The Political Class

Pelosi on Democrats plan: I I like it because people dont have to vote on the Senate bill.

2010-03-16T10:24:28-05:00

Read that one again. The Washington Post reported:

Instead, Pelosi (D-Calif.) would rely on a procedural sleight of hand: The House would vote on a more popular package of fixes to the Senate bill; under the House rule for that vote, passage would signify that lawmakers “deem” the health-care bill to be passed.
The tactic — known as a “self-executing rule” or a “deem and pass” — has been commonly used, although never to pass legislation as momentous as the $875 billion health-care bill. It is one of three options that Pelosi said she is considering for a late-week House vote, but she added that she prefers it because it would politically protect lawmakers who are reluctant to publicly support the measure.
“It’s more insider and process-oriented than most people want to know,” the speaker said in a roundtable discussion with bloggers Monday. “But I like it,” she said, “because people don’t have to vote on the Senate bill.”

Technorati Tags: pelosi,vote,healthcare

Dan Rather: Iran is shipping uranium to Venezuela. Daily flight between Iran and Venezuela?

2010-03-16T10:12:33-05:00

Technorati Tags: uranium,iran,venezuela,chavez

Matt Damon finds no cash at the box office. America - its time to form a new Hollywood studio.

2010-03-15T14:50:11-05:00

Matt Damon’s new anti-George Bush film finds no WMBD (Weapons of Mass Bush Destruction) cash at the box office. Time Magazine weighs in the story. Link here.

Universal, the studio that produced Green Zone, had smelled something bad for more than a year. Greengrass and Damon shot their picture during the last few months of the Bush Administration. Then, writes Anne Thompson on her IndieWire blog, the studio's co-chairmen, Marc Shmuger and David Linde, "pushed back the Green Zone postproduction and release to allow Greengrass to find the film — and an ending — in the editing room." The movie's budget was at least $130 million, plus another $100 million or so to bring to market, and is unlikely to return even half that sum to Universal.

If you haven’t guess it already Time attempts to explain away the failure of the film by blaming the audience. Yeah – it’s our fault.

The real Matt Damon didn't fare much better as the star of the new Green Zone: he went looking for the truth about Iraq's WMDs, and got blown up by the IED of public indifference. The box-office curse of movies about the U.S. Mess-o-potamian escapade remained unbroken, as Damon became the latest star — after George Clooney, Jamie Foxx, Tom Cruise, Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones, Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal, not to mention the South Park guys — whose attempt to address the blood and blunders in our Mideast wars tanked with the mass audience. (See TIME's review of Green Zone.)

Sigh. Memo to Time Magazine: It’s not the subject matter - it’s the over the top leftist propaganda that is infused into every line and plot twist in most Hollywood movies. So is the “Green Zone” another example that Hollywood has just run out of ideas or is it that they have just run out of politically correct ideas?

I’ll say it again. It’s time for Americans to fund a new studio. We’ll find some people with movie experience (see Big Hollywood) that are not part of the “blame America first” crowd and find one good movie script. If it’s a good movie then Americans will buy tickets and it will make millions. Mel Gibson has done it on his own and therefore others can as well.

Say it with me movie buffs:

“What one man can do another can do.”

Name that movie and win a prize. But I digress. Something tells me that there are some great non “blame America first” movie scripts about the war on terror out there floating around. Maybe this is a project for the Pajamas media types to take up. I wonder if someone like Andrew Breitbart found a good movie script could we raise the money to make the movie.

Think about that one for a minute. You can tease progressive communist types by reminding them that the only true workers uprising was Polish workers rising up to overthrow communism. Keeping that in mind maybe,just maybe, in the spirit of the Tea Party movement the average American can rise up and fund some great American movies.

Technorati Tags: the green zone,hollywood,matt damon,time magazine,big hollywood,andrew breitbart

AUDIO: Megan Mullally on Jay Leno: 'Could It Be Any More Bald-Faced That He's Going After the Red States?

2010-03-15T12:20:00-05:00

Hollywood on display during an interview with Megan Mullally. I guess Jay Leno inviting a republican on his show is just too much for them to handle.

Megan Mullally on Leno having Palin as a guest:

“Could it be any more bald-faced that he’s going after the red states? It’s insane. It’s just right out there, full on…Amazing. And she was wearing jeans. ‘I’m gonna wear denim! I’m gonna dress it down!’”

Former Daily Show writer, Rob Huebel, on Sarah Palin:

“Sarah Palin gives me diarrhea,”

Link to the audio here.

Technorati Tags: Megan Mullally,sarah palin,jay leno

Kill the bill! Rally in Washington, D.C. today.

2010-03-15T09:45:30-05:00

Read about government takeover of student loans in the health care bill here.

Illegal aliens and ACORN made the bill. Willow Rose has the following comments at Gateway Pundit:

”I am opposed to HB 3200 for a number of reasons. To start with, it is estimated that a federal bureaucracy of more than 150,000 new employees will be required to administer HB3200. That is an unacceptable expansion of a government that is already too intrusive in our lives. If we are going to hire 150,000 new employees, let’s put them to work protecting our borders, fighting the massive drug problem and putting more law enforcement/firefighters out there.” “Other problems I have with this bill include:** Page 50/section 152: The bill will provide insurance to all non-U.S. residents, even if they are here illegally.** Page 58 and 59: The government will have real-time access to an individual’s bank account and will have the authority to make electronic fund transfers from those accounts.** Page 65/section 164: The plan will be subsidized (by the government) for all union members, union retirees and for community organizations (such as the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now – ACORN).**

Entire bill here.

Information on the Code Red rally against the bill in Washington, D.C. here:

This rally is in addition to the DC rally being promoted by Freedomworks for the same day:

What: CODE RED Health Care Rally to…Kill The Bill!
When: March 16, 2010 at 10:00 AM EST.
Where: Capitol Hill, Taft Park, Washington D.C.
The American Grassroots Coalition and The Tea Party Express welcome the American People to bring their LOUD VOICES, Thoughts and Letters to their elected Representatives.
www.americangrassrootscoalition.org www.teapartyexpress.org
Speakers Include:

Congressman Mike Pence
Congresswoman Michele Bachmann
Congressman Tom Price
Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn
Congressman Joe Wilson
Congressman Phil Gingrey
Amy Kremer of Tea Party Express
Tim Phillips of American for Prosperity
Jim Martin of 60 Plus
Matt Patterson of the National Center for Public Policy Research
Max Pappas of FreedomWorks

Video: 35 Islamic terror training camps in America.

2010-03-14T15:38:59-05:00

These are combat training camps right here in the United States.

Technorati Tags: islamic training camps,united states,soldiers of allah

Constitution Butchers: Obama and Pelosi plan to take over 1/6 of American economy without a vote.

2010-03-14T12:07:59-05:00

From the Sunday morning talk shows:

Democratic leader Rep. Chris Van Hollen said today on FOX News Sunday that democrats will use the unconstitutional “Slaughter Rule” to ram nationalized health care bill through Congress. They will pass the bill without voting on it. House democrats will take over one-sixth of the US economy without even voting on it.

What do you call it officeholders take over private industry without allowing elected representatives to vote on the issue?

Technorati Tags: slaughter rule,pelosi,obamacare,congress

Chicago White Sox manager, Ozzie Guillen, calls Sean Penn a clown for supporting dictator Chavez.

2010-03-13T16:48:17-06:00

Full story here at the Chicago Tribune.

You can add Sean Penn to the long list of people who have been called out by Ozzie Guillen.
The outspoken White Sox manager called Penn a "payaso" (clown) and "izquierdista estupido" (stupid leftist) on Twitter Friday for his praise of controversial Venezuela President Hugo Chavez.
"Oh my God, Sean Penn defended our President Hugo Chavez," Guillen, a Venezuela native, tweeted. "That's easy when you [don't] live in Venezuela and have money. LOL...shame on [you]."

Penn appeared on HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher" last week and was asked why he continues to defend Chavez.
"Every day this elected leader is called a dictator here, and we just accept it and accept it," Penn said. "And this is mainstream media, who should -- truly there should be a bar by which they -- one goes to prison for these kinds of lies."

Well done to Guillen. I'll have to buy some White Sox gear for baseball season. Anyone think Bill Maher would have the balls to invite Guillen on the same show with Penn to discuss Chavez? Vegas wouldn't touch that one.

Technorati Tags: sean penn,chavez,Ozzie Guillen,clown,dictator

If you try the Slaughter Rule, you will lose the country. Not in November. In March.

2010-03-13T09:59:54-06:00

A great piece from the Diary of E Pluribus Unum at RedState. In case you didn't know Nancy Pelosi is attempting to pass legislation without a vote in the House. Link here and the full story below:

What we have here is a failure to communicate. At no time in American history has the ruling party so insistently striven to impose its iron will on such a loudly unwilling citizenry. They are not listening, and they will stop at nothing.

When flim-flammery fails, try intimidation.
When intimidation fails, try chicanery.
When chicanery fails, try illegal.
And when illegal fails, try unconstitutional.
Let’s recap the last year of the Democrats’ Health Care Takeover adventure. Why? Because it was fun, and we won:

With 60% majorities in both House and Senate, and flush from victories on Porkulus and Cap-and-Trade, Obama and the media tried selling America on their signature issue - government health care takeover — with glib lies, fuzzy math, and blaming ‘evil’ insurance companies.
FAIL – it smelled like a government takeover.
They shut Republicans and their ideas out of all discussions, in order to shut down dissent.
FAIL – America noticed, and so came the August recess fiasco. So also came 99.54% party discipline, as only Joe Cao (from a hyper-blue district) voted with the Democrats, to date.
They skipped, dodged, and staged astroturfed townhalls.
FAIL – Twitter. Internet. Americans found and crashed the meetings anyway.
They sent their SIEU and ACORN thugs to intimidate ordinary outraged Americans.
FAIL – People took their beatings. And brought video cameras.
Obama and the media decided they had not made themselves clear. So, more speeches, ABC specials, and more blaming of insurance companies. And doctors.
FAIL – America actually HAD heard it right the first time. and polls really started to look nasty.
They accused Republicans of just being obstructionists, having no alternative plans themselves.
FAIL — Republicans were obstructing with the blessing of their constituents, and their always existing plans sounded a whole lot like cost-lowering free-market ideas. [correction, h/t Jeff Emanuel - Repubs lacked numbers to actually obstruct anything, which the press unerringly failed to ever point out]
Their own members began to revolt, so they were bribed and blackmailed
FAIL – Americans reacted very badly to the Chicago way.
They passed the Senate version on Dec 24 while America traveled and thought of loved ones.

At this point they really thought they had won this thing. Unfortunately for them, Americans are not like Russians, programmed to serve silently and cower in fear of their government.

It was just getting interesting.

FAIL – America noticed anyway. McDonnell and Christie smoked VA and NJ governor elections. Scott Brown campaigned as “Mister 41″, and easily won the “Do it for Teddy” seat in deep-blue MA.
They plotted to delay the seating of Scott Brown in order to get a bill passed.
FAIL – once that was made public, they denied they would have considered such a dastardly thing.
With America dead set against it……more speeches. And publicly dressing down the Supreme Court.
FAIL – again, America already got the message, polls sunk even further, and wobbling Democrats were catching bloody hell from their constituents.
With 60 out of the question and 216 shaky at best, they decided to break congressional rules and jam the bill through by “reconciliation”.
FAIL – the shaky 216 started to look more like 200.
With no more hopes of even passing the House, now they propose the Slaughter Rule — to declare the Senate bill passed without a vote.
FAIL – just wait and see.

Now we’re up to date. Let us look at the United States Constitution, which even Democrats will grudgingly acknowledge as the supreme law of the land (h/t Dan Perrin and Leon Wolf), the over-arching, indisputable law of the land (bolding mine, and Leon’s):

Article 1, Section 7:(excerpt)
Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law,be presented to the President of the United States; If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by Yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively.

continued here...

Obamacare Akbar!!!

2010-03-13T08:46:41-06:00

Technorati Tags: obamacare akbar