Barack Obama's Diary: Plottin' with Putin

Dear Diary: I had barely finished my last delicious mouthful of FrootLoops when my iPresidentophone  began blaring the Moscow Steel Foundry Male Voice  Choir's rendition of Keep the Red Flag Flying. I lifted my phone from the  way- cool holster  on my belt and said:"Good Morning Vlad," for it was he. "Obamavitch," he exclaimed, "I am going to annihilate every last one of these terrorists who have been killing people in Volgograd during the run-up to the Sochi Winter Olympics. Those damned Chechens only understand the language of violence, so violence they shall receive. Obamavitch, I would like to ask for your restraint in reacting to any extreme measures  I may take."  He continued: "I shall, of course, reciprocate with like restraint when you are faced with a similar predicament when rounding up the rebels who refuse to sign up for ObamaCare."  I agreed, though that will give him a lot of latitude-- No fate will be too ugly for those who defy my decree. But enough about me.  

Getting it straight

Bam's Top 10 constitutional sins

Forbes magazine has compiled a list of President Obama's top ten constitutional violations of 2013. Discover them all here.     [BJS]

Obama tries to woo gays to join ObamaCare

There is no depth which Obama will not plumb in his mission to  enroll us all in ObamaCare, witness this simultaneously nauseating, stereotyping and patronizing campaign to woo gay men.  Yeccch!    [ECS]

Barack Obama's Diary: Ice breaking

Like an antarctic icebreaker, I escaped the frozen sea that surrounds Michelle early today and was driven in The Beast, with trip director and golfing buddy Marv Nicholson, to the Royal Hawaiian Golf Club. There we met with four other buddies, Hawaiians Bobby Titcomb and Mike Ramos and Chicagoans Eric Whitaker and Marty Nesbitt. [On the down-low, this was my 45th round this year, which is a source of great pride to me --how, despite my interrupted work hours, the country has prospered and  how much happier the American people are under my wise and reassuring tutelage!] It is a remarkable achievement, if I may say so myself, and I may, so I do. As we were driving to the base, my iPresidentophone burst forth with the Moscow Steel Foundry Male Voice Choir singing "Keep the Red Flag Flying."  I thumbed the Unlock button and spoke. "Hello, Vlad," for it was he. "To what do I owe this honor?" 'We've had another Chechen terrorist bomb blast," he said wearily."We have go to start working together on breaking up these militant Islamist groups."
"Tell me about it, Vlad,"
"I just did, Obamavitch."
We agreed to agree at a later date and meantime each time  there is another bomb attack, Vlad will continue to assert that security is being stepped up even more. At my suggestion the White House press office later released a statement about us having  had "constructive talks." But enough  about me.

Cartoon: Obama wrestles China, Iran

 [Deng Coy Miel

, Singapore]

Progress notes for Patient 540463: Obama, Barack H.

Patient has settled happily into a regimen of occasional  work, photo-ops and frequent golf, in other words, his normal DC routine. But he is still troubled by the disapproval of his spouse for what she says was "humiliating her" in front of the world by openly flirting with the Danish Prime Minister.
When I met patient today, he flung himself down on a couch and whined: "Oh, Doc, I'm hearing that there are those in Congress who want to impeach me for abusing my executive powers. Michelle is my rock when it seems the world is against me. Now I have to face it alone. What shall I do? "
"Apologize to your rock, buy her a nice piece of jewelry and don't flirt with Prime Ministers," I told the moron curtly, and left. I gave Valerie Jarrett the address of Tiffany's in Waikiki, explaining what was needed, and added a prescription for a mild sedative for patient to help him overcome the subsequent sticker shock. -- Dictated by S.H.Rink, M.D.

Dim Crims: Man stabbed with squirrel

The Charleston County Sheriff's office says in a report that deputies found a man covered with blood when they arrived at Helen Williams' home early Wednesday. She told investigators the man fell and cut himself, but couldn't explain why her hands and clothes were also bloody.
Deputies say the man said Williams was so angry when he returned without beer because stores were closed on Christmas Eve that she grabbed a ceramic squirrel, beat him in the head, then stabbed him in the shoulder and chest. Williams was in jail Friday and charged with criminal domestic violence. More Details. 

Barack Obama's Diary: Woe is me...

Dear Diary: I am delighting in Hawaii's weather and golf, golf, glorious golf which heals all wounds except wifely ones. Michelle has banished me from the marital bedroom, furious at what she claims was my flirting with Helle What's-her name-Schmidt, the prime minister of Denmark, at the Mandela memorial. "How could you humiliate me in front of the world," she asks repeatedly, while giving me a stare that would shrivel an elephant at 100 yards.  Valerie Jarrett wisely made arrangements for  my shrink, Dr. Rink, to travel here with us. I'm due to meet with him today. But enough about me.

O-Care popularity explained

Cartoon: Stilton Jarlsberg

Dim Crims: Away in a dumpster

Brazilian police say a man was discovered at a landfill on Christmas Day in the southern Brazilian city of Caxias do Sul. A police officer in the city said it's not clear why Augusto Cesar da Silva was in the dumpster to begin with, though he does face drug trafficking and robbery charges. The officer says Silva "started screaming for help after he was dumped at the landfill and when we checked his identity we saw that he was wanted by police." He was taken into custody.  [Source]      [SC]

Obama and fries

How to talk politics over the holidays

Barack Obama's Christmas Diary: What the Helle

Dear Diary: This has already been an amazing Christmas Day here in Honolulu. Malia and Sasha  joined forces to give me the perfect gift, a leather-encased mirror inscribed "Who's the smartest guy on the planet? Open this and gaze upon the reflection."  Among other gifts lined up for me was a mysterious envelope. Inside was a card  that read: " Hej! How are you? It's me, handsome. Let's get together for a State visit: your place or mine." It was from none other than Helle Thorning-Schmidt,  the seductive Prime Minister of Denmark. I quickly slipped her card and selfie into the pocket of my bathrobe, lest Michelle see it and sentence Me to another week in purgatory. But enough about Me.

Dim Crims: Santa held for DUI

Police in Poland said a Santa and his helper could face drunken driving charges after they were thrown from their sleigh on a busy street.Witnesses said the 51-year-old Santa and his 31-year-old female helper were both visibly drunk as they rode a horse-drawn sleigh down a busy road in Ustrzykach Dolnych and they were thrown from the vehicle when a car horn spooked their horse, the British newspaper the Mirror reported.

Gold, frankincense and Myrtle

An unwise motorist was arrested early today after a traffic stop revealed that his Mercedes-Benz contained frankincense, myrrh, and marijuana, according to South Carolina police.
Around 12:30 AM, Alain Cassagnol, 19, was spotted by a Myrtle Beach cop driving 103 mph in a 45 mph zone. Cassagnol was arrested for speeding after officers directed him to exit his car, a white 2014 sedan.
When Cassagnol stepped out of the Mercedes-Benz, cops detected a “strong odor of marijuana emitting from his person.” Asked if he was in possession of any narcotics, Cassagnol “stated yes and stated the drugs were in his pants by his groin.” An officer then retrieved a clear baggie containing 5.4 grams of pot.  Investigators also seized a bottle of frankincense and myrrh incense spray from inside the vehicle. Known as “Blunt Block,” the product is usually used to mask the odor of burnt marijuana.

Palin pummels A&E over Duck Dynasty

Progress Notes for Patient 540463: OBAMA, Barack, H.

12/23/13: Patient has visibly relaxed since arriving in Honolulu. I am here at Valerie Jarrett's request to keep a watch on his mental state. My journey here was tedious in the extreme ---seated, as I was, for eight hours between a Secret Service guy and a chef. I have not noticed anything abnormal about Patient, other than the frequent huddles he gets into with Valerie Jarrett about some ruse they are concocting with the sign-up deadline for Obamacare. This seems to be the source of much hilarity between them, giggling, gasping for air and smacking their hands on their thighs in admiration at their own cleverness. I have no doubt that by now the Moron has renewed his stash of Blueberry Yum Yum from one of his local choom buddies. ---Dictated by S.H.Rink M.D.

Obama has signed up for Obamacare, or has he?

 Keith Koffler writes at White House Dossier that President Obama signed up for Obamacare over the weekend,  according to a White House official. "But," adds Koffler "his experience is not quite, you know, typical of what one encounters when trying to do this.
"First of all, HE’S NOT GOING TO BE GETTING CARE UNDER THE PLAN HE CHOSE.
Obama, the White House acknowledged, gets his health care through the military. The signup was “symbolic,” the official said, and Obama will pay something under $400 a month just to pretend he’s sharing everyone’s pain.
"Second, HE DIDN’T HAVE TO USE HEALTHCARE.GOV; Koffler has more details of the Prez's sleight of hand here.

Welfare line

Our Alaska contributor, TG, found this:

This morning I went to sign my dogs up for welfare. At first the lady said, "Dogs are not eligible to draw welfare." So I explained to her that my dogs are mixed in color, unemployed, lazy, can't speak English and have no clue who their Daddies are. They expect me to feed them, provide them with housing and medical care. So she looked in her policy book to see what it takes to qualify. My dogs get their first checks Friday.   Is this a great country, or what?

Barack Obama's Diary: Happy, Happy!

Dear Diary: The plans laid by Valerie Jarrett and ME to keep the waters muddied around Obamacare have worked well. Add to that Duck Dynasty's Phil Robertson and his politically incorrect views on gays,  and we have been left almost alone by the media.  Happy...happy! Marv Nicholson, my travel director, knows that I enjoy Duck Dynasty, and recorded a bunch of episodes on DVR for me to watch on Air Force One and during the course of our vacation. Michelle and I love to  eat a bowl of popcorn while tittering at the strange habits of the Louisiana redneck. But enough about me.

Cartoon: Eric Allie

[Cagle Cartoons]

Dim Crims: Searing memory

Police in Portland, Oregon, allege that Harry Frederick Suniville stole a partially-filled gas can from a truck parked next to his car. While pouring the gas into his own vehicle -- while smoking a cigarette -- the gas exploded, burning his socks and pants, and singeing his eyebrows and hair. His car was also damaged and had to be towed. After being treated at the scene, Suniville was accused of second-degree criminal mischief, reckless burning and third-degree theft.    More here  [BJS]

Obamacare 'falling apart before our eyes'

"The wrecking ball swung again toward the crumbling Obamacare edifice yesterday. Ironically, it continues to be the Obama administration that is operating the heavy machinery," writes James Capretta in The Weekly Standard.  "Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced, in the form of a letter to Democratic senators, that Obamacare’s individual mandate tax will be waived in 2014 for persons who had their policies canceled in 2013 due to Obamacare.
"At this point, after months of on-the-fly pronouncements, delays, and exemptions (often announced, not coincidentally, in the days just before a major national holiday), perhaps nothing should surprise us anymore about Obamacare’s disastrous rollout.  But yesterday’s announcement is still startling because of what it says about the state of the president’s signature domestic legislation. The law is falling apart before our eyes.
No doubt the administration’s defenders will argue that this is simply a tactical retreat, executed with surgical precision, and intended to protect the law from more serious legislative threats in 2014.  Better to give a little by executive action now than to invite an impossible-to-control revolt by Democrats in the Senate later, the thinking goes. And by orchestrating the tactical retreat in conjunction with political allies (the Sebelius letter followed by one day a letter requesting the change from six Senate Democrats), the administration is hoping its party will get credit with voters for “smoothing the transition” to Obamacare. More here.

Barack Obama's Diary: Fore!

I spent my first day in Hawaii on the golf course at Marine Corps Base Hawaii at Kaneohe Bay playing with a three regular golf  buddies– trip director  and Keeper of the Presidential Blankeys-- Marvin Nicholson and White House food guru Sam Kass, as well as Hawaiian buddy Bobby Titcomb. I played my usual superb game, if I may say so, and I may, so I just did. Michelle is still giving me the deep-  freeze treatment for flirting with the Danish Prime Minister at Mandela's memorial. Geez that woman [Michelle I mean]  is slow to thaw. But enough about me.

Cartoon: Aftermath

[From: Aftermath.com]

Wolf and Sheep's clothing

[Investors Business Daily]

Cartoon: Rick McKee

Wanted: One Obama, slightly used

Our Brazilian contributor, SC, has discovered fellow Brazilians who would be more than glad to welcome Obama to run their country. Most Americans, too, would approve of the arrangement. More here.

Barack Obama's Diary: Hello, Oahu

This afternoon, we choppered out to Joint Base Andrews where Air Force One was waiting to fly the family to Hawaii with Valerie Jarrett, my shrink Dr Rink, and my secret service detail, plus a couple chefs and my tour director and golf buddy Marvin Nicholson. As the bright lights of DC receded to pinpricks below I could not resist emitting a merry "Ho, Ho, Ho," as I left the Federal beehive for the balmy shores of Oahu. I held a press conference at the White House before we left, with news of last-minute insurance changes that will muddy the waters so no-one can assemble a rational attack on ObamaCare while I am away. No sooner had I sat at my in-flight desk when the onboard communications chief  called, saying "Sir, Vladimir Putin is on the line. "Very well, I said. "Put the bastard through..."
 "I heard that, Obamavitch, you rude person."  For that I shall call you "Boris Obamavitch" from now on.  While it will further inflame your vanity, it will make a splendid name for a long and complex Russian novel."

Leno on Duck Dynasty dispute

Dim Crims: Smoking backward

Deputies said they arrested Christy Bostic-Petrain, 38, of New Smyrna Beach, Fla. after they suspected she was intoxicated when they saw her fumbling with her seat belt and smoking a cigarette backward. She blew more than twice the legal limit through a Breathalyzer. An 11-year-old boy in the car was turned over to a family member.

Even UNinsured hate ObamaCare

A New York Times poll released today says that the uninsured dislike Obamacare even more than the insured. From The New York Times piece:
"Fifty-three percent of the uninsured disapprove of the law, the poll found, compared with 51 percent of those who have health coverage. A third of the uninsured say the law will help them personally, but about the same number think it will hurt them, with cost a leading concern." Details here.

Cartoon: Chip Bok

[BJS]

Cartoon: Nate Beeler

[The Columbus Dispatch]

Barack Obama's Diary: Nyaaa, nyaaa, Vladimir...

Dear Diary: It's been like old times these past few days. As I spooned up the last of my Froot Loops this morning, my iPresidentophone burst into the familiar harmonies of the Moscow Steel Foundry Male Voice Choir singing Keep the Red Flag Flying. "Good Morning, Vladimir" I said, for it was he. "How are we this fine morning? "
"You know I hate false bonhomie, Obamavitch."
 "Well then, cut to the chase, Vlad."
 "Obamavitch, I understand you are planning to boycott personally our Sochi winter games  and, instead, to send a group of decadent perverts as America's delegation. This will be seen as an outrage by the Soviet, I mean  Russian, people. If any member of your grope, I mean group, is caught at their filthy practices while on our soil we will let them them "accidentally" fall down the ski jump without benefit of skis, if you get my drift. And we'll do you a favor and toss that snivelling, whiny traitor Snowden down after them. Well, that's all I have to say. If you want to show off your "diversity" add that Duck Dynasty guy Phil Robertson to the delegation. He's got the right ideas." До свидания -- Goodbye Obamavitch," he said, and with that  he disconnected. But enough about me.

Progress Notes: Patient 540463, Obama Barack H.

12/18/13: Patient is looking haggard. He tearfully admitted that he has been banished from the marital bedroom for flirting with the Danish Prime Minister  and has been sleeping on a couch since returning from Mandela's memorial. I also suspect he has been indulging in a particularly potent variety of African weed called Durban Poison, because he seems to be permanently confused. He insists that the German Prime Minister whom he refers to as "Arugula" Merkel called and ripped him a new one for listening in on her private phone calls. By thew way, I have been asked by Valerie Jarrett to accompany Patient on his vacation in Hawaii and I  have accepted with alacrity because:
 1) With all those lunatic Congressmen out of town, business is always thin over the holidays, and
 2) I am increasingly concerned about the reappearance of patient's Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Moron returned from Africa convinced that Mandela's memorial gathering of world leaders was to honor patient for his inspired leadership of the free world, and the global peace achieved by his masterful diplomacy. Besides, I am not about to turn down free flights on Air Force One, and a couple weeks of Hawaiian sun. ---Dictated by S.H. Rink M.D.

Ad takes the sheen off Shaheen

Now India hates us...

An Indian diplomat said U.S. authorities subjected her to a strip search, cavity search and DNA swabbing following her arrest on visa charges in New York City.
Devyani Khobragade, India's deputy consul general in New York, was arrested Thursday outside of her daughter's Manhattan school on charges that she lied on a visa application about how much she paid her housekeeper, an Indian national.The case has sparked widespread outrage in India and infuriated the New Delhi government, which revoked privileges for U.S. diplomats to protest the woman's treatment. Details here.        [BJS]

Government planning at work...

A regional airport that opened six months ago in the German city of Kassel has some 140 employees, but no scheduled flights this winter. Everyday operations are legally required, even as the facility hemorrhages money.  Maria Anna Muller is the CEO of Kassel Airport. She proudly points to the new sewage facility built just for the airport. There's not much going on today. The pilot of a small jet practices takeoffs and landings and two private Russian aircraft are waiting on the tarmac for their passengers. There hasn't been a single scheduled passenger flight here since October. Local flying schools and a few private jets account for the few flights being processed. More             [BJS]

Dim Crims: Never steal from a cage fighter

 Tom Anderton is a music store owner in Central Pennsylvania. But in a previous career he was a mixed martial arts fighter so when he saw a man stealing things from his store, he knew just what to do. The crook was putting things in his pockets but when he came to the counter he tried to pay for a single CD. Tom told the crook to put the rest of the goods on the counter. The bad guy decided it would be better to pull a knife on Tom. Tom’s cage fighting instincts took over, he punched the guy in the face and took the knife. Police arrived and held the crook on felony charges.   More    [BJS]

Cartoon: Gary Varvel

[The Indianapolis Star]

Jang Song-thaek is whacked

The spectacle of North Korea’s former Number Two being stripped of all his titles at a party meeting in Pyongyang and then arrested by uniformed guards left no doubt about his fall from grace. Jang’s former protégé, Premier Pak Pong-ju, was in tears as he denounced his old friend while he was being dragged away. Such a public display of political disarray, broadcast the next day on state television, was unprecedented in the North Korean hermit kingdom. Four days later, Jang’s execution was reported by KCNA, the official news service of the regime.

Loesch lashes out at myth of Tea Party racism

Our tax dollars at work...

A $300 million Army “megablimp,” space pizza and the ObamaCare website top this year’s “Wastebook” of the worst examples of wasteful spending by the government.
Sen. Tom Coburn’s (R-Okla.) list, out Tuesday, criticizes the government for spending $319 million on the botched HealthCare.gov site and $400 million to some furloughed workers who stayed home during the government shutdown.  The new book identifies 100 government spending decisions that wasted $30 billion in taxpayer money over the last year. Coburn, a well-known fiscal hawk, puts the book together every year. Full details here     [ECS]

She's dreaming of a white Santa

Foxophobes are at it again

Obama, viewed from Down-Under

Our Australian Contributor  BH spotted an excellent column  by Tim Blair of the Australian Daily  Telegraph  on  Thamsanqa Jantjie's erratic performance as a signer for the deaf. It may have been embarassing, says Blair, but all he really did was turn the failed president’s words into a disappointing jumble of incomprehensible nonsense. "As is now apparent, Obama is quite capable of achieving this by himself."
 Blair continues by saying many Australians were puzzled by American resistance to Obama’s universal health care plan, back when it was first proposed in 2008. They couldn’t understand why the US would not embrace an Australian-style system of health coverage.
"One reason is that the system in the US was proposed by Obama and his useless administration. If you thought Labor’s attempts in Australia to install home insulation and run grocery price websites were lame, they have nothing on Obama’s bid to reshape the massive US health sector.
"Just as Labor did in Australia, Obama initially enjoyed near-universal media support. The allegedly impartial fact-checking site PolitiFact backed Obama five years ago for this claim:
No. 1, let me just repeat, if you’ve got a health care plan that you like, you can keep it. All I’m going to do is help you to lower the premiums on it. You’ll still have choice of doctor.
According to PolitiFact: “His description of his plan is accurate, and we rate his statement True.”
Leave aside the puzzling move of judging a political promise in the absence of any action, and move ahead to this year. Millions of Americans have lost their existing health coverage. Millions find themselves waiting for months to see doctors they don’t know. PolitiFact now reports: "As cancellation letters were going out to approximately 4 million Americans, the public realized Obama’s breezy assurances were wrong.  For all of these reasons, PolitiFact has named ‘If you like your health care plan, you can keep it,’ the Lie of the Year for 2013." Former Obama fans who credited their hero with almost mystical powers when he was first elected now realise that as Jantjie is to communicating with the deaf, Obama is to the US presidency. [More]
[BH]

Beware of the earworm

[From George Takei, on Twitter]

Englishman explains: 'Why I am a racist'

An Englishman explains: 'Why I'm a racist'    [ECS]

Anyone here seen AlGore?

Cairo has seen its first snow in 112 years   http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/cairo-snow-egyptian-capital-sees-2923418z     [BJS]

Sign language man's secret revealed

Our Brazilian contributor S.C, reveals what
the sign-language imposter does as his day job

Freeze frame

"I hate to break this to you, ladies: Obamacare 
doesn't pay for  Botox"

Dim Crims: Arrestogram

A sheriff in Palm Beach County, Fla., came across the Instagram page of Dupree Johnson, 19.  Noting that Johnson had a rap sheet that included grand theft, burglary, and felony possession of a firearm, the deputy looked closely at the pictures. Authorities quickly issued a search warrant for Johnson's home in Lake Worth, Fla.  Deputies not only discovered a Glock underneath his bedspread and a stolen -- and loaded -- Tec-9 9mm pistol, but also $250,000 worth of stolen jewelry, electronics and and firearms, The Miami News-Times reports. He was charged with 142 felony counts.  More       [BJS]

Liar of the year is...

"If you like your health care plan, you can keep it," President Barack Obama said — many times — of his landmark new law.   So this fall, as cancellation letters were going out to about 4 million Americans, the public realized Obama's breezy assurances were wrong.
Boiling down the complicated health care law to a soundbite proved treacherous, even for its promoter-in-chief. Obama and his team made matters worse, suggesting they had been misunderstood all along. The stunning political uproar led to this: a rare presidential apology.  For all of these reasons, PolitiFact has named "If you like your health care plan, you can keep it," the Lie of the Year for 2013. Readers in a separate online poll overwhelmingly agreed with the choice.   [More]            [BJS]

Cartoon: Rick McKee

Socialist medicine in action

Almost 150 patients of Britain's National Health Service have been harmed by incidents that shouldn't ever happen, according to new figures - including the wrong patient receiving heart surgery, patients given overdoses and a woman who had her fallopian tube removed instead of her appendix.  Official statistics for a six month period show that the major blunders include 37 cases of patients who underwent surgery on the wrong part of the body.  In one case, the wrong patient was given a heart procedure.
One woman had the wrong fallopian tube removed during an ectopic pregnancy, probably rendering her infertile, and another had a fallopian tube removed instead of her appendix. More here    [BJS]

Good tidings of economic joy

Scott Grannis of Calafia Beach Pundit brings good economic tidings: "In the 12 months ended Nov. '13, the federal budget deficit was $615 billion. The last time we saw a deficit that low was 5 years ago. It has dropped $862 billion from its all-time high of $1.48 trillion in Feb. '10. As a % of GDP, the budget deficit this year will be a mere 3.6%, down radically from the its 2010 high of 10.2%. Most of the credit (about 60%) goes to spending restraint: this year federal spending will be about $3.43 trillion, which is the same as was spent in the 12 months ended June 2009. That will mark four and a half years of zero increase in federal spending. As a % of GDP, federal spending this year will be 20.4% of GDP, down from its 2009 high of 24.4%. The other 40% of the reduction in the deficit comes from increased tax revenues, which in turn came mostly from an increase in the tax base (i.e., more people working, higher incomes, increased capital gains realizations, and higher corporate profits). As a % of GDP, tax revenues this year will be about 16.9% of GDP, up almost 20% from the low of 14.2% in 2009. We didn't need higher tax rates to boost revenues, we just needed a growing economy."    [BJS]

DUI teen kills 4, dodges prison

 Ethan Couch got drunk last June, drove with a blood alcohol level three times the legal adult limit, and killed four pedestrians. But instead of the 20 years the 16-year-old Texas teen could have served in prison, he got 10 years of probation, CBS Local reports. Why? Apparently Couch's attorneys' controversial argument worked: They said Couch's wealthy parents were actually to blame, because Couch was used to getting whatever he wanted. He also started driving at 13 and was allowed to drink. (Although the alcohol from the night in question may have been stolen by Couch and his friends ... from a Walmart.)
The defense team argued that Couch needs treatment, and the judge told Couch she doesn't think he could get the therapy he needs in jail, WFAA reports. His attorneys' suggestion: a California facility that costs $450,000 a year, with Couch's dad footing the bill. A psychologist who testified said Couch should also have no contact with his parents during his one or two years in treatment; he actually used the term "affluenza" to describe what the teen apparently suffers from.    More details     [BJS]

Dirty Harry 'intervened'

A newspaper report suggests that Harry Reid exercised improper political clout on behalf of a casino in his home state of Nevada. The Washington Times reports that Reid personally intervened when a government agency—the US Citizenship and Immigration Services—rejected a request to speed up visa applications for foreign investors who wanted to help fund the renovation of the SLS Hotel, better known by its former name as the Sahara Casino. He did so despite concerns of "suspicious financial activity" by some of the Asian investors, according to the newspaper. Newser has more.

Obama's new hires are 'bad news for democracy'

President Obama’s decision to haul John Podesta and Phil Schiliro into the White House is bad news for the Republic. Because Obama is clearly finished with the messiness of democracy, and he intends to rule as much as possible from the White House, writes Keith Koffler at White House Dossier.
Podesta will take over the job of presidential counselor Pete Rouse, while Schiliro is in charge of the White House Obamacare effort. Both will only be around for 2014, a political year when little is expected to happen on Capitol Hill. But clearly, much will be going on in the White House."
Koffler continues: "I’ve known and watched Podesta and Schiliro for many years. They are partisan, true-believing liberal democrats. They are relentless and efficient. They have worked with Republicans – and are respected by many of them for their skill and forthrightness – but their passion is leftist policymaking..."

Mandela: Behind the hyperbole

How refreshing it is, amid all the posturing in the media, to find a genuinely interesting observation by a man who knew Mandela well, Archbishop Desmond Tutu: "Did you see the front page of Rapport? Did you—did you see? Rapport is the main Sunday Afrikaans newspaper. The front page. You can’t believe it. The front page was a young, white, almost certainly Afrikaner. What is he doing? He has got his arms around a middle-aged black woman. She is crying, and he is consoling her. He’s consoling her. This is—this is what—this is what Madiba has done..."

Obama thaw with Brazil?

Our Brazilian Correspondent, SC, points out that, lost among  the media fuss about Obama shaking Raul Castro's hand, was something highly significant that happened immediately afterwards: President Obama pressed cheeks with Brazil President Dilma Rousseff, who recently cancelled a trip to the US to protest NSA spying. More, plus picture, here. 

Cartoon: Stilton Jarlsberg

Obamacare drug price shock

 Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, heath insurers now can't turn away sick people. The bad news: They don't actually have to cover the drugs those patients need. Key drugs are missing from some plans, The Washington Post reports, in what patient advocates believe is a bid to drive sick customers away. Some plans omit certain medicines for HIV, cancer, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and more altogether, or else require patients to pay as much as 50% out-of-pocket—which is often more than $1,000 a month. More details here.    [BJS]

Barack Obama's Diary: For me, selfies ain't healthy

Dear Diary: Oh lordy, lordy. The selfie that the eye-catching Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Danish PM, took of David Cameron and I at the Mandela memorial, has caused me endless trouble. Michelle, who was not amused, hissed in my ear at the first opportunity: "Barry, you miserable excuse for a man. Just you wait until I get your scrawny ass aboard Air Force One again."  Later I saw her talking to Valerie Jarrett who was nodding sympathetically. They were clearly plotting some painful consequence, possibly involving confiscation of the quart-size zip-bag of Durban Poison, obtained for me through President Zuma, and the only weed to rival Blueberry Yum Yum in potency.  But enough about me.

Obama is 'danger constitution was designed to avoid'

The Founders designed a system of checks and balances among three branches of government that was based on the consent of the governed. The power grab that is ObamaCare, nationalizing one-sixth of the economy, is just the latest example of an increasingly imperial presidency that ignores the Constitution, the will of Congress, the laws sworn to be faithfully executed and the will of the people who never wanted it in the first place.
Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, recently noted to Fox News' Sean Hannity how President Obama "extended the employer mandate for a year, even though the law says 'shall commence in each month after December of 2013.' He extended the individual mandate, stretched that out and now the small-package plans. There's at least three times that he's violated the Constitution with ObamaCare."
When confronted with his lies that under ObamaCare you could keep your plan and doctor if you like them, and millions were losing the coverage they liked, the president held a press conference where he decreed that insurance companies could violate the "law of the land" and reissue policies that did not contain Obama-Care's 10 essential mandates, if only for a year.
This prompted Jonathan Turley, a liberal law professor at George Washington University and supporter of the Affordable Care Act, to tell the House Judiciary Committee at a Dec. 3 hearing, titled "The President's Constitutional Duty to Faithfully Execute the Laws," that Obama's abuse of executive power has grown to the point that "he's becoming the very danger the Constitution was designed to avoid."
Turley cited the "radical expansion of presidential powers" and the rise of what he termed the "fourth branch" of government — massive federal departments and agencies that can write regulations that have the effect of law written by unelected bureaucrats often contrary to the will of Congress and the American people. Read More.     [BJS]

The Dung Beetle Award goes to...

The Academy of Dung Beetles' Award is being rolled towards the administrators of a school in Canon City, Colorado, for accusing a 6-year-old boy of "sexual harassment" for kissing a 6-year-old girl on the cheek. [ECS]   [BJS]

Obama's crisis of competence

Leno unloads on Obama again    [ECS]

Rick Warren has no fears of Piers

Pastor Rick Warren has reaffirmed his opposition to gay marriage in an appearance on CNN’s “Piers Morgan Live,” saying he fears “the disapproval of God” more than he does Morgan’s — or society’s — disdain for his views.
“While I may disagree with you on your views on sexuality, it does not give me a right to demean you, to demoralize you, to defame you, to turn you into a demon,” Warren said in an interview broadcast Friday evening. He added, “See tolerance, Piers, used to mean we treat each other with mutual respect, even if we have major disagreements. Today tolerance has been changed to mean ‘all ideas are equally valid.’” The preacher said that shift is “nonsense” and that all ideas are not equally valid. 

Dim crims: Rough justice

A knockout game thug attacks a woman in a Las Vegas mall who, unfazed, punches him back several times while her companion delivers a few blows of his own.

Barack Obama's Diary: Into Africa

Dear Diary: I'm dictatoring  this [geddit?] somewhere over the Atlantic on my way to Johannesburg, with George W. Bush,  Laura Bush and the Clintons. I am less than pleased with having to share my taxpayer-funded private airliner with Eric Holder, my speechwriters, my shrink, Dr Rink, the invaluable Valerie Jarrett and a large Secret Service detail. I have already instructed them all  [except a couple Secret Service agents] to wait for me to emerge first from the plane in Jo'burg so I can wave then make my practiced nonchalant descent to the runway without holding the handrail.  Michelle and I moved into the master bedroom as we boarded to ensure that the others didn't usurp the space. Ruthless bastards these politicians. But at least if something goes awry, Bush is here  to take the blame. But enough about me.

Satanists want Oklahoma statue

Satanists are seeking to put their own statue next to a Ten Commandments monument on the Oklahoma Statehouse steps.  The Republican-controlled Legislature in this state known as the buckle of the Bible Belt authorized the privately funded Ten Commandments monument in 2009, and it was placed on the Capitol grounds last year despite criticism from legal experts who questioned its constitutionality. The Oklahoma chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union [ACLU] 1shas filed a lawsuit seeking its removal.   But the New York-based Satanic Temple saw an opportunity. It notified the state's Capitol Preservation Commission that it wants to donate a monument and plans to submit one of several possible designs this month, said Lucien Greaves, a spokesman for the temple.  More.     [ECS]

Dumb Slebs: Nigella rides out cocaine confession

British celebrity chef Nigella Lawson (right) admitted to snorting cocaine and smoking cannabis in her evidence before a British court last week, but it seems she hasn't lost many fans over the revelation. A YouGov poll found that 39 per cent of people now have more sympathy for TV chef Lawson than they had before she gave evidence - compared with just two per cent who have taken her ex-husband's side at the trial of her two former assistants accused of fraud. More

Cartoon: John Cole

[Scranton Times Tribune]

ObamaCrash

Obama changes story about estranged uncle

Newser reports that the White House changed its story Thursday about President Obama's relationship to his uncle, and the reasoning is pretty remarkable.

The story goes back to January of last year, when The Boston Globe reported Onyango "Omar" Obama, then on trial for drunk driving, "had never met his famous nephew, according to the White House."The DUI investigation turned up the fact that Omar Obama was in the country illegally, coming to the country on a student visa that expired in 1970. (Via Daily Mail)That lead to a deportation hearing Tuesday, where a judge ruled Omar Obama could stay in the country."The judge says Omar Obama pays his taxes and meets the requirements for a green card." (Via CNN) During the hearing, Omar Obama contradicted the 2012 report, saying that not only had he met the now-president, but that a young Barack Obama actually lived with him for three weeks. Two days later, the administration changed its story. (Via The Washington Post)"The president has acknowledged living with the Kenyan uncle for a brief period in the 1980s while preparing to attend Harvard Law School." (Via The Boston Globe) And the reason behind the contradiction? "Back when this arose, folks looked at the record, including the president's book, and there was no evidence that they had met. ... That was what was conveyed. Nobody spoke to the president." (Via The White House).  Yep, no one asked him. To conservatives, saying that explanation strains credibility is an understatement.  A writer for Human Events assumed the president had been deliberately lying, saying "it’s not clear what he gained" and asking "Is there some other shoe waiting to drop here?"But a writer for Breitbart.com says what the story really demonstrates is a problem with the media. "Our acquiescent media is told something by the White House and simply reports it to the world as fact and without a hint of skepticism."  Read more       [BJS]

Barack Obama's Diary: Globetrotting

Dear Diary: O happy day! Not only am I going to South Africa for  a week for Mandela's memorial ceremonies, where I will be seen daily in the company of the great and famous, but that will be followed by my Hawaiian vacation. All of this and the tidal wave of media coverage of Mandela's passing will take everybody's mind off the politically awkward aspects of Obamacare. Fate is indeed smiling in my direction. But enough about me.

Obama Joke of the Day

I love Christmas lights. They remind me of the people who voted for Obama. They all hang together, half of them don't work, and the ones that do, aren't all that bright. [RK]

Man dies, aged 95

"For the past three decades, Nelson Mandela has been swathed in global media adulation unlike any other human being in history. No pope, president, king, war hero, movie star, or rock star can boast of having been the beneficiary of such undiluted, unalloyed, and unbroken acclaim.
Countless thousands of genuine prisoners of conscience, who have never done anything more “criminal” than praying, or speaking out against tyranny, are languishing in prisons all across the planet without so much as a peep of protest from the legions of Mandela worshippers and his chorus of media promoters. How many of those praising Mandela as the world’s moral compass have ever heard of Ignatius Cardinal Kung, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Shanghai, who was imprisoned in Communist China for 33 years, most of it overlapping the same period in which Mandela was in prison? Cardinal Kung’s heroic incarceration was in many ways more severe than that faced by Mandela, but no media love-fest awaited him when he was released in 1988.
Ditto for Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, a black Cuban physician who was released from Fidel Castro’s prison system in 2011 after brutal captivity for the “crime” of criticizing the island’s communist regime. But did Nelson Mandela chastise his comrades in Beijing and Havana when he visited there, or did he bring up the plight of the countless political and religious prisoners in their gulags? If so, there is no public record of it, though there is plenty on record of him praising those oppressive regimes...." Read it all

Progress Notes for Patient 540463: OBAMA, Barack, H.

12/5/13: Patient was in unusually good spirits today.  He was triumphant about achieving sympathetic coverage for his spouse, just when hostility was growing from millions who have apparently lost their health coverage. He is also leaving for a week in Hawaii over Christmas, the break will do much for his mental health. My only misgiving is the likelihood is high that patient will restock his supplies of Blueberry Yum Yum, Hawaiian Gold from the Big Island, and while he's in South Africa for Mandela's memorial service  he may even acquire a few zols of the infamous Durban Poison which would certainly worsen his paranoia.---Dictated by S.H. Rink, M.D.

Barack Obama's Diary: Bull's eye!

Dear Diary: I am a genius, yes siree! With my approval rating tumbling, I spent spare  moments in the past week training our new puppy, Sunny, to knock over toddlers. I used a big doll for him to knock over and beef jerky to reward him. Yesterday, when we had hordes of  military kids over for an arts and crafts session, Sunny did his stuff on cue. A toddler tumbled and Michelle was able to comfort the little kid and the photo op was seized upon by the MSM, just as I had planned, showing what a compassionate couple we are, just as millions lose their health coverage. Mission accomplished. But enough about me.

Going ape...

I.T. expert and blogger, Chris Wysocki, has had a peek inside the secret ObamaCare website headquarters. See it for yourself.

The Dung Beetle Award goes to...

The Academy of Dung Beetles' Award is being rolled towards the administrators of the  Gene and Ruby Nichols  Elementary School  in Frisco, Texas. Not only have they banned children from saying “Merry Christmas” but they’ve also banned Christmas trees and the colors red and green at their “Winter Party.” [Source]

Hawaii again beckons Obamas

President Obama and his family will once again be taking a Hawaiian Christmas vacation, departing in two weeks – on or about December 20 – and returning January 5.  That means that on January 1, at the very moment people across the country will be losing their insurance as a result of Obamacare, the president will be enjoying a sunny respite from his troubles, Keith Koffler reports.

Obama 'did not manage Sebelius'

A new study unveiled on Fox News' Hannity finds that President Obama’s White House calendar records just one face-to-face meeting between Obama and his Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in the more than three-and-a-half years leading up to the disastrous Obamacare launch.  The statistic comes from a new Government Accountability Institute analysis of Obama’s own official White House calendar, as well as the Politico presidential calendar, and raises new questions about Obama’s executive leadership and management throughout the implementation of his singular legislative achievement.

Homophobia Bidensis yields ancient secrets

In the journal Nature, scientists reported Wednesday that they had retrieved ancient human DNA from  a 400,000-year-old  pre-human fossil. Laughing Conservative is unable to confirm a rumor that the ancient human belongs to the Genus Homophobia bidensis, a politically-incorrect ancestor of modern progressives.

O wants happy hour to boost O-Care

During today's White House Youth Summit, President Obama called on young people to do whatever they can to promote his signature health care law — including plying their customers with cheap booze.
"If you are a bartender, have a happy hour, and also probably get health insurance because a lot of people don't have it."
Obama also encouraged young people who are student body presidents or workers at nonprofit organizations to help people get enrolled. Desperation, thy name is Barack.

State Dept. goes on a huge binge

"The State Department certainly had its priorities straight in the weeks leading up to the government shutdown: In September, the last month of the fiscal year, it spent $180,000 ... on booze. That includes $11,550 on "gratuity whiskey" and "gratuity wine" at the embassy in Rio, $22,416 in wine for the embassy in Tokyo, and $15,900 worth of bourbon and whiskey in Moscow, The Washington Times reports. The president of a watchdog group explains that toward the end of the fiscal year, departments "have a 'use-it-or-lose-it' mentality," trying to use up the money in their budgets so as not to invite congressional cuts the following year. More here.       [BJS]    [ECS]

Cartoon: Rick McKee

[The Augusta Chronicle]

Knight Commander of the Order of Dung Beetles is...

Officials of the Most Odiferous Order of  Dung Beetles --the British equivalent of the U.S Academy of Dung Beetles-- will recommend to Her Majesty the Queen  that  Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger-- who has admitted endangering secret agents through his publication of Edward Snowden's revelations-- be elevated to Knight Commander of the Most Odiferous Order of Dung Beetles, to acknowledge his despicable activities.

Cartoon: Aftermath

[From Aftermath]

Obama abuse of power could ignite rebellion, says expert

During a congressional committee hearing about the constitutional limits imposed on the presidency and the implications of President Barack Obama’s disregard for implementing the Affordable Care Act as written, an expert testified that the consequences of the president’s behavior were potentially grave. Michael Cannon, Cato Institute’s Director of Health Policy Studies, said that the precedent set by Obama could eventually lead to an armed revolt against the federal government. Read it all       [ECS]

The Dung Beetle Award goes to...

December's first Academy of Dung Beetles' Award is being rolled toward the administrators of the Brooklet Elementary School in Georgia which had a long tradition of teachers posting Christmas cards in the hallways, until Monday, when Christmas cards were removed – under orders from the school’s administration as the Bulloch County Board of Education cracks down on religious expression. [More]
[ECS]

Exchanges exclude top hospitals

Many insurers offering plans through the Washington Healthplanfinder, the exchange marketplace where shoppers can apply for subsidies, are using narrow provider networks. These networks are not the broad, include-all-providers networks that many big employer plans currently enjoy. Find out more here.   [BJS]

Revised Healthcare.gov stumbles out of the gate

The new and supposedly improved HealthCare.gov isn't off to a great start. The site flooded with traffic yesterday morning, slowing it to a crawl and spiking its error rate, the LA Times reports. By 10am the government had turned on a "queuing" feature, essentially putting would-be applicants on hold. At that point about 35,000 people were on the site—less than its promised capacity of 50,000. Later in the day the administration said that performance had improved, and that 750,000 had used the site by 5:30pm.
But here's the rub: Many of those people might not actually be insured. Insurers began sounding the alarm yesterday, because errors are still plaguing the back end of the site where people actually buy coverage. Many may not actually be enrolled, NBC News reports. The administration says it's urging people to make sure they've submitted a payment, and to check with their insurer. [Source]   BJS