On Fairness

The Empty Suit Known as Barack Hussein Obama likes to use the word "fair" a lot. He stipulates it is "fair" to ask the rich to pay more taxes when the top 5% already pay way more than half the total taxes in our already extremely progressive income tax scale. He and his fellow travelling Leftist ideologues like to argue it is "fair" to forgive all manner of legally entered debt for millions of people you and I never met - and force me, you, and more importantly, our children, to pay for it with out-of-control gub'ment deficit spending.

It makes me want to directly quote the great character Inigo Montoya from the great movie 'The Princess Bride' ...



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Actually, if the word means what most people think it means - a predictablly just outcome regardless of circumstance - it means something that is simply unattainable in this world, at least on a regular basis. We live in an unpredictable, unlevel, and therefore fundamentally "unfair" world. Justice is another matter. We can put official systems of due process in place that are designed to achieve "justice" - meaning measured punishment and/or reward. But, still, these systems and these measurements will always be necessarily imperfect in this imperfect world. Because they are man-made.

The problem with the Empty Suit Known as Barack Hussein Obama, and other Leftist ideologues, is they falsely believe mankind can construct systems guaranteeing "justice" and "fairness" for all, in this world. This is a unicorn fantasy, to put it mildly. And the harder they chase this fantasy, the more they fail to reach it, the more determined they become to manufacture it at any cost ... which inevitably leads to a "fair" distribution of "lowest common denominator" misery for all. Witness every experience of governance under the theories of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Chapter 1: The state confiscates everything; Chapter 2: Nobody is left rich, but somehow everybody (but the Politburo) remains poor; Chapter 3: Unbroken misery and death for all until the Politburo is finally forced out of power. The only difference is degree in each case. They've refined it down now to crushing debt for our children, which is a lot different than Pol Pot's killing fields to be sure, but still way off the mark as far as being indisputably "fair."

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I, LibertyAtStake, have therefore done mankind the favor of reducing the definition of "fair" to a simple scientific formula that actually works in this world.

FAIR = ((stuff you don't control) times (stuff you do control)) divided by (the perceptions of others).

Final grade is subjective for each individual ... and if there is a grade giver, he or she is not native to this world.

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An example to illustrate. Tyrone and Damian are both born to the same crack addicted welfare queen. Tyrone joins the Crypts at 15 and is dead by 18. Damian keeps his head down, graduates high school, joins the Army, and eventually dies with an urban townhouse that he owns outright to bequeath his two children. On the same day Scottie F*ck-Up and Willard Do-Right are both born to the same captain of industry. Scottie F*ck-Up lives large and blows through the inheritance right before he dies at the ripe old age of 80, leaving nothing for nobody. Willard Do-Right lives a straight life, invests wisely, becomes even richer, and leaves behind a charitable foundation that stands for decades after his death.

Were the circumstances of birth "fair"? Of course not. What could you or I do about it? Nothing. Is it "fair" to you or me that Scottie F*ck Up blew through a huge inheritance? Of course not. How would any man-made gub'ment "fairly" confiscate his riches for better purposes without preventing Willard Do-Right's foundation from being born? It simply couldn't.

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All of which is why I think the wisest person ever placed into this world may have been the old mountain woman met by Inman, the lead male character in "Cold Mountain." The old woman nursed Inman the Confederate deserter back to health with hard-earned organic knowledge, and a philosophy that could be labeled stoicism, which could be boiled down to the philosophy of "it is what it is." This old woman captures the philosophy perfectly, in the movie, when she manages to lovingly slit the throat of a baby goat for meat while telling the animal it did it's job well in this world.

Still doin' the best I can with what God gave me to work with.

Empty Suit Looks "Forward" To Life After the White House

(AP) – Jack Wiley Dithers Reporting
“If You Can’t Scoop It, Make It Up.”

My spy in the White House dry cleaning division discovered a dog eared and crumbled piece of paper. This historic and unprecedented list was written in the President's hand and transparently documented his post-election agenda. After I took possession of it, and transcribed it to what you see below, it mysteriously disappeared from my desk. I strongly suspect, but am unable to prove, my wife used it as tinder in the fireplace. Just like that, my Pulitzer up in smoke. Looks like the next "family meeting" is going to be a doozy. In the meantime, you can enjoy what we learned from the Empty Suit's empty suit about his future.

Things I could do after losing the election:

(1) Run for old Senate seat. Come back, baby! note: Ask Axelrod which one he has the dirt to open up.

(2) Run for UN Secretary General. Movin' on up! note: big speech on conversion to religion of peace.

(3) Pro golf caddy.

(4) Ghost write Bill Ayers' memoirs.

(5) Host a show on Current TV. Anything Olbermann can do I can do better.

(6) Apply for job as ObamaCare IRS agent.

(7) Represent Michael Mann in his National Review lawsuit.

(8) Stump for Michelle. Anything Bubba can do I can do better. note: Ask Jarrett what Michelle wants to run for.

(9) Run for Supreme Court. Seems like a lot of work.

(10) DNC Chairman No way - DWS doing too good a job.

(11) Sell Nobel Peace Prize to the Pawn Stars. I gotta meet that Chumlee guy.

(12) Dedicate myself to finding out what happened in Benghazi and with Fast and Furious.

(AP) – Jack Wiley Dithers Reporting
“If You Can’t Scoop It, Make It Up.”

There Ought To Be a Law

Democrats love passing laws to solve problems real, imagined, and caused by the last law they passed.

Here's how it goes. People can't afford health care insurance.  So, pass a law mandating they purchase the thing they can't afford under penalty of a fine.  You get the idea.

Except when it comes to reasonable measures to ensure the sanctity of the "one person one vote" franchise.  Here's why, kiddies.



That's the "Field Director" for the Democrat campaign in the 8th District of Virginia - my district. His name is Patrick Moran. He's the son of the boozy corruptnik running for a 12th term sitting in this congressional seat - Jim Moran. Jim Moran's brother is Brian Moran, now chairman of the Virginia Democrat Party. This is as institutionally Democrat as it gets, folks. Stealing elections is in their blood ... from before Papa Joe Kennedy and Richard Daley rigged Cook County to tip the national election for JFK, all the way through ACORN and the rest we occasionally see rising to the surface to this day. No thanks to the corrupt and biased lame stream media of course. The republic is blessed to have Project Veritas operating at this critical point in history.

Virginia requires me to show a photo Id at the ABC store. But anything with my name and address - perhaps a thousand pieces of paper I've thrown in the trash - will do to steal my vote. I think I'll have my driver's license with me on November 6th - in case I want to buy some booze on the way to the polls.

Update 10/26/2012

When the local cops go after the local family syndicate, it's worth noting.

And if a photo id can be found inside the Empty Suit, you know anybody can acquire one.

In a tangentially related note, I dropped by Chris Plante's WMAL promotion, Politics and a Pint, yesterday. I can report the patriotic spirit, and the expectation of a Mittens win, was very high among the assembled right wing nuts. This observation correlated with the look on Wolf Blitzer's face I saw, watching his CNN show from the bar. Poor Wolf looked liked a kid who had just discovered his bike had been stolen, as he performed his assigned duties covering the Benghazi cover-up and election prospects.

Foreign Policy in a Word (Big Debate Edition)

So, we got us a big foreign policy debate Monday night.  What is foreign policy about, anyway?

In a word – leadership.

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The word is definitely not “experience” – at least as it applies to the usual pool of presidential candidates.  If it were about “experience,” Crazy Uncle Joe Biden would have parlayed all those years on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, all that time being spectacularly wrong about almost every issue coming before the committee,  into a completed Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with the government of Iraq.  But he couldn’t get the agreement done, and the first (barely) functioning Arab democracy in human history is more vulnerable for it. 

Ronald Reagan was roundly deprecated by DC liberal elitists for lacking foreign policy “experience” when he came into office – and all he did was win the Cold War.  RR won the Cold War by exercising leadership.  He realized the Soviet Union / Warsaw Pact / Iron Curtain was in fact a paper tiger.  He held to this vision, proving even his own CIA bureaucracy dead wrong about the Red Russian economy’s capacity to support an arms build-up, and goes down in history as the leader who said “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.”  The wall came down under the competent, but far less inspiring, stewardship of his successor, Bush 41.

That’s what leadership is about in a nutshell – vision and the will power to consistently do the work,  and make the decisions, necessary to further that vision, day in and day out.  Provided the vision is solid, and the strategies and tactics employed in its service effective, the leader can accomplish great things.  If the leader leads, that is … which, by the way, is always done from the front, never from behind.

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Let’s review the foreign policy record of the Empty Suit Known as Barack Hussein Obama with regard to “leadership”, shall we?

He definitely had a vision.  He made this vision perfectly clear to all the world with his big Cairo speech of 2009, and the subsequent Apology Tour, with all of the strange bowing to foreign monarchs.  He was going to be the trans-national, post-American, therapeutic President who would make the whole world sing ‘kumbaya’ after he admitted to all of America’s past imperialistic sins.  It was a vision alright.  “Naïve” hardly begins to describe it.   

Immediately after inviting the mullahs in Tehran to grasp his extended open hand, something called the “Green Movement”   erupted in Tehran.  This was a genuine opportunity to effect regime change from within and avoid the world we now stand on the precipice of living in: mullahs with nukes.   However, the Empty Suit was convinced he must kowtow to the mullahs to get them to play nice, and therefore failed to lift a finger to assist the Green Movement, which was then subsequently crushed.  From there we have witnessed American hikers held hostage with no discernible cost to the mullahs, one feckless round after another of ineffective UN sanctions, including the issuance of waivers to 20 or so countries, all now clearly leading to the ultimate policy failure -  a radical Islamist nation state deeply embedded in worldwide terrorist networks and possessing nuclear weapons.

Apparently learning completely the wrong lesson, or applying the right lesson to an entirely inappropriate context, or something – the Empty Suit later acted to effect regime change in Egypt.  That was the Egypt that was a reliable ally and critical peace partner with Israel under Hosne Mubarak.  That Egypt is no more.  Egypt is now run by the Muslim Brotherhood, under the “presidency” of the radical Islamist Mohammed Morsi.   Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel is for all intents and purposes null and void.  Fortunately for Israel, I guess, Morsi’s greatest concern temporarily seems to be the United States releasing the “Blind Sheik” – that is, the Egyptian man responsible for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.   For awhile the news was thick with rumors this administration was willing to deal for his release.

The Empty Suit was on a roll in the Middle East when the so-called “Arab Spring” reached Libya.  His UN Ambassador Susan Rice convinced him to bomb the snot out of the Libyan Army in support of a gang of mixed nut Islamists no one could quite categorize.  Leading this naïve policy called “Responsibility to Protect” from behind, the Empty Suit created a vacuum of governance that has been filled by who the hell knows what.  Whatever it is, it has resulted in the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi, and a cover-up from this White House.

Leadership?

The Middle East is on a rocket sled speeding toward war thanks to the Empty Suit’s foreign policy.  But the Empty Suit has found time to make us weaker and more vulnerable in other parts of the world as well.  In relation to Vladimir Putin’s Russia – aka USSR v2 – he has bargained away European missile defenses for not so much as the promise of a blown kiss.  Even with that, thanks to an open microphone, we know he’s prepared to be even more ‘flexible’ with the Russian dictator after the election.  Whatever the hell that means.  Afghanistan looks to be, at best, headed toward exactly the same place Bush 43 left it after the implementation of the Empty Suit’s brilliant half-ass surge with date certain withdrawal strategy. 

The Empty Suit began this campaign peddling the assassination of Osama Bin Laden as the sum total of his foreign policy record.  As if the guy who has been hiding in a cave for ten years (or was it living under the witness protection program offered by a two-faced “ally”?) was still really running the operation for Mohammed’s Murder Monkey Cult From Hell in 2011.  When all hell broke loose on September 11, 2012 the Empty Suit tried to protect this lie with another lie – that radical Islamist riots all over the globe were independent spontaneous reactions to a movie for which practically no one had even seen the YouTube trailer.  While running with this lie, the so-called "leader of the free world" brought all the power of his Justice Department down on the hapless film maker.  In other words, he showed the world he favored sharia law over the First Amendment to the US Constitution.

On that same day, in Benghazi, Libya - a catastrophic failure of State Department security resulted in the death of an Ambassador, two Navy Seals, and Information Management Officer Sean Smith.  The Empty Suit’s administration has dissembled, waffled, and contradicted itself about what happened there for going on six weeks now.  In other words, they are engaged in a cover-up.  And that means there’s something they don’t want us to know. 

Leadership? 

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Look, folks, it’s called the Executive Branch for a reason.  The job is about making executive decisions and leading.  There is nothing – nothing – in the past experience of the Empty Suit that prepared him for this job.  He is first and foremost a creature of the faculty lounge – a universe of endless discussion and boundless relativism.  A person could spend years in the US Senate without learning a single thing about leadership – see Crazy Uncle Joe Biden for the proof – much less the cup of coffee the Empty Suit had up there.  The closest thing to “executive” experience the Empty Suit had prior to his ascendancy was something called “community organizing.”  As far as I can tell, this mostly consists of riling up mobs of maladjusted malcontents as an intimidation tactic designed to coerce wealth from other people.

Mitt Romney, on the other hand has a resume chock full of executive leadership credentials.  Whether its rescuing bankrupt companies at Bain capital, rescuing the 2002 Salt Lake Olympic games, or running a state as Governor, he’s already exercised the skills he’ll need as President: develop policy, and manage its implementation.

Memo to the Mittens campaign – the word is Leadership.  And that’s your foreign policy debate advice.

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Update 10/22/12

LAS has a few more questions related to foreign policy "leadership" for the Empty Suit.

Why is the Fort Hood Jihadi attack still classified as 'workplace violence'?  Is it to save a few bucks at the Veterans Administration by denying combat injury benefits to the victims?

Do you regret sending Bibi Netanyahu home hungry on March 23, 2010?

If you get credit for Seal Team Six killing Bin Laden, who gets credit for tipping off the Taliban concerning which helicopter they were riding in?

Did the Queen of England tell you whether or not she liked your speeches?

Is kosher an option for meals at Gitmo?

Post Debate Analysis

The Empty Suit had talking points diarrhea.  Mittens looked all leadershippy and commander-in-chiefly.  Scheiffer mostly minded his P’s and Q’s.  Game over.  Get ready to say “President Romney.”

R U Ready To Become a Benghazi Truther?

I'm not ready to subscribe to this conspiracy theory. (hat tip to commenter @JaneLovesJesus on the Nice Deb site)

However, the plain fact is everything I've learned over the past three years of blogging about the corrupt international leftists in the current administration gives me no reason to discount the theory out of hand.

And that is why the American people need to ensure they are thrown out of town like the flea-bitten dogs they are, on November 6.

We don't need anymore of their ilk around here, exemplified by well known 9-11 Truther Van Jones.

Is it time for the "People died, Obama lied" bumper stickers yet?

Insiders Say To Expect a Meaner, Leaner, President Obama In the Second Debate

Well, I guess you have to give the guy credit just for having the sand to show up ... what with the lousy economic record, and the failed foreign policy, and having his ass handed to him by the most mild mannered nominee in living memory in the first debate. The training must be intense ...



Update 10/16/12

The spy Jack Wiley Dithers placed inside the Soros, Inc. funded dojo now training the President for debate combat has filed her report. The Empty Suit is being run through an extreme and fanatical training regimen to ensure automatic regurgitation of progressive talking points.

The JWD Institute for Journalistic Integrity recommends the old 1-2 counter punch strategy to Team Mittens. Hear the lie. Smile. Right cross: call out the lie. Left hook: Switch to big idea lecture.

One example for illustration ... Empty Suit blurts out something about you "raising taxes on the middle class." State this is a falsehood invented by his side based on assumptions about your plan. Optionally throw in a bit of snark asking what standing does Mr. trillion and half dollar deficits as far as the eye can see even have making such an assumption. Then quickly switch to explaining their falsehood arises from static accounting against deficit neutrality. Then explain your dynamic budget accounting closes the deficit by growing the economy, and thus bringing in more revenue. Like Reagan did.

It will be the professor vs. the senior guest lecturer. Team Mittens may want to send out Newt Gingrich in a Mitt Romney mask to ensure victory.

Update #2 10/16/12

The Dailer Caller sets it up nicely here. My reactions ...

All Romney needs to do to beat back the 47% question is execute a simple two step dance. 1) Point out the 47% number is simply a statistic indicating the percentage of the population that pays no taxes. (2) Then stipulate he wants all of their votes, especially the ones who would like a job to join the 53%.

The only thing Obama can do regarding the Libya question is demonstrate incompetence by deflecting blame. But I guess it's better (for him) than admitting his foreign policy is a complete failure.

Advantage Romney.

I think tonight I'll monitor Frank Luntz' operation on Fox Nation. I'll especially be interested in how reactions to biased moderation from the Leftist hack Candy Crowley is measured. After the Empty Suit has been deposed, we will be left with media bias as the greatest scourge still afflicting the republic.

Update #3 10/16/12

Overall - it was like watching Pastor Jones kick his three-legged dog. In a good way, that is, if you care about the direction of the republic. Despite Crowley's best efforts to comfort the three-legged dog through the course of the beating. Next comes foreign policy. With the Libya cover-up still unraveling. Mittens missed the chance to throw a knockout punch on the Libya cover-up on this night. But, then again, there's a whole 'nother debate to cover this ground, with disciplined preparation. Mittens is nothing if not disciplined. Game over.

Update #4 10/17/12

Looking back a day later, it seems not everyone saw the same debate I saw. Snap polling appears to give an edge to the Empty Suit. Perhaps those polled are genetically unable to distinguish policy proposals from empty promises. Two elections in a row, even.

But, no matter. When the hack Crowley stumbled into her ham-fisted attempt to shield her man Barry from his own record on the Benghazi cover-up, she inadvertently did Romney an invaluable favor by guaranteeing the cover-up story will live on until the next debate. The *foreign policy* debate. I love it when a plan comes together. :)

Right Truth has a very good roundup on the matter for the historical record. Levin is right. The Empty Suit has a record now. Nothing has changed.

Update #5 - 10/18/12

Who's winning? Ace of Spades has the data.

Munsters Ticket Takes 2-0 Lead In Big Debate Series

According to poll after poll after poll rolling off the presses, Crazy Uncle Joe Biden's "Mad Max the Debater" schtick was off-putting to a wide majority of viewers / voters.

Team Obama is in a real pickle now.

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When the Empty Suit Known as Barack Hussein Obama skipped his homework and sleep-walked through debate number one, delivering what I heard even one of his own operatives describe as a "ritalin-soaked" performance, he set in motion a quick series of self-inflicted campaign wounds that will cost him this election.

Team Obama's entire campaign strategy has been based on lying to the American people about their opponents' policies and their opponents' characters. Anyone who knew everything they knew about Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan through Obama campaign ads would have naturally assumed they were both monsters. Team Obama has gone so far as a thinly veiled charge of murder leveled at the Governor, and not-so-transparent claims the Congressman enjoys pushing Grandmothers off of cliffs for sport. The only thing they haven't done is make the obvious leap to Herman and Eddie Munster for comic relief. We here at LAS, including the staff cartoonist, are not so slow on the uptake, however.

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When I announced my support of Newt Gingrich for the GOP Presidential nomination on this blog on the Lord's day November 16th of 2011, I offered the following rational.

...the GOP nominee will be facing what liberals like to label an “uneven playing field” in the biased press. The road to the White House for a GOP nominee goes through the televised debates with the incumbent, because that is the forum offering the most impactful opportunity to by-pass the media and influence the electorate directly. Think Reagan vs. Carter and “There you go again.”

Among the available options, the best debater in the room is far and away Newt Gingrich. Newt will most assuredly reduce the Empty Suit Known as Barack Hussein Obama to a babbling fool in any debate format not moderated by a teleprompter. Defeating the Empty Suit Known as Barack Hussein Obama in 2012 is simply paramount above all other considerations. For this reason, Newt Gingrich must be the GOP nominee. We can leave nothing to chance in 2012.

I was of course right on target identifying the debate series as the penultimate tactical objective for this campaign. However, I wholly underestimated Team Obama's capacity to shoot themselves in the foot.

Team Obama was hammered in Debate #1 because they set up the circumstances allowing Mittens to win just by showing up and being himself. The real Willard Mitt Romney is so unlike the opposition campaign's caricature, his actual policies so not the ridiculous lies that have been aired - all he had to do was be polite and tell the truth to reset everything. Which he did. Mittens did his part ... and Barry turned it into a blowout by assuming he would get his usual affirmative action pass from the press, which led to him showing up totally unprepared.

In the search for excuses, Team Obama decided the mild mannered Mittens had "bullied" the poor pitiful Quota President. So, Team Obama sent out Crazy Uncle Joe to turn up the crazy in Round 2. They calculated it was necessary to re-energize their "base." The problem they have here, however - the problem they always have - is their "base" is at most 20% of the electorate. Whenever they have to fire up their base in plain view of everyone else, they inevitably lose ground with the precious "independents" that swing elections. Which Crazy Uncle Joe just did.

Now, for round three, the scuttlebutt is the Empty Suit Known as Barack Hussein Obama plans to come out swinging against the "bully" Mittens. I suppose he has no choice now - but it will inevitably bite into his only remaining campaign asset: personal likability. The contrast with the first debate is bound to have millions of Americans asking themselves "do we really know who this guy is?" Not a good set up for a guy who is famous for keeping so much hidden about himself. And he has no one to blame but himself and his own campaign for the making of this trap.

I can't wait for round three. The only thing Team Obama will have left afterward is angry rhetoric about non-existent wars on women. The Democrat party will then have no choice but to update its mascot to ...

Jack Wiley Dithers Has Last Minute Debate Advice For Joe Biden

(AP) – Jack Wiley Dithers Reporting
“If You Can’t Scoop It, Make It Up.”

Mr. Vice President:

You still owe me $500 from poker night, so I want you to keep your J-O-B. You have a big Debate Club event tonight, and I want to help you win it. My advice might be a day late and a dollar short, but that's only because I'm a well-known procrastinator. On the plus side, since you are a well-known plagiarizer, I've given you precious little time to steal my writing. So, here goes.

Avoid foreign policy as a topic. You have nothing to win, and everything to lose here. Somehow, you have been built up as some kind of foreign policy genius despite being dead wrong about every major foreign policy issue since 1980. Worse, your administration's foreign policy in the Middle East is unraveling right before our very eyes. No good will accrue for you, after being built up as an expert, from getting thrashed by an opponent with no foreign policy experience. Stay away from this topic like it's the plaque. If asked a foreign policy question, change the subject to something totally different, perhaps by asking moderator Martha Raddatz what she thought of Adam Sandler's movie "The Wedding Singer."

Avoid the economy as a topic. The economy sucks under your administration. Under no circumstances are you to use the word 'budget.' It gives your opponent an opening to point out your administration hasn't passed one through either congressional chamber for three years. It gives your opponent an opening to market his video about his budget, the only budget proposal to pass either congressional chamber in three years. No good will accrue for you from getting thrashed by a real expert on the topic. If asked about the economy, change the subject to something totally different, like maybe all those cool web master skills you picked up when you were in charge of counting jobs saved and created on recovery.gov.

Focus like a laser beam on your opponent's top weakness. The guy looks like Eddie Munster and everybody knows it. Be merciless. Give him the Biden treatment without hesitation. He knows he looks like Eddie Munster, too. This line of attack will unnerve him. After you see him rattled, go for the knockout punch by pointing out his running mate looks like Herman Munster.

The deal will be closed with Independent voters. Nobody wants a monster that was made, not born, to be President. And nobody wants a boy werewolf to be a heartbeat away.

Good luck and I'm looking forward to you sending me that poker money. My beer kitty is running low.

(AP) – Jack Wiley Dithers Reporting
“If You Can’t Scoop It, Make It Up.”

Demotivational Big Bird

The Redistributionist-In-Chief is now waging re-election on the proposition you have sympathy for the richest stuffed puppet on Earth. According to this data, Big Bird is even richer than the evil Mitt Romney himself! And only 12% of these riches come from public funding!

Look,kiddies, this is about a federal budget that is driving us over the cliff of fiscal armageddon. If we can't let Big Bird thrive as a private entity - and he certainly would - we are fiscally doomed. If we can't do this, how are we ever going to get around to eliminating whole agencies with unbroken records of failure - like Education and Energy, for example?

End crony puppetism. Big Bird needs to start standing on his own orange three-toed feet.

Update

The crony puppet runs for cover, recognizing now is not a good time to be front and center as the poster child for gub'ment subsidy.

Empty Suit Sets Economic Record

Barack Hussein Obama entered the record books last week by completing the longest string of months with unemployment above 8% since the Great Depression - 43 consecutive months. It became official when the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the September 2012 figure - 7.8%.

The 7.8% number - a three tenths of one percent drop from the August number (which is considered huge) - left every serious observer on Planet Earth scratching his or her head. The other survey everyone always references - the weekly report of "jobs added or lost" has been weak, on a generally downward trajectory throughout 2012, and a steep downward trajectory for the entire previous quarter.

How to reconcile the two contradictory reports? How is it "unemployment" can drop, when weekly jobs added is stuck in the low 100 thousands, and declining, when everybody knows you need a sustained rate of 200 thousand a month just to keep up with new entrants to the labor pool? (Recent college graduates worth their sheepskin should now be starting to grasp why they have no job offers)

Some fingered statistical survey anomalies. "Fox All-Star" Stephen Hayes was among them. He warned the administration to be wary of a swing in the opposite direction next month - right before the election - as the coming statistical correction.

This explanation for the September number could be on target - but the warning for the October number is dead wrong. My Google machine tells me Mr. Hayes graduated from the Columbia school of Journalism. I'm guessing he didn't darken the hallways of the math department much. Let me tell you how probability and statistics works, Mr. Hayes. Each roll of the dice is completely independent. Roll of the dice N has no impact whatsoever on roll of the dice N+1. If your line of reasoning were accurate, you would have never heard from me on this blog. I would be living in Vegas making money hand over fist with a simple system of extrapolation.

Some harbor conspiracy theories explaining the 7.8% number was cooked. On the same Fox panel, Charles Krauthammer poo-pooed such as crazy talk. It's not as if they have a daily conference call, or anything. Yeah, sure, maybe they used to, but they've learned their lesson, you know.

Krauthammer is half-right. They couldn't get away with a massive conspiracy. Too big a surface for leaks and betrayals. But they don't need a massive conspiracy. The BLS reports to Secretary of Labor Hilda I. Solis. She's as big a Leftie activist and agitator as Obama himself, as prone as they all are to doing what it takes to stay in power, without reference to conventional ethics, and gives me no reason to give her the benefit of the doubt on the anything as simple as even the time of day. Solis and Obama don't need a daily conference call. They've been independently on the same page from the time each independently entered Team Leftie's ideological zombie army.

That said, I'm not with the conspiracy theory crowd. The gub'ment produces numbers, these numbers have varying degrees of accuracy, and armies of ideological zombies work day and night to spin them for your consumption. That's it.

So, how do we reconcile these numbers - the 7.8% and the 114,000? Simple. Basically, we're looking at a division problem with a numerator and denominator. The numerator is the number of people without a job who are actively looking for one, the denominator is those people plus those who have a job (the labor pool). This division yields a ratio that can be expressed as a percentage. Those who have become discouraged and have stopped looking for work are not counted as part of the "labor pool." While they are still people with economic needs, they are essentially invisible to gub'ment accounting.

So, what would be the statistical indicators of growth in this invisible population? Answer: no growth or even declines in the percentage of the population participating in the "labor pool" (blue line, next chart).

No wonder he's the Food Stamp President.

A vote to for Obama is a vote to be thrown into those old grainy black and white photos, from the old Soviet Union, of people standing in line all day for a loaf of bread.

Update 10/9/12

Yesterday, Hack Wilson posted six charts making the obvious case Obama-Biden has been one big three letter word: F-A-I-L. My favorite insight is the inverse correlation between food prices and median household income. Still got white guilt?

Update 10/11/12

Interesting report from the field, supporting the theory the books are being cooked.

Update 10/19/12

A likely suspect emerges to fit into the conspiracy theory thing.

Memo To Mittens ... Re: Debates

I am writing this within less than an hour of the first debate. You see, the day job (glad to have it in Barry's dysconomy) has been slamming me the past couple of days. What you are about to read is a spasmodic dump of the thoughts that have been rumbling around my head the past few days. Too late for tonight, perhaps, but it is a three debate process. Astute readers will notice my advice is designed to apply the knockout punch toward the end of the process.

==

Get mad, Mittens. How can you not be mad? You have been slandered by the campaign of the other man on the podium as a tax cheat, responsible for the murder of a man's wife, and worst of all - a rich guy. Not to mention the non-stop barrage of lies and distortions on your policy proposals. If you are incapable of showing anger - righteous anger - in response to the most corrupt and dirty campaign ever waged - the desperate re-election campaign of the Empty Suit Known as Barack Hussein Obama - you truly do not deserve to be my President.

OK, now that we've established righteous anger is in order, let's expound a little more. You need to be smart about deploying this (perhaps foreign to you) emotion. You need to keep the target in mind, first of all. The target is the thinnest of thin skinned politicians ever. The Empty Suit Known as Barack Hussein Obama is used to being treated with kid gloves by the corrupt and biased liberal media. His career has advanced via the Left's soft bigotry of low expectations for anyone with a melanin level at or above Snooki's. He does not handle righteous, direct, push-back well. He never learned how. Give it to him, and he will show his true thin-skinned nature to the nation, and you will be victorious.

Now on to the tactical advice.

First: please do not bore us to tears with a litany of facts and figgers. Think about it. Who are you trying to impress? Answer: undecideds. Who could possibly be "undecided" about an incumbent who has stewardship over the longest period of 8%+ officially measured unemployment, and is directly responsible for 60% of all-time deficit spending in merely four fiscal years (three without a budget)? Answer: People who are not responsive to facts and figgers. You need to attack the target in broad strokes that turn the argument back on his failures, cover-ups, and outright lies - in simple, direct, and basic terms. As far as facts and figgers are concerned, just direct the audience to the web site for follow-up. Anybody incapable of using their Google machine to then get the facts on their own time isn't going to vote for you, anyway.

Second: These "undecideds" have short attention spans for the content at hand. Therefore, you must hammer on the Empty Suit's recent failures, cover ups, and lies. The obnoxious ads he's running about your policy proposals. His responsibility for the recent and rapid rise of Mohammed's Murder Monkey Cult From Hell throughout the world. The lawlessness of the Fast and Furious cover-up. The Alinskyite Socialism that permeates his every domestic policy.

Third: Pay no respect to the corrupt and biased moderators. They deserve no respect. Turn every gotcha question they have for you into a question for the Empty Suit to address.

Now for a few examples tying it all together ...

When asked about the 47% video misrepresentation ... look directly at your opponent, point out he (mis)uses the word 'fairness' to the point of distraction, and ask him what the hell is so damned 'fair' about nearly half the population paying nothing at all into the system. *After* he stumbles and burbles and pontificates to no discernible end point - simply state as plain fact confiscating every dollar from every "rich" person" does *nothing* to slow the rate of growth in deficit spending. Then simply state broadening the base and lowering rates for *everyone* (currently paying something) brings in the needed revenue. No boring facts and figgers. Direct the "undecideds" to the web site and be done with it. They are responsible for using their own Google machine, and if they can't you won't get their vote.

When asked about your "lack of foreign policy experience" - go right for Obama's throat on his actual record. Go right for the Benghazi cover-up. Hard. Anticipate tomorrow's bumper sticker - "People died. Obama lied." - with righteous anger. It's about irresponsibility and incompetence in executing the President's first Constitutional job - keeping Americans safe, especially overseas.

When asked about "gender gaps" and "wars on women" - immediately invoke Sandra Fluke and ask the Empty Suit directly why the rest of us should pay the $9/month contraceptive bill for a Georgetown Law graduate practically guaranteed $160,000 in rookie salary. After he's done blathering about that, state it's self-evident he must believe the First Amendment is null and void based on his campaign to force paying for contraceptives down the Catholic Church's throat. When he's done blathering about that, round everything off by asking him why he chose Sharia over the First Amendment in the case of Nakoula Basseley Nakoula.

This sure would be a lot easier if Newt were the nominee.

Update 10/4/2011

Excellent first round, Mittens. Looks like you got under the Empty Suit's skin even earlier than I had hoped was possible. Keep it up. If I can offer any further constructive criticism, it would be to tighten up on lie detection a little bit. For example, when countering the false claim you would raise middle class taxes ... don't point to competing "studies". I could literally hear independent eyes glazing over. Simply look at the Empty Suit and state his claim makes false assumptions about how you would close the deficit gap. Emphasize FALSE and A-SUMP-TIONS. The indies will get that.



Update 10/7/12

I just realized I could do an entire feature post on the alternately comedic and pathetic leadership of the Empty Suit Known as Barack Hussein Obama, should I care to, by taking flight from the Benny Hill video.

Beer Summit (false assumption = blacks perpetual victims), 2009 Cairo speech (false assumption = Mohammed's Murder Monkey Cult From Hell possesses civilized values), the ever elusive "shovel ready job" (false assumption = faith in trickle down gub'ment), the media lynching of George Zimmerman (blacks perpetual victims), bankrupt green energy cronyism (trickle down gub'ment), apologizing for the First Amendment over an obscure movie trailer (as if Mohammed's Murder Monkey From Hell even needs an excuse to rape and murder infidels), ....

Social Media Networking the Hard Way

A reader from Carlsbad, California has long made a habit of traversing the Bob Schieffer Blog Roll. I know this because his or her reading habits are recorded by the traffic analysis utility I use (Feedjit). Carlsbad has also shown very good taste, day in and day out, in his or her selections of titles to click into on the roll. Often I have followed in his or her footsteps to very informative reading myself. (Circle of blog) So, to give a nod to the loyal reader from Carlsbad, and lacking anything else ready to post this evening, I thought I would simply highlight Carlsbad's finely tuned reading decisions with a little sample from earlier today. The screenshot above is now archived for all time. Let's walk down it, shall we? You could do a lot worse trying to stay informed on the issues of the day - like reading Leftist propaganda rags such as the Washington Post or New York Times, for example.

The Camp of the Saints sounds the "all hands on board" alarm, giving me a chance to plug my post from April 25th of 2012.

Capitalist Preservation provides some light entertainment giving me a chance to opine on the nation's political topology. Later in the day, this blog gives you the new Fast and Furious data the mainstream media is ignoring.

What Would the Founder's Think? gives us a fine weekend round up. Hey, look Ma, I made the big time. (Actually, I think Carlsbad was drawn in by the reference to the prime moron named Maher.)

Carlsbad read something on PJ Media that I'm too lazy to correlate to the proper point in time. They have a lot of columnists there.

Jihad Watch explains why appeasement will never work with Mohammed's Murder Monkey Cult From Hell.

Nice Deb labels Obama a "Third World Marxist." In the comment space I try out "International Leftist" for size. Who cares? We surely agree he wouldn't recognize an "American value" if it bit him on the a$$.

The Jersey Nut provides a two minute seminar on why socialism and "soak the rich" tax policies have never worked anywhere ever at any time.

Wyblog has some fun debate advice for Mittens.

Circle of blog.

Say goodnight, Gracie.

Update 10/3/2012

Carlsbad made an unusual stop last evening. Only one link followed on the Bob Schieffer Blog Roll. Almost like Carlsbad was trying to tell me something. No worries, Carlsbad - my favorite daily read, The Daily Caller is on the case.



Still got white guilt?

And this is why Newt should have been the nominee. Oh well, we'll all just have to 'haul Mittens across the finish line' as TCOTS put it in this post's first link.

Circle of blog.