"Looks like a Shrinking Pimp" Hugh Hefner's Playboy mansion more like a squalid prison say former Playmates

Hugh Hefner's Playboy mansion more like a squalid prison say former Playmates | Mail Online

Playboy mansion? More like a squalid prison: Former Playmates tell of 'grubby' world inside Hugh Hefner's empire

By DAVID LEAFE
Last updated at 12:39 AM on 31st December 2010

The marriage proposal was apparently a rather romantic affair. On Christmas Eve, the couple watched a late-night movie together and then exchanged gifts: for him a framed photograph of their King Charles Spaniel, for her an engagement ring.

‘She burst into tears,’ he revealed on Twitter at the weekend. ‘This is the happiest Christmas in memory.’

‘The most memorable Christmas ever,’ she tweeted in agreement. ‘I love him.’
All of which might be rather more touching if the prospective groom was not Playboy tycoon Hugh Hefner who, at 84, is 60 years older than his fiancée, a platinum blonde model named Crystal Harris.

That Hefner should choose to share details of this intimate moment with the world quite so soon after his proposal is typical of this flamboyant self-publicist.

His image as a fast-living Lothario has done much to make a success of the Playboy brand, and news of his impending nuptials to a woman young enough to be his great-granddaughter will further promote the idea of him as a lovable old rascal who has plenty of life in him yet.

This is certainly the image Hefner likes to project to the celebrities drawn to his lavishly debauched parties at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles. The attractions there include a games house, with two guestrooms equipped with only a bed, a ceiling mirror and a phone.

Charlie Sheen, Leonardo DiCaprio and Colin Farrell are among the stars who have enjoyed romps at the Mansion, according to a kiss-and-tell memoir by Izabella St James, a former member of the ever-changing bevy of pneumatic blondes with whom Hefner shares his home.

Stars just needed to ‘click their fingers’ to seduce women at these soirées, recalls St James.

These A-listers no doubt delight in their association with the legendary lover. But unfortunately for Hefner, some of his former ‘girlfriends’, as he calls them, have become disenchanted with life in his harem over the years.

One by one they have revealed what life was like behind the glittering façade of the Playboy Mansion. According to them, it disguises a grubby world where some girls feel they are no better than prostitutes, paid pocket money by an octogenarian obsessive who funds plastic surgery to turn them into his physical ideal, and yet must still take huge amounts of Viagra to manage sex with them.

The portrait of Hefner painted by Izabella St James is deeply unappealing. A pretty blonde law graduate, she was 26 when she met him in a Hollywood nightclub in 2002. Soon, he invited her to move in with him and seven other official ‘girlfriends’.

More...

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1342643/Hugh-Hefners-Playboy-mansion-like-squalid-prison-say-Playmates.html#ixzz19uC0HWBb

Poole: 2010: The Year of Islamist Infiltration

Poole: 2010: The Year of Islamist Infiltration « Creeping Sharia

Patrick Poole writing at Pajamas Media:

Appeasement and outreach are no match for the enemy’s civilizational jihad.

At the end of last year I reflected here at Pajamas Media that 2009 represented a“tipping point for domestic terror.” Grimly, that assessment has borne out — recall the terror attacks aimed at New York City’s Times Square and Portland’s Pioneer Courthouse Square, the Baltimore recruiting station bomber, and the virtual host of homegrown terror arrests racked up this year.

While the domestic terror trend has continued unabated, elements of pre-violent, or rather stealth, jihad are taking firm root in our government, military, judicial, and educational institutions, without the slightest opposition from the Obama administration and our homeland security agencies. In fact, if we’ve seen anything this year, it has been the willingness of government officials to lend their support to aid this stealth jihad.

The failure to recognize the “civilizational jihad” being waged against us is a bipartisan problem. Driven mainly by Muslim Brotherhood front groups and pushed by non-violent Islamist organizations in the West, the threat remains badly underrated by our national security establishment. But it was placed front and center by the report titled“Shariah: The Threat to America,” issued by the Team B II panel of national security experts including former CIA Director Jim Woolsey and former DIA Director Lt. Gen. Ed Soyster.

I was honored to participate in Team B II. To my dismay, this past year we have had an onslaught of examples demonstrating how far the stealth jihad outlined by Team B II has advanced:

• January: Maine drops fine against Christian group for “inflammatory anti-Muslim message” following federal lawsuit. In a June 2009 exclusive Pajamas Media article I reported that the state of Maine had issued a fine against the Christian Action Network (CAN) for a laundry list of violations, including the claim that one of their mailings contained an “inflammatory anti-Muslim message.” CAN, aided by attorneys from Liberty Counsel, took the state of Maine to federal court, where the case was heard by Judge D. Brock Hornby. According to the hearing transcript, Maine Assistant Attorney General Thomas Knowlton argued that CAN “is not entitled to First Amendment protection,” to which Judge Hornby immediately replied, “Say that again?” Eventually, the state of Maine abandoned their absurd anti-constitutional position, admitted that fining CAN for their exercise of free speech was an error, and settled out of court. This case demonstrated that not only would state officials act to enforce preferential shariah prohibitions on defamation of Islam and blasphemy in violation of the First Amendment, but that critics who run afoul of the sensibilities of politically correct bureaucrats must turn to the federal courts and expend considerable resources (in this case, more than the fine imposed) to defend their most basic First Amendment rights.
• January: Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano meets with terror-tied groups. Based on internal DHS emails obtained through FOIA by Judicial Watch, DHS officials put together a two-day meeting including Secretary Napolitano with representatives from several groups named as unindicted co-conspirators in the largest terrorism financing trial in American history, and also groups that have openly supported terrorist organizations. One participant, Salam al-Marayati of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), blamed Israel for the 9/11 attacks in a Los Angeles radio station interview — on the day of the terror attacks. MPAC has also called for the U.S. government to delist Hezbollah and Hamas as terrorist organizations. After reviewing the 300+ pages of emails and documents obtained concerning the “interfaith” meeting, Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton said, “I fail to see how consorting with radicals helps the DHS protect the United States.”
• March: L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca defends Hamas front CAIR before Congress. Testifying before a House Subcommittee on Intelligence and Terror Risk Assessment, Sheriff Baca was asked by Rep. Mark Souder about his appearances at fundraisers held by the Council on America-Islamic Relations (CAIR), and at what point such endorsement gives legitimacy to the group’s well-known activities in support of Hamas. Baca reacted angrily, saying that he would attend 10 more CAIR fundraisers. When Souder pressed Baca about FBI testimony that CAIR was a front for Hamas, Baca interrupted the congressman, claiming that his patriotism (rather than his judgment) was being questioned. He later told the Los Angeles Times, “When you attack CAIR, you attack virtually every Muslim in America.” Unfortunately for Sheriff Baca, not only has the DOJ confirmed CAIR’s Hamas support to members of Congress, but that assessment has been seconded by federal Judge Jorge Solis based on evidence submitted by the DOJ in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing trial.
• April: Al-Qaeda cleric Anwar Hajjaj leads prayers on Capitol Hill for congressional Muslim staffers. As part of an ongoing investigation into a long line of extremists invited to preach on Capitol Hill by the Congressional Muslim Staff Association (CMSA), I reported here exclusively about the appearance of Anwar Hajjaj as a speaker at CMSA’s Friday jummah prayers inside the U.S. Capitol. Hajjaj is the former head of the Taibah International Aid Association, which was listed by the U.S. government in May 2004 as a designated global terrorist organization for its financial support of al-Qaeda. A video essay by Roll Call recorded Hajjaj leading the April 16^th CMSA event. A subsequent reportpublished by Fox News chronicled a long list of recent CMSA prayer leaders who cultivate terrorist ties, who have made statements in support of terrorism, and who are known foreign agents.
• May: White House counterterrorism advisor John Brennan defends jihad as “legitimate tenet of Islam.” As documented in our Team B II report (p. 155), since the publication of the 9/11 Commission’s report, where “jihad” was invoked 126 times and Islam cited 322 times, both terms, along with “al-Qaeda,” “Hamas,” “Hezbollah,” “Caliph,” and “shariah” have been entirely purged from all recent national security documents at the request of Muslim Brotherhood-backed groups claiming that the use of such terms legitimizes terrorism. But White House counterterrorism czar John Brennan went a step further, claiming in a speech that jihad was a legitimate tenet of Islam. When questioned about his claim after reiterating it in a sit-down interview with the editors of the Washington Times, Brennan stormed out, saying, “I’m not going to go into this sort of history discussion here.”
• May: Boston-area public school children on a field trip to terror-tied mosque pulled from group to participate in afternoon prayers. An undercover video released by Americans for Peace and Tolerance showed students on a field trip to the extremist Islamic Society of Boston mosque being pulled out of their student group and being led in offering prayers to Allah during an ongoing prayer service. As reported by APT, the teachers did not intervene and the parents were never told. Only when the video was released and parents began complaining did school officials apologize for the event. Just days before the field trip, Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick appeared at the mosque, despite video taken in March showing the mosque’s imam calling for supporters to “grab onto the gun, and the sword” in defense of local terror suspects Aafia Siddiqui and Tarek Mehanna. One founding trustee of the mosque is currently serving a 23 year prison sentence, and at least three others mosque attendees and supporters have fled the county to avoid prosecution.
• June: Ohio Homeland Security official fired for lying about previous job with Jordanian government. In March, Ohio Homeland Security community engagement director Omar Alomari was testifying before Congress on radicalization, notwithstanding his open support for terror-tied organizations in taxpayer-funded literature. Zuhdi Jasser of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy described Alomari’s publications as “classic Islamist propaganda.” But just weeks after his appearance before Congress, Alomari was fired for lying to investigators about his previous work experience, including his prior tenure as a high-ranking official for the Jordanian government, which he conveniently failed to disclose in his background check documentation.

• August: State Department funds Ground Zero mosque imam’s tour of Middle East despite extremist statements and widespread public opposition. My Pajamas Media colleague Claudia Rosett broke the news that the State Department was sponsoring a trip of the Middle East by Ground Zero mosque imam Feisal Rauf despite reported statements made by Rauf comparing the United States to al-Qaeda. “We tend to forget, in the West, that the United States has more Muslim blood on its hands than al-Qaeda has on its hands of innocent non-Muslims,” Rauf claimed during a 2005 conference in Australia. After inquiries had been made about the State Department’s sponsorship of Rauf’s tour, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told Fox News, “We are aware of those remarks.” Emails from New York City Mayor Bloomberg’s office released in just the past few weeks show coordinationbetween the Ground Zero mosque developers and Bloomberg staffers, including drafting statements for mosque officials and pledges to “give political cover” to Landmarks Preservation Commission officials who greenlit the project. Bloomberg’s office still has not released all of the emails and documents requested by Judicial Watch and the American Center for Law and Justice.

• September: FBI gives U.S. Hamas official guided tour through top-secret NCTC and FBI Academy. During the Holy Land Foundation terrorism finance trial, Chicago Imam Kifah Mustapha was named unindicted co-conspirator in the case by federal prosecutors, and FBI agent Lara Burns testified that Mustapha was part of a singing troupe that glorified Hamas and encouraged the killing of Jews. Earlier this year, Mustapha was removed as an Illinois State Police chaplain in the wake of media reports noting his terrorist support activities. That didn’t prevent the FBI Chicago field office from hosting Mustapha in a six-week Citizen’s Academy course, which included a guided tour of the top-secret National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) and the FBI Academy at Quantico. After I first reported that Mustapha had been given the NCTC tour, including a picture of Mustapha standing in the NCTC lobby, the FBI initially denied my report and claimed the photo had been fabricated. Two days later, they admitted to Fox News that he had in fact participated in the program and the photo was authentic — but defended the decision, saying that he was “a prominent figure in the community.” One former FBI official told theWashington Times that Mustapha was “a known senior Hamas guy.” When FBI Director Robert Mueller was questioned about the Hamas figure’s participating in the program after a speech the following week, Mueller defended the program but said that “I am not going to talk about any particular individual.”
• September: Group raided by FBI in terror support probe had received nearly $500k in taxpayer funds and was invited to White House meeting in April. At the same time the FBI Chicago field office was attempting to explain their inclusion of a senior Hamas figure in one of their programs, they wereraiding the home of Hatem Abudayyeh as part of a grand jury investigation into terrorism support for Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Just days after the raids, it was reported that Abudayyeh’s organization, the Arab-American Action Network, had received at least $457,000 in taxpayer funds from the city of Chicago for “after-school programs.” That news was followed by a Politicoreport that Abudayyeh had been invited to the White House earlier this year to participate in a meeting on immigration issues and civil rights. Abudayyeh had also been the subject of a glowing PBS Independent Lens program. Several of Abudayyeh’s associates who were subpoenaed by the federal grand jury in the case have refused to appear.
• October: DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano swears in radical Islamist Mohamed Elibiary to Homeland Security Advisory Council. On the same day that I submitted an article concerning Mohamed Elibiary’s participation in the DHS Countering Violent Extremism Working Group and a December 2004 conference honoring Iranian Ayatollah Khomeini (an event that the Dallas Morning News described as a “disgrace”), unbeknownst to me, DHS Secretary Napolitano appointed Elibiary to serve as the only Muslim member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council. Recently Elibiary has billed himself as a “deradicalization expert,” despite abundant evidence of his previous defense of terrorist support organizations, his praise for jihadist authors, and his threats made against a Dallas journalist who repeatedly exposed his extremist views.
• November: U.S. smbassador to UK visits extremist East London Mosque as part of Obama administration’s “Muslim outreach.” Stirring international outrage, Louis B. Susman, American ambassador to Britian, visited the East London Mosque, well known as a longtime hotbed of extremism and terrorist incubator (it produced Omar Farouk Abdulmutallab, last year’s underwear bomber). In January 2009, the mosque hosted a conference featuring wanted al-Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Aulaqi via telephone. Just a few weeks before Susman’s visit, the mosque chairman had defended Aulaqi’s participation in the conference, calling it an act of “fairness and justice.” The visit by the U.S. ambassador was slammed in the Wall Street Journal by Shiraz Maher of the International Center for the Study of Radicalization at King’s College, who described the mosque as “among Britain’s most extreme Islamic institutions.” Maher concluded that “Mr. Susman’s visit illustrates the blunders Western politicians often make by reaching out to the wrong Muslim ‘dialogue partners,” and that the attendance of such a high-ranking diplomat to the mosque “emboldened robed reactionaries at the expense of their more moderate counterparts.”

This list is not exhaustive. Certainly more examples could be cited. The Obama administration’s failure to understand the problem of Islamic radicalization and terrorism is fundamental, fueled with an outreach-to-anyone-at-any-cost policy that is perhaps best typified by NASA Administrator Charles Bolden’s July statements that his foremost mission was to improve relations with the Muslim world. What these twelve examples demonstrate is that our national security, intelligence, law enforcement, and diplomatic establishment are utterly defenseless before the stealth jihad that is attacking the heart of our Western society.

If 2009 was the tipping point for domestic terror, 2010 is sure to be remembered as the year that the “civilizational jihad” continued apace. Hopefully in 2011, it will be clear to at least some of our political, civic, and religious leadership that a dramatic change in national policy is urgently needed.

Patrick Poole is a regular contributor to Pajamas Media, and an anti-terrorism consultant to law enforcement and the military.

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More Islamist infiltration in our review of some lesser known events from 2010:
Creeping Sharia 2010 Year in Review – Part I

Giving Back the Tax Cuts: A Guest Post - NYTimes.com

Giving Back the Tax Cuts: A Guest Post - NYTimes.com

Is Cap & Crap Working Already? Calling Al Gore! Scientists: Winter could be the coldest Europe has seen in the last 1,000 years

Scientists: Winter could be the coldest Europe has seen in the last 1,000 years

If you are planning a trip to Europe this winter, better pack the winter woolies. Several scientists there say this winter could be the coldest Europe has seen in the last 1,000 years.

The Gulf Stream has really slowed down in the past two years. Its now moving at just half the speed it was just a couple of years ago. The scientists believe that this means the stream will not be able to add that extra heat to the European Countryside and compensate for the cold, Arctic winds. These scientists also believe, when the Gulf Stream stops completely, a new Ice Age will begin in Europe...

New Contender for Dumbest of the Month! Katie Couric: “We need a Muslim version of the Cosby Show”

Katie Couric: “We need a Muslim version of the Cosby Show” : Fire Andrea Mitchell!

She would be given a pass and expected to carry a knife and drugs were she an illegal alien

-not to mention, if an illegal alien, she could get in-state tuition in her choice of public colleges.

Lunchbox mix-up leads to charges for Sanford student :: WRAL.com

SANFORD, N.C. — An athletic and academic standout in Lee County said a lunchbox mix-up has cut short her senior year of high school and might hurt her college opportunities.

Ashley Smithwick, 17, of Sanford, was suspended from Southern Lee High School in October after school personnel found a small paring knife in her lunchbox.

Smithwick said personnel found the knife while searching the belongings of several students, possibly looking for drugs.

Irony alert: New York City creates special agency to help restaurants with bureaucracy

What else could be expected, waste begets waste!

Irony alert: New York City creates special agency to help restaurants with bureaucracy | Washington Examiner

Money to Money - Wind welfare and the Google Boondoggle in Maryland

Wind welfare and the Google Boondoggle in Maryland | Washington Examiner

By: Timothy P. Carney 12/30/10 1:34 PM
Senior Political Columnist

I would love clean, domestic, renewable power as much as the next guy, but if you need any evidence that our current alternative energy sources aren't up to snuff, just look at how much they get in terms of subsidies.

This week, at Beltway Confidential's sister blog, Examiner Opinion Zone, Maryland blogger Mark Newgent discusses a new boondoggle on the table in Annapolis:

The Pinsky-Hucker bill would support both renewable energy and an expansion of the wind-generated power industry in the state. Renewable energy proponents say that the only way developers can get financing for wind farms that can cost billions is through long-term contracts that guarantee a revenue stream.

Indeed, as renewable energy is more costly to generate and transmit versus fossil fuels, it is viable only through government subsidies and mandates.

Here’s where Google comes in. Back in October, Google and it’s partners announced with much fanfare a $5 billion project to transmit offshore wind power to the Mid-Atlantic region. Google has a 37.5percent stake in the project.

I highly recommend Newgent's entire post, and that you make it a habit in the New Year to visit Opinion Zone, where we have a great stable of voices bringing insight, analysis, reporting, and of course opinion, to all sorts of issues.

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2010/12/wind-welfare-and-google-boondoggle-maryland#ixzz19fbmN5Lv

Big Nannies of the Year - Bloomberg Leads

Big Nannies of the Year - National Review Online

MICHELLE MALKIN DECEMBER 29, 2010

God save us from more busybody bipartisanship in 2011.

It was a nefarious year for nettlesome busybodies employed by the Nanny State. Here are the top power-grabbers of 2010 — those who just can’t leave us alone:

NEW YORK CITY MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG
Two feet of snow paralyzed trains, buses, snowplows, and emergency vehicles in the Big Apple this week. Perhaps if Bloomberg — the nation’s top self-appointed municipal food cop — spent more of his time on core government responsibilities instead of waging incessant war on taxpayers’ salt, soda, trans-fat, and sugar intakes, his battered bailiwick would have been better equipped to weather the storm.

TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY RAY LAHOOD
He proposed meddling mileage taxes, mused about a system to track drivers’ routes, lobbied for high-speed-rail boondoggles, and promoted a “livability initiative” to limit suburban growth and force suburb-dwellers into public transportation. Then America’s driving czar floated a plan to disable cell phones in automobiles. LaHood backed off that creepy crusade, but he is still intent on waging war against drivers who choose to use cell phones, entertainment systems, and GPS devices on the road. Just last week, the unstoppable control freak proposed a new rule banning truck and bus drivers from any use of cell phones while driving — including emergency calls on hands-free devices. His anti-car agenda is stuck in overdrive.

THE CITY OF CLEVELAND
The green police in this Midwestern metropolis made headlines in February with an intrusive plan to roll out snooping trash cans — “smart” rubbish bins bugged with electronic identification chips and bar codes to monitor residents’ recycling habits. Violators could be fined $100. Federal stimulus money has gone to fund a similar program in Dayton, Ohio. The technology originated in Germany, was adopted by eco-authoritarians in England (where at least 500,000 trash cans now have snitch chips embedded in them), and has spread across Europe. Welcome to the age of Bin Brother.

THE CITY OF SAN FRANCISCO
The board of supervisors recently took the “happy” out of McDonald’s Happy Meals by forbidding all restaurants to offer toys with children’s meals that exceed limits on calories, fat, salt, and sugar. Even the mayor of the People’s Republic of San Francisco opposes this latest food-control scheme. But the bossy City by the Bay continues to assault consumer freedom with bans on everything from plastic bags to pet sales to soda pop. This summer, Mayor Gavin Newsom issued an executive order banning Coke, Pepsi, and Fanta Orange drinks from vending machines on city property. The decree dictates that “ample choices” of water, “soy milk, rice milk, and other similar dairy or non-dairy milk” must instead be offered. It’s not clear how vendors will be able to circumvent the city’s hostility toward plastic bottles. Maybe beverages will be served straight out of those noxiously trendy reusable cloth bags?

THE ARCHITECTS OF OBAMACARE
After ramming a trillion-dollar package of unconstitutional federal health mandates down our throats, they said children and seniors would be saved, we could keep our doctors, costs would go down, and the economy would get a boost. Reality: Premiums have continued to skyrocket. Insurers nationwide have dropped child-only plans in the individual market. Obamacare taxes forced the AARP to raise its members’ rates. Hospitals have stepped up layoffs and shutdowns. And millions of Americans have been able to keep their doctors and coverage only because their employers, unions, or health-care providers begged the feds for special waivers. Heckuva job, health bureaucrats.

FIRST LADY MICHELLE OBAMA AND FORMER GOVERNOR MIKE HUCKABEE
Mrs. Obama first played the childhood-obesity card in September 2009, as a rationale for using her office to crusade for taxpayer subsidies for the Olympics bid of her hometown, Chicago. Her argument: Kids would stay fat, lazy, and uninspired if the Daley machine didn’t get its share of massive sports corporate welfare.

Next came Mrs. O’s push for the $5 billion expansion of federal child-nutrition programs. As I first reported in February 2010, the legislation was a pet project of the Service Employees International Union, which seeks to swell the ranks of dawn-to-dusk year-round public-school food-service workers, who organize under the progressive activist slogan “serving justice and serving lunch.” In addition to school breakfasts and lunches, the kiddie-food patrol is now pushing subsidized dinners and summer food service to create a “stronger nutrition safety net.”

Nanny State Republican Mike Huckabee, who used his bully pulpit as Arkansas governor to campaign for Big Government–endorsed “healthier living” in public schools and private life, naturally sided with Mrs. Obama — and took a swipe at Sarah Palin last week for criticizing the White House’s usurpation of parental responsibility and rights. Huckabee scoffed at the idea that the feds are “trying to force the government’s desires on people.” But school bake sales are already under siege, and Mrs. Obama’s childhood-obesity task force has already called for new and dramatic controls on the marketing of unhealthy foods. Did Huckabee miss (or does he agree with) Mrs. Obama’s officious rallying cry on child nutrition: “We can’t just leave it up to parents”?

God save us from more busybody bipartisanship in 2011.

The Worst of Obama in 2010

The American Spectator : The Worst of Obama in 2010

Highlights-read the full article at the abobe link.

With 2010 drawing to a close, President Obama appears to be ending the year on a positive note.

We Say Corpsman, Obama Says Corpseman

How Obama Treats His Guests

The 2010 Sgt. James Crowley Award For Casting Aspersions Against Law Enforcement

President Obama might have regained some good will, but it will come as no surprise to me if he squanders it all by this time next year.

2010 is finally over and it's high bloody time. Oh, Thank Heaven It's 2011

The American Spectator : Oh, Thank Heaven It's 2011

By Jed Babbin on 12.30.10

excerpted, see link

2010 is finally over and it's high bloody time.

The second year of the Obama plague began with Obama signing the healthcare "reform" measure, which Joe Biden pronounced was a big effing deal. Heaven's sense of humor was demonstrated by the visitation on Washington of a second plague, not easily distinguished from the first. Halyomorpha halys, the brown stink bug, infested the area in biblical proportions.

The Wikis leaked all over us but President Obama told us it was rain falling on our heads....

he Rump Congress finally went home after slinging its last insults at our economy and our culture. And according to Gallup, 13 percent of Americans still think Congress is doing a very good job. Who are these people? They must be the ones the UN thought of when it proposed to appoint its first official ambassador to extraterrestrial beings. (If the House Repubs want to cut something out of the budget next year, how about starting with the $6 billion or so we pay the Turtle Bay crime family every year?)

It's not just that Barry, Nancy and Harry managed to stampede more nation-mangling legislation into law. It's not just that our national debt is such a large number -- $13,868,461,000,000 -- that it defies imagination and repayment.

Barry got shellacked in November, but before the varnish could dry the Senate RINOs handed Presidude Obama almost everything he wanted, including a tax deal that had so many liberal toys attached, you'd need a new car to pull it. One more powerful than the Chevy Volt, which gets at least 40 miles per billion dollars of taxpayer-funded subsidies.

What a load of... The Farce Before Christmas

Here is a followup to my earlier posting.

The American Spectator : The Farce Before Christmas

By Andrew Cline on 12.30.10

Comedian Jon Stewart is the new Edward R. Murrow. Why? He shamed Republicans into supporting a bill to pay the health care bills of 9/11 first responders. It is written in the New York Times, therefore it must be so. The cognoscenti nod their heads in agreement, and another page in the history of the Obama administration is inked.

Of course, it is all nonsense.

Even the New York Times, it seems, is getting its news from The Daily Show these days. But getting one's facts from a fake news show, as actual journalists used to point out, is risky business.

The story of Jon Stewart saving the 9/11 responders bill from heartless Republicans has already become accepted folklore, although like most folklore, it just isn't true.

The folklore goes like this: Senate Republicans didn't want to pay for health care for 9/11 responders. They used the excuse of wanting to extend the Bush tax rates first to prevent the bill from passing. Then Jon Stewart ranted about their obstructionism on his show, urging them to "just @#%&ing pass it!" Shamed, they caved and passed the bill.

In fact, the bill was flawed and Republicans had serious objections to it from the start. It did more than simply pay for 9/11-related health expenses for New York City first responders who were on the scene that horrible day. According to the Los Angeles Times, only half of the people covered by the original bill were first responders. The other half were civilians -- city residents, school children, and volunteers who came to help clean up in the aftermath of the attacks. But there is no telling who those people actually are. It is believed that about 10,000 people came to the city to help. They were from all over the country. Republicans were rightly concerned that the bill could become a blank check to virtually anyone, anywhere who claimed to have gotten sick as a result of 9/11.

Senate Republicans who opposed swift passage of the bill in the final days of the lame duck Congress were not opposed to the concept. They were opposed to the size and scope of the bill and to the process that would've fast-tracked the bill without allowing amendments. What is more, they said they were opposed to exactly that, not because they wanted to pass the Bush tax rates first.

[see the full article at the title link]