Obama Releases His Birth Certificate “So We Can Focus”

This morning, the President called a press conference to announce the release of his full Hawaiian birth certificate. Why today?

We do not have time for this kind of silliness. We’ve got better stuff to do. I’ve got better stuff to do. We’ve got big problems to solve. And I’m confident we can solve them, but we’re going to have to focus on them — not on this.

What is it with Michelle Obama and those eye-searing prints? Is she color blind?

Personally I think it’s because the controversy – thanks to Donald Trump – was beginning to filter down to the chronically uninvolved. At any rate, it’s good news that the President is now going to devote his time to solving our big problems rather than, say, taping a television show.

Update:  A great post on “Why Now” from Melissa Clouthier.

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UW Physicians To Face Penalties For Fake Sick Notes

I think people have a right to know if their physician is ethically challenged, don’t you?

UW Health doctors who wrote sick notes for protesters at the Capitol in February face penalties up to a loss of pay and leadership positions, the UW School of Medicine and Public Health said Tuesday.

Snip…The statement didn’t identify the doctors, citing public employee records laws, and said “the school will not comment on individual cases.” (full article)

Dr. Lou Sanner was very open about having provided sick notes – for stress – during the protests. “’Some people think it’s a nod-and-wink thing, but it’s not,’ he said.”

Yes, Dr. Sanner, the whole situation is not “a nod-and-wink thing.” Your fake sick notes are an attempt to swindle the school district; to cause them to pay sick leave benefits to employees who don’t deserve them. That sounds like an attempt to defraud the taxpayers of Wisconsin to me.

Where I Come From, It’s Not Called “Leading” If You’re In The Rear

The Progressive assault on the English language continues. Ryan Lizza, writing in The New Yorker, tells us:

Obama’s reluctance to articulate a grand synthesis “has alienated both realists and idealists,” Lizza writes. However, he “may be moving toward something resembling a doctrine.” One of Obama’s advisers describes his actions as “leading from behind,” which, Lizza writes, does actually describe the balance that Obama now seems to be finding. “It’s so at odds with the John Wayne expectation for what America is in the world,” the adviser says, “but it’s necessary for shepherding us through this phase.”

Now I was pretty sure I knew what “leading” meant but I checked in with dictionary.com just to confirm and it turns out I was right! “Lead” is defined using words like “to go before,” “to conduct or bring,” “to show the way,” and “to go in advance.”

Of course, “leading from behind” is nonsensical as a linguistic construction as long as words have clear meanings; however, as Obama is increasingly revealed as a weak and ineffectual leader, the concept of leadership itself must be redefined. As George Orwell so aptly noted, “If thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.”

So if Obama wants to hang out in back, I can think of many things to call it – following, for example – but leading is not one of them.

H/T Liberty Scout

Mississippi Gets It Right

I don’t really have anything to say about this…it just tickled me and I wanted to share it. I know that in my part of the country, people tend to look down on the South and Mississippi in particular, but in this case, I think they stand head and shoulders above the Northwest.

Seattle Bar To Continue Torturing Sea Kittens

Things like this wouldn’t happen if only fish were called sea kittens.

If you’re not familiar with Goldfish Racing, the sport entails putting goldfish into a canal of water and guiding the fish down the trough with the help of squirt guns. The first person to push their goldfish to the finish line wins, or something. (Full Article)

I wonder if the people at PETA realize the fish involved are not long for this world?

H/T Vann Schaffner

Calling Something Satire Doesn’t Magically Make It So

Do you like how I cleverly worked in a photo of Todd Palin? Oh, and look, there's li'l Trig up there, too!

Back in June of 2009 there was a dust up involving David Letterman and a questionable joke he made concerning Sarah Palin’s daughter, Willow. At the time, I thought I could be of help to Mr. Letterman by providing him with a few simple guidelines he could use to determine if his jokes were falling outside the bounds of propriety.

In light of Jack Stuef’s incredibly crass and callous Wonkette column* in “honor” of Trig Palin’s birthday, I considered updating the test for his benefit. Sadly, after careful thought, I decided that it probably wasn’t worth my time. Judging by this column, I’m guessing he doesn’t care what anyone thinks about what he says or does or what kind of person he is. He might care, though, about what people think of him as a writer.

This wasn’t the best piece of political satire I’ve ever read. <—Understatement.

In fact, when I read it the first time, I didn’t even realize it was supposed to be satire; it just seemed like a mean-spirited rambling attack-by-proxy on Sarah Palin. For me – and I think for most decent people – the piece was missing an important satirical element. You know…the humor. I feel safe saying that the vast majority of people don’t find it funny when a grown man verbally assaults a toddler…and a disabled toddler at that. And let me just say right here that if you found the piece humorous in any way, you should probably engage in some serious soul searching because there is something seriously wrong with your soul. Yes, Mr. Stuef, I’m talkin’ to you.

Something else was missing, too…a clearly elucidated point. I had to find out by reading elsewhere that the purpose of the column was to mock Palins “well-documented” use of li’l Trig as a political prop. Now I’ll grant that this prop angle was mentioned once in the column, but since none of the presumably supporting links and graphics actually supported that point, well, yeah. I missed it. Anyway, I’m not buying that Stuef really cares about Trig Palin at all, because what does this column do if not exploit Trig to make a political point?

(And since someone else brought it up, I’d love to have someone explain to me how Trig Palin is any more of a prop than Sasha and Malia Obama…say when their mother used them to promote her anti-obesity initiative?)

All in all, a poor outing for Mr. Stuef. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that if this is the best he can do, I hope he has a Plan B.

*I didn’t intend to link the Wonkette piece here; hey, they don’t deserve the traffic but I hear now that it’s been removed. Not to worry! Warner Todd Huston, writing at Red County, has reproduced it in its entirety. Good luck, Mr. Stuef, if you ever want to apply for a job that requires good judgment or common decency.

You Can’t Love What You Don’t Know

Van Jones neither knows me nor loves me when he says, “I love the Tea party but I wish it didn’t hate justice so much.”

I love justice very well, thank you, Van. But you can take your social justice* and go home.

*Social justice is based on the concepts of human rights and equality and involves a greater degree of economic egalitarianism through progressive taxation, income redistribution, or even property redistribution. These policies aim to achieve what developmental economists refer to as more equality of opportunity than may currently exist in some societies, and to manufacture equality of outcome in cases where incidental inequalities appear in a procedurally just system.

How Do You Know Food Prices Are Getting Bad, Really Bad?

Food heists, that’s how.

I'm sitting on a gold mine here!

Late last month, a gang of thieves stole six tractor-trailer loads of tomatoes and a truck full of cucumbers from Florida growers. They also stole a truckload of frozen meat. The total value of the illegal haul: about $300,000.

Snip…

“I’ve never experienced people targeting produce loads before,” said Shaun Leiker, an assistant manager at Allen Lund, a trucking broker in Oviedo, Fla., that was hit three times by the thieves. “It’s a little different than selling TVs off the back of your truck.”

The rising prices are driven partially by increased fuel costs and rising demand, such as the diversion of food products for ethanol production.

Free Love: Still Not Free

It appears that the generation that brought us free love and “if it feels good, do it” is paying the price in the form of rising STD rates.

I know it’s a popular misconception among cultural Christians – the non-religious as opposed to people who have made a conscious decision to follow Christ – that God placed strictures on promiscuous sex simply to spoil their fun rather than as a protection against disease but maybe it’s time for them to give the thought some consideration.

Or at least practice safe sex. At their ages, they should know better.

Police Prepare For Christians To Riot In Protest

An arsonist has set fire to a backyard statue of Jesus in St. Paul, Minnesota.  St. Paul Police are preparing for the backlash of violence that inevitably follows destruction of Christian religious symbols. Oh, wait….

Read more.