It applies in poker.

It applies in fantasy sports.

And it applies in politics.

So imagine my surprise this morning when White House Chief of Staff Jacob Lewwent on CNN and said:

"You can’t pass a budget in the Senate of the United States without 60 votes and you can’t get 60 votes without bipartisan support. So unless… unless Republicans are willing to work with Democrats in the Senate, Harry Reid is not going to be able to get a budget passed.”

Rules?  You can’t filibuster the budget. The Congressional Budget Act of 1974 stipulates that debate is automatically cut off after 50 hours of debate. At that point, a budget can be passed by a simple majority, 51 votes. Democrats currently hold 53 seats in the Senate. They can pass a budget on a simple party-line vote.

Shame on Lew for lying.  Shame on Monica Crowley for letting him get waway with it.  And same on the uneducated ignorant masses who will believe him.

D watches a show called "The Voice".  Four recording stars listen to a singer.  IF they went that singer on their team they punch a button, their chair spins around and they can SEE the singer.  If more than one "turns" the singer then selects which team they want to go with.  Each team has a dozen slots.

Here's the deal:  IF you're not 100% sure you want that person, you need to wait, because if you're the only one to select you're 100% likely to get the singer.

IF you're more than 50% sure you want the singer you should push as soon as someone ELSE selects - giving you at LEAST a 50/50 shot at someone you wanted at least 50/50.

IF two artists have turned the remaining artists probably should.  There's a screening procedure in place and most of the contestants are at least 50/50 shots. 

That sound about right?

L.A. Teachers Deliver for Kids by Blindfolding, Fondling Them

Member of Education Establishment: Parents Don’t Know What’s Best for Their Children

IT’S ONLY A SYSTEMIC PROBLEM IF PRIESTS ARE INVOLVED: How Many Kids Are Sexually Abused by Their Teachers? Probably millions. When it’s public-school teachers, it’s just one of those things. Whaddyagonnado?

First from Nancy Pelosi:

“The unemployment insurance extension is not only good for individuals. It has a macroeconomic impact. As macroeconomic advisers have stated, it would make a difference of 600,000 jobs to our economy.”  

and

“Again, this is important because this is about the safety net not just for these individuals, but for our economic system that, in times of unemployment, we have a safety net and that is important.”  

Then we have Fridge Fave Sheila Jackso Lee:

As I have scanned the annals of history, during the tenure of many presidents, obviously the recent presidents of JFK and Lyndon Baines Johnson, of Richard Nixon who was impeached, and subsequently Ford and Carter. I cannot find in the statement of a message of a minority leader, majority leader, or speaker, whose message has been defeat the commander-in-chief.

A tad inaccurate?  Yes.  But that was a fount of coherence and profundity compared with Lee's next statement, to wit:  

This is the most unusual historical period in our lifetimes. I frankly believe that it will be tainted, it will be known as the three ring circus, and it will be a shameful period. Because most times, no matter whether we are a divided government, which I’m arguing for vigorous take-back of the House by Democrats and the win of the president, because we have proven, in the 21st century by those who are elected by the Republicans, you can’t have an effective democratic divided government under the likes of this thinking.

And to follow the "Comedy Rule of Three" I give you HHS head mama Kathleen Sebelius in an interview yesterday on PBS Newshour,  attempts to explain how her edict mandating free contraception and pharmaceutical abortion for all will simultaneously 1) save a typical woman "up to $600, which is a substantial financial barrier"; 2) not be paid for by religious institutions since "actually, this is a no-cost benefit"; and 3) is a no-brainer for insurers since implementing her holy writ "could reduce an insurance plan by about 15 percent."

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/jan-june12/contraception_02-10.html

My wife watches Top Chef.  I don't mind it being on when I'm in the room.  Usually.  But it's become a metaphor for the Obama Regime.

First lady Michelle Obama was in Dallas Friday to judge a Top Chef cooking competition as part of her three-day Let's Move national tour. Obama joined White House chef Sam Kass and "Top Chef" host Tom Colicchio as judges in a televised competition that paired child sous-chefs with professional chefs.

... At the end of the 30 minute competition, the three chefs-student teams produced whole wheat turkey tacos, homemade applesauce and an arugula, carrot and avocado salad. The three judges were unable to declare a winner, declaring that all three teams won.

No one loses. Everyone gets arugula. I'm in hell.

Today may mark the first day I've missed running due to the cold.  Feb 11.  Temp is currently 15 with winds of 12mph gusting to 19, giving a WCF of 1.  DID run last night .... cold and crisp with a light snow falling.  Smoke tinged the air in a few places - folks had the fireplace going.  It's a nice censation in the 'burbs - it's AWESOME when it hits your nostrils out in the middle of noplace.

Observation of the week:  the warmer, sunny days have folks out walking their dogs more, rather than just letting them out and back in.  As a result the "devil strips" are littered with many more puppy bombs thans usual.  By March or April they'll revert to their usual behavior.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Are You “Them?”

Until the appearance of Barack Obama on the national scene, I knew of “them” only from an old sci-fi movie in which huge ants (“Them!”) ate people.

But there are new monsters in America, and I am starting to wonder whether I am to be considered among them: those of the uninvolved and uninformed lives, the bar-raisers, the downright mean ones, the never deserving of respect ones, the Vegas junketeers, the Super Bowl jet setters, the tuition stealers, the faux-Christians who do not pay higher taxes, the too much income makers, the tormenters of autistic children, the polluters, the enemies deserving of punishment, the targets to bring a gun against, the faces to get in front of, the limb-loppers, the tonsil pullers, the fat cats, the corporate jet owners, the one-percenters, the stupidly acting, the not paying their fair sharers, the discriminators on the “way you look”, the alligator raisers and moat builders, the vote deniers, the clingers, the typical something persons, the hunters of kids at ice cream parlors, the stereotypers and profilers, the cowards, the lazy and soft, the non-spreaders of money, the not my people people, the Tea party racists, the not been perfect and mistake makers, the disengaged and the dictating, the not the time to profiteers, the ones who did not know when to quit making money, and on and on.

My God, man, how did Barack Obama & Co. conjure up so many demons?

Because they don’t stand a chance in November if people think about what they’ve actually done.