Multiply
Officials and aides said opponents had multiple misgivings about the measure, which Senate Democrats had already said they would reject as soon as it reached the Senate desk. (NYT, 7/29/2011)
Who exactly is rejectionist? Who is intransigent?
Proud Of It
Arthur May, a laid-off computer programmer in this proudly liberal suburb of Boston, has been watching the showdown over the federal debt ceiling with growing revulsion — aimed mostly at Republicans. (NYT, 7/29/2011)
In a jaw-dropping article in today's Times, we learn that residents of Barney Frank's district - 80% of whom voted for Obama - are furious with Republicans. Folks, we are in Pulitizer Prize territory here with this type of inciteful reporting.
Threat Level
I can think of no greater threat to our nation’s prospects than the GOP’s policy-by-anecdote crusade against government. The United States is falling behind other nations in infrastructure, education and health-care indicators such as infant mortality and life expectancy. (Eugene Robinson, Washington Post, 7/29/2011)
And yet - ironically - the Democrat strategy on any issue is exactly 'policy-by-anecdote.' Witness: Why must healthcare be reformed? Why it is because poor Susie Sadsack had a claim denied by her mean old insurance company.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
On The Beach
Consensual
With the two sides both calling for big discretionary cuts, they should consent to phase them in gradually. And they must extend the debt limit through 2012. The country has more pressing problems to deal with. (NYT editorial, 7/27/2011)
No actually it does not. This is the biggest problem. Like Obama, the Times wants this pesky little debt ceiling problem to go away so that liberals can get on with their task of "fundamentally transforming" the country (their words, not ours.)
Fake ID
In states across the country, Republican legislatures are pushing through laws that make it more difficult for Americans to vote. The most popular include new laws requiring voters to bring official identification to the polls. Estimates suggest that more than 1 in 10 Americans lack an eligible form of ID, and thus would be turned away at their polling location. Most are minorities and young people, the most loyal constituencies of the Democratic Party. (Katrina vanden Heuvel, Washington Post, 7/27/2011)
You have to produce a valid ID to buy beer, to get on an airplane, to enter an office building in most major cities, to get a loan, etc. But vanden Heuvel does not believe that this requirement should extend to voting.
With the two sides both calling for big discretionary cuts, they should consent to phase them in gradually. And they must extend the debt limit through 2012. The country has more pressing problems to deal with. (NYT editorial, 7/27/2011)
No actually it does not. This is the biggest problem. Like Obama, the Times wants this pesky little debt ceiling problem to go away so that liberals can get on with their task of "fundamentally transforming" the country (their words, not ours.)
Fake ID
In states across the country, Republican legislatures are pushing through laws that make it more difficult for Americans to vote. The most popular include new laws requiring voters to bring official identification to the polls. Estimates suggest that more than 1 in 10 Americans lack an eligible form of ID, and thus would be turned away at their polling location. Most are minorities and young people, the most loyal constituencies of the Democratic Party. (Katrina vanden Heuvel, Washington Post, 7/27/2011)
You have to produce a valid ID to buy beer, to get on an airplane, to enter an office building in most major cities, to get a loan, etc. But vanden Heuvel does not believe that this requirement should extend to voting.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Five Hundred
Deserving
Of course Bachmann does not deserve to be in the presidential race. Legislatively, she has done little, she knows next to nothing and what she thinks she knows is wrong. (Richard Cohen, Washington Post, 7/26/2011)
After Obama - the junior senator who accomplished nothing and voted "present"- no liberal has the right to ever question the competence of any Republican presidential candidate.
Specifics
Obama’s last venture into public specificity was his February budget, which proposed accelerating the nation’s descent into debt. It was rejected by the Senate 97-0. (George Will, Washington Post, 7/25/2011)
Good reminder from Will.
Of course Bachmann does not deserve to be in the presidential race. Legislatively, she has done little, she knows next to nothing and what she thinks she knows is wrong. (Richard Cohen, Washington Post, 7/26/2011)
After Obama - the junior senator who accomplished nothing and voted "present"- no liberal has the right to ever question the competence of any Republican presidential candidate.
Specifics
Obama’s last venture into public specificity was his February budget, which proposed accelerating the nation’s descent into debt. It was rejected by the Senate 97-0. (George Will, Washington Post, 7/25/2011)
Good reminder from Will.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Hats and Hooters
Swamp People
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Steve Israel (N.Y.) each issued statements Sunday night calling for the House Ethics Committee to open an investigation into the conduct of Oregon Rep. David Wu. Wu is alleged to have had an unwanted sexual encounter with a woman in late 2010. (Washington Post, 7/25/2011)
Several years in, Pelosi's work on "draining the swamp" continues.
He Said What?
Mr. Reid, the Senate’s top Democrat, was trying on Sunday to cobble together a plan to raise the government’s debt limit by $2.4 trillion through the 2012 elections, with spending cuts of about $2.7 trillion that would not touch any of the entitlement programs that are dear to Democrats or raise taxes, which is anathema to Republicans. President Obama could endorse such a plan, even though it would fall far short of the ambitious goal of deficit reduction and entitlement changes that he says are necessary to shore up the nation’s finances. (NYT, 7/25/2011)
Great example of the daily deceit of the Times. Of course, Obama has been all about deficit reduction and entitlement reform. Just kidding! Read on for the truth....
Then again, it has long been clear that Mr. Obama isn't interested in spending reform. In February he proposed a budget that spent more than any in U.S. history. In April he demanded that Congress pass a "clean" debt ceiling hike that included no spending cuts whatsoever. Only after House Republicans unveiled their own sweeping budgetary reforms did the White House rush to also claim it wanted deficit reduction as part of the debt-ceiling debate. (WSJ, 7/25/2011)
Compromised
(Obama) denounces Republicans as uncompromising regarding tax increases but vows “I will not accept” a deal that does not increase taxes. (George Will, Washington Post, 7/21/2011)
Passages
With the passage of gay marriage in New York, it was inevitable that the New York Times would include an article or two about it. We count six today. In other news, still no agreement on the debt ceiling.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Steve Israel (N.Y.) each issued statements Sunday night calling for the House Ethics Committee to open an investigation into the conduct of Oregon Rep. David Wu. Wu is alleged to have had an unwanted sexual encounter with a woman in late 2010. (Washington Post, 7/25/2011)
Several years in, Pelosi's work on "draining the swamp" continues.
He Said What?
Mr. Reid, the Senate’s top Democrat, was trying on Sunday to cobble together a plan to raise the government’s debt limit by $2.4 trillion through the 2012 elections, with spending cuts of about $2.7 trillion that would not touch any of the entitlement programs that are dear to Democrats or raise taxes, which is anathema to Republicans. President Obama could endorse such a plan, even though it would fall far short of the ambitious goal of deficit reduction and entitlement changes that he says are necessary to shore up the nation’s finances. (NYT, 7/25/2011)
Great example of the daily deceit of the Times. Of course, Obama has been all about deficit reduction and entitlement reform. Just kidding! Read on for the truth....
Then again, it has long been clear that Mr. Obama isn't interested in spending reform. In February he proposed a budget that spent more than any in U.S. history. In April he demanded that Congress pass a "clean" debt ceiling hike that included no spending cuts whatsoever. Only after House Republicans unveiled their own sweeping budgetary reforms did the White House rush to also claim it wanted deficit reduction as part of the debt-ceiling debate. (WSJ, 7/25/2011)
Compromised
(Obama) denounces Republicans as uncompromising regarding tax increases but vows “I will not accept” a deal that does not increase taxes. (George Will, Washington Post, 7/21/2011)
Passages
With the passage of gay marriage in New York, it was inevitable that the New York Times would include an article or two about it. We count six today. In other news, still no agreement on the debt ceiling.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Running Down The Road
Obama’s rhetorical floundering is the sound of a bewildered politician trying to be heard over the long, withdrawing roar of ebbing faith in a failing model of governance. From Greece to California, with manifestations in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Illinois and elsewhere, this model is collapsing. Entangled economic and demographic forces are refuting the practice of ever-bigger government financed by an ever-smaller tax base and by imposing huge costs on voiceless future generations. (George Will, Washington Post, 7/21/2011)
Nobody says it better than Will.
Nobody says it better than Will.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Democrats in Disarray
Last week President Obama made an alarming statement to the nation's senior citizens. He told CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley he couldn't guarantee that $20 billion in Social Security checks will go out on Aug. 3, the day after the government would go into default if it doesn't raise the debt ceiling. "[T]here may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it," Mr. Obama said. (Thomas Saving, WSJ, 7/22/2011)
Obama and Vermont's own Colonel, Bernie Sanders, are just not on the same page. Bernie claims Social Security has plenty of money while Obama says he can't pay seniors. Who is telling the truth and who is lying? RedStateVT demands an investigation....and the truth!
President Obama and House Speaker John A. Boehner rushed Thursday to strike agreement on a far-reaching plan to reduce the national debt but faced a revolt from Democrats furious that the accord appeared to include no immediate provision to raise taxes. (Washington Post, 7/21/2011)
Hold the phone! The media has been telling us that it was the Republicans who were in disarray.
Obama and Vermont's own Colonel, Bernie Sanders, are just not on the same page. Bernie claims Social Security has plenty of money while Obama says he can't pay seniors. Who is telling the truth and who is lying? RedStateVT demands an investigation....and the truth!
President Obama and House Speaker John A. Boehner rushed Thursday to strike agreement on a far-reaching plan to reduce the national debt but faced a revolt from Democrats furious that the accord appeared to include no immediate provision to raise taxes. (Washington Post, 7/21/2011)
Hold the phone! The media has been telling us that it was the Republicans who were in disarray.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Tried to Warn You
Majorities of Americans see both President Obama and congressional Republicans as not willing enough to compromise in their budget negotiations, but the public views the GOP leaders as particularly intransigent, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. (Washington Post, 7/20/2011)
In a shocking new poll conducted by Liberals, Liberals view Republicans as less willing to compromise.
In a shocking new poll conducted by Liberals, Liberals view Republicans as less willing to compromise.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Throw Back The Little Ones
Mysteries
The most obvious problem is unemployment. The best way, short term, to drive the deficit down is to spur growth and get Americans back to work. Has anyone noticed that Americans with jobs can provide for their families, put money into the economy — and, oh yes, pay taxes that increase revenue and thus cut the deficit?
There is no mystery about the steps government could take. Ramping up public works spending is a twofer: It creates jobs upfront and provides the nation’s businesses and workers the ways and means to boost their own productivity down the road. (E.J. Dionne Jr., Washington Post, 7/18/2011)
We'll say it again. Where was pal E.J. when Republicans were screaming about jobs two years ago? He was shilling for Obama's health care fiasco. Jobs were the farthest things from the collective mind of the Left. Now they are all about the jobs. And not just any jobs! Public sector jobs! The ones with high salaries, lifetime guaranteed employment, abundant benefits and gigantic pensions. The very same issues that have led numerous states to the brink of bankruptcy.
Suddenly
All of a sudden he’s a born-again budget balancer prepared to bravely take on his own party by making deep cuts in entitlements. Really? Name one. He’s been saying forever that he’s prepared to discuss, engage, converse about entitlement cuts. But never once has he publicly proposed a single structural change to any entitlement. (Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post, 7/14/2011)
On the plus side, Obama is the first Democrat to say anything about entitlement reform, notwithstanding Krauthammer's point that he is being disingenuous. Most take the Bernie Sanders approach and just say that everything is fine.
Elitists
President Obama recruited roughly 150 new elite donors, raising as much as a half a million dollars each, to help propel him to a large and early lead over his Republican opponents in the race for campaign cash, according to campaign filings released last week. (NYT, 7/18/2011)
Speaking of Bernie, where is he when we need him? Shouldn't he be screaming about the pernicious effects of big money....in the Democrat party?
The most obvious problem is unemployment. The best way, short term, to drive the deficit down is to spur growth and get Americans back to work. Has anyone noticed that Americans with jobs can provide for their families, put money into the economy — and, oh yes, pay taxes that increase revenue and thus cut the deficit?
There is no mystery about the steps government could take. Ramping up public works spending is a twofer: It creates jobs upfront and provides the nation’s businesses and workers the ways and means to boost their own productivity down the road. (E.J. Dionne Jr., Washington Post, 7/18/2011)
We'll say it again. Where was pal E.J. when Republicans were screaming about jobs two years ago? He was shilling for Obama's health care fiasco. Jobs were the farthest things from the collective mind of the Left. Now they are all about the jobs. And not just any jobs! Public sector jobs! The ones with high salaries, lifetime guaranteed employment, abundant benefits and gigantic pensions. The very same issues that have led numerous states to the brink of bankruptcy.
Suddenly
All of a sudden he’s a born-again budget balancer prepared to bravely take on his own party by making deep cuts in entitlements. Really? Name one. He’s been saying forever that he’s prepared to discuss, engage, converse about entitlement cuts. But never once has he publicly proposed a single structural change to any entitlement. (Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post, 7/14/2011)
On the plus side, Obama is the first Democrat to say anything about entitlement reform, notwithstanding Krauthammer's point that he is being disingenuous. Most take the Bernie Sanders approach and just say that everything is fine.
Elitists
President Obama recruited roughly 150 new elite donors, raising as much as a half a million dollars each, to help propel him to a large and early lead over his Republican opponents in the race for campaign cash, according to campaign filings released last week. (NYT, 7/18/2011)
Speaking of Bernie, where is he when we need him? Shouldn't he be screaming about the pernicious effects of big money....in the Democrat party?
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Throw Down the Jams
Outer Limits
President Obama walked out of high-level negotiations Wednesday, saying according to a Republican aide, "I've reached my limit. This may bring my presidency down, but I won't yield on this." (Foxnews.com, 7/13/2011)
After Obama stormed out, liberal columnists at the Washington Post who had previously criticized Eric Cantor for walking out of a debt meeting, promptly apologized. Just kidding!
Good One
"Creating twice as many donors as American jobs in the first quarter, we always knew Obama was the best fund-raiser in history,” said Kirsten Kukowski, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee. “Unfortunately for Americans, it’s clear that despite his claims that he’s focused on creating jobs, his priority is saving his own.” (NYT, 7/14/2011)
Afterburner
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, basking in the afterglow of a legislative session that he described as “unusually successful,” said Wednesday that his top priority next year would be limiting retirement benefits for new state and city workers. (NYT, 7/14/2011)
Whereupon the SEIU organized a sit-in at the Capitol building, teachers walked off the job in protest, and labor declared Cuomo a target for recall. Just kidding!
By The Way
The government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki is privately telling American officials that it wants their army to stay here after this year. The Americans are privately telling their Iraqi counterparts that they want to stay. But under what conditions, and at what price to the Americans who stay behind? American combat deaths are on the rise here, an ominous harbinger of what lies ahead if an agreement is reached to keep troops here after the withdrawal deadline set for the end of the year. (NYT, 7/14/2011)
If George Bush were still President, you can rest assured that the rise in combat deaths would be front page news and Code Pink would be protesting somewhere. Instead, we get this almost off-hand reporting. Why? Because the state-controlled media (Rush's term) does not want to embarrass Obama.
The 1% Solution
“The new census data shows that lesbians and gay men are woven into the fabric of Vermont, and are raising children and living and working alongside their heterosexual neighbors,” Susan Murray, a lawyer who lobbied and worked for civil unions and marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples, wrote in an email. She added that predictions of “disaster” occasioned by Vermont’s passage in 2009 of a same-sex-marriage law have not come true. “Straight and gay Vermonters are living side-by-side in harmony,” Murray wrote. Vermont’s same-sex households (2,798) comprise about 1.1 percent of Vermont’s total households (256,442), one of the highest percentages in the country. Gary Gates, a demographer at UCLA in California who studies gender and sexual-orientation issues, said the highest percentage he has seen so far is for California, where same-sex households account for about 1 percent of the total. Gates had yet to evaluate 2010 data for Vermont before the official release today. (BFP, 7/14/2011)
At last we have a number! After the oceans of ink from the New York Times, Washington Post, and Burlington Free Press (to name a few), we find out that gays account for 1%. That 1% sure gets an inordinate amount of attention from the press and the politicians. It makes you wonder if there is a 5% minority population out there that is being ignored.
President Obama walked out of high-level negotiations Wednesday, saying according to a Republican aide, "I've reached my limit. This may bring my presidency down, but I won't yield on this." (Foxnews.com, 7/13/2011)
After Obama stormed out, liberal columnists at the Washington Post who had previously criticized Eric Cantor for walking out of a debt meeting, promptly apologized. Just kidding!
Good One
"Creating twice as many donors as American jobs in the first quarter, we always knew Obama was the best fund-raiser in history,” said Kirsten Kukowski, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee. “Unfortunately for Americans, it’s clear that despite his claims that he’s focused on creating jobs, his priority is saving his own.” (NYT, 7/14/2011)
Afterburner
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, basking in the afterglow of a legislative session that he described as “unusually successful,” said Wednesday that his top priority next year would be limiting retirement benefits for new state and city workers. (NYT, 7/14/2011)
Whereupon the SEIU organized a sit-in at the Capitol building, teachers walked off the job in protest, and labor declared Cuomo a target for recall. Just kidding!
By The Way
The government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki is privately telling American officials that it wants their army to stay here after this year. The Americans are privately telling their Iraqi counterparts that they want to stay. But under what conditions, and at what price to the Americans who stay behind? American combat deaths are on the rise here, an ominous harbinger of what lies ahead if an agreement is reached to keep troops here after the withdrawal deadline set for the end of the year. (NYT, 7/14/2011)
If George Bush were still President, you can rest assured that the rise in combat deaths would be front page news and Code Pink would be protesting somewhere. Instead, we get this almost off-hand reporting. Why? Because the state-controlled media (Rush's term) does not want to embarrass Obama.
The 1% Solution
“The new census data shows that lesbians and gay men are woven into the fabric of Vermont, and are raising children and living and working alongside their heterosexual neighbors,” Susan Murray, a lawyer who lobbied and worked for civil unions and marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples, wrote in an email. She added that predictions of “disaster” occasioned by Vermont’s passage in 2009 of a same-sex-marriage law have not come true. “Straight and gay Vermonters are living side-by-side in harmony,” Murray wrote. Vermont’s same-sex households (2,798) comprise about 1.1 percent of Vermont’s total households (256,442), one of the highest percentages in the country. Gary Gates, a demographer at UCLA in California who studies gender and sexual-orientation issues, said the highest percentage he has seen so far is for California, where same-sex households account for about 1 percent of the total. Gates had yet to evaluate 2010 data for Vermont before the official release today. (BFP, 7/14/2011)
At last we have a number! After the oceans of ink from the New York Times, Washington Post, and Burlington Free Press (to name a few), we find out that gays account for 1%. That 1% sure gets an inordinate amount of attention from the press and the politicians. It makes you wonder if there is a 5% minority population out there that is being ignored.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Here's The Thing
There is, moreover, no denying that there is a strong consensus among climate scientists on the existence of A.G.W. — in their view, human activities are warming the planet. There are climate scientists who doubt or deny this claim, but even they show a clear sense of opposing a view that is dominant in their discipline. Nonexpert opponents of A.G.W. usually base their case on various criticisms that a small minority of climate scientists have raised against the consensus view. But nonexperts are in no position to argue against the consensus of scientific experts. As long as they accept the expert authority of the discipline of climate science, they have no basis for supporting the minority position. Critics within the community of climate scientists may have a cogent case against A.G.W., but, given the overall consensus of that community, we nonexperts have no basis for concluding that this is so. It does no good to say that we find the consensus conclusions poorly supported. Since we are not experts on the subject, our judgment has no standing. (Gary Gutting, Professor of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame, NYT, 6/12/2011)
The good professor, shilling for the global warming crowd, states his case: there is a consensus of scientists who believe in global warming (we thought it was now called climate change?); you and RedStateVT are not experts; ergo, we should believe the experts who are in the majority.
Here are our problems with this line of thinking. Is there a consensus? Has someone lined up every scientist who is an expert and polled them? Even if the numbers fall their way, however, they are suspect. Consider that one reason there may be more who believe the climate change is that they are invested in the issue. They get paid. Middlebury College is not hiring any professors to the position of Professor of Climate Change Skepticism. The scientists who beat the climate change drum get paid. Those who disagree, don't.
Gutting fails to consider the human aspect: money talks.
Oh, and one more thing on the whole consensus thing. What was that whole hub-bub about Galileo?
The good professor, shilling for the global warming crowd, states his case: there is a consensus of scientists who believe in global warming (we thought it was now called climate change?); you and RedStateVT are not experts; ergo, we should believe the experts who are in the majority.
Here are our problems with this line of thinking. Is there a consensus? Has someone lined up every scientist who is an expert and polled them? Even if the numbers fall their way, however, they are suspect. Consider that one reason there may be more who believe the climate change is that they are invested in the issue. They get paid. Middlebury College is not hiring any professors to the position of Professor of Climate Change Skepticism. The scientists who beat the climate change drum get paid. Those who disagree, don't.
Gutting fails to consider the human aspect: money talks.
Oh, and one more thing on the whole consensus thing. What was that whole hub-bub about Galileo?
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Getting in Tune to the Straight and Narrow
Supremely
The United States Supreme Court now sees its central task as comforting the already comfortable and afflicting those already afflicted. If you are a large corporation or a political candidate backed by lots of private money, be assured that the court’s conservative majority will be there for you, solicitous of your needs and ready to swat away those pesky little people who dare to contest your power. (E.J. Dionne Jr, Washington Post, 6/29/2011)
So E.J. thinks the conservatives are in the pocket of Corporate America. Let's see now...what conflicts of interest might the Court's liberal minority have? Hmmm.... Who was it that served as General Counsel of the ACLU? That's right, it was Ruth Bader Ginsberg!
Around Town
Vermont's GOP is hot on the story of local businesses afraid to expand given the climate of uncertainty resulting from the policies of Governor Shumlin and the Progressive mafia. Shumlin continues to stick his thumb in the eye of the state's largest employer, IBM. He has told IBM that they aren't getting the Circ Highway; that he is closing Vermont Yankee, the main provider of IBM's cheap and reliable power; and finally, forget the IBM group medical plan, they are getting single-payer. Now that's how you support the business community!
The United States Supreme Court now sees its central task as comforting the already comfortable and afflicting those already afflicted. If you are a large corporation or a political candidate backed by lots of private money, be assured that the court’s conservative majority will be there for you, solicitous of your needs and ready to swat away those pesky little people who dare to contest your power. (E.J. Dionne Jr, Washington Post, 6/29/2011)
So E.J. thinks the conservatives are in the pocket of Corporate America. Let's see now...what conflicts of interest might the Court's liberal minority have? Hmmm.... Who was it that served as General Counsel of the ACLU? That's right, it was Ruth Bader Ginsberg!
Around Town
Vermont's GOP is hot on the story of local businesses afraid to expand given the climate of uncertainty resulting from the policies of Governor Shumlin and the Progressive mafia. Shumlin continues to stick his thumb in the eye of the state's largest employer, IBM. He has told IBM that they aren't getting the Circ Highway; that he is closing Vermont Yankee, the main provider of IBM's cheap and reliable power; and finally, forget the IBM group medical plan, they are getting single-payer. Now that's how you support the business community!
Friday, July 8, 2011
Expecting To Fly
Matter Of Facts
“What I’ve heard from people you might not expect to hear it from ... is if they bring to the Senate a [deal] that really comes down heavy on working families and children and the elderly and they expect me to matter-of-factly vote for it, they’ll have another thing coming,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Friday morning. (Washington Post, 7/8/2011)
Let's all play the Bernie game! Goes like this: "if they bring (fill in the blank) to the Senate a deal that really comes down heavy on working families and children and the elderly and they expect me to matter-of-factly vote for it, they'll have another thing coming." Sample topics include: a defense appropriations bill, a tax cut, funding for anything other than increased entitlements, etc.
Gloom and Doom
Friday’s gloomy jobs report has put President Obama at increasing risk of losing what could be one of the strongest arguments for his reelection: that he turned around an economy in rapid decline and ushered in a vibrant recovery.(Washington Post, 7/8/2011)
This one gave us pause. Is the implication that - up until this pesky jobs report - Obama had presided over a vibrant recovery? What exactly are the strongest arguments for Obama's reelection. We're just not seeing 'em.
Generic Victory
If the election were held today, President Obama would get only 56 percent of the Jewish vote against a generic Republican candidate, down from the 78 percent he won in 2008 and less than the 74 percent John Kerry received in 2004. (Dick Morris,7/5/2011)
We can only hope that Obama's former supporters in the Jewish community and on Wall Street (to name a couple) remember at voting time that he has stiffed them.
“What I’ve heard from people you might not expect to hear it from ... is if they bring to the Senate a [deal] that really comes down heavy on working families and children and the elderly and they expect me to matter-of-factly vote for it, they’ll have another thing coming,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Friday morning. (Washington Post, 7/8/2011)
Let's all play the Bernie game! Goes like this: "if they bring (fill in the blank) to the Senate a deal that really comes down heavy on working families and children and the elderly and they expect me to matter-of-factly vote for it, they'll have another thing coming." Sample topics include: a defense appropriations bill, a tax cut, funding for anything other than increased entitlements, etc.
Gloom and Doom
Friday’s gloomy jobs report has put President Obama at increasing risk of losing what could be one of the strongest arguments for his reelection: that he turned around an economy in rapid decline and ushered in a vibrant recovery.(Washington Post, 7/8/2011)
This one gave us pause. Is the implication that - up until this pesky jobs report - Obama had presided over a vibrant recovery? What exactly are the strongest arguments for Obama's reelection. We're just not seeing 'em.
Generic Victory
If the election were held today, President Obama would get only 56 percent of the Jewish vote against a generic Republican candidate, down from the 78 percent he won in 2008 and less than the 74 percent John Kerry received in 2004. (Dick Morris,7/5/2011)
We can only hope that Obama's former supporters in the Jewish community and on Wall Street (to name a couple) remember at voting time that he has stiffed them.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Mirage
Cult Classic
This intellectual rigidity has produced a GOP presidential field that’s a virtual political Jonestown. The Grand Old Party, so named when it really did evoke America, has so narrowed its base that it has become a political cult. (Richard Cohen, Washington Post, 7/5/2011)
This one is too easy, even by the low standards of Cohen. Cohen calls the GOP a cult because of pledges against taxes, abortion and global warming. While the Dems pledge for taxes, abortion and global warming. This column would not get a passing grade in a high school political science discussion. Actually, it might given the mindset of the teachers unions. Now that is a cult!
All The President's Men
The report was written by the White House’s Council of Economic Advisors, a group of three economists who were all handpicked by Obama, and it chronicles the alleged success of the “stimulus” in adding or saving jobs. The council reports that, using “mainstream estimates of economic multipliers for the effects of fiscal stimulus” (which it describes as a “natural way to estimate the effects of” the legislation), the “stimulus” has added or saved just under 2.4 million jobs — whether private or public — at a cost (to date) of $666 billion. That’s a cost to taxpayers of $278,000 per job. (The Weekly Standard, 7/3/2011)
This intellectual rigidity has produced a GOP presidential field that’s a virtual political Jonestown. The Grand Old Party, so named when it really did evoke America, has so narrowed its base that it has become a political cult. (Richard Cohen, Washington Post, 7/5/2011)
This one is too easy, even by the low standards of Cohen. Cohen calls the GOP a cult because of pledges against taxes, abortion and global warming. While the Dems pledge for taxes, abortion and global warming. This column would not get a passing grade in a high school political science discussion. Actually, it might given the mindset of the teachers unions. Now that is a cult!
All The President's Men
The report was written by the White House’s Council of Economic Advisors, a group of three economists who were all handpicked by Obama, and it chronicles the alleged success of the “stimulus” in adding or saving jobs. The council reports that, using “mainstream estimates of economic multipliers for the effects of fiscal stimulus” (which it describes as a “natural way to estimate the effects of” the legislation), the “stimulus” has added or saved just under 2.4 million jobs — whether private or public — at a cost (to date) of $666 billion. That’s a cost to taxpayers of $278,000 per job. (The Weekly Standard, 7/3/2011)
Ooops! Now Paul Krugman is going to have to retract dozens of columns.
Monday, July 4, 2011
Do The Huckle-Buckle
Driving Us Crazy
The administration is proposing regulations that will require new American cars and trucks to attain an average of as much as 56.2 miles per gallon by 2025, roughly double the current level. That would require increases in fuel efficiency of nearly 5 percent a year from 2017 to 2025. The standard would put domestic vehicle fuel efficiency on a par with that in Europe, China and Japan, saving consumers billions of dollars at the pump and creating for the first time a truly global automobile market.
A classic case today of the inherent bias (and dishonesty) of The New York Times. Allow RedStateVT to explain. Reading above one would think that the U.S. auto industry (of which we are no great fan, by the way) was technologically inferior. Why is fuel efficiency so much higher elsewhere? Simple answer: exorbitantly high gas which forces people to buy econo-box micro cars. Who hasn't heard the stories of the French father packing up his wife, children, mistress and illegitimate children in their four-seater and heading to the south of France for their 12 week summer vacation? This is the world that The New York Times longs for. In their words, a "truly global" world. In the U.S., Dad packs the wife and kids up in a safe SUV and heads to the beach for two weeks.
Some good news, though. Finally some news on the solar-powered car:
Car companies could receive credit for using low-polluting air-conditioner refrigerants, building cars that can run mainly on biofuels, putting solar panels on cars to provide cooling power and other technological gimmicks. (NYT, 7/4/2011)
The administration is proposing regulations that will require new American cars and trucks to attain an average of as much as 56.2 miles per gallon by 2025, roughly double the current level. That would require increases in fuel efficiency of nearly 5 percent a year from 2017 to 2025. The standard would put domestic vehicle fuel efficiency on a par with that in Europe, China and Japan, saving consumers billions of dollars at the pump and creating for the first time a truly global automobile market.
A classic case today of the inherent bias (and dishonesty) of The New York Times. Allow RedStateVT to explain. Reading above one would think that the U.S. auto industry (of which we are no great fan, by the way) was technologically inferior. Why is fuel efficiency so much higher elsewhere? Simple answer: exorbitantly high gas which forces people to buy econo-box micro cars. Who hasn't heard the stories of the French father packing up his wife, children, mistress and illegitimate children in their four-seater and heading to the south of France for their 12 week summer vacation? This is the world that The New York Times longs for. In their words, a "truly global" world. In the U.S., Dad packs the wife and kids up in a safe SUV and heads to the beach for two weeks.
Some good news, though. Finally some news on the solar-powered car:
Car companies could receive credit for using low-polluting air-conditioner refrigerants, building cars that can run mainly on biofuels, putting solar panels on cars to provide cooling power and other technological gimmicks. (NYT, 7/4/2011)
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Wild World
Killing In The Name Of
The skies over at least six countries are patrolled by robotic aircraft, operated by the U.S. military or the CIA, that fire missiles to carry out targeted assassinations. I am convinced that this method of waging war is cost-effective but not that it is moral..... First, there’s the practical question of whether killing terrorists in this manner creates new ones. (Eugene Robinson, Washington Post, 6/30/2011)
Special thanks to Robinson for reminding us of this old chestnut of liberal illogic. Essentially, America should not defend itself because its enemies will not like it. And thinking back, did killing Nazis create more or less Nazis? (Answer next week.)
Assets and Liabilities
The Taliban’s greatest asset has been its ability to provide quick justice in a country shattered by war and corruption. (David Ignatius, Washington Post, 6/30/2011)
Kept reading this Ignatius piece waiting for him to say: But, of course, the Taliban's form of justice was barbaric. Surprise! He never says it. Guess he is OK with the stoning and cutting off of hands and feet.
Wedgie
The Defense of Marriage Act was enacted in 1996 as an election-year wedge issue, signed by President Bill Clinton in one of his worst policy moments. (NYT editorial, 7/3/2011)
It was good to be reminded that it was a DEMOCRAT DEMOCRAT DEMOCRAT who signed the law which defined marriage as between a man and a woman.
Meanwhile, New York Times issue watch: Five gay-themed articles today.
Your Tax Dollars
At some point, the NEA is likely to endorse Mr. Obama, as the union has never endorsed a Republican.....The unions don't like the administration's embrace of charter schools—public schools run by non-government entities—or its support for the dismissal of ineffective teachers in low-performing schools. (WSJ, 7/30/2011)
Another union controlled by the Democrats. And why not, the Dems are not going to force teacher accountability.
The skies over at least six countries are patrolled by robotic aircraft, operated by the U.S. military or the CIA, that fire missiles to carry out targeted assassinations. I am convinced that this method of waging war is cost-effective but not that it is moral..... First, there’s the practical question of whether killing terrorists in this manner creates new ones. (Eugene Robinson, Washington Post, 6/30/2011)
Special thanks to Robinson for reminding us of this old chestnut of liberal illogic. Essentially, America should not defend itself because its enemies will not like it. And thinking back, did killing Nazis create more or less Nazis? (Answer next week.)
Assets and Liabilities
The Taliban’s greatest asset has been its ability to provide quick justice in a country shattered by war and corruption. (David Ignatius, Washington Post, 6/30/2011)
Kept reading this Ignatius piece waiting for him to say: But, of course, the Taliban's form of justice was barbaric. Surprise! He never says it. Guess he is OK with the stoning and cutting off of hands and feet.
Wedgie
The Defense of Marriage Act was enacted in 1996 as an election-year wedge issue, signed by President Bill Clinton in one of his worst policy moments. (NYT editorial, 7/3/2011)
It was good to be reminded that it was a DEMOCRAT DEMOCRAT DEMOCRAT who signed the law which defined marriage as between a man and a woman.
Meanwhile, New York Times issue watch: Five gay-themed articles today.
Your Tax Dollars
At some point, the NEA is likely to endorse Mr. Obama, as the union has never endorsed a Republican.....The unions don't like the administration's embrace of charter schools—public schools run by non-government entities—or its support for the dismissal of ineffective teachers in low-performing schools. (WSJ, 7/30/2011)
Another union controlled by the Democrats. And why not, the Dems are not going to force teacher accountability.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
You Decide
Mindful
Keep in mind,” President Obama cautioned reporters halfway through his hour-long news conference Wednesday morning, “that the business community is always complaining about regulations. When unemployment is at 3 percent and they're making record profits, they're going to still complain about regulations because, frankly, they want to be able to do whatever they think is going to maximize their profits.” (Foxnews.com, 7/1/2011)
It is in these unscripted moments that the real Obama comes through. Here RedStateVT notes his utter contempt for the business world. Of course, like Vermont's Colonel Bernie Sanders who shows a similar contempt, Obama never worked in the private sector. And how dare those companies try to maximize profits!
Simple Math
In the Republican address, Senator Dan Coats of Indiana criticized the president’s handling of the economy and suggested that he looked to Indiana for guidance on solving Washington’s fiscal crisis. “The Hoosier way is quite simple — we work hard and we live within our means,” Mr. Coats said. “In Indiana, we understand that you cannot spend more money than you take in.” (NYT, 7/2/2011)
Mid-Westerners are just the best.
Grounded
No one asked the president why, if the tax break (for corporate jets) is such an affront to the liberal conscience, it was part of Obama's stimulus bill, which was passed without any Republican votes in the House and only three in the Senate. (Yes, Nancy Pelosi voted for the special tax break for corporate jets and the GOP didn't.) (Jonah Goldberg, NY Post, 7/2/2011)
Loved this one from Goldberg!
Keep in mind,” President Obama cautioned reporters halfway through his hour-long news conference Wednesday morning, “that the business community is always complaining about regulations. When unemployment is at 3 percent and they're making record profits, they're going to still complain about regulations because, frankly, they want to be able to do whatever they think is going to maximize their profits.” (Foxnews.com, 7/1/2011)
It is in these unscripted moments that the real Obama comes through. Here RedStateVT notes his utter contempt for the business world. Of course, like Vermont's Colonel Bernie Sanders who shows a similar contempt, Obama never worked in the private sector. And how dare those companies try to maximize profits!
Simple Math
In the Republican address, Senator Dan Coats of Indiana criticized the president’s handling of the economy and suggested that he looked to Indiana for guidance on solving Washington’s fiscal crisis. “The Hoosier way is quite simple — we work hard and we live within our means,” Mr. Coats said. “In Indiana, we understand that you cannot spend more money than you take in.” (NYT, 7/2/2011)
Mid-Westerners are just the best.
Grounded
No one asked the president why, if the tax break (for corporate jets) is such an affront to the liberal conscience, it was part of Obama's stimulus bill, which was passed without any Republican votes in the House and only three in the Senate. (Yes, Nancy Pelosi voted for the special tax break for corporate jets and the GOP didn't.) (Jonah Goldberg, NY Post, 7/2/2011)
Loved this one from Goldberg!
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