“Stunned” by White House’s dishonest rhetoric on equal pay…

Is anyone actually "stunned" by the Obama Administration's lies these days?

When the current administration isn't busy trying to divide Americans along race or economic lines, it plays the gender card.

Today's Presidential pep rally.     (via White House Instagram)

Today's White House efforts, namely to call attention to a specious view that most women are not earning a fair paycheck (because of their gender), has been dismissed by large numbers of economists. In addition, it's also been undercut by the administration's own actions: It doesn't pay women staffers at the same level that it does male staffers.

Of course, this is nothing new. The Bliss Index has reported on this fact, time and again. But the news sure surprised the news folks. Check out the following video:



From The Cato Institute's online magazine, Reason: "White House Press Secretary Jay Carney doesn't like when you apply the same logic governing wages in private businesses to his employer's own payroll. As President Obama prepares to sign an executive order addressing the gender gap in federal contractors' wages, critics have pointed out that female White House staffers make an average of 88 cents for every dollar male staffers earn."

The article by Elizabeth Nolan Brown continues: "Carney protested that this was misleading, because women and men holding similar positions at the White House are paid equivalent salaries. Because women outnumber men at the lowest levels of the employee chain, however, the average female salary at the White House is lower. Carney is right: It is misleading to average the salaries of men and women in widely varying positions and then use this as evidence that women are being discriminated against. That women disproportionately make up lower-paid positions may point to some broad, systematic gender bias, past or present, but it doesn't equate to outright sexist behavior on an employer's part."

Read more here... 

New information on the IRS scandal

After months of digging, toiling, and hectoring, it appears we are now on-track to learn what the IRS (reportedly at the behest/direction of the White House) did to harass Tea Party members, conservatives, Republicans, and their respective donors.

And we'll learn why.

And we'll learn who was behind it...all.

Just remember -- these things take time.



Here we go...

Give us all your money!

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.”

Going Postal...or Postal Gone?

One of America's enduring institutions -- however great or flawed you feel it may be -- is the U.S. Postal Service.

For more than two centuries, our system of moving mail around has served the country well. From the Great Postmaster, Ben Franklin, to the Pony Express, mail delivery has been an important part of our lives and history.

But, as the song says, "The times they are a changin'."

Past tense: they've changed.

Unfortunately, the postal system hasn't been able to keep up. Private delivery services (like UPS and FedEx), new technologies (the web/email), and skyrocketing employment costs have made the USPS a major money hole. Each year, the postal folks post their losses...which are in the billions.

The service's unsustainable course was the subject of Congressional testimony this week and the outlook is bleak. Current plans for trying to save the system include ending Saturday deliveries, closing post offices and laying off -- perhaps -- more than 100,000 workers.

Even the White House is mulling over ways to try and save the USPS.

Megan McArdle, editor at The Atlantic, points out that the USPS, the White House and others with good intentions might very well be hamstrung in their efforts by Congress: “Congress has given the Post Office two incompatible mandates. It is to make money like a business . . . but it is not to have any of the freedom that businesses have to, say, close branch offices, cut its delivery area, or change delivery schedules. This is, to put it mildly, lunatic.”

It's not "mildly lunatic." It's straight up crazy.

The prediction here: the USPS will be trimmed (service, employees and more) but the federal government will provide a bailout. Let's face it, as much as we love the efficiency and speed of companies like UPS and FedEx, we do love our relatively cheaper and fairly reliable snail mail. And as many from one particular political party in Washington, D.C., know, adding any additional numbers to the current unemployment situation mean fewer votes.

Don't hold your breath...

Will "Joey Plugs" make a run at the White House in 2016?

If the GOP doesn't have a reason to get off its backside, it does now.

According to POLITICO, "Vice President Joe Biden surprised a gathering of donors in Cincinnati last week when he floated the prospect of his succeeding President Barack Obama in the White House [in 2016]. Biden, who started in the Senate young and would be just 70 in 2012, raised the possibility unprompted during a wide-ranging conversation at the May 19 dinner with major Democratic Party donors, a source in the room said. But the spontaneous suggestion caught the attention of at least some in the audience, said the guest, 'given he volunteered that without prompting...and given the audience.' A spokeswoman for Biden declined to comment on the exchange."

Biden for president?

On the other hand, a Biden candidacy might just be the driving force behind putting a Republican back in the White House...

How many more years?

Foreshadowing?

From late night chat show host Jimmy Fallon: "True story: President Obama got home yesterday and the door to the Oval Office was locked. Obama was like, 'Holy cow, is it 2012 already?'"

Whose rules?

Playing a little "footy"...

"This is a White House photo of an impromptu lesson on Australian-rules football given the American president by the visiting Australian prime minister, Julia Gillard. Hint: It has to do with the need to hold the ball in front and punch it forward with a clenched fist. No tackling practice in the Oval Office, however."

(h/t: LA Times "Top of the Ticket")

I wonder why...?

"White House memo notes shortage of applicants for contest to have Obama to speak at high school graduation"

According to CBS News, "The White House is ramping up an effort to promote a nationwide competition to decide which high school wins a commencement speech by President Obama. An internal White House memo indicates that the White House is facing a shortage of applications less than a week before the deadline."

The story continues: "The competition was extended from the February 25 deadline until Friday, March 11 after few schools met the original application deadline. CBS News has learned a White House Communications Office internal memo dated February 22 noted "a major issue with the Commencement Challenge."

The president's own high school graduation (1979)...

The memo goes on to say, "As of yesterday we had received 14 applications and the deadline is Friday." The memo also urged recipients to, "please keep the application number close hold."

CBS reported that, “officials were unable to explain the reason for the apparent lack of interest, beyond pointing to possible procrastination by school systems.”

Yes, I’m sure that’s it. Procrastination. Yes, that’s the reason.

On the upside, his TelePrompter has been invited to give commencement addresses at several universities this year...

Busted!

We knew something didn't smell right...

The ill-fated Deepwater Horizon...

Back in May, just after the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe began, The Bliss Index/yours truly - told you in print and on the air that something didn't smell right about a number of issues connected to the Obama Administration's handling of the disaster.

One of the most troubling matters that arose in those dark days following the explosion, blow-out and massive leak was the decision to slap a ban on offshore oil exploration/drilling that was supposedly backed by the consensus of experts in the field.

We now know that the report that led to the moratorium was nothing short of a lie.

According to Politico.com, "The White House rewrote crucial sections of an Interior Department report to suggest an independent group of scientists and engineers supported a six-month ban on offshore oil drilling, the Interior inspector general says in a new report. In the wee hours of the morning of May 27, a staff member to White House energy adviser Carol Browner sent two edited versions of the department report’s executive summary back to Interior. The language had been changed to insinuate the seven-member panel of outside experts – who reviewed a draft of various safety recommendations – endorsed the moratorium, according to the IG report obtained by POLITICO."

Politico continues: "The six-month ban on offshore drilling installed in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill became a major political issue over the summer, as Gulf State lawmakers and industry groups charged the White House with unfairly threatening thousands of jobs."

For all the Obama Administration and its allies say about having "science-based policy," this revelation seems contrary to what they have stated. The truth is that the decision was never based on science but, instead, it was made as part of an agenda that is more interested in outcomes than it is in fact.

From Greenenergyreporter.com: Good for Climate Bill - Carol Browner sees opportunity in crisis...The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico could end up being a good thing for the climate bill – or, at least, that’s the storyline that the Obama Administration has started pushing. White House energy czar Carol Browner told Bloomberg this morning that the leaking oil well “is actually heightening people’s interest in energy in this country and in wanting a different energy plan.”

Not what was promised...

Dear Al Gore: How’s that “Social Security lock box” working for you? (About the same as Global Warming™, er, Climate Change®, eh?)


How's it goin'?

For all those college students who voted for Hope & Change™…looks like your only Hope will be if someone gives you some spare Change.

California – the “Used to be Golden” state.

Pelosi: “We’ve got the votes.” Stupak: “You know how to count to 16?”


That is surprising news!

“LIKE A CALIFORNIA WILDFIRE, populist rage burns over bloated executive compensation and unrepentant avarice on Wall Street.” “What is the result of ‘False Public Employee Pension Promises’ for $100, Alex?”

Now about those doctors at the White House health insurance press events? “Get yer white lab coats here! Get yer lab coats! Can’t tell the pros without ‘em!”


Get yer lab coats!


Get yer lab coats, here!

Can’t tell the pros without ‘em!”

“Victory has a thousand fathers”

Last week, Joe “Plugs” Biden appeared on CNN’s “Larry King Live” to talk about all of the wonderful things the administration is doing.

Among the accomplishments Plugs said Team Obama deserved credit for was…wait…wait…wait…Iraq! Yes, that dusty killing field that General David Petraeus & the Surge essentially cleaned out despite opposition from…wait…wait…wait…the Democrats.


Coupla great guys...

According to the LA Times, here’s what Joey Plugs had to say:

“I am very optimistic about -- about Iraq. I mean, this could be one of the great achievements of this administration. You're going to see 90,000 American troops come marching home by the end of the summer. You're going to see a stable government in Iraq that is actually moving toward a representative government. I spent -- I've been there 17 times now. I go about every two months -- three months. I know every one of the major players in all the segments of that society. It's impressed me. I've been impressed how they have been deciding to use the political process rather than guns to settle their differences.”


Larry King in better days...

Pretty amazing. Especially since the previous administration handed the success to the current one on a silver platter (on the way out).

BTW, during the interview with The World’s Oldest Living Fossil, Biden did not elaborate on what all the administration's other "great achievements" were so far.


Joey Plugs visits Mesopotamia...

What’s really interesting, though, was what happened shortly thereafter when the White House Press Corpse called the administration on Plugs’ claim.


Telling it like it is...

The following is supplied by a source within the Press Room who asked to remain unidentified. (The “Robert” and “MR. GIBBS” is Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. The “Q” is an unidentified journalist in the Press Room.)

Q: Robert, the Vice President last night said that Iraq could end up being one of the President's great achievements. Given that the Vice President was in favor of a partial partition of the country and the President opposed the surge that helped stabilize it, how is that one of the President's great achievements?

MR. GIBBS: Well, putting what was broken back together and getting our troops home, which we intend to do in August of this year.

Q : But the Status of Forces Agreement to bring troops home was signed before the President took office.

MR. GIBBS: Something that -- something that I think the political pressure that the President, as a then-candidate, helped to bring about.

Look, I think that we will long debate Iraq. We will long debate whether at a very important moment in our efforts to root out terrorism particularly in Afghanistan and on that border region with Pakistan, whether we took our eye off the ball. I think historians will debate that long after we're gone. I think they will come likely to the conclusion that no single event took our eye off of what needed to be done in order to -- in order to occupy a country that, until we got there, didn’t have a single member of al Qaeda.

So, look, obviously -- look, the Vice President has been deeply involved in fixing the political process there so that elections can be held and so that our troops can come home as scheduled this summer.

Obviously.

Oh, the weather outside is frightful...

Despite a record-setting winter storm hitting large portions of the nation, leaving urban and rural areas snowbound, and essentially closing Washington, D.C., our fellow citizens - and enemies - keep making news...

How my fellow San Francisco Bay Area folks are going the extra mile for the people of Haiti.

Iran is “da bomb”…well, almost.

Meanwhile, the mullahs are promising to punch us. No, really...that's what their big-wigs are saying.


If it weren't so terrifying, it would be a bad Woody Allen movie...

This is what happens when your PR office is buried under snow.


That's a lot of global warming piling up there...

Did you know that with the new 2010 budget, a whopping “42 cents out of every dollar the federal government spends will have to be borrowed?” The Chinese do – and that worries them. At least they're investing, right?

The White House on official photos it has in its Flickr photo pool: “Nope – not yours.” (If only there was a former law school lecturer hanging around there who could set the administration straight on the basics.


"I'm tired of all these photos..."

John Murtha (D-Pork) died today at the age of 77. Let it be said he never met an earmark he didn’t like.

Looks like Republicans aren’t the only ones who think Khalid Sheik Mohammed’s trial should be held somewhere besides the same town at 9-11’s Ground Zero. (It’s about time…)

And finally…remember kids – it’s never OK to waterboard suspected terrorists…but it is OK to blow them the #$@%! up.


It's more expensive than "enhanced interrogations," but the results are also more definitive...

New photo of White House "crashers" made public

A second photo of the husband and wife team who gained access to the White House was made public today. White House officials have not commented on the couple who sources say made a "grand entrance...under questionable circumstances."

(photo h/t: Bossip)

In a photo I'm just now making public, the couple who "crashed" the White House are shown making their way down the red carpet...

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.