Moe Lane

(H/T: Instapundit) I am honestly surprised to find that there are people surprised by this.

Among those clamoring for attention and payouts from Motors Liquidation Co., the company that assumed General Motors’ unwanted assets after its Chapter 11 filing, are the environmental and economic redevelopment departments of state governments. According to reports, when GM exited bankruptcy, its polluted factory and land sites were consumed by the Motor Liquidation, allowing the automaker to avoid the responsibility of cleaning up its mess, and state leaders fear there won’t be any money to clean the locations.

After all, this was the original point of the exercise.  GM was an unsustainable, debt-ridden mess; the government takeover and bankruptcy was designed to let it cut out the most diseased portions of its operations and reorganize as something more… ‘untainted,’ as it were.  Or possibly even just ‘less tainted.’  That this ends up with individual state governments left holding the bag on the cleanup* is either an unintended consequence, or just a previously-obscure detail, of the bailout/bankruptcy; it all depends on whether you see the administration as a collection of dangerous idiots, or as a collection of dangerous idiots.  A federal bailout of the state governments’ obligations to clean up a private industry’s ecological mess would certainly be a useful weapon in the federal government’s ongoing quest for ever-more power and oversight.

On the other hand, the White House can’t even spell “Barack Obama” reliably on official state documents, so it’s entirely possible that they stuck already-struggling states with the cleanup bill by the sheerest accident. (more…)

I say ‘leaked’ because the director doesn’t seem to care too much. Personally, I can’t really watch it; too jumpy and bootleg for my tastes. AoSHQ has the video up, if you want to watch.

You probably do. It has Samuel L MFing Jackson in it*.

Moe Lane

*When I went to go see Iron Man in theaters, I stayed until the end – and got a family to sit down and wait with me. Made their day when they saw the reveal; making their day made mine.

If Dick Cheney was this uber-powerful, Machiavellian puppet master who was able to control the USA for eight years while having his every whim fulfilled, then why don’t we have federal recognition of same-sex marriage?

Crossposted to RedState.

Stuck in my head all freaking day.

Freedom! ’90, George Michael

…which would handily explain why I found the quote-unquote “Collector’s Edition” on the ten buck stack at Target.  Before you ask, it was right next to Sid Meier’s Pirates!, which was also ten bucks, so I assumed that it would at least be all right.  Nope: can’t save a game without it crashing and the 3D is wonky.

Anyway: good fantasy game?  I’m looking for cheap, good, and at least a couple of years old, and I already have Diablo II.

Expected 30 at a sidewalk coffee place: got several hundred.

A few things to note:

• No SEIU on hand, so everything stayed peaceful.
• CO-02 is D+11 and includes the city of Boulder.  They haven’t elected a Republican Congressman there since the 1970s.  A front line in the 2010 election wars, it isn’t.
• Man, but there are a lot of ticked-off old people out there who want to talk about why they don’t like the way Congress is handling the health-care situation.

Shame the Speaker of the House would rather blather on about swastika-wielding mobs – hey!  She means the ticked-off old people, doesn’t she?

Moe Lane

PS: I think that Polis may be getting it, a little.  Or at least he’s not a natural born damned fool who’d casually insult an entire voting demographic by calling them Nazi astroturfing shills.

Crossposted to RedState.

Via the Sundries Shack: a choir assembled via webcam and synchronized.

Further comment unnecessary, I think.

Moe Lane

*Except that yeah, I know it’s usually a palate cleanser; only, ‘palette’ works surprisingly well in this context.

(Via Hot Air Headlines) In case you don’t have time to read Doug Schoen’s piece:

Despite my claim that the Republican Party does not have any policies or ideas, it is my opinion that the Obama administration should take a leaf from the Clinton administration – which I, Doug Schoen, saved – and rip off all the policies and ideas that I am required to pretend that the Republicans do not have, lest the Obama administration suffer the same fate in 2010 that the Clinton administration- which I, Doug Schoen, saved – faced in 1994.  Of course, should that happen, I am available to duplicate my magic – did I mention that I, Doug Schoen, saved the Clinton administration? – and since no Republican legislator is literate, we’ll be able to get away with it.

Third Way!  Which is to say, steal from Republicans and take the credit.

Really, it’s like some sort of demented resume cover letter.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

Caleb’s covering this at both RedState and ActiCons, but I’m going to reproduce it here anyway.  It’s more from the Gladney Incident:

Note the physical attack on the woman filming the incident.  These people aren’t reacting well to having their activities on the public record.

Moe Lane

PS: Carry a camera.

CARRY A CAMERA.

CARRY.
A.
CAMERA.

Via Instapundit, the funniest thing that you’ll read all day.  From Patrick Courrielche:

I find it hard to believe that the Obama Joker creator is the only serious detractor (assuming that it is a critical commentary) within the art community. And I’m sure the incendiary criticism will keep others from creating similar images. But regardless of political affiliation, the art community must embrace all rational dissenters. Art must not exclusively serve the interests of any presidential administration.

(Bolding mine) Not because any of it’s actually wrong, of course.  Well, at least it’s not ‘wrong’ in the narrow, technical sense of ‘general ethical guidelines.’  In the more important sense of ‘elementary political reality,’ on the other hand I suppose he can’t be more wrong.  In that sense, art of the type that Mr. Courrielche apparently produces is expected to exclusively serve the interests of a Presidential administration, assuming that the President is a Democrat.  If the President is a Republican, then the art is expected to exclusively serve the interests of the Democratic party in general.  Quid pro quo.  The Democrats make sure that Mr. Courrielche – or at least his friends – have enough NEA grant money to survive; surely he doesn’t think that this largess was being given out for free?

Most artists would not want to be referred to as tools of the state, but in the case of Obama’s administration, that’s exactly what they’ve been so far.

Bless me, but I think that he very possibly did.  I don’t know whether to be disgusted, or envious.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

So, completely out of the blue my wife asks me, “What’s your opinion of a Chewbacca costume?”

I of course reply, “Grooowhaaahnnnneahhh.”

She rolls her eyes, and informs me that this is about the Halloween costume for my firstborn.

So I respond, “You want to dress him up as Chewbacca?”

“No, I want to dress him up as Han Solo.  It’ll be easier.”

“So, you plan to dress up as Chewbacca?”

“No, I thought that you could.”

“Why me?”

“Because I’m going to be very pregnant at that point.”

“Well, you could go as Ja[DANGER!  DANGER, WILL ROBINSON!  ALERT! ALERT! ALERT!  EMERGENCY SPEECH CENTER OVERRIDE!  EMERGENCY SPEECH CENTER OVERRIDE!  THIS IS NO DRILL!] mumblemumblemumble.”

She snickers, waits for maximum effect, then goes on “I’d thought that I’d wear a long white dress, put up my hair in buns and go as Princess Leia…”

“Yes.  Yes, that would be a very good idea.”

So, I guess I know what I’m being for Halloween.

Moe Lane

PS: Luckily, I had just steam-cleaned what will be the kid’s new room, so I had fumes to fall back on as an excuse.

(Via Dana Loesch) They’re protesting the beating of Kenneth Gladney by SEIU agents Thursday night.

Demand Justice! Denounce Violence! Saturday at SEIU Office

DATE:  Saturday, August 8, 2009 (tomorrow)

TIME:  Noon

LOCATION:  SEIU Headquarters, 5585 Pershing Ave., Suite 130, St. Louis, MO 63112

The St. Louis Tea Party will hold a press conference and peaceable protest at SEIU Headquarters 5585 Pershing Ave., Suite 130, St. Louis, MO 63112 at Noon Saturday, August 8, 2009.

Incidentally, the National Weather Service has declared a heat advisory for the St. Louis area, with the forecast for today being:

Today: Sunny, with a high near 96. Heat index values as high as 104. South wind between 15 and 17 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.

…which, given the SEIU’s rapidly-becoming-notorious poor impulse control, may make this an interesting day in St. Louis. After all, just because the Tea Party people want to peaceably exercise their First Amendment privileges doesn’t mean that the administration stooges that they’re protesting against are prepared to let them…

Moe Lane

PS: Too late to online order one now for this, of course, but I’ll keep harping on it anyway. Cameras. You need to go to these things with cameras.

Crossposted to RedState.