Snorting Coke Near the President

How disrespectful to the office of the president.

Fact: David Cross once snorted cocaine at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

The actor confessed to the persistent rumor in an interview in the March issue of Playboy magazine, saying he pulled the stunt while sitting some 65 feet away from President Obama.

“It wasn’t even that much cocaine. It was literally the size of, I don’t know, a tick. It was a tiny granule of coke that I put on my wrist and said, ‘Watch this. I need a witness,’” Cross recalled.

“And then I ducked under the table and did it. It wasn’t like I got high,” he continued. “The jolt was similar to licking an empty espresso cup. It wasn’t about that. It was just about being able to say that I did it, that I did cocaine in the same room as the president.”

Man Charged for Warning Shot

“Live free or die” my ass.

A New Hampshire man who fired his handgun into the ground to scare an alleged burglar he caught crawling out of a neighbor’s window is now facing a felony charge—and the same potential prison sentence as the man he stopped.

Dennis Fleming, 61, of Farmington, was arrested for reckless conduct after the Saturday incident at his 19th century farmhouse. The single grandfather had returned home to find that his home had been burglarized and spotted Joseph Hebert, 27, climbing out of a window at a neighbor’s home. Fleming said he yelled “Freeze!” before firing his gun into the ground, then held Hebert at gunpoint until police arrived.

“I didn’t think I could handle this guy physically, so I fired into the ground,” Fleming told FoxNews.com. “He stopped. He knew I was serious. I was angry … and I was worried that this guy was going to come after me.”

No one was injured in the incident, but when the police arrived, they made two arrests. Hebert was charged with two counts of burglary and drug possession. He faces up to seven years in prison if convicted. Fleming, meanwhile, is scheduled to be arraigned March 20 on a charge of reckless conduct, which could potentially land him a sentence similar to the one Hebert faces.

The grandpa shouldn’t have fired his weapon. There’s really no such thing as a “warning shot.” If you shoot, it better be because you are in fear of your (or someone else’s) life and intend to stop the threat. But his actions were certainly not irrational or reckless. They were deliberate and had the positive outcome of capturing a criminal. At the most, the grandpa should get a light slap on the wrist. Ideally, he should get a stear lecture from the cops and a “thank you” for looking out for his neighbors.

NEA Planning Massive Layoff

Well, well... those union rules are a pain, eh?

It is a measure of how serious the situation is that NEA executives see severe staff reductions as their only remaining option. NEA employees have been presented with an “exit program,” which is essentially an early retirement incentive. About 124 NEA staffers (out of about 580) are eligible to retire. The union is offering an additional 10 weeks of severance pay if they submit their paperwork by March 15. Most NEA employees are already guaranteed one week of severance pay for each year employed, up to 10.

The union is banking heavily on staffers accepting the offer, as “immediate” reductions in force and layoffs are the alternative. But there’s a problem.

Union “management” and confidential assistants may be dismissed right away, but most NEA employees are themselves members of unions, known as staff unions. And NEA is unable to lay off staff union members without 60 days of bargaining to come up with alternative measures. If no agreement is reached and NEA decides to go ahead with layoffs, the affected employees receive an additional 30 days notice. That means the school year will be over before the payroll can be reduced.

Hat tip Wis U.P. North.

Stache Act

I can get behind this.

Standing before a small crowd of supporters and tourists who, curious,  had ambled toward the pro-mustache music blaring from his stage on the U.S. Capitol’s West Lawn, the American Mustache Institute chairman also rolled out the “Stache Act,” a bill that would provide a $250 tax credit to mustached Americans. Perlut touted the support of tax giant H&R Block, which really did agree to support the endeavor.

“According to AMI science, we’ve increased mustache growth and thus good looks by 38 percent in this country. But those good looks came at a cost in the form of American-made facial grooming products such as beard and mustache trimmers, facial hair dyes, karate training devices, mayonnaise and dynamite. Indeed, those accoutrements are not free,” Perlut said.

“It is clear that mustache maintenance costs qualify and should be considered a deductible expense related to the production of income underneath Internal Revenue Service Code Section 212, and, hence, the Million Mustache March.”

Mountains Of Unused $1 Coins

Wow.From Bankrate.

The federal government will stop minting unwanted $1 coins, the White House said Tuesday. The move will save an estimated $50 million a year.

Earlier this year, we reported on the mountain of $1 coins sitting unused in government vaults. The pile-up—an estimated 1.4 billion coins—was caused by a 2005 law that ordered the minting of coins honoring each U.S. president.

We calculated that the unwanted coins had cost taxpayers some $300 million dollars to make. There were so many coins piling up that the Federal Reserve was redesigning a vault in Texas to help hold them all.

We got to see a vault in Baltimore. It was the size of a soccer field, filled with bags of dollar coins.

I’ll bet that they could clear those warehouses if they gave them away.

Small Plane Invades Presidential Airspace

Just a tip… if you are transporting drugs in a plane, try to avoid going near the POTUS.

The jets intercepted the general aviation plane – a Cessna 182 – just before 11:30 a.m. PT, according to a statement from NORAD.  It was soon forced to land at Long Beach Airport in California and met by local law enforcement officials and the U.S. Secret Service, agency spokesman Brian Leary told ABC News.

Agents interviewed the pilots before they were turned over to the Long Beach Police Department and arrested, an official said.

“We determined the incursion of restricted airspace was of no protective interest,” said Leary.

In other words, there was no intended threat to the president.

But the pilot was in possession of narcotics, the Secret Service said.

One law enforcement source told ABC News the plane was carrying 40 pounds of marijuana. Officials with the Long Beach Police Department did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request to confirm the type or quantity of the drugs.

Obama to Join Walker at Master Lock

This should be fun to watch the body language.

Republican Gov. Scott Walker plans to greet President Barack Obama in Milwaukee on Wednesday and accompany him on a visit to Master Lock.

Walker’s spokesman Chris Schrimpf confirmed Tuesday that Walker will meet the president at the tarmac and join him on the company visit.

Obamacare’s Arbitrary Rule

My column for the Daily News is online. It’s called, “Obamacare’s Arbitrary Rule.” Here’s a part:

If you agree with the president’s decision or not in this case, consider the implications. One man made these decisions. Under Obamacare, one man could also make the decision to end coverage for contraceptives for everyone. That one man could also decide that certain cancer treatments will be covered and not others. What happens when someone with whom you disagree occupies the White House?

Justice Breyer Robbed

Wow.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Justice Stephen Breyer was robbed last week by a machete-wielding intruder at his vacation home in the West Indies, a Supreme Court spokeswoman said Monday.

The 73-year-old Breyer, wife Joanna and guests were confronted by the robber around 9 p.m. EST Thursday in the home Breyer owns on the Caribbean island of Nevis, spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said. The intruder took about $1,000 in cash and no one was hurt, Arberg said.

She said the robbery was reported to local authorities, but she did not know if an arrest has been made.

Obama’s Budget

Isn’t it neat how Obama spends and borrows into oblivion but promises that the next president will throttle it back in 2018?

Obama’s new spending plan projects a deficit for the current budget year of $1.33 trillion, marking the fourth straight year that the deficit would top $1 trillion.

The spending plan projects the deficit would decrease to $901 billion in the 2013 budget year, which begins Oct. 1. That reflects $3.8 trillion in spending next year, an increase of 0.2 percent over this year’s expected outlays, and a 17.5 percent increase in revenues.

The deficits are projected to gradually go down to $575 billion in 2018, which would still be higher in dollar terms than any deficits run up before Obama took office. It would be below 3 percent of the total economy, however, and thus at a level economists generally consider sustainable.

Kennedy the Power Pimp

Assuming this is true, one must step back and consider how wretched JFK was.

The President and I were in the pool, splashing playfully, while Dave Powers was sitting on the edge, with his feet dangling in the water. Then JFK swam over and whispered in my ear: ‘Mr Powers looks a little tense — would you take care of it?’

I knew exactly what that meant: it was a dare to give Dave Powers oral sex.

I don’t think the President thought I’d do it, but I’m ashamed to say that I did. It was a pathetic, sordid scene, and I can hardly bear to think about it. Dave was jolly and obedient as I stood in the shallow end of the pool and performed my duties. The President silently watched.

JFK swam over and whispered in my ear: ‘Mr Powers looks a little tense - would you take care of it?’ I knew exactly what that meant: it was a dare to give Dave Powers oral sex

Try as I may, I cannot explain why, without hesitation, I obeyed his command. Perhaps I was carried away by a spirit of playfulness.
Perhaps I was in thrall to his charm and authority.

No doubt my own insecurity and need for his approval had something to do with it. What I do know is that Dave and I were umbilically linked to each other in our devotion to President Kennedy.

But now the man who’d engaged our complete loyalty had gone too far. He’d emotionally abused me and debased Dave. For what? To watch me perform and to show Dave how much he controlled us?

Afterwards, I was deeply embarrassed. As I climbed out of the pool, I heard Dave say sternly to his boss: ‘You shouldn’t have made her do that.’

‘I know, I know,’ was the reply. Later, a chastened President Kennedy apologised to us both.

For the first time, I’d seen his dark side.

Consider a man using his enormous power to pimp out a 19-year-old woman with whom he was cheating on his wife. For all of the fawning over JFK, he was a pretty disgusting human being.

New Nuclear Reactor Approved For First Time In 34 Years

Great. Let’s hope for more.

It’s been 34 years—and several nuclear accidents later—but a divided federal panel on Thursday licensed a utility to build nuclear reactors in the U.S. for the first time since 1978.

Wisconsin Dead Last in Donating to GOP Presidential Candidates

Shocking?

Not only did Democrat President Barack Obama outraise the entire 2012 Republican presidential field through Dec. 31, 2011, $582,000 to $529,000, but a Smart Politics analysis also found Wisconsin to be dead last nationally in per capita donations of $200 or more to GOP candidates.

Not at all. I suspect that I am like most people in that there’s only so much time and money I’m willing and able to fork over to support political campaigns. With the 2010 election, the 2011 recalls, the 2012 recalls, and all of the other local races in the past two years, we’ve been in campaign mode in Wisconsin 100% of the time for over a year now. For most Republicans in Wisconsin, keeping Walker in office is just more important now than worrying about the presidential primary,

Entire School Staff Replaced

Wow. Now that’s a response.

Updated at 10:25 p.m. ET: The Los Angeles Unified School District is replacing the entire staff of Miramonte Elementary School following the arrest of two teachers on lewd conduct charges last week, Superintendent John Deasy told parents at a meeting Monday night, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Positions will be filled by qualified teachers and other workers already on a placement or rehiring list, the Times report stated. But the displacement of the current staff could be temporary, according to the report.

I didn’t say it was a good response, but it certainly got everyone’s attention.

Not All Recoveries Created Equal

Ah yes...

The economy grew at 4.5% in 1983, with a few quarters of growth north of 8%. In 2011, meanwhile, the economy grew just 1.7%.

In just one month—September 1983—the economy added more than a million jobs. For the full year, the economy added almost 3.5 million jobs, a trend that continued into 1984, an election year in which Reagan captured 49 states in a landslide victory.

Obama can claim job growth of 1.8 million in 2011. A welcome comeback, but still tepid by comparison.

Looking ahead to 2012, Obama could replicate the 243,000 jobs created in January over each of the next 11 months and still not approach Reagan’s total for 1984 of 3.9 million.