First lady Spotted Prepping for Hawaii Trip

The First Lady Looking Glamorous and Relaxed after a Refreshing Back Shave

Lady Michelle and First Daughters Sasha and Malia are preparing to blast off on our million dollar plus funded Hawaii Christmas vacation. No word if Bo the first dog gets his own flight. 

The family will return to Washington on Jan. 5.

Vanity Fair: Damn You Hipsters for Making G.W. Bush an Icon

He paints, he loves cats, he’s awesome at the Internet, he writes consoling letters to football kickers who lose important match-ups for their teams and he takes selfies with Bono at major world leaders’ memorial services. And the hipsters are falling as hard for GWB as they did for PBR and Beats by Dre. 

According to the web-site Naked DC, the sophisticated glossy tome of old Hollywood, Vanity Fair,  who’s most recent achievement was a near-defamatory observation of Gwyneth Paltrow’s lack of reality in selecting cooking utensils, is old enough to remember when young whipper-snappers were all “Bush sucks!” and showing up at high school anti-Bush rallies with all manner of creative slogan apparel and diagnosing his apparently impaired cognitive ability in Huffington Post puff pieces. 

But now that he’s stumbled into something of an image revival, they would like you to please get your George W. Bush limited edition self-portrait lithograph off their front lawn.  

"If you are a liberal older than, say, 24—old enough to either hate Thought Catalog or not know what Thought Catalog is, is a better barometer—you know this. That George W. Bush is uncool, lame, establishment, square, and odious, etc., is a political fact as self-evident and unnecessary to argue as “Mitt Romney takes double-A batteries” or “Bill Clinton has an oiliness about him.” 

"But if you are younger than 24, you might not have attended anti-Bush rallies in high school and in college. You might not have pinned “SHRUB” buttons to your tote bag, and might not even remember Bush as a war-lovin’, vowel-droppin’, faux-folksy, ostentatiously religious Connecticut cowboy. This is because Bush has, quietly and wholly, ingeniously refashioned himself into an Internet-friendly, cat-loving, ironic-hat-wearing painter-cum-Instagram savant. Lately, George W. Bush is a hipster icon, and the Internet, unofficial Fourth Estate of the youth of America, is totally buying it....."

Thankfully, the author closed out her piece with an always-appropriate comparison of George W. Bush to Nazi sympathizers and accused murders, so at least she didn’t sacrifice every shred of intellectual capital she was tenuously grasping.

The response to the Vanity Fair piece is as muted as you would expect. At least one commenter suggested that perhaps George W. Bush himself was orchestrating a conspiracy in the site’s comment section, resulting in less “likes” that truly existed. And then there’s this (I usually don't link to these degenerates) which is an unabashed precursor to a small stroke.

So Damn you, hipsters, for liking George W. Bush, who is a generally likable guy when not actually Presidenting anything. How dare you. The Elizabeth de la Vega book says he’s a war criminal after all, and in case you haven’t noticed, he’s been secretly masterminding the decline of the Affordable Care Act from a Transylvanian castle using only his powers of thought magnified through Dick Cheney’s used heart valve collection. 

A White House Christmas......

Meanwhile, under the mistletoe , Uncle Joe does the traditional 

Biden Holiday Grab-Ass with a member of the media.....

Reagan was Right on Mandela and South Africa

Babalu'

Desmond Tutu denounced Reagans' policy on South Africa as: "Immoral, evil, and totally un-Christian...an abomination, an unmitigated disaster. You are either in favor of evil or you are in favor of good. You are either on the side of the oppressed or on the side of the oppressor. You can't be neutral." 

Good point, Mr Archbishop. Because on the welfare of Castro's regime you, sir, are hardly neutral, enthusiastically lending your name to the Stalinist regime's most important propaganda campaign, urging the release of convicted KGB-trained spies and terrorists.

The media's recent orgy of vituperation and snark against president Reagan's policy on South Africa finally got a much-needed corrective from Reagan's communication's director of the time Pat Buchanan. To wit: 

According to President Ronald Reagan in 1986: "Apartheid is an affront to human rights and human dignity. Normal and friendly relations cannot exist between the United States and South Africa until it becomes a dead policy."...but and a BIG BUT:

"Reagan, whose first duty was the defense of his nation in the Cold War with the Soviet empire, saw not only the moral issue but the strategic imperative.

In 1986, there were 40,000 Cuban troops in Angola, where South Africa was a fighting ally and backer of anti-Communist Jonas Savimbi.

In Zimbabwe, Robert "Comrade Bob" Mugabe, having butchered thousands of Ndebele of rival Joshua Nkomo, was communizing his country. Southwest Africa and Mozambique hung in the balance.

Reagan was determined to block Moscow's drive to the Cape of Good Hope. And in that struggle State President P. W. Botha was an ally.

In view of Political Correctness, however, Mandela's ANC apparently did more to promote worldwide freedom than the U.S. military!

Read More 

A Good Monday Morning

I Swear, These People Still Don't Get IT!

 Senators Introduce Bill to Crack Down on 'Lavish' Portraits 

Fox News - 

"A bipartisan Senate duo says they want to crack down on what they call the government’s “lavish” spending on oil paintings of congressmen, the costs of which can top $50,000 each. 

Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Tom Coburn, R-Okla., said in a Thursday press release they are introducing a bill that would only allow $20,000 of taxpayer funds to be spent on each portrait, and would only cover paintings of lawmakers in the line of succession to the presidency."

Hillary Clinton Sits for Secretary Of State Portrait in 2010

“At a time when vital services and programs are facing cuts, we need to be looking at every way we can stop excessive spending practices in Washington,” Shaheen said.
Coburn says their bill is a way to rein in excess spending in Washington, and ensure taxpayers are not paying for unnecessary projects. 

“Hardworking taxpayers shouldn’t foot the bill for lavish official portraits, especially when government officials spend more on paintings of themselves than some Americans make in a year,” Coburn said. 

ABC News reported earlier this year that the Obama administration spent nearly $400,000 on paintings of officials in just a two-year- period, and the Washington Post reported in 2008 each portrait can sometimes cost over $40,000.   The bill would allow other funds to be spent on the portraits after the taxpayer funds were exhausted."

_________________________________ 

Excuse Me!  $20,000 of  taxpayer money on a portrait of a congressman? These are elected public servants, not royalty!

And who the hell is painting these things for $50,000. A 300 dollar 40x60 digital photo print should suffice in the case of congress. And come to think of it, there can be additional savings when it can also later be used as an official mugshot when they are impeached or indicted after leaving office....

Most of our elected officials of both parties need a good ol' fashion 'Coming to Jesus Moment' before next November. 

Lawmakers Receive Millions from Intelligence Companies.

Every member who sits on the Senate and House committees that oversee government intelligence operations has received campaign contributions from the top twenty largest intelligence companies in the United States, according to a new report.

The report from Maplight, a nonpartisan research organization that reveals money in politics, highlights the donations from political action committees (PACs) and individuals from the intelligence services companies to these members. The report shows donations amount to over $3.7 million from 2005-2013.

"MapLight analysis of campaign contributions from political action committees (PACs) and individuals from the top 20 intelligence services contractors working with the Department of Defense, ranked by total value of contracts received, to members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Data source: Federal Election Commission from January 1, 2005 - October 4, 2013. Department of Defense intelligence services contracts source: USASpending (contract totals as of September 26, 2013)

* In total, members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence have received $3.7 million from top intelligence services contractors since January 1, 2005. 

* Members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence from Maryland -- home of NSA headquarters -- led the committees in money received from top intelligence contractors. Representative C.A. "Dutch" Ruppersberger, D-Md., is the largest recipient, having received $363,600 since January 1, 2005. Senator Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., is the second largest recipient, having received $210,150. 

* Republican members of House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence have received $1.86 million since January 1, 2005, while Democrat members have received $1.82 million over the same time period. 

* Members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence have received $2.2 million since January 1, 2005 from top intelligence services contractors, while members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence have received $1.5 million. 

* Lockheed Martin has given $798,910 to members the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence since January 1, 2005, more than any of the other top 20 intelligence service contractors. Northrop Grumman has given $753,101, the second highest amount, and Honeywell has given $714,913, the third highest amount."

Chart of the  TOP 20 INTELLIGENCE SERVICES CONTRACTORS CONTRIBUTIONS TO CONGRESSIONAL INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEES at the LINK