Rush Says President is a Worldwide Joke, Empty Prison Blues

Dana Milbank
Chuck Todd

"Colorado is the worst off, having only enough medicine for 14.9 percent of its residents."  - Dana Milbank

"We are a country that can do better, and our citizens deserve better. The Congress and the Administration are working on bipartisan, practical solutions to improve our health care system. I urge all Members of Congress to put aside their narrow partisan differences and seize this moment for health care reform. We will fail our country if we do not succeed."  - Chuck Hagel

nobel, shmobel...
I can't believe all of the mean spirited criticism written about Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize. As Americans we should be proud that he won, but then you have the announcement from Michael Steele and the RNC: "President Obama's award of the Nobel Peace Prize puts the cart before the horse. Help us remind the Democrats that trendy slogans and international esteem don't
create new jobs for Americans, reduce the national debt, or keep our
country safer in a dangerous world by making asecure online contribution
of $25, $50, $100, $500 or $1,000 to the RNC today."

On the lighter side, TPM relates this remark: "A State Department spokesperson, commenting on the Obama's Nobel: Certainly from our standpoint, this gives us a sense of momentum -- when the United States has accolades tossed its way, rather than shoes."

And then you have this from Rush Limbaugh, and this is a more polite paragraph from a lengthy transcript: "Our president is a worldwide joke. Folks, do you realize something has happened here that we all agree with the Taliban and Iran about, and that is he doesn't deserve the award! Now, that's hilarious. I'm on the same side of something with the Taliban. And that we all are on the same side as the Taliban. But, see, the problem here is not the Nobel Peace Prize. The problem is how we look at the Peace Prize. We legitimatize it by saying, well, it's a "peace prize." It's not a peace prize. It has nothing to do with peace. The Nobel Peace Prize is just an extension of the United Nations objective to destroy the United States. The Nobel Peace Prize is an instrument that is used to influence negatively domestic policy in this country. " I wish I could earn millions form trashing people. With a little practice I'd love to go up against Rush on the radio, mano y rushbo...

Maybe Rush is upset over the next step the Obama administration is taking to curb the influence of lobbyists on the government. Reported in CQ Politics, lobbyists will no longer be accepted on government panels, and the howls of anger and frustration is echoing up and down K Street: "By removing a key point of access to the administration, many lobbyists will be less useful to their clients, who will be forced to appoint others to take up the slack. And the information about federal government intentions gleaned from committee meetings will now be unavailable to many lobbyists as they strategize on how to work various issues." This is another step in earning the Nobel...

One of the biggest complaints is the Nobel Peace Prize has gone to three Democrats and never to Ronald Reagan, the patron saint of all things conservative. Except that Ron never really did much while in office, he happened to be there when the Berlin Wall and Eastern Europe fell. Conservatives give him the credit, even though he was just a placemat in history and personally had nothing to do with it. He was constantly criticized by the right wing at the time, and to be brutally honest, he was coming down with Alzheimer's while still in office. The nice thing with looking back on history is we can rewrite it to fit our fantasies, even the best historians seldom capture the true spirit of the times.

empty prison blues...

The city of Hardin, Montana has a jail that it can't afford to operate by itself, so its been sitting empty since it was built. They offered to house prisoners from Guantanamo but were turned down. Then it had an offer from the American Private Police Force to run the jail, and things were looking up.

The name sounded hokey, and reporters began to investigate, causing APPF to pullout of the contract. The main problem was that nobody had really heard of the APPF, and then it was discovered that its founder was a grifter with a history of over 20 years of fraud. His name is Michael Hilton, a naturalized citizen who's name is really Midrag Dokovitch from Montenegro. The APPF logo was originally ripped of from the Serbian Special Forces, and when they threatened to sue, the logo was then changed and now is a rip off from the Russian coat of arms.

The spokeswoman for APPF, Becky Shay, had an elegant statement for nullifying the deal: "Shay said that Hardin's economic development agency, which signed the deal with APPF, "deserves a less controversial partner." The end result is that Mr. Hilton may end up in court again, for perpetrating an Internet scam creating the APPF web site. Offices on the web site claim to be in Washington DC, but in reality are located in Santa Ana, California...