Jesse's Easter 2011 Greeting

Amen, and Amen again.

A blessed Easter, to one and all.

Christ is risen. That fact is our bedrock, our immovable basis for hope in this life and beyond.

Bill Ayers, Obama's BFF, Excluded From Canada (Once Again)

Ya' gotta love it.

We need to lease the services of the Canadian border authorities, and let them help us develop some common sense and some spine about keeping violent and dangerous people from entering our southern border! Damn! Theze boyz iz good!

Of course, the screams of indignation from DuhLeft are heard on both sides of the border.

Like this, from Toronto:

“Martha Stewart – who did time in a federal prison – received special dispensation from the Canadian Government to attend a ‘pumpkin regatta’ in Nova Scotia a few years ago and last year was allowed to speak at the Canada Blooms show in Toronto,” said Mark Langer, president of the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations, in a written statement. “I wonder about a government that will let an American felon paddle around in a hollowed-out pumpkin, but refuses to allow a respected academic to participate in our democratic discourse.”

'Scuse me thar, Doctah' Langer! Don'tchew go pissin' on my shoes and telling me it's raining. That tactic don't wukh no moh'.

The attempt to equate Martha Stewart to Bill Ayers is one more example of the hysterical hyperbole that continues to define the Academic Left.

Martha did do a very bad thing by engaging in insider trading, no question, and no defense of her behavior should be offered. Once convicted, she showed up to prison at the earliest available check-in date, and served her time. Then she moved on, with all benefit of her illegal trades stripped from her, and her net worth and reputation severely degraded.

Ayers, on the other hand, participated in deadly violence against innocent people in the name of his political causes, and advocated that others do likewise. He remains unrepentant, and the only reason he does not have a felony conviction is due to technical issues in his prosecution, i.e., he reaped the benefit of the Constitution and rule of law he so despises and seeks to overthrow.

The Canadian government is completely within its rights to turn him away at their border, given the known public facts about this man. He has no 'right' to enter that country and spread his poison.

It's their country, not his, and they are wise to exclude him.

Now, whom do we contact about that lease arrangement?

Brad Watson, WFAA Interviewer vs. Obama Without His Teleprompter

So, someone in the White House thought it would be a cool idea to have Himself sit down for a ten-minute interview with a local TV reporter from Dallas, one of those Texas shit-kickers who otherwise aren't worth paying attention to. One of the Little People. It'll look good, The Beloved Leader condescending to da' Common Folk like Brad Watson--jest another middle-aged white boy with a nice voice and a trim haircut. What could possibly go wrong?

How about just about everything? This is the raw video, unedited. Listen and watch, and listen to the very end, where The One (obviously truly pissed off) takes his ire out on the erstwhile shit-kicker who got the best of him. The One begins the visit all smiles and relaxation, and by the end, is obviously cheesed.



Watson showed up well-prepared, with a tight list of questions, Texas issues all, that he wished to address with The One. Obama was not expecting this, at all.

When asked about deficit reduction, he goes into a standard rant about blaming George Bush for causing the crash in housing by spending money on wars and prescription drug beniefits, and 'tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires'. The standard rant. He's trying to change the subject and run the clock--his standard tactic. Then he claims that he'll be able to match the Ryan plan (6 trillion in cuts in spending) with his own 4 trillion, just by cutting waste and abuse and raising taxes. 4 does not equal 6, in anyone's universe except Obama's.

Watson asks bluntly--'Why do you think you're so unpopular in Texas?' Himself begins to ramble, claiming he didn't lose by much, at which point Watson corrects him by pointing out Texas voted against him by over a 10% margin. Himself did not like that at all....

Then on to the question about the retired space shuttles--not one for Houston. At this point Obama tries to cut off the questions entirely, and turns churlish. Not going well, there, at all. Again, he's employing a technique--just keep repeating the denials over the question, repeat repeat repeat, deny deny deny...

Watson gives him plenty of room to completely deny his involvement, and it's obvious Watson does not much believe Himself on this one. Texas in 2012 is beginning to swirl the drain. One can hear the sucking sound already...

At every mention of Rick Perry, Obama snickers condescendingly. Still going downhill, we are we are. (Flushing sound heard in background...)

At the mention of Medicaid, again he snickers and claims that the poor and elderly need the Federal gubbmint's protection from the State of Texas. Watson asks, 'So block grants are out?', and Obama goes into high chatter mode, about medical tests, on and on and on. He's really trying to run the clock, hold the ball, avoid the next question.

Same on immigration--if just the Republicans would roll over, we would have no more problems...

And finally--are you writing off Texas? Beloved Leader is off his game now, declares
'I love...Texas', (but won't commit to campaign there.)' All that relaxed, smiling, hail-fellow-well-met attitude is gone. Himself is chilly and unsmiling. (Who in the hell thought up this lame-brained idea? They told me this guy was a redneck shit-kicker! That's what I ordered up! Damn!)

Then, as mics are being removed, our Beloved Horse's-Ass-In-Chief (unaware the mics are on), proceeds to scold Watson for interrupting His Highness.

View the video again. Who was being disrespectful to whom? Who kept breaking in on a particularly uncomfortable question? Who continued to ramble and attempt to shift the subject? Who kept smirking about the governor of Texas?

This is Obama, being Himself, sans teleprompter. Churlish when taken off script, and intellectually vapid when challenged. What might have happened had Watson truly been aggressive, in the manner of any Lefty journalist with a GOP candidate--the sort of treatment afforded Sarah Palin in 2008?

Wait for it--it will happen. Blood has been drawn, and the next interviewer, or the next, or the next, will zero in. There will be a meltdown, for all to see. The mask will slip completely, not just partially, as happened today.

This man has to actually run on his record in 2012, not on George Bush's record. The country has been put on official warning about its credit rating, he has started a war outside both the law and Constitution that has gone tragically wrong; and with each passing day, it is obvious this man is only a child surrounded by children, completely unequal to the task, and unwilling to heed any manner of sane advice.

Thank you, Mr. Watson. You did the real job of the journalist. You revealed the true nature of the subject of your interview.

Don't, however, expect to be invited back. You're off the Christmas card list as well. Expect a letter from the IRS...

'Turn Back South': Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever Blows The Whistle About DHS Refusal To Enforce The Southern Border

The mail supporting his assertions has been flooding in, and the correspondents tell on consistent story: DHS wants to cook the statistics to make it appear the illegal immigration problem is improving, when in fact it is deteriorating.

An Arizona sheriff says he has been flooded with calls and emails of support from local and federal agents who back his claims that the U.S. Border Patrol has effectively ordered them to stop apprehending illegal immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexican border.

..and later...

Local 2544, the Tucson branch of the National Border Patrol Council union, has also come out in support of Dever, and posted this message on their website after the FoxNews.com report.

“Sheriff Dever is right. We have seen so many slick shenanigans pulled in regards to 'got-aways' and entry numbers that at times it seems David Copperfield is running the Border Patrol. Creating the illusion that all is well and you can start having family picnics in the areas where we work has been going on far too long. Has there been improvement in some areas? Absolutely. Is the border anywhere near 'under control'? Absolutely not. Do some in management play games with numbers and cater to the wishes of politicians like Janet Napolitano and David Aguilar? Resoundingly, yes. Time for the foolish political games to stop.”

There are, of course, the standard spluttering indignant denials from DHS. They are a regular part of the Kabuki Theater that now passes for governance in a country run by children.

The worst damage of all is to the public trust. Every time this happens, the pressure washer of rank dishonesty blows more mortar from between the bricks of the culture.

It's become so common, we've become innured, and that is a dangerous state in which to live.

Hook 'Em Horns! Or, Don't Mess With Texas--UT Endowment Takes Physical Delivery Of Gold

It's such a common practice in the popular media, both entertainment and 'news'--the portrayal of Texans as rubes, fools, rednecks, sadists, hicks, farmers and ranchers with IQ's no higher than the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders. It's so common we simply become innured to it, and quietly assume it must be true, because after all it's 'common knowledge'. California, on the other hand, is the epitome of all that is cool, forward-thinking and praiseworthy.

Movies such as 'Best Little Whorehouse in Texas' and the remake of 'The Man Who Loved Women'(with Julie Andrews and Burt Reynolds, back in their day), provide particularly funny skewering of Texas life. Chuck Norris did the state no favors with stilted productions of his TV series set in the state. Add in clowns like Jerry Johnson, eccentrics like Willie Nelson, stir gently.

OS has visited the place a few times over the years, and one of his best friends is a proud Texan transplanted to points north. These people are different, to be certain, but they are no fools. Anyone notice that there is an ongoing migration of population of businesses and people from California to Texas? Might that say something about life in those two states?


So, this little gem from Bloomberg today was not surprising.

Dallas hedge-fund manager J. Kyle Bass helped advise the University of Texas Investment Management Co. on taking delivery of 6,643 gold bars, worth $987 million on April 15, now stored in a bank warehouse in New York.

Bass, who made $500 million with 2006 bets on a U.S. subprime-mortgage market collapse, said managers of the endowment, known as UTIMCO, sought board approval to convert its gold investments into bullion this year. A board member, Bass, 41, said he was asked to help with that process.

While Bass, a managing partner at Hayman Capital Management LP, said in an April 16 e-mail that “the decision to purchase and take delivery of the physical gold” was made by endowment staff members, “I helped where I could.” Gold futures touched a record $1,489.10 an ounce April 15 in New York before closing at $1,486.

There's all sorts of paper floating about, putatively backed by physical gold. Both the gold and silver markets have become massive shell games, because there isn't even a fraction of the metal needed to deliver to all the customers who could demand delivery. So, UTIMCO decided it was time to pick the chips off the table and leave the game. They demanded and took delivery last Friday, in physical gold.

It's theirs, and no one else's.

Wonder what happens when another twenty or so similar funds decide to follow suit? Rather like a deadly game of musical chairs: twenty players, nineteen chairs, and when the music stops, someone ends up on the floor. Repeat--nineteen players, eighteen chairs.

This could get ugly, unless you're the board of UTIMCO. Yep, them folks is just a bunch of rubes and rednecks, so don't pay them no attention....

Moral of the tale: Don't mess with Texas. (And take delivery while you can...)

(Disclosure--long gold and silver--in self defense, 'cuz the money printing will eat us all up before too long.)

Philadelphia Orchestra Files For Bankruptcy, Detroit Symphony Resumes Its Season

The contrast between the situations is evident--utter acrimony in Detroit and a classy sense of heartbreak in Philly.

The letter from the Philadelphia Orchestra management is here.

We are writing to inform you that despite the incredible artistry of the musicians of The Philadelphia Orchestra and their diligence and hard work as collaborative partners, the Board of The Philadelphia Orchestra Association has made the difficult decision to file for Chapter 11 protection. Our financial situation is serious and the simple facts are these:

- Our operating funds are rapidly dwindling and will be exhausted by June 2011.
- While the Orchestra does not have any debt, we are operating at a significant loss with a structural deficit of $14.5 million.

Let us assure you, first and foremost, that our concerts will go on as scheduled, including this evening’s performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 4. Indeed, the music plays on!

Yet, let us be frank about the myriad factors contributing to the financial challenges we face. Our structural deficit has been created by a decline in ticket revenues, decreased donations, eroding endowment income, pension obligations, contractual agreements, and operational costs. Our beloved musicians made multiple generous concessions during the collective bargaining negotiations. Our Board donated more than $9.5 million above and beyond annual giving. And our professional staff was both reduced and agreed to pay cuts. These proactive and important steps were simply not enough to solve all of the issues we face.

We are now on the front end of a great readjustment in the culture, long overdue in reality.

This organization will likely rise from the dead, stronger than ever, and deserves to.

Hopefully, other organizations in the not-for-profit world, that do so much to define and enrich our culture, will take a cue from this letter.

Meanwhile, back in Detroit....how not to go through the readjustment.

Step Ten Begins For Detroit Public Schools: Layoff Notice Sent To Every Teacher

The NEA sent the announcement around to the constituency today, without the usual flood of leftist invective. It's as if, finally, reality is beginning to set in. The Stimulus kept Detroit schools afloat one final year, likely in the attempt to buy enough votes in 2010 to keep the Congress in Democrat hands, or hoping that the economy would rise from the dead after decades of decline.

Neither happened. Even Himself is making appropriate noises in public about reducing spending, even if he obviously means not a word of it. In any case, there will be no no Stimulus Part Two. Not even on the radar.

Detroit has fallen to its population of 1910. The public school system is unsustainable in its present form, and no amount of invective will change that. It isn't that DoseWascawyRepubwikans can be blamed, since Detroit has been in the hands of the Democrats for decades. They ran the city and school system both. Into the ground, as it turns out.

So, Reuters reports:

The emergency manager appointed to put Detroit's troubled public school system on a firmer financial footing said on Thursday he was sending layoff notices to all of the district's 5,466 unionized employees.

In a statement posted on the website of Detroit Public Schools, Robert Bobb, the district's temporary head, said notices were being sent to every member of the Detroit Federation of Teachers "in anticipation of a workforce reduction to match the district's declining student enrollment."

Bobb said nearly 250 administrators were receiving the notices, too.

The district is unlikely to eliminate all the teachers. Last year, it sent out 2,000 notices and only a fraction of employees were actually laid off. But the notices are required by the union's current contract with the district. Any layoffs under this latest action won't take effect until late July.

In the meantime, Bobb said that he planned to exercise his power as emergency manager to unilaterally modify the district's collective bargaining agreement with the Federation of Teachers starting May 17, 2011.

Under a law known as Public Act 4, passed by the Michigan legislature and signed by the state's new Republican governor in March, emergency managers like Bobb have sweeping powers. They can tear up existing union contracts, and even fire some elected officials, if they believe it will help solve a financial emergency.

"I fully intend to use the authority that was granted under Public Act 4," Bobb said in the statement.

A quick search about Public Act 4 leads one to the State of Michigan website, with a summary of the law--twelve steps involved (irony not lost upon us...), and we pick up toward the end:

Step Nine: If the Governor confirms the determination of a financial emergency, the Governor is required to declare the unit of local government in receivership and appoint an Emergency Manager who serves at the pleasure of the Governor.

Step Ten: Upon being placed in receivership, the governing body and chief administrative officer of the unit of local government are prohibited from exercising any of their powers of offices without written approval of the Emergency Manager, and their compensation and benefits are eliminated.

Step Eleven: Within 45 days of appointment, an Emergency Manager must develop a written financial and operating plan.

In addition to other powers, an Emergency Manager may reject, modify, or terminate collective bargaining agreements, recommend consolidation or dissolution of units of local government, and recommend bankruptcy proceedings.

Step Twelve: A unit of local government is removed from receivership when the financial conditions which were the basis for the underlying financial emergency are corrected in a sustainable fashion as determined by the State Treasurer in accordance with the Act.

Detroit Public Schools are at Step Ten. No amount of name calling, marching on the capitol, striking, work slowdowns, ballot-box stuffing, voting the dead, voting the illegal aliens, voting the felons, race-baiting, or any of the standard repertoire of The Left changes the fact that Detroit has shrunk dramatically in size from its once great status. The can was kicked so far down the road, for so long, that Detroit ran out of road.

By the way, the layoffs begin in Wisconsin next Friday, as promised by Governor Walker earlier this year.