Would Rather Go Fishing

Lately I've been seeing all of these "news" headlines about "Jon & Kate." When they started to show up I thought, "who the heck are they?" Day after day the headlines would show up. I didn't worry much about who they were-- I've gotten used to not knowing pop culture names in the decade since I left the entertainment world. But it's been odd to see these names, and sometimes pictures of the two of them, show up morning after morning in my morning news headlines. It causes a certain level of curiosity until I realize that I'm quite certain that I don't want to know who they are.

Ignorance is bliss.

Whatever they've done, please, don't tell me. My life won't benefit one bit from the information.

It's Coming To a Slow Boil

The Examiner's Mark Tapscott has noticed the Gangster Government aspect to the Chrysler dealership closing scandal. Read about it here. One day the legacy media will find out about this scandal. Not any time soon, of course, but some day.

James Taranto at WSJ Online is onto the story as well.

Nice Dealership Ya Got There. It'd Be a Shame If...

The UAW bailout has taken yet another interesting and ugly turn. A couple of weeks ago we pointed out that by having no clear rationale for closing some dealerships while leaving others open Lord Obama's auto task force was leaving itself open to allegations of an unseemly nature. Well, it looks like there was Chicago Machine Style politics involved in at least one instance: a dealership group of 6 Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep stores owned in part by Clintonista Mack McLarty and big Dem contributor Bob(cat) Johnson kept their dealerships while direct competitors were knocked out.

Obama and his auto minions can argue until the sky turns chartreuse that the auto task force didn't use political contributions and connections to determine the fate of these entrepreneurs but they can save their breath. Many of us will never believe it. The problem is in the involvement of the government in private business. They have created an enormous disaster by putting the White House in charge of Chrysler and GM. It will result in a bottomless money pit for the taxpayer, crappy "green" cars with premium prices that won't sell, and credible charges of government corruption in the "management" of the non-Ford US auto business. By the way, can Ford de-certify the UAW since the union is a major owner of their two US-based competitors? Just wonderin'.

Gateway Pundit has a round-up here of the McLarty/Bob(cat) Johnson scandal..

Sounds Good

Thank goodness for the fact that ABC owned the rights to televise the 2009 Indianapolis 500.

It was a great race, first of all, but it paid another benefit. See, the only time the ABC channel is on in our house is for college football in the fall and the Indy 500 on Memorial Day. We thought long and hard about this and couldn't come up with any other time ABC is ever on around here. Not that odd really, the only time NBC is ever on here is for sports as well.

So, we're watching the 500 Sunday and ABC runs a promotional announcement for The Goode Family. What the???? A show that mocks Warmism!?! The animation looked kind of like King of the Hill... could it be Mike Judge's handiwork? Research revealed that, yes, we were among the last to know that Mike Judge has a half hour animated comedy that pokes fun at recycling, vegan, Al Gore worshipping lefties debuting tonight on ABC. 9 EDT.

We'll be watching the first episode and hoping that it's as funny as the promos. Then we'll be waiting for the legacy media dinosaurs to try to get it off the air. Oops, looks like they already have started. Ya gotta love the people at the tired, old, dying NYTimes: convinced that everybody buys the global warming hoax.

UPDATE: Lord Obama's energy chief calls for people to paint their rooftops white. And the NYTimes thinks there's nothing goofy about Warmism? That's the dumbest thing since Gerry Ford's WIN buttons.

The Dark Core of Slow Joe

Slow Joe Biden's idiotic buffonery is so amusing that it's sometimes hard to remember what a reprehensible S.O.B. dwells beneath the clown suit.

This WSJ column is a good reminder of the ugly, dark, nasty soul that lurks just beneath the over-whitened, capped teeth and the goofy hair plugs.

Memorial Day 2009

Speaking Truth to Flower Power

While the media was watching our naive little twerp of a president ramble on about his problems with Gitmo, a real man was speaking elsewhere.

Richard Cheney at AEI; the complete text is here.

"... to call this a program of torture is to libel the dedicated professionals who have saved American lives, and to cast terrorists and murderers as innocent victims. What’s more, to completely rule out enhanced interrogation methods in the future is unwise in the extreme. It is recklessness cloaked in righteousness, and would make the American people less safe."

Obama: Recklessness cloaked in righteousness. That sounds right.

Just Wondering

Does the Obama administration still call it an "Overseas Contingency Operation" when it involves American citizens who plot to shoot down US military aircraft and blow up Jewish Temples? Thank goodness the FBI broke up this terro... um, I mean, er... Contingency Operation before it turned into a "Manmade Disaster."

Government Pension Insurance: Busted

Many retired Americans have defined-benefit retirement plans. In the post-WW2 years many large employers provided these plans for their workers. In 1974 the federal government started the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corp. to "insure" these pensions. They did this in response to a tepid economy-- essentially putting the taxpayers on the hook for paying benefits to other people. There's no limit to the checks that can be written out of someone else's checkbook.

Now we stand at the abyss. The PBGC is running a deficit of $33.5 Billion. This deficit has TRIPLED in just the past 6 months. And, remember, the Big UAW defined-benefit plans aren't even in there-- yet.

This quick story gives the bad news but you have to laugh when they talk of the PBGC possibly needing a government bailout. Bailing out a failed, bankrupt government program would be a bit easier if the federal government wasn't bankrupt itself. Hey, the PBGC is only down $33.5 Billion while the feds are in the red for Trillions and Trillions of dollars.

Shake the handle. The toilet won't stop flushing.

Haunted

There are days, here in Obamaland, when even the houses look worried.

Monday Blue

James Lileks got his gazebo built.

In other news we all sat in the rain to watch baseball yesterday and a vole ran through our kitchen this morning. The vole ran straight into our cat who couldn't be bothered to even get up, let alone do her catly duty and actually snag the bugger.

Meanwhile, the futures are up this morning and the stock market will open with buyers outweighing sellers. One of the more amusing parts of toiling in the markets every day is hearing newsbreaks like: "the Dow was down today on war jitters..." or "the markets were up today on news that the Emperor of China scratched his keyster..." I call this Arkansas Marksmanship ( with apologies to the state the gave us The Clinton Plague). Arkansas Marksmanship is when you shoot your rifle into the side of the barn six times then walk over and paint a target around the bullet holes. Nice grouping, L'il Abner. The people that tell you "why" the market was up or down today are employing reverse engineering. They see what the market did and they try to come up with a plausible explanation. Sometimes they're right, sometimes they're wrong. What they always are is meaningless.

Today's example before the market opens: the election in India this weekend. Will that fact make your stocks go up? Down? Not matter? By 4PM someone will tell you that your "stocks were_____ on news of the Indian election." Were they correct? Did most traders even know there was an election in India this weekend?

The War on Capitalism Goes On

Imagine you owned a Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep dealership that got a letter from Auburn Hills, MI or Washington, DC (hard to tell where the company is based) yesterday telling you that you were toast. Your family owned the business. Your entrepreneurial spirit turned it into something that employed dozens... hundreds of people over the years. Through the years you complied with every demand coming from "Detroit" to take inventory you didn't want, at your expense, as they flooded the channel. You complied with all of their marketing schemes even though you doubted it was a good thing to train the consumer to only buy when cash rebates or zero percent financing were offered. You did your part.

Then, without any clear reason given, your place got the gas pipe while others survived. No rationale was offered as to what criteria were used. In fact, nobody will actually tell you who made the decision. Chrysler? Fiat? The White House? It felt pretty arbitrary. Did they look on opensecrets.com and notice that you donated money to Republican political candidates over the years? After all, there's a war on capitalism going on and, in the auto business, Big Labor gets steak on fine china while rule-of-law goes out the window and bondholders get a shit sandwich on a paper plate. So it isn't a stretch at all to figure that Rattner and the Auto Overlords appointed by ObamaPrompter combed donation lists to make their decisions. That's how the game's being played every day in DC: Chicago, Venezuela on the Potomac.

You have to go to your staff and ask them to hang on while you sell off the inventory but eventually they'll all be let go. They know it. You know it. It's probably over. No pardon is coming from the President.

And then you flip on CNBC this morning and hear the head of AutoNation, a competitor of yours, talk about how he's been at the meetings of Rattner's auto task force. He says they're doing a great job. He says that closing 800 dealerships, while painful, is appropriate. He doesn't say how they were picked, but you note that none of his stores got axed.

Would you be bitter? You bet.

Turning To Sports

From the world of baseball we show you how not to umpire an MLB game:

First he blows the call (it happens), then he touches a player (strict no-no), and then he tosses the manager who correctly protects his player. Three strikes and you are OUT, ump. Watch the video HERE.

OK, I admit it, Jimbo is my homeboy. But even the Twins announcer knows that Leyland was correct.

In the end I'm unhappy because the Tigers lost on a walk-off slam in extra frames. On the (relatively) good side, Dontrelle Willis pitched OK on his comeback attempt at the major league level.

Marco YES!

Barely 100 days into the ObamaPrompter administration and a young Conservative in Florida is running in the Republican primary race for the US Senate by tying his opponent to the failed Obama presidency.

Marco Rubio's ad "welcoming" Gov. Crist to the primary for the open senate seat from Florida is here.

Seeing a picture of Lord O and Charlie Crist gazing into each other's eyes while the voiceover says, "... Washington's same old broken ways..." is enough to bring a cheer in the Dart household. But elsewhere people think Rubio's crazy. After all, Lordy O is soooo popular, right? First, you better take another look at those numbers by party affiliation. And, second, the primary ain't today.

The world has a way of turning. In 1992 nobody on the Democrat side wanted to run against George H.W. Bush as he sported an 80% plus approval rating post- Operation Desert Storm. The big national Democrat names stayed out and a small state governor ended up president thanks to a little help from Ross Perot. George W. Bush won two elections for president and by the time he left office you couldn't find three people who would admit to having voted for him.

Marco Rubio is betting that Charlie Crist's support for Obama in general and for the porkulus monstrosity in particular will come back to haunt him before the election. You may think he's nuts but I think he's got guts.

Marco YES!/ Marxists NO!

Roadkill

An interactive map that shows where federal porkulus transportation money is going by state and county is interesting. Shocking to see ZERO for newly blue Virginia. That can't be correct.

In a related note, when half of every dollar you spend is borrowed are you, technically, bankrupt?

In an unrelated note, in order to get the new, bankrupt UAWChryslerDodgeJeepmaybeFiat Motors really cookin' Lordy O is cutting their marketing in half. That oughta work.

And senior executives are selling their GM stock for a buck and a half/ share-- essentially two cents on the dollar because, dear friends, she's going to ZERO.

Have a nice day!

Slowly It Dawns

Some of Lord Obama's richest supporters are beginning to figure out what we knew all along, HOPE and CHANGE is actually just academic Marxism in an expensive suit. With a teleprompter.

"A top Obama fundraiser and hedge fund manager said: 'I'm appalled at the anti-Wall Street rhetoric. It was OK on the campaign but now it's the real world. I'm surprised that Obama is turning out to be so left-wing. He's a real class warrior.' "

No kidding? Just shows that one can be smart enough to make dough as a hedge fund manager but not swift enough to understand what a politician is saying. Of course they feel better about themselves having voted for O. Now they just want him to not be so, um, mean to them.

Morons.

The Telegraph has the tale here.

Pelosi Lied, KSM Cried.

What we all knew is now confirmed: San Fran Nan approved that which Attorney General Holder and President Obama call TORTURE!

Last night she rushed to Obama's side to ask, "Are we still cool?"

"Why do you come to me on this day, the National Day of Prayer, and trouble me with your petty problems? Take it up with Rahm," Lord O replied.

Dark days indeed for the little torture-mongering Speaker of the House in the new, sunshiny land of Hope & Change.

In Debt He Trusts

As private citizens the Obamas routinely lived on debt. That is, they spent more than they earned year after year and took out equity lines against their home to finance all the goodies they desired. Since Lord O hit the mother lode in book deal politics they were saved from losing their shirts in the housing price collapse. They won the lottery in that regard.

This troubling personal history of excessive borrowing and overspending helps explain why President Obama went in exactly the wrong direction in dealing with the financial difficulties the nation faces. Rather than slowing spending and lowering tax rates, his "plan" is to spend at unprecedented levels, borrow way beyond anyone's imagination, and eventually tax the bejeebus out of anyone who still has revenue. When that doesn't work he'll come after retained wealth-- your savings, IRA's, 401k's, estate, and on and on. The nation can't get a book deal and senate seat to save them from the disaster this borrowing and spending will cause. So, you will all have to pay up for what he's doing. It will get very ugly.

Obama showed in his personal life that he doesn't have even a vague understanding of money. He showed that the desire for pretty ponies and cool shoes outweighs a prudent view of current income, reasonable debt, and required savings and investment. This personal defect is borne out in his public policy to our detriment.

The New York Daily News digs into the Obama tax returns and public records and finds a disturbingly extravagant couple. What once was their problem is now our problem.

Sweet Justice

One of the many good consequences of Arlen's defection back to his original political party is the elevation of Jeff Sessions to 1st chair on the R side of the judiciary committee before any of Lord ObamaPrompter's nominees are sent up. Unfairly smeared by lesser lights like Teddy Kennedy (the Admiral of the SS Oldsmobile) back when Ronald Reagan appointed him to the federal bench, Sessions prevailed through electoral politics. He is a huge step up for Conservatives from Specter in the role of ranking member.

Meanwhile Harry Reid reneged on the seniority promises Slow Joe Biden made to Specter and now ol' Benedict Arlen sits dead last in seniority on the D side like some rookie. Finally the RINO who joined with Dems to knock down Jeff Sessions back in the 80's is sitting by himself in the back row while Jeff Sessions leads the minority against Obama's far left nominees to the court.

The great philosopher George "Sparky" Anderson observed that "Every twenty-four hours the world rolls over on someone who was on top." Ain't it a bitch, Arlen?

Rahm Won't (Can't?) Stay Bought

There are some "windfall profits" with which Lord Obama has no problem. A few millski from writing books about himself? No problem. A six figure income for a made-up job in Chitown for the wifey? No problem. $8 Million/ year (give or take) to Rahm for doing pretty much nothing but use his rolodex while he was out of public service? Cool wit dat.

To wit:

"Perella Weinberg's founder, Joseph Perella, made Rahm Emanuel rich. In his two-and-a-half years between the Clinton White House and Congress, Emanuel made $16.2 million working at Wasserstein and Perella."

So what? Who or what is Perella Weinberg? A hedge fund that has been threatened by Lord Obama. Welcome to Chicago, Venezuela. Formerly known as the United States.

From the increasingly indispensable DC Examiner.

Kemp '88 !

Wednesday morning, the day after the November 1992 election of William J. Blythe (AKA: Bill Clinton) as President of the United States, a bumper sticker went on our Chevy minivan that hauled around 3 growing Dartlads. It was dark blue and in white it said: KEMP '96. The daily driver of the van reported that it got a few nods, honks, and smiles in Contra Costa County California. Back then Contra Costa County (east of the tunnel) was the last refuge for non-leftists in the Bay Area. Now they send an ultra-lib gun grabber to the US Congress so I reckon those days are long gone.

We all knew that the tandem of Perot and Clinton would knock off President Bush and we were ready with our pithy bumpersticker. But, in a better world Jack Kemp would have been Ronald Reagan's VP for 8 years and then would have served 8 years as POTUS himself 1989-97. What a difference-- all of it good-- that would have produced for the country. Of course by the time 1996 rolled around the Republicans had given the nom to their usual "it's-his-turn" guy. That cycle it was Bob Dole. Bob was a friendlier-than-his-scowl-would-tell-ya sorta member of the Senate lifer team who famously was called, "tax collector for the welfare state" by Newt Gingrich. No hope to beat Bill. None. When he picked Jack for VP we were shocked, then pleased for a moment before it dawned on us that it would be the end of Jack Kemp in electoral politics. For most pols being on a national ticket would be a resume high point. In Jack's case it was a meaningless afterthought. The only thing that might have been worse would be to see Jack as the VP in a Dole presidency. Jack Kemp trying to be a team player and work in Bob Dole's wispy shadow? That would never work.

******

I met Mr. Kemp twice. The first time was before his VP run. It was at an Empower America all-day confab on Nob Hill in SF, CA. Jack and Bill Bennett and Jeane Kirkpatrick had put together EA to try to make sure Reagan Conservatism had at least one home in the 90's. It was a long day of great speakers (including Dr. Teller most memorably) but Jack was the lunchtime act. He was revved-up, on fire, and rolling. Afterwards he did the grip and grin with folks for a while. It was a great morale booster for those dark days.

The next time was at an all-day conference at the Reagan Library in 2001. It was before the attack on America in September and topic one was the ongoing stock market crash-- then a year old already. The seminar was put on by Investors Business Daily and many of the speakers were financial people-- Bob Doll, Larry Kudlow and others. Very interesting day in a dark time for people earning a living in the markets. The guy IBD chose to put a cap on the political/ economic outlook was Jack Kemp. He delivered in his energetic, contagious style again.

Jack was a common guy with an uncommonly sharp mind and limitless energy. Many Republicans wonder where the next Reagan is while other advise their fellow R's to stop looking, that Reaganism is dead. While they sort that out they also better be concerned about who the next Jack Kemp's are because it will take many folks with his intellect, drive, and enthusiasm to repair America after the Obama/ Reid/ Pelosi disaster is voted off to the dustbin of history.

Safe today in the arms of God. Jack Kemp.

UPDATE: Here's Jack a few years back in Santa Barbara. Just a brief look at what Kemp was like as a speaker on the "rubber chicken circuit." Thanks to The C4G for the video.

Death Threats? Fair Game?

What's it like when Lord Obama singles you out for derision?
Jake Tapper has the story here.

Welcome to Venezuela: ObamAmerica.

Buh Bye President Goodwrench

The fleet here at Monkeydarts Plantation includes a GM SUV assembled in Wisconsin and a Jeep built in Toledo, Ohio. In fact, along with some foreign-made vehicles I've always had at least one GM, Ford or Jeep vehicle in the garage since 1979. Now that the UAW will own 38% of GM and 55% of Chrysler I am done with those two companies.

When this bailout baloney started in the Bush administration I pointed out here that it would not be a Big 3 Bailout, or a Detroit 3 Bailout or any of the other things it was being called. It would be, under Lord Obama, a United Auto Workers bailout. I was right. I was a 30 year customer and I am done.

There are plenty of vehicles available made by American workers that aren't part of this debacle. I have an eye on a Texas-made Toyota pickup to replace the old GM wheels. Maybe a nice South Carolina made BMW when I jettison the Jeep.

ObamaMotors won't care but they lost this family this week. When Lordy O said yesterday that people who refused to go along with his plan and wouldn't take a subordinate position to the UAW in the bankruptcy were essentially dirtballs I did a Liz Edwards and threw up.

Capital is under attack from Washington DC. This will not end well. But when it does end I'll be driving my Lexus and a BMW, Toyota, or Hyundai before I sit behind the wheel of a Chevy or Charger.

UPDATE: Did the math. We've owned 3 GM's, 2 Fords, and 1 Jeep among our 12 vehicles. About 50% UAW. Future percentage? I'd say roughly, let's see, ahhh, ZERO now that the workers have secured the means of production in our new socialist dream state.

Governor Sanford on the 100 Days

At Human Events Governor Sanford has his say about Lord Obama's initial 3 months.

Read it all here.