Working for the weekend...and other things

Workin' it...

It’s OK to admit it now that Saturday is just around the corner: Everyone was working for the weekend.

And speaking of work, don’t you just stay up at night thinking about what a timeline graph of American job growth/losses would look like? Wonder no more.

Oh, and those job loss figures? Worse than originally reported.

And when you’re talking about jobs, how about all the jobs the Stimulus produced (especially in Michigan)?

Getting jobbed: Remember when “Saturday Night Live” spoofed President Barack Obama’s lack of accomplishments? Remember when CNN decided to fact-check the comedy show’s skit? Remember when Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” schooled CNN on journalism? Remember?

Add SNL Obama spoofs: Seriously.

Not a spoof: Deficit hits – get ready for this - $1.42 TRILLION. That’s TRILLION…with a “T.”

From the “how does this guy keep his job?” department: Follow Joe? (Hell, no!)

And on to the “how did she get her job? Department: “But If You Go Carrying Pictures of Chairman Mao (or Mother Theresa) Anyhow, You're Going Make It In the Obama Administration Anyhow...”

Add Joe Biden: What happens if you’re the wrong kind of media person working to cover an event with the Veep?

Add the other Democrats: So much for being “the party of the little guy.”

And in closing: Apparently someone doesn’t understand how Rupert Murdoch and his businesses work. (Friedrich Nietzsche heard screaming from the grave, “That which does not kill us makes us stronger!”)

Enjoy your weekend (even if you didn't work for it)!

Things aren't as they appear to be...

That “unanimous” decision to give President Barack Obama the Nobel Prize for Peace? Not so much…

About that Prize money...



What’s worse? Fearing your child is lost among the clouds or seeing your family pimped on Larry King’s show? "Balloon Boy" Falcon Heene accidentally admits "We did it for the show." (Listen close for audio “goodness.”)




The Dow topping 10,000? Not really!




Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) pushing through bill making it “OK to impinge on people's First Amendment freedoms even if they are not conspiring to commit a violent crime or deliberately inciting one, as long as the burden ‘is in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest and is the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling governmental interest.’"

In closing: In the words of Rahm Emmanuel, "Never let a crisis go to waste." Here is South Park's takes on ACORN.

Bizarro Joey...

Opposite day: Remember the “Bizarro Jerry” episode of “Seinfeld?” In it, the character of Elaine Benes discovers a world that is 180 degrees different from the one she occupies. In the present day, real world, Vice President Joe Biden (D-Amtrak) appears to occupy that bizarre space.


Just the opposite...

When it comes to Afghanistan, Delaware Joe is foursquare against any build-up in Talibanland. In fact, he’s pushing for a drawn-down. We know, based on Mr. Biden’s performance record that the exact opposite should be done.

Let the record speak for itself: “Biden voted against the successful Persian Gulf war of 1991, voted for the Iraq invasion of 2003, proposed dividing Iraq into three sections in 2006 and opposed the additional troops credited by many with turning Iraq around in 2007. ‘When was the last time Biden was right about anything?’ Thomas E. Ricks, a military writer, wrote in a blog on Sept. 24. Mr. Ricks is affiliated with the Center for a New American Security, a research organization founded by Democrats.”

The Lonely Conservative chips in with this additional bit of Biden history: “In his first U.S. Senate campaign in 1972, he called for cutting and running from Vietnam. He later voted to cut off funding for South Vietnam and spoke out against the war. After we did withdraw, communist forces conquered South Vietnam as well as Cambodia, where Pol Pot carried out a campaign of genocide. In the 1980s, Mr. Biden opposed President Ronald Reagan’s national security approach on almost every front, including funding for the Contras in Nicaragua, building missile defenses, and increasing military spending.”

Heck, it doesn’t even seem like Biden’s boss is on the same page. Obama in official remarks from the White House, the president explained the need to get a handle on Afghanistan this way:

“Multiple intelligence estimates have warned that al Qaeda is actively planning attacks on the United States homeland from its safe haven in Pakistan. And if the Afghan government falls to the Taliban — or allows al Qaeda to go unchallenged — that country will again be a base for terrorists who want to kill as many of our people as they possibly can. …But this is not simply an American problem — far from it. It is, instead, an international security challenge of the highest order. Terrorist attacks in London and Bali were tied to al Qaeda and its allies in Pakistan, as were attacks in North Africa and the Middle East, in Islamabad and in Kabul. If there is a major attack on an Asian, European, or African city, it, too, is likely to have ties to al Qaeda’s leadership in Pakistan. The safety of people around the world is at stake.”

Just remember: whatever Joe Biden tells you to do when it comes to matters of war, do the exact opposite and you’ll be OK…every single time.

Truisms...

So true: “Elections have consequences.” – Like the loss of First Amendment rights.

This is what happens when your answers aren’t the same ones the White House expected.

It’s true…because they are not.

“The truth is out there,” as opposed to it being in here.

Why doesn’t the State Department want us to know the truth about Honduras?

Europe used to be part of the West. Now it’s going South – True South.

The truth is, “health-care reform won’t solve the deficit problem.”


Is capitalism truly going the way of the dodo bird?

“I swear there was money in the account when I wrote the check!”

File this one under “strange but true.” I guess she’s eligible to become a member of Congress.

What if...?

But what if they could?

“Every comedy starts with a couple of guys tossing out a series of increasingly ridiculous "What if?" questions, until they get to the most idiotic reductio ad absurdum imaginable,” writes David Kahane over at National Review Online’s “The Corner.”

What if he turned it down? Or what if he said one of these things? Or this?

What if they one day gave a Nobel Prize in Economics to a woman? Wait…what? Oh, they did!

What if the largest collapse of private equity investment occurred during our lifetime? Oh, wait – it is.

What if I got called to do a talk radio show in the middle of writing this blog. I did! I just finished about an hour’s-worth of time on the John Loftus Show, where I joined fellow panelists on discussions about California, Congress, the president, Afghanistan and the Middle East.

Those are some big “what ifs.”

Last add: What if you were asked to do an hour’s-worth of radio at a moment’s notice – without time for preparation? Just finished nearly 60 minutes-worth of the John Loftus Radio Show. The invite came out of the blue and it was something of an E-ticket ride. Wow. (Prep is everything!!!) Much, much fun though. Tonight's topics: Afghanistan, California & Schwarzenegger, Iran, Congress, President Obama, Nancy Pelosi...and more. Whew!

And the winner is...

So, President Barack Obama "won" a Nobel Prize...for Peace (at least that's what it says on the trophy). Lots of reaction here in the U.S. - natch. Here's what news media types in other parts of the world are saying about it...(Funniest line?: Courtesy of "the left-wing NRC Handelsblad (Netherlands): ”What got into the committee to award this prize to a man who has yet to live up to the high expectations? Were they drunk?”

For whatever it's worth, I don't think you can blame Obama for doing anything other than accepting the prize. (If he had demurred, I would've saluted him from here til the end of his administration.) But the bottom line is he didn't win it for anything he's done other than make speeches. That's a pretty low bar, especially when you measure him against previous winners (minus Arafat and Kissinger...maybe a few others).

TIME gets into the act...

Saturday Night Live scores again...

According to Eleanor Clift, "The truth stings even when it's packaged in laughs."

So who gets to nominate? From the folks who hand these baubles out:

Qualified Nominators
The right to submit proposals for the Nobel Peace Prize shall, by statute, be enjoyed by:
1. Members of national assemblies and governments of states;
2. Members of international courts;
3. University rectors; professors of social sciences, history, philosophy, law and theology; directors of peace research institutes and foreign policy institutes;
4. Persons who have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize;
5. Board members of organizations who have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize;
6. Active and former members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee; (proposals by members of the Committee to be submitted no later than at the first meeting of the Committee after February 1)
and7. Former advisers appointed by the Norwegian Nobel Institute.
The Nobel Peace Prize may also be awarded to institutions and associations.


You also need an understanding of the "inside game."

Add nominations: For whatever it's worth, the nomination process began two months before the general elections here in the U.S. and closed just 12 days into Obama's first term (or 0.82 percent of the way into his presidency).

Maybe she should have won some sort of prize. I mean, she actually accomplished something.

Finally, a reminder: Tonight, from 8 – 8:30 p.m. (Pacific Time), it’s another edition of The John Batchelor Show. I’ll be joining my fellow panelists to discuss the events and news of the week. You can listen to the show at KSFO-AM 560 San Francisco/Northern California, KFI-AM 640 Los Angeles/Southern California, WABC-AM 77 NY, WMAL-AM 630 Washington, D.C., and on XM/Sirius Satellite Radio (throughout the universe).

Radio call

This Sunday night, from 8 – 8:30 p.m. (Pacific Time), it’s another edition of The John Batchelor Show. I’ll be joining my fellow panelists to discuss the events and news of the week. You can listen to the show at KSFO-AM 560 San Francisco/Northern California, KFI-AM 640 Los Angeles/Southern California, WABC-AM 77 NY, WMAL-AM 630 Washington, D.C., and on XM/Sirius Satellite Radio (throughout the universe). If you’re not in one of the listening areas, you can tune-in via any of those stations’ websites.

See you on the radio!