Author Archives: Duane Lester

More #OWS Violence: Occupy San Diego Miscreants Attack Woman with Camera

By Duane Lester - - 8 Comments

So far, 100% of the violence committed since Obama took office has been committed by people on the left, whether it be union people or Occupy Everywhere miscreants.

This is just another example. A woman in San Diego when to where Occupy San Diego was encamped, a public area. She started taking video of the signs and the camp.

Then, this happened. By the way, it’s pretty not safe for work:

I’m pretty sure that lady at then end is related to someone I work with, but I’m not sure if you can trace common genes to one’s language. She sounds a lot like him, anyway.

DMartyr at The Jawa Report notes:

Obama supports these protesters.

Pelosi blesses them.

@AlecBaldwin thinks its “good” and “healthy”.

They own it.

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Perry’s Brain Freeze

By Duane Lester - - 2 Comments

I mentioned this on my podcast, which will be out later this evening on Take That Media, but I should have posted it on the blog after I finished recording.

It’s the very definition of Epic Fail:

Painful, right?

However, in his defense, it makes him look human also. How many times have you had a name on the tip of your tongue, but just couldn’t remember it? Yeah, me too.

Of all the things to hold against Perry, a brain fart isn’t one of them.

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CBS Atlanta: Voice Analysis Software Shows Cain is Truthful, Bialek Lying

By Duane Lester - - 0 Comments

CBS Atlanta took the press conference speeches of both Sharon Bialek and Herman Cain to a private investigator TJ Ward. Using software that analyses the stress in a person’s voice, among other factors, Ward says he was able to detect who was telling the truth, and who was lying:

CBS Atlanta’s Mike Paluska played Cain’s speech for Ward into the software and watched as it analyzed Cain’s every word.

If he is hiding something this thing would have spiked way down here,” said Ward. “He is being truthful, totally truthful. He is a man with integrity and he talked directly about not knowing any incident he is accused of.”

The software analyzes the stress level and other factors in your voice. During the speech, when Cain denied the claims, the lie detector read “low risk.” According to Ward, that means Cain is telling the truth.

During the section of Bialek’s news conference where she says, “He suddenly reached over put his hand on my leg under my skirt and reached for my genitals he also grabbed my head brought it towards his crotch.”

During the analysis of that section the software said “high risk statement.” Ward said that means she is not telling the truth about what happened.

“I don’t think she is fabricating her meetings,” said Ward. But, she is fabricating what transpired.”

For what it’s worth, this same software is used by “nearly 70 law enforcement agencies nationwide use the voice software” and “has a 95 percent success rate.”

It’s not Cal Lightman, but it’s close.

Hat Tip: PolitiJim’s Rants for Reasonable People

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Occupy Portland Threatens Pizza Shop Owner, Occupy Wall Street Threatens Bread Shop Owner

By Duane Lester - - 0 Comments

The Occupy Portland protesters have threatened a pizza shop owner for running out of breadsticks.

Yeah, that’s all it takes for them to turn to violence, but we should trust them when it comes to forming a fair government:

Occupy Portland protesters became enraged when Pizza Schmizza ran out of breadsticks to accompany their order. They threatened to assault employees and vandalize the restaurant.

In New York, they have destroyed a bread shop’s bathroom and repeatedly threatened the staff:

“I’ve been told, ‘Watch your back!’ 10 times,” Stacey Tzortzatos, owner of Panini & Co. Breads, located across from Zuccotti Park, told The Post yesterday.

She and her employees are terrified by the constant threats, which she said began after she demanded the protesters stop using her shop’s restroom as a place to bathe every day.

The final straw came about two weeks ago, when the demonstrators broke a bathroom sink, flooding the shop, and clogged the toilet — setting her back $3,000 in damages.

…

“I have the police in here 10 times a day, [and] I’m the bouncer. I’ve been called the spawn of the devil. “It’s unbelievable what goes on in here every day, ” Tzortzatos said.

And on Friday, she said, a crazed squatter burst into the shop and demanded that workers fill a 10-gallon container of water.

When they refused, “he banged it on the ground and started yelling” and threatened the staff, she said.

“He said he was entitled to have it for free.”

There’s really no commentary for this. They are who they are: base and vile people who don’t want to earn anything, demand everything and threaten those refuse with violence.

I will say this. Brandish one gun towards these people and your problems would be solved.

That’s a proven fact.

But then, Mayor Bloomberg is more comfortable letting these people run wild than he is letting a businessman have a gun. New York, you get the government you deserve.

This is how the world of the liberal works. The responsible live in fear, unarmed, while the miscreants make demands and issue threats. Look at Cuba. Same thing.

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Has Cain’s Chief of Staff Mark Block Met The Peter Principle?

By Duane Lester - - 1 Comment

Last night on Hannity, Herman Cain’s chief of staff Mark Block claimed the second accuser, Karen Kraushaar, had a son that worked at Politico, and now works at the National Journal.

Thing is, it’s not true:

“We’ve confirmed … that he does indeed work at POLITICO and that’s his mother, yes,” Block said.

But the man whom Block appears to be talking about–Josh Kraushaar–said he’s not related to Karen Kraushaar. He previously worked at POLITICO but now works at National Journal, a news outlet that covers public affairs.

“Mark Block doesn’t have his facts straight,” Josh Kraushaar said in a statement obtained by CNN. “I am not related in any way to Karen Kraushaar, and I haven’t worked at Politico since June 2010.”

Cain spokesman J.D. Gordon acknowledged Block’s mistake in an email to CNN.

“Based upon information available at the time of Mr. Block’s Tuesday night interview on Fox News, the campaign was led to believe that Mr. Josh Kraushaar, currently with the National Journal and a former employee of Politico, was the son of Karen Kraushaar,” Gordon said. “Mr. Josh Kraushaar is in fact, not related to Ms. Karen Kraushaar.”

As Bryan Preston noted at the PJ Tatler, this isn’t the first time Block as made a false accusation:

That’s the second innocent man the Cain campaign has accused in this whole thing, the first being Curt Anderson. Well, third, if you count Rick Perry. None of Block’s accusations have held up more than a few minutes.

I know I didn’t make any friends in the Cain campaign when I wrote:

…someone needs to lose their job. I don’t know if it’s Mark Block or J.D. Gordon, but someone needs to be shown the door and Cain’s supporters need reassured that Cain can recognize a problem and solve it quickly.

But I stand by that today more than ever. And Block, as nice a guy as he might be, is making the choice easy. He may have reached a form of the Peter Principle, which reads, “in a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.”

While Block may have been able to run a campaign to a certain level, when the campaign became higher profile and the waters turned rough, he failed to lead the crew to calmer seas. Cain needs to reassure his followers that he is a competent executive who can recognize problems and then take the difficult steps required to solve them.

I met Mark Block back in December and he seems like a genuinely nice guy. But he might be in over his head now and need replacing.

What do you think?

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After $112 Billion in Bailouts in Three Years, Fannie Mae Needs Another $7 Billion

By Duane Lester - - 1 Comment

It just keeps failing and the only thing Washington can think to do is throw more money at it. Now, after taking a huge $7.6 billion loss in the last quarter, Fannie Mae says it needs another $7.8 billion.

And it’ll probably get it:

The government rescued Fannie Mae and sibling company Freddie Mac in September 2008 to cover their losses on soured mortgage loans. Since then, a federal regulator has controlled their financial decisions.

Taxpayers have spent about $169 billion to rescue Fannie and Freddie, the most expensive bailout of the 2008 financial crisis. The government estimates that figure could reach up $220 billion to support the companies through 2014 after subtracting dividend payments.

Fannie has received $112.6 billion so far from the Treasury Department, the most expensive bailout of a single company.

Michael Williams, Fannie’s president and CEO, said Fannie’s losses are increasing for two reasons: Some homeowners are paying less interest after refinancing at historically low mortgage rates; others are defaulting on their mortgages.

“Despite these challenges, we are making solid progress,” he said.

SOLID PROGRESS!??!?1?

Out of the last 17 quarters, Fannie Mae has taken a loss in 16 of them. They’re not making progress. They’re killing us! Fannie and Freddie has exposed us to over $5 trillion in liabilities. And they want us to see a $7 billion loss as “solid progress?”

This explains how they have the chutzpah to award themselves bonuses:

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were taken over by the government in 2008 as soured mortgages threatened insolvency. The firms regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, approved $12.79 million in bonus pay for ten executives at the firms last year.

As of today, Congress has done nothing to reform these programs. In fact, they were deliberately left out of the Dodd-Frank bill.

Your government at work.

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And Now, They’re Taxing Christmas Trees – Updated

By Duane Lester - - 2 Comments

Late last night, as I was heading off to bed, I saw what I thought had to be a joke on Drudge. Here’s the headline:

I thought, “What is this? It’s got to be some kind of spin. Some exaggeration, right?”

Nope. They are taxing Christmas trees to save the Christmas tree industry:

In the Federal Register of November 8, 2011, Acting Administrator of Agricultural Marketing David R. Shipman announced that the Secretary of Agriculture will appoint a Christmas Tree Promotion Board. The purpose of the Board is to run a “program of promotion, research, evaluation, and information designed to strengthen the Christmas tree industry’s position in the marketplace; maintain and expend existing markets for Christmas trees; and to carry out programs, plans, and projects designed to provide maximum benefits to the Christmas tree industry” (7 CFR 1214.46(n)). And the program of “information” is to include efforts to “enhance the image of Christmas trees and the Christmas tree industry in the United States” (7 CFR 1214.10).

To pay for the new Federal Christmas tree image improvement and marketing program, the Department of Agriculture imposed a 15-cent fee on all sales of fresh Christmas trees by sellers of more than 500 trees per year (7 CFR 1214.52). And, of course, the Christmas tree sellers are free to pass along the 15-cent Federal fee to consumers who buy their Christmas trees.

Now there is some parsing that needs to be done. According to some Shipman, this isn’t a tax.

It’s a fee. Big difference.

I almost wrote that it’s amazing this would even be considered, but anymore, it’s par for the course. The federal government feels it has to have a finger in every pie.

Think about what they are doing for a minute.

The article says the fees will be used “to run a ‘program of promotion, research, evaluation, and information designed to strengthen the Christmas tree industry’s position in the marketplace; maintain and expend existing markets for Christmas trees; and to carry out programs, plans, and projects designed to provide maximum benefits to the Christmas tree industry.’”

At who’s expense? If they are successful, are they not harming the artificial Christmas tree market? In the most basic terms, the federal government is actively promoting one business over another.

Honestly, how is this even legal?

Update:

And now, they’re not taxing Christmas trees…yet.

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The Full Herman Cain Press Conference (Video) – Updated

By Duane Lester - - 5 Comments

I got the full press conference at The Lonely Conservative, via The Other McCain.

Liberals are very busy lynching this man based on decades old he said, she said evidence that would not hold up in a court of law. Too bad they couldn’t defend women as vigorously when Bill Clinton was raping women and exposing himself.

But then, Clinton was a Democrat.

He’s denied the allegations. The burden of proof is not on him. He’s innocent until proven guilty.

It’s on the accuser to prove that he did these things. Do you believe them?

After reading what I’ve read about Bialek, like her hunting down Cain and hugging him at a Chicago event where she says she confronted him and he supposedly seemed uncomfortable, I’m having a hard time trusting her:

The Sneed source … is WIND radio co-host Amy Jacobson, who tells Sneed she witnessed the Cain/Bialek encounter a month ago while backstage at the AM 560 WIND sponsored TeaCon meeting in Schaumburg Sept. 30-Oct. 1 at the Renaissance Hotel and Convention Center.

…

“I recall Sharon was hell bent on going backstage at the TeaCon convention — where she cornered him,” said Jacobson.

“I was surprised to hear she claims she did not know Cain was going to be there. Cain was expected and was late.”

Bialek told the media on Monday: “I went up to him and asked him if he remembered me. I wanted to see if he would be man enough to own up to what he had done 14 years ago.”

◆ The encounter: “It looked sort of flirtatious,” said Jacobson. “I mean they were hugging. But she could have been giving him the kiss of death for all I know. I had no idea what they were talking about, but she was inches from his ear.”

If part of her story is clearly false, it puts the rest of her story in question, which leads me to give Herman the benefit of the doubt. And if she’s not telling the truth, why is she doing it?

Well, I ain’t sayin’ she’s a gold digger, but she ain’t messin’ with no broke…well, you know.

Cain is going to have to fight harder, and smarter.

The press conference is a good start, but had it been me, instead of American flags behind him, I would have flown in a legion of women who had worked with Herman in the past and had them speak to his professionalism. That would have carried more weight than Herman’s question and answer period.

Cain can get past this, with the right strategy. I think they are finally starting to get it.

Update:

Amy Jacobson, quoted above, gave a different account of the story on Glenn Beck:

Jacobson described their encounter as ‘intense’, that you could ‘cut it with a knife’, saying that she knew not to interrupt them. Jacobson had wanted to get a photo with Cain and said she was bum-rushed by Bialek who beat her to Cain and then had his ear for 2-3 minutes. She said it was clear Bialek had something she wanted to tell Cain and “by God she was going to tell him what she came there to tell him”. When asked about her characterization that it was ‘flirtatious’, she said she meant that Bialek was in Cain’s personal space, very close to his ear. Again, she affirmed she had no idea what they were actually talking about, only that Cain was saying “uh huh” several times throughout their brief encounter.

It’s also worth pointing out that Jacobson said she has also been sexually assaulted before (not with Cain) and that she believes Bialek’s story.

You can hear the interview at The Right Scoop.

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