Archive for October, 2009

Obama Expands Government, Claims Job Saved

7:03 pm, October 30th, 2009 on Economy, White House

The Obama administration is spinning a tale of how 650,000 (!) jobs have been saved or created because of the stimulus spending. More than half of these are in education – government jobs.

The rest are mostly in relatively low-paying construction jobs, not the kind of financial, technological or high-paying jobs that were lost because of the recession.

Biden claims:

There is strong and mounting evidence that the recovery act is putting people back to work

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, non-farm unemployment is at 9.8% as of earlier this month. Where are these jobs going?

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White House’s Visitor Logs: False Positives?

6:51 pm, October 30th, 2009 on White House

So, the Anointed One’s administration has released visitor logs for the White House, with such luminaries on the list:

Michael Jordan, William Ayers, Michael Moore, Jeremiah Wright, Robert Kelly (“R. Kelly”) and Malik Shabazz

Many of these names, however, are supposedly “false positives.” Apparently:

A lot of people visit the White House, up to 100,000 each month …. Given this large amount of data, the records we are publishing today include a few “false positives” – names that make you think of a well-known person, but are actually someone else.

So, there’s more than one Malik Shabazz?

…The well-known individuals with those names never actually came to the White House. Nevertheless, we were asked for those names and so we have included records for those individuals who were here and share the same names.

So, firstly, why are they on the visitor list?

Secondly, I have visited the White House and I had to submit all my information before the trip – the Secret Service is actually expected to verify the information you provide and conduct background checks, lest you’re a criminal or a terrorist. So, the White House should be able to tell us if the famous person named here actually visited the White House or not.

Going by this theory, you can release any list you like, and then claim that they are “false positives” on there. That makes the release inconsequential and ludicrous.

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Blame the Unions and Gregoire For Boeing’s Move

11:33 pm, October 28th, 2009 on Liberalism, Washington State

WSJ reports:

Boeing Co. said it would build a second final assembly line for its troubled 787 Dreamliner jet in South Carolina, a move that spurns the powerful aircraft machinists’ union that had been negotiating with Boeing to locate the work at the current factory near Seattle.

…

On Wednesday the South Carolina legislature moved to offer Boeing a variety of tax incentives to lure the company to build a massive new factory on the site of an existing facility it owns in North Charleston.

Why didn’t Gregoire provide the same incentives to keep Boeing in its home state?

It’s the first time since 2006 that Boeing will assemble a commercial airplane outside of the Puget Sound area and provides the company with an assembly line beyond the reach of the labor union that has caused production headaches off and on for decades in Seattle

The union is hurting itself (and Washington’s economy) through its absurdly stubborn positions.

Well, we now know who really cares about Washington.

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Government Motors Wants More Money

3:01 pm, October 28th, 2009 on Economy

GM is expected to borrow an additional $2.5 billion (!) from the government to “help” Adelphi, its parts supplier.

Americans should boycott GM in favor of Ford and the Japs. Toyota, Honda and others have been building cars right here in the United States for decades and doing so profitably. Why can’t their American counterparts do the same?

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Their Problem to Solve?!

3:19 pm, October 27th, 2009 on Asia, White House

Mr. Matthew Hoh, a US diplomat posted in Afghanistan, resigned from his job claiming:

“We want to have some kind of governance there, and we have some obligation for it not to be a bloodbath.

“But you have to draw the line somewhere, and say this is their problem to solve.”

Their problem to solve?!

The United States attacked Afghanistan in a just war to root out the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, who, by the way, had attacked us on our soil. The Afghans hadn’t even attacked us – their government was harboring the people who attacked and wouldn’t give them up.

This problem can never be theirs. This problem was ours and will remain ours.

Now that that job has become tough, Hoh (and the Obama team) wants us to just quit and run away. This would be the second time we have left Afghanistan in tatters.

The last time we just quit Afghanistan after the Soviet withdrawal in the ’80s, Al Qaeda and the Taliban emerged to fill the power void. What will emerge this time?

This whole Hoh resignation bullshit just stinks of political manipulation.

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Republican Governor of New Jersey?

11:31 am, October 27th, 2009 on Democrats, Politics

A recent Rasmussen poll shows New Jersey Republican Chris Christie (what kind of name is that?) leads incumbent Jon Corzine 46-43, with an independent getting 7 points and 4% undecided.

In 2006, another supposedly close race, Tom Kean lost 44-53. In 2005, Corzine won 54-43. Last year, Lautenberg won 53-42.

Republicans have been getting about 42-44% of the vote in NJ over the past few years. It’s like in Washington where the GOP has been winning about the same.

Why would this election be any different?

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Obama: Cut Your Paychecks.

1:12 pm, October 21st, 2009 on Economy, Liberalism, White House

Obama’s socialism czar, Kenneth Feinberg, has decreed that recipients of federal bailouts must cut the compensation of their top executives.

In the private world, the real world, the capitalist world, people need incentives to perform. Outsized salaries and benefits provide just such incentives. Look at Goldman, JP Morgan and others that have been declaring massive profits over the past few months.

Cutting paychecks will only cause these companies to behave more like government entities than their private competitors. Why would the head of a division work 100 hours a week at this company when he’s getting paid half of what his counterpart gets paid at a different firm? He can switch or stop working as hard…

Why does it feel more and more like the Socialist States of America?

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Kick Out Olympia Snowe!

12:38 pm, October 13th, 2009 on Health, Politics

Why is she even in the GOP? Traitor!

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Politics Behind the Nobel

11:00 am, October 12th, 2009 on Politics

People are finally around to realize that it’s really politics, and not much else, that decides Nobel laureates, especially in fields such as peace, literature, and even economics now, as with Paul Krugman (what did he really do to deserve one?)

According to a Rasmussen poll, 58% of American “adults now believe that politics plays a role in the awarding of the Nobel Prize. That’s an 18-point jump from 40% a year ago.”

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Obama Wins the Peace Prize?!

10:30 am, October 9th, 2009 on Liberalism, Politics

The Nobel Committee lost its credibility when it started using the Peace Prize for explicitly political purposes … Al Gore, Jimmy Carter, Wangari Maathai, El Baradei, and many others over the years. Yasser Arafat was rewarded for his terrorism in 1994.

The Peace Prize has always been one of those fuzzy little accolades that can be awarded to anyone for pretty much anything, especially when it comes to “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples” and such other non-quantifiable contributions.

So it should come as no surprise that Barack Hussein Obama is the latest laureate. Quite frankly, any Democrat succeeding GWB would have won the same. Or a goat for that matter. Even a martian. R2D2.

UPDATE: So, the head of the Committee says:

“It was because we would like to support what he is trying to achieve”

People “try” to achieve a lot of things. They should be encouraged to do so, but awarding them even before they have accomplished even a single thing is quite wrong headed.

Obama is not a kid who needs to be encouraged to study and “try” to do well on exams. Obama is the President of the United States – an entire nation depends upon him. He just can’t “try” to achieve something. He bloody well has to do.

Morgan Tsvangirai, one of the most popular nominees with a record 205 commendations, should have been awarded for his efforts to stabilize Zimbabwe. Obama is all talk, while Tsvangirai is actually toiling despite constant death threats.

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Did Obama Just Fail? Good Heavens!

2:48 pm, October 2nd, 2009 on Sports, White House

President Barack Hussein Obama tried his best to bring the 2016 Olympics to Chicago – hey, the economy in still in the dumps – but he failed, and quite miserably at that!

The International Olympic Committee be cursed! How dare they deny the Chosen One’s desire?

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9.8% Unemployment, but the Recession is Over

11:48 am, October 2nd, 2009 on Economy

Sept . 15, 2009 – Ben Bernanke: “From a technical perspective, the recession is very likely over at this point.”

Oct. 2, 2009 – Unemployment rises to 9.8% after 263,000 job cuts last month

The recession is over. 9.8% is still 0.2 less than 10! Yay!

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iTunes For Applying to Law School?

4:51 pm, October 1st, 2009 on Miscellaneous

A recent mail from a top 30 law school reads, in part:

Admit it, you’re an outstanding student!  You’re well aware that academic success requires work.  Often difficult and sometimes thankless work.  Isn’t it time your hard work earned you a few perks?

With this in mind, we encourage you to consider [dot dot dot].  In return, we’re making you an exclusive offer.

If you apply, we’ll:

1. Waive your application fee, and

2. Present you with 20 free music downloads on iTunes®

I hate iTunes. Can I get that for Zune instead?

UPDATE: Apparently, the university has been doing this since last year. WSJ blogged about it in October of 2008. I won’t say which school…

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Is It Only Republicans With Affairs?

4:48 pm, October 1st, 2009 on GOP, Politics

I find it hard to believe that Democrats don’t have any such morality issues, aside from that playboy Edwards.

The latest is Sen. Ensign (R-Nev.) who helped find a job for his mistress’ husband. Quite a noble man, eh? Boink the wife, and enrich the husband too.

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