ALMOST 190,000 JOBS COULD BE CREATED BY 2013 IF OFFSHORE DRILLING RETURNS TO PRE-SPILL LEVELS, according to a study sponsored by two oil trade groups, the National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) and the American Petroleum Institute (API).
The study, conducted by Quest Offshore Inc., found THAT IF PERMITS FOR EXPLORATION AND DRILLING RETURNED TO HISTORIC LEVELS, AND IF BACKLOGGED REQUESTS WERE GRANTED, 400,000 JOBS COULD BE SUPPORTED ACROSS THE UNITED STATES WITH A GDP INCREASE OF $45 BILLION BY 2013.
“The president says he wants ideas for putting Americans back to work right now,” said Jack Gerard, API president, during a conference call today. “So we urge him, again, to take a look at policies that will encourage oil, and domestic gas development.”
The offshore oil and natural gas industries suffered losses in 2008 due to the economic recession, the moratorium on deepwater drilling, and slowdowns in permits issued for drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. The study’s authors claim tens of thousands of jobs have been lost due to the downturn…
http://dailycaller.com/2011/07/12/oil-trade-groups-drilling-deregulation-could-create-190000-jobs/#ixzz1RtvI8lva
And not only would jobs be created, but imports of foreign oil would decline, strengthening the dollar and tax receipts to the government out increase helping reduce the deficit. This is a win/win/win proposals and the only thing standing in its way is an almost religious ideology of the left that looks at fossil fuels as evil.
The MSM self destructs
Among the most myopic of the various factions within the American ruling class is what is generically known as the mainstream media. OVER THE PAST TEN YEARS IT HAS BECOME PAINFULLY OBVIOUS THAT AS A GROUP THEY ARE DETERMINED TO SELF-DESTRUCT WHILE WILLING TO ACCOMMODATE, PROMOTE, OR AS NECESSARY, TURN A BLIND EYE TOWARDS THE DEVASTATING POLICIES OF THE LEFT that will be the catalyst for their potential demise.
A majority of the media chooses, either deliberately or out of ignorance, to obscure the reality that the American Left and Barack Obama are destroying the viability of the economy and culture, and ultimately their own future and standard of living.
This lack of coherence was never more manifest than the media's slavish fawning over an unknown, but politically correct, Barack Obama in the 2008 election. THEIR CONTINUED LOYALTY DESPITE HIS MYRIAD FAILINGS, HIS PALPABLE DISINTEREST IN THE JOB OF PRESIDENT AND HIS OBSTINATE DEDICATION TO DISASTROUS POLICIES REVEALS THEIR IDEOLOGICAL BLINDNESS. Meanwhile the landscape of the once mighty journalism community is one of utter devastation brought about in great part by their overt liberal bias and this kind of sycophantic behavior over the past twenty plus years.
Among many examples of this unreported decline and fall are:
THE NEW YORK TIMES Company, often considered the bellwether of the national media, has REDUCED ITS LABOR FORCE BY 47% (6,600 JOBS) SINCE 2000. THE AVERAGE DAILY CIRCULATION FOR THE TIMES HAS DROPPED BY OVER 20% (226,000 READERS) DURING THE SAME PERIOD. The Company has been liquidating as many assets as possible in order to stay afloat -- they now have few viable assets left to sell.
THE WASHINGTON POST, the other most influential newspaper in the country, has seen its AVERAGE DAILY CIRCULATION DROP BY 30% (237,000 READERS) SINCE 2000. More devastating has been the plummet in print advertising revenue which has dropped by over 55% since 2000. They too have made major reductions in their labor force….
http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/07/terminal_media_delusion.html
Technology is driving this as well, but you don’t see these problems in the WSJ.
Five Signs of American Decadence
In the last few decades, our country has spiraled downward into decadence in ways that are genuinely threatening the continuance of the American Dream.
1) OUR LEGAL SYSTEM IS BROKEN: There's nothing just about our legal system anymore. Liberals have pushed the idea of a "LIVING CONSTITUTION," which means nothing more than implementing left-wing policies and calling it constitutional law. Every constitutional case is now decided by the number of judges who still believe in the Constitution that happen to be on the bench for the trial. Laws are no longer applied equally either. If the people running the government don't like certain laws, say against illegal immigration, they simply refuse to enforce it….
2) UNSUSTAINABLE LEVELS OF SPENDING: we have a 1.5 TRILLION DOLLAR DEFICIT, A 14 TRILLION DOLLAR DEBT, AND 100 TRILLION DOLLARS IN UNFUNDED SOCIAL SECURITY/MEDICARE OBLIGATIONS AND IT'S ENTIRELY POSSIBLE THAT WE COULD LOSE OUR AAA CREDIT RATING IN THE NEXT FEW YEARS. Not only has this issue been discussed so often that people's eyes glaze over when you bring it up yet again, but there are nations in Western Europe, with similar financial problems, that are staving off defaulting on the money they owe only because other nations are propping them up in a way that would be unfeasible for a nation the size of the United States….
3) DEMONIZATION OF SUCCESS: We live in a country where half the country pays no income tax and the unemployed get almost two years on unemployment; yet WE HEAR AN ENDLESS PARADE OF ASSAULTS ON CORPORATIONS, ON THE RICH, ON ANYBODY WHO HAS MADE A SUCCESS OUT OF HIMSELF. You want to find "greed" in America? Then look at the people who are complaining about "greed." GREED ISN'T A RICH GUY WANTING TO KEEP MORE OF THE MONEY HE'S EARNED; IT'S SOMEONE DEMANDING THAT HE GET AN EVEN BIGGER SHARE OF SOMEONE ELSE'S MONEY….
http://townhall.com/columnists/johnhawkins/2011/07/12/5_signs_of_american_decadence/page/full/
This is an article well worth reading.
Has Obama failed? Or is it the left?
…. OBAMA HAS FAILED, BUT THE IDEOLOGY MUST GO ON. Obama's biggest achievement was kicking off the Tea Parties, possibly the most serious threat to left-liberalism of the past thirty years. Movement conservatism has always been limited by its connection with Northeastern elitists, while the Neocons, though much more effective, appealed to an urban university-oriented following. But HERE WE HAVE AN ACTUAL MIDDLE-CLASS, MIDDLE-AMERICAN MOVEMENT, ENLIGHTENED, INFORMED, AND OUTRAGED -- THE DARKEST NIGHTMARE OF ANY THINKING LEFTIST. And who created it? Obama and none other. It would take a lot of accomplishments to outweigh that single error, and Obama can't show any. His gimcrack auto company scheme worked only with aid of bogus paperwork. His "health-care reform" will not outlast judicial testing. His attempt to revive the New Deal as a solution to 21st-century problems is a sour joke to millions of unemployed. He is racing for the exits in Afghanistan, the leftist "good war," like a scalded rat. And now his deeply corrupt Justice Department is blowing up in his face. I've said all along that he would spend his last two years overwhelmed by the problems he created in his first two, and it is coming to pass in detail.
THE FACTS OF THE CASE ARE THAT OBAMA HAS REVEALED THE HOLLOWNESS OF LIBERALISM. He had it all his own way the first half of his term, and was able to push through the complete left-wing domestic agenda in all its Keynesian, Newer Deal glory. It went nowhere -- as anyone could have predicted -- and that is the end of it.
But here's the thing: from the liberal point of view, Obama does not exist as a separate entity, but only as a momentary expression of the liberal dogma. Liberalism will still exist long after Obama is gone -- or so they hope. SO IF IT COMES DOWN TO A CHOICE BETWEEN THE MESSIAH ON ONE HAND AND THE CREED ON THE OTHER, THE MESSIAH HAS TO GO. (I need scarcely point out that this is the traditional fate of messiahs -- false ones in particular.)
This is why Obama has been stung so badly by such deep thinkers as Halperin, Rich, and Maher. They are performing a salvage job, assuring that there will be plenty of daylight between Obama and liberalism by the time November 2012 rolls around. We will hear a lot more of it before then, covering all of the administration's policies, everything Obama has ever touched. It is their own version of the stab in the back legend -- EVERYTHING WOULD HAVE BEEN FINE IF IT HADN'T BEEN FOR OBAMA, THAT CENTRIST, THAT MODERATE, THAT TRAITOR. Revolutions always eat their own -- the moderate social democrat Aleksandr Kerensky was a hero in early 1917 only to flee Russia one step ahead of the Bolsheviks six months later. Obama is undergoing he same process as regards his own failed revolution.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/07/the_left_starts_to_dump_obama.html
Expect to see a lot more of this before November 2012. The left will distance itself from Obama more and more as it becomes apparent that Obama is a loser.
Is Obama relevant?
….OBAMA SEEMS INCAPABLE OF MOVING PUBLIC OPINION, AT LEAST AMONG PEOPLE WHO DON'T ALREADY AGREE WITH HIM. You can tell his handlers have noticed because his talking points have become top-heavy with jargon freshly minted from focus groups: corporate jet owners, "winning the future," raising revenue instead of raising taxes, etc.
Similarly, HIS SHOPWORN RHETORIC HAS BECOME MORE DESPERATE. On July 5, he said of the debt-ceiling negotiations, "IT'S MY HOPE … THAT WE'LL ALL LEAVE OUR POLITICAL RHETORIC AT THE DOOR." The next day he insisted that "THE DEBT CEILING SHOULD NOT BE … USED AS A GUN AGAINST THE HEADS OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE TO EXTRACT TAX BREAKS FOR CORPORATE JET OWNERS, for oil and gas companies that are making billions of dollars because the price of gasoline has gone up so high."
WHEN OBAMA SAYS PEOPLE SHOULD DROP THEIR POLITICAL RHETORIC, HE MEANS EVERYONE ELSE….
…. But even as Obama has been forced to put aside his understanding of what governing means, Clinton's point is still valid. When it comes to getting the deal done, it's very difficult to go around the presidency, and it's very easy for the president to declare victory even after a failure. OBAMA MAY NOT BE BRINGING MUCH TO THE TABLE, BUT IT REMAINS HIS TABLE — BECAUSE IT CAME WITH THE OFFICE.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-goldberg-obamashrinkage-20110712,0,417379.column
Obama is basically history barring a miracle in the next 15 months. But like a pothole on the street, you have to navigate around it until you can get it fixed.
Hume sees parallels of Fast and Furious and Watergate
Although it hasn’t gotten much mainstream media attention, the Operation Fast and Furious scandal COULD RANK UP THERE WITH THE NIXON ADMINISTRATION COVER-UP OF THE WATERGATE BREAK-IN, according to Fox News senior political analyst Brit Hume.
During the web exclusive “Panel Plus” segment of “Fox News Sunday,” Hume said that this scandal begs the question of what Obama Attorney General Eric Holder knew about Operation Fast and Furious and when did he know it.
“THIS IS A REAL SCANDAL,” HUME SAID. “AND ONCE AGAIN, WE HAVE THE CLASSIC QUESTION OF WHAT DID THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, FOR EXAMPLE, KNOW? WHEN DID HE KNOW IT?”
Hume likened Obama’s handling of the scandal to that of Nixon’s handling of Watergate, which ultimately resulted in Nixon’s resignation.
“This Obama Justice Department reminds me of nothing so much as the Nixon Justice Department,” he said. “YOU HAVE THE SCENT OF HIGH-LEVEL KNOWLEDGE OF SERIOUS WRONGDOING AND YOU HAVE THE SMELL OF COVER-UP AND I THINK THE STENCH OF COVER-UP ON THIS GUN-RUNNING OPERATION IS VERY STRONG INDEED.”
http://dailycaller.com/2011/07/10/hume-obama-handling-of-fast-and-furious-reminiscent-of-scandal-plagued-nixon-doj/#ixzz1RtYBpjbp
Remember, Nixon didn’t know in advance about Watergate, but he did conspire to cover it up. I wonder if Woodward is working on this one?
Michele Bachmann: Hate on the left
… Why the hate? The SECULAR FEMINIST WORLD VIEW WAS BUILT AROUND MULTIPLE DESTRUCTIVE CULTURAL LIES: motherhood is a barrier to self-actualization, orthodox religion traps women unhappily in the home, and the only real path to power and happiness is exploding, not upholding, traditional religious values. Yet a mother of five (with 23 foster children), happily married in a Christian family, and who proudly espouses the very traditional values most repugnant to the academic feminist Left is a leading candidate for the most powerful office in the world. SHE IS A LIVING REFUTATION OF THEIR FOUNDATIONAL BELIEFS, AND — LIKE SARAH PALIN — SHE MUST BE DESTROYED….
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/271682/first-sarah-palin-now-michele-bachmann-david-french
The pathetic bantering by the left about any conservative woman who dares to look like a presidential contender seems to be almost a virulent form of misogyny.
Stimulus spending
Paul Krugman now says that some kinds of Keynesian stimulus spending just aren’t as effective as other kinds. Specifically, he suggests, aid to state and local governments (to enable them to keep government workers in their jobs) is a sort of second-class stimulus:
So what happened to the stimulus? Much of it consisted of tax cuts, not spending. Most of the rest consisted either of aid to distressed families or aid to hard-pressed state and local governments. THIS AID MAY HAVE MITIGATED THE SLUMP, BUT IT WASN’T THE KIND OF JOB-CREATION PROGRAM WE COULD AND SHOULD HAVE HAD. [E.A.]
Hmm. That’s not what I remember him saying back in 2009. In 2009, if I remember right, job-preserving aid to state and local governments was almost the most important thing in the world. Let’s see … searching … searching … Sorry I’m a little rusty … searching … whoops, hit the Times paywall … searching … ah, yes:
Now the centrists have shaved off $86 billion in spending — much of it among THE MOST EFFECTIVE AND MOST NEEDED PARTS OF THE PLAN. IN PARTICULAR, AID TO STATE GOVERNMENTS, WHICH ARE IN DESPERATE STRAITS, IS BOTH FAST — BECAUSE IT PREVENTS SPENDING CUTS RATHER THAN HAVING TO START UP NEW PROJECTS — AND EFFECTIVE, BECAUSE IT WOULD IN FACT BE SPENT; plus state and local governments are cutting back on essentials, so the social value of this spending would be high. [E.A.]
I can’t find the part where he says “but in two years if it doesn’t work I’ll say it just wasn’t the right kind.”
http://dailycaller.com/2011/07/12/krugman-i-didnt-mean-that-stimulus/#ixzz1RuZNffXT
Here are some other “questionable” views of the stimulus. “
So then you get the argument, well, this is not a stimulus bill, THIS IS A SPENDING BILL. WHAT DO YOU THINK A STIMULUS IS? (Laughter and applause.) That’s the whole point. No, seriously. (Laughter.) That’s the point. (Applause.) Barack Obama 2/5/09 Williamsburg speech.
BHO was quite certain that any kind of spending was good and he proved his belief by the way he has been spending. However, it doesn’t seem to have worked.
“Let me say that unemployment insurance… is one of the biggest stimuluses (sic) to our economy. Economists will tell you, this money is spent quickly. It injects demand into the economy, and it’s job creating. It creates jobs faster than almost any other initiative you can name.” Nancy Pelosi June 2010
Nancy did this knee slapper last year.
Sebelius downplays importance of IPAB
Testifying before the House Budget Committee on Monday, Secretary of Health and Human Services KATHLEEN SEBELIUS DOWNPLAYED THE IMPORTANCE OF THE MEDICARE INDEPENDENT PAYMENT ADVISORY BOARD, which has been touted in the past by the administration as a central part of the strategy for containing the program's long-term costs.
Republicans have attacked the 15-member board of health care experts as a rationing panel that would have sweeping powers to impose changes to the program if Congress doesn't keep Medicare spending growth at certain targets.
Sebelius spent most of her opening statement explaining other changes to Medicare under the national health care law, before DESCRIBING IPAB AS A MERE "BACKSTOP MECHANISM" IN CASE THOSE CHANGES DON'T ACHIEVE THE NECESSARY COST SAVINGS. Under questioning from Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., Sebelius said "IPAB is irrelevant" if Congress does its job.
Her downplaying of the importance of IPAB SUGGESTS A RECOGNITION THAT IT HAS BECOME A POLITICAL LIABILITY, WITH EVEN SOME DEMOCRATS NOW CALLING FOR ITS REPEAL. President Obama made IPAB a key part of his April speech laying out his budget vision, not only touting it, but calling for it to be strengthened….
http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2011/07/sebelius-downplays-importance-ipab
IPAB—you’ll be hearing a lot more about this in the coming year.
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