"ALL CAPS IN DEFENSE OF LIBERTY IS NO VICE."

Saturday, February 14, 2009

ASTONISHING DISCONNECT FROM DESPERATE AGW ALARMISTS

BBC:
Speaking at the American Science conference in Chicago, Prof Field said fresh data showed greenhouse gas emissions between 2000 and 2007 increased far more rapidly than expected.
AND BECAUSE OF THIS THEY WARN:

The severity of global warming over the next century will be much worse than previously believed, a leading climate scientist has warned.

Professor Chris Field, an author of a 2007 landmark report on climate change, said future temperatures "will be beyond anything" predicted.

THIS IS A TOTAL FREAKIN' DISCONNECT.
  • BECAUSE DESPITE THIS ALARMING INCREASE IN SO-CALLED MAN-MADE GREENHOUSE GASES FROM 2000-2007 -- (DESPITE KYOTO, MIND YOU!!!!) -- THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE IS HAVING ONE ITS COLDEST AND SNOWIEST WINTERS IN DECADES.
  • AND THEY'RE STILL ARGUING THAT WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BE ALARMED!?
  • THEY'RE TRYING THEIR BEST TO ALARM US; HERE'S THE TITLE OF THE BBC PIECE - A SLANT GIVEN TO THIS ITEM BY THE GLOBE ENTIRE MSM: Global warming 'underestimated'
THE ONLY THINGS MISUNDERESTIMATED ARE THE LENGTHS THESE ALARMISTS WILL GO TO ALARM US.

AGE = BS.

AGW-ALARMISTS: STFU.

POWER LINE AGREES.

*******UPDATE:
Who needs the Alps? It's a record year on England's pistes

Snow may have closed schools and caused mayhem on the roads, but for skiers the recent falls were a gift from the heavens, turning local parks into mini ski slopes.

What most didn't realise was that had they ventured into areas of northern England, they would'v
e found a handful of little-known ski centres each offering up to a mile of skiable terrain.

One of the largest is Swinhope Moor in Weardale, County Durham (01388 527527; skiweardale.co.uk), which began in 1963 and is run by the Weardale Ski Club, comprising 14 volunteers.

These include a fireman who works at the club in his spare time, and a retired mechanic.

They're up there in the summer cutting the rushes, and in the winter manning the two button lifts and the piste basher.

There are seven pisted runs, off-piste slopes and a gully with jumps and ledges.


Steve Lumb, a GP and chairman of the committee, says the conditions have never been better. "It's like how it was in the 1970s: there's just so much snow. In recent years it would just melt away once the snowfalls stopped, but not this season. I'm running out of superlatives to describe the outstanding conditions we're experiencing."

Last weekend, more than 600 people skied at Swinhope, the most the club has ever seen.
IOW: AGW = BS.

REMINDER:

"It's like how it was in the 1970s..." THE 1970'S: THAT'S WHEN LEFT-WING ALARMISTS WERE WARNING US OF GLOBAL-COLLING AND THE POPULATION BOMB.

WHY WE MUST FIGHT ISLAMIZATION: WE HAVE NO PLACE ELSE TO GO

MUST SEE TV:

BOTTOM-LINE: IF THE POLITICIANS WON'T STOP ISLAMIZATION, THEN WE MUST EITHER TOSS THEM OUT OF OFFICE OR TAKE DIRECT ACTION.

BRITS CAN CHOOSE WHICH FLAG THEY WISH TO LIVE UNDER...

OBAMA AND THE LEFT SUFFER FROM A POLITICAL FORM OF MUNCHAUSEN BY PROXY SYNDROME

OBAMA AND THE LEFT SUFFER FROM A POLITICAL FORM OF MUNCHAUSEN BY PROXY SYNDROME

A DEFINITION OF THE DISEASE - FROM KIDSHEALTH:

Munchausen by proxy syndrome (MBPS) is a relatively uncommon condition that involves the exaggeration or fabrication of illnesses or symptoms by a primary caretaker. One of the most harmful forms of child abuse, MBPS was named after Baron von Munchausen, an 18th-century German dignitary known for telling outlandish stories.

About MBPS

In MBPS, an individual — usually a mother — deliberately makes another person (most often his or her own preschool child) sick or convinces others that the person is sick. The parent or caregiver misleads others into thinking that the child has medical problems by lying and reporting fictitious episodes. He or she may exaggerate, fabricate, or induce symptoms. As a result, doctors usually order tests, try different types of medications, and may even hospitalize the child or perform surgery to determine the cause.

Typically, the perpetrator feels satisfied by gaining the attention and sympathy of doctors, nurses, and others who come into contact with him or her and the child. Some experts believe that it isn't just the attention that's gained from the "illness" of the child that drives this behavior, but also the satisfaction in being able to deceive individuals that they consider to be more important and powerful than themselves.

Because the parent or caregiver appears to be so caring and attentive, often no one suspects any wrongdoing.
FROM "MBP EXPERTS":

FACTITIOUS DISORDER, (of which MUNCHAUSEN SYNDROME is a sub-type), (also called "Adult Munchausen", and "Adult Factitious Disorder") is a formal, DSM-IV mental health diagnosis in which people deliberately exaggerate and/or fabricate and/or induce physical and/or psychological-behavioral-mental health problems in themselves. The primary purpose of this behavior is to gain some form of internal gratification, such as attention, for themselves.

MUNCHAUSEN BY PROXY (MBP) (also called Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome, and Factitious Disorder by Proxy) is a label for a pattern of behavior in which caretakers deliberately exaggerate and/or fabricate and/or induce physical and/or psychological-behavioral-mental health problems in others.

This pattern of behavior constitutes a separate kind of maltreatment (abuse/neglect) that manifests as physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, neglect, or a combination. The primary purpose of this behavior is to gain some form of internal gratification, such as attention, for the perpetrator.

WIKI ON MUNCHUASEN SYNDROME:

Münchausen syndrome is a psychiatric disorder in which those affected fake disease, illness, or psychological trauma in order to draw attention or sympathy to themselves. It is in a class of disorders known as factitious disorders which involve "illnesses" whose symptoms are either self-induced or falsified by the patient.
Obama and the Democrat Party and the entire Left seem to me to be afflicted with a political variant of this disease.

Sure, we're in a recession, and that's bad. But this recession isn't as bad as the ones in 1974 or 1981. But Obama and his comrades in the MSM have many believe that it's the worst since the Depression, and they've helped make it worse than it might have been by scaring more people into spending less - which has a definite feedback effect; it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. (George Soros call this feredback effect - which can snowball - "reflexivity".)

The recession started in December of 2007 - just about when the presidential politicking began - and at first it was pretty mild, after all most of the Democrat candidates were focused on the Iraq War.

As the war improved - because of the Surge they all opposed - the Democrats and their allies in the MSM turned their negativity to the economy. And made it worse.

Essentially the Left - the Democrats and the MSM - were FABRICATING AND EXAGGERATING, key components of MUNCHAUSEN BY PROXY! They were doing so to seek the approval of the electorate, (not doctors - as in the clinical disorder).

THEY DO THE SAME THING WITH WHAT'S COME TO BE KNOWN AS "CLIMATE CHANGE":

They've come up with an enormous amount of non-testable theories about global-warming and have plugged them into questionable projections using dubious data and YELLING that we're all gonna die UNLESS WE EMPOWER THEM AND DO WHAT THEY SAY!

Again, it's all about fabricating and exaggerating - AND EMPOWERING THEM!

Like Munchausen by Proxy.

THEY DO THE SAME THING WITH REGARD TO OUR CIVIL LIBERTIES AND THE PATRIOT ACT:
  • LYING ABOUT THE DEGREE TO WHICH OUR RIGHTS HAVE BEEN ABROGATED BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WHICH IS TRYING TO PROTECT US FROM A REAL THREAT; (THEY'VE DONE THIS VERY SUCCESSFULLY UP TO NOW, I MIGHT ADD).
THEY DO THE SAME THING WITH REGARD TO OUR HEALTH CARE SYSTEM:
This might be the psychological syndrome which underlies the left's embrace of Cloward-Piven.

I think it explains them more than any other theory.

They need help.

QUICK: BEFORE THEY AND THEIR UNNECESSARY AND MORE HARMFUL "REMEDIES" KILL US!

Yes: unnecessary and more harmful: the bailout is a socialist disaster; carbon schemes/swaps/taxes an unnecessary burden on productivity and prosperity; relaxing our guard in the GWOT will leave us more vulnerable to another attack - and so on.

Right now, these MBP-afflicted leaders - Obama and the Democrat Party - are the biggest threat to our way of life.

We need to cure them.

Or throw them out of office at them next opportunity.

DISSENT ACCORDINGLY!

*******UPDATE: I just Googled "Obama and Munchausen" and found this post, "Munchausen by Proxyocracy" - from a week ago - on the same subject. GREAT MINDS THINK ALIKE! Excerpt:

While actual Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome (MBPS) is very rare, something much like it is sadly all too common in American policy-making.

MBPS involves a caregiver deliberately making another person sick. The caregiver may exaggerate, fabricate, or even induce symptoms. The perpetrator achieves a twisted satisfaction from deceptively gaining the attention and sympathy of doctors and others. Because the caregiver appears to be so caring and attentive, often no one suspects any wrongdoing.

In politics, many of our longstanding, serious policy problems are similarly inflicted upon us by our alleged caregivers.

... Obama’s policy plans will simply add more fuel to the fire, leaving our very serious affordability problems in higher education and health care unaddressed. This is not change that we can believe in, but more of the same.

Like the MBPS abuser, politicians often come across as compassionate as they indulge their pathologies. If our politicians suffer from MBPS, we suffer our own sort of insanity in allowing ourselves to be victimized by it year after year. Our form of insanity could be referred to as Battered Taxpayer Syndrome, and it is time to call a halt to it.

It is a fallacy for the public to judge our leaders by their stated intentions, rather than the results of their decisions. Why is health care so expensive in the United States? Why the crushing debt for college educations of no greater worth than those obtained decades earlier at far less cost? Sadly, it’s because of federal policies whose follies have been repeatedly reinforced.

Rather than Munchausen by Proxy politicians, we need leaders who will follow the Hippocratic Oath: first, do no harm.

Amen!

JIHADISTS CELEBRATE OZ BUSH FIRES

The evildoers have no decency:
JIHADISTS are celebrating the worst tragedy in Victoria's history.

Terror watchdogs said fundamentalists had blogged on websites across the globe, applauding the lives lost and destruction in the Victoria fires.

Senior analyst at SITE Intelligence Group Adam Raisman said they were posting pictures of burnt homes and devastated victims and "taking joy in the scenes", the Sunday Herald Sun reports.

One jihadist wrote: "It would be an act of revenge for Australian's participation in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq."

Bushfires victims said they were stunned.

"We're minding our own business and trying to cope with all this and they are celebrating our suffering," said Denise McCann who lost her home in the Kinglake blaze.
But of course the moderate spokesman demurs:
Regional Islamic Council vice-president Dr Ameer Ali said the comments did not represent the wider Muslim community.

"They have no idea what they are talking about," he said.
It remains to be seen if any of the fires were actually set by jihadist terrorists. (Hat tip: Jihadwatch, where there are earlier reports that terrorists had threatened to set Australia on fire.)

HE COULD BE HOST OF HIS OWN SHOW

Some of our older readers might remember the old "Queen for a Day" television program that went something like this:



Here is a modern-day version:



If the economic crisis was really as bad as Obama says it is, you might think he would want to stay in Washington to work on the problem, instead of playing game-show host in the hustings.

What a loser.

WHEN PUBLIC SERVICE IS JUST A SCAM

Here is some financial ingenuity in action:
During a decade in Congress, California Representative Grace Napolitano has pocketed more than $200,000 of political contributions by charging as much as 18 percent interest on money she loaned to her own campaign.

The suburban Los Angeles Democrat made the $150,000 loan in 1998, when she was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Through Dec. 31, her campaign committee has used donations to pay Napolitano $221,780 of interest while reducing the principal by just $64,727, a review of her Federal Election Commission filings shows.

As recently as June 2008, Napolitano held a fundraiser asking supporters and political action committees for money to pay down the 1998 debt. Napolitano, her spokesman and her campaign’s lawyers didn’t respond to requests for comment.

“I find this practice quite reprehensible,” said Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen, a Washington advocacy group. Interest payments from Napolitano’s campaign treasury have “proven exorbitantly profitable,” he said. “Candidates are not supposed to personally benefit from these campaign funds.”

The Federal Election Commission in 1999 ruled the loan and its 18 percent rate were allowed by U.S. election laws, after a complaint by Napolitano’s 1998 Democratic primary opponent. The commission agreed with Napolitano’s explanation that the interest charges were justified because Napolitano had to pay penalties for taking the money from a retirement account.

How does it work out for her?

“This is unbelievable -- it really is extraordinary,” said Michael Toner, a former Republican member of the FEC who was general counsel for George W. Bush’s 2000 presidential campaign. Toner said he “cannot recall a situation” where a candidate collected interest in sums that “actually exceeded the original loan balance.”

For Napolitano, a 72-year-old grandmother of 14, the campaign IOU has been a profitable asset, far outperforming stocks since the loan started accruing interest in May 1998. Over the same period, an investment in the Standard & Poor’s 500 stocks, with reinvested dividends, would have lost more than 7 percent, according to Bloomberg data.

In the first five months of 2008, Napolitano’s campaign paid her almost $68,000 of interest, according to FEC records. An additional $15,227 of principal was paid last May.

Ed Morrissey says:

Once you have that system established, it allows contributors to stuff money into your pockets as long as the loan remains outstanding. At 18% interest, that could go on for decades, and in Napolitano’s case, she already has one decade on the books. Napolitano has managed to keep more than half of the debt alive as principal while earning almost 150% just on interest payments — and at this rate, she could do this for another twenty years.

The best part of this is what Napolitano converted to create her donor-funded ATM. She worked as a secretary for Ford Motor Company, and cashed out stock at $45 a share in 1998 out of her retirement account. It’s now trading at less than $2 a share, and she’s had a 150% return in ten years without risking the principal at all.

And she’s done it while giving contributors a direct line to her checking accounts — and it’s all legal.

But it still stinks.

It does stink. But I have to ask, if they are so clever at setting up these scams for themselves, why have they got the government's finances in such a mess? Or is that the idea?

IS CANADA REALLY FINANCIALLY SECURE?

It seems so:
Canada, alone in the industrialised world, has not faced a single bank failure, has no need for a bailout or government intervention in the financial markets. According to the World Economic Forum, Canada's banking sector is best placed to weather the global financial turbulence (which apparently began in America).
Reuters describes the WEF findings like this:
Canada has the world's soundest banking system, closely followed by Sweden, Luxembourg and Australia, a survey by the World Economic Forum has found as financial crisis and bank failures shake world markets.

But Britain, which once ranked in the top five, has slipped to 44th place behind El Salvador and Peru, after a 50 billion pound ($86.5 billion) pledge this week by the government to bolster bank balance sheets.

The United States, where some of Wall Street's biggest financial names have collapsed in recent weeks, rated only 40, just behind Germany at 39, and smaller states such as Barbados, Estonia and even Namibia, in southern Africa.

How did they do it? It doesn't have anything to do with oil shale, does it?

GEERT WILDERS AND DUTCH FOREIGN SECRETARY TO FILE SUIT AGAINST BRITISH GOVERNMENT AND HOME SECRETARY


TELEGRAPH: Geert Wilders to sue Jacqui Smith over decision to deport controversial film-maker
Dutch MP Geert Wilders is "seriously considering" taking steps to sue Jacqui Smith over her decision to ban the controversial film-maker from the UK.

The legal action would have the backing of the Dutch Government, in a move which could aggravate the diplomatic row over the ban between London and Amsterdam.

Mr Wilders said he was looking to take legal action against the Home Secretary for "blatant discrimination" in the High Court or International Court in the Hague.

The Dutch Politician and film maker was sent back to Holland on Thursday night after trying to enter Britain to show his anti Muslim film Fitna in the House of Lords.

Mr Wilders had been invited to Westminster by Ukip peer Lord Pearson to show is 17 minute film Fitna, which criticise the Koran as a "facist book".

Mr Wilders is being encouraged to sue the Government by Maxime Verhagen, the Dutch foreign minister who is still furious with the Home Office's decision.

He said he would back Wilders in a possible decision to bring a case against the British Government's "disgraceful decision".

Mr Verhagen said: "Everybody, but especially a Parliamentarian from an European Union member country, has the right to freedom of speech."

In the film Mr Wilders, whose Freedom Party holds nine of the 120 seats in the Dutch Parliament made the film Fitna, juxtaposes images of the Koran with footage of the 9/11 twin tours attacks and other terrorist atrocities.
THE FILM HAS NO COMMENTARY; ITS NARRATION IS COMPRISED STRICTLY OF QUOTES THE KORAN AS IT SHOWS SEVERAL JIHADIST ATROCITIES WHICH ARE IN HARMONY WITH THE KORAN.
  • SO, IF PEOPLE DON'T LIKE WHAT THEY SEE AND HEAR, THEY SHOULD BLAME THE KORAN AND NOT GEERT WILDERS.
  • CONDEMNING GEERT WILDERS AND MARK STEYN IS DHIMMITUDE, PURE AND SIMPLE.
  • STEYN WON HIS CASE. GEERT WILDERS WILL WIN, TOO.
BUT - AS PAMELA GELLER DISCOVERED - THE STORY ACTUALLY GETS WORSE AND MORE INSANE AND INFURIATING:
  • THE BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY - A LEFTIST WHO VIGOROUSLY DEFENDS THE HOME SECRETARY'S DECISION TO DEPORT GEERT WILDERS - ADMITTED IN AN INTERVIEW WITH THE BBC (IN A SEGMENT NOT AIRED!!!) THAT HE HAD NEVER EVEN SEEN FITNA!
UNBEF**KINGLIEVABLE! SEE IT FOR YOURSELF:

*******Major Update - REPEAT*******MAJOR UPDATE - 9:50PM - 2/14/09:
  • THEY JUST TOOK DOWN THIS 46 SECOND YOUTUBE VIDEO OF MILIBAND ADMITTING HE HAD NEVER EVEN WATCHED FITNA ONCE.
*******UPDATE: BACKUP! WATCH IT WHILE YOU CAN!

CRITICIZING THINGS THEY'VE NEVER SEEN IS TYPICAL LEFTIST BULLSHIT:
THIS IS WHY I HAVE LONG ARGUED THAT WE WILL NEVER DEFEAT THE JIHADISTS UNTIL WE DEFEAT THE LEFTISTS.

KNOWINGLY OR NOT, THE LEFT IS THE FIFTH COLUMN FOR THE JIHADISTS.

2008-2009: SO FAR, SCOTLAND'S COLDEST WINTER IN 12 YEARS!

EDINBURGH NEWS:
Edinburgh is in the midst of one of the coldest Februarys on record, and the icy conditions are set to stay with us for up to a month.

Weather experts say that with temperatures as low as -7C, and daily averages fluctuating between 2C and -3C, the city is in line to record its first sub-zero average February in more than a decade.
12 YEARS ACCORDING TO THE DAILY MAIL.
  • WHICH MEANS THAT - SINCE SO-CALLED GREENHOUSE GASES HAVE STEADILY INCREASED DURING THIS SAME PERIOD OF TIME - AGW IS BS.
  • AND THE ENTIRE GREEN AGENDA IS A COLOSSAL WASTE. A FREAKIN' SCAM.

OBAMA'S SUCCESSOR IS A LYING CORRUPT PIECE OF CHICAGO CRAP


CLICK PICK FOR NEWS ROUND UP.

*******UPDATE: MY POINT (THANKS TO STEAMBOAT MAGOO, FOR PRODDING!):

BURRIS SHOULD BE IMPEACHED, CENSURED, AND THROWN OUT OF THE SENATE!


OR MAYBE OBAMA SHOULD JUST APPOINT HIM SECRETARY OF COMMERCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BARACK OBAMA: KINGFISH 2!

Barack Hussein Obama wants you to think he's a reincarnation of FDR and Abe, but he's really got more in common with Huey Long; WIKI:
Long created the Share Our Wealth program in 1934, with the motto "Every Man a King," proposing new socialist wealth redistribution measures in the form of a net asset tax on corporations and individuals to curb the poverty and crime resulting from the Great Depression. To stimulate the economy, Long advocated federal spending on public works, public education, old-age pensions and other social programs.

Charismatic and immensely popular for his
social reform programs and willingness to take forceful action, Long was accused by his opponents of dictatorial tendencies for his near-total control of the state government.

... Long proposed federal legislation capping personal fortunes, income and inheritances. He used radio broadcasts and founded a national newspaper, the American Progress, to promote his ideas and accomplishments before a national audience. In 1934, he unveiled an economic plan he called Share Our Wealth. Long argued there was enough wealth in the country for every individual to enjoy a comfortable standard of living, but that it was unfairly concentrated in the hands of a few millionaire bankers, businessmen and industrialists.

Long proposed a new progressive tax code designed to limit the size of personal fortunes. The new tax code would tax the first million dollars of wealth at zero. The second million dollars of wealth would be taxed at 1%. The third million at 2%; the fourth million at 4%; the fifth million at 8%; the sixth million at 16%; the seventh million at 32%; the eighth million at 64%; and the remainder at 100%. Income tax rates would be at 100% for all incomes over $1 million. [12]

The resulting funds would be used to guarantee every family a basic household grant of $5,000 and a minimum annual income of $2,000-3,000 (or one-third the average family income). Long supplemented his plan with proposals for free primary and college education, old-age pensions, veterans' benefits, federal assistance to farmers, public works projects, and limiting the work week to thirty hours.

Denying that his program was socialistic, Long stated that his ideological inspiration for the plan came not from Karl Marx but from the Bible and the Declaration of Independence. “Communism? Hell no!” he said, “This plan is the only defense this country’s got against communism.”[citation needed] In 1934, Long held a public debate with Norman Thomas, the leader of the Socialist Party of America, on the merits of Share Our Wealth versus socialism.

Long believed that only a radical restructuring of the national economy and elimination of disparities of wealth, while retaining the essential features of the capitalist system, would end the Great Depression and stave off violent revolution.

LET THEM EAT PORK!

Friday, February 13, 2009

WHY OBAMA WON - AND WHY HE'S DOOMED

HERE'S WHY OBAMA WON:
  • HE OUTSPENT MCCAIN 8-1
  • THERE WAS A PERFECTLY TIMED STOCK MARKET CRASH
  • THE MEDIA WAS IN THE TANK FOR OBAMA: THEY DIDN'T VET HIM AND THEY IGNORED IRAQ
HERE'S WHY OBAMA IS DOOMED:
  • HE - AND REID AND PELOSI - THINK OBAMA'S VICTORY WAS A MANDATE FOR SOCIALISM AND APPEASEMENT.


THEY HAVE OVERSTEPPED THEIR TRUE MANDATE. AND THE BACKLASH WILL BE HUGE.
  • THE JAPANESE DISCOVERED THAT DECEMBER 7TH WOKE UP AMERICA...
  • THE JIHADISTS DISCOVERED THAT 9/11 WOKE UP AMERICA (THOUGH HALF HAVE GONE BACK TO SLEEP)...
  • AND THE SOCIALIST APPEASERS WILL DISCOVER THAT THIS PORKUPENDOUS SPENDING BILL WILL DO THE SAME.
WE HAVE 18 MONTHS TO EXPOSE THE DEMOCRATS FOR WHAT THEY ARE, AND IF WE DO OUR JOBS WELL THEN WE WILL KICK THEIR F**KING ASSES IN 2010.

*******Update: 2 hours later and rsmccain has similar thought - calling yesterday a "DAY WHICH WILL LIVE IN INFAMY". He got the instalanche. Sigh.

MODERATE MUSLIM BEHEADS HIS WIFE

IN BUFFALO, NY.

WHAT MAKES HIM A MODERATE?

THE KNIFE WAS SHARP AND IT WAS HIS WIFE - NOT A STRANGER.

BRITAIN'S SECOND DARKEST DAY...

DEPORTING GEERT WILDERS WAS SHAMEFUL.

THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT DID THE BIDDING OF THE JIHADO-THUGS.



THIS IS THE EPITOME OF DHIMMITUDE.

A BILL WHICH NO ONE HAS READ CAN'T POSSIBLY BE GOOD

LAUTENBERG SAID NO DEM SENATORS WILL READ IT. THEY DIDN'T POST IT FOR 48 HOURS AS THEY PROMISED THEY WOULD.
  • IF THEY THINK PASSING SOMETHING SO MOMENTOUS SO QUICKLY WITH SO LITTLE DUE DILIGENCE WILL HELP THE USA THEN THEY'RE IDIOTS BORDERING ON INSANITY.
  • BUT, IF ALL THEY REALLY WANT TO DO IS PASS A TRILLION DOLLAR LAUNDRY LIST OF LEFTIST SPENDING PROGRAMS, THEN I GUESS THAT THIS IS HOW IT'S DONE.
SICKENING.
  • BUT THERE'S A SILVER LINING: IT WILL TAKE TWO YEARS FOR MOST THE MONEY TO GET SPENT.
  • DURING THAT TIME WE CAN EXPOSE THE SPENDING AND THOSE WHO PASSED FOR WHAT THEY REALLY ARE.
  • AND RETAKE BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS IN 2010.

ANOTHER OBAMA CABINET MISTAKE: SELECTED WRONG GEITHNER - TIM INSTEAD OF AURA CRISTINA!

TOO BAD FOR AMERICA, OBAMA CHOSE TIM GEITHNER - NOT ONLY A TAX CHEAT, BUT A DUD:


HE SHOULD HAVE CHOSEN AURA CRISTINA GEITHNER:


SHE'D BE VIAGRA FOR THE BANKING SYSTEM...






The Week On The Gathering Storm

Listen to The Gathering Storm Radio Show, which WC and I cohost. The show broadcasts live every Friday beginning at noon, Pacific Time.

The call-in number is (646) 915-9870.

Callers welcome!

Our guests for the first half hour are Yoni Tidi, who will discuss with us for a few minutes the recent results in the Israeli election, and, for the remainder of that half hour, Ilana Freedman, CEO of Gerard Group International. Read her recent article "5 Minutes to Midnight - Dangerous Times" HERE.



Our guest for the second half hour is Ayaan Hirsi Ali, author of The Caged Virgin and Infidel, and one of the founders of The Foundation for Freedom of Expression. You can read more about Ayaan Hirsi Ali HERE and HERE.




Listen to the February 6, 2009 edition of The Gathering Storm Radio Show, live or later, by CLICKING HERE.

-----------------

UPCOMING SHOWS:
February 20: Cinnamon Stillwell, Yid With Lid, and Blue Heeler (aka Gravelrash)
February 27: Chaim and Elisabeth of Austria
March 6: Mohammed Abdul and Sabir
March 13: Elmer's Brother
March 20: Dr. Paul L. Williams

WARNINGS GIVEN, BUT IT'S STILL FULL STEAM AHEAD

Just as with the Titanic.

From this article in the Washington Times:
President Obama's economic recovery package will actually hurt the economy more in the long run than if he were to do nothing, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday.

CBO, the official scorekeepers for legislation, said the House and Senate bills will help in the short term but result in so much government debt that within a few years they would crowd out private investment, actually leading to a lower Gross Domestic Product over the next 10 years than if the government had done nothing....

Thursday, February 12, 2009

IRELAND'S COLDEST DECEMBER-JANUARY IN 18 YEARS

ACN:
Night time temperatures according to the Met Office have dropped down as low as minus 5 degrees in some areas of the country. The average in this area ranged between -3 and -5. Overall it is the coldest December/January period since 1991.
SOMEONE TELL GORE TO STFU, AND OBAMA TO STOP WASTING TAX DOLLARS ON THE "GREEN" ECONOMY.

MEXICAN POLITICIAN DISCOVERS ULTIMATE VOTE-MACHINE: VIAGRA

NYTIMES:
With midterm elections looming in July, Mayor Marcelo Ebrard has been rather creative in his attempts to make life more livable for the people of this sprawling metropolis, which finds itself clogged with traffic, overwhelmed by smog, prowled by criminals and reeling from the global financial crisis.

The mayor dumps sand at public pools to create artificial beaches. He bans cars from major roadways on Sundays and turns them into sprawling bike paths. The largest skating rink in the world, one that makes Rockefeller Center’s patch of ice look puny, went up in the Zócalo, Mexico City’s central square, for the second straight year over the Christmas holidays.

This weekend, for Valentine’s Day, the government is sponsoring a mass kiss-in, in an attempt to break the world record and raise awareness about domestic violence. “Bésame Mucho,” or “Kiss me a lot,” was recently adopted as the city’s motto by tourism officials, and Mr. Ebrard is expected to preside over the event, though his staff was not sure whether he would be publicly smooching his wife, a former soap opera actress.

But the free Viagra is what had Mr. Posadas, a retiree, hemming and hawing on a recent afternoon. After reading an announcement about Mr. Ebrard’s latest gesture, he summoned the courage to broach the topic of his erectile dysfunction at a local government health center. After undergoing an in-depth health exam and receiving a lecture on the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases, Mr. Posadas recently became among the first men in the city to be issued a handful of government-subsidized pills.

Apparently, they worked. “Now, I’m able to fulfill my wife,” he said. Mr. Posadas, the father of two and grandfather of six, acknowledged that his sex life had slowed somewhat in recent years.

The initiative may be more about politics than anything else, and with nationwide elections looming in July, candidates across Mexico are beginning to lay the groundwork for their campaigns.
LAYING GROUNDWORK FOR THE CAMPAIGN.

OY.

IS THIS A JUDICIOUS USE OF TAXPAYER MONEY?

NO.

WHICH MEANS IT'S BOUND TO SOON TO COME TO A DEMOCRAT PARTY NEAR YOU.

WHAT IS IT ABOUT THE DUTCH!? FIRST AYAAN HISRSI ALI AND NOW GEERT WILDERS. THEY ARE SUCH TOUBLE MAKERS!


THE DUTCH ARE TROUBLEMAKERS.

LIKE THE JOOOOOOZE.

AND THE WIVES OF WIFEBEATERS.

THANK GOD THE BRITISH KNOW WHO THE REAL BAD GUYS ARE.

THE QUEEN MUST BE SO PROUD.

The world just doesn't understand the genius of Barack Obama




Barack Obama and the Wisdom of Crowds


OBAMA'S GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENT SO FAR: CRAPPING UP THE PLACE AS BADLY IN 4 WEEKS AS CARTER DID IN FOUR YEARS!



A MORE SERIOUS TAKE HERE.
  • SERIOUSLY, IT'S ALMOST OVER: OBAMA HAS ALMOST ENTIRELY LOST THE ABILITY TO WRITE HIS OWN NARRATIVE.
  • JUST AS FORD - THE SUPER ATHLETE - BECAME THE PHYSICAL BUMBLER, AND PALIN THE IDIOT, AND QUAYLE THE DEER IN HEADLAMPS, OBAMA IS BECOMING SEEN AS THE INCOMPETENT ONE.
  • A FEW MORE WEEKS AND THE MONIKER WILL BE IRREVOCABLE.

GREGG WITHDRAWS - TURNS DOWN CHANCE TO SERVE AS U.S. COMMERCE SECRETARY OVER FUNDAMENTAL DIFFERENCES WITH OBAMA

From Drudge Report:

Senator Gregg Statement on His Withdrawal for Consideration of U.S. Commerce Secretary 

Sen. Gregg stated, “I want to thank the President for nominating me to serve in his Cabinet as Secretary of Commerce. This was a great honor, and I had felt that I could bring some views and ideas that would assist him in governing during this difficult time. I especially admire his willingness to reach across the aisle. 

“However, it has become apparent during this process that this will not work for me as
I have found that on issues such as the stimulus package and the Census there are irresolvable conflicts for me. Prior to accepting this post, we had discussed these and other potential differences, but unfortunately we did not adequately focus on these concerns. We are functioning from a different set of views on many critical items of policy. 

“Obviously the President requires a team that is fully supportive of all his initiatives. 

“I greatly admire President Obama and know our country will benefit from his leadership, but at this time I must withdraw my name from consideration for this position. 

“As we move forward, I expect there will be many issues and initiatives where I can and will work to assure the success of the President’s proposals. This will certainly be a goal of mine. 

“Kathy and I also want to specifically thank Governor Lynch and Bonnie Newman for their friendship and assistance during this period. In addition we wish to thank all the people, especially in New Hampshire, who have been so kind and generous in their supportive comments. 

“As a further matter of clarification, nothing about the vetting process played any role in this decision. I will continue to represent the people of New Hampshire in the United States Senate.” 




From Politico:

In an interview with Politico Thursday afternoon, Gregg said he “should have faced up” to the conflicts he felt earlier. 

“I’ve been my own person, and I began to wonder if I could be an effective team player,” the New Hampshire Republican said.

VOTING PERCENTAGE WAS HIGHER THAN REPORTED

According to this news clip, 72 percent of eligible voters took part in Israel's election. Yes, that's definitely higher than 3 years ago.

LIKUD KADIMA ALLIANCE?

Isreali National News is reporting that Likud has offered Kadima a number of cabinet positions, in order to form of a government together:

Senior aides in the Likud party said late Wednesday that chairman Binyamin Netanyahu has offered Kadima two senior Cabinet positions in exchange for its joining a nation unity government.

The two parties comprise 55 Knesset seats, leaving the Likud the option of completing the government with religious and strongly nationalist parties or Israel Is Our Home (Yisrael Beiteinu).


Kadima reportedly was offered to choose among the defense, finance and foreign affairs ministries. (Read full article here)

The Jerusalem Post denotes that both Likud and Kadima insiders are privately conveying the accepted political reality that both parties, for historical reasons, will probably have to unite.

The DEBKA File asserts that Netanyahu proffered 10 portfolios to Livni, no rotating leadership and desires to incorporate Labor head Ehud Barak into his coalition.

On the Kadima front, however, Livni is pushing Avigdor Lieberman very hard to, at a modicum, sway him to recommend to Pres. Shimon Peres that she get a first shot to form a new administration.

Access Benyamin Netanyahu-Likud's official home page here, Facebook profile here, You Tube site here and FlickR photostream here and Twitter him here.


LEXICON CHECK: "FIRST 100 DAYS"

From this essay entitled "Runaway Stimulus" by George F. Will:
...[W]e should remember that it was not FDR's initial burst of activity in 1933 that put the phrase "100 days" into the Western lexicon. It was Napoleon's frenetic trajectory in 1815 that began with his escape from Elba and ended near the Belgian village of Waterloo....
Kathleen Parker, the day before Will's column appeared, wrote a scathing evaluation of Barack Hussein Obama's first weeks as President of the United States in her essay "So Far, Amateur Hour." Excerpt:
...Many suspected that Obama wasn't quite ready, but kept their fingers crossed. Optimistic disappointment is the new holding pattern.

What's missing from Obama's performance...[is] the experience they tried to pretend didn't really matter....

Absent is maturity -- that grown-up quality of leadership that is palpable when the real deal enters a room. There's a reason why elders are respected. They have something the rest of us don't have -- yet -- because we haven't lived long enough. We haven't made the really tough decisions, the ones that are often unpopular.

[...]

Obama wants too much to be liked. This isn't a character flaw. In fact his winning personality and likability have served him well through the years. Growing up in multiple cultures -- black and white, American and Indonesian -- he had to learn how to get along. By all accounts, he became easy company.

But there's a price one pays in becoming president. Giving up being liked is the ultimate public sacrifice....

[...]

In Elkhart, the president seemed locked in campaign mode, still wooing the crowd and seeking approval. At his news conference, the overriding impression was of a man not fully in control of his message or his material....
At this time in America's history, we cannot afford an amateur at our nation's helm. But such an amateur is exactly what the electorate swept into office on November 4.

It remains to be seen exactly how much long-term damage BHO, more concerned with garnering adulation than governing responsibly, can do. It also remains to be seen how much longer BHO can remain "The One," even in the eyes of those who so recently adored and worshiped him.

Have BHO and his followers ever read Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem "Ozymandias" and understood the lesson contained therein?
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

DON'T BE A DUPE OF LEFTIST HYSTERIA - ON PORKAPLAZOOZA OR AGW

OBAMA LIES ABOUT THE SEVERITY OF THE CURRENT RECESSION, AND ABOUT THE PROPOSALS OF THE OPPOSITION, AND WARNS OF CATASTROPHE IF WE DON'T PASS HIS PORKAPALOOZA.

HE SAYS THE DEBATE IS OVER.

SOUND LIKE A FAMILIAR TACTIC?

IT IS.



HERE:
The planet will be in "huge trouble" unless Barack Obama makes strides in tackling climate change, says a leading scientist.

Prof James McCarthy spoke on the eve of the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), which he heads.

The US president has just four years to save the planet, said Prof McCarthy.

If major policy changes do not happen within Mr Obama's term of office, they will not happen at all, he warned.
  • GORE USES THE SAME "SKY IS FALLING" SCHPIEL. AND ALSO SAYS THERE'S CONSENSUS - THAT THE DEBATE IS OVER.
  • MEANWHILE, THE LEFT TELLS US TO STOP WORRYING SO MUCH ABOUT ANOTHER JIHADO-TERRORIST ATTACK -
  • (AND SAY THAT WE DON'T NEED GITMO OR THE NSA INTERCEPT PROGRAM OR THE SWIFT MONITORING PROGRAM ETC - EVEN THOUGH JIHADOMANIACS HAVE ATTACKED 12,000 TIMES SINCE 9/11, KILLING AND INJURING TENS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE OF ALL CREEDS, RACES, GENDERS, NATIONALITIES ON EVERY CONTINENT).
  • THEY SEE THEMSELVES AS REALITY-BASED.
  • NO, NO.
  • KOOL-AID BASED.
DISSENT ACCORDINGLY.

A PERSON IS A PERSON, NO MATTER HOW SMALL - EVEN 12... EVEN A FETUS

VIA THE OTHER MCCAIN:

SOCIALISM: THE ROAD TO SERFDOM IS PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS

Click pick to see a recent post on the many similarities between
Obama's program and most of Adoph Hitler's 25 point program.

WHY DOESN'T CONGRESS JUST GET IT OVER WITH AND DECLARE OBAMA PRESIDENT FOR LIFE!


"ROAD TO SERFDOM" ROLLOVER FUN FROM SONDRAK.

DEMOCRATS AND OBAMA BREAKING PROMISES AS THEY BUST THE BANK!

DEMOCRATS’ MIDNIGHT “STIMULUS” POWER PLAY

Posted by Dave on February 11th, 2009

So this is “transparency” under the Democratic regime. . .

It appears that Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Reid’s staff met all through the night in secret with Democratic conferees’ staff to cobble together the “stimulus” conference report. Republican conferees were frozen out.

The objective appears to be to produce a final conference report on the trillion-dollar spending bill by this afternoon so that floor action can take place in both chambers by Thursday.

They intend to ram this trillion-dollar spending bill through with as little debate and scrutiny as possible.

The House voted unanimously yesterday in support of a Republican measure stating that the American people should have 48 hours to review the bill prior to passage. Will Democrats follow through? Or will they do the opposite of what they voted to do yesterday?

THE DEMOCRATS AND OBAMA ARE BREAKING PROMISES AS THEY BUST THE BANK!

WE MUST MAKE SURE THE DEMS PAY THE PRICE IN 2010 AND HELP THE GOP RETAKE THE HOUSE AND THE SENATE!

GATEWAY HAS MORE - CHECK THIS OUT!


THE CULT OF OBAMA IN FLORIDA



Hat Tip: Weasel Zippers

The interloping "Messiah" came down to my home state yesterday and graced us with his presence, in cahoots with that back stabbing, effeminate, lackey of a RINO, Gov. Charlie "I really like Females" Crist!

As Zip points out, check out that psychotic looking, white groupie at the 56 seconds mark.

CLOSE RACE, BUT RIGHT WING BLOC IS MAJORITY

I'm going to add more to this topic later, but for now, the result is: while Kadima has one seat more than Likud (28-27), the right-wing bloc itself has more than the left-wing bloc (65-55).

More on this later.

Update: okay, now I'm ready to say more. As Alison Kaplan Sommer tells here, any celebrating that Tzipi Livni and company may be doing at their HQ could be short-lived. Because as told already, the right-wing bloc is the real winner here, and could have an easier time forming a coalition. The army vote does need to be counted yet though.

Of course, one has to wonder just where Avigdor Lieberman is headed, and if he'll cooperate at his end. But even if he and his party were to go with Kadima, it'd still be hard to form a stable coalition, because even with Labor, it's not enough to form a coalition.

Speaking of which, Labor suffered the worst defeat of their entire existence in the Knesset, falling to barely 13 seats. That's not good news for Ehud Barak, who could be facing a backlash in his own party.

Likud, while they may be a seat behind Livni, did manage to double their Knesset representation back to a good number, and have some good members on their list now, including Tzipi Hotobeli, a religious-Zionist member who used to work as a reporter.

Now, it remains to be seen just where things are headed from here.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

AFTER ONLY THREE WEEKS OF OBAMA, AMERICA THINKS IT'S TIME FOR A DO OVER

GOP ASCENDANT.

THANKS TO THE INCOMPETENTLY NAIVE AND CORRUPT AND PORKULICIOUSLY LEFT-WING OBAMA AND PELOSI AND REID.

IS RAHM EMANUEL BLOWING IT - OR JUST DOING BARACK'S BIDDING?

Two of the biggest problems that Obama has yet faced both show Rahm Emanuel to be unreliable:

FIRST: Rahm was deep in the Blago Affair.

And SECOND, he was Pelosi's number 2 - so he either ceded Nancy the power to do whatever the fuck she wanted with the Stimulus Bill or failed to reign her in.

Both have hurt Obama.

There;'s another explanation: he's doing EXACTLY what Obama wants. Which would mean Obama was in deep with the Blago Affair and wanted EVERYTHING in the House Bill.

Hmmm... seeing as Obama is a CREATURE of the Cook Coumty Machine and the SEIU... the answer probably is: HE'S DOING OBAMA'S BIDDING.

Or should I say THE MACHINE'S BIDDING.

OBAMA: EFFECTIVE AGAINST STRAW MEN BUT NOT REAL PROBLEMS

JAY COST IS RIGHT ON. EXCERPT:
.. time and again in this press conference, we saw the President mischaracterize the Republican position. That's not to say that no Republicans (or conservatives) hold the views that the President claimed they do (though I don't think anybody is opposed to modernizing government buildings!). The point is that none of these views reflect the median Republican position, let alone the "left-leaning" position of the kinds of Republicans who could be brought into a Democrat-led initiative like this stimulus bill.
RELIAPUNDIT: OBAMA CAN NEVER GET SOMETHING EFFECTIVE DONE IF HE'S BUSY SLAYING FICTIONAL ADVERSARIES.

YOU MIGHT BE ABLE TO WIN DEBATES WITH THIS TATCIC BUT YOU CAN NEVER DEVELOP EFFECTIVE POLICY.

Who'da Thunkit Possible? Geithner As Bad As Obama

NYTIMES: "Stocks Slide as New Bailout Disappoints"

Geithner's Plan Faulted for Lack of Detail; Dow Off 4.6%
By JACK HEALY 4:23 PM ET

Stock prices tumbled in the minutes after Mr. Geithner unveiled the new proposal at 11 a.m. Investors said the plan raised more questions than it answered.

Geithner did as well here as he did explaining his tax cheating.


Obama should fire him now, before it's too late - before a recession becomes CATASTROPHIC!


I had expected a better showing from Geithner; I was wrong; he's as bad as they come.


NOT READY FOR PRIME TIME - JUST LIKE HIS BOSS!

I VOTED EARLY TODAY

Here we are on election day in Israel, and I went to my local polling station to vote, casting my ballot for the Likud. And I sure hope that more people are learning their lesson this year, and besides going to vote, that they're doing so responsibly, though I have a feeling that there will be those who don't, which is a shame.

Now, let us see what the results will be tonight.

Monday, February 09, 2009

REAGAN VERSUS OBAMA: IS GOVERNMENT THE PROBLEM OR THE SOLUTION?



OBAMA - FIRST PRESS CONFERENCE AS PRESIDENT
President Obama said Monday that "only government" can shake the country out of recession, as he tried to settle doubts about his administration's costly economic recovery package during a prime-time press conference.

Obama painted a bleak picture of the state of the economy as he described scenes "across America" in which job-seekers are standing in long lines for scarce opportunities at employment.

He pointed to such scenes as proof the country is in a "full-blown crisis" and needs a drastic government response.

The president warned that a failure to act could "turn a crisis into a catastrophe," and urged lawmakers to get a bill to his desk without delay.

"It is absolutely true that we can't depend on government alone to create jobs or economic growth," he said.

"But at this particular moment, with the private sector so weakened by this recession, the federal government is the only entity left with the resources to jolt our economy back into life.

It is only government that can break the vicious cycle where lost jobs lead to people spending less money which leads to even more layoffs."
REAGAN - FIRST INAUGURAL:
These United States are confronted with an economic affliction of great proportions.

We suffer from the longest and one of the worst sustained inflations in our national history.

It distorts our economic decisions, penalizes thrift, and crushes the struggling young and the fixed-income elderly alike. It threatens to shatter the lives of millions of our people.
Idle industries have cast workers into unemployment, human misery, and personal indignity.

Those who do work are denied a fair return for their labor by a tax system which penalizes successful achievement and keeps us from maintaining full productivity.


But great as our tax burden is, it has not kept pace with public spending.

For decades we have piled deficit upon deficit, mortgaging our future and our children's future for the temporary convenience of the present.

To continue this long trend is to guarantee tremendous social, cultural, political, and economic upheavals.


You and I, as individuals, can, by borrowing, live beyond our means, but for only a limited period of time.

Why, then, should we think that collectively, as a nation, we're not bound by that same limitation?

We must act today in order to preserve tomorrow. And let there be no misunderstanding: We are going to begin to act, beginning today.


The economic ills we suffer have come upon us over several decades. They will not go away in days, weeks, or months, but they will go away. They will go away because we as Americans have the capacity now, as we've had in the past, to do whatever needs to be done to preserve this last and greatest bastion of freedom.

In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.
REAGAN WAS RIGHT THEN, AND NOW.

OBAMA IS WRONG. SOCIALISM IS THE ROAD TO SERFDOM - ALWAYS HAS BEEN AND ALWAYS WILL BE.

UNDER OBAMA, IT APPEARS THE USA IS REAPEATING THE ERRORS OF CLEMENT ATLEE, ET AL.

SIGH.

WE NEED ANOTHER REAGAN - OR THATCHER. NOW.

THE CHICAGO MACHINE RUNS THE WHITE HOUSE AND WROTE THE STIMULUS PACKAGE: "IT'S A DEMOCRAT PATRONAGE BILL"

DOUG HAS THE DETAILS; EXCERPT:
"... I was in a meeting after Obama got elected and I was told by the Democratic officials in that meeting that we were gonna give billions of dollars that was gonna come down the pike, our way, and what we were to do with it was we were supposed to do with it...

We are gonna build an army of Democratic patronage jobs.... gonna completely freeze up the Republicans forever and ever...

It's a job-capturing system, the same one they have in Chicago... everyone's asking 'why isn't that money being released until 2011 and 2012?' "
RTWT.

THIS RECESSION IS NOWHERE NEAR THE WORST SINCE THE DEPRESSION: THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS SCOOPS EVERYONE BY TWO WEEKS

Al Reynolds wrote about it today in the NYPOST:
PRESIDENT Obama, writing in The Washington Post, said, "By now, it's clear to everyone that we have inherited an economic crisis as deep and dire as any since the days of the Great Depression." But how would we know if and when this crisis is really more "deep and dire" than others? Many may believe we're in the worst recession since the Great Depression, if only because politicians and the press keep repeating that claim. But we need to compare some facts to discern whether this recession is (or will be) "worse" in some sense than those of 1973-75 or 1981-82.

Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf told the House Budget Committee that if the economy is still contracting by mid-year, then this recession will be longer than the 1981-82 and 1973-75 downturns, each of which lasted 16 months. Yet this recession was quite mild until last September.

And the severity and human discomfort of downturns can't be measured by their duration.
A wise adviser to President John Kennedy, Arthur Okun of Yale, devised the "misery index" to gauge the pain of economic crisis - a measure that simply adds together the unemployment rate and the inflation rate.

It hit 22 percent in June 1980, during an inflationary recession that preceded the Fed's disinflationary squeeze of 1981-82.

The misery index was nearly as bad in January 1975, at 19.9 percent.
Assuming inflation was close to zero this January, the misery index would have been roughly the same as the unemployment rate, or 7.6 percent.

By this standard, we have a very long way to go before the economy feels nearly as miserable as it did in 1975 or 1980.
(Via JWF - who has more.)

OTHERS LINKED TO THE ARTICLE:
How Bad Is this Economic Downturn? (by Don Boudreaux)
...left -- remain so stubbornly blind to the reality of the current downturn, as explained today by Alan Reynolds. Here's a sample paragraph:
Preview Feed Don Boudreaux for Cafe Hayek - Found 10 hours ago
Un-recommended reading
...the case that we are in a recession. Recessions, Reynolds writes, “have almost always ended within a year or so, before there was a Federal...
Preview Feed tnr1.com for The Plank - Found 8 hours ago
Is it really that bad? Nope...
Too much fear mongering not enough reality and action...
Preview Feed Steve Levy for Everyone's Blog Posts - RecruitingBlogs.com - Found 4 hours ago
Alan Reynolds Embraces Deflation
A wise adviser to President John Kennedy, Arthur Okun of Yale, devised the “misery index” to gauge the pain of economic crisis - a measure that
Preview Feed myglesias for Matthew Yglesias - Found 7 hours ago
Politics of Money Radio AM1000 KCEO, 1-2pm Today...
Amazon.com Press Conference Sparks Kindle Speculation - Bloomberg ... Economy. It's a Recession, not a 'Catastrophe' - Alan Reynolds, New York...
Preview Feed Politics of Money - Found 18 hours ago
How to gauge Recession...
...titled,It's a Recession not a Catastrophe. ... To see the Misery Index now and historically, go here: http://www.miseryindex.us/
Preview Feed ethics for Global Affairs Forum, Politics, Law, Science, Health - Found 10 hours ago
The Stimulus Bill -- Much Overkill, Little effectiveness
Check it out at: http://www.nypost.com/seven/02092009/po...
Objective Conservative for Objective Conservative - Found 17 hours ago
Daily Links
Goldman Sachs Wants Out Of TARP. It's A Recession, Not A Catastrophe. WTO Members Meet To Assess Growing Protectionism...
noreply@blogger.com (JJG) for The GW Patriot - Found 6 hours ago
More on that unhelpful “catastrophe” talk
It’s a recession, not a ‘catastrophe’…A wise adviser to President John Kennedy, Arthur Okun of Yale, devised the “misery index” to
admin for Dinocrat - Found 7 hours ago
WELL, WE SCOOPED THEM ALL ON THIS. ALL OF THEM. EVERY SINGLE ONE.

We first posted this on 1/26/09:
THE MISERY INDEX - THEN AND NOW
WIKI:
The misery index is an economic indicator, created by economist Arthur Okun, and found by adding the unemployment rate to the inflation rate.

... During the
Presidential campaign of 1976, Democratic candidate Jimmy Carter made frequent references to the Misery Index, which by the summer of 1976 was at 13.57%.

Carter stated that no man responsible for giving a country a misery index that high had a right to even ask to be President.

Carter won the 1976 election.

However, by 1980, when President Carter was running for re-election against
Ronald Reagan, the Misery Index had reached an all-time high of 21.98%. Carter lost the election to Reagan.
  • REAGAN DIDN'T TELL US THAT THE WORST WAS YET TO COME.
  • REAGAN TOLD US IT WAS MORNING IN AMERICA, THAT OUR BEST DAYS WERE STILL AHEAD OF US.
  • AND HE HELPED US MAKE THAT TRUE.
TODAY, THE MISERY INDEX IS 8.
  • EIGHT. NOT 22.
  • THAT MEASN THE MISERY INDEX IS ONE-THIRD OF WHAT IT WAS THEN.
  • YET OBAMA TELLS US WE NEED A TRILLION DOLLAR STIMULUS PACKAGE, AND THAT THE WORST IS YET TO COME.
  • AND THAT WE MUST MUST MUST PASS HIS "STIMULUS PACKAGE" TO FIX THE ECONOMY.
  • THAT'S NOT OPTIMISM; IT'S PESSIMISM AND SOCIALISM.
And again, 1/28/09:
BY OFFFERING OPTIMISTIC CONSERVATISM AND CUTTING TAXES, REAGAN SAVED US DURING MUCH WORSE TIMES
THOUGH THE MISERY INDEX WAS THREE TIMES GREATER THEN THAN NOW, REAGAN NEVER TRASH-TALKED THE US ECONOMY.

REAGAN
NEVER LOST FAITH IN AMERICA OR THE FREE MARKET.

BY REMAINING TRUE TO OUR FIRST PRINCIPLES,
BY STRENGTHENING OUR NATIONAL SECURITY,
AND BY CUTTING TAXES,
REAGAN HELPED AMERICA RENEW ITSELF.



TO GET OUT OF OUR CURRENT RECESSION,
WE NEED MORE REAGANOMICS AND LESS OBAMANOMICS.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 12:00 AM ; Permalink;
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