Mostly OWS

What’s new today

Our # 1 story looks at the question of Obama’s electability and posits that the voters have had it with him and don’t even want to listen to him anymore. #2 looks at the coverage of the OWS movement and finds not a lot of real reporting by the MSM. #3 talks about how the NYFD took away the protesters generators and other fire hazards. #4 looks at who the OWS are.  It appears they are primarily leftist who are bitterly disappointed with this administration. #5 looks at Occupy Madison who has lost their permit.  #6 includes interviews by Howard Stern’s staff of Occupiers.  Finally #7 relates a story of fraud in donations to political campaigns.

1.    Obama’s electability

Where’s the evidence President Obama can win the 2012 election?

Where’s the evidence that swing voters even want to listen to him?

Barack Obama polls below 50 percent in every state that matters. The economy has stalled, unemployment is much higher than the official number of 9 percent, and Hispanics and African AMERICANS ARE DISAPPOINTED. THE PRESIDENT’S APPROVAL RATINGS HAVE TANKED, AND THE RIGHT-TRACK/WRONG-TRACK NUMBER FELL OF THE CLIFF IN THE SUMMER.

OBAMA HAS REACHED THE STAGE OF POLITICAL DOOM WHEN VOTERS’ DISAPPOINTMENT IS SO DEEP THAT THEY JUST DON’T WANT TO LISTEN TO HIM, TALK ABOUT HIM OR WATCH HIM, said David Hill, a veteran GOP strategist and pollster, in an interview with The Daily Caller.

“Nobody says it to their loved ones … [and] they don’t want to do anything about it,” said Hill, who has worked for conservative and liberal Republicans on the East Coast, the West Coast and in the Midwest, since 1984.

A tipping point might have been reached in August, when the monthly jobs report showed zero new jobs….

http://dailycaller.com/2011/10/28/experts-begin-to-doubt-obamas-re-electability/#ixzz1c8eszb2p

Obama is toast in the coming election.  Barring a miracle he will lose and lose big to any Republican candidate.

2.   Occupy Chicago:  The Real Story

The Chicago media–much like the mainstream media in the rest of the country–HAS LARGELY IGNORED THE TRUE ORIGINS OF THE OCCUPY DEMONSTRATIONS, AND HAS FAILED TO HOLD ORGANIZERS ACCOUNTABLE FOR THE VIOLENCE AND BIGOTRY OF SOME OF THEIR MEMBERS.

It ought to be newsworthy, for example, when individuals under investigation by the FBI for terrorism lead a sit-in outside the mayor’s office. But that fact was ignored by media reports in Chicago and elsewhere.

One of the notable exceptions to the pattern of willful blindness about Occupy in the mainstream media is investigative reporter Chuck Goudie of local ABC affiliate WLS-TV (channel 7). In a report filed on October 19, GOUDIE DESCRIBED THE ORIGINS OF THE OCCUPY MOVEMENT–FROM ADBUSTERS IN CANADA, TO ANARCHIST LISA FITHIAN IN TEXAS, TO THE NUMEROUS HARD-CORE RADICALS WHO HAVE FLOCKED TO DEMONSTRATIONS AND COURTED ARREST….

http://bigjournalism.com/jpollak/2011/10/28/credit-where-its-due-chicagos-chuck-goudie-wls-tv-tells-the-truth-about-occupys-radical-origins-bigotry/

The link has video with Goudie’s reports.  OWS is getting the kid gloves treatment compared to the TEA Party. 

3.   OWS loses its Generators

FDNY firefighters moved into the Occupy Wall Street camp at Zuccotti Park this morning for a safety inspection and ENDED UP HAULING OUT SIX GENERATORS AND 13 FUEL CONTAINERS.

A department spokesman said the firefighters were looking for fire hazards in the encampment.

Firefighters were looking for open fires, generators, propane and gas tanks and anything that may pose a fire hazard, he said.

The agency said it's looking for any unauthorized use that falls outside the guidelines of the city's fire codes.

Firefighters took generators from the medical tent and press information area, among other areas.

"We did send 30 or 40 firefighters through the park," Mayor Bloomberg said this morning on his WOR-AM. "It happened the way you would expect."

The mayor said THE GOAL WAS "JUST TO MAKE SURE EVERYBODY'S SAFE."


http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/fdny_doing_safety_inspection_in_RrTdtfEL9SXeFF5mJVNp5J#ixzz1c8gEmtmF

It’s moves like this that will eventually end the OWS movement.  The cold is coming and using this as a way to get the squatters out of the parks is something the local governments will do. 

4.   OWS—Not Obama’s cup of TEA Party

….The New York Times reports on a poll done by a Fordham University political science professor that reveals what some have long suspected: Occupy Wall St. is mainly made up of (very) disgruntled Obama supporters.

SIXTY PERCENT OF THOSE SURVEYED SAID THEY VOTED FOR BARACK OBAMA IN 2008, AND ABOUT THREE-QUARTERS NOW DISAPPROVE OF MR. OBAMA’S PERFORMANCE AS PRESIDENT. A quarter said they were Democrats, but 39 percent said they did not identify with any political party. Eleven percent identified as Socialists, another 11 percent said they were members of the Green Party, 2 PERCENT WERE REPUBLICANS and 12 percent say they identified as something else.

Those are brutal numbers. And suggest that essentially what we are seeing with the Occupy Wall St. movement is 2008's unprecedented youth support for Obama grown bitterly cynical….

http://www.businessinsider.com/occupy-wall-st-does-not-support-obama-2011-10#ixzz1c8h1yYNV

Perhaps the TEA Party and OWS do have something in common.  They are frightfully disappointed in BHO’s Presidency. Can you say third party on the left?  Not what the Democrats hoped for, but getting to be more likely. 

Here’s another link with statistics about OWS movement.  It seems 80% are liberal with 15% moderate and 5% conservative. 

http://hotair.com/archives/2011/10/28/bad-news-73-of-occupy-wall-street-protesters-disapprove-of-obamas-job-performance/

5.   Occupy Madison Loses its Permit

CITY OFFICIALS TEMPORARILY DENIED OCCUPY MADISON A NEW STREET USE PERMIT WEDNESDAY AFTER PROTESTERS VIOLATED PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY CONDITIONS and failed to follow the correct processes to renew or amend a permit.

The permit, which expired Wednesday at noon, required Occupy Madison protesters to relocate from their current space at 30 West Mifflin Street, also called 30 on the Square.

A neighboring hotel's staff alleged voiced concerns about having to recently escort hotel employees to and from bus stops late at night due to inappropriate behavior, such as public masturbation, from street protesters.

In addition, OFFICIALS AGREED FURTHER OCCUPATION SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO CONTINUE WITHOUT RESTROOMS ON SITE TO AVOID FURTHER PUBLIC HEALTH VIOLATIONS….

http://www.dailycardinal.com/news/occupy-madison-loses-permit-1.2669111#.Tqs8HHH2Lu3

Watch them come down. 

6.  Howard Stern Looks at OWS

http://sharpelbowsstl.blogspot.com/2011/10/never-ending-supply-howard-stern.html

More interviews of members of OWS. 

7.   Illegal Contributions

Arthur Winn, founder of Boston-based real estate development group WinnCompanies, was charged in federal court today with MAKING ILLEGAL CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS UNDER OTHER PEOPLE’S NAMES. The scheme also involved Martin Raffol of Natick, who plead guilty to charges in 2010.

Winn, 72 of Brookline, allegedly made $33,000 in illegal contributions to campaigns for federal office, including John Kerry For President, and the congressional campaigns of Massachusetts Democratic congressmen Stephen Lynch, Rep. Ed Markey, Rep. Michael Capuano and others.

U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz alleged Winn directed another executive, Martin Raffol of Natick, to solicit campaign donations from company vendors. Raffol then reimbursed vendors with WinnCompanies funds through false invoices.

ORTIZ SAID THE DONATIONS WERE MADE BECAUSE WINN FELT THOSE POLITICIANS WERE IN A POSITION TO POSITIVELY AFFECT HIS COMPANY'S COLUMBUS CENTER DEVELOPMENT IN BOSTON.

http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/x1138511780/Real-estate-executive-from-Brookline-charged-with-illegal-payments-to-candidates#ixzz1c8e9rjMO

OWS turns violent

What’s new today

Our #1 looks at OWS and judges it to be radical and self-defeating. The final results of the protesters will most likely be just the opposite of what they want.   Story #2 finds who is behind the ‘grass roots” movement called Occupy Wall Street.  #3 relates the confession of a left wing socialist.  #4 and #5 are videos that exposes at least the person in the video for what they are:  Marxists in #4 and anti-semites in #5.  Article #6 shows just how far President Obama has fallen. 

1.  Lessons for Occupy Wall Street

….Which brings us to our current rebels without a cause. Amongst endless speculation of exactly who or what is the target of their whiny protestations, the answer seems to be a familiar one for anybody who remembers the '60s: it's The Man. WHO IS THIS MAN, YOU ASK? HE'S THE EVIL AUTHORITY FIGURE WHO -- ALTHOUGH HE IS THE SOURCE AND SUSTENANCE OF YOUR EXISTENCE -- IS THE ONE WHO MAKES YOU DO THINGS YOU DON'T WANT TO DO: like work, pay taxes and make mortgage payments. In other words, it's Daddy. The realization that Daddy is knocking on the door of their heretofore carefree lives is a rude awakening for those reared by the tender hand of the Nanny State, and probably the reason for their self-imposed stupor.

All of this would be a terribly sad story were it not so fiendishly funny. Their claim that they represent 99 percent of the American people is what gives real value to the OWS movement, but not in the way that they planned. NONE BUT A TINY MINORITY ON THE DELUDED LEFT TRULY BELIEVES THAT THE AMERICAN WAY DEPRIVES ANYONE OF A CHANCE TO IMPROVE THEIR LOT; a look at the last names of the people in the so-called one percent is proof enough of that. No, the real economic problems faced by this country are the result of the policies of those who are bound and determined to put an end to the class-busting foundations at the core of our nation's prosperity.

So what to do when the nightly news is rife with coverage of same? How to keep one's chin up when we are ankle deep in the inane rantings of post-adolescent chuckleheads? Not to worry. THERE IS NO CAUSE FOR DESPAIR, BECAUSE THESE DISPLAYS OF LIBERAL ABSURDITY ALMOST ALWAYS LEAD TO CONSERVATIVE GAINS. And this is why groups like OWS, much like their progenitors from the '60s, are bound to drive the county in a right-ward direction. In truth, as the Immortal Bard says, methinks that they protest too much. In the four decades since the Summer of Love and its attendant foolishness, we've had 28 years of Republican presidencies and only 14 of Democrats…

http://spectator.org/archives/2011/10/26/occupational-therapy

The final outcome of OWS is not likely to be good or to be what the protesters want.  We are already seeing the unraveling in Oakland.  The violence there will isolate and tarnish the other protesters around the country. 

2.   Want to See What Astroturf Protests look like?

THE FORMER NEW YORK OFFICE FOR ACORN, THE DISBANDED COMMUNITY ACTIVIST GROUP, IS PLAYING A KEY ROLE IN THE SELF-PROCLAIMED “LEADERLESS” OCCUPY WALL STREET MOVEMENT, organizing “guerrilla” protest events and hiring door-to-door canvassers to collect money under the banner of various causes while spending it on protest-related activities, sources tell FoxNews.com.

The former director of New York ACORN, Jon Kest, and his top aides are now busy working at protest events for New York Communities for Change (NYCC). That organization was created in late 2009 when some ACORN offices disbanded and reorganized under new names after undercover video exposes prompted Congress to cut off federal funds.

NYCC’S CONNECTION TO ACORN ISN’T A TENUOUS ONE: It works from the former ACORN offices in Brooklyn, uses old ACORN office stationery, employs much of the old ACORN staff and, according to several sources, engages in some of the old organization’s controversial techniques to raise money, interest and awareness for the protests.

SOURCES SAID NYCC HAS HIRED ABOUT 100 FORMER ACORN-AFFILIATED STAFF MEMBERS FROM OTHER CITIES – PAYING SOME OF THEM $100 A DAY - TO ATTEND AND SUPPORT OCCUPY WALL STREET. DOZENS OF NEW YORK HOMELESS PEOPLE RECRUITED FROM SHELTERS ARE ALSO BEING PAID TO SUPPORT THE PROTESTS, AT THE RATE OF $10 AN HOUR, THE SOURCES SAID.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/10/26/exclusive-acorn-playing-behind-scenes-role-in-occupy-movement/#ixzz1bvfNeUbd

Nothing surprising by this story.  The OWS movement is rapidly going downhill.  By December it will just be a memory.

 

3.   Confessions of a former Leftist

… What troubled me wasn't just how widespread is the diatribe, but that up until a few, short years ago, I BELIEVED ALL OF IT. Before Obama came on the scene, I could have been interviewed, mumbling and bumbling, just like those other frothing-at-the-mouth leftists.

I would also have parroted the Third-World loving party line. I TOO WOULD HAVE ANGRILY AND SELF-RIGHTEOUSLY PROCLAIMED THAT THE US WAS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL IN THE WORLD.

To me, capitalism was bad, communism good (which I discovered after watching the handsome Warren Beatty in the sweeping thriller, Reds). I envied Cuba, home of the finest health care system in the world (thank you, Michael Moore). And I, like our current occupiers, ranted and raved about the racist, patriarchal, capitalist system with its millionaire fat cats (which I learned from reading books by those millionaire fat cats, Noam Chomsky, Al Franken, Gloria Steinem and the late Howard Zinn.)

I believed all of this despite the now glaring inconsistencies in my argument. For one, I (like most leftists) had mutual funds that invested in the horrible corporations. While I was never flush with money, I wouldn't have minded being so. And just like those demonic capitalists, I got a kick out of procuring a big-ticket item, such as a car with that wonderful new car smell.

So how did I fall so deeply into the progressive chimera? Given that I am (I hope) an intelligent person, with the potential to see the light, WHY DID I DRINK THE KOOL-AID FOR SO LONG? In the service of shedding some light on our current occupiers, I offer the following observations:

MONKEY SEE, MONKEY DO: LEFTISTS FOLLOW THE LEADER. Since most progressives believe the anti-capitalist nonsense, the majority will follow in lock step. IN LIBERAL AREAS, THERE IS GROUPTHINK -- CULT-LIKE BEHAVIOR, WHERE PEOPLE MUST CHANT THE SAME OLD TIRED MANTRAS. TO STEP OUT OF LINE WILL UNDOUBTEDLY BRING SOCIAL CONDEMNATION AND SHUNNING….

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/10/anatomy_of_an_occupation.html

It is surprising how little thought there appears to be on the left, yet how vast the clichés and sloganeering the left has. 

4.   Occupy Manifesto

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuFQuEwJ5xI&feature=player_embedded

A good video by the TEA Party.  It definitely shows the Marxism in the Occupy Movement and is well worth eight minutes of your time to watch.

5.   Anti-Semitism and the Occupy Movement

http://www.mrctv.org/videos/ows-supporter-rants-against-israel-jews

My theory about this is that hate begets hate.  The Occupiers are filled with hate and rage and that isn’t limited to just the rich.

6.  O, How the Mighty Have Fallen

I would love to know what went through President Barack Obama’s mind as he came to the door of Air Force One on Monday morning and looked down at the McCarran International Airport tarmac.

STANDING BELOW HIM WAS NOT THE USUAL RECEIVING LINE OF DEMOCRATIC POLITICIANS BUT A SOLITARY ELECTED OFFICIAL — AND ONE WHO HAD ABANDONED THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY. As if to add insult to absence, the lone woman’s husband had mercilessly excoriated the president for a couple of years, demanding an apology for remarks he had made about Las Vegas and snubbing him on previous trips.

Somehow, Obama kept his smile as he walked down from the plane and greeted Mayor Carolyn Goodman, who along with her husband, former Mayor Oscar Goodman, had made a big show of switching from Democrat to independent when His Honor was making a big show about pretending to think about running for governor last year. Goodman II, clutching her cellphone in one hand, bent the president’s ear for several minutes — THERE WAS NO ONE ELSE FOR HIM TO TALK TO — HANDING THE COMMANDER IN CHIEF A “GOOD LUCK” CHIP AND ASKING HIM TO SAY NICE THINGS ABOUT LAS VEGAS.

How the mighty have fallen….

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/oct/26/what-happened-obama-vegas/

Obama is poison.  No politician wants to be seen with him. 

Top concerns today

What’s new today

Our #1 tells the story us what the real top concerns of small business are.  #2 relates who liberal Rhode Island has created a welfare state that is breaking the government.  Article #3 demonstrates how even the anarchists in the Occupy movement appear to be a bit greedy.  #4 speculates on what happens as OWS drags on.  Story #5 tells us of what the number 2 general under General Petraus looks at the withdrawal from Iraq.  #6 relays what the left really wants to do with its constant tax the rich tome. 



1.  Top Concerns of Small Business

A new Gallup survey asked small-business owners an open-ended question about what they viewed to be “the most important problem” facing the small-business community. It’s not “lack of demand,” as Democrats like to argue. In fact, 22 percent of respondents listed “complying with government regulations” as their top concern.

House Republicans have been leading an effort to roll-back or repeal some of the most onerous federal regulations, and have already passed a number of measures that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) has yet to take up. Democrats have been particularly loathe to accept the idea that concern over federal regulations is anything more than a self-serving fiction conjured up by Republicans as part of their sinister effort to “end the EPA” and expose the nation’s children to mercury. From President Obama’s “jobs” address to Congress in September:…

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/281165/gallup-govt-regulation-top-concern-among-small-business-owners-andrew-stiles

Despite what the Democrats are saying, they are a big part of the problem rather than the solution. 

 

 2. Rhode Island: Athens of America?

Rhode Island is looking more and more like Greece, and not in a good way. That is one message of this important piece by Mary Williams Walsh in the New York Times. YEARS OF BLUE SOCIAL POLICY HAVE WRECKED LOCAL AND STATE GOVERNMENT FINANCE IN THE COUNTRY’S SMALLEST STATE, AND NOW THE BILLS ARE COMING DUE. Services are being cut to the bone and elderly retirees are losing money they thought was secure.

In Rhode Island, it is Democrats, not nasty union-hating Republicans, who are doing the dirty work. Democratic mayors are telling their unions that there isn’t any money — not because they are vicious corporate stooges who hate working people and want to see them suffer, but because There. Isn’t. Any. Money.

Because Rhode Island listened to timeserving blue politicians too long, and union leaders and public sector workers lost their grip on any mathematical realities beyond the numbers at the ballot box, the pension system grew more and more out of control. State and local governments lurched into a crisis. VOTE YOURSELF A RAISE, VOTE YOURSELF A PENSION: WHY NOT?...

http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2011/10/23/rhode-island-athens-of-america/

Blue states seem to be the places people are leaving and red states seem to be the place where they are going.  This census marks the first one in which California didn’t gain any seats in congress while New York, New Jersey, etc. are losing seats.

3.  Is OWS getting Greedy?

Even in Zuccotti Park, greed is good.

OCCUPY WALL STREET’S FINANCE COMMITTEE HAS NEARLY $500,000 IN THE BANK, and donations continue to pour in -- but its reluctance to share the wealth with other protesters is fraying tempers.

Some drummers -- incensed they got no money to replace or safeguard their drums after a midnight vandal destroyed their instruments Wednesday -- are threatening to splinter off.

“F--K FINANCE. I HOPE MAYOR BLOOMBERG GETS AN INJUNCTION AND DEMANDS TO SEE THE MOVEMENT’S BOOKS. WE NEED TO KNOW HOW MUCH MONEY WE REALLY HAVE AND WHERE IT’S GOING,” said a frustrated Bryan Smith, 45, who joined OWS in Lower Manhattan nearly three weeks ago from Los Angeles, where he works in TV production.

SMITH IS A MEMBER OF THE COMFORT WORKING GROUP -- ONE OF ABOUT 30 SMALL COLLECTIVES THAT HAVE SPRUNG UP WITHIN OWS. The Comfort group is charged with finding out what basic necessities campers need, like thermal underwear, and then raising money by soliciting donations on the street.

“THE OTHER DAY, I TOOK IN $2,000. I KEPT $650 FOR MY GROUP, AND GAVE THE REST TO FINANCE. Then I went to them with a request -- so many people need things, and they should not be going without basic comfort items -- and I was told to fill out paperwork. Paperwork! Are they the government now?” Smith fumed, even as he cajoled the passing crowd for more cash. …


http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/they_want_lice_of_the_occu_pie_9xKCxcI4aectFYkafMb8UJ#ixzz1bi5G8CcQ

OWS is learning what basic human nature is.  When you go beyond subsistence, you suddenly have fights about who gets the surplus and how it’s divided.  OWS is being hoisted on their own petard. 

4.   When and What will eventually happen with OWS? 

…OWS protests are being treated by the mainstream media like the newest American political fad. Unfortunately, INCLUDED WITHIN THE MANY OWS PROTESTS AROUND THE COUNTRY ARE; OPEN SEX, DRUG AND ALCOHOL USE, ACCUSATIONS OF RAPE, VIOLENCE, ANTI-SEMITISM, THEFT, URINATING AND DEFECATING IN PUBLIC, PAN-HANDLING, DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY, CALLS FOR KILLING AND DESTRUCTION, DOZENS OF ARRESTS AND VARIOUS OTHER ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIORS. What's happening at some of these OWS protests should give rise to the mainstream media to consider where all of this could eventually be heading, but it seems the media is just to "into it" to be concerned about any possible negative outcomes.

So what's going to happen when all these OWS host cities decide it's time for the occupations to end? WILL THE ENTRENCHED "OCCUPIERS" LEAVE GRACEFULLY WITHOUT OBJECTION, or will they take offense at being told the party is over and refuse to leave?

We've all seen what typically happens around the world when the authorities eventually decide it's time to disperse a protest or demonstration crowd, especially one that's been allowed to grow and become entrenched for a prolonged period of time.

Allowing any protest or demonstration to organize and "occupy" a public place for a prolonged period of time, especially when the protesters are initially given leeway by local authorities to do so, WILL ONLY EMBOLDEN THE OCCUPIERS TO CONTINUE TO HOLD THEIR GROUND AND EVENTUALLY ASSUME OWNERSHIP OF THEIR NEW DIGS.

Once that assumption of ownership by the occupiers takes root, it will be difficult, if not impossible, for authorities to have them all calmly disperse. It's unfortunate that the leaders of the host cities of all the OWS protests across the country didn't anticipate the risk and possible danger of allowing "perpetual" demonstrations and protests….

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/10/will_ows_end_well.html

I think the coming cold weather will thin out the ranks and eventually lead to the cities shutting down the protests.  I don’t think there will be a lot of violence. 




5.  Iraq pull out

"WE WON THE WAR IN IRAQ, AND WE'RE NOW LOSING THE PEACE." So said retired General John Keane to Rowan Scarborough of the Washington Times, in a scathing critique of the plans announced to the nation on Friday. General Keane was an architect of the Surge, working with General Petraeus.

"Forty-four hundred lives lost," Gen. Keane said. "Tens of thousands of troops wounded. Over a couple hundred thousand Iraqis killed. We liberated 25 million people. There is only one Arab Muslim country that elects its own government, and that is Iraq.

"WE SHOULD BE STAYING THERE TO STRENGTHEN THAT DEMOCRACY, TO LET THEM GET THE KIND OF POLITICAL GAINS THEY NEED TO GET AND KEEP THE IRANIANS AWAY FROM STRANGLING THAT COUNTRY. THAT SHOULD BE OUR OBJECTIVE, AND WE ARE WALKING AWAY FROM THAT OBJECTIVE."…

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/10/key_general_labels_obamas_iraq_pullout_absolute_disaster.html

This is another decision that is likely to divide America.  Winning the same war twice means you’ve wasted the first time. 

6.  Tax the Rich:  What it really means

When I was in college, I took a course in clinical psychology. One day, the professor shared an experience he had with a paranoid schizophrenic patient. In one of his first months working at a mental hospital (as they were then called), he met with the patient in his office. The patient said, "WELL, I DON'T FEEL COMFORTABLE TALKING TO YOU BECAUSE THERE IS A HIDDEN MICROPHONE IN THIS OFFICE." "WHERE IS IT?" MY PROFESSOR ASKED. THE PATIENT RESPONDED: "IT'S HIDDEN IN THE DOORKNOB." The professor then took apart the door knob, laid all the parts out on his desk, and said to the paranoid patient, "SEE, THERE'S NO MICROPHONE HIDDEN HERE." THE PATIENT LOOKED AT THE PARTS, LOOKED UP AT THE CEILING, AND INSISTED, "IT'S UP IN THE LIGHT BULB!"

The point of this story is THAT THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO ALLAY THE PARANOID THOUGHTS of a paranoid schizophrenic. Those analysts who address the "tax the rich" and "the rich must pay their fair share" rhetoric are facing the same issue: those who use this rhetoric will never acknowledge the tax rates paid by the rich, accept the facts, and respond with the words, "oh, I didn't realize that the top 15 percent pay seventy percent of the income taxes. Never mind!"

THEY WILL PERSIST WITH THEIR RHETORIC FOREVER. The reason is that the rhetoric is driven not by the numbers of who pays how much in taxes, but by a desire to build a public relations foundation, an image. THOSE WHO DON'T RESPOND TO REAL FACTS DON'T CARE WHAT THE REAL FACTS ARE. The "tax the rich" slogan was not begun after a careful analysis of IRS data in the first place.

Here are some of the clues: THOSE WHO SAY "TAX THE RICH" ALMOST NEVER SAY "TAX ONLY THE RICH." Or "let's increase taxes on the rich and lower the taxes on everyone else." THE REAL GOAL OF THIS STRATEGY IS TO RAISE EVERYBODY'S TAXES….

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/10/what_the_taxing_the_rich_rhetoric_really_means.html

That is what the TEA Party knew and that is why they started to demonstrate when Obama started spending.  And when the TEA Party protests tax increases, the left likes to posit they are shills for the rich.  No, they understand what the left actually wants to do and they are resisting it. The divide and conquer strategy of the hard left is being resisted by honest tax paying Americans. 

Thursday: OWS, Income Inequality and the Reasons for Obama's second Stimulus

What’s new today

Our #1 story addresses the issue of income inequality.  It seems according to the article that it has been overstated by the left.  #2 tells of Obama’s bus trip through Virginia and notes who the crowds have gotten so much smaller than 2008.  We look at anti-Semitism with the OWS in #3.   Article #4 tells of Mark Steyn’s take on the Occupy Movement.  In #5 Harry Reid tells us why Obama’s job bill is directed at government workers.  It seems the private sector is doing fine.  #6 relates how the cost of green energy in Europe will double the cost of electricity and #7 is an update on an Obama Green Energy Scandal. 

1.   5 reasons why income inequality is a myth — and Occupy Wall Street is wrong

Sorry, the story just doesn’t hold together. According to left-wing think tanks, columnist and bloggers—and, of course, the Occupy Wall Street radicals—the top 1 percent have been exploiting the 99 percent for decades. The rich have been getting richer at the expense of the middle class and poor.

Really? Just think for a second: If inequality had really exploded during the past 30 to 40 years, why did American politics simultaneously move rightward toward a greater embrace of free-market capitalism? Shouldn’t just the opposite have happened as beleaguered workers united and demanded a vastly expanded social safety net and sharply higher taxes on the rich? What happened to presidents Mondale, Dukakis, Gore, and Kerry? Even Barack Obama ran for president as a market friendly, third-way technocrat.

Nope, the story doesn’t hold together because THE FINANCIAL FACTS DON’T SUPPORT IT. And here’s why:

1. In a 2009 paper, Northwestern University economist Robert Gordon FOUND THE SUPPOSED SHARP RISE IN AMERICAN INEQUALITY TO BE “EXAGGERATED BOTH IN MAGNITUDE AND TIMING.” Here is the conundrum: Family income is supposed to rise right along with productivity. BUT MEDIAN REAL HOUSEHOLD INCOME—AS REPORTED BY THE CENSUS BUREAU—GREW JUST 0.49 PERCENT PER YEAR BETWEEN 1979 AND 2007 EVEN AS WORKER PRODUCTIVITY GREW FOUR TIMES FASTER AT 1.95 PERCENT PER YEAR. The wide gap between the two measures, if accurate, would suggest wealthy households rather than middle-class families grabbed most of the income gains from faster productivity.

But Gordon explained that this “compares apples with oranges, and then oranges with bananas.” When various statistical quirks are harmonized between the two economic measures, Gordon found middle-class income growth to be much faster and the “conceptually consistent gap between income and productivity growth is only 0.16 percent per year.” THAT’S BARELY ONE‐TENTH OF THE ORIGINAL GAP OF 1.46 PERCENT. IN OTHER WORDS, INCOME GAINS WERE SHARED FAIRLY EQUALLY….

… 5. Set all the numbers aside for a moment. If you’ve lived through the past four decades, DOES IT REALLY SEEM LIKE AMERICA IS NO BETTER OFF TODAY? It doesn’t to Jason Furman, the deputy director of Obama’s National Economic Council. Here is Furman back in 2006: “Remember when even upper-middle class families worried about staying on a long distance call for too long? When flying was an expensive luxury? When only a minority of the population had central air conditioning, dishwashers, and color televisions? When no one had DVD players, iPods, or digital cameras? And when most Americans owned a car that broke down frequently, guzzled fuel, spewed foul smelling pollution, and didn’t have any of the now virtually standard items like air conditioning or tape/CD players?”…

http://blog.american.com/2011/10/5-reasons-why-income-inequality-is-a-myth-and-occupy-wall-street-is-wrong/

http://www.nber.org/papers/w15351

Another left wing myth that is false. 

2.  Obama fades in Virginia

President Barack Obama’s bus trip into the commonwealth on Tuesday drew hundreds of devoted followers — and cold shoulders from some high-profile Virginia Democrats.

Obama, midway through a three-day swing in largely rural areas of North Carolina and Virginia, continued to pitch a $35 billion fund that would allow localities to avoid teacher, firefighter and police layoffs.


http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/66290.html#ixzz1bEIMPtKZ

The crowds are small and the enthusiasm diminished.  BHO needs to get used to it.

3.   Is OWS Anti-Semitic?

http://legalinsurrection.com/2011/10/simon-wiesenthal-center-issues-statement-on-ows-anti-semitism/

There certainly are elements of it.  Does it define the movement?  You be the judge. 

4.   OWS—A Pathetic Movement?

On Rush Limbaugh’s Wednesday show, FILL-IN HOST MARK STEYN SAID HE HAS LOW REGARD FOR OCCUPY WALL STREET — not necessarily because it is a left-wing movement, but, he explained, because it is an imported movement.

“I’m not sure how many people know this, but this whole thing — THIS IS THE MOST PATHETIC REVOLUTION IN HISTORY,” STEYN SAID. “[French revolutionary] Robespierre would have no time for these guys, Lenin would have no time for these guys, Mao would have no time for these guys — these big sloth demonstrations, the big sloth movement. It’s not even American — THIS WHOLE THING WAS COOKED UP BY THE VANCOUVER-BASED ADBUSTERS MEDIA FOUNDATION. THAT’S VANCOUVER AS IN VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, BY THE WAY. That’s as in Vancouver, British Columbia, Dominion of Canada. What has it come to? What has it come to? What is the state, the pitiful state of America’s rebellious youth when America’s rebellious youth have to basically be lame southern front men for what is essentially a Canadian rebellious youth movement. This is pathetic.”

But beyond origins of the Occupy Wall Street movement, STEYN RIPPED THE PROTESTERS FOR MIXING THEIR SIGNALS.

“This is disgraceful,” he said. “This Occupy Wall Street movement must be the dumbest revolution out. The problem with Occupy Wall Street, by the way, isn’t hard to figure out: IT’S GOT NO SOLUTION TO THESE THINGS EXCEPT MORE GOVERNMENT … THEY’RE ANARCHIST FOR MORE GOVERNMENT. They want to stick it to the man. On the one hand they want to urinate and defecate all over police cruisers, but on the other hand, they’re saying we need a bigger government budget. They’re sticking it to the man by asking the man to write them a bigger check. It’s the most pathetic revolution in history.”


http://dailycaller.com/2011/10/19/mark-steyn-occupy-wall-street-lame-pathetic-import-from-canada-video/#ixzz1bGuaDG7R

Mark Steyn is extremely witty.  He really brings the Occupy Movement down a couple of notches (and they were very high up on the notches to begin with). 

5.   Harry Reid’s gaffe:  That’s right he tells the truth

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Wednesday indicated Congress needs to worry about government jobs more than private-sector jobs, and that this is why Senate Democrats are pushing a bill aimed at shoring up teachers and first-responders.

“IT’S VERY CLEAR THAT PRIVATE-SECTOR JOBS HAVE BEEN DOING JUST FINE; it’s the public-sector jobs where we’ve lost huge numbers, and that’s what this legislation is all about,” Reid said on the Senate floor.

Reid reiterated his emphasis on creating government jobs by saying Democrats are looking to “put hundreds of thousands of people back to work teaching children, have more police patrolling our streets, firefighters fighting our fires, doing the rescue work that they do so well …

that’s our priority.” HE SAID REPUBLICANS ARE CALLING THE BILL A “FAILURE” BECAUSE THEY ARE “USING A DIFFERENT BENCHMARK FOR SUCCESS THAN WE ARE.”

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2011/10/a-moment-of-candor-from-harry-reid.php

The last stimulus kept the state governments from laying people off, but it only delayed the actions that needed to be done.  Here’s another delay, but it doesn’t solve the problem.  So what's really behind Obama's and Reids plan?  Governmental Unions are big contributors to the Democratic Party.  By funding union jobs, they indirectly fund Democrat candidates in the upcoming election.

6.   EU Leak Shows Wind, Solar Energy to Double Power Bills

According to a leaked European Commission report on the future of energy in Europe, THE SLOW SWITCH TO GREENER SOURCES OF ENERGY IS GOING TO PUSH THE COST OF ELECTRICITY THROUGH THE ROOF. The FT has the story:  

Average electricity prices for households and businesses would rise “strongly up to 2020-2030” under all scenarios, the document says, and the highest prices would occur after 2030 if renewable sources of power, such as wind and solar, make up a large share of energy production. For example, AVERAGE PRICES FOR HOUSEHOLDS COULD JUMP BY MORE THAN 100 PER CENT BY 2050 IF THIS WERE THE CASE but only by 43 per cent under a scenario that assumed more nuclear power and carbon capture and storage were used.

http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/#post-15644

Here’s one of the many problems with green energy.  Not only is it not scientifically feasible to replace carbon based fuels at this time, trying to do so make energy prices skyrocket and living standards crash. 

7.   Obama Scandals Update:  SunPower altered press releases

It appears as though the Obama administration has been caught red-handed trying to cover up evidence in relation to the “green” loans programs that helped finance Solyndra. CNBC reports that A NUMBER OF PRESS RELEASES POSTED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY HAVE BEEN RETROACTIVELY ALTERED TO REMOVE THE NAME A SOLAR COMPANY THOUGHT BY MANY TO BE THE NEXT “GREEN” FAILURE:

The changes occurred in two press releases from the Department of Energy’s loan guarantee program --- the same program that has been the center of controversy surrounding the failed solar company Solyndra.

Both were changed to remove the name of a company that has received negative press attention in recent days, SunPower, and replace it with the name of another company, NRG Energy.

In the April case, the Department of Energy loan programs office announced in a press release on April 12 “conditional commitment” to a $1.187 billion loan guarantee to support the California Valley Solar Ranch project, which it said was “sponsored by SunPower Corporation.”

But that release was later changed on one website to say the project was “sponsored by NRG Energy.” The date on the release remained “April 12, 2011.”

The name substitution is not completely random. NRG recently FINALIZED ITS ACQUISITION OF THE CALIFORNIA VALLEY SOLAR RANCH PROJECT FROM SUNPOWER IN SEPTEMBER. HOWEVER, AT THE TIME OF THE PRESS RELEASE IN APRIL, SUNPOWER STILL CONTROLLED THE PROJECT.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/280715/busted-doe-altered-solyndra-related-documents-andrew-stiles

This is not good news. It does sound like the administration doesn’t have a lot of faith in the project.