Sunday, August 28, 2011

The Second Coming Of Herbert Hoover


The title of this post was heisted from Howie Carr’s piece at The Boston Herald.  Depending upon whose version of history you rely on, the indisputable truth about President Herbert Hoover was his epic failure to end the downward economic spiral known as The Great Depression.
Fred Barnes, Executive Editor of The Weekly Standard, puts forward the notion that the gelding who currently occupies the Oval Office “has been hurt by the media’s leniency.”

Both his presidency and reelection prospects have suffered. He’s grown lazy and complacent. The media have encouraged him to believe his speeches are irresistible political catnip, though they aren’t. His overreliance on words hasn’t helped.”
Dean Baker, Co-Director for The Center For Economic and Policy Research, recently chided The Washington Post for the conspicuous absence of expert ridicule of this president when Obama said, “I have to admit, I didn’t know how steep the climb was going to be. Because we didn’t realize—we just found out a week ago that the economy that last few months in 2008 was even worse than we had realized.”

Baker, writing for Business Insider offers his reasoning:
“It is true that the Commerce Department just revised down the GDP data to show that the decline at the start of the recession was even steeper than had previously been reported. However, by far the most meaningful measure of the steepness of the climb needed for recovery is the employment to population ratio (EPOP): the percentage of the working age population with jobs. This is reported monthly and is not subject to substantial revision.”

“President Obama's team always knew exactly how far the EPOP had fallen since the start of the downturn and therefore knows how many people must be put to work to get the economy back to full employment. The lower than previously reported GDP is an interesting piece of information, but tells us almost nothing new about how much ground must be made up.”

“The Post should have included the comments of economists ridiculing the idea that President Obama has just now discovered how bad the downturn was. It might even be worth a separate article or two. If the statement is actually true (i.e. President Obama just realized how bad the downturn was) then it is deserving of far more attention than his comment about working class whites being bitter and clinging to gun and religion before the Pennsylvania primary.”

Clearly, with this president we have moved past Jimmy Carter V2.0, past Herbert Hoover into Nero imagery.

Photoshop™ Of The Day: No Hope, No Jobs


Linked by The Camp of the Saints.  Thanks Bob.

Elsewhere In The Dextrosphere For Sunday, August 28, 2011



“One of the greatest lines I get told by so-called moderate Republicans about almost anything you talk about is always, “This isn’t the hill to die on. This isn’t the hill to die on, this isn’t the hill to die on.” You have this conversation with them for two hours and you realize you’re already 15 hills back from where you were. This, America, is the hill to die on. If you cannot defend and save a half millennium of western liberty and progress and prosperity on this hill, there is no other hill to die on anywhere on the planet.”—Mark Steyn, After America: Get Ready for Armageddon

Friday, August 26, 2011

Elsewhere In The Dextrosphere For Friday, August 26, 2011


God and Man at the Gray Lady, Part Deux

Sarah Palin Likes This Video

Two words missing from Ben Bernanke’s 3,500-word statement

Bush’s Fault Explained: Magnitude 8+ Heading to Liberal Land November 2012

Mexican Consulate In Santa Ana, CA Sets Up ID Center on UNITED STATES PUBLIC SCHOOL PROPERTY

Warren Buffett: Pro-Choice Hypocrite And Douche Nozzle

Mark Steyn on After America

“An especially vociferous progressive group calls itself ‘We Are Wisconsin.’ Evidently not.”

Twelve Things I Notice About Liberals Since the Debt Limit Debate Started

Michelle Returning From Vineyard on Separate Flight

“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”—Abraham Lincoln


Photo Of The Day: Hurricane Irene

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Ars Musica: Trouser Trumpets For The Taliban

Gina Cavallaro, writing for Battle Rattle, says she was “shamed into” writing a story about the importance of trust between Marines and Afghan national army soldiers by her colleague Dan Lamothe.  She insists that Lamothe told her, “You owe it to all Marines.”
Call me uncouth, but shouldn’t we be wiping out Jihad by any beans necessary?
“So here’s the news:  audible farting has been banned for some Marines downrange because it offends the Afghans.

I know there are many things in the Afghan culture that don’t seem normal to Americans and it’s hard to spend seven months working in someone else’s back yard.  Still, the Marines I saw downrange are doing a pretty good job at trying to do the right thing around the Afghans.

They’re not supposed to cuss because it could be misunderstood (that one goes out the window a lot). And they stay away from talking about politics, religion or girls because those topics could escalate into major disagreements (they can’t communicate anyway because of the language barrier).

But farting?  That’s practically a sport.  OK, it’s not soccer, but a good contest could open the door for cross-cultural exchanges, jokes and other gallows humor.

So, for all Marines getting ready to go downwind, I mean downrange, be forewarned—you may have to hold it in…at least until you get back to your hooch where you can loudly crop dust your friends.”
Exit question:  Does the Marine brass also have an unnatural fear of dryer sheets?

 

Photoshop™ Of The Day: The King Of Debt

Elsewhere In The Dextrosphere For Thursday, August 25, 2011



“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.”—Ronald Reagan

The King Of Debt


 

Via Memeorandum
Cross-posted at The Conservatory
Linked at The Frugal Café.  Thank you so much Vickie.
Linked at Say Anything Blog. Thanks.

Monday, August 22, 2011

Maxine Waters: Proof That You Can Put Lipstick On A Gargoyle


With a room full of purple T-shirts being worn by SEIU thugs, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) announced to the assembled audience in Inglewood, CA there to attend a “Kitchen Table Summit” on unemployment that, “I’m not afraid of anybody.  This is a tough game.  You can’t be intimidated.  You can’t be frightened.  And as far as I’m concerned, the ‘Tea Party’ can go straight to hell.”
The Los Angeles Times reported on Saturday that California’s jobless rate went up to 12% from 11.8% and has the second-highest rate of unemployment in the country.  Nevada, Harry Reid’s home state, has a rate of 12.9%.  The U.S. average is 9.1%.
Waters exploits the foolish hopes of those who are hurting in this economy by inciting their fears and hatred.  The Democrats grow richer while the people who elect them grow poorer.



Sunday, August 21, 2011

Brawl of Presidents Or “There You Go Again”



Barry’s Killer Bunny Wunny


The Chicago Tribune’s John Kass asks, “Is President Barack Obama on the verge of being attacked by a bunny wabbit?”
He thinks so and provides his reasoning:
“All the signs suggest that Obama is in immediate danger of a rabbit attack. It would ruin what's left of his presidency. And it would horrify Democrats by ushering in, say, a President Bachmann.”
“It might happen while he's on that ridiculous vacation of his. Obama is chilling at some exclusive multimillion-dollar estate on Martha's Vineyard, even as thousands more Americans hit the unemployment lines, and as Republicans like Michele Bachmann make wild-eyed, crazed claims about bringing back $2 per gallon gas.”
"’I think it's a little too early yet for the president to be attacked by a rabbit,’ cautioned a veteran Chicago Democrat wise in the ways of Obama. ‘But it's close. Real close.’”
“Anyone who thinks Obama is safe from a rabbit attack has forgotten what happened to President Jimmy Carter In 1979. Carter was attacked by a swimming rabbit, and the subsequent ‘Killer Rabbit’ stories helped destroy his presidency. It led to the election of Republican Ronald Reagan in a landslide and an unprecedented economic revival.”

“There are eerie similarities. Like Obama, Carter was at that point where he was constantly viewed as weak and ineffectual. His fellow Democrats had lost patience with him. Liberal writers who once fawned on him had turned against him.”
Folk singer Tom Paxton even wrote a tune about it, called "I Don't Want a Bunny Wunny."


Via Memeorandum and The Lonely Conservative.
Linked by The Other McCainThanks Smitty.
Thanks to Vicki McClure Davidson of The Frugal Café for linking to this post.
Linked by The TrogloPunditThanks Lance.

Rev. Al “Not So” Sharpton: Comcast And MSNBC’s Clowning Achievement


I hope you’ll pardon my tardiness in addressing the issue of MSNBC’s hiring of Brooklyn’s most notorious shakedown artist, blowhard and 2004 presidential candidate.
If you’re not altogether familiar with Sharpton’s checkered past, The New York Daily News has a fairly decent recapitulation.
Having been criticized for its scarcity of minority hosts for a long time, MSNBC decided that Rev. Al Sharpton would take over the slot held by Cent Uygur who replaced Keith “Bathtub Boy” Olbermann when he was fired  let go in January 2011.
It is clear to this observer that Comcast/NBC did not hire this racist propagandist to satisfy their critics, but rather that he was instrumental in signing an agreement that helped them secure FCC approval for the $30 billion merger.  Read the whole thing over at The Daily Beast.
Sharpton has bombed on the radio shows he’s hosted and he will surely bomb again on MSNBC, especially when he comes up with gaffes like “Resist we much” and “The Statement Department.”
Here’s Jimmy Kimmel’s take on “Not So” Sharpton’s teleprompter fumble:


Friday, August 19, 2011

Silly Earthlings


I lumme some science fiction flicks; Star Wars, Star Trek, Alien, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Blade Runner, The Day the Earth Stood Still, E.T.: The Extraterrestrial and War of the Worlds.  Some of the best television sci-fi shows were Earth—The Final Conflict, 3rd Rock From the Sun, V, Space 1999, Battlestar Galactica, Lost In Space, My Favorite Martian, Babylon 5, Star Trek: The Next Generation and, of course, the original Star Trek which aired for just three seasons from 1966 to 1969.  No need to remind you that the show went on to inspire several movies, spinoffs and a bazillion fans.
Why are people fascinated with this genre?  Perhaps it’s the sense of wonder of what’s out there and the fact that it’s hard to define.  It fires the imagination thanks to stellar writers like H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke and Ray Bradbury to name a few.
SETI (the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence) halted its operations in April of this year after federal and California budget shortfalls. Over 2500 donors have helped SETI resume its hunt for intelligent life with its Allen Telescope Array (ATA).
Speaking to International Business Times, Tom Pierson, who co-founded the SETI Institute with Jill Tarter said, “We are so grateful to our donors.  We believe we will be back on the air in September.”
According to Hello From Earth, one of the messages now headed for the stars reads: “You are cordially invited to an interplanetary barbeque 6:00 p.m. 4, October 2452 at my place. BYO beer and meat. RSVP.”
In September of 2010, it was reported that Malaysian astrophysicist Mazlan Othman had been declared the Head of the Office for Outer Space Affairs by the United Nations to represent earthlings in the inevitable "take me to your leader" moment.
According to Othman, “The continued search for extraterrestrial communication, by several entities, sustains the hope that someday humankind will receive signals from extraterrestrials.” She then went on to state that should we ever hear from aliens, the world should have a coordinated response to that momentous occasion, and argues that “the UN is a ready-made mechanism for such coordination.”
The Guardian, a publication fraught with stupidity, highlights a report that aliens may destroy humanity to protect other civilizations. "A preemptive strike would be particularly likely in the early phases of our expansion because a civilisation may become increasingly difficult to destroy as it continues to expand. Humanity may just now be entering the period in which its rapid civilisational expansion could be detected by an ETI because our expansion is changing the composition of the Earth's atmosphere, via greenhouse gas emissions," the report states.

"Green" aliens might object to the environmental damage humans have caused on Earth and wipe us out to save the planet. "These scenarios give us reason to limit our growth and reduce our impact on global ecosystems. It would be particularly important for us to limit our emissions of greenhouse gases, since atmospheric composition can be observed from other planets," the authors write.

Even if we never make contact with extraterrestrials, the report argues that considering the potential scenarios may help to plot the future path of human civilisation, avoid collapse and achieve long-term survival.

This article was amended on 19 August 2011. The subhead said the report was "for NASA". This has been corrected.

Oliver Morton, co-author of the article admits to making a “horrible mistake.”

So here’s the thing. This isn’t a “NASA report.” It’s not work funded by NASA, nor is it work supported by NASA in other ways. It was just a fun paper written by a few friends, one of whom happens to have a NASA affiliation.
[SNIP]
But I do admit to making a horrible mistake. It was an honest one, and a naive one… but it was a mistake nonetheless. I should not have listed my affiliation as “NASA Headquarters.” I did so because that is my current academic affiliation. But when I did so I did not realize the full implications that has. I’m deeply sorry for that, but it was a mistake borne out of carelessness and inexperience and nothing more. I will do what I can to rectify this, including distributing this post to the Guardian, Drudge, and NASA Watch. Please help me spread this post to the other places you may see the article inaccurately attributed to NASA.
Attention Melamakians, Mork from Ork, Gort and all you other wacky, fun-loving aliens:    Stay away from Earth.  We have been overrun by a cult of global warming moonbats whose intelligence quotient retards their ability to park a bicycle straight.

We now return you to your regular programming.



Thursday, August 18, 2011

Delicious: The Tax Evader vs. “The Pretty Girl” In The No Spin Zone

If you live in the 15th Congressional District (North Manhattan), please help Michael Faulkner defeat this worm.




Photoshop™ Of The Day




Linked by Proof Positive and Say Anthing BlogMany thanks.

Zonation: Tea Party Drama Finds Obama

The Bus Was A Big Mistake


Doug Thompson, publisher and founder of Capitol Hill Blue writes, “President Barack Obama took his act on the road this week, traveling the Midwest in a $2.4 million armored bus in what his handlers claim was an attempt to ‘interact with real people.’”

“Next? He’s headed to Martha’s Vineyard for a vacation amid the rich and famous.”

“So much for mixing with the masses.”

“Crowds for his highly-hyped bus tour were tepid at best. The enthusiasm is gone from his carefully-staged events. So is his stirring rhetoric. The words that now spill from Obama’s mouth like verbal diarrhea are halted, hesitant and devoid of emotion.”

“For Obama, the magic is gone, along with the swagger that characterized his demeanor early in his presidency.  The man who swept into office with such high expectation now appears worn, tired and unsure of himself.”

I couldn’t have described this pitiful footnote to the errand boy sent by grocery clerks’ presidency better if I had tried.  Bravo, Mr. Thompson.  Bravo!


Obama: It's Not My Fault



Video Hat Tip Gateway Pundit

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Obama Hates Congress



Video Hat Tip to ObamaSnippetsDotCom

Photoshop™ Of The Day: Obamalaise

T-Paw Quits After Drawing The Short Straw


The Iowa Straw Poll proved disappointing for Pawlenty’s presidential hopes.  He came in a distant third behind Michele Bachmann and moRon Paul garnering 2,293 votes.

I was watching Fox & Friends this morning when the anchors of the show alerted their viewers that Pawlenty was quitting the race.  T-Paw chose to make his formal announcement on ABC’s This Week.

The two-term governor of Minnesota had been eyeing a bid for the White House for years and you’ll remember he was being considered by John McCain as his running mate in 2008.

Pawlenty had doubled down staking everything he had in his campaign arsenal on the Straw Poll and when he came up short he decided to pull the plug saying, “[We] didn’t get the kind of traction we needed and hoped for” in order to continue.

“There are a lot of other choices in the race,” he said. “The audience, so to speak, was looking for something different.”

Yes, Tim, they were.  Someone who isn’t a RINO and wasn’t for Cap and Trade before he was against it.

Jake Tapper, ABC’s Senior White House Correspondent, asked Pawlenty if he would consider being a vice presidential candidate in 2012. “I’ve been down that road before,” he said. “That’s not something I’m going to consider.”

John Hinderaker of Power Line, a supporter of Pawlenty, feels his “[W]ithdrawal leaves Mitt Romney as the only serious candidate who is mainstream in both policy views and persona. Romney continues to lead in the polls, but I don’t think he is immune, by any means, to the rebellious mood that claimed Pawlenty as its first victim.”
Do you think that if Pawlenty had continued his attack of “ObamneyCare” instead of backing off that his results would have been better?  We’ll never know will we?
Via Memeorandum.

Monday, August 8, 2011

Is The American Dream Withering On The Vine?

At a Chicago fundraiser, on Wednesday, August 3, 2011, the gelding who occupies the Oval Office said, “It’s been a long, tough journey. But we have made some incredible strides together. Yes, we have. But the thing that we all ought to remember is that as much good as we have done, precisely because the challenges were so daunting, precisely because we were inheriting so many challenges, that we’re not even halfway there yet. When I said ‘change we can believe in’ I didn’t say ‘change we can believe in tomorrow.’ Not change we can believe in next week. We knew this was going to take time because we’ve got this big, messy, tough democracy.”

That was the day after Congress passed the debt deal forestalling a default.  What loomed in the background was the threat that Standard & Poors was going to downgrade America’s credit rating.  I believe the Administration thought that passage of the bill would prevent the actions of S&P.  That belief was proof of their unparalleled naiveté.

Philip Klein, writing at The Washington Examiner, believes that this president will not escape the blame for America’s credit rating being downgraded.  Klein cited that “Obama was elected president at a time when Americans felt the nation was in decline, and his central job was to restore their faith that our best days were ahead of us, as President Reagan did after the Carter era.  Whether you think he was dealt a poor hand or not, the bottom line is that the sense of decline has only deepened during the Obama presidency, and the first-ever downgrade of U.S. credit, whatever its ultimate financial implications, is yet another symbol of that decline.”

Via Memeorandum, Drew Westen, writing at The New York Times, gives us a glimpse at the inconvenient truth that the Left must now face: “A second possibility is that he is simply not up to the task by virtue of his lack of experience and a character defect that might not have been so debilitating at some other time in history. Those of us who were bewitched by his eloquence on the campaign trail chose to ignore some disquieting aspects of his biography: that he had accomplished very little before he ran for president, having never run a business or a state; that he had a singularly unremarkable career as a law professor, publishing nothing in twelve years at the University of Chicago other than an autobiography; and that, before joining the United States Senate, he had voted “present” (instead of “yea” or “nay”) 130 times, sometimes dodging difficult issues.”
As the presidential election draws ever nearer, it will be damn near impossible for this errand boy sent by grocery clerks to erase the electorate’s memory of his commitment to drive America deeper into debt for a distorted ideology to “fundamentally transform America.”

Cross-posted at The Conservatory.
Linked by Randy's RoundtableThanks Randy.  Also linked by Proof Positive and Say Anything BlogI 'preciate it Proof.

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Obama’s Clowning Achievement


Professor Jacobson of Legal Insurrection adamantly asserts that, “Democrats own the downgrade.  They fought Republicans and Tea Party supporters every step of the way, and forced a deal which was insufficient.  They played class warfare and race politics against arguments that we needed to drastically change our spending habits.”

Jammie Wearing Fool bluntly points to the screw job this president and his lock-step minions in the Congress did on our economy saying, “Heckuva job, Bammy. You've tanked the economy and now wrecked our credit rating. But don't let us interrupt your parties or golf.”
"The downgrade reflects our opinion that the fiscal-consolidation plan that Congress and the administration recently agreed to falls short of what, in our view, would be necessary to stabilize the government's medium-term debt dynamics," Standard & Poors said. S&P had previously warned it would downgrade the credit rating if the cut didn't reach $4 trillion.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said S&P's call was the result of Washington's "out-of-control" spending which "now threatens to send destructive ripple effects across our credit markets."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said the decision "reaffirms the need for a balanced approach of deficit reduction."

The unprecedented downgrade of the nation's AAA credit rating by a major ratings agency comes only fifteen months before the 2012 presidential election where the downgrade and the debt will be source of bitter political battles over spending cuts and tax reform.

S&P's assessment was tempered by a decision from Moody's Investors Service earlier this week that confirmed, for now, America’s AAA rating. Fitch Ratings said it is still reviewing the rating and will issue its opinion by the end of August.

Christina Romer, former Chair of Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers seems to think we’re, “Pretty darned fucked.”

How A Congressman Changes A Light Bulb


Carter’s Naïve Heir And His Illusions Of Grandeur


Illusions of grandeur are not the same as visions of greatness.  Apparently the First Lady is unfamiliar with this axiom. On the occasion of his 50th birthday, she said her husband’s ever graying hair is “proof” he’s handled his job well, and deserves re-election in 2012.
“Every day, I see Barack make choices he knows will affect every American family,” Mrs. Obama said in an email blast to supporters. “That’s no small task for anyone—and more proof that he’s earning every last one of those gray hairs.”

Jimmy Carter had gray hair and he didn’t deserve to be re-elected. Fifty-two percent of the country ardently believes that “Captain Awesome” is a bad president and does not deserve reelection.

The Chicago Tribune notes with understatement that Obama "probably will be forced to run on something other than his economic record." That something is the fierce urgency of ferocity:  "It's not going to be 2008 'Yes, we can' anymore. I think it's going to be slash-and-burn," said Democratic pollster Paul Maslin. "We have an embattled incumbent who doesn't have much hope of improving his standing except by point of comparison with his Republican opponent. It's going to be a very different kind of election that's going to be brutal, to be honest."

What’s brutal is employment growth, unemployment levels, bank lending, economic output, income growth, home prices and household expectations for financial well-being—the economy's improvement since the recession's end in June 2009 has been the worst, or one of the worst, since the government started tracking these trends after World War II.

Can this Carter-esque interloper and his minions justifiably make the argument to Americans who are struggling that borrowing four billion dollars a day from lenders like China is still necessary and sustainable?  The answer is not just NO, but HELL NO.

Hat Tip to Weasel Zippers, The Pirate's Cove and The TrogloPundit.