Hope and Change

Bob Hope



Che Guevarra













"Hope is not a strategy" -- Mitt Romney

"Change for its own sake is anarchy" -- George Potts

Fishy

For those who read this blog site regularly it is clear why the unemployment rate in the recent Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) release “unexpectedly” dropped to 7.8%. Since this statistic has become so politically sensitive, the Chicago-style of political gamesmanship is to “fix” the number, not the problem. So last March, Obama broke a long tradition and named one of his political operatives to head this government agency (see: Funny Business). So shortly after this hack was confirmed, U.S. employment numbers were suddenly revised upwards by 453 thousand. Now, the September official BLS release shows a phenomenal one month increase in employment by 873 thousand (the biggest one-month jump ever, see: BLS Release and click on the HTML version of the A-1 table under Monthly Household Data). Wow!! This comes at the same time that second quarter GNP growth was revised downward to 1.3%. Realistically, this two things can’t happen simultaneously.

Watch the Obama administration and its stenographers in the Main Stream Media blare these phony unemployment rates from the roof-tops and in 18-point agate type … and demean those who question these shenanigans. This is extremely fishy and stinks up this election cycle even more. It is really unfortunate that our government now feels privileged to manipulate such statistics for political gain.

Hope and Change



Hope Lange - R.I.P.



U.S. Assets

TKO

Pat Buchanan said late last night that Mitt Romney won the first Presidential debate in a walk, “If it were a 16 round boxing match, Romney won 13 rounds.” I agree and I would even expand on his metaphor … it was at least a Technical Knock Out (TKO) for Mitt. In particular Romney said three things that caught my attention … and often went against his own self-interests:

1) Reluctant as he was to provide details about his proposals to broaden the income tax base, Romney did suggest one possibility … cap total itemized deductions at something like $25,000 or $50,000. This is a brilliant solution that primarily would impact the very wealthy and does not target any specific itemized deductions (which would create a political firestorm). For instance, Romney’s million$ of charitable deductions would no longer help reduce his income tax burden as in times past. To me this shows the level of true statesmanship from Romney … showing his rabid commitment toward reducing our nation’s deficits (and mimics my previous tax proposals ... see: Taxing Ideas).

2) When discussing what was wrong with the Dodd/Frank bill, Romney said that it did not get rid of “too big to fail.” This he said was a gigantic “kiss” to the five biggest Wall-Street banks (see: Huffington Post). What?!? Romney is conspiring against the gang that couldn’t shoot straight and that did a lot to cause the financial meltdown in 2008. He, of course, was right and I think it showed great courage to dis what is some of his financial support.

3) Even though Romney said he loved Big Bird and Jim Lehrer, he said he would nevertheless stop federal funding of PBS in order to help reduce government spending. I concur. Our government now gives this network close to a half billion dollars a year and this is supplemented by private donations; annual week-long auctions of donated goods; foundation and corporate largess; and now even actual ads of increasing length. Basically PBS is now a fully commercial network and Romney (and I) think that it is now time for our government to back away. Perhaps this would mean that some of the producers and personalities on this network would take a hit to their high six-figure take-homes (see: Big Bird Dollars), but I believe that they will easily survive.

I now look forward to the remainder of these debates with greater optimism.

The First Joust

Tonight is the first Presidential debate and, according to the Main Stream Media's narrative, one of Mitt Romney's last three chances to overcome his lagging poll results. The moderator of this first debate, Jim Lehrer of PBS, is not exactly the most unbiased referee who could have been chosen.  But then neither was moderator David Gregory of the recent Scott Brown/Elizabeth Warren debate at UMass/Lowell.  After an initial leftward list, David Gregory did manage to steady his tilt before the end of that joust.  Let us hope that Jim Lehrer can also approach this standard.

This first Presidential debate is to take place at the University of Denver in Colorado.  In fact, all the major debates this election year will take place at venues obviously favorable to Democrats ... universities (see: Debate Venues).  However, that aside, the real challenges to the Republican candidates are the questions they are to be asked ... as are the optics surrounding these contests.  Regarding these questions, previously on this blog I have already constructed ten questions I would like to have asked of each Presidential contestant.  For those who don't recall them, these queries are repeated here: Obama Queries and Romney Queries.  If Jim Lehrer (or possibly the audience) asks anything like these questions, I think this first joust could turn out to be a reasonably-fair contest.

I can't predict the optics, but I bet it will include the candidates's beaming wives and families ... but probably not any horses.

Surprise!

In 2008 53% of Americans voted to elect Barack Obama as our President ... many based on the premise that this would prove that they were not racists ... and, as an added benefit, the stain of slavery would be forever removed from our country's cirriculum vitae.  Now we discover that Obama's "typical white folks" comment (referring to his Caucasian grandparents) back in those Helicon days was just a peek behind the curtain of his inherent reverse racism.  Pulling the curtain all the way back, we now discover the true extent of Obama's odium toward many of those who elected him to the highest office in this country.  It's not a pretty picture ... see: Daily Caller Video.  (Those of you who chose not to click on this link, needn't continue reading.) 

Why this fairly bright, extensively privileged man of mixed racial heritage would have such animosity toward half of his DNA frankly escapes me?  Perhaps his white mother's radical teachings in his formative years?  Perhaps his lost love and longing for his African father?  Perhaps some anti-American indoctrination in the madrassas he attended in Indonesia?  Perhaps his experiences as a community organizer among Chicago street gangs?  Perhaps his friendship with that anarchist, Bill Ayres?  Perhaps listening for 20 years to the pulpit rantings of that avowed racist, Reverend Wright and his Black Liberation Theology teachings?

Whatever the root cause of his deep-seated racial bias, I think those of us willing to see can clearly follow Obama's governing track for evidence of this crippling slant ... not just his back-seat decision-making, but his wreckless mortgaging of our country's future.  By comparison, such a rant makes Romney's "47%" comment look pale ... if you will excuse the expression

Just Whistle

Last time around Wall Streeters (such as Goldman Sachs) contributed the big bucks to the Obama campaign ... this time, not so much.  But stepping into the vacuum are the lawyers ... particularly the lawyers representing government whistle-blowers (see: New York Times Article).  So far, this one small legal cadre have coughed up $3 million to Obama and will likely come across with lots more before November.  These lawyers have benefit under Obama to the tune of roughly 40% of the $1.6 billion that the government has rewarded whistle-blowers under the current administration.

I am in favor of the notion that whistle-blowers should be rewarded for the job-risks they take ... however I don't think that their lawyers are quite so exposed.  Also, I question the advisability of politicians taking big donations from a group of lawyers who benefit greatly if and when your administration caves-in on any legal matters they bring (to my mind, something Eric Holder has shown himself capable of doing.).  And, finally, I am also compelled to inquire as to how much the whistle-blower(s) on the $535 million Solyndra fiasco received?

Funny Business

Isn't it funny that, after a tradition of promoting from within and just a few months after the Bureau of Labor Statistics has had an outside Obama political operative appointed to lead this agency (see: AllGov Announcement), 12-month employment numbers have suddenly been revised upwards by 453,000 workers (see: Washington Post Story).  If the current administration is stooping to this level to cook the books (my studied surmise), what other mischief are they up to?

To Eeyore

Oh, Eeyore!

You’re such a bore.

Or what is more,

And to your core ...

You’re an ass!

Squibs

Squibs are tiny explosive devices often used by Hollywood to simulate bullet hits to inanimate or animate objects in a movie. The following are a few teeny mind-poppers that I have found interesting in my morning romp through the dew-strewn Internet:

- Best reason to vote for Romney – Madonna has threatened to bare it all if Obama wins his quest for another four years of self-indulgence … see: TheHill Story.

- Iran is accusing the International Atomic Energy Agency (an arm of the U.N.) of passing on secrets of its nuclear-enrichment program to Israel … see: Reuters Story. The obvious question is … if Iran is just processing this uranium for electricity-generation and medical applications ... as it professes, why would it have any state secrets for which it felt a need to protect?

- A drug-testing technician here in Massachusetts has been found to have had bogus credentials. This has thrown thousands of drug convictions that relied on her testimony into question … see: ENews Story. I can understand the chagrin of the state’s judicial process over this disclosure … with the threat of many drug convictions being overturned … including many who have already pleaded guilty. Many who have already pleaded guilty?? … are we nuts???

- Brazil now recognized three-person hook-ups a legal civil unions … see: Breitbart Story. I can see the legal entanglements arising out of this silly precedent as growing exponentially. But then I foresaw this same outcome for same-sex marriage. What do I know?

- On The View this past week President Obama referred to himself as “eye candy” ... see: Reuters Story . What kind of candy Barry? Nonpareils? Red Hots? Can our President get even more vacuous in his attempt to reach that uninformed voter group that Jay Leno interviews in his Jaywalking segments?

Poll Vaulting

Unbiased Pole Vaulter

The latest New York Times/Quinnipiac/CBS poll came out this morning and it basically tells the Romney campaign to hang up its sneakers … because they are behind in the Boston Marathon by twenty minutes. According to this poll, President Obama is leading Romney in three key battleground states by the following margins: Ohio (+10), Florida (+9), and Pennsylvania (+12). And it is generally conceded that, if Romney loses Ohio and/or Florida, he has no chance of ousting the current resident of the White House. To see these results go to: Politico Story and also note therein that Washington Post polling seems somewhat to confirm these results.

Skeptic that I am, I then went to the Rasmussen Reports site to verify these results (see: Rasmussen Reports ... since Rasmussen is generally conceded to do the most accurate and unbiased polling.)  Here, not willing to subscribe to the detail state-by state results, I do see that: “In the 11 swing states, the president earns 46% of the vote, and Mitt Romney is supported by 45%. Four percent (4%) are not sure, and five percent (5%) are undecided.” Or, to say it another way, the latest New York Times/Quinnipiac/CBS poll is just so much smoke designed to discourage the Right and hype the Left.

If you want to see how some media outlets try to massage the American voter’s psyche, may I suggest that you read one or more of the following analyses on how such polling is conducted and reported: Breitbart Big-Journalism, Breitbart Big-Government, and PJMedia Story. I wish that I had invented this term, but the New York Times/Quinnipiac/CBS type of sampling-skewed polling and poll reporting surely needs to be labeled “journalistic malpractice.”

Sitting Bull

I had always been curious why the Democrats in Washington never backed Elizabeth Warren to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.  She was, after all, the face behind this consumer-reform push coming out of the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Law.  My wife and I were even somewhat sympathetic to her cause back then (my wife more than I).

I think we have since discovered this hesitancy on the left ... Elizabeth Warren is one gigantic fraud:

- First it was discovered that she has claimed Native-American heritage ... for which there is no documented proof ... and as a result of which it is quite likely that she has received juicy jobs in academia.  She refuses to authorize release of employment records that would clear up this issue.

- Second it was noted that all the recipes (three, I think) that she submitted to the book, Pow Wow Chow, under the attribution that she was a Cherokee, had been cribbed virtually word for word from other sources ... ironically the New York Times in two instances..

- Now, it is revealed that Ms. Warren has apparently been practicing law in Massachusetts without the proper licensure.  Since I am not conversant with the ins and outs of this issue, I refer you to the lawyer, John Hinderaker, to explain things fully in his blog post at Powerline.

- Lastly, in frequent debates and discussions on local radio here in Massachusetts, Ms. Warren, when asked embarrassing questions, has been evasive to the point of listener-cringing.  Just the other day she was queried as to why the current poobahs at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau were making high six-figure salaries.  She responded with a litany of the good things this agency was doing but, conveniently and obviously, never answered the question.

Her campaign in this state against Senator Scott Brown has basically devolved into one talking point -- her election here will help keep the Republicans from taking over the Senate.  In other words, "hold your nose and vote for me."

Serf's Up

Surfer Boy

Let's investigate further Mitt Romney's remarks in Boca Raton about how the 47% of Americans who don't pay any taxes would probably not be his voters.  Indeed, this was perhaps "inelegantly expressed" ... but that should not remove Mitt's concern.  I have recently heard that, if one excludes retired seniors, the percentage of voters not paying taxes is closer to 42%.  Let's be generous and also eliminate the legitimately disabled and thus conclude that those crowding into the wagon to be pulled by the rest of us (to use a Dick Armey metaphor) are closer to 40%.  These would then be the automatic "gimme" voter percentages ... or to use a medieval term ... America's serfs ,,, with The Barry as their plutocratic liege.  This still reinforces the fact that we are perilously close to that tipping point wherein the takers control the political agenda ... and those pulling the wagon effectively become disenfranchised voters.

But to better focus Romney's concern, we must understand that there are also a considerable number of pragmatic 1%-ers (limousine liberals) who would rather subjugate our underclass by paying them off (generally with other people's money) rather than have them create mischief and civil unrest ... such as the Occupiers.  (I still remember, years ago, a liberal Wall-Street friend confessing this motivation to me ... to my shock and chagrin.)  And now, unfortunately many government workers appear to be also riding in the wagon.  This bounces the percentage of those on the left back up closer to 50% ... justifying why we have ... and will continue to have ... a divided electorate.  I honestly believe, like many others, that this nation has one last chance to start to remedy this situation before the tsunami of socialism drowns us all. 

I'm "hanging ten" ... how about you?

Panda Baby

I am constantly floored by the upside down nature of human nature.  Human beings, including many innocent children, are being butchered on an epic scale in the Middle East and Africa to the yawns of the world ... yet let one cuddly panda cub die shortly after birth in the National Zoo in Washington and these same people don sackcloth and ashes whilst gnashing their teeth (see: AP Story).

I don't understand and I suppose I never will.

Threesomes

Supposedly, Monica Lewinsky is writing a "tell-all" book which is said will reveal the intimate details of her affair with former President Bill Clinton ... including the shocker that Bubba liked threesomes with her ... see: NY Post Story.  For this soul-bearing Monica is being given an advance of $12 million ... not bad for getting a few Oval Office rug-crumbs on your back?

Now our former Lothario-President  is claiming that the American public is naive to the point of being easily confused (see: Breitbart Video).  I imagine in the recesses of Bill Clinton's mind ... in this disrespecting of those who (twice) elected him ... is his previous brilliant deflection-answer when asked about his affair with Monica, "I did not have sex with that women, Miss Lewinsky ... not a single time."  (Non-naive translation: "I, in fact, did have sex with Monica and asked people to lie about it ... but this happened multiple times.").

And this is one of our most popular ex-Presidents ... and the one who is carrying the water for our current Oval Office bumbler.  I think I need to take a hot, soapy shower.

Facebook Friends

 

This AM on Morning Joe there was a discussion between two Senators of different parties (names unimportant) about the upcoming UN session and Obama's unwillingness to meet then face-to-face with Israel's Prime Minister, Bibi Netanyahu (see my previous blog post: Shame).  Aired during this back and forth were Romney's and Obama's comments on this issue in their 60 Minutes interviews yesterday.  Basically, Romney said (and I agree) that this dissing of Israel by Obama sends the wrong message to Iran during these tempestuous times.  Obama's excuse was that he is in "constant" contact with Netanyahu by phone and therefore such a meeting isn't necessary (I think we know of one half-hour call a week or so ago).

My immediate thought was perhaps The Barry could make Bibi his Facebook friend ... which would then clearly show the world (and Iran) the degree of the United States's solidarity with Israel?

Balderdash!

In the local Scott Brown/Elizabeth Warren debate last night (Massachusetts Senate race), Scott said that he thought that global warming was real, but that he wasn't sure to what degree that mankind was responsible.  Can this be?  Yes, I suppose that Scott's justifiably timid premise might be based upon the recent shrinking of the Arctic polar ice cap ... see: AP Story). However, what is less frequently mentioned by the cult of greenies is that the ice cap in Antarctica is growing. In fact it recently reach its largest size in 33 years! (See: Forbes Story).

Now I am sure that the Northern Hemisphere produces more carbon dioxide than the Southern Hemisphere (particularly since China is building about one coal-powered power plant per week), but I am also sure that the Southern Hemisphere produces more carbon dioxide than in past years.  Yet, its ice cap is growing!  Ergo, this means that the dynamics of global warming and global cooling is far more complicated than our covey of animated climate scientists are willing to admit.

I have previously stated in this blog and my Junkier Science blog that our earth's climate is clearly affected by numerous things, minute changes in the Earth's tilt, alterations in solar radiation levels, the dynamics of ocean current shifts, increased/decreased levels of atmospheric particulates from things like volcanoes, atmosphere chemistry changes (including CO2), and maybe even our Solar System's shifting position in the Milky Way.  Of all these independent variables, the only one that man might have any control over is CO2 levels.  To me, this seems to be too convenient a solution to our angst over what may (or may not) be happening to our climate.  One time a surgeon told me that, since he was good a wielding a hammer, every health problem looked to him like a nail.

I sincerely think that far too many scientists see CO2 as a climate-change "nail" because it is the only dial that mankind might twist to fix things.  Therefore, data is fudged and simulation models are "adjusted" so as to prove this singular point.  If these simulation models were multivariate instead of single variant, I might be more easily convinced.  But they are not, and, until they are ... BALDERDASH!

Enlightenment

Guru

King Kong died for our sins -- Old American Proverb

You can't play ping pong in a kangaroo's pouch -- Old Australian Adage

The hills are alive with the sound of Musak -- Old Austrian Saying

The sun never sets on a British umpire -- Old British Proverb

Icing the puck is preferable to pucking the ice -- Old Canadian Adage

It is better to sleep standing up than have a cricket crawl in your ear -- Old Chinese Proverb

The road to Hellas is paved -- Old Greek Proverb

Kissing the Blarney Stone won't make you any taller -- Old Irish Proverb

Walk softly and carry a big schtick -- Old Jewish Adage

The way to a man's heart is through his sternum -- Old Muslim Proverb

Never eat a kielbasa at a Warsaw bordello -- Old Polish Adage

I would rather that you spill my blood than my vodka -- Old Russian Adage

Blond jokes don't apply to Swedes -- Old Swedish Adage

Capt. Hook

Capt. Hook, "If we could just get that $678 million Energy Department grant, Smee says we could run the 'Jolly Roger' on batteries."
President Obama, "No problemo."

The Drip Strategy

President Obama is bound and determined to keep the American public distracted throughout the run-up to the November elections with his drip strategy. These "drips" are a series of media-hyped Romney "gaffs" that keep them (us) from focusing on all the policy disasters that his administration has wrought ... the Middle East imploding; high unemployment rates; Iran's impending nuclear weapons; trillion-dollar federal budget deficits; a series of the administration's extra-legal moves to circumvent Congress (on immigration, on welfare requirements, etc.); operation Fast and Furious; high gasoline prices; the Fed's quantitative easings; a litany of crony-capitalism losses; etc.; etc. ... I (unfortunately) could go on much further.

I strongly suspect that there is a queue of these mostly-meaningless Romney slips that await the naive American media consumers and will be dripped out by the White House in an attempt to dominate the news cycles for the next six weeks. They probably will also be splashed into the upcoming debates to fill the conversation (likely with the complicity of the moderators) to keep these debates from focusing on the plethora of real issues.

Now that you know this Obama strategy, you can check off these "kerplops" as they come forth ... probably at a rate of two or three per week. They will be but distracting drops when placed next to the ocean-full of our current administration's manifest bunglings.

Afterward:  Apparently, the most recent of these drips is missing a key portion of Romney's remarks in Boca Raton about the 47% who pay no taxes ... shades of Rosemary Woods.  Read the whole story and you fill in the blanks: Mother Jones Fesses Up.