Goodnight Irene: Joe Biden Falls Asleep During Obama's Budget Speech Wednesday. What's the Big Uproar? I Nearly Caught Some Shut Eye Myself.

(Watch the video yourself below). Biden falling asleep during Obama's speech is getting quite the Net buzz from the right-wingers. But I can't blame Biden or criticize him today. Instead, I can empathize with him.

I also listened to that long, rambling speech live on Wednesday, and while I didn't catch any actual ZZZ's, I was certainly clamoring for it just to end already. (I'd estimate the speech went on 35-40 minutes, but it seemed like a damn eternity). Hell, from the look of the above picture, Obama nearly put himself to sleep!

And what's with all this presupposition by the media that Obama suddenly now has a budget and/or debt reduction "plan"? Please correct me if I'm wrong, but as best as I can tell, this so-called "plan" Obama was talking about today isn't written down anywhere. Can I read it? Where? Link? Until I can, it's not a plan at all, but rather just a collection of rambling talking points and leftist rhetoric.

Given that I haven't seen any coherent "plan" that can even be discussed, I see little point in addressing the merits of Obama's Wednesday harangue in any great detail beyond a blog post of typical length. I will say that in addition to be highly bored, I was also left very unimpressed. Some general reactions are set out below.

Just more of the same: If you basically force a leftist 20 percenter to talk about cutting debt, then the leftist will always revert to the same tired old playbook that I've heard my whole life: Raise taxes; and cut military spending. Now I'm all for finding ways to cut defense spending, but I find it comical that no democrat party member can ever talk about budget cuts without defense spending being the first thing out of his or her mouth. As predictable as a Joe Biden gaffe.

And with one notable exception, the "let's just raise taxes" stuff was also just more of the same: Stick it to the damn rich. Let's engage in same nice class warfare, and never mind that our economy is still mired in the tank. Very Bright! Raising taxes in awful economic times. Yawn.

And then we had plenty of the typical leftist rhetoric about those damn rich people not paying their fair share of taxes. Kind of like your beloved GE paying no income taxes last year, Mr. President? Hypocrite.

As hinted at above, one aspect of Obama's tax talk would seem to be something that could potentially hit middle class Americans very hard. I'm referring to Obama's highly generalized talking points about eliminating or restricting itemized tax deductions. First, Obama didn't specify which deductions he was talking about, making the topic a bit hard to discuss (which I'm sure was Obama's very design).

But I'm inferring that whatever the hell that Obama is talking about, it would hit middle class Americans (such as me) who have the unmitigated gall of actually itemizing their tax returns. I say that since Obama went out of his way to point out that a "majority of middle class Americans do not itemize their tax returns." So as long as you're fine with throwing money away to the government by filing a simple tax return, then what Obama's talking about will have no impact on you.

Finally, Obama gave some lip service to looking for ways to cut debt by focusing on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid – but that stuff was so generalized that I don't how it can be rationally debated, criticized or credited at this point. As Daily Show comedian Paul Mecurio said Wednesday night, you could see more detail in a scrambled cable porn channel than in Obama's speech.

So here's where we are: Until I see a written debt reduction plan from Obama or his minions, we've still only got one real plan on the table: republican Paul Ryan's. Until I can actually read the specifics of what Obama claims to be proposing, I'll continue to say it to the whiney democrats: $14.2 Trillion – What’s Your Plan?

And if it looks anything like what I heard today, don't even waste the ink to reduce it to writing. The democrat party can use that ink, after all, to print some more money.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/04/13/biden_falls_asleep_during_obama_budget_speech.html

[Postscript Note: Check out the Comments section, as I create a blog post within a blog post and reflect upon one thing Obama said today that was very accurate and got me thinking and reflecting upon the sad state of our current two-party political system.]

"Trump Will 'Probably' Run as Independent If He Doesn't Win GOP Nomination." America Had Better Get Ready for a Three-Ring Circus in 2012...

…And that's even if the billionaire real estate mogul never runs as an Independent. More on that subject in a moment. But first, I have some observations about Donald Trump's recent antics and rising poll numbers:

I get the sense that the democrat party is starting to become just a little bit concerned with ol' Donald. And with good reason, methinks. Absent New Jersey Governor Chris Christie throwing his hat into the ring (which probably won't happen), I believe that Trump may be the only republican with a prayer of beating sitting president Obama in 2012 (and wouldn't Melania Knauss-Trump be the hottest First Lady in history?). We'll get to that too. But let's take this step by step.

The Republican Nomination

You might say that it's not even clear that Trump's going to run. But all signs strongly point to him running. And if he does, he has at least a decent chance of capturing the republican nomination. A poll over the past week had Trump at #2 among potential republican candidates and not far off the leader, Mitt Romney. Then Tuesday I saw a CNN poll that has him tied for #1 with Huckabee. He's now a player.

Call Trump crazy, if you will (and I think a certain aspect of him is crazy), but he's also crazy like a fox. ("That dude's a gen-ee-us!") Look at all his recent "birther" rhetoric. No coincidence his polls have simultaneously gone through the roof, which is attributable to deranged right-winger tea partiers finally having someone lend credibility to the now completely debunked notion that Obama was born in Kenya.

Trump shoots up in the polls, and he gets away with talking about such lunacy. And only he could. If Palin or Romney or one of the conventional potential republican candidates started talking a bunch of birther (is that like talking turkey?), then they would get crucified by the media.

But Trump's a different kind of creature. He's a bona fide celebrity who's been well known to the American people for a quarter century. The guy's got a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for cryin' out loud! The media doesn't treat him like it treats Palins and Romneys.

And Trump is also viewed as a political outsider, which he largely is. Americans love that sort of thing, and the media is intrigued by it. That means he can play outside of deranged right-winger land to a significant extent.

But he's also been playing inside of it, which is necessary to capture the GOP nomination. I've heard a number of the right-wing talking heads – people such as Rush Slimebaugh, Michael Savage and Sean Hannity – all speak in generally favorable terms about Trump.

So this guy is dangerous. He could win the GOP nomination. If you think that's crazy, then I’m sorry – you're simply uninformed. Even if Trump doesn't win it, I am so looking forward to the high entertainment of Trump participating in the GOP primary debates. That's gonna be great! Sort of like when Al Sharpton ran for the democrat party nomination. I agree with Sharpton on virtually nothing, but that crazy cat was really mixing things up in the primary debates. Classic.

The General Election

And what if Trump can win the GOP nomination? Then the fun really begins. Sorry, but I doubt any of the boring white male retreads or never-were potential republican candidates (Romney, Huckabee, Pawlenty, Gingrich, etc.) have much chance of beating Obama – who has the huge advantage of being a sitting president and a political machine in place that is looking to raise a billion dollars to throw at the 2012 campaign.

Trump might be the only republican who could beat Obama. Obama's never had to contend with the likes of Trump – a fast-talking, political outsider celebrity who’s liable to say or do anything. Put another way, Trump's a complete wildcard, and I think that makes the democrat party nervous. Not to mention, who’s the one candidate who could match Obama’s big money with money of his own? That would be Trump.

The democrat party underestimates Trump at their own peril. But alas, despite their current public rhetoric downplaying and insulting Trump, I don’t think they are (or will) underestimate him. I call the leftist 20 percenters many things, but just plain stupid is usually not one of those things.

Potential Run as an Independent

All of that now on the table, what about this Wall Street Journal story quoting Trump this week as saying that he will "probably" run as an Independent if he fails to capture the GOP nomination? As I've said before regarding Trump -- go for it. I tend to doubt that I would vote for him (although I rarely say never), but I would love to see him in some three-way presidential debates. That would be fun.

Trump also says he thinks he "could possibly win as an Independent." But that's where the odds would be most against him. In American history, the best performance of any third-party presidential candidate was to capture a paltry 27% of the popular vote – and that was a political heavyweight, i.e. former president and larger-than-life personality Teddy Roosevelt in 1912. Roosevelt ran in the self-coined "Bull Moose" Party and split the republican vote, which swept far leftist democrat Woodrow Wilson right into power.

Truth be told, instead of becoming president, the effect of Trump running as an Independent probably hands reelection to Obama. That's because Trump will similarly divide the republican vote, while the leftist 20 percenters will rally their typical coalitions without any divisions. (Trump's only hope might be a general election shift to the center to try to peel off Obama-voting Independents and "moderate" democrats).

Sort of 1912 and 1992 all over again, and a complete nightmare for the right-wingers. It must be more than just a bit ominous for republicans that 2012 falls exactly 100 years after Roosevelt's failed bid and exactly 20 years after the failed third-party campaign of one Ross Perot.

Trump is aware of this and notes that republicans "are very concerned that I [may] run as an Independent." So why would Trump want to derail the GOP nominee like that? Pretty simple, I think. Dude's an egomaniac. He couldn't care less about the GOP nominee (which I can admire just a bit). This thing is about him, not the republican party.

Not to mention, Trump's been paying a bit too much attention to Charlie Sheen, apparently. Concerning why he might run as an Independent, Trump spouted: "I like winning."

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2011/04/11/trump-will-probably-run-as-independent-if-he-doesnt-win-gop-nomination/tab/print/

What Can I Do to Put You in This Home? Response: "GIVE ME THE DAMN KEYS!" Pushy Squatter Won't Take No for an Answer When It Comes to Dream Home...

He loved the house. And he really wanted to live there. So 43-year-old Pennsylvania resident Frederick Harris (pictured on right) went down the traditional route for house hunting – scheduling a tour of the vacant upscale digs (worth $500,000 to $600,000) with the real estate agent.

But after his tour, Harris apparently wanted an opportunity to take his own little private tour in the near future. He pressed hard for the agent to turn over the joint's keys to him, acting "extremely anxious" to get his grubby little paws on them. But nothin' doing on that front, as the agent broke Harris' half court press at the top of the "key."

And it probably didn't help his efforts that Harris reportedly wore gloves during the April tour. Having been rebuffed at the front door, Harris allegedly took things into his own little gloved hands, since no one (allegedly) was going to keep him from his dream home.

First on the agenda, allegedly, was to ward off other potential buyers of the home: Cops say Harris yanked the "For Sale" right out the home's front yard. But why let a perfectly good real estate sign go to waste?

Instead of tossing it into the rubbish bin as you might expect him to do, Harris allegedly put the sign to constructive use by converting it into a makeshift burglary device. Cops say Harris used the sign to bash in a window at the home and broke in. (And to think, this all could have been averted if that pesky agent had just turned over the damn keys!)

Now was this your typical (alleged) burglary in which Harris was interested in lifting some resalable fixtures from the joint (which was apparently vacant)? Are you crazy? This is the man's dream home (allegedly)!!! Why would he want to damage or defile it?!?

Nope. Harris allegedly did the only thing you would expect of an enamored house hunter: He moved in and took to squattin’ in that crib (allegedly)! Cops says Harris lived in the house as if it was his own for days, stocking up the fridge and parking his Chevy out in the garage. "He basically was making a home there," said the local police chief.

Things reportedly headed south for this loopy home lover when the home's caretaker noticed the car in the garage and the proverbial "strange man" milling around inside the house. Busted! The caretaker called the cops, who entered the home with one of those bloodhound sniff dogs, named Argos.

Apparently trying to put the pooch and the cops off his scent, Harris allegedly hit the button to open the garage door – I'm presuming in hopes that Argos and his blue masters would scurry out the joint thinking that Harris had escaped. But regardless of what you think of cops in general, they typically aren't stupid.

They didn't go for Harris' apparent little attempt at subterfuge (Winston Wolf, this dude was not) and looked to secure the house before looking into the possibility that Harris had fled. Argos and the cops reportedly found Harris huddled down inside the shithouse. No word whether he had his gloves on at the time.

Harris' story to the cops was pretty garden variety – said he had a right to be there and that he was "working" with the real estate agent to possibly buy the house. Well, Harris ain't buying this house, and cops weren't buying his line a' bullshit (allegedly).

Now Harris "has been removed to a more Spartan home: the Westmoreland County Prison," facing charges of burglary, criminal trespass and criminal mischief.

Meantime local cops are apparently baffled by the whole incident. The aforementioned police chief, Thomas Seefeld, candidly revealed to the media that this is a very "unusual case."

But the revelations did not stop there. Providing an insider's glimpse into the way the cops really view this case, Seefeld added: "Usually people pay money when they buy a home and move in."

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_731217.html#

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11099/1138173-59.stm