Tag: michelle obama

Actually, I don’t think Druids were *agricultural*.

Well, in an agrarian society like the Gauls’ they were probably involved somehow. But not to the point suggested by AoSHQ’s quote of the day, kid-friendly earth fertility ritual (with corroborating photo) edition:

Now many of you probably think I am going to bust on the First Lady for indoctrinating little school children in Druidic cultural norms. But I’m not. It would be hypocritical, after all. I have a lvl 80 Druid in Warcraft.

Also, strictly speaking (and contra AoSHQ) it isn’t a harvest ritual. It’s a sowing ritual. Freaking urbanites.

Moe Lane

PS: I should note that World of Warcraft does not have the most inaccurate depiction of druids and druidism in modern Western society. Oh, my, no.

Former IG Walpin suing to get good name back.

You may remember Gerald Walpin.  He was fired from his position as AmeriCorps Inspector General a few months ago for either: pushing an investigation against one of the President’s cronies; no particular reason; or diminished mental capacity.  These three possible answers are, respectively: an assumption based on an acquaintance with objective (if cynical) reality; what the White House went with before Senator Grassley reminded them of the law; and what the White House went with after Senator Grassley reminded them of the law.  Well, Mr. Walpin didn’t particularly care for the last answer, and he’s decided to get satisfaction:

Gerald Walpin, the AmeriCorps inspector general who was summarily fired in June amid controversy over his investigation of a politically-connected supporter of President Obama, has filed suit alleging that the firing was “unlawful,” “politically driven,” “procedurally defective” and “a transparent and clumsily-conducted effort to circumvent the protections” given to inspectors general under the Inspectors General Reform Act of 2008.

Walpin’s suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, is against the Corporation for National and Community Service, which oversees AmeriCorps.  Also named are Nicola Goren, the acting CEO of the Corporation, Frank Trinity, its general counsel, and Raymond Limon, the Corporation’s “chief human capital officer.”  The suit asks the court to declare Walpin’s firing unlawful and restore him to his position as the Corporation’s inspector general.

Via The Rhetorician. Note that Walpin isn’t suing for damages, merely reinstatement and an admission that the firing was improper in the first place.  Whether or not he gets either will depend in large part whether the administration can outwait him; as Ed Morrissey points out, Walpin is 77 years old.  On the other hand, this is hardly the only IG controversy going on, and right now the White House doesn’t need any more negative scrutiny than what it’s already getting…

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

Let us recap the Gerald Walpin situation.

[UPDATE] Now that I’m done laughing at that Walpin response: welcome, Instapundit readers.

We can begin with this video, which goes over the basic points:

Short version: Walpin was investigating Obama crony’s involvement in an AmeriCorps-related scandal involving misappropriation of funding. Case was settled, to the mild detriment of crony*. Walpin disagreed with settlement. Complaint made against him. So far, this is all he-said, he-said.  Continue reading Let us recap the Gerald Walpin situation.