Where are the jobs?

One in Four Democrats would like to say Good Bye to Obama

A new poll by CNN and ORC International finds that 27 PERCENT OF DEMOCRATS WOULD LIKE TO SEE THEIR PARTY NOMINATE A CANDIDATE OTHER THAN BARACK OBAMA FOR PRESIDENT IN 2012.

In response to the question, "Do you think the Democratic party should renominate Barack Obama as the party's candidate for president in 2012, or do you think the Democratic party should nominate a different candidate for president in 2012?" -- 72 percent said they wanted to see Obama renominated. But 27 percent, slightly more than one in every four, said they wanted to see Democrats nominate a different candidate. One percent had no opinion.

The poll was taken August 24-25. In a survey taken in early August, 28 percent of Democrats said they wanted a different candidate. POLLS TAKEN IN JULY AND BEFORE SHOWED OBAMA IN A STRONGER POSITION, WITH NO MORE THAN 22 PERCENT SAYING THEY PREFERRED A DIFFERENT CANDIDATE. The current poll is based on interviews with 463 Democrats and has a margin of error of 4.5 percent.

http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/one-four-democrats-wants-dump-obama

An interesting poll, but there is no way for the Democrats to dump Obama.  Its long term affect on their hold on the black community would preclude that. 

Where are the Jobs from the Stimulus?

….OBAMA TELLS US HIS STIMULUS PLAN WAS A BRILLIANT SUCCESS. Yes, it plunged us into economy-destroying debt and deficit. THE ALTERNATIVE WOULD HAVE BEEN WORSE, WE ARE TOLD. All three of my friends and family in financial straits are loyal Democrats, and they believe him. "OBAMA CREATED 2.5 MILLION JOBS," MY UNDEREMPLOYED FRIEND TELLS ME. "WITHOUT HIS POLICIES, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN MUCH WORSE."

"What are the jobs?" I asked him. Neither one of us had a clue.

We sat down together at the internet and did a Google search, 'stimulus job creation.'

WE FOUND OUT WHERE THE NUMBER 2.5 MILLION JOBS' CREATED OR SAVED' COMES FROM. IT COMES FROM A FORMULA. The formula comes from a theory. The formula says that for every dollar the government spends, 1.5 dollars' worth of economic activity is generated, and presto, jobs come out. The economic geniuses working for Obama want us to believe that by definition, since they spent almost a trillion dollars in 'stimulus', they automatically created 2.4 million jobs. This is called the multiplier effect.

The basic idea was that if the federal government prints and borrows money and sends it out, it will be spent, trickle through our economy, saving and creating unknown jobs as it goes. IT'S TRICKLE-DOWN ECONOMICS, OBAMA-STYLE. The benefit is temporary, because the government has to pay back its debt sometime, or collapse. Reagan's trickle-down economics turned on a spigot of private enterprise productivity and wealth creation, while Obama has created an ocean of debt….

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/08/where_are_the_25_million_jobs_mr_president.html

I do believe the Left’s religion is progressivism.  They cling to this jobs number like it is Holy Scripture and in a way it is.  It only exists on paper. 

Liberals biggest Fear

… THE TIPPING POINT PROVOKING THE LIBS' WORST NIGHTMARE WAS CONTAINED IN RICK PERRY'S SPEECH ANNOUNCING HIS CANDIDACY TO BE THE REPUBLICAN NOMINEE FOR PRESIDENT. Perry proclaimed his mission was not to make government more accountable, effective, or efficient -- that's standard issue bromide from populist reformers. NO, PERRY WAS BOLD ENOUGH, AND AS HIS CRITICS WILL ASSERT RECKLESS, TO SUGGEST GOVERNMENT SHOULD BE IRRELEVANT -- his words "as inconsequential to your lives as possible." This may be the most radical anti-government posture since Calvin Coolidge, leaning on the likes of Lord Acton:

There are many things the government can't do, many good purposes it must renounce. It must leave them to the enterprise of others. It cannot feed the people. It cannot enrich the people. It cannot teach the people.

THE LIBERAL PRESS ARE FRIGHTENED OUT OF THEIR WITS. Whether Perry is an authentic purebred limited government advocate may be debatable. No matter, he's close enough.

Perry's credibility as a governor, his disdain for Washington, his unapologetic and outspoken defense of conservative principles, his jobs and business climate record, all despite occasional lapses and rhetorical excesses -- in short HIS POPULARITY AND SUBSTANCE OVERCOMING HIS DEFECTS -- MAKE HIM THE CANDIDATE THE DEMS FEAR MOST. PERRY, MORE RUTHLESS, PRAGMATIC, AND PLAIN SPOKEN THAN ANY OF HIS RIVALS IS THE MOST LIKELY TO LEAD THE COMING DISMANTLING OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT MONSTROSITY….

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/08/what_liberals_fear_more_than_obama_losing.html

Watch the attacks come from everyone on the left.  They are truly frightened.  Not only is this not John Huntsman, this isn’t even Mitt Romney. 

Obamanomics 44%

Two polls are out today that give a glimpse of what the 2012 presidential election results may be. (Hint, this is not good news if your name is Arack-bay Obama-hay.) FIRST, A CNN POLL GAVE RICK PERRY A 13-POINT FOR THE REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION. THE SECOND POLL SHOWED A 15-POINT DROP IN CONSUMER CONFIDENCE IN THE LAST MONTH ALONE — as it dropped to its lowest point since April 2009, when we were in a recession. Flop sweat time has arrived in the White House.

From Tyler Durden: “The Is The Way The Hopium Ends: Not With A Bang, But With The Biggest Collapse In Future Consumer Expectations… Ever.”

From Reuters: “U.S. consumer confidence crumbled in August to its lowest level in more than two years as the fallout from political wrangling over a budget deal took its toll, according to a private sector report released Tuesday. THE CONFERENCE BOARD, AN INDUSTRY GROUP, SAID ITS INDEX OF CONSUMER ATTITUDES SANK TO 44.5 FROM A DOWNWARDLY REVISED 59.2 THE MONTH BEFORE. The index was well off a poll of economists by Reuters for a reading of 52.0. The index was at the lowest level since April 2009, the report said. July was originally reported as 59.5.”

Once again, economists got it wrong. They expected 52, it came in at 44.5 — when ANYTHING BELOW 50 MEANS WE ARE HEADED FOR A RECESSION....

http://blogs.dailymail.com/donsurber/archives/41277

Obama is toast.

A Vineyard Too Far

PEOPLE WHO RAIL AGAINST “FAT CATS” SHOULDN’T VACATION WITH THEM.

By Sunday afternoon, the GALLUP TRACKING POLL SHOWED A 17-POINT SPREAD IN THE PRESIDENT’S APPROVAL RATING — 38 PERCENT APPROVAL TO 55 PERCENT DISAPPROVAL. Such polls are fickle and can go up and down quickly, often depending on unwarranted and unfair perceptions and media hype, hinging on everything from hurricanes to killing bin Laden. That said, these recent abysmal numbers might suggest that for the first time, a considerable number of AMERICANS IS STARTING TO BE TURNED OFF NOT JUST BY BARACK OBAMA’S ECONOMIC POLICIES, BUT BY BARACK OBAMA HIMSELF. But why now?

THE PRESIDENT’S LATEST MARTHA’S VINEYARD VACATION WAS A PUBLIC-RELATIONS DISASTER, wholly unnecessary, and in part responsible for Obama’s most recent slide in the polls. Part of the problem was purely coincidental and no one’s fault: Who could have expected that while the president of the United States was resting on an exclusive private beach on a tony island on a calm August day, millions of Eastern Seaboarders around him would be engaged in a media-driven frenzy of emergency preparation and evacuation?

Yet most of the negative perception was the president’s own doing. FOR NEARLY THREE YEARS, THERE HAS BEEN SOMETHING STRANGE ABOUT THE FIRST FAMILY’S RITZY GETAWAY TASTES. THE ANNUAL MARTHA’S VINEYARD RENTALS WERE BOOKENDED BY FIRST FAMILY JUNKETS TO VAIL, COSTA DEL SOL, AND HAWAII. The choice of venues spawned at least three problems for the president that have nothing to do with the First Family’s right, and indeed duty, to enjoy a little well-earned vacation time — or with the fact that other presidents have vacationed in nice places.

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/275821/vineyard-too-far-victor-davis-hanson

Is Obama elitist?  Of course he is. 

Berkshire Hathaway Hasn’t Paid Its Taxes

Ironic, isn’t it? When Warren Buffett PENNED THAT OP-ED DEMANDING HE BE TAXED MORE, we assumed that meant he had actually paid his taxes. Not quite the case. Buffett’s famed company, Berkshire Hathaway, owes taxes that are nearly a decade old.

Oh, and they’re not denying it. BERKSHIRE IS FREELY OWNING UP TO THE FACT THAT IT OWES TAXES FROM AS FAR BACK AS 2002. Right now, it looks like there are outstanding taxes from 2002-2004 as well as from 2005-2009. They promise they’ll work it out with the IRS within the next year. Can’t Buffett just take a little out of his piggybank and pay up? For a man who so actively preaches honesty and integrity, we’re a little baffled as to why Berkshire won’t just fork over what it owes.

http://www.mogulite.com/berkshire-hathaway-taxes/

Well that answers the question of why he doesn’t just write a check to the government beyond what he owes.  He’s not writing a check for what he actually owes. 

New Mexico Governor Rushes to Undo the Agenda of Her Predecessor

When Gov. Susana Martinez of New Mexico HANDED OVER THE KEYS OF A STATE-OWNED JET TO A WEALTHY BUSINESSMAN AND HIS WIFE FOR $2.5 MILLION LAST WEEK, SHE WAS ELIMINATING ONE MORE REMNANT OF HER PREDECESSOR, BILL RICHARDSON.

“Last year, when I was running for governor, I not only promised taxpayers that I would not use this state jet as a personal air taxi, I promised New Mexicans across the state that I would get rid of this symbol of greed and excess in state government,” she said at a news conference on Thursday, with Richard and Linda Felland, the new owners of the plane, a 2005 Cessna Citation Bravo, by her side.

IN HER FIRST EIGHT MONTHS IN OFFICE, MS. MARTINEZ, A REPUBLICAN, HAS RARELY WASTED A CHANCE TO DIFFERENTIATE HERSELF FROM MR. RICHARDSON, THE ONCE-POPULAR DEMOCRAT WHO WOUND UP TWO TERMS AS GOVERNOR LAST YEAR WITH AN APPROVAL RATING IN THE WEEDS….

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/30/us/30martinez.html?_r=2

Read the article if you want to see what Governor Martinez is doing to change New Mexico.  She is conservative but also a populist (the left’s worst nightmare). 

What’s the Left Got Against the TEA Party?

Members of the black caucus are on a mission, a mission of making themselves completely irrelevant. And I must give them credit; they are doing a masterful job of it. I'm sure you've already heard THE ALWAYS DELIGHTFUL CONGRESSWOMAN MAXINE WATERS' (D-CALIF.) INSIGHTFUL COMMENTS CONCERNING THE TEA PARTY, WHERE SHE INVITES THEM TO 'GO TO HELL'. And not to be outdone in the arena of well thought out debate, we find CONGRESSWOMAN FREDERICA WILSON (D-FLA.) INDICATING TO HER CONSTITUENTS IN MIAMI THAT THE 'REAL ENEMY' IS (YOU GUESSED IT) THE TEA PARTY AGAIN.

And these are just a few of our esteemed members of congress who hold this view of the tea party. Now, I AM NOT ONE TO SHIRK AN ARGUMENT, BUT IF ALL THE OTHER SIDE HAS IS NAME CALLING AND DISPARAGING REMARKS THERE IS NO DISCUSSION TO BE HAD. That being said, the issue these folks have with the tea party goes much deeper that a difference of opinion. In fact it goes to the core of the liberal's power base. IF THE TEA PARTY SUCCEEDS IN REDUCING THE LEVEL OF GOVERNMENT INVOLVEMENT IN EVERYONE'S LIVES, THEN THE GAME IS TRULY UP FOR WATERS AND HER ILK.
Why? Simple, she and HER CONSTITUENTS HAVE ENJOYED UNLIMITED ACCESS TO THE TREASURY FOR OVER FORTY YEARS WITHOUT HAVING TO PARTICIPATE FULLY IN THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS. And now, here comes these dastardly tea partiers trying to upset the gravy train. Unbelievably to the liberal side of the aisle, the tea party can't be bought off. No, THEY DO NOT WANT ACCESS TO THE TREASURY; THEY SIMPLY WANT TO KEEP SOME OF WHAT THEY EARN….

http://derek-alexander.blogspot.com/2011/08/insults-are-last-refuge-of-out-argued.html

In the movie, Braveheart, Mel Gibson’s character, William Wallace, is approached by the princess of England, Isabella, and offered gold and a title to desist in his crusade against Longshanks.  She tells him “This is the way peace is made.”  He responds angrily, “Slaves are made in such ways.”   This is the problem the Democrats have with the TEA party.  They can’t be bought off because they know “Slaves are made in such ways.”

Another Anti-Science Move By The Left

....Johnson, professor of applied mathematics at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, had been asked by the SOCIÉTÉ EUROPÉENNE DES INGÉNIEURS ET INDUSTRIELS (European Society of Engineers and Industrialists) to participate (along with Fred Singer) in discussions on climate science in Brussels Sept 1-2.

SPOOKED, AN IPCC HIGHER-UP INTERVENED AND CANCELLED THE DISCUSSION – obviously too much scientific dissent over a science that can no longer take it.

Johnson got the following letter from the SEII dated August 20 signaling a coming invitation:

SEII (Société Européenne des Ingénieurs et Industriels, Prof Henri Masson) organizes a conference for Fred Singer and Claes Johnson at the Fondation Universitaire in Brussels on September 1, at 18.00 h. Official invitation from SEII follows by E-mail.

The next day 2 September there will be a workshop with some of our Think Tank. Our preliminary programme looks as follows:

- 18.15 S. Fred Singer: What is new in climate change?

- 19.00 Claes Johnson: Blackbody radiation and Climate Thermodynamics

- 19.45 to 20.30: Questions and Answers”

BUT FOR JOHNSON, THE INVITATION NEVER CAME. Instead a letter (written in French) was sent August 22 by IPCC Vice Chair Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, who is also a member of the Belgium Royal Academy, was sent to the Fondation Universitaire.

THE EFFECT OF THE LETTER: THE SEII/FONDATION UNIVERSITAIRE SEMINAR WAS CANCELLED....

http://notrickszone.com/2011/08/30/ipcc-vice-chai-van-ypersele-suppresses-open-scientific-inquiry-disallows-critical-debate/

The left likes to think they are pro-science and the right is anti-science.  However, free debate is a hallmark of science.  Look at the left in this regard.  From Al Gore calling skeptics points bull shit, to James Hansen looking for industrialists to be put on trial, the left is rabidly anti-science when it comes to the Climate. 

Wind farms under fire for bird kills

…SIX BIRDS FOUND DEAD RECENTLY IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA’S TEHACHAPI MOUNTAINS WERE MAJESTIC GOLDEN EAGLES. But some bird watchers say that in an area where dozens of wind turbines slice the air they were also sitting ducks.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is investigating to determine what killed the big raptors, and declined to divulge the conditions of the remains. But THE LIKELY CAUSE OF DEATH IS NO MYSTERY TO WILDLIFE BIOLOGISTS WHO SAY THEY WERE PROBABLY CLIPPED BY THE BLADES OF SOME OF THE 80 WIND TURBINES AT THE THREE-YEAR-OLD PINE TREE WIND FARM PROJECT, operated by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

As the Obama administration pushes to develop enough wind power to provide 20 percent of America’s energy by 2030, some bird advocates worry that the grim discovery of the eagles this month will be a far more common occurrence.

WINDMILLS KILL NEARLY HALF A MILLION BIRDS A YEAR, ACCORDING TO A FISH AND WILDLIFE ESTIMATE. The American Bird Conservancy projected that the number could more than double in 20 years if the administration realizes its goal for wind power….

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/wind-farms-under-fire-for-bird-kills/2011/08/25/gIQAP0bVlJ_story.html

Can you imagine the uproar if it were a mine or an oilfield that killed six golden eagles? 

Living on minimum wage: Not really

The Truman Temptation

George F. Will says the president is, quite implausibly, attempting to mimic Truman’s 1948 reelection strategy. “The president really is tiptoeing up to the Truman temptation,” he says. Will tells ABCNews.com that Obama trying to “go back to 1948″ and run against a “do-nothing Congress.” This, he predicts in his usual manner, will not work.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner

This is a pretty good video.

Obama Won’t Have a Real “Jobs Program”

…HIS SPEECH WILL NOT BE ABOUT JOBS. INSTEAD, IT WILL BE A CAMPAIGN SPEECH IN DISGUISE.

Obama cannot propose a real jobs program. His constituents would rebel. A REAL JOBS PROGRAM ATTACKS TOO MANY OF THE CORE BELIEFS OF HIS PARTY, SUCH AS MINIMUM WAGES AND HIGHER TAXES ON THE BETTER OFF. Even if his presidency rested on it, Obama couldn’t emulate Bill Clinton’s 1996 Welfare Reform Act that triangulated him from his own party. There is no way for Obama to enunciate the equivalent of Clinton’s “We must end welfare as we know it.” His core beliefs rule out such a dramatic move to the center.

However, IF OBAMA REALLY WISHED TO CREATE JOBS, HE MUST:

1. CONVINCE THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY THAT THE PRESIDENT IS NOT ANTI-BUSINESS BY:

• Requesting the resignation of the entire National Labor Relations Board …

2. TAKE ALL STEPS NECESSARY TO HOLD DOWN THE PRICE OF ENERGY. The President should remind us that increasing energy costs are job killers as we learned in the 1970s and 1980s. Among the specific steps he should propose:

• Drop the EPA’s most recent rulings against coal-fired electricity….

3. CREATE ECONOMIC CONDITIONS THAT ENCOURAGE BUSINESSES TO HIRE AND THE UNEMPLOYED TO SEEK AND ACCEPT JOBS. To do this, the president should:

• Not extend unemployment insurance. Empirical studies show that the unemployed find jobs shortly before their unemployment insurance expires. Further extensions will keep the unemployment rate high….

4. INSTEAD OF TRYING TO PROP UP THE OVERBUILT HOUSING MARKET, THE PRESIDENT SHOULD PROPOSE MEASURES TO ALLOW THE ECONOMY TO WORK OFF ITS EXCESS INVENTORIES of housing and to find a bottom in housing prices. Only after the bottom is reached will construction resume. To do this, he should:

• Establish the equivalent of the Resolution Trust Corporation of the 1989 to 1995 period to sell off the stock of foreclosed homes quickly so as to achieve a bottom in the real estate market.

• Announce a credible plan for the liquidation of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. …

5. THE PRESIDENT SHOULD REDUCE THE UNCERTAINTY WITHIN HOUSEHOLDS AND BUSINESSES caused by excessive government spending, deficits, and uncertain future tax liabilities. To do this, he should:

• Support the extension of the Bush tax cuts so that businesses and households have clarity as to their future tax obligations…
.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/paulroderickgregory/2011/08/28/why-obama-cant-support-a-real-jobs-program/

This is a very good article. I’ve given only the highlights. For more specifics go to the article and see what author suggest. If you have any other suggestions I invite you to leave them in the comments section.

Fanniegate: Gamechanger For The GOP?

…The Tea Party WMD stockpile is currently stored in book form: RECKLESS ENDANGERMENT: HOW OUTSIZED AMBITION, GREED, AND CORRUPTION LED TO ECONOMIC ARMAGEDDON. By Gretchen Morgenson, one of America’s best business journalists who is currently at The New York Times, and noted financial analyst Joshua Rosner, Reckless Endangerment gives the best available account of how the growing chaos in the mortgage and personal finance markets and the rampant bundling of dubious loans into exotically toxic securities plunged the world, and millions of American families, into the gravest financial crisis since World War Two. It is gripping reading as well, and its explanations are clear enough that readers without any background in finance will have no trouble following the plot. THE VILLAINS? AN UNHOLY ALLIANCE BETWEEN WALL STREET, THE DEMOCRATIC ESTABLISHMENT, COMMUNITY ORGANIZING GROUPS LIKE ACORN AND LA RAZA, AND POLITICIANS LIKE BARNEY FRANK, NANCY PELOSI AND HENRY CISNEROS. (Frank got a cushy job for a lover, Pelosi got a job and layoff protection for a son, Cisneros apparently got a license to mint money bilking Mexican-Americans of their life savings in cheesy housing developments.)

If the GOP can make this narrative mainstream, and put this picture into the heads of voters nationwide, the Democrats are toast. The party will have to reinvent itself (or as often happens in American politics, be rescued by equally stupid Republican missteps) before it can flourish.
If Morgenstern and Rosner are to be believed, THE AMERICAN DREAM DIDN’T DIE OF OLD AGE; IT WAS MURDERED AND MOST OF THE FINGERPRINTS ON THE CORPSE COME FROM DEMOCRATIC INSIDERS. Democratic power brokers stoked the housing bubble and turned a blind eye to the increasingly rampant corruption and incompetence at Fannie Mae and the associated predatory lenders who sheltered under its umbrella; core Democratic ideas may well be at fault….

….The Morgenson/Rosner story is a simple and easily grasped one. It is made for campaign ads. THE GREAT VILLAIN, THE MAN WHO ALMOST RUINED AMERICA ACCORDING TO THE BOOK, IS JAMES JOHNSON, long one of the most important members of the Democratic establishment. He ran Walter Mondale’s campaign. He chaired John Kerry’s search for a vice-president — the brilliantly executed search that chose the revered anti-poverty warrior John Edwards….

http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2011/06/07/fanniegate-gamechanger-for-the-gop/

Try putting this forward and the liberals come after you with a hatchet. It was the Republicans according to them who removed regulations that led to this disaster. However, the only financial regulations acted upon during the 8 year Bush Presidency was the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 which required more disclosure and held employees criminally responsible for many of the disclosure required by the bill. Also when Bush tried to tighten up on Fannie and Freddie it was the Democrats who defeated this effort

Comparing Perry to?

While some wonder whether GOV. RICK PERRY’S RED-HOT RISE IN THE POLLS MAY COOL AS QUICKLY AS THE FORTUNES OF FRED THOMPSON AND WES CLARK BEFORE HIM, others see a more apt comparison to a different late-starting candidate.

He was a governor and natural politician with a knack for working the crowds. He was late to join what was seen as a less-than-stirring field, and he had a laser focus on the economy. PERRY MIGHT NOT APPRECIATE HIS POLITICS, BUT HE’D SURE LIKE TO EMULATE HOW BILL CLINTON CHANGED HIS ADDRESS IN 1992.

“Perry wouldn’t necessarily like the comparison, but he may turn out to be the Republican Bill Clinton for ’12,” said Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.

There are clear differences — a Rhodes scholar who tacked to the center versus a proud Aggie decidedly on the right — but it’s the political path to which Sabato refers.

“Clinton wasn’t the winner in either Iowa or New Hampshire (though he finished second in New Hampshire and called himself the ‘comeback kid’ after his controversies had cost him). CLINTON FINALLY STARTED MOVING WHEN THE BATTLES MOVED SOUTH. IN THAT YEAR, THE KEY FIRST RACE WAS GEORGIA, WHICH CLINTON WON. IN 2012 IT WILL BE SOUTH CAROLINA,” SABATO SAID….

http://blog.chron.com/rickperry/2011/08/commentary-rick-perry-is-as-natural-on-the-stump-as-clinton-was/

I remember being on a plane and talking with a young political operative for Clinton in 1991. He was gushing over how charming and in touch Bill Clinton was. If Perry gets this kind of a response in a year where Obama’s record is so bad, it could be a landslide for the GOP.


Living on minimum wage

MICHELE BACHMANN ANNOUNCED THAT SHE WOULD CONSIDER REDUCING MINIMUM WAGE AS A MEANS OF INCREASING EMPLOYMENT. …

…ACTUALLY, MINIMUM WAGE IS NOT ALL THAT BAD. WITH STATE AND FEDERAL AID, A $7.25 AN HOUR WORKER GETS $14 AN HOUR IN PAY AND BENEFITS FROM TAXPAYERS AND HER EMPLOYER.

Florida raised its minimum wage to $7.31 an hour on June 1, 2011. That would make 40 hours of work worth $292.40 a week. BACHMANN’S NET PAY WOULD BE $275.88 AFTER THE 5.65% FICA TAX. Next year, FICA is supposed to bounce back up to 7.65%, but we shall see. Florida has no state income tax and her income would be too low to pay federal income taxes to cut into that.

But wait, there is more. FOOD STAMPS WOULD INCREASE HER MONTHLY INCOME BY $133 — making her take home pay (based on 4.33 paydays per month — or 13 every 3 months) $306.57.

HER EITC — EARNED INCOME TAX CREDIT — WOULD BE APPROXIMATELY $2,600 A YEAR — OR $50 A WEEK, BRINGING HER UP TO $356.57.

Low-income people in her state are eligible for assistance on the heating or air conditioning bills. THIS RANGES FROM A MINIMUM OF $150 A YEAR TO $300. ROUND THAT OFF TO $156 A YEAR AND SHE GETS ANOTHER $3 A WEEK. Every little bit helps. Her take-home pay is now $359.57 a week or nearly $9 an hour tax-free. She also would be eligible for federal rent subsidies, which would stretch her wages even further.

ADD IN THE $10,000 A YEAR MEDICAID BENEFIT AND SHE IS HAULING IN $14 AN HOUR, or about double what her apparent pay is. Don’t knock Medicaid. It is first dollar coverage, unlimited with no deductions.

In actual cash, she would have $275.88 a week, plus $30.71 in food stamps. Federal subsidies would cap her rent at 30% of her pay. Each spring she would collect a $2,600 bonus from the IRS in the form of that EITC. If she has any children under 18, she would get better benefits including a $1,000 per kid annual gift from the IRS, more food stamps and free meals for the children when they are old enough for school at age 4….

http://blogs.dailymail.com/donsurber/archives/41107

We have a fairly generous safety net to go along with minimum wage. We spend on average 16,000 per person who fall under the poverty line ($22,000 for a family of 4—that would be approximately $11 per hour).

Trumka's bold bid

Trumka’s Bold Bid

….OBAMA'S ADMINISTRATION HAS ALSO TAKEN UNPRECEDENTED, PERHAPS EVEN ILLEGAL, steps to cater to Trumka's insatiable demands for ever more union privileges, including A $60 BILLION DOLLAR TAX BREAK UNDER THE OBAMACARE WAIVERS from ObamaCare 's provisions; an unprecedented NLRB DRIVE TO PREVENT BOEING FROM MOVING SOME OF ITS OPERATIONS TO ANOTHER STATE which more favorable labor conditions; the buy up with tax dollars of failing auto companies to save the UAW benefits at the expense of share holders.

And now -- here's the deliciously ironic part -- Obama is about to learn what I did from Trumka: with him, things rarely turn out as your might expect.

THURSDAY TRUMKA ANNOUNCED THAT LABOR IS SCALING BACK THEIR INVOLVEMENT WITH THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY.

Let's assume we spent $100 in the last election," he said, explaining the union's position.
"The day after Election Day, we were no stronger than we were the day before," said Trumka. "If we had spent that [$100] on creating a structure for working people that would be there year round, then we are stronger."

Hot Air outlines what a disaster this could be for Obama and his party:

THAT'S NOT JUST AN EXPRESSION OF DISAPPROVAL WITH THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY. IT'S A PUBLIC VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE. Unions spent heavily in the 2010 midterm elections; they accounted for three of the top five high-spending outside groups in that cycle. They also spent tens of millions of dollars in Wisconsin this year in an attempt to wrest control of the state Senate away from Republicans, and failed to achieve their objective. TRUMKA'S COMMENTS MAKE IT CLEAR THAT HE DOESN'T SEE A GREAT PROSPECT OF ELECTORAL SUCCESS IN 2012, EITHER.[snip] This puts the AFL-CIO into a position where the creation of a third party is not just a theoretical possibility, but perhaps a likely outcome. [snip] [T]he unions have a mostly-mandated grip on the pockets of their members, thanks to closed-shop rules in many areas of the country. They can generate hundreds of millions of dollars for elections and candidate recruitment, especially in areas of high union concentration. UNIONS MIGHT NOT BE STRONG ENOUGH TO RUN THEIR OWN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, BUT THEY COULD WIN HOUSE SEATS AND PERHAPS A FEW SENATE SEATS AS WELL, or more likely just provide a competitive third choice for voters. In fact, there's really no other way to read Trumka's statement but as a threat to compete with the Democratic Party on their own terms.

And that's where the Democratic Party will suffer most. If unions start running well-funded alternative candidates, THE VOTE WILL SPLIT AND ALLOW REPUBLICANS TO MAKE GAINS IN CONGRESS AND IN STATE LEGISLATURES. EITHER DEMOCRATS WILL HAVE TO START ENDORSING UNION CANDIDATES OR START FALLING HOPELESSLY BEHIND THE GOP IN POWER....

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/08/will_the_democrats_trump_trumka.html

This is a very interesting article that I highly recommend you read. It talks about the corruption in the Unions and the chokehold they have on the Democratic Party. If Trumka thinks 2012 is lost (which it most likely is ) he might sit the election out and hold the union money for his own political use.

Editorial: Green jobs revealed as fiscal black hole

The faddish obsession with "green jobs" is being revealed as a massive waste of taxpayer money.
Pipe dreams eventually are revealed for what they are – unrealistic, wishful thinking. It didn't take long for Spain's touted green-job revolution to be revealed as a financial disaster, siphoning taxpayer subsidies and destroying 2.2 real jobs for every green job created.

DOMESTIC GREEN-JOB PIPE DREAMS SIMILARLY DRAIN U.S. TAXPAYERS' MONEY INTO ECONOMIC SINK HOLES. THE MILLIONS OF SO-CALLED GREEN JOBS PROMISED BY PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA AND OTHER CHAMPIONS OF TAXPAYER-SUBSIDIZED ENERGY SCHEMES NOT ONLY HAVEN'T MATERIALIZED, MANY THAT DID, ALREADY ARE DISAPPEARING.

It's truly a bad sign for the green-job revolution when failure becomes obvious even to acolytes.
"All this talk about the green jobs never materialized," liberal Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters of Los Angeles recently complained.

THE NEW YORK TIMES rubbed salt in the wound when it reported in July that the nonpartisan BROOKINGS INSTITUTION FOUND CLEAN-TECHNOLOGY JOBS ACCOUNTED FOR ONLY 2 PERCENT OF JOBS NATIONWIDE. "Federal and state efforts to stimulate creation of green jobs have largely failed, government records show," according to a Times article from a San Francisco news outlet….

http://articles.ocregister.com/2011-08-25/news/29933040_1_green-jobs-new-jobs-job-losses

Green jobs are pipe dreams of the left much like Keynesian economics. It seems that you can’t get something for nothing.



Just How Smart Is Obama?

On November 16, 1990, Barack Obama, then president of the Harvard Law Review, published a letter in the Harvard Law Record, an independent Harvard Law School newspaper, championing affirmative action.

Although a paragraph from this letter was excerpted in David Remnick's biography of Obama, The Bridge, I had not seen the letter in its entirety before this week. Not surprisingly, it confirms everything I know about Barack Obama, the writer and thinker…..

….The response is classic Obama: patronizing, dishonest, syntactically muddled, and grammatically challenged. In the very first sentence Obama leads with his signature failing, one on full display in his earlier published work: his inability to make subject and predicate agree…

…In a similar vein, Barack Obama was named an editor of the Harvard Law Review. Although his description of the Law Review's selection process defies easy comprehension, apparently, after the best candidates are chosen, there remains "a pool of qualified candidates whose grades or writing competition scores do not significantly differ." These sound like the kids at Lake Woebegone, all above average. Out of this pool, Obama continues, "the Selection Committee may take race or physical handicap into account."

To his credit, Obama concedes that he "may have benefited from the Law Review's affirmative action policy." This did not strike him as unusual as he "undoubtedly benefited from affirmative action programs during my academic career."…

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/08/early_obama_letter_confirms_inability_to_write.html

This is an interesting look at BHO’s background and ability which may give us a clue as to why he’s doing such a poor job as President.


The Ticket Obama Fears the Most

…IF SENATOR RUBIO BECOMES THE RUNNING MATE OF GOVERNOR PERRY, WHICH I BELIEVE IS INCREASINGLY LIKELY, PRESIDENT OBAMA COULD FACE HIS WORST ELECTORAL NIGHTMARE. At the outset, BOTH MEN ARE EXCELLENT CAMPAIGNERS -- ARTICULATE, LIKEABLE, ATTRACTIVE, and accustomed to winning elections in the diverse and large populations of Texas and Florida. Unlike Republican nominees since Reagan, Rick Perry knows how to work crowds. Perry, like Rubio, has never lost a political race. Although it is a relatively small section of his resume, his time successfully selling Bible reference books door-to-door may be as important as background in running for president.

Both Perry and Rubio have LIFE STORIES WHICH DEMONSTRATE THAT THE AMERICAN DREAM REALLY WORKS. Perry grew up on a cotton tenant farm in the middle of nowhere and worked hard up every step in his path to success. Rubio's parents worked in menial jobs so that their son could have a better life. Imagine Rubio campaigning in Las Vegas, where his parents worked like so many Hispanics today, cleaning rooms and tending bars. The greatest impact of these life stories is that THE REPUBLICAN TICKET COULD SAY JUST HOW POOR PEOPLE NEED NOT STAY POOR IF GOVERNMENT GETS OUT OF THE WAY.

Perry and Rubio are both social and economic conservatives. The left tries to downplay the appeal of social conservatism, but to take just a single social conservative issue, abortion, the latest Rasmussen Poll shows that 55% of Americans believe that abortion is morally wrong while only 30% believe that abortion is morally acceptable and 41% of Americans believe that it is too easy to get an abortion in America while only 14% believe that it is too hard to get an abortion. The vanilla question about whether Americans are "pro-choice" or "pro-life" is meaningless, if Republican candidates have the gumption to ask Obama in a debate whether he believes abortion is moral or immoral -- leaving the question of federal policy on abortion aside….

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/08/the_ticket_obama_fears_most.html

The Republican bench for the nomination is portrayed by the MSM as bad (except for Huntsman) when in reality it is terrific.

Boeing 787 Dreamliner is certified

The Dream is Here

The flight testing is done, the FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION HAS ISSUED ITS APPROVAL AND AS OF TODAY BOEING CAN SAY THE 787 DREAMLINER IS CERTIFIED TO CARRY PASSENGERS.

The FAA presented Boeing with a type certificate and production certificate for the innovative composite airliner during a ceremony at Boeing’s factory north of Seattle. The pieces of paper mean the Dreamliner can begin commercial service, and they represent the culmination of several billion dollars of investment for the aerospace giant and almost as many headaches.

Boeing attempted a grand experiment with the Dreamliner, one that proved far more difficult to execute than anyone imagined. THE 787 PROJECT TOOK MORE THAN THREE YEARS LONGER THAN EXPECTED, AND THE DELAYS COST BOEING UNTOLD AMOUNTS OF MONEY IN LOST SALES. STILL, THE COMPANY HAS ORDERS FOR MORE THAN 800 DREAMLINERS and hopes customers will find the airplane was worth waiting for.

“This is going to be an airplane that changes the game,” Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Jim Albaugh told the crowd gathered around the first 787, airplane ZA001. “Once our customers get this airplane, I think they’ll forgive us for the fact that it was a little bit late.”

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2011/08/feds-sign-off-on-boeings-787-dreamliner/

I’m anxious for this to come out. It looks awesome. 


Full Disclosure?

There is a breezy article in The New Republic by Walter Shapiro about WHY RICK PERRY TERRIFIES LIBERALS SUCH AS HIMSELF. THE TITLE IS “RICK PERRY: THE GOD-FEARING, KNOW-NOTHING, PISTOL-PACKING EMBODIMENT OF LIBERALS’ WORST NIGHTMARES.” It is written (rather well) in a sort of self-parodying liberal style. But at one point even the caricature breaks down:

Anti-Intellectualism. Liberals revere high SAT scores. That is why it is no accident that, over the past century, the Democrats have nominated for president five former college or law school professors (Woodrow Wilson, John W. Davis, George McGovern, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama) plus Hubert Humphrey, who was a graduate teaching fellow while working on a Ph.D.

DEMOCRATS SNOOTILY RIDICULED GEORGE W. BUSH’S SCHOLARLY PERFORMANCE, BUT COMPARED TO PERRY, THE 43RD PRESIDENT—WHO EARNED A B.A. FROM YALE AND A HARVARD M.B.A.—SEEMS AS WELL EDUCATED AS JOHN STUART MILL. And Perry revels in this kind of comparison. Asked last week about how he differs from Bush, he tellingly replied, “He’s a Yale graduate. I’m a Texas A&M graduate.”

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/275653/full-disclosure-victor-davis-hanson


Liberals have this distorted view of themselves as intellectuals. But actually they are ruled much more by their emotions and far less by the intellect. But they have this delusion and one thing you will never see is a comparison of Perry’s grade to Obama’s grades. It goes along with the old saying, “If you can’t stand the answer, you don’t ask the question.”


UCLA Professor: Without Media Bias the Average US State Would Vote Like Texas or Tennessee

Dr. Tim Groseclose is the Marvin Hoffenberg Professor of American Politics at UCLA. He has joint appointments in the political science and economics departments and has held previous faculty appointments at Caltech, Stanford University, Ohio State University, Harvard University, and Carnegie Mellon University.

Tim released the book Left Turn recently and was on Hannity with Senator Fred Thompson on Friday night to discuss the book.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=1ca_1314455872

Interesting. As opposed to “What’s the Matter with Kansas?” we see that the country is voting far more liberally than it would without the media bias. So perhaps the question should be “What’s the Matter with California?” Nah, that would be too long a list.

Why hate Perry and the Democrats Union delimma

Thought for today

Pro golfer Paul Azinger thinks President Obama might be hitting the links a bit too hard.

The author, businessman and 12-time PGA Tour winner took to Twitter Thursday to zing the commander-in-chief over his frequent golf outings while on vacation in Martha's Vineyard.

"Facts: POTUS HAS PLAYED MORE GOLF THIS MONTH THAN I HAVE: I HAVE CREATED MORE JOBS THIS MONTH THAN HE HAS," AZINGER WROTE.



One Reason the Left Hates Perry


… Well, for starters, Texas has been on the road to commonsense tort reform since the 1990's, trying to end the state's long reign as a favored trial lawyers' venue. Back then, Texas was ranked dead last by insurance companies because of its propensity for hugely unrealistic awards in civil suits. For far too many years, plaintiffs' lawyers from across America sought the most tenuous ties between their causes of action and friendly Texas courtrooms. In certain areas of Texas, juries comprised primarily of poor and uneducated minorities sometimes handed out enormous awards to undeserving plaintiffs for the most outrageous reasons. Cunning plaintiffs' lawyers all too frequently convinced honest but unsophisticated jurors that their verdict was the little guy's chance to stick it to THE MAN, meaning large corporations and those they perceived as THE RICH, such as doctors and business owners. IT WAS THE SAME CLASS WARFARE NOW BEING CONDUCTED EVERYWHERE BY THE DEMOCRATS, BUT THEN TARGETED ON A SPECIFIC REGION WHERE THE NATIVE POPULISM AND POVERTY MADE IT TOO READILY ACCEPTED.

Throughout his governorship, Rick Perry has continued to deny the law dogs their gravy train by enacting ever stronger tort reforms. But what is more important than a victory for social justice is THAT IN BRINGING THESE FAT DOGS OF TORT TO HEEL, TEXAS HAS BECOME THE PROVING GROUND FOR THE LONG-VOICED CONTENTION OF THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY THAT TORT REFORM BRINGS POSITIVE ECONOMIC BENEFITS to society as a whole. Rather than a few trial lawyers being able to buy private jets and sumptuous villas in exotic climes, the economy of an entire state has been lifted. A study by The Perryman Group of Waco found:

The total impact of tort reforms implemented SINCE 1995 INCLUDES GAINS OF $112.5 BILLION IN SPENDING EACH YEAR AS WELL AS ALMOST 499,000 JOBS IN THE STATE….

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/08/texas_tames_the_dogs_of_tort.html

The more I find out about Rick Perry the more I like him. Expect the Democrats to go after him like he is the incarnation of Satan.

Fracking: How the Left Ignores Science

EPA bureaucrats and Green Avengers perpetrate a daily nonsensical assault touting the grave consequences of fracking fluid and its secret ingredients. Carnival barkers in the media blindly parrot fear-mongering articles from such noble sounding groups as "Natural Resources Defense Council," WITHOUT OFFERING A SINGLE SHRED OF SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE TO SUBSTANTIATE THEIR RUSE. THE FORGONE CONCLUSION IS THAT HYDRO-FRACKING WILL DESTROY THE ECOSYSTEM AND MUST BE STOPPED; NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH.

Hydro-fracking has a long history of success. FIRST INTRODUCED IN 1908, FORTY YEARS LATER IT BECAME A COMMERCIALLY VIABLE METHOD TO SAFELY EXTRACT AMERICA'S MOST ABUNDANT ENERGY FROM BEDROCK STRATA. OVER ONE MILLION GAS WELLS HAVE BEEN FRACKED WITHOUT A SINGLE INCIDENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT. This didn't stop Ian Urbina of the New York Times from citing a case from 1984 in an Aug 2011 article warning of tainted water and the possibility of benzene in fracking fluid.

FRACKING FLUID SECRET INGREDIENTS ARE NOT SECRET AT ALL. EPA and state government Dept. of Environmental Conservation agencies require energy companies to file Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) for every chemical used on the drill site, period….

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/08/fracking_fluid_fear-mongering_farce.html

Here’s another example of the left’s anti-science mindset. With no proof at all they want to be energy luddites.


Why we need the Government

…According to the story, "Every day, children in every county in the United States wake up hungry. They go to school hungry. They turn out the lights at night hungry ... TO PUT IT ANOTHER WAY, ONE IN FOUR CHILDREN IN THE (U.S.) IS LIVING WITHOUT CONSISTENT ACCESS TO ENOUGH NUTRITIOUS FOOD TO LIVE A HEALTHY LIFE."

Yet, barely a year ago, in February of 2010, the Washington Times revealed that "NEARLY ONE-THIRD OF U.S. CHILDREN ARE OVERWEIGHT OR OBESE -- a rate that has tripled among adolescents and doubled in younger children over the past 30 years. In addition, one-third of children born in 2000 or later eventually will suffer from diabetes, according to the White House."
THUS WE END UP WITH MICHELLE OBAMA INVOLVED IN POLICY AND GET BOMBARDED WITH MESSAGES OF "LET'S MOVE!" WE ALSO END UP WITH SCHOOL SYSTEMS TELLING CHILDREN THAT THEY CAN'T BRING THEIR OWN LUNCH TO SCHOOL.

So, in barely a year we've gone from one-third of all U.S. children being overweight or obese to one-fourth of them continuously being hungry….

….If one wants more government, the quickest way to such an end is to create a "crisis" that only government can solve. After all, THERE IS NO WAY THAT WE CAN FIGHT OBESITY AND HUNGER WITHOUT THE GOVERNMENT, RIGHT? Evidently not, because, again according to the ABC report, "a shocking 49 percent of all babies born in the U.S. are born to families receiving food supplements from the WIC program," which is operated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture….

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/08/the_war_on_liberal_contradictions.html

The first thing we have to do to get the government involved is to create a problem. Hence you have the obesity/hunger here and we had the fracking crisis above. Neither have any scientific evidence to support what the left is saying (well we do know that 1/3 of the kids are obese), but by creating the impression of a problem, the left can then create the impression the government is doing something to alleviate it.


Lessons from Wisconsin

… During the recall tumult, unions barely mentioned either their supposed grievance about collective bargaining, or their real fears, which concern money, particularly political money. TEACHERS UNIONS CAN NO LONGER BARGAIN TO REQUIRE SCHOOL DISTRICTS TO PURCHASE TEACHERS’ HEALTH INSURANCE FROM THE UNION’S PREFERRED PROVIDER, WHICH IS ESPECIALLY EXPENSIVE. This is saving millions of dollars and reducing teacher layoffs. Also, unions must hold annual recertification votes.

AND TEACHERS UNIONS MAY NO LONGER AUTOMATICALLY DEDUCT DUES FROM MEMBERS’ PAYCHECKS. After Colorado in 2001 required public employees unions to have annual votes reauthorizing collection of dues, membership in the Colorado Association of Public Employees declined 70 percent. IN 2005, INDIANA STOPPED COLLECTING DUES FROM UNIONIZED PUBLIC EMPLOYEES; IN 2011, THERE ARE 90 PERCENT FEWER DUES-PAYING MEMBERS. In Utah, the end of automatic dues deductions for political activities in 2001 caused teachers’ payments to fall 90 percent. After a similar law passed in 1992 in Washington State, the percentage of teachers making such contributions declined from 82 to 11.

DEMOCRATS FURIOUSLY OPPOSE WALKER BECAUSE PUBLIC EMPLOYEES UNIONS ARE TRANSMISSION BELTS, CONVEYING MONEY TO THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY. Last year, $11.2 million in union dues was withheld from paychecks of Wisconsin’s executive branch employees and $2.6 million from paychecks at the university across the lake. Having spent improvidently on the recall elections, the Wisconsin Education Association Council, the teachers union, is firing 40 percent of its staff.

Progressives want to recall Walker next year. Republicans hope they try.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/liberals-wisconsin-waterloo/2011/08/23/gIQArm5GcJ_story.html

Pay attention folks, because what is going on around the country is hammering the Democratic Party. Between the disaster that is Obama, the belt tightening of the public sector in the recession and movement to rein in the public employee unions, the Democratic Party is in dire circumstances. Expect to see a flailing, name calling, and negative campaigning like you’ve never seen before.

If You Won’t Save the Earth From CO2 for the Children: How about This?


It’s official: Space aliens are liberals, and they may be preparing to invade planet Earth. IT IS A SCENARIO OUTLINED BY A NASA-AFFILIATED SCIENTIST AND RESEARCHERS AT PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY. Unbelievably, the study is not a joke, although global laughter prompted its authors Thursday to insist it was meant to be. “Green” aliens are coming - and Al Gore may be one of their leaders.

In their report, “Would Contact With Extraterrestrials Benefit or Harm Humanity? A Scenario Analysis,” Shawn Domagal-Goldman of NASA's Planetary Science Division and his colleagues discuss the possible outcomes of a close encounter between aliens and humans. ONE OF THEIR LIKELY SCENARIOS IS THAT EXTRATERRESTRIAL-INTELLIGENCE (ETI) CONTACT WITH HUMANITY MAY COMPEL SPACE ALIENS TO WIPE US OUT. WHY? IN ORDER TO SAVE THE GALAXY FROM A CAPITALIST, INDUSTRIAL, POLLUTING CIVILIZATION THAT IS RAVAGING EARTH’S ENVIRONMENT AND EMITTING GREENHOUSE GASES THAT WILL DOOM THE PLANET. Our destructive nature and expanding civilization pose a threat to other planets and life forms. Hence, aliens may have no choice: Like former President George W. Bush, they may launch a pre-emptive war - only not on Iraq but on the entire world.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/aug/25/attack-of-the-liberal-space-aliens-697206603/

I guess when the left charges the right is anti-science, they include anti-science fiction. It appears these “scientists” saw Hollywood’s remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still and thought it was actual science.

O-Bummer! Hipsters O-Bandon Obama

Then…

As Election Day 2008 approached, if you were an urban organic kale farmer, or a crochet enthusiast or a vaudevillian with a new song to sing, and YOU WANTED TO SUPPORT BARACK OBAMA FOR PRESIDENT, YOU WERE IN LUCK.

The streets of New York were crowded with “Walks for Change,” “Bike4Barack” groups, “Karaoke We Can Believe In” sing-alongs, “Get Out the Laughs and Votes” comedy shows and “Art for Change” auctions. The days leading up to the election saw Pasties for Peace, a Cowboys for Barack Wild West Burlesque Show Fund-raiser, a Yo La Tengo fund-raiser at McCarren Pool, and a $1,000 fund-raiser in Dumbo featuring They Might Be Giants, which sold out.

RICHIE FIFE, WHO HELPED LEAD THE OBAMA EFFORT IN THE RUN-UP TO THE PRIMARY, ESTIMATED THAT 10,000 NEW YORKERS HAD CONTACTED HIS OFFICE TO GET INVOLVED AND THAT THREE TIMES THAT MANY WERE OUT ON THE STREETS ON THEIR OWN INITIATIVE.

And now

BUT NOW THE PROGRESS POSTERS HAVE BEGUN TO WITHER. A NEW POSTER, FEATURING THE PRESIDENT’S IMAGE SUPERIMPOSED OVER FRANKENSTEIN’S MONSTER’S FACE, HAS BEEN SPOTTED AROUND THE NEIGHBORHOOD. The Obama T-shirts—it was, recall, ultrahip if you had a particularly faded one, maybe even one dating back to his Illinois state senate campaigns—have been turning up at the Goodwill and at garage sales. The next election is going to be a tough one that invites a question few campaign officials thought would ever be asked: CAN MR. OBAMA AFFORD TO LOSE THE HIPSTERS? Or was the Obama love last year’s record, now destined to wind up in the used bins alongside so many Conor Oberst CD’s?

http://www.observer.com/2011/08/o-bummer-hipsters-o-bandon-obama/


Nothing is really going right for this administration. The occasional win (Libya, bin Laden) doesn’t begin to compensate for the absolutely horrible job the Democrats have done on the economy and the increase in the National Debt. Obama is toast.



Reining in Regulations

… THIS YEAR THE ADMINISTRATION’S CURRENT REGULATORY AGENDA IDENTIFIES 219 PLANNED NEW REGULATIONS THAT HAVE ESTIMATED ANNUAL COSTS IN EXCESS OF $100 MILLION EACH. That’s almost a 15 percent increase over last year, and appears to contradict public suggestions by the Administration this week that the regulatory burden on American job creators is being scaled back,” Boehner’s letter states.

Boehner is seeking to counter White House claims that the administration is making regulations more business-friendly.

The letter comes three days after the White House announced plans to streamline hundreds of existing regulations across all government departments and said that the review will “likely” save at least $10 billion over five years.

The plans stem from a January executive order that also called for ensuring that future federal rules, while protecting heath and the environment, also promote growth and use the “least burdensome” tools to achieve their goals.

Boehner’s letter states that the administration failed to respond to an inquiry last year about planned rules that would have an impact greater than $1 billion.

“This information is of great relevance to the American people, who face so much uncertainty about these new regulatory costs, and to the Congress, where we continue to aim to work with you in relieving unnecessary burdens and helping employers move forward to create jobs,” the letter states.

WHEN CONGRESS RETURNS FROM THE AUGUST RECESS, HOUSE REPUBLICANS PLAN TO TAKE UP THE “REINS ACT” — which stands for Regulations From the Executive in Need of Scrutiny — as part of a broader regulatory rollback agenda.

THE BILL WOULD REQUIRE CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL OF RULES THAT HAVE AN ANNUAL EFFECT ON THE ECONOMY OF $100 MILLION OR MORE, ARE LIKELY TO RESULT IN MAJOR INCREASES IN COSTS OR PRICES, OR HAVE SUBSTANTIAL EFFECTS ON EMPLOYMENT AND COMPETITIVENESS.

http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/801-economy/178315-boehner-presses-obama-on-regs-ahead-of-house-votes


Two things here. Obama issue and executive order that will likely reduce regulatory burden by $10 billion over five years. In the meantime, the Obama administration is looking to issue 219 new regulations that will increase regulatory costs by at least $100 million each. Doing the math you see that is an increase of $29 billion this year alone so the net increase will be $27 billion. The Republicans ‘REINS’ Act appears to be like an environmental impact study that the government requires of private industry but we are talking about the economic environment.

No good news for Obama

Maxine Waters: The Real Story


Queen of the poverty pimps Maxine Waters must so wish that Obama were a whole white man. Democrat or not, if Obama were white, Waters would be heaping all the blame on those frail little shoulders of his. But because Obama has been presented as "authentically black," WATERS WAS RECENTLY FORCED TO STOP SHORT OF CONDEMNING HIM. INSTEAD, SHE UNLEASHED ON THE CLOSEST WHITE ITEM SHE COULD FIND: THE TEA PARTY.

Anything to keep her ignorant followers from actually thinking about where to place the blame.

Maxine Waters has held dominion over the black people of Watts, CA for over twenty years, and Watts is worse now than it was when she began representing them. This is despite Waters' and others in the Congressional Black Caucus' $17T War on Poverty dating back to the Great Society -- the time when black pimps voted for the RACIST DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENT LBJ, WHO SAID TO "GIVE THEM [UPPITY NEGROES] JUST ENOUGH TO GET BY, BUT NOT ENOUGH TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE."

TELLING THE TEA PARTY TO "GO TO HELL" WAS THE EASY APPLAUSE LINE FOR WATERS. It gave her relief, approval. She returned to her mansion, and her constituents remain high from their hit of the political crack of hatred.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/08/maxine_waters_needs_a_mirror.html

Having Maxine say on a number of occasions, she’s not afraid and then she makes some outlandish statement about someone or some group that she disagrees with.  In case she doesn’t understand this is not “speaking truth to power” rather it is “pandering to her constituents. 

Bad News in the Sunshine State for BHO

… IN THE MAGELLAN SAMPLE, DEMOCRATS HAVE A THREE-POINT EDGE AT 42/39/19, WITH INDEPENDENTS OBVIOUSLY UNDERSAMPLED. That model assumes Democrats turn out in stronger numbers in 2012 than they did in 2008, which seems highly unlikely for an incumbent with 37/57 re-elect and 40/55 favorability numbers.

If he's hoping for help with independents, he can forget it. The underrepresentation of independents in this survey probably helped Obama with these numbers rather than hurt him. His FAVORABILITY AMONG INDIES IS 35/53, WORSE THAN THE OVERALL NUMBER. Obama's job approval among indies is 37/56, just about the same as the overall number.

Even with the somewhat-friendly sampling, OBAMA LOSES ALL THREE HEAD-TO-HEAD MATCHUPS POSED BY MAGELLAN. MITT ROMNEY BEATS OBAMA BY TEN POINTS, 49/39, AND RICK PERRY BEATS HIM BY 7 AT 46/39. OBAMA ONLY GETS INTO THE 40S AGAINST MICHELE BACHMANN, who still edges him by a single point, 43/42. Romney wins an eleven-point margin among the undersampled independents (44/33) and Perry wins that category by 7 (38/31). Only Bachmann loses the independent vote 33/37 to Obama. Romney is the only Republican to win both men and women (Perry gets edged by a single point, Bachmann down 7), but ALL THREE WIN THE SENIOR VOTE - AND ALL THREE WIN HISPANIC VOTERS BY LANDSLIDE MARGINS.

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/08/obamas_horrible_florida_numbers.html

With numbers like these, it will take a miracle for Obama to take Florida.

Most Voters in New Jersey say No To Obama’s Reelection

THE MAJORITY OF VOTERS IN NEW JERSEY SAY PRESIDENT OBAMA DOES NOT DESERVE A SECOND TERM, ACCORDING TO A NEW RUTGERS POLL.

Only 43 percent of New Jersey voters in the poll said Obama deserves to be reelected, while 47 PERCENT SAID HE DESERVES TO BE VOTED OUT OF OFFICE.

Those findings are a troubling sign for Obama, since New Jersey has traditionally been a stronghold for Democrats. IN AN EARLIER RUTGERS POLL TAKEN IN FEBRUARY, ONLY 39 PERCENT OF NEW JERSEY VOTERS SAID HE DID NOT DESERVE REELECTION.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/178167-poll-majority-of-nj-voters-say-obama-doesnt-deserve-reelection?utm_campaign=briefingroom&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitterfeed

Things are really looking bad when the Democrats have to worry about taking New Jersey. 

Who can beat Obama?

On tonight's edition of Hardball, fill-in-host Ron Reagan posed a question about the unelectabilty of the current crop of Republican candidates to Charlie Cook, a non recognized and non partisian political analyst for MSNBC. Cook notes that a "placebo" Republican nominee would stand an "excellent" chance at beating President Obama in the general election.

HOST:

Charlie, let me start with you. It seems to me, WHEN I LOOK AT THE REPUBLICAN FIELD, THAT NONE OF THEM ARE ACTUALLY ELECTABLE.

COOK:

The thing is, I THINK A PLACEBO WOULD HAVE AN EXCELLENT CHANCE OF WINNING. I think this is the Republicans race to lose. You can't nominate a placebo, you have to nominate a real person and whether who they nominate can do as well as a placebo.

http://nation.foxnews.com/president-obama/2011/08/24/charlie-cook-placebo-would-beat-obama-right-now

That response was not what the host was looking for, but his premise is one the left is comforting themselves with.  Right now Donald Duck could be BHO. 

One and Done—Obama’s Fate?

According to the latest Gallup survey, the his job approval has dropped to an all time low, with just 38 percent of the 1,500 U.S. adults surveyed saying they approve of the job he is doing as president. And this does not bode well for his prospects to win re-election in 2012.

As Gallup put it, "TEN INCUMBENT PRESIDENTS HAVE SOUGHT RE-ELECTION SINCE WORLD WAR II, AND NONE HAS WON A SECOND TERM WITH FINAL PRE-ELECTION JOB APPROVAL RATINGS BELOW 48 PERCENT. The last two presidents who lost their re-election bids—George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter—had job approval ratings in the 30 percent range in the fall of the election year. Thus, Obama's challenge is not only to move his rating back above 40 percent, but also to push it close to or above 50 percent."…

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/peter-roff/2011/08/24/obamas-approval-rating-points-to-his-being-a-one-termer

He’s toast. 

Obama and the 'Competency Crisis'

The rising impatience with the leadership of President Obama was epitomized on Aug. 8 in the middle of one of the now-habitual Wall Street roller coasters. HIS SPEECH ON THE ECONOMY WAS 53 MINUTES LATE. WHAT SHOWED ON TV SCREENS WAS AN EMPTY WHITE HOUSE PODIUM, AN IMAGE SUGGESTIVE OF THE ABSENCE OF LEADERSHIP. When the president did speak, the best he could come up with was "We've always been and always will be a triple-A country." The market's response was a Bronx cheer, a drop of another 300 points.

MR. OBAMA SEEMS UNABLE TO GET A FIRM GRIP ON THE TOUGHEST ISSUE FACING HIS PRESIDENCY AND THE COUNTRY—THE ECONOMY. He now asserts he is going to "pivot" to jobs. Now we pivot to jobs? When there are already 25 million Americans who are either unemployed or cannot find full-time work? Does this president not appreciate what is going on?

Fewer Americans are working full-time today than when Mr. Obama took office. WE HAVE LOST OVER 900,000 FULL-TIME JOBS IN THE LAST FOUR MONTHS ALONE, AND LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYMENT IS AT A POST-WORLD WAR II HIGH. The public's faith in his ability to deal with the economy has plunged. As Doyle McManus of the L.A. Times put it, "Can this president persuade voters to let him keep his job when so many have lost theirs?" Even Jimmy Carter didn't plumb the depths of national dissatisfaction revealed in the stunning Gallup poll taken Aug. 11-13. The president's approval rating was only 39% with a mere 26% approving of his handling of the economy...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903327904576526611297517664.html

I think this is the main reason Obama will not win.  People don’t have any faith that this man has the leadership ability needed to solve the problems we face.  In fact, the problems which he campaigned against in 2008 have gotten worse on his watch. 

 Labor going their own way

THE GROWING RIFT BETWEEN LABOR AND THEIR DEMOCRATIC ALLIES WAS ON FULL DISPLAY THURSDAY, as AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told reporters that labor groups are planning to scale back their involvement with the Democratic Party in advance of the 2012 elections.

GOING FORWARD, TRUMKA SAID, THE LABOR MOVEMENT WILL BUILD UP ITS OWN POLITICAL STRUCTURES AND ORGANIZATIONS RATHER THAN CONTRIBUTE TO AND DEPEND ON THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY’S POLITICAL OPERATION.

“We’re going to use a lot of our money to build structures that work for working people” Trumka said. “You’re going to see us give less money to build structures for others, and more of our money will be used to build our own structure.”

Trumka’s remarks follow the news that the AFL-CIO will set up a so-called super PAC, allowing the nation’s largest labor federation to spend unlimited amounts of money on political activity for next year’s elections and beyond. Trumka confirmed Thursday that the union is moving forward with plans to create the PAC.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/62057.html#ixzz1W3fLmniL

This is disastrous news for the Democrats.