A great stimulus package

After a long day discussing bailouts, finances, and money, sometimes a tall one is the best stimulus package out there. At least a tall one that isn't from Oregon.

Sorry for apologizing

The New York Post released a cartoon Wednesday showing police officers killing a chimp they blamed for writing the stimulus bill. A backlash ensued and the Post offered an unapologetic apology.

Wednesday's Page Six cartoon -- caricaturing Monday's police shooting of a chimpanzee in Connecticut -- has created considerable controversy,

...

But it has been taken as something else -- as a depiction of President Obama, as a thinly veiled expression of racism. This most certainly was not its intent; to those who were offended by the image, we apologize.

Evidently the Post doesn't know when to stop when it is behind:

However, there are some in the media and in public life who have had differences with The Post in the past -- and they see the incident as an opportunity for payback. To them, no apology is due. Sometimes a cartoon is just a cartoon -- even as the opportunists seek to make it something else.

Honestly, I would hope they are smart enough to not be so overtly racist, and have a different meaning, but that would mean they would have to be stupid enough to not realize how this looks. So it makes it hard to hope they have all cylinders firing on one hand when they have to be utterly devoid of social intellect on the other. However, in the interest of fair play, I will let them choose.

So which is it New York Post: racism or complete stupidity? There really is no third option. (For the record, I think it's the latter).

UPDATE: Rupert Murdoch himself has aplogized.

Today I want to personally apologize to any reader who felt offended, and even insulted.

I can assure you -- without a doubt -- that the only intent of that cartoon was to mock a badly written piece of legislation.

It was not meant to be racist, but unfortunately, it was interpreted by many as such. We all hold the readers of the New York Post in high regard, and I promise you that we will seek to be more attuned to the sensitivities of our community.

Now that's an apology.

Great president or the greatest president?

Colbert made a point of asking his political interviewees whether George Bush was a great president or the greatest president. One of those questioned simply answered "That's a question historians are going to have to answer."

Well, they have. C-SPAN conducted a survey of 64 historians which ranked all previous presidents in 10 categories. George Bush ranked 36th. Besides having only 6 persons ranked lower, the sting was made worse since one of the six, Henry Harrison, was ranked so low because he died after 32 days in office. Ouch. That hurts worse than a shoe. Not to worry, though; there will always be a group that agrees regardless, right Fox?

The auto industry wants more

The auto industry wants more. The problem is so do we. We expect more from our government and from those that want our money. It wasn't long ago the heads of the auto industry stood in front of congress begging without a plan. Evidently their plan was to just keep begging. And we keep giving.

Vicious Cycle anyone?

More Ron Paul; less bailout

Is Ron Paul the only one on track? Is there anyone that would rather save our country than throw money into a hole or will we just continue to have politicians that make us pay more and financially enslave our grandchildren while they won't even pay their taxes?

What went wrong, Daschle?

As this ad so clearly points out, the Daschle of yesterday is not the Daschle of today (or if he is, he's just a liar). Obama has already admitted to his mistake, but this dichotomy of the then Daschle and the now Daschle highlights what our government has become; both parties have strayed from their roots and are more concerned with earmarks and lining their pockets than with their constituents.

Perhaps we can get a do over.

Obama's got it all wrong

It's so sad to see a new president make mistakes, but it's even worse when his mistake is admitting to them. Obama should take lessons from the previous administration and get defensive while stubbornly saying that there is nothing to change.

Of course I'm being facetious. Obama made a good move saying he screwed up with Daschle's nomination. And although it wasn't about the bailouts it's a refreshing change.