Breakfast Scramble: Kiss My White Grits

Dumbo gets distracted, a lot, Debra Saunder argues that President Barack Obama, a/k/a Dumbo, seems to view to process of actually governing as a mere distraction, from RCP:

President Obama has dedicated his time in office to soaking up applause and shifting blame. Last year, when Democrats owned the White House, the House and the Senate, Congress didn’t even bother passing a budget. Obama didn’t seem to mind. But when Republicans put together a stopgap measure to fund the military and prevent a government shutdown, Obama promised to veto it. Obama called the measure “a distraction from the real work that would bring us closer to a reasonable compromise for funding the remainder of fiscal year 2011.”

There must have been a lot of distractions last year.

It seems to only activities for which Dumbo can find time or campaigning, golf and vacationing.

Washington vs. America, from Mickey Kaus, Daily Caller:

Washington vs. America-D.C. doesn’t doesn’t act like there’s a deficit problem: If you worry that the federal government can’t afford $38 billion in cuts, please read Chris Moody’s article from two weeks ago. There’s a $1.6 trillion deficit but the feds are still hiring. As of March 23 they were hiring someone to run a Facebook page for the Deparment of the Interior (at up to $115,000 a year).

Outside the Beltway, to real people, thirty-eight billion of a lot of money.   Inside the Beltway, it a mere  down payment.

Kiss my Lily Whites, from Katherine Kersten, Minneapolis Star-Tribune:

These are tough times for Minnesota schools. In Lakeville, for example, the school board recently announced wrenching cuts of almost $7 million. Ninety-four teachers will lose their jobs, arts programs will suffer and a school will be closed. There was wailing and gnashing of teeth, but the board set its jaw: There’s not a dime for anything extra.

[…]

Unless you’ve got an ax to grind with white folks. Then the money spigots open. The Lakeville schools are sending a delegation of teachers to the 12th annual “White Privilege Conference” at the Bloomington Sheraton from April 13-16. The district is shelling out $160 a pop — plus $125 a day for teacher subs — for this “white guilt” festival.

Reax:   from Warner Todd Huston, Big Government:

Ah, the commies are coming out to play again. Never mind that they are having their conference at a luxurious hotel. Never mind that they all got there in nice cars, wonderful airplanes, spent their government supplied money (well they ARE all government employees, right?) on rich dinners and are likely going to be attending swank parties with much drinike-poos available. Yes, all that oppressive “corporate profit” goin’ on out there must be so hard for them to withstand on their little vacation trip.

Yo Eric, how that white privilege working out for ya?

The historic economic step stone in the Empire State was the Erie Canal, a/k/a Clinton’s Ditch, built by Irish and Italian immigrants.    The only problem, is after they dug the darn ditch they would not leave.

Oh Boy, after shocks in Egypt:

CAIRO (AP) — Demonstrators burned cars and barricaded themselves with barbed wire inside a central Cairo square demanding the resignation of the military’s head after troops violently dispersed an overnight protest killing one and injuring 71

What’s his face must go.

Reax, Bruce McQuain, Questions and Observations:

For those of us actually somewhat tuned into the region, the dynamics of the power structure there, grounded in reality and, well, basic human nature, what is now happening in Egypt comes as no surprise:

Bruce’s reference to those with clues, clearly in not intended to refer to Mrs. Clinton, or any Obami.

Chuckles is not funny.  What a child looks like, from Weasel Zippers:

Charles Schumer on the Tea Party: “What we have here is a flea, wagging a tail, wagging a dog”

Did you say anything Cuckles?

Adults do not throw temper tantrums to protect taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood’s aborturiums.   Adults do not threaten to defund our nation’s military in order to force taxpayer to fund the killing of babies.

What an adult sounds like, video:

Hat tip: Smitty, Other McCain.

Obama to screw the troops, by a simple stroke of the pen, President Barack Obama could assure that our soldiers get paid, even if the government would shut down.  That is Obama could, but he won’t from Jeff Poor, Daily Caller:

With a government shutdown looming, one major concern has been whether armed service personnel will be paid.

There is legislation pending to make sure those serving in the military don’t fall through the cracks, but according to conservative radio show host Mark Levin, such legislation isn’t necessary. The president could ensure soldiers get their checks using his executive power — it’s been done in the past — but President Barack Obama won’t do it, Levin said on his Thursday program.

watch the video:

Hat tip video:  Daily Caller.

In the normal course of events, in case of a government shot-down,  federal employees are either deemed essential or non-essential.   Those deemed essential are expected to show up for work and will eventually get paid   Those deemed non-essential,  get put on unpaid furlough    Well that is for Obama’s civilians.

For or uniformed service personnel, Dim Won expects our soldiers to continue to do their duty, while not getting paid.    Any job actions would be breach of soldier’s oath and a violation of federal law.   Obama wants soldiers to work without pay and threatens to send them to the brig if they done.

Lucy Slaughter goes off her rocker, from Dan Joesph:

(CNSNews.com) – Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) said today that the new Republicans elected to the House of Representatives last November came to Congress “to kill women.” She also likened Republican efforts to prohibit federal funding of abortion except in cases of rape, incest or where the life of the mother is endangered to actions taken by Nazis.

Geeze Lucy em are congresschicks, Congresscritter Louise Slaughter seems blind as well as old, from Patricia Murphy, Puffington Post:

More than 80 new Republican lawmakers are heading to Washington as a result of last Tuesday’s “shellacking” of the Democrats in the midterm elections.

[…]

Beyond their broad range of careers, the new group will also be the most diverse GOP class in House history, with five new Latino members, two African-Americans and nine women adding to the ranks of the current Republican House.

Reax, Michelle:

Rep. Louise Slaughter (if there’s a better name for a NARAL and Planned Parenthood crony I have yet to see it)

Later.

BigotedNew York judge persecutes juror,  from John Marshall, NY Daily New:

An incensed federal judge sentenced a racist Brooklyn woman to indefinite jury duty on Tuesday after she trashed the NYPD and minorities.

“This is an outrage, and so are you!” Federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis told the woman, holding up her bile-filled juror questionnaire

Earth to Judge Garaufis, citizens in the United States have rights, and one those rights is to have their own opinions.   It is Juror’s 799’s right to believe what she believe,  whether or not you happen to agree with it nor not.   You sir are a disgrace to both the New York State Bar and to the bench.

More, Eugene Volokh, Volokh Conspiracy:

Actually, if this story is accurate, what’s outrageous is the appalling abuse of power by the judge. The woman seems to have reprehensible moral beliefs. This is America, and she’s entitled to possess those beliefs. But government officials are not entitled to punish people for those beliefs, including by requiring them to serve more jury duty as a result of their beliefs

Juror 799’s opinions may not be right, but she has an absolute right to her opinions.

Obama, let them drive cake, video:

Hat tip: Ed Morrissey, .Hot Air

Putting the Hurt on Obama, Charles Hurt on Barack Obama, from Washington Times:

And then there were Mr. Obama’s worldly-wise assurances that peace would reign and everybody would love us if only we had a sophisticated, multilingual president who had lived abroad, on other continents, with roots in the Muslim world.

Instead, he has shepherded us from feared and loathed to just loathed. And, of course, mocked.

Obama bribes MSM to support Obam Care, from Matthew Boyle,  Daily Caller:

Two mainstream news organizations are receiving hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars from Obamacare’s Early Retiree Reinsurance Program (ERRP) – a $5 billion grant program that’s doling out cash to companies, states and labor unions in what the Obama administration considers an effort to pay for health insurance for early retirees. The Washington Post Company raked in $573,217 in taxpayer subsidies and CBS Corporation secured $722,388 worth of Americans’ money

Hat tip, and reax,  Rick Moran provides a devastating from Marsha Blackburn, congresscritter -TN, via American Tbinker:

“It is fine with me if they continue covering the ObamaCare debate,” said Rep. Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee, in an e-mail to The Daily Caller. “When NBC used to cover energy issues, they identified themselves as a subsidiary of General Electric. CBS and Washington Post just have to disclose that they are subsidiaries of the Obama Administration.”

A bribe by any other name.

Dumbo’s decisions Jill, Pundit & Pundette:

In my previous post I made fun of Obama’s substitution of eleventh hour meetings for actual leadership on the budget issue. Yesterday, trying to sound tough and engaged, he threatened to host another meeting today:

Obama is too busy campaigning to bother with actually bother being President.

Video:

Hat tip and more,  Weekly Standard.

Worth noting: When the president’s own party was in charge, they failed to pass a budget for this year. And Republican majority in the House first passed a 2011 budget 46 days ago, but the Democratic Senate hasn’t moved at all on a vote. So who, exactly, is Obama criticizing here?

The President  says Americans deserve a budget, and then goes campaigning with Al Sharpton.   What this country deserves is a President who shows up for work.    As Alvi Singer noted, “Ninety percent of life is just showing.”   By that standard, Obama is a ninety percent failure.

This it the FY2011 budget, which dues on 1 October last year.    Shame Dumbo was too busy playing golf to tell Dirty Harry Reid and Mrs. Pelosi what Americans deserve.
Here comes the Ice Age, from Bruce McQuain, Questions and Observations:

Long time, no snark.

Obama: I Absolutely Demand I Meet With Congressional Leaders To Stop The Feuding That Has Nothing To Do With Me. Now, If You’ll Excuse Me, I Have To Break Bread With Racial Manslaughter Enthusiast Al Sharpton.

From: Ace.

Yet another ultimatum from the laziest President in memory.

Micheal Steele right on Afghanistan, from Dan Riehl, Riehl World View:

It seems to me, Steele and his defenders on that issue understood the implications of Obama’s changes in Afghanistan, while many of the self-professed intelligent folks in DC did not. Bush didn’t pursue a high intensity ground war in Afghanistan as conditions were and are not conducive to it. Every scrap of available military history argues that case. Obama’s arguments were constucted to get him elected and little more, except for the increased cost in American lives, of course

Cain can, video:

Hat tip: Matt Schneider, Mediaiter.

Honey where is my Viagra, from Glenn Thrush and M.J. Lee, Politico:

President Barack Obama on Tuesday called on congressional leaders – especially Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) – to act like “grown-ups” and avert a government shutdown after they made no apparent progress in reaching a budget agreement at a White House meeting earlier in the day.

Obama, in a surprise appearance at the daily White House press briefing, underscored his direct involvement in the process – after weeks of publicly staying on the sidelines — and promised round-the-clock talks to stave off the shutdown that could occur on Friday.

The budget in dispute, is the FY2011, which began 1 October of last year, budget.  It is a budget that Dirty Harry Reid and Mrs. Pelosi should have passed last year, prior to the elections.

Yet for some strange reason, Obama sows up late for the party and immediately sets on to blame others.  If now in April, Obama finds is crucial to pass a budget, which it is, why all the vacations, golf outings trips to Brazil and wars of choice on Libya?  Mr President, if you not going to lead, you should just get out of the way.

More, Allahpundit, Hot Air:

Conveniently omitted, natch: We’re only in this situation now because the Pelosi Congress failed to pass a budget when it had a chance. If they were truly worried about radically radical tea-party radicals pressuring a new Republican majority into playing hardball, they could have prevented this scenario last year. But they did nothing, chiefly in order to protect Blue Dogs from a tough vote before the midterms. And oddly enough, The One didn’t find that “inexcusable” or insist on people “acting like grown-ups” at the time. So here he is, dashing into the briefing room this afternoon following a morning of saturation coverage of Paul Ryan’s budget to remind America that He Cares, that he and the left are gravely concerned about a shutdown, and that if it comes to that anyway, well, you know whom to blame. Be grateful, I guess, that he was willing to put in an appearance: On the long list of things Obama doesn’t want to take the lead on, budgetary matters are near the very top.

Later.

Brooklyn, NY— As this is written, I’m in the second largest city in America, the ferstwhile home of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Of course that was back in the day that America gave a damn about baseball.

To say this is a unique place is to state the obvious, but it is only obvious for those who have actually been here. Flatbush Ave deserves some exploration, and maybe some day I’ll get the chance to do it. I’ve mentioned to Donna and the boys we might do a three day down here to explore a bit… mixed reviews on that.

From here, I’ll move west out to Carlisle,PA and up to Albany, NY.

These warmer spring days are nice for driving, though the wind and rain can be an issue. Such was the case today. Took me a couple hours extra to get where I was going, today.

I’ve been trying Skype, to allow me to place vidphone calls from the truck to the house. It’s amazing how I can feel closer to home in that simple action. This is a decidedly lonely job, this professional driving long-haul, but there are ways to deal with it.

Looking around:

• An ode to Crisco? Why, Glenn isn’t that just about any Ricky Martin tune? (Yes, I know…  and I really don’t care. Get it?)
• David Fedrosso… who is now on my Facebook list, by the way… comes up with a must read. Like David, I’m unconvinced this ruling of itself will kill off Socialist Security… but the first step is there. You KNOW someone’s going to challenge the basis of the ruling.  If it then gets upheld, it beomces legal precident. Watch for the Soros minions to be tossing lots of George’s money at this one.
• Had you heard about the death threats against Lee Terry, a Republican Congresscritter? No, neither had I. Now compare that level of coverage to what a Democrat might get for press coverage in the same situation.

Dumbo kicks off re-election campaign, and Clifton B. has the jingo of very young campaign, from Another Black Conservative:

Calling All Remaining Hope Dopes: Obama launches reelection with video

[…]

It looks like “Yes We Can” has morphed into “I Need You, Man”! The video seems to be a call to all remaining true supporters. We should not be surprised about that, after two years of broken promises and lackluster performance, the aura of Hope and Change could never make a come back.

Could be a dopey campaign.   The Dopes for Hope versus those for the Dope from Hope, Mike Huckabee.

Tim Pawlenty derails Obama Train, video:

Hat tip and more:  Ed Morrissey, Hot Air:

This time around, Obama has to run on the status quo, and given the circumstances, that’s a losing position.

Honey where is my Viagra, Roger Simon Edition, transcript:

ROGER SIMON, CHIEF POLITICAL COLUMNIST, POLITICO: Yes, and that’s a good thing. We’re supposed to be openly skeptical.

The bloom isn’t entirely off the rose between Obama and the press, but reporters are starting to concentrate more than ever on what he says rather than how he says it. We will stipulate that he’s the greatest orator of modern times, but now we’re looking beyond that in every speech for what he’s actually telling us.

Video:

Hat tip: Newsbusters.

Putting the tack into Simon, the Sharp Tack, Clarice Feldman destroys Simon, from American Thinker:

Why Does He Rely Over Much on the Teleprompter?

Simple. Neither one of them can think and talk (or write) at the same time, so one types the words in on the teleprompter and the other reads them. Proof of this is that on those occasions when there’s been a glitch in the teleprompting whichever Obama twin is speaking is struck immediately dumb.

Watch and see what I’m talking about:

Video:

Further reax, Michelle:

Obama announced his bid for the presidency in February of 2007, so it’s only been more than four years. The media needs time to pace themselves. Besides, in 2008 Simon & friends were too busy digging into Sarah Palin’s qualifications to be a heartbeat away from the presidency to worry about sorting through Obama’s qualifications to be president.

Especially enjoyable is the part in the above interview where Simon essentially said, “We’re going to get back to basics and not be so biased — hey, did I mention that Obama’s the greatest orator in modern times?”

Without the aid a teleprompter, Obama is incoherent and rather stupid, more Michelle:

* Last May, he claimed that Kansas tornadoes killed a whopping 10,000 people: “In case you missed it, this week, there was a tragedy in Kansas.  Ten thousand people died — an entire town destroyed.” The actual death toll: 12.

Later.

Carlisle, PA– I’m at the truck stop in Carlisle as I write this.

Your author and his new ride

Getting comfortable in the new truck I’ve been assigned is an effort that has taken weeks… as I suspected it would. There’s still work to be done on it, but I find myself being very productive with it, and suspect this truck and I will be a long term item.

• I’m just today going over some writings from John Adams… someone I rge you to read and to get to know very well. It amazes me that so many so called constitutional scholars including the individual who currently holds the role of POTUS, so very apparently know so very little of him and his views on government and freedom. I’m struck by the import of a passage:
  

  But what do we mean by “The American Revolution”?  Do we mean the American War? The Revolution was effected long before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the hearts and minds of the people.

  And doesn’t that make sense? One must, after all, have ideas and ideals… principles… to fight for, or for what are you fighting? You see, I dare to suggest to you that our national debate has swung well away from that of individual rights and freedoms, and alas,  too far toward where the left would like it to be… on taxes and what the government should be doing with them.  I dare to suggest further that were we as a nation to focus, as the founders did, on those individual rights and freedoms, that we’d be taxed far less and our financial well-being as a nation would be far more secured as would our future as a nation.

  I don’t know, but I think it was Tocqueville, who suggested that if our lights ever fade, they will do so a little at a time…. Our lights, our ideas and ideals have faded rather dramatically of late… and that fading has been accomplished over a period of decades. Just as Tocqueville said it would happen.  I suggest to you it’s time to refocus the debate on the individual. The Tea Party… indeed ANY party, would do well, I think, to ask of it’s followers and people that the party supports for elective office: “What have you done to remove government from our backs, and what have you done to enhance the rights and liberty of the individual?”

• With this in mind it’s interesting to note an  interesting survey, that shows America gets it, while the politicians apparently do not.
• Charles Krauthammer takes the Obama administration to task for mistakes in their Syria policy.
• Remember back in November when spent so much effort to convince the American taxpayers how well his Government Motors was doing, that taxpayers were going to get back every penny invested to keep Government Motors alive and well?   Pure fabrication. Not that I really expected anything else.
• Top management at both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were paid substantial sums for overseeing entities that were losing money fast enough that the federal government was and is required to keep them afloat at taxpayer expense.
• Hmmm. David will like this one… apparently Crystal Mangum is back in the news, after having apparently stabbed her boyfreind.

Special three idiots edition.

Idiot Number One, Charlie Sheen, from James Hibberd, Inside TV:

First the U.S. automaker recession, and now this. Charlie Sheen unleashed his Violent Torpedo of Truth Tour on the Motor City on Saturday night before a crowd that greeted the actor with an adoring standing ovation and concluded with booing and walk-outs. The padded and disjointed show was a hodgepodge of video clips and Sheen-isms that felt hastily assembled and misjudged the patience of even the hardest of hardcore fans. Below is our on-the-scene progressive timeline of disaster from Detroit:

Reax, Stacy McCain, Other McCain:

The opening show of Charlie Sheen’s “Violent Torpedo of Truth” tour in Detroit was a bomb of historic proportions. People who paid as much as $65 a ticket were booing and walking out. One self-described Sheen fan who came all the way from Toronto for the show said: “He’s making a fool of himself. Is there a bigger loser in the world?”

Oh I don’t know about that Stacy, see Idiots Two and Three;

Idiot Number Two, Dirty Harry Reid,  from Glenn Thrush, Politico:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told CBS’s Bob Schieffer on Sunday that some members of Congress were considering some kind of action in response to the Florida Quran burning that sparked a murderous riot at a United Nations complex in Afghanistan and other mayhem

Idiot Number Three, Lindsey Graham, from  Fox News:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid repudiated pastor Terry Jones for touching off the chaos with what he called a “publicity stunt.” Jones had earlier threatened to burn the Koran, but then shelved the plan until last month. The burning attracted little U.S. attention at the time but was used as a rallying cry in Afghanistan.

[…]

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., suggested Congress should condemn the burning, but also stressed that one pastor’s actions should not excuse the subsequent killings.

“Burning a Koran is a terrible thing, but it doesn’t justify killing someone. Burning a Bible would be a terrible thing, but it wouldn’t justify murder,” he said. “But having said that, any time we can push back here in America against actions like this that put our troops at risk, we ought to do it.”

Jones has killed no Muslims and appears to have no desire to kill any, offend them yes, but kill them no.    Om the other hand, Barack Hussien Obama is waging an personal and illegal war on Libya which is killing Muslims, and appears to have no desire to stop killing Muslims.   So who does Dirty Harry repudiate and who does he intend to investigate?  The peaceful and legal one.

Reax,   Michelle:

If somebody, say, puts a crucifix in a jar of urine and calls it “art,” some on Capitol Hill not only won’t press for hearings, but they might even give it federal funding in spite of how many Christians it might offend.

I don’t know about Graham’s excuse, but I think Dirty Harry took a few too many punches in his boxing days.

Mediaite stirs the pot, from Frances Martel, Mediaite:

Pastor Terry Jones, who took advantage of the rapidfire late summer news cycle to become famous for burning Korans last year, has come out strongly against claims that he is directly responsible for prompting Muslim protesters to kill eleven people in Afghanistan this week, including a number of U.S. staffers. Jones accused the protesters, who were directly protesting his Koran burning, of using him as an excuse for the killings.

If Terry Jones is just a publicity whore who has some responsibility for the mob killings in Afghanistan, then why is Mediaite giving Jones even more publicity?

While, Jones is exercising his First Amendment rights, albeit in a dubious manner, Barack Hussein Obama is waging a one man person grudge war against the Muslim state of Libya.    So why does Mediaite consider matches and lighter fluid to be a major problem but is oblivious to cruise missiles and air strikes on Libya?

Think what you will about Jones, he has not killed and is not killing any Muslims.  Whereas Obama has killed Muslims and  appears intent on killing even more.

Maha full of it, more leftard delusions.  Maha, over at Mahablog, stops all over it or is it into it:

And once again demonstrating that he doesn’t know the Sermon on the Mount from the Yellow Pages, the not reverend Jones is demanding retribution for the slaughter that his actions touched off.  After all kinds of people begged him to not act out and burn a Q’ran because it would set back whatever it is his country is doing in Afghanistan, this jerk burns a Q’ran anyway. It’s beyond disgusting.

About the only problem I see with burning a copy of the Koran, is that it precludes you from using it for some useful purpose such as toilet paper.  The fact is that Jones did not kill anybody and is totally not responsible for any deaths in Afghanistan, unlike the aforementioned Obama.

Jones was neither a member of  the mob nor party to riling the mob into a murderous frenzy.

Schultz for DNI, while the Obama administration remains clueless about who is doing what to whom in Libya Sgt Schultz, as in Ed Schultz, has identified the anti-government opposition, from Jeff Dunetz, Big Journalism:

Just who are these people in Libya trying to overthrow Qaddafi? Our government doesn’t know but Ed Schultz does. Maybe he has a secret line into the rebel camp because he knows exactly who they are: the Libyan rebels are Freedom Fighters. Last night on his show he decided that these unknown rebels are up there with George Washington and the other heroes of the American Revolution, or Martin Luther King Jr. They rank with people who have given their lives for the preservation of God-given freedoms. Schultz said

Given the urgency, I am sure that Sgt Schultz would give up his day job to become Obama’s Director of National Intelligence.

Rand Paul – 1, Dirty Harry Reid – 0, Rand Paul the junior senator from Kentucky has Dirty Harry Reid flummoxed, Roberta Costa has the conservative story of the day, from National Review:

Washington — Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.), a Tea Party favorite, has boxed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) into a corner. After a quiet day of quorum calls and speeches, Reid abruptly adjourned the upper chamber Thursday and postponed votes until Monday. According to numerous Hill staffers, Paul deserves some credit for the impasse.

[…]

GOP sources tell National Review Online that Paul’s proposal flummoxed Reid, who does not want his members to have to weigh in on Obama’s dusty quote about congressional authority, even if the vote is only to table the measure.

Now I realize that Paul is a physician, while Dirty Harry is but an ex-boxer.   However this was not exactly some grand master chess move on the part of  Paul.   It is more like Blogging 101.   If Obama is dumb enough to say one thing as a senator,  but to do the exact opposite as president, you would only expect somebody to call Obama on it.   Well Paul did, and Dirty Harry doesn’t have a clue what to do.

Dumbo’s union bribes, shocking, Obama Care funnels taxpayer dollars to unions, from Byron York, Washington Examiner:

Investigators for the House Energy and Commerce Committee have discovered that a little-known provision in the national health care law has allowed the federal government to pay nearly $2 billion to unions, state public employee systems, and big corporations to subsidize health coverage costs for early retirees.  At the current rate of payment, the $5 billion appropriated for the program could be exhausted well before it is set to expire.

Dumbo’s first 2012 campaign ad, video:

Hat tip: Smitty, Other McCain.

Dumbo dropping, from Ross Douthat, NY Times:

The President’s Credibility Gap

Addressing the nation Monday evening, President Obama suggested that the United States was in the process of reducing its military footprint in Libya, even as he explicitly rejected the idea of pursuing regime change in Tripoli by force of arms. Both statements seemed calculated to make our intervention seem tightly limited rather than open-ended. (“I want to be clear,” Obama said. “The United States of America has done what we said we would do.”) But two days later, both look dubious in the extreme.

The Secret to Brazil’s Energy Success, from By Steven F. Hayward, Wall Street Journal:

Over the past 20 years the country increased domestic oil production by a whopping 876%.

[…]

The biggest factor is that Brazil increased its domestic oil production over the last two decades by 876% (not a typo). Most of that production has come from offshore exploration.

Brazilians achieved independence from foreign oil the old-fashioned way—they drilled. Instead of tapping our Strategic Petroleum Reserve, how about tapping into our still-in-the-ground oil reserves?

Trumping Dumbo, Donald Trump continues to hammer Barack Obama:

(CNN) – It’s official: Donald Trump is a “birther.” But he’d prefer you don’t use that term.

Speaking to MSNBC Thursday, the business mogul and improbable presidential candidate reiterated much of what he has said in the last several days when it comes to doubting President Obama’s birthplace, declaring, “I am embracing the issue, and I’m proud of the issue. I think somebody has to embrace it.”

If you can’t refute them, just call them a “birther.”

Killing Hope, One Black Baby at a Time:

CHICAGO (AP) — The erecting of an anti-abortion billboard targeting Chicago’s black community that features a picture of President Barack Obama has aroused the anger of pro-choice advocates.

The billboard on the city’s South Side reads: “Every 21 minutes, our next possible leader is aborted.”

None the late Baby Does, late of Chicago, could be reached for comment.

Special Sgt. Schultz edition.

Stuff it Ed, from Mark Finkelstein, News Busters:

ED SCHULTZ: Republicans are attacking the Commander-in-Chief during a time of war! . . . There should be no debate: we ought to be kicking [Gaddafi’s] ass . . . Whose side are you on? Are you with the terrorists, Sarah, or are you with the President of the United States? . . . And I have to ask the question tonight: where is the patriotism from all of these war-hawks? Where’s the patriotism of the Republican party? . . . What about being a patriot? . . . So the question now for the doubters who are out and about: why don’t you support the president? . . . We’ve been talking about the lack of patriotism from prominent Republicans . . .  Laura [Flanders] what about the patriotism?

Flock off Mr Schultz,  the United States, as in the People, is not at war with Libya.    Only Congress can take the people into war, by an declaration of war or authorization of war by Congress, and  Congress has taken no such action.   No state of war exists between the People of the United States and Libya.

Mrs. Clinton, video:

Classic.

Alas Michelle did it better.

Bryan Preston educates Mr. Schultz, from Pajamas Media:

In Libya in the current fight, no matter which side you choose, you end up on the side of terrorists.

Later.