Newsweek editor Evan Thomas brought adulation over President Obama’s Cairo speech to a whole new level on Friday, declaring on MSNBC: “I mean in a way Obama’s standing above the country, above – above the world, he’s sort of God.”

….

Thomas elaborated on Obama as God, patronizingly explaining: “He’s going to bring all different sides together…Obama is trying to sort of tamper everything down. He doesn’t even use the word terror. He uses extremism. He’s all about let us reason together…He’s the teacher. He is going to say, ‘now, children, stop fighting and quarreling with each other.’ And he has a kind of a moral authority that he – he can – he can do that.” In response, Matthews wondered: “If there’s a world election between him and Osama Bin Laden, he’s running a good campaign.” Thomas agreed: “Yes, he is.”

Three and half years to go.  I don’t think I’m going to make it.

Credit Innocent Bystanders (click to enlarge)

$800 billion buys you a lot of unemployment.

A few days ago, Bloody-Disgusting reported that 20^th century Fox was going to remake “Alien” and director Carl Rinsch would be helming the movie.

Immediately fandom exploded with venom. I think one of the main reasons is that the original is a classic, and 20^th Century Fox hasn’t been making films of that caliber recently.So at today’s junket for Tony Scott’s “The Taking of Pelham 123″, I went up Tony after the press conference ended to ask him what was up with the remake.

The big news is he confirmed Carl Rinsch would be directing it and that it’s a prequel to his brother Ridley’s classic!

I’m voting for “Alien vs. Hollywood Suit”.

Justice Department political appointees overruled career lawyers and ended a civil complaint accusing three members of the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense of wielding a nightstick and intimidating voters at a Philadelphia polling place last Election Day, according to documents and interviews.

The incident - which gained national attention when it was captured on videotape and distributed on YouTube - had prompted the government to sue the men, saying they violated the 1965 Voting Rights Act by scaring would-be voters with the weapon, racial slurs and military-style uniforms.

Those silly career lawyers wanted to actually, you know, enforce the law.  Thank goodness those political appointees came along and set them straight about the new legality of voter intimidation.

Hope and change.

The Obama administration has begun serious talks about how it can change compensation practices across the financial-services industry, including at companies that did not receive federal bailout money, according to people familiar with the matter.

The initiative, which is in its early stages, is part of an ambitious and likely controversial effort to broadly address the way financial companies pay employees and executives, including an attempt to more closely align pay with long-term performance.

Administration and regulatory officials are looking at various options, including using the Federal Reserve’s supervisory powers, the power of the Securities and Exchange Commission and moral suasion. Officials are also looking at what could be done legislatively.

Link is here.

The greatest evil perpetrated by both sides of our political class has been convincing us that this bastardized mixed economy of convoluted legislation and distorted market forces is called ‘capitalism’, and then crowing about the failure of ‘capitalism’ when the whole damn thing begins to break down.  Hey, let’s pile on more of the things that destroyed it in the first place!

Republican and Democrats.  To hell with all of them.

40 YEARS OF STAR TREK: THE COLLECTION | Fine Art Auction | Search Results | Christie’s.

In Gov. Deval Patrick’s Massachusetts, if you’re on the dole, you may be eligible to get a free car. So much for the budget Armageddon they keep talking about at the State House.

Let the taxpayers worry about those billion-dollar deficits. If you’re on welfare, come on down!

Nice enough that the layabouts get a free car - plus the state picks up the tab for insurance, excise tax, title, registration, inspection, and approved repairs. The absolute frosting on the cake is a free AAA membership.

Link

The House wants to increase Members’ office budgets next fiscal year by almost 15 percent, partly because 2010 is an election year and lawmakers anticipate a surge in franked mail.

In a recently released budget request, the House Chief Administrative Officer asked appropriators to raise the Members’ Representational Allowances — which fund everything needed to run offices, including salaries, travel and supplies — by $90 million, citing increases “due to the election year cycle.”

Never mind laws that overtly prohibit the use of public funds for campaigns (outside of the legal matching funds approved by the FEC).  Why let a little thing like the law get in the way of winning an election?

There is a better way.

An expedition team which set sail from Plymouth on a 5,000-mile carbon emission-free trip to Greenland have been rescued by an oil tanker. . . .

Sometimes I’m forced to question my own atheism.  At least at moments when God appears to be a sardonic bastard.