Flashback Video: Obama scolded America for political rhetoric that "wounds" instead of heals

Heh:

And yet, in light of the above, here's hopey changey now:
Video: DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz Refuses To Comment On Jim Hoffa After Hoffa Declares ‘War’ on Tea Party ‘Sons-Of-Bitches’
Video: Obama Declares He’s ‘Proud’ of Jim Hoffa After Hoffa Declares ‘War’ on Tea Party ‘Sons-Of-Bitches’
The 'New Civility' (Cont'd): Bob Beckel: "Sometimes You Have To Take It To Those ‘Sons-Of-Bitches’"
Ed Schultz: It's about time Jim Hoffa came out and declared ‘War’ on Tea Party ‘Sons-Of-Bitches'. "I Love It"
Same Obama WH that called for 'new civility' says no comment about Jim Hoffa's ‘War’ on Tea Party ‘Sons-Of-Bitches’ cooments

Video: Keith Olbermann Defends Hoffa ‘Sons-Of-Bitches' Rhetoric, But Condemened Violent Rhetoric In January After Giffords Shooting

Here we go. This just in: Olbermann Defends Hoffa, Attacks Ailes, Loesch and Breitbart

In his tedious "Worst Person" segment, Keith Olbermann called out Roger Ailes, Andrew Breitbart and Dana Loesch for daring to repeat the controversial remarks that Jimmy Hoffa made at Detroit's Labor Day Rally yesterday. The call for the labor movement to become Obama's "army" and go to "war" with the tea party and "take the sons of bitches out" was apparently taken out of context, according to Mr Olbermann. Of course, this is the same Keith Olbermann who admonished all media and political figures to repudiate any references to violent acts within the political discourse just seven months ago.

Never mind the fact that Hoffa wrapped his comments under the auspices of "war." But here's a flashback after the Giffords shooting, conflated for sake of parody with Hoffa's comments from just the other day:

Just another hypocrite. Related: West’s Full-Throated Defense of Tea Party

Rep. Allen West (R-FL) exposes the Saul Alinsky tactics the left is employing to attack conservatives and the Tea Party.

The 'New Civility' (Cont'd): Twitter Users Want Republicans Dead

A compilation of that 'new tone' Democrats were demanding from conservatives after the Giffords shooting in January:

Video: Dem Congressman Brad Sherman Admits Estate Tax is Govt-Designed to Stop Families From Keeping Their OWN Money

As if anyone didn't know this already:

The video is only shocking in that a Democrat actually admits it is a form of generational theft. When a government confiscates money for illegitimate purposes, it is nothing short of thievery.

The 'New Civility' (Cont'd): Bob Beckel: "Sometimes You Have To Take It To Those ‘Sons-Of-Bitches’"

Meet the 'new tone,' same as the old tone:

These same liberals were blasting conservatives back in January for supposedly causing Gabriel Giffords to get shot due to violent rhetoric in political discourse. Related: Krauthammer on Hoffa comments

Video of Geert Wilders Berlin Speech - Islamization and Europeanization of the Nation States

Geert Wilders was tried and acquitted for hate speech simply because he pointed out the threat of radical Islam to the EU. In 2 generations, many European countries will be Islamic Republics under Sharia Law, having committing cultural suicide without most of their citizens even knowing it:

His Berlin speech in 3 parts:

Pointing out the threat here in the US is beginning to be taboo as well, and is already leading to tragedies like this: Good Grief: Fear of 'Prejudiced' Label May Have Silenced Whistleblowers About Ft. Hood Shooter

Video: The most popular Powerline Prize entry was 'Doorbell'

Via Instapundit, this was the people's choice in the powerline contest to illustrate our deficit problem, and I sure cannot argue against the choice:

Low budget, intelligent concept - ie cheap but clever.

Shocker: Green energy and jobs will cripple the UK economy

It's not green jobs themselves, but rather government pushing them when many simply are not ready and cannot compete in the free market. It would be like trying to push personal computers onto consumers in the 60's when they were the size of refrigerators. But give technology a chance to mature in the research lab and before long it not only competes but wins out over older tech. It' a simple concept that the liberal ruling class - always obsessed with picking winners and losers - doesn't get. Or maybe gets but turns a blind eye to the truth (wouldn't be the first time). The predictable results in Britain: Green energy and jobs will cripple the UK economy

The UK's headlong rush into renewable energy – one ignored by the rest of the world – will hit British jobs and then general incomes, an economic study finds.

The report, The Myth of Green Jobs by economist Professor Gordon Hughes of Edinburgh University, examines the long-term impacts of subsidising expensive "green" renewable energy projects. It says that if the UK continues to do so, it will lose 2 to 3 per cent GDP a year for around 20 years. If reducing CO₂ emissions is your goal, says Hughes, your economy really can't afford renewable energy.

How does he get to this figure?

He explains that one reason is that labour inputs are a cost, not a benefit. This is common sense: the goal for a productive economy is to have the highest value creation at the lowest cost. If your workforce is mostly employed doing the basics, such as cultivating manglewurzels, it is going to have fewer doctors, teachers or rocket scientists. North Korea is a good example. Or, for the same cost, you can have a cleaner environment.

I'll set aside for now that that last statement isn't exactly true as you are simply trading one type of pollution for another, in addition to the fact that CO2 is not a pollutant. But anyway.

(Hughes uses the example of two crops, one of which requires 50 hours of labour per hectare, and one that requires 100 hours of labour.)

"All forms of green energy tend to be substantially more expensive than conventional energy, so there is a trade-off between higher costs and lower emissions," writes Hughes. "This trade-off is not specific to green energy, since there are many ways of reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. Hence, the starting point of any assessment of such programmes should be the total cost per tonne of carbon dioxide saved – or its equivalent – which will be incurred by relying upon different measures or policies to reduce emissions."

Read the whole thing, but the obsession here is with CO2 is the problem here, and after that the pushing of technologies not yet ready to compete on the open market, rather than much simpler and economical technology that conserves energy. More from Right Wing News and Pirate's Cove

Ed Schultz: It's about time Jim Hoffa came out and declared ‘War’ on Tea Party ‘Sons-Of-Bitches'. "I Love It"

Ed Schultz was suspended from the propaganda network of the Democratic Party for far less than this:

Didn't Ed Schultz blame violent rhetoric for the Giffords shooting back in January? So much for that 'new tone/new civility,' eh?

Same Obama WH that called for 'new civility' says no comment about Jim Hoffa's ‘War’ on Tea Party ‘Sons-Of-Bitches’ cooments

Hard to backtrack after Obama implicitly gave Hoffa his seal of approval: Video: Obama Declares He’s ‘Proud’ of Jim Hoffa After Hoffa Declares ‘War’ on Tea Party ‘Sons-Of-Bitches’

Moments after Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa Jr. declared the labor movement the "army" in a war against the tea party and rallying a Labor Day crowd to "take these sons of bitches out", President Obama thanked Hoffa and declared how proud he was of him.

This is the same Obama that called for that 'new tone/new civility' in political discourse after the Giffords shooting in January. When called on the hypocrisy by the White House Press Corps, spin mode ensued:

Obama White House says it has no comment about Hoffa's comments at taxpayer funded Labor Day event that the President attended and spoke at. Obama White House says Obama wasn't on stage, wasn't there when the comments were made. When pressed with comparisons to previous events which the Obama team was very responsive about, the White House decided to spin.

Another , longer vid here:

UPDATE: Dan Pfeiffer: "The President Won't Serve as the Speech Police for the Democratic Party". Funny how these ame people held McCain to a far different standard when anyone misspoke at one of his campaign appearances.

Obama 2011: Jobs My Singular Focus. Obama 2010: Jobs My Singular Focus. Obama 2009: Jobs My Singular Focus.

How many times can Obama claim to pivot on jobs? Only a person that believes we are all stupid will try it yet again:

I know the libs are into recycling, but this is getting ridiculous...

Raw Video: Giant Crocodile Caught in Philippines

Most impressive part? They caught it alive:

Should be one heck of an attraction.

USPS Will Be In Default By Sept 30: Rep Issa offers viable pathway to fiscal sustainability

An update to yesterday's post: Postal Office Nearing Default, CouldStop Operating By Winter

Via PJ Tatler:

On June 23, 2011, Rep. Issa and Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Fla., Chairman of the Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, U.S. Postal Service and Labor Policy, introduced H.R. 2309, the Postal Reform Act of 2011, which would implement sweeping, structural reforms to the USPS in order to bring the institution back to fiscal solvency. Click here to get the facts on the Postal Reform Act of 2011.

The Postmaster General has announced that on September 30, 2011, he expects the United States Postal Service to default on payments to the U.S. taxpayer. Last year, USPS lost $8.5 billion and is projected to lose $9 billion in FY 2011. Find out what Postal Service default means to you here.

Visit SavingThePostalService.com for more information, including facts on the Issa-Ross Plan and the latest news on Postal Service reform.

The highlights of the reform effort that Democrats are sure to resist:

• No Taxpayer Bailouts: plan delivers an efficient, effective Postal Service without the thinly-veiled taxpayer bailout proposed by other bills.
• Savings through Flexible Delivery: the Postal Reform Act saves an estimated $3 billion a year by giving the Postal Service the option of eliminating Saturday delivery.
• Pay the Real Delivery Cost: phases out expensive loopholes and special deals that force the Postal Service to actually charge certain customers less than the true cost of delivery.
• Ending Special Treatment for Political Parties: our plan eliminates the cut-rate prices now benefiting national and state political committees of all stripes.
• A Team Approach: a team of postal experts will target and eliminate the expensive excess the Postal Service doesn't need. In just a year, the Commission on Postal Reorganization will focus on redundant post offices - saving at least $1 billion a year. Year two will focus on excess mail processing - saving at least $1 billion per year - and the 30% of management facilities without much to manage.
• Pitching in for Health & Life Insurance: mandates that postal workers pay at least the same health and life insurance premiums federal workers do.
• Constant Accountability: when the Postal Service fails to pay its bills for more than 30 days, an independent watchdog is empowered to cut costs much like a bankruptcy judge when corporation can’t pay its bills – this includes addressing expensive labor agreements. And we don't ask taxpayers to foot the bill: the watchdog can borrow up to $10 billion with postal facilities as collateral.
• New Revenue: even though the Postal Service is supposed to act like a private business, it can't make money from selling advertisements. The Issa-Ross Postal Reform Act allows USPS to sell advertising space on vehicles and facilities, as long as the ads respect the Postal Service's integrity.
• Fair Pay: right now, the law says "compensation" means only a postal worker's paycheck. Our plan eliminates this fuzzy math so that compensation means the same thing it does everywhere else: pay and benefits.
• Rightsize Non-Profit Discounts: today, non-profit organizations enjoy a 40% advertising discount from the Postal Service. The Postal Reform Act gradually reduces this discount by 5% a year until it reaches 10%.

It's too little, too late. Compensation needs to be brought in line. It's 80% of the costs and Issa is focusing too much on either 1) the other 20% of the costs, or 2) making the service more expensive. He should only have two bullet points - one to get healthcare costs in line and the second to get pension costs under control, preferably by eliminating those plans.

Video of Michele Bachmann to CBS News: 'I'm Not Ashamed to Say I Believe In God'

The liberal media continues to try and paint her as a religious extremist:

If they gave Obama the same level of scrutiny they gave to every word Bachmann says, they would be insisting that our community organizer-in-chief is an anti-Christian bigot.

Good Grief: Just 4 Days After Zero Job Growth, DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz Says Economy On An "Upswing" And Stimulus Worked

Just this last Friday: Disaster: No jobs added in August, unemployment above 9% 30 months after Obama promised it wouldn't go above 8, June and July job gaines revised sharprly downward, and we owe $4 trillion more than when Obama came into office. With that, the Mayor of Fantasyland speaks out:

Funny that she claims that "the Republicans can't make up their own facts"when she does just that. There are now 3million FEWER jobs than there were when Obama came into office. Claiming that the stimulus boondoggle created 3.5 million new jobs is a flat out lie to say the least.

Along those very same lines as her assertion above, even the liberal media are calling her out: DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz Confronted On Claims The Economy Is Improving, Blames Bush Rather Than Answering Questions

Just over one month ago: Fantasyland: DNC Chair Wasserman Schultz Says "We Turned This Economy Around". Even liberal sycophant David Gregory immediately stated that the economy is not turned around:

Probably the only thing I agree with MSNBC's Ed Schultz on: Wasserman Schultz is a "joke."

NYT to packing urban cities with people like sardines: it's your density!

"I think our governments will remain virtuous for many centuries as long as they are chiefly agricultural; and this will be as long as there shall be vacant lands in any part of America. When they get plied upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, they will become corrupt as in Europe." - Thomas Jefferson to James Madison

The NYT's packing program for people in failed urban environments (run by Democrats):

What else to make of this?: One Path to Better Jobs: More Density in Cities

...when it comes to economic growth and the creation of jobs, the denser the city the better.

How great are the benefits of density? Economists studying cities routinely find that after controlling for other variables, workers in denser places earn higher wages and are more productive. Some studies suggest that doubling density raises productivity by around 6 percent while others peg the impact at up to 28 percent. Some economists have concluded that more than half the variation in output per worker across the United States can be explained by density alone; density explains more of the productivity gap across states than education levels or industry concentrations or tax policies.

And Ryan Avent is correct for the year '11. Well, 1811. Not 2011. There is such a thing as the internet and people do communicate around the globe now in an instant. But setting that aside, how's that population concentration in urban environments working out for Europe? They are more concentrated than we are here in the US. How come they have been in a multi-decade economic stagnation? It's not the economy, it's the liberal Utopian idea that packing people into urban environments forces you to depend on others for your very survival, much moreso than people living on their own plot of land. And if they can be trained to depend on other people, than surely they can be trained to depend on Big Government. Democratic Party vote windfall ensues. Thanks but no thanks. There is a good reason people have been fleeing concentrated urban environments like Detroit. I'm with Jefferson on this one. Get out of the urban environment that tends to go corrupt. Live in the country and breath the free air.

People's Banana Republic of Illinois runs out of other people's money, will lay off throusands of state workers

This is exactly why you don't vote Democrats into power - they can never deliver what they promise because the promises are always unsustainable. The reality is a tough pill to swallow: Quinn to Lay off Thousands. The best line from Quinn in telling his union supporters that they are SOL:

"We can't spend money we don't have"

Which brings up this very relevant Margaret Thatcher quote:

"The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money"

The People's Republic of Illinois is just finding that out. A video report from the above article:

View more videos at: http://nbcchicago.com.

And from the article itself:

A decision made by Gov. Pat Quinn may leave thousands of state workers without a job by the end of the week.

The cuts are coming in the face of a budget deficit that doesn't leave enough money to pay the workers, the governor says. ...

...The state's largest government employee union, AFSCME, promises to sue if the layoffs are made, much like they did over blocked pay raises.

And taking a page from the Obama playbook:

And just like the pay raise situation, Quinn says these layoffs aren't his fault.

For those that insist higher taxes lead to economic prosperity, let Illinois be an example: Illinois Democrats raise income tax 67%, business taxes 46% to protect union pensions, benefits. There simply are not enough taxes to fund Democratic Party promises, even if the rates were 100% for everyone. The results are always predictable in that tax increases don't produce the extra revenue they always say it will because of changes in behavior due to those increase. For instance:

• Caterpillar threatens to leave People's Republic of Illinois over high taxes
• Sears to leave People's Republic of Illinois to Michigan over high taxes

You can't tax your way to prosperity.

Shocker: Uninsured have increased under Obama nd since ObamaCare was enacted!

Does this really surprise anyone?: Gallup: Uninsured Have Increased Under Obama and Since Obamacare Was Enacted

The percentage of American adults who lack health insurance coverage has not only increased during the presidency of Barack Obama, but it has continued to increase since Obama signed his signature piece of legislation last year mandating that by 2014 every American carry health insurance, according to a Gallup survey released today.

In 2008, when George W. Bush was president, according to Gallup, 14.9 percent of adult residents of the United States lacked health insurance coverage. That increased to 16.2 percent in 2009, the year that Obama was inaugurated, and to 16.4 percent in 2010, the year that Obama signed his law requiring that all Americans have health insurance.

In the first half of this year, according to data released by Gallup today, the percentage of adults in the United States lacking health insurance ticked up to 16.8 percent.

No wonder this: Poll: Obamacare support at all time low of 39%. Rubes! Via drudge

Speaking of rubes:

• NO REAGAN, NO CLINTON...
• Another all-time low...
• US on wrong track say 75% -- of Californians!
• Redford disappointed: 'I'm beginning to wonder just where the man stands'...

Video: Zo Rachel Hammers Maxine Waters & CBC

An update on this post from last week: Video of Maxine Waters That Media is Ignoring: Tea Party Can Go to Hell, ‘I INTEND TO HELP THEM GET THERE’. Here was the offending statement:

And then there was Andre Carson who displayed his own 'new tone': The 'New Civility'(Cont'd): Congressional Black Caucus: Racist Tea Party Wants Black Americans ‘Hanging On a Tree’

Over the past few weeks, members of the Congressional Black Caucus (an organization that excludes people from joining based on skin color) held job fair town hall events across the country. Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN) told the attendees of his event that members of the Tea Party in congress would like to see "us hanging on a tree". Carson is the congressman who started the myth that Tea Party protesters hurled racial slurs at he and Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) on the day of the ObamaCare vote.

The above went over like a turd in the punchbowl for Zo: Zo Rachel Hammers Maxine Waters & CBC

Video: DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz Refuses To Comment On Jim Hoffa After Hoffa Declares ‘War’ on Tea Party ‘Sons-Of-Bitches’

The boob simply reverts to talking points:

Exit question: is she just a mindless drone reciting talking points? Can she not just answer simple questions?

Of course! Union boss Jim Hoffa Not Asked About "Son Of Bitches" Comment In 6-Minute-Long CNN Interview

6 minutes and they couldn't get around to asking the man about thee controversial comment of the day (Happy Labor Day: Union Boss Jim Hoffa Threatens Tea Party At Taxpayer-Funded Obama Rally):

CNN's John King failed to ask Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa about about his threatening "son of bitches" remark at a Labor Day rally attended by President Obama. The interview lasted just over six minutes and covered various topics from Obama's upcoming jobs speech to Mitt Romney. Yet, there was no time to ask Mr. Hoffa about this comment:

"President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march. Let's take these son of bitches out and give America back to an America where we belong," Hoffa added.

At several points during the interview Hoffa's "son of bitches" quote was in the lower-third of the screen.

Check the screen shot, and click the pic for video (embedding disabled but plays in YouTube):

Could the liberal media bias be any more blatant than this?

The 'New Civility' (Cont'd): Joe Biden At AFL-CIO Rally: ‘You Are Only Folks Keeping Barbarians From Gates’

While Obama was in Detroit hurling his divisive rhetoric, Biden was doing pretty much the same thing in Ohio:

I guess we have our preview of Obama's Thursday evening speech - divide, demagogue and demonize. Speaking of: Obama: GOP Needs to Put Country Before Party, ‘Show Us What You Got’. For Obama, patriotism is doing what he wants:

An angry Barack Obama fired up a Labor Daily rally in Detroit with preacher-like cadences, challenging Republicans to agree with him on his jobs and taxation policies.

UPDATE: Krauthammer: “Obama Is ‘President Zero’ – Zero Economic Expansion, Zero Jobs, Zero Ideas” 

Video of Jesse Jackson on Tea Party: This is a Civil War struggle

Just when you thought the war talk yesterday at Obama's taxpayer-funded political stump speech in Detroit , prefaced with union head Jim Hoffa declaring "war" on the GOP and Tea Party, was a fluke, think again. Jesse Jackson on Tea Party: This is a Civil War struggle

At a Congressional Black Caucus Town Hall a few days ago in Los Angeles, Jesse Jackson told the audience that the Fort Sumter Tea Party supports the Tenth Amendment, or as he calls it, the slave amendment. Because of this, their fight against the Tea Party is a Civil War struggle. He asks “are you with the Union or the states’ rightists?”

The 10th amendment in fact has and had nothing to do with slavery despite activist judges and slave owners, who by the way also happened to be Democrats, insisting that it did. Funny that Democrats today still insist that it does.

Video: Obama Declares He’s ‘Proud’ of Jim Hoffa After Hoffa Declares ‘War’ on Tea Party ‘Sons-Of-Bitches’

From yesterday: Happy Labor Day: Union Boss Jim Hoffa Threatens Tea Party At Taxpayer-Funded Obama Rally. The video from that post:

The question highlighted over at drudge was, "will Obama condemn?"

Nope: Obama Declares He’s ‘Proud’ of Hoffa After Hoffa Declares ‘War’ on Tea Party ‘Sons-Of-Bitches’

Moments after Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa Jr. declared the labor movement the "army" in a war against the tea party and rallying a Labor Day crowd to "take these sons of bitches out", President Obama thanked Hoffa and declared how proud he was of him.

UPDATE: Another recap of yesterday's action: Hoffa at Obama Labor Rally: We’re ‘Army’ Against Tea Party; ‘Let’s Take These Sons of Bitches Out’

Video: Obama Offers Peek at New Jobs Plan in Detroit, Same as Old Jobs Plan

Wasn't the whole rationale for the stimulus bill of 2009 to spend money on infrastructure and put people to work? A flashback:

That was 2009. This was today, right here in the D:

Does he really believe people are that stupid?

UPDATE: What We Got From Porkulus

In honor of Comrade Obama, maybe we should rename this Looting and Mooching Day, since under his regime, ever fewer Americans labor — as these numbers make clear:

Zero: The number of new jobs added in the month of August…

9.1%: The [official] unemployment rate for the month of August… From March 2009 (the month after the failed $1.2 trillion “stimulus” was signed) through August 2011, unemployment has averaged 9.4 percent. Prior to President Obama taking office, unemployment had not been above 9 percent in 28 years.

31: The number of consecutive months the unemployment rate has been at or above 8 percent — the level the president said unemployment would never reach if the “stimulus” was approved. …

13,967,000: The number of unemployed Americans looking for work in the month of August, an increase of 36,000…

2,431,000: The number of net jobs the economy has shed from February 2009 — when the Democrats’ “stimulus” was signed into law — through August 2011. …

45,183,931: The number of Americans receiving food stamps as of June 2011, only the second month in history with more than 45 million food stamp recipients. Today, 14.5 percent of Americans receive food stamps, an increase of 40 percent since President Obama took office.

The total cost for Obama’s “stimulus” will reach $821 billion per the Congressional Budget Office, plus at least $347 billion in interest for a grand total of $1,168,000,000,000.00 — a number too large even to comprehend.

People tend to forget the interest since 100% of that money was borrowed.

UPDATE #2:

Happy Labor Day: Union Boss Jim Hoffa Threatens Tea Party At Taxpayer-Funded Obama Rally

Remember the call for that 'new civility' and 'new tone' following the Giffords shooting in January, which the left blamed on violent rhetoric from Sarah Palin and the Tea Party? Well check out this new tone where Hoffa claims at a Detroit Obama campaign rally, taxpayer funded mind you, that union members are Obama's army" in a "war":

It's ironic that liberals have no stomach for real war against homicidal maniacs overseas, but delight in fighting a "war" against their real perceived enemy - conservatives that simply demand the federal government stick to its constitutional mandate. More of that 'new tone' from Hoffa: Jimmy Hoffa at Obama Rally: "Let's take these SOB's (GOP in Congress) Out"

Plus: Hoffa At Taxpayer-Funded Event With President Obama: Take Out The SOBs In Congress

Glad we can go forward with that civil debate they keep promising...

UPDATE: Via memeorandum: Happy Labor Day: Top 10 union thug moments of the year. Here's just one of the examples of that 'new tone:' 

February 24, 2011, Providence, R.I. Rhode Island union supporter to cameraman – “I’ll f**k you in the ass, you faggot.” The eruption starts at 7:32 in this video.

Here's another:

The rest at the link. More from Scared Monkeys, Doug Ross, The TrogloPundit, Gateway Pundit, Nice Deb, alicublog, Ann Althouse and Wizbang

UPDATE #2: Happy Labor Day From Comrade Obama

Postal Office Nearing Default, CouldStop Operating By Winter

After losing $2 Billion in Q1, the Post Office followed up by losing another $3.1 billion in Q2. What is the US Postal Service exactly? Per a prior post: US Postal Service: a public employee pension and healthcare management organization that delivers mail on the side with a large $33.5 billion deficit. The deficit for just this fiscal year is $8.5 billion (Good News: Post Office $8.5 Billion in deficit AFTER massive layoffs). And all this just so they can deliver daily spam to my house via snail mail. I send no letters (I take care of all that electronically). I get no bills (I take care of all that electronically). All I get - virtually 100% - is junk that I have to either shred or throw directly into the garbage bin. If the Post Office disappeared tomorrow, I wouldn't even notice and it would be a net positive for me as the only junk I would have to deal with is via email. And for delivering spam, the unionized USPS employees are getting a juicy 3 1/2% raise. All the while absolutely hemorrhaging taxpayer money. Which brings me to this recent news from the NYT via memeorandum: Postal Service Is Nearing Default as Losses Mount. The relevant part of the accompanying graphic is to the right:

And you read that right- they won't have money to make it into next month.

“Our situation is extremely serious,” the postmaster general, Patrick R. Donahoe, said in an interview. “If Congress doesn’t act, we will default.”

In recent weeks, Mr. Donahoe has been pushing a series of painful cost-cutting measures to erase the agency’s deficit, which will reach $9.2 billion this fiscal year. They include eliminating Saturday mail delivery, closing up to 3,700 postal locations and laying off 120,000 workers — nearly one-fifth of the agency’s work force — despite a no-layoffs clause in the unions’ contracts.

The post office’s problems stem from one hard reality: it is being squeezed on both revenue and costs.

And make no mistake that it is the cost side that is the #1 problem:

...decades of contractual promises made to unionized workers, including no-layoff clauses, are increasing the post office’s costs. Labor represents 80 percent of the agency’s expenses, compared with 53 percent at United Parcel Service and 32 percent at FedEx, its two biggest private competitors. Postal workers also receive more generous health benefits than most other federal employees.

USPS' days are thus numbered, and barely in the double digits at that:

Missing the $5.5 billion payment due on Sept. 30, intended to finance retirees’ future health care, won’t cause immediate disaster. But sometime early next year, the agency will run out of money to pay its employees and gas up its trucks, officials warn, forcing it to stop delivering the roughly three billion pieces of mail it handles weekly.

I say let it tank. They already contract with UPS for delivering packages and bulk mail around the country, so what the heck do they actually do other than play middle man these days? More from The Heritage Foundation, American Thinker, Scared Monkeys, Hot Air, The Strata-Sphere, The Astute Bloggers, Ann Althouse, Wake up America, Outside the Beltway and The Lonely Conservative

UPDATE: Via memeorandum, Instapundit: Postal Service paying fewer workers to do nothing  

The U.S. Postal Service, expecting about $9 billion in losses this year amid slumping mail volume, is still paying thousands of its workers millions of dollars each year to do nothing.

...Long-standing labor agreements with two major postal unions prohibit the Postal Service from laying off or reassigning workers because of broken equipment or periods of low mail volume. Instead, idled employees show up for work, sit in a break room or cafeteria and do nothing.

Standby time totaled 170,666 hours in the first six months of 2011, costing the Postal Service $4.3 million, according to an audit by the Postal Service inspector general’s office. In 2009, 1.2 million hours were billed at a cost of $30.9 million.

 Like I stated above, it's a cost problem, not a revenue one.

Video: "Obama King Nothing"

King Nothing, President Zero:

Typical: Traitor Hanoi Jane Fonda says biggest regret was not sleeping with murderer Che Guevara

Let's just get this straight: Che Guevara was a murderer and thug. The sadistic killer of a couple of hundred people is seen by communist sympathizers as brave and heroic, but he was anything but. He preyed on the week, murdered the unarmed, but when caught himself by Bolivian soldiers he became a sniveling coward quoted at the time of his capture as saying "Don’t Shoot! I’m Che! I’m worth to you more alive than dead!" The Bolivians didn't think so and basically Che'd Che. Yet to this day, Che remains a symbol to commies, including Hanoi Jane. Via memeorandum: Rebel without a bra: Jane Fonda said her biggest regret was not sleeping with Che Guevara

This is pretty much the only thing she's been good at her whole life

Eventually, Jane split from Sutherland, saying she was moving into a different phase of her life and she couldn’t share it with one man. There were soon rumours that she was having liaisons with various activists.

She supposedly confided during a feminist consciousness-raising session, ‘My biggest regret is I never got to f*** Che Guevara.’

By mid 1971, her tour of Left-wing politics, with its endless marches and violent arguments, had left her drained. At this point, Tom Hayden — in baggy trousers, his hair in long plaits — entered her life. Already a hero of the Left, he’d participated in a violent student strike at Columbia University in 1968 and helped plan the riots at the Democratic Convention in Chicago that summer.

Read the whole thing. Sure sounds like a sad life.

UPDATE: Bob Beckel: Che Guevara was Freedom Fighter

On Fox News' "The Five" Greg Gutfeld reports on a story claiming Jane Fonda regrets not having sex with Che Guevara. This inspires Bob Beckel to romance the murderous communist in his own way.

Kevin Jackson on CBC: "Racists That They Are, Blacks Voted For Obama Because He's Black, Not Because He's Qualified"

And that includes RINO Colin Powell who had zero reason to vote for O save for skin color:

Now that is speaking truth to power! Related: Romney on Obama: "Now We Know what Happens" when we Elect a President with "No Experience"

 

Well, good: US House Probes Obama’s Connection to Failed Solar Company Solyndra’s Massive $535 Federal Loan

Just keep telling yourself that it's only $535 million, which is a drop in the proverbial bucket compared to the annual $1.5 trillion, or $1.5 million million just for comparisons sake, that Obama is overspending. Hopefully, something will actually come of this: Greenjobs-Gate: House Probes Obama’s Connection to Failed Solar Company Solyndra’s Massive Federal Loan

House investigators said they have uncovered evidence that White House officials became personally involved in an Energy Department review of a hot-button $535 million loan guarantee to the now-failed California solar company Solyndra.

And from a prior post of mine: Obama tours solar panel plant in CA to tout jobs, workers FORCED TO STAY HOME WITHOUT PAY! That was a year and a half ago, and BreitbartTV has the flashback:Flashback: Solyndra Workers Sent Home Without Pay for Obama’s Photo-Op Visit

When President Obama visited solar panel manufacturer Solyndra last year, the photo-op was supposed to show everything the Obama economic stimulus plan represented: Winning the future with high-tech "Green Jobs". Now, after the embarrassing $535 Million federal loan has vanished with Solyndra's bankruptcy, these photo-ops represent something quite different.

Previously:
Obama flashback: "The true engine of economic growth will always be companies like Solyndra". Solyndra went bankrupt this week
Predictable: Obama touted Solyndra Solar to Declare Bankruptcy after getting $535 Million in Stimulus Funds
Obama tours solar panel plant in CA to tout jobs, workers FORCED TO STAY HOME WITHOUT PAY!

HuffPo Editorial Director Howard Fineman: ObamaCare President’s Biggest Mistake

Obama has made many political mistakes, including his even thinking of being qualified to run for President. He's been in over his head since that campaign began in 2007andonly got elected because of a complicit media. But since his imaculation, ObamaCare was definitely his worst mistake, and may indeed be his Waterloo:

It would be only fitting for the SCOTUS to declare ObamaCare unconstitutional and simultaneously for voters to put Obama into the long unemployment lines that he himself created.

Maxine Waters Goes Dr Evil: Obama's New Jobs Plan Must Be At Least $1 Trillion, Just Like The Old Plan That Worked So Darned Well

$1 billion used to be a lot of money. Not anymore. Democrats are quite content throwing money at $1 trillion at a clip right down the toilet.The stimulus bill of 2009 cost us $1.2 trillion including interest since every single penny of it was borrowed. What do we have to show for it? 3 million fewer jobs, a higher unemployment rate, and a huge debt to boot. What to do? Maxine Waters knows:

On "Meet the Press", Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) expressed her hope that president Obama offers a "Bold" jobs program this week. She then goes on to explain her economic philosophy. Unfortunately, NBC News' David Gregory doesn't ask Rep. Waters how our economy could withstand another $1 trillion in debt at this time.

Meet the new jobs program, same as the old jobs program.

Predictable: Fast and Furious Scandal Coverup Follows Watergate Template

If Obama were a Republican, this would be him right now:

This an update from a couple months ago: Incompetent: Obama claims ignorance in ATF's "Project Gunrunner". Plus this one: Video Report: 43 Weapons in Phoenix Traffic Stop Linked to ATF's 'Fast and Furious'. Well, his is ignorant, and unqualified to hold the office of the President. But he's in their and claiming ignorance is not acceptable. At issue is "project gunrunner" where the US sold arms to Mexican thugs that turned around and shot our own border patrol agents who were themselves armed with... beanbags. Yes - beanbags: Video Report: Murdered US Border Patrol Agent from MI armed only with a bean bag, shot with guns Obama allowed drug cartel to purchase. A month ago I also posted this: Video of ATF Agent: "We Were Mandated, 'Let These Guns Go'. More here: ATF Director: Holder Obstructing ‘Fast and Furious’ Probe

"If his account is accurate, then ATF leadership appears to have been effectively muzzled while the DOJ sent over false denials and buried its head in the sand," Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said in a letter Tuesday to Attorney General Eric Holder. "That approach distorted the truth and obstructed our investigation."

The coverup is afoot, and quite familiar: Fast and Furious Follows Watergate Template

It wasn’t Watergate that brought down Richard Nixon; it was his ill-advised attempts to cover it up. Regarding the plan to undermine the Second Amendment by helping drug cartels smuggle American weapons into Mexico, Comrade Obama and the comparably odious Eric Holder have already committed themselves to provable lies. Every word they say now digs them deeper.

The media has simply been derelict in their choosing not to go after this story with the veracity that it deserves.

Predictable: CA Employment Level Sinks to Record Low

What else could have been the result of handing over total control of the CA government to Democrats? Last year, in addition to re-electing Governor Moonbeam back into office, the unionized voters of CA also passed a referendum where budgets were passed by a simple majority meaning the GOP have zero say and Democrats hold all the keys. The predictable result via Bloomberg:

The percentage of working-age Californians with jobs has fallen to a record low, and employment may not return to pre-recession levels until the second half of the decade, according to a research group.

Just 55.4 percent of working-age Californians, defined as those 16 or older, had a job in July, down from 56.2 percent a year earlier and the lowest level since 1976, the Sacramento- based California Budget Project said in a report released late yesterday.

California’s 12 percent unemployment rate in July, the nation’s second-highest after Nevada, compared with 9.1 percent nationwide. The most-populous state lost 1.4 million jobs during the recession that began three years ago, and has gained back only 226,800, or about 17 percent, according to the report.

Just wait until the nonproductive outnumber the productive. It's on its way over there and soon. Then watch the continued disaster at the ballot box as the unproductive simply continue to vote themselves other people's money. A recent example of what's wrong with CA: 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 filled 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.

Video: OU Professor Barbara Oakley and Greg Gutfeld discuss her latest book, Cold-Blooded Kindness.

You can get the book here:

Video: 'The Young Turks' Lament The Fact That Voting is "Limited to Americans"

Access to the ballot box is indeed the most important issue for Democrats, but they want illegals there too:

Dang... They're not even pretending anymore, are they?

Video of Union President Jim Hoffa: American Businesses Are "UNPATRIOTIC"

The thought comes a bit before the 3:00 mark (and then outright admits it at the 3:47 mark), and is typical of statist thinking in this day and age:

Where did this notion ever come from that not spending (!) is unpatriotic? Remember that satire The Onion ran about the money hole being patriotic? This, sadly, is no longer parody, but union reality:

Video: US Labor Secretary Hilda Solis Doesn't Know TX Has Largest Job Growth in US, But Is Sure It Has Low Pay, Dangerous Work Conditions and a Lousy Education System

No wonder Obama appointed this dingbat - she's as clueless as he is:

Olbermann On Obama Scrapping $90B Ozone Regs: "What The Hell Is Going On?"

Poor Keith - a $90 billion regulation that will do nothing to improve air quality but will hurt business, consumers and the economy at large goes down the tubes due to a community organizer-in-chief running scared for his political life, and Olbermann's head is exploding:

Via RCP:

Keith Olbermann says President Obama is giving his supporters a "whack at the knees" for his reversal on stopping an environmental regulation against smog.

And here I though that Olbermann himself had been pushing that 'new tone' against violent rhetoric directed towards Obama (he was... back in January).

UPDATE: Via Instapundit: Paul Krugman and the Ozone Fairy.

Pres. Obama abandoned a controversial new proposed EPA rule regarding so-called ground-level ozone on Friday, angering lefties in general and environmentalists in particular. Nobel Prize-winning economist and former Enron adviser Paul Krugman is among those in despair, arguing the decision is “definitely a mistake” as a matter of economics:

[T]ighter ozone regulation would actually have created jobs: it would have forced firms to spend on upgrading or replacing equipment, helping to boost demand. Yes, it would have cost money — but that’s the point! And with corporations sitting on lots of idle cash, the money spent would not, to any significant extent, come at the expense of other investment.

The proposed EPA rule did contemplate that a lot of money be spent. Indeed, House Speaker John Boehner singled out this proposal in a recent letter to Obama precisely because the estimated cost ran as high as $90 billi0n per year. But Krugman’s argument has at least one itsy-bitsy little flaw: the technology required to meet the standard EPA proposed does not exist. Yes, really.

Also, check out this story of regulatory hell out of the Golden State: California Dems Move to Regulate Babysitting Out of Existence

The folks at The Onion may be moonbats, but they come up with some great parody news stories, like the one about the authoritarian do-gooders who run California pushing through a demented law that would effectively outlaw babysitting.

Hold on — this is from The Union, not The Onion. The parody is actually real:

How will parents react when they find out they will be expected to provide workers’ compensation benefits, rest and meal breaks and paid vacation time for … babysitters? Dinner and a movie night may soon become much more complicated.

Assembly Bill 889 (authored by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco) will require these protections for all “domestic employees,” including nannies, housekeepers and caregivers.

Not a single Republican supports this lunatic bill. None needs to. It is sailing through the Dem-controlled legislature. Governor Moonbeam had better sharpen up a crayon; it will soon be ready for his signature. ...

Good grief...

Video: 'Bird Shit Architecture' in Brasilia and Beyond

"Jan Gehl, architect, urban planner, and author of Cities for People, discusses what he calls "bird shit architecture," a trend in urban planning that originated in the 1950's and persists to the present day. This type of architecture, he explains, is designed to look good from a plane, but not practical for the actual residents of a city."

From the caption:

An important paradigm change happened around 1960. City planning, as a concept, took off on a huge scale in response to the challenge of fast-growing cities. At the same time, traffic planning took over the planning at eye level to address the rapid influx of cars. In the rough and tumble of all this, caring for the people who use cities was completely left behind.

By 1961, people like Jane Jacobs raised her voice about this new situation in her book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities. But, not much happened for three or four decades. The idea of "Cities for People" became an overlooked and forgotten dimension.

This is the story told by Jan Gehl in his new book. He describes why looking after people is crucial for the quality of cities in the 21st century, how it can be accomplished and how it is actually done by now in more and more projects in more and more cities. The transformations carried out in such cities as Copenhagen, Melbourne, Sydney, Amman and New York will serve as examples of this new people-oriented direction in planning. - Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Jan Gehl is a trained architect and Professor of Urban Design in The School of Architecture at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. Gehl has been awarded the "Sir Patrick Abercrombie Prize for exemplary contributions to Town Planning" by The International Union of Architects as well as an honorary doctors degree from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh.

Video of Rich Lowry: Sharpton Will ‘Never Be President Because He Can’t Read a Teleprompter’

Poor Al. Normally, this type of thing would be called disrespectful. But 1) Sharpton totally deserves it and 2) it's true:

In the good 'ol days, you didn't need a teleprompter to make a speech. Of course, those were the days before the empty suits were candidates for the Oval Office.

Video Essay: Life in an Oil Field 'Man Camp'

Temporary villages known as "man camps" are popping up in the North Dakota prairie. At a time when no one can seem to find a job in the Obama economy, man camps house literally hordes of workers who are flocking there for a modern-day black gold rush: 

Just don't tell Obama. If he knew he would immediately spread the misery around via regulations that would end these camps and the jobs that come with them.

Proof that 'diversity' means 'black' - Institute for Diversity gives NBA - 78% black, 17% white - A+ for diversity!

The cry of the diversiphile has always been along the lines that college admission and government contracting have to exactly mirror community demographics. Apparently, it not only doesn't apply to the NBA, but the definition changes. For the NBA, the definition goes something like this: diversity = black. How else to interpret an A+ rating on diversity to the NBA from the University of Central Florida's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports? Last year, I wrote this post:Institute for Diversity gives NBA - 77% black, 18% white - A+ for diversity! From that prior post, here were the NBA statistics from the "The 2010 Racial and Gender Report Card: National Basketball Association via Carp Diem:

It's gotten even worse this year (via Carpe Diem): The Disparity-Proves-Discrimination Standard Gets Applied Selectively; NBA, WNBA Get an A+ for Race . According to the diversiphiles, this should be bad news:

But it's not bad news to them. Rather, it's awesome news:

According to the "Racial and Gender Report Cards" (released annually by the "Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports" at the University of Central Florida) both the NBA and WNBA got letter grades of A+ for "race" in 2011 for the significant over-representation of black players and the significant under-representation of white, Hispanic and Asian players?? 

It's curious that the Center doesn't call for affirmative action in basketball, demanding that the players on the floor reflect national population demographics. In that case, there would be 1 black player allowed at any one time between the two teams. There would also have to be one Hispanic player at all times. One Asian player must be inserted during the game for a total of 27 minutes (which will be especially hard for the WNBA that apparently doesn't have even one). And the rest must be white. No exceptions. There has to be, after all, a 'critical mass' of white players to reflect the community. Or something. If that sounds absurd, why doesn't it for college admissions and government contracting?

Mark Perry finishes off with this bit of irony (in both last years and this years posts):

In case you're wondering who's in charge of the Institute of Diversity and Ethics at UCF, it's run by two white guys who are listed as the organization's top administrators (see photo below). What grade do they give their own organization, especially for the category of "Top Management" (one of the categories they use for the NBA)? Would that be an F for being 100% white male?