HillBuzz Open Thread May 21, 2012
Facebook’s IPO is tanking this morning, dropping 12% Anyone with half a brain could have called that one. Facebook doesn’t sell or produce anything. Duh!
Obama is speaking at a graduation in Joplin Missouri, one year after the town was devastated by tornadoes. Gee, what took you so long, Mr. President?
Angel, Trayvon Martin, was a member of a fight club. Anyone surprised by that?
What’s making news in your part of the world?
© 2012, TheTamminator. All rights reserved.
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Developing story here in Wisconsin: the chief investigator in the John Doe investigation has a “Recall Walker” sign in his yard and a “blue fist” poster (created by the AFL-CIO) in his window. http://mediatrackers.org/2012/05/21/chief-investigator-in-john-doe-has-recall-walker-sign-in-yard-blue-fist-union-icon-in-window/
H&C, can you briefly explain what the “John Doe” investigation is about? It obviously involves Walker, so there is no way this guy should be investigating it. He clearly cannot be impartial, so justice will not be served.
In a nutshell, this investigation is about campaigning that was done on county time by county employees; however, it started out as a request from then County Executive Walker’s office to investigate monies designated for veterans that had gone missing.
What the ‘holy grail’ would be (to the Dems/left/progressives) is if Gov. Walker was involved or knew about it. The investigation has gone on for about two years, and several people have been arrested (including the people for the embezzling the monies).
Thank you, H&C. What are Wisconsites predicting? What is your gut instinct telling you? (Please don’t laugh at my “gut instinct” question – an awful lot of highly educated people have no gut instinct common sense.)
We’re cautiously optimistic.
Breaking: 43 Catholic institutions file suits over HHS mandate
Dozens of Catholic institutions filed lawsuits today against the Department of Health and Human Services over its mandate and its narrow definition of religious practice:
All of this probably makes the New York Times’ analysis of how Obama will win Catholic votes little more than wishful thinking. This oppressive move may well cast Catholics off from the Democratic Party for a generation. This will be a “come to Jesus” moment for many Catholics, and a wake-up call to the USCCB about the nature of government mandates in general.
Update: The Anchoress links to the “strong editorial” of the publication Our Sunday Visitor:
http://hotair.com/archives/2012/05/21/43-catholic-institutions-file-suits-over-hhs-mandate/
This is a critical moment for religious freedom in the US. If the federal government can define religious expression, then it can control or even outlaw it.
I think the Catholic Church will fold on this in some attempt at face saving. O will throw some type of bone and it will be eagerly fetched. Or they will all withdraw from insurance programs ,forcing people into the govt insurance, which O wants. Nobody wants to take to the streets or attempt an overthrow of this illegitimate govt[and by illegitimate I mean they have done it to themselves by not governing according to the Constitution].
BE, I’m going to respectfully disagree — by backing down, how are they saving face? By backing down, they are acknowledging that Washington, and not the church, is the one we account to for church teachings, and Washington will continue it’s push by forcing abortion to be covered next.
The church needs to take a stand (Acts 4 & 5), and trust that God will meet our needs.
It looks like the Catholic Church and their prolife friends will not be backing down any time soon. Mark your calendars for June 8, 2012 in over 100 cities there will be peaceful, family friendly protests of the HHS mandate. For a a location near you check out
http://standupforreligiousfreedom.com/
Obama’s worldview is so simple to see. It is so simple to understand. What motivates Obama is so simple to explain, if only a free media would bother to expose it. Cockamamie, but simple. Obama believes he is on a mission from God to upend our oppressive free-market system and replace it with mystic utopian “fairness” as yet to be determined by enlightened ruling-class elites like him.
Obama’s religion of hate helps explain the hatred of Sarah Palin. Governor Palin is proud of and confident in America and the Western free-market system. This is why the left is trying to destroy her to this day. She speaks like Rush Limbaugh and looks dynamite in a skirt. You want to see a real “war on women”? Obama’s supporters burned down Sarah Palin’s church while women and children were inside.
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/05/why_wright_matters_obamas_on_a_mission_from_god.html#ixzz1vSmlurPN
Why Kenyan Birth Claim Was No ‘Fact Checking Error’
No sooner did the literary agency brochure in which Barack Obama was said to be Kenyan-born surface than the media went to work to deep-six it.
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/05/why_kenyan_birth_claim_was_no_fact_checking_error.html#ixzz1vWY2eKIO
She made an error? The author is right – why would this assistant fill in a Kenya? I’ve worked with writers all of the time, and they make darn sure that when it comes to my biographical information, I proof read. Once in print, you can’t take it back. At no time did any writer ever used information I did not provide. When it comes to biographical information, no editor takes the chance and “speculate.” Also adding to the “disturbing” pile of information is the way in which bo embellished his records. When there are opportunities for someone else to corroborate, the outcome has turned out badly for him. How can you possibly write that you work in a private office while wearing a suit and tie to where someone else said that he never held such a position. He worked as a financial writer and had an audience of Japanese and German visitors? He’s starting to sound like Barney Fife with an inferiority complex!
Facebook blows.
Obama Signs Brian A. Terry Memorial Act into Law
On Tuesday, President Obama signed the Brian A. Terry Memorial Act into law. This will rename the NACO station in Bisbee, AZ to the Brian A. Terry Border Patrol Station. It may not appear to be much, but it’s something, and it’s a great way to honor Brian, especially since he loved the job. It’s also a great way to make sure he is not forgotten, no matter how hard the media and government want us to.
While the government did pass this, they did it without any fanfare and buried it. Brian sacrificed everything to protect this country only to be murdered by someone using a gun supplied by his government. His family, especially his parents, should have been by President Obama’s side when he signed the law.
Rest in peace, Brian Terry. We will never forget you.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/05/17/obama-signs-brian-a-terry-memorial-act-into-law
While I am not surprised to see face book go down, I would like to suggest that it does produce something: communication. In the same way that a TV channel doesn’t produce a product, it does communicate to a wide audience. This produces a medium to advertise, which results in increased commerce and production. Thus, facebook produces a service by advertising to users.
However, GM’s announcement that they are pulling advertisements from Facebook probably really hurt facebook by undermining its perceived effectiveness. I find it likely that GM is trying to blame some or all of its failure on to facebook.
What do you think?
I think you’re spot on about this.
Facebook’s user base is phenomenally large. Facebook does provide tremendous potential value to advertisers. The trick for those advertisers (and, by extension, for Facebook) is to figure out the optimal way to leverage the available advertising data and the platform itself to monetize the traffic.
I use Facebook every single day. I probably visit it more times than any other website. And yet I click on an ad maybe once a month at most. I’m way more likely to see an ad that entices me on this very website than I am to see one on Facebook. That shows us that Google is still the leader in targeted advertising platforms. But Facebook will catch up.
I’ve been seeing articles today that Hillary will be VP pick and that Obama plans to announce at convention or right before. They say the bumper stickers are ready to go.
Has anyone heard about this? And do you think this is true?
At this point, it wouldn’t surprise me. I previously thought that Hillary would have resigned her post at a politically opportune time and posed a primary challenge against Obama. This seemed to fit with Bill’s wishes as well. Obviously that has not happened, as Hillary has decided that loyalty is most important.
2016 is Hillary’s last shot at being President. I believe that she wants, more than anything, to be the first woman president. Whatever her decision regarding VP, you can be certain it was done with her eye on 2016.
So how would being VP impact her 2016 chances?
I think an Obama/Hillary ticket would be powerful. It could go a long way towards restoring some of the trust and excitement that some Clinton Democrats have lost under Obama’s progressive leadership. It could certainly improve turnout, and Hillary would appeal to more independents than Bumblin’ Joe Biden.
In other words, Hillary as VP could guarantee an Obama win. But is that good for Hillary’s presidential aspirations? I say no.
4 more years of Obama and the country will DEFINITELY be ready for a conservative. Look who’s coming up in the conservative movement: Chris Christie, Paul Ryan, Marco Rubio, Allen West… the future of the conservative movement is strong. Hillary will be facing a much tougher challenger than Mitt Romney, and she will have the boat anchor of 4 more years of Obama policy tied around her neck. That’s not a good combination for a 2016 Hillary victory.
But then again, maybe Hillary has decided that being the first female Vice President is a worthwhile milestone all its own. Maybe she is looking ahead and thinking 2016 is too far off, and maybe she wants to retire. If so, then her priorities change completely and I think she would definitely take the shot at VP.
Finally, there is the more dastardly possibility that Hillary is actually looking to become the first female VP *and* the first female President by accepting the VP spot, helping Obama win the election, and then trying to force an Obama resignation somehow.
Like I said, nothing will surprise me at this point.
“and then trying to force an Obama resignation somehow”
And that would be very Clintonesque.
(As seen at No Quarter)
http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/67749/barack-obamas-historical-whiff/#more-67749
Comments:
“This is Obama’s Venture Capital using your tax dollars.
• SunPower, after receiving $1.5 billion from DOE, is reorganizing, cutting jobs.• First Solar, after receiving $1.46 billion from DOE, is reorganizing, cutting jobs.• Solyndra, after receiving $535 million from DOE, filed for bankruptcy protection.• Ener1, after receiving $118.5 million from DOE, filed for bankruptcy protection.• Evergreen Solar, after receiving millions of dollars from the state of Massachusetts, filed for bankruptcy protection.• SpectraWatt, backed by Intel and Goldman Sachs, filed for bankruptcy protection.• Beacon Power, after receiving $43 million from DOE, filed for bankruptcy protection.• Abound Solar, after receiving $400 million from DOE, filed for bankruptcy protection.• Amonix, after receiving $5.9 million from DOE, filed for bankruptcy protection.• Babcock & Brown (an Australian company), after receiving $178 million from DOE, filed for bankruptcy protection.• A123 Systems, after receiving $279 million from DOE, shipped some bad batteries and is barely operating. It cut jobs.• Solar Trust for America, after receiving a $2.1-billion loan guarantee from DOE, filed for bankruptcy protection.• Nevada Geothermal, after receiving $98.5 million from DOE, warns of potential defaults in new SEC filings…”.
All paid for by YOU AND ME.
THIS is the list that needs to be publicized, not just Solyndra.