Heh: Soros Cashes In On News Corp Investment

Wait until the kiddies at Media Matters find out their sugar daddy is paying them with profits made from News Corp, owner of the evil Fox News. It might be enough to make Oliver Willis cough up his Twinkies. Soros and his stormtroopers spend their miserable lives attacking and smearing Fox News, so we wonder if this little tidbit will give them pause.

It was the opening salvo in a Soros-funded “stop-advertising” war to destroy Fox News for its threat to America’s “democracy” – an odd worry for Soros, who wrote a book titled “The Bubble of American Supremacy,” calling down doom on just about everything American.

And an odd war for Soros Fund Management LLC, which was heavily invested in News Corp, parent company of Fox News. SEC filings show Soros managed News Corp shares worth $4 million in 2004 and $2.3 million when sold last year. Cash trumps hypocrisy.

Do the lefties at Media Matters know that Soros gets his foundation money from his hedge fund investments in politically incorrect stocks: tobacco, fossil fuels, genetically modified foods, and burger joints? Do they care?

Not likely. Today’s American left is only about money and power.

That and ruining people's lives through smears and deception.

'Did Putin Have a Facelift?'

For some reason there don't appear to be many photos out there of Putie with a shiner. Guess people are too afraid to embarrass the Communist hack. We found the one above here and he appears heavily pancaked.

Vladimir Putin, who has carved out a strongman image by wrestling with tigers or judo opponents, raised eyebrows Thursday as he was pictured caked in make-up, apparently to mask a black eye.

Journalists feverishly speculated that the Russian premier could have taken a punch during a judo session or even had a facelift, after he visited Kiev on Wednesday slathered in war paint.

"Ukrainian, Russian and Western journalists ... talked only of one thing: How did the Russian prime minister get a black eye?," reported Kommersant business daily's Kremlin correspondent Andrei Kolesnikov.

"Could it really be the result of some tough sparring? While it was carefully covered up, it was noticeable to everyone without exception."

While some leaders regularly wear make-up for televised meetings, Putin has always stayed barefaced in the past, journalists said.

Putin arrived for talks with Ukrainian leaders in a "bad mood" and with "something like a big bruise on his left cheekbone. He also had on his face a very noticeable swelling," reported Ukrainian television channel TCH.

"It was all badly covered up with make-up."

Aw, poor Putie-poot. Maybe he's just been up late worrying about the heavy losses his comrades in America are about to suffer.

Unprecedented! Obama Best Fundraiser in History ... for GOP

The most divisive president ever is also turning out the be the gift that keeps on giving. To Republicans. Heckuva job, Bammy!

President Obama has proven himself one of the most prolific money-raisers in political history - for Republicans.

The GOP is awash in campaign cash, much of it from millionaire mom-and-pop Republicans fearful of Obama's left-leaning political agenda.

"Many, many people conservative by nature are horrified and terrified at what they've seen in the last two years, and they feel like they're fighting for the survival of the country," one of the Republican Party's most prominent moneymen told the Daily News.

"I've been at this for a long time, and this is unprecedented. I've never seen anything like it."

For example, a retired businessman and his wife who had never contributed a penny recently gave $1 million to one of the independent conservative groups godfathered by GOP political guru Karl Rove.

For more than a year, Rove and his allies have perfected their strategy to use his American Crossroads organization and its related network to trump Obama's masterful fund-raising machine.

As the Nov. 2 election approaches, cash hauls have spiked dramatically, including a fivefold increase to American Crossroads since June, a source close to Rove said.

"Money has been pouring in for months," a top GOP political strategist gloated in amazement, "and it's still coming."

GOP buckrakers freely acknowledge that federal rules allowing anonymous contributions to most independent groups have helped loosen wallets.

They insist the majority of the outside cash - estimated by some experts at more than a quarter of a billion dollars - is largely generated by a backlash against Obama and his policies.

"People are so scared of what Obama will do to the country they're clamoring to donate," a veteran GOP fund-raiser said.

The giving climate is suddenly so fertile that even contributions to a presidential library - George W. Bush's - never an easy sell in a depressed economy, have spiked in recent months, The News has learned.

"Every two years someone says this is the most important election in our history," said a Republican fund-raising maestro, reprising his spiel to prospective donors. "This time it really is."

Report: Man in Muslim Garb, Family Booted from Memphis Plane

Don't be nervous. He was just taking care of some personal business.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Officials at Memphis International Airport say they delayed a flight and searched the plane after the crew become suspicious of a passenger in traditional Muslim clothing.

Airport vice president Scott Brockman said the man, his wife and child were asked to exit the Comair plane Wednesday after the flight crew said the man spent an excessive amount of time in the bathroom.

Authorities searched the plane but found nothing amiss. An estimated 80 passengers left the plane during the search, and it flew to Toronto some two hours late. The man and his family were put on a later flight.

Brockman said the man was very cooperative. He said it's the responsibility of the pilot and crew to ensure the safety of their passengers.

Via the Tennesseean. Cross-posted here.

Good News, Taxpayers: For the Low-Low Price of $400 Million Annually, Michelle Obama Promises to Eradicate 'Food Deserts'

That's right.

Food deserts.

You know - those barren, inner-city wastelands where people subsist on grubs, puddle water, and BLT Cobb salads from Wendy's because the nearest Acme is 8 blocks away.

Oh, the humanity!

First Lady Michelle Obama has called on Congress to create a $400 million-a-year program to encourage the establishment of supermarkets in places she calls “food deserts.”

The situation in these “food deserts,” as Mrs. Obama describes it, is quite dire indeed. American children are growing fat because their parents cannot get to a supermarket—to buy fruits and vegetables—without undergoing the hardship of boarding a bus or riding a taxi. As a consequence, food-desert-dwelling children are forced to eat fast food and junk procured at chain restaurants and convenience stores.

In a March 10 speech, the first lady painted a sad picture of their plight. “Right now, 23.5 million Americans, including 6.5 million kids, live in what we call ‘food deserts’—these are areas without a supermarket,” she explained. “And as a result these families wind up buying their groceries at the local gas station or convenience store, places that offer few, if any, healthy options.”

She offered a solution. “Let’s move to ensure that all families have access to healthy, affordable foods in their community,” she said. “(W)e’ve set an ambitious goal here: to eliminate food deserts in America within seven years.

“To do that,” she said, “we’re creating a Healthy Food Financing Initiative that’s going to invest $400 million a year—and leverage hundreds of millions more from the private sector—to bring grocery stores to underserved areas and help places like convenience stores carry healthier options.”

One has to assume the food police will be patrolling the candy aisle to ensure patrons "choose" the healthier options.

But here's the kicker - it turns out that "food deserts" are mostly a mirage, a figment of Michelle Obama's overactive Marxist imagination.

In the 2008 farm bill, Congress mandated that the department conduct a $500,000 study of “food deserts.” The study—“Access to Affordable and Nutritious Food: Measuring and Understanding Food Deserts and Their Consequences”—was published in June 2009.

The report demonstrates that Mrs. Obama’s depiction of American “food deserts” is fatuous at best. Lower-income Americans live closer to supermarkets than higher-income Americans.

************

“93 percent of those who live in low-income areas with limited access traveled to the grocery store in a vehicle they or another household member drove.”

Only 0.1 percent—one-tenth of one percent—of Americans living in low-income areas more than 1 mile from a supermarket took public transit to the store, the report said.

So don't worry. If Michelle Obama has her way, in just seven short years this non-existent social calamity will be eradicated - along with at least $2.8 billion of our tax dollars.



Via CNS News. Cross-posted here.

Silly or Offensive? Vanity Fair's GOP 'Beefcake' Issue

Sorry, but I just can't muster any outrage over this. In fact, I find most of the images hysterical.

In December 2008, a widely disseminated photograph of President-Elect Barack Obama emerging from the Hawaii surf in a bathing suit aroused convulsions of enthusiasm across the land. Even the New York Post joined in, catcalling, “Fit for Office … Buff Bam Is Hawaii Hunk!” But a mere two years later—two economically desolate, war-torn, jobless years later—the national sentiment toward Obama has wilted, with open-mouthed adoration giving way to libido-crushing frustration. Far, far sexier than the president and his drooping poll numbers are the crusading challengers of the Republican Party, whose tea-swilling followers are fogging up the windows of the 2010 midterm elections.

Several of the images are a bit on the disturbing side, to put it mildly, but I can't help but laugh.

Some folks really need to lighten up and have a good chuckle.

Not even remotely funny, says the Media & Culture Institute, adding it's “disgusted” by Vanity Fair’s latest compilation, which it describes as “soft-core.”

"This is just one more disgusting Vanity Fair attack on conservatives," said Dan Gainor, the Institute’s vice president for business and culture. "What kind of coward would make fun of a war hero like Sen. John McCain this way? Imagine how angry liberals would be if conservatives attacked prominent minorities with a similar calendar.

“I think many of VF’s advertisers might be surprised to know they are underwriting such vile hatred," Gainor continued. "Conservatives should make sure advertisers hear about this. The worst part of this assault is that Vanity Fair knows how these images will be used by the left. These disgusting Photoshop attacks will follow these conservatives around forever – linked to in blogs and highlighted at times even in the old media. Yet somehow this is a publication that claims it is credible. News flash: It’s not."

Memo to Dan: Take a pill and relax. Blogs have been doing this stuff for years, in much cruder form. Who can forget the absurd image of a bikini-clad, gun-toting "Sarah Palin" the kook fringe put out there a couple of years ago? At least the Photoshop skills of the folks at Vanity Fair are a bit better.

Besides, we could always do a cheesecake spread of Democrat women, if only we could find some attractive ones. Surely Barbara Mikulski or Nancy Pelosi posing provocatively would really get the blood flowing. Er, never mind.

CBS/NYT Poll Spells Almost Certain Doom for Democrats

Forget all that nonsense Democrats have been been peddling about some surge in interest for their candidates in the midterms. If this CBS/New York Times poll is any indication they're about to be swept away in a historic tsunami.

Critical parts of the coalition that delivered President Obama to the White House in 2008 and gave Democrats control of Congress in 2006 are switching their allegiance to the Republicans in the final phase of the midterm Congressional elections, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

Republicans have wiped out the advantage held by Democrats in recent election cycles among women, Catholics, less affluent Americans and independents; all of those groups broke for Mr. Obama in 2008 and for congressional Democrats when they grabbed both chambers from the Republicans four years ago, according to exit polls.

The poll found that a greater proportion of women would choose Republicans over Democrats in House races than at any time since exit polls began tracking the breakdown in 1982.

So Obama and the Democrats have lost women, Catholics, the less affluent and independents. What's he got left other than kook fringe bloggers?

The poll does not measure the strength of individual candidates in specific districts, where indeterminate factors like voter turnout and even weather can affect Election Day results. And, taken nationally Thursday through Tuesday with interviews of 1,173 adults, the poll did not ask about United States Senate contests, as 14 states do not have Senate races this year (The poll had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points).

But it does offer a clear indication of party strength at the end of what has been a particularly intense and hard-fought mid-term election season with more bad news than good for Mr. Obama and his party.

Overall, 46 percent of likely voters said they would vote for Republicans and 40 percent said they would support Democrats.

A higher percentage of Americans continue to have a more favorable opinion of the Democratic Party than of the Republican Party, with 46 percent favoring Democrats and 41 favoring Republicans. But the Republicans’ current favorability rating in The New York Times/CBS poll reflects its highest level since September, 2006.

However, disapproval of Congress remains near its highest level in the history of The Times/CBS poll – 76 percent of respondents disapproved, 14 percent approved and 10 percent expressed no opinion.

Say farewell, Queen Pelosi.

The poll results are here. Worth noting, and the Democrats better take notice or they'll get wiped out in 2012 as well, is by 55-36% people want smaller government. A scant 11% think the economy is better since Obama took office, 53% don't think Obama has a plan to create jobs.

Naturally, considering this is a media poll, it's stacked against Republicans, which leads us to believe things may be even worse next Tuesday than anyone expects. Only 28% of those polled identify themselves as Republicans, with 37% Democrats and 31% independents. So you have 68% not identifying themselves as Republican yet they're heavily favored on Tuesday. Self-identified liberals and moderates make up 56% of those polled, with 38% conservative; again, Democrats should be very worried based on the makeup of those polled.

Update: According to Gallup it looks even worse.

Gallup's recent tracking of the generic ballot for Congress has shown the Republicans with substantial leads over the Democrats among likely voters, in part because the underlying registered voter population leans Republican in its vote choice. Compared with previous elections, that tilt is an extraordinary positioning for the Republicans, who typically do no better than tie the Democrats among registered voters. The GOP's position is further enhanced by the generally strong proclivity of Republicans to turn out to vote, which appears to be even greater than usual this year.

Gallup keeps pointing toward a 40% turnout compared with presidential elections. I suspect that number will be much greater.

Comedy Gold: Obama Has 'Progressive' Bloggers Over to the White House

They are pictured, from left to right: Joe Sudbay of AMERICABlog, Barbara Morrill (aka BarbinMD) from DailyKos, John Amato from Crooks & Liars, Oliver Willis from OliverWillis.com, and Duncan Black aka "Atrios" from eschatonblog.

Photo and story via Jake Tapper, who probably had to go elsewhere to get some food after Oliver "Haystacks" Willis cleared the buffet table.

Haystacks also works for the goon squad at George Soros' Media Matters. Dude needs to pull double duty just to keep the supply of Twinkies flowing. Nice to see Obama entertaining some of the sleaziest people in the country. Let's hope they didn't bring in any bedbugs.

Iowahawk brings the snark.

@michellemalkin Do you know the name of Oliver Willis' tailor? I need a dust cover for a '49 Buick.

Haystacks tweets:

President Obama personally told me he considers himself a progressive, FYI

Gee, whodathunkit?

Man Tattoos His Eyes ... and Everything Else

A real eye-catching design.

Tattoo enthusiast Matt Gone has become known around Portland as a man with checkerboard tattoos that cover much of his body.

"I picked the the checker pattern because nobody had done it," Gone said.

Now he's done something else that few have tried: He injected ink into both of this eyes -- by himself.

"I picked different colors cause I like mutations because I have birth defects," Gone said.

Gone said birth defects that left some of his muscles underdeveloped inspired him to start tattooing his body nearly 20 years ago as a means to disguise his deformities. He estimates more than 98 percent of his skin is covered with ink.

"I never really knew how far I would ever go, and [tattooing my eyes] is about as far as you can go," Gone said.

But some doctors believe Gone has gone too far with his latest design.

Gee, ya think?

Private Sector Strikes Again

Here's something that should be of interest to every hospital in the country.

HN: Czech firm invents photoactive air cleaner
Advanced Materials, a small Czech company seated near Prague specialising in nanotechnology, has invented special paints that can clean air from emissions and kill viruses and bacteria, the daily Hospodarske noviny (HN) writes Tuesday.

These photocatalytic suspensions can remove 95 percent of pollutants from the air in 24 hours, including exhaust gases, allergens, flu viruses and substances causing bad smell.

"It looks like a transparent paint. The layer has no colour and from a distance people cannot see that it is on your wall. However, it very effectively cleans the air in your flat," the company's head Pavel Sefl says.

"If a room is full of cigarette smoke and you leave and return in two hours, you won't smell any smoke at all," Sefl adds.

The air cleaner is only functioning when the sun is shining or when the artificial lights are on.

The paintlike layer is 20 times thinner than a human hair. It costs 1500 crowns [$83.74] per 10 square meters [107.6 sq ft.]. The company says it can be used indefinitely and is good especially for hospitals, schools, offices, shopping malls and all air conditioned buildings.

From the chemical point of view, the basis of the protective coating is photoactive titanium dioxide.

Advanced Materials, which has only five employees, has its invention protected by a patent and registered trademark.

The invention, made by Jan Prochazka, has attracted interest abroad. The licence for its production and sale has been sold to companies in Australia, New Zealand, Poland and South Africa, the paper writes.

HN recalls that a new Centre for Innovations of Nanomaterials and Nanotechnologies, built thanks to finances from the European Union, will open in Prague Tuesday.

The centre is to speed up the application of base research in practice. "It has state-of-the-art equipment to test technologies," its director Zdenek Samec said.

Among others, the centre will focus on surfaces exposed to sunlight or temperature cycles. This is to test technologies used for the reconstruction of historical buildings, the paper writes.

Once submitted to the EPA for the necessary approval/s, will the bureaucrats get it right, or screw the pooch?

Via The Prague Daily Monitor

AP: 'Obama Campaigning Quietly From the White House'

What? Campaigning quietly from the White House? Huh? When was the last time he was even in Washington? The guy's been campaigning nonstop for a month and they're telling us he's campaigning quietly?

Less than a week before Election Day, President Barack Obama is quietly using the power of his office to reach Democratic voters in a final effort to get supporters to the polls and nudge close races in his party's favor.

Though Obama is off the campaign trail for three full days this week, he's personally targeting key Democratic constituencies from the White House, holding conference calls with union activists and campaign volunteers, and doing interviews with radio stations that draw largely black audiences. He'll also target younger voters when he tapes an appearance on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" on Wednesday.

The president will wrap up the week with a final campaign swing through five states where Democratic candidates are locked in tight contests.

It's a homestretch strategy based on how the White House believes the president can be most effective in an election in which his name is not on the ballot but his agenda is up for debate. According to a recent Associated Press-GfK poll, nearly half of likely voters say their votes for the House are intended to send a message about Obama.

White House officials say that while they still see value in the large rallies Obama has been holding across the country this month — he'll headline three more this weekend — they also recognize that with just six days until the election, many voters have already made up their minds.

Large rallies across the country, more to come, Jon Stewart appearances, and on it goes.

But according to these pinheads he's campaigning quietly. Shhh. It's almost as if he's invisible. A delicious thought, I might add.

Sad: Taiwan Woman to Marry Herself

Is social pressure to marry in Taiwan so great this woman feels the need to marry herself?

Chen Wei-yih has posed for a set of photos in a flowing white dress, enlisted a wedding planner and rented a banquet hall for a marriage celebration with 30 friends.

But there is no groom. Chen will marry herself.

Uninspired by the men she's met but facing social pressure to get married, the 30-year-old Taipei office worker will hold the reception next month in honor of just one person.

"Age thirty is a prime period for me. My work and experience are in good shape, but I haven't found a partner, so what can I do?" Chen said.

"It's not that I'm anti-marriage. I just hope that I can express a different idea within the bounds of a tradition."

Her T$50,000 ($5,675) wedding comes after online publicity that has netted 1,800 largely sympathetic comments.

"I think there will be more and more girls like this," said "divagirl," who did not elaborate.

Taiwanese women are marrying later and less often as their economic status advances, fuelling government concerns about a drop in the birth rate and its impact on productivity.

Only 40 percent of women surveyed earlier this year by the education ministry said they imagined married people could live better than singles, local media said.

"I was just hoping that more people would love themselves," said Chen, who will go on a solo honeymoon to Australia.

So if she meets some guy and wants to get hitched, does she have to divorce herself? What happens when she's having a bad day? Does she nag herself?

This idea of marrying yourself may have its roots those who practice self-worship.

Edgy! Ice Cream Ad Shows Priests Getting Intimate, Pregnant Nun

Just what I think of when I'm about to dig into some ice cream. Priests getting it on and pregnant nuns. Classy stuff.

Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority ordered an Italian ice cream company to stop running a print ad showing two hot male priests about to kiss passionately before sharing a tub of ice cream.

In the ad for Antonio Federici gelato, which ran in Look magazine, two chiseled men in black cassocks and clerical collars embrace “in a seductive pose as if they were about to kiss passionately,” the ASA said in a statement.

One of the men is wearing rosary and grips a spoon. The other cradles a small container of caffe espresso-flavor gelato. Text in the ad reads, “We Believe in Salivation.”

If the first image isn't offensive enough, they're getting perilously close to porn with this one.

Some consider it humor. Ha ha ha!

“Anyone who has seen the Antonio Federici ads knows that they are mildly humorous, in no way threatening, abusive or insulting. It is entirely wrong that these advertisements have been banned by such an unaccountable body, which needs to be reined in.”

OK, if they're so humorous, how about we have an ad with the Prophet Mohammed getting it on with his child bride Aisha while enjoying some ice cream? It would be a real knee-slapper seeing the creators go into hiding while facing death threats from peace-loving Muslims, wouldn't it?

Christie Puts Final Kibosh on Tunnel

No doubt Paul Krugman is melting down right about now. But let's give credit where it's due. Chris Christie isn't about to saddle his constituents with billions in debt just because the federal government has made a habit of it.

The Hudson River train tunnel, a dream of many New Jersey commuters, politicians and planners for decades, will die a second death today.

And this time, there will be no reprieve.

Gov. Chris Christie today is expected to again terminate the multi-billion dollar project, arguing that New Jersey cannot afford it and that the federal government is unwilling to increase its share of the costs, four officials close to the project said.

The governor canceled the project Oct. 7, but gave it a two-week grace period after U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood visited Trenton the next day to ask for more time to offer alternatives. That deadline expired Friday, but Christie has pondered the decision an additional five days.

As he walked into an event in Indianapolis last night, Christie said, "I’ll make this decision when I believe is the right time to make it. The decision I make will be in the best interest of the taxpayers of the state."

The project, which was to double rail capacity between New Jersey and New York City, was America’s largest public works initiative.

The project, which was to double rail capacity between New Jersey and New York City, was America’s largest public works initiative.

Tunnel proponents have accused the governor of scrapping a plan vital to New Jersey’s economic future. They also say that all along, he has planned to use some of New Jersey’s $2.7 billion share of the project to buttress the state’s nearly broke Transportation Trust Fund, which pays for road and bridge repairs and transit services.

Tunnel opponents have said the project lacked connectivity to New York Penn Station and the jobs on Manhattan’s prosperous East Side.

When he canceled the project in early October, Christie said he feared there would be major overruns. Officials said those fears have not changed.

Nobody seems to have answered a simple question: If this was America's largest public works initiative, how come if we've already spent over $800 billion on the Obama stimulus scam, why wasn't this simply paid for in its entirety out of that money? One-hundredth of the stimulus money would have paid for the entire project if we're to believe cost estimates.

When he canceled the project in early October, Christie said he feared there would be major overruns. Officials said those fears have not changed.

The overruns could range anywhere from $1.1 billion to $5.3 billion, depending on who is giving the estimate.

In addition to committing $2.7 billion toward the project when it was expected to come in at $8.7 billion, New Jersey is responsible for all overruns. The federal government and Port Authority of New York and New Jersey each pledged $3 billion for the 9-mile tunnel that was to run between Secaucus and West 34th Street in Manhattan.

"It’s all about the money," Christie said during an appearance in Philadelphia last week.

Indeed, it is. And we in New Jersey simply don't have it. Even Obama's Transportation Secretary admitted the final cost would have been at least $12.7 billion. Factor in government incompetence and we're talking probably $20 billion by the time it's done. If this project is so important, let the federal government pay for the whole thing and New Jersey taxpayers alone.

Pathetic New Grayson Ad: Let's Scare Grandma!

Perhaps the last hope of endangered Democrats: Scaring senior citizens. Despite the fact there will be no COLA increase for the second straight year of the disastrous Obama/Pelosi/Reid trainwreck, desperate Democrat nutcase Alan Grayson sinks to a new low by implying his opponent Dan Webster is going to take away Grandma's Social Security and eyeglass prescription funds.

Grayson trails Webster by seven points in the latest poll. By the weekend we expect Grayson to be running ads saying Webster plans to cannibalize children.

Sign of the Times: 'Funemployment' Added to Dictionary

We spotted this trend early on, where the media would weakly spin The Great Obama Recession as being somehow enjoyable. Well, sure enough, the word funemployment has now been added to a dictionary.

"Funemployment", "PIIGS" and "broken society" have all made their way into the Collins English Dictionary, reflecting the dominance of the economic downturn in last year's consciousness.

The latest technological trends have also been captured among the dozens of new inclusions, which were revealed on Wednesday, with "tweetheart," "tweet tooth," "tweet-out," "iPad" and "intexticated" all entering the lexicon.

"Funemployment" describes the enjoyment had while on an unforeseen break from work and "PIIGS" is an acronym for Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain, the countries most at risk from the European sovereign debt crisis.

"Broken society" or "social recession" describe the perceived erosion of moral values while "ghost estate," an unfinished housing development abandoned due to the downturn, is now in the dictionary.

Social networking site Twitter is responsible for the addition of "tweetheart," a person who uses the site and is much admired by other users.

"Tweet tooth" is the strong urge to post a Twitter update while "tweet-out" is a greeting sent to a friend via the online service.

The success of Apple's new "iPad" laptop computer is acknowledged while the addition of "itexticated," which means to be distracted while reading or writing a text message, exposes some of technology's draw-backs.

Language-lovers in Glasgow whittled down the final list of new words after feeding written and spoken material from newspapers, websites, magazines, television and radio into a database over the past year.

The obsession with celebrity culture is highlighted by the inclusion of "fauxmance," which is a non-existent relationship between stars concocted to attract media attention.

Popular political terms are also included with "birther," used to describe those who believe that US President Barack Obama was not born in America, making the new edition.

The should also add Obamamedia, used to describe a slobbering chattering class hopelessly in love with an unqualified, megalomaniac who somehow managed to finagle his way into the White House.

NYDN: Jon Stewart Rally as 'Astroturfed' as Tea Party Events

This rockhead laments Obama's gross overexposure the past couple of years as a reason why he's so unpopular, but misses the target by a mile with a lame swipe at Tea Partiers. It's a popular cliche with the left that Tea Party events are somehow organized by the GOP while Democrat gatherings are just spontaneous gatherings by folks clamoring for change. Nothing like getting it backwards. Still, he seems to coming coming to his senses that Obama has degraded the office by spreading himself so thin and appearing on any outlet that'll have him. We noticed this over a year ago when he started making basketball picks on ESPN, and apparently this guy has finally figured it out.

President Obama should make the most of his "Daily Show" appearance on Wednesday night - charming the pants off Jon Stewart and the crowd, as he did when he showed up there two years ago. It's a terrific show, Stewart is a great interviewer and Obama makes good television.

Then, the President should cancel all future trivial media appearances. While they may have kept him personally popular, in broad terms they've degraded the Obama brand.

Obama's handlers were supposed to be smarter than this. They were supposed to use his celebrity strategically to advance his agenda. Instead, they've been indiscriminate, carpet-bombing Americans with the man they elected rather than launching communications smart weapons.

The result is that for millions of Americans, the very likable, charming Obama has become a constant tone in the background rather than an occasional, convincing, presidential voice in the foreground - the kind that makes your ears perk up.

Sorry to interrupt the slobbering, but Obama isn't that charming and not all that likable. If he was his approval rating wouldn't be in the toilet.

Consider all the quasi-entertainment media appearances he's made, most of them frivolous.

He went on ESPN twice to announce his Final Four picks. He went on "The View" (drawing 6.5 million viewers). He had a "Christmas at the White House" special with Oprah Winfrey. He went on Jay Leno - becoming the first sitting President to appear on a late-night show. He was on the cover of Rolling Stone, giving a revealing interview looking back on his first 18 months in office. In December, he'll be going on the Discovery Channel's "MythBusters."

All that's left, apparently, is to be a guest voice on "The Simpsons," though I'm sure that's in the offing. Banksy will animate.

This "Daily Show" appearance makes a second strategic mistake. By chumming it up with Stewart just days before the Rally to Restore Sanity, Obama and Stewart are coopting each other. The President is killing two mockingbirds with one stone.

Without Obama's and Oprah's fingerprints on it, the rally might have looked like a semi-spontaneous uprising by moderate-as-hell Americans sick and tired of the extremists. Now, it'll appear to be a Democratic Party event, through and through - every bit as "Astroturfed" as most of the big Tea Party events.

Ready, fire, aim. It's this smug interpretation of a popular uprising why guys like this will be left scratching his pointy head next Tuesday wondering why all those stupid extremists have overwhelmingly rejected Obama and the Democrats. They just don't get it, and we're fine with that. Keep insulting the public. It doesn't hurt us, it just motivate us more to crush you at the polls and keep a smile on our face while doing it.

More on the smugness and arrogance of the left that's just killing them.

The smug condescension in this — we’re losing because voters are panicky and confused — is matched only by its apparent cluelessness. Does Obama really believe that demeaning ordinary Americans is the way to improve his party’s fortunes? Or that his dwindling job approval is due to the public’s weak grip on “facts and science’’ and not, say, to his own divisive and doctrinaire performance as president?

Perhaps he does. Or perhaps he just says such things when speaking to liberal donors. It was at a San Francisco fundraiser in 2008 that Obama described hard-pressed citizens in the small towns of Pennsylvania as “bitter’’ people who “cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them . . . as a way to explain their frustrations.’’

Obama is far from alone in looking down his nose at the great unwashed. Last month, Senator John Kerry explained that Democrats are facing such headwinds these days because voters are easily swayed dolts: “We have an electorate that doesn’t always pay that much attention to what’s going on, so people are influenced by a simple slogan rather than the facts or the truth.’’

Meanwhile, the rise of the Tea Party movement, one of the most extraordinary waves of civic engagement in modern American politics and a major driver of the 2010 election season, has drawn no end of scorn from Democrats and their cheerleaders in the media.

A perfect segue to this buffoon.

Robert Gibbs Drives Obama's Tedious Car Metaphor Into the Ditch

"There's an Obama bumper sticker on the car, we get that."

Oh, yeah - high five, Gibbsy!

Come on now, don't leave me hangin'!



Hat tip - RealClearPolitics. Cross-posted here.

Know What Fascinates Katie Couric? The Mouth-Breathing Rubes in Flyover Country

And the best way to get to know those curious simpletons is to venture out to places like...New Brunswick, New Jersey?

Well, that is almost 40 miles from Manhattan.

Katie Couric is feeling liberated.

Not because she is nearing the end of her five-year contract as CBS anchor—although there’s an unexpected plot twist on that front—but because she’s been spending less time in the studio. You can hear it in her voice.

“It’s great for me to get out of the chair and into the world,” she says. “I started out as a reporter, and I still enjoy reporting.”

Rick Kaplan, her executive producer, says that “when she’s on the road—in Iraq with David Petraeus—she has a great way with people. People like her and she likes them. There are anchors who consider being on the road a pain in the butt. She really looks for opportunities to feel the earth and touch people.”

That’s why Couric has spent recent weeks in Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston and New Brunswick, New Jersey. She is touring what she calls “this great unwashed middle of the country” in an effort to divine the mood of the midterms.

Oh dear. One week before Election Day and America's Sweetheart still hasn't figured out the mood of the electorate. Maybe she hasn't read any newspapers lately, I don't know. But I'm in a good mood, so I'll help her out a little.

Yo, Katie - we're hacked off!

You and your party are in for a thumpin', if not a batterin', if not a slaughterin', if not an evisceratin' next Tuesday.

Save yourself some gas money and report that to your dwindling audience.

Mmmm, sophisticated mama!

Via Michelle Malkin. Cross-posted here.

Rangel to Represent Himself at Ethics Trial?

You know what they say about the man who represents himself in court. We can only figure he's running low on money considering how much he's shelled out and he hasn't even put put on trial yet. This is slated to start in mid-November and conceivably could be delayed again, but what's the point? We're going to be in need of more entertainment once the fallout from the elections fades, so have at it, Chuckles.

Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) will likely represent himself at his mid-November ethics trial, setting up a potential spectacle less than two weeks after what’s expected to be a disappointing — if not devastating — election for Democrats.

Rangel and his attorney, Leslie Berger Kiernan, and her legal team parted ways earlier this month, according to sources, leaving little time before the Nov. 15 trial for another lawyer to take the case and prepare.

It is unclear whether Rangel or Kiernan severed the attorney-client relationship, though Rangel had complained publicly about how much he was spending on legal bills. Neither Rangel’s office nor Kiernan returned a request for comment.

Some experts argue the ethics committee cannot afford the negative publicity of further delaying the trial to allow another attorney to prepare Rangel’s defense — and it could be that Rangel now wants to mount that defense himself.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) has sole authority to schedule the hearings. But Public Citizen’s Craig Holman said that such a delay is highly unlikely and that Lofgren is under no obligation to reschedule since Rangel failed to hire a replacement.

“Additional delays would reflect poorly on the committee itself and provide no benefit to either congressional caucus,” he said. “Delays would also lead to more public criticism that the ethics committee is not willing or capable to carry out its duties.”

The ethics committee in July charged Rangel with 13 violations of House ethics rules. He has maintained he is innocent of all the charges.

Maybe Maxine Waters could take his lead and also represent herself. The spectacle of seeing her call all her colleagues racist is too delicious to resist.