Big Talk From A Guy Named 'Barack'

From Obama's Gridiron Dinner transcript:

We noticed that some folks couldn’t make it this evening.  It’s been noted that Bob Woodward sends his regrets, which Gene Sperling predicted.  (Laughter.)  I have to admit this whole brouhaha had me a little surprised.  Who knew Gene could be so intimidating?  (Laughter.)  Or let me phrase it differently — who knew anybody named Gene could be this intimidating?  (Laughter.)

I'll open with Gene Upshaw, Hall of Fame lineman for the Oakland Raiders. More scary genes here.

NO INTIMIDATING GENES? English Bob begs to differ.

Comments

[James D.]

Wow, Zero really is a jackass, isn't he?

[Threadkiller]

http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/03/the_most_open_administration_in_history.html

[ugo]

Who started this notion that a President should be good at comedy? Can you imagine Grover Cleveland or Teddy Roosevelt or Abraham Lincoln having schtick written for them? It was embarrassing and wrong when Bush did it. The tone here is just inappropriate. And all he is doing for God's sake is reading what someone else wrote off of a teleprompter. Smacks of arrogance.

[Danube of Thought]

Try Gene Tunney.

[bgates]

Can you imagine Grover Cleveland or Teddy Roosevelt or Abraham Lincoln having schtick written for them?

A journalist covering the Lincoln-Douglas debates commented that “I could not take a real personal liking to [Lincoln], owing to an inborn weakness for which he was even then notorious and so remained during his great public career, he was inordinately fond of jokes, anecdotes, and stories.”

Having it written for him? No.

[Dave (in MA)]

I have to admit, there were some pretty good lines in that transcript. So he obviously doesn't write his own material.

[Dave (in MA)]

"Scott Brown joins Nixon Peabody law firm"

Brown's announcement, which was mentioned in the comments 2 threads back.

[Gus]

Intimidating the MEDIA is a JOKE now?

[hit and run]

Gene Gotti

[NK]

Scottie Centerfold-- will he work with my buddies in their public housing finance group?

[Jd]

There is a spin off blog of Michelles Mirror blog that is trying to tackle both the celebrity aspect of Obama and the educational problems highlighted by RSE, and is doing a good job.

http://www.deweyfromdetroit.com/2013/03/know-thy-enemy-iii-celebrity-culture.html

[Cecil Turner]

I have to admit, there were some pretty good lines in that transcript.

The only one I saw was the bit about the journos holding him accountable . . . and I'm pretty sure that was unintentional.

[NK]

CecilT-- 'accountable'? now THAT's funny...

[Threadkiller]

I felt that.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/

[I R A Darth Aggie]

There's Mean Gene Stallings, one of the Junction Boys

[Soylent Red]

Gene Simmons does not approve of this comment.

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

Neither does Gene Gene, The Dancing Machine.

[Threadkiller]

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Bullard

[narciso]

Yes, about that courageous journalism;

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/clay-waters/2012/09/15/new-york-times-sent-unpublished-columns-obama-administration-vetting

[rse]

More Common Core reforms that actually tie back to another one of those trips to Leontiev's Institute of Defectology in the USSR during the Cold War.

http://www.invisibleserfscollar.com/does-community-of-learners-sound-warm-fuzzy-and-harmless-its-not/

And, I pull in the Science Standards due to the common financing of both ideas and this CoL being how you get to the "accepted group consensus."

Back to practicing law, huh?

[Sue]

Gene Autry.

[matt]

If no one has noticed, both Hagel and Kerry had pretty much disastrous trips this past week.

Front page of the WSJ has Karzai's whoopie cushion ambush of Hagel on the Taliban, and in Egypt just about everybody was demonstrating their dislike of the good ole USA while Kerry was there.

Michael Totten has a hell of an article up on Lebanon becoming a powder keg again. Apparently the Shiites and Sunnis are crossing the border into Syria and shooting at each other and then going home. Commuter civil war, if you will.

More ominously, the tensions are building up between the big players in Lebanon. Since Totten spends much of his time Beirut, I would trust his instincts implicitly.

Meanwhile, Barry O will be in Israel for a photo op and the Iranians are laughing at him like the French knigits in Python's Holy Grail. Obama is basically going there to emphasize that the past four years of American diplomacy have been a complete waste of time.

And we're down to one carrier in the Gulf because of his sequester. No reason to be alarmed. We're in the best of hands....

[narciso]

Well the borders over there are quite fluid, matt, the Nusra Front's leader, of which little else is known, idetifies himself as from the Golan, Julani probably he was Ansar al Fatah previously.

[maryrose]

Why am I not surprised that both Hagel and Kerry are so bad at their new jobs?

[Danube of Thought iPad]

Gene Fullmer.

[Danube of Thought iPad]

Gino Marchetti.

[maryrose]

Stop sending these losers money. They hate us over there.Time to cut them loose.

[jimmyk]

Barak means lightning in Hebrew, probably something similar in Arabic. Kind of ironic in Barry's case, like "Curly" of the Three Stooges.

[hit and run]

Darth Aggie:
There's Mean Gene Stallings, one of the Junction Boys

Ahhh, yes. I grew up a block away from ol' Gene when he was an assistant with the Cowboys. I went to school with his daughter, and we were in the same class most of our years in elementary school.

Reminds me. Just got my first FB notice from someone in high school about our 25th reunion this October.

[BB Key]

Gene Banks
(In honor of the ACC Tournament this week)

[hit and run]

Eugene Debs

[matt]

There are no "guys" named Barack, period. Baracks are either dashiki clad, Israeli, or girly men.

[narciso]

That's one translation, the other is 'Blessed', yes both Hagel and Kerry's debut, were 'unexpectedly' bad.

[Neo]

What do you think of Obama pardoning the sequester and sending it to Portugal?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gXOV_XWJck#!

[Jim Eagle]

Since it was transcribed from the audio, how come he didn't mean Jeans, like in Mom Jeans?

[Porchlight]

Gene Hackman.

[jimmyk]

That's one translation, the other is 'Blessed'

True, that works too, in the sense of someone like Chance the Gardner who has no business being where he is, no clue of how to do the job, and somehow keeps getting elected.

[Jim Eagle]

Sue,

Gene Autry's guitar playing "Back in the Saddle Again" is meaner than Sperling.

[narciso]

Much as with Fidel, who translates as 'Faithful',
names can be deceiving.

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

In an ocean which features, North and South Korea, China, the Phillipines, Taiwan, the South China Sea, Indonesia, Taiwan, various strategic choke points, etc, our Pacific big cheese in the Navy is most worried about climate change.
Feel safer?

[henry]

If you had to run a fleet on biofuels, you'd worry about it too Ig.

[Danube of Thought iPad]

Eugene The Hitting Machine Lockhart.

[hit and run]

BB Key:
(In honor of the ACC Tournament this week)

And in honor of the ACC, Frank Beamer does the Harlem Shake.

Whatever that is.

[Rob Crawford]

Does this make me a bad person? I saw the headline "How Ashley Judd can Win (KY Senate seat)" and thought, "well, maybe. But I doubt any mere mortal could do that to an entire state without severe jaw cramps."

[Rob Crawford]

Having it written for him? No.

Lincoln was bright, and his own man. Obama is dumb, and a puppet.

[hit and run]

Ig:
our Pacific big cheese in the Navy is most worried about climate change.

Admiral Locklear: "“You have the real potential here in the not-too-distant future of nations displaced by rising sea level."

Soooooo, we won't look back to when Obama secured the Dem nomination in 2008 as the moment we slowed the rise of the oceans after all.

And apart from the sequester, maybe this explains deploying fewer ships: decreased displacement.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Rob-

I was thinking blisters, but you might be more exact.

[Captain Hate]

Ace has a post up about Bobby Jindal's remarks at the Gridiron. Jindal was RG3 and the JEF Brandon Weeden.

[Icebergs, ahoy.]

The Swabbie is following orders from someone who hasn't even read the science. Nothing has happened to sea level rise rate recently, except perhaps a very slight slowing in the last coupla years.
=========

[Melinda Romanoff]

kim-

As any good bureaucrat will tell you, if your funding source says it's "Climate Change" week, you better celebrate "Climate Change" week to stay funded. So, I'd be willing to hold off on this, especially given the level of un-refitting going on.

[BB Key]

Bishop Gene Robinson

[Captain Hate]

Here's a nice Jindal sample: I see Eric Holder is with us tonight. I actually heard a rumor that due to sequestration, the attorney general can only afford to ship a couple hundred illegal guns across the border this year.

[Rob Crawford]

CH -- Where's Holder getting those guns?! From what I've seen there's not a one left on the market...

[Clarice]

I thought baraka was blessing in Hebrew.(Just about the same, too, in Arabic. Baruch ditto.

A little more evidence that the anti-nukies are way overstating the dangers.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-10/fukushima-radiation-proves-less-deadly-than-feared.html

[Clarice]

Jindal's very smart and his remarks were first rate, CH.

[Clarice]

Does anyone know if legal insurrection is down..I cannot get into the site to read it.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Tweet by LI says the site's down and working on a solution, as of 28 minutes ago.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Bloomberg soda ban runs into a stay.

[Melinda Romanoff]

"Arbitrary & Capricious"

[henry]

Hmm SEC pats IL on head for bond fraud. They charged the state with securities fraud for lying about pension underfunding -- no fines, penalties, or criminal charges.

[Clarice]

Thanks, Mel
Also great news about Bloomberg's stupid soda ban.

[Melinda Romanoff]

henry-

It took them less than five minutes to settle, too.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Tweet- "Judge adds Mentos to stay."

Heh.

[Gus]

Nobody has mentioned Gene Tenace.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Florida State Senate rejects Scott's planned Medicaid expansion.

WhooHoo!

[Threadkiller]

" On Mar. 8, reporter Carl Cameron on Special Report on Fox News Channel was surveying potential GOP 2016 presidential candidates. Then he raised Ted Cruz--one of the most brilliant constitutional lawyers ever to serve in the Senate--the new 41-year old Hispanic senator from Texas.

Cameron added, “But Cruz was born in Canada and is constitutionally ineligible” to run for president. While many people assume that, it’s probably not true.

Cameron was referring to the Constitution’s Article II requirement that only a “natural born citizen” can run for the White House.

No one is certain what that means. Citizenship was primarily defined by each state when the Constitution was adopted. Federal citizenship wasn't clearly established until the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified in 1868. The Constitution is not clear whether it means you must be born on U.S. soil, or instead whether you must be born a U.S. citizen."

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/03/11/Yes-Ted-Cruz-Likely-Eligible-to-be-President

"Likely"?

It is settled once again.

(H/T ORYR)

[Melinda Romanoff]

That was a State Senate Committee.

Sorry!

[Danube of Thought iPad]

"It is settled once again."

Beats me why you keep saying that. You're the only one who does.

[Danube of Thought iPad]

Good for the judge. High time somebody put a grenade in that strutting little tyrant's custard, and the people of New York haven't had the balls to do it.

[Jim Eagle]

Mel,

Scott's going to get primaried.

[MG]

Gene McCarthy - knocked out a President

[Melinda Romanoff]

JiB-

He already primed himself, with Zinsser.

[Threadkiller]

English Common Law will prevail.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Janet & JiB-

My apologies in advance, but this was too funny not to share. Now this is a T-Shirt.

From Hugh Hewitt tweet.

[Extraneus]

Soooooo, we won't look back to when Obama secured the Dem nomination in 2008 as the moment we slowed the rise of the oceans after all.

'Nuther one of them dadgum "rate of increase" deals, by cracky?

[matt]

Drudge is highlighting the SEC's indictment of the Illinois state pension fund managers for the concealment of how truly awful condition the funds are in.

I wonder if Moody's & S&P have an Indian Casino Slot Machine rating?

[Jim Rhoads f/k/a vnjagvet]

I am loving that a state court trial judge had the guts to slap down Bloomie! BTW, anyone else getting a denial of service on Legal Insurrection?

[Dave (in MA)]

Gene Rayburn. He was more intimidating than blank.

[kave]

OT(and posted on other thread also)
Just read an article at Lucianne by Doug Hagmann titled Surviving the Coming Collapse.
I am not into conspiracies however after my reading here at JOM (been luking here for years) I get to wondering.
Does this article sound likely? Should it be taken seriously? Should we cash out our 401Ks or leave the money alone.
This is a serious inquiry and I would appreciate any serious advice. Thanks in advance.

[Threadkiller]

They are probably doing some clean-up on this article, Jim.

http://legalinsurrection.com/2013/02/this-will-be-dealt-with/

What I’m finding is that there is no easy, definitive answer as to what the term “natural born citizen” was intended to mean; there is an argument that it was based on the term “natural born subject” used in British law, but that is just an argument which seems inapplicable given that we were freeing ourselves from the British and rejecting the notion of “subjects.” The more compelling argument, by far, is that the words distinguish natural born citizens from citizens to signify someone who becomes a citizen by virtue of birth, as opposed to some other process.

I found it here: http://beforeitsnews.com/obama-birthplace-controversy/2013/02/the-subject-of-natural-born-citizen-2455546.html

Confusion among the ranks...

[NK]

Actually, the Judge (whom I've never appeared before) invalidated the City Statute imposing the ban, on a motion for Preliminary Injunction. The good State Ct judge making like a federal district Court judge and deciding the whole case on the merits. http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/sodaruling0311.pdf

[Clarice]

kave, I'm no expert but it seem to me someone's always predicting immediate economic collapse of everything. On the off chance one of them might be right someday, I doubt that your money will get your through it.

[kave]

Thanks for the response Clarice. Thing is I am not rich. But we do own a home outright in Minnesota that my in-laws live in (free), though we live in Ohio in a nice home with a large mortgage that we built in 2005. Thing is we need to replace at least one of our cars (spouses SUV has almost 300,000 miles on it) Just wondering if we should reduce our modest 401K by the full amount, to purchase a new vehicle. It is at least a tangible asset and we haven't had a car payment in 15 years. My spouse does not want to touch the 401K (he is 62) because he would like to retire in a couple years, but with all I read here that doesn't sound likely. I guess I am looking for some free financial advice.

[Jim Eagle]

NK,

Did you know or ever hear of a NY State Supreme Ct. judge named Garbarini? Died about 5 or 6 years ago. His wife lives in our community and Mrs. JiB has been helping her with some design work and art evaluation.

[kave]

I am sorry, I do not express myself in writing very well.
I am worried about all the things I read here at JOM and I don't not know what to do about any of it. I guess I just want to hear that it really isn't going to be so bad. I just want to hear something hopeful. I am so sick of that fool in the WH living off of our dime.

[NK]

JiB-- 'fraid not, name does not ring a bell.

[maryrose]

Kave:
Don't worry. If you use the money for a car you will have to pay taxes on it if you withdraw it.I still think for now 401ks are allright. When Bammy starts talking about seizing them then get it out. I retired at 62 and had my 401k. Otherwise you have to work longer.

[maryrose]

I agreeabout the fool on the hill living off our dime. Obamas and Clintons modern day grifters. And not as smart as they think they are by a long shot.

[matt]

kave;

It's all about timing. Technically, it is highly unlikely for the current economic system to survive in its current form. The debt is simply too great and the West chose to save the banks, not the economies.

Europe is a mess, but may just jink along sclerotically. We have a huge debt. But overall the economy is in fact doing a little better. Whether it lifts all boats is the question.And calling markets is a fool's game unless you are Goldman Sachs and can manipulate it your way.

I really don't know if any of the prognosticators has a good answer. We are, as the Chinese curse goes, "living in interesting times".

[Danube of Thought iPad]

The only confusion in the ranks is among those who haven't looked very hard:

"In New York, Maryland, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and North Carolina, use of the phrase 'natural born subject' before the Revolution and the Constitution gave way to 'natural born citizen' afterward, in exactly the same way that the word 'subject' gave way to the use of the word 'citizen.'

"Laws were passed in Delaware in 1788 and in Pennsylvania in 1797 even after the writing of the Constitution, which referred to 'natural born subjects.' And the 1793 Constitution of the State of Vermont also referred to 'natural born subjects' as well.

"By 1799, though, the Pennsylvania law had changed its phrasing to 'natural born citizen or citizens.' (The Vermont State Constitution uses the phrase 'natural born subject' to this day.)

"Also, as has been noted at this blog many times, the terms 'natural born subject' and 'natural born citizen' were for a time used absolutely interchangeably in law in the State of Massachusetts.

"In 1838, Justice Gaston of the Supreme Court of North Carolina stated that the term 'citizen' is 'precisely analogous'” to the term 'subject:'

“'Upon the Revolution, no other change took place in the law of North Carolina than was consequent upon the transition from a colony dependent on an European King to a free and sovereign State… British subjects in North Carolina became North Carolina freemen… and all free persons born within the State are born citizens of the State… The term ‘citizen,’ as understood in our law, is precisely analogous to the term ‘subject’ in the common law, and the change of phrase has entirely resulted from the change of government. The sovereignty has been transferred from one man to the collective body of the people, and he who before was a ‘subject of the king’ is now ‘a citizen of the State.' — State v Manuel, 1838"

[kave]

Yes indeed we are "living in interesting times". It is really hard to stay upbeat. Spouse and I are those very conservative people that regularly put our money away rather than live the high life and I am worried we won't see any of it, or Social Security to boot. Thank you all for responding. I don't know that I feel better or know any more than before BUT it's at least good to not feel alone in this.

[Extraneus]

Even in a fixed-income fund, your 401k is an appreciating asset. If you trade that for a depreciating asset like a new vehicle, you'll first pay taxes on the withdrawn amount, and then the vehicle you purchase with what's left of the proceeds will instantly depreciate by a significant amount as soon as you drive it off the lot. Seems like a bad idea to me.

There are trillions of dollars in 401k plans. Democrats of course lust for this money, but the House is in Republican hands and isn't likely to agree to confiscate or freeze these assets. Even if Democrats took the House, they'd likely be swinging by their necks if they even tried.

[Extraneus]

Dozens of WH senior staffers making six-figure salaries amid sequester woes

After closing the doors to public tours in an effort to save money, White House officials haven't yet said if sequester cuts will result in furloughs or layoffs for its senior staffers -- as is happening with rank-and-file in other executive branch agencies.

[snip]

The latest 2012 salary figures released by the White House show 20 staffers were making the maximum $172,200. Many of them are well-known President Obama aides, including Press Secretary Jay Carney and senior adviser Valerie Jarrett. Most carry the title of "assistant to the president."

But underneath them are dozens of "deputy" assistants and "special" assistants to the president, most making six-figure salaries -- like the climate change advisers. A review of the 2012 salaries by FoxNews.com shows 139 White House staffers making $100,000 or more.

Anyone think Jay Carney's or Valerie Jarrett's pay will be cut?

Just kidding. :-)

[Clarice]

I feel sorry for all the small businesses in NYC which are already having a hard time. Those restaurants that had to change their menus and boy new cups and change the ads, etc. These morons never think of them and how much they do to make the city living tolerable.

[Threadkiller]

Which U.S. State law applies to those born in Calgary?

[Extraneus]

Saudis may drop beheading as method of execution

Saudi news outlets said Sunday a ministerial committee is looking into formally dropping public beheadings as a method of execution in the oil-rich kingdom due to shortages in government swordsmen.

The authoritative daily Al-Watan said in its Sunday edition that the ministerial committee is considering fatal shootings as an alternative.

Apparently the sequester is hitting everyone.

[Dr. Weevil]

I'm surprised no one's mentioned Gene Tierney. Any man might find her beauty a little intimidating, but Obama would be afraid she could beat him up. If she were alive, I mean.

[matt]

Gene Kelly.

He was better looking than Obama. He was a better dresser than Obama. He had more hair! He told funnier jokes! And he could dance the PANTS off of Obama!

[matt]

a lot of the chains have unlimited fountain drinks these days, clarice. Doesn't that in itself subvert Bloomie?

[Rick Ballard]

kave,

I'd suggesting running your current tax forms with varying levels of 401K withdrawals to get an accurate measure of the tax impact. If you're in the right area, Toyota is once again offering 0%, five year financing. You may find that pulling $7K per year for five years from a 401K has a negligible impact when compared to the potential hit on $35K in one year.

I run TurboTax scenarios every year on retirement fund draw downs and pull out as much as I can without getting into bracket creep. I'd also note my mileage driven dropped significantly upon retirement - a bit more than 40%.

IMO - "graceful failure" over 10-20 years is much more likely than any sudden collapse. The Japanese have had a Zombie economy for over 20 years.