With Autumn here, we ask, is this the Autumn of Obama's Presidency?

Who should the OWS protesters be targeting?

From 2008 election coverage

Sharyl Attkisson, CBS Correspondent: Like McCain, Obama's corporate donor list reads like a who's who of the Wall Street collapse, only some are giving more to Obama. LOTS MORE.

Sheila Krumholz, Center for Responsive Politics: The Obama campaign has just vacuumed up the money in this cycle. SPECIFICALLY FROM GOLDMAN SACHS, OBAMA HAS RECEIVED OVER $740,000 AS COMPARED TO MCCAIN'S $220,000.

Attkisson: Not to mention that the former head of Goldman Sachs, Robert Rubin, is Obama's chief economic adviser, and two current executives are bundling for him. Bundlers are mega-fundraisers who critics say get special access.

http://thevimh.blogspot.com/2008/10/goldman-sachs-loves-obama.html

The cognitive dissidence of being against Wall Street but for President Obama doesn’t seem to have hit the OWS protesters and with the Unions joining the fray isn’t likely to.   





What Harry Reid has wrought

… Parliamentary procedure is often complex and doesn't lend itself to uplifting commentary, but REID'S ACTIONS ON THURSDAY WERE NO MORE COMPLICATED THAN A SINGLE BULLET TO THE BACK OF THE HEAD. Here's what happened: President Obama has been stumping the media demanding a vote in Congress on his new, $447 billion proposal to stimulate the economy and create jobs. But the Republicans knew that Democrats facing re-election didn't want to vote on the bill because it calls for increased taxes on higher incomes. So they tried to force a vote by attaching it to a measure dealing with China's currency manipulations.

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell asked for a suspension of the rules so that the Senate could debate the jobs bill. Reid demanded a ruling from the Senate parliamentarian on whether this was permissible. When the parliamentarian ruled that it was, REID RESPONDED WITH A MOTION, APPROVED ON A PARTY-LINE VOTE OF 51-48, THAT STRIPPED REPUBLICANS OF THEIR POWER TO OFFER AMENDMENTS. That vote effectively changed Senate rules, which had always required 67 votes.

During the Bush administration, some Senate Republicans wanted to do what Reid did as a way to stop Democratic filibusters against conservative judicial nominees. BUT THEY DECLINED TO INVOKE THE SO-CALLED NUCLEAR OPTION, RECOGNIZING THAT IT WOULD INFLICT PERMANENT DAMAGE TO THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS BY NULLIFYING THE RIGHT OF MINORITIES TO BE HEARD ON THE SENATE FLOOR. But Reid apparently cares little for minority rights, at least when Republicans are in the minority.

The day will soon come when Democrats will bitterly regret what Reid has done. As McConnell said after the vote, "WE ARE FUNDAMENTALLY TURNING THE SENATE INTO THE HOUSE. NO AMENDMENTS BEFORE CLOTURE. NO MOTIONS TO SUSPEND AFTER CLOTURE. THE MINORITY IS OUT OF BUSINESS. ... This is a free-wheeling body, and everybody is better off when we operate that way. Everybody is. Whether you're in the majority or the minority, because today's minority may be tomorrow's majority." Voters will have an opportunity to bring this truth home to Reid and his Democratic colleagues in November 2012….

http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/2011/10/harry-reid-shames-worlds-greatest-deliberative-body#ixzz1aHhrUaq4



One thing I’ve seen over and over again.  The Democrats do something and then when the Republicans are in power and do the same thing, the Democrats accuse them of changing the rules.  This one will be a lot harder to blame on the Republicans but I foresee they will use the excuse, Reid only did it in this case, not the ones the Republicans are doing it in. Stand by because in just 14 months Reid will no longer be in the majority.



Obama:  Becoming isolated?

The reports are not good, disturbing even. I have heard basically the same story four times in the last 10 days, and the people doing the talking are in New York and Washington and are spread across the political spectrum.

The gist is this: PRESIDENT OBAMA HAS BECOME A LONE WOLF, A STRANGER TO HIS OWN GOVERNMENT. HE TALKS MOSTLY, AND SOMETIMES ONLY, TO FRIEND AND ADVISER VALERIE JARRETT AND TO DAVID AXELROD, HIS POLITICAL STRATEGIST.

Everybody else, including members of his Cabinet, have little face time with him except for brief meetings that serve as photo ops. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner both have complained, according to people who have talked to them, that they are shut out of important decisions.

The president’s workdays are said to end early, often at 4 p.m. He usually has dinner in the family residence with his wife and daughters, then retreats to a private office. One person said he takes a stack of briefing books. Others aren’t sure what he does.

If the reports are accurate, and I believe they are, THEY PAINT A PICTURE OF AN ISOLATED MAN TRAPPED IN A COLLAPSING PRESIDENCY. While there is no indication Obama is walking the halls of the White House late at night, talking to the portraits of former presidents, as Richard Nixon did during Watergate, the reports help explain his odd public remarks.

Obama conceded in one television interview recently that Americans are not “better off than they were four years ago” and said in another that the nation had “gotten a little soft.” Both smacked of a man who feels discouraged and alienated and sparked comparisons to Jimmy Carter, never a good sign.

BLAMING THE COUNTRY IS POLITICAL HERESY, OF COURSE, YET OBAMA IS RUNNING OUT OF SCAPEGOATS. His allies rarely make affirmative arguments on his behalf anymore, limiting themselves to making excuses for his failure. He and they attack Republicans, George W. Bush, European leaders and Chinese currency manipulation -- and that was just last week.

THE BLAME GAME ISN’T MUCH OF A DEFENSE FOR SOLYNDRA AND “FAST AND FURIOUS,” THE EMERGING TWIN SCANDALS THAT PAINT A PICTURE OF INCOMPETENCE AT BEST.

Obama himself is spending his public time pushing a $450 billion “jobs” bill -- really another stimulus in disguise -- that even Senate Democrats won’t support. HE GRIMLY FLOGGED IT REPEATEDLY AT HIS THURSDAY PRESS CONFERENCE, EVEN THOUGH SNOWBALLS IN HELL HAVE A BETTER CHANCE OF SURVIVAL.

If he cracked a single smile at the hour-plus event, I missed it. He seems happy only on the campaign trail, where the adoration of the crowd lifts his spirits….


http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/aimless_obama_walks_alone_OUgoMTkORRJioLl7B6ZYmN#ixzz1aISSXhWE

When I first started working for a large packaging company, I was in one of the plastics plants.  We had a new Administrative Manager come into the plant.  There was one employee who worked unbelievably hard in his group, but simply wasn’t up to the job.  The previous managers had overlooked his failures for all the effort he put into it.  This manager was different.  He fired the man.  And do you know what the fired employee’s reaction was?  Relief.  He knew he wasn’t doing the job and spent every day trying to do what he couldn’t.  When he was finally let go, he wasn’t angry because the manager had done him a favor.  In 2012, the people of the USA will do Barack H. Obama a favor and fire him. 



Liberal Protesters take us all back to Kindergarten



I visit the Sistine Chapel a number of years ago.  A large crowd was there and the talking grew louder and louder.  All of a sudden, a nun clapped her hands to get everyone to quiet down.  I felt suddenly like I was 8 years old again back in Catholic grade school.

If you watch this, you will be transported back to kindergarten when someone would speak and all the kids would repeat it to show they had heard and understood. This video is pretty pathetic.   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QZlp3eGMNI





Iran actress sentenced to one year in jail

ACTRESS MARZIEH VAFAMEHR HAS BEEN SENTENCED TO A YEAR IN JAIL AND 90 LASHES FOR HER ROLE IN A FILM ABOUT THE LIMITS IMPOSED ON ARTISTS IN THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC, an Iranian opposition website reported Sunday.

"A verdict has been issued for Marzieh Vafamehr, sentencing her to a year in jail and 90 lashes," Kalameh.com reported.

"Her lawyer has appealed the sentence, which was handed down yesterday (Saturday)," the report added, without giving further details.

Vafamehr was arrested in July after appearing in "My Tehran for Sale," which came under harsh criticism in conservative circles.

THE FILM, PRODUCED IN COLLABORATION WITH AUSTRALIA, TELLS THE STORY OF A YOUNG ACTRESS IN TEHRAN WHOSE THEATRE WORK IS BANNED BY THE AUTHORITIES. SHE IS THEN FORCED TO LEAD A SECRET LIFE IN ORDER TO EXPRESS HERSELF ARTISTICALLY.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.327f17c704be62bbbe8f51190948679a.871&show_article=1

I guess the Iranian government has no concept of the meaning of irony.

The Senate Goes Nuclear to Avoid Voting on Obama's Job Bill

Reid Triggers ‘Nuclear Option’ To Change Senate Rules so Democrats don’t have to vote on Obama’s Jobs Bill

In a shocking development Thursday evening, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) triggered A RARELY USED PROCEDURAL OPTION INFORMALLY CALLED THE “NUCLEAR OPTION” TO CHANGE THE SENATE RULES.

Reid and 50 members of his caucus voted to change Senate rules unilaterally to prevent Republicans from forcing votes on uncomfortable amendments after the chamber has voted to move to final passage of a bill.

Reid’s coup passed by a vote of 51-48, leaving Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) fuming.

The surprise move stunned Republicans, who did not expect Reid to bring heavy artillery to what had been a humdrum knife fight over amendments to China currency legislation.

The Democratic leader had become fed up with Republican demands for votes on motions to suspend the rules after the Senate had voted to limit debate earlier in the day.

MCCONNELL HAD THREATENED SUCH A MOTION TO FORCE A VOTE ON THE ORIGINAL VERSION OF PRESIDENT OBAMA’S JOBS PACKAGE, which many Democrats don’t like because it would limit tax deductions for families earning over $250,000. The jobs package would have been considered as an amendment.

MCCONNELL WANTED TO EMBARRASS THE PRESIDENT BY DEMONSTRATING HOW FEW DEMOCRATS ARE WILLING TO SUPPORT HIS JOBS PLAN AS FIRST DRAFTED. (Senate Democrats have since rewritten the jobs package to pay for its stimulus provisions with a 5.6 surtax on income over $1 million.)

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/186133-reid-triggers-nuclear-option-to-change-senate-rules-and-prohibit-post-cloture-filibusters

The humorous part is that Obama wants to tag the Republicans with a failure to bring his bill to a vote when it is Reid who is willing to invoke the nuclear option to avoid it. 





The Democrat Conundrum

DEMOCRATS FACE AN IMPOSSIBLE POLITICAL SITUATION: SMILE, NOD, AND RE-NOMINATE OBAMA FOR A SECOND TERM IN 2012 OR BEGIN TO MANEUVER OBAMA INTO WALKING GRACEFULLY AWAY, IN HOPES, PERHAPS, OF FINDING A CHANCE TO RUN AGAIN IN THE FUTURE.

THE SIZE OF THE DEMOCRAT OBAMA COLLAPSE IS HARD TO EXAGGERATE. The twin defeats in New York and Nevada House races were slobberknockers in the political ring. Wisconsin had a series of elections -- State Supreme Court election and several State Senate recalls -- and Democrats lost in a strongly union state where even labor hacks could not turn out votes in low-turnout elections to match enraged Wisconsin voters.

Polls show the same nightmare for Democrats led by Obama. Rasmussen tracks presidential popularity, but the crucial number is in THE STRONGLY DISAPPROVE CATEGORY. THESE ARE VOTERS HIGHLY UNLIKELY TO CHANGE THEIR MINDS AND STRONGLY LIKELY TO SHOW UP ON ELECTION DAY. This number has been hovering for weeks around 45%, and once it hits 50%, then whoever opposes Obama in November will win. Gallup shows that Republican voters are much more excited.  about voting than Democrats, which simply reinforces the Rasmussen numbers…

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

Obama is toast and he’s likely to drag a lot of Democrats to defeat alongside with him.  But the Democrats can’t afford alienate the black voters so they are stuck with him. 





 

Unemployment stays the same at 9.1%

THE NATION'S UNEMPLOYMENT RATE REMAINED STUCK AT 9.1 PERCENT IN SEPTEMBER despite an uptick in hiring, as the latest labor report fueled debate in Washington over how to jump-start an economy that President Obama acknowledges has weakened since the start of the year.

The Labor Department said Friday EMPLOYERS ADDED 130,000 JOBS IN SEPTEMBER. NEARLY HALF OF THOSE GAINS, THOUGH, WERE DUE TO THE REHIRING OF 45,000 VERIZON EMPLOYEES WHO HAD GONE ON STRIKE.

The hiring did little to draw down the number of unemployed in America, estimated at about 14 million. Since April, the jobless rate has hovered between 9 and 9.2 percent….

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/10/07/jobless-rate-stays-stuck-at-1-percent-despite-uptick-in-hiring/

This kind of job performance is going to lose a lot of Democrats their jobs. 

The Bush Tax Cuts

IN WHAT YEAR DID THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES COLLECT THE MOST TAX REVENUE IN ITS HISTORY? Would you guess it occurred before, or after, the Bush tax cuts (final round effective in 2003)?

THE ANSWER IS 2007. The most revenue over collected in our history was $2,568 billion, and that happened in Fiscal Year 2007 - four years after Bush's final round of tax cuts.

Some of you might be thinking that that does not take inflation into account. OK, IN WHAT YEAR DID THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT COLLECT THE MOST TAX REVENUE IN HISTORY, AS MEASURED IN CONSTANT (INFLATION-ADJUSTED) 2005 DOLLARS?

The answer, again, is FY2007….

… To be clear, THE DROP IN FEDERAL REVENUE AFTER 2007 HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE BUSH "TAX CUTS" AND EVERYTHING TO DO WITH THE DESTRUCTION OF WEALTH THAT COINCIDENTALLY OCCURRED AFTER DEMOCRATS TOOK OVER BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS.

Not to mention, our deficit problem is mostly due to spending, not revenue. Compared to 2007, revenues in 2011 are down $394 B, but SPENDING IS UP $1,091 B. That's why the deficit in 2011 is more than ten times bigger than the one in 2007 ($1,645 B vs. $161 B)….

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

Aren’t facts wonderful? 

What a difference an ideology makes

The Occupy Wall Street rally may not be growing, but press coverage of it is. Even some members of Congress, like Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn, are endorsing it. Last night on the O’Reilly factor, GRETCHEN CARLSON WARNED: “IT WOULD BE DANGEROUS FOR ANY POLITICIAN TO ALIGN THEMSELVES WITH THIS GROUP. IT’S DANGEROUS IF IT CONTINUES TO BECOME MORE VIOLENT.” Fortunately, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi dismissed them as “astroturf.” Oh wait, no, that’s what she said of the Tea Parties. THESE WERE HER SENTIMENTS ABOUT THE OCCUPY WALL STREET FOLKS: “GOD BLESS THEM,” PELOSI SAID, “for their spontaneity. It’s independent . . . it’s young, it’s spontaneous and it’s focused. And it’s going to be effective.” She added: “The message of the protesters is a message for the establishment everyplace. No longer will the recklessness of some on Wall Street cause massive joblessness on Main Street.” Pelosi did not comment on — and was not asked about — the law-breaking that occurred during the protest over the weekend. http://blogs.investors.com/capitalhill/index.php/home/35-politicsinvesting/5347-astro-turf-on-occupy-wall-street-pelosi-tea-party Don’t call it hypocritical, rather call it political.  Once it’s their people protesting, protesting again becomes the highest form of patriotism.  Here are some interesting pictures from OWS.  http://michaelgraham.com/archives/best-ldquo-occupy-wall-street-rdquo-sign-ever-warning-not-safe-for-work-family/ Chris Matthews finally admits the truth. CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: Let me tell you the problem with Obama. If you bought a car this year, a Ford or a Chevy, WHATEVER YOU BOUGHT, AND IT WAS LOUSY. IT TURNED OUT TO BE A CLINKER, A CLUNKER. ARE YOU GOING TO BUY ONE NEXT YEAR? JENNIFER DONAHUE, HUFFINGTON POST: No.    MATTHEWS: Okay, that's the problem. Thank you, Jennifer Donahue, and thank you, Mark McKinnon. That is the problem, he's got to win the argument. “My heart next year, my model next year is going to be so good. Let me show it to you,” and convince us that WHAT HE'S TELLING US ABOUT THE NEXT FOUR YEARS IS SO COMPELLING, SO WINNING, THAT WE SAY, “OKAY, WE KNOW WE GOT A BAD MODEL THIS YEAR, BUT WE’RE GOING TO GET A GOOD ONE NEXT YEAR.” I’m just looking at it. He's got to really make this case to win this campaign. It's up to him to do it. He can do it, but what a challenge. http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2011/10/06/matthews-compares-obama-clunker-would-you-buy-lousy-car-again-next-ye#ixzz1a7lYmhby

I have to disagree with one thing.  Obama can’t do it.  He’s lost too many people and he’s too arrogant to do what he would need to do. 



 Carbon Emissions

THE CARBON-DIOXIDE ISSUE IS NOT ABOUT THE UNITED STATES ANYMORE. Sure, the U.S. is the world's second-largest energy consumer. But OVER THE PAST DECADE, CARBON-DIOXIDE EMISSIONS IN THE U.S. FELL BY 1.7%. And according to the International Energy Agency, THE U.S. IS NOW CUTTING CARBON EMISSIONS FASTER THAN EUROPE, EVEN THOUGH THE EUROPEAN UNION HAS INSTITUTED AN ELABORATE CARBON-TRADING/PRICING SCHEME. Why? The U.S. is producing vast quantities of cheap natural gas from shale, which is displacing higher-carbon coal.

Meanwhile, China's emissions jumped by 123% over the past decade and now exceed those of the U.S. by more than two billion tons per year. Africa's carbon-dioxide emissions jumped by 30%, Asia's by 44%, and the Middle East's by a whopping 57%. PUT ANOTHER WAY, OVER THE PAST DECADE, U.S. CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSIONS—ABOUT 6.1 BILLION TONS PER YEAR—COULD HAVE GONE TO ZERO AND YET GLOBAL EMISSIONS STILL WOULD HAVE GONE UP.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203388804576612620828387968.html

It’s time for the USA to take the shackles off our energy producers.  We have more natural deposits than any other country in the world and yet we continue to import much of our energy because the environmental lobby won’t let us develop it.  Want out of to increase employment while decreasing the trade deficit?  This isn’t rocket science.





Mark Steyn on the OWS movement

…. If you'll forgive a plug for my latest sellout to my corporate masters, IN MY NEW BOOK I QUOTE H.G. WELLS' VICTORIAN TIME-TRAVELER AFTER ENCOUNTERING FAR IN THE FUTURE THE SOFT, EFFETE ELOI: "These people were clothed in pleasant fabrics that must at times need renewal, and their sandals, though undecorated, were fairly complex specimens of metalwork. Somehow such things must be made." And yet he saw "no workshops" or sign of any industry at all. "They spent all their time in playing gently, in bathing in the river, in making love in a half-playful fashion, in eating fruit and sleeping. I COULD NOT SEE HOW THINGS WERE KEPT GOING." The Time-Traveler might have felt much the same upon landing in Liberty Square in the early 21st century, except for the bit about bathing: IT'S INCREASINGLY HARD IN AMERICA TO "SEE HOW THINGS ARE KEPT GOING," BUT IT'S PRETTY CLEAR THAT THE MEMBERS OF "OCCUPY WALL STREET" HAVE NO PLANS TO CONTRIBUTE TO KEEPING THINGS GOING. Like Michael Oher using his iPhone to announce his ignorance of Steve Jobs, in the autumn of the republic the beneficiaries of American innovation seem not only utterly disconnected from, but actively contemptuous of, the world that sustains their comforts.

WHY DID STEVE JOBS DO SO MUCH OF HIS INNOVATING IN COMPUTERS? Well, obviously, because that's what got his juices going. BUT IT'S ALSO THE CASE THAT, BECAUSE IT WAS A VIRTUALLY NONEXISTENT INDUSTRY UNTIL HE CAME ALONG, IT'S ABOUT THE ONE AREA OF AMERICAN LIFE THAT HASN'T BEEN REGULATED INTO SCLEROSIS BY THE STATIST BEHEMOTH. So Apple and other companies were free to be as corporate as they wanted, and we're the better off for it. The stunted, inarticulate spawn of America's educrat monopoly want a world of fewer corporations and lots more government. IF THEIR "DEMANDS" FOR A $20 MINIMUM WAGE AND A TRILLION DOLLARS OF SPENDING IN "ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION" AND ALL THE REST ARE EVER MET, THERE WILL BE A MASSIVE EXPANSION OF STATE MONOPOLY POWER. Would you like to get your iPhone from the DMV? That's your "American Autumn": an America that constrains the next Steve Jobs but bigs up Van Jones. Underneath the familiar props of radical chic that hasn't been either radical or chic in half a century, the zombie youth of the Big Sloth movement are a paradox too ludicrous even for the malign alumni of a desultory half-decade of Complacency Studies: they're anarchists for Big Government. Do it for the children, the Democrats like to say. THEY'RE THE CHILDREN WE DID IT FOR, AND, IF THIS IS THE BEST THEY CAN DO, THEY'RE DONE FOR.

http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/jobs-320936-steve-corporate.html

Love the end of this post, “If this is the best they can do, they’re done for.”  The democrats gushing over this movement is scary.  This is the equivalent of a small child throwing a temper tantrum because they want more whatever. 


Some good news—11 Brilliant Inventions for the Future



I was taken by the breadth of the inventions.  As we see Democrats demonize the wealthy we can look at a number of people who are looking to be wealthy and will make all of us richer in the process. 

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/10-brilliant-innovators-for-popular-mechanics-breakthrough-awards-2011?click=pm_news#fbIndex1