Since Harry Reid became Senate Majority Leader in 2006, more than $5 trillion has been added to the debt, and he now wants to raise the debt ceiling again. It's quite a hole he dug along with Pelosi and Obama:
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Harry Reid 2006: Public Debt 'The Greatest of the Dangers to be Feared'
Since Harry Reid became Senate Majority Leader in 2006, more than $5 trillion has been added to the debt, and he now wants to raise the debt ceiling again. It's quite a hole he dug along with Pelosi and Obama:
Video Report: Obama Advisor Van Jones Pushing "Human Rights" For Nature
Just to keep things in perspective, these same people have no problem with babies being torn limb from limb in the place where they are supposed to be safe. But trees ought to be able to sue:
The notion that Van Jones is a former Obama adviser is false. He's still his adviser, just in an unofficial capacity. You know that Obama thinks just like he does! One of Obama's current regulatory czars/advisers believes exactly like Jones as well: : Obama "Regulatory Czar" Nominee Cass Sustein: Animals Should Be Able To Sue!!! Animal Suffering Like Slavery, Holocaust!!! Here's that same one explaining what 'environmental justice' is:
The entire regime is stuffed full of radicals.
The notion that Van Jones is a former Obama adviser is false. He's still his adviser, just in an unofficial capacity. You know that Obama thinks just like he does! One of Obama's current regulatory czars/advisers believes exactly like Jones as well: : Obama "Regulatory Czar" Nominee Cass Sustein: Animals Should Be Able To Sue!!! Animal Suffering Like Slavery, Holocaust!!! Here's that same one explaining what 'environmental justice' is:
The entire regime is stuffed full of radicals.
Why California is Bankrupt (cont'd): $200,000 Lifeguards with Million Dollar Pensions!
As it is, there are as many reasons for why California has a budget deficit larger than the entire budgets of most states in the nation as there are non-existent dollars in said deficit, which is in the tens of billions of dollars. But many of them center around one aspect of life in the golden State - unions are fleecing the taxpayers to live like millionaires. It's true. Public servants - an oxymoron in CA - have become lifestyle management firms that perform services on the side, poorly, and at a huge loss. This is just one example of that:
The unions are literally swimming in taxpayer dollars, with the approval of the liberal ruling class who get their campaign coffers fill with the very money they are laundering through said union monopolies.
Anyone in the private sector doing any such thing would be in a federal pound you in the a$$ penitentiary.
The unions are literally swimming in taxpayer dollars, with the approval of the liberal ruling class who get their campaign coffers fill with the very money they are laundering through said union monopolies.
National Unemployment Rate At 9% More Than 2 Years After Obama Promised It Would Never Go Above 8%; Labor Participation Rate Still At All-Time Low
The unemployment rate is back over 9%. Again. Almost 2 1/2 years after Obama promised us all it wouldn't get above 8% if we spent over $1.2 trillion (including interest since we're bankrupt) to give him a slush fund to reward his cronies. The result was utterly predictable: more debt and a higher unemployment rate. From The Detroit Free Press, which put the best spin it could on the bad news by focusing on something else: U.S. economy adds 244,000 jobs. The unemployment rate increase wasn't mentioned in the headline, natch.
Just for reference, Bush's last April in 2008 had an unemployment rate was 4.9%. The Obama regime hailed the rising unemployment rate as good news:
Why just the past 13 months? Why not go all the way back to when the stimulus bill was signed into law as an elixir for the economy? Because going back that far would paint the correct picture of how bad Obama has been. The real unemployment rate by the way is 16%, not 9%. The way the government calculates the unemployment rate makes Enron look honest by comparison. Obama promised that 3.5 million NEW private-sector jobs would be created by the $1.2 trillion stimulus bill ($800 billion + interest over 10 years since the US is bankrupt) by 2010. Instead, more than 3 million jobs have been lost. Here is what has been happening with Biden's 3-letter word since Obama took over:
Plus, this bonus to foreshadow where the unemployment rate is going: Jobless claims jump points to slowing recovery. Not only rising, but at its highest point in almost a year.
The U.S. economy added 244,000 seasonally-adjusted jobs last month, including 29,000 manufacturing positions, the Labor Department said Friday.The best defense the AP could muster was to point out it was still lower than last year:
...But while overall U.S. job growth continued, the unemployment rate also rose in April -- returning to 9%, up from 8.8% in March.
Year-over-year, April's 9% national unemployment rate was less than April 2010, when it was 9.8%, and roughly equal to April 2009, when it was 8.9%.
Just for reference, Bush's last April in 2008 had an unemployment rate was 4.9%. The Obama regime hailed the rising unemployment rate as good news:
White House press secretary Jay Carney, speaking aboard Air Force One en route to Indianapolis on Friday morning, said the April job numbers were "obviously good news."The freep also published this graphic for what's been going on the past 13 months:
Why just the past 13 months? Why not go all the way back to when the stimulus bill was signed into law as an elixir for the economy? Because going back that far would paint the correct picture of how bad Obama has been. The real unemployment rate by the way is 16%, not 9%. The way the government calculates the unemployment rate makes Enron look honest by comparison. Obama promised that 3.5 million NEW private-sector jobs would be created by the $1.2 trillion stimulus bill ($800 billion + interest over 10 years since the US is bankrupt) by 2010. Instead, more than 3 million jobs have been lost. Here is what has been happening with Biden's 3-letter word since Obama took over:
January US jobs lost: 598,000 jobs3 million fewer jobs to lose, and that's neglecting the corrections that were made to the jobs numbers from 2009 that showed even bigger losses. Recall that the stimulus package was supposed to stop the unemployment rate at 8%! A crisis could become a calamity? Remember that? Obama promised the unemployment rate would not exceed 8% if Congress gave him a $1.2 trillion (including interest) slush fund in the form of the stimulus boondoggle:
February US jobs lost: 706,000 jobs
March US jobs lost: 742,000 jobs
April US jobs lost: 545,000 jobs
May US jobs lost: 345,000 jobs
June US jobs lost: 467,000 jobs
July US jobs lost: 247,000 jobs
August US jobs lost: 216,000 jobs
September US jobs lost: 263,000 jobs
October US jobs lost: 190,000 jobs
November US jobs lost: 11,000 jobs
December US jobs lost: 85,000 jobs
January US jobs lost: 20,000
February US jobs lost: 30,000
March US jobs lost: -162,000
April US jobs lost: -290,000
May US jobs lost: -431,000
June US jobs lost: 125,000
July US jobs lost: 131,000
August US jobs lost: 54,000
September US jobs lost: 95,000
October US jobs lost: -151,000
November US jobs lost: -39,000
December US jobs lost: -103,000
January US jobs lost: -36,000
February US jobs lost: -196,000
March US jobs lost: -216,000
April US jobs lost: -244,000
Total US jobs lost under Obama: 3,002,000 jobs
Plus, this bonus to foreshadow where the unemployment rate is going: Jobless claims jump points to slowing recovery. Not only rising, but at its highest point in almost a year.
The number of Americans filing for jobless aid rose to an eight-month high last week and productivity growth slowed in the first quarter, clouding the outlook for an economy that is struggling to gain speed.Did I mention by the way that unemployment rates are 20% higher in Democrat strongholds? I'm sure liberal policies have nothing to do with it, right? And as I have pointed out many times, at least 100,000 new monthly jobs are needed just to keep even with population growth. So since Obama took office, we would have needed 2,800,000 jobs just to keep an even keel. In actually, the Obama job deficit number is almost 6 MILLION! Lastly: 9% Unemployment, and We Are Supposed to Be Happy?!
While the surprise jump in initial claims for unemployment benefits was blamed on factors ranging from spring break layoffs to the introduction of an emergency benefits program, economists said it corroborated reports this week indicating a loss of momentum in job creation.
New claims for state jobless benefits rose 43,000 to 474,000, the highest since mid-August, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Economists had expected claims to fall.
Even More Stimulus! Bankrupt Detroit library pays $6,500 for business cards for janitors, others. "Many who received them have no idea why they got them in the first place nor what to do with them"
A follow-up to two prior posts on the absolute waste in the library system in Detroit:
From The Detroit News: Library pays $6,500 for business cards for all
More Stimulus! Bankrupt Detroit spending $1,100 PER TRASHCAN in new library wingThis is pretty much how Detroit treats taxpayer money:
Stimulus! Bankrupt Detroit spending $1,100 PER CHAIR in new library wing
From The Detroit News: Library pays $6,500 for business cards for all
A purchase order from March 2010 showing the cash-strapped Detroit Public Library spent more than $6,500 to buy business cards for all its employees — including clerks and janitors who questioned why they need them.Well, at least that last part is correct. The problem as it were is said system:
Library spokesman A.J. Funchess said each employee got 250 cards "to be an ambassador to their communities."
"It shows everyone matters here at the library," Funchess said. "Everyone is representing the library."
"As employees, we are all a part of the same system."
Many of the cards quickly became obsolete. One year later, the library has lost 71 staffers to layoffs and retirements. Dozens more of the remaining 376 staffers could soon be laid off as the system is grappling with an $11 million shortfall and could close at least 10 of its 23 neighborhood branches.In other library news, the braintrust spent $200,000 to raise money for the library. They succeeded in raising $100. And no, that's no typo. Somewhere in Detroit there is a bureaucrat that thinks it was a success.
Todd Kelly, president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 1259 that represents 125 workers, including clerks, janitors and security staffers, said many staffers who never come in contact with the public got the cards.
"Many who received them have no idea why they got them in the first place nor what to do with them."
Irony: Pro-Abort Planned Parenhood Supporting Sheryl Crow "Mixed Emotions" On bin Laden Killing, "In Our Spirits We Know Killing Someone Is Not Right"
So according to Sheryl Crow, death to babies YES! Death to #1 terrorist Osama bin Laden who was responsible for the death of thousands NO! Can that possibly be more backwards? Video via Fox Nation:
From therockfor life: bands who advocate abortion. No mixed emotions here:
From therockfor life: bands who advocate abortion. No mixed emotions here:
Sheryl Crow: March for “Women’s Lives,” Planned Parenthood supporter, plays “Rock for Choice” concerts, lobbyed for SF 192 – the “Iowa Stem Cell Research and Cure Initiative” which would legalize cloning and killing human embryos for their stem cells http://www.fidelis.org/gw3/articles-news/articles.php?CMSArticleID=886&CMSCategoryID=10What does her 'spirit' say about her support for that? Apparently, she has the approval of her conscience in promoting the death of innocent babies, but not terrorists.
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. - Isiah 5:20
Nanny State: MI school principal bans 'Smarties' and 'Pixy Stix,' says students are 'smoking' the candies
In the old days, reading, writing and math were on tap at the local public school. Those public schools have morphed into government schools - aka public indoctrination centers. And reading, writing and math have taken a back seat to moonbattery. From The Grand Rapids Press: Forest Hills principal bans 'Smarties,' says students are 'smoking' the candies
These are the same type of moonbats that suspend students for making a gun with their finger. No - really: Good Grief: First-Grader Suspended for Making Gun With FingerA Forest Hills middle school principal is banning two types of candy because students are believed to be inhaling the sugary treat as they pretend to smoke it – possibly causing maggots to feed off the students' noses.
Same as crack to moonbats
Northern Hills Middle School Principal Nancy Susterka emailed parents on Friday, saying that sugar candies such as “Smarties” and “Pixy Stix” are now prohibited.
“In short, we have seen huge numbers of Smartie wrappers throughout the building and heard some rumblings about kids smoking it,” she wrote in a “Newsflash” email.
...“While this isn't a drug, practicing the behavior of inhaling can be attributed to the use of other inappropriate substances and I want to keep our kids healthy and safe.”
Video: After racking up $5 trillion in deficit spending on her watch, Pelosi blames Bush for deficit
A predictable update to a prior post: Irony: After racking up $5.2 trillion in debt over her 4 years as Speaker, Pelosi lectures GOP on fiscal responsibility. Of course, it's Bush's fault:
As I have pointed out many times in this blog, the FY 2007 federal budget - the last one put together by Republicans - was $2.7 trillion. Since Pelosi and Reid took over, the federal budget is at $3.8 trillion. The deficit is entirely comprised of new Democrat spending since 2007.
It's o9n her, not Bush.
As I have pointed out many times in this blog, the FY 2007 federal budget - the last one put together by Republicans - was $2.7 trillion. Since Pelosi and Reid took over, the federal budget is at $3.8 trillion. The deficit is entirely comprised of new Democrat spending since 2007.
Detroit Free Press: Mired in failure, Granholm was an awesome governor because she didn't have a penis
Granholm has only been out of office for 4 months and the Detroit Free Press has seen fit to already launch a trip down memory lane as to how awesome Granholm was. Never mind that she lost the most of 1,000,000 jobs on her watch. Never mind the higher taxes. Never mind the highest unemployment in the nation for most of her 2 terms. Never mind that she tried to force unionize private babysitters. Never mind that she ballooned the MI budget by an obscene $9 Billion over her 8 years while the average Michigander income plummeted. Forget that she was AWOL on the budget year after year. No. All that matters to the freep is that she had no penis. Written by Rochelle Riley: Granholm tenure lesson in new generation of role reversal. Well, at least I agree with Riley that it was a lesson, but of what not to do.
UPDATE: There's another angle to the story that I should have written about earlier. From the same article, two snippets:
Um - what exactly are Mulher's qualifications for leadership outside of taking classes on the subject? Just asking. So Granholm becomes #1 and Mulhern the dreaded #2m which to Riley is a good thing. Just because:..."I think he was testing Dan, to see whether he was open to change," Granholm said of the prescient question. "I was coming (to Michigan) to be with him. ... I had been politically active at Harvard, and I wanted to help him behind the scenes. It was an interesting flip of the script." Twelve years later, Jennifer Mulhern Granholm would become Michigan's first woman governor and Daniel Mulhern would struggle between being the state's first first gentleman and its most prominent Mr. Mom.
He would walk a fine line between building his own career as a leadership consultant and being primary caregiver for the couple's three children, Kathryn (Kate), Cecelia (Cece) and Jack.
The Granholm governorship helped push the continuing redefinition of expectations and duties for the husbands of women breaking through glass ceilings, reaching new heights and walking into rooms once open exclusively to men.In other words, Granholm was awesome because she didn't have a penis. Forget the failure of Governorship. It apparently didn't matter. All that matter is that we have a non-penis among penises:
Granholm's portrait will hang in what until today has been an all-male governors' gallery in the Capitol rotunda.End of story. At least for Riley. The commenters of the freep didn't take to the post any better than I did. The first 11 comments on the piece:
OctopiAlley9 2:30 AM on May 6, 2011
Nothing gives libs a bigger thrill up their leg than throwing rose petals at socialist elitist arsehats mired in complete failure.
That $10 million brownfield grant and multi-year multi-million tax break for Freep assures they'll never show Groanholm in a bad light
fixedforlife2 5:02 AM on May 6, 2011
This sounds like one of those I'll scratch your back you scratch mine sort of things.
macombbob 5:12 AM on May 6, 2011
So, we are supposed to blame a Catholic priest and her gender for the distruction Canada born, California resident Granhom did to Michigan? I think not.
fuzzy 5:51 AM on May 6, 2011
Yo Rochelle, "typical' east side families don't go to Harvard. Quit licking the boots of these socialists and be thankful they are finally gone.
cbacca 6:18 AM on May 6, 2011
i missed something...is this 'Profiles in Failure' month? 'Spouses of Failure' Month? i'm confused...did Granholm do something finally? why did i read this? why was this written? where did the last 10 minutes of my life go and how do i get it back?
IAmWrite 6:29 AM on May 6, 2011
Even the form governor and her husband couldn't find a job in Michigan. They moved to Calif. I am quite sure she took her life long pension though.
Ypinion 6:31 AM on May 6, 2011
Every story one reads of the Granholm-Mulherns makes mention of Mulhern being a leadership consultant. Now, he is lecturing about leadership at a major university.
But every story one reads about Mulhern and leadership leaves unanswered one critical question.
What has Dan Mulhern ever led himself?
As best as can be put together, the answer is ,,,, nothing -- no corporation, no governmental agency. His wife, sure. But Dan? What is it?
The humblest Marine Corps sergeant or team leader at Ford or union steward at Chrysler or Boy Scount Troop leader it seems is more qualified to talk about real world leadership experience than this entirely book-learned guy.
MichiganSteveP 6:40 AM on May 6, 2011
Too bad Dan wasn't governor. No doubt we'd have been and would be a lot better off than we were and are today.
Please wait while we perform your request. Jack-squattt 6:45 AM on May 6, 2011So there you have it - universally negative at the time I write this post and schedule it for publication.
Maybe role reversal is not such good thing?
UPDATE: There's another angle to the story that I should have written about earlier. From the same article, two snippets:
...Mulhern also said going to church was vital... "I remember Jennifer saying, 'I love church, among other reasons, just to be next to the kids, to go as a family, to be physically touching them,' " Mulhern said.So Granholm was "called" to serve as Governor by God, and to then twice veto a ban on partial birth abortion that passed at the federal level and was declared constitutional by SCOTUS? Thee God? Really? Also, if church is your only family time and that's why you love going to church, to "touch" your children, then you failed at both being a parent and at being a church-goer. Simultaneously!
..."I said I'd probably feel jealous and a little confused, but if that's what she was called to do, I'd be 100% behind her," Mulhern said he told the priest.
Video: 9-11 Family Member Describes Arrogant Encounter With Obama Over CIA Investigation. "He Turned Around And Walked Away"
For someone that said he didn't want to release the Osama bin Laden postmortem photo say as not to "spike the football" in Muslims' faces, he went to New York yesterday to spike the football to Americans and his political opponents with predictable results: 9-11 Family Member Describes Today's Arrogant Encounter With Obama Over CIA Investigation
Burlingame After Meeting With Obama: "He Turned Around And Walked Away"
Plus: Glenn Beck on Obama at Ground Zero: I Find This Extrodinary Offensive
UPDATE: More: Father Of 9/11 Victim: "I hope Its Not Just A Photo Op"
Everything is a photo op to Obama. Everything. It is ALL ABOUT HIM! Always has been, always will be.
UPDATE #2: Father Of 9/11 Victim: Obama "Putting Too Much Spotlight On Himself". As I was saying... Plus: Rush Limbaugh - Obama Can Multitask Able To Plan Bin Laden Mission While Filling Out NCAA Bracket
Burlingame After Meeting With Obama: "He Turned Around And Walked Away"
Debra Burlingame, the sister of Chip Burlingame (pilot of the plane that crashed into the Pentagon) met with President Obama today, along with other families who were victims of 9/11. Burlingame said she confronted Obama about Attorney General Eric Holder prosecuting the men who interrogated KSM, which may have produced intelligence leading us to bin Laden.That's the kind of class (or lack thereof) we've come to expect from The One:
Burlingame describes the encounter with Obama: "As a former attorney I know you can't tell the Attorney General what to do, he said, 'No, I can't.' But I said 'we -- that shouldn't stop you from giving your opinion. We wouldn't be here today if they hadn't done their jobs. Can't you at least give them your opinion.' And he said 'no I won't,' and he turned around and walked away."
Plus: Glenn Beck on Obama at Ground Zero: I Find This Extrodinary Offensive
UPDATE: More: Father Of 9/11 Victim: "I hope Its Not Just A Photo Op"
Everything is a photo op to Obama. Everything. It is ALL ABOUT HIM! Always has been, always will be.
UPDATE #2: Father Of 9/11 Victim: Obama "Putting Too Much Spotlight On Himself". As I was saying... Plus: Rush Limbaugh - Obama Can Multitask Able To Plan Bin Laden Mission While Filling Out NCAA Bracket
Friday, May 6, 2011
Great News: Eva Longoria "Brainstorms" with President Obama At The White House About Immigration
Between the two of them, this quote comes to mind:
From CNS News: Eva Longoria Brainstorms with President Obama At The White House About Immigration
Brilliant strategy by Obama - consult with an airheaded bimbo who's only claim to fame is that she's cute, on a topic of national freaking security. Brilliant!
UPDATE: Straight Talk From Grady Warren on Illegal Immigration
"a$$hole to a$$hole... couldn't make a beer fart in a whirlwind" - Gunnery Sgt. 'Gunny' Highway in Heartbreak RidgeSo what happens when you put two airheads together? They brainstormed and came up with this:
Brilliant strategy by Obama - consult with an airheaded bimbo who's only claim to fame is that she's cute, on a topic of national freaking security. Brilliant!
Video: Boy Charged After Bringing Broken BB-Gun to School After Hours
These zero tolerance policies mean zero tolerance for common sense:
This sort of idiocy comes around every several weeks. From the last time: Good Grief: Cops Charge 7-Year-Old for Bringing Toy Gun to Class. Their zero-tolerance policy is to keep brains out of the public schools as that is the only thing that's actually banned. Meanwhile, here in the Detroit area, a school district allows Sikh students to wear 5-inch KNIFE to school, while American kids are suspended for bringing paring tool, making gun with their finger. Last March, news like this hit close to home: Michigan kindergartner suspended for making gun with hand. And more recently a couple of states over: Good Grief: First-Grader Suspended for Making Gun With Finger. The kid with the nerf gun should have simply claimed it was a religious item and he's from Asia, which are magic words for moonbats in public ed to let through whatever in the name of multiculturalism.
This sort of idiocy comes around every several weeks. From the last time: Good Grief: Cops Charge 7-Year-Old for Bringing Toy Gun to Class. Their zero-tolerance policy is to keep brains out of the public schools as that is the only thing that's actually banned. Meanwhile, here in the Detroit area, a school district allows Sikh students to wear 5-inch KNIFE to school, while American kids are suspended for bringing paring tool, making gun with their finger. Last March, news like this hit close to home: Michigan kindergartner suspended for making gun with hand. And more recently a couple of states over: Good Grief: First-Grader Suspended for Making Gun With Finger. The kid with the nerf gun should have simply claimed it was a religious item and he's from Asia, which are magic words for moonbats in public ed to let through whatever in the name of multiculturalism.
Video: Condi Smacks Down Lawrence O’Donnell During Hostile MSNBC Interview
Heh:
An epic interview from the former Secretary of State in a vigorous defense of the decision to go to war in Iraq. If only Bush Administration officials had argued this effectively when they were in the White House.
WSJ: If Supermarkets Were Like Public Schools
An interesting read over at the Wall Street Journal, but a comparison that is both obvious and one that I have made many times on this blog including all the way back in January 2009 (Why Homeschooling Will Continue To Grow): "Of course, none of this would be happening if we had school choice. Bad schools would die. Good schools would thrive. And I'm positive this junk would not form the basis of the curriculum. Of course, that will not happen anytime soon as too many politicians are bought and paid for by school unions whose only interest is permajobs for their membership regardless of competency. How do you think a government run Home Depot would function if you had to shop there based on where you live? Or the local grocery store? Want to shop somewhere else? No soup for you!" With that in tow, from the WSJ via memeorandum: If Supermarkets Were Like Public Schools
UPDATE: Another prior post where I mentioned the above analogy:Now they tell us: Detroit School Board President Otis Mathis was a D-student in high school, went to college in a program for the academically unqualified, now resigned in disgrace after habitually masturbating in front of School Superintendent. "There is no incentive right now to innovate. Why is it that kids have to go to a particular school based on where they live? We are not made to get gas from only the closest gas station to our home. Or go to only one grocery store. If we were, do you think that gas station or grocery store would have any incentive whatsoever to improve its services? Nope. Even our public universities where I teach do not have a monopoly on any student population. We are forced to compete with other institutions for students. What we Michiganders have to get straight at the outset of any discussion is that support for public education is what matters, not necessarily the support of public schools. Those two have been diverging for some time and it has accelerated in the last decade. Rather than centers for learning, K-12 school districts - controlled largely by teachers unions - have become rackets, and no district exemplifies that more than DPS. "
Teachers unions and their political allies argue that market forces can't supply quality education. According to them, only our existing system—politicized and monopolistic—will do the trick. Yet Americans would find that approach ludicrous if applied to other vital goods or services.So now once again you see the problem - no profit motive in a monopoly leads to low quality. The solution? Vouchers:
Suppose that groceries were supplied in the same way as K-12 education. Residents of each county would pay taxes on their properties. Nearly half of those tax revenues would then be spent by government officials to build and operate supermarkets. Each family would be assigned to a particular supermarket according to its home address. And each family would get its weekly allotment of groceries—"for free"—from its neighborhood public supermarket.
No family would be permitted to get groceries from a public supermarket outside of its district. Fortunately, though, thanks to a Supreme Court decision, families would be free to shop at private supermarkets that charge directly for the groceries they offer. Private-supermarket families, however, would receive no reductions in their property taxes.
...Being largely protected from consumer choice, almost all public supermarkets would be worse than private ones. In poor counties the quality of public supermarkets would be downright abysmal. Poor people—entitled in principle to excellent supermarkets—would in fact suffer unusually poor supermarket quality.
...How could it be otherwise? Public supermarkets would have captive customers and revenues supplied not by customers but by the government. Of course they wouldn't organize themselves efficiently to meet customers' demands.
And after demonizing us as wanting to starve the poor, the predictability of government unions (a monopoly within a monopoly) using political muscle to quash competition and keep the gravy train rolling along minus an engine and transmission:
Responding to these failures, thoughtful souls would call for "supermarket choice" fueled by vouchers or tax credits. Those calls would be vigorously opposed by public-supermarket administrators and workers.
Opponents of supermarket choice would accuse its proponents of demonizing supermarket workers (who, after all, have no control over their customers' poor eating habits at home). Advocates of choice would also be accused of trying to deny ordinary families the food needed for survival. Such choice, it would be alleged, would drain precious resources from public supermarkets whose poor performance testifies to their overwhelming need for more public funds.
Government unions serve only themselves at the expense of the taxpayer. Essentially, government education has turned into a lifestyle, healthcare and pension management system that performs education on the side, at a loss, and at poor quality to justify its existence. Case in point: half of Detroiters cannot read.
In the face of calls for supermarket choice, supermarket-workers unions would use their significant resources for lobbying—in favor of public-supermarkets' monopoly power and against any suggestion that market forces are appropriate for delivering something as essential as groceries. Some indignant public-supermarket defenders would even rail against the insensitivity of referring to grocery shoppers as "customers," on the grounds that the relationship between the public servants who supply life-giving groceries and the citizens who need those groceries is not so crass as to be discussed in terms of commerce.
Recognizing that the erosion of their monopoly would stop the gravy train that pays their members handsome salaries without requiring them to satisfy paying customers, unions would ensure that any grass-roots effort to introduce supermarket choice meets fierce political opposition.
UPDATE: Another prior post where I mentioned the above analogy:Now they tell us: Detroit School Board President Otis Mathis was a D-student in high school, went to college in a program for the academically unqualified, now resigned in disgrace after habitually masturbating in front of School Superintendent. "There is no incentive right now to innovate. Why is it that kids have to go to a particular school based on where they live? We are not made to get gas from only the closest gas station to our home. Or go to only one grocery store. If we were, do you think that gas station or grocery store would have any incentive whatsoever to improve its services? Nope. Even our public universities where I teach do not have a monopoly on any student population. We are forced to compete with other institutions for students. What we Michiganders have to get straight at the outset of any discussion is that support for public education is what matters, not necessarily the support of public schools. Those two have been diverging for some time and it has accelerated in the last decade. Rather than centers for learning, K-12 school districts - controlled largely by teachers unions - have become rackets, and no district exemplifies that more than DPS. "
Really good news: Canadian voters throw Dems, libs out of power, put Conservatives in charge
Who knew that a socialist country like Canada would wake up and turn things around 180, while here in the US we are sliding into deficit hell while many are still hitting the Hopeium bong? Via memorandum: Tories sweep to majority, NDP to Opposition in historic election
Canadian voters have radically redrawn the country’s political landscape, handing the Conservative Party its long-sought majority in an election that decimated the Bloc Québécois and humbled the Liberals.
For the first time in history, the New Democratic Party will form the Official Opposition after an extraordinary breakthrough that propelled the party to more than 100 seats.
The extent of the transformation is startling. The Liberals now hold just four seats west of Guelph, Ont. The Conservatives, formerly shunned by Toronto voters, won nearly half of the seats in that city, twice as many as the Liberals.
The Bloc Québécois, which defined Quebec federal politics for two decades, no longer qualifies for official party status. And Green Party Leader Elizabeth May won the party’s first seat, and the right to a place in the next election’s debates.
Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe lost his seat and resigned. Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff lost his riding. Both defeated leaders were squeezed, like many of their candidates, between growth in Conservative support and Jack Layton’s surging New Democrats.
The night belonged to Stephen Harper, who put his party over the top after five years of minority government and becomes just the third Conservative leader since Confederation to win triple victories.
"We are intensely aware that we are and must be the government of all Canadians, including those that did not vote for us," Mr. Harper said.
Parliament was radically remade. The fragmentation of the 1993 election has been reversed, with the Conservatives and NDP emerging as national parties with support across all regions of the country, although the Tories find themselves in an unusual position, as a majority government with just a handful of Quebec seats.
"I’ve always favoured proposition over opposition," Mr. Layton told a cheering crowd. "But we will oppose the government when it's off track. I will propose constructive solutions focused on helping Canadians."
With almost all polls reporting, the Conservatives were elected in 167 ridings, and the NDP in 102, more than double its best historical tally. The Liberals were reduced to the lowest seat count in their history, elected in just 34 seats. The Bloc had just four.
Video Report: Teacher Suspended for Mocking Muslim Student; ‘Grieving Because Uncle Bin Laden Died?’
The suspension was absolutely justified:
"The teacher told the student that 'I bet you're grieving.' And she basically looked at him and said what are you talking about? And he said I heard about your uncle's death and she said wow, because she understood that he was referring about Osama bin Laden being killed and was racially profiling her."I would be remiss however if I didn't point out the fact that such behavior to Christian students wouldn't have warranted a suspension.
Video Report: bin Laden Was Scared and Acting Like a Coward During Raid
"Just seconds before Usama bin Laden was killed, Jennifer Griffin reports that a source told her bin Laden "shoved his wife at the SEALs before they shot him"."
Plus from the AP, the regime is slipping up bad: Bin Laden Raid: Changing the Story
UPDATE: Via moonbattery:
Plus from the AP, the regime is slipping up bad: Bin Laden Raid: Changing the Story
UPDATE: Via moonbattery:
Good News: 51% of Households Pay No Income Tax (Most of Those Get Money Back!); Share of Taxes Paid by Rich Growing Faster Than Income
It's confirmed. There are now more people not paying federal income taxes than those paying them. So basically what is happening is a huge transfer of wealth from the productive to the unproductive, which will have the effect of incentivizing non-productivity while punishing productivity. Shouldn't that be backwards? So an update on a prior post on the issue before the 50% point was reached: not only does bottom 47% of taxpayers pay no federal income tax, but the bottom 40% GET MONEY BACK! 
Well, that 50% level, as Granholm would say, has been blown away. The majority of Americans don't pay any federal income tax. From Tax Prof via memeorandum, Instapundit: 51% of Households Pay No Income Tax; Share of Taxes Paid by Rich Growing Faster Than Income
More from Proof Positive and Legal Insurrection. It's now gotten so bad, so unfair, that the top 1% pay more in federal taxes than the bottom 95% (60 Minutes/Vanity Fair Poll: 50% of Americans that don't pay taxes thinks "rich" people ought to pay more, even though top 1% pay more than bottom 95%):
Let that sink in for a moment. The rich are paying far more than their fair share, and instead of being thanked are demonized by Obama. In addition, all data clearly shows that conservatives and the evil rich give far more of their money to charity than liberals. Liberals are very generous... with other people's money. But not their own. A good example of just how punitive the tax system is can be seen not only at the top tax brackets, but at the lowest ones. From Zero Hedge: In Entitlement America, The Head Of A Household Of Four Making Minimum Wage Has More Disposable Income Than A Family Making $60,000 A Year
Production is punished. Non-production rewarded.
Well, that 50% level, as Granholm would say, has been blown away. The majority of Americans don't pay any federal income tax. From Tax Prof via memeorandum, Instapundit: 51% of Households Pay No Income Tax; Share of Taxes Paid by Rich Growing Faster Than Income
In connection with the hearing, Ranking Member Hatch released this letter from the Joint Committee on Taxation reporting 51% of U.S. households did not pay any federal income tax in 2009.
More from Proof Positive and Legal Insurrection. It's now gotten so bad, so unfair, that the top 1% pay more in federal taxes than the bottom 95% (60 Minutes/Vanity Fair Poll: 50% of Americans that don't pay taxes thinks "rich" people ought to pay more, even though top 1% pay more than bottom 95%):
Let that sink in for a moment. The rich are paying far more than their fair share, and instead of being thanked are demonized by Obama. In addition, all data clearly shows that conservatives and the evil rich give far more of their money to charity than liberals. Liberals are very generous... with other people's money. But not their own. A good example of just how punitive the tax system is can be seen not only at the top tax brackets, but at the lowest ones. From Zero Hedge: In Entitlement America, The Head Of A Household Of Four Making Minimum Wage Has More Disposable Income Than A Family Making $60,000 A Year
Video: McCain Grills Napolitano on Cartel Spotters in Southern Arizona, Napolitano has no answers (as usual)
Has anyone notices that our national security is being handled by an incompetent imbecile? Via Katie Pavlich:
In Southern Arizona, "spotters" are used by drug cartels to locate and report back to drug and human traffickers the location of Border Patrol Agents and other law enforcement in order to avoid prosecution and arrests. Janet Napolitano, as usual, has no answers when Senator John McCain presses her on the issue.The embarrassing video:
Of course, Napolitano has no shame, so she also is likely incapable of feeling embarrassed. Recall that she's more concerned about pro-life activists exercising the constitutionally-guaranteed 1st amendment rights than on illegal aliens crossing our border and squatting on our territory. Worse yet, it is a fact that terrorists are pouring across the border:
Result of Liberal Hegemonic Domination: Half Of Detroiters Can't Read
Last year, I wrote about this: Good News: Rotary Club locals to staff Detroit "Centers For Adults Who Can't Read Good And Wanna Learn To Do Other Stuff Good Too". How bad is Detroit's public indoctrination education system? As of last year, 33% of working-age adults, and 44% of all adults, read below the 6th grade level. That amounts to about 300,000 people. Not good enough to 'graduate' from elementary school. 60% of students entering community colleges need to take remedial courses. That's about the state of public education in the D. And yet, the politicians that are supposed to look out for Detroit are instead continuing to trap children in that school system that insures failure more than anything else, instead of fighting for a full voucher system that will let them go to quality private schools not under the iron fist of the teacher's unions.
Since last year, things have gotten worse, not better. Via memeorandum: Report: Nearly Half Of Detroiters Can't Read
Detroit's mini-me Pontiac is 34% illiterate. Doug Mataconis adds:
More from Vox Popoli, Hot Air and Don Surber. As a 'solution' the bobbleheads in Detroit are expanding 'education' to cover the huge chunk of the population who can't read good and wanna to do other stuff good too. It will of course be run by the same incompetent boobs that have run Detroit Public Schools (DPS) into the ground and then some. But there is one silver lining - adults who can't read good and wanna to do other stuff good too may get teachers imported from somewhere - anywhere - outside Detroit. 6 metro-Detroit chapters of the Rotary Club have pledged some 3,000 volunteers. So while the incompetent teachers union has members siphoning taxpayer dollars by the tens of thousands to do a bad job, Rotarians will get paid nothing to make up for it by doing a good job. How ironic. The incompetent teachers can just sit back and continue to do nothing while unpaid volunteers take up all their slack. DPS needs to be thrown down the toilet and the money given to these volunteers that are actually doing a quality job!
Detroit is opening an 8th Center to make up for their own incompetence, run of course by Detroit Public Schools - the same one that graduates a whopping 1 out of 4 students and is the cause of the very problem they are now trying to solve. It's like letting a doctor fix the surgery that he or she botched. And no, these are not centers for ants:
UPDATE: More Detroit news: Hundreds Show Up For Bogus Job Fair
Since last year, things have gotten worse, not better. Via memeorandum: Report: Nearly Half Of Detroiters Can't Read
According to a new report, 47 percent of Detroiters are ”functionally illiterate.” The alarming new statistics were released by the Detroit Regional Workforce Fund on Wednesday.
WWJ Newsradio 950 spoke with the Fund’s Director, Karen Tyler-Ruiz, who explained exactly what this means.
“Not able to fill out basic forms, for getting a job — those types of basic everyday (things). Reading a prescription; what’s on the bottle, how many you should take… just your basic everyday tasks,” she said.
“I don’t really know how they get by, but they do. Are they getting by well? Well, that’s another question,” Tyler-Ruiz said.
Per pupil spending in Detroit as of 2008 was $13,000, which is higher than some people pay for private schooling in other parts of the country. Clearly, the system has failed and the taxpayers aren’t getting their moneys worth. Unfortunately, at least half of them aren’t able to read the report (PDF) to figure that out.
More from Vox Popoli, Hot Air and Don Surber. As a 'solution' the bobbleheads in Detroit are expanding 'education' to cover the huge chunk of the population who can't read good and wanna to do other stuff good too. It will of course be run by the same incompetent boobs that have run Detroit Public Schools (DPS) into the ground and then some. But there is one silver lining - adults who can't read good and wanna to do other stuff good too may get teachers imported from somewhere - anywhere - outside Detroit. 6 metro-Detroit chapters of the Rotary Club have pledged some 3,000 volunteers. So while the incompetent teachers union has members siphoning taxpayer dollars by the tens of thousands to do a bad job, Rotarians will get paid nothing to make up for it by doing a good job. How ironic. The incompetent teachers can just sit back and continue to do nothing while unpaid volunteers take up all their slack. DPS needs to be thrown down the toilet and the money given to these volunteers that are actually doing a quality job!
Detroit is opening an 8th Center to make up for their own incompetence, run of course by Detroit Public Schools - the same one that graduates a whopping 1 out of 4 students and is the cause of the very problem they are now trying to solve. It's like letting a doctor fix the surgery that he or she botched. And no, these are not centers for ants:
A text message promised a job fair that was supposed to be held Wednesday morning by Chrysler at Detroit’s Lafayette Tower. Crowds of people reportedly showed up – only to find out there never was such an event.The irony: people that can't read showing up for a fake job fair that they don't qualify for.
Video of Krauthammer As He DESTROYS Obama's Excuses For Not Releasing Bin Laden Photos
It's becoming quite clear that eth regime doesn't want to release the photos of a dead Osama bin Laden because they embellished and possibly outright lied about the circumstanced under which he got his face shot off. The circumstanced change almost by the hour, and the first stories rushed to the media of a firefight with public enemy #1 using his wife as a human shield while wearing a suicide vest and shooting at our SEALs with an AK-47 has turned into an unarmed man shot from behind. Krathammer on Obama's excuses via Greg Hengler:
As I opined yesterday: ''Why after sending in a Navy Seal team for the express purpose of killing bin Laden by gun rather than bomb so that dna data can be extracted as proof of his demise does Obama make the military tech blind during the operation? No video, no pictures released, and no bin Laden body as they dumped it into the sea with all haste. And then the story of the assault on the mansion keeps changing. Even the regime's own agents are contradicting one another and can''t get their stories straight. To say the least, this is getting odd."
As far as the "spiking the football" canard that Obama trumped up and put out there: Coulter Torches Obama: ‘He’s Gonna Be Spiking Football From Now Until Election Day’
UPDATE: Dershowitz: We need to see the Bin Laden photos to be sure of how he died. That's actually quite good - how he died rather than he died.
As I opined yesterday: ''Why after sending in a Navy Seal team for the express purpose of killing bin Laden by gun rather than bomb so that dna data can be extracted as proof of his demise does Obama make the military tech blind during the operation? No video, no pictures released, and no bin Laden body as they dumped it into the sea with all haste. And then the story of the assault on the mansion keeps changing. Even the regime's own agents are contradicting one another and can''t get their stories straight. To say the least, this is getting odd."
As far as the "spiking the football" canard that Obama trumped up and put out there: Coulter Torches Obama: ‘He’s Gonna Be Spiking Football From Now Until Election Day’
UPDATE: Dershowitz: We need to see the Bin Laden photos to be sure of how he died. That's actually quite good - how he died rather than he died.
Traitors: 11 Republican Senators Permit Planned Parenthood Director to Become Federal Judge
These 11 traitors must have gotten infected with Stupakititis - a terminal disease where one espouses pro-life principles only to give babies a thumbs down right on the 'on' switch of the powerful vacuum machine that will scramble their brains. They are hypocrites and traitors. they will never see a single red cent from me! From CNS News:
The 11 GOP traitors:
Related: Andrew Klavan: The Hilarious World of Abortion. I wouldn't put 'hilarious' and 'abortion' in the same sentence but that's just me:
The 11 GOP traitors:
- Lamar Alexander of Tennessee
- Scott Brown of Massachusetts
- Susan Collins of Maine
- Olympia Snowe of Maine
- Saxby Chambliss of Georgia
- Johnny Isakson of Georgia
- Lindsey Graham of South Carolina
- Mark Kirk of Illinois
- John McCain of Arizona
- Lisa Murkowski of Alaska
- John Thune of South Dakota
The cloture vote on the nomination of John J. “Jack” McConnell was 63 to 33 with 1 senator voting present and 2 senators not voting at all. Had 4 of the 11 Republicans who voted for cloture not done so, the nomination would have failed. A cloture vote requires 60 votes to succeed.A vote for cloture is a vote for the abortionist. They will not be able to parse it this time. that ship has long sailed. That was the most absurd part. Here's the most ironic:
All 11 Republicans who voted for cloture—and thus to allow McConnell’s nomination to proceed—turned around and voted against the nomination itself on the final vote. That vote succeeded 50 to 44 and McConnell was confirmed.
“We as Democrats should stand for an active government,” McConnell, then the treasurer of the Rhode Island Democratic State Committee wrote in the op-ed. “Sen. Ted Kennedy reminded us that ‘the mission of government is not to stand on the sidelines, but to be active in pursuing [the principles of fairness, opportunity, equal justice] for all people.’”Dude - WHAT ABOUT THE UNBORN? Is getting butchered equal justice for them? Those 11 GOP traitors ought be proud of themselves. They just confirmed a judge that has repealed in his mind the 14th amendment protection against the taking of life without due process. There is no excuse for that. None!
Related: Andrew Klavan: The Hilarious World of Abortion. I wouldn't put 'hilarious' and 'abortion' in the same sentence but that's just me:
Government Motors, Dems, Obama celebrate first quarter profits made up entirely of backdoor taxpayer bailout that the press still refuses to report
The celebrations continue. Little are most people aware that even the celebration is taxpayer funded, and the lazy MSM is still not reporting that the celebration is over something that looks good on the surface but in reality is another government bailout that never seems to end:
The headline over at The Detroit News: Dems, Obama campaign hail GM, Chrysler profits
That's right - GM is paying no taxes. Neither is Chrysler. That was a decision Obama made (the regime gave any 'private' company a tax exemption if they drank the kool-aid and took TARP money). Ford gets no such privileged treatment, taxes its taxes and still has to compete on the open market with both. For someone who gives lip service to "leveling the playing field" Obama tilted it severely to political points. And with the non-curious, lazt media at his back, he gets headlines like those at the Detroit News and Free Press and it's based on news that is misleading at best, and outright false at worse. Including the tax breaks, how much will the total loss be to US taxpayers? This much: Government to LOSE $85 Billion on Government Motors, Obama calls it a success... The original bailout was $80 billion. Put up $80 billion, end up losing $85 billion. Only in the world of the federal government is that called a success.
And to the local MSM: SHAME ON YOU!
UPDATE: More AstroTurf:
The headline over at The Detroit News: Dems, Obama campaign hail GM, Chrysler profits
The Michigan Democratic Party and President Barack Obama's reelection campaign each hailed the financial results of General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC Thursday.You can read the rest of teh article but I'll summarize it for you in 3 words: "Obama is awesomeness." And from The Detroit Free Press: Tom Walsh: Detroit 3 recovery has staying power. Neither paper mentions that the supposed profits are made up entirely of taxpayer bailout money. How so? It's unfortunate that the online hit count for the freep and News is about 2 million each per month. My blog gets about 100k, but only those will be aware of information that I have blogged on many times. I'll summarize the backdoor bailout in two prior posts:
- Bailout: GM only earned a 'profit' on paper because of $45 billion backdoor taxpayer bailout that the establishment MSM isn't reporting
- Detroit News spews Obama propaganda: Feds to recoup $36 billion in bailout money, fail to mention GM receiving $45 billion tax furlough
And to the local MSM: SHAME ON YOU!
UPDATE: More AstroTurf:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
trbeer 4:44 AM on May 6, 2011