More on Steve Jobs

He left a personal fortune of approximately $6 billion and, interestingly, the bulk of his net worth was not in Apple, but rather his holdings of Disney and Pixar.

And, he appeared to be a relatively practical individual:

Jobs did not part with money easily, as he showed in June when he rejected a Cupertino City Council request for something extra for approving Apple’s new headquarters.

City council member Kris Wang jokingly asked the mogul at the time, “Do we get free Wi-Fi or something like that?”

Jobs replied, “Well, see, I’m a simpleton. I’ve always had this view that we pay taxes and the city should do those things.”

Democrats: POTUS bringing ”awful” vibes to the party

After yesterday’s special election loss in NY-09, the fallout is only beginning for Democrats:

Even before the polls closed, the recriminations — something short of panic, and considerably more than mere grumbling — had begun. On a high-level campaign conference call Tuesday afternoon, Democratic donors and strategists commiserated over their disappointment in Obama.  A source on the call described the mood as “awful.”

“People feel betrayed, disappointed, furious, disgusted, hopeless,” said the source.

Less expansive but equally telling were the remarks of House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, who in a conversation with reporters Tuesday morning said bluntly that Obama would take some blame for the two special election losses.

“I think every election reflects on the person in charge, but do I think it is an overall statement on the president alone? No,” said Hoyer. “Do I think it will be interpreted as being a statement on Obama? That’s probably correct.”

A senior Hill Democratic aide was more direct in attempting to explain the New York loss: “The approval ratings for the guy at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue cratered.”

A Turner consultant, Steve Goldberg, validated that assessment: “It was all Obama — not even a thought of anything else.”

Got that? Democrats are feeling “hopeless”.  HOPELESS!  This under the tutelage of an empty suit, who brought nothing but styrofoam Greek columns and empty promises of Hope and Change to the table of our political discourse.  If it wasn’t so damaging to the country, I’d encourage Obama and the Democrats to keep doing what they’re doing.  Because it’s working wonders for the Republicans.

[h/t: Memeorandum]

Consumer confidence in Obamanomics slips; lowest since Carter administraton

More hope and change:

Confidence among U.S. consumers plunged in August to the lowest level since May 1980, adding to concern that weak employment gains and volatility in the stock market will prompt households to retrench.

The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index of consumer sentiment slumped to 54.9 from 63.7 the prior month. The gauge was projected to decline to 62, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey.

The biggest one-week slump in stocks since 2008 and the threat of default on the nation’s debt may have exacerbated consumers’ concerns as unemployment hovers above 9 percent and companies are hesitant to hire. Rising pessimism poses a risk household spending will cool further, hindering a recovery that Federal Reserve policy makers said this week was already advancing “considerably slower” than projected.

“We’re really at the bottom of the barrel right now,” Lindsey Piegza, an economist at FTN Financial in New York, said before the report. “Americans are feeling an increasing level of frustration with their leaders in Washington. We’re also seeing a slew of weaker than expected economic reports.”

But don’t worry.  President Obama’s  just as frustrated and worked up about the economy that he and the Democrats have created as we all are.  Doesn’t that make you feel sooo much better?

What now in Libya?

CBS News is reporting that despite advances made by the rebels, with the help of coalition air-strikes, the rebels are being pushed back:

Libya’s rebel forces continued to struggle against Muammar Qaddafi’s superior firepower on the ground, as the United States and other allies consider whether to supply them with weapons.

The rebels have given up nearly all the ground they have gained after allied airstrikes took out some of Qaddafi’s heavy weapons. Now government forces are changing tactics, leaving behind the armed military vehicles and moving in armed pickup trucks like the opposition does, reports CBS News correspondent Mandy Clark. That makes it difficult for coalition forces overhead to distinguish who’s who on the ground.

Faced with a series of setbacks after recent gains, the rebels now are starting to show their combat fatigue, reports Clark Outgunned and often outflanked in the field, they lack any sort of military strategy or leadership. They are eager to take ground, but are quick to flee when they face any real fighting. The reality is that a rebel military victory seems increasingly unlikely.

That’s just fracking great.  It seems the question that lingers in debating Obama’s War in Libya kinetic military action is what now?

The bogus humanitarian spin to this war is wearing thin as we learn more about its uncomfortable realities, and the nature of our ever-increasing involvement.

Libyan rebels include Al Qaeda fighters

This should come as no surprise to anybody:

Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi, the Libyan rebel leader, has said jihadists who fought against allied troops in Iraq are on the front lines of the battle against Muammar Gaddafi’s regime.

In an interview with the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, Mr al-Hasidi admitted that he had recruited “around 25” men from the Derna area in eastern Libya to fight against coalition troops in Iraq. Some of them, he said, are “today are on the front lines in Adjabiya”.

Mr al-Hasidi insisted his fighters “are patriots and good Muslims, not terrorists,” but added that the “members of al-Qaeda are also good Muslims and are fighting against the invader”.

His revelations came even as Idriss Deby Itno, Chad’s president, said al-Qaeda had managed to pillage military arsenals in the Libyan rebel zone and acquired arms, “including surface-to-air missiles, which were then smuggled into their sanctuaries”.

Was President Obama aware of any of this before he started a war with Libya?

We need some Nigel Farage

When the European Union and the United States collapse under the weight of its debt and political impudence, we can’t say we weren’t warned:

 

American politics could use a few Nigel Farages, or at least the Republican party could anyway.  The Democrats are beyond saving.

18 GOP Senators from Wisconsin receive death threats

Pure scum:

State Sens. Joe Leibham and Glenn Grothman said they are among as many as 18 Republican senators who received a death threat following their votes to eliminate most collective bargaining powers for public workers.

The threat was sent in an e-mail late Wednesday with the subject, “Death threat!!!! Bomb!!!!” according to a copy of the letter released by Grothman’s office. The e-mail also was addressed to Sen. Pam Galloway, R-Wausau.

Grothman, R-West Bend, said the e-mail is the latest example of “a new height in incivility.” He said in recent weeks he has received obscene phone calls at all hours of the night, been jostled at the Capitol and has been shouted down during interviews.

“This is another example of the anger which is being spewed by the government unions,” Grothman said. “This has been all about intimidating … Republican legislators into bowing to the public unions, and it has only steeled our resolve.”

Grothman said he is hesitant to completely disregard the threat given the volatile atmosphere in Madison. A note shoved under his door Wednesday night said, “The only good Republican is a dead Republican.”

I’m standing up and applauding  Senator Grothman for defending his vote and not being intimidated by these violent, vitriolic union douchebags, and for speaking truth to power about what the unions try to do by intimidation.  For too long public unions have had  their way with state governments by looting taxpayers, and expecting governors to ask “how high?” whenever they say jump.

No more.  It’s time to bring an end to this insanity.

 

America’s moral stature has turned to crap, Gitmo edition

That’s the only logical conclusion one can come to after reading this:

President Barack Obama approved Monday the resumption of military trials for detainees at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, ending a two-year ban.

It was the latest acknowledgement that the detention facility Obama had vowed to shut down within a year of taking office will remain open for some time to come. But even while announcing a resumption of military commission trials, Obama reaffirmed his support for trying terror suspects in U.S. federal courts – something that’s met vehement resistance on Capitol Hill.

In light of this:

So based on that, our moral compass is down the toilet, as per President Obama’s standards.  Which is to say, no standards at all.

Clearly this is a political move, part of the administrations slow creep to the center ahead of next years elections.  Of course, it’s a good thing that Gitmo remains open for business.  The political benefits of trying to close the prison did not materialize for the President however, and he continues to use the professional left as his own personal punching bag.

Forced budget cuts at the NHS lead to rationing

It can’t happen here, right?

NHS managers are blocking hospital appointments for patients to save cash, a survey of family doctors has revealed, and at least one health trust proposes to stop sending obese people and smokers for routine hip and knee surgery because their unhealthy lifestyles lower the chance of the operations’ “success”.

With the health service asked to find an unprecedented £20bn efficiency savings over the next few years, many are resorting to moving procedures out of the NHS. In Kent hospital managers say abortions will now be provided by the charity Marie Stopes with hospitals only dealing with complicated cases. Last winter local GPs were asked to “stop referrals” for many procedures.

[…]

Health trusts are having to pare back costs in new ways. NHS North Yorkshire and York, the area’s primary care trust, is planning to stop patients who smoke, and those with a body mass index of more than 35, from having routine hip and knee operations.

The rules of economics apply to the English as well as to Americans.  When the government needs to rein in costs in a regulated healthcare market, the inevitable result is rationing.  Plain and simple.

POTUS and DNC walk back support for Wisconsin protests

Last week it was reported that the Obama administration, via the OFA and the DNC gave their approval and lent their support to the union protests in Wisconsin.

Today, the administration is distancing itself from all of that:

Administration officials said Sunday that the White House had done nothing to encourage the demonstrations in Wisconsin — nor was it doing so in Ohio, Florida and other states where new Republican governors are trying to make deep cuts to balance their budgets.

And, officials and union leaders said, reports of the involvement of the Democratic National Committee — specifically Organizing for America, the grass-roots network born of Mr. Obama’s 2008 campaign — were overblown to start with and were being inflated by Republicans sensing political advantage.

“This is a Wisconsin story, not a Washington one,” said Dan Pfeiffer, the White House communications director. “False claims of White House involvement are attempts to distract from the organic grass-roots opposition that is happening in Wisconsin.”

Yeah.  A grass-roots opposition that has to bus in malcontents from other states.  I believe astro-turfing  is more like it.

In reality, the DNC was caught approving of the protests last week on Twitter (screenshot via Doug Ross):

Despite the DNC and White House lies, it’s obvious that they fully support and encourage the protests by union thugs and lawbreaking teachers.  Not only that, but by association they encourage the vitriol and anger spewing from the protesters, which is exemplified in tweets like this:

“Get in their face”

Methinks the walking back of support could be attributed to the fact that the longer these protests grind out, the more Americans across the country start to get weary of “workers’ not going to work, and their union thug tactics.   Indeed it does look like more people support Governor Walker than the unions.

Look, the President is a left-wing ideologue, who sees the public sector unions as his primary base of support and approves of their methods to obtain and hold political power.  That’s just the nature of that beast.  Conservatives and anyone who’s been paying attention have known this for years.  That being said, it’s still disturbing to see the President of the United States side with an organization that represents 10-15% of the total American workforce and a select few in Wisconsin, and the filth that comes with it, against every other American.  This is what class warfare looks like.

[Hat Tip: Memeorandum]