More unexpected bad economic news
The number of Americans FILING NEW CLAIMS FOR UNEMPLOYMENT AID UNEXPECTEDLY EDGED HIGHER LAST WEEK, stoking fears of a stalled economic recovery even as a separate report showed record exports in April.
Initial claims for state jobless benefits increased 1,000 to 427,000, the Labor Department said. However, economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims dropping to 415,000 from a previously reported count of 422,000.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/New-jobless-claims-rb-888026046.html?x=0&.v=1
The odd part is that good economic news under Bush was “unexpected” by the press while bad economic news under Obama is “unexpected.” You would think they would be smart enough to start expecting it. I mean even rats in a maze learn over time.
War: I am number four
THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION HAS INTENSIFIED THE AMERICAN COVERT WAR IN YEMEN, exploiting a growing power vacuum in the country to strike at militant suspects with armed drones and fighter jets, according to American officials.
The acceleration of the American campaign in recent weeks comes amid a violent conflict in Yemen that has left the government in Sana, a United States ally, struggling to cling to power. Yemeni troops that had been battling militants linked to Al Qaeda in the south have been pulled back to the capital, and American officials see the strikes as one of the few options to keep the militants from consolidating power.
ON FRIDAY, AMERICAN JETS KILLED ABU ALI AL-HARITHI, A MIDLEVEL QAEDA OPERATIVE, AND SEVERAL OTHER MILITANT SUSPECTS IN A STRIKE IN SOUTHERN YEMEN….
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/09/world/middleeast/09intel.html?_r=2&hp
We have another area of military action without any approval by the US Congress. I remember the Iran Contra scandal that occurred when congress cut off funding for the war against the Contras. It seems that this president doesn’t feel a need to even get around congress. He simply ignores the Legislature.
Wisconsin Union protesters show a lack of class
At a speech to special Olympic participants, Wisconsin Union protesters showed a lack of class in an attempt to get noticed.
http://nation.foxnews.com/union-protests/2011/06/09/union-protesters-disrupt-special-olympics-ceremony
“The whole reason we do this is to protect liberty.”
In the most important appeal of the Obamacare constitutional saga, today was the best day yet for individual freedom. THE GOVERNMENT’S LAWYER, NEAL KATYAL, SPENT MOST OF THE HEARING ON THE ROPES, WITH THE JUDICIAL PANEL EXTREMELY CAUTIOUS NOT TO EXTEND FEDERAL POWER BEYOND ITS PRESENT OUTER LIMITS of regulating economic activity that has a substantial aggregate effect on interstate commerce.
As the lawyer representing 26 states against the federal government said, “THE WHOLE REASON WE DO THIS IS TO PROTECT LIBERTY.” With those words, former solicitor general Paul Clement reached the essence of the Obamacare lawsuits. With apologies to Joe Biden, this is a big deal not because we’re dealing with a huge reorganization of the health care industry, but because our most fundamental first principle is at stake: WE LIMIT GOVERNMENT POWER SO PEOPLE CAN LIVE THEIR LIVES THE WAY THEY WANT.
This legal process is not an academic exercise to map the precise contours of the Commerce Clause or Necessary and Proper Clause — or even to vindicate our commitment to federalism or judicial review. No, all of these worthy endeavors are just means to achieve the goal of maximizing human freedom and flourishing. Indeed, that is the very reason the government exists in the first place….
http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/the-obamacare-lawsuit-from-the-courtroom-in-atlanta/
Freedom needs to be defended and this is a big step in that direction. Those who would trade liberty for security deserve neither.
Democrats demand spending increases to bring up trade agreements
Because government is inherently dangerous and often mischievous, the Constitution’s framers provided, and congressional rules have multiplied, mechanisms for blocking government action. THESE MECHANISMS CAN, HOWEVER, ALSO BE USED TO FORCE ACTION. One is being so used in a dispute that has two remarkable facets.
PRESIDENT OBAMA IS SACRIFICING ECONOMIC GROWTH AND JOB CREATION IN ORDER TO PLACATE ORGANIZED LABOR. And as the crisis of the welfare state deepens, he is trying to enlarge the entitlement system and exacerbate the entitlement mentality.
Forty-four Republican senators, three more than necessary to stop Senate action, have vowed to BLOCK CONFIRMATION OF JOHN BRYSON, THE PRESIDENT’S NOMINEE TO BE COMMERCE SECRETARY, UNTIL THE PRESIDENT SUBMITS FOR CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL THE ALREADY NEGOTIATED FREE-TRADE AGREEMENTS WITH SOUTH KOREA, PANAMA AND COLOMBIA. The 44 are responding to this:
On May 4, the administration announced that, at last, it was ready to proceed with congressional ratification of the agreements. ON MAY 16, HOWEVER, IT ANNOUNCED IT WOULD NOT SEND THEM UNTIL CONGRESS EXPANDS AN ENTITLEMENT PROGRAM FAVORED BY UNIONS.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/obama-and-free-trade-appease-big-labor/2011/06/07/AGH7QXMH_story.html
Read all about this. It demonstrates how politics works in Washington and how the Democrats seem to be spend-aholics.
It’s the economy, Barack!
THE BATTLE WILL BE FOUGHT OVER ECONOMIC GROWTH AND HOW WE GET IT—Obama's way or something close to the opposite of Obama's way. On one hand is Barack Obama's government-led "investment" mix, embedded with spending raised to 24% of GDP. On the other is THE ALTERNATIVE GOP VISION, WHICH IS STARTING TO GEL.
The Washington Post this week ran a long article to prove (and lament) that the GOP's "anti-tax orthodoxy goes deep." But why stop there? Add to this the tea party's anti-spending orthodoxy. Now VIRTUALLY ALL REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES AGREE THAT THE PUBLIC SECTOR'S CONTRIBUTION TO GROWTH IS TO CUT SPENDING, while tax cuts should be used to rediscover the private sector.
This "orthodoxy" informs John Boehner's insistence that any increase in the debt ceiling be matched by real spending cuts. IT INFORMS BLACK REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE HERMAN CAIN'S WITHERING, AND INCREASINGLY EFFECTIVE, RHETORICAL ASSAULT ON MR. OBAMA'S OBLIVIOUSNESS TO THE NEEDS OF THE PRIVATE SECTOR. Like Gov. Pawlenty, Mr. Cain also would eliminate the capital gains tax and cut others to enhance business formation.
Barack Obama will have better weeks than this. On the available evidence, however, the trend lines for politics and the economy are becoming clearer every day.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304432304576371811156235004.html
I do expect for Obama to be clobbered by the economy and the calls of the Republicans to undue all that he has done. Slash government spending while we slash certain taxes and open up drilling for oil everywhere and for good measure get rid of Obamacare.
Mainstream Media and its double standard
Does the mainstream media have a double standard when it comes to scandals involving Democrats vs. Republicans? Do you really have to ask?
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/574745/201106081815/Weiners-Case-Shows-Medias-Double-Standard.htm
Medicare
Ending Medicare as we know it? If we are lucky, yes.
…No American should naively assume that there is one easy, pragmatic answer to solving the Medicare crisis. Additionally, no American should naively assume that putting the issue off until one such answer emerges is a prudent approach. THE BIGGEST DANGER TO OUR SENIORS IS NOT PAUL RYAN AND THE REPUBLICANS WHO ARE PROPOSING CHANGES TO SAVE THE SYSTEM. NOR IS IT DEMOCRATS WHO MIGHT DO THE SAME.
RIGHT NOW, THE GRAVEST THREAT MEDICARE FACES IS THE SELF-SERVING POLITICIAN WHO CHAMPIONS COMPLACENCY TOWARDS THE ISSUE WITH SHAMELESS DEMAGOGUERY CONDEMNING ANY REFORM PROPOSALS AS TOO BIG, TOO DRAMATIC, TOO RISKY, AND ENDANGERING THE STABILITY OF THE SYSTEM. Take Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who has been in re-runs in virtually every television interview she's given on the subject.
Two weeks ago, Schultz was by Harry Smith on CBS's Meet the Nation, "But the trustees said...that this thing could be insolvent in the next decade. Doesn't something really dramatic have to happen, and as the Congressman suggested, the Republicans have a plan. Do the Democrats have a plan?" SHE REFUSED TO ANSWER THAT QUESTION, choosing instead to read from her poll-tested cue cards: "Like I said, the Republicans have a plan to end Medicare as we know it."
Yes, they do. Anyone who seriously values and wants to save the Medicare system -- or at least who wants to preserve it for those currently relying on it -- knows that if we don't come up with a plan to do so, MEDICARE AS WE KNOW IT WILL END ITSELF WHEN IT GOES BELLY-UP IN THE NEXT TEN TO THIRTEEN YEARS. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ MAY PRETEND OTHERWISE, BUT IF YOU PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO WHAT EVEN HER ALLIES ARE SAYING, IT'S DEMONSTRABLY TRUE. …
http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/06/both_sides_would_end_medicare_as_we_know_it.html
This is the dirty little truth that Wasserman-Shultz doesn’t want to admit.
Science
15 secrets about outer space you never knew before
http://www.onlineschools.org/blog/outer-space/
There has to be some facts you can use to win a free drink in a bar.
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