Slick
Under White House pressure, BP suspended it’s dividend and established a $20 billion escrow account to help the “small people“. Here’s Steve Chapman’s lowdown on the shakedown.
Gotcha Journalism
Bob Etheridge, D-NC was asked by one of two student video bloggers if he supports Obama’s agenda. Clearly a trick question for a Democrat these days. Etheridge surmised his predicament and responded as prudently as possible. He grabbed the kid’s wrist, put a Vulcan Death Grip on his neck, bear hugged him, and demanded that he identify himself. When the video became public, as it always does, the congressman apologized and his peers came to his defense.
Curse The Crisis
An insubordinate White House staff ignored President Obama’s order to “plug the damn hole”. That made the president very angry. As he told Matt Lauer , “If you want a job done right…”
Obama then exercised the Emanuel Doctrine, “Never Waste a Crisis”, by recycling an old Cap and Trade bill. Here’s James Delingpole in the UK Telegraph on that.
Jobs
Good news: There was a gain of 431,000 new jobs in May. Bad news: 411,00 of those jobs were census workers. Click here for the story in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Helen Thomas Sketchbook
Helen Thomas was forced into early retirement yesterday at age 89. (Go here for Dana Milbank’s column. Go here to watch Helen torment Robert Gibbs.)
Helen was recorded saying that Jews should get out of Palestine and go back to Poland. With that she bolted across the borders of acceptable free speech. She now exists beyond the pale along with cartoons of Muhammad and questions about the Civil Rights bill.
I wrote a children’s book with Helen and I’ve heard her talk this way about the Middle East many times. Helen’s opinions aren’t my opinions but they’ve been widely known for years.
Go here to see Ari Fleisher demand Helen’s resignation (reason enough for her to stay on).
