RadioActive with Steve Mitton

Friday, March 02, 2012

Incompetent People Too Ignorant to Know It

A growing body of psychology research shows that incompetence deprives people of the ability to recognize their own incompetence. To put it bluntly, dumb people are too dumb to know it. Similarly, unfunny people don't have a good enough sense of humor to tell.

This disconnect may be responsible for many of society's problems.

With more than a decade's worth of research, David Dunning, a psychologist at Cornell University, has demonstrated that humans find it "intrinsically difficult to get a sense of what we don't know." Whether an individual lacks competence in logical reasoning, emotional intelligence, humor or even chess abilities, the person still tends to rate his or her skills in that area as being above average.

A Guide to the Liberal Mind

As a great fan of Jeff Foxworthy, it occurred to me that it might be a good idea to use his hilarious you-might-be-a-redneck comedy routine in an attempt to characterize the liberal mindset (tweaking Jeff's formula a bit to convert it from the suppositional to the unconditional). So, with apologies to the wonderful country comedian, here are some of the notable features of the liberal's mental landscape:

If you believe that freedom of expression is sacrosanct but would like nothing better than to deny it to anyone who doesn't share your views, you are a liberal.
If you believe that the 1^st Amendment separates church from state, but not state from church, you are a liberal.
If you believe that the 2^nd Amendment was the founding fathers' big mistake and that the 10^th Amendment shouldn't be taken seriously, you are a liberal.
If you believe that endlessly discussing a problem amounts to actually solving it, you are a liberal.
If you believe that the results of progressive programs are irrelevant and that only good intentions count, you are a liberal.
If you believe that Mark Foley, who wrote salacious e-mails to a young but legally adult congressional page, was an evil libertine, while Gerry Studds, who had sex with an underage congressional page, was a knight in shining armor, you are a liberal intellectual.
If you believe that Obama is an intellectual giant whose IQ is off the charts even though you have no idea what his IQ actually is, you are a liberal.

Memo to the kvetchers: Get a life --- especially when dealing with actions by strangers after death

http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | In a column many years ago, I described how I once attempted to chart a family tree. Most of my father's family had been killed in Auschwitz, and my efforts to trace their genealogy left me, I wrote, with a family tree that "has stumps where branches ought to be'' and "gets narrower, not wider, as it grows.''

A woman phoned me the morning that column appeared. She said she was a Mormon, and wanted to add the names of my father's massacred relatives — the column had mentioned about 18 of them by name — to the Mormon Church's vast genealogical archives. I told her that I certainly had no objection. Indeed, I was grateful for any gesture that might help preserve some remembrance of these family members whose lives had been so cruelly cut short.

Stake President of the United States

A few years back, a hive of hornets decided to make its nest on top of a second-story swamp cooler outside my cousin’s Boston-area home. My cousin made an ill-fated attempt to remove the hornets, which resulted in a two-story fall and a broken arm.

“This looks like a job for your home teacher,” said my cousin’s home teacher.

The home teacher brought over his own ladder and clothed himself in homemade beekeeping gear. He then made his way to the hornet’s nest and gathered the whole thing up in a garbage bag, avoiding any stings or the more severe injuries that had beset my cousin. He did this with no public fanfare, no accolades, and no thought of collecting payment for his efforts.

It’s Coming: Union, Leftist Leaders Announce ‘99% Spring?’… and Traning in ‘Places of Worship’

Since Occupy Wall Street seemingly went into hibernation (we note seemingly because the movement keeps popping up despite what some national outlets are reporting), The Blaze has brought you plenty of analysis theorizing that the spring could be an even bigger time for the movement. Now, it looks like those theories have been confirmed: the unions and other leftists have announced a “99% spring.”

“We are at a crossroads as a country,” a letter on the site dedicated to the new movement says. “We have a choice to make. Greater wealth for a few or opportunity for many. Tax breaks for the richest or a fair shot for the rest of us. A government that can be bought by the highest bidder, or a democracy that is truly of the people, by the people, and for the people.”

It continues: “The choice is in our hands. This spring, we will act on that choice and rise up in the tradition of our forefathers and foremothers. We will not be complicit with the suffering in our families for another year. We will prepare ourselves for sustained non-violent direct action.”

‘Burn the White House’ – Iran answers Obama apology

The Muslim world should not accept an apology issued by U.S. President Barack Obama over the burning of Korans in an American base in Afghanistan, a top Iranian military commander said on Saturday, adding that nothing short of “burning the White House can relieve the wound of us.” …

Responding to Obama’s apology on Saturday, the commander of Iran’s Basij force Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqd claimed that the holy book was burned by U.S. forces over the heavy slap it has been given by Islam,” urging Muslims worldwide to reject the American apology.

Buy a Gun & Keep Your Powder Dry: Economists Warn of Looming Economic 9/11

Left to Right: Harry Dent, Robert Prechte, & Gerald Celente

Despite recent reports that the U.S. economy is “recovering” and that there are signs of economic growth, some analysts are less than thrilled with what they see in the near future. In fact, they’re downright scared.

Harry Dent, author of “The Great Crash Ahead,” believes that the global debt bubble is going to burst and when it does, there will be a massive market crash. It should be noted that this is a revision of his earlier prediction that a crash would hit in 2012. He says he modified his forecast because the global central banks have been pumping the markets with so much money, stocks have been given a temporary boost. But he warns that as soon as the short-lived boost comes to an end, the crash will be hard.

“This will be a repeat of 2008-09, only bigger, when it finally hits,” Dent told USA Today.

Watch a discussion of this topic from Monday night’s broadcast of “Real News From The Blaze” by clicking here.

Gerald Celente, a market analyst at the Trends Research Institute, believes Americans should brace themselves for what he calls an “economic 9/11.” He blames policymakers for their inability to solve the world’s financial and economic woes, according to the USA Today report.

Cavuto: Gas prices aren't rising, the dollar is falling

Enough.

This whole, blame the evil oil companies for this gas spiral.

Enough.

People who know better sounding like they have brains made out of butter.

I've heard the prattling on, now time for some basic facts to sink in.

Gas prices aren't rising.

The dollar is falling.

Let me explain that.

Oil is priced in dollars.

Dollars are getting cheaper.

Global warming causes snow and volcanoes

Everything proves global warming to the true believers.

If it floods, that proves global warming.

If it doesn’t rain, that proves global warming.

If it is warm, that proves global warming.

If it is cold, that proves global warming.

And if everything proves it — nothing does really.

Now we have this nonsense from the Telegraph:

Climate change means autumn levels of sea ice have dropped by almost 30 percent since 1979 – but this is likely to trigger more frequent cold snaps such as those that brought blizzards to the UK earlier this month. And Arctic sea ice could be to blame. Dr Jiping Liu and colleagues studied the extensive retreat of the ice in the summer and its slow recovery focusing on the impacts of this phenomenon on weather in the Northern Hemisphere. Information about snow cover, sea level pressure, surface air temperature and humidity was used to generate model simulations for the years 1979-2010. The researchers say dramatic loss of ice may alter atmospheric circulation patterns and weaken the westerly winds that blow across the North Atlantic Ocean from Canada to Europe.

CURL: Can you really afford four more years?

In January 2009, when President Obama was sworn in, a gallon of regular gasoline cost $1.68.

Today, it's more than double that: The price has reached $5 in parts of California and $6 just outside Florida's Disney World. In fact, prices have set a record, being so high so early in the year. By Memorial Day, America's first big travel weekend of the year, gas nationwide will average $4 and above, industry analysts predict.

Candidate Obama made political hay of the issue throughout 2008, boldly asserting that he - and he alone - was most able to bring prices down. He repeatedly said there was "no silver bullet" and "no quick fix," but on the campaign trail in Indianapolis, he told Americans, "You shouldn't have to accept any more excuses as to why it can't be done."

More than three years into office, that's all Mr. Obama offers - excuses. He blames oil companies for making a profit; blames "speculators" for pushing up the price of oil; blames Congress for not doing away with oil-industry tax breaks; blames world producers for limiting outflow to drive up prices.

Here Comes Obama's 3 AM Phone Call

In the next 60 days Obama's presidential career will finally meet that concrete wall of reality. He will either fail or survive. Trouble is, he might take many innocent people with him if he fails.

So far, the most hyped-up and unqualified president in US history has shown no capacity at all to act, in the face of a do-or-die challenge. This is the ultimate test of character, the one that John F. Kennedy met well enough in the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. This is the test that Jimmy Carter failed so miserably that Ronald Reagan beat him handily in the following election. This is the same test of reality that every single Democratic Administration has tried to avoid; it's the reason why Bill Clinton refused to do anything about Osama Bin Laden when he had four separate chances to take him out.

This time, abject apologies to ranting Pakistani mobs will not make a smidgen of difference. Even Axelrod's disinformation campaigns can't save Obama now, because that 3 am phone call is almost sure to come by April Fool's Day of 2012, when the real fool will stand revealed to the world.

On or about April 1 of 2012, that 3 AM phone call will reach the White House. We know what it will be -- which is itself a sign of stunning incompetence in this White House. None of this information should ever be public. Ever.

Are soft drinks racist?

“Spread of soda tax fizzles,” read a headline last week on authoritative state politics website Stateline. We shouldn’t pop the champagne cork just yet, though. Anti-sugar activists are still gunning for soft drinks.

Apparently, sugary beverages like soda, juice, and sports drinks are so nefarious that they warrant a two-day conference this summer. In June, the food-police Center for Science in the Public (or, really, their own fringe) Interest is rallying the troops in Washington, D.C. for another push to put the government in a wide swath of beverages. This follows on CSPI’s recent lead balloon of last fall’s “Food Day,” which generated noise but little else — similar to the prospects of this conference.

But in case you’re curious about what you’re (not) missing, here’s who’s headlining this little gathering:

Michael Jacobson, head of CSPI. Jacobson believes that a 16th century peasant diet of a “pound of bread, a spud, and a couple of carrots” is “basically a wonderfully healthy diet.” CSPI also has compared salt to cocaine and, as a general rule, hates anything that tastes good. Jacobson is the kind of guy who worries that someone, somewhere, is enjoying a snack.

The True Unemployment Rate: 36%

How would you define “unemployment?” Statistics on unemployment are bandied around in the media all the time. Changes in these statistics are hailed as good or bad news for the President, with varying degrees of emphasis from the news networks, depending on which party the President belongs to. But what do these statistics truly measure?

Would you define “unemployment” as measuring “people who want a job, but can’t get one?” This is, broadly speaking, the definition embraced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The trick to making those numbers dance lies in measuring “people who want a job.” The widely reported U-3 unemployment metric, currently standing at 8.3 percent, is very aggressive in shaving off people who have not made recent efforts to find work. It is further distorted by massive “seasonal adjustments,” which made over a million people vanish into thin air last month.

This is why the official unemployment rate gets lower when the American workforce contracts. Workforce contraction is a very bad thing. People who simply cannot find work, and languish on unemployment insurance for years, are the last thing a prosperous country needs… but those people don’t count in the official unemployment rate. For example, if everyone under the age of 25 abruptly stopped looking for work, it would be an economic disaster, but the official unemployment rate would go down, because the pool of people looking for work would get smaller.

Rep. Ron Paul (R.-Texas.), who is seeking the Republican presidential nomination, told Candy Crowley on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday that social conservatism is "a losing position" for the Republican Party.

"Do you--are you uncomfortable--certainly Rick Santorum is the one who has been in the forefront of some of this talk on social issues, but there have been others in the race," Crowley asked Paul. "Are you uncomfortable with this talk about social issues? Do you consider it a winning area for Republicans in November?"

"No," said Paul. "I think it's a losing position.

Unemployment in the U.S. rose to nine percent in mid-February, up from 8.3 percent a month earlier, according to a new Gallup survey. The polling company said this suggests that it is “premature” to assume the economy will not feature prominently in the 2012 election season.

Gallup figures typically provide an indication of what the government will report at the end of the month.

“The U.S. unemployment rate, as measured by Gallup without seasonal adjustment, is 9.0% in mid-February,” Gallup said in its mid-month unemployment survey, released on February 17. “The mid-month reading normally reflects what the U.S. government reports for the entire month, and is up from 8.3% in mid-January.”

A general view of Iran's Oil ministry building in Tehran, Iran February 20, 2006. REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl

Iran has stopped selling crude to British and French companies, the oil ministry said on Sunday, in a retaliatory measure against fresh EU sanctions on the Islamic state's lifeblood, oil.

"Exporting crude to British and French companies has been stopped ... we will sell our oil to new customers," spokesman Alireza Nikzad was quoted as saying by the Ministry of Petroleum website.

The European Union in January decided to stop importing crude from Iran from July 1 over its disputed nuclear program, which the West says is aimed at building bombs. Iran denies this.

Iran's oil minister said on February 4 that the Islamic state would cut its oil exports to "some" European countries.

One of Obama’s Biggest Opponents in 2012

Now that it’s confirmed in the minds of all but those terminally afflicted with Bush Derangement Syndrome that rising gas prices this time around aren’t the fault of two oil men in the White House, barring the miraculous, the price of gas will be one of President Obama’s major election year opponents:

Gasoline prices are rising at an almost unheard-of pace, and painfully so in California, where the cost for a fill-up now exceeds $4 a gallon in five cities and is approaching that dreaded mark in numerous others, including San Jose and Oakland.

The statewide average of $3.96 on Friday is 25 cents higher than just a month ago and 46 cents more than this time last year. The price jumped a nickel from Thursday, a huge increase, as day-to-day changes are usually measured in fractions of a penny.

Some oil analysts predict $4.50 a gallon or more by Memorial Day on the West Coast and major cities across the United States such as Chicago, New York and Atlanta. Prices in that range could be a major issue in the presidential campaign, especially if they slow the nation’s economic recovery.
[...]
“I give $4.50-per-gallon gasoline on the West Coast better than 50-50 odds,” said Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.com. “Some stations could be closer to $5 in remote areas. … It’s just a matter of time before motorists are again ransacked at the pump.”

The rising price of gas hasn’t escaped the notice of Washington. The Associated Press reported Friday that the threat of higher gas prices could lead President Barack Obama to authorize the sale of oil from the country’s emergency reserves, as he did once before.

“We never take options off the table,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said Friday.

The emergency reserve option will be more on the table than ever if we’re heading into autumn without a significant price drop.

On 3rd Anniversary of Obama's $787B Stimulus, Unemployment Sets Record

On the third anniversary of President Barack Obama’s $787-billion stimulus spending program, the unemployment rate set a new record, staying above 8 percent for the longest period since the end of World War II – 36 months.

President Barack Obama signed an economic stimulus law, now determined by the CBO to cost $821 billion, at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science on Feb. 17, 2009. (AP photo)

That is the longest continuous period of above-8-percent unemployment since the end of World War II, according to figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

In fact, the unemployment rate, currently at 8.3 percent, is exactly where it was three years ago when Obama signed the stimulus into law.

The previous post-WWII record of unemployment (over 8 percent) was 27 months, from November 1981 to January 1984.

The Republican National Committee (RNC) highlighted this and dozens of other facts in a 52-page book listing some of the biggest failures of the Obama stimulus. The book is entitled, Obamanomics: Stimulus Deconstructed, Three Years of Failed Policies.

The Stimulus Chart Obama Doesn’t Want You to See

Three years ago today, President Obama signed his infamous stimulus package into law. In exchange for $1.2 trillion (including interest), liberals said their plan would bring the unemployment rate down to about 6% today. It hasn’t fallen below 8% at any point in the last 36 months.

There has been a recent drop, though, which some Democrats claim as proof that their stimulus plan finally worked. But if that’s true, then where are the jobs?

As more and more people have learned recently, the official unemployment rate doesn’t actually count unemployed people who have given up looking for work. The above chart offers another look at the jobs data. It shows the “labor force participation rate,” which represents the share of working-age Americans who are either employed or unemployed but looking for work.

Morning Jay: Democrats, Inc.

Two news stories from this week underscored the most important development in Democratic party politics in the last thirty years. First, from the Washington Free Beacon:

Politico Influence reports that House minority leader Nancy Pelosi and minority whip Steny Hoyer raised $400,000 last night at a fundraiser held at the home of Democratic lobbyists Heather and Tony Podesta. Heather Podesta runs the firm Heather Podesta and Partners.

Heather Podesta’s clients include liberal bogeymen such as the for-profit education industry and Brookfield Asset Management, the real-estate company that owns Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan and which ultimately gave the NYPD the green light to evict the Occupy Wall Street movement from its grounds in November 2011. Pelosi is a vocal supporter of the occupiers, having once said, “God bless them.”

Second, from Bloomberg:

Record 19 reporters, media execs join Team Obama

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.

Those inside the administration hit 14 this month when the Post’s Stephen Barr joined the Labor Department. That’s a record, say some revolving door watchers, and could even be much higher: The Post reports that “dozens” of former journalists have joined the administration, although Washington Secrets couldn’t verify that tally.

Chart of the Week: Nearly Half of All Americans Don’t Pay Income Taxes

This year’s Index of Dependence on Government presented startling findings about the sharp increase of Americans who rely on the federal government for housing, food, income, student aid or other assistance. (See last week’s chart.)

Another eye-popping number was the percentage of Americans who don’t pay income taxes, which now accounts for nearly half of the U.S. population. Meanwhile, most of that population receives generous federal benefits.

“One of the most worrying trends in the Index is the coinciding growth in the non-taxpaying public,” wrote Heritage authors Bill Beach and Patrick Tyrrell. “The percentage of people who do not pay federal income taxes, and who are not claimed as dependents by someone who does pay them, jumped from 14.8 percent in 1984 to 49.5 percent in 2009.”

Illustration by Alexander Hunter for The Washington Times

President Obama’s rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline wasn’t, as he claimed, based on science or the environment. It certainly wasn’t based on sound economic policy, either. The decision was, in fact, the product of voodoo environomics: a destructive blend of bad science based on fear-mongering and manipulated research, the bad economics of green-job fantasies and “starve the beast” energy politics.

At the very heart of voodoo environomics, of course, is the much-hyped theory linking man-made carbon dioxide (CO2) and climate change. Without the world’s policy focus on CO2 emissions, climate-change alarmists would be robbed of the ammunition they need to change and control human behavior via draconian energy policies. They also would be robbed of the substantial financial support needed to continue their biased research.

Yes, Rachel Maddow, Scott Walker Balanced Wisconsin Budget Without Raising Taxes

Liberals love to harp on what they perceive as Republican failure. What they truly loathe is Republican success.

A fine example of this predictable dynamic can be seen in MSNBC's febrile coverage of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and his efforts to turn around the Badger State's disastrous finances. (video after page break).

Here's what Rachel Maddow had to say on her show Wednesday night --

In this picture from Wisconsin today (of Walker greeting President Obama) it's not just the president who's running a campaign to stay in office this year. Gov. Scott Walker, Republican of Wisconsin, is facing being recalled from office before the end of his first term thanks to Wisconsin voters angry with that stripping of union rights in the state and his big, big cuts to education and much more. On the pro-Scott Walker side, there are ads running in Wisconsin now against recalling the governor. In these ads, Gov. Walker and groups supporting him frequently describe the governor as having balanced the state's budget. Turns out, he did not balance the state's budget.

Government Can't Make Us Happy

In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson called the pursuit of happiness an unalienable right. This was a radical idea. For most of history, most people didn't think much about pursuing happiness. They were too busy just trying to survive.

Then came the liberal revolution based on the idea of individual freedom. Only then did they start thinking that happiness might be possible on earth.

Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, the right to pursue happiness has been perverted into a government-backed entitlement to happiness.

Mitt Romney Has Reason to Be Concerned

Mitt Romney’s campaign will have lots of explanations for their man’s poor showing tonight. Yes, Colorado and Minnesota were caucus states — the turnout is skewed in such contests toward a more conservative electorate. Yes, Missouri’s primary was a “beauty contest” and didn’t award any delegates.

But what Romney won’t be able to explain away is just how much more poorly he did tonight in those three states than in his 2008 showing — when he lost the GOP nomination for president.

In 2008, Romney crushed John McCain in the Minnesota caucuses by nearly two to one. Tonight, he was sent into a humiliating third-place finish, trailing both Rick Santroum and Ron Paul. In Missouri, Romney held John McCain and Mike Huckabee to something close to a three-way tie, winning 29 percent of the vote. This year, with fewer opponents, he won only 25 percent. In Colorado, Romney outperformed John McCain by three to one in 2008. This year, albeit with only early returns in, he is trailing Santorum. Results from Denver caucus sites will likely boost Romney’s overall showing, but it’s tough to see him winning the state with Santorum performing as well as he is in Colorado Springs and the rural areas.

ObamaCare's Great Awakening

The political furor over President Obama's birth-control mandate continues to grow, even among those for whom contraception poses no moral qualms, and one needn't be a theologian to understand why. The country is being exposed to the raw political control that is the core of the Obama health-care plan, and Americans are seeing clearly for the first time how this will violate pluralism and liberty.

***

In late January the Health and Human Services Department required almost all insurance plans to cover contraceptive and sterilization methods, including the morning-after pill. The decision came after passionate lobbying by religious groups and liberals from the likes of Planned Parenthood, amid government promises of compromise.

In the end, Planned Parenthood won. HHS chose to draw the rule's conscience exceptions for "religious employers" so narrowly that they will not be extended to religious charities, universities, schools, hospitals, soup kitchens, homeless shelters and other institutions that oppose contraception as a matter of religious belief.

Understanding Unemployment Statistics

It may come as a surprise that according to the federal government, an out-of-work person who put in an application at every place in town more than thirty days ago, who scours every available newspaper's want ads every morning, and who visits every job search website on the web with no luck is not counted as unemployed. Indeed, he would not be considered member of the labor force because he is not actively searching for a job.

Each month, the media report unemployment figures for the previous month. Much attention is paid to these figures, and many public and private decisions are based on them. Often terms like public-sector jobs added, labor force participation rate, civilian labor force, and not in the labor force are used. But what bearing do these terms have on the published rate, and how is the rate calculated?

Unemployment figures are calculated by a part of the department of labor called the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The actual data on unemployment is gathered by the Census Bureau. The calculation of unemployment rates using modern concepts dates back to the 1930s, but at that time, there was no standard for how the figures were calculated. The first national survey of unemployment began in 1940 and was called the Monthly Report of Unemployment, which was later renamed the Current Population Survey (CPS), still in use today.

Here‘s the Chart That Has One Finance Writer Feeling ’Something Is About to Happen’

Joe Weisenthal is the intrepid finance writer over at Business Insider. He’s usually more plugged in than a Chevy Volt. So when he looks at a chart and says he feels “something is about to happen,” it’s not a bad idea to pay attention. And that’s just what he did.

Here‘s the chart from Weisenthal’s Wednesday-morning post:

I‘ll let Weisenthal explain what he’s seeing;

Did School Promote Communism over Capitalism?

Jeff Travis owns a small business in Des Moines and he is absolutely furious at a classroom flier that his son received from his high school social studies teacher.

The flier, given to students at Roosevelt High School, features a cartoon and slogans that seem to promote communism over capitalism.

FOLLOW TODD’S CULTURE WAR FACEBOOK PAGE!

“Communism stands for equal sharing of the work according to the benefits and the ability, but in capitalism an individual is responsible for his works and if he wants to raise the ladder,” the flier stated. “While the profit of any enterprise is equally shared by all in Communism, the profit in the capitalist structure belongs to the owner only.”

The cartoon represented capitalism by featuring an overweight businessman smoking a cigar while his workers were shackled. On the communism side, the cartoon showed happy workers earning loads of cash.

The Constitution has seen better days.

Sure, it is the nation’s founding document and sacred text. And it is the oldest written national constitution still in force anywhere in the world. But its influence is waning.

In 1987, on the Constitution’s bicentennial, Time magazine calculated that “of the 170 countries that exist today, more than 160 have written charters modeled directly or indirectly on the U.S. version.”

A quarter-century later, the picture looks very different. “The U.S. Constitution appears to be losing its appeal as a model for constitutional drafters elsewhere,” according to a new study by David S. Law of Washington University in St. Louis and Mila Versteeg of the University of Virginia.

CURL: Obama’s made-up jobless numbers

When it comes to the unemployment rate, it’s nice to be president.

Sure, it wasn’t so nice for President Obama in October 2009, when the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics declared the rate was 10 percent. But exactly a year from Election Day 2012, the rate began a precipitous plunge, first to 8.9 percent, then the next month, to 8.7, then to 8.5. And just last week, the BLS said the rate had fallen all the way down to 8.3 percent.

If the spectacular “recovery” keeps up at the same pace, the rate will be 6.3 percent by Nov. 6. It hasn’t been that low since — well, all but four of the 96 months George W. Bush was in office. But you get the point. America is back!! Woo-hoooo!!

When Obama Came into Office...

Every time you challenge Democrats on the bad shape of the economy three years (and $5 trillion) into Barack Obama's presidency, you get hit with something like "when Obama came into office, the economy was so bad," etc.

So let's remember exactly how things were when Obama came into office.

When Obama came into office, the Democrats concluded two years of controlling both the House and Senate for the first time in over a decade. Until they showed up, everything was quite all right. All hell broke loose after their anti-business policies started kicking in, and things became worse when the Democrat won the White House, too.

When Obama came into office, he didn't show up as a sitting governor. Instead, he was a voting member of the majority party in the Senate -- the majority party, remember, who created the mess -- and he only made things worse once in the White House. See for yourself:

...When Obama came into office, the economy had just concluded a year of 0.0% growth. In Obama's first year, however, the economy shrank by 3.5%.

Senate Democratic leaders do not plan to propose a budget this year, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters Friday, saying that they had already done so with the debt-ceiling agreement.

“We do not need to bring a budget to the floor this year — it’s done, we don’t need to do it,” Reid said, according to The Hill.

Democrats have said that the agreement reached to raise the debt ceiling set spending for Fiscal Year 2012.

North Dakota Democratic Sen. Kent Conrad, chairman of the Budget Committee, has said he will mark up a budget resolution this year, per an agreement he made with Budget Committee ranking member and Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions.

A Democratic congresswoman claimed Thursday that Newt Gingrich was wrong about President Obama being the “Food Stamp President” and that food stamp use increased more under President Bush than President Obama.

But that claim seems to fly in the face of statistics from the U.S. Department of Agriculture which show that there are 44.7 million Americans on food stamps – and there are more people are on food stamps now than at any time during the Bush administration.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) said Thursday at a Capitol Hill news conference that “(t)here has recently been a concerted push by Republican leaders and presidential candidates like Newt Gingrich to ridicule food stamps as the ‘new welfare.’”

Germans celebrate 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall - The lessons of the fall of communism have still not been learnt

The air is filled with noisy outrage about the moral emergency of the day. We are, according to the leaders of every major political party, in the midst of a crisis of capitalism. However bountiful the free market system may have been at its best, it is now in such deep disrepute that any politician who wishes to remain credible must join in the general vilification.

Even in this storm of condemnation, everyone has to admit that there is actually no alternative to free market economics or to the private banking system. So the competition is strictly between adjectives: “responsible” or sometimes “socially responsible” banking are great favourites, but now Ed Miliband has produced something called a “national banking system”, which is presumably not to be confused with a nationalised banking system. The Miliband neologism is intended to suggest banking that takes the concerns of the nation (or the population?) as its own. Whether he sees this role as voluntary or enforced was unclear from his speech last week.

But in spite of the official agreement that there is no other way to organise the economic life of a free society than the present one (with a few tweaks), there are an awful lot of people implicitly behaving as if there were. Several political armies seem to be running on the assumption that there is still a viable contest between capitalism and Something Else.

Indiana Is A Right-to-Work State

Michigan now has a right-to-work state as a neighbor, as Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels signed legislation Wednesday afternoon making his state the 23rd right-to-work state in the nation and the first in the Manufacturing Belt. Under the legislation, unions and companies cannot negotiate contracts that force employees to financially support a union as a condition of employment.

Gov. Daniels put his signature on the measure shortly after the Indiana state Senate passed it Wednesday morning on a 28-22 vote. A similar measure in 2011 failed when Democratic lawmakers prevented the state House from holding session by leaving the state. Subsequent polling showed that strategy to be very unpopular with the voters. This year, the Democrats could only use delaying tactics and now the legislation has become Indiana law.

Some Democratic Senators played to a gallery full of union protesters, who chanted and periodically shouted remarks, before the final vote

An organization that helped to craft President Obama’s environmental policies has recommended the reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine, purportedly as a method of silencing critics of the theory of global warming.

The Presidential Climate Action Project, or PCAP, last year released an extensive list of recommendations for the White House in a 75-page paper entitled, “Building the Obama Administration’s Climate Legacy.”

Primary among the PCAP’s recommendations is that the Department of Energy should join the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) what is known as the Partnership for Sustainable Communities.

President Obama had a 50% or more approval rating last year in only 10 states, plus the District of Columbia -- all blue states, Gallup reports.

In his 10 worst states, Obama's average approval ratings were 36.5% or lower -- though those are Republican red states.

Throughout the nation, Obama saw higher 2011 approval ratings in only three states: Wyoming, Connecticut and Maine. But there were declines of less than 1 percentage point in Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Minnesota, New Jersey, Arizona, West Virginia, Michigan and Georgia.

Gallup released their annual state-by-state presidential approval numbers yesterday, and the results should have 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue very worried. If President Obama carries only those states where he had a net positive approval rating in 2011 (e.g. Michigan where he is up 48 percent to 44 percent), Obama would lose the 2012 election to the Republican nominee 323 electoral votes to 215.

Gallup adds:

House GOP seeks to bar the use of welfare funds at strip clubs

House Republicans don’t want Uncle Sam paying for any more lap dances.

A bill that GOP leaders are bringing to the House floor Wednesday would require states to prevent welfare recipients from accessing or spending their benefits at strip clubs, casinos and liquor stores.

Republicans included the proposal in the payroll tax bill the House passed in December, and are bringing it back up for a vote separately as part of a package of bills they want included in a final agreement extending the payroll tax cut and other measures through 2012.

Rep. Charles Boustany Jr. (R-La.), the chief sponsor of the strip-club loophole bill, said in an interview that the legislation was a response to press reports that recipients of benefits under the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program were using state-issued debit cards containing the funds for gambling, alcohol and adult entertainment.

Mitt Romney: "I'm not concerned about the very poor."

Fresh off his big win in Florida Tuesday night, Mitt Romney made the most stunningly stupid remark of his campaign.

“I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there,” Romney said in an interview with CNN's Soledad O'Brien this morning. “If it needs repair, I’ll fix it. I’m not concerned about the very rich, they’re doing just fine. I’m concerned about the very heart of the America, the 90 percent, 95 percent of Americans who right now are struggling.”

"There are lots of very poor Americans who are struggling who would say, 'That sounds odd,'" O'Brien replied.

"Well, finish the sentence, Soledad," Romney said. "I said I'm not concerned about the very poor that have a safety net, but if it has holes in it, I will repair them. We will hear from the Democrat party, the plight of the poor. And there's no question, it's not good being poor, and we have a safety net to help those that are very poor. But my campaign is focused on middle-income Americans. You can choose where to focus, you can focus on the rich. That's not my focus. You can focus on the very poor, that's not my focus. My focus in on middle income Americans. Retirees living on Social Security, people who can't find work, folks that have kids that are getting ready to go to college. These are the people most badly hurt during the Obama years. We have a very ample safety net and we can talk about whether it needs to be strengthened or whether there are holes in it. But we have food stamps, we have Medicaid, we have housing vouchers, we have programs to help the poor. But the middle income Americans, they're the folks that are really struggling right now and they need someone that can help get this economy going for them.”

RULES FOR SELECTION OF DELEGATES TO REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION AND THE REPUBLICAN STATE CONVENTION

ARTICLE V: IDAHO REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION CAUCUS

Section 1: The Idaho Nomination Caucus shall be held on the first Tuesday allowed by the Republican National Committee (RNC), without incurring a penalty. The Idaho Republican Presidential Nomination Caucus is not winner-take-all; accordingly the RNC allows Idaho an early caucus opportunity (typically in February or March).

(a) For a candidate to be placed on the official ballot for the Idaho Republican Presidential Nomination Caucus, he or she shall submit a $2,000 filing fee to the Idaho Republican Party no later than 30 days prior to the caucus date. The fees will be distributed evenly among the 44 county central committees to offset counties’ costs of conducting their caucuses.

Section 2: The Idaho GOP Chairman shall send official notice of the Idaho Republican Presidential Nomination Caucus to counties no later than 45 days prior to the caucus. Idaho GOP Headquarters shall provide County Chairmen with the recommended form for providing notice to caucus voters. No later than 20 days prior to the caucus, the Idaho GOP Chairman will notify all county central committee chairs of the candidates to be included in the official caucus voting.