Suitably Flip

Obama's Stimulus-Defending Speech Commits Karakiri

Ol' Prompty finally tired of living the lie.

President Barack Obama was defending his economic stimulus plan when one of his teleprompter screens crashed to the floor and shattered into pieces.

The glass plate displaying his speech hit the floor in the auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, within the White House compound.

Soylent Hybrids

Behold the (gross) future of alternative fuel sources.

Upcoming Military Robot Could Feed on Dead Bodies

 It could be a combination of 19th-century mechanics, 21st-century technology — and a 20th-century horror movie.

A Maryland company under contract to the Pentagon is working on a steam-powered robot that would fuel itself by gobbling up whatever organic material it can find — grass, wood, old furniture, even dead bodies.

Robotic Technology Inc.'s Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot — that's right, "EATR" — "can find, ingest, and extract energy from biomass in the environment (and other organically-based energy sources), as well as use conventional and alternative fuels (such as gasoline, heavy fuel, kerosene, diesel, propane, coal, cooking oil, and solar) when suitable," reads the company's Web site.

(HT: HA Headlines)

Attention 95% of Americans: Here Are Some More Taxes From Which You Should Probably Avert Your Eyes

The cost of free health care (for starters):

Well, the pain has arrived. Politico has a list passed around by Democrats last night.

Cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-ching:

— Broaden the 1.45-percent Medicare tax on earned income to “passive income,” which could include money from capital gains, rental properties and businesses that do not require direct participation. This could raise $100 billion.

— Levy a five-percent surtax on individuals who earn more than $500,000 and couples that make $1 million.

— Tax health benefits at a higher level than had been considered. Two scenarios are in play. Taxing plans worth more than $20,300 for a family and $8,300 for an individual could raise $240 billion. Increasing the cut-off to plans worth more than $25,000 would bring $90 billion.

— Capping the tax break on itemized deductions at 28 percent, as President Barack Obama had proposed, or freezing the top deduction rate at 35 percent when the Bush tax cuts expire in 2010. The first scenario would raise $168 billion, while the second would collect $90 billion.

— Issue tax credit bonds to pay for the proposed Medicaid expansion, raising $75 billion.

— Charge fees to pharmaceutical manufacturers, bringing in as much as $20 billion, and insurance providers, raising $75 billion.

– Raise taxes on sodas and sugary drinks. A 3-cent hike could pick up $30 billion, and a 10-cent hike could make $100 billion. This one already appears out of favor: Many senators have specifically ruled out the sugar tax, and a Senate Democratic source said it was the one option that was clearly not gaining traction with committee members.

Call a Doctor If You Experience Cognitive Dissonance That Last For More Than Four Months

These expensive stimulus pills don't seem to be stimulating us...

So let's take some more!

In an interview this morning with ABC News Good Morning America, Warren Buffett suggested that a second government bill to give the economy a jolt, saying “I think that a second one may well be called for.”

In an effort to explain his thinking, the septogenarian Billionaire investor turned to something of a strange simile. “Our first stimulus bill, it seems to me, was sort of like taking a half a tablet of Viagra, you know, and then having also a bunch of candy mixed in you know — everybody was putting in things for their own constituencies — it doesn’t have really quite the wallop that might have been anticipated.”

Algore: Solar Flares = Nazis (Or Something)

Ugh, can't you just go polish your spoken-word Grammy and leave us in peace?

Strategy Room 3:00-4:00

I'll be on Strategy Room at FoxNews.com today from 3-4 pm.

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As always, you can email the show here and you can stream it live here.

Update:  An excerpt, featuring a discussion on health care reform (and, naturally, Michael Jackson).

Cap and Trade and You

Calculate your family's burden.

(HT: Hot Air)

Underemployed Secretary of State Defying Her Boss Openlier and Openlier

The grapple over her former Senate seat is the latest battle field in the apparently swiftly deepening rift between Barry and Hil.

Presto: Obama Saved or Created Another 130 Million Jobs In June

Unemployment ticked up to 9.5% and the economy shed a much-worse-than-expected 467,000 jobs in June, meaning nearly 132 million grateful Americans saw their livelihoods saved by their President during the month.

The June data brings the total payroll shrinkage since Obama's inauguration to 2.9 million.  A significant majority of those job losses (nearly 2.2 million) have occurred since enactment of the "stimulus" plan.

Yes, Helen.

Yes they do.

God of Czarnage, Revisited

The Fine Print Czar might be the most ironic of the bunch, as the appropriations for his or her office will undoubtedly be set within the thousands of pages of an emergency spending bill that no one will read before voting on it.

Previously: God of Czarnage

BILLY MAYS HERE FOR PRESIDENT OBAMA'S ECONOMIC STIMULUS PLAN!

Good stuff from the late great pitchman.

Governor Rudy

Via Ed Morrissey, America's mayor confessed this morning to weighing a bid to become America's governor in 2010.

Liveblogging the Bernie Madoff Sentencing

Reuters is tweeting it live from the courthouse (victims' statements, pictures, et al) where the superlative Ponzi schemer is about to get up to 150 years.

Update:  Boom!  All 150.  Crime doesn't pay, kids.

Strategy Room 3:00-4:00

I'll be on Strategy Room at FoxNews.com today from 3-4 pm.

---

As always, you can email the show here and you can stream it live here.

Update:  An excerpt, wherein the National Enquirer reporter talks and I sit by, looking pretty.

"Maria Belen Shapur Photo" Blowin' Up

Hot Air Headlines notes that searching for pictures of Governor Sanford's Argentine beauty is suddenly the most popular thing to do with your Google (with an official Hotness rating of "Volcanic").

A cynic might assume that HA so notes in a naked ploy to cash in on some of that exploding search traffic.

Hmm... interesting idea.

Update:  Also via HA, there's the pic, according to News Bizarre.

Chris Quinn's Hysterical Hyperbole

New York City Council speaker Christine Quinn is dismayed about the legislative gridlock in Albany, noting that it has prevented the State Senate from imposing her and Bloomberg's nearly billion-dollar tax hike "revenue package" on New York City residents.

It's well known that New York is a dangerously undertaxed city, but I'm not sure Quinn's insistence that this is "close to life or death stuff" isn't just a touch overblown.

So He Chose Freedom. Running Around, Trying Everything New. But Nothing Impressed Him At All.

He never expected it to.

S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford arrived in the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport this morning, having wrapped up a seven-day visit to Buenos Aires, Argentina, he said. Sanford said he had not been hiking along the Appalachian Trail, as his staff said in a Tuesday statement to the media.

Sanford's whereabouts had been unknown since Thursday, and the mystery surrounding his absence fueled speculation about where he had been and who's in charge in his absence. His emergence Wednesday ended the mystery.

Sanford, in an exclusive interview with The State, said he decided at the last minute to go to the South American country to recharge after a difficult legislative session in which he battled with lawmakers over how to spend federal stimulus money.
...
Sanford said he was alone on the trip. He declined to give any additional details about what he did other than to say he drove along the coastline.

Update:  Zoinks.

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, his eyes red, admitted to having an extramarital affair Wednesday with an Argentine woman.

"I've been unfaithful to be my wife," Sanford said at a state capitol news conference.  

It began very innocently," he explained, saying that developed into an adulterous relationship in the past year.

He said he seen his unidentified mistress three times since they began the affair or, as he put it, "since the whole sparking thing."

Sanford said he was resigning his post as Chairman of the Republican Governor's Association.

Now This Is a Coup

What the NYS Senate Republicans did was a power play.  A legal and successful one.

This, however, is something else entirely.

Previously:
Legislating At Gunpoint: Paterson Threatens NYS Senate With Forcible Session
NYS Senate Dems Failing To Adjust Gracefully To Minority Status
Holy $#!&: Twin Democrat Defections Hand NYS Senate Back to GOP

Death Goes Green

Just because your heart has stopped beating, that doesn't mean it has to stop bleeding for mother earth.