Author: Stephen Gutowski

Stephen Gutowski is an award-winning political reporter who got his start in 2009 when he founded this blog.

Palin Staying in the Spotlight, Back on the Campaign Trail

Sarah Palin will be campaigning for Saxby Chambliss on Sunday and throughout next week in Georgia.

Sarah’s massive popularity in Georgia should give Chambliss’ run-off campaign an energy boost. And while Palin isn’t the only big name Republican to turn out for Chambliss, others include Huckabee, Romney, and McCain, she is most certainly the brightest star at this point.

With a close race against Democrat Jim Martin on his hands Chambliss can certainly use all the support he can get. Hopefully this, coupled with the lack of Obama voters for Martin, will put Chambliss over the top.

We shall see…

Paulson to Lend Money to Anybody Who Wants it

Gosh, doesn’t this sound familiar?

The government stepping in to let just about anybody borrow money regardless of their circumstances.

In fact, I’m relatively sure this is exactly what caused the problem in the first place. Ummm, yea, actually I’m completely positive of that.

Hmm lets think back to the first presidential debate when Obama claimed that deregulation was the cause of our economic ills. Here was my reaction then:

“Deregulation, Obama? Are you kidding? Was it deregulation that created organizations to give people loans that clearly weren’t qualified for them and never would have received them otherwise? Was it deregulation that mandated financial institutes give the same clearly unqualified people loans? Thus creating a massive and seemingly unending housing boom which then lead to a plethora of bad investments, investments which were sold by the government as safe investments. No Obama it wasn’t deregulation, it was idiots like you.”

But, obviously, Bush, Paulson, and the rest of our betterers in DC will never admitt that this is what happened and will, inevitably, stick with the same broken mentality that got us into this mess.

Does anybody see the supreme irony in this move by the government? I mean, yea, there’s the whole quandary of using the same tactics that got is in trouble in order to save us from that trouble. I’m almost convinced that this was the exact conversation that occured when this plan was being mulled over:

(several of Springfield’s best and brightest are stuck in a hole they dug while searching for buried treasure)

Mayor Quimby: Mmm, I guess we’re not gonna find anything.
Otto: Well how we gonna get outta here?
Homer: We’ll dig our way out!
Wiggum: No, no, dig up, stupid!

But I think, perhaps, the deeper irony lays in the fact that we are increasing our government’s debt for the express purpose of increasing consumer debt. In other words the government is spending money it doesn’t have in order to encourage people to spend money they don’t have. Does that sound like a downward spiral to fiscal hell to anybody else?

UPDATE: Michelle Malkin eventually weighed in on this…

Bin Laden’s Driver Being Moved to Yemen, Will be Free on December 27th

That is what the pentagon is telling everyone at least…

Bin Laden’s driver, Salim Hamdan, was made famous in the pile of crap known as Hamdan V. Rumsfeld. You know, the case where “Justice” Stevens and the crap pack, as I shall now call them, decided they knew how to run a war better than the executive (which is definitely absolutely constitutional and consistent for them to do, by the way). And, accordingly, that terrorists should be coddled and extended the same legal rights as citizens. Cool, huh?

And now Hamdan is, on the eve of his release, Hamdan is being sent to Yemen to serve out his pathetically short 66 month sentence. And, of course, thats 66 months minus time served which gives him almost exactly one month left to serve. But, hey, he only helped facilitate the most horrific terrorist attack in history.

Oddly enough, though, I think he may just miss Guantanamo. After all, the terrorist held there now have gameboys, art classes, and “movie nights”. There is even an “Arab-American cultural advisor” (why the hell is there an “Arab-American cultural advisor”?!!?!?). Honestly, the place sounds about a thousand times more enjoyable than the vast majority of middle-eastern countries. I’d be sad to leave if I was him.

Oh, I almost forgot, make sure you don’t miss the passive agressiveness of the BBC on this one:

“The US has always argued it can detain such people indefinitely, as long as its so-called war on terror continues.”

“so-called”, I guess those terrorists are only in our imagination?

UPDATE: Hot Air eventually weighed in on this…

UN Spends $23 Million to Paint a Ceiling

Yet another reason the UN should be dismantled and replaced with something better. Especially since this 23 Million dollar painting is on the ceiling of the room dedicated to the horribly weak and disgracefully mismanaged Human Rights Council.

Oh, and they used, at least, 633,000 dollars meant to help people who are starving and dying around the world.

But, hey, the ceiling is sort of pretty now… or something (pictures via Fox):

(There’s UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the far right)

But I guess the most disturbing part of this whole story has to be that this collection of colorful stalactites comes as a bargain when compared with the one BILLION dollar price tag for the proposed renovations to the UN’s European headquarters and the 1.9 BILLION dollar face lift being given to the UN’s offices in New York City.

Murtha may have to testify in the defamation suit against him

(Via AAEC)

Although it shouldn’t take a court order for a congressman to admit he made a horrible and despicable mistake in the case of the weasel dirt bag Rep. John Murtha it probably will. Actually, it will probably take several court orders since Murtha has already appealed one requiring him to make a deposition. What a slap in honor’s face Murtha’s conduct and his reelection is.

Here is the article on the state of the suit by Marine Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich against Murtha.

When will this guy do the right thing and retire? He has become an absolute disgrace to the country he claims to serve.

UPDATE: Murtha wants immunity

Soros and Ayres behind the destruction of the University of California’s standards?

It looks like the main backers of the proposal to obliterate the University of California’s standards, The National Center for Fair and Open Testing, have close ties with some of the most radical men in America, George Soros and William Ayres.

Yes, that’s right, Soros and Ayres both actively fund the organization which is, according to my UC grad contact for this story, mainly responsible for trying to kill UC’s standards and by extension its respectability.

But nobody should be too shocked here as only people who believe absurd things could possibly be behind the absurd changes that have been proposed thus far. Changes that include:

1. Removing the SAT II subject test requirements because, get this, some applicants don’t know they are requirements for acceptance. I think former Congressman Doug Ose captured my reaction to this one the best when he said:

“This staggeringly simplistic rationale raises legitimate questions about the wisdom of the regents’ willingness to consider admitting to the UC system students who cannot understand the most fundamental step of entering college which is to apply for it.”

2. Lowering the minimum GPA requirement from 3.0 to 2.8 along with eliminating the SAT II subject test. Yet they still try and argue that this move is intended to bring in more qualified students than the current standards do… Who are they kidding?

3. And this is my favorite, removing the SAT II subject test as requirements in order to promote “diversity”, even though race-based admissions policies have been illegal in California since 1996, and despite the fact that most experts agree that the SAT II subject tests actually help minority students get into college because they allow them to showcase abilities that would otherwise go unnoticed. California Assemblyman Van Tran elaborates on this…

All of us who believe in quality education that is based on performance, and only performance, need to take a stand against this (further) cheapening of our valued institutions in higher education. We need to get involved and put pressure on the people considering these absurd proposals.

Visit saveucstandards.com to learn more about how you can stand up for what is right.

UPDATE: The Washington Examiner reports that UC will cut its enrollment by 10,000 students making the proposal to slash admission requirements all the more absurd.

Valerie Jarrett Named White House Senior Adviser

In what appears to be a bit of good news Barack Obama named Valerie Jarrett as the White House senior adviser.

Now, the reason this is good news has to do with the fact that Obama had previously wanted the absurdly unqualified yes-woman, Jarrett, to replace him in the Senate.

To give you an idea of what I mean when I say Unqualified yes-woman here is how The New Republic described her:

“Jarrett’s cardinal role on the Obama campaign is to serve as an extension of the candidate. She is Obama’s eyes and ears at meetings and events. When she speaks, it is in his voice. She is often the one to deliver harsh truths to Obama–and to others on his behalf. And, when there is courting of vital constituencies to be done, Jarrett is an undisputed master.”

So yea the whole “extension of the candidate” description doesn’t make me feel confident in her ability to object to a decision by Obama with which she disagrees. Oh and the fact that shes never been elected to public office, or even run for that matter, makes that unqualified lable stick.

But, hey… I guess it could be worse.

Hillary One Step Closer to Secretary of State?

Barack Obama meet with Hillary Clinton Thursday in Chicago in order to talk about her about becoming his Secretary of State.

Or at least that’s what some Democratic officials are telling the AP.

So perhaps those original rumors were true? And maybe Hillary is now one step closer to being our nations top diplomat. Of course lots of people were saying Hillary would be Obama’s VP pick too and we all know how that turned out.

UPDATE: “Her’s to turn down”?