I alluded to a HuffPo story in this morning’s column, but it deserves a slightly fuller treatment. Here’s the meat:

President Obama’s campaign manager has a message for Wall Street: This time around, we’ll lay off.

Jim Messina, Obama’s campaign manager, told the hosts of a $38,500 per-plate fundraiser geared towards investment bankers and hedge fund managers that the president wouldn’t make Wall Street look bad during his re-election campaign, Bloomberg reports. The assurance follows Obama’s call to raise taxes on the rich in his latest budget proposal.

The current attempt at appeasement also comes as Obama attempts to win back the donors that provided him with so much last election.

Off course Obama will go easy on Wall Street. That’s where the money is.

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But of course I’ll drunkblog tonight’s big season-ending finale of GOP Celebrity Debate.

Tune in to the PJ Media homepage about 15 minutes before showtime for all the fun.

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BREAKING: Jim Carney is a big, fat liarhead.

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Trifecta: Has the GOP field gotten too distracted by social issues to beat President Obama in November?

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The Wall Street Journal has uncovered yet more madness in the President’s tardy budget plan:

Mr. Obama is proposing to raise the dividend tax rate to the higher personal income tax rate of 39.6% that will kick in next year. Add in the planned phase-out of deductions and exemptions, and the rate hits 41%. Then add the 3.8% investment tax surcharge in ObamaCare, and the new dividend tax rate in 2013 would be 44.8%—nearly three times today’s 15% rate.

Keep in mind that dividends are paid to shareholders only after the corporation pays taxes on its profits. So assuming a maximum 35% corporate tax rate and a 44.8% dividend tax, the total tax on corporate earnings passed through as dividends would be 64.1%.

That’s nearly two-thirds going straight into Uncle Sam’s pocket, just for sitting there and promising to maybe “go easy on you” next year. Nice work if you can get it. Way to sock it to those mean old corporations, too, Mr. President. And to which I’d like to add: Herp-derp-derp.

The problem is, corporations don’t pay taxes. Not one red cent. They never have and they never will, even if you jack up the corporate rate to infinity-percent-plus-one.

I got this fantastic notion this morning, when I remembered an Econ 101 lecture given by Prof. Walter Johnson at Mizzou twenty-mumble years ago. He was an institution at the university, and punctuated his lectures with, “Money, money, money — I love it!” in his gravelly voice. See, Johnson was something of a Kennedy Democrat, back when Democrats still honestly cared about a growing economy.

During one class he told us the story of the Columbia, Missouri city council getting the idea that there were all these students in town — and those lazy good-for-nothings weren’t paying any property taxes. Why, true and sturdy full-time residents pay property taxes on their homes, but these meddling kids are here most of the year, and all they do is rent. We’ve got to make them pay!

So Johnson gave the council a good talking to. He told them — and I think this is an exact quote — that, “just because someone doesn’t have a receipt, doesn’t mean they aren’t paying taxes.” And then he gave the council his proof.

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Trifecta: Timothy Geithner fiddles while the Treasury burns. Does President Obama have Cloward-Piven in full effect?

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Microsoft may or may not have a version of Office ready for iPad.

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There’s a lot of strong language — all of it richly deserved — as Matt Gemmell takes on Hollywood’s antipiracy efforts:

The majority of people have a basic desire to be honest – and I mean actually honest, rather than some limited definition based strictly on the law. People will go to reasonable lengths to be honest. It makes us feel good about ourselves, and it confers a certain immunity from legal problems.

But then you fuck us. First you fuck us with exorbitant pricing. Then you fuck us with inconvenience by not making your content universally available when we want it. Then you fuck us by treating every paying customer like a criminal.

Fucked by money, fucked by convenience, and fucked by judgement. We know that you hate us, and you’d better be aware that we absolutely hate you too.

Read the whole thing. This isn’t just a rant — Gemmell makes some very smart points about what Hollywood should be doing to please customers, reduce piracy, and increase profits.

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Ron Paul called social conservatism “a losing position” over the weekend. This might have something to do with that:

“This is a spiritual war. And the Father of Lies has his sights on what you would think the Father of Lies would have his sights on: a good, decent, powerful, influential country – the United States of America. If you were Satan, who would you attack in this day and age?”

“He attacks all of us and he attacks all of our institutions.”

Santorum made the provocative comments to students at Ave Maria University in Florida.

The White House contender described how Satan is even taking hold of some religions.

“We look at the shape of mainline Protestantism in this country and it is in shambles, it is gone from the world of Christianity as I see it.”

“Provocative?” Santorum just attacked half the Protestant churches in this country. Way to win the middle, Rick, now that you’ve dissed Reagan and alienated the libertarians.

Candidate See ‘n’ Say does not have the judgement to be President.

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Does Rick Santorum have a “libertarian problem?” You bet he does:

Polls of Republican voters almost always lump conservatives and libertarians together, making it difficult to gauge the number of libertarians in the party.

Clearly, though, there is a sizable and growing portion of the Republican Party that identifies with libertarianism’s more free-market philosophy. Libertarianism, which Ronald Reagan called the “very heart and soul of conservatism,” is particularly popular among young people.

And then:

It is not just Santorum’s voting record that frightens libertarians; it is his outward hostility to the libertarian movement. On one occasion Santorum stated, “I am not a libertarian, and I fight very strongly against libertarian influence within the Republican Party and the conservative movement.” On another occasion, speaking on the ascendancy of the tea party, Santorum declared, “I’ve got some real concerns about this movement within the Republican Party and the tea party movement to sort of refashion conservatism, and I will vocally and publicly oppose it.”

We didn’t pick this fight with Santorum. He came looking for one.

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From hopenchange to… dare we say “malaise?” I don’t think that’s too far off the mark:

“If you’re willing to put in the work, the idea is that you should be able to raise a family and own a home; not go bankrupt because you got sick, because you’ve got some health insurance that helps you deal with those difficult times; that you can send your kids to college; that you can put some money away for retirement,” Obama said recently in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

“That’s all most people want,” he said. “Folks don’t have unrealistic ambitions. They do believe that if they work hard they should be able to achieve that small measure of an American Dream.”

I’m feeling so inspired I could just snort some Xanax.

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B&N might be preparing a new and improved Nook tablet to go head-to-head against the Kindle Fire at the $199 price.

I think the old Nook, at $249, is a better deal and a better tablet than the Fire. I’m almost tempted to pick one of these up if the story pans out.

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From The Onion: “GOP Voters: ‘Can We See What It Looks Like With Huntsman And Perry Again?’”

I laughed until I cried. Or maybe it was the other way around.

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Steak ‘n Shake is coming to your neighborhood, and I can think of five guys who ought to be nervous.

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Samsung is the world leader in LCD screen production. Problem is, not even they can make any damn money at it, which is why they’re spinning off their LCD division into a new company. Here’s the story:

Citing a “structural change” underway in the display business, which the company believes is transitioning to OLED screens, Samsung’s board of directors approved the spin-off of its LCD business, allowing it to potentially merge with Samsung Mobile Display. The new company will be known by the tentative name Samsung Display Co., Ltd.

Samsung’s board of directors believes the spin-off will allow the LCD business to be more competitive going forward. Some companies, like Apple, have been reluctant to buy components like screens from Samsung, as the company also makes smartphones and tablets to compete with its own products in addition to manufacturing components.

That’s a big bet on OLED screens, which always seem to be tomorrow’s Next Big Thing.

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Jeremy Kolassa found the telling detail from Tim Geithner’s recent congressional testimony:

Timothy Geithner, appearing before Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI) and the House Budget Committee, had an absolutely fantastic line that we should keep for the ages:

Allow me to focus on that last part by copying the blockquote from Guy Benson’s piece from Townhall:

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, speaking on behalf of the Obama White House, to Rep. Paul Ryan: “You are right to say we’re not coming before you today to say ‘we have a definitive solution to that long term problem.’ What we do know is, we don’t like yours.”

You hear that? They have no plan, but they don’t like “yours” (being the GOP’s.)

Where are the adults in the room right now? We have the Democrats who have failed to pass a budget in the Senate for over three years and an Administration that is not even pretending to take care of the problems the country faces and only says “We don’t like your plan.”

Now who is being the “obstructionist party?”

Don’t confuse them with facts, Jeremy.

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I just spent 90 minutes this morning writing a column — yes, an entire column — about Steak ‘n’ Shake. That’s not inherently stupid, but it’s extremely stupid to do it on a day when I have no chance at all of driving up to Denver to grab a triple steakburger for lunch.

Anyway, I’m waiting to hear from Ed Driscoll if he wants it for the PJ Lifestyle blog. If not, I’ll post it here shortly.

Anyone willing to run down here from Centennial with a Takehomeasack of triple steakburger with cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickle, and mustard, with large fries, a cup of chili, and a chocolate shake?

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It’s a blunt-force tool, and I love it — JavaScript Blacklist. This one is an extension for Safari, and it easily lets you blacklist entire web domains from running JavaScripts. Anything from Tynt* — which I loathe more than overcooked beef or watered-down cocktails — is one of the defaults.

Free download, no need to relaunch your browser, works as promised.

*Pronounced “taint,” I do believe.

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Via Tyler Durden… well, I’ll just let the chart speak for itself.

The safety net is becoming a barcalounger. Who’s got the remote?

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The payroll tax cuts — just extended yesterday — are a bad idea for a number of reasons. In no particular order:

• They’ve provided zero measurable benefit to employment or economic growth.

• They add to our staggering deficit.

• They further compromise our already-bust entitlements system.

But there’s another reason. Turns out, the cuts are even more expensive than we thought. Here’s Kevin Williamson to explain:

The new deal on the payroll-tax extension (which will do little or nothing to benefit the economy) was held up by a largely unrelated matter: requiring federal workers to contribute more toward the costs of their own pensions. (More, Congress? How does 100 percent strike you?) The original proposal would have required all federal workers to bear more of the costs of their own retirements, but Democrats representing Maryland, that tony little suburb of Leviathan, shrieked. The compromise instead will cover only new hires.

We’ve gotten to the point where government can’t agree to give us back even just a little something-something, without first bribing itself. Pretty sure that means we’re deep into a positive-feedback loop, from which we’re unlikely to recover without first suffering a fiscal armageddon.

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Homeland Security saves the country from attack hair dryers, romance advice from Al Sharpton, Nancy Pelosi does a $400,000 one-eighty, and Stacy McCain exposes Tina Korbe’s thighs — all on another exciting episode of… The Week in Blogs!

BONUS: Occupy — The Motion Picture!

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She was crazier than stuffing your undies full of habaneros, but her debut album was stunning and fearless.

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Round and round she goes, where she stops — everybody knows:

For some Washington reporters and media execs, cheering their team from the sidelines just isn’t good enough: Tugging on a red, white and blue Team Obama jersey is the answer.

That’s the case for a whopping 19 journalists and media executives, including five from the Washington Post and three each from ABC and CNN, who’ve gone into the administration or center-left groups supporting the president.

It’s becoming more and more obvious that the “revolving door” doesn’t actually exist. There isn’t an inside/outside of the government/national media. There’s just one big greedy, grasping glob of malevolence.

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Steve Jobs was famous for treating the mainstream media like a… I was going to say “doormat,” but that’s not quite right. “Cheap hooker” might be more to the point. Occasionally briefly useful, but otherwise nobody you want to associate with. And Jobs was ruthlessly vindictive when it came to bad press. Well:

With yesterday’s announcements from Apple regarding its forthcoming OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion operating system, a number of media outlets had been provided with advance briefings and early copies of the software for the purposes of having reviews prepared and ready to go. When Apple published its press release and went live with OS X Mountain Lion information at 8:30 AM Eastern yesterday, the embargo was lifted and all of the pre-briefed publications immediately posted their stories on the topic.

But one publication with a long track record of receiving favored access from Apple was missing from that group: The New York Times. An article from the Times’ David Pogue was published about five hours after Apple’s announcement, and it did not appear to include any specific details suggesting that he had received advance notice of the release.

Jobs is gone, but Apple remains Apple.

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