Madonna Endorses...

Photo:  YouTube

You know the old saying:

"With Friends like that, you don't need Madonna..."

Sure you do!  Don't 'cha?!?!?! 

And heeeeeeeeere she is!!!

{Please be aware that the following onstage rant includes foul language, takes historical 'liberties', and is offensive to most anyone, other than her audience who PAID to listen to her 'wax philosophically'}

 

Madonna:  At her best

Submitted for your approval:  A middle-age woman, onstage, wearing leather and holding a microphone.  She NEEDS to make a statement to express her support for the man she believes is the BEST possible leader of the free world and says... 

[No, I'm not making this up]

"Now, it's so amazing and incredible to think that we have an African-American in the White House ... we have a black Muslim in the White House ... it means there is hope in this country, and Obama is fighting for gay rights, so support the man,"

Yup, as the gifted Grammy-Award Winning Songwriter, Randy Newman sings, "You've got a friend in me" so, apparently, does President Obama have a 'friend' in Madonna.

This being the case, I've taken the liberty to 'tweak' Madonna's very first hit as short homage to the "Best Black Muslim" we've ever had in the White House, President Barack Hussein Obama...

LIKE A MUSLIM

I made it through immigration
My mother got me through
Didn't know where I was born
Until I woke in Honolulu

I was a kid with no class
The other kids, they beat my ass
But the Prophet made me feel
Yeah, he made me feel
Holy, and not like a Jew

Chorus:

Like a Muslim
Praying for the very first time
Like a Muslim
Watching as the Embassies explode
But I'm gettin' to bed on time

Gonna give you all my ears, George
My approval is dropping, but
Somehow polling says that I'm ahead
And Romney's going down fast

The job is fine, and it's mine
I hear the Conservatives whine
Oh, the 47% will come out
Yeah, they will come out and
Give me four more years to tell you what to dooooooo

(chorus)

Oooh, oooh, oooh

The job is mine, only mine
I'll be President till the end of time
Cause I make you feel
Yeah, I make you feel
Like you're all swine

(chorus)

And I'm a Muslim
Praying for the very first time
Like a Muslim
Watching as the Embassies explode
But I'm gettin' to bed on time

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, infidels
Can't you see my polling
I'm in the lead for the very last time...


Madonna came out following statement the appearance saying she was only being 'Ironic'.   [NOTE TO MADONNA:  'Ironic' and 'Moronic' are two different words - which one did you mean to say?] 

Oh yeah?  Well, me too...  The above liberties taken with Madonna's song from thirty years ago - I was being IRONIC too!

The real irony, of course, is that Madonna 'isn't exactly' one of the 47 percenters that Romney spoke about.  I'm thinking she's more like, um, what's the number?  Oh yeah, she's in the top 1% of all income winners in the U.S.! 

Huh, more irony, I guess?

Well, I'm off to work, in the meanwhile, please enjoy this encore presentation of the much better, much funnier , and much better written, Weird Al's, "Like a Surgeon"...

Click here:  Like a Surgeon

I don't know, but something tells me with so much of Hollywood, Media, and the News Networks coming out to bolster the President's reputation - maybe there's something the polling ISN'T telling us??? 

We'll see soon enough. 

Have a nice day folks!

Theme Music

Drudge Landing Page - 09/23/2012

Yes, I'll 'own up to' adding the two blue 'thought bubbles' above, however, I need to fill in a bit of background information regarding the inspiration for today's post.  (For more detail on the verbiage below the photos above, please click on the image above.  The links below the Drudge Masthead are 'interesting'.) 

So I'm sitting alone, minding my own business on a blue-sky Sunday morning and the FM station I'm listening to tosses the following Neil Diamond standard out across their Frequency Modulated airwaves while I'm reading the Drudge page headlines above...

 

 

This, of course, got me thinking...  Thinking about songs which might sum up the relationship between the American People, President Obama, Congress, the Middle East, and other broken dreams since the 2008 election.

I wonder, which other songs might describe the current relationship between President Obama and the American People?  And once I get thinking, well, let's just say that it's hard to stand on the brakes once THAT begins.  Although, I will admit that it's a bit harder to 'begin thinking' than it used to be...

So in no particular order, I would like to nominate the following songs as theme music for our 2012 National Elections Soundtrack.  As we move through the 45-day homestretch of the November elections, take a moment to sit back, relax, and think about the NEXT four years.

Sing with me now as we take a moosical journey across America under the one, the only, the last, President Barack Obama.

Feel free to comment on your own soundtrack nominations in the Comment Section below (Good, Bad, or Ugly, it's still America, right?  You CAN have an opinion):

 

How many Americans view the Obama Presidency: 
"The Thrill is Gone" B.B. King, Eric Clapton, & Phil Collins

How the Media views the Obama Presidency (with a special guest appearance by Bill Clinton - wearing a 'big hat'!):
"Hosanna", Jesus Christ Superstar

 

How I feel some mornings when thinking about the state of our nation after viewing the morning news: 
"Dance Band On the Titanic", Harry Chapin

 

President Obama, I believe, never met a mirror he didn't like:

"You're So Vain", Carly Simon

ACTUAL Hope and Change (a.k.a.:  "God Bless America Again"):
"In America", Charlie Daniels

My hope for America:
"Won't Get Fooled Again", The Who


So, what do you think?  Comment, and send a link...

Have a nice weekend folks, Monday's coming!

Grammy Award-Winning Racist, Randy "Rah Rah" Newman

Randy Newman -- Photo Credit:  Reuters

Randy Newman, the Grammy-Award winning composer, singer, songwriter, and patriot who gave us, "Short People", Toy Story's "You Got a Friend In Me", and "I Love L.A." is back! 

Yes, Randy "I'm singing through my nose, just singing through my nose, what a glorious feeling, got talent in my nose" Newman tackles the greatest issue facing America today with a style that's 'all his own'...

Angry White People
(Not that he's one of THOSE)

Yes, with his vitally important release of, "I'm Dreaming", Randy Newman explains to stupid Americans how NOT voting for an incompetent man (oops, I meant to say 'Black Man') is Racist.

Consider the following poignant, persuasive, profound, and perfectly proportioned lyrics (for folks with 'Short' Intellects)...

"I'm dreaming of a white President.  Just like the ones we've always had. A real live white man, who knows the score, how to handle money or start a war, wouldn't even have to tell me what we were fighting for."

And,

"He won't be the brightest, perhaps, but he'll be the whitest.  And I'll vote for that."

Yes!  Randy Newman certainly HITS THE NAIL ON THE HEAD when it comes to pointing out the potential for small-minded thinking when it comes to voting AGAINST someone because of their race.
 

I CAN see the light!!!  Hallelujah!  Amen Brother! 

 

Tell the story!  Testify!  Can I have an Amen?!?! 

 

Praise God and pass the plate!!! 

 

I'm comin' home! 

Oh, oh!  I'd better leave religion out of this as I'm preparing to get all you gun and Bible-clinging 'Racists' mad at me.  Don't want a bunch of angry Christians storming my local Embassy and burning the flag in front of my bunker.

Although, I will make one small exception if you need to burn 'some sort of flag' - how about this one?

This flag?  For $35 you can burn one just like it.

I'll supply the matches...

But here's the thing (yes, there's always a 'thing'): 

Mr. Newman, we have ALREADY elected a man partly based upon his 'race'.  Unless you've been sleeping in a cave, he's currently President of the United States. 

Yes, our racist Nation already 'went there' with an African-American man with Hope and Change on his mind, and his message plastered on the bumpers of rusting GM vehicles across America.

The only problem is that he failed. 

No, this is not exactly correct, I'm sorry, I misspoke. 

President Obama succeeded in implementing his vision, his policies, and his mandates on this, his 're-imagined' America.  The outcome of the President's 'vision' is a polarized, debt-laden, paranoid, and yes, I'll write it down here just so I'm not 'misunderestimated', a weakened and less-secure America. 

He succeeded, and as a result, America is diminished.

Ah, but what's the point? 

Once again I've gotten off topic from where I was going when I began my 'ramble' above. 

Here's the point, Mr. Newman:  In the America I live in, the one you most-likely 'fly-over' on your way to somewhere else more important, I, and people like me, vote for the person we feel is most likely to get the job of 'strengthening America' done.  The guy (or gal) who has a vision most-consistent with our own who says 'out loud and in public' the things we believe in and is not afraid to do so.

I am not a Racist because I do not want the America Barack Obama envisions, but rather, Randy, buddy, YOU are a Racist because you cannot see past the blinding veil of 'Race'. 

One more thing (yet 'another' thing), looping back above to a comment I made earlier in this post: 

"Yes! Randy Newman certainly HITS THE NAIL ON THE HEAD when it comes to pointing out the potential for small-minded thinking when it comes to voting AGAINST someone because of their race."

                                                                                        

 

The Huffington Post, August 21, 2012:   Mitt Romney Is Capturing Zero Percent Of The Black Vote, According To New Poll 
.
Take a guess as to what percentage of black voters Mitt Romney is winning this election. Now take whatever number you've got in your head and go lower. 

According to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, President Obama is beating his Republican opponent among black voters by a whopping 94 percent to 0 percent.                                                                                         

Yeah Randy, but we're the Racists?

Thanks for going here...

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character" -- Martin Luther King, Jr.


The dream remains un-fulfilled.

And Randy, your song pretty much sucks too.  

 
 

Return to the Dump

The 'Dump'

"Excuse me Mr. Moos, but what are we doing here?  It's noisy, it smells bad, and I think I just saw a rat..." says the anxious boy wearing a black and white polo shirt.  His face is pleading as he asks the man in the light brown suit standing next to him on a hill overlooking the landfill.  He wrinkles his face and puts a hand over his nose to keep as much of the smell out as possible.  He stares up at the man standing next to him waiting for some sort of response.  The man does not immediately answer the boy's question, but instead continues to scan the distant horizon.  The man shields his eyes from the sun with his hand and acts as he didn't hear the question.

A few minutes later the man responds, "Shhhhh, kidd-o, we're looking for something."

"What are we looking for?  If I know what it is, I can help you look and we'll get out of here sooner, you know, as opposed to, later.  You may not have noticed it Mr. M. but it smells really bad here and..."  The boy's voice trails off as a lone sea gull swoops down toward the man standing next to him.  It squawks, flaps its wings and veers off just prior to striking the man's left shoulder.  "Whoa, that was close Mr. M.!  Did you see that sea gull!?!?  It almost hit you!  Come on, can we go now, please?"

The man appears preoccupied as he stares across the landscape of endless refuge.  He's physically here, but his stance indicates that he is 'somewhere else' mentally, focused on a task requiring all his concentration, or perhaps he's reliving events from another time, or, another place. 

"I can't believe I'm back here again," says the man.  "So much trash, so much garbage, so much to do and to say, but is there enough time?"  The man isn't speaking to the boy now, he's having a conversation with himself.  His lips move as he continues to stare across the debris field of trash through red-rimmed, watery eyes. 

"Wait, this isn't right.  Hey, where's Maxie?" he gets the words out  just as a black Labrador with a white spot on her chest races past him towards a trash-heap covered with squawking gulls.  He looks down to see that the boy is gone.  His dog, his best-friend growing up, having roused the birds from their trash heaps, has turned and is now padding back towards him.  

Now he is the boy.  The boy is his dog.  And as he awakens from the dream he realizes that he must take...


Another Trip to the Dump    
(Hold your noses, we're going in...)

In case you missed the prior two editions of 'The Dump' posts, this is the place where miscellaneous information either too limited to write an entire whole post about, too odd to be believed, or, to intellectually 'stout' for me to understand completely (due to limited mental horsepower) go to rest. 

And this, as Paul Harvey liked to say, is the 'Rest of the Story'.


Talk like a Pirate Day...

"One pirate to another - how would you have handled health care?"

"Arrr, so the Obama campaign found time to Tweet de above photter to share with dare followers.  It be a picshure of the President meeting with the Privateer Czar, Capt. Black Hook.  He'll be keeping his boot on the throat of all those bucaneers who dare to cross swords with the Privateer-In-Chief, he will.  Dead men tell no tales..."

Someone within the Obama Administration posted the above photo on Twitter in celebration of "Talk Like A Pirate Day".  Yes, they have time to do things like this within the Obama Administration.  I would expect that the intent was to be similar to a "High School Prank" to see how many news outlets would report the story as being 'real'.  In actuality, the above photo is from 2009.  I am here today to report that there is NO truth to the rumor that President Obama blew off Prime Minister of Israel to sit down with a pirate in a $49 costume. 

He actually blew off the Prime Minister of Israel to do Letterman.  Well, that's not entirely correct, he also blew off the PM to hang with Beyonce and Jay-Z at their nightclub for a $40,000 (per person) fundraiser with the 'common people' he represents.

However, non-rich Americans were delighted to hear the President announce:  "A final “Dinner with Barack” contest, which supporters can enter with a contribution as small as $5."  Apparently supporters with only $3 left in the bank are NOT invited to participate in the "Final Dinner with Barack" contest.  This DOES have a nice ring to it, doesn't it???

Unfortunately for America I've just realized that there is NO - "Talk Like the Leader of the Free World Day".  As a result, the Obama Administration remains relatively 'mum' regarding ongoing attacks on US consulates around the world, the murder of US citizens, and the suspension of Constitutionally-granted Liberties right here at home.  [See following]



A.P. September 15, 2012
Calif. filmmaker: I won't return to besieged home



Saturday, September 15, 2012

   
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A Southern California filmmaker linked to an anti-Islamic movie inflaming protests across the Middle East was interviewed Saturday at a Los Angeles sheriff's station and afterward decided not to return to his home - possibly heading into hiding, authorities said.

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, 55, was interviewed by federal probation officers for about half an hour at the station shortly after 12 a.m. in his hometown of Cerritos, Calif., said Steve Whitmore, spokesman for the Los Angeles County sheriff's department.

Federal probation officers picked up this knucklehead just after midnight on Friday and interviewed him as reporters, photographers, and other Media folks gathered at the facility to 'out' this man's life and attempt to toss his image, name, home address, and secretive LifeLock information all across the Internet.  Because when you are PERSONALLY RESPONSIBLE for the death of Americans in a far-away land, you MUST be held accountable.  And, having been tried and convicted in the court of the Obama Administration, well, consider yourself a "Dead Man Walking". 

For almost a week the Administration told the World that this guy was THE singular guy / reason who/which caused the riots around the Middle East. 

Stick a fork in this dude, because his life is DONE.

UPDATE:  Oops, never mind!  Turns out that based upon the evidence from the site, chatter prior to the attack, confirmation by the Libyan President, prior warnings (unheeded) to the US State Department, and comments by Mitt Romney all indicate that this WAS a Terror Attack on the United States' Embassy. 

I know it's true because Jay Carney said so yesterday:

“It is self-evident that what happened in Benghazi was a terrorist attack,” White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters traveling yesterday with President Barack Obama.  

It's okay "guy-with-the-weird-name-who-made-the-video" dude -- you can go back to your normal life now! 

(Moos Note:  I would seriously consider moving to Superman's Ice Fortress of Solitude vs. where you 'used to live' if I were you.  You might also want to consider hunting, fishing, and growing your own food because this Administration has put a target the size of the rings of Saturn on your forehead.  Good luck with that!)

"Not Michelle Obama!  Nooooooo!"

They're not gonna take it...

September 18, Huffington Post Online: 

 At Mukwonago High School in Wisconsin, for instance, football players -- who burn upwards of 3,000 calories a day -- led a boycott of the new federally mandated school lunch calorie limits, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. Seventy percent of the 830 Mukwonago High students who normally buy lunch instead packed their own lunches in protest of the “one size fits all thing.” Middle schoolers in the district followed suit, with nearly half refusing to buy lunch.

The protest at Mukwonago High comes weeks after students from Plum Borough School District in Pennsylvania launched a #BrownBagginIt campaign on Twitter, leading to an enthused and widespread movement that had students foregoing school meals for their own bagged lunches.

The teens there believed that their lunch quality and quantity had decreased as prices for the meals increased.

"Yumm-O!!!"

Kids demanding 'choice' and 'freedom' in school lunch rooms across America?

Excellent!!! 

Keep after 'em kids - they're not used to being told 'No'.  If anyone can wear down a bunch of politicians, it's a bunch of ticked off kids.

The future appears to be brighter than I would have expected.  

Have a nice weekend folks...

Be sure to eat what your legislators tell you to - as in most cases of governmental intrusion into your daily life, it rhymes with 'wit'...

"Go ahead, make my lunch."

Dribbling the Cat (Part II)

"Quit with the bouncing already..."

 

Wikipedia: The term "dead cat bounce" is derived from the idea that "even a dead cat will bounce if it falls from a great height".   

The President has lost his 'Dead Cat Bounce' following the DNC post-convention Love Fest.  For the next forty-nine days he'll "Dribble that Cat" to increase his chances of reelection. 

Now is the time to bang that kitty up and down until he makes some approval ratings magic happen. 

The magic began in yesterday's edition of "Dribbling the Cat (Part I)" regarding the Fed's Quantitative Easing 4. 

The magic continues here in Dribbling the Cat (Part II)...  Pain in the Gas

USAToday.com, September 17, 2012: 
Oil prices plunge 2.4%, below $97 now

NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil plunged more than $4 per barrel in a short time Monday afternoon, erasing the gains made last week when the Federal Reserve unveiled new steps to boost the U.S. economy.

Benchmark crude fell $2.38, or 2.4%, to finish at $96.62 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was the biggest percentage decline since July 23. Oil dropped below $95 per barrel during the rapid sell-off before recovering a bit.

Traders were unsure of the cause of Monday's price drop. Some questioned whether an errant trade or another rumor about a release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve was to blame.

Chris Grams, a spokesman for NYMEX operator CME Group, said there were no technical glitches behind the price drop.

The White House has been considering tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to stem the rising cost of crude and gasoline. A little over a week ago, Reuters reported the Obama administration was considering a release much larger than the 30 million barrels from last year.

.
Well, isn't that special?  Crude oil prices began to fall today based upon rumors that the Obama Administration was going to release MORE THAN 30 million barrels of oil!  Why would President Obama want the price of gasoline to fall now, vs. any other time in the recent past?

Pound that cat. 
Pound that cat. 
Pound that cat. 

Hey, there's an election coming up!  And somebody needs some polling improvements to bolster their base and win over the 'weak-minded-only-paying-attention-to-today's-news-voters.' 

Democratic Slogan:  "An uninformed voter is Our best supporter."

But, I'm wondering, does anyone in the Administration think about what the purpose of the Strategic Oil Reserve is, you know, other than buying votes? 

1.  Is it for lowering the price of gas in the near-term?
2.  Is it for making the President look like a 'nice guy'?
3.  Is it part of our nation's 'Rainy Day' oil-filled 'Mason Jar' buried in the back yard?
 
Of the three responses above, only Number 3 comes close to the original intent of the Strategic Oil Reserve. 

According to Wikipedia:   
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) is an emergency fuel storage of oil maintained by the United States Department of Energy. It is the largest emergency supply in the world with the capacity to hold up to 727 million barrels. 
...

The United States started the petroleum reserve in 1975 after oil supplies were cut off during the 1973-74 oil embargo, to mitigate future temporary supply disruptions.

According to the World Factbook, the United States imports a net 12 million barrels (1,900,000 m3) of oil a day (MMbd), so the SPR holds about a 58-day supply.

However, the maximum total withdrawal capability from the SPR is only 4.4 million barrels (700,000 m3) per day, making it a 160 + day supply.

To be fair, G. W. Bush released oil from the Strategic Oil Reserves following Hurricane Katrina in 2005 to augment interrupted supplies from the Gulf.  President Obama also released oil once before following the conflict in 2011 when the "beautiful bloom of Muslim Brotherhood Democracy" took root across the Middle East during the 'wonderfully organic' Arab Spring movement. 

So I guess the real question is:  Should the President be messing with the Strategic Oil Reserves fewer than 50 days out from a National Election?

That answer, of course, is a resounding Yes!

Unless, of course, you ask people who are paid to track this stuff...

 
WSJonline, September 11, 2012:
Release of Oil Stocks to Lower Prices Is Crude Idea

Oil has returned to the political agenda as Western governments grapple with soaring energy prices, but observers say a release of emergency oil stockpiles would have only a limited effect.

Prices of both U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude have soared around 15% since the start of July, turbo-charged by expectations of more monetary easing from the Federal Reserve this Thursday and geopolitical tension in the Middle East.

And in the U.S. over the past month, gasoline prices have risen uncomfortably near $4 a gallon—a level last reached in 2008 just before the recession hit and prices crashed. The level is generally viewed as a pinch point for consumers and has been accompanied by widely publicized comments from White House officials that the U.S. is again considering tapping its oil stocks.
...

With a U.S. election just two months away, speculation in the market has reached a fever pitch that the U.S. could act unilaterally to release emergency stocks or even push for a coordinated release.

...

However, in recent years governments have increasingly seemed to view the release of oil stocks as a political expedient, rather than an emergency measure, analysts say.
 
The last time discussions of a reserves release made the headlines was back in March—just ahead of the French presidential election and when the price of Brent crude oil rose above $120 a barrel.

"There's a shifting paradigm in terms of how people see strategic stocks, and to be more precise, how the current U.S. administration sees strategic stocks," Mr. Tchiliguirian said.

A potential release is like a "Sword of Damocles" hanging over the market, Mr. Tchilinguirian added. Whether it will happen is uncertain, but if it does prices will fall.
 
However, the impact of a stock release on prices is difficult to predict and the more frequently it is used, the less effective it becomes as a tool, say analysts.
 
Last year's release of stockpiles to make up for a Libyan export shutdown during the country's civil war brought down prices only briefly. U.S. oil futures fell some 5% initially but bounced back higher within a week.

.
Prediction?  The President will open up the Strategic Oil Reserves sometime in early October. 

Reasons given may include: 

* Ongoing instability in the Middle East, 

* In response to some man-made, or to a weather-born phenomenon interrupting normal production of crude oil, or, perhaps, 

* The greatest natural disaster of them all, the lack of a coherent National Energy Policy and refusal to explore oil reserves 'locally'

Ah, but what do I know?  I'm just a guy sitting in his PJ's at 5:46 in the morning connecting the dots.  The dots mostly lead to the same place - an empty chair, adorned with an empty suit jacket, worn, on occasion by the empty, vapid man in the White House.

Not that there's anything wrong with that...

 

Dribbling the Cat (Part I)

"The cat, it bounces no more..."

1 thousand million = 1 billion
[Keep this in mind.  We'll get back to it shortly - I promise.]

In May of 2011 I wrote a post called, "Bouncing the Cat" regarding the the President's approval 'Bounce' when he went in (guns blazing, face painted, wearing wicked cool custom Air Jordan Presidential Combat Boots) to personally kill Osama Bin Laden. 

I had almost forgotten that the President killed Bin Laden until a short while ago multiple DNC speakers told me that "The President of the United States killed Bin Laden!" and, um, some other MAJOR achievement that I just can't seem to remember.  Hmm, what was that OTHER thing?

Begin random sequence of likely 'Presidential Success Stories' possibilities in 3, 2, 1...

• Focused like a laser on the economy?
• Developed a cohesive energy plan for the Nation?
• Lowered gas prices to Bush/Clinton/Bush Era levels?
• Saved Social Security?
• Extended the shelf-life of Medicare?
• Lowered unemployment to Bush Era levels?
• Secured our borders?
• Cut our Deficit in half by the end of his first term?
• Lowered the sea level?
• Made the World a 'Safer Place'?
• Was a better President than Jimmy Carter?

Nope.  None of these things seemed to have ever happened during the past four years.  So what was the OTHER major accomplishment they talked about during the DNC in Charlotte?

That's funny, nothing springs to mind.  Oh well, time to moo-ve on.  I could spend the rest of today focusing on the worthwile things the President didn't achieve, but I ONLY have a day to cobble this post together, and list of stuff the man couldn't, or wouldn't do, might take the better part of a week's typing. 

Regarding his other major achievement?  I'll keep that running as a sub-routine in the back of my mind.  Maybe it will come to me, maybe not.  We'll see...

However, since it is critical to the post which follows, let's spend a moment together to gain a better understanding of what the "Dead Cat Bounce" is, before proceeding, okay?


Wikipedia: The term "dead cat bounce" is derived from the idea that "even a dead cat will bounce if it falls from a great height". 


Soooo, let's look at what the President IS up to these days. 

"Bouncing the Cat" is no longer enough to get his approval numbers up.  Bin Laden, at last glance, is still dead, and presumably 'back to' Whale Chow at this point in time (it's a 'Circle of Life' thing, I don't have time to go through the details here...  Just go with it, okay?) 

The President is fully-involved in the "Dribbling the Cat" to increase his chances of reelection.

How do you Dribble a Cat?  Great question!  Thanks for asking! 

First you take advantage of any tool at your disposal in an attempt to bolster your faltering  economic and personal reputation.  Then you slam them 'really hard' (think basketball) into any flat surface in your general area.  With any luck - they bounce.   

Being President of the United States has perks - let's take a few moments and check  out one of them.

1.  You can have friends print worthless dollars in an attempt to 'spur the economy'.  In essence, you reach into your left pants pocket and pull out your wallet.  You notice that you have no cash so you... 

Reach into your right pants pocket, pull out your check book and... Viola! 

Problem solved, checks are written, you 'economy' looks brighter and you feel really good about your innovative method for dealing with your 'Economic Malaise'. 

This is referred to as Quantitative Easing.  Ben Bernanke has done it before - it is not a good thing.  The Carter Administration did it also (what an odd coincidence.) 

You KNOW it's not a good thing when even CNBC knows it's not a good thing...  


CNBC.com, September 14, 2012 -- Fed's 'QE Infinity': Four Things That Could Go Wrong

The Federal Reserve's latest stimulus target is intended to rouse the housing market, generate wealth and drive down unemployment, all of which conceivably could happen.

But it will be the assortment of unintended consequences that all the money printing and price-boosting — even outside of the obvious inflation risk — will have that will keep Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke awake at night.

So while investors were busy Thursday and Friday buying up stocks and metals and selling bonds and the U.S. dollar, financial experts were sizing up what "QE Infinity" also might bring to the economy and marketplace.


1. Moral Hazard, Washington Version

Bernanke has time and again exhorted lawmakers in the nation's capital to get serious about fiscal reform and economic growth.

But with Thursday's announcement that the Fed will engage in quantitative easing for as long as it takes to get the economy rolling again, he may have taken the onus off Washington to put its own house in order.

That's dangerous, considering Congress and the White House need to reach deficit-reduction goals or risk falling off the fiscal cliff of mandated tax increases and spending cuts.

"My sense is that Ben and his colleagues at the Fed do not expect much support from a trade policy that would be more growth-oriented, from fiscal policies that would be more longer-term," former Fed governor Kevin Warsh said on CNBC. "So they've got to be worried about these things, and they are trying to compensate for these other failings."

Result: The dollar [.DXY  78.78    -0.06  (-0.08%)   ] will continue to tumble because of Fed policy. In another time, that would give policy makers time to act while conditions improve, but if Washington stays in gridlock there could be no end in sight for U.S. currency weakness.


2. Moral Hazard, Wall Street Version

The concept of moral hazard essentially means the rewarding of bad behavior.

But it also extends to the notion that somebody will be there to support you no matter what. The Fed, with its perpetual QE, seemed to appoint itself as the stock market's nanny for years to come, even though the Standard & Poor's 500 [.SPX  1465.77    5.78  (+0.4%)   ] and Dow industrials [.DJIA  13593.37    53.51  (+0.4%)   ] are within a few percentage points of historical highs.

"The real unfortunate impact of this latest Fed action is to continue to propagate the idea the economic recovery remains on life support and the U.S. stock market is simply on a sugar high," said Jim Paulsen, the perpetually bullish chief market strategist at Wells Capital Management in Minneapolis.


3. Hurting Confidence

With the latest round of easing, the Fed's balance sheet will soar past $3 trillion and could get to $4 trillion in electronically generated cash before everything is finished.

In doing so, it has created a good news-bad news scenario: The good news is that the Fed is willing to go to extreme measures to pump up the economy; the bad news is that the economy needs it.


4. It May Not Work

All of the economic progress Paulsen cited may be valid, but there's still the reality that $3 trillion in new liquidity — along with more than $800 billion in fiscal stimulus — has generated the worst recovery since the Great Depression.

So is it worth the aforementioned risks if the economy will continue only to creep along, as it usually does after financial crises?

"This is the nuclear option for them. This is a never-ending weapon that is being fired at the middle class," said Fed critic Michael Pento, the founder of Pento Portfolio Strategies and an economist concerned with the effects QE is having on future inflation and on savers who are getting no interest on their deposits.

"If the unemployment rate stays elevated, as I know it will, and inflation eclipses (Bernanke's) 2 percent target, what is his next move? What part of the Fed mandate takes precedence?" he added. "Economic growth comes from more people working and more people becoming productive, and all the Fed can do is destroy our currency's purchasing power."...

"It's a bold move, but we're skeptical that it will have a significant impact," said David M. Darst, managing director and chief investment strategist at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. "These (measures) are all useful, but they obviously do not alter the longer-term outlook in a meaningful way."


So how MUCH (remember the empty-wallet example above) money is Ben Bernanke looking to pump into the US Economy to get it humming in time for the November election?

40 THOUSAND MILLION DOLLARS (a.k.a.:  $40 Billion)

One time?

Nah, 40 THOUSAND MILLION DOLLARS per month.  For as long as it is deemed necessary to reelect the President.  Your tax dollars (you haven't paid yet) at WORK!!! 

Will this create long term economic stability?  Um, no.  As pointed out above by David Darst, "These (measures) are all useful, but they obviously do not alter the longer-term outlook in a meaningful way."

And if these measures do not alter the longer-term outlook, what might we have coming up in the nearer term? 

Oh, that Election thing.

Tomorrow, you'll hear more cat dribbling as the President takes on ENERGY.

It'll be a gas.




   

Oddly Similar...

Drudge Screen Shot 09/13/2012

So I go to Drudge after work to see what I've missed during the day and I find two photos juxtaposed from each other which are eerily similar, catching my eye immediately.  Similar enough, in fact, that I posted the screen image capture above.  (Feel free to look UP now.)

Photo 1: (Left side of image) is a newly discovered Monkey Species from the Congo.

Photo 2: (Right side of image) is a photo of Kathleen Sebelius, Health and Human Services Secretary under President Obama.

I don't know if it's the particular expression on their respective faces that caused me to stop and stare, or the spooky similarities between the two overall appearances on the page staring back at me. 

Yes, I know it's wrong to say that someone looks like a newly-discovered-species-of-Congo monkey, but...

Is it AS wrong to say that a newly-discovered-species-of-Congo-monkey looks like a highly-placed Member of President Obama's cabinet? Hmmmm? 

No, I don't think that it is.  I am afraid, however, that I may have just insulted the newly-discovered-species-of-Congo monkey, as they are NOT political at all. 

I also must admit that I DO think that I prefer the look of the newly-discovered-species-of-Congo monkey's hair to that of Ms. Sebelius'.  The  newly-discovered-species-of-Congo-monkey's-hair looks soft, natural, and well-ordered.   

Okay, THAT is wrong to say, mostly because a monkey cannot help being 'very attractive and soft' in appearance.  As for Kathleen Sebelius, she is NO newly-discovered-species-of-Congo monkey.

Oh, and other major difference between the two?  Even a newly-discovered-species-of-Congo monkey knows NOT to violate the Hatch Act. 

Any monkey knows THAT.

More HERE.

In prior Administrations Secretary Sebelius could be fined, lose her job, or receive a 'serious reprimand'.  But NOT in this administration.  No one gets fined, loses their job or receives a serious reprimand in the Obama Administration. 

In fact, it's normally considered a resume' enhancement. 

A guy who puts a tax 'cheat' in charge of the Treasury?  Seriously, what would YOU have to do to LOSE your job when you can get HIRED with that kind of baggage?

Oops, one last thing, in case you're wondering (you WERE, weren't you) what color the monkey's butt is?

Yes, it's BLUE. 

You know, just in case you were wondering, or if it came up tonight at dinner or, um, something.

Apparently this is the first blue-butted-newly-discovered-species-of-Congo monkey in the world!  

It's kind of funny but another thought just came to me.  Here's another similarity between Kathleen Sebelius and the newly-discovered-species-of-Congo monkey - they're both Democrats (they're both 'Blue').  

"Butt Moos, you just said monkees are not political?"

"Shut up voice in my head - just go with it..." 

And Kathleen Sebelius, but all accounts, is a bit of a 'butt', herself.  

Butt, I digress...