SURPRISE: Black Caucus Doesn't Like New Ethics Office Power To Investigate

It must be a coincidence that Ohio's Rep. Marcia Fudge is involved.

Black lawmakers want to limit new ethics office
Stung by a series of inquiries, nearly half the members of the Congressional Black Caucus want to scale back the aggressive ethics procedures that Democrats trumpeted after gaining control of Congress.

Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, and 19 fellow black lawmakers in the all-Democratic caucus quietly introduced a resolution last week that would restrict the powers of the new independent Office of Congressional Ethics. The office, formed by Congress in 2008, is run by a panel of private citizens.

Madam Pelosi's swamp is getting oozier and wider and deeper.

Golf Gulf Disaster Competes For Obama's Attention

Known environmentalist Sir Paul McCartney jetted across the Atlantic to receive the Gershwin Award in a private concert at the White House from President Obama and his family and friends. I'm not sure if foreign policy and reponses to disasters are scheduled around Sasha and Malia's entertainment, but I would tell Sir Paul, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others to check for President Obama's golf schedule to make sure he will have time for them.

As fishermen lose their jobs and businesses, as jobs slip away nationwide, as debt and deficits soar out of control and the Gulf of Mexico fills with crude, it's time for our President to sing "Hey Jude."



Presumably, known environmentalist Sir Paul McCartney will jet back across the Atlantic to his home castle and Obama will jet somewhere where there's a tee and a green.

Zack Space Votes To Repeal 'Don't Ask Don't Tell'

Zack Space (D-Pelosiland), in time of war, has decided that the repeal of "Don't Ask Don't Tell" is more pressing that focusing on the safety of our troops and the people of Afghanistan and Iraq.

In fact, all of Ohio's illustrious Democrats vote for repeal except for Dennis Kucinich. Kucinich? Yep.

This vote, just days before Memorial Day honoring our troops who died defending America,is just one more reminder of the debts that this administration is still paying for their help in getting Obama elected. A poor way to govern, but indicative of how this misguided and inept administration works. Or, more accurately, doesn't work.

Again, Zack, great job on being the Representative of your constituents. Remember them?

Ezra Pound, Richard Avedon And Henri Cartier-Bresson

I am in awe of him, I am in absolute awe of him. Everyone is a Cartier-Bresson baby…I worship him.
-Richard Avedon.

You mustn’t want, you must be receptive. Don’t think even. The brain’s a bit dangerous.
-Henri Cartier-Bresson

‘How do you make your pictures?’ I was puzzled . . .
I said, ‘I don’t know, it’s not important.’
-Henri Cartier-Bresson

Richard Avedon, "You know I'm Jewish?"

(click)

Ezra Pound, Poet, Rutherford, New Jersey, at the home of William Carlos Williams, June 30, 1958

Brilliant poet. Known anti-Semite.










"A portrait is not a likeness. The moment an emotion or fact is transformed into a photograph it is no longer a fact but an opinion. There is no such thing as inaccuracy in a photograph. All photographs are accurate. None of them is the truth."
Richard Avedon

Robert Frank - London And Wales

My first introduction to Robert Frank was his The Americans. I still love it for its candid glimpses of America and I am, as well, still impressed by his art of photography. Though I am teaching myself color (non studio), it is black and white photography that whispers particular shots to me.

Black and white are the colors of photography. To me they symbolize the alternatives of hope and despair to which mankind is forever subjected.


-Robert Frank

Ben James, Wales 1953 © Robert Frank

 

London 1952-53, Robert Frank

Science And Hope

This is very cool. Disclaimer, I am friends with, sometimes work with and am a huge admirerer of David Welch at Whitecoat Strategies. That said, take a look at this incredible story. It makes me smile.

Israeli Commandos Should Get 1st "Courageous Restraint Medal"

The world's progressives have their panties in a twist over the armed and violent "peace" activists ships being boarded by Israeli commandos as they tried to thwart a blockade of Gaza. There was no need or logic to the "peace" activists starting a military engagement that resulted in death and injury to Israeli soldiers and to the "peace" activists.

Let's just drop the "peace" moniker.

The militants, actually terrorists, planned this attack. They desired death and injury on both sides because news of the attack, especially any images, would incite further anger and violence against Israel. The terrorists are exceeding their own expectations and the world press should stand in shame for abetting terrorists that are little more than animals.

The world press should be probing and asking why there was so little death amongst the terrorists. Israeli commandos are capable of critical offense and defense tactics with brutal results. The terrorists constantly attacking Israel and murdering Israelis has insured that Israeli forces are trained and capable of inflicting maximum damage. That they didn't shows incredible training, thinking and restraint.

As for those that died, why hasn't the press asked who ordered them to die. Those who order such attacks should be found and dealt with. Swiftly and with no mercy.

UPDATE: Webutante has an outstanding post concerning this unprovoked attack. Read and follow the links.

Gaza "Peace" Flotilla Savagely Attacks Boarding Israeli Commandos

What were fighters and weapons doing on peace ships? Immediately following the attacks several groups across the Middle East and Turkey staged protests and issued reports attacking Israel. Coincidence or preplanned?

Israel Prime Minister Gives 'Full Support' to Military in Gaza Flotilla Raid
An Al-Jazeera reporter on one of the Turkish ships said the Israelis fired at the vessel before boarding it. The Israelis, who had declared they would not let the ships reach Gaza, said they only opened fire after being attacked by activists with sticks, knives and live fire from weapons seized from the Israeli commandos.

"On board the ship we found weapons prepared in advance and used against our forces," declared Israel's deputy foreign minister, Danny Ayalon.

"The organizers' intent was violent, their method was violent and the results were unfortunately violent. Israel regrets any loss of life and did everything to avoid this outcome."

The Arab League, which many believe is just another way to spell Hamas, issued this statement:

"The Arab League strongly condemns this terrorist act."

Terrorist act? Do they mean terrorist acts such as what Hamas did in the Gaza Strip?
 
Immediately after the boarding, which obviously the Israelis thought were going to be peaceful, protesters in Turkey, Nazareth, Beruit and statements issued by Syria, Lebanon and others such as the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign issued provocative statements in what appears to be a coordinated fashion.
 
I think the deaths caused by the "peace" flotilla members were planned and exactly what they wanted and now the world will trumpet the latest victimhood crap to all that will listen.

A Day Of Memorial For The Fallen

History tells us of the heroic deeds of soldiers, as it should.

From the cobblers, candlestick makers and farmers who wrested our freedom from the most feared army in the world, former classmates, one in gray and one in blue, who after the battle joined to recover a friend's body from the field of war and the troops who care for children with one eye to the danger of cowards with bombs strapped to themselves, American troops have knowingly faced danger when called with honor. They all deserve our respect.

For those that fell a day of remembrance has been named Memorial Day.

As I approach the gates of heaven;
St. Peter I will tell;
One more soldier reporting sir;
I've served my time in hell.
-Mark Anthony Gresswell

May God bless them and may all that remember pray for them.

Gothic

The Davis-Shai House
Heath, Ohio

When Does Freedom Of The Press Cross Over To Treason?

If your one of the liberal losers at the New York Times the answer is simple. Never. They have the responsibility, in their eyes, to tell all even when they know our troops will die because of their leaking of secrets. They don't care because soldiers aren't really all that important in their greater scheme of things except that soldiers stand in the way of what the Times want.

Just another act of deadly treason
Yesterday, The New York Times published another front-page article based on a leaked classified document. This time, it was an order signed by Gen. David Petraeus authorizing black operations against adversaries and such dubious friends as Iran, Syria, Yemen and Saudi Arabia.


The only people worse than those that work at the Times are those that leak secrets. Both groups are traitors and murderers. That used to stand for something in America.

Libs Help The Poor With $17,600 Worth Of Japanese Beef And Dead Quail

I know all the beef farmers around here were slapping each other on the back with this news.

What to Eat on a $17,600 Date With the President

Nothing says limousine liberal like Kobe beef at the Getty mansion.

Democrats Applaud Harsh Treatment Of Illegal Immigrants

As El Presidente Calderon spoke glowingly of Mexico and the harsh racist law passed in Arizona Democrats jumped to their feet to applaud him. Yeah, like Mexican Jumping Beans.

Democrats Take Warmly to Calderon Message on Immigration and Beyond
Later on in the speech, Calderon said Mexico was on its way toward "a goal any nation would be proud of: universal health coverage by 2012."

Again, Democrats rose to their feet to applaud Calderon, while Republicans -- still bruised over the yearlong health care overhaul fight in Washington -- stayed put.

In another odd moment, rows of Democrats rose to applaud Calderon when he delivered a brief portion toward the end of his speech in Spanish. First in Spanish, then in English, Calderon voiced his respect for "migrants" who have left their families to work in the United States and pledged to work for their "rights."

Republicans remained seated while Democrats rose for extended applause.

Mexico can't even feed its people, but Calderon says he will care for all of them?

Activists blast Mexico's immigration law

Arizona's new law forcing local police to take a greater role in enforcing immigration law has caused a lot of criticism from Mexico, the largest single source of illegal immigrants in the United States.



But in Mexico, illegal immigrants receive terrible treatment from corrupt Mexican authorities, say people involved in the system.

And Mexico has a law that is no different from Arizona's that empowers local police to check the immigration documents of people suspected of not being in the country legally.

"There (in the United States), they'll deport you," Hector Vázquez, an illegal immigrant from Honduras, said as he rested in a makeshift camp with other migrants under a highway bridge in Tultitlán. "In Mexico they'll probably let you go, but they'll beat you up and steal everything you've got first."

Recap: In Arizona illegal immigrants can be arrested after which they will receive medical care, be feed and given a clean bed to sleep in. In Mexico illegal immigrants might be robbed, beaten, raped and taken to the desert to die, by government officials. Yep, it's easy to see why Democrats applaud the Mexico system and condemn Arizona, they like robbing citizens too.

Good News!! The Gulf Oil Spill Will Not Reach Chicago!

Nor will any mentiion of it probably. OTOH, maybe Obama can squeeze in time for moderate Hamas for some secret $20 million canapes.

Lack of Obamas' visit agenda leaves Chicagoans guessing
The news that President Barack Obama and his family will return to Chicago for the Memorial Day weekend has triggered a guessing game.

Where will they dine? What will they do for fun? With the Sox on the road and the Blackhawks skating into the Stanley Cup finals, might the first family ditch its predictable pastimes -- basketball, golf and tennis -- and go to the United Center for hockey?

It's so good for a president to get back to his roots.

Delbert McClinton Explained By Ricky Skaggs

I have got to find my Ricky Skaggs "My Father's Son" CD. Though not as bluegrass as his other titles it is one of Skaggs best.

Here Skaggs does an intro for Delbert. I've never held it against Delbert that he felt the need to teach John Lennon to play the harmonica.



Coming out of about a week’s worth of the sleepy grunges and Delbert starts making it right.



Delbert is now about 70 and still at it.

"If you lose your pluck you lose the most there is in you -- all you've got to live with."

November 1936. Eighty-year-old woman living in squatters' camp on the outskirts of Bakersfield, California. Medium-format nitrate negative by Dorothea Lange for the Farm Security Administration.

SEIU Union Mob Threatens Son At Home Over $156 Million Owed Father's Bank

I used to live near the area into which DC cops escorted SEIU and National People's Action (NPA) chartered buses carrying approximately 700 "protesters." It is no short haul from DC.

The DC cops did not notify Montgomery County, Maryland police nor Rockville, Maryland police nor, it seems, any official in the town, county or state of Maryland.

SEIU officials did not alert anyone except a friendly blogger from the Huffington Post who crafted a report so laughable even she must be embarrassed. No press alert, no press release nor even a few phone calls nor emails to a multitude of supportive reporters. This from a union that will call in all the known reporters for a minor bellyache.

What's really behind SEIU's Bank of America protests?

The National People's Action is a radical group that does not have the best interest of the United States of America in mind, in fact they are working to destroy the United States of America.

These are the people that have beat up people, shoved old women around and now try to terrify families. They say that they are trying to save family homes when actually they are trying to make banks pay for houses they were forced to make loans on by NPA, SEIU and other progressive groups and their allies in Congress. They were integral in creating the housing loan mess and now they owe Bank of America $156 million they borrowed to get their allies elected to Congress. Incestuous indeed.

4 Republicans Help Dodd (D-Countrywide) And Demos Destroy Economy And US

H.R. 4173 As Amended; Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009

Let the party begin with the government supplying the cake from the week old shelf of closing bakeries everywhere. The government now owns you. Completely. Your cars, your insurance, your health, your banks and now your wallet or the lack thereof. And 4 spineless Republicans helped the government take more power while knowingly hurting you and the country.

Senate Passes Finance Bill

Biggest Regulatory Overhaul of Wall Street Since Depression Moves Closer to Law

"Simply, the American people are saying, 'you've got to protect us,' and we didn't back down from that," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.). "When this bill becomes law, the joyride on Wall Street will come to a screeching halt."

But this screaming right wing radical disagrees with Harry Hasbeen:

"It will inevitably contract credit," said Sen. Judd Gregg (R., N.H.), who says the Senate bill "is probably undermining the system…probably making for a weaker system."

Yep, that's right, the government that needs a 26 page recipe to make brownies is going to regulate spending. You read that right. Congress, which couldn't balance a checkbook if their pointy little heads depended on it, are going to tell private enterprise how they must balance their checkbooks.

This is scary:

What's in the Fine Print

Key parts of the Senate bill and where it differs from the House version

Consumers

Senate version

• Consolidates responsibilities from seven agencies into a Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection within the Federal Reserve system to oversee products made available to consumers
• Limits ability of mortgage lenders to assess penalities on borrowers who pay off the loan early
• Prohibits paying brokers and loan officers more to steer borrowers to higher interest rates or certain risky features; commissions would be based on the size or number of loans originated

How House bill differs

• Oversight would be independent of the Fed and exclude insurance companies, auto dealers and accountants, among others

Investors

Senate version

• Creates Investment Advisory Committee within Securities and Exchange Commission
• Creates Office of Investor Advocate within SEC to identify problems in dealing with SEC and provide assistance
• Gives SEC the authority to grant shareholders proxy access to nominate directors
• Requires directors to win by majority vote in uncontested elections
• Gives shareholders the right to nonbinding vote on executive pay, excluding golden parachutes

How the house bill differs

• Would require institutions with assets of at least $1 billion to disclose to regulators the structures of all incentive-based compensation

Banks

Senate version

• Eliminates Office of Thrift Supervision
• Federal Reserve Board would keep oversight of largest bank holding companies
• State banks and holding companies would either be regulated by the Fed or FDIC
• National banks with less than $50 billion in assets would be under Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
• Banks would be generally barred from using their own capital to engage in speculative trades

How the house bill differs

• Preserves the Fed's and FDIC's bank-supervision roles; calls for OTS to be absorbed by the OCC

Markets

Senate version

• Hedge Funds: Requires investment advisers of hedge funds with $100 million or more in assets to register with the SEC
• Derivatives: Requires that many derivatives and overthe- counter financial products be traded on regulated platforms
• Securitizations : Requires companies that package loans into marketable securities to hold at least 5% of the credit risk
• Requires issuers to disclose more information about and analyze the quality of underlying assets

How the house bill differs

• Applies to funds with assets of $150 million or more; exempts venture-capital funds
• Exempts many end users from mandatory central clearing
• Exempts education, agriculture, veterans and small-business loans

Insurers

Senate version

• Creates Office of National Insurance within Treasury to monitor industry, recommending to the systemic-risk council insurers that should be treated as systemically important
• Office would recommend ways to modernize insurance regulation, but it is explicitly not a new regulator

How the house bill differs

• Proposes creation of a Federal Insurance Office with similar characteristics

Other Elements

Senate version

• Creates office at SEC to administer credit rating agencies' rules and practices

•  Creates Financial Stability Oversight Council, led by Treasury secretary, with nine voting members. Agency would identify systemic risks to the economy, promote market discipline and respond to emerging risks. It would also write regulations for risk-based capital, leverage and liquidity requirements

How the house bill differs

• Also creates seven-member advisory board for credit raters
• Large firms would pay into a $150 billion fund to manage the dissolution of failing firms considered systemically significant

 The 4 Republicans who voted for this atrocity to freedom are:

Scott Brown, Susan Collins, Chuck Grassley, Olympia Snowe.

Friday

Yellow Dog Democrats Are, Well, Yellow, So Are Blue Dogs

Nothing says party unity like, "Hey, he ain't my Prez." Nothing says party integrity like mere political dissembling.

Anti-Obama tack buoys some Democrats

Who says old dogs, yellow dogs and blue dogs can't learn new tricks?

"On the other hand, I think it's fair to say that one of the reasons there's so much unhappiness out there [among voters] is that the administration's policies have upset people."

How long until the DNC starts selling bumper stickers that say, "Obama sucks, Vote Democrat"?