The Hollywood Liberal

Ahmadinejad Ignores Iran?s Own Human Rights Abuses In Conspiracy Theory Laden U.N. Speech
Today at the United Nations General Assembly, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — as he has in years past — prompted a massive walkout of his speech after he dredged up a number of conspiracy theories, including that the U.S. government was complicit in the 9/11 attacks. There were some other outlandish statements in Ahmadinejad’s speech. […]

Today at the United Nations General Assembly, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — as he has in years past — prompted a massive walkout of his speech after he dredged up a number of conspiracy theories, including that the U.S. government was complicit in the 9/11 attacks.

There were some other outlandish statements in Ahmadinejad’s speech. He accused some Europeans of still using the Holocaust “as the excuse to pay fine or ransom to the Zionists.” The Iranian president added that the circumstances surrounding Osama bin Laden’s death pointed to the larger 9/11 conspiracy:

“Instead of assigning a fact-finding team, they killed the main perpetrator and threw his body into the sea,” Ahmadinejad said. “Would it not have been reasonable to bring to justice and openly bring to trial the main perpetrator of the incident?

“Is there any classified information that must be kept secret?” he asked.

What was missing from Ahmadinejad’s speech? His own government violent repression of its own people, particularly during the Green Movement uprisings in 2009, as a U.S. Mission spokesperson observed:

“Mr. Ahmadinejad had a chance to address his own people’s aspirations for freedom and dignity, but instead he again turned to abhorrent anti-Semitic slurs and despicable conspiracy theories,” said Mark Kornblau, the spokesman for the US Mission to the United Nations.

Delegations from many Western nations, including France and the United States, walked out during the speech. Watch it (starting at 12:48):

House approves spending measure opposed by Senate; shutdown possible

Washington lurched toward another potential government shutdown crisis Friday, as the House approved a Republican-authored short-term funding measure designed to keep government running through Nov. 18 that Democrats in the Senate immediately vowed to reject.

In an after-midnight roll call, House Republican leaders persuaded conservatives early Friday morning to support a stop-gap bill nearly identical to one they had rejected just 30 hours earlier.

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Dead federal retirees are paid $120 million annually, report says

The federal government pays out millions of dollars to dead people each year — including deceased retired federal workers, according to a new report.

In the past five years, the Office of Personnel Management has made more than $601 million in benefits payments to deceased federal annuitants, according to the agency’s inspector general. Total annual payouts range between $100 million and $150 million.

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No more $16 muffins for you!

It’s all fun and games until someone serves $16 muffins.

The Obama administration is ordering a government-wide review of conference expenses after colleague Jerry Markon wrote his way on to the front page of The Washington Post with news of the Justice Department’s extravagant spending habits at 10 law enforcement conferences.

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Debt supercommittee weighs ‘dynamic scoring’ concept as part of approach on taxes

Warring Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill have little hope of drafting an ambitious plan to tame the national debt by Thanksgiving unless they can agree on an approach to rewriting the tax code, key lawmakers and leadership aides say.

But any attempt at a tax overhaul would require policymakers to clear some daunting hurdles, including an old battle over a fundamental question: Do tax cuts pay for themselves by spurring economic growth?

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An addendum, if you will, to the Cheney book

Dick Cheney’s best-selling memoir, “In My Time,” has rekindled verbal jousting over the Iraq war, Guantanamo Bay and waterboarding — and with it the intense rancor seen whenever people debate those matters.

The former vice president’s book — with its steadfast, no-apologies defense of invading Iraq to destroy all those weapons of mass destruction, his sharp criticisms of other top George W. Bush administration officials, and his reminders of the many Democrats who supported the war at the time — has doubtless ratcheted up the acrimony.

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Why Doesn’t UAW Pay Back Taxpayers First?
Mickey Kaus, Daily Caller
How about paying back the $15 billion first? I’m sure there are sophisticated arguments for why the UAW members shouldn’t pay back the taxpayers who bailed their employer out of bankruptcy before they negotiate a deal that gives them each a $5,000 bonus. I just can’t think of them right now. … Just from a PR standpoint, repaying the debt would seem like a good idea. …Sure, as a going concern, GM has to pay to keep its employees from bolting to a competitor. But what are the odds that most of…

Bottom Line: Horrible Debate
John Podhoretz, Commentary

Perry, Romney Go on Attack at Debate
O’Connor & Weisman, WSJ
ORLANDO, Fla.—Republican presidential front-runners Rick Perry and Mitt Romney, taking up where they left off in their last on-stage meeting, attacked each other over Social Security and health care in a televised debate Thursday, with the Texas governor on defense for much of the contest.The third Republican presidential debate in as many weeks showed the same dynamics as the prior two, with many of the candidates jabbing away at the Texan. In one exchange on immigration, Mr. Romney said he couldn't understand why Mr. Perry signed a Texas law giving in-state university tuition…

Questions Mounting on World Financial System
Walter Russell Mead, TAI
That’s what we’ve been seeing on world markets since Thursday trading began in Asia; this morning it hit the US with the kind of sickening thud we remember too well from 2008. Amid the general hurricane of bad economic news a few things stand out.Chinese stocks fell almost 5 percent and key real estate company stocks were down by double digit percentages as fears grow that the long-delayed bursting of the China property bubble is here;

GM & Chrysler Bailouts a Success for Obama
E.J. Dionne, Washington Post
WASHINGTON — Have you noticed that one of the Obama administration's most successful programs is also its most “socialist” initiative?OK, the bailout of General Motors and Chrysler was not socialist in the classic sense: the government was not looking to hold onto the companies over the long run. Their turnaround was accomplished in significant part by tough, capitalist management steps.But, yes, this was socialism — or, perhaps, “state capitalism” — because the government temporarily took substantial ownership in the companies when no one in the private sector was…