CHANNEL SURFING THE OTHER NIGHT, I happened to catch a brief ‘Great American Panel’ segment on Sean Hannity’s show in which the Democrat spinmiester expressed amazement that the Tea Partiers would want to cut taxes. “Don’t they know those taxes pay for the police protection at their protests?” I had to laugh, since at the March 20th protest on the Capitol steps (roughly 30,000 protestors) I sat for an extended time next to the single Capitol police officer within 200 yards: he was bored.

Later that same day, I walked past the anti-war rally at Lafayette Park next to the White House. The rally was already winding down; there were fewer than 200 protestors still in attendance - and I counted no fewer than 30 park police and Secret Service agents forming a bicycle barrier between the protestors and the White House fence.

The lady (spinmiester) doth protest too much.

WHY WE SHOULD THROW ALL THE BUMS OUT: Both national party committees spend big chunks [of money] on fancy meals, hotels, travel.

TOO MUCH GREEN? Governments across the Washington region spend millions of dollars on recycling each year, but national recycling experts say a lot of that taxpayer cash is going to waste.

Am I supposed to be surprised?

JUST ANOTHER PR STUNT: go to Kennedy Space Center to make a speech on future space policy and bring along your own syncophants for an audience. No KSC workers need apply.

Bonus points to AllahPundit for letting two critics of the cancellation speak.

TWO PICTURES, a thousand words. Here is what Obama needs set up to talk to a few school children.


Here’s what the last guy needed.


One is a Messiah; the other was a mere President.

THE NEXT OBAMACARE TARGET: your bacon sandwich.

Barring the success of lawsuits or huge gains by Republicans this fall, the president's health program will be imposed in pieces over the next four years. By the end, the government will have a fiduciary interest in the waistlines and cholesterol counts of every American.

As the most unaffordable aspects of the Obama plan come on line, expect more dietary restrictions as the government looks for ways to control the enormous costs related to unhealthy habits.

For decades, insurance companies have tried to get their customers to quit drinking and smoking and to slim down and exercise.

But imagine what they could have done if they had the power to simply outlaw behavior that drove up costs.

Taking away your bacon will be deemed a small price for helping cover the Obamacare deficit.

Welcome to the Brave New World.

BLOWBACK TO A BLOW(HARD). The New York Times’ “visual OpEd columnist” Charles M. Blow disses the Tea Party movement. The “dissee”, AlfonZo Rachel (ZoNation), responds:

A NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER is unconstitutional. Wisconsis U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb ruled the National Day of Prayer unconstitutional Thursday, saying the day amounts to a call for religious action.

Presidents going back to Washington have called for national days of prayer – calling on citizens to pray for the nation in whatever way they prefer and to whatever God they worship. There’s no penalty for those who don’t participate – just an exhortation to people of faith to put in a good word for the U.S. of A.

President Bush ... totally dug the idea and always brought together a boatload of preachers, rabbis, imams and whatever holy rollers he could find for a big ceremony and some pastries. Obama, whose attitudes about religion are quite prickly, scrubbed the ceremony and issued a statement that essentially endorsed the idea [of] prayer and that it is probably a good thing to do, unless they don’t pray, which is good too.

If President Obama has a core belief, it is that he has no core beliefs.

DURING HIS ELECTION CAMPAIGN, President Obama made a very clear and unambiguous promise: “If your family makes less than $250,000 per year, then none of your taxes will be increased -- period.”

“But in order to gloss over the tax increases contained in Obamacare -- on the sick, the uninsured, and durable medical equipment -- President Obama is trying to alter that pledge in the middle of his term.”

"And one thing we have not done is raise income taxes on families making less than $250,000. That's another promise we've kept."

In the business world, you generally try to renegotiate the contract before it expires – not after.

THINGS YOU NEED TO WIN IN 2010: a truck, a barn coat, and a Cosmo center-fold.

If you’re a GOP candidate, I’ve got a high-mileage pick-up I might be willing to lease.

A BIT OF CULTURAL NEWS: After a two year loan to the United States, Michelangelo's David is being returned to Italy.


Surely David's condition on return to Italy must have provided impetus to the drive to pass health care reform.

REDUCTION is theme of President’s next act: it will challenge average Americans to accept reduced services or increased taxes [reduced income] — or, probably, both.

And you thought it meant reduced government? Silly you.

CARRYING ON about carry-on fees. Jacoby’s right; let the market sort this one out. If the government wants to get involved, let them do something about these “nickel-and-dime” fees.

[T]he US ticket tax, which adds 7.5 percent to the price of every domestic flight? Or the $16.50 the federal government charges for each international departure and arrival? Or the $17 in customs and inspection fees paid by passengers flying into US airports from abroad? Or the "passenger facilities charges" (up to $18 per round-trip)? Or the "US Security Service Fee" ($2.50 per departure)? Or the "domestic segment fee" ($3.70 per flight segment)?

Let’s see. If I had my trusty hand calculator, I could probably figure out that the sum of these government-imposed fees are at least equal to the $30 that Spirit Airline wants to charge for carry-on bags.

OBAMA TELLS FOREIGN PRESS one of his personality traits is 'humility'.

Every Obama statement comes with an expiration date, but this one arrived stillborn.