Just opened the Drudge Report and nearly spat my Coke all over my screen. Damn, there should be a warning when he posts something like this.
You
have
been
warned!
Today's News
Before I moved to WordPress, I used a pretty robust blogging application for the Mac called, iBlog. Unfortunately, the one man development team gave up and that forced me to jump headfirst into WordPress.
WordPress, undoubtedly is the best blogging platform out there, but the web interface often leaves me yearning for a desktop solution.
Last week, MacJournal came bundled with a bunch of other software from MacHeist.
In a nutshell, MacJournal allows you to blog and publish to a number of platforms, including MobileMe, Blogger, MoveableType, and TypePad.
And, unlike the web interface of WordPress, you can drag and drop pictures directly to the application.
For instance, as a test, here are some photos from last year’s Cincinnati Tea Party:
UPDATE: I’m typing this from WordPress. As you can see, the above posted just fine from MacJournal.
Tags: MacJorunal
I’m sure others have already pointed this out, but there are several constitutional issues in the way of passing Obama Care.
First, the Senate bill under consideration did not originate in the House. It was wholly conceived in the Senate. The current Senate bill has a revenue scheme, does it not?
The Constitution says this about about legislation that contains taxation provisions:
ARTICLE 1, SECTION 7:
All bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.
Now, as for the Slaughter strategy, which is described as this:
Here’s how it would work: The House would “deem” the main Senate bill to have passed without directly voting on it as long as the House approves a companion bill of amendments to the Senate bill. Link
Section 7, Article 1 says this, though:
But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by Yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively.
That’s right, our founding document, requires that all Bills will be voted upon.
The Slaughter strategy is an affront to this Republic. If attempted, it will be an attack upon the Republic. Should the Democrats proceed with this strategy, the Supreme Court will surely rule it unconstitutional, lest the people rise up to defend the fabric of our social contract.
Remember, should the Democrats attempt to pass Obama Care in this fashion, it will be they who are in open rebellion against the people.
If you need another example of why Keynesian economics just doesn’t work, you need go no further than your own backyard in Cincinnati.
The Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky unemployment rate jumped by nearly a full percentage point to 10.8 percent in January, according to data released Wednesday by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
It’s the first time during the current recession that the area has exceeded double digits. It’s also the highest rate locally since June 1983, when the rate hit 11.3 percent. The region’s all-time high on record is 12.5 percent, reached in January 1983.
Job cuts increased the number of unemployed people in the region to 120,200, the biggest number since 1970 when local records began to be kept. They made January the 11th consecutive month that the ranks of the local jobless have exceeded 100,000.
The big reason behind the jump in joblessness was that local employers cut 32,400 jobs from payrolls as compared with December, when the rate was 9.9 percent. Read more….
So under Obama’s Stimulus, the Greater Cincinnati Metro Statistical Area’s unemployment increased .9% in just one month!
Here’s a map of unemployment, by county, in the State of Ohio:
The unemployment rate stands at 10.8% in Ohio, 10.4% in Hamilton County and tops out at 18.6% in Noble 19.8% in Ottawa.
Ohio, what has the Stimulus done for you? I think the map says it all.
Tags: Ohio, unemployment
Wasn’t really sure how many people would show up today, considering that most Tea Partiers have jobs (I’m off on Wednesdays). Between 12 and 18 people (people came and went) showed up today across from Fountain Square.
Is that good? Bad? Not sure.
Just a note to one fellow protesters. Becoming aggressive and argumentative with people who disagree with you is counter productive, rude, and ultimately makes you (us) no friends. You were even antagonizing supporters because they wouldn’t sign the petition.
I’m pretty sure someone took you aside and told you to can it, as you kept your mouth shut for the rest of the protest. I’m glad someone else did it, because I don’t suffer this type of poor decorum, from right or left, graciously.
Our allies are the facts. Leave the aggressive behavior to the left.
Beyond that little hiccup, quite a number a people signed the petition against Obama Care, which was then delivered to offices of both Sherrod Brown and Steve Driehaus. A least 50 people stopped by to sign the petition, which I don’t think is too bad for the hour we were there.
With that being said, I urge Ohioans to call Sherrod Brown and I really implore my fellow West Siders to bombard the office of Steve Driehaus telling him to vote no on Obama Care. You can call Driehaus locally, at: (513) 684-2723.
Here are a few pictures from today:
Tags: Driehaus
This isn’t Mark Levin, the screamer, from his radio show. This is Mark Levin, the scholar. Hat tip to Doug Ross….
Imagine Obama invoking Montesquieu, Madison….
The far left that now leads this country, ran an incredible 223 billion dollar deficit this February. Currently, the Treasury site doesn’t display the February numbers, but the CBO has the rundown of the monthly figures here.
So here are the numbers for February:
Receipts were actually up, which at first glance might look like a good thing, but the CBO actually suggests otherwise and we will get back to that in a moment. Outlays, compared to last year were up $46 billion. Unfortunately, revenues were only up $16 billion and the deficit itself was $29 greater than last year.
Now, back to that revenue increase we saw in February. The CBO explains much of it away, as a one time gain:
A $7 billion increase in net corporate receiptes explains much of that gain. Gross corporate receipts in February were unusually high compared with receipts in the preceding months, suggesting that one-time factors unrelated to firms’ current profitability contributed to that increase. A gain of almost $6 billion in receipts from the Federal Reserve also contributed to the increase in total receipts in February compared with those last year, as did lower individual income tax refunds, which were down by about $8 billion. In contrast, withheld income and payroll taxes declined by about $3 billion….
As to corporate taxes, maybe one of our readers could explain the sudden jump this month, but the rest is pretty easy to interpret.
Receipts from the Federal Reserve increased as TARP money was paid back. Yes, it is nice, but it isn’t a long term source of revenue for the government. That’s a bad thing when you are running massive deficits.
Tax refunds are down by $8 billion dollars. I thought Obama gave the middle class the largest tax break in history? In fact, there was supposed to by $99 billion worth of tax breaks so far and it says so on Recovery.gov:
So if tax refunds are down, but your government says it gave the middle class massive tax cuts, what do you think the truth is? Readers of this blog know that the Obama tax cut was a sham. In this post, I noted that Obama’s tax cuts weren’t really tax cuts, but a change in withholding and at the end of the year, people would either receive smaller refunds or actually owe.
Finally, the really bad news is that payroll taxes declined by $3 billion February. That means people worked less and or there are fewer jobs than the year before.
Basically, unemployment is high, long term tax revenue looks bad, and the government is spending more and more.
For this fiscal year, which started in October of 2009, our nation has so far, accumulated a deficit of over $655 billion, as one can see in this CBO table:
So, with people out of work, with no real tax relief, with a deficit of $655 billion, how will we pay for the new entitlement known as Obama Care? We can’t, we will won’t and our fiscal plight will spiral out of control.
We now have a party worse than the Republicans——the Democrats. Incompetent and risking the well-being of this nation at a level equal to their crusade to split the Union in the middle of the 19th century.
From the Cincinnati Tea Party:
Thank you for responding to this request. The protest will be Wed, March 10th, TIme: 11:30 – 12:30 (lunch time)
Everyone will meet in front of the Westin’s front doors, the entrance is across the street from fountain square at 11:15.
Print out the form for congressman that is attached to this email and fill it out and sign it, (we want one for Driehaus and one for Brown) or make your own letter to bring with you Wednsday. The Cincinnati Tea Party would like to post copies of the letters for everyone to see how many people are opposed to this bill. So, follow the directions at the bottom of this email FORM FOR WEBSITE DIRECTIONS.
FOR WEDNSDAY
We need everyone to bring the letters with you, we would like for you to print out more letters and have your friends and family and neighbors sign them and bring all of the signed letters with you. When everyone arrives at 11:15 the first thing that will happen is all of the letters will be delivered to the offices of Driehaus and Brown. After you deliver these letters then everyone will collect on the sidewalk outside of their buildings, to protest this bill.
Everyone needs to make a sign, go to biggs or cvg and buy poster paper, get the orange or neon green (white doesn’t show up good) get a wide black marker and make a sign to hold up while your standing in front of the offices downtown. (Make sure the sign is large bold block letters that is easy to read at a distance and says to contact Driehaus and Brown, you can even put there phone numbers on your sign, maybe Driehaus on one side and Brown on the other)
Everyone should print out some extra copies of this “form for congressman” to give to people who walk by, tell them to sign it and take or send it to Driehaus’ office or offer to take it for them. If you get people to sign the letters and leave them with you, then before you leave deliver those to Driehaus’ office and Brown’s office. Make sure to have pens and a maybe a clipboard.
If you want more information, email (replace the at with @) scottATcommunityteaparty.org .
I’m going to be there, but I really doubt that Driehaus or Brown will change their minds. They are beholden to the unproductive parts of our society and the only interest they have in you or me is our money—money they can transfer to those who don’t pay federal taxes, who buy a cell phone or big screen tv instead of health insurance coverage.
And, let’s get one thing straight, this is outright socialism. It is government taking your money to subsidize the health care of others. It is government telling business how much money they can make and how they can run their operation. It is government telling free men and women that they must buy health care policies or face fines or jail. It is government getting in the business of selling health care.
Call it what you want, socialism, statism, corporatism–it all runs counter to a nation dedicated to the concept of individual freedom.
Instead of trying some free market solutions that have little or no cost to the polity, our far left President and his far left allies in Congress veered straight to the left and adopted every policy mechanism that has failed throughout history. Not to mention, Lord only knows how many trillions this program would cost us if adopted.
The $800 billion Stimulus got us 9.7% unemployment. TARP brought us banks that will not lend and mortgages that our still being foreclosed on. Cash for Clunkers benefited foreign manufacturers. Green energy initiatives that promote wind turbines send money to Europe and China, because turbines aren’t made in the U.S.A.
Then we have Social Security and Medicare going broke. We had a $1.2. trillion dollar deficit last year.
And the Democrats want to fashion their health care policies on proven losing strategies.
Free bread and circuses help to bankrupt the Roman Empire? Yet Obama only proposes more of the same.
Tags: Cincinnati, Driehaus, Party, Tea
No , really? You don’t say!
Harry Reid, Democrat, Majority Leader, and co-architect of the misnamed Recovery Act had this to say about today’s unemployment numbers:
So not only doesn’t Harry Reid feel your pain, he thinks 36,000 less jobs is a good thing!
Onto the numbers from the Labor Department, where unemployment remains at a painful 9.7% despite a $787 billion dollar stimulus.
Nonfarm payroll employment was little changed (-36,000) in February, and the unemployment rate held at 9.7 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment fell in construction and information, while temporary help services added jobs.
So in other words, it is like the entire population in the area of Mechanicsville, Virginia lost their job and Harry Reid is happy about it.
A closer look at the numbers actually shows things are much worse than Harry Reid would have you believe.
The number of persons working part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) increased from 8.3 to 8.8 million in February, partially offsetting a large decrease in the prior month. These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job.
That’s right, 500,000 more people were forced to accept part-time hours in a sour economy, but at least Harry Reid is happy that 500,000 more Americans are earning less and less.
It gets even worse:
About 2.5 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force in February, an increase of 476,000 from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.
Despite the official unemployment rate of 9.7%, it actually is much higher as 2.5 million people are no longer counted as unemployed even though they are out of work. Once again, Harry Reid is ecstatic!
As a nation, we committed $787 billion to fight the recession, yet as the official numbers show, unemployment remains at an historically high level.
The Democrats have tried every Keynesian (socialist) economic tactic they can think of and obviously, it just isn’t working. Now they want to spend trillions on nationalized health care. If $800 billion didn’t work and actually made things worse, what do you thing spending a trillion on health care will do for the economy?
As evidence by Harry Reid’s comments, the Democrats don’t care about your economic plight. What they do care about is that your current economics situation puts you in a position that you have to depend upon government. That is the only thing that the Democrats really care about.
* My Ass
Today, Obama announced his support for reconciliation:
Washington (CNN) – President Obama outlined his final version of a health care bill Wednesday and urged Congress to bring the plan to a conclusive vote within the next few weeks.
The president said his nearly $1 trillion proposal is a compromise plan that combines the best ideas of both Democrats and Republicans. He asked Congress to “finish its work” and end what has become a yearlong vitriolic legislative showdown over his top domestic priority.
He also came out in support of a controversial legislative maneuver known as reconciliation, which would allow changes to the health care bill to be passed by the Senate with only 51 votes — a bare legislative majority.
“At stake right now is not just our ability to solve this problem, but our ability to solve any problem,” Obama said. “The American people want to know if it’s still possible for Washington to look out for their interests and their future. They are waiting for us to act.”
You read how I’ve labeled Obama as a socialist, an eco-communist and I know how the self appointed elite among you roll you eyes, but once again, today’s actions by Obama show he has more in common with the communists of the past, who, like him, are only concerned about the ends while the means (that would be principles to us hayseeds) change from day to day.
One other thing, once again from CNN:
If enacted, the president’s sweeping compromise plan would constitute the biggest expansion of federal health care guarantees since the enactment of Medicare and Medicaid more than four decades ago. The White House says it would extend coverage to 31 million Americans.
Among other things, Obama’s plan would expand Medicare prescription drug coverage, increase federal subsidies to help people buy insurance and give the federal government new authority to block excessive rate increases by health insurance companies.
For the ration among you, will giving benefits to 31 million, increasing the Medicare prescription plan, and giving subsidies (welfare) to people to buy insurance do anything but put this country deeper in debt.
This is a train wreck, that if approved will make you and this country much much poorer.
Tags: Health care
According the prophets of doom, aka the global warming evangelists, the Arctic is warming.
Let’s look at 75,000 square miles of the Arctic which is known as Ellesmere Island.
First, once again, let’s make sure that Ellesmere Island is actually in the Arctic:
So we know it is above the Arctic Circle, good.
Let’s go the GISS site and pull up the weather stations used to measure the temperature in this neck of the woods:
Clicking in the middle of Ellesmere produces this list:
The first thing one should notice is all of the stations that have dropped out, especially at the end of 1989.
Then, let’s look at where the remaining 4 stations are located.
The Eureka station is actually in the middle of the island as located by Google:
The next active station is Nord Ads:
The purple marker is Ellesmere Island, the red marker is Nord Ads which is located 1043 km away, in Greenland.
On the next active station, Danmarkshavn:
Another station located in Greenland.
Finally, the last active station listed as measuring temperatures for Ellesmere Island, Egedesminde:
Egedesminde is 1444 km away from our one lone station on Ellesmere Island.
This raises some questions like, how stations does it take to have accurate temperature readings for the area? At what point, if there are too few inputs, are the results invalid? There used to be 31 stations in the vicinity of Ellesmere Island, but according to GISS, there are now only four.
Are stations hundreds of miles from Ellesmere accurate proxies for the local temperature? Is the one station on the island, a true indicator of temperature for 75,000 square miles of land?
Or, are scientists making an educated guess as to what they think the temperature is in parts of the Arctic are, based on stations hundreds of miles apart?
If I was making a study of Arctic temperatures on Ellesmere Island, at the very least, I’d like to have 10 or 20 spread throughout the island, to ensure accurate measurements.
Apparently my idea of what is required for good research and what climate scientist think is required, are two different things.
