the many faces of Obama....

How is that stimulus working?

Since April 2009, the administration spent roughly $90 billion, or 18 percent of the total stimulus spending, on top of $62 billion in tax relief. During that time, the unemployment rate grew from 8.9 percent to 9.8 percent. And according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, job losses accelerated in September. As we see here, the current unemployment rate is already far above the 8.8 percent the administration said the rate would top out at next year without a stimulus.

How can we explain this? For starters it seems the administration misjudged the severity of potential job losses.

When the government grows by $1, the private sector shrinks by 20 cents, according to one estimate.

With respect to the stimulus, there are two theories on why unemployment keeps rising despite stimulus dollars. Some economists, including Paul Krugman, have argued that the problem with President Obama’s plan is that it doesn't spend enough. Hence, they think that a second stimulus is needed. Yet it is hard to argue that we already need another stimulus when less than a quarter of the money has been spent.

Other economists are arguing that the money is not being spent fast enough. Indeed, at this rate, the economy is likely to have recovered before most of the stimulus money has been spent.

One potential problem with the slow rate of spending is highlighted by some new Keynesians who typically teach that government spending can only grow the economy in the short run. After that, government spending actually hurts the private sector. Under the current plan, only 25 percent of the total spending will take place in 2009 (within four years all the money will be spent). That is too slow, they claim, since by the time the economy starts recovering, most of the stimulus money will remain unspent and, by then, government spending will actually hurt the economy.

It is hard to argue that we already need another stimulus when less than a quarter of the money has been spent.

So, what do the data say? There are few studies on the issue, but two have found that government spending shrinks the private sector, at least a little. Looking at war spending, Harvard University’s economist Robert Barro estimates that the multiplier of government spending is 0.8: when the government grows by $1, the private sector shrinks by 20 cents. Also, using a variable that takes into account the fact that military spending is anticipated several quarters before it actually occurs, the University of San Diego’s Valerie Ramey has shown how U.S. military spending influences GDP and estimates that the multiplier of government spending is between 0.6 (when World War II data is excluded) and 1 (when it is included). Thus both papers support the “crowding out” hypothesis.

More interestingly, in a recent Wall Street Journal piece, Barro and Charles Redlick add that while government spending during a period of average unemployment crowds out private investment, an increase in unemployment makes government intervention slightly more efficient. They write, “Our research also shows that greater weakness in the economy raises the estimated multiplier: It increases by around 0.1 for each two percentage points by which the unemployment rate exceeds its long-run median of 5.6%. Thus the estimated multiplier reaches 1.0 when the unemployment rate gets to about 12%.” In other words, it takes a lot of job losses for government spending to stop shrinking the private sector.

Putting aside the question of whether the stimulus is too small or being spent too slowly, what too many stimulus advocates overlook is that to spend money, the government needs to either borrow, tax, or print it (or combine these). Money taxed or borrowed from the private sector is money that firms cannot spend on goods or employees. The government’s slice of the pie gets bigger by making the rest of the pie smaller. This may explain in part why the stimulus has not translated into declining unemployment. from Veronique de Rugy is senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center

Obama could win Kentucky Derby, too

More B.S.: President Obama could win Kentucky Derby, too
By Howie Carr | Sunday, October 11, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com |

Either the Red Sox [team stats] win this afternoon at Fenway or they go home for the winter. There’s only one man who can absolutely guarantee this must-win game.

Now pitching for the Red Sox: Barack Hussein Nobel Obama, the southpaw who wants to get both of his paws on your wallet.

So what if he’s 48 and has never played the game? He’ll get the “W” - that’s the lesson of this Nobel Peace Prize nonsense. He can throw the ball in the dirt in front of home plate - strike one! He can toss it over the catcher’s head - strike two! He can roll it to the plate like he’s back in that Pennsylvania bowling alley - Yer out!

It’ll be a perfect perfect game: 81 pitches, 81 strikes, at least if the home-plate umpire knows what’s good for him, if he doesn’t want to be called a . . . well, you know what Barack’s Kool-Aid-swilling cheerleaders call anybody who dares say the emperor has no clothes.

Who are these rac- I mean, who are these nattering nabobs of negativism who say Barack Obama has done nothing to earn this latest handout? Of course he’s advanced the cause of world peace. Have you forgotten the Beer Summit?

Even as we speak, the Obama administration is trying to return Manuel Zelaya to power in Honduras - you know, the dear pal of Hugo Chavez who is holed up in the Brazilian embassy down there, claiming he is being poisoned with death rays by “Israeli mercenaries.” Barack really knows how to pick ’em, doesn’t he?

Is Barack still trying to quit smoking? Let’s give him the Nobel Prize for Medicine. I heard he’s finally learned the phrase “p/e” stands for price-to-earnings ratio. Surely that merits the Nobel Prize for Economics.

The head of the IRS, Tim Geithner, is an admitted serial tax cheat. Ditto, the head of the House tax-writing committee, Charles Rangel. Do they have a Nobel Prize yet for irony. Or hypocrisy?

Wasn’t it nice of Barack to halfheartedly put on his self-deprecating hat Friday at the White House, saying, “I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures.”

More insincere words have never been spoken. What was it Winston Churchill who said of his rival Clement Atlee: “Mr. Atlee is a very modest man. But then he has much to be modest about.”

Don’t you ever dare say anything like that about Barack or they’ll call you a - well, you know they’ll call you, at least on MSNBC, where Comrade Chris and Comrade Keith both got tingles up their legs on Friday.

Barack is a guy who was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple. When are we going to see his SAT and LSAT scores? Must have been very good, considering he was admitted to Columbia and Harvard Law, right? Got to be editor of the Harvard Law Review without writing a single article - how do these things happen?

The Norwegian moonbat in charge of these latest reparations - I mean very-well-deserved honors - said the $1.4 million payoff, er, prize, is intended to “contribute a little bit to enhance what he is trying to do.” Hmmm. Around here, we call that walking-around money. You know, to “grease a few guys,” as one indictment put it, quoting a solon who received a much smaller “prize.”

Why don’t we just give Barack the Triple Crown right now? Not just the baseball Triple Crown, but the Triple Crown of horseracing too - he deserves it as much as he deserves this next trip to Scandinavia, a make-up call for losing the Olympics in Copenhagen.

Is it too early to get down a bet on the Kentucky Derby? I want Barack. Win, place AND show.

Nobel Prize for Being the Big "O"

"In his 1895 will, award founder Alfred Nobel stipulated that the peace prize should go “to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations and the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the formation and spreading of peace congresses.”

And that guy is… President Barack Obama?" ...Michael Graham

"Today is a good day because it has been confirmed that Nobel Prizes are awarded on ideology, not accomplishments. Congrats Barack, you are now in the company of terrorists (Arafat), frauds (Menchu), racists (Maathi) and just plain loons (Carter) and all the other leftists that have won the award." Chris Hogan

I can't say it any better...

What happened to global warming Al?

So I read that the warmest year recorded globally was not in 2008 or 2007, but in 1998!
You read this right boys and girls. No increase in global temps in 11 years. Al? Yo Al? Where art thou?

Chicago Olympics logo (if they won)

Obomba's Media Malpractice

So the "Big O" put on quite a show of docs yesterday. Trouble is, some of them "forgot" to wear their white coats to make for a "really big show." (kudos to Ed Sullivan. Besides having teleprompter issues of past, The "Big O" now needs a dress rehearsal...

He's beginning to morph into him

Is there media bias for the "Big O"?

You tell me...

The Ego has landed....

Kudo's to Drudge for the headline. I could not resist copying it. So the "Big O" flew a red eye over to try to sweet the corrupt IOC into bringing the Olympics to another corrupt place, Chi-town. Sorry "Big O"...no go. Even Oprah "Win-fall" couldn't sway them. Not even Michelle and her python biceps, ever so expanding booty a/k/a the "Big O's" missile defense shield! So what if you spent, what $1,000,000.00 to try to charm your way in. Rumor has it, the IOC didn't take too kindly of your arrogance in making your speech, then taking off and not even waiting for the selection. Typical "Big O". Me thinks this is the start of a slide downhill. May be time to start writing your memoirs, version 1 of 100 for your next gig in 2012.

My favorite politician....and must be great to party with....

Silvio Berlusconi calls Barack Obama tanned - again
Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's gaffe-prone prime minister, has again referred to US President Barack Obama as "suntanned", days after being snubbed by Michelle Obama at the G20 meeting in Pittsburgh.


By Nick Squires in Rome
Published: 7:29PM BST 27 Sep 2009
Previous

BERLUSCONI AND MICHELLE OBAMA: Silvio Berlusconi calls Barack Obama tanned - again
Mr Berlusconi addresses a crowd of cheering supporters in Milan on Sunday Photo: AFP/GETTY
BERLUSCONI AND MICHELLE OBAMA: Silvio Berlusconi calls Barack Obama tanned - again
Mrs Obama pointedly chose to shake Mr Berlusconi's hand rather than give him hug and a kiss Photo: AFP/GETTY

"I bring you greetings from a person who is called...a person who is sun-tanned...Barack Obama," the smiling 72-year-old politician told a crowd of cheering supporters in Milan on Sunday.

"You wouldn't believe it, but they go sunbathing at the beach together - his wife is also sun-tanned."


*
Silvio Berlusconi says he is 'paler' than Barack Obama

He said his rapport with America's first black president was "easy-going" and described Mr Obama as a "fine man" with a good sense of irony, as the crowd chanted "Silvio, Silvio" and his campaign slogan, "Thank goodness for Silvio".

At the G20 meeting last week, Mrs Obama pointedly chose to shake Mr Berlusconi's hand rather than give him hug and a kiss on the cheek, as she did to other world leaders.

Mrs Obama's reserve may have reflected White House reluctance to appear too cozy with a man who has been dogged since April by scandals over his personal life, including accusations that he "consorts with minors" and that he slept with a high-class prostitute at his private mansion in Rome.

Mr Berlusconi, famed for his year-round tan, sparked international outrage last November when he first described Mr Obama as "sun-tanned".

Later that month he reiterated the remark, saying that anyone who found it racist had no sense of humour and was an "imbecile".

At the weekend rally in Milan, Mr Berlusconi told supporters of his People of Freedom party that his government had scored a number of successes since being elected last year, claiming that he had acted swiftly to tackle the effects of the global economic crisis and ensure that Italy had a more solid banking system than many other countries.

"And we have introduced a new element into Italian politics: morality," said Mr Berlusconi, whose estranged wife, Veronica Lario, 53, has suggested that he is obsessed with chasing glamorous actresses and showgirls young enough to be his grand daughters.

throw Obama a life vest....

final thoughts on Ted Kennedy.....

Out of respect, I waited 24 hours after the passing of the "senior" Senator from Massachusetts.

The airwaves have been filled with the grand and glorious accolades of "good ole Ted."

What was conveniently left out were the following...

While I acknowledge the "Ted" spent his life on the public payroll and trying to spread his liberal ideology, the man who never held a real job. He did try to help the poor, immigrants and those whose vote he likely never got, as they didn't vote.

Ted was wrong in virtually every public policy. Some examples:

*He played advocate and appeased the Soviet Union and other totalitarian regimes.
*He opposed the Reagan/Thatcher/John Paul II confrontation of the Soviet Union (aka the "Evil Empire". He went so far as "to secretly reach out to the Soviet regime in 1983 with the motive of helping the Soviets defeat US policy. If Kennedy's political views had prevailed, millions of people would have remained trapped behind the Iron Curtain. Source: http://www.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=30980
*Ted supported big-government socialism of the 1960s. This have given us a bankrupt Medicare/Social Security system. President Clinton actually signed into law a welfare reform bill which undid the social and economic damage of 30 years of Ted Kennedy welfare policies.
*We can also thank Ted for today's illegal immigration disaster. His policy is traced directly to his Immigration "reform" of the 1960s. Hundreds of thousands of educated, high-value immigrants from Europe, Africa and Asia were effectively blocked from coming to the US, while low-skill, low-wage illegal immigrants have flooded across our border. Once they were here, these illegal aliens are and were sustained by tax-funded social services all advocated by, you guessed it...Ted Kennedy.
*Ted, known for his "adult beverage days", has a favorite D.C. restaurant, and the "Ted Kennedy Fun Room.." In the Summer of 1989 Kennedy and fellow Senator Chris Dodd were having lunch at famous Washington D.C. restaurant La Brasserie. Kennedy requested the attendance of waitress Carla Gaviglio. According to the Washington Times "When she put in an appearance in their private retreat - 'The Teddy Kennedy Fun Room' - the Massachusetts senator picked her up and heaved her onto a table. The crystal candlesticks and champagne glasses shattered as he grabbed her again and flung her on top of Dodd.

"Then Kennedy threw himself on top of the woman. The waitress implored Mr. Kennedy to 'Get off me!'

"Another waitress entered to find 'things all tipped over and Kennedy was on top, [the waitress] was in the middle and Dodd was on the bottom.' At that point the sandwich was disassembled." There are many more stories of this "gentleman." One of these stories came from a waitress friend of mine who somehow had his hand under her dress...
*Ted was expelled from Harvard for cheating on an exam in May 1951.
*Ted enlisted in the United States Army in June 1951. After basic training at Fort Dix, he requested assignment to Fort Holabird for Army Intelligence training, but was dropped after a few weeks without explanation.There Teddy went to Camp Gordon for training in the Military Police Corps.In June 1952, he was assigned to the honor guard at SHAPE headquarters in Paris. Good old Dad's political connections made sure that he was not deployed to Korean War. He was discharged in March 1953 as a private first class. (You can insert joke, here.)
*And, drum roll please, last but not least, Ted Kennedy was responsible for the death of a woman. Mary Jo Kopechne suffocated to death in his car, while he hid out until the next day, likely sleeping off a scotch filled nightmare. Ted lied to police. He then used his family's political power to evade all responsibility. If this had been you or I, we'd be a convicted criminal. On July 25, 1969, Teddy plead guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and was given a sentence of two months in jail, suspended.(of course) Later that night, he gave a national broadcast in which he said, "I regard as indefensible the fact that I did not report the accident to the police immediately." But, he denied driving under the influence of alcohol and denied any immoral conduct between him and Kopechne. He then asked the Massachusetts electorate whether he should stay or should he go and, much to our shock, shock, I say...he got a favorable response and stayed as the liberal lion of the Senate. In January 1970, an inquest into Kopechne's death took place in Edgartown, Massachusetts. At the request of Kennedy's lawyers (and his daddy), the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ordered the inquest be conducted in secret. The presiding judge, James A. Boyle, concluded that some aspects of Kennedy's story of that night were not true, and that "negligent driving appears to have contributed to the death of Mary Jo Kopechne." I am shocked! You don't say! A grand jury on Martha's Vineyard staged a two-day investigation in April 1970 but issued no indictment, after which Boyle made his inquest report public. (I wonder how many pay-offs were involved...) Ted made a comment that he deemed its conclusions "not justified."
There are many more tales to tell about the Camelot king. From the William Kennedy Smith rape trial in 1991 to the current fiasco of having to change Massachusetts state law, to allow U.S. Senate vacancies to be temporarily filled pending a special election. Funny how Ted had this law changed in 2004 to prevent former Republican Governor Mitt Romney from appointing a replacement for Senator John Kerry, a Democrat, in the event Kerry won the presidency. At this same time, Kennedy successfully made personal appeals to Massachusetts Democratic legislative leaders to pass the bill, which had been stalled prior to his request. The Boston Globe had reported that Ted was concerned that the people of Massachusetts would not be represented 5 months until a special election, after his passing. But he missed almost all of the Senate roll call votes this year. He did not have the stones to resign like he should of. I guess he did not really care that much, did he?

clearing out my cartoon/pic library....

I have been saving some funny pics on my desktop for a while..time to post 'em....

Hugh Hewitt has some interesting questions...

Hugh Hewitt: 10 August recess questions for your congressman
By: Hugh Hewitt
Examiner Columnist
August 3, 2009

Members of the House are back in their districts, and senators will join them in their states after next week. If they are doing their jobs - a big if - they will be meeting with constituents over the next month, and this is your chance to impact the debate on the radical proposals to restructure American medicine.
These proposals are now making their way towards a final debate and vote in the fall. Here are 10 questions for any meeting you might have or e-mail you might send. (And 10 answers any honest representative or senator would give you.)

1. Do you guarantee that I get to keep the plan I have and the doctor I have? ("I know you have heard the president say this repeatedly, but expert after expert has confirmed this is simply not true. Employers pick health plans, not employees, and if the new law puts forward a cheap 'government option/public plan,' employers will dump employees into it and pocket the savings as smart business people will do when given such a choice.")

2. Will the law require Members of Congress and federal employees to be enrolled in the "government option/public plan," and if not, why not? ("No, it won't. Of course not. Because the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) is a gold-plated, great plan that Congress will never give up for the cost-driven, tin-plated "government option/public plan.")

3. Will seniors be guaranteed joint replacements, stents, and the chemotherapy they need, or will they be forced to accept less-costly and less-effective alternatives? ("Of course they aren't going to get the best, most expensive treatments. Medicare is already nearly broke and the only way we can pay for it and the massive expansion of it to the uninsured is to ration care and take away the expensive treatment options.")

4. If seniors will be allowed the expensive but most effective treatments, how will costs be controlled? ("Like I said, the days of hip and knee replacements are gone when this plan passes. Get a cane.")

5. Will seniors have to wait longer for their treatments than they do now? ("Much longer. Doctors aren't going to want to see any 'government option' patients, and especially not time-consuming geezers.")

6. Will doctors see their payment schedules drop? ("Yes,dramatically. Some specialists, like anesthesiologists and pathologists will get creamed if Medicare rates or even slightly-higher-than-Medicare rates get adopted by the 'government option/public plan.'")

7. If their payments fall and they make less money, won't there be fewer doctors practicing medicine? ("Yes, far fewer. The job is often very hard, and even very caring people can't be expected to work that hard for much less money. Many will drop out, or open 'boutique' practices.")

8. Doesn't Canada have long lines for important surgeries? ("Yes, that is widely reported.")

9. How will making our system more like Canada's not mean longer lines and longer waits here? ("It will mean longer lines and waits, and shorter visits with the doctor when you do get in.")

10. Have you read the bill well enough to be interviewed about it on the radio by a conservative talk show host? ("C'mon. Of course I haven't and of course I won't. Have you seen even one extended interview with even one Member of Congress about the specifics of the bill with even a moderately skeptical journalist?")

Let me know if any of your representatives surprise me and say yes to the interview proposed in question 10, and I'll have them on the next day. But don't expect any Democrat to agree to extended interviews on the bill, even if it is the most civil of conversations.
The versions of the bill in the House are indefensible when scrutinized, so expect more and more rhetoric and fewer and fewer answers.

If and when seniors realize that AARP has sold them out and that they are going to be put in a long, long line to second-class treatments, the real blowback will begin, so sponsors of Obamacare will be doing their best to stay away from questions for the next month.

Examiner columnist Hugh Hewitt is a law professor at Chapman University Law School and a nationally syndicated radio talk show host who blogs daily at HughHewitt.com.

Obama-care...

Obama's birth certificate...

THE Birth Certificate - FINALLY!
NOW IT'S OFFICIAL! After spending $950,000 on attorneys to fend off releasing ANYTHING to prove he is a citizen of USA, Obama recently released his Hawaii birth certificate... ......and I hope, once and for all the matter will be dropped and I will not have five or six emails each day from all you ultra-right-wingers with a different conspiracy angle...
He was elected as our President and we need to get over the fact we lost... !! So please stop stirring up things and trying to discredit him with all these stupid and groundless rumors.....
Attached is a copy of his birth certificate and I hope this will put the matter to rest once and for all!
(Ooops, I can't find one.)

the Ten Commandments According to Obama...

Exclusive: July 16, 2009

The Ten Commandments According to Obama

By: Patriot Update

You can view the sources at this website: http://patriotupdate.com/exclusives/read/13


© 2009 The Patriot Update. Feel free to circulate this article, but please link / give credit to The Patriot Update.

After observing Obama on the campaign trail and during his first six months in office, we have concluded that our President lives and governs according to his own set of “Ten Commandments.” They’re certainly NOT the Ten Commandments you learned in Sunday School. In fact, many are the direct opposite! To prove that our conclusions are correct, you will find a link to source documentation for each commandment on the Patriot Update web site.

I. Thou shalt have no God in America, except for me. For we are no longer a Christian nation and, after all, I am the chosen One. (And like God, I do not have a birth certificate.) SOURCE

II. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, unless it is my face carved on Mt. Rushmore. SOURCE

III. Thou shalt not utter my middle name in vain (or in public). Only I can say Barack Hussein Obama. SOURCE

IV. Remember tax day, April 15th, to keep it holy. SOURCE

V. Honour thy father and thy mother until they are too old and sick to care for. They will cost our public-funded health-care system too much money. SOURCE

VI. Thou shalt not kill, unless you have an unwanted, unborn baby. For it would be an abomination to punish your daughter with a baby. SOURCE

VII. Thou shalt not commit adultery if you are conservative or a Republican. Liberals and Democrats are hereby forgiven for all of their infidelity and immorality, but the careers of conservatives will be forever destroyed. SOURCE

VIII. Thou shalt not steal, until you've been elected to public office. Only then is it acceptable to take money from hard-working, successful citizens and give it to those who do not work, illegal immigrants, or those who do not have the motivation to better their own lives. SOURCE

IX. Thou shalt not discriminate against thy neighbor unless they are conservative, Caucasian, or Christian. SOURCE

X. Thou shalt not covet because it is simply unnecessary. I will place such a heavy tax burden on those that have achieved the American Dream that, by the end of my term as President, nobody will have any wealth or material goods left for you to covet. SOURCE

Obama dreams (more like a nightmare..)

another "view" of Sgt. Crowley

Sergeant Crowley, the sole class act in this trio, helps the handicapped Professor Gates down the stairs, while Barack Obama, heedless of the infirmities of his friend and fellow victim of self-defined racial profiling, strides ahead on his own.

This picture becomes a metaphor for ObamaCare. The elderly are left in the back, with only the kindness of the Crowleys of the world, the stand up guys, to depend on. The government has other priorities.

This image will have genuine resonance. It captures something that older Americans in particular can relate to. The President presses ahead with a program that will tell them to take painkillers instead of getting that artificial hip.

At every stage of the entire Gates affair, Obama has provided a revealing tell. The "acted stupidly" blunder revealed that he automatically blames the police and thinks they really are stupid to begin with. It didn't trigger a single alarm bell in his mind as he figured out what to say.

Without his scripts, Obama is no longer the master performer.

from Moe Lauzier's blog...Moe, I could not of said it any better.