• Iran,  Missile Defense,  North Korea

    Shocker: North Korea and Iran Integrating Their Ballistic Missile Programs?

    June 11, 2009 /

    michael ramirez april 2 2009

    The jury may still be out but there is evidence that the two countries – two members of the Axis of Evil are working together.

    Iran and North Korea are working together to develop ballistic missiles and have made significant progress, the head of the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency said on Thursday.

    “It really is an international effort going on out there to develop ballistic missile capability between these countries,” Army Lieutenant General Patrick O’Reilly told a forum on Capitol Hill.

    Iran and North Korea each is at odds with much of the international community over their nuclear programs, and North Korea has tested an atomic bomb. Each has demonstrated a capability to launch missiles with more than one stage, critical to more advanced systems.

    They are sharing know-how on avionics, propulsion and materials, among other things, O’Reilly said.

    “We’ve seen it for years and it continues,” he said of such cooperation between North Korea and Iran, whose Shahab missiles are widely reported to be based on North Korean designs.

    Their ability to fire missiles with a stable ignition and launch a second stage represents “a significant step forward” for both of them, O’Reilly said.

    Asked which country was further ahead in missile development, he said it could be described as a “horse race” with no clear leader.

    Other experts said Iran had demonstrated greater expertise with test-firing of a solid-fuel rocket with a stated range of some 1,200 miles — enough to reach Israel, U.S. bases in the Gulf or southeastern Europe.

    Solid-propellant missiles offer many advantages over those with liquid fuel. They are easier to store, harder to detect and may be launched without a fueling process readily observable by spy satellites.

    Iran’s use of solid-fuel missiles demonstrated “a quantum leap in capabilities” over those shown by North Korea, Uzi Rubin, the former head of Israel’s Missile Defense Organization, told Reuters in an interview.

    “Basically, this is big-power league,” he said, adding that the jury was still out, as far he was concerned, on whether the two had integrated their ballistic missile programs.

    And, President Obama continues to want to cut the missle defense program?

    EPIC FAIL

    Technorati Tags: ,

  • David Letterman,  Sarah Palin

    Senator John McCain Defends Sarah Palin Against David Letterman’s Jokes

    June 11, 2009 /

    Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and his wife Cindy (R) greets Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (3rd R) and her family after arriving at the airport in Minneapolis, Minnesota September 3, 2008

    Well, this is probably as strong as the “Maverick” will go out on a limb with Letterman. Remember what Letterman did to McCain after McCain lied to him and went over to an interview with Katie Couric during last Fall’s Presidential campaign?

    Republican Senator John McCain has a message for late-night comic David Letterman: Enough with the jokes about Sarah Palin and her family.

    “I don’t understand why Letterman would say that about a young woman,” McCain said during a telephone interview on Thursday. “They (the Palins) deserve some kind of protection from being the butt of late-night hosts.”

    David Letterman was way over the top and before the sponsoirs get too hot my bet is that tonight he will formally apologize in a more direct matter. He will try to beg the Palins to attend his show.

    However,, I would doubt that Sarah or Todd Palin would EVER agree to grace the stage with Letterman anytime soon.

    Previous:

    Video: David Letterman Defends Jokes About Sarah Palin and Her Daughters

    Sarah and Todd Palin Respond to David Letterman’s Crude Joke About Their Daughter

    Audio: Rudy Giuliani on Sarah Palin

    NBC’s Early Today Bags on Sarah Palin for Calling David Letterman Pathetic As Letterman Calls Palin’s Daughter a Prostitute

    Video:     Letterman Stays Classy – Mocks Sarah Palin’s Daughter as “Knocked Up”

    Sarah Palin’s Trip to New York – Updating That “SLUTTY” Flight Attendant Look

    Technorati Tags: ,

  • Barack Obama,  economics,  Socialism

    Here Comes the Obamanomics Socialism: Obama Administration to Rein in Executive Compensation in United States Private Business Sector

    June 11, 2009 /
    control-pay

    Here comes the Obama socialism.

    The Obama administration says executive compensation must be better managed to prevent the sort of risk-taking that jeopardizes the economy.

    Gene Sperling, who advises Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, said Thursday the administration does not want to impose caps on executive pay. But he also laid out for the House Financial Services Committee a list of guidelines calling on publicly-held companies to link compensation to long-term performance, not short-term gains.

    Sperling said in prepared testimony that the administration believes compensation practices “must be better aligned with long-term value and prudent risk management at all firms, and not just for the financial services industry.”

    Remember what socialism is?

    Socialism is not a concrete philosophy of fixed doctrine and program; its branches advocate a degree of social interventionism and economic rationalization, sometimes opposing each other. Another dividing feature of the socialist movement is the split between reformists and the revolutionaries on how a socialist economy should be established. Some socialists advocate complete nationalization of the means of production, distribution, and exchange; others advocate state control of capital within the framework of a market economy. Socialists inspired by the Soviet model of economic development have advocated the creation of centrally planned economies directed by a state that owns all the means of production. Others, including Yugoslavian, Hungarian, German and Chinese Communists in the 1970s and 1980s, instituted various forms of market socialism, combining co-operative and state ownership models with the free market exchange and free price system (but not free prices for the means of production).[7]

    Social democrats propose selective nationalization of key national industries in mixed economies, with private ownership of property and of profit-making business. Social democrats also promote tax-funded welfare programs and regulation of markets. Many social democrats, particularly in European welfare states, refer to themselves as “socialists”, introducing a degree of ambiguity to the understanding of what the term means.

    No matter how Obama spins his program, he wants to nationalize American business and control the means of production while expanding the welfare state.

    Is this the hope and change Americans voted for? Or is it a radical program of changing American business by a left-wing extremist?

    Technorati Tags: ,

  • David Letterman,  Sarah Palin

    Video: David Letterman Defends Jokes About Sarah Palin and Her Daughters

    June 11, 2009 /

    David Letterman defends his jokes about Sarah Palin and her daughters in a seven minute segment above, June 10, 2009

    As I predicted David Letterman issued a weak and trite non-apology for his inappropriate attacks on Sarah Palin’s 14 year old daughter Willow which he confused with Bristol who is 19.

    “We were, as we often do, making jokes about people in the news and we made some jokes about Sarah Palin and her daughter [Bristol]… and now they’re upset with me…” Letterman says on tonight’s show. “These are not jokes made about her 14-year-old daughter. I would never, never make jokes about raping or having sex of any description with a 14-year-old girl…. Am I guilty of poor taste? Yes. Did I suggest that it was okay for her 14-year-old daughter to be having promiscuous sex? No.” Saying he hopes he’s “cleared part of this up,” Letterman extended an invitation to Palin to come on the show as a guest.

    An invitation to appear on his show is the lamest of reparations and his cover hius ass moments above will continue to spur a call or a boycott of his show sponsors.

    A few commenters have asked for a list of The David Letterman Show sponsors and contact information on where to complain.

    Here you go:

    CBS Contact Form

    CBS Telephone: 212 975-4321

    Some CBS Executives E-mail addresses:

    And, the sponsors.

    Have at them, readers.

    Hit Letterman where it hurts – in the pocketbook.

    And, insist that he be suspended until he offers a heartfelt apology to the Palin family, including an “on-air” appearance by the Alaska Governor and her husband, Todd.

    Previous:

    Sarah and Todd Palin Respond to David Letterman’s Crude Joke About Their Daughter

    Audio: Rudy Giuliani on Sarah Palin

    NBC’s Early Today Bags on Sarah Palin for Calling David Letterman Pathetic As Letterman Calls Palin’s Daughter a Prostitute

    Video:     Letterman Stays Classy – Mocks Sarah Palin’s Daughter as “Knocked Up”

    Sarah Palin’s Trip to New York – Updating That “SLUTTY” Flight Attendant Look

    Technorati Tags: ,

  • Barack Obama,  Day By Day

    Day By Day by Chris Muir June 11, 2009 – Raw Numbers

    June 11, 2009 /
    day by day 061109

    Day By Day by Chris Muir

    Does the Obama Administration really think Americans are stupid with his claims of “saving or creating” jobs?”

    Watching Fox News Sunday, I caught a panel on which Obama economic advisor Austin Goolsbee conceded that the administration had previously predicted unemployment would top out at around 8%, that it was now up to 9.4%, and that double-digit unemployment was a distinct possibility in the near future. Goolsbee didn’t resort to the administrations’s blather about “saving or creating jobs,” but he did repeat its fustian about how last month’s loss of 345,000 jobs (resulting in a half percentage point jump in the jobless rate) is somehow good news because it beat predictions (I don’t recall him saying whose) of even more dire loss numbers. It made me wonder why, if those predictions either existed or were serious, the Obama administration would have previously predicted that unemployment would top out at 8%?

    The economy remains sluggish and needs a stimulus to boost employment. Some economists forecast that the American economy will see little impact from Obama’s stimulus program until next year.

    The President should consider an immediate payroll tax suspension for a number of months to provide needed cash immediately for Americans and American business to spend.

    Technorati Tags: ,

  • Del.icio.us Links

    links for 2009-06-11

    June 11, 2009 /
    • David Letterman responds to flap over Sarah Palin jokes
      “We were, as we often do, making jokes about people in the news and we made some jokes about Sarah Palin and her daughter [Bristol]… and now they’re upset with me…” Letterman says on tonight's show. "These are not jokes made about her 14-year-old daughter. I would never, never make jokes about raping or having sex of any description with a 14-year-old girl…. Am I guilty of poor taste? Yes. Did I suggest that it was okay for her 14-year-old daughter to be having promiscuous sex? No." Saying he hopes he's "cleared part of this up," Letterman extended an invitation to Palin to come on the show as a guest.
      (tags: sarah_palin david_letterman)
    • Top Ten Possible Letterman Reactions to Fallout Over Willow Palin Rape ‘Joke’
      4. Everyone just needs to relax. Page, six, paragraph seven of the “Democrat Handbook” clearly states Republican children are fair game. Or is that the “Mainstream Media Handbook” … I get them confused.

      3. It’s just been brought to my attention that during the campaign Barack Obama declared Sarah Palin’s children off limits. So, I would just like to say that this will never happen again and I hope the President will accept my apology.

      2. Would you believe I was hoping to be Keith Olbermann’s “Worst Person in the World”?

      1. If what I said was so wrong, why haven’t feminists complained?

      (tags: sarah_palin)
    • Obamacare: Dems double down on health care – Want Mental Health and Dentistry Included
      House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer are double-teaming powerful chairmen and rank-and-file members to save health care reform from a repeat of the Democratic Party infighting that helped kill it in 1994.

      In a closed-door session Tuesday, Pelosi assured rank-and-file Democrats that she won’t move forward on a bill without their consent. “We have to hear from you,” one participant quoted Pelosi as saying.
      But more-liberal members want a more expansive — and expensive — plan. During the closed-door session Tuesday, Rep. Brian Baird (D-Wash.) told colleagues that any bill should include mental health and dental insurance.

      (tags: Obamacare dentistry)
    • California's top Senate Democrat vows to block Schwarzenegger's most drastic budget cuts – #CATCOT
      State Senate leader Darrell Steinberg said Tuesday that Democrats won't allow some of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's most drastic budget proposals to become law.

      "We're not going to decimate programs that save people's lives," the Democratic leader declared, setting markers for contentious negotiations with Republicans and the governor in the next several weeks.

      With the state facing a daunting $24 billion budget shortfall, the governor has proposed abolishing the state's welfare program, eliminating grants for college students and ending a health care program for children from poor families, among a host of other cuts.

      Steinberg, D-Sacramento, also came out against a Schwarzenegger plan to borrow nearly $2 billion from local governments, saying it's unfair as cities and counties are struggling to balance their own books.

      (tags: California_Budget)
    • California Senate Democrats' budget plan relies on rainy-day fund
      Senate Democrats unveiled a budget plan Tuesday that would stave off the deepest proposed cuts to California's health, welfare and student-aid programs by dipping heavily into the rainy-day fund that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants set aside in case the economy continues to sour.

      The governor declared the Democrats' approach to dealing with the state's projected $24-billion deficit "hallucinatory."
      With the state facing a looming cash crunch that Schwarzenegger said "literally will result in shutting down government," partisan bickering flared on Tuesday.

      Schwarzenegger's budget, unveiled last month, would reduce the state's deficit by cutting heavily across state government. Unless new budget cuts or taxes are implemented, California won't be able to pay all of its bills by the end of July, according to the state controller.

      (tags: California_Budget ArnoldSchwarzenegger)
    • Obama Administration: Miranda Rights for Terrorists
      For, the Obama Justice Department has quietly ordered FBI agents to read Miranda rights to high value detainees captured and held at U.S. detention facilities in Afghanistan, according a senior Republican on the House Intelligence Committee. “The administration has decided to change the focus to law enforcement. Here’s the problem. You have foreign fighters who are targeting US troops today – foreign fighters who go to another country to kill Americans. We capture them…and they’re reading them their rights – Mirandizing these foreign fighters,” says Representative Mike Rogers, who recently met with military, intelligence and law enforcement officials on a fact-finding trip to Afghanistan.

      Rogers, a former FBI special agent and U.S. Army officer, says the Obama administration has not briefed Congress on the new policy. “I was a little surprised to find it taking place when I showed up because we hadn’t been briefed on it, I didn’t know about it. We’re still trying to get to the bottom

      (tags: terrorism barack_obama)
    • Get Ready for Inflation and Higher Interest Rates – Jimmy Carter All Over Again
      Here we stand more than a year into a grave economic crisis with a projected budget deficit of 13% of GDP. That's more than twice the size of the next largest deficit since World War II. And this projected deficit is the culmination of a year when the federal government, at taxpayers' expense, acquired enormous stakes in the banking, auto, mortgage, health-care and insurance industries.

      With the crisis, the ill-conceived government reactions, and the ensuing economic downturn, the unfunded liabilities of federal programs — such as Social Security, civil-service and military pensions, the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation, Medicare and Medicaid — are over the $100 trillion mark. With U.S. GDP and federal tax receipts at about $14 trillion and $2.4 trillion respectively, such a debt all but guarantees higher interest rates, massive tax increases, and partial default on government promises.

      (tags: inflation Economy barack_obama)