The Dear Leader is speaking now...

The Dear Leader

...so there isn't much happening. (10:22 AM) The suits with wires in their ears and unidentified black uniformed men with automatic weapons as well as the local cops have all us peons on lock down. So I am just twiddling my thumbs waiting for the Dear Leader to finish his speech and go home. Hope & change mofo!

The "leader of the free world" creates his own mini-police state everywhere he goes

And so it seems we Ann Arborites must endure another Obama visit this coming Friday. Look for DTX to be closed to take offs/landing whilst the Imperial Barge Air Force One is on the runway. Look for major highways like I-94 between Detroit and Ann Arbor to be closed to traffic and for police/feds/unidentified black uniformed goons to be posted at all the bridges, on/off ramps and on the tops of every tall building along the way. Furthermore, the immediate area around the pres will become a civil liberties free zone  and from which you can/will be barred from regardless of your business for being there. The Big Ø will zip into town in a fast moving multi-SUV motorcade, speak, and then zoom back out to DTX but even so downtown will be on lock-down for 24 hours probably starting around Thursday until the Big Ø leaves.

As you may surmise I've experienced quite a number of presidential/presidential candidate/First Lady/VIP visits to my town over the years and so I know the drill by now.

I guess we're all supposed to feel honored that he and his entourage have deigned to grace us with his presence yet again. Myself, I was hoping that with advent of the modern police state we'd only need to endure the Dear Leader's digital presence on a jumbo-tron screen rather than in person. Less disruptive.

The latest converts to the church of It’s Okay When We Do It

The subset of the lawyerly elite who happened to be Democrats became apoplectic when the Bush administration held POWs at Gitmo (without trials!), used water-boarding (on a few), and did whatever they wanted to in order to prosecute their wars. And now? Well now that they're in power they've pulled an Emily Litella on all that shit.

Since taking office the Obama administration did stop with the water-boarding stuff it's true but they escalated things by starting to do targeted killings of  terrorists some of whom were American citizens,  and Gitmo remains open for business .) It now seems to Obama that the Bush-era executive war powers excesses are somehow okay now that they're the ones doing it. Lawyers that once condemned Bush as a constitution shredding maniac are now writing legal memos justifying the use of the same measures that Bush used and even worse they are presenting them with a straight-faced seriousness that defies understanding. And those of us who opposed all of this when Bush did it (and still oppose it now as well) are ridiculed as isolationists, legal nit-pickers, and worse! Go figure?

Well that was then, and this is now you  see.

Great sound bite Governor Johnson!

I don't know for a fact that it's true but ex-New Mexico governor Gary Johnson's debate quip  about his neighbor's dogs creating more "shovel ready jobs" than Obama has sure is a terrific sound bite. I'm surprised the media echo chamber hasn't run with it so far cuz it's a great line.

Obama's Labor Day speech in Detroit

Well here's Obama at a dreary and cool Motown Labor Day 2011 gathering doing what he does best; giving a speech. And if all of our problems could be solved by reading off the teleprompter we'd be a utopia by now. Obama is gonna need to do a lot more than just orate. Obama's hangers-on, sycophants, handlers, fan-boys, and ass kissers did the man no favor in 2008 when they convinced Obama that his silver tongued oratorical skills would be enough. They are not, not nearly. And which makes the current to-do about his "major speech" on employment policy before a joint session of Congress later this week seem like laughably small potatoes. If only giving another speech would do the trick. But like the one-trick pony he is that's all he knows to do.

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Betty Ford still dead (Grand Rapids Press/MLive)
So put her in the ground already. Having a state funeral for someone who was the First Lady 34 years ago seems like a waste of taxpayer money to me.  Her husband was president not royalty. Just sayin'.

Ex-Mayor Kilpatrick still hatin' on whitey, spinning and lying (Curt Guyette, Detroit Metro-Times)
"That's the thing about Kwame: He may be a prolific liar, but that doesn't make him a proficient one. In fact, Chapter 1 in the Liar's Handbook clearly states that you don't prevaricate about things that are easily proven to be untrue."

Amongst KK's demographic base "truth" is relative not absolute. Truth is whatever he needs it to be at any given moment. 

Listening to Obama's speeches: An "unhappy duty" I'll leave to others (Michael Godwin, NY Post)
"Enough. He is the Man Who Won't Listen to Anybody, so why should anybody listen to him?
Tuning out and turning off the president does not fill me with gladness. He cannot be ignored.
But for now, I will leave that unhappy duty to others. I am tired of Barack Obama. There's nothing new there. His speeches are like 'Groundhog Day.' "

I've felt the same way about presidential speeches for the last four administrations. The only quibble I have is that I don't believe I have a duty somehow to listen to Obama or any other pol.

Let's face it, high speed rail is dead (Aaron Renn, New Geography)
I sure hope so. Just regular trains will be fine.

The Upside of the Obama presidency? We didn't get a McCain presidency

The main advantage, maybe the only advantage, of Obama's victory over McCain in 2008 is that we didn't get a President McCain instead. If we had a "McCain Doctrine" today American forces would be all over the world fighting for our "values". Obama inherited two wars and started a third. How many would a President McCain have America committed to by now? "Under the McCain Doctrine," says George Will, "America’s military would have just begun to fight, and would never stop."

Sign of the times...cont'd. June 9, 2011

From the comments section of an Ann Althouse blog post:

"Protesting Bush's wars was patriotic and American and Right and Just. Protesting Obama's wars is just Racist."

This describes the political zeitgeist of this time and place perfectly. Since January 20th 2009 the peace movement has entirely vanished from American political consciousness. Charges of racism never cease.

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"Tate Forcier not enrolled in classes this semester, not with football program" - Michigan Daily
Tate has had enough of of Michigan football. Look for DR to follow.


 The reformist left is starting to lower their rose-colored glasses and see Obama for what he is - NY Observer
"The left is not even at the table, and they don't even realize it. You can't blame the voters. [for being cynical] In 2006 they voted out the party of endless war and corporate bailouts. In 2008 they voted out the party of endless war and corporate bailouts. And in 2010 they voted out the party of endless war and corporate bailouts."

Teaching your children to how sword fight - Tor.com/ (Richard Fife) (via BoingBoing)

After the Collapse of Marxism: Is There an Alternative to Capitalism Today? - Anarchist Library
"Social-Democratic policies (the “welfare state”) were only possible while capitalism was going through an economic boom. Once the boom ended in the 1970s, the bosses tried to keep up profits by lowering taxes, privatising companies, and pushing down wages. And it was the Social-Democrats who led this “free market” attack on workers..."

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Some "direct action" against Obama - Someone threw a book at the pres during a campaign rally in Philadelphia yesterday that also featured a nude heckler. From the photo it looked like it just missed his head.

Update: The authorities now claim that the book was thrown by an "overzealous" Obama supporter in the crowd. Hope that's true.

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Asian Carp infesting the Great Lakes? Nope, problem solved! Obama has appointed a "Carp Czar" to handle it. Hope & Change, motherfuckers!

Sign of the times...

CBS News is reporting that a Mexican drug gang set off a car bomb to ambush the police in Juarez a Mexican city right across the Rio Grande river from El Paso, Texas. This is a major escalation of the already violent narco war going on at the border. At least three officers were killed. This comes on the heels of reports of snipers popping off shots at the Border Patrol and of stray bullets from previous Juarez shoot-outs landing in El Paso.

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The second phase of the great American disillusionment with Barack Obama is complete - Washington Examiner
Fake movie trailer on youtube leads to actual movie - Wired

Sign of the times

Obama's hapless response to the BP oil spill reminds me of his predecessor's problems, doesn't it? And no, I don't miss W. at all.

Sign of the Times...

Ain't it wonderful to have the POTUS come to town! Fun, fun, fun. Fun that is if you like standing in line for two hours to have some Secret Service goon squeeze your balls and then go sit in the rain for another hour and a half waiting for the Great Man to come and give his speech. Big fun. Hope it was worth it for you guys that attended.

Sign of the Times...

President Obama is speaking at the University of Michigan commencement in Ann Arbor tomorrow. Which means that between the Secret Service and the local cops the whole town is gonna be a no-go zone complete with road closures, checkpoints, snipers on the roof and overhead choppers buzzing around. There were four of them zooming around this afternoon. The racket they make is truly deafening. And all for a short graduation speech. And I hear it may rain too. Hope all this is worth it to you if you plan to attend. But it ain't to me.

Me, I am gonna hang out somewhere else till the Pres blows town. I highly recommend if you care as less about the Great Man's words of wisdom and advice to the new grads as I do you just avoid the thirty mile zone between Ann Arbor and Detroit Metro airport altogether.

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"You know things have taken a weird turn when liberals start sounding like members of the American Legion" - C4SS (Kevin Carson)

When so-called "progressives" are defining the terms then any criticism of the state and its ruling class constitutes sedition. Well so be it then.

Things that keep you an immature punk instead of a grown man - Ch. 1 - The Art of Manliness

Video games: "Whereas men once fought as soldiers, they now pretend to be ones. Where men used to play baseball and football, they now control avatars who play for them. Where men used to play an instrument, they now press buttons on a plastic toy. Where we once created, we now consume."

It's Obama's war now - boing boing

Take a gander at this poster for a concert in NYC. The tide has turned. It's his war now after more than a year in office.

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The Homeless Modern - Intercollegiate Review (via Front Porch Republic) (pdf file)

Liberal democracy is not the end of history. Never was.

Anti-Obama pundit deeply nervous about Pres ditching media - American Thinker (Cat Corben)
The uncomfortable concept of an “assassination warrant”- Bloggingheads.tv (video)
Julian Sanchez vs. Eli Lake on the issue of the US gov killing it's own citizens.

Nazi X-Men versus English warlocks during WWII? - Bitter Seeds

An alternative history novel of WWII (via boingboing)

The trouble with SEIU pres Andy Stern is that he wasn't ruthless enough! - The Awl (N. Vargas-Cooper)

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When China's bubble bursts, the global impact will be severe for all of us. - Christian Science Monitor

"Remember the 1994 movie “Speed”? A young cop (Keanu Reeves) had to save passengers on a bus that would explode if its speed dropped below 50 m.p.h. Well, China is like that bus with 1.3 billion people aboard. If the Communist Party can’t keep the economy growing at a fast clip, the result will be catastrophic."

Warehouse 13 cast talk about Season 2 - io9

"Obama is psychologically fragile, and thus self-medicates a lot with cigarettes, golf, and exercise." -iSteve blog

Aren't we all? Don't we all?

More homeowners are opting for 'strategic defaults' - LA Times
"Americans are fed up with hearing how they're supposed to honor their debts while businesses operate by another set of rules."
Iceberg Forensics: Predicting the Planet's Future With Antarctic Ice - Popular Science

Another reason vitamin D is important: It gets T cells going - Scientific American

Toshiba ends incandescent light-bulb production after 120 years. - Good Gear Guide

Pandering, groveling, and obsequiousness do breed contempt. - Taki's Magazine

Pat Buchanan explains why Israel treats America the way it does.

Twitter decides to be a "force for good". - TechCrunch (Michael Arrington)

"...it’s basically impossible to balance a profit motive with a goodness motive."

ISPs that facilitate malware, phishing, and other bad stuff are coming under scrutiny - Technology Review (Brian Krebs)

Just like Elvis - Wall Street Journal online

The other King of Pop is worth more dead than alive too.

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Obama still smoking but otherwise in excellent health. - NY Times


"The only way to win is not to play."- LewRockwell.com
"You can’t conquer a primitive society. There’s nothing to destroy or hold hostage. The only way to win is to commit genocide." Some thoughts on modern guerrilla warfare.
The Bone yard. - Popular Science
A spot in the Arizona desert where the government stores obsolete military aircraft. Kind of like a museum or graveyard where they don't bury the corpses. High-resolution pics and video too.
A really cool photo of a Tiger swimming underwater. - SF Chronicle
Ask Slashdot:How Do I get users to read error messages? - Slashdot
"Unfortunately, haptic and olfactory feedback aren't readily available. I like to think that my users would remember the error that caused them to get a swift kick in the balls. And if they forgot it anyhow, I could always help them reproduce it. Does anyone else have experience with ideas like these?"
Why Do Poor People Vote as if They Were Rich? - American Prospect blog (Gabriel Arana)
"It's a bit uncharitable to say the American Dream is just another opiate for the masses is, but it is a useful fiction:"