New Forum for Joey Three Iraqs Biden's Idiocy.
Full Version: Joey Three Iraqs Biden Gaffes and Sundry Moronic Crap
Biden credits stimulus for fire station funded under Bush
PIKEVILLE, N.C. — Vice President Joe Biden brought a clear message to this tiny Eastern North Carolina town Wednesday: The federal recovery money isn't just for big banks and auto companies.
Biden and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced a new wave of $10.4 billion in federal stimulus money for home loans across the country, and billions more for essential services in rural communities such as Pikeville, which is getting money for a new fire station. Biden used the outdated, current station as a backdrop. Pikeville is just north of Goldsboro in Wayne County.
"We're investing in places like this all across the country," Biden said, "to demonstrate the vital role towns like this play in the recovery."
Most of the money for the station that was announced Wednesday, however, had been secured last year under the Bush administration, according to fire department officials.
State Sen. David Rouzer, a Republican who represents Pikeville and worked in the Agriculture Department under President Bush, said he helped secure the fire department money last year out of the federal agency's regular programs.
"They're coming in and cherry picking the best projects and switching out the money, saying it's stimulus money," Rouzer said. "But it was already approved and in the pipeline. It's totally disingenuous to come down here and say this is stimulus money, when regardless of whether a stimulus bill passed, they were getting the money."
The Obama administration is working to draw attention to money for rural communities, where gravel roads and volunteer fire departments are the norm. The moves come as irritation and anger are rising over federal money that has been streaming to Wall Street, banks and car companies.
Biden and Vilsack talked Wednesday about grants that are being parceled out for water systems, police stations, hospitals and fire stations. Earlier in the day, they visited Goshen Medical Center in Faison, where $635,000 in federal money will help hire two doctors, two nurses and three administrative workers.
Pikeville, where nearly all residents live below the poverty line, will receive $150,000 in grants and a $1 million loan toward the $1.3 million cost of the new fire station, said Fire Chief Wesley Wooten.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/254/story/65314.html
PIKEVILLE, N.C. — Vice President Joe Biden brought a clear message to this tiny Eastern North Carolina town Wednesday: The federal recovery money isn't just for big banks and auto companies.
Biden and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced a new wave of $10.4 billion in federal stimulus money for home loans across the country, and billions more for essential services in rural communities such as Pikeville, which is getting money for a new fire station. Biden used the outdated, current station as a backdrop. Pikeville is just north of Goldsboro in Wayne County.
"We're investing in places like this all across the country," Biden said, "to demonstrate the vital role towns like this play in the recovery."
Most of the money for the station that was announced Wednesday, however, had been secured last year under the Bush administration, according to fire department officials.
State Sen. David Rouzer, a Republican who represents Pikeville and worked in the Agriculture Department under President Bush, said he helped secure the fire department money last year out of the federal agency's regular programs.
"They're coming in and cherry picking the best projects and switching out the money, saying it's stimulus money," Rouzer said. "But it was already approved and in the pipeline. It's totally disingenuous to come down here and say this is stimulus money, when regardless of whether a stimulus bill passed, they were getting the money."
The Obama administration is working to draw attention to money for rural communities, where gravel roads and volunteer fire departments are the norm. The moves come as irritation and anger are rising over federal money that has been streaming to Wall Street, banks and car companies.
Biden and Vilsack talked Wednesday about grants that are being parceled out for water systems, police stations, hospitals and fire stations. Earlier in the day, they visited Goshen Medical Center in Faison, where $635,000 in federal money will help hire two doctors, two nurses and three administrative workers.
Pikeville, where nearly all residents live below the poverty line, will receive $150,000 in grants and a $1 million loan toward the $1.3 million cost of the new fire station, said Fire Chief Wesley Wooten.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/254/story/65314.html
Is it Bush debt or Obama stimulus? Only Joey's hairdresser knows for sure.
QUOTE (underhi2p @ Apr 2 2009, 11:27 AM) 
New Forum for Joey Three Iraqs Biden's Idiocy.
It's too bad the media won't cover most of his idiocy.
Roves Calls Biden 'Liar' as Bush Aides Challenge VP's Boasts
Aides to former President George W. Bush are challenging the veracity of Vice President Joe Biden's claim this week of having privately castigated Bush.
By Bill Sammon
Bush adviser Karl Rove, in a FOX News interview, called Joe Biden a "liar" over the vice president's claim this week of having privately castigated former President George W. Bush.
Rove was the latest former Bush aides to challenging the veracity of Biden's story and an earlier episode in which Biden claims to have similarly rebuked Bush, who said he doesn't remember the incidents.
"It didn't happen," Rove, a FOX News contributor, said in an interview scheduled to air on "On the Record" at 10 p.m. EDT. "I hate to say this, but he's a serial exaggerator. If I was being unkind, I would say liar, but it is a habit he ought to drop."
Biden spokesman Jay Carney declined to specify the dates of his boss's purported Oval Office scoldings of Bush. Nor would he provide witnesses or notes to corroborate the episodes.
"The vice president stands by his remarks," Carney told FOX News without elaboration.
Those remarks include a shot that Biden took at Bush on Tuesday.
"I remember President Bush saying to me one time in the Oval Office," Biden told CNN on Tuesday, "'Well, Joe,' he said, 'I'm a leader.' And I said: 'Mr. President, turn and around look behind you. No one is following.'"
Numerous Bush aides dispute that, as well as a similar assertion by Biden in 2004, when the former senator from Delaware told scores of Democratic colleagues that he had challenged Bush's moral certitude about the Iraq war during a private meeting in the Oval Office. Two years later, Biden repeated his story about dressing down the president.
"When I speak to the president - and I have had plenty of opportunity to be with the president, at least prior to the last election, a lot of hours alone with him. I mean, meaning me and his staff," Biden said on HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher" in April 2006. "And the president will say things to me, and I'll literally turn to the president, say: 'Mr. President, how can you say that, knowing you don't know the facts?' And he'll look at me and he'll say - my word - he'll look at me and he'll say: 'My instincts.' He said: 'I have good instincts.' I said: 'Mr. President, your instincts aren't good enough.'"
Bush aides now dispute the veracity of both assertions by Biden.
"I never recall Biden saying any of that," former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said after reviewing detailed notes of Bush's White House meetings with Biden, which include numerous direct quotes from Biden. "I find it odd that he said he met with him alone all the time. I don't think that's true."
Fleischer said that whenever Bush met with Sen. Biden, the meeting also included a congressional counterpart so as to not "antagonize" the House.
Candida P. Wolff, Bush's White House liaison to Capitol Hill, said the only meetings she remembered between Bush and Biden also included other lawmakers. She said such meetings were held in the Cabinet Room or the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, not the Oval Office, and certainly did not last for "hours."
"The president would never sit through two hours of Joe Biden," Wolff said. "I don't ever remember Biden being in the Oval. He was such a blowhard on all that stuff - there wasn't a reason to bring him in."
Andrew Card, former White House chief of staff, reviewed the two Biden claims and said: "This does not ring true to me. I doubt that it happened."
A spokesman for Bush declined comment, although a person close to the former president said Bush does not remember either episode.
This is not the first time the veracity of Biden's assertions has been challenged. In 1988, he dropped out of the presidential race after being accused of plagiarizing British Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock. The Washington Post also cited "the senator's boastful exaggerations of his academic record."
Last year, liberal Slate magazine recalled that "Biden's misdeeds encompassed numerous self-aggrandizing thefts, misstatements, and exaggerations that seemed to point to a serious character defect."
Also last year, Biden came under fire for telling a questionable story about being "shot at" in Iraq.
"Let's start telling the truth," Biden said during a presidential primary debate sponsored by YouTube in July. "Number one, you take all the troops out -- you better have helicopters ready to take those 3,000 civilians inside the Green Zone, where I have been seven times and shot at. You better make sure you have protection for them, or let them die."
But when questioned about the episode afterward by the Hill newspaper, Biden backpedaled from his claim of being "shot at" and instead allowed: "I was near where a shot landed."
Biden went on to say that some sort of projectile "landed" outside a building in the Green Zone where he and another senator had spent the night during a visit in December 2005. The lawmakers were shaving in the morning when they felt the building shake, Biden said.
"No one got up and ran from the room-it wasn't that kind of thing," he told the Hill. "It's not like I had someone holding a gun to my head."
Seven weeks after claiming to have been "shot at" in Iraq, Biden again raised eyebrows with another story about his exploits in war zones -- this time on "the superhighway of terror between Pakistan and Afghanistan, where my helicopter was forced down."
"If you want to know where Al Qaeda lives, you want to know where bin Laden is, come back to Afghanistan with me," Biden bragged to the National Guard Association. "Come back to the area where my helicopter was forced down, with a three-star general and three senators at 10,500 feet in the middle of those mountains. I can tell you where they are."
But it turns out that inclement weather, not terrorists, prompted the chopper to land in an open field during Biden's visit to Afghanistan in February 2008. Fighter jets kept watch overhead while a convoy of security vehicles was dispatched to retrieve Biden and fellow Sens. Chuck Hagel and John Kerry.
"We were going to send Biden out to fight the Taliban with snowballs, but we didn't have to," joked Kerry, a Democrat, to the AP. "Other than getting a little cold, it was fine."
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/04/09...fice-slapdowns/
Aides to former President George W. Bush are challenging the veracity of Vice President Joe Biden's claim this week of having privately castigated Bush.
By Bill Sammon
Bush adviser Karl Rove, in a FOX News interview, called Joe Biden a "liar" over the vice president's claim this week of having privately castigated former President George W. Bush.
Rove was the latest former Bush aides to challenging the veracity of Biden's story and an earlier episode in which Biden claims to have similarly rebuked Bush, who said he doesn't remember the incidents.
"It didn't happen," Rove, a FOX News contributor, said in an interview scheduled to air on "On the Record" at 10 p.m. EDT. "I hate to say this, but he's a serial exaggerator. If I was being unkind, I would say liar, but it is a habit he ought to drop."
Biden spokesman Jay Carney declined to specify the dates of his boss's purported Oval Office scoldings of Bush. Nor would he provide witnesses or notes to corroborate the episodes.
"The vice president stands by his remarks," Carney told FOX News without elaboration.
Those remarks include a shot that Biden took at Bush on Tuesday.
"I remember President Bush saying to me one time in the Oval Office," Biden told CNN on Tuesday, "'Well, Joe,' he said, 'I'm a leader.' And I said: 'Mr. President, turn and around look behind you. No one is following.'"
Numerous Bush aides dispute that, as well as a similar assertion by Biden in 2004, when the former senator from Delaware told scores of Democratic colleagues that he had challenged Bush's moral certitude about the Iraq war during a private meeting in the Oval Office. Two years later, Biden repeated his story about dressing down the president.
"When I speak to the president - and I have had plenty of opportunity to be with the president, at least prior to the last election, a lot of hours alone with him. I mean, meaning me and his staff," Biden said on HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher" in April 2006. "And the president will say things to me, and I'll literally turn to the president, say: 'Mr. President, how can you say that, knowing you don't know the facts?' And he'll look at me and he'll say - my word - he'll look at me and he'll say: 'My instincts.' He said: 'I have good instincts.' I said: 'Mr. President, your instincts aren't good enough.'"
Bush aides now dispute the veracity of both assertions by Biden.
"I never recall Biden saying any of that," former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said after reviewing detailed notes of Bush's White House meetings with Biden, which include numerous direct quotes from Biden. "I find it odd that he said he met with him alone all the time. I don't think that's true."
Fleischer said that whenever Bush met with Sen. Biden, the meeting also included a congressional counterpart so as to not "antagonize" the House.
Candida P. Wolff, Bush's White House liaison to Capitol Hill, said the only meetings she remembered between Bush and Biden also included other lawmakers. She said such meetings were held in the Cabinet Room or the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, not the Oval Office, and certainly did not last for "hours."
"The president would never sit through two hours of Joe Biden," Wolff said. "I don't ever remember Biden being in the Oval. He was such a blowhard on all that stuff - there wasn't a reason to bring him in."
Andrew Card, former White House chief of staff, reviewed the two Biden claims and said: "This does not ring true to me. I doubt that it happened."
A spokesman for Bush declined comment, although a person close to the former president said Bush does not remember either episode.
This is not the first time the veracity of Biden's assertions has been challenged. In 1988, he dropped out of the presidential race after being accused of plagiarizing British Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock. The Washington Post also cited "the senator's boastful exaggerations of his academic record."
Last year, liberal Slate magazine recalled that "Biden's misdeeds encompassed numerous self-aggrandizing thefts, misstatements, and exaggerations that seemed to point to a serious character defect."
Also last year, Biden came under fire for telling a questionable story about being "shot at" in Iraq.
"Let's start telling the truth," Biden said during a presidential primary debate sponsored by YouTube in July. "Number one, you take all the troops out -- you better have helicopters ready to take those 3,000 civilians inside the Green Zone, where I have been seven times and shot at. You better make sure you have protection for them, or let them die."
But when questioned about the episode afterward by the Hill newspaper, Biden backpedaled from his claim of being "shot at" and instead allowed: "I was near where a shot landed."
Biden went on to say that some sort of projectile "landed" outside a building in the Green Zone where he and another senator had spent the night during a visit in December 2005. The lawmakers were shaving in the morning when they felt the building shake, Biden said.
"No one got up and ran from the room-it wasn't that kind of thing," he told the Hill. "It's not like I had someone holding a gun to my head."
Seven weeks after claiming to have been "shot at" in Iraq, Biden again raised eyebrows with another story about his exploits in war zones -- this time on "the superhighway of terror between Pakistan and Afghanistan, where my helicopter was forced down."
"If you want to know where Al Qaeda lives, you want to know where bin Laden is, come back to Afghanistan with me," Biden bragged to the National Guard Association. "Come back to the area where my helicopter was forced down, with a three-star general and three senators at 10,500 feet in the middle of those mountains. I can tell you where they are."
But it turns out that inclement weather, not terrorists, prompted the chopper to land in an open field during Biden's visit to Afghanistan in February 2008. Fighter jets kept watch overhead while a convoy of security vehicles was dispatched to retrieve Biden and fellow Sens. Chuck Hagel and John Kerry.
"We were going to send Biden out to fight the Taliban with snowballs, but we didn't have to," joked Kerry, a Democrat, to the AP. "Other than getting a little cold, it was fine."
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/04/09...fice-slapdowns/
Jay Carney used to be an unbiased journalist. Or maybe I should have included a question mark.
Not even Obama would want to do that.
QUOTE
"The president would never sit through two hours of Joe Biden," Wolff said. "I don't ever remember Biden being in the Oval. He was such a blowhard on all that stuff - there wasn't a reason to bring him in."
Not even Obama would want to do that.
'El no habla': Obama jumbles Cinco de Mayo salute
May 4 06:15 PM US/Eastern
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama's joke wasn't lost in translation—even though he referred to a Cinco de Mayo celebration as "Cinco de Cuatro."
Obama jumbled his words as he welcomed guests to the White House to observe the Mexican holiday, sending the crowd into laughter before he referred to the day correctly.
"Welcome to Cinco de Cuatro—Cinco de Mayo at the White House," said Obama, in what appeared to be an attempt to note they were celebrating on the fourth of May instead of the fifth.
Cinco de cuatro means "five of four" in Spanish.
"We are a day early, but we always like to get a head start here at the Obama White House," he said.
During the presidential campaign, Obama acknowledged his Spanish skills weren't great.
"My accent's always been good," he said. "It's just that I only know 15 words."
The holiday, which marks the Mexican troops' defeat of the French on May 5, 1862, was overshadowed by a swine-flu outbreak that started in Mexico and has spread around the world.
Obama pledged to work with Mexican officials to fight the swine flu and drug wars, using the early Cinco de Mayo celebration to underscore the challenges facing the neighboring countries.
"I know it's a tough time, on both sides of the border," Obama told lawmakers and other guests.
The president said the United States would "stand side by side" with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and the people of Mexico to overcome hardships, including an economic downturn that has hit both countries.
"One thing we know: Good neighbors work together when faced with common challenges," Obama said.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9...;show_article=1
farking dumbass
May 4 06:15 PM US/Eastern
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama's joke wasn't lost in translation—even though he referred to a Cinco de Mayo celebration as "Cinco de Cuatro."
Obama jumbled his words as he welcomed guests to the White House to observe the Mexican holiday, sending the crowd into laughter before he referred to the day correctly.
"Welcome to Cinco de Cuatro—Cinco de Mayo at the White House," said Obama, in what appeared to be an attempt to note they were celebrating on the fourth of May instead of the fifth.
Cinco de cuatro means "five of four" in Spanish.
"We are a day early, but we always like to get a head start here at the Obama White House," he said.
During the presidential campaign, Obama acknowledged his Spanish skills weren't great.
"My accent's always been good," he said. "It's just that I only know 15 words."
The holiday, which marks the Mexican troops' defeat of the French on May 5, 1862, was overshadowed by a swine-flu outbreak that started in Mexico and has spread around the world.
Obama pledged to work with Mexican officials to fight the swine flu and drug wars, using the early Cinco de Mayo celebration to underscore the challenges facing the neighboring countries.
"I know it's a tough time, on both sides of the border," Obama told lawmakers and other guests.
The president said the United States would "stand side by side" with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and the people of Mexico to overcome hardships, including an economic downturn that has hit both countries.
"One thing we know: Good neighbors work together when faced with common challenges," Obama said.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9...;show_article=1
farking dumbass
Symptoms of Biden flu: Running off at the mouthBy RICK HOROWITZ Tuesday, May 5, 2009 EMAIL SHARE PRINT ADVERTISEMENT
WASHINGTON, Momentarily—Thrown repeatedly off message by a series of poorly timed or ill-considered comments by the government’s second-ranking official, the Obama White House is giving serious thought to putting Vice President Joe Biden on a perpetual seven-second sound delay.
According to two senior administration sources who requested anonymity, the White House is weighing the benefits of implanting a computer chip just above the vice president’s jawbone, where it would receive electronic impulses from Biden’s brain and temporarily reroute them to a monitoring station within the West Wing for real-time review. Noncontroversial statements would be relayed back to Biden’s mouth for delivery, while others would simply be blanked out, even as the vice president appeared to continue speaking.
“It might look a little awkward,” one of the administration sources admitted, “but it sure beats the alternative.”
A final decision is expected within days, these sources confirmed, and will be made by President Obama himself. The president, known for his own message discipline, is reported to be quite frustrated with Biden’s penchant for saying whatever comes to his mind, whether or not it squares with the administration’s daily line.
The latest gaffe occurred last week, when Biden momentarily undercut his boss’ “concern, not panic” message about swine flu. Asked during an appearance on NBC’s “Today” show whether he’d advise his own relatives to change their travel plans, Biden admitted that he had already done just that.
“I would tell members of my family, and I have, I wouldn’t go anywhere in confined places now,” Biden said.
The vice president went on to assert that the problem had less to do with “going to Mexico” than it did with particular means of transportation, and he singled out commercial airplanes and subways as especially worrisome incubators of disease. The White House was forced into instant damage-control mode, explaining what Biden had really “meant” to say.
It wasn’t the first time.
The concern that it won’t be the last time is what has prompted the White House to look for more effective remedies for Biden’s shoot-from-the-hip approach. Thus this latest attempt: a silicon “silencer.”
“Look, we know the guy is trying to rein himself him,” said one senior official. “But he just can’t do it. All it takes is one of these things, and we lose three days of coverage.”
And from the other senior official, more in sorrow than in anger, “He’s not wired that way. So we might have to do some rewiring.”
By all accounts, the vice president still enjoys the president’s strong support. His enthusiastic, regular-guy persona offers a helpful contrast to the president’s cool, occasionally even distant, demeanor. More important, the president has come to rely on Biden’s expertise in the ways of Capitol Hill, especially his ability to “read” his former colleagues in the Senate. (Arlen Specter’s recent switch from Republican to Democrat, for instance, was largely credited to Biden’s long relationship with the Pennsylvanian, and to many long conversations between the two men while riding Amtrak trains to and from Washington.)
Still, the White House draws a clear distinction between candid advice offered to the president in private, and Biden going public with whatever random thought happens to pass through his head at any given moment. Clamping down on the latter remains a major focus of the administration, and if the seven-second delay doesn’t do the trick, there are said to be even more radical alternatives in the works.
“We’ve been all through the Constitution,” says a top Obama adviser, “and there isn’t a thing in there prohibiting robots."
http://gazettextra.com/news/2009/may/05/sy...-running-mouth/
WASHINGTON, Momentarily—Thrown repeatedly off message by a series of poorly timed or ill-considered comments by the government’s second-ranking official, the Obama White House is giving serious thought to putting Vice President Joe Biden on a perpetual seven-second sound delay.
According to two senior administration sources who requested anonymity, the White House is weighing the benefits of implanting a computer chip just above the vice president’s jawbone, where it would receive electronic impulses from Biden’s brain and temporarily reroute them to a monitoring station within the West Wing for real-time review. Noncontroversial statements would be relayed back to Biden’s mouth for delivery, while others would simply be blanked out, even as the vice president appeared to continue speaking.
“It might look a little awkward,” one of the administration sources admitted, “but it sure beats the alternative.”
A final decision is expected within days, these sources confirmed, and will be made by President Obama himself. The president, known for his own message discipline, is reported to be quite frustrated with Biden’s penchant for saying whatever comes to his mind, whether or not it squares with the administration’s daily line.
The latest gaffe occurred last week, when Biden momentarily undercut his boss’ “concern, not panic” message about swine flu. Asked during an appearance on NBC’s “Today” show whether he’d advise his own relatives to change their travel plans, Biden admitted that he had already done just that.
“I would tell members of my family, and I have, I wouldn’t go anywhere in confined places now,” Biden said.
The vice president went on to assert that the problem had less to do with “going to Mexico” than it did with particular means of transportation, and he singled out commercial airplanes and subways as especially worrisome incubators of disease. The White House was forced into instant damage-control mode, explaining what Biden had really “meant” to say.
It wasn’t the first time.
The concern that it won’t be the last time is what has prompted the White House to look for more effective remedies for Biden’s shoot-from-the-hip approach. Thus this latest attempt: a silicon “silencer.”
“Look, we know the guy is trying to rein himself him,” said one senior official. “But he just can’t do it. All it takes is one of these things, and we lose three days of coverage.”
And from the other senior official, more in sorrow than in anger, “He’s not wired that way. So we might have to do some rewiring.”
By all accounts, the vice president still enjoys the president’s strong support. His enthusiastic, regular-guy persona offers a helpful contrast to the president’s cool, occasionally even distant, demeanor. More important, the president has come to rely on Biden’s expertise in the ways of Capitol Hill, especially his ability to “read” his former colleagues in the Senate. (Arlen Specter’s recent switch from Republican to Democrat, for instance, was largely credited to Biden’s long relationship with the Pennsylvanian, and to many long conversations between the two men while riding Amtrak trains to and from Washington.)
Still, the White House draws a clear distinction between candid advice offered to the president in private, and Biden going public with whatever random thought happens to pass through his head at any given moment. Clamping down on the latter remains a major focus of the administration, and if the seven-second delay doesn’t do the trick, there are said to be even more radical alternatives in the works.
“We’ve been all through the Constitution,” says a top Obama adviser, “and there isn’t a thing in there prohibiting robots."
http://gazettextra.com/news/2009/may/05/sy...-running-mouth/
Biden, the new definition of dumb
Biden Of The Day
Bob Parks Bio
Email Article
By Bob Parks Sunday, May 17, 2009
For eight years, the left called President Bush stupid, among other things. Now, if George W. Bush was stupid, what could one call Vice President Joe Biden after four short months?
According to an account in Newsweek, Biden told his dinnermates about the existence of a secret bunker under the Vice President’s Residence at the U.S. Naval Observatory.
Despite more than fifteen trips to the VPR over the past five years, and despite having conducted dozens of interviews about security precautions taken for Cheney and his staff after 9/11, I was never told such a bunker existed.
The obvious conclusion: Its existence was highly classified.
I was originally going to place this incident under the “Bonehead Of The Week” stack, but in all due respect to the vice president, I felt he should have a category all his own as his name has achieved adjective status.
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/11166
Biden Of The Day
Bob Parks Bio
Email Article
By Bob Parks Sunday, May 17, 2009
For eight years, the left called President Bush stupid, among other things. Now, if George W. Bush was stupid, what could one call Vice President Joe Biden after four short months?
According to an account in Newsweek, Biden told his dinnermates about the existence of a secret bunker under the Vice President’s Residence at the U.S. Naval Observatory.
Despite more than fifteen trips to the VPR over the past five years, and despite having conducted dozens of interviews about security precautions taken for Cheney and his staff after 9/11, I was never told such a bunker existed.
The obvious conclusion: Its existence was highly classified.
I was originally going to place this incident under the “Bonehead Of The Week” stack, but in all due respect to the vice president, I felt he should have a category all his own as his name has achieved adjective status.
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/11166
smart enough to not go hunting with cheney
Only on Fox and in Canada. 
‘Go home Nazi scum,’ Serb hardliners tell Biden
Posted By Agence France-Presse On May 20, 2009 @ 10:00 am In
Serb ultra-nationalist lawmakers held up insulting signs in parliament Wednesday as US Vice President Joe Biden, considered a strong backer of Kosovo independence, arrived in Belgrade.
“Biden, you Nazi scum, go home,” said the posters brandished by opposition Radical Party deputies during the live national broadcast of a parliament sitting which coincided with the start of Biden’s visit.
The Radicals, who occupy around a fifth of places in the 250-seat assembly, then pasted the signs which also labelled Biden a “fascist” on a notice board and hallway.
They all appeared in parliament dressed in T-shirts bearing the image of the party’s president, Vojislav Seselj, who is currently on trial for war crimes before a UN tribunal in The Hague.
Seselj’s acting leader Dragan Todorovic described Biden’s visit as “the saddest day in Serbia’s history.”
The United States represented “all bad things that have struck the Serbian people, and whose inspirer was for the large part Biden,” Todorovic was as quoted as saying by Tanjug news agency.
Nationalist Serbs are deeply sceptical of Biden’s visit, which the US vice president said was part of the Obama administration’s bid to develop “healthy” relations with the former pariah state.
US warplanes took part in NATO’s 1999 bombing of Serbia to end a violent crackdown on separatist Kosovo Albanian rebels by forces loyal to late autocratic president Slobodan Milosevic.
The 1998-1999 Kosovo conflict killed several thousand people and saw hundreds of thousands flee the disputed territory. Most victims were ethnic Albanians.
Serb authorities have imposed stringent security measures for Biden’s visit, part of a landmark tour of the Balkan region also taking in Bosnia and Kosovo.
Kosovo is an ethnic Albanian-majority territory whose ethnic Albanian-dominated parliament seceded from Serbia in February 2008 and was promptly recognised by the United States.
Although Belgrade’s pro-Western government is keen to improve ties with Washington, it insists it will never recognise the independence of Kosovo, which many Serbs see as their historic heartland.
http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/05/20/go-home-nazi/print/
Posted By Agence France-Presse On May 20, 2009 @ 10:00 am In
Serb ultra-nationalist lawmakers held up insulting signs in parliament Wednesday as US Vice President Joe Biden, considered a strong backer of Kosovo independence, arrived in Belgrade.
“Biden, you Nazi scum, go home,” said the posters brandished by opposition Radical Party deputies during the live national broadcast of a parliament sitting which coincided with the start of Biden’s visit.
The Radicals, who occupy around a fifth of places in the 250-seat assembly, then pasted the signs which also labelled Biden a “fascist” on a notice board and hallway.
They all appeared in parliament dressed in T-shirts bearing the image of the party’s president, Vojislav Seselj, who is currently on trial for war crimes before a UN tribunal in The Hague.
Seselj’s acting leader Dragan Todorovic described Biden’s visit as “the saddest day in Serbia’s history.”
The United States represented “all bad things that have struck the Serbian people, and whose inspirer was for the large part Biden,” Todorovic was as quoted as saying by Tanjug news agency.
Nationalist Serbs are deeply sceptical of Biden’s visit, which the US vice president said was part of the Obama administration’s bid to develop “healthy” relations with the former pariah state.
US warplanes took part in NATO’s 1999 bombing of Serbia to end a violent crackdown on separatist Kosovo Albanian rebels by forces loyal to late autocratic president Slobodan Milosevic.
The 1998-1999 Kosovo conflict killed several thousand people and saw hundreds of thousands flee the disputed territory. Most victims were ethnic Albanians.
Serb authorities have imposed stringent security measures for Biden’s visit, part of a landmark tour of the Balkan region also taking in Bosnia and Kosovo.
Kosovo is an ethnic Albanian-majority territory whose ethnic Albanian-dominated parliament seceded from Serbia in February 2008 and was promptly recognised by the United States.
Although Belgrade’s pro-Western government is keen to improve ties with Washington, it insists it will never recognise the independence of Kosovo, which many Serbs see as their historic heartland.
http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/05/20/go-home-nazi/print/
Ouch. I know Nomarchy was really angry with Clinton and Democrats for bombing Serbia. He and Michael Savage have something in common.
QUOTE (Spot @ May 21 2009, 04:30 AM)
Ouch. I know Nomarchy was really angry with Clinton and Democrats for bombing Serbia. He and Michael Savage have something in common.
I was still in Italy when that all went down.
I remember thinking: This can't be happening! WTF!
Serbia had been our ally. Clinton was quite proud of not suffering any US casualties, but past that I don't know what he really accomplished. I had to wiki it for starters.
QUOTE
Disintegration of Yugoslavia and Kosovo War
Main articles: Kosovo War, Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija (1990–1999), and Republic of Kosova (1990–2000)
Further information: Disintegration of Yugoslavia
Bridge over the Ibar, connecting the Serbian and Albanian parts of the city of Mitrovica.
Inter-ethnic tensions continued to worsen in Kosovo throughout the 1980s. The 1986 Memorandum of the Serbian Academy warned that Yugoslavia was suffering from ethnic strife and the disintegration of the Yugoslav economy into separate economic sectors and territories, which was transforming the federal state into a loose confederation.[36][unreliable source?]
On June 28, 1989, Slobodan Milošević delivered the Gazimestan speech in front of a large number of Serb citizens at the main celebration marking the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo. Many think that this speech helped Milošević consolidate his authority in Serbia.[37][unreliable source?] In 1989, Milošević, employing a mix of intimidation and political maneuvering, drastically reduced Kosovo's special autonomous status within Serbia and started cultural oppression of the ethnic Albanian population.[38] Kosovo Albanians responded with a non-violent separatist movement, employing widespread civil disobedience and creation of parallel structures in education, medical care, and taxation, with the ultimate goal of achieving the independence of Kosovo.[39] On July 2, 1990, an unconstitutional Kosovo parliament declared Kosovo an independent country, the Republic of Kosova. In May 1992, Ibrahim Rugova was elected president.[40] During its lifetime, the Republic of Kosova was only recognised by Albania; it was formally disbanded in 2000 when its institutions were replaced by the Joint Interim Administrative Structure established by the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).
In 1995 the Dayton Agreement ended the Bosnian War, drawing considerable international attention. However, despite the hopes of Kosovar Albanians, the situation in Kosovo remained largely unaddressed by the international community, and by 1996 the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), an ethnic Albanian guerrilla group, had prevailed over the non-violent resistance movement and had started offering armed resistance to Serbian and Yugoslav security forces, resulting in early stages of the Kosovo War.[38][41] By 1998, as the violence had worsened and displaced scores of Albanians, Western interest had increased. The Serbian authorities were compelled to sign a ceasefire and partial retreat, monitored by OSCE observers according to an agreement negotiated by Richard Holbrooke. However, the ceasefire did not hold and fighting resumed in December 1998. The Račak massacre in January 1999 in particular brought new international attention to the conflict.[38] Within weeks, a multilateral international conference was convened and by March had prepared a draft agreement known as the Rambouillet Accords, calling for restoration of Kosovo's autonomy and deployment of NATO peacekeeping forces. The Serbian party found the terms unacceptable and refused to sign the draft.
NATO intervention between March 24 and June 10, 1999,[42] aimed to force Milošević to withdraw his forces from Kosovo, combined with continued skirmishes between Albanian guerrillas and Yugoslav forces resulted in a further massive displacement of population in Kosovo.[43] During the conflict, roughly a million ethnic Albanians fled or were forcefully driven from Kosovo. Altogether, more than 11,000 deaths have been reported to Carla Del Ponte by her prosecutors.[44] Some 3,000 people are still missing, of which 2,500 are Albanian, 400 Serbs and 100 Roma.[45] Ultimately by June Milošević had agreed to a foreign military presence within Kosovo and withdrawal of his troops.
Since May 1999, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia has prosecuted crimes committed during the Kosovo War. Nine Serbian and Yugoslavian commanders have been indicted so far for crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of war in Kosovo in 1999: Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milošević, Serbian President Milan Milutinović, Yugoslavian Deputy Prime Minister Nikola Šainović, Yugoslavian Chief of the General Staff Gen. Dragoljub Ojdanić, Serbian Interior Minister Vlajko Stojiljković, Gen. Nebojša Pavković, Gen. Vladimir Lazarević, Deputy Interior Minister of Serbia Vlastimir Đorđević and Chief of the Interior for Kosovo Sreten Lukić. Stojiljković killed himself while at large in 2002 and Milošević died in custody during the trial in 2006. No final judgement concerning the other defendants has been produced so far. The indictment against the nine has alleged that they directed, encouraged or supported a campaign of terror and violence directed at Kosovo Albanian civilians and aimed at the expulsion of a substantial portion of them from Kosovo. It has been alleged that about 800,000 Albanians were expelled as a result. In particular, in the last indictment as of June 2006, the accused were charged with murder of 919 identified Kosovo Albanian civilians aged from one to 93, both male and female.[46][47][48][49] Six KLA commanders were indicted in two cases: Fatmir Limaj, Isak Musliu and Haradin Bala[50], as well as Ramush Haradinaj, Idriz Balaj and Lahi Brahimaj. They were charged with crimes against humanity and violations of the laws and customs of war in Kosovo in 1998, consisting in persecutions, cruel treatment, torture, murders and rape of several dozens of the local Serbs, Albanians and other civilians perceived unloyal to the KLA. In particular, Limaj, Musliu and Bala were accused of murder of 22 identified detainees at or near the Llapushnik Prison Camp. In 2005 Limaj and Musliu were found not guilty on all charges, Bala was found guilty of persecutions, cruel treatment, murders and rape and sentenced to 13 years. The appeal chamber affirmed the judgements in 2007. In 2008 Ramush Haradinaj and Idriz Balaj were acquitted, whereas Lahi Brahimaj was found guilty of cruel treatment and torture and sentenced to six years. Notices of appeal are currently being considered.[51][52][53]
Main articles: Kosovo War, Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija (1990–1999), and Republic of Kosova (1990–2000)
Further information: Disintegration of Yugoslavia
Bridge over the Ibar, connecting the Serbian and Albanian parts of the city of Mitrovica.
Inter-ethnic tensions continued to worsen in Kosovo throughout the 1980s. The 1986 Memorandum of the Serbian Academy warned that Yugoslavia was suffering from ethnic strife and the disintegration of the Yugoslav economy into separate economic sectors and territories, which was transforming the federal state into a loose confederation.[36][unreliable source?]
On June 28, 1989, Slobodan Milošević delivered the Gazimestan speech in front of a large number of Serb citizens at the main celebration marking the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo. Many think that this speech helped Milošević consolidate his authority in Serbia.[37][unreliable source?] In 1989, Milošević, employing a mix of intimidation and political maneuvering, drastically reduced Kosovo's special autonomous status within Serbia and started cultural oppression of the ethnic Albanian population.[38] Kosovo Albanians responded with a non-violent separatist movement, employing widespread civil disobedience and creation of parallel structures in education, medical care, and taxation, with the ultimate goal of achieving the independence of Kosovo.[39] On July 2, 1990, an unconstitutional Kosovo parliament declared Kosovo an independent country, the Republic of Kosova. In May 1992, Ibrahim Rugova was elected president.[40] During its lifetime, the Republic of Kosova was only recognised by Albania; it was formally disbanded in 2000 when its institutions were replaced by the Joint Interim Administrative Structure established by the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).
In 1995 the Dayton Agreement ended the Bosnian War, drawing considerable international attention. However, despite the hopes of Kosovar Albanians, the situation in Kosovo remained largely unaddressed by the international community, and by 1996 the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), an ethnic Albanian guerrilla group, had prevailed over the non-violent resistance movement and had started offering armed resistance to Serbian and Yugoslav security forces, resulting in early stages of the Kosovo War.[38][41] By 1998, as the violence had worsened and displaced scores of Albanians, Western interest had increased. The Serbian authorities were compelled to sign a ceasefire and partial retreat, monitored by OSCE observers according to an agreement negotiated by Richard Holbrooke. However, the ceasefire did not hold and fighting resumed in December 1998. The Račak massacre in January 1999 in particular brought new international attention to the conflict.[38] Within weeks, a multilateral international conference was convened and by March had prepared a draft agreement known as the Rambouillet Accords, calling for restoration of Kosovo's autonomy and deployment of NATO peacekeeping forces. The Serbian party found the terms unacceptable and refused to sign the draft.
NATO intervention between March 24 and June 10, 1999,[42] aimed to force Milošević to withdraw his forces from Kosovo, combined with continued skirmishes between Albanian guerrillas and Yugoslav forces resulted in a further massive displacement of population in Kosovo.[43] During the conflict, roughly a million ethnic Albanians fled or were forcefully driven from Kosovo. Altogether, more than 11,000 deaths have been reported to Carla Del Ponte by her prosecutors.[44] Some 3,000 people are still missing, of which 2,500 are Albanian, 400 Serbs and 100 Roma.[45] Ultimately by June Milošević had agreed to a foreign military presence within Kosovo and withdrawal of his troops.
Since May 1999, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia has prosecuted crimes committed during the Kosovo War. Nine Serbian and Yugoslavian commanders have been indicted so far for crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of war in Kosovo in 1999: Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milošević, Serbian President Milan Milutinović, Yugoslavian Deputy Prime Minister Nikola Šainović, Yugoslavian Chief of the General Staff Gen. Dragoljub Ojdanić, Serbian Interior Minister Vlajko Stojiljković, Gen. Nebojša Pavković, Gen. Vladimir Lazarević, Deputy Interior Minister of Serbia Vlastimir Đorđević and Chief of the Interior for Kosovo Sreten Lukić. Stojiljković killed himself while at large in 2002 and Milošević died in custody during the trial in 2006. No final judgement concerning the other defendants has been produced so far. The indictment against the nine has alleged that they directed, encouraged or supported a campaign of terror and violence directed at Kosovo Albanian civilians and aimed at the expulsion of a substantial portion of them from Kosovo. It has been alleged that about 800,000 Albanians were expelled as a result. In particular, in the last indictment as of June 2006, the accused were charged with murder of 919 identified Kosovo Albanian civilians aged from one to 93, both male and female.[46][47][48][49] Six KLA commanders were indicted in two cases: Fatmir Limaj, Isak Musliu and Haradin Bala[50], as well as Ramush Haradinaj, Idriz Balaj and Lahi Brahimaj. They were charged with crimes against humanity and violations of the laws and customs of war in Kosovo in 1998, consisting in persecutions, cruel treatment, torture, murders and rape of several dozens of the local Serbs, Albanians and other civilians perceived unloyal to the KLA. In particular, Limaj, Musliu and Bala were accused of murder of 22 identified detainees at or near the Llapushnik Prison Camp. In 2005 Limaj and Musliu were found not guilty on all charges, Bala was found guilty of persecutions, cruel treatment, murders and rape and sentenced to 13 years. The appeal chamber affirmed the judgements in 2007. In 2008 Ramush Haradinaj and Idriz Balaj were acquitted, whereas Lahi Brahimaj was found guilty of cruel treatment and torture and sentenced to six years. Notices of appeal are currently being considered.[51][52][53]
The KLA is the equivalent of the Tamil Tigers. Kossovo/a was made into an autonomous region within Serbia within Yugoslavia (along with Vojvodina) simply because Tito wanted to weaken Serbian nationalism and dampen Serbian dominance among the South Slavs.
Milosevic, a-hole extraordinaire and a ruthless political animal, was, nonetheless, entirely within the realm of state leaders when he decided to put an end to Kossovo/a Albanian separatism.
No government leader, of any variety, would accept a "state within a state" imposed by force of arms.
There was NO genocide of Kossovo/a Albanians going on when we (ahem, "NATO") decided, and without U.N. Security Council authorization to intervene militarily in the INTERNAL AFFAIRS of another sovereign state. In the process, we committed war crimes. Of that, I am certain.
We will rue the day that we made allies of Albanians, whether in Albania proper or in the surrounding countries. Albanians didn't survive for millenia by being good, reliable allies to anyone. Good for them and none can begrudge for playing the national survival game well. Still, we could do a LOT better than to have Albania and Albanians as our major allies in the region. And to commit war crimes in order to allow them to add Albanian-led and dominated state entities.
Milosevic, a-hole extraordinaire and a ruthless political animal, was, nonetheless, entirely within the realm of state leaders when he decided to put an end to Kossovo/a Albanian separatism.
No government leader, of any variety, would accept a "state within a state" imposed by force of arms.
There was NO genocide of Kossovo/a Albanians going on when we (ahem, "NATO") decided, and without U.N. Security Council authorization to intervene militarily in the INTERNAL AFFAIRS of another sovereign state. In the process, we committed war crimes. Of that, I am certain.
We will rue the day that we made allies of Albanians, whether in Albania proper or in the surrounding countries. Albanians didn't survive for millenia by being good, reliable allies to anyone. Good for them and none can begrudge for playing the national survival game well. Still, we could do a LOT better than to have Albania and Albanians as our major allies in the region. And to commit war crimes in order to allow them to add Albanian-led and dominated state entities.
QUOTE (Nomarchy @ May 21 2009, 11:56 AM)
The KSA is the equivalent of the Tamil Tigers. Kossovo/a was made into an autonomous region within Serbia within Yugoslavia (along with Vojvodina) simply because Tito wanted to weaken Serbian nationalism and dampen Serbian dominance among the South Slavs.
Milosevic, a-hole extraordinaire and a ruthless political animal, was, nonetheless, entirely within the realm of state leaders when he decided to put an end to Kossovo/a Albanian separatism.
No government leader, of any variety, would accept a "state within a state" imposed by force of arms.
There was NO genocide of Kossovo/a Albanians going on when we (ahem, "NATO") decided, and without U.N. Security Council authorization to intervene militarily in the INTERNAL AFFAIRS of another sovereign state. In the process, we committed war crimes. Of that, I am certain.
We will rue the day that we made allies of Albanians, whether in Albania proper or in the surrounding countries. Albanians didn't survive for millenia by being good, reliable allies to anyone. Good for them and none can begrudge for playing the national survival game well. Still, we could do a LOT better than to have Albania and Albanians as our major allies in the region. And to commit war crimes in order to allow them to add Albanian-led and dominated state entities.
Milosevic, a-hole extraordinaire and a ruthless political animal, was, nonetheless, entirely within the realm of state leaders when he decided to put an end to Kossovo/a Albanian separatism.
No government leader, of any variety, would accept a "state within a state" imposed by force of arms.
There was NO genocide of Kossovo/a Albanians going on when we (ahem, "NATO") decided, and without U.N. Security Council authorization to intervene militarily in the INTERNAL AFFAIRS of another sovereign state. In the process, we committed war crimes. Of that, I am certain.
We will rue the day that we made allies of Albanians, whether in Albania proper or in the surrounding countries. Albanians didn't survive for millenia by being good, reliable allies to anyone. Good for them and none can begrudge for playing the national survival game well. Still, we could do a LOT better than to have Albania and Albanians as our major allies in the region. And to commit war crimes in order to allow them to add Albanian-led and dominated state entities.
The above post has nothing to do with Joey Three Iraqs Biden and his plethora of idiotic gaffes.
So Clinton just made up genocide? The Germans think so. It's interesting to see what the anti-Iraq war folks come up with on other fronts.
http://www.iraqwar.org/germanreport.htm
I: Intelligence report from the Foreign Office January 6, 1999 to the
Bavarian Administrative Court, Ansbach:
"At this time, an increasing tendency is observable inside the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia of refugees returning to their
dwellings. ... Regardless of the desolate economic situation in
the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (according to official
information of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 700,000
refugees from Croatia, Bosnia and Herzogovina have found
lodging since 1991), no cases of chronic malnutrition or
insufficient medical treatment among the refugees are known
and significant homelessness has not been observed. ...
According to the Foreign Office's assessment, individual
Kosovo-Albanians (and their immediate families) still have
limited possibilities of settling in those parts of Yugoslavia in
which their countrymen or friends already live and who are
ready to take them in and support them."
II. Intelligence report from the Foreign Office, January 12, 1999 to the
Administrative Court of Trier (Az: 514-516.80/32 426):
"Even in Kosovo an explicit political persecution linked to
Albanian ethnicity is not verifiable. The East of Kosovo is still
not involved in armed conflict. Public life in cities like Pristina,
Urosevac, Gnjilan, etc. has, in the entire conflict period,
continued on a relatively normal basis." The "actions of the
security forces (were) not directed against the
Kosovo-Albanians as an ethnically defined group, but against
the military opponent and its actual or alleged supporters."
III. Report of the Foreign Office March 15, 1999 (Az: 514-516,80/33841)
to the Administrative Court, Mainz:
"As laid out in the status report of November 18, 1998, the
KLA has resumed its positions after the partial withdrawal of
the (Serbian) security forces in October 1998, so it once
again controls broad areas in the zone of conflict. Before the
beginning of spring 1999 there were still clashes between the
KLA and security forces, although these have not until now
reached the intensity of the battles of spring and summer
1998."
http://www.iraqwar.org/germanreport.htm
I: Intelligence report from the Foreign Office January 6, 1999 to the
Bavarian Administrative Court, Ansbach:
"At this time, an increasing tendency is observable inside the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia of refugees returning to their
dwellings. ... Regardless of the desolate economic situation in
the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (according to official
information of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 700,000
refugees from Croatia, Bosnia and Herzogovina have found
lodging since 1991), no cases of chronic malnutrition or
insufficient medical treatment among the refugees are known
and significant homelessness has not been observed. ...
According to the Foreign Office's assessment, individual
Kosovo-Albanians (and their immediate families) still have
limited possibilities of settling in those parts of Yugoslavia in
which their countrymen or friends already live and who are
ready to take them in and support them."
II. Intelligence report from the Foreign Office, January 12, 1999 to the
Administrative Court of Trier (Az: 514-516.80/32 426):
"Even in Kosovo an explicit political persecution linked to
Albanian ethnicity is not verifiable. The East of Kosovo is still
not involved in armed conflict. Public life in cities like Pristina,
Urosevac, Gnjilan, etc. has, in the entire conflict period,
continued on a relatively normal basis." The "actions of the
security forces (were) not directed against the
Kosovo-Albanians as an ethnically defined group, but against
the military opponent and its actual or alleged supporters."
III. Report of the Foreign Office March 15, 1999 (Az: 514-516,80/33841)
to the Administrative Court, Mainz:
"As laid out in the status report of November 18, 1998, the
KLA has resumed its positions after the partial withdrawal of
the (Serbian) security forces in October 1998, so it once
again controls broad areas in the zone of conflict. Before the
beginning of spring 1999 there were still clashes between the
KLA and security forces, although these have not until now
reached the intensity of the battles of spring and summer
1998."
QUOTE (underhi2p @ May 21 2009, 08:59 AM)
The above post has nothing to do with Joey Three Iraqs Biden and his plethora of idiotic gaffes.
Good point. But things do go afield now and then.
QUOTE (Arturo_Vandelay @ May 21 2009, 12:04 PM)
Good point. But things do go afield now and then.
Is there a The Baby Jesus thread on all his gaffes?
I thought so, but I can't find it.
57 states, inhalators, walking into the door at the White House, shaking a Marine's hand as the Marine is saluting him, sending Gordie a DVD package encoded incorrectly, Special Olympics gaffe and so on and so forth.
QUOTE (underhi2p @ May 21 2009, 08:59 AM)
The above post has nothing to do with Joey Three Iraqs Biden and his plethora of idiotic gaffes.
Fixed. Sorry.
QUOTE (underhi2p @ May 21 2009, 12:16 PM)
Is there a The Baby Jesus thread on all his gaffes?
I thought so, but I can't find it.
57 states, inhalators, walking into the door at the White House, shaking a Marine's hand as the Marine is saluting him, sending Gordie a DVD package encoded incorrectly, Special Olympics gaffe and so on and so forth.
I thought so, but I can't find it.
57 states, inhalators, walking into the door at the White House, shaking a Marine's hand as the Marine is saluting him, sending Gordie a DVD package encoded incorrectly, Special Olympics gaffe and so on and so forth.
There are whole books and websites devoted to Bush gaffes. Everyone makes mistakes, but he outdid your average human.
QUOTE (Pravda @ May 21 2009, 12:20 PM)
There are whole books and websites devoted to Bush gaffes. Everyone makes mistakes, but he outdid your average human.
Bush is a farking idiot.
It looks like The Baby Jesus is a Bush clone.
because the real rulers are unelected, behind the scenes
we need an investigative reporter like under to root them out
we need an investigative reporter like under to root them out
QUOTE (inyerface @ May 22 2009, 10:30 AM)
because the real rulers are unelected, behind the scenes
we need an investigative reporter like under to root them out
we need an investigative reporter like under to root them out
I just knew the Reptillians would be right at the center of it.
QUOTE (SpaceCowboy @ May 22 2009, 10:52 AM)
I just knew the Reptillians would be right at the center of it.
That's an "actual photo" of a Reptillian.
QUOTE (underhi2p @ May 21 2009, 11:03 AM)
Bush is a farking idiot.
It looks like The Baby Jesus is a Bush clone.
It looks like The Baby Jesus is a Bush clone.
Scrolling by Jon Stewart I saw him playing Obama quotes right after Bush quotes and they were exactly the same. He called it doing Bush covers.
Looks like the lefties aren't going to be happy with Obama for doing a few common sense things in the middle.
QUOTE (Arturo_Vandelay @ May 22 2009, 11:58 AM)
Scrolling by Jon Stewart I saw him playing Obama quotes right after Bush quotes and they were exactly the same. He called it doing Bush covers.
Looks like the lefties aren't going to be happy with Obama for doing a few common sense things in the middle.
Looks like the lefties aren't going to be happy with Obama for doing a few common sense things in the middle.
That's some good reporting by Jonnie Stewart.
Much funnier than late night comedy
Rory Ryan
Publisher/Times Gazette
Maybe the media will finally wake up and do their job. Maybe they will, at long last, stop "misoverestimating" the present Democrat leadership. Maybe.
There are a few (just a few) signs that the honeymoon is almost over.
Since his January inauguration - and with compliant, if not complicit, Democrat majorities in both the House and Senate, Barack Obama has managed to add to an already record deficit, increase the runaway federal spending, manipulate the government takeover of several heretofore private industries, and watch as national unemployment climbs to levels not seen in a quarter of a century or more. All this in less than six months in office. Talk about "change we can believe in."
Obama has signed exactly one major piece of legislation, the so-called economic stimulus bill, a pork-filled monstrosity of some $800 billion, that adds federal spending virtually everywhere, with one notable exception - defense spending. Like Bill Clinton, Obama seems willing to shortchange many military defense initiatives.
And, like most presidents, Obama has traveled. A lot, in fact.
As Dr. Kim R. Holmes, vice president for Foreign and Defense Policy Studies and director of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies at The Heritage Foundation, points out:
"In his first 100 days in office, Obama completed two whirlwind tours of Europe and Latin America. His message on both continents was simple: America has made many mistakes in the past, but we're ready now to listen to others and be more flexible. It was a hugely popular message that brought him thunderous applause, particularly when he criticized or apologized for America - to an extent that no other sitting American president had done before on foreign soil." (www.heritage.org)
Holmes continues: "The question is whether the president's personal popularity abroad is translating into concrete results for the United States. So far it has not. ... It is not all that difficult to get applause from foreign audiences when you embrace their priorities and criticize your own country. The hard part of leadership is getting others to follow when they are reluctant to do so."
qqq
A gaffe a minute
And then there are the gaffes, not only by the president, but also by Vice President Joe Biden, House Speaker Nancy D'Alesandro Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Reid completed a personal trifecta this week alone when he misspoke about the health of fellow Democrat Senators Ed Kennedy and Robert Byrd, then botched his own party's position on Guantanamo Bay prison, saying "We will never allow terrorists to be released into the United States." Well, that's encouraging, at least.
One of Obama's more prominent presidential gaffes was his now infamous Special Olympics joke offered on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno." He quickly apologized. Naturally, the media readily accepted the Obama apology. They were less forgiving of the myriad Bush faux pas.
But Obama has made his share of what the media likes to call Bushisms. While campaigning last year in Oregon, Obama said: "Over the last 15 months, we've traveled to every corner of the United States. I've now been in 57 states? I think (there's) one left to go." Fifty-eight states, eh? Did we annex part of Canada, eh?
Obama was rescued by ABC's George Stephanopoulos (naturally) from another potentially embarrassing moment when he (Obama) mentioned "my Muslim faith." Stephanopoulos interrupted and said "your Christian faith." Muslim, Christian, whatever; we're all friends here.
Obama also had claimed that his uncle "was part of the first troops to go into Auschwitz."
Unfortunately for the president, and perhaps for his uncle, the Soviets liberated Auschwitz. "Unless his uncle was serving in the Red Army, there's no way Obama's statement can be true," a Republican spokesman said.
Not to be outdone, Speaker Pelosi, whose D'Alesandro family ruled Baltimore politics for almost 25 years, offered this fine praise for President Obama: "Under your leadership and working with this Congress, (you) have done more to promote health care ... than has been done in our country since Medicare was established in the 1950s." High praise, indeed - except for one small detail. Medicare and Medicaid were both created in 1965 as part of the Social Security Act.
Details. Schmetails.
Pelosi, who represents one of the nation's most liberal districts which includes most of San Francisco, also said that 500 million people in the U.S. are losing their jobs every month. She might check with the Census Bureau, but at last count there were roughly 300 million Americans.
Then, the House speaker said she was not briefed on CIA interrogation methods. She said she was "told" about the methods, but not "briefed." She also accused the CIA of breaking the law by not informing Congress of its actions. She needs to go.
Biden, without a doubt, is the prevaricator in chief. A well-known plagiarizer, Biden came up with this classic last year: "When the stock market crashed, Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed. He said, 'Look, here's what happened."
Biden talks a good game, but he stumbles with the facts. Franklin Roosevelt was not president when the stock market crashed in 1929 and Americans weren't watching TV then, either.
Last fall, Biden commanded Missouri state Sen. Chuck Graham, "Stand up, Chuck, let 'em see ya." Senator Graham was in a wheelchair at the time. Granted, President Bush once teased a visually impaired reporter about his sunglasses. That gaffe made headlines and material for late-night Funny Men for days. No one heard anything about Biden's insult to Graham because the mainstream media mostly ignored it.
Three years ago, Biden was caught saying, "You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I'm not joking." Nice.
Biden was similarly offensive toward Obama, as well, but those comments failed to make the network news, too.
George Bush may have set a new standard for his clumsiness with the English language, but he did not have the same tendency for blatant distortion as the present "leadership." The only difference between then and now is the media's coverage of the verbal gaffes. If Dan Quayle can't spell "potato," it's newsworthy. If Barack Obama says he is a Muslim and there are 58 states, not only is it non-newsworthy, the media offer an immediate correction. No harm, no foul.
Aside from the comic relief value, the sad reality is that we now have the same one-party majority in the House, Senate, Oval Office and the Fourth Estate. Not a great set of circumstances - regardless of the party.
http://www.peoplesdefender.com/main.asp?Se...amp;TM=49050.33
Rory Ryan
Publisher/Times Gazette
Maybe the media will finally wake up and do their job. Maybe they will, at long last, stop "misoverestimating" the present Democrat leadership. Maybe.
There are a few (just a few) signs that the honeymoon is almost over.
Since his January inauguration - and with compliant, if not complicit, Democrat majorities in both the House and Senate, Barack Obama has managed to add to an already record deficit, increase the runaway federal spending, manipulate the government takeover of several heretofore private industries, and watch as national unemployment climbs to levels not seen in a quarter of a century or more. All this in less than six months in office. Talk about "change we can believe in."
Obama has signed exactly one major piece of legislation, the so-called economic stimulus bill, a pork-filled monstrosity of some $800 billion, that adds federal spending virtually everywhere, with one notable exception - defense spending. Like Bill Clinton, Obama seems willing to shortchange many military defense initiatives.
And, like most presidents, Obama has traveled. A lot, in fact.
As Dr. Kim R. Holmes, vice president for Foreign and Defense Policy Studies and director of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies at The Heritage Foundation, points out:
"In his first 100 days in office, Obama completed two whirlwind tours of Europe and Latin America. His message on both continents was simple: America has made many mistakes in the past, but we're ready now to listen to others and be more flexible. It was a hugely popular message that brought him thunderous applause, particularly when he criticized or apologized for America - to an extent that no other sitting American president had done before on foreign soil." (www.heritage.org)
Holmes continues: "The question is whether the president's personal popularity abroad is translating into concrete results for the United States. So far it has not. ... It is not all that difficult to get applause from foreign audiences when you embrace their priorities and criticize your own country. The hard part of leadership is getting others to follow when they are reluctant to do so."
qqq
A gaffe a minute
And then there are the gaffes, not only by the president, but also by Vice President Joe Biden, House Speaker Nancy D'Alesandro Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Reid completed a personal trifecta this week alone when he misspoke about the health of fellow Democrat Senators Ed Kennedy and Robert Byrd, then botched his own party's position on Guantanamo Bay prison, saying "We will never allow terrorists to be released into the United States." Well, that's encouraging, at least.
One of Obama's more prominent presidential gaffes was his now infamous Special Olympics joke offered on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno." He quickly apologized. Naturally, the media readily accepted the Obama apology. They were less forgiving of the myriad Bush faux pas.
But Obama has made his share of what the media likes to call Bushisms. While campaigning last year in Oregon, Obama said: "Over the last 15 months, we've traveled to every corner of the United States. I've now been in 57 states? I think (there's) one left to go." Fifty-eight states, eh? Did we annex part of Canada, eh?
Obama was rescued by ABC's George Stephanopoulos (naturally) from another potentially embarrassing moment when he (Obama) mentioned "my Muslim faith." Stephanopoulos interrupted and said "your Christian faith." Muslim, Christian, whatever; we're all friends here.
Obama also had claimed that his uncle "was part of the first troops to go into Auschwitz."
Unfortunately for the president, and perhaps for his uncle, the Soviets liberated Auschwitz. "Unless his uncle was serving in the Red Army, there's no way Obama's statement can be true," a Republican spokesman said.
Not to be outdone, Speaker Pelosi, whose D'Alesandro family ruled Baltimore politics for almost 25 years, offered this fine praise for President Obama: "Under your leadership and working with this Congress, (you) have done more to promote health care ... than has been done in our country since Medicare was established in the 1950s." High praise, indeed - except for one small detail. Medicare and Medicaid were both created in 1965 as part of the Social Security Act.
Details. Schmetails.
Pelosi, who represents one of the nation's most liberal districts which includes most of San Francisco, also said that 500 million people in the U.S. are losing their jobs every month. She might check with the Census Bureau, but at last count there were roughly 300 million Americans.
Then, the House speaker said she was not briefed on CIA interrogation methods. She said she was "told" about the methods, but not "briefed." She also accused the CIA of breaking the law by not informing Congress of its actions. She needs to go.
Biden, without a doubt, is the prevaricator in chief. A well-known plagiarizer, Biden came up with this classic last year: "When the stock market crashed, Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed. He said, 'Look, here's what happened."
Biden talks a good game, but he stumbles with the facts. Franklin Roosevelt was not president when the stock market crashed in 1929 and Americans weren't watching TV then, either.
Last fall, Biden commanded Missouri state Sen. Chuck Graham, "Stand up, Chuck, let 'em see ya." Senator Graham was in a wheelchair at the time. Granted, President Bush once teased a visually impaired reporter about his sunglasses. That gaffe made headlines and material for late-night Funny Men for days. No one heard anything about Biden's insult to Graham because the mainstream media mostly ignored it.
Three years ago, Biden was caught saying, "You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I'm not joking." Nice.
Biden was similarly offensive toward Obama, as well, but those comments failed to make the network news, too.
George Bush may have set a new standard for his clumsiness with the English language, but he did not have the same tendency for blatant distortion as the present "leadership." The only difference between then and now is the media's coverage of the verbal gaffes. If Dan Quayle can't spell "potato," it's newsworthy. If Barack Obama says he is a Muslim and there are 58 states, not only is it non-newsworthy, the media offer an immediate correction. No harm, no foul.
Aside from the comic relief value, the sad reality is that we now have the same one-party majority in the House, Senate, Oval Office and the Fourth Estate. Not a great set of circumstances - regardless of the party.
http://www.peoplesdefender.com/main.asp?Se...amp;TM=49050.33
Biden mistaken that cars could use rail tunnel
5 hours ago
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden is off track about the nation's largest transportation project.
When questioned by The Record of Bergen County about the Hudson River rail tunnel during a conference call on Monday, Biden told the New Jersey newspaper the tunnel "is designed to provide for automobile traffic."
However, the tunnel will only handle commuter trains that shuttle passengers between New Jersey and Manhattan.
Biden's office said Tuesday the vice president misheard the question.
Biden's press secretary, Elizabeth Alexander, says the vice president is a big proponent of rail and worked hard to boost funding for the project.
Officials broke ground on the $8.7 billion project on Monday.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/articl...kG_FHQD98NAO9G2
Ya can't get more dumb than Biden.
Even Bush, Big Wad Kerry and The Goracle are smarter than Biden.
5 hours ago
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden is off track about the nation's largest transportation project.
When questioned by The Record of Bergen County about the Hudson River rail tunnel during a conference call on Monday, Biden told the New Jersey newspaper the tunnel "is designed to provide for automobile traffic."
However, the tunnel will only handle commuter trains that shuttle passengers between New Jersey and Manhattan.
Biden's office said Tuesday the vice president misheard the question.
Biden's press secretary, Elizabeth Alexander, says the vice president is a big proponent of rail and worked hard to boost funding for the project.
Officials broke ground on the $8.7 billion project on Monday.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/articl...kG_FHQD98NAO9G2
Ya can't get more dumb than Biden.
Even Bush, Big Wad Kerry and The Goracle are smarter than Biden.
QUOTE (underhi2p @ Jun 9 2009, 05:56 PM)
Biden mistaken that cars could use rail tunnel
5 hours ago
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden is off track about the nation's largest transportation project.
When questioned by The Record of Bergen County about the Hudson River rail tunnel during a conference call on Monday, Biden told the New Jersey newspaper the tunnel "is designed to provide for automobile traffic."
However, the tunnel will only handle commuter trains that shuttle passengers between New Jersey and Manhattan.
Biden's office said Tuesday the vice president misheard the question.
Biden's press secretary, Elizabeth Alexander, says the vice president is a big proponent of rail and worked hard to boost funding for the project.
Officials broke ground on the $8.7 billion project on Monday.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/articl...kG_FHQD98NAO9G2
Ya can't get more dumb than Biden.
Even Bush, Big Wad Kerry and The Goracle are smarter than Biden.
5 hours ago
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden is off track about the nation's largest transportation project.
When questioned by The Record of Bergen County about the Hudson River rail tunnel during a conference call on Monday, Biden told the New Jersey newspaper the tunnel "is designed to provide for automobile traffic."
However, the tunnel will only handle commuter trains that shuttle passengers between New Jersey and Manhattan.
Biden's office said Tuesday the vice president misheard the question.
Biden's press secretary, Elizabeth Alexander, says the vice president is a big proponent of rail and worked hard to boost funding for the project.
Officials broke ground on the $8.7 billion project on Monday.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/articl...kG_FHQD98NAO9G2
Ya can't get more dumb than Biden.
Even Bush, Big Wad Kerry and The Goracle are smarter than Biden.
I'm amazed the AP even noticed. If Biden worked so hard to fund the project what really worries me is that it's probably a big waste of money like Amtrak.
But when Republicans do it gets an automatic ethics exemption.
Another bridge to nowhere anyone?
Another bridge to nowhere anyone?
QUOTE (Hondo @ Jun 10 2009, 12:56 AM)
I'm amazed the AP even noticed. If Biden worked so hard to fund the project what really worries me is that it's probably a big waste of money like Amtrak.
A similar project, the Big Dig, started out as a $2 billion project and ended up as a $20 billion project.
Using government math as an indicator of projected costs, this project should cost around $90 billion.
QUOTE (underhi2p @ Jun 10 2009, 08:38 AM)
A similar project, the Big Dig, started out as a $2 billion project and ended up as a $20 billion project.
Using government math as an indicator of projected costs, this project should cost around $90 billion.
Using government math as an indicator of projected costs, this project should cost around $90 billion.
How's the repairs going on those potholes down by the produce market?
QUOTE (SpaceCowboy @ Jun 10 2009, 08:53 AM)
How's the repairs going on those potholes down by the produce market?
They're farking awful.
There is no road worse in North America than the produce market road.
I'm going to a meeting with my City Town Manager, Jay Ash, and my local Representative, Ronnie Morgese and ask them what the fark is going on around this farking town.
Ask if they've hooked up with Mikey Capuano, Splash Kennedy and Big Wad Kerry to get some of that free government monies for the farking shovel-ready produce market road.
QUOTE (underhi2p @ Jun 11 2009, 10:15 PM)
They're farking awful.
There is no road worse in North America than the produce market road.
I'm going to a meeting with my City Town Manager, Jay Ash, and my local Representative, Ronnie Morgese and ask them what the fark is going on around this farking town.
Ask if they've hooked up with Mikey Capuano, Splash Kennedy and Big Wad Kerry to get some of that free government monies for the farking shovel-ready produce market road.
There is no road worse in North America than the produce market road.
I'm going to a meeting with my City Town Manager, Jay Ash, and my local Representative, Ronnie Morgese and ask them what the fark is going on around this farking town.
Ask if they've hooked up with Mikey Capuano, Splash Kennedy and Big Wad Kerry to get some of that free government monies for the farking shovel-ready produce market road.
We couldn't find much that needs doin' around here so we're going to fix up the old governors mansion.
Fix it up real good.
With the free monies.
QUOTE (SpaceCowboy @ Jun 11 2009, 10:19 PM)
We couldn't find much that needs doin' around here so we're going to fix up the old governors mansion.
Fix it up real good.
With the free monies.
Fix it up real good.
With the free monies.
You Texans are wicked farking smart.
Governor Coupe Deval took some of The Baby Jesus's free money and gave it to his friends.
Nobody will ever see any tangible evidence of where the free money went.
QUOTE (underhi2p @ Jun 11 2009, 10:32 PM)
You Texans are wicked farking smart.
Governor Coupe Deval took some of The Baby Jesus's free money and gave it to his friends.
Nobody will ever see any tangible evidence of where the free money went.
Governor Coupe Deval took some of The Baby Jesus's free money and gave it to his friends.
Nobody will ever see any tangible evidence of where the free money went.
They probably spent it at that topless club down by the produce market while they was surveyin' the potholes and whatnot.
QUOTE (SpaceCowboy @ Jun 11 2009, 10:36 PM)
They probably spent it at that topless club down by the produce market while they was surveyin' the potholes and whatnot.
That ain't no topless club.
That there is a full nudie bar.
Plus, there's a motel on the second floor.
Plus, there's a taco stand across the street.
Plus, folks sell fruits on one side of the place, cheap, sorta "city stand" style.
Plus, there's a Dunkin' Donuts on the other side.
The truckers come in, get a blow job, and back to whence the came from.
If they only fixed up the road, there'd be a lot more of a community feel to the place.
QUOTE (underhi2p @ Jun 11 2009, 10:40 PM)
That ain't no topless club.
That there is a full nudie bar.
Plus, there's a motel on the second floor.
Plus, there's a taco stand across the street.
Plus, folks sell fruits on one side of the place, cheap, sorta "city stand" style.
Plus, there's a Dunkin' Donuts on the other side.
The truckers come in, get a blow job, and back to whence the came from.
If they only fixed up the road, there'd be a lot more of a community feel to the place.
That there is a full nudie bar.
Plus, there's a motel on the second floor.
Plus, there's a taco stand across the street.
Plus, folks sell fruits on one side of the place, cheap, sorta "city stand" style.
Plus, there's a Dunkin' Donuts on the other side.
The truckers come in, get a blow job, and back to whence the came from.
If they only fixed up the road, there'd be a lot more of a community feel to the place.
Sounds like a fine multi-use recreation center.
After you get them potholes fixed up, maybe you could get a night basketball league goin' for the yutes.
QUOTE (SpaceCowboy @ Jun 11 2009, 10:43 PM)
Sounds like a fine multi-use recreation center.
After you get them potholes fixed up, maybe you could get a night basketball league goin' for the yutes.
After you get them potholes fixed up, maybe you could get a night basketball league goin' for the yutes.
Jay Ash, the Chelsea City Manager, plays in one of them there basketball leagues. I'll suggest that to 'im.
Maybe he'll buy in?
QUOTE (underhi2p @ Jun 11 2009, 10:45 PM)
Jay Ash, the Chelsea City Manager, plays in one of them there basketball leagues. I'll suggest that to 'im.
Maybe he'll buy in?
Maybe he'll buy in?
Could be.
If you can pry him out of that bar.
June 14, 2009
"No one realized how bad the economy was. The projections, in fact, turned out to be worse. But we took the mainstream model as to what we thought — and everyone else thought — the unemployment rate would be," Biden said.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/articl...kik0RwD98QK1182
December 6, 2008
The economy is in much worse shape than we thought it was in," Biden told me during an exclusive interview -- his first since becoming vice president-elect-- to air this Sunday on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos."
"There is no short run other than keeping the economy from absolutely tanking. That's the only short run," Biden told me.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/george/2008/12/biden-us-econom.html
Though he hasn't learned anything, at least he isn't any stupider than he was in 2008.
Joe Biden and the Great Job Search
As you may recall, on the campaign trail, Joe Biden was heralded as “head of the Middle Class taskforce” – whose activities can be viewed here. Yet the question remains: What has Joe Biden done for the Middle Class?
Several months ago, I checked the Middle Class Task Force site only to find a discussion of ways to help people send their kids to college… and I thought, “So what?” What is the purpose of going to college if there are no jobs waiting at the other end of the tunnel? Moreover, a 20/20 special posited that Bachelor’s Degrees are “America’s biggest over-rated product.” Upping college enrollment seems to be the wrong approach. After all, 1 in 5 people who are unemployed hold at least a college degree, according to NPR.
This month, everyone’s clamoring, “Where are the jobs, Joe?” We’re told there’s good news from the White House – that 150,000 jobs have been either saved or created in the first 100 days. Yet, when questioned how they arrived at that figure, Joe just sheepishly replied, “I’m a little above my pay grade here as I try to explain in more detail how they count spinoff effects of actual jobs created, I’m sorry. I’m not an Economist. My background is in foreign policy and the constitution.”
He told us to be patient, that the $500 million training program was on its way. The latest unemployment figures indicate 345,000 jobs were cut in May, bringing the national unemployment rate to 9.4%. Back in January, we were promised the unemployment rate wouldn’t exceed 8% if the stimulus was passed. (To be safe, Obama changed his figures to a projected 10% unemployment rate before the end of the year.)
House Republican John Boehner (OH) argued, “More than 2.5 million Americans have lost their jobs this year, and what have the Democrats in charge of Washington given them? A trillion dollar ‘stimulus’ that isn’t producing jobs immediately, as the Administration promised.”
“It doesn’t satisfy me, it doesn’t satisfy the president,” Vice President Biden told reporters. “We will not be satisfied until we are adding jobs on a monthly basis.” Though he admitted that “everyone guessed wrong” on the stimulus, he added that there are plans to “ramp up” the pace of the approved stimulus package projects.
He mentioned 3,600 projects that are currently underway... but these are all fleeting construction jobs, whether it’s “building out the Smart Grid,” working on new bridges, improving highways or weatherizing houses. A White House official added that boosting the federal Weatherization Assistance Program from $250 million to $5 billion has created jobs from the stimulus money. “That translates to jobs for professionally trained crews using computerized energy audits and advanced equipment to determine the most cost-effective measures,” says Van Jones, Special Advisor for Green Jobs.
Beyond all the hyperbole, this says to me, “Look at all the 12-month contracts we’ve created!” No doubt some of these green jobs will be worthwhile and the training programs will bring workers up to a higher pay grade. Yet, what good are jobs if they’re primarily temporary contractor jobs with no security, construction gigs that’ll dry up when the projects are finished, minimum wage service sector positions and burger flipper jobs that grant little economic freedom? This age-old question, of course, dates back to the Clinton Era job growth and is nothing new. Yet if Joe Biden is truly an advocate of the Middle Class, he must realize that these jobs need to be middle class jobs offering decent pay, decent benefits and job security.
In the meantime, the “soaring cost of living devours the Middle Class,” as Robyn Blumner of the St. Petersburg Times suggests. So-called progressive activists are calling for “Middle class bail-outs.” Trade schools have practically vanished, which used to be the path toward middle class jobs. As Jeff Klenovic points out, our tax structures are unfair and we work too much. If you’re a sympathetic, loyal fan from Joe’s home state of Delaware, perhaps you’d be more understanding. I, however, am not satisfied thus so far.
Prolific writer Richard Benson argues that “Our government prints up jobs out of thin air the same way the Federal Reserve prints up money.” He adds that 60% of our post-9/11 job creation was directly related to the housing boom – realtors, mortgage brokers, construction workers – jobs that have since dissipated. Daniel J. Mitchell of the CATO Institute adds, “There is virtually no support for the notion that government spending creates jobs.”
It logically follows that the government could, instead, focus on areas it has some sway over. If we want to remain competitive in the global marketplace and boost the Middle Class job positions, we need to take a fresh approach to our trade policies. For instance, why is Boeing outsourcing 70% of the manufacturing jobs for the 787 Dreamliner, when those could be solid American manufacturing jobs? And, as you know, call center jobs that generally pay $10/hour or higher are one of the most frequent positions being shipped overseas to places like India.
“If Barack Obama wanted to create 3 million real jobs, he could do it today,” Professor Harold Black of the University of Tennessee, quips. “All he would have to say is the following: ‘My fellow Americans, in order to create permanent jobs, I will eliminate both the capital gains tax and the corporate income tax. I will make permanent the Bush tax cuts and aggressively work to limit government spending to no more than 20 percent of GDP unless in the case of a national emergency. I will also seek to fully exploit all domestic energy sources. I believe that in adopting these policies, we can reignite American commerce, energize consumer confidence, restore the integrity of the dollar and guarantee that the American dream will be a reality for our children, our children's children and for all Americans for generations to come.’”
Instead, Joe Biden is sent on a wild goose chase for pipe dream jobs that always seem to elude his grasp.
http://www.examiner.com/x-14321-Joe-Biden-...reat-Job-Search
As you may recall, on the campaign trail, Joe Biden was heralded as “head of the Middle Class taskforce” – whose activities can be viewed here. Yet the question remains: What has Joe Biden done for the Middle Class?
Several months ago, I checked the Middle Class Task Force site only to find a discussion of ways to help people send their kids to college… and I thought, “So what?” What is the purpose of going to college if there are no jobs waiting at the other end of the tunnel? Moreover, a 20/20 special posited that Bachelor’s Degrees are “America’s biggest over-rated product.” Upping college enrollment seems to be the wrong approach. After all, 1 in 5 people who are unemployed hold at least a college degree, according to NPR.
This month, everyone’s clamoring, “Where are the jobs, Joe?” We’re told there’s good news from the White House – that 150,000 jobs have been either saved or created in the first 100 days. Yet, when questioned how they arrived at that figure, Joe just sheepishly replied, “I’m a little above my pay grade here as I try to explain in more detail how they count spinoff effects of actual jobs created, I’m sorry. I’m not an Economist. My background is in foreign policy and the constitution.”
He told us to be patient, that the $500 million training program was on its way. The latest unemployment figures indicate 345,000 jobs were cut in May, bringing the national unemployment rate to 9.4%. Back in January, we were promised the unemployment rate wouldn’t exceed 8% if the stimulus was passed. (To be safe, Obama changed his figures to a projected 10% unemployment rate before the end of the year.)
House Republican John Boehner (OH) argued, “More than 2.5 million Americans have lost their jobs this year, and what have the Democrats in charge of Washington given them? A trillion dollar ‘stimulus’ that isn’t producing jobs immediately, as the Administration promised.”
“It doesn’t satisfy me, it doesn’t satisfy the president,” Vice President Biden told reporters. “We will not be satisfied until we are adding jobs on a monthly basis.” Though he admitted that “everyone guessed wrong” on the stimulus, he added that there are plans to “ramp up” the pace of the approved stimulus package projects.
He mentioned 3,600 projects that are currently underway... but these are all fleeting construction jobs, whether it’s “building out the Smart Grid,” working on new bridges, improving highways or weatherizing houses. A White House official added that boosting the federal Weatherization Assistance Program from $250 million to $5 billion has created jobs from the stimulus money. “That translates to jobs for professionally trained crews using computerized energy audits and advanced equipment to determine the most cost-effective measures,” says Van Jones, Special Advisor for Green Jobs.
Beyond all the hyperbole, this says to me, “Look at all the 12-month contracts we’ve created!” No doubt some of these green jobs will be worthwhile and the training programs will bring workers up to a higher pay grade. Yet, what good are jobs if they’re primarily temporary contractor jobs with no security, construction gigs that’ll dry up when the projects are finished, minimum wage service sector positions and burger flipper jobs that grant little economic freedom? This age-old question, of course, dates back to the Clinton Era job growth and is nothing new. Yet if Joe Biden is truly an advocate of the Middle Class, he must realize that these jobs need to be middle class jobs offering decent pay, decent benefits and job security.
In the meantime, the “soaring cost of living devours the Middle Class,” as Robyn Blumner of the St. Petersburg Times suggests. So-called progressive activists are calling for “Middle class bail-outs.” Trade schools have practically vanished, which used to be the path toward middle class jobs. As Jeff Klenovic points out, our tax structures are unfair and we work too much. If you’re a sympathetic, loyal fan from Joe’s home state of Delaware, perhaps you’d be more understanding. I, however, am not satisfied thus so far.
Prolific writer Richard Benson argues that “Our government prints up jobs out of thin air the same way the Federal Reserve prints up money.” He adds that 60% of our post-9/11 job creation was directly related to the housing boom – realtors, mortgage brokers, construction workers – jobs that have since dissipated. Daniel J. Mitchell of the CATO Institute adds, “There is virtually no support for the notion that government spending creates jobs.”
It logically follows that the government could, instead, focus on areas it has some sway over. If we want to remain competitive in the global marketplace and boost the Middle Class job positions, we need to take a fresh approach to our trade policies. For instance, why is Boeing outsourcing 70% of the manufacturing jobs for the 787 Dreamliner, when those could be solid American manufacturing jobs? And, as you know, call center jobs that generally pay $10/hour or higher are one of the most frequent positions being shipped overseas to places like India.
“If Barack Obama wanted to create 3 million real jobs, he could do it today,” Professor Harold Black of the University of Tennessee, quips. “All he would have to say is the following: ‘My fellow Americans, in order to create permanent jobs, I will eliminate both the capital gains tax and the corporate income tax. I will make permanent the Bush tax cuts and aggressively work to limit government spending to no more than 20 percent of GDP unless in the case of a national emergency. I will also seek to fully exploit all domestic energy sources. I believe that in adopting these policies, we can reignite American commerce, energize consumer confidence, restore the integrity of the dollar and guarantee that the American dream will be a reality for our children, our children's children and for all Americans for generations to come.’”
Instead, Joe Biden is sent on a wild goose chase for pipe dream jobs that always seem to elude his grasp.
http://www.examiner.com/x-14321-Joe-Biden-...reat-Job-Search
Washington. Mandarin Oriental Hotel. LGBT fundraiser. Hauled in about $1 mill. 33% better than last year with Michelle Obama.
Maybe four dozen protesters outside, impatient with the Obama administration's perceived slow pace on lesbian and gay issues. Signs: "SHAME." "Gay Uncle Toms." Chants: "Shame on You." "Boycott the Bigots."
Inside, Biden spoke 20 mins. Lots of applause. "I am not unaware of the controversy swirling around this dinner and swirling around the speed or lack thereof that we are moving on issues that are of great importance to you."
Boasted the new administration has appointed 60 gays or lesbians, including nine requiring Senate confirmation. Promised to "put some pace on the ball."
Standing ovations as he pledged to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, Don't Ask Don't Tell and get passage of the Lieberman-Baldwin bill on health benefits.
Additionally, Biden promised to put a ban on workplace discrimination, get adoption rights for all and end the HIV travel ban.
Biden also praised Tim Kaine as the "great governor of New Jersey."
One problem: Tim Kaine's not governor of New Jersey.
Jon Corzine (right) is governor of New Jersey (Remember, he didn't wear his seatbelt in the state patrol car for the big high-speed crash).
Tim Kaine is governor of another state, called Virginia.
He's also chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
Biden is from Delaware.
He used a Teleprompter.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington...ffe-update.html
Maybe four dozen protesters outside, impatient with the Obama administration's perceived slow pace on lesbian and gay issues. Signs: "SHAME." "Gay Uncle Toms." Chants: "Shame on You." "Boycott the Bigots."
Inside, Biden spoke 20 mins. Lots of applause. "I am not unaware of the controversy swirling around this dinner and swirling around the speed or lack thereof that we are moving on issues that are of great importance to you."
Boasted the new administration has appointed 60 gays or lesbians, including nine requiring Senate confirmation. Promised to "put some pace on the ball."
Standing ovations as he pledged to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, Don't Ask Don't Tell and get passage of the Lieberman-Baldwin bill on health benefits.
Additionally, Biden promised to put a ban on workplace discrimination, get adoption rights for all and end the HIV travel ban.
Biden also praised Tim Kaine as the "great governor of New Jersey."
One problem: Tim Kaine's not governor of New Jersey.
Jon Corzine (right) is governor of New Jersey (Remember, he didn't wear his seatbelt in the state patrol car for the big high-speed crash).
Tim Kaine is governor of another state, called Virginia.
He's also chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
Biden is from Delaware.
He used a Teleprompter.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington...ffe-update.html
but I doubt he'll use the cia to pump up a war or commit treason by outing our spies
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