Twilight Flu

"Suddenly, Edward's email account starts bouncing back all of Bella's sad missives, which leaves her staring sad-eyed out the window for the next several months like a love-lorn Christopher Reeve. After a while, Bella takes to her bed and howls for nights on end, but she pulls out of her depression a few minutes later (film time) when she convinces a Native American kid to repair of couple of broken-down dirt bikes for free - because exploiting Indians is the cure for the white girl blues.

The savage in question is Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), raven-haired sixteen-year-old and proud descendant of the Washboard Tummy Tribe." - Aintitcool.com

I endured the first Twilight debacle because my youngest kinda made me. I thought it was God awful, head splittingly stupid. It was my understanding that my daughter had mostly grown out of this asinine vampire soap opera - or so I thought. My daughter, and my wife, are in line right now at the local cineplex desperately waiting for the first digital flickers of Bella making goo-goo eyes at Edward's gravity defying hair. My wife says she just wants to see how bad it is. Huh-huh. Traitors.

I don't know why the Twilight films bother me so much. Stewart (Bella) and Pattinson (sparklin' Eddie) have to be two of the dullest actors on the planet, they certainly deliver lines like neither has taken a single acting class. If dreamy eyed teen angst qualifies as method acting these days both excel in that useless gift. And if that wasn't bad enough, I understand that the werewolves carry fanny packs so that when they change back to human form, they can slip on a some Old Navy jeans. No shirts, just man hugging jeans. Yeah, werewolves with fanny packs, it's that stupid.

These films are so superficial and lacking any real substance that I'm disappointed so many, young and old, invest any free time or cash in them. Don't get me wrong, I love stupid movies and zany as much as they next guy. In fact, good zany is really hard to do. Example; I have a special place in my heart the movie Kung Pow and Hot Rod. So I do "zany." But the producers of Twilight have literally taken a crap on celluloid and sold it to empty headed teens and love lorn "adults" as emo-high drama. Really, the mind boggles.

Why am I surprised? Last year a small majority Americans bought into the ever so shallow & shadowy mythology of Obama as President. Now a even larger majority of Americans are face-palming themselves and asking "what the hell were we thinking?" Here's to hoping Americans will shake off the Obama, Edward and Bella flu soon.

Isn't that interesting...

Democrats & Unaffiliateds More Likely To Be Unemployed Than Republicans, "Data from Rasmussen Reports national telephone surveys shows that 15.0% of Democrats in the workforce are currently unemployed and looking for a job. Among adults not affiliated with either major party, that number is 15.6% while just 9.9% of Republicans are in the same situation."- Rasmussen Reports

Mr. President, Where Are the Jobs? "Unemployment is at a record high and since Speaker Pelosi has been in the Speaker’s chair, 8.7 million more people are unemployed. What’s even more frightening is that 3 million of those jobs have been lost just since the misnamed stimulus was shoved through Congress less than a year ago. So where are the jobs?" - Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC)

I'm sure Obama, Pelosi and Reid are doing everything in their power to make unemployment fair and balanced. Still, it is a small comfort to know that despite the Democrats being the party of the rich, more conservatives are holding still on to their livelihoods than liberals. Given the even darker economic clouds gathering the on the horizon, this poll stat won't last much longer.

Say what? "At 10.2% Unemployment, Geithner 'Economy, Consumer Confidence, Financial System are Stronger Now" - Treasury Secretary Geithner, YouTube
In Praise of Inexperience, "A president who knew what he was doing could do lots more damage" - WSJ
Dems need help. Very funny. "Help Wanted" - WSJ

Hat Tip: Dr. Helen

We're Outta Here

Dems alarmed as independents bolt, "... a flurry of new polls makes clear that Democrats are facing deeper problems with independents—the swing voters who swung dramatically toward the party in 2006 and 2008 but who now are registering deep unease with the amount of spending and debt called for under Obama's agenda in an era of one-party rule in Washington.

A Gallup Poll released last week offered a disturbing glimpse about the state of play: just 14 percent of independents approve of the job Congress is doing, the lowest figure all year. In just the past few days alone, surveys have shown Democratic incumbents trailing Republicans among independent voters by double-digit margins in competitive statewide contests in places as varied as Connecticut, Ohio and Iowa." - Politico

And the Democrats think it's a problem with their messaging, not the substance. You see, they just haven't found a way to make high unemployment, massive debt and a ridiculous health care plan palatable to the American people. Once the Democrats figure out how to sweeten the taste of failure, everything will be alright and they will rule for thousand years. You'll see.

Update: "I think it is important, though, to recognize if we keep on adding to the debt, even in the midst of this recovery, that at some point, people could lose confidence in the U.S. economy in a way that could actually lead to a double-dip recession." - Obama as Fiscal Zelig

"Thousand-page bills that spend too much, borrow too much and tax too much are exactly the wrong approach for creating jobs." - Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell

Something has the Democrats spooked. To get them to become faux fiscal hawks almost overnight is nothing less than miraculous - if it were true. It's not. But now Big Wee Wee is blaming the American people for losing "confidence in the U.S. economy," an economy he and his fellow Democrats wrecked.

Confidence is a leader led proposition and cannot made to happen from the bottom up. There is a huge confidence deficit when it comes to Team Obama and the Democrats ability to govern. So prepare yourselves, the double-dip cometh.

Algore Dumbass Alert

"Conan: Now, what about … you talk in the book about geothermal energy …
Al: Yeah, yeah.
Conan: and that is, as I understand it, using the heat that's generated from the core of the earth …
Al: Yeah.
Conan: … to create energy, and it sounds to me like an evil plan by Lex Luthor to defeat Superman. Can you, can you tell me, is this a viable solution, geothermal energy?
Al: It definitely is, and it's a relatively new one. People think about geothermal energy — when they think about it at all — in terms of the hot water bubbling up in some places, but two kilometers or so down in most places there are these incredibly hot rocks, 'cause the interior of the earth is extremely hot, several million degrees, and the crust of the earth is hot …" Source: Conan O'Brien Show

As John Derbyshire of NRO correctly points out, if the center of the earth was several million degrees we'd be a star. But the lisping pied piper of environmental idiocy routinely gets away with asinine statements like this. He wouldn't, if he had the courage to debate.

Bogus Jobs

75,343 Bogus jobs 'created or saved' by the Stimulus, "More than ten percent of the jobs the Obama administration has claimed were "created or saved" by the $787 billion stimulus package are doubtful or imaginary, according to reports compiled from eleven major newspapers and the Associated Press. Based only on our analysis of stimulus media coverage in the last two weeks, The Examiner has created this interactive map to document exaggerated stimulus claims. The map, which will be updated as new revelations appear, currently reflects an exaggeration by the Obama administration of about 75,000 jobs, out of the 640,000 jobs supposedly "created or saved." - Washington Examiner

The jobs "created or saved" by the stimulus package is a target rich environment that's just about ready to blow. It's obvious that Team Obama have been cooking the books and until now, the media have been playing along. But the "created or saved" claims have been so outrageous that even Obama's media sycophants can't cover for him. All it takes is one intrepid journalist or media outlet willing to swim upstream and unmask these job frauds. If it were a Republican administration journalists would be tripping over each to expose the truth.

"Recovery.gov shows money flowing to nonexistent districts" - Washington Examiner
"$6.4 Billion Stimulus Goes to Phantom Districts" - Watchdog.org

Breast Advice

Breast exam guidelines now call for less testing, "Tens of thousands of lives are being saved by mammography screening, and these idiots want to do away with it. It's crazy -- unethical, really." - Daniel B. Kopans, radiology professor at Harvard Medical School

A federal task force says older women should cut back on mammograms - the rationing of American health by the government care begins. Looks like Sarah Palin was right all along about Obama's "death panels." How's that hope and change working out for you?

'Chrysler's ENVI Electric Vehicle Program Scrapped'

"Until the (battery) storage gets resolved, I think electric vehicles are going to struggle." - Fiat and Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne

From the very beginning battery storage for electric vehicles has been a problem, a problem that EV supporters willfully ignore. After all, if they (auto manufactures) build them (with a heavy dose of government arm twisting), they (consumers) will come. The economic reality for EVs is much darker than their green-eyed apologists want to admit and this move by Fiat and Chrysler, only reinforces the obvious - EVs are an overpriced, niche products that are more fad than futuristic.

Obama will have a hard time meeting his pledged to put "1 million electric vehicles on the road by 2015." He might meet that goal if the government buys them but consumers appear only lightly interested in the hassle of EV ownership, especially with a recession weighing so heavily on them.

Not Losing Their Religion

"They (the Democrats) could barely get this thing through the House, even when the pro-life Democrats had the Stupak Amendment to sweeten the deal. Now they appear to be willing to lose the health-care bill — and it’s not even in defense of their underlying principle of abortion rights. They are willing to risk losing the bill simply because the bill does not expand access to abortion as much as they would like it to.

That’s a devotion that borders on religious fervor." - Mike Potemra, NRO

The one policy item that liberal Democrats are never willing to budge on is abortion. The Stupak Amendment was never going to make it into the final bill. That language was placed there to placate naive, moderate Democrats just to get Pelosi's bill out of the House. Now, as expected, Obama and abortion zealots find they cannot live out the power to murder the unborn and they will not tolerate a version Obamacare without this authority. Federal funding for abortion is the prize.

I've never understood this, of all the things in the universe that can define us human beings, the power to take the life of an innocent is the Left's sacrosanct touchstone. Still, there is an unseen war taking place between pro-life Democrats and liberals. Until they reconcile their bitter differences, there will be no Obamacare this year. At the very least, we'll see just how deep the pro-life Democrats' convictions run. Color me unconvinced.

Bleak warning, "CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services): House health bill will hike costs $289B" - The Hill

Cirque du 'bama

Besides the gross insult to the people of New York and the victim's families, the decision to try jihadists in civilian courts is a travesty and the process will lead to nothing but chaos. These Islamic megalomaniacs declared war on the west along time ago and the left is still pretending that their crimes against humanity are nothing but simple felonies.

Two things are sure to happen; the proceedings will turn into anti-western propaganda rants and the media circus that is sure to pitch tent will make OJ's joke-of-a-trail look dignified by comparison. It won't be the terrorists and their acts of mass murder that will be on trial, it will be America and the Bush/Clinton administrations that will be held up as responsible partners. There is also a myriad of excruciating legal avenues, national and international, that could make these trials last for years.

I cannot figure out why Team Obama believes these show trials will be a good thing for them politically. This could easily blow up in their faces, especially if the defendants get light sentences or God forbid, walk. The decision may calm the frayed nerves of their far left constituents who still suffer from BDS (Bush Derangement Syndrome) but the majority of the American people and the victims of 9/11 will demand swift and certain justice. Anything less is an affront to civilization and the rule of law.

Update: A Risky Proposition for Democrats, "when it becomes clear how much of a circus the administration may well be creating in the name of trying the killers of their loved ones, in order to make the world happy, I think very few family members will remain who can be provided to reporters to give cover to the administration. President Obama and Attorney General Holder have embarked on a path that’s perilous for their party. We’ll see how many congressional Democrats choose to follow them." - William Kristol, Weekly Standard

It's easy to bow when you have no spine, "How low will he go? Obama gives Japan's Emperor Akihito a wow bow" - LATimes

Job Losses are Accelerating

More Stimulus Equals More Unemployment, "Stimulus" is in the process of turning a nasty recession into a genuine depression. The evidence is in the "Employment Situation" report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on November 6th. The "headline" unemployment rate shot up to 10.2%, the highest in more than 26 years. But the report was much worse than most people realize.

The "household survey data" showed that 589,000 jobs vanished during October. This is bad enough, but the three-month moving average of changes in total employment (current month and prior two months) shows that job losses are actually accelerating." - Real Clear Markets

If this keeps up, Obama and the Democrats won't be around to run for election in 2010 or 2012. I suspect voters will eagerly pitch in for one-way bus tickets to Kenya for the lot of them.

Update: Wha'sdamatter, Big Wee Wee? Economy in the tank? Election prospects looking bleak? Poll numbers heading south? "We have an obligation to consider every additional responsible step that we can to encourage and accelerate job creation in this country," Obama coldly told reporters.

Hmm, "consider every additional responsible step?" Does that include massive tax cuts for business and taxpayers? Obama's never tried that and it's always worked before. "It's important that we don't make any ill-considered decisions - even with the best intentions - particularly at a time when our resources are so limited," Obama bleated. A lack of resources didn't stop Obama or the Democrats from wasting $787 billion on a failed stimulus package. But a lot of Democrat cronies and special interests did benefit from that pork laden monster. It just didn't create many jobs - if any. What to do? Waste another $2 trillion on a health care plan that no one wants?

No, instead of real solutions Obama wants to hold a conference to "battle" unemployment. 'Cause, you see America - he doesn't have one damn clue on what to do. How's that hope and change working out for you?

"12 reasons unemployment is going to (at least) 12 percent" - Reuters
Paving the way for our Afghan humiliation, "Obama Won't Take Any Current War Options, Official Says" - FoxNews

China Down

"... the much-vaunted Chinese economic miracle is nothing but a paper dragon. In fact, they argue that the Chinese have dangerously overheated their economy, building malls, luxury stores and infrastructure for which there is almost no demand, and that the entire system is teetering toward collapse.

A Chinese collapse, of course, would have profound effects on the United States, limiting China’s ability to buy U.S. debt and provoking unknown political changes inside the Chinese regime." - Politico

If China's economy collapses we could experience something much worse than the Great Depression - a return to the Dark Ages. Good thing Obama is wasting political capital on an over priced health care plan that we'll never get to use, huh? How's that hope and change working out for you?

"Barack Obama despises America" - American Spectator
"World Bank Warns Unemployment Threatens U.S. Economy" - Newmax
"U.S. Jobless Rate Likely to Pass Europe’s" - NYTimes

D.O.A.?

AP: Pelosi Bill D.O.A. in Senate, "The glow from a health care triumph faded quickly for President Barack Obama on Sunday as Democrats realized the bill they fought so hard to pass in the House has nowhere to go in the Senate.

Speaking from the Rose Garden about 14 hours after the late Saturday vote, Obama urged senators to be like runners on a relay team and "take the baton and bring this effort to the finish line on behalf of the American people."

The problem is that the Senate won't run with it. The government health insurance plan included in the House bill is unacceptable to a few Democratic moderates who hold the balance of power in the Senate." - NewsMax

I learned a long time ago during Clinton's impeachment that the Senate is where things go to die.

Update: Democrats Raise Alarms Over Costs of Health Bills, "As health care legislation moves toward a crucial airing in the Senate, the White House is facing a growing revolt from some Democrats and analysts who say the bills Congress is considering do not fulfill President Obama’s promise to slow the runaway rise in health care spending." - NYTimes

Now the Democrats get fiscally responsible religion after they've passed one of the most irresponsible pieces of legislation ever crated? A Democrats' conscience is never bothered when it comes to other people's money.

Stating the Obvious

New York Times: Broader Measure of Unemployment Stands at 17.5%, "For all the pain caused by the Great Recession, the job market still was not in as bad shape as it had been during the depths of the early 1980s recession — until now.

With the release of the jobs report on Friday, the broadest measure of unemployment and underemployment tracked by the Labor Department has reached its highest level in decades. If statistics went back so far, the measure would almost certainly be at its highest level since the Great Depression." - New York Times

The media can longer tap dance around or ignore the obvious, under Obama the economy has gotten worse, a lot worse. The stimulus that was supposed to halt growing tide of unemployed at 8%, according to Team Obama, didn't work and indeed now looks like a huge waste of money.

But no worries, Obama an Pelosi have a new plan to kill even more jobs - health care reform. Why wouldn't a reform plan cobbled together by incompetent, partisan bureaucrats work? Everything else the Democrats has tried has only succeeded in even more unemployed and added to the national debt, yet another job killer. Detecting a pattern yet? How's that hope and change working out for you?

NYTimes Fun Fact: 15.7 million people unemployed. If the unemployed lived in one state, it would be the country's fifth largest. I like it when the media makes me feel good about bad news, especially when they do it graphically. It takes the pain away.

P.S. As of Saturday 9:24 am CST, the Kos brats have still has no mention of the new unemployment reality. In fact, the word "unemployment" doesn't even appear on the front page of the blog. Yep, that's the compassionate left looking out for ya.

"Obama Faces His Anzio" - Paul Krugman, NYTimes
Even AP can't cover for Obama, "What recovery? Unemployment shoots past 10 percent" - AP

Update: The passage of the health care monstrosity by such a slender margin does not bode well for the Senate. The always incompetent Reid does not have any votes that he can afford to lose. Also, the Stupak (D) amendment that places tough restrictions on abortion is going to be a hard pill for liberals to swallow. Once in conference, the bill may not enjoy the razor thin support it has now.

Americans waking up to this news will be livid.

Mass Murder? No Problem, Tell Jokes

Obama's Frightening Insensitivity Following Shooting, "Instead of a somber chief executive offering reassuring words and expressions of sympathy and compassion, viewers saw a wildly disconnected and inappropriately light president making introductory remarks. At the event, a Tribal Nations Conference hosted by the Department of Interior's Bureau of Indian affairs, the president thanked various staffers and offered a "shout-out" to "Dr. Joe Medicine Crow -- that Congressional Medal of Honor winner." - NBC Chicago

Informed of mass murder and Obama makes Native American jokes? I know left has low regard for those who serve in the armed forces but I didn't expect such a callous and flippant attitude towards their deaths.

In his documentary Fahrenheit 911, Michael Moore slammed President Bush for appearing indecisive when informed of the attacks on 9/11. Even though Obama was informed of the home grown terror, he didn't waste a moment before shifting into pandering joke mode to warm up a partisan conference crowd.

Late yesterday, Obama did warn us not to jump to conclusions on the motives of shooter although the world already knew he was Muslim and shouted "Allahu Akbar" before he opening fire. Exactly how long does it take for this chief executive to make the right call? He's still dithering on the Afghanistan troop deployment question and promised long ago that unemployment wouldn't go any higher than 8%.

Now we've careened way past 8% and just said hello to 10.2%, 17.5% if you count the discouraged and under employed. Sadly, getting anything "right" doesn't seem to be this president's forte. He hasn't been "right" since taking office and we are paying a very high price for his mistakes.

"As Fort Hood Tragedy Unfolds, Obama Is Politician in Chief" - NewsMax

Welcome to Serfdom

PELOSI: Buy a $15,000 Policy or Go to Jail, "The JCT letter makes clear that Americans who do not maintain “acceptable health insurance coverage” and who choose not to pay the bill’s new individual mandate tax (generally 2.5% of income), are subject to numerous civil and criminal penalties, including criminal fines of up to $250,000 and imprisonment of up to five years...

Criminal penalties

Prosecution is authorized under the Code for a variety of offenses. Depending on the level of the noncompliance, the following penalties could apply to an individual:

• Section 7203 – misdemeanor willful failure to pay is punishable by a fine of up to $25,000 and/or imprisonment of up to one year.

• Section 7201 – felony willful evasion is punishable by a fine of up to $250,000 and/or imprisonment of up to five years.” [page 3]" - Committee On Ways & Means Republicans

Pelosi and her Democrat toadies seem bound and determined to force feed a 1.2 trillion dollar health care bill down our throats despite overwhelming evidence that Americans don't want or feel there is any need for one, especially one cobbled together by liberal maniacs. The Democrats have manufactured a self-deluding reality that utterly ignores the outrage and frustration felt by the majority of Americans at this attempt to hijack our health care system. We have gone way past scary liberal ideas and we have entered the black hole of dictatorial tyranny. The Pelosi Democrats are determined to any hog-tie any attempt at dissent and they sure don't want you knowing what they're up to. Pelosi has renege on her promise to post the bill 72 hours before the vote.

You would think an issue of this magnitude would warrant careful and thoughtful consideration. But instead of deliberate and cautious debate the Democrats have chosen to ignore the will of the people. That in of itself should send alarm bells. There is more at play here than installing an ill-conceived health care Juggernaut, Obama and the Democrats are scheming to make serfs out of the American people. Our dark overlords have big plans for us.

The Myth of '08

"The misreading of that election -- and of the mandate it allegedly bestowed -- is the fundamental cause of the Democratic debacle of 2009." - Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post

I'm no political savant and try not to engage in wishful thinking but it was obvious that the Democrats were over reaching - and continue to do so.

Walloped (D)

"We got walloped." - Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.)

"Two big questions loom in the wake of the 2009 elections. The first is whether Barack Obama learned anything new about American voters. The second is whether American voters will soon learn something new about Obama. For a president who likes always to convey confidence and cool, the returns will test his willingness and capacity for self-critique and self-correction." - Politico

Warner understands that a political earthquake took place on election day as do many moderate Democrats and I really didn't expect their leadership to have a clue about the shifting landscape. In fact, it appears that Pelosi, Reid and other liberals are acting as if nothing changed Tuesday. That willfully ignorant attitude is just amazing to behold.

It's obvious the left is obsessed with getting their pet projects passed come hell or high water. What's surprising is the amount of hell or high water that they're willing to tread before the voters drag them kicking and screaming out of office. So be it.

'Astonishing'

With so many dead Democrats poised to vote this week no telling what's going to happen. If one or more of the GOP candidates win, the Democrats will scoff and spin the losses as moral victories. Their logic won't make any sense but not much of what they believe does. There's a lot of pissed-off voters out there and they are well motivated to send a message.

The spin begins, "GOP victory Tuesday won't erase party's problems" - AP
Really? Ya think? "Absentee voter fraud may play a significant role in New Jersey's gubernatorial election" - WSJ

Update 110309: Whooooo-hoo!

Update 110409: "That sends a message to the 83 Democratic congressmen, who come from red states that [Sen John] McCain carried, and the 20-plus Democratic senators who come from those states. And that message is you cannot count on Obama to carry you through. If you vote for a healthcare proposal that people don't like, you are on your own. And if Obama couldn't bail out Corzine in a blue state, and he couldn't bail out Deeds in a borderline red state, he can't bail you out...

Obama until now has not cared what the American people think. His whole approach has been just trust me, I won the election, and all the rest of you can get lost. I think after tonight he can't say that anymore." - Dick Morris, NewsMax

"The elections today should send a simple message to the Obama administration and congressional Democrats: You lost the middle class, and you won’t get them back until you fundamentally change your legislative agenda." - The Hill

"Democrats must defend as many as 60 marginal House seats next year, many in districts the president lost or carried only narrowly in 2008, as opposed to about 40 for Republicans. Tuesday's results also pointed to a somewhat reinvigorated Republican Party after it had been left for dead a year ago. That's largely thanks to independents, the fastest growing voter bloc, and the most notoriously fickle." - AP

"Tuesday night’s trends were emphatically not in Obama’s favor. Among those paying closest attention are dozens of Democrats who won formerly Republican congressional districts in 2006 and 2008 and are up for re-election in 2010. Many of these pick-ups that powered the Democrats’ recapture of Congress came in Southern and Border states, or the Ohio River Valley, where political conditions are similar to those in Virginia." - Politico

Hey Big Wee Wee - do you hear us now? Obama's sharp reversal of fortune comes after only 10 months in office. Simply astonishing. Democrats, keep doing what you're doing!

'3 Million Registered Voters are Dead'

"Regardless of how lively an election season might be, a new study shows that more 3.3 million voters on current registration rolls across the country are dead. Another 12.9 million remain on voter registration lists in an area where they no longer live." - CNSNews

You wanna know how Obama got elected? Good old fashion voter fraud. The dead always vote Democrat.

Warning Signs

"I was there in 1994. I saw what happened when a once-popular president tried to push healthcare legislation that Americans didn’t want or appreciate. I witnessed the electoral implications when his administration tried to expand the role of government against the wishes of, well, almost everyone. And it’s happening once again...

In fact – and quote this – by an incredible 61% to 14% margin, more people believe scientists will discover life in outer space than believe the current healthcare plan won’t add a penny to the deficit." - Frank Luntz, Pollster

I was in Los Angeles in 1994 attending a dull multimedia conference when the Republican hordes took over congress. I awoke to local radio talk show hosts who were thunderstruck by the overnight election news. The schadenfreude I experienced in the following weeks was one of the most satisfying times in my life. That was real hope and change, unlike this oppressive socialistic lie we're suffering through today.

Luntz explains in his memo that the election warning signs are getting much worse for the Democrats as each day passes. I hope - no, pray the Democrats continue to ignore everyone of them. Americans are warming up to the idea of another conservative revolution but this time, let's do a better job of teaching and making sure conservative values take deeper roots.

Silent Night

Tonight's Halloween visitor count had to be a record low. Times is tough for the little candy junkies - it's not so great for their parents either. I went as "Public Option" - pretty scary, huh? Just like most Americans, people stayed away.

"57% Say Health Care Plan Will Increase Costs, 53% Say It Will Reduce Quality of Care, 45% Favor Passage" - Rasmussen Reports
"Voters Trust Republicans More On 10 Top Issues" - Rasmussen Reports

The Democrats' Den of Thieves

What do House Ways and Means Chairman Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.), Rep. Alan B. Mollohan (D-W.Va.), Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and more than 30 other Democrats have in common? Why, despite Mama Pelosi's promise to "drain the swamp" she still presides over a rogues gallery of ne'er do wells. The same ne'er do wells who are attempting to ruin our health care system.

Dozens in Congress under ethics inquiry, "House ethics investigators have been scrutinizing the activities of more than 30 lawmakers and several aides in inquiries about issues including defense lobbying and corporate influence peddling, according to a confidential House ethics committee report prepared in July.

The report appears to have been inadvertently placed on a publicly accessible computer network, and it was provided to The Washington Post by a source not connected to the congressional investigations. The committee said Thursday night that the document was released by a low-level staffer." - Washington Post

Every damn one a Democrat. The lone Republican was cleared "after finding no ethical violations."

"Ethics Inquiries Into Lawmakers Surface via Security Breach" - NYTimes
"House Ethics leak shows dozens of lawmakers under scrutiny" - Hot Air
Google News is just brimming with tales of Democrat misdeeds and graft.

False Hope: The GDP

Just recently it was announced that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew at 3.5%. This news gives Obama's excuse makers a reason to breath a sigh of relief and many are brimming with "I Told Ya So's." Not so fast CNN & MSNBC. You see, while the numbers are up, they are up because the government threw a mountain of stimulus cash at the economy at that momentum is not sustainable if business doesn't join the parade and start hiring. Even Obama's most optimistic advisers admit that looks unlikely to happen anytime soon. So how do you call a recession over when millions are still struggling to find work?

• "About 40% of the increase in consumer spending came from motor vehicles, reflecting the transitory boost from the cash-for-clunkers program. As auto sales recede in the fourth quarter, consumer spending is likely to grow much less rapidly... Meanwhile, residential investment looks likely to keep growing but at a less vigorous pace while business investment spending growth looks unlikely to improve much more until a clearer picture on consumer demand emerges." - Nomura Global Economics

• "Big contributors were consumer spending on autos — cash for clunkers — federal government, inventories and housing — tax credit… Core issue: how much of this is sustainable without Fed programs?" - John Silvia, Wells Fargo

• "... with the significant fiscal and monetary stimulus providing the main impetus for this sharp rebound, we expect GDP growth in the coming quarters to be less robust as their impact wanes, though we do expected the recovery process to remain intact." - Millan L. B. Mulraine, TD Securities

• "Christina Romer, a top White House economist, said the stimulus bill was responsible for most if not all of the growth in the economy during the quarter. "In the absence of the Recovery Act, real GDP would have risen little, if at all, this past quarter." - MarketWatch
  

"Economists React: GDP Puts Last Bit of Dirt on Great Recession’s Grave?" - WSJ
"The White House Stupidly Goes To War With Car Web Site Edmunds.com" - Business Insider
Greatly overstating the economy's strength, "The GDP Mirage" - Business Week

Paranormal Lessons

The movie Paranormal Activity is a perfect example how people become sheep to a well executed media campaign and get taken. Media hype also explains how candidate Obama got away with almost no scrutiny. The media drum beat overwhelmed any rational or critical thinking. Unfortunately, there is a sizable population of sheeple who spend most of their time living emotion to emotion rather than exercising sound reflective judgment.

I admit I was curious. I saw the movie but I became bored in the first 5 minutes and would have walked out but my teenager was hanging to a false hope that scares would eventually come. She was disappointed. (Literally nothing happens and the "highlights" are all in the trailer, so save your money.) The same for Obama, despite the sound and fury of his over heated campaign, literally nothing positive has happened in the past 10 months except that things got much, much worse. All the liberal excuse making in the world can't make this president's election bomb, a hit.

Cooking the Books

Stimulus jobs overstated by thousands, "The government's first accounting of jobs tied to the $787 billion stimulus program claimed more than 30,000 positions paid for with recovery money. But that figure is overstated by least 5,000 jobs, according to an Associated Press review of a sample of stimulus contracts.

For example:
• A company working with the Federal Communications Commission reported that stimulus money paid for 4,231 jobs, when about 1,000 were produced.
• A Georgia community college reported creating 280 jobs with recovery money, but none was created from stimulus spending.
• A Florida child care center said its stimulus money saved 129 jobs but used the money on raises for existing employees." - AP

According to the AP there is no evidence that Team Obama "sought to inflate job numbers..." Yes, let that statement sink in for moment. Obama jumped on these fraudulent numbers to make his case that the stimulus was working and until the Associated Press investigated, no effort was made to make sure the data was right. The administration promised of 3.5 million jobs by the end of next year and the reality is a deficit of almost 6.2 million jobs lost, it doesn't take genius to figure out that someone (D) is cooking the books.

Conservative Hope and Change

October deadliest month for US in Afghan war, "Roadside bombs — the biggest killer of U.S. soldiers — claimed eight more American lives Tuesday, driving the U.S. death toll to a record level for the third time in four months as President Barack Obama nears a decision on a new strategy for the troubled war." - AP

U.S. official resigns over Afghan war, "A former Marine Corps captain with combat experience in Iraq, Hoh had also served in uniform at the Pentagon, and as a civilian in Iraq and at the State Department. By July, he was the senior U.S. civilian in Zabul province, a Taliban hotbed. But last month, in a move that has sent ripples all the way to the White House, Hoh, 36, became the first U.S. official known to resign in protest over the Afghan war, which he had come to believe simply fueled the insurgency." - Washington Post

Dem moderates challenge Reid on health care plan, "Democratic moderates who control the balance of power on health care legislation balked Tuesday at a government-run insurance option for millions of Americans, underscoring the enormity of the challenge confronting Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid one day after he unveiled the plan as a consensus product. Republican opposition stiffened, and party leaders announced they would attempt to strangle the bill before formal debate begins." - AP

Joe Lieberman: I'll block vote on Harry Reid's plan, "Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said Tuesday that he’d back a GOP filibuster of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s health care reform bill. Lieberman, who caucuses with Democrats and is positioning himself as a fiscal hawk on the issue, said he opposes any health care bill that includes a government-run insurance program — even if it includes a provision allowing states to opt out of the program, as Reid has said the Senate bill will." - Politico

David Einhorn : Obama So Afraid Of Making 1937 Mistake He Will Destroy Country To Avoid It, "In dealing with the continued weak economy, our leaders are so determined not to repeat the perceived mistakes of the 1930s that they are risking policies with possibly far worse consequences designed by the same people at the Fed who ran policy with the short-term view that asset bubbles don’t matter because the fallout can be managed after they pop." - Business Insider

CNN Drops to Last Place Among Cable News Networks, "CNN, which invented the cable news network more than two decades ago, will hit a new competitive low with its prime-time programs in October, finishing fourth – and last – among the cable news networks with the audience that all the networks rely on for their advertising." - NYTimes

Disaster. Pathetic. Sad. Infuriating. You could analyze these stories 6 ways from Sunday and come to the same conclusion - Obama finds himself slogging through a quagmire on all fronts and one of chief broadcast mouthpieces is on life support. The liberal knuckle draggers at CNN and MSNBC just can't seem to make rampant unemployment and an ill-conceived government takeover of our health care system taste like sweetness and light. Oh, one more descriptor given the left's escalating disintegration - hopeful.

Conservatives on Top

"Conservatives continue to outnumber moderates and liberals in the American populace in 2009, confirming a finding that Gallup first noted in June. Forty percent of Americans describe their political views as conservative, 36% as moderate, and 20% as liberal. This marks a shift from 2005 through 2008, when moderates were tied with conservatives as the most prevalent group." - Gallup

I doubt moderates will be so trusting of the Democrats come 2010. The Democrats campaigned on a moderate platform then did a 180 and started governing as a out of touch liberals. High unemployment, crushing debt, picking fights with business, Fox News and talk radio doesn't help either.

There's that word Carter made famous, "Is it morning in America, or has hope given way to malaise?" - CNN
"Obama Backs Down on Plan to Exclude Fox" - FoxNews