Everybody was talking about it,” said Edward Santos, 44, a former warehouse worker in Solyndra’s logistics department.

Advantage Lost

“A significant percentage of the product we built went into a dumpster because it was defective,” said Craig Ewing, 55, a former maintenance technician. “It seemed like the company accepted that,” he said.

Even if the old plant hadn’t had problems, by the time the company opened the new facility it was clear that Solyndra had lost whatever cost advantage it might have had, said Michael Butler, chairman and CEO of Cascadia Capital LLC, a Seattle- based investment-banking firm that advises renewable-energy companies.

“I’m sure there was a lot of panic at that point, because I’m sure that everyone saw the writing on the wall,” Butler said.

Workers noticed inventory piling up. “The drivers would tell us that the warehouses are getting full,” Santos said. “Sometimes, they’d stay there one or two days before the material was unloaded.”

About two weeks before the company closed, Solyndra CEO Brian Harrison gave an upbeat speech at the new factory, said Romie Sumera, 58, a former equipment-maintenance technician. Solyndra was getting leads on new orders from companies including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Harrison told them.

Stay tuned for even more (damaging) disclosures...

Getting the people's work done...

2011-09-24T12:36:00.000-07:00

...one fairway at a time.

From White House Dossier:

President Obama this afternoon went golfing with Bill Clinton and White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley, a rare case of Obama engaging in his favorite form of relaxation with serious, high-level partners. The president generally golfs with young staffers in what amounts to a boys afternoon on the links. But today’s outing likely involves work, as the politically hobbled president plays with the Democrats’ master politician. Daley knows both men well, having served as Clinton’s Secretary of Commerce. Also along is Clinton aide Doug Band.

The foursome is playing the Andrews Air Force base course. The press pool was given a brief glimpse of the group.

From the report:

At 2:21 pm, pool taken out to green and stopped roughly 200 ft from hole. First striking image: Clinton’s head of white hair and bright red golf shirt. Got there as they were finishing up. Within a minute, the foursome loaded into carts – POTUS w Clinton and Daley with Band – and drove off.

It’s Obama’s 24th time golfing this year and the 82nd outing of his presidency.

Hey, look at it this way -- more time on the greens means less time in the Oval Office...and that might mean less damage.

I know, wishful thinking...

Don't know much about history...

2011-09-23T23:29:00.000-07:00

"The Little 'Intercontinental' Train That Could"...

If you haven't already heard about it, the president -- while in the midst of a failed campaign stunt -- made another speech gaffe.

Here's how the LA Times covered it:

"We’re the country that built the Intercontinental Railroad" -- Barack Obama.

That's what the president of the United States flat-out said Thursday during what was supposed to be a photo op to sell his jobs plan next to an allegedly deteriorating highway bridge.

A railroad between continents? A railroad from, say, New York City all the way across the Atlantic to France? Now, THAT would be a bridge!

It's yet another humorous gaffe by the Harvard graduate, overlooked by most media for whatever reason. Like Obama saying Abraham-Come-Lately Lincoln was the founder of the Republican Party. Or Navy 'corpseman.' Or the Austrian language. Fifty-seven states. The president of Canada. Etc.

If you talk as much as this guy likes to talk instead of governing, if you believe you are a Real Good Talker as much as this guy does, you're gonna blow a few lines. But this many?

What's interesting about this particular gaffe, is that it's not the first time the president said the exact same thing. Here, check out this interview he gave earlier this year (below):

Maybe they don't teach American history at Harvard...

Take it from the expert...

2011-09-23T08:00:00.000-07:00

Question: Who said, "the last thing you want do is to raise taxes in the middle of a recession. Because that would just suck up -- take more demand out of the economy and put businesses in a further hole..." ?

Answer: Watch/listen to the video below.

(h/t: Instapundit)

Give us all your money!

2011-09-21T08:23:00.000-07:00

Solyndra/Democratic money man: George Kaiser

Solyndra.

Uttering the name of the now-bankrupt solar energy equipment manufacturer/Stimulus beneficiary, conjures all sorts thoughts/imagery/throwing up in your mouth a little.

Now that more than half-a-billion simoleons has been thrown away on the it-would-never-work green company, Congress, the FBI, the State of California, and the Departments of Treasury and Energy are hot on the trail of false promises, cons, dodges and -- perhaps -- misappropriation of public funds and/or outright theft.

Among those in investigators' cross hairs: Oklahoma billionaire, Obama/Democratic fundraiser and big Solyndra backer George Kaiser -- see photo at top. (For the record, the very wealthy man from Tulsa claims to have invested nothing in the company...but his foundation had more than a third interest in the failure.)

Since the scandal broke, Kaiser has worked to keep his distance from the brewing crisis, but his connections to the company and interactions with the White House (attending 16 of the company's 20 meetings with administration officials) have belied his denials of trying to influence a $535 billion federal loan (from the Stimulus) to Solyndra.

Below is an interesting clip from one of Kaiser's speeches. (Brief transcript follows...) In it, he shares his views on "getting the money."

“There’s never been more money shoved out of the government’s door in world history, and probably never will be again, than in the last few months and in the next 18 months,” he says. “And our selfish parochial goal is to get as much as it for Tulsa and Oklahoma as we possibly can.”

George Kaiser cites his “multiple trips to Washington” and his ability to secure meetings with “all the key players in the West Wing of the White House.” He also touts his “almost unique advantage,” through his foundation, of being able to match public dollars with private funding. That way, Kaiser says, the Obama administration will know “we’ll watch over it because we don’t want to be embarrassed with the way our money is spent and so we won’t make you be embarrassed with the way your money is spent either.”

Tap dancing...and tapping your wallet

2011-09-21T07:48:00.000-07:00

What did $776,372 in Stimulus money do? According to the Recovery.gov website, it created 2.06 jobs (reported as three part-time jobs for students)...

Here at The Bliss Index® Center for Interpretive Dance, we're always thrilled to see appreciation for the lively arts.

But even the Jazz-Tap-Interactive-Dramatic Dance folks on staff here have a difficult time understanding how the following happened...

According to CNS News, "As President Barack Obama is proposing another $447 billion Stimulus plan, some of the money from the previous $800 billion-plus stimulus plan is dancing away. According to Recovery.gov, the website that tracks the money spent under the Recovery Act, The University Of North Carolina is receiving a $762,372 grant for it’s ‘Dance.Draw’ project."

That's $776,372 of Stimulus money being spent...on dance.

The report continues: "The website grant summary explains the project, 'The Dance.Draw system will enable dancers' motions, tracked via small RF transmitters worn in satin cuffs, to act as input streams that can be flexibly applied as control parameters for interactive visualizations. The system will log dancers' motions and will be able to composite video of the dancers with different visualizations, enabling post-hoc analysis of the choreography and exploration of prospective mappings between the motion and the projected media. The 'interactive visualizations' are shown in a Dance.Draw pilot video as a series of projected shapes that move along with the dancers. Among the objectives listed for the project is to 'allow choreographers to explore interactive dance without always having a full cast of dancers present.' The program may diminish the amount of dancers needed onstage to 'explore interactive dance,' but it is creating jobs. (The latest report on the Recovery.gov website shows 2.06, reported as three part-time jobs for students, that have been created with the funds.)"

Dancing the night -- and the money -- away?

Big Brother's Friends Are Watching!

2011-09-15T13:54:00.000-07:00

Have you heard the one about the politician who asked his followers to turn-in fellow citizens who are maligning his and the party's good names?

Wait...wasn't that something that happened in Germany during the 1930s and '40s? Or maybe in the Soviet Union and its puppet nations during the attempted reign of communism?

You know who else had people snitch on fellow citizens?

Apparently some folks don't learn the lessons taught by history.

The latest to try the "spy on your neighbor" trick? The current administration.

Alexandra Petri details the Obama campaign's, "Attack Watch," in her Washington Post piece:

The Obama campaign has outdone itself again. First the creepy tapping e-mails. Now this — Attack Watch, a site designed to “Get the facts. Fight the smears . . . and help stop the attacks on the President before they start.”

This, like most features of the Obama reelection campaign, is a less appealing version of Something That Worked in 2008. In 2008, it was called Fight the Smears. The interface was friendly and hope-colored.

This time, it’s dark and angry and Web 1.0. It looks like the guy who designs 9/11 conspiracy Web sites finally got his big break.

Nothing says, "Wow, we're feeling really good going into the election season” like “HERE IS AN ANGRY PREEMPTIVE WEBSITE WITH ATTACK IN ITS NAME.”

Who designed your page interface? George Orwell?

But seriously, 1998 sent an AOL Instant Message; it wants its page design back.

“Join Attack Wire – and help stop the attacks on the President before they start."

Before they start?

I'm fine with stopping them after they start.

Terror threats and fires and M. Night Shyamalan films, for instance, should be stopped before they start.

But this is like telling your audience not to think about elephants. “Especially do not think of voting for elephants,” Attack Watch adds.

Who thought this was a good idea?

I would just like to see the committee meeting where this happened.

“Hey,” someone said. “Remember how awkward it was when people claimed the President wasn’t born in the United States, and we had to go door to door with copies of his birth certificate patiently explaining things?”

“Yeah!” Everyone nods. “Donald Trump was especially obdurate.”

“People will probably make more scurrilous attacks! And sometimes those attacks sway people! But if people know that attacks are going to be made, we can cut them off at the pass!”

Or something.

This is patently silly. The group of people most likely to sign up for Attack Wire is by far the group of people least likely to be swayed by scurrilous attacks on Barack Obama. Nothing says, “I am unlikely to believe negative things said about the president” like “I just signed up for a list where he can explain to me why any attack made on him is wrong.”

The 100,000 people who have already signed up are essentially saying that they are definitely planning on voting for Barack Obama, no matter what anyone says.

Attack Wire doesn't even need to send them any e-mails. In fact, it might be better if they didn’t.

Consider: How will this work?

Peek-a-boo: We see (and hear) you!

Stop attacks before they start? This is like that old trick where you ask political candidates, “And how many times did you murder your wife?” We all know how this turns out. We’ve seen “Inception.”

And this time the e-mail will come from the Obama campaign.

Are Attack Watchmen really going to get a message every few weeks that says something like, “You may have heard that Barack Obama has a half-bat lovechild in a cave many miles to the south. Rest assured that this is false”? “If anyone has told you that Barack Obama is actually a homicidal robot from the future, do not believe him!” “Barack Obama is definitely not behind the nabbing of those Scarlett Johansson pictures, no matter what you’ve heard.”

Nothing spreads a rumor faster than vehemently denying it.

But I'm sure they thought it through more thoroughly than that.

Or did they?

If they put as much effort into the concept as into the site design, then we can only hope.

As in, "Hope and Change?"

(h/t: Alexandra Petri/Washington Post)

What a difference a day makes...

2011-09-14T15:21:00.001-07:00

"Solyndra had been named one of the world's 50 most innovative companies and reported sales growth of 40% to $140 million last year. In 2006, the company applied for a federal loan guarantee. It underwent years of rigorous internal and external review before being approved--before the perfect storm of deteriorating market conditions."--Deputy Energy Secretary Daniel Poneman, op-ed piece, USA Today, Sept. 13

"The Obama White House tried to rush federal reviewers for a decision on a nearly half-billion-dollar loan to the solar-panel manufacturer Solyndra so Vice President Biden could announce the approval at a September 2009 groundbreaking for the company's factory, newly obtained e-mails show. . . . 'We have ended up with a situation of having to do rushed approvals on a couple of occasions (and we are worried about Solyndra at the end of the week),' one official wrote. That Aug. 31, 2009, message, written by a senior OMB staffer and sent to Terrell P. McSweeny, Biden's domestic policy adviser, concluded, 'We would prefer to have sufficient time to do our due diligence reviews.' "--news story, Washington Post, Sept. 14

(h/t: Wall Street Journal's "Best of the Web Today")

What was on his lips, was in our hearts...

2011-09-12T10:55:00.001-07:00

On the air, Vin Scully reflects 10 years after 9/11

Los Angeles Times / September 11, 2011

Here’s the treasure that is Vin Scully, on the air Sunday after a pregame 9/11 ceremony in San Francisco:

"We had a lead, gray morning, slowly burning off to a brilliant sunrise, making you think of that beautiful day in New York 10 years ago, Sept. 11, 2001. Certainly a day in which God must have wept, wept over man’s inhumanity to man. A day of heroes and a day of horror.

"And there are numbers we always talk about in baseball. We know of the total number of people who passed away that day. But I think of two particular numbers -- 405 and 343. Four-hundred and five were the total number of first responders who died that day trying to help others. And the 343, all of those brave firemen who as most of those people who did escape were going down the stairs, 343 firemen were going up the stairs on the way to meet their destiny.

"Yes, it was a day to remember. We all take a promise now, we will never forget. But you know in retrospect, we’ve kind of forgotten Pearl Harbor. We’ve kind of forgotten D-Day and World War II. I guess it’s a tendency to try and push aside something that brings us so much pain.

"But it should also bring some honor for as we watch rising from the ashes of New York, like the Phoenix itself, the high-rises that will once again be a testimony to the heart and soul of this great country.

"I remember Ronald Reagan once said, 'If we ever forgot that we were one nation under God, we will be one nation that goes under.' And you might notice today, above all days, you will hear God’s name mentioned, and we hope, not in vain.

"So that’s the scene here at AT&T Park. We will do as we did 10 years ago. We will try and turn the page, at least for a couple of hours and concentrate on a child’s game called baseball. But all the while, each and every one of us should carry a small ache in our heart for what happened. And please God, we will never forget what took place 10 years ago today. And with that, we’ll pause for this."

The camera then panned to a scene outside the stadium that had a banner that read: "We will never forget 9/11."

This story and the photo of the field/crowd at Dodger Stadium appeared in the LA Times' Dodger Blog. Photo: The American flag is displayed during the Dodgers' first game following the September 11th Terrorist attacks. Photo by Aleaxander Gallardo / Los Angeles Times.

American resolve and resilience...

2011-09-11T14:46:00.000-07:00