Quick Hits - November 23, 2011

On Christmas Day, 2009, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted to detonate an 'underwear' bomb on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 while the aircraft was on it's final approach on the Amsterdam / Detroit route.  What happened is best described as a 'fizzle' - the bomb failed to fully detonate with one of the reasons being the bomb being damaged by the perspiration of Abdulmutallab.  The flight landed safely.  Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano declared the 'system worked'.  In reality, the system didn't work, just as the bomb didn't work....and Napolitano proved herself incompetent.

Adding to that proof, we have the urgent Department of Homeland Security warning for this Thanksgiving season.  No, it's not about the latest al-Qaeda threat against the US, or the threat that exists from the alliance of Islamic terrorists and drug cartels, or the actions of a rogue nation like North Korea.  This urgent threat that we need to be aware of is.....

That's right - deep frying turkeys. “Use turkey fryers outdoors at a safe distance [from] buildings,” the DHS tweeted. “Never use turkey fryers in a garage or on a wooden deck.”  This is the 'system' working, I guess.

Speaking of government incompetence, the Wall Street Journal has an Op-Ed today that makes a point that many conservatives / historians have been making since the summer of 2009....President Obama makes President Carter look good.


What is the proper role of the Federal Government?  That is one of the big questions that is going to be ultimately addressed in November 2012 by voters...although I do suspect that the 'loser' of the election will fight an aggressive guerrilla war against the 'winner' to limit the ability of the 'winner' to move decisively on enacting their agenda.  One of the key definitions that needs to be made is to define that redistributing wealth is not a responsibility of the Federal Government.

According to the Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid (D-Las Vegas), one of the key items of legislation that the Senate will be addressing between the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays is to address a major new spending bill.  That's right.  This is the week that the Supercommittee failed to reach an agreement to make $1.2 trillion in spending cuts over the decade - and the Senate Democrats are advocating new legislation that will increase spending (already in a year with a projected $1.4 trillion deficit) by $400 billion....with no agreement as to how these added costs will be 'paid for'.

Included in this legislation are:

• Extending unemployment benefits for one year - $44B across 2 years
• Patching the Alternative Minimum Tax to protect some families - $70B
• Saving Doctors from Obamacare's scheduled cuts in Medicare payments - $22B
• Extending expiring business tax credits for one year - $30B - $40B
• Extend and expand the temporary payroll tax cut for one year - $240B

Many of these issues are going to be positioned and used against Republicans for political purposes.  The thing is, since 2009, we've extended unemployment benefits - and it's not helped the economy.  We've done a temporary payroll tax cut - and it's not helped the economy.  (Why not make it permanent?)  Tax and Spend...and let's keep doing the same things again and again while expecting different results.  Is there any wonder why Congress has a 12% approval rating?

On the OccupyWallStreet front - today at 5:30am Eastern, the Toronto Police Department moved to evict the OccupyToronto protesters from St. James Park.  They arrived in force and in riot gear.  The protesters decided to break camp and exercise a 'tactical withdrawl' so they could 're-occupy' another day.

However in Los Angeles, the progressives that run the US's second largest city, remain focused on buying off the OccupyLA protesters as opposed to enforcing the laws.  LA is the only City whose City Council formally recognized and announced support for the Occupy movement.  LA is having some financial challenges of their own, but somehow they think that they can 'buy' the movement into doing something else.  Nice precedent you're setting LA....pay an extortionist and they will only keep coming back for more...

In yesterday's Quick Hits, I talked about the OccupyLondon movement and President Obama's declaration that the issues of the Occupy movement are why he ran for President.   I reported it, like this, as a talking head would on a news program.  I need to let my inner blogger out as Ace of Ace of Spades demonstrates in this perfect headline highlighting the President's position...

Distracted, Depressed President Endorses Rape, Cohabitation With Feces

In the World View - massive protests continue in Egypt as Islamists and others protest the military government insisting on the military stepping down from their leadership role.  While the military government is promising July 2012 elections, the situation is being likened to a powder keg....with the Muslim Brotherhood holding the match.

Wrapping up - some links to interesting lists....

The Top 10 Most Overrated Actors / Actresses of All Time....

The Top 5 New Malthusians....

The 10 Worst Cars Detroit Ever Produced.....

This last one has some interesting choices....but also of note are those that are missing....


Coming up later today - a post on last night's GOP Presidential Debate, VDH, and spreading the word....