Out With The Old, In With The Older

The omnibus spending bill dies, the dreaded Bush tax cuts live.

Not a bad starting point for the new Congress.

Comments

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

And on the 237th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party.

[Pops]

In the spirit of bi-partisan compromise, the new Republican Congress should reached across the aisle and join with their liberl colleagues to make the Pelosi/Reid/Obama (Bush) tax cuts permanent.

Even Bill Clinton endorsed them over the evil Clinton tax rates - how could this not be seen as an immense heart felt bi-partisan reaching out by the Republicans??

[bgates]

237th? That would mean it was in 1773, and all educated people know basically nothing happened in American history before 1776. Speaking of which, the SF Chronicle has a story headlined Food prices rise sharply - and there's more to come:
Grocery prices grew by more than 1 1/2 times the overall rate of inflation this year, outpaced only by costs of transportation and medical care, according to numbers released Wednesday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Stupid Sarah Palin!

[Pops]

I have been giving serious thought to starting a new foundation for a group that is normally pillored in Washington and in the media but has no spokesperson.

It seems like every Group in Washington has an interest group....Even slugs and toads have the 'environmentalists'.

But why do we never see a spokesmen for THE RICH?? The media talks about the rich all the time, but never invite a rich spokesperson to defend the group. Any time they talk about gays, Hispanic, illegal aliens, drug users, they all have groups that are invited on to defend them.

I think we need a 'THE RICH' foundation and website, etc. to defend them and its not hard to defend them against these idiots.

Imagine if when Barney Frank or any other talking idiot comes on, we would now have the opposing view of THE RICH to tell Barney he doesn't deserve our money because he spends it on crap, he's extremely wasteful, to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars just in Healthcare waste and fraud.

THE RICH could get in their face and make them defend their absolute waste of their hard earned money, and not be a silent object ro attack and malign.

I even looked, and it appears WWW.THERICH.COM is available.

Imagine sending press releases to all the media when they report "President Obama today called for higher taxes on the rich", "and THE RICH responded in a press release moments ago......"

Of course, if only I were rich, I could afford to do all that....time to go to work....Merry Christmas..Pops

[squaredance]

Stupid Palin indeed. And arrogant too.

Anyone who is anyone knows that it takes at least a Wharton MBA to understand something so subtle, so intricate and so very, very nuanced as the price of food. I mean it is "intertwined with many "complex factors, dislogs and phenomena".

Who do these kulaks hussies think they are, anyway, what with their anecdotal, of the cuff, "analysis" of something so beyond them. I mean, they think that merely "feeding their families", as they call it, gives them not only some sort of insight but they actually gives them the right to open their silly yaps.

What cheek they have. What next? Goodness, will we have to listen to some idiotic middle class metaphors about the nation "balancing its check book" or something?

People like Palin need to let the experts handle this sort of stuff. Just because she has to pay more money for food does not mean that there is inflation. Just ask Krugman.

[squaredance]

dislogs= dialogs
(actually, maybe "dislogs" is better, gven the context.

[Cecil Turner]

This was about as well as we were going to do on these two bills. It's the others that make me nervous. They ought to pass the continuing resolution and GO HOME. One can only hope.

On the self-parody watch (HT: Insty) we have Fareed Zakaria telling us if the American people would just stop consuming so much, we'd all be much better off. But somehow that means some up-front spending for a quick stimulus is a good thing. Clueless.

[DebinNC]

NRO has a piece today about McConnell getting the Republican porkers to drop their support for the Omni monster, but I haven't seen an explanation of why he/they all fell in line yesterday. Was it Coburn's website listing all the earmarks? DeMint's threat to read them aloud? The tea partiers burning up the phone lines? Something else? Thad Cochran and Lisa Porkowski wouldn't give up their goodies unless they felt they had to. What compelled them?

[Janet]

That Zakaria video is perfect for showing the attitude of the elites. If only all of "us" would do what he says, then life would be good as defined by him. What does he consume? What is "too much"? Am I allowed to evaluate HIS life & his choices?

...and do I get any accrued credit for having done without & saved at some points in my life, so that I can have things now? We lived without air conditioning for years...do I get a "green credit" for that? How can these people know our lives & choices?

[Jane (sit on the couch or save your country)]

It really was quite a day for the tea party. We should be proud.

[Pagar]

"Just ask Krugman."

IMO, that has been one of the many reasons for the mess we're in now. Instead of asking people that have demonstrated the ability to use common sense, we have asked Krugman, Kerry, Ted Kennedy, John Murtha, Barney Franks, and thousands like them to guide the
nation. What a disaster.

We have to get leaders with common sense into power.

[centralcal]

It truly is a good morning, Jane. I am hoping that the Republicans can now work to defeat the Dream Act.

[Rick Ballard]

"The tea partiers burning up the phone lines?"

Yep. It was Jane, Jim Ryan, Janet and Rocco. The Dead Meat Dems in the Senate wake up screaming at 2:30 every morning from nightmare visions of a growing horde of honest, decent people placing a check against their names. They're joined at work by shaking and shuddering RINOs, wondering for whom the bell will next toll.

[Janet]

Remember our cool President reading Zakaria's book too. 'The Post-American World'

I got robo-calls yesterday from some of my Christian groups (can't remember who??? got 2 of them...think Focus on the Family, & the Family Research Council...not sure though) telling me to call my Senators.

[DebinNC]

A Freeper claimed, without citing a source, that the House Reps were withholding support for the tax deal until Reid pulled Omni-Pork. I wish that were true, and Boehner et al were that savvy. Sadly, I doubt it.

And I'm sure Senate Republicans will be getting kudos from Fareed today, now that they've saved the gov so much money.

[Old Lurker]

CC it is not truly a good day until these crooks go home.

[centralcal]

Byron York has a column up with an interesting breakdown of 2011 earmark requests by Dems and Reps. Looks like, in the House at least, the Reps have gotten the message. Only 4 had the nerve to keep on earmarking.

Dems are earmark junkies, but GOP goes straight

[centralcal]

Oh, I agree with you OL - but hey, at least it wasn't as gloomy this morning as yesterday when $1.2 trillion was hanging over all of our heads.

DebinNC - over at The Spectator a short blog by the Prowler indicates that maybe something more "Pelosi-like" was going on in the Republican camp.

[Janet]

Here is a Virginia success story - Prince William County.

Crack down on illegal immigration, cut taxes, shrink government. They turned down fed money too.

[Janet]

Here is MO's Christmas dress, a vintage one...I just noticed her earrings match the Christmas tree decorations!

[Jim Ryan]

Robert Hurt, the new VA-5 Cong, is throwing a little Christmas party for his local volunteers this weekend, just to thank them. I've chatted with him quite a few times and he vaguely knows my name and face, so I've got an ear. Anyone have any messages or questions for the new Congressman which might be good to convey?

[Cecil Turner]

First thing I can recall seeing her in that I actually like.

[I just commented on a dress . . . aaaarrrrgggghhh!]

[centralcal]

Janet: yesterday at the PuffHo Style section I saw that claim about Flotus's dress being "vintage." Really? Really? A vintage dress for someone that tall and that body shape was just hanging around a designer shop waiting to be purchased? What am I missing in the "vintage" description. Maybe it doesn't mean what I think it means. Where is Clarice? She always sets me straight. lol.

[Jim Ryan]

Janet, did you photoshop that? She looks well-dressed.

[Rob Crawford]

Why should anyone -- let alone I -- care what Fareed Zakaria thinks? Because he's managed to get a book published? Because he's printed in newspapers?

[MarkO]

Fareed Zakaria? Let's start by consuming less of his horsesh*t.

[Janet]

Hah, no, I don't know how to photoshop. The dress looks nice though.

[Rick Ballard]

It's certainly the nicest black sleeveless Kwanzaa dress I've ever seen. The First Lady remains as stunning as ever.

[anduril]

Richard Epstein articulates the factor that I've always thought could ease the way for the SCOTUS to rule against Obamacare:

[T]he District Court rejected the view that the individual mandate was a necessary and proper offset to the Congressional decision to require all insurers to take customers without regard to their preexisting conditions. In the government's view, the two issues are the opposite side of the same coin. If the system is going to give some individuals a subsidy, it must find a way to tax someone else to provide that subsidy. Hence the individual mandate. . . .

[But] there is no clear rule that says if X group is entitled to the subsidy, we can somehow identify the Y group that is duty bound to pay it. . . . it is hard to explain why the individual mandate has to be the flip side of the subsidy when general taxes are still available.

As a political matter, however, the . . . only way to get general revenues for this proposal is to get the next Congress to go along, which will not happen now that there is a Republican House of Representatives. So a bill that is already in hock is now ruinously so, which will only increase the political unease.

IOW, the SCOTUS can tell Congress, look, you can have National Health Care any time you vote for it, but you have to do it constitutionally. Just tax the people to fund it. Easy.

The problem, of course, is the Dems have been trying to pretend that Obamacare isn't National Health Care. So the SCOTUS doesn't have to rule against National Health but gets to stand on principle anyway, with a pretty strong argument.

Now, here's another interesting point.

I pasted in Epstein's words from the WSJ's Notable and Quotable, from behind their subscriber curtain, in a physical sense. OTOH, I could have copied and pasted from Epstein's full article at ricochet.com (which is worth reading in its entirety). I suppose the WSJ is entitled to take free internet content and place it behind their subscriber curtain while pointing the non-subscriber to the source (in a minimalist kinda way, without an actual link), but for some reason that irks me.

[anduril]

Poop. My words resume at: IOW...

[Clarice]

I agree Cecil--It's nice looking. CC, no idea what they mean by vintage..maybe i do remember a comedy shtick where Tracy Ullman played a character whose wedding dress was something her grandmother had been buried in but I don't think that's what they mean.

[squaredance]

Right now the big battle is START.

Those of you who call up "pur representatives" need to burn the phone lines. START is nothing more than Obama helping out our enemies. IT severely weaken us as a power.

[Clarice]

I think DREAM is perhaps an even bigger issue.

[Captain Hate]

I agree with Clarice; the DREAM nightmare is the most toxic thing this lame-duck bunch has come up with. Having to worry about idiots like McCain and Grahamnesty should keep anybody from breathing easily.

[centralcal]

I, too, am far more worried about the DREAM Act.

I think Michelle looks very nice in the dress and it flatters her, unlike most of the clothing she selects. Maybe she should stick with "vintage." (however, one defines it ;)

[centralcal]

Well . . . good old NY Post has the details on the vintage dress and, apparently, Michelle plans on wearing more vintage clothing in the future.

At least, the vintage designers are dead or retired, so she can't send their businesses into bankruptcy. snort.

[anduril]

Alan Blinder has a somewhat interesting article in the WSJ, from a lefty perspective: Our Dickensian Economy--Since 1978, productivity in the nonfarm business sector is up 86% but real compensation per hour is up just 37%. Is that fair? There are serious problems with the article as a whole, but he makes one point that was new to me:

• Taxes. We often hear that the top 1% of income-tax payers pay about 40% of all the income taxes. Sounds like Robin Hood is on the job. But that's just income taxes. Did you know that the payroll tax (the people's tax) now brings in about 96% as much revenue as the personal income tax (the rich man's tax)? As recently as 2000, it brought in just 65% as much. Yes, taxpaying has been radically democratized. Yet the drumbeat from the right continues: We must remove the oppressive yoke of taxation from the backs of the haves, and put it on the backs of the . . . Well, they usually don't finish the sentence. But someone must pay the bills.

Now, you might reply that that's all as it should be, and perhaps it is, but to me it points up problems in how we fund government programs. Or, if not exactly problems in how we do it, then problems in how we explain what we do.

[Captain Hate]

Yes allow me to join with other gracious JOMers in complimenting Michelle's appearance in that picture.

Btw, this could be the best New Year in maybe 50 years as we will finally have a Kennedy-free Congress as Patches drunkenly lurches off to whatever intellectual challenges await his substance-addled mind. Or have I missed one of the vermin lurking in some Kennedy-centric district. Although Scott Brown seems to have been a victim of osmosis. Larry King finally being off the airwaves is this year's gift.

[Threadkiller]

For some reason this made headlines and then was whisked to the back burner before anybody could read it. Must be about them pushing the Dream Act through.

">http://ww.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/dec/15/border-patrol-agent-killed-in-southern-arizona/"> Border Patrol Agent Killed.

[Jane (sit on the couch or save your country)]

I, too, am far more worried about the DREAM Act.

WEll yeah, cause omnibus has been defeated. SO let's get busy.

[Jane (sit on the couch or save your country)]

Wayyy OT:

I think I have decided my next laptop will be a MAC. How do I decide which one is best?

[NK]

CaptH, Cecil jane etal, MichelleO is well dressed for the event,and it's the right and fair thing to publicly compliment her.

It's also the right and fair thing to compliment Mitch McConnell and McCain for killing the omnipork. And yes to rejoice at the House in the final action of Pelosi as Speaker voting overwhelmingly to not raise the people's taxes on the 237th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. Now the hard part --cut the effin' spending. Righties have to keep watching the DC imperialist spenders, the Dems, BarryO, Murkowski, Cochrane et al, and support the honest cutters, Ryan and yes McCain. The republic is still in grave debt peril.

[Old Lurker]

"I think I have decided my next laptop will be a MAC. How do I decide which one is best?"

Do what I do Jane...ask a kid.

[Ignatz]

--Yet the drumbeat from the right continues: We must remove the oppressive yoke of taxation from the backs of the haves, and put it on the backs of the . .--

Who says that? The right says we should remove the oppressive yoke of taxation from everyone. The problem is they have not, until now, been serious about removing the attendant oppressive spending. They are about to begin their test.
Does Blinder attempt to determine why payroll taxes are rising as a proportion of all taxes? Could it be that there are more middle class taxpayers vs rich ones. Could the rising payroll taxes be the reason. The ever growing size of SS? Is medicare included? And if he objects to the outsized growth of payroll funded taxes but not the payroll funded programs is he proposing that they be funded from general revenues, which of course would seem to me break the sacred social contract the people have with their government "pension plan"?
Sounds to me like he is complaining about something liberals love; the growth of entitlements.

[DrJ]

How do I decide which one is best?

Jane, what do you want to use it for? There are tradeoff to them all in terms of size, power, battery life and cost.

For example, do you want one that you can throw in your purse? In that case small size and light weight are the most important.

Or instead will you use it as a desktop replacement, where you will take it from one place to another in a car, plug it into the wall, and not move it again until you go home?

Is there anything special you want to do with it?

[bgates]

Jim, I remember hearing a plan for the House to vote on the budget piecemeal and I thought it was wonderful. Start early in the year with big-ticket items that are broadly popular and legitimate functions of the government (that list is: defense), and just keep on going down the line of things we want to spend money on. No more of this shutting down "the government" nonsense; just send the President the bill to fund the FBI before even talking about one to fund the NEA, and see if he wants to hold the hostage rescuers hostage.

[NK]

bgates-- yes ryan has talked about appropriating that way. fitst of all it is honest and transparent and good government. second, it focuses everyone on SPENDING in a way that CUTTING spending will actually be popular with voters. Then after all that cutting is done, the people will have to realize what is left is spending on them-- medicare, medicaid, etc. That's when we'll find out if we will solve the debt bomb, or wind up like the european PIIGs.

[caro]

Jane,this info will help.

[Clarice]

The best thing about doing it piecemeal is that every item will be individually debated; Congress wont be presented at the 11th hour with a larded up 2,000 pp. take it or leave it piece of pork belly.

[Ignatz]

Special for Janet.
Federal bank inspectors tell a privately owned Oklahoma bank to remove crosses, bible verses and signs saying Merry Christmas.

[JM Hanes]

Jane:

It mostly depends on how much work you do with photos & graphics. If you use Photoshop or do a lot of gaming or sophisticated video (i.e. more than YouTube), you need a souped up graphics card, as much memory as your computer will take, and a big, fast, hard drive (both to run the graphics application and to store the stuff you're working on).

That's all pretty expensive stuff that you really don't need if you're mostly dealing with jpeg photos or blogging. For that, you can organize and spruce up your images with iPhoto (which comes with Mac OS) or get Photoshop Elements, (a stripped down, affordable version of P'Shop for laymen), if you want to step up a notch, without needing more power etc.

You'd probably be perfectly happy with an iMac, vs a MacPro. The most portable, light weight, Mac is an iPad, but you have to type on a "virtual" keyboard which takes up real estate on your screen when you want to use it, and which will slow you down and make it harder to avoid typing errors. That might not be as big a concern if you work on a desktop Mac most of the time, but if you'd rather have just one computer you can use at home & on the road, I'd go with an iMac laptop.

[Clarice]

Morning, jmh.

[glasater]

The 15" MacBook pro is a real gem. And you can access Windows stuff with it:)

[Jane (sit on the couch or save your country)]

Jane, what do you want to use it for?

I want to be able to upload my podcast, play some silly games and hang out on line. I want to take it when I travel. I thought I would get an IPAD but someone said I can't upload my podcasts on it. And if the difference in price is enormous I'll give up the games.

(You guys are great)

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Thad Cochran and Lisa Porkowski wouldn't give up their goodies unless they felt they had to. What compelled them?

Visions of torches and pitchforks.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Jane, look seriously at a MacBook Air. Very light, amazingly enough it's pleasant to type on, somewhat more shock-robust because it doesn't have a disk drive to bounce, and pretty cheap.

[Rob Crawford]

I dunno about "cheap" on the Air, Charlie, but I'll believe it's a joy to use. Work just issued me a PC laptop with a solid-state drive and WOW, what a difference. Even running XP (I know) and all their required add-on software, it's noticeably faster than my MacBook Pro.

[(Another) Barbara]

I'm late to the party and apparently am the only one wearing a black arm band and a sour face. With the passage of the tax deal, Obama got himself re-elected in 2012 -- sittin' in his briar patch wearing an ear-to-ear grin right now, betcha. Yes, the Tea Party can be proud, Jane, because we did our noble best, but the Republicans showed they understood none of it. I have no wish to argue or to try to dampen the happiness here, but I just want a record somewhere of what I've been saying so I can brag about my prognostications later, through my tears of anguish. BO's numbers will start to rise now and he will win handily in '12.

[Frau Leseratte]

Charlie! Have you written anything about the net neutrality vote coming up on the twenty-first? I've driven my non-teckie self crazy trying to get behind the headlines. All I know is that if the government wants to control something, it is usually detrimental.

[Rob Crawford]

BO's numbers will start to rise now and he will win handily in '12.

So you're going to stop working against him and vote for him?

No?

So why do you assume everyone else will?

[Pagar]

"Federal bank inspectors tell a privately owned Oklahoma bank to "

Every single one of the inspectors involved should be fired immediately (Today). Their records should be marked not suitable for employment at any level of American government. If they are carrying out any mandate from higher headquarters than the whole outfit needs to be closed down.

This is insane.

[DrJ]

Jane,

What you describe does not really need much computer horsepower at all. I can't speak to the iPad, but any other laptop in the Apple line would do what you want.

It then comes down to how much weight you can tolerate, how much battery life you need, and how big a screen you want. Many of these work against one another.

I've used a laptop with a 12" screen and like the size a lot. So believe it or not I'd agree with Charlie to look at the new MacBook Airs, and look particularly at the smaller one.

It would be worth your time, I think, to go to an Apple store and get a sense for sizes, hefts and prices.

[Frau Leseratte]

(Another)Barbara - I hope your fears do not materialize. There is the distinct possibility that the carp will be cut from the bill by the new guard in the House. Will BO fight for the funding of ethanol subsidies?

[cathyf]

a plan for the House to vote on the budget piecemeal

The point that needs to be made is that the only reason to vote on the budget as one giant bill is to allow pork to happen. If you have little bills, then you can only put pork from a handful of congresscritters in each individual one, and the 400 CCs who don't have pork in that bill will vote to amend it out, and then nobody gets their pork. The reason you need a one-bill-for-everything format is so that the one bill has everybody's pork in it, so that no CC can vote against everybody else's pork without also voting against his/her own.

[Thomas Collins]

A big thank you to Jane and the other JOM Tea Party activists whose efforts have resulted not only in the election of many responsible fiscal and spending policy candidates at the federal, state and local levels, but also I believe were key to croaking the Omnibus Porkulus Spending Bill.

[Janet]

Special for Janet.
Federal bank inspectors tell a privately owned Oklahoma bank to remove crosses, bible verses and signs saying Merry Christmas.

Oh Ignatz, how sad. I don't know what to say anymore...

[Rob Crawford]

Federal bank inspectors tell a privately owned Oklahoma bank to remove crosses, bible verses and signs saying Merry Christmas.

Why weren't these "inspectors" tarred and feathered?

[JM Hanes]

The MacBook Air is certainly seductive, but they eliminated the CD/DVD slot in order to beef up the batteries. You have to buy -- and lug around -- a separate peripheral if you want to play a DVD or a game that you can't download or stream, or install software from a disk. Even with everything they've eliminated, it looks like it's still got a shorter battery life than their standard laptops. caro's link has the comparisons.

To clarify my comments above, the iMac laptop is actually called the "MacBook" (which I was comparing to the "MacBook Pro").

Hi, Clarice!

[DrJ]

What JMH says is right. However, I find I don't use a CD/DVD drive much at all, so this is no limitation for me. The short battery life can be an issue -- about 3 hours, IIRC.

It's all about the tradeoffs you can live with. Especially for laptops.

[squaredance]

Well if Obama could win because of something so lame as this tax cut deal then it would seem that ANY bit of theater would do to save him. This is doubtful.

My forecast: If he runs at all, it will be a disaster for him.

I just do not see him winning at all.

It is up to the GOP (and the rest of us) to educate the people.

[Jane (sit on the couch or save your country)]

I don't need a CD - cause I have enough other computers around that have them. The power cord on my HP went last week so I'm using my $300 Acer which I travel with and it's fine.

The problem is, something as simple as uploading my radio podcast is too hard for me on my PC and someone said it would be easy on a MAc. I hate hitting dead ends. (BTW Daddy, last week's podcast is up)

I will look at the MAC Air. Romneycare just foisted an unexpected $2200 bill on me today, so there will be a small delay.

Thanks everyone.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Sehr Geehrte Frau, I had a piece on 7 December (and see also Pat Richardson's piece on the 8th, plus I'm doing something more with the UN's (!!) entry into the "we should make these people be responsible speakers" thing as soon as I can get to it.

[JM Hanes]

Barbara:

I think playing the tax cut extension as a major win will be problematic for Obama. He clearly caved on on "tax cuts for the rich" which makes it harder for Dems to play the class warfare card in '12. He also going to have to buy off Wall St. & Big Business big time, instead of demonizing them as the bad guys if he expects to get them back on board, but who else can he claim the Republicans are colluding with if the economy doesn't pick up? If things do improve, the Republicans will have a great time saying I-told-you so. The more he compromises with Republicans, the unhappier his own base is going to be, which could widen the enthusiasm gap by quite a bit. In some ways, the tax cut issue was actually a win/win proposition for Republicans this time around.

I believe Boehner is going to be a much more effective Speaker than his predecessors. Carving up omnibus legislation into discreet bills as he's proposing could change the financial ball game completely. Mitch McConnell already looks more like the Majority Leader than Harry Reid does, and I think the Boehner/McConnell duo may end up making an unusually good team.

What I worry about is whether any of the potential GOP candidates will prove credible and persuasive on the foreign policy front. Those issues may not be at the top of the list of voters' concerns, but that's partly because no one has been making a serious issue of Obama's dangerously incompetent bungling.

[DrJ]

The problem is, something as simple as uploading my radio podcast is too hard for me on my PC

What's the problem? This should be pretty easy on any computer.

[Rick Ballard]

squaredance,

I'm with JMH - a poorly vetted populist or an oligarch retread could be beaten by the commie. That would be especially true if the economy were to actually improve (as unlikely as that seems today).

[Charlie (Colorado)]

The short version on the net neutrality this is this: there are two kinds of "net neutrality" being bandied about.

Net neutrality of the first kind means that the people who deliver your packets can't look inside the packets and decide, say that since the packets came from netflix and I'm Comcast, I won't deliver them as fast, or as often, or as reliably. Preserving that kind of neutrality strikes me as a Good Thing.

The one that the current administration's people keep talking about and then denying they mean it, is forcing "net fairness", which means regulating content and how it's delivered. This would be, I think, a Bad Thing.

The problem with the 21 December vote is that they actually haven't published what they intend to vote on, but they carefully delayed it so that it's as difficult as possible for Congress to act on the rule-making in a timely manner. This makes me suspicious.

[Cecil Turner]

. . . I'm using my $300 Acer which I travel with and it's fine.

I've got (a little) one of those too, and I love it for travel.

[Pagar]

"Will BO fight for the funding of ethanol subsidies?"
Of course he will. The first primary is in Iowa.

[Chubby]

It's a pretty dress and being vintage, harks back to a time before the post modernists got control of the women's fashion industry. I'm glad she didn't try to enhance the dress with an ammo belt.

[Captain Hate]

What I worry about is whether any of the potential GOP candidates will prove credible and persuasive on the foreign policy front.

I'm pretty confident that any GOP candidate can sound smarter in that area than BOzo. Thanks to the efforts of the Tea Party people, the GOP finds itself in a good position to outflank the MFM if it continues to be shills for the donkeycrats. Quite frankly, the Repubs have the opportunity to set the terms of encounters from the ratings starved alphabet networks if they can bypass the oligarchs in the Duke Bros Inc that unfortunately haven't been forceably removed from party central. This will call for the geldings to regenerate that which has been snipped, most of which will be impossible. But Repubs shouldn't worry about looking "confrontational" if faced with a barrage of "gotcha" type questions and pushing back by insisting on making a coherent point responsive to a respectful and valid question.

[Clarice]

I hope with the old includes firing Napolitano. An internal investigation shows that people were able to smuggle bombs and weapons on to planes thru the ridiculous HSA screen everyone screenings.

And what d we get from her today? A speech saying she's going to review HSA policies ti make sure they don't contribute to global warming. Ugly and stupid is no way to go thru life.

[cathyf]

However, I find I don't use a CD/DVD drive much at all, so this is no limitation for me.

I manage a dozen circa 2006 teacher macbooks, and the cd drives on those tend to go kaput. I've gone to install software, and found the drive broken, and asked when it broke, and had the teacher say that they had no idea that it was broken and no idea the last time that they tried to use it. A cd drive is just dead weight if you don't actually use it!

If you have another mac with a cd drive, you can slave it on to a cd-less mac pretty simply. Not sure how to do that with a PC -- but if you already have a cd-less netbook, an external cd drive that you can plug in to either one is a handy thing to have.

[Pagar]

DHS to Begin battling global Warming.

DHS to devote their efforts to promoting the world's largest scam.

[DrJ]

cathyf,

Agreed. My laptop does not have a DVD drive, nor a touchpad, and I thought I'd miss them. I don't at all, and transfer most things over the network. And I've grown rather fond of the trackpoint.

I do have a portable DVD drive that runs off dual USB ports (no line cord!) that I have used once in a while. Enough to justify its modest price, but that too is not really necessary.

But going back to the original issue: it sounds like some simple ftp/ssh software would do the trick to eliminate the stated problem. Why spend $1K on hardware when $40 software fixes it? There probably is free stuff available too.

[Porchlight]

and, apparently, Michelle plans on wearing more vintage clothing in the future.

Meh. I've been wearing vintage clothing since Michelle was at Princeton, and she's older than I am.

Sounds like the clothing changes will be MOO's equivalent of "moving to the center." I bet we'll see more conventional Laura Bush-style suits in her future, too.

[Susanne in Ohio]

BO's numbers will start to rise now and he will win handily in '12.

Barbara,
I think his chances in 2012 depend a lot on what the Republicans in Congress do in the next two years. If they don't cut spending, gut Obamacare, and live up to the pledges they have made, then I think he has a pretty good chance to be re-elected. BUT, I think the voters will also conclude that divided government is their best bet, and give the GOP a majority in the Senate, and maybe an increased majority in the House.
I'm a bit more optimistic than I have been (fingers crossed for the votes to come this weekend).

[Jane (get off the couch - come save the country)]

What's the problem? This should be pretty easy on any computer.

I can't squeeze it into a size that works. I can't edit it (take out the commercials) which I may not be able to do as well. And uploading it in pieces gives me agita.

[DrJ]

Jane,

Try WinSCP to do your file transfers. It is free and quite good -- I've used it for years. I think that should take care of your uploading issues.

The current beta version does not work for me; use the previous version (4.2.9).

[DrJ]

Jane,

How big is a typical file? I can't help you with video editing -- like Sgt. Schulz, I know nothing!

[centralcal]

Porch: Also, besides vintage clothing, she's down-scaling her vacation plane, too. Michelle and the girls leave tomorrow for Hawaii (aloha, Barrack, see ya later) and her spokeswoman made it known that she will use a smaller, more efficient plane.

[Jane (get off the couch - come save the country)]

Barbara,

We need to inject you with a little optimism girl. Sheesh. It will be pretty hard for barry to say the tax cuts worked so now I'm raising your taxes. I agree that a republican house risks the Gingrich effect, but I don't want to lose it completely to make sure Barry loses. Now I may change my mind on that but meanwhile I am celebrating the failure of the omnibus,

[Porchlight]

Interesting, centralcal.

In a way I wish she hadn't gotten the message. It would be sad to see the last of the b00b belts. ;)

Although I suppose someone is making her do this stuff against her royal will, and the reforms will be short-lived.

[Clarice]

I think her internals must be really bad if she's taking a smaller plane and toning down the fashion forward ill fitting garbage.

Her regular "stylist" Ikram, shown here, must be under the bus.
http://www.theobamafile.com/_images/IkramGoldman.jpg

[Porchlight]

Her regular "stylist" Ikram, shown here

Well, that explains a lot. What a disaster.

[Clarice]

You've got it.porch.

[Janet]

Okay, I always say I have no fashion high ground...but it looks like I'm higher than THIS woman!

[Rick Ballard]

Janet,

That bag lady was sure lucky to find a pair of cute shoes.

[Clarice]

Drudge report says Pelosi skipped the tax vote and refused to show up for the signing ceremony..that should tell you what the left thinks of it.

Rick. interestingly Ikram seems to be making lots of money off her connection with Michelle;the designers MO wears are all going bankrupt and it is impossible for me to see how the Obamas can afford what MO is spending day after day to look mostly hideous. Do you see where I'm heading?

[Janet]

I should have noted that the picture is of Ikram, MO's "stylist" from Clarice's link. Rick thinks it is some random bag lady! Ha!

Here is a little more info -

"That is one way Ikram has won the loyalty of high-profile Chicago women such as White House social secretary Desirée Rogers; Mellody Hobson, president of Ariel Investments; Linda Johnson Rice of the Ebony publishing empire; and Valerie Jarrett, a top aide to the president."

[Chubby]

Janet 4:07

That was picture exemplified postmodern women's fashion in a nutshell. The two major rules seem to be, 1) break all the rules and 2) make women look as hideously ugly as is humanly possible. Might be a 3rd rule in there as well 3) don't forget the ammo belt.