Three Headlines

Headline 1

CNN.com, February 10, 2011:   President Barack Obama signaled clear support for protesters who have convulsed Egypt, saying Thursday night that "in these difficult times, I know that the Egyptian people will persevere, and they must know that they will continue to have a friend in the United States of America."

Headline 2

Associated Press, October 8, 2011:  On Sept. 30, a Muslim mob attacked a church in southern village of Marynab in Aswan province because they believed the Christians were illegally constructing a new church. Church officials had documents showing they had permission to build a new church to replace a previous, run-down one at the same site.

Even before the attack, Muslim protests prompted priests to turn to security officials, who arranged a meeting with local elders and Salafis. In the face of their demands, the priests agreed to take down a cross and bells on the church, according to church officials. Still, after the Christians erected a dome, the mob attacked, setting the church and nearby homes and shops on fire.

Aswan's governor, Gen. Mustafa Kamel al-Sayyed, further hiked tensions by telling the media that the church was being built on the site of a guesthouse, suggesting it was illegal.

In response, hundreds of Christians marched in front of the governor's office last week, demanding those behind the attack be prosecuted and families who lost homes be compensated. Christians also protested in Cairo, cutting off a main avenue in the heart of the capital, demanding the governor's ouster, until soldiers dispersed them by force.

Headline 3

MailOnline, October 10, 2011:    Hundreds of Christian protesters pelted police with rocks outside a Cairo hospital today, the day after 24 people died and more than 200 were injured when a peaceful protest became a violent riot.
The Sunday night clashes lashes erupted between Coptic Christians and the military in Cairo yesterday. Figures today said a further 300 were injured in the rioting, sparked by a protest over a recent attack on a church in the south of the country.

President Obama was quick to weigh in with his support for Egyptian 'freedom-fighters' in overthrowing the Mubarak regime.

Where is he now?

Oh, that's right, he's weighing in with his support for American 'Occupy __________________' (insert name of City here) 'freedom-fighters'.

Swell.

Fool(s) On the Hill (II)

Washington, DC, where "Dopes spring eternal"

I wrote a post the other day entitled, "Fools On the Hill (Part 1)".  If you missed that post, start there and come back to this one, it's 'linked' above if you want to click to it.  Will you learn anything more by starting there first?  Don't know, that's up to you, I suppose.  This was part of that post, but after running out of time and its being way too long, well, I lopped it in half to even things out. 

Read Part 1 if you like.  Regardless, I'll try to ease you in to this post I call...  Part 2.

Here you go...

Random Opening Thoughts:

• The 'average' Recession lasts sixteen months
• The Recession which began in December 2007 'officially ended' in June 2009 - just over eighteen months, making it the longest Recession since World War II
• The 'Great Recession' of 2007 - 2009 was the deepest ever (with respect to job losses) since the 'Great Depression'
• The majority of Americans believe that we are still IN a Recession
• In the months following a Recession, the economy 'typically' adds jobs rapidly and consistently (See graph below)
• Six months' after the official end of our 'Great Recession,' the US workforce had job growth of -.5%

Source:  New York Times "The Recession Has Officially Ended"  September 20, 2010

From the article quoted above, the following graph represents the 'post-Recession' job growth for each Recession throughout the past fifty years...

I added the 'YOU were here' balloon
I love balloons

Excerpting from the article referenced:
Still, the magnitude of job losses was certainly worse in the 2007-9 recession, he (Robert J. Gordon) said. From December 2007 to June 2009, the  American economy shed more than 5 percent of its nonfarm payroll jobs; through December 2009, the month that employment bottomed, the economy had shed more than 6 percent of these jobs.

In terms of unemployment, which is measured by a different government survey and considers only people who are actively looking for work, the rate most recently peaked last October at 10.1 percent. It had gotten higher in 1982, when it reached 10.8 percent. But the composition of the work force looked very different in the 1980s — it was younger, and younger people tend to have higher unemployment rates — and so if you adjust for age, unemployment this time around looks much worse.
...

But the anemic growth since the cycle trough in June 2009 is still extraordinarily worrying. The deeper recession of the 1980s was followed by a strong, robust bounce-back in growth; this current recovery is barely trudging along.

“What’s really unique about this recession is the amount of unemployment in combination with the slowness of the recovery,” he said. “That’s just not happened before. We had a sharp recession followed by a sharp recovery in the 1980s. And in ‘91 and ‘01 we had slow recoveries, but those recessions were shallow recessions so the slowness didn’t matter much.” 

...

“That’s why the political news is so entirely dominated by the word ‘jobs,’ ” he said. “The amount of unemployment we’ve already got and the slowness of recovery lead to predictions that we could have 9-plus percent unemployment even through the next presidential election.”  -- Robert J. Gordon, Professor of Economics, Northwestern University, September 2010

Quinnipiac released a poll on October 6, 2009, regarding a sample of the Average American Citizen's feelings regarding the state of the economy. 

The Result? 

77% of respondents (overall) believe that the US Economy is STILL in Recession.  I guess no one told them how much 'better' things are getting 'out here' since we turned the clock back on the 'failed policies of the past', blah, blah, blah...  

For details of the survey, check out the following graphic, you can click on the image to enlarge it:

Even worse is the discovery that 44% of Americans overall believe that the Economy is on track to get 'Worse' than it is today.   Source:  Business Insider.com 


The economy continues to be in the dumper as the American workforce sheds roughly 400,000 jobs per month, the Department of Justice, headed by Eric Holder, is facing 'really uncomfortable' questions about the 'Fast and Furious' investigation (according to Fox News, the "Subpoenas are in the mail"), and funding for Solyndra continues to raise questions about the White House's involvement in flushing roughly $535,000,000 down the proverbial 'green' crapper. 

Ah, this is old news.  Let's set our sights on the things which are impacting our Nation's recovery under the enlightened oversight of President Obama and his gaggle of Nobel Prize winning Laureates.  After spending TRILLIONS of dollars to jump start the economy, there must be significant and substantive issues holding America back.  The above items, Solyndra, Fast and Furious, and influence buying in the White House?  Nothing more than Republican Partisanship at its worst, and political posturing at its best.  Right? 

The answer, as always, is that it depends upon who you ask... 

Okay, let's ask the President of the United States, Barack Obama:  In July, 2011 the President blamed our Nation's faltering Economy on several very specific factors:

1. The tsunami in Japan
2. The 'Arab Spring' for increasing 'tensions' in the Middle East 
3. Oil prices

Specifically, he said, "We’ve weathered the Arab Springs effect on oil and gas prices. The Japanese earthquake and tsunami’s effect on supply chains. The extraordinary economic uncertainty in Europe and recently markets around the globe have taken a bumpy ride,” Obama said this morning.     
Source:  InfoWars.com

"A bumpy ride?"  Folks, fasten your seat belts and make sure that your seat backs are in their upright and locked position.  You ain't seen nothin' yet.  While any real 'Captain' would turn his aircraft away from a dangerous storm front, 'Captain Obama' continues to steer US into the darkening horizon, towards the nastiest Thunderheads he can find. 

Why?  Is it because the President is a bad pilot?  No.  He's doing what he's been trained to do...  Just as a tick will latch onto your dog's ear and suck until it bursts (because it's what ticks, left un-checked, do), President Obama is genetically, philosophically, and morally compelled to do the things he does.  It's who he is.  He suckled upon the collective intellectual teets of Cloward, Piven, Mao, his Socialist / Marxist professors, Union Organizations, and even, (ewwwww)  LBJ. 

The following video clip is from the 'Think Progress' site.  They are proud of the President's comments.   I'm angry and (BONUS!) disgusted by the man's actions. 

Go ahead, click the video below, I'll be down there again when you get done.

Several months ago the President of the United States is blaming our regularly scheduled 'bumps in the road' upon un-controllable, external causes.   Certainly our continuously bleak economic outlook has NOTHING to do with his policies - right? 

He inherited the economy from GW.  He inherited the Tsunami from Japan.  He inherited oil prices from OPEC.  He inherited the Arab Spring movement (after HIS Administration encouraged the Muslim Brotherhood to overthrow nations in the Middle East). 

None of this was HIS doing.  It was the 'bumps' which tanked, and continue to rack our economy, plain and simple.

Then last week, the President of the United States 'feels the pain' of the protestors 'occupying' (their word, not mine) cities across the United States.  

His words, "I think people are frustrated. And the protestors are giving voice to a more broad based frustration about how our financial system works."   

You want to know who's REALLY frustrated? 

Me.  And a lot of people like me.

I'm frustrated because YOUR freaking economic Advisors don't know "how our financial system works."  Or, perhaps, maybe they know too well? 

I am frustrated by you, you useless piece of detritus, continually siding with people who have nothing on their minds other than taking 'stuff' from those who earn it. 

I am frustrated by your always siding with those who break the laws which you swore an oath to 'Defend and Protect'.   

I am frustrated knowing that when you leave office in 2013 that you'll travel the world explaining how hard you TRIED to make America more 'open', more 'diverse', and more 'World-Friendly', only to be stopped by mean-spirited idealogues who want to kill old people, pollute drinking water, and poison the air.  Dictators, foreign governments, and New World order-types will line up to pay you to criticize US for the remainder of his useless existence.    

You want to call me a murderer, poisoner, and hater of the Earth?  Do it to my face you impotent misuse of cartilage.  But no.  You won't say it to me.  You'll say you were talking about 'other' murderers, poisoners, and haters.  You were talking about them, not me.  You'll say I took your messages 'Out of context', I didn't understand what you meant, because I wasn't 'smart enough', 'educated enough', or 'open enough' to really 'get it'.  

You say that people who want the Constitution of the United States to be read by the elected officials in Washington are 'Extremists', and yet, when ACTUAL extremists occupy private and public property, you side...  With them.

I am done with you.  The American people gave an unproven, un-skilled, and emotionally stunted half-wit a chance to hold the highest office in the world because they were mad at GW Bush. 

I knew GW Bush.  You sir, are no George W Bush.

Bush may have made some bad decisions by accident, you make them by design. 

Enjoy the remainder of your first, and only term as President.  Somewhere in the World a third-world nation is crying for mediocrity.

They cry for you.  You're 'their-kind-of-guy'.

Oh, and I hope you enjoy spending time with your new-found friends on Wall Street.

You deserve each other.

Fool(s) On the Hill (Part I)

"Hill"

fool

noun

1. a silly or stupid person; a person who lacks judgment or sense.

2. a professional jester, formerly kept by a person of royal or noble rank for amusement: the court fool.


3. a person who has been tricked or deceived into appearing or acting silly or stupid: to make a fool of someone.


4. an ardent enthusiast who cannot resist an opportunity to indulge an enthusiasm (usually preceded by a present participle): He's just a dancing fool.


5. a weak-minded or idiotic person.


verb (used with object)
6. to trick, deceive, or impose on: They tried to fool him.

verb (used without object)
7. to act like a fool; joke; play.

8. to jest; pretend; make believe: I was only fooling.

Verb phrases
9. fool around,
a. to putter aimlessly; waste time: She fooled around all through school.
b. to philander or flirt.
c. to be sexually promiscuous, especially to engage in adultery.

10. fool away, to spend foolishly, as time or money; squander: to fool away the entire afternoon.

11. fool with, to handle or play with idly or carelessly: to be hurt while fooling with a loaded gun; to fool with someone's affections.


Idiom

12. be nobody's fool, to be wise or shrewd.


Synonyms 1. simpleton, dolt, dunce, blockhead, numskull, ignoramus, dunderhead, ninny, nincompoop, booby, saphead, sap. 2. zany, clown. 5. moron, imbecile, idiot. 6. delude, hoodwink, cheat, gull, hoax, cozen, dupe, gudgeon.

Antonyms 1. genius.

Illustration: An American Fool

(Feel free to use the word 'Tool' interchangably with 'Fool'. Either works fine for purposes of our discussion of today)

Where to begin?  I'm not sure, there's a LOT to cover. There is so much to tell and there is so little time to tell it. Perhaps less time than we thought.  But perhaps, enough time, if I ever actually begin this post. 

The President of the United States weighed in this past week on the Occupy Wall Street Movement(s) springing up 'spontaneously' (Lie #1) across the Nation.  Wow, do I feel better now, knowing that the President is vaguely aware that we are experiencing our very own American Fall rallies! 

Clarification:  The American Fall movement is loosely based on the Arab Spring series of the Middle East's spontaneous, clean, and fun-loving events which recently turned one-time US-friendly evil dictatorial regimes over to Islamic-extremist religious radicals, who, as we all know, are neither 'evil' nor 'dictatorial'.  They're just 'misunderstood' according to the Obama Administration.  We're not smart enough to understand why turning nations over to the Muslim Brotherhood is a 'good thing'.   

Cindy Lauper said it best, "Mullahs just want to have fun.  Mullahs just want to have fun!"  Sing with me now - Oh Mullahs just want to have guns!  Oops, one of them Freudian slips got in there - sorry!  



For the purposes of illustration, saying these 'Occupy Wall Street'  (interchange the name of your town here) events are 'Spontaneous expressions of Free Speech' is a LOT like my wife saying, "My breast 'augmentation' procedure is scheduled for next Thursday." (This, of course is a completely fictional example as we all know, my wife is prefect, as is.) 


Two weeks later you pass my wife on the street and notice that 'something is different'.  You ask, "Hey, um, Mrs. Mike, did your breasts, um, did they get much larger than they used to be?"

"Yes, they did.  And it happened all at once.  It was all so, so... 'spontaneous'.  Sure it cost George Soros a lot of money, but it pretty much happened on its own - without my intervention.  I was asleep at the time.   And then when I woke up - Ta Da!  There they were!  Boobs as far as the eye can see!!!" 


Hey, speaking of 'Boobs as far as the eye can see'...  (Nice transition, eh?)


Freedom's 'bestest-ever' friend Frances Fox Piven wrote a piece in The Nation Magazine (December, 2010) entitled "Mobilizing the Unemployed" which included the following:

Mass protests might change the president's posture if they succeeded in pressing him hard from his base, something that hasn't happened so far in this administration. But there are obstructions to mobilizing the unemployed that would have to be overcome.

...

Protesters need targets, preferably local and accessible ones capable of making some kind of response to angry demands. This is, I think, the most difficult of the strategy problems that have to be resolved if a movement of the unemployed is to arise. Protests among the unemployed will inevitably be local, just because that's where people are and where they construct solidarities. But local and state governments are strapped for funds and are laying off workers. The initiatives that would be responsive to the needs of the unemployed will require federal action.


Local protests have to accumulate and spread—and become more disruptive—to create serious pressures on national politicians. An effective movement of the unemployed will have to look something like the strikes and riots that have spread across Greece in response to the austerity measures forced on the Greek government by the European Union, or like the student protests that recently spread with lightning speed across England in response to the prospect of greatly increased school fees.    


So I'm wondering, if Frances (don't call her 'Foxy') Piven publicly calls out to the troops in December, 2010 and they begin assembling 'in public' ten months later.  It's almost as if the two events (and Van Jones' American Dream scam) are somehow related... 

IRONY ALERT:  Ten months later, hmm?  Isn't the normal human gestation period something like ten months long? 

"Congratulations America, it's an American Fall!!!  It looks a LOT like 'Socialism;'  but it has your eyes!"

IRONY ALERT ENDS:


Seriously, if something is discussed 'openly' for almost a year would you really call it 'spontaneous'?  It's interesting that America tosses a whole BUNCH of Liberal Democrats out in the November 2010 elections and less than one month later, Frances Fox Piven 'gets busy'.

Yes, Frances (NOT the 'Talking Mule') Piven goes back to what she's done best for DECADES:  mobilizing and organizing Unions, College Professors, Students, and the befuddled 'Soft-Headed' citizens to turn back the clock against the will of the People.
   
So the question becomes, is ANY of this 'spontaneous'?

Another 'Defining Moment' in literature:

spon·ta·ne·ous adjective
1. coming or resulting from a natural impulse or tendency; without effort or premeditation; natural and unconstrained; unplanned: a spontaneous burst of applause.


2. (of a person) given to acting upon sudden impulses.


3. (of natural phenomena) arising from internal forces or causes; independent of external agencies; self-acting.


4. growing naturally or without cultivation, as plants and fruits; indigenous.


5. produced by natural process.


From a purely 'definitional' perspective, I'm thinking, um, no. 


None of this is 'Spontaneous'.


And I'll prove it.  Soon, but not now. 

As for me, I'm running a fund-raiser for our local High School Marching Band and the rest of the weekend is pretty much GONE.


I'll be back - I ALWAYS come back.  The thing is, I DO what I can, in the amount of time I have to do it in.  This is why I keep sending these words out adrift into cyber-space.  I'm hoping they land upon friendly shores. 


I have hope that I'll wake up in an America that looks more familiar to me than the one I've lived in for the past five years. 

There ARE Two Americas. 

You simply need to decide which one you chose to live in in the future.  Because what's at stake is the future itself. 

No pressure.

Jobz Am Job Won

Graph Courtesy of www.econmatters.com

The above chart represents unemployment between 2004 - 2011.  I added a red line to represent when President GW Bush left office and President Obama assumed his new role.  (Regardless, please consider any current Economic Conditions to be GW Bush's Fault - yes, I can be taught!) 

Looking at this as a Conservative Guy, it seems to me that the Unemployment level was 'relatively' stable for the first five years charted above, with the exception of the last quarter of 2008 when things got 'interesting' in the Economy.  I'd re-cover that ground here, but you lived through it - you remember it, right?  Yeah, sorry, I didn't mean to open an old wound. 

If you look above, you'll see that the area to the right of the red line is a bit more 'active' having higher peaks and fewer 'low' valleys.  To President Obama's credit (you may want to write this down) Construction and Manufacturing Unemployment have been falling for the past couple of months.  Way to Go President O!!!

What?  Come on, I'm trying to write my first post in over a week, and, yeah, what do you guys want?!?!  Oh?  Really?  Rats.  I've just been informed by my crack Moos Room staff that the Bureau of Labor Statistics has stopped counting about 2.6 MILLION workers because they've been unemployed too long.  Sheesh, that's not their fault - why hold it against them?

According to the BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics):  About 2.6 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force in August, up from 2.4 million a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.

Among the marginally attached, there were 977,000 discouraged workers in August, down by 133,000 from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) Discouraged  workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them. The remaining 1.6 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in August had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities.  (Source:  BLS)

2.6 MILLION Americans are no longer counted in the unemployment roles because they've been unemployed...  Too long.  Okay, got it.

Darn you GW Bush, darn you to heck!

Once again, scanning yet another BLS report, I find that total labor force in the US is 153.6 MILLION for the month of August 2011.  Taking off my shoes and socks to do the math, this means that if we included the Americans who are no longer counted, this number of 'un-counted' workers would mean an additional 1.6927% unemployment, putting the 'real' unemployment rate at something like:

9.1% + 1.69% = 10.79% Unemployment 

This figure (of course) does not include the number of American workers who are involuntary part-time workers due to their taking part-time jobs as full-time jobs are no longer available. 

There are about 8.8 MILLION of these folks out there as well.

Including my both my dogs pads (to help me count) for this 'much-higher' math, if we have 2.6 MILLION (10.79%) actual unemployed and we add in the additional 8.8 MILLION workers classified in 'involuntary part-time' status, this gives us a overall unemployment rate of (8.8/153.6= 05.729%). 

10.79% Unemployment  + 5.729% 'involuntary part-time' unemployment yields a meager...

Overall unemployment rate of:  16.51%

This, of course brings me back to the original purpose of this post.  This statistically-significant number of America's unemployed explains President Obama's recently-adopted message to Congress.  The President has been 'focused like a laser' on unemployment for the past 2.5 years, but he only began to make his deep concern about unemployment known over the past few weeks.  Someone must have told him that he's NOT President-For-Life, or is he?   

In case you've forgotten the President's Mono-Syllabic message on job creation, here it is again... 

This time, set to Moo-sic!



After hearing this (again) I'm thinking that we should all just, "Pass this Bill.  Pass this Bill NOW!"  I don't even think that we should take the time to read it!  It must be important - why else would we have to pass it so quickly?   

Okay, given the urgency of the President's oft-repeated request, how do you explain Senator Reid's reluctance to bring the Bill to a vote in the Senate?



The answer is simple:  Republicans AND Democrats don't want this Bill voted on prior to an election year.  The Bill as proposed by the President is radioactive.  No one wants to be anywhere near it, let alone have their signature affixed it.  It is a 'Bad Bill' 

Most interesting to me, at least, is that Harry Reid is the sponsor of the President's Bill.  I wonder why he's 'waiting' to take it up until after he 'fixes' the China problem?  Nothing like a good old-fashion Trade War with the Communist Chinese to take our collective eyes off our current economic 'Ball'!  But, if we tick them off, who'll buy our bad debt?

To save me from formulating other potential answers, I'll post what I found on CBS News online here:
McConnell said he was ready for an immediate vote on the bill, even though he opposes it. Reading aloud on the Senate floor from a copy of Obama's speech, he said, "I do think the president makes an important point that he is entitled to a vote."


The request was blocked by Reid, who called it a "political stunt" and said he would make sure the bill comes to the floor this month. Aboard Air Force One, White House press secretary Jay Carney accused Republicans of gamesmanship.


The parliamentary dance aside, the day's events underscored that, as submitted by the White House, Obama's bill would not only fail in the Republican-controlled House, but faced enough opposition from Democrats to endanger its prospects in the Senate, as well.
...

Democrats said Reid's proposed millionaires' surtax was designed to quell much if not all of the opposition from his own rank and file.


To pay for his package of tax breaks, unemployment benefits and new spending on public works projects, Obama has proposed higher taxes on family incomes over $250,000 and on the oil and gas industry.


The first request troubles Democratic senators from states like New York, New Jersey and California, where large numbers of families could be hit by the increase. The second has drawn opposition most prominently from Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu, whose state is home to numerous oil and gas operations.


The president also proposed higher taxes on hedge fund managers and corporate jet owners, but those increases, too, would disappear under the changes Reid is expected to unveil as early as Wednesday.


In political terms, Democrats appear to be hoping that Republicans will oppose both the higher taxes on million-dollar earners and the president's call for new spending aimed at reducing joblessness, thus leaving themselves open to a charge of protecting the wealthy at the expense of the unemployed.

In the end, the Obama Bill (which Reid sponsored) will never be brought to the floor of the Senate.  A new and 'Improved!' (a.k.a.:  more Taxes and wealth-baiting) Bill is currently being drafted somewhere within darkened office cubicles of the Senate.  Men in dark suits, white shirts, and blue ties hover above LCD screens crafting this masterpiece of mis-direction as interns fetch them coffee; adding to their already chronic halitosis and insidious periodontal disease.  Special interest Lobbyists keep sneaking something into their Creamers, but no one quite knows what the 'something' is. 

Meanwhile, as I write this, America waits for yet another 'Next Big Thing!' to come from Washington. 

Given this Administration's non-existent success-ratio at fixing all 'that ails US' - I hope this Bill does what some many other Obama initiatives have done so splendidly...  Fail. 

I hope that Congress does take up the Jobs Bill quickly - just so that it can show the LOVE which this President so richly deserves...  



Yes, here's some love for you Mr. President.  From one President to another.

Nothing but love for you buddy.

Go ahead, click it. I'm not showing love for the President.
I am a bad man...