If It Does For Him What It Did For Bartolo Colon...

Apparently Texas Governor Rick Perry put his money (and his backside) where his mouth is and underwent an adult stem cell procedure of the sort he has been calling for Texas to take the lead in.  I am hazy as to why this might be a scandal, but the reporting is pretty breathless:

When Gov. Rick Perry emerged from back surgery on July 1, he tweeted that his “little procedure” — a spinal fusion and nerve decompression designed to treat a recurring injury — had gone “as advertised.”

The possible presidential contender didn’t reveal that he’d undergone an experimental injection of his own stem cells, a therapy that isn’t FDA approved, has mixed evidence of success and can cost upwards of tens of thousands of dollars.

Well, more research is needed and the Governor stepped up as a guniea pig.  To be clear:

The governor’s procedure did not involve embryonic stem cells, which he and many other conservatives ardently oppose using for medical research on both religious and moral grounds. His treatment involved removing his own adult stem cells from healthy tissue and injecting them back into his body at the time of surgery, with the belief that the cells would assist tissue regeneration and speed recovery.

As they eventually note, this sort of technique is developmental but promising:

The infusion of adult stem cells to repair tissue and organ damage is highly controversial. For every Bartolo Colon, the New York Yankees pitcher whose near-miraculous comeback is being attributed to the procedure, researchers say there are botched jobs and patients who spend tens of thousands of dollars with no results.

Perry picked up the tb for everything not covered by insurance.  If this procedure might help and probably won't hurt, what is the big deal?

But researchers say that despite the great potential adult stem cells may have, so far they’ve seen nothing more definitive than the so-called “placebo effect” — patients who convince themselves they’re feeling better simply by nature of having had the procedure. In some lab tests, stem cells that have been effectively deprogrammed to help regenerate a particular organ have appeared to turn cancerous. In others, patients have traveled around the world, spending $10,000 to $50,000 for stem cells that simply die off, with no effect on health.  

“Most of this stuff is pretty experimental at this point,” said Heather Rooke, the science director for the International Society for Stem Cell Research. “People are pushing these things into the clinic before there’s real evidence of safety or an indication that they’ll work.”

First of all, what's the matter with the placebo effect, as long as it is long-lasting?  One might note that the sensation of pain is largely a mental process - a compressed nerve obviously has a physical reality, but the signals it sends are just signals.  If Perry has convinced himself that a slightly lighter wallet is helping him feel better, well, good for him.

Comments

[MarkO]

Freak.

[Danube of Thought]

I wish Perry would go away.

A cloud no bigger than a man's hand.

[sbw]

"If It Does For Him What It Did For Bartolo Colon..."

I thought TM was going to write about how big Perry's mouth was.

[MayBee]

Even non-experimental back surgery has pretty iffy results.

One of my best friends is a doctor who specializes in rehab. He convinced me to put off having surgery as long as I possibly could, even though orthopods were telling me to have surgery. I went two years in sometimes excruciating pain, but then one day my back was better and it's been fine since.

[Captain Hate]

The best thing that fat tub of goo Colon did was get traded for Cliff Lee, Grady Sizemore and Brandon Phillips.

[Ignatz]

--I wish Perry would go away.

A cloud no bigger than a man's hand.--

What is Perry's crime?
Proposing constitutional amendments?
Not being a counterfeit Christian?

And perhaps I'm misunderstanding the meaning of the cloud metaphor, but what does the breaking of the drought in 1 Kings have to do with Perry?

[Threadkiller]

--"His treatment involved removing his own adult stem cells from healthy tissue and injecting them back into his body at the time of surgery."--

His own cells? This guy is tough to figure out.

I thought he was for injections in the backside from other peoples cells.

[glasater]

Ig-

The "cloud no bigger than a man's hand" is--I believe--an oblique reference to the Second Coming of Christ.

[Ignatz]

Thanks glasater.
I only know it from the episode where Elijah warns Ahab to flee from the coming rains which will break the drought, the evidence of which is 'a cloud as small as a man's hand'.

[cathyf]

If traditional back surgery was a kind of drug, the FDA would have never let it past the first stage of clinical trials.

[Ranger]

Posted this in the previous thread, but I think it deserves wide viewing. More bad news for Obama. The latest three day rolling polls show both general public and likely voters' numbers solidifying at around -10%, with disapproval over 50%.

President Obama Job Approval

Gallup

Approve 41

Disapprove 51

Disapprove +10.0

Rasmussen Reports

Approve 45

Disapprove 54

Disapprove +9.0

[Frau Steingehirn]

Is this the answer for the man whose "Anthony Weiner" was recently cut off and ground up in the garbage disposal? (another "It happened in CA" story)

[Danube of Thought]

My reference was to the biblical passage in which the small cloud is a harbinger of a mighty storm.

The storm in this case would be Perry's being the nominee, because if he is Obama is likely to be re-elected.

Perry has committed no crime of which I am aware.

[jimmyk]

DoT, who is the perfect candidate out there? As with the debt ceiling, we have to choose among what (or who) is available. Perry may have shown poor judgment on the amendment discussion, but people are going to vote on economic issues.

[MayBee]

I am not about to get on any of the GOP candidates for every little thing.

All of them are going to goof up. A lot. I have a lot of forgiveness stored up for this campaign cycle.

[Danube of Thought]

I am not yet sure who is the ideal candidate. I believe a lot of people who would like to see Obama voted out would be put off by Perry.

Obama is now at 44% approval in the RCP average, which I believe is his all-time low. Disapproval a smidgin over 50%.

[Threadkiller]

Geez Frau, how long did the firefighters, paramedics, and police stand by and watch? This would have been a water rescue.

[MayBee]

It's distressing because I think best candidate does not equal best president.

I think Perry, Pawlenty, and Romney would all be great presidents.

[centralcal]

You and me both, MayBee. We have no perfect candidate and never will. We do have an overabundance of really lame wannabes - lol!

Elmer Fudd v. Obama - I will vote for Elmer!

[Ignatz]

That's what I figured you were referring to DoT but couldn't quite see where you were going with it.
I doubt Perry has survived and prospered in the cutthroat politics of Texas as long as he has by being stupid enough to not hammer Barry where it hurts and I'm hard pressed to think of anyone in a better position to hammer the witless wonder than the guy whose state has consistently swum upstream against Barry's river of economic no return.
We shall see how he performs if and when he jumps in.

[Danube of Thought]

Have any of the Wisconsin recall elections taken place?

[MayBee]

1-But there are obviously -- there are a lot of global issues that affect the global economy and that obviously affect the American economy.

2-Congress has the power to pass legislation that the president can sign. The actions that it can take could create more jobs right now, if it passed the patent reform, if it passed the free trade agreements. And as you know, there are other issues that the president encourages and will push hard for the Congress to take up when it returns from its recess

3-There are things that Congress can do now to create jobs, and they should.

4-Carney responds to the point that millions of jobs have been lost since Obama took office by pointing out that when he was sworn in, the country was in a "job-loss freefall."

Alluding to George W. Bush, he said that was "due to the policies, obviously, that were enacted" by the previous administration.
-----

The above are quotes from Jay Carney today, in answer to what Obama is doing to improve the economy.

Do you notice any difference in rhetoric between who was responsible for policy in the previous administration, and who is responsible now?

[Chubby]

((A cloud no bigger than a man's hand))

If you want Perry to go away that metaphor (from the Bible I Kings 18:44) doesn't seem appropriate. It was that little cloud "out of the sea like a man's hand" that immediately preceded a drenching downpour that ended a long drought the land.

[Chubby]

*in the land*

[Jane]

Suddenly it is all Congress's fault.

[henry]

Danube, just the one for the Dem three weeks ago (he won amidst two primaries). The recalls are next week Tuesday (Aug 9)for the 6 Republicans and the following Tuesday for the two remaining fleebaggers.

Going into the weekend it is getting very ugly around here -- candidates have raised ~$5 million, unions poured in ~$10 million, and various PACS are spending another $15 million.

In the most important recall -- Darling (R) vs Patsch (D) in the Milwaukee suburbds a massive cheating scandal has erupted. This is compounded by printing of multiple absentee ballots per voter in Milwaukee which is breaking news today. The left is fully invested in these recalls and they are expected to be close races.

[narciso]

I think it will probably work out well, as opposed to Embryonic stem cells, which was supposed to be the panacea,

[JM Hanes]

"researchers say there are botched jobs and patients who spend tens of thousands of dollars with no results."

It seems safe to say that even a botched hip replacement would have undesirable results too.

Anybody up for a little risk assessment here?
Option #1: Don't spend any money = status quo or degeneration.
Option #2: Spend some money = status quo or cure.
What to do, what to do?

"In some lab tests, stem cells that have been effectively deprogrammed to help regenerate a particular organ have appeared to turn cancerous."

I suspect a lot of cells could "appear" to turn cancerous depending on what else you put in "some" of the petri dishes.

[Chubby]

I think personal health should be a private thing between individuals and their physicians. I see detailed discussions about the health of politicians as a sign of political discourse in retrograde.

[narciso]

So it seems the Schmidle piece on the Bin Laden raid, might have been not exactly on point, I saw might, because the critic, at Registan, Professor Fair,the one who provided Ignatius, with some of his more picturesque Pashto phrasing, has her own assumptions.

[Jack is Back!]

Well if he has a problem with his spine he certainly doesn't want any stem cells from Obama.

[narciso]

Btw if you were wondering why the Biden 'terrorist' comments, didn't make it to the Times attention 'all is well,'

Obviously we were aware of the reports that Biden had likened the Republicans to terrorists. But we had no first-hand (or even second-hand) confirmation, and the vice president’s office was disputing that he had said any such thing. We debated whether we needed at least to take account of the controversy, but decided against doing so since we could not establish that Biden had said what was being attributed to him. Maybe there is more to this than we know. But on the face of it, it is a classic example of how what were once pretty clear-cut decisions based on well-established standards are now complicated by the reality that stories increasingly get injected into the public dialogue quickly and often with minimal journalistic vetting — leaving news organizations at risk of being perceived as deliberately ignoring them if they make a judgment against publishing. (Emphases added.)

[Jane]

IOW narciso, they deliberately ignored it.

[matt]

There is a company I am familiar that is doing some very promising work is reducing ischemia with adult stem cells in a manner similar to the one described. They are in Stage 3 trials and have some significant statistical data so far on success rates.

This is all ground breaking stuff so there are bound to be successes and failures. You don't learn if you don't try.

The hell of it is that a lot of this kind of research will be killed if the private sector is cut off by some form of rationed health care. Or just available to our overlords.

[Ignatz]

Link to the article narciso mentions at 2:24.

[Ignatz]

--"In some lab tests, stem cells that have been effectively deprogrammed to help regenerate a particular organ have appeared to turn cancerous."--

Shocking. It's now pretty clear all cancers start as malfunctioning stem cells, so it would be truly surprising if some stem cells didn't appear to turn cancerous.

[glasater]

Ig-

I was in the New Testament and DoT was referring to the Old Testament:-)

There are after all a bunch of "clouds" in the Bible.

[Frau Steingehirn]

matt, just think of the "walking around money" that will be created. Look at the throngs of people involved in CA's stem cell research. Who will notice that no progress is made from the govt. backed "research"? No jobs saved but sorta jobs created for sorta workers. ::say no more, say no more::

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vnjagvet]

IOW narciso, they deliberately ignored it.

...while publishing Friedman, Dowd and Krugman likening Republicans to terrorists.

I wonder if BuBu can defend this blatant hypocrisy.

Crickets are chirping.

[DrJ]

Matt,

I may know this company. Would you send me an email message off the board?

[jimmyk]

I don't recall the Times declining to publish the McCain affair rumor in 2008. In fact I believe it made the front page.

[matt]

it's ASTM, Doc.

Updated thoughts on China's economic red flags in addition to everything else today. LUN.

[Ignatz]

Interesting, and unfortunately probably very accurate post, matt.
The first comment left so far is kind of interesting too, if in a different way.

[narciso]

One thing, Barone had an odd column today, saying the TP's position was too untenable
for any of the current presidential candidate, vis a vis, the debt deal.

[DrJ]

matt, that's not the one I was thinking of. I know more of the early-stage, pre-VC companies. ASTM is public!

[Texas Mom 2010]

Perry/Bachman 2012!
Just glad to hear for sure that Perry has a spine!

[Ralph L]

I had a pain in my shoulder blade that drove me crazy for 2 months. It disappeared after I finally got 8 hours of sleep one night. OTOH, my dad limped around on a bad hip for 5 years before getting it replaced, by which time he'd messed up the knee on the other leg from limping. And my vile step-mother took him out skiing (for the 1st time in 45 years) 8 months after the op.

On Bush's DUI, what got me at the time was his poor political judgment in thinking it wouldn't be discovered and used against him. A portent of things to come.

[Ignatz]

Escaping the gay marriage skirmish going on at the other thread, I'd like to note the Dow is currently down 500+ and the 10 year yield is now under 2.5% with crude down over $5.

[Janet]

That Disappoint-mints story is really something after living through all the Bush mocking crap that was in the stores around here.
I actually stopped shopping in some because of the things they carried.

[RichatUF]

Yeah! Wall Street knows how to throw an Obama Bash!

Wonder if Mel might chime in-Euro settlement? a fund blow up? everyone woke up this morning and realized that Obama was really president?

[Melinda Romanoff]

Trichet caught fibbing.

More later.

[Neo]

Every now and then some truth slips out ...

“The White House doesn’t create jobs,” [Press Secretary Jay] Carney said, adding “the government, together — White House, Congress — creates policies that allow for greater job creation.”

... or they don't, like the job killing administration of Mr. Obama.

[Dave (in MA)]

Janet, the same outfit that sells the Obama Disappoint-mints also sells Obama Yes-We-Candy and Embarrass-mints for both Bush and Palin.

[RichatUF]

I'll be around.

[Ranger]

At Hot Air: Jay Carney: “The White House doesn’t create jobs”

My favorite bit: Asked whether the White House could do more, Carney said “there is no silver bullet” to creating jobs — but he didn’t answer the question.

Really? Cause I thought that was the entire argument behind the Porkulus and "shovel ready projects." Now you tell us it was all a lie!

[NK]

Melinda says: "Trichet caught fibbing.

More later." A EuroCrat caught lying? A classic dog bites man story.

MORE IMPORTANTLY-- my stock guy says hold on to equities. absorb the losses. Tomorrow is the July Jobs report-- Oi Vey -- I am geting to old for this. What do you think -- Melinda the Oracle of the Midwest?

[Ranger]

Carney said “there is no silver bullet” to creating jobs

Here's a thought, lets repeal Obamacare, cancel all regulations put in effect since January 2009 and establish a moratorium on new regulations until January 2013. I have a feeling job creation might improve a little.

[MayBee]

Ranger and Neo- don't you wonder how he can try to spread responsibility for the economy and jobs situation now, while blaming Bush entirely for the 2008 economy and jobs situation?

[jimmyk]

MayBee, I don't wonder. He is shameless. And of course the media is his enabler.

[Ignatz]

Here's a thought, lets repeal Obamacare

[glasater]

All that Ranger said @ 5:14 plus allow corporations to bring in all that off shore money tax free.

Heck, if BOzo did that he'd get re-elected.

[RichatUF]

glasater-

Heck, if BOzo did that he'd get re-elected.

Stop scaring me.

[Rick Ballard]

Rich,

Can you think of a good reason why the DJIA shouldn't sell down to 8500? I can't come up with one. I believe we've run out of rainbows, unicorn farts and OPM all at the same time.

I sure hope the job numbers tomorrow are no worse than flat.

[NK]

Rick--

Dow 8500? thanks you've just ruined my year. Obamanomic = EPIC FAIL. I hate being right.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Don't bust your arm pattin' yourself on the back.

[Rick Ballard]

NK,

Mad Ben's PPT might come back on duty tomorrow for another stick save. The economic value of the DJIA hasn't been much above 8500 since the minor unpleasantness in 2008.

OTOH - today's GDP is very close to the top reached in the Bush years and it's being achieved with 7 million fewer employees - look on the bright side.

[narciso]

So the Judge who allowed Rumsfeld to be sued,
James Gwin, guess what.

[pagar]

"— White House, Congress — creates policies that allow for greater job creation."

Since the day the Obama was sworn in, I believe every policy they have put forth has been designed as a private job killer for Americans. Of course, government jobs are a whole different story.
--------------------------------------------Rick, IMO if the jobs numbers were accurate I don't believe there is any chance the numbers will be flat or better.
I expect there will be some fudging in the numbers tomorrow and than they will be adjusted down in the next announcement.

[Barry Dauphin]

Re: Creating jobs.

From Algore's 2008 Support Center listing his accomplishments:

More than 22 million new jobs
More than 22 million jobs were created in less than eight years -- the most ever under a single administration, and more than were created in the previous twelve years.

Apparently Carney didn't get the memo that Dems always promise that the White House creates jobs.

[Rick Ballard]

Pagar,

If there's a hit tomorrow it will probably come from the public sector and/or sectors closely tied to state and local spending. For example, IT has has been getting clobbered because purchases are very easy to defer.

[NK]

Rick--

you are just a bag full of sunshine today.
PS: The productivity of American business during the last 4 years is astonishing. But those productivity increases have run their course. What about job creation? The problem is that while the business credit issues were largely cleared by late 2009, Obamacare, EPA, threatened tax increase etc etc etc killed the business start up and expansion world. Who would hire in this Obamanomics environment? we know the answer-- NO ONE. The Payroll reports through autumn when the DOL starts dropping their spring business creation assumptions may be disasterous. Oi Vey..

[Danube of Thought]

The most effective jobs bill in history would be immediate repeal of Obamacare and Dodd-Frank and all the regulations promulgated under them to date, together with a lifting of all drilling moratoria.

This should be followed by legislation to overturn the recent excesses of the EPA and the NLRB, and to constrain future action by them.

Sound like a GOP platform for 2012 and an agenda for 2013?

[NK]

Danube for President!

[Ranger]

This is pure gold: Tapper Peppers Carney: What Is Obama Doing To Create Jobs?

Some Highlights:

TAPPER: Well, what is the president doing? We know that he went to a -- -- he went to fundraisers last night. What's he doing today?

CARNEY: Jake, that is --

TAPPER: What is he doing --

CARNEY: The president -- as the president has worked --

TAPPER: We hear him hectoring Congress about all the stuff that needs to be done to help create jobs --

CARNEY: That's right. And Congress --

TAPPER: -- and then he flew off to Chicago. What is he doing today?

CARNEY: The president is having meetings with his senior staff. The president has called on Congress to move quickly on things that have bipartisan support and are in Congress's lap, the trade --

TAPPER: The same stuff he was doing a couple months ago, calling on Congress to pass things.

...

TAPPER: Has he called Mitch McConnell? Has he called John Boehner? Has -- is he working on things that they can do? If every --

CARNEY: Jake, I don't -- I know you weren't here yesterday, but I know you were here for most of the days before that, when this president and those leaders and others worked seven days a week to avert a major economic crisis in this country that would have made –

TAPPER: You’re the one always saying the president can walk and chew gum at the same time. I'm asking you --

CARNEY: Well, what are -- are you asking me what -- he is -- he is focused --

TAPPER: Other than calling on Congress to pass things you've been calling on Congress to pass for months, what is he doing to help the economy?

[Rick Ballard]

There's absolutely nothing wrong with the US economy that the death and burial of socialism disguised as statism wouldn't cure completely. The world moved a full step closer to that devoutly prayed for end today. It would be nice if the cancer of progressive feeling masquerading as "thought" could be excised without pain (or at least with a bit of anesthesia) but the suffering will serve as a reminder concerning the cost of choosing the wrong path.

[Ranger]

But there is some good news for Obama from the Dem pollsters (via RCP)... He can win if he runs as a Conservative Republican:

Liberal Pollster's Devastating Memo to Obama: Join the Tea Party

To recap, after analyzing his reams of public opinion research, President Clinton​’s pollster just advised the most progressive President in American history to mimic the Tea Party’s resolve, stop government from rewarding the irresponsible over the responsible, crack down on illegal immigration and get tough on border enforcement, stop illegal immigrants from being hired over legal citizens, and deport violent or law-breaking illegal immigrants, and to top it all off, Obama and the Democrats should stop the government’s profligate spending spree and bring down deficits.

Obama really doesn't need a pollster to tell him that. He won last time around by promising Net Spending Cuts.

[MayBee]

Obama needs to call Harry Reid if he wants those free trade agreements to move. It's Democrats that hate them.

Although Obama has been trying to tie a jobs retraining program to the Korea Free Trade Agreement. Which no doubt means selected UAW workers would be paid to learn to install solar panels.

[NK]

Thanks Ranger-- Jake Tapper wandering off of the Legacy Media reservation! Obama is a pitiful thing-- I despise him because he is a Hard Left Alinsky POTUS; he disgusts me because he is a vain incompetent Alinsky Leftist. I said 30 months ago that the Republic will survive Obama -- I still believe that, but just barely.

[MayBee]

DoT nails it.

[henry]

Rick & NK, we have seen an uptick in IT activity in the privately held part of the economy. There seems to be more room for productivity improvement and owners will invest to the extent it helps them grow without adding jobs. Unfortunately we have to finance many of these purchases ourselves (it's software, so it doesn't cost us much to do so but I would prefer cash up front to increase our product investment).

[NK]

Hey henry-- good luck with it. Thanks to Obamanomics NO ONE will hire in the US. Start ups sell their ideas to established businesses, established business squeeze more work out of their employees or outsource overseas. That is the simple truth of the matter.

[Captain Hate]

DoT for Prez as long as Threadkiller certifies he's eligible.

I take back most of the negative things I said about Tapper. El JEFe, on top of his obvious cognitive limitations, is as lazy as a summer day is hot.

[pagar]

"The president is having meetings with his senior staff."

Everyone of which should be fired today.

[MayBee]

I fear Obama will think "doing something" about jobs means writing a jobs bill.

[centralcal]

Sounds great, DoT!

[narciso]

Ace notes this bit of civility, that Taranto spotted by that rocket surgeon, Froma Harrop:

Make no mistake: The tea party Republicans have engaged in economic terrorism against the United States--threatening to blow up the economy if they don't get what they want. And like the al-Qaida bombers, what they want is delusional: the dream of restoring some fantasy caliphate. . . . Americans are not supposed to negotiate with terrorists, but that's what Obama has been doing. . . . That the Republican leadership couldn't control a small group of ignoramuses in its ranks has brought disgrace on their party. But oddly, Obama's passivity made it hard for responsible Republicans to control their destructive children. The GOP extremists would ask Obama for his firstborn, and he'd say, 'OK.' So they think, why not ask for his second-born, to which he responds, 'Let's talk.' "--Froma Harrop syndicated column, Aug. 2

[Captain Hate]

I fear Obama will think "doing something" about jobs means writing a jobs bill.

Why would you fear it? It would have to pass the House where Repubs have been fielding irate calls from Tea Partiers. To paraphrase Biden: Four letters D O A. What you should fear is a Jobs Czar which Boehner would be on the hook to shoot down.

[MayBee]

Good point, CH.

[Rick Ballard]

"owners will invest to the extent it helps them grow without adding jobs."

Henry,

That's very understandable but is that activity enough to offset loss of sales to the public sector? It's not just Cisco scheduling layoffs and the weakness in finance isn't going to be particularly helpful to IT either.

I'm glad to hear that your shop is in good shape.

[maryrose]

Kudos to Tapper for finally calling"bull-hockey" on this false meme of Obama creating jobs. If he takes the credit in 2009 then he has to take the blame in 2011.The answer Carney should honestly give is that Obama is stopping job growth with Obamacare, no drilling permits,the NLRB and spending time with the head of the AFL-CIO, his fundraiser,he needed to see his Chicago homeboys, and his birthday party and trip to the Vineyard. Obama doesn't care about jobs, he cares about re-election which to hear Vandehei describe it looks like an uphill battle. Matthews is totally frustrated on MSNBC and feels like that's it-he won't be re-elected.

[henry]

Rick, we don't chase gov $, so I have no sense of what that sector is like. Weakness in finance is trouble for the big IT firms.

[Captain Hate]

Maybee in addition there's no evidence that the Jugeared Fellow's 3,000 member staff is capable of doing anything other than campaigning and never offering a discouraging word.

[MayBee]

CH- don't you wonder if there is even one person in the room saying something like, "Well we could relax the drilling moratorium...."

[Captain Hate]

Maybee, I've posed that before but Rick has shot it down by stating that (iirc) Wookie and Jar Jar Binks would view that verrrrrrry negatively.

[macphisto]

"I actually stopped shopping in some because of the things they carried."

i complained at the Tower Records store in San Jose, or Campbell or wherever the hell it was. the guy behind the counter didn't particularly like it when i pointed out that since Tower was emerging from bankruptcy at that time it wasn't too clever for them to alienate 52% of their potential customer base.

[Captain Hate]

Actually in the Ballard vernacular it would be ValJar Binks.

Memory; it comes and goes with age.

[Janet]

Trying to find news on the FLOTUS. Went to HuffPo & noticed the MO page says...
Michelle Obama
Some News Is So Big It Needs Its Own Page

LOL!!

[pagar]

"never offering a discouraging word."

The only person that is not being offered a discouraging word is Obama. As for the rest of us-- Setting there watch your stocks go down sharply, while reading how much a bunch of clowns paid to sing Happy Birthday to the one who caused it is very discouraging IMO.

[NK]

MayBee-- I don't think that ever comes up. The Obama crew that matters is tiny at this point-- Valerie Jarrett who is a Maoist, David Plouffe who is a buffoonish yes man. That's it for "policy" -- so no one brings up reality there. Obama talks with carney so poor Carney (who I admit I like as a man)has something to tell the world, he talks to Biden so Biden can talk with Dem Congress critters, and he talks with Bill Daley so Daley has something to say to -- hate to put it this way -- but Whitey businessman. The rest is re-election, Obama simply never hears anything he doesn't want to hear.

[Rick Ballard]

It ain't just JarJar and the Wookie. There's some real donation money to be had for propping oil prices by limiting exploration, aside from the fact that BOzo believes in his heart of darkness that we need to pay $8 a gallon in order to drive us from those horrid, awful suburbs into nice, comfy 700 sq ft apartments (designed in the Corbusier school, naturellement) in the center of one of the great Blue Urban Cesspools where we can be organized into collectives to better serve man.

As a main course, I would imagine.