Protocol

Misaligned
Leading Democratic figures, including party fund-raisers and a top ally of President Obama, are embracing the spread of the anti-Wall Street protests in a clear sign that members of the Democratic establishment see the movement as a way to align disenchanted Americans with their party. (NYT, 10/10/11)


Do Dem fund raisers actually think they are going to get money from the Occupy Wall Street crowd?  They have no money and no jobs!  Worse for Dems, if they do embrace these loonies, their true benefactors on Wall Street just may turn off the spigot.


Unidentified
At Operation Breakthrough, which provides day care services to low-income women here in Kansas City, Nicole, 22, who asked to be identified only by her first name, began to cry as she described trying to provide for her three children on a monthly welfare check of $342, plus $642 in food stamps. (NYT, 10/10/2011)


In an article on drug testing as a requirement for receiving government benefits, the Times serves us this sad story, designed to invoke sympathy for poor Nicole. To which we respond: 22 years old with three children?  Is there a father involved? Is there more than one father involved? If there is no father involved, why not?  Did Nicole bother to finish high school before she started churning out her babies?  Is there any alcohol or cigarettes in her house?  Does Nicole have a cell phone and a flat screen television? Does Nicole take any responsibility for the situation that she finds herself in?


Unsure
The president’s workdays are said to end early, often at 4 p.m. He usually has dinner in the family residence with his wife and daughters, then retreats to a private office. One person said he takes a stack of briefing books. Others aren’t sure what he does.  (Michael Goodwin, New York Post, 10/10/2011)


It is late August 2012.  President Obama is holed up in the White House with David Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett.  Obama has started smoking again and he lights up his fourth cigarette.  Vice President Joe Biden and Harry Reid have asked for an emergency meeting and are due any moment.  Obama knows without being told what they want to talk to him about.  Across town, Hillary Clinton waits nervously.  She knows that as soon as Biden and Reid leave the Oval Office she will be the Democrats' new candidate for President.  


No Escape
Finally, most of America’s rich — however defined — don’t escape taxation. In 2007, the richest 10 percent paid 55 percent of all federal taxes, estimates the Congressional Budget Office. The richest 1 percent paid the lion’s share of that: 28.1 percent of federal taxes. The average tax rate on the top 1 percent was 29.5 percent. Similarly, the richest 3 percent account for 36 percent of charitable contributions. (Robert J. Samuelson, Washington Post, 10/10/2011)

Because it cannot be said enough and because the facts don't lie.