November 6, 2009
White House's Funny Jobs Numbers - Part Deux
Posted by The MaryHunter at 7:22 PM | Comments (8)
News Flash: fuzzy math might be fairly common in the Obama administration's estimates of those thousands of jobs it claims to have created or saved through the $787 billion porkulus bill. The Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today provide examples:
The Journal estimates at least 2,000 of the 640,000 jobs the administration claimed to have saved or created do not exist.
USA Today reports that a Texas public housing authority manager told the government he had hired six people with the $26,000 in stimulus aid he was given. The government told him that was not correct. When he reported the total hours worked, 450, that figure ended up in the "jobs created" column.
The AP says 9,500 jobs claimed by the Health and Human Services Department weren't saved at all, but were included when existing employees were given pay raises and benefits. HHS spokesman Luis Rosero defended the practice saying, "If I give you a raise, it is going to save a portion of your job."
What's more...
Many Head Start preschool programs also counted workers who got raises, as jobs saved. An administration spokesman says the problems with the Head Start numbers probably would be balanced out by other errors that under report jobs.
Yup, balance them out, just like this:
Without the stimulus, Unemployment would have hit 8%.
With the stimulus, it hit 10.2%.
Therefore, the stimulus worked.
QED
Photo credit:Insidiator.
Hope & Change
Posted by Van Helsing at 12:41 PM | Comments (38)
Here's your Hope & Change:
If the Dems manage to ram PelosiCare and Tax & Charade through for the Moonbat Messiah's eager signature, the current stratospheric unemployment rate could double.
But on the positive side, Chairman Zero is "creating or saving" millions of imaginary jobs every hour.
$15 Billion More Down the Fannie Mae Hole?
Posted by The MaryHunter at 12:21 PM | Comments (10)
Do you remember Fannie Mae, one of several oh-so-successful government experiments in controlling an aspect of the financial industry -- in this case, home mortgages? Well, it seems Fannie is asking Uncle Sam Bigbucks for a hand again:
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Embattled mortgage lender Fannie Mae said Thursday after posting a third-quarter net loss that it has asked the U.S. Treasury Department for an additional $15 billion in assistance by the end of the year.
Fannie Mae (FNM 1.03, -0.09, -8.05%) said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that its request for more funding was made "to eliminate our net worth deficit" as of the end of September. It's hoping to receive the funds by Dec. 31.
Has anyone kept track of how much the U.S. has already shoved into that Fannie? Why yes:
Fannie Mae has already received some $44.9 billion in federal government assistance, under a senior preferred-stock purchase agreement.
So, let me get this straight: in order for this utter failure of a financial institution to not post a net worth deficit, our nation needs to add more to it's deficit.
Did I miss something here? Oh yes, the obligate Barney Frank video:
Well, at least their stock is only $1.03 now, sounds like a perfect bargain for long-term investing. If the Obama Administration keeps bailing them out, at least it couldnt ever be worth nothing.
Social Decay Rots Recruitment Prospects
Posted by Van Helsing at 10:42 AM | Comments (18)
The degenerative disease known as moonbattery is taking its toll, reducing Americans to shameful shadows of what we've been in the past. A nation of brainwashed, bellyaching liberals who spend most of their time in front of the idiot box is making life hard for military recruiters:
About 75 percent of the country's 17- to 24-year-olds are ineligible for military service, largely because they are poorly educated, overweight and have physical ailments that make them unfit for the armed forces, according to a report issued Thursday. …
"We are very concerned," said retired Army Maj. Gen. James Kelley, a member of Mission: Readiness, the Washington-based nonprofit organization that issued the report. "We do have the greatest military in the world [—] we have the greatest planes, the greatest tanks, the greatest ships [—] but the key goal is having great people. Right now, we're attracting very highly qualified folks but that could change over time."
Education is such a problem that recruiters have been trying to fill the void left by our union-suffocated government schools, tutoring potential recruits and helping them with their homework.
There are also physical factors, caused by a general wussification of our culture:
[A]bout a third of all potential recruits can't join … because they're too fat and out of shape.
"When you get kids who can't do push-ups, pull-ups or run, this is a fundamental problem not just for the military but for the country," said Curtis Gilroy, the Pentagon's director of accessions policy.
If cultural trends aren't reversed, we'll soon need to import soldiers, like other dying civilizations have done. But we'll still lead the world in producing fashionably liberal metrosexual movie stars.
On a tip from Anonymous Countermoonbat.
Radiation Threat From Environmentally Correct Moonbatmobiles
Posted by Van Helsing at 8:41 AM | Comments (17)
If there's one thing sanctimonious moonbats will never run short of, it's pernicious unintended consequences. From Israel:
The Environmental Protection Ministry confirmed to The Jerusalem Post this week that it has launched an independent study of exposure to electromagnetic radiation from hybrid car batteries.
There have been concerns raised both here and abroad that the batteries might generate worrying amounts of electromagnetic radiation over long periods of time. …
Ministry Director-General Yossi Inbar first turned to the hybrid vehicle importers, and through them to the manufacturers themselves, the ministry said, asking for information about exposure to electromagnetic fields in the cars. However, it soon became clear that the manufacturers did not have the requested information, the ministry said.
Fortunately, this health threat isn't necessarily a problem for us. If California goes through with plans that could effectively impose metallic reflective window glazing on the entire American car market, the shielding might keep in not only radio signals from wireless safety features, but also potentially deadly radiation. That way, only the people in the car will be affected — and they deserve it for not taking public transportation. The important thing is that the polar bears will be safe.
On a tip from nancz.
Cluelessness Compounded
Posted by Van Helsing at 7:54 AM | Comments (33)
Yesterday the Moonbat Messiah turned stomachs with his inappropriate demeanor when he gave a jaunty "shout-out" to "Congressional Medal of Honor winner" Joe Medicine Crow before belatedly getting around to delivering his obligatory words of regret over Religion of Peacenik Nidal Malik Hasan's horrific killing spree. However, NewsBusters informs us that Joe Medicine Crow, said to be the last living Plains Indian war chief, didn't even win the Congressional Medal of Honor, but the Medal of Freedom. Chairman Zero awarded it to him himself just last August. But medals and stuff are all kind of the same to a community organizer.
On a tip from John H.
PelosiCare Will Force You to Pay for Abortions
Posted by Van Helsing at 7:11 AM | Comments (9)
Since the will of the people is clearly not a concern in the reckless left-wing legislation our rulers have been ramming through Congress, it should come as no surprise that PelosiCare finances abortion. The tab for snuffing out children's lives is to be picked up by every person enrolled in the government "option" — which of course will be mandatory after insurance companies have been deliberately driven into bankruptcy. Rep. John Boehner's office confirms:
Health reform should be an opportunity to protect human life - not end it.
Unfortunately, Speaker Pelosi's 2,032-page government takeover of health care does just that. On line 17, p. 110, section 222 under "Abortions for which Public Funding is Allowed" the Health and Human Services Secretary is given the authority to determine when abortion is allowed under the government-run plan. The Speaker's plan also requires that at least one insurance plan offered in the Exchange covers abortions.
By the way, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is known as the Abortion Queen.
What is even more alarming is that a monthly abortion premium will be charged of all enrollees in the government-run plan. It's right there on line 16, page 96, section 213, under "Insurance Rating Rules." The premium will be paid into a U.S. Treasury account -and these federal funds will be used to pay for the abortion services .
Saddam Hussein used to send families of political prisoners who were shot by firing squad a bill for the ammunition expended. Forcing people who believe in the sanctity of innocent human life to finance abortions displays the same belligerent arrogance.
On a tip from Mattius Maximus.
Open Thread
Posted by Van Helsing at 6:42 AM | Comments (20)
California's CARB to Take Lead in Ruining Auto Industry
Posted by The MaryHunter at 6:11 AM | Comments (9)
Fruits and nuts are not all that infest the political nightmare that is California. The California Air Resources Board (CARB), infused with eco-greenbats, is threatening to impose strict regulations that could irrevocably damage the auto industry nationwide. The loopy rule would require cars and light trucks sold after 2012 "to feature metallic reflective window glazing to keep interiors cool and thus use less air conditioning." It is an attempt to make greener cars by reducing auto air conditioning use - and ruining GPS, cell phones and other wireless safety features in the process.
Toyota tried this approach back in 1989-94, and it was a disaster. The problem is that the new windows would reflect radio waves, thus highly compromising the use of GPS units, garage-door openers, laptop computers, satellite radio systems, parolee ankle bracelets, wireless medical equipment and cell phones. CARB admits the mandate would interfere with radio signals but is poised to promulgate the new rule later this month anyway. A 15-day public comment period would follow, during which alert consumers could overwhelm the bureaucrats with objections.
The new windows would add about $250 to the cost of each vehicle. Cars with sunroofs, and perhaps convertibles, probably would not comply and thus could effectively be outlawed. Drivers trapped in their cars after accidents couldn't call 911.
Forget about the safety issue, there's that guy thing about getting directions to consider:
The proposed regulation even could be counterproductive. Destroying GPS capability could lead to increased emissions that more than counteract the reduced use of air conditioning. An industry study this year showed that drivers using GPS reduce carbon emissions by 24 percent by virtue of taking shorter routes and not getting lost. That's 10 times the expected benefit from the CARB proposal.
California is a huge auto market. If it forces automakers to comply with a mirrored glass mandate, the industry may be forced to change auto standards nationwide.
All this, when the American auto industry is already backed into a corner. But when your aim is to tear down a way of life -- the American automobile -- for what is perceived as "the greener good", these collateral effects would naturally drive more Americans into inconvenient, smelly, unreliable public transportation. Just another freedom -- freedom to purchase, own and operate a car safely -- that the AlGore Green Conspiracy is eager to extract from us.
Thank you, California.
We Borrow Money from China?
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 4:41 AM | Comments (5)
If the Founding Fathers were around today, would they be siding with tea-partiers, or the political elites?
Morning Briefs: Stuff You Probably Read Someplace Else
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 2:47 AM | Comments (15)
Good Morning Campers and Creepers,
Item Number One: Iranians protesting against their despotic regime chant, "Obama, are you with us (the people) or with them (the oppressors)?" I think he answered that question earlier this year. ("The, uh, regime is, uh, slaughtering people in the street. Who's up for ice cream?") The Mullahs hate America and freedom, just like Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, and the rest of his old crew from Chicago. PBO loves those guys. It's the tea-partiers he hates.
Item Number Two: On Airstrip One, social workers have confiscated the children of a heavyset couple because of concerns the children might become fat. Previously, local busybodies had spent $190,000 in taxpayer money to pay "minders" to tell them not to eat so much. Fat people are, of course, subhuman and not entitled to the same rights as the rest of us.
Item Number Three: Here's some nice blue-on-blue violence: Moonbat procedural drama Law and Order takes on Moonbat Talk Show host David Letterman and Dingbat talkfest The View. In an upcoming L&O episode, a lesbian talk-show host with a history of sexually harassing subordinates (it's okay when liberals do it) becomes involved in murder and blackmail. I've seen enough episodes of Law and Order to new that no matter how obvious it seems that the lesbian is a killer, somehow, a white male is responsible.
I leave you with the voice of Mark Levin mocking an Obamunist bureaucrat caller.
November 5, 2009
Alan Grayson: Follow the Rules! Make an Appointment!
Posted by The MaryHunter at 7:50 PM | Comments (23)
"The Rules" apparently require the media to "Make an Appointment" with congressmen like Rep. Alan Grayson if they wish to ask questions.
Is that so? Well, naturally, as Grayson explains:
Shine a little light on a cockroach, watch it run.
Hat tip: Bill O'Reilly.
Couresy of rexanders8.
More from the DC Patriot Rally: Can You Hear Us Now, Washington?
Posted by The MaryHunter at 5:52 PM | Comments (36)
These pictures were shot by my friend and neighbor Patriot Tim, who attended with a friend from Alaska. Both went to visit AK Congressman Don Young in the morning to discuss ObamaCare and other liberty-stripping moves by Obama's pet Democrat Congress. Then, they attended the rally with thousands of attendees. "The talks were great: Levin, Bachmann, a couple dozen congressmen and women... everyone was energized like for the 9/12 March," said Tim, a veteran of the Patriot League trying to take back America from the political hacks--both Republican and Democrat--running our nation into the ground. He went on:
I tried to get into Pelosi's Palace [aka the Cannon Building] but the line went around the building. I also heard the capitol Gestapo wouldn't let people into her office. Thousands are in the house office buildings right now ripping heads off those stealing our freedoms. Hannity should have it all on his show tonight.
More from the rally:
Whether or not this protest march gets nudged off of the MSM Obama Propaganda Machine "News" tonight and tomorrow morning, it won't be lost on those of us who wished we could attend. And it had better not be lost on those (many now without heads) who would continue to steal our freedoms if left unchecked.
PBO's 'My Pet Goat' Moment
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 5:09 PM | Comments (72)
Watch as PBO gives a "shout out" to a friend in the audience, then glibly yammers on about some conference, and then... finally ... acknowledges the Fort Hood shooting.
I just don't like this guy. I mean, this is how he treats a somber moment like this? With a "shout-out" to some guy in the audience. I can hear the trolls now, "How dare you politicize this tragic moment, you racist hater." I don't give a damn. I think his glib manner was totally inappropriate.
Eyewitness Report From DC Patriot Rally
Posted by Van Helsing at 4:15 PM | Comments (7)
Mega reports from today's rally against socialized medicine in DC:
It was hard to estimate the crowd size. It was, of course, on a different scale than the 9/12 rally, perhaps 5,000 to 8,000 people. Not too shabby for a workday, and on six day's notice from Bachmann. There were people from all over, with heavy representation from Texas, the Carolinas, and Georgia. The crowd, the signage, and the overall flavor were all reminiscent of 9/12 and the tea parties — very patriotic and jazzed, just on a smaller scale.
The first few speakers were excellent — Michele Bachmann, Mark Levin, etc. As it went on, it seemed like every Congressional Republican wanted to get up there for their 90 seconds of gaining street cred with conservatives, and that got a bit tedious. Bachmann, Eric Cantor, Mike Pence, and a few others were powerful; a whole slew who came after them were basically poseurs. They all see that there's some raw energy there, and they all want to channel it into support for Republicans; some do it better than others.
I was expecting an air of resignation or defeat in the crowd, or perhaps some anger for being ridiculed and written off after the summer, but that turned out to be my own projection. The crowd seemed optimistic, energized, and not ready to throw in any towels. Many had come in on buses from across the country.
There was almost no media coverage at all. I saw one media crew doing a few low-key man-on-the-street interviews, but nothing approaching real media coverage as you'd expect to see at a rally of thousands.
I think Bachmann pulled off a pretty good event.
Unfortunately, another event will obliterate any chance of this uprising getting the attention it deserves.
Name of the Fort Hood Shooter
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 3:45 PM | Comments (93)
ABC News is identifying the man who murdered 11 people and wounded 30 at the U.S. Army Base at Fort Hood as Major Malik Nadal Hasan.
I'm just going to go out on a limb here and guess he's not a Presbyterian.
The good news is, they killed the bastard.
*Update" Nope, now they tell us the bastard's still alive.
Prayers for the soldiers, the dead, the wounded, and their families, people.
Major Nadal Malik Hasan, a 39-year-old Muslim convert, was born and educated in Virginia. He is a psychiatrist who worked at Walter Reed for six years (and got a poor performance evaluation there). Hasan was transferred to Ft. Hood and worked at the psych ward there. He complained about deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. Fox has interviewed someone who worked with him at Ft. Hood (Terry Lee) who says he was a harsh critic of U.S. foreign policy who said Muslims had a right to stand up and fight against the aggressor in Iraq and Afghanistan — i.e., us.
Counter-Moonbattery Alert: American Seniors Association Accepts Torn AARP Cards
Posted by The MaryHunter at 12:55 PM | Comments (20)
Are you sickened that "your AARP" has backed the counter-productive (to put it mildly) House PelosiCare/ObamaCare healthcare bill? There's something you can do: Not only can you tear up your AARP card and write AARP a note of protest, but you can send that trashed card to the American Seniors Association (ASA) for a great deal on membership:
ASA is allowing elderly citizens to mail in their torn AARP cards and receive a 2 year-for-1 year membership with the American Seniors Association.
This deal has been going since the summer but it deserves renewed attention. From the ASA website:
The American Seniors Association (ASA) invites any American Association of Retired Persons member to mail us your torn AARP card and receive a 2 year- for- 1 year membership with ASA. Our organization representing hundreds of thousands of members believes we need health care reform, but we want what is best for seniors. ASA wants to cut wasteful spending in Medicare. ASA wants to see the Congress work to curb frivolous lawsuits that drive up the costs of doctor’s malpractice insurance. Our system needs an overhaul, but we do not need expensive Obamacare or anything resembling it.
Good alternatives always come along in an open society with a competitive free market. So feel free to show the AARP that actions have consequences.
Hat tip: Mark Davis, sitting in for Rush.
Chimp Attack Serves as Pretext to Loot Taxpayers
Posted by Van Helsing at 11:45 AM | Comments (31)
A Connecticut woman mauled and blinded by a chimpanzee is seeking to sue the state for $150 million.
Attorneys for Charla Nash's family filed a notice Wednesday with the state's Office of Claims Commissioner asking for permission to sue the state.
The 200-pound chimpanzee named Travis went berserk in February when his owner, Sandra Herold, asked Nash to help lure him back into her house in Stamford. The animal ripped off Nash's hands, nose, lips and eyelids, and she remains in stable condition at the Cleveland Clinic.
Herold is already getting sued for $50 million. But the taxpayers have deeper pockets, so the state lawsuit should be far more remunerative for the vultures who flap down out of their law offices to feed on every tragedy. How the state of Connecticut is responsible for the behavior of a privately owned monkey is anybody's guess.
On a tip from Wiggins.
Republican Health Care Reform Plan Would Save Money and Reduce Costs
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 10:20 AM | Comments (51)
Well, we can't have that can we?
Their (Republican) plan, which relies on interstate competition, HSAs, and tort reform, would only cost $61 billion in the first ten years of the plan...
So, it would reduce future deficits by a minimum of $1,339,000,000,000 compared to the Neo-Marxist Democrat plan. What else would it do?
CBO anticipates that the combination of provisions in the amendment would reduce average private health insurance premiums per enrollee in the United States, relative to what they would be under current law-by 7 percent to 10 percent in the small group market, by 5 percent to 8 percent for individually purchased insurance, and by zero to 3 percent in the large group market.
So, it would reduce deficit spending by almost a trillion and a half, and it would make health care more affordable, without any abortion funding, death panels, or cuts to MediCare.
To reject such a sensible, affordable plan, the Congress would have to be run by spendthrift idiots who don't care about the debt as long as they expand government power.
Unfortunately....
Open Thread
Posted by Van Helsing at 9:12 AM | Comments (21)
