Caption This
This time, my lovely Venomites, there’s a $10 Amazon.com gift card at stake. So be witty. Be very, very witty.
(And be sure to leave an accurate email address with your caption, or you’ll never know if you’ve won!)
January 19th, 2011
Is This What Obama Does On Vacation?
As with it’s similarly-titled predecessor Story of O (which I know some of you naughty folks read at some point, while the rest of you probably have a dog-eared copy in your nightstand), this week’s release O: A Presidential Novel has tongues wagging.
Who wrote it?
Naturally, pre-publication suspicions focused on Joe Klein, who penned Primary Colors: A Novel of Politics, the book that tipped America off to Bill Clinton’s true personality long before Bill Clinton’s own actions clued us in.
But Klein swears he’s not to blame for this tome, which is largely partisan and annoyingly sympathetic to the current administration.
Just how sympathetic?
According to Ron Charles, the book largely assumes Obama running as the uncontested Democrat nominee in the next election. If you listen/read the Dem press at all, you’ll know that’s not necessarily a foregone conclusion.
Then there’s this:
In fact, it suffers a bit in that the fictionalized Obama and his GOP opponent—a flattering blend of John McCain and Mitt Romney, devoid of demagoguery—are relatively respectful of each other. In a way, the book is “an uncanny response to this month’s call for a more civil political discourse.” (Newser)
Personally, I’m a fan of the Occam’s Razor approach. As in, now we know what Obama’s been doing on all of those taxpayer-funded vacations (including Obama’s multimillion-dollar vacation in his old Hawaiian stomping grounds). That “little break” he needed? Maybe it was because he was too busy in November to join NaNoWriMo.
October 23rd, 2010
Whack A Mole?
I suppose if you’re one of those hard-core, right-wingers who maintains that President Obama is really a Manchurian-style candidate, this game may take on a whole new meaning. For everyone else, it’s just a fun way to kill some time.
Click to play for free
(By the way, listening to the entire preview helps support this site.)
January 22nd, 2010
Caption Contest
Have at it! Winners announced… eventually.
(Facebook readers please visit Electric Venom to comment.)
October 21st, 2009
Treasury Pulls Purse Strings On Bailed Out Companies
The U.S. “Pay Czar” is a title that should strike terror in those still foolish enough to think the government is here to help, especially those working at companies that received bailout money. What, you didn’t think there’d be strings attached?
The U.S. pay czar will slash compensation for the 25 highest-paid employees at seven firms receiving large sums of government aid and demand a host of corporate-governance changes at those firms, according to people familiar with the matter.
Kenneth Feinberg, the Treasury Department’s special master for compensation, will lower total compensation for 175 employees by an average of 50%, these people said. As expected, the biggest cut will be to salaries, which will drop 90% on average.
Oh, you don’t work at one of those companies? You run a small business, so you’ve got nothing to worry about? Riiiiiight. Guess who the government wants to help next?
What’s next? Anti-dog-eat-dog legislation?
September 1st, 2009
Why My Kid Will Be In School Sept. 8
If you’ve been online at all today you’ve no doubt read about Obama’s upcoming nationwide speech to schoolchildren on September 8. Maybe you’ve even read that Malkin and others are getting their panties in a wad over it, with some even calling to keep your kids home rather than subjecting them to the speech. My kid will be there, and I’m not bothered by that fact at all.
I don’t have a problem with a U.S. President telling my kid to study hard in school. Do I trust him, as SusanHW asked me on Twitter today when I’d said I didn’t care about the speech? Oh hell to the no.
But, see, I already know how little children work: they’ve been indoctrinated for years to idolize the office of the President and until they’re well into their teens it’s difficult for many to separate the office from the man. I also know that kids — and this time I include teens — are insanely curious about anything that Mommy or Daddy is against. Keep a kid home so they don’t listen to Obama then send him to school the next day when all of his little friends are hero-worshiping the guy, and what do you get? A future Democrat.
Oh, I’m fully aware that even if Obama keeps his speech specifically on-point about the importance of a good education, as Malkin points out “Obama zealot teachers like this one across the country will do all the extra-curricular bullying and haranguing for him.”
Living here in a rather conservative county in Kansas, I have the luxury of knowing there aren’t a ton of rabidly liberal, crap-spewing teachers like that one. I also know that, if one of my son’s teachers were to start proselytizing like that, I wouldn’t be the only parent shouting in the school office the next day. (But I might be the meanest.)
Frankly, I like to pick my battles carefully. Those of us in the GOP need to realize that bitching about every little thing the Dems do doesn’t make us sound informed or even draw attention to our primary issues; it just makes us sound bitchy.
Besides which, I know from experience that my boy is going to tune out any speech lasting longer than 30 seconds in favor of poking the little kid sitting next to him.
UPDATE: The White House has backed off of the wording in the teaching materials which was calling for students to “write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president”. Instead, the call is for students to write to themselves about their short- and long-term educational goals, with teachers collecting and holding the letters then giving them back to the children at a later date so they can see whether they’re keeping in track with the goals they set for themselves. (Source: Fox News).
January 8th, 2009
That “Tax Cut” Won’t Make A Dent
For everyone disappointed by the news that there will not be a second stimulus check coming this month, it’s probably tempting to take heart in Obama’s promised tax cut ($500 for individuals, $1000 for couples).
Except that a tax cut won’t make much of an impact on the nation’s economy, much less an individual’s wallet.
Over the year, this translates to an addition $44 each month, per person, or about $22 in the average paycheck.
Twenty-two dollars per month. Do you feel economically recovered now?
January 5th, 2009
President-Elect Obama and His 10 Inaugural Balls
I’ll say this for President-elect Obama: he has balls. Ten official balls, at last count, where he’ll personally be on display. Who knows how many unofficial ones there will be?
But here’s the thing about Obama’s balls: they’re big. And while his staff claims he’s got the first-ever Neighborhood Ball, the neighborhood around the White House pretty much threw their own ball when they stormed the president’s house after Andrew Jackson was elected. (His balls were apparently too small for their liking.)
Of course, taxpayers need not fret: we’re not footing the bill for Obama’s big balls. That’s the job of the Presidential Inaugural Committee, which has been busily raising funds to fete Obama’s balls. Sure, actors and other artsy types are happy to fork over $10,000 per head for one of Obama’s balls — and Oprah hasn’t named her going rate yet — but even those steep prices don’t cover the entire expense associated with his balls.
Taxpayers will pay in part for Obama’s balls by footing the bill for House and Senate members to plan the inauguration and balls, by paying for the preparation of alternate locations in the event of inclement weather, by paying for the archiving of documents relating — however tangentially — to the inauguration itself. Oh, and we’ll also pay for the massive security force (Secret Service, Capitol Police, U.S. Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard) needed to not only secure D.C. and the various environs of Obama’s balls, but to also screen each and every individual who personally attends Obama’s balls.
Perhaps this is what Michelle Obama meant when she said Obama would make us work? Even though she may have warned us, it’s rather infuriating to realize we, too, are now tasked with the responsibility of supporting Obama’s balls although few of us can afford our own. And, meanwhile, we’re all getting the shaft.