NYC Letter: The Thrill Is Gone Redux

Day 304 of CHOPE

THE THRILL IS GONE
Lyrics and music: Rick Darnell and Roy Hawkins (1951)

The thrill is gone
It's gone away from me
The thrill is gone baby
The thrill is gone away from me
Although, I'll still live on
But so lonely I'll be

ANGRY CONGRESS LASHES OUT AT OBAMA
Economic Woes Taking A Toll

November 20, 2009 (WaPo) - Growing discontent over the economy and frustration with efforts to speed its recovery boiled over Thursday on Capitol Hill in a wave of criticism and outright anger directed at the Obama administration.

... President Obama's allies in the Congressional Black Caucus, exasperated by the administration's handling of the economy, unexpectedly blocked one his top priorities, using a legislative maneuver to postpone the approval of financial reform legislation by a key House committee.

... Perhaps most troubling for the administration was that one of the few measures to succeed Thursday was an amendment by Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) that would subject the Federal Reserve to unprecedented scrutiny. The amendment, which won bipartisan support in the House Financial Services Committee despite the reservations of administration officials, would allow the Government Accountability Office to audit all of the Fed's operations, including its decisions on interest rates and its transactions with foreign central banks.

... The House committee had been set to vote to send the final piece of its regulatory reform package to the House floor after months of debate. That is, until the committee's chairman, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), told a shocked committee room that passage of the bill would be delayed until Dec. 1 because the Congressional Black Caucus wanted the administration to do more to help African American communities suffering in the economic decline.

As noted earlier, bummer when your political fortunes turn on identity politics.

And perhaps the cruelest blow of all. Even chucklehead John "Can't Read" Conyers -- or as he is known around the blogosphere, The Big House Spouse -- is annoyed with Mr. Obama, albeit in that self-important aggrandizing style he has made his own.

You know, I'm getting tired of saving Obama's can in the White House. I mean, ah, he only won by five votes in the House. Ah, an-and this bill wasn't anything to write home about. ... The only, the only way he could'a got that through was that progressives held their nose and voted for the plan anyway.

Q: Do you think the president has shown enough leadership on this issue?

[Thoughtful pause as Mr. Conyers reorganizes his brain.]

I wonder why you'd ask me that question. [Chuckle.] Of course not. Of course, you know, nego... you know holding hands out and beer on Friday nights in the White House and a, and a, bowing down to every, ah, nutty right-wing proposal about health care, and, and saying on occasion that public options aren't all that important, ah, it is doing a disservice to the Barack Obama that I first met who was an ardent single-payer enthusiast himself. ... Obama doesn't understand is that progressives aren't going to hold their breath forever if we don't get some more things through.

John Conyers (D-MI, 14th),
can-saving and breath-holding
November 19, 2009 (The Bill Press Show, at 3:33)

To lose Mr. Conyers is to lose the weakest mind in the House. It can't be much longer before the smart Democrats catch on.

CHOPE.

Forget the base, CHOPE is the independent choice.

NYC Letter: Certifiable Negritude

Day 303 of CHOPE

See, Barack been talking down to black people on this faith based ... I want [to] cut his nuts off ... Barack ... he's talking down to black people.

Jesse Jackson,
racialist shakedown artist, philanderer,
former spiritual adviser to philandering Bill Clinton,
and self-styled healer and Rainbow president,
expressing his desire to put more daylight
between Mr. Obama's legs
WASHINGTON July 10, 2008 (Telegraph)

Mr. Jackson wants us to know that talking down to black people is bad. And talking down to black people by a black man is worthy of nut-cutting. [Pause.] Unless, of course, the black man talking down to black people is Mr. Jackson himself.

JESSE JACKSON: 'YOU CAN'T VOTE AGAINST HEALTHCARE
AND CALL YOURSELF A BLACK MAN'

November 18, 2009 (The Hill) - The Rev. Jesse Jackson at a reception Wednesday night held by the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Foundation, part of a series of events revolving around the 25th anniversary of Jackson’s run for president, criticized Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL, 7th) for voting against the Democrats’ signature healthcare bill:

We even have blacks voting against the healthcare bill from Alabama. You can’t vote against healthcare and call yourself a black man.

The remark stirred a murmur at the reception... Jackson said later that he "didn't call anybody by name and I won't."

For whom was Mr. Jackson's excommunication intended? [Pause.] Let's take a wild guess.

Davis, who is running for governor, is the only black member of Congress from Alabama. He is also the only member of the CBC to have voted against the healthcare bill earlier this month.

[Mr. Jackson] added that he wasn't saying that black lawmakers must vote a certain way.

By all means vote your constituency, but Mr. Jackson may have to de-certify you as a black person if your consitutency draws you off the Jackson plantation.

Instead, they should vote the interests of the people in their districts, and he said the healthcare bill would help Alabama because it's one of the poorest states in the country.

BLACKNESS CZAR
Wields Mysterious Whitening Power

Not only is Mr. Jackson an authority on black manliness, he is also an expert on the constituency of Alabama's 7th district. That constituency voted Mr. Davis into office -- as Mr. Jackson makes obvious -- wilfully against their own interests. [Pause.] Mr. Davis replied:

The best way to honor Rev. Jackson’s legacy is to decline to engage in an argument with him that begins and ends with race.

Mr. Jackson is no more concerned with the content of health care legislation than he is with Mr. Davis's negritude. Mr. Jackson is a career race hustler whose only constituency is Mr. Jackson.

CHOPE.

Certificate on file with Rainbow/PUSH.

NYC Letter: The Accidental Truth III, Part III

Day 302 of CHOPE

Brush up here and here.

Now, I recognize, though, you make a legitimate -- you raise a legitimate concern. People say, well, how can a private company compete against the government? ... I mean, if you think about -- if you think about it, UPS and FedEx are doing just fine, right? No, they are. It's the Post Office that's always having problems. (Laughter.)

Mr. Obama,
comparing competitive government-subsidized
health insurance with the government-subsidized
United States Post Office
HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM TOWN HALL
PORTSMOUTH, New Hampshire
August 11, 2009 (White House)

Mr. Obama here compares his public option -- government subsidized health insurance cut loose from the market -- to the government-subsidized Postal Services monopoly. [Pause.] It's pretty exciting.

US POSTAL SERVICE HAS $3.8 BLN LOSS IN FISCAL '09

WASHINGTON November 16, 2009 (Reuters) - The U.S. Postal Service reported a $3.8 billion net loss for its fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, as some $6 billion in cost savings were not enough to keep pace with plunging mail volumes.

... The 12.7 percent drop in mail volume to 177.1 billion pieces from a year earlier was more than double any previous decline the agency has seen, said Joseph Corbett, the agency's chief financial officer. Mr. Corbett:

Primarily it was the recession which drove the volumes down so quickly and with very little warning to us.

An ongoing recession since December 2007, yeah, that caught a lot of people by surprise.

The loss would have been worse except for legislation which allowed the agency to postpone the recognition of billions of dollars in prefunded retiree health benefit payments.

... Without changes to the delivery week and benefits payment schedule, the Postal Service forecast a net loss of $7.8 billion for 2010 with mail volume falling by 11 billion pieces.

Just a reminder, Obamacare will be this good.

CHOPE.

Profits not needed.

NYC Letter: A Study In Contrasts III Redux

LAST UPDATE: The Japanese are too polite to laugh at our bumbling president. They have built a machine for impolitic laughing. WAHHA GO GO!

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ANOTHER UPDATE:

Q: Would you have bowed [to Emperor Akihito]?

No, sir.

Sarah Palin,
repudiating fanny-high, head-low diplomacy
INTERVIEW November 17, 2009 (NRO)

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UPDATE 11.18.09: Hey! Enough with the bowing!

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Day 301 of CHOPE

One last look and then we let this go.

MR. OBAMA'S HEINIE
Enemies Are Invited To Kick It, Allies To Admire It,
And The Rest Of Us To Kiss It
[Graphic source: Michael Ramirez, IBD]

OK, OK, one more. On a lighter note.

馬鹿 外国人

Mortifying.

NYC Letter: The Cellophane Administration, Part V

Day 300 of CHOPE

BUSINESS AS USUAL
Nothing To See.

A recurring theme of Mr. Obama's campaign was how he would engage the American people, lawmakers, and industry groups in public discussions when shaping health care reform. Mr. Obama bragged these discussions, his reform process, would be broadcast on C-SPAN. Not once but repeatedly. Mr. Obama:

You know I respect what the Clintons tried to do in 1993 in moving health reform forward. But they made one really big mistake. And that is they took all their people and all their experts into a room and then they closed the door and they tried to design the plan in isolation from the American people. ... And we will work on this process publicly. It'll be on C-SPAN. It'll be streaming over the net.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, California November 14, 2007
(CQ Transcriptions/politifact.com)

Not negotiating behind closed doors but bringing all parties together and broadcasting those negotiations on C-SPAN so the American people can see what the choices are, 'cause part of what we have to do is enlist the American people in this process.

LOS ANGELES January 31, 2008 (CNN)

I'm going to have all the negotiations around a big table. We'll have doctors and nurses and hospital administrators. Insurance companies, drug companies — they'll get a seat at the table, they just won't be able to buy every chair. But what we will do is, we'll have the negotiations televised on C-SPAN, so that people can see who is making arguments on behalf of their constituents, and who are making arguments on behalf of the drug companies or the insurance companies. And so, that approach, I think is what is going to allow people to stay involved in this process.

CHESTER, Virginia August 21, 2008
(CQ Transcriptions/politifact.com)

None of this has happened. Quite the opposite. No health care plan has been publicly negotiated. Mr. Obama's big table never materialized. And no big table, no C-SPAN broadcasts, no Internet streams.

Team Barry never authored a health reform plan. Instead this was jobbed out to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, whose respective committees drafted several partisan monster bills. Although differently provisioned, each bill is confusedly referred to as "the plan". Objections to one "plan" are brushed aside by talking up a differently provisioned "plan". What all these bills have in common is neither Congress nor Mr. Obama intends to read them.

When the poll numbers went against him, Mr. Obama dismissed the American people.

Finally, to make a thorough job of trashing his pledge, Mr. Obama has held private meetings and cut secret deals with industry groups behind closed doors.

WHITE HOUSE DECLINES TO DISCLOSE VISITS
BY HEALTH INDUSTRY EXECUTIVES
WASHINGTON July 22, 2009 (LAT)

DRUG FIRMS CUT SECRET DEAL WITH OBAMA, CONGRESS
June 21, 2009 (CHB)

The actual agreement reached was not disclosed, just the cheering news that the drug industry was making its contributions to help finance and promote "the plan". Details of the agreement came to light when an uninformed House sought more punishing "contributions" from the drug industry.

WHITE HOUSE AFFIRMS DEAL ON DRUG COST

WASHINGTON August 5, 2009 (NYT) - Pressed by industry lobbyists, White House officials on Wednesday assured drug makers that the administration stood by a behind-the-scenes deal to block any Congressional effort to extract cost savings from them beyond an agreed-upon $80 billion.

... Representative Raul M. Grijalva (D-AZ, 7th), co-chairman of the House progressive caucus:

We have all been focused on the debate in Congress, but perhaps the deal has already been cut. That would put us in the untenable position of trying to scuttle it. ... It is a pivotal issue not just about health care. Are industry groups going to be the ones at the table who get the first big piece of the pie and we just fight over the crust?

... Billy Tauzin, president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA):

They [scil., WH and Senate] blessed the deal.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House was not bound by any industry deals with the Senate or the White House.

Of course publicly supporting secret provisions of a secret deal can be tricky.

OBAMA REVERSES STAND ON DRUG INDUSTRY DEAL

WASHINGTON August 7, 2009 (NYT) - The Obama administration backed away from what drug industry lobbyists called a promise not to let the government negotiate lower drug prices under Medicare. ... The full terms of the White House agreement with the drug makers, like a similar deal with the hospital industry, have never been disclosed.

Ken Johnson, a senior PhRMA official:

All of the questions about what was in the agreement distract from our shared goal of making sure everyone has access to health care coverage.

Stop distracting government and corproate humanitarians with pesky questions. Why can't we all just trust Mr. Obama's secret deal is for the best? [Pause.] Here's why.

DRUG MAKERS RAISE PRICES
IN FACE OF HEALTH CARE REFORM

November 15, 2009 (NYT) - Even as drug makers promise to support Washington’s health care overhaul by shaving $8 billion a year off the nation’s drug costs after the legislation takes effect, the industry has been raising its prices at the fastest rate in years.

... This year’s increases mean the average annual cost for a brand-name prescription drug that is taken daily would be more than $2,000 — $200 higher than last year, Professor Schondelmeyer said.

... The drug trend is distinctly at odds with the direction of the Consumer Price Index, which has fallen by 1.3 percent in the last year.

Drug makers say they have valid business reasons for the price increases. Critics say the industry is trying to establish a higher price base before Congress passes legislation that tries to curb drug spending in coming years.

... A Harvard health economist, Joseph P. Newhouse, said he found a similar pattern of unusual price increases after Congress added drug benefits to Medicare a few years ago, giving tens of millions of older Americans federally subsidized drug insurance. Just as the program was taking effect in 2006, the drug industry raised prices by the widest margin in a half-dozen years.

“They try to maximize their profits,” Mr. Newhouse said.

Some deal. Some shared goal.

“Price adjustments for our products have no connection to health care reform,” said Ron Rogers, a spokesman for Merck, which raised its prices about 8.9 percent in the last year, according to a stock analyst’s report.

Oh yeah. Got that.

CHOPE.

The best deals are surprises.

NYC Letter: The Thrill Is Gone

Day 300 of CHOPE

N.A.A.C.P. PRODS OBAMA ON JOB LOSSES

November 16, 2009 (NYT) - With unemployment among blacks at more than 15 percent, the N.A.A.C.P. will join several other groups on Tuesday to call on President Obama to do more to create jobs.

They will call for increased spending for schools and roads, billions of dollars in fiscal relief to state and local governments to forestall more layoffs and a direct government jobs program, "especially in distressed communities facing severe unemployment."

In speaking out on jobs, N.A.A.C.P. leaders say they are not trying to pick a fight with the first African-American president. Rather, they say, they are pressing Mr. Obama in an area where they believe he wants to be pressured.

The N.A.A.C.P. promotes itself as nonpartisan, which is to say it is reliably anti-Republican and slavishly Democratic, ah, which is to say partisan.* That it feels compelled to "prod" a black Democratic president evinces the desperate black unemployment situation. Good luck with that. Mr. Obama, aside from being the post-racial president, is a standard issue Democrat. Blacks shouldn't expect anything special for their vote. Bummer when your political fortunes turn on identity politics.

The Economic Policy Institute, a liberal research group, coordinated the jobs statement being released Tuesday, which will also be joined by the Center for Community Change:

Despite an effective and bold recovery package, we are still facing a prolonged period of high unemployment. ... Two years from now, absent further action, we are likely to have unemployment at 8 percent or more, a higher rate than attained even at the worst point of the last two downturns.

Oh, please. The complaint belies the claim of a "effective and bold recovery package". Here is what the N.A.A.C.P., along with the rest of us, can expect.

(A) Q: Will unemployment reach 10%?

Yes.

Q: Before the end of this year?

Yes.

(B) The last recession that we had, the recovery was termed a "jobless recovery."** We can't repeat that approach.

Mr. Obama,
(A)INTERVIEW June 14, 2009 (ABC News/Bloomberg)
(B) REMARKS AFTER MEETING
PRIME MINISTER BALKENENDE OF THE NETHERLANDS
WASHINGTON July 14, 2009 (White House)

The level of unemployment is unacceptably high. And will, by all forecasts, remain unacceptably high for a number of years.

Larry "Sleepyhead" Summers,
Director, National Economic Council,
defending the "unacceptably high unemployment" recovery
September 11, 2009 (Politico)

As far as the overall economy is concerned, private sector forecasters tell us that by the second half of next year, net job growth should be positive, unemployment should be coming down.

Jared Bernstein,
chief economic adviser to Vice President Joe Biden,
confirming forecasts of at least eight more months
of high unemployment
INTERVIEW October 30, 2009 (CBS)

Should be. Could be. Maybe. Solid confidence in a genuine jobless recovery.

CHOPE.

All our lines are currently busy. Please hang up and call again. This is a recording.

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* Why the Democrats own the black vote is something of a mystery. Then again, maybe not such a mystery.

** During Mr. Bush's "jobless" recovery unemployment went down (2003-4, from 6.2% to 5.6%), while Mr. Obama himself and his minions admit that unemployment will continue to rise in his fabulous recovery (January-October, 7.6%-10.2%).

NYC Letter: A Study In Contrasts III

UPDATE 11.16.09: Oh my. Oh my. Here is a translation from the Encyclopedia Of Japanese Culture (日本文化いろは事典) on greeting etiquette:

When bowing while standing, there is the "highest respectful bow" (saikeirei,最敬礼), which is executed from a position of standing straight upward, and then bending 45-degrees or more. The "respectful bow" (敬礼) is at 30-to-40 degrees, and everyday "eshaku" (会釈) around 15-degrees.

"Saikeirei" is not seen on a regular basis, but is used in order to offer an apology, or when one is extremely grateful for something received, as well as performed before the altar of Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples.

In the case of a handshake, straighten the back, and by all means one must look directly into the face (eyes) of the recipient of one’s handshake. It is not to be too strong and not too light. Too strong will reflect an insult and too weak will not reflect good will. In America, such a weak handshake is called a "dead fish handshake", with the feeling being the person wields a dead fish.

And, shaking a hand while performing a bow will be seen as subservient, and is not to be done.

The wrong greeting. The wrong bow. The wrong message.

Back home we disagree with Mr. Obama on many things, but we do not wish him as representing the United States to appear a clown abroad. We are embarrassed for him. There is someone -- someone at State or perhaps Mr. Obama himself -- who thinks CHOPE obviates protocol.

馬鹿 外国人

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ALMOST INSTANT UPDATE: Oh my.

It would seem the settled protocol for heads of state greeting the emperor is a handshake. Not too chummy, just a shake.

[Pause.] In fairness to Mr. Obama, the handshake is the settled protocol among experienced world leaders who check in with a competent chef de protocole. As everyone knows, Mr. Obama is informed by the clueless (and this and this and this and this), by clowns (and here and this), and by the seriously-less-than-competent (and this and this and this and this, to link but a bunch).

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Day 299 of CHOPE

[T]he "thou need not bow" commandment from the State Department's protocol office maintained a constancy of more than 200 years.

The NYT musing on then-President Clinton
taking a dip to Emperor Akihito
June 19, 1994 (NYT)

Poor Mr. Obama. He can't stop embarrassing himself. [Pause.] And the United States.

STATESMAN VS. WANNABE
(L) Mr. Cheney Shakes Hands With Emperor Aikihito. February 21, 2007.
(R) Mr. Obama Muffs His Etiquette With The Emperor, November 14, 2009.

The spot art reads:

(L) Label: Correct; caption: World Leader.
(R) Label: Incorrect; caption: Clueless Foreigner.
Our geisha teeters politely behind her hand: "Oh! Hee hee!"

The very formal bow accorded the emperor of Japan by a subject, begins from a settled stance. With back straight, the upper body bends forward from the waist between a 45° and 90° angle. The back is kept straight, the head stays aligned with the spine, the eyes are lowered, the hands are firmly held at the sides (the deeper the bow the lower the hands till they reach the sides of the knees), and the bum is not pushed out.

Mr. Obama has attempted some of this from a gallop but hiked his bum, curved his back, and let the left hand dangle in his fork. He has also combined his bow with the business practice of shaking hands.

It is common in Japanese business to bow and shake hands, but the bow is less formal. If you are bowing to the emperor, you would not also shake his hand. You would certainly not shake his hand before it was clearly offered. Mr. Obama's poor form will look odd to a Japanese. How odd? [Pause.] Imagine Angela Merkel assaying a simultaneous military salute and handshake with Mr. Obama. That odd.

An appropropriate bow is correctly executed here by -- Richard Nixon. Mr. Nixon, like Mr. Obama, is not a subject of Japan. His bow is respectful but collegial.

Elder Japanese will appreciate Mr. Obama's clumsy effort because they are polite and forgiving toward foreigners. But the rest of Japan might be more impressed if Mr. Obama weren't so anxious to stoop.

Jake Tapper of ABC News reports:

An old friend -- an academic with expertise about the Japanese Empire, and in general a supporter of President Obama -- sends me the following note, relating to photographs of President Obama bowing to Emperor Akihito of Japan. ...

His bow is neither (1) unprecedented nor (2) a sign of cultural understanding.

... Obama's handshake/forward lurch was so jarring and inappropriate it recalls Bush's back-rub of Merkel.

Kyodo News is running his appropriate and reciprocated nod and shake with the Empress, certainly to show the president as dignified, and not in the form of a first year English teacher trying to impress with Karate Kid-level knowledge of Japanese customs.

The bow as he performed did not just display weakness in Red State terms, but evoked weakness in Japanese terms. ... The last thing the Japanese want or need is a weak looking American president and, again, in all ways, he unintentionally played that part.

Where does Mr. Obama receive his instruction in comportment?

CHOPE.

Still to come, the 2012 bow-out.

NYC Letter: Peace Taco

Day 298 of CHOPE

Seen outside Oslo, Norway. [Pause.] Oops. Make that near Southport, North Carolina.

NEW! SHRIMP PEACE TACO
Combo With "Hero Of Solidarity" Bean Burrito

Last month Mr. Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for apparently nothing. Well, for nothing and not being GWB. The latter criterion probably qualifies you, too. You can pick yours up with an order of the shrimp peace taco near Southport, NC.

The real accomplishments of Mohandas Gandhi and Pope John Paul II were never deemed deserving by the Nobel Peace Committee* while fraudster Al "Green Fatty" Gore (2007 laureate), slacker Mohamed "What's To Worry?" ElBaradei (2005 laureate), and career terrorist Yassir Arafat (1994 laureate) received Nobel candy.

We question whether an NPP promotional giveaway adds anything to the commercial appeal of a shrimp taco.**

CHOPE.

World prestige for as little as $4.99 -- without the embarrassing suck-up.

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* The NPC is a bit queasy on the omission of Ghandi. But no winces about JPII.

NYC Letter: Soak The CHOPE

Day 297 of CHOPE

(A) It’s time to be patriotic, Kate. Time to jump in. Time to be part of the deal. Time to help America get out of the rut.

(B) Now, people when I say that look at me and say, ‘What are you talking about, Joe? You're telling me we have to go spend money to keep from going bankrupt?"

The answer is yes, I’m telling you.

Joe "I'm No Economist" Biden,
(A) encouraging patriots to come forward,
checkbook in hand
GOOD MORNING AMERICA
September 19, 2008 (CSM)
(B) arguing owing trillions will prevent
bankruptcy owing billions
AARP TOWN HALL
ALEXANDRIA, Virginia July 16, 2009 (CNS)

Government spending is up. The deficit is way up. The national debt is way way up. [Pause.] Consumer confidence and housing sales are down. Federal tax revenues* are way down. Employment, the government tax engine, is way way down.**

It's time to be patriotic!

WORRIED ABOUT U.S. DEBT?
SEND YOUR DONATION HERE

WASHINGTON November 12, 2009 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department accepts gifts, payable to the Bureau of the Public Debt. Just mail them to the attention of Department G, Post Office Box 2188, Parkersburg, West Virginia, 26106-2188. Make a note in the memo section that it is a gift to reduce the debt held by the public.

Yes, really.

... According to Treasury spokesman Kim Treat, people do send checks. In the last fiscal year they added up to a little over $3 million, which was the highest total since at least 1996.

YOUR MONEY
Who Needs It More, Mr. Obama Or You?

Show your patriotism. Prop up Team Barry's big spending. Show your confidence in the Obama economy.

Pony up!

What we have to do is to take a look at our structural deficit, how are we paying for government, what are we getting for it, and how do we make the system more efficient? ... Everybody is going to have to give. Everybody is going to have to have some skin in the game.

Mr. Obama,
president-elect, previewing his broken tax pledge
(and this)
THIS WEEK INTERVIEW
WASHINGTON January 11, 2009 (ABC News)

Mr. Obama asks that you put a little giddy-up in the patriotism.

Q: At what point do we run out of money?

Well, I mean, we're out of money now.

Mr. Obama,
Spender-in-chief, answering the $24 trillion question
INTERVIEW May 23, 2009 (C-Span)

CHOPE.

Soak the CHOPE.

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* Also state tax revenues plummet.

NYC Letter: The Superlative Congress, Part III

Day 297 of CHOPE

The American people voted to restore integrity and honesty in Washington, D.C., and the Democrats intend to lead the most honest, most open and most ethical Congress in history.

Nancy Pelosi (D-CA, 8th),
soon-to-be-Speaker, bragging on the Democratic majority
WASHINGTON November 7, 2006 (WaPo)

Back in August former 9-term Representative William Jefferson (D-LA, 2nd) was convicted for "the most extensive and pervasive pattern of corruption in the history of Congress." [Pause.] Historic. [Pause.] Superlative.

Under investigation since 2005 for crimes dating back to 2001, Mr. Jefferson was re-elected in 2006 to Nancy Pelosi's superlative 110th Congress. To the Speaker's credit she barred him from his committee assignment on the House Ways and Means Committee, which he had been stripped of by first an intra-party vote (99/58) followed by a full House voice vote.* Mr. Jefferson was indicted in 2007 and charged with 16 counts of corruption (eventually convicted on 11 counts). In 2008 he ran to rejoin the superlative Congress, but this time was defeated by Republican Anh Cao** while Mr. Obama carried the district with 72% of the vote.

Today justice finally caught up with Mr. Jefferson.

WILLIAM JEFFERSON SENTENCED
TO 13 YEARS IN PRISON

November 13, 2009 (NOLA) - Former Rep. William Jefferson was sentenced Friday to serve 13 years in prison for what the lead prosecutor described as "the most extensive and pervasive pattern of corruption in the history of Congress."

While the sentence by federal Judge T.S. Ellis III fell well short of the 27 to 33 years recommended by the government, it is by the far the stiffest jail term ever imposed on a member or former member of Congress for crimes committed while in office.

... The judge also ordered Jefferson to forfeit the $470,653.47 the jury had determined was funneled to shell companies under his family's control through his bribe schemes.

... Unresolved Friday was whether Jefferson was actually convicted of any crime related to the $90,000 that was found hidden in his freezer when the FBI raided his Washington home in August 2005. The FBI and prosecutors believe Jefferson intended to deliver the money as a bribe to Atiku Abubakar, who was then vice president of Nigeria, which would violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. He was acquitted of the direct charge of violating the act, but convicted of a conspiracy count which may or may not have involved the act. Ellis said because he failed to make the jury form more specific, that question will never be resolved.

CHOPE.

Historic. Superlative. Corrupt.

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* Ironically, instrumental in the removal of Mr. Jefferson was CBC colleague Charles Rangel (D-NY, 15th), perhaps second only to Mr. Jefferson the most ethically and fiscally disordered representative in the House (and here and here). Mr. Rangel is currently under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for fraud, tax evasion, negligence, improper solicitation, self-dealing, and other alleged malfeasance dating back over a decade. To date Mr. Rangel has not been censured, disciplined, or asked to resign the powerful chair of the House Ways and Means Committee. Many of Mr. Rangel's allegements fall within the province of this committee. [Pause.] Coincidentally.

** Mr. Cao later dutifully voted as a Jefferson clone for Pelosicare, the only Republican to do so.

NYC Letter: The Superlative Congress, Part II

Day 289 of CHOPE

The American people voted to restore integrity and honesty in Washington, D.C., and the Democrats intend to lead the most honest, most open and most ethical Congress in history.

Nancy Pelosi (D-CA, 8th),
soon-to-be-Speaker, bragging on the Democratic majority
WASHINGTON November 7, 2006 (WaPo)

Here is the most open Congress in history in practice.

(A) Q: Madam Speaker, do you support the measure to put the final House bill online for 72 hours before it's voted on at the very end?

Absolutely. Without question.

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(B) No; [the] pledge was to have manager’s amendment online for 72 hours, and we will do that.

(A) Nancy Pelosi
promising a 72-hour review of impending
health care insurance reform legislation
WASHINGTON September 23, 2009 (TWS)
(B) Brendan Daly,
Pelosi spokesman, reinventing the speaker's pledge
WASHINGTON November 5, 2009 (TWS)

The "manager's amendment" is not the final bill. This manager's amendment adds more engorgements to the engorged original (H.R. 3962*). The bill itself is not final until all amendments are voted in or out.

This is not just procedural niggling. Only scoring the final bill gives the best guess as to costs and the underlying funding. And it is nice to think that, given the chance, lawmakers might actually read what they are voting for or against.

Before the advent of the superlative Congress, Nancy Pelosi thought legislation should be read and understood before a vote was held. Here she is January 14, 2005:

And I guess I've spent too many long hours for too many long years in the Ethics Committee room trying to respect the rights of members but our higher -- and our higher responsibility to uphold an ethical standard. To see the Republicans today run roughshod. Rigging the rules. Negotiating for jobs. No reading of the bill. It's an outrage. It's an absolute outrage.

... In our motion to recommit we also addressed the three-day rule. As many of you recall in recent memory there was occasion on the floor when a huge bill of many thousands of pages containing nine appropriations bills, seven of which never appeared on the floor of the United States Senate, came before this House with a matter of ah, a overnight pass [sic]. And the Rules Committee came to the floor the next morning without any chance of people, ah, members being able to read the bill.

... But because of the abuse of power in this House that the ah, the ah, ah, ignoring of the three-day rule that members can't even see what they're voting on before they vote on it -- and something like looking at your tax returns could be sneaked into the bill without any safeguards to protect you from that.

... Even if you separate yourself from any of the examples and just say "I sent you to Congress to represent me. You do that and what you say there and how you vote and I expect that you know what you are voting on." So the message to the American people here tonight is, this afternoon is a vote for the motion to recommit is a vote for members to be able to read a bill before they vote on it. Is that asking too much?

"Is that asking too much?" Oh, Nancy! You whore!

CHOPE.

Whoredom and superlative whoredom.

------------------------------------
* This is an unwieldy download. Also check out the underwhelming support for the bill in the spot poll.

NYC Letter: Reverse-O-Bama, Part VI

Day 288 of CHOPE

GUBERNATORIAL RACES IN NEW JERSEY,
VIRGINIA TO TEST OBAMA'S PRESTIGE

October 21, 2009 (FNC) - New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine and Virginia hopeful Creigh Deeds are both counting on President Obama to secure wins for them in the November 3 gubernatorial races. ... Obama won both New Jersey and Virginia comfortably in the 2008 election. ... Democrats hope the president's popularity translates into voter turnout. Obama's job approval, though lower than when he entered office, hovers at just above 50 percent.

We have just started to change this country, and we need a partner like Creigh Deeds to finish the work that we just began. (Applause.)

Mr. Obama,
promoting gubenatorial candidate Creigh Deeds
as an essential extension of CHOPE
TYSONS CORNER, Virginia August 6, 2009 (White House)

MR: OBAMA: He's [scil., Jon Corzine] one of the best partners I have in the White House. We work together. We know our work is far from over.

MR. CORZINE: I'm here to ask you a simple question: Are you ready to keep it going? Today I am standing with President Obama. That tells you everything you need to know.

Flaunting the Obama brand at Corzine re-election rally
CAMDEN, New Jersey November 1, 2009 (WT/AP*)

Surely everyone wants to keep the CHOPE going?

Uh-oh.

MCDONNELL LEADS GOP SWEEP
OF STATEWIDE RACES

November 4, 2009 (RTD) - Bob McDonnell [58.61%/41.25%; a double-digit margin of victory, 15.36%] led a Republican sweep of Virginia’s statewide races yesterday, restoring the GOP to power after eight years out of the governor’s office. ... Republicans also won the governor’s race in New Jersey, another rebuff to President Barack Obama and Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, the president’s hand-picked chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

CHRISTIE BESTS CORZINE
IN ELECTION FOR N.J. GOVERNOR

EAST BRUNSWICK, New Jersey November 4, 2009 (WaPo) - Republican Chris Christie, who decisively defeated incumbent Democrat Jon S. Corzine [48.7%/44.6%; a 4.1% margin of victory] Tuesday to become New Jersey's next governor, said he was prepared to face the economic turmoil that propelled him to victory and soon will be first on the list of state problems he hopes to solve.

... President Obama came to New Jersey three times in the past week to urge voters to come out for "my partner."

Going into certain losses at Virginia and New Jersey statewide ballots, the White House thoughtfully assessed Mr. Obama's efforts. Robert Gibbs, WH press secretary, election day:

Again, we don't look at either of these gubernatorial races or the congressional race as something that portends a lot for our legislative efforts going forward or political prospects in 2010.

In fact so inconsequential are these races, why Mr. Obama, after campaigning for both candidates, just lost interest. Again, Mr. Gibbs, the day after:

[Mr. Obama] never watched [the election returns] when he was running.**

In Mr. Obama's defense, Mr. Gibbs made that up.

If Democrats had won the governorships, well, dear skimmer, that would be an entirely different story.

CHOPE.

Reverse-o-fortune.

------------------------------------
* None of this love can be found on the White House site. Not part of the official legend. The last Corzine boost is the rally speech of October 21, 2009, where Mr. Obama offers perfunctory support.

** Nowhere to be found on the White House site. Not part of the official legend.

NYC Letter: The Cellophane Administration, Part IV

Day 287 of CHOPE

I ran for President pledging to change the way business is done in Washington and build a government that works for the people by opening it up to the people.

Mr. Obama,
reminding us what people will say to get elected
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT ON EARMARK REFORM
WASHINGTON March 11, 2009 (White House)

BUSINESS AS USUAL
Nothing To See.

NOW, A SECRET OATH-GIVING CLOSED TO THE PRESS

November 3, 2009 (LAT) - A short time from now Vice President Joe Biden will disappear again from the public eye.

Don't worry too much. It's nothing involving a hidden bunker, that anyone knows about at least.

We've mentioned here before the Veepster's proclivity for the same kind of private, which is to say closed to the press, which is to say secret meetings that his evil predecessor Dangerous Dick Cheney also preferred, despite denunciations by Democrats in Congress, where Biden had served since his current boss was 11 years old.

Funny coincidence too because today is the first anniversary of that 2008 election eve when Obama and Biden wrapped up their successful $750 million campaign for the White House promising change to believe in and historic governing transparency involving such things as no lobbyists [and here and this], publicly posting legislation [and here] days before signing and open meetings on C-SPAN.*

This is another busy day for Biden, full of speech-listening and lunch-giving.

... But the Biden schedule item that intrigues most today involves another one of his secret meetings, one that on the surface would not seem to require secrecy. It's the swearing-in of the president's Committee on the Arts and Humanities.

Not only that, it's the ceremonial swearing-in, meaning they're already been sworn in officially. This one is just for fun.

What kind of Democratic arts projects require secrecy?

Maybe something like this (follow-up here and here).

CHOPE.

Known by hand and sign.

------------------------------------
* Good luck sussing out Mr. Obama's open government (and this).

NYC Letter: An Important Message On Health Care Reform...

Day 285 of CHOPE

...from Freddy Kreuger.

Yes, that Freddy Kreuger -- the serial child murderer meted rough justice by the community and burned alive only to continue his career in dreamland as a teen murdering revenant. Who better to speak to us on health care reform?

Mr. Kreuger speaks to us in the person of Robert Englund, the actor who originally played Freddy* in A Nightmare on Elm Street. Mr. Englund, rips his heart out (so to speak) and pins it to his sleeve where he invites us to to admire its tremulous beat. For Mr. Englund has been affeared by the health care reform debate. [Pause.] Mr. Englund. The original Freddy Kreuger (as he reminds us in his byline). [Pause.] Affeared.

Mr. Englund, Freddy:

Normally, I embrace fear. I traffic in fear. Fear has been good to yours truly.

But if there's anything scaring me these days, it's the blatant misuse of fear in regards to health care reform. I am appalled at the brazen lies being propagated by opponents of reform specifically to scare the elderly and other vulnerable segments of our society (and this). Pushing untruths about "death panels" and "pulling the plug on Grandma" are not helping the debate.

If we're going to achieve effective health care in this country, we need an honest public discussion based on facts: how do we pay for reform, how will it work, who will be covered?

YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE: OBAMACARE
To Question Is To Fear Monger

These are important issues than cannot be solved while lobbyists, pundits and "tea-baggers"** are muddying the waters by marketing fear. The only people who should be scared by health care reform are those who make a profit off of other people's suffering and illness.

Where to begin? Let's take the last point first. Mr. Englund dismisses lobbyists, pundits and "tea-baggers" from the health care debate. Who does that leave? Well, it leaves Mr. Englund and those who agree with Freddy.

Mr. Englund's intent is not to engage critics, advance ideas, or enlarge the debate. Quite the opposite. Mr. Englund's idea of serious debate is to go along with Mr. Obama. We are only guessing here, but we doubt Mr. Englund has read any more of Obamacare (1,502 pages) or Pelosicare (1,990 pages) than John Conyers, (D-MI, 14th). Still, Mr. Englund has serious problems with those who have read and object to parts of these bills.

Freddy is not affeared. Mr. Englund is annoyed. And he'd very much appreciate your getting with the program.

Normally we don't check in with Mr. Englund on policy debate, but we find the quality of his argument indicative of Obamacare boosters. Essentially, "Shut up!"

CHOPE.

Freddy's got CHOPE.

------------------------------------
* Recently displaced by Jackie Earle Haley, who reprises the role in the re-make franchise.

** Mr. Englund introduces the sexual slur to his call for thoughtful civil discourse.

NYC Letter: Happy Halloween

Day 284 of CHOPE

The scariest mask this year is the CHOPEster.

THE CHOPESTER
All Tricks, No Treats

Full-size cut-out mask here.

Assembly Instructions: Print out on sturdy card stock. Cut out mask along dashed line. Punch out the Xed circles on the eyes for visibility. Punch out the Xed circles on the ears and attach a sufficient length of string ear-to-ear to secure mask to head.

CHOPE.

Not so scary in Russia, Iran (and this), or North Korea.

NYC Letter: To Hell With Allies... Redux

Day 254 of CHOPE

We had some wait time today, so we did something we haven't done in awhile. We picked up a newspaper, the Richmond Times-Dispatch, where we came across this editorial.

OBAMA, INDIA: NIGHTMARE

OP-ED October 1, 2009 (RTD) - During the 1970s, Daniel Patrick Moynihan served as U.S. ambassador to India. When Indira Gandhi imposed martial law, Moynihan called Washington to offer congratulations to his colleagues as the U.S. had just become the world's most populous democracy.

Democracy has returned to India, a country with more than 1.1 billion citizens. Although India suffers from sectarian strife and confronts challenges relating to poverty and other social ills, it remains one of the freest nations in an often unruly neighborhood. More than one Muslim has lamented that his co-religionists enjoy more freedom in India, where Hindus form the majority, than in Pakistan, which considers itself an Islamic state. India boasts robust elections and has a thriving, diverse press.

... Since Jan. 20, 2009, ties between the two countries have come under strain. President Barack Obama's aloof attitude to the subcontinent has not gone unnoticed. India has taken perceived slights seriously. The Pioneer, an English newspaper in Delhi, describes the Obama administration as a "nightmare presidency" and rates Obama as "the most hostile American president for India since Richard Nixon." The bill of particulars includes India's apparent exclusion from the American security apparatus as well as protectionist rhetoric that stirs up resentment against India. Despite policies such as trade restrictions on tires, the Obama administration appears more intent on cultivating favor with China than with India. Freedom House rates India "free" and China "not free" -- which, in a foreign policy reflecting respect for human rights, ought to count for something.

If Obama alienates a potential ally in an area as strategic as South Asia, then his administration truly will resemble a nightmare -- and not only for India.

Not to worry. "Smart power"* slights and trashes allies (and here) the better to put enemies at ease (and this) and advantage (and this ).

CHOPE.

That smell.

------------------------------------
* More "smart power" here and here and here and here and here, to link but five.

NYC Letter: For Laughs

Day 253 of CHOPE

Correspondent Janina sent us this:

FUNNY STUFF

Come on, stop pretending you're above this. You're going to cramp up. [Snort. Snort.] You see, all better.

We poked around the Internet and found more funny stuff. We added a few of our own. The lead-in, What is the difference between God and Mr. Obama?

• God asks for just 10% of your money.

• God only asks to be worshipped once a week.

• You can't pray to God in a public school.

• God's plan to save mankind is actually written down for people to read.

• God doesn't use a teleprompter.

• God would never pick Joe Biden for anything.

• When you meet God, the last thing you notice is His ears.

• God doesn't fake Spanish.*

• God doesn't need $787B to create 4 million jobs.

• The Lord giveth. Mr. Obama taketh away.

CHOPE.

Big differences.

------------------------------------
* Also this and this.

NYC Letter: Hot/Cold, Part II

Day 252 of CHOPE

Global warming alert! Don't throw out your woolies yet.

U.S. NORTHEAST MAY HAVE COLDEST WINTER IN A DECADE

September 28, 2009 (Bloomberg) - The U.S. Northeast may have the coldest winter in a decade because of a weak El Nino, a warming current in the Pacific Ocean, according to Matt Rogers, a forecaster at Commodity Weather Group. Matt Rogers, Commodity Weather Group forecaster:

It could be one of the coldest winters, or the coldest, winter of the decade.

Ed Morrissey at Hot Air comments:

Global-warming activists insist that we can’t take an assumption from a single year. However, if the CWS forecast turns out to be correct, we will have gone eleven years without any warming at all — eleven years in which carbon emissions did not decline in any significant manner. How does one begin to explain that?

MORE DISREPUTABLE “SCIENCE”
FROM THE AGW ALARMIST CROWD

September 29, 2009 (QandO) - Last week I pointed to the fact that the “scientist” who provided much of the basis for the AGW [scil., Anthropogenic Global Warming] crowd’s alarmist appeal (as incorporated in the UN’s 2007 IPCC report) refused to provide the original data on which that model was based to peers. He later claimed that the original data had been lost because it was unable to be transferred to newer data storage (an unmitigated crock). IOW, peers can’t review his data and check out his theory to ensure what he’s theorizing has a valid basis in fact. That’s a cardinal sin in real science circles.

And now, in less than a week, a second cardinal sin is uncovered. That of cherry-picking data. In the cross-hairs is Keith Briffa. Steve McIntyre explains the problem:

The Briffa temperature graphs have been widely cited as evidence by the IPCC, yet it appears they were based on a very carefully selected set of data, so select, that the shape of the graph would have been totally transformed if the rest of the data had been included.

In fact, as with Phil Jones who I reported about last week, Briffa refused repeated requests for his original data (from tree rings). And it was the Briffa graphs which were used to support the contention that the “hockey stick” was valid.

When others finally got a hold of all the data and graphed it out, their findings were quite different than Briffa’s:

And, of course, when they were merged they told quite a different story than Briffa and the IPCC:

Yes. [Pause.] That's somewhat wholly different.

Who to trust, the smart money investing in heating oil, the bogus science, or the crackerjack climatologists in the Senate?

BOXER, KERRY SET TO INTRODUCE
CLIMATE BILL IN SENATE

September 28, 2009 (NYT) - Ending some nine months of closed-door deliberations, Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.) will release global warming legislation Wednesday that they hope will be the vehicle for broader Senate negotiations and an eventual conference with the House.

... The Boxer-Kerry bill will build in large part off H.R. 2454, legislation approved in June by the House following several marathon months of negotiations that involved lawmakers representing coastal and industry-heavy districts. ... Kerry last week sought to change the vernacular surrounding the climate bill and sell its concepts more broadly, insisting it is not a "cap and trade" proposal but a "pollution reduction" bill. Mr. Kerry:

I don't know what 'cap and trade' means. I don't think the average American does. This is not a cap-and-trade bill, it's a pollution reduction bill.

Mr. Kerry doesn't know what "cap-and-trade" means after building his bill on H.R. 2454, the seminal cap-and-trade legislation. Is Mr. Kerry as stupid as he claims? [Pause.] We are here inclined to believe Mr. Kerry.

James Inhofe (R-OK), EPW Committee ranking member:

No matter the semantic games employed, or the extent to which Democrats wish to hide the truth from the American people, cap and trade will mean more job losses (and this), more pain at the pump, and higher food and electricity prices for consumers.

CHOPE.

Science every bit as good as the politics.

NYC Letter: The Endless Campaign

Day 251 of CHOPE

Remember Mr. Obama's assumption of the presidency? It was heralded as the greatest transition ever? [Pause.] Yeah. Not so much (and this and this and this and, several months later, this, oh, and this). One key transition Mr. Obama has failed to make is that from candidate for president to president.

Even the left has noticed. Below WaPo columnist Richard Cohen bemoans Mr. Obama's endless campaign.

THE CAMPAIGN IS LONG OVER, MR. PRESIDENT

OP-ED September 29, 2009 (IBD) - Sooner or later it is going to occur to Barack Obama that he is the president of the United States. As of yet, though, he does not act that way, appearing promiscuously on television and granting interviews like the presidential candidate he no longer is. The election has been held, but the campaign goes on and on. The candidate has yet to become commander in chief.

Take last week's G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh. There, the candidate-in-full commandeered the television networks and the leaders of Britain and France to give the Iranians a dramatic warning. Yet another of their secret nuclear facilities had been revealed and Obama, as anyone could see, was determined to do something about it — just don't ask what.

... The trouble with Obama is that he gets into the moment and means what he says for that moment only. He meant what he said when he called Afghanistan a "war of necessity" — and now is not necessarily so sure. He meant what he said about the public option in his health care plan — and then again maybe not. He would not prosecute CIA agents for getting rough with detainees — and then again maybe he would.

Most tellingly, he gave Congress an August deadline for passage of health care legislation — "Now, if there are no deadlines, nothing gets done in this town ... " — and then let it pass. It seemed not to occur to Obama that a deadline comes with a consequence — meet it or else.

Obama lost credibility with his deadline-that-never-was, and now he threatens to lose some more with his posturing toward Iran. He has gotten into a demeaning dialogue with Ahmadinejad, an accomplished liar.

Yes. Well. Mr. Obama is pretty impressed so far.

CHOPE.

More of the campaign the media loved. Check your local listings.

NYC Letter: L'etat, c'est moi

Day 250 of CHOPE

Good morning. Mr. President, Mr. Secretary General, fellow delegates, ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to address you for the first time as the 44th President of the United States. (Applause.) I come before you humbled by the responsibility that the American people have placed upon me, mindful of the enormous challenges of our moment in history, and determined to act boldly and collectively on behalf of justice and prosperity at home and abroad.

I have been in office for just nine months -- though some days it seems a lot longer. I am well aware of the expectations that accompany my presidency around the world. These expectations are not about me. ...

As an African American, I will never forget that I would not be here today without the steady pursuit of a more perfect union in my country. ...

For those who question the character and cause of my nation, I ask you to look at the concrete actions we have taken in just nine months.

Mr. Obama,
le Roi Soleil, extending his "c'est moi" radiance
to the adoring assembled
REMARKS TO THE UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY
NEW YORK September 23, 2009 (White House)

IT'S GOOD TO BE THE KING
2009 "Pretty Impressed With Me" UN Tour

Last week Mr. Obama gave another dispiriting flawed-old-America-great-new-president speech. This time to an adoring United Nations (and this). By our count Mr. Obama referred to himself 58 times ("I" 39X; "me" 6X; "my" 13X; this does not count innumerable instances of the royal "we"). Mr. Obama is not just boorish, he's an embarrassment.

ALL ABOUT OBAMA

OP-ED September 24, 2009 (WaPo) - But this address grows more disturbing on further reading. ... Obama’s rhetorical method in international contexts -- given supreme expression at the United Nations this week -- is a moral dialectic. The thesis: pre-Obama America is a nation of many flaws and failures. The antithesis: The world responds with understandable but misguided prejudice. The synthesis: Me. Me, at all costs; me, in spite of all terrors; me, however long and hard the road may be. How great a world we all should see, if only all were more like…me.

I can recall no other major American speech in which the narcissism of a leader has been quite so pronounced. ... Twice in his United Nations speech, Obama dares to quote Franklin Roosevelt. I have read quite a bit of Roosevelt’s rhetoric. It is impossible to imagine him, under any circumstances, unfairly criticizing his own country in an international forum in order to make himself look better in comparison. He would have considered such a rhetorical strategy shameful -- as indeed it is.

Mr. Obama's self-references are the least of it. Try making sense of what he says. What for example does this hash mean?

(A) Democracy cannot be imposed on any nation from the outside. (B) Each society must search for its own path, and no path is perfect. Each country will pursue a path rooted in the culture of its people and in its past traditions. (C) And I admit that America has too often been selective in its promotion of democracy. But that does not weaken our commitment; it only reinforces it. (D) There are basic principles that are universal; there are certain truths which are self-evident -- and the United States of America will never waver in our efforts to stand up for the right of people everywhere to determine their own destiny. (Applause.)

(A) Of course, democracy can and has been imposed from the outside -- and to good effect (e.g., post-war Japan and Germany, more recently in Iraq). (B) Is Mr. Obama conceding any form of government "rooted in the culture of its people and in its past traditions" is acceptable? How about government derived from a culture and traditions at variance with recognized human rights or not provisioned for representative government? How about longstanding tyrannical governments steeped in a culture of oppression and police state traditions that are challenged by bright new democratic revolutions (e.g., Hungary, Czechoslovokia, Poland, Ukraine)? (C) At (A) Mr. Obama obliquely criticizes America for imposing democracy. Two sentences down he criticizes America for limiting such impositions. We suppose America is selective to the extent that it has not upturned the entire world for democracy. America has calculated its best percentage plays for expending its prestige, treasure, and blood in accordance with its own interests and principles. Exactly what would Mr. Obama have America do differently? Mr. Obama finds fault with America's selective promotion of democracy, yet this reinforces his commitment to the promotion of democracy circumscribed by culture and traditions. This is the sort of rhapsodic mush that sounds as if it should mean something but makes no sense.

And finally (D). This blanket endorsement of self-determination ignores the propriety of a people self-determining its destiny. For example, Lebensraum was a form of self-determination. So was Kim Il Sung's "Fatherland Liberation War". So too the ethnic cleansing in the Balkans. Hamas and Hezballah argue that suicide bombers and rocket attacks against the innocent are so much self-determination. [Pause.] Obviously America will not "stand up" for every self-determination.

And just what sort of feeble locution is "our efforts to stand up for" anyway? [Pause.] Of course, considering Mr. Obama's timid "efforts to stand up for the right of people everywhere to determine their own destiny", the feeble rhetoric tracks his feeble actions.

Read the whole speech and go mad.

CHOPE.

Sweetness. Weakness. Applause.

NYC Letter: The Accidental Truth IV

Day 249 of CHOPE

Special Hope & Change Edition.

Hope.

If [Republicans] take them* back, this [is] the end of the road for what Barack and I are trying to do.**

Joe "Big Fish" Biden,
forecasting bright consequences
of the 2010 mid-term elections
if Democrats lose their majority in the House
GREENVILLE, Delaware September 21, 2009 (ABC News)

Change.

Some of the guys Chuck*** and I have campaigned for are turkeys. Not all Democrats are created equal, while most Republicans are.

Joe "Quality Inspector" Biden,
admitting he'll campaign for any Democrat
September 25, 2009 (CNN)

And the biggest turkeys are near and dear.

CHOPE.

Some of the truth, some of the time.

------------------------------------
* Thirty-five to forty of the 49 seats currently held by Democrats in districts that Mr. McCain (R-AZ) carried in last year’s election.

*** Charles Spittal Robb, former Democratic senator for Virginia (1989-2001).

NYC Letter: More Awesome Change! IV, Part III

Day 248 of CHOPE

Mr. Obama was the guy who was going to close Gitmo, try, incarcerate stateside, repatriate, or fob off elsewhere (and this) the remaining detained terrorists. [Brushing hands.] With your vote, as good as done.

Sec. 3. Closure of Detention Facilities at Guantánamo. The detention facilities at Guantánamo for individuals covered by this order shall be closed as soon as practicable, and no later than 1 year from the date of this order.

EXECUTIVE ORDER -- REVIEW AND DISPOSITION
OF INDIVIDUALS DETAINED AT THE GUANTÁNAMO BAY
NAVAL BASE AND CLOSURE OF DETENTION FACILITIES
WASHINGTON January 22, 2009 (White House)

Mr. Obama got your vote -- or enough of somebodies' votes. After a little president-elect wobbling, as president he issued the above EO to close Gitmo within a year. As good as done.

Uh-oh.

WHITE HOUSE REGROUPS ON GUANTANAMO

September 25, 2009 (WaPo) - With four months left to meet its self-imposed deadline for closing the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the Obama administration is working to recover from missteps that have put officials behind schedule and left them struggling to win the cooperation of Congress.

Even before the inauguration, President Obama's top advisers settled on a course of action they were counseled against: announcing that they would close the facility within one year. Today, officials are acknowledging that they will be hard-pressed to meet that goal.

The White House has faltered in part because of the legal, political and diplomatic complexities involved in determining what to do with more than 200 terrorism suspects at the prison. But senior advisers privately acknowledge not devising a concrete plan for where to move the detainees and mishandling Congress.

What was Team Barry thinking?

White House Counsel Gregory B. Craig, who initially guided the effort to close the prison and who was an advocate of setting the deadline, is no longer in charge of the project, two senior administration officials said this week.

Craig said Thursday that some of his early assumptions were based on miscalculations, in part because Bush administration officials and senior Republicans in Congress had spoken publicly about closing the facility.

Oh. Let's see if we have this right, Team Barry had hoped to co-opt some imagined Bush plan and enlist minority Republicans to produce the Democrats' closure of Gitmo. [Pause.] That's it. That was the big plan. Brilliant stuff.

Earlier posts here and here.

CHOPE.

Over-hyped. Over-promised. Undershot.

NYC Letter: The Accidental Truth III Redux

Day 247 of CHOPE

Remember this?

Now, I recognize, though, you make a legitimate -- you raise a legitimate concern. People say, well, how can a private company compete against the government? ... I mean, if you think about -- if you think about it, UPS and FedEx are doing just fine, right? No, they are. It's the Post Office that's always having problems. (Laughter.)

Mr. Obama,
comparing competitive government-subsidized
health insurance with the government-subsidized
United States Post Office
HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM TOWN HALL
PORTSMOUTH, New Hampshire
August 11, 2009 (White House)

Turns out Mr. Obama hit on the perfect exemplification.

A $4 BILLION BAILOUT FOR THE POSTAL SERVICE?

WASHINGTON September 23, 2009 (Politico) - The House voted Thursday to freeze Medicare Part B premiums for most elderly next year, even as Democrats moved to exempt the Postal Service from having to make $4 billion in payments due next week to cover retirement health benefits for its employees.

... Democrats hope the Medicare premium freeze, which sailed through on a 406-18 vote, will defuse what would otherwise be an October surprise for health care reform — threatened cuts in Social Security checks for millions of elderly.

... At a meeting of House and Senate Appropriations Committee negotiators Thursday morning, the Postal Service language was incorporated into a stop-gap continuing resolution, or CR, that Congress must enact in the next week to keep the full government operations.

The normal vehicle for government funding is an appropriations bill. A continuing resolution authorizes government to fund agencies at their current levels until either the resolution expires or an appropriations bill is passed and signed into law. The Democrats control the White House, the Senate (where appropriations are not subject to filibuster), and the House. Yet they can't manage to do the basic work of appropriating the funds in their own budget.

This is gross incompetence.

In the private sector incompetent management is fired.

As adopted, the postal agency, which now faces a liability of $5.4 billion due Sept. 30, would have to pay only $1.4 billion and would be allowed to effectively defer the remaining $4 billion until after 2017.

This is the sort of government business practice that is ruinous -- ludicrous -- in the private sector. Imagine banks giving homeowners an eight-year pass on mortgage payments. Happens all the time.

“That’s good news” said a Postal Service spokesman, who argued the arrangement posed no risk for the taxpayer since the retirement fund holds $32 billion at this time. Nonetheless, critics argued the $4 billion will now be added as a potential cost on the government’s books given the fragile state of the Postal Service, and the whole handling of the issue is seen by many as a parliamentary sleight-of-hand.

"A potential cost" is a very pretty way of saying debt. The government carries and services this debt till the USPO makes good. [Pause.] If a fiscally banjaxed USPO ever makes good. We, perhaps like you, can't wait for some of Mr. Obama's USPO-quality health insurance.

CHOPE.

It's just money.

NYC Letter: Hot/Cold, Part I

Day 246 of CHOPE

(A) The reality is that we are running out of time. Earlier this month, a 25 mile wide ice bridge connecting the Wilkins Shelf to the Antarctic land mass shattered, disconnecting a shelf the size of Connecticut from the Antarctic continent.

(B) The truth is that the threat we face is not an abstract concern for the future. It is already upon us and its effects are being felt worldwide, right now. Scientists project that the Arctic will be ice-free in the summer of 2013. Not in 2050, but four years from now.

John "Henny Penny" Kerry (D-MA),
alerting us to the end of ice
(A) WASHINGTON April 22, 2009 (Boston Globe)
(B) WASHINGTON August 31, 2009 (HuffPo)

A NOSE FOR HYSTERICAL SCIENCE
The Amazing Criswell Of Global Warming

Bad news for fans of Mr. Kerry stocking up on Popsicles for iceless 2013:

But when might these threats materialise? According to a recent New Scientist article, Mojib Latif, a climate modeller and IPCC author, has suggested that we may be in for one or two decades of lower temperatures. This trend – ironically reported at a World Meteorological Organization conference on predictions of the short-term impacts of global warming – is, according to Latif, caused by natural variations in the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the Atlantic Meridional Oscillation (AMO). The NAO was also blamed for at least part of the most recent warming trend.

At the same conference, it was reported that higher than usual summer losses of Arctic ice were partly due to natural cycles, and that this year's loss is likely to be much lower than for the last two years. It seems that some mainstream climate scientists are at last ready to discuss the relative contributions of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions and natural cycles in determining climate trends. Whatever the outcome of the debate, it is good for the scientific community that it is happening.

But where do the Henny Pennys get their hysterical science? From Chicken Little scientists with grant-adjustable climate models. For example, just last year, the North Pole was going to melt away, which has Mr. Kerry so worried.

NORTH POLE MAY BE ICE-FREE
FOR FIRST TIME THIS SUMMER

June 20, 2008 (NGN) - Arctic warming has become so dramatic that the North Pole may melt this summer, report scientists studying the effects of climate change in the field.

"We're actually projecting this year that the North Pole may be free of ice for the first time [in history]," David Barber, of the University of Manitoba, told National Geographic News aboard the C.C.G.S. Amundsen, a Canadian research icebreaker.

What Mr. Kerry isn't telling you -- because as a soi-disant climatologist he is ignorant or as a politician it queers the pitch -- is that a North Pole melt is not a comprehensive Arctic melt.

The melt would be mostly symbolic—thicker ice, pushed against the Canadian continental shelf by weather and Earth's rotation, would still survive the summer.

That said, it appears North Pole ice will beat out Mr. Kerry's iceless 2013 prediction.

ARCTIC ICE TO LAST DECADES LONGER THAN THOUGHT?

September 21, 2009 (NGN) - This year's cooler-than-expected summer means the Arctic probably won't experience ice-free summers until 2030 or 2040, scientists say. Some models had previously predicted that the Arctic could be ice free in summer by as soon as 2013, due to rising temperatures from global warming.

[Hat tip: Hot Air]

Some models -- and some senators, we would add.

Another thing excitable senators, scientists, and global-warming headline artists are not telling you is that reliable Arctic ice measurements date back only to 1979. A single, a mere, 30-year record for major climate patterning requiring the context of centuries to manifest itself. The established record is hardly longer than many of the predictive windows of the climate models themselves. That a climate model can one year predict an iceless Arctic only to be proven wrong the next because of computational or conceptual defects or an omitted key variable, should give us all pause.

[The pause.]

CHOPE.

The sky is falling.

NYC Letter: To Hell With Allies...

Day 245 of CHOPE

...America should protect its enemies.

Q: How aggressive can Obama be in insisting to the Israelis that a military strike might be in America’s worst interest?

We are not exactly impotent little babies. They have to fly over our airspace in Iraq. Are we just going to sit there and watch?

Q: What if they fly over anyway?

Well, we have to be serious about denying them that right. That means a denial where you aren’t just saying it. If they fly over, you go up and confront them. They have the choice of turning back or not. No one wishes for this but it could be a Liberty* in reverse.

Zbigniew Brzezinski,
former National Security Adviser and Obama booster,
offering the type of stellar ass-backwards advice
that sunk the Carter administration
September 18, 2009 (Daily Beast)

First, whose airspace? Last we heard Iraqi airspace belonged to, ah, Iraq.

Second, Mr. Brzezinski here envisions American planes protecting Iranian airspace -- in extremis shooting down Israeli planes. [We sit on the floor.] We can only hope Mr. Brzezinski does not have Mr. Obama's ear.

Mr. Obama already has a propensity to offend allies and coddle enemies.

Mr. Brzezinski's assessment here serves as a reminder -- if one were needed -- what a spectacular success Team Carter foreign policies were.

CHOPE.

Up is down.

------------------------------------
* USS Liberty (AGTR-5) was a Belmont-class technical research ship attacked in international waters by Israeli jet fighter planes and motor torpedo boats on June 8, 1967, during the Six-Day War. The combined attacks killed 34 and wounded 172 crew members and severly damaged the ship. Both American and Israeli inquiries concluded the controversial incident friendly fire, a conclusion credibly disputed by the surviving crew, cabinet-level officials at the time, and a Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Mr. Brzezinski brings up the incident to work a little payback into his scenario.

NYC Letter: Life After Politics: Tom DeLay

Day 245 of CHOPE

Oh my.

NYC Letter: "I'm Not Ready To Die" IV

Day 244 of CHOPE

Special UK T-L-C National Health Edition.

Grim reading.

'DOCTORS TOLD ME IT WAS AGAINST THE RULES
TO SAVE MY PREMATURE BABY'

September 10, 2009 (Daily Mail) - Sarah Capewell begged them to save her tiny son, who was born just 21 weeks and five days into her pregnancy - almost four months early. They ignored her pleas and allegedly told her they were following national guidelines that babies born before 22 weeks should not be given medical treatment.

Miss Capewell, 23, said doctors refused to even see her son Jayden, who lived for almost two hours without any medical support. She said he was breathing unaided, had a strong heartbeat and was even moving his arms and legs, but medics refused to admit him to a special care baby unit.

Medics allegedly told her that they would have tried to save the baby if he had been born two days later, at 22 weeks. In fact, the medical guidelines for Health Service hospitals state that babies should not be given intensive care if they are born at less than 23 weeks.

The guidance, drawn up by the Nuffield Council, is not compulsory but advises doctors that medical intervention for very premature children is not in the best interests of the baby, and is not 'standard practice'.

The best interests of preemies born into a congested government health system is death. [Hard pause.] As if this were some sort of consensus among preemies.

James Paget Hospital in Norfolk refused to comment on the case but said it was not responsible for setting the guidelines relating to premature births. A trust spokesman said: 'Like other acute hospitals, we follow national guidance from the British Association of Perinatal Medicine regarding premature births.'

You see, it's government work, no one's to blame really. Just abstract elective guidelines that took on a life of their own convincing medical professionals that their first priority is not the patient before them, but the government behind them.

Miss Capewell, who has had five miscarriages, said the guidelines had robbed her son of a chance of life. Miss Capewell:

When he was born, he put out his arms and legs and pushed himself over. A midwife said he was breathing and had a strong heartbeat, and described him as a "little fighter". I kept asking for the doctors but the midwife said, "They won't come and help, sweetie. Make the best of the time you have with him".

... [Miss Capewell] said she was told that because she had not reached 22 weeks, she was not allowed injections to try to stop the labour, or a steroid injection to help to strengthen her baby's lungs. Instead, doctors told her to treat the labour as a miscarriage, not a birth, and to expect her baby to be born with serious deformities or even to be still-born.

She told how she begged one paediatrician, 'You have got to help', only for the man to respond:

No we don't.

[Miss Capewell] was shocked to discover that another child, born in the U.S. at 21 weeks and six days into her mother's pregnancy, had survived. Amillia Taylor was born in Florida in 2006 and celebrated her second birthday last October. She is the youngest premature baby to survive. Miss Capewell:

I could not believe that one little girl, Amillia Taylor, is perfectly healthy after being born in Florida in 2006 at 21 weeks and six days.

Thousands of women have experienced this. The doctors say the babies won't survive but how do they know if they are not giving them a chance?

How indeed.

Miss Capewell is fighting for a review of the medical guidelines. Her site can be found here.

NYC Letter: "I'm Not Ready To Die" III

Day 243 of CHOPE

Special Canadian T-L-C National Health Edition.

CANADA TO PROBE BODY BAGS IN FLU KITS

September 18, 2009 (The Age) - Health officials ordered an investigation on Thursday into why the Canadian government sent body bags to an Aboriginal reserve in Manitoba after community leaders requested assistance to deal with an expected outbreak of swine flu.

The body bags were sent this week to a remote northern reserve that was hard hit by swine flu last spring. The bags were in a shipment of hand sanitisers and face masks.

Canadian Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said she found the action by Health Canada insensitive and offensive.

... Jim Wolfe, regional director with the First Nations and Inuit branch of Health Canada, said on Thursday that the bags were part of a shipment intended for reserves to use over the winter and were not linked exclusively to swine flu. Mr. Wolfe:

We order these supplies as a matter of routine business and ... this was part of a very normal restocking process.

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff:

It sends a message, it simply says: 'We expect Aboriginal Canadians to die.

Health minister Aglukkaq rejected that suggestion:

Anyone suggesting that our government's solution to H1N1 is body bags is sensationalising this situation.

Granted, the sensationalized element is a routine shipment of body bags. [We wait for the little bell to go "ding!"] The sensational story is a responsive Canadian government only thought to send hand sanitizer and face masks and bundled these in a routine shipment of body bags. No Tamiflu (oseltamivir). No Relenza (zanamivir). And no medical personnel.

Not ready to die? Not to worry, the Canadian government is ready when you are. More than ready. So ready that if you are very sick, very old, very poor, an aboriginal, or too young to write the health minister -- or some combination -- please consider lessening the expense to the commonweal and kick off.

NYC Letter: The Racist Plot To Banjax David Paterson

Day 243 of CHOPE

Last year then-lieutenant governor David Paterson was kicked upstairs to replace disgraced then-governor Eliot "Client 9" Spitzer. Rainbows and unicorns abounded.

OBAMA CALLS NEW YORK
GOVERNOR-TO-BE PATERSON
NEW YORK March 14, 2008 (CBS)

At the time Mr. Paterson was supporting HRC's candidacy.

As we go forward, David Paterson is absolutely great. He's just going to be a spectacular governor of New York. I'm a big fan of his. I've watched him in the state senate over the years and I wish him much success.

Nancy "Everyone Lies To Me" Pelosi (D-CA, 8th),
Speaker of the House and astute inside-politicker
March 14, 2008 (ABC News)

CLINTON PRAISES PATERSON
AT GOVERNOR'S SWEARING-IN CEREMONY
ALBANY March 17, 2008 (FNC)

I think most of us are optimistic that this could be a really terrific time for New York state and Albany with Gov. Paterson.

Chuck "All That's Over" Schumer (D-NY),
forecasting "a really terrific time" for New Yorkers
ALBANY March 17, 2008 (MSNBC/AP)

And then... [A palpable drop in barometric pressure.] And then it began going bad. Suddenly, terribly bad. [Pause.] The very next day, bad.

GOV. PATERSON ADMITS TO SEX
WITH OTHER WOMAN FOR YEARS
March 18, 2008 (NYDN)

A racist cabal soon forms (Mr. Paterson is black). They conspire to point out dissatisfaction with Mr. Paterson's inept governance.

PATERSON'S POLL NUMBERS SLIPPING TO NEW LOWS

March 23, 2009 (silive.com) - The Siena College poll finds the Democrat viewed favorably by 29 percent of New York voters and unfavorably by 58 percent. That's worse than last month's ratings, his lowest since taking over after Eliot Spitzer resigned.

Just 19 percent of New Yorkers say they have a positive view of his job performance. Seventy-eight percent have a negative view.

And only 14 percent would vote to elect him in 2010.

GOV. DAVID PATERSON'S POLL NUMBERS
CONTINUE RAPID SLIDE TO RECORD LOW

April 6, 2009 (silive.com) - Paterson's approval rating is the lowest ever for a New York governor, with only 28 percent giving him a thumbs-up, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Sixty percent disapprove of his job performance.

In addition, state voters say be a 63-22 percent margin that he does not deserve to be elected again to a four-year term next year.

NEW YORKERS PREFER DISGRACED
EX. GOV. ELIOT SPITZER
TO DAVID PATERSON
May 4, 2009 (NYDN)

STIMULUS PROJECT SIGNS COST US $900K –
PATERSON BLAMES OBAMA!
July 25, 2009 (Monroerising.com)

(Be sure to read the linked article. It exposes the self-promotional waste of Mr. Obama's non-stimulating stimulus.)

CUOMO TOPS PATERSON 4 - 1 IN NEW YORK DEM PRIMARY
August 16, 2009 (Quinnipac)

NY GOV. DAVID PATERSON:
THE RACISTS WANT ME OUT
ALBANY August 21, 2009 (themoderatevoice.com)

DINKINS ADVISES PATERSON:
STOP CALLING YOUR CRITICS RACIST
August 24, 2009 (NYT)

NY GUV HURTING OBAMA'S "POST-RACIAL" BRAND
Obama's Supporters Undermine His Most Powerful Asset
August 24, 2009 (NBC)

GOV. DAVID PATERSON SAYS RACIST MEDIA
TRYING TO DRIVE HIM OUT OF OFFICE
ALBANY September 2, 2009 (NYP)

NO RECOVERY IN PATERSON’S POLL NUMBERS
September 16, 2009 (NYT)

And today the foulest, most cunning racist blow of all!

OBAMA ASKS NEW YORK'S GOVERNOR DAVID PATERSON
TO WITHDRAW FROM RACE
September 20, 2009 (businessinsider.com)

But even a racist president cannot keep Mr. Paterson from his quest for a sure-loss at the polls.

PATERSON SAYS HE WILL RUN
DESPITE WHITE HOUSE PRESSURE
September 20, 2009 (NYT)

CHOPE.

All about winning.

NYC Letter: Trust Team Barry, Part XII

Day 242 of CHOPE

ISRAEL WARNS:
IRAN HAS CROSSED 'NUCLEAR THRESHOLD'

JERUSALEM March 8, 2009 (FNC) - Iran is now capable of producing atomic weapons, Israel's top military intelligence officer said Sunday, sounding the highest-level warning that Israel's arch-enemy has achieved independent nuclear capability.

SARKOZY: FRANCE CERTAIN IRAN
WORKING ON NUCLEAR ARMS

September 16, 2009 (yNet/AFP) - French intelligence agencies are certain that Iran is hiding a nuclear weapons program, President Nicolas Sarkozy said Tuesday:

It is a certainty to all of our secret services. Iran is working today on a nuclear (weapons) program.

Team Barry says not to worry.

Vice President Joe Biden earlier refused to confirm to CNN that the George W. Bush-era plan was being shelved.

But he did explain the logic of doing so, saying Iran -- a key concern for the United States -- was not a threat.

The whole purpose of this exercise we are undertaking is to diminish the prospect of the Iranians destabilizing that region in the world. I am less concerned -- much less concerned -- about the Iranian potential. They have no potential at this moment, they have no capacity to launch a missile at the United States of America.*

Uh-oh.

IAEA SECRET REPORT:
IRAN WORKED ON NUCLEAR WARHEAD

September 18, 2009 (Guardian) - A day after Barack Obama scrapped plans to deploy missile defence technology in eastern Europe, the Associated Press said it had obtained material from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which suggests that it was more convinced Iran had been trying to make a bomb than its outgoing director, Mohamed ElBaradei, had admitted.

"The agency … assesses that Iran has sufficient information to be able to design and produce a workable implosion nuclear device based on HEU [highly enriched uranium] as the fission fuel," AP quoted a "secret annexe" to a report on Iran as saying. Western diplomats confirmed that the annexe was authentic.

"Its absolutely accurate," one official said. "It shows the agency's thinking, which is that Iran is a lot further along on this than most people think. It suggests the Iranians have done a lot of work."

The annexe said Iranian scientists had engaged in "probable testing" of explosives arranged in a hemisphere, which is how an implosion-type nuclear warhead is triggered.

There was also evidence, the report says, that Iran had worked on developing a chamber to carry a warhead on top of one of its missiles "that is quite likely to be nuclear".

... The IAEA annexe, entitled Possible Military Dimension of Iran's Nuclear Program, gives details of a top-level meeting in 1984 in which Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, then president and now supreme leader, appears to give the green light for building a bomb, saying:

A nuclear arsenal would serve Iran as a deterrent in the hands of God's soldiers.

Time to cancel that subscription to Newsweek.

CHOPE.

Team Brainiac. No Worries. Trust us.

------------------------------------
* Of course, the Bush European missile defense was meant to protect, ah, frontline Europa primarily, not the United States. Has Team Barry retracted America's frontline defenses to the shores of America?

NYC Letter: Trust Team Barry, Part XI Redux

Day 241 of CHOPE

[HRC presenting a toy button labeled "peregruzka/reset" to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, meant to symbolize this administration's new approach to Russian relations.]

We worked hard to get the right Russian word. Do you think we got it?

Lavrov: You got it wrong.

Hillary Rodham-Clinton,
Secretary of State, demonstrating
the low standard for hard work at State
GENEVA March 6, 2009 (FNC)

WRONG
"Overcharged" Not "Reset".
Pathetic But Prophetic.
[Photo source: AFP]

With the full resources of the United States at the disposal of Team Barry, how hard could it be to translate one word correctly? Botching the little things, who is surprised Team Barry can't manage the big things? Like fostering good relations with our frontline allies.

WE WERE NAIVE

TREASON!

WE'VE BEEN SOLD TO THE RUSSIANS

THEY STABBED US IN THE BACK

Nice Polish Headlines. Nice Work, Team Barry!

[Hat tip: Gateway Pundit, Janina]

CHOPE.

Team Brainiac. Trust us.

NYC Letter: Trust Team Barry, Part XI

Day 240 of CHOPE

Seventy years ago today, Russia, in alliance with the Third Reich, invaded Poland. Mr. Obama used the occasion to reassure Poland that today's America is every bit as reliable as yesterday's France.

[Hat tip: Carine]

DUMB "SMART" POWER
The Real Smarties, The Russians

Spot art text reads:

Mr. Obama: DEAL!
Mr. Medvedev: MORON!
Diagonal Banner: Donkeys Don't Have The Kick Of The Dragon.
Bottom Banner: The End Of Mickey Mouse

U.S. CHANGES COURSE ON
EASTERN EUROPEAN NUCLEAR-MISSILE SHIELD
Obama Says Redesign To Strengthen America's Defenses

WASHINGTON September 17, 2009 (WSJ) - The White House is scrapping a Bush-era plan for an Eastern European missile-defense shield, saying a redesigned defensive system would be cheaper, quicker and more effective against the threat from Iranian missiles.

"After an extensive process, I have approved the unanimous recommendations of my secretary of defense and my joint chiefs of staff to strengthen America's defenses against ballistic-missile attack," President Barack Obama said in an announcement Thursday morning.

... "The Bush plans on the missile defense as we knew them until now were nothing more than a provocation of security in the European region," said Dmitry Rogozin, Russia's ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, in a phone interview.

... Russia on Thursday welcomed the news but said it saw no reason to offer concessions in return. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called the plan a "responsible move." He threatened last November to station tactical Iskander missiles on Poland's border if the U.S. system was deployed.

BARACK OBAMA'S MISSILE SHIELD DECISION
WILL BE CHEERED IN RUSSIA

September 17, 2009 (Telegraph) - The climb-down undoubtedly does represent a significant strategic victory for the Kremlin. It also gives substance to Washington's so far woolly "reset" of relations with Russia, and will go a long way to soothe wounded Russian egos.

... Russia effectively staked its entire bilateral relationship with the US on the dispute in a high stakes game of poker that appears to have paid off. At a time when Moscow obviously needs to be more flexible itself, there must be concerns that it will be tempted to resort to the same successful hardball tactics again.

... Many politicians in the missile shield's putative host countries – Poland and the Czech Republic – will undoubtedly feel jilted and let down by Washington. Former Soviet bloc countries had already begun to voice concerns that Washington's vaunted reset of relations with Moscow would come at their expense. For many, this move is likely to be seen as a disappointing confirmation of that.

Oops. Looks like Team Barry forgot to brace our allies for the bad news.

ANGER IN EUROPE AS BARACK OBAMA
'SCRAPS MISSILE DEFENCE SHIELD'

September 17, 2009 (Telegraph) - Former Czech prime minister, Mirek Topolanek:

This is not good news for the Czech state, for Czech freedom and independence. It puts us in a position wherein we are not firmly anchored in terms of partnership, security and alliance, and that's a certain threat.

The Polish deputy foreign minister, Andrzej Kremer, said that Warsaw had heard from different sources there were "serious chances" the anti-missile system would not be deployed.

WHAT WILL OBAMA GET BACK FROM RUSSIA
AFTER DITCHING MISSILE DEFENCE?

September 17, 2009 (Times Online) - [Mr. Putin's] implacable opposition to the project has paid off, leaving the Kremlin emboldened in its drive to re-establish a strategic “sphere of privileged interests” over Russia’s former Soviet satellites.

By trading the loyalty of Poland and the Czech Republic to satisfy Russia’s security concerns, the United States is signalling that it no longer contests Moscow’s right to assert its interests in Eastern Europe.

The Kremlin can barely believe its good fortune. Mr Obama has pressed the “reset” button to improve relations without obtaining anything more than permission for US aircraft to cross Russian airspace on resupply operations for troops in Afghanistan.

... But the big question remains over what to do about Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Russia has shown no inclination to budge on its refusal to support further sanctions against Tehran, nor has it cancelled a contract to sell S-300 air-defence missiles to the Islamic republic.

... Russia has argued consistently that Iran presents no current threat and that the missile shield, consisting of a radar in the Czech Republic and 10 interceptor missiles in Poland, compromised its own national security. By cancelling the project, Mr Obama appears to have accepted both arguments. ... Moscow may become more intransigent, arguing that Washington itself no longer takes the threat as seriously as it did by cancelling the missile-defence shield.

The plain answer to the above headline is -- zilch. As in nothing. [Pause.] Let us assume that, on the technical merits, the Obama missile defense is superior to the Bush missile defense. Why abandon the high-profile Bush defense before the Obama defense is deployable? The Bush defense was a negotiating plum. Why has Mr. Obama handed it up to Mr. Putin, gratis?

Team Barry is discovering that beyond its adoring domestic press, the world press is not selling its "strengthen America's defenses" spin. Instead, Mr. Obama is seen as politically inept and tone-deaf, and America is depicted as parochial, timid, and unreliable. Beyond any techincal assessments, Mr. Obama's timing and back-channel botch has diminished America's standing among our staunchiest allies while vindicating Russia's roughneck diplomacy and boosting its status before the world. The world follows winners. Losers fall in line.

[Long sigh.]

Today's post is dedicated to correspondent Janina, Polish patriot, whose boundless support for and optimism about America has been betrayed -- but not shaken.

CHOPE.

Poseys, not missiles.

NYC Letter: Nuance, Part II

Day 239 of CHOPE

As stated in Cannon’s Precedents, on January 27, 1909, the House adopted a report in response to improper references in debate to the President. That report read in part as follows:

It is... the duty of the House to require its Members in speech or debate to preserve that proper restraint which will permit the House to conduct its business in an orderly manner and without unnecessarily and unduly exciting animosity among its Members or antagonism from those other branches of the Government with which the House is correlated.

... Speakers of the House have consistently reiterated, and the House has voted, to support the proposition that it is not in order in debate to engage in personalities toward the President. The Chair enforces this rule of decorum on his own initiative.

DECORUM IN THE HOUSE AND IN COMMITTEES,
a guide to debate in the House recently issued by
Louise Slaughter (D-NY, 28th),
Chair of the House Rules Committee,
back on the job following the Bush years

Last week Representative Joe Wilson (R-SC, 2nd) blurted out, "You lie!" as Mr. Obama finished telling a lie. This crossed a line. When the President of the United States tells a lie before Congress, decorum dictates members wait and see if the President concludes with, "Just kidding!" Mr. Wilson's blurting spoiled what could've been a fun moment for everyone.

Mr. Wilson apologized to the President. The President accepted the apology. But the Demo leadership* in the House demanded Mr. Wilson apologize on the floor of the House or face censure. Mr. Wilson declined. This week the Democrat majority made good its threat.

HOUSE REBUKES WILSON FOR SHOUTING ‘YOU LIE’

WASHINGTON September 15, 2009 (NYT) - Representative Joe Wilson was formally rebuked by the House on Tuesday for his outburst during President Obama’s health care address. The vote came after a Congressional clash over civility that showcased the deep partisan divisions in the House.

... Leading Democrats said the resolution put on the record that the House "disapproves of the behavior of the representative from South Carolina, Mr. Wilson, during the joint session of Congress held on Sept. 9, 2009," and was needed to protect the integrity of the House and deter such acts in the future.

"This is about the rules of this House and reprehensible conduct," said Representative James E. Clyburn (D-SC, 6th) of South Carolina, the No. 3 Democrat in the House and a home-state colleague of Mr. Wilson who led the Democratic argument for the resolution.

Yes. Well. [Pause.] We are amused by this new-found punctiliousness for good manners, decorum, civility among Democrats. It is so [Pinky lift.] quaint. It just won't do to have members dishonoring the House with baseless accusations, rancor, and political denigrations, especially -- per House rules of decorum -- as regards the institution of the presidency and the person of the President.

Such indecorum invites censure. Nowadays.

PELOSI: CIA, BUSH MISLEAD [SIC] ME ON WATERBOARDING
WASHINGTON May 14, 2009 (NYPost)

What?

First of all, I'm just amazed that they can't figure out-- the Republicans are worried that we can't pay for insuring an additional ten million children. They sure don't care about finding $200 billion to fight the illegal [sic] war in Iraq. Where are you gonna get that money? You gonna tell us lies, like you're telling us today? Is that how you're going to fund the war? You don't have the money to fund the war or children, but you're going to spend it to blow up innocent people, if we could get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the President's amusement.

... I hope my California Republican colleagues will understand that if they don't vote to override this veto, they are destroying health care for many of our children in California.

... But, President Bush's statements about children's health shouldn't be taken any more seriously than his lies about the war in Iraq.

The truth is that Bush just likes to blow things up... in Iraq, in the United States, and in Congress.

I urge my colleagues to vote to override his veto. America's children need and deserve health care, despite the President's desire to deny it to them.

Pete Stark (D-CA, 13th),
within the sacrosanct precincts of the House
WASHINGTON October 18, 2007 (rawstory.com/C-SPAN)

What?

CHOPE.

Post-partisan nuance.

------------------------------------
* Ms. Pelosi once again demonstrates her adroit command of party discipline.

NYC Letter: Nuance, Part I

Day 238 of CHOPE

On Sunday May 31 Dr. George Tiller, a notorious late-term abortionist, was shot and killed at Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita, Kansas. The alleged gunman Scott Roeder is in police custody charged with first-degree murder and two counts of aggravated assault. Mr. Roeder is alleged to have murdered Dr. Tiller because of his trade.

The same day Mr. Obama issued the following statement, which can be found on the White House Web site.

STATEMENT FROM THE PRESIDENT
ON THE MURDER OF DR. GEORGE TILLER
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WASHINGTON May 31, 2009 (White House) - I am shocked and outraged by the murder of Dr. George Tiller as he attended church services this morning. However profound our differences as Americans over difficult issues such as abortion, they cannot be resolved by heinous acts of violence.

On Friday September 11 James Pouillon, a pro-life activist, was shot and killed outside the Owosso High School in Owosso, Michigan. The alleged gunman Harlan J. Drake is in police custody charged with two counts of first-degree premeditated murder and related firearm felonies. Mr. Drake is alleged to have murdered Mr. Pouillon because of his witness against abortion.

Two days later Mr. Obama briefly remarked Mr. Pouillon's shooting. Sparsely reported, the statement cannot be found on the White house Web site.

The shooting last week in Michigan was deplorable. Whichever side of a public debate you're on, violence is never the right answer.

Ah, who?

CHOPE.

Nuance.

NYC Letter: Pants On Fire XII

Day 237 of CHOPE

(A) Well, look. In my mind reproductive care [scil., abortion*] is essential care. It is basic care, and so it is at the center, the heart of the plan that I propose. ... Essentially what we're doing is to say that we're going to set up a public plan that all persons and all women can access if they don’t have health insurance. It'll be a plan that will provide all essential services, including reproductive services.

We also will subsidize those who prefer to stay in the private insurance market except the insurers are going to have to abide by the same rules in terms of providing comprehensive care, including reproductive care.

(B) And one more misunderstanding I want to clear up -- under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions,** and federal conscience laws will remain in place.*** (Applause.)

Mr. Obama,
promising everyone everything
(A) then-Senator and presidential candidate,
plain-speaking to Planned Parenthood
July 17, 2007 (YouTube)
(B) the abortion president,
hoping you are this stupid
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT ON HEALTH CARE
TO A JOINT SESSION OF CONGRESS
WASHINGTON September 9, 2009 (White House)

PRO-LIFE CONGRESSMEN AND PLANNED PARENTHOOD AGREE:
HEALTH CARE BILL FUNDS ABORTION

September 11, 2009 (CNS) - In his address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night, President Barack Obama said the health care plan he is pushing will not provide federal money for abortions. But pro-life congressmen and Planned Parenthood agree that abortion would be covered under the plan under an amendment sponsored by Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA, 23rd)

Rep. Joseph Pitts (R-PA, 16th) co-sponsored an amendment with Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI, 1st) that would prohibited federal funding of abortion in the health care plan, but it was voted down by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Pitts said the bill will use taxpayer dollars to fund abortions. Mr. Pitts:

The Capps Amendment, which some have argued is neutral on abortion, explicitly authorizes the federal government to directly fund elective abortions using federal funds drawn on a federal treasury account.

... Let me be clear. This bill, in all of its forms, will radically expand federal policy with respect to abortion.

Douglas Johnson, legislative director for the National Right to Life Campaign, said that any money collected by the government are federal funds, including those that would be collected for government health care plans.

The reality is that the Obama-backed House bill would explicitly authorize the federal government insurance plan to pay for elective abortions and would explicitly authorize subsidies for private abortion insurance--and all with federal dollars, which are the only kind of dollars the federal government can spend.

Planned Parenthood, which was assured by Obama during his presidential campaign that his health plan "will provide essential services, including reproductive services", has expressed its support for the House bill.

In a Sept. 3 article on the "Daily Kos" Web site, Planned Parenthood Vice President Laurie Rubiner explained that the Capps amendment mandates that at least one insurance plan offering services to federally subsidized insurance purchasers must cover abortion. Rubiner described this as a compromise with what she called “anti-choice” groups. But the fact of the matter is that the amendment—even as described by Rubiner—mandates that people buying health insurance with federal dollars be able to buy abortion coverage.

Factcheck.org weighs in:

As for the House bill as it stands now, it’s a matter of fact that it would allow both a "public plan" and newly subsidized private plans to cover all abortions.

There is a point in political discourse where deliberate imprecision grades into dishonesty. Mr. Obama is unequivocally an abortion president. He has made this clear on any number of occasions (and here and this). In his presidential campaign Mr. Obama put abortion -- bundled in the shibboleths, reproductive services, reproductive care -- "at the heart" of his health plan. Now Mr. Obama wants you to believe that everything he has said and everything he has done (and here) to this point is out the window. An unbroken record of pro-abortion advocacy and appointments (and this) -- Poof! Not a factor. Now he is all about the broadest conscionable position. And tax money will not be used to fund abortions.**

That is a lie.

CHOPE.

Reassurance. Ambiguation. Lies.

------------------------------------
* During the campaign Mike Dorning of the Chicago Tribune reported that an Obama representative confirmed "reproductive services" included abortions.

*** "Federal conscience laws will remain in place." Or maybe not.

NYC Letter: The Superlative Congress, Part I Redux

Day 236 of CHOPE

The American people voted to restore integrity and honesty in Washington, D.C., and the Democrats intend to lead the most honest, most open and most ethical Congress in history.

Nancy Pelosi (D-CA, 8th),
soon-to-be-Speaker, amusing us with her bomphiologia
WASHINGTON November 7, 2006 (WaPo)

When last we left Charles Rangel (D-NY, 15th) he had filed amended disclosure statements to correct for a slew of unreported assets, business transactions, and sources of income.

Incredibly Mr. Rangel has unreported income still to disclose.

CHARLIE IN RENTAL DI$ORDER
Fails To Report Harlem-pad Income

September 13, 2009 (NYPost) - Rep. Charles Rangel reported no rental income for eight years on his rundown Harlem row house, even though public records show tenants were living there.

The powerful chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee said he received nothing from 1993 to 2000 on the six-unit building, according to federal financial disclosure forms.

But one current tenant told The Post she had lived at the building for 20 years -- and paid rent during that period. Another said her former boyfriend called 74 W. 132nd St. home for many years, paying about $500 a month in rent. While Rangel claims to have taken in not a dime in eight years, at least four tenants lived in the building during that time, The Post found.

Rangel's reporting of his yearly rental income for the building has swung widely -- from nothing to up to $50,000, the federal disclosure forms show.

• In 1987, he claimed the building brought in between $5,001 and $15,000.

• In 1991, he amended his 1990 form to say the property produced a loss.

• Less than a month later, he said the gross rent was between $15,000 and $50,000, the same amount he reported in 2002.

• In 1993 and 1994, he failed to enter anything about the property's income.

• From 1995 to 2000, he checked a box to show he earned no income.

• In 2001, Rangel claimed income for the building, reporting between $2,501 and $5,000 a year. He did the same in 2002 and 2003, then amended the reports to show income between $15,000 and $50,000.

Even if expenses on the building brought his take to nothing in certain years, he was required to report the gross rent.

Mr. Rangel is the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, whose duties include writing the tax code, the laws by which you are required to disclose your assets and income under penalty of law. Mr. Rangel's lapses, which are not in dispute, would seem to disqualify him from chairing important tax and disclosure law. [Pause.] Not in Nancy Pelosi's "most honest, most open, most ethical Congress in history".

PELOSI TO LET RANGEL KEEP POST
AS GOP STEPS UP ITS ATTACKS ON TAX RETURNS

September 1, 2009 (The Hill) - Growing ethical turmoil surrounding Rangel has prompted calls for Pelosi to yank Rangel’s gavel. ... But Democratic aides say that Pelosi will not pressure Rangel to resign his post or censure him publicly unless the House ethics committee finds him guilty of misconduct or a prosecutor brings charges.

Aides cited various reasons for Pelosi holding her fire. ...
[T]he Speaker does not want to set the precedent of penalizing a colleague because of transgressions alleged in media reports.

No transgressions are alleged in the press. The transgressions are a matter of public record intromitted by Mr. Rangel himself. Of course Ms. Pelosi is very busy with the important business in the "most honest, most open, most ethical Congress in history" -- censuring Representative Joe Wilson.

HOUSE DEMOCRATS TO WILSON:
APOLOGIZE OR FACE CENSURE

September 10, 2009 (FNC) - House Democrats seized on House rules Thursday to demand South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson offer a high-profile apology to President Obama for shouting, "You lie," during the president's health care address. ... House rules expressly prohibit lawmakers from calling the president a "liar" or accusing him of "lying."

Wilson called the White House shortly after Obama's speech to say he was out of line. The White House said early Thursday that the president accepted the apology.

But that did not put the issue to rest, and House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, also of South Carolina, asked Wilson to apologize on the House floor in front of his colleagues. The final vote of the day was held open by Democrats to give him an opportunity to do so, but he refused.

Democrats threatened to censure Wilson absent such an apology. So far they have not done it -- but even though House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said earlier that a censure was not being considered, her top deputies kept it in the mix.

House leaders debated future disciplinary steps against Wilson at a weekly closed-door strategy session in Pelosi's office Thursday.

Glad to see the bar set so high, if only for Republicans. On the bright side, while Democrats busy themselves with humbling Mr. Wilson, they are less busy trashing the economy.

CHOPE.

The most self-dealing. The most self-serving. The most self-righteous. In history!

NYC Letter: The Obama Economy, Part V

Day 235 of CHOPE

I love these folks who helped get us in this mess and then suddenly say, well, this is Obama's economy. That's fine. Give it to me. (Applause.) My job is to solve problems, not to stand on the sidelines and harp and gripe. (Applause.)

So I welcome the job. I want the responsibility.

Mr. Obama,
problem-solver-in-chief,
forgetting at least one person
who helped get us in this mess
WARREN, Michigan July 14, 2009 (White House)

OK. Own this.

ADVISER: HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT FOR YEARS

September 12, 2009 (Politico) - The president’s chief economic adviser warned Friday that the nation’s unemployment rate could stay “unacceptably high” for years to come — a situation that would seriously complicate Barack Obama’s ability to convince Americans that he’s beating back the recession. Larry ["Sleepyhead"] Summers, Director, National Economic Council:

The level of unemployment is unacceptably high. And will, by all forecasts, remain unacceptably high for a number of years.

Even with his gloomy forecast for unemployment, Summers said the economy is getting better and made the case that Obama’s $787 billion stimulus package and other fiscal rescue steps headed off even more economic pain. ... At the briefing, Summers walked a fine line between taking credit for the economic turnaround and declaring premature victory over the crisis.

This is breathtaking. Mr. Summers says unemployment is "unacceptably high" and will remain so for years, yet Mr. Summers goes on to inform us we are in the midst of Mr. Obama's recovery. You ask, what recovery? [The heavens open.] Record spending, record deficits (and this), record debt, a weakened dollar, lower revenues (and this), a no-growth economy, and unemployment headed for 10%. Great job. Super recovery.

Unacceptably high unemployment for the duration of Mr. Obama's presidency?

Team Barry shrugs.

Enjoy the recovery.

CHOPE.

Problem spun. Not solved.

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

UPDATE 09.15.09: Team Barry continues to talk up growth that doesn't exist to smooth down existing unemployment.

ROMER: JOBLESS RATE TO REMAIN HIGH
DESPITE ECONOMIC GROWTH

September 13, 2009 (The Hill) - A top White House economist voiced worry that the economic growth expected in coming years won't be enough to bring down the unemployment rate to pre-recession levels.

White House Council of Economic Advisers Chairwoman Christina Romer said that, in 2010, the economy will likely grow but the jobless rate will peak at 10 percent and won't start falling at a rapid clip.

... The unemployment rate for August was 9.7 percent, the highest since 1983.

"No question they're unacceptable now," Romer said.

White House economists in recent days have warned that the economic recovery won't be swift.

"Won't be swift". Team Barry, masters of litotes.

NYC Letter: 9/11, Eight Years Later

Day 234 of CHOPE

RAISING THE FLAG AT GROUND ZERO
Unbowed And Unbroken
[Photo source: Thomas E. Franklin/The Bergen Record]

ADDRESS TO THE NATION BY PRESIDENT BUSH
September 11, 2001

Good evening.

Today, our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts.

The victims were in airplanes or in their offices -- secretaries, businessmen and women, military and federal workers. Moms and dads. Friends and neighbors.

Thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil, despicable acts of terror.

The pictures of airplanes flying into buildings, fires burning, huge structures collapsing, have filled us with disbelief, terrible sadness and a quiet, unyielding anger.

These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat. But they have failed. Our country is strong. A great people has been moved to defend a great nation.

Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve.

America was targeted for attack because we're the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world. And no one will keep that light from shining.

Today, our nation saw evil, the very worst of human nature, and we responded with the best of America, with the daring of our rescue workers, with the caring for strangers and neighbors who came to give blood and help in any way they could.

... The search is underway for those who are behind these evil acts. I've directed the full resources for our intelligence and law enforcement communities to find those responsible and bring them to justice. We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them.

... None of us will ever forget this day, yet we go forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in our world.

Thank you. Good night and God bless America.

That was then. This is now.

The administration has stopped using the phrase [scil., the war on terror] and I think that speaks for itself.

Mrs. Rodham-Clinton,
"smart power" Secretary of State, introducing
Team Barry's kinder gentler approach to terrorism
THE HAGUE March 30, 2009 (FNC)

Yes it does. [Hard pause.] Volumes.

I'm always worried about using the word 'victory,' because, you know, it invokes this notion of Emperor Hirohito coming down and signing a surrender to MacArthur.

Mr. Obama,
searching for a goal more fitting
an Overseas Contingency Operation
responding to a "'man-caused' disaster"
July 24, 2009 (FNC)

NEVER FORGET.

For those who need reminding, America is at war. A war foisted on it. A war America must win.

NYC Letter: Pants On Fire XI

Day 233 of CHOPE

Five-alarm Conflagration Edition.

If you misrepresent what's in this plan, we will call you out.

Mr. Obama,
warning his critics not to misrepresent his misrepresentations
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT ON HEALTH CARE
TO A JOINT SESSION OF CONGRESS
WASHINGTON September 9, 2009 (White House)

You lie!

Joe Wilson (R-SC, 2nd),
calling Mr. Obama out after he lied
about plan coverage for illegal immigrants
(ibid.)

Ah, well, Mr. Obama did lie -- only if you believe Mr. Obama is well-informed and on top of the health care reform debate. For example, you might construe, as did Mr. Wilson, that Mr. Obama lied here:

There are also those who claim that our reform efforts would insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false. The reforms -- the reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally. [Here Mr. Wilson cries out, "You lie!"] It's not true.

This is a lie only if Mr. Obama was aware, for example, of last month's analysis of H.R. 3200* by the Congressional Research Service (CRS), which addresed this very point (p.4).

Under H.R. 3200, all legal permanent residents (LPRs), nonimmigrants, and unauthorized aliens who meet the substantial presence test (defined above**) would be required to obtain health insurance. Noncitizens meeting the definition of nonresident aliens (e.g., temporary visitors, temporary workers in the United States for less than 183 days in the year) would not be required to obtain health insurance. Notably, the IRC [scil., Internal Revenue Code] does not contain special rules for individuals who are in the United States without authorization (i.e., illegal or unauthorized aliens). Instead, the IRC treats these individuals in the same manner as other foreign nationals—an unauthorized individual who has been in the United States long enough to qualify under the substantial presence test is classified as a resident alien; otherwise, the individual is classified as a nonresident alien. Thus, it would appear that unauthorized aliens who meet the substantial presence test would be required under H.R. 3200 to have health insurance.

[Hat tip: Hot Air]

The CRS exists to provide objective non-partisan anaylses of bills before Congress. Much as the Congressional Budget Office objectively scores costs of bills before Congress (and this and this and this).

Also at issue is bill language that in fact excludes illegal aliens from coverage, but has no effective enforcement mechanism. With no proof-of-citizenship requirement anyone from anywhere can come to the United States for government coverage. House Minority Leader John Boehner:

There were two opportunities for House Democrats to make clear that illegal immigrants wouldn't be covered by putting in requirements to show citizenships. ... Both of those amendments were, in fact, rejected.

More on flagrant lies/ignorant misrepresentations in Mr. Obama's speech here. Remember, Mr. Obama lied only if he was in command of the facts, on top of the debate, and is held to his earlier pronouncements. Complete ignorance and cluelessness absolve Mr. Obama of any responsibility for his many misrepresentations during the speech.

CHOPE.

The spin. The whole spin. And nothing but the spin.

------------------------------------
* America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009, the first and most prominent of several Congressional "plans" to reform health insurance. H.R. 3200 runs to 1,017 pages in PDF. Where do Congressmen and a busy president find the time to read such humongous bills? [Pause.] They can't so they don't (for examples this and this).

** Substantial presence test (p.3): the individual is present in the United States for at least 31 days during the current year and at least 183 days during the current year and previous two years.

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

UPDATE 09.11.09: Oh my! More rudeness! [Overcome, we sit on the floor.]

DOWNSTATE LAWMAKER TAKES A WALK
DURING PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA'S SPEECH

September 11, 2009 (Chicago Tribune) - Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL, 19th) walked out [on Mr. Obama's speech]. Shimkus spokesman Steven Tomaszewski:

Congressman Shimkus was frustrated that the president was not offering any new ground and left with just minutes remaining in the speech.

Regardless of the words the president used, the tone did not bring Republicans on board. As George Stephanopoulos said, "He [scil., Mr. Obama] was right on the edge of anger", and as Rachel Maddow said, "I think liberals will be happy".

NYC Letter: The Obama Health Care Plan

Day 232 of CHOPE

Mr. Obama's desperate junk health reform has hit a snag. The electorate doesn't want it, whatever it is. The Democrat-controlled Congress is too fractious** to pass it, whatever it is. [Pause.] One reason for endless disagreement -- there is no settled Obamacare plan.

WHAT'S IN IT?
Whatever It Is, It's Expensive

WHITE HOUSE CONSIDERS DRAFTING HEALTH CARE BILL

WASHINGTON September 4, 2009 (CNN) – CNN has learned that the White House is quietly talking about drafting formal health care legislation after allowing Congress to work on its own for months.

Multiple sources close to the process told CNN Friday that while the plan is uncertain, they are preparing for the possibility they could deliver their own legislation to Capitol Hill sometime after the President Barack Obama's speech to a joint session of Congress Wednesday, with one source calling the possibility of new legislation a "contingency" approach if efforts by Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus to craft a deal fall through.

... Multiple sources told CNN earlier in the day the thinking among administration officials was that the president will lay out a path to reform in his speech next week that the White House hopes can bridge the various differences in the competing proposals. Sources expect the president to emphasize the message: If Congress passes something now, it will serve as a foundation to pass further reform in the future.

... A source close to the White House says the administration is leaning toward dropping the public option, and continues to zero in on trying to convince Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe – who has long pushed for a trigger option — to come on board.

Mr. Obama gave his televised speech to Congress tonight. If you were watching Fox instead, here is the plan Mr. Obama detailed:

[The silence of space.]

Got that?

CHOPE.

Loud and clear.

------------------------------------
* Uh-oh:

I met with the Senator personally during the August recess back here in Maine when she spoke with dozens of Maine folks in a series of health care talks throughout the state. Here is what I learned: She is worried about costs and the impact on the deficit, the public option plan is "off the table", she wants more private insurance companies in Maine (we have 3), and she doesn't support higher taxes - especially during a recession. Those concerns and opinions were not from "unnamed sources," they were straight from Senator Snowe.

** And this and this and this and this and this.

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

UPDATE 09.10.09:

SURPRISE: SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE TOPS
SO YOU THINK YOU CAN LIE IN THE RATINGS
September 10, 2009 (JWF)

NYC Letter: "Just The Facts, B'am"

Day 231 of CHOPE

Sergeant Joe Friday and Officer Bill Gannon school the president.

LISTEN UP!
View Video Here.

The dialogue written by Preston Wood is original to Dragnet. It was "re-purposed" by Nick D'Orazio at the BulletPeople blog. The Dragnet episode can be found here. [Pause.] Television back in the day.

CHOPE.

Busted.

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

UPDATE 09.10.09: In the comments Mr. Obama's fans don't know quite what to make of this video. Those who catch its satirical intent are sure dark forces, big money, are behind it. Mr. D'Orazio answers:

COMMENTS, PART 3: regretregret2 wrote:

propaganda is all the republicans have
I wonder who in the Insurance companies made this ad

Many commenters thought the video was produced by a well-funded cabal. The video was edited on a $348 laptop from WalMart.

Posted by Nick D'Orazio on 09 SEP 09 at 00:59

NYC Letter: Bankrupting America, III

Day 230 of CHOPE

Chinese assets are very safe.

Tim "Turbo Tax" Geithner,
United States Treasury Secretary, at Peking University
where this pronouncement provoked open laughter
from a staid Chinese audience
BEIJING June 1, 2009 (Reuters)

FAST MONEY, EASY DEBT
Printed On Thin Air

The next big thing to blindside Team Barry.

CHINA ALARMED BY US MONEY PRINTING
The US Federal Reserve's Policy Of Printing Money
To Buy Treasury Debt Threatens To Set Off A Serious Decline
Of The Dollar And Compel China To Redesign Its Foreign Reserve Policy,
According To A Top Member Of The Communist Hierarchy.

CERNOBBIO, Italy September 6, 2009 (Telegraph) - Cheng Siwei, former vice-chairman of the Standing Committee and now head of China's green energy drive, said Beijing was dismayed by the Fed's recourse to "credit easing". Mr. Cheng interviewed at the Ambrosetti Workshop, a policy gathering on Lake Como:

We hope there will be a change in monetary policy as soon as they [scil., the United States] have positive growth again.

If they keep printing money to buy bonds it will lead to inflation, and after a year or two the dollar will fall hard.* Most of our foreign reserves are in US bonds and this is very difficult to change, so we will diversify incremental reserves into euros, yen, and other currencies.

China's reserves are more than – $2 trillion, the world's largest.

Mr Cheng said China had lost 20m jobs as a result of the crisis and advised the West not to over-estimate the role that his country can play in global recovery.

It has come to this. Communist China must lecture America on monetary policy.

PRINTING MONEY – AND ITS PRICE
Debt Sweat

December 27, 2008 (NYT) - Borrowing and spending beyond ordinary limits largely explains how Americans got into such economic trouble. ... Government spent as it saw fit, secure that foreigners could always be counted on to finance American debt.

So it may seem perverse that in this new era of reckoning — with consumers finally tapped out, government coffers lean and banks paralyzed by fear — many economists have concluded that the appropriate medicine is a fresh dose of the very course that delivered the disarray: Spend without limit. Print money today, fret about the consequences tomorrow. Otherwise, invite a loss of jobs and business failures that could cripple the nation for years.

Such thinking carries the moment as President-elect Barack Obama puts together plans to spend more than $700 billion on projects like building roads and classrooms to put people back to work. It is the philosophy behind the Federal Reserve’s decision to drop interest rates near zero — meaning that banks can essentially borrow money for free — while lending directly to financial institutions. This is the mentality that has propelled the Treasury to promise up to $950 billion to aid Wall Street, Detroit and perhaps other recipients.

But where does all this money come from? And how can a country that got itself in peril by borrowing and spending without limit now borrow and spend its way back to safety?

In the case of the Fed, the money comes from its authority to print dollars from thin air.

Since late August, the Fed has expanded its balance sheet from about $900 billion to more than $2.2 trillion, creating $1.3 trillion that did not exist to replace some of the trillions wiped out by falling house prices and vengeful stock markets. The Fed has taken troublesome assets off the hands of banks and simply credited them with having reserves they previously lacked.

You may remember during the presidential campaign, Mr. Obama excoriated Mr. McCain for an "orgy of spending and enormous deficits".

As for the rest of us, Mr. Obama has made himself plain. He expects fiscal circumspection and responsibility:

We've also seen credit cards become, for a minority of customers, part of an uneasy, unstable dependence. Some end up in trouble because of reckless spending or wishful thinking. Some get in over their heads by not using their heads. And I want to be clear: We do not excuse or condone folks who've acted irresponsibly. We don't excuse irresponsibility. ... So we're not going to give people a free pass; we expect consumers to live within their means and pay what they owe.

But Mr. Obama and his minions cannot stop spending money -- spending beyond the government's means, money that doesn't exist. This is Team Barry's one big idea -- spend money.

Now, people when I say that look at me and say, ‘What are you talking about, Joe? You're telling me we have to go spend money to keep from going bankrupt?"

The answer is yes, I’m telling you.

Joe "I'm No Economist" Biden,
arguing how owing trillions will prevent
a bankruptcy owing billions
AARP TOWN HALL
ALEXANDRIA, Virginia July 16, 2009 (CNS)

No one epitomizes this ass-backwards notion better than Mr. Obama himself.

And the fact is, it took a long time to dig ourselves into this economic hole; it's going to take some time to dig ourselves out.

Mr. Obama,
remarking on the mechanics of his hole rescue
WASHINGTON May 22, 2009 (White House)

When one has dug oneself into a hole, the first step to getting out is to stop digging.

Q: At what point do we run out of money?

Well, I mean, we're out of money now.

Mr. Obama,
Spender-in-chief, answering the $24 trillion question
INTERVIEW May 23, 2009 (C-Span)

CHOPE.

Digging deeper.

------------------------------------
* Here is something to do with your worthless Zim dollars.

NYC Letter: Pants On Fire X

UPDATE 09.07.09:

No one on Team Barry thought to ask the expiscatory question, is there anything about you that will hurt this White House? [Frisson.] Just how incompetent is Team Barry? We can only hope they are lying.

Posted by Damian at September 6, 2009 11:45 PM

Good news! They are lying!

FOR A WASHINGTON JOB,
BE PREPARED TO TELL ALL

WASHINGTON November 12, 2008 (NYT) - Want a top job in the Obama administration? Only pack rats need apply, preferably those not packing controversy.

A seven-page questionnaire being sent by the office of President-elect Barack Obama to those seeking cabinet and other high-ranking posts may be the most extensive — some say invasive — application ever.

The questionnaire includes 63 requests for personal and professional records, some covering applicants’ spouses and grown children as well, that are forcing job-seekers to rummage from basements to attics, in shoe boxes, diaries and computer archives to document both their achievements and missteps.

... Stephanie Cutter, chief spokeswoman for the Obama transition office:

President-elect Obama made a commitment to change the way Washington does business, and the vetting process exemplifies that.

... Just in case the previous 62 questions do not ferret out any potential controversy, the 63rd is all-encompassing:

Please provide any other information, including information about other members of your family, that could suggest a conflict of interest or be a possible source of embarrassment to you, your family, or the president-elect.

The answer could duplicate the response to Question 8:

Briefly describe the most controversial matters you have been involved with during the course of your career.

For those who clear all the hurdles, the reward could be the job they wanted. But first there will be more forms, for security and ethics clearances from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Office of Government Ethics.

[Hat tip: Gateway Pundit]

The questionnaire can be found here. Mr. Jones must've skipped Nos. 8 & 63 -- and also No.12:

Speeches: Please identify all speeches you have given. If available please provide the text or recordings of each such speech.

Perhaps you, like us, are relieved to discover the White House is a nest of liars trying to slip an opportunistic controversialist pass the American public and not feckless bunglers without a clue. [A sigh of relief.]

UPDATE: Bad news. Team Barry is a nest of bungling liars who can't spin a credible cover story.

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

Day 229 of CHOPE

IN ADVISER'S RESIGNATION,
VETTING BITES OBAMA AGAIN
Uproar Concerned Environmental Aide's Past Activism

WASHINGTON September 6, 2009 (WaPo) - Jones's resignation late Saturday came as calls for his ouster increased from Republican leaders, who have been critical of past statements and associations that have also taken the White House by surprise. His departure as a top adviser to the White House Council on Environmental Quality leaves Obama's push to create "green" jobs, which he has called an essential element of the more stable economy he is trying to build, without a leader.

Like much of Team Barry "leadership", Mr. Jones devised no real plan and offered up no real arithmetic, instead he clowned and enthused from the podium regaling audiences with "green age" platitudes, slogans, and green mumbo-jumbo.

A White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a personnel matter, said Sunday that Jones's past was not studied as intensively as that of other advisers because of his relatively low rank.

Mr. Jones apparently didn't rate a Google search. [Pause.] A Google search. [Pause.] No one on Team Barry thought to ask the expiscatory question, is there anything about you that will hurt this White House? [Frisson.] Just how incompetent is Team Barry? We can only hope they are lying.

While some conservatives* tried to portray Jones as one of Obama's many issue czars, he was not. Nancy Sutley, head of the White House environmental council, hired him as her "special adviser for green jobs, enterprise and innovation" in mid-March, and he reported to her rather than to Obama.

Because Jones's position did not require Senate confirmation,** he avoided the kind of vetting that Cabinet officials were subjected to. "He was not as thoroughly vetted as other administration officials," the official said. "It's fair to say there were unknowns."

Yet here is WH advisor and Obama confidant Valerie Jarrett telling us Team Barry had been following Mr. Jones since forever.

JARRETT: You guys know Van Jones?

[Applause. Moderator injects: "This is his house apparently."]

Oooh. Van Jones, alright! So, Van Jones. We were so delighted to be able to recruit him into the White House. We were watching him, uh, really, he’s not that old, for as long as he’s been active out in Oakland. And all the creative ideas he has. And so now, we have captured that. And we have all that energy in the White House.

Oooh. Van Jones, alright!

CHOPE.

Don't know. Don't care.

------------------------------------
* Conservatives like democrats.com, NPR, Newsweek, Slate, and the L.A. Times.

** One of the perks of one-party government -- flouting the Constitution. One of the perks of one-party national press -- smoothing the flout.

NYC Letter: Fidel Castro, World Hero

Day 228 of CHOPE

Caught us completely by surprise. Godless Castro is "the best disciple of Jesus".

MIGUEL D´ESCOTO: «FIDEL CASTRO
ES EL MEJOR DISCÍPULO DE JESÚS»

LA HABANA septiembre 5, 2009 (ABC.es) - El presidente de la Asamblea General de la ONU, el nicaragüense Miguel D'Escoto, aseguró hoy en La Habana que el líder cubano, Fidel Castro, es "el mejor discípulo de Jesús". "Fidel es para mí, hoy en día, el mejor discípulo de Jesús. Me tocó el privilegio de estar cerca, de observarlo, de oirlo, de verlo, y es un hombre enamorado de la justicia, de la fraternidad, de la solidaridad", dijo el sacerdote y ex canciller sandinista.

D'Escoto insistió en que la ONU tiene que ser "reinventada", al presentar en La Habana su libro "Antiimperialismo y no violencia" ante el presidente del Parlamento cubano, Ricardo Alarcón, y el ministro de Cultura, Abel Prieto, entre otros funcionarios.

The president of the UN General Assembly, Nicaraguan Miguel D'Escoto, said today in Havana that the Cuban leader, Fidel Castro, is "the best disciple of Jesus." "Fidel is for me, today, the best disciple of Jesus. I was privileged to be near him, to observe him, to hear him, to see him, and he is a man in love with justice, brotherhood, solidarity," said the priest and former Sandinista foreign minister.

D'Escoto emphasized that the UN must be "reinvented", introducing in Havana his book "Anti-imperialism and non-violence" to the Cuban Parliament President Ricardo Alarcon and Culture Minister Abel Prieto, among other officials.

[Translation: Barcepundit]

It gets better. The UN -- "'after extensive consultation' among representatives of the General Assembly’s member countries" -- has trumped up a medal for Mr. Castro as “World Hero of Solidarity”, along with a "World Hero of Mother Earth" medal for socialist Evo Morales, president of Bolivia.

“What we want to do is present these three* people to the world and say that they embody virtues and values worth emulation by all of us,” said D’Escoto, who like the socialist Morales is a staunch critic of U.S. foreign policy in Latin America.

Surprisingly no "World Hero of Social Finances" medal for Mr. Mugabe. Also no posthumous award for the little chairman, a recognized "World Hero of Stateless Terrorism". [Pause.] Or how about ""World Hero of Anti-Zionism". Or education. Or something.

------------------------------------
* The African socialist Julius Nyerere was posthumously awarded a medal as “World Hero of Social Justice" also.

NYC Letter: Meet Mr. Jones

UPDATE 09.06.09:

GREEN JOBS CZAR VAN JONES RESIGNS

September 6, 2009 (WT/WaPo) - In a resignation letter released by the White House just after midnight on Sunday, Mr. Jones said he was the victim of a smear campaign. Mr. Jones:

On the eve of historic fights for health care and clean energy, opponents of reform have mounted a vicious smear campaign against me. They are using lies and distortions to distract and divide.

I have been inundated with calls - from across the political spectrum - urging me to "stay and fight. But I came here to fight for others, not for myself. I cannot in good conscience ask my colleagues to expend precious time and energy defending or explaining my past. We need all hands on deck, fighting for the future.

We are hard pressed to discover the "lies and distortions" used to "smear" Mr. Jones. Unless, of course, Mr. Jones means being held to account for his own undisputed "lies and distortions". [We fan our nose.] Mr. Jones banjaxed himself. He can't distance himself from himself. And now he is gone.

A cautionary lesson, dear skimmer, for agitprop radicals. Say anything to be a big shot among the fringe, but don't expect a buttoned-down government payday.

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

Day 227 of CHOPE

Q: When nobody in the Republican Party, nobody is voting with him [scil., Mr. Obama], how are the Republicans able to push things through when they have less than 60 Senators but somehow he can't?

The answer to that is they're assholes. [Crowd laughter.] That's a technical political science term. [Mugging to audience.] And Barack Obama's not an asshole. So, um, now I will say this. [Pause.] I can be an asshole. And some of us who aren't Barack Hussein Obama are going to have to start getting a little bit uppity

Van Jones,
explaining partisanship
BERKELEY February 11, 2009 (Politico/YouTube)

Meet Anthony "Van" Jones. Shortly after the above remark,* Mr. Jones was recruited by Team Barry and on March 10, 2009 was appointed Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation on the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) -- Mr. Obama's Green Czar.

POSTPARTISAN DONKEY
Clearly Inappropriate Appointment

You might be surprised to learn Team Barry is thick with czars -- 32 at last count. A czar is an administration executive with a specialized portfolio who reports to the president or a cabinet secretary. Some of these positions are mandated by Congress, most are not. Mr. Obama has used czar appointments to end-run the bother of Congressional "advise and consent" established in the United States Constitution.**

Which brings us back to Mr. Jones. It is almost a certainty Mr. Jones would not have survived an "advise and consent" confirmation by Congress. Not merely because he is clownish and insulting, inflammatory, versed in leftish cant, and plain old stupid, but because he is an opportunistic kook.

To start, Mr. Jones is a Truther. Back in October 26, 2004 Mr. Jones was a signatory (№46) on a seminal "911 Truth Statement" by 911truth.org, "which calls for immediate public attention to unanswered questions that suggest that people within the current administration [scil., Bush] may indeed have deliberately allowed 9/11 to happen, perhaps as a pretext for war". Yesterday Mr. Jones disowned his signature.

In a statement issued Thursday evening Jones said of "the petition that was circulated today, I do not agree with this statement and it certainly does not reflect my views now or ever."

He did not explain how his name came to be on the petition. An administration source said Jones says he did not carefully review the language in the petition before agreeing to add his name.

Yes. But. The 911truth.org petition was not a careless one-off. Gateway Pundit outs Mr. Jones as a member of the organizing committee for the San Francisco March To Demand Congressional Inquiry Of 911 back in January of 2002.

"Not now or ever", "did not carefully review the language" -- Team Barry thinks you are this stupid.

Meanwhile, Hot Air discloses Mr. Jones' support for convicted cop-killer (upheld on appeal) Mumia Abu-Jamal.

TIMING OF PROTEST IS SUSPECT
Mumia Supporters Disrupt Youth Event

October 9, 1999 (SFC) - A supporter of a Pennsylvania death row inmate denied that demonstrators were trying to upstage a long-planned dialogue between Oakland police and local youth Thursday night.

... Supporters of Mumia Abu-Jamal, a death row inmate convicted for the 1981 shooting death of a Philadelphia police officer, said the protest was called after the Supreme Court on Monday rejected claims that Abu-Jamal, a former radio journalist and Black Panther, did not receive a fair trial. Van Jones, a San Francisco civil rights lawyer who helped coordinate the protest march:

We knew there was another event going on, but the timing of the court decision is what dictated when the protest was held.

Jones said about 15 protesters occupied the rotunda at the Federal Building on Clay Street in an act of civil disobedience with the hope they would be arrested.

We waive Mr. Jones avowed communism.

Now even an "advise and consent" end-run appointment is subject to vetting by the Secret Service and the FBI. It is hard to imagine these agencies missed Mr. Jones' colorful past and present associations and remarks. A Google search suffices to discover Mr. Jones' radical history and produce a catalog of his bizarre comments, sufficient to bar a White House clearance. We are informed there are only three people who can overrule such an interdiction: the President, the First Lady, or the Chief of Staff to the President.

[Pause.] So the question is, who got Mr. Jones through the door?

This is what appointments by a community organizer look like.

CHOPE.

What?

------------------------------------
* Mr. Jones, caught out, apologized for this remark.

NYC Letter: Save The Planet!

Day 226 of CHOPE

Correspondent Duncan sent this and we pass it along.

THE PLANET IS FINE
A Little Perspective
George Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008)
View Video Here.

Save the planet? It's a terrorist! Notice how the laughs fall off at the end when Mr. Carlin speculates on how the planet defends itself against humanity.

CHOPE.

Gratifying arrogance, one planet at a time.

NYC Letter: Blame Them! V

Day 225 of CHOPE

Something special for the Nutmeggers among our readers.

CONNECTICUT STATE BUDGET VOTE
Boredom Of The Ruling Class
[Photo source: Hartford Courant/AP/Jessica Hill]

Original caption reads:

House Minority Leader Lawrence F. Cafero Jr., R-Norwalk, far right, speaks while colleagues play solitaire on their computers as the House convenes to vote on a new budget for the fiscal year in the Capitol, in Hartford CT, Monday, August, 31, 2009.

Turns out they're Democrats.

STATE LEGISLATORS IN NOW-INFAMOUS
SOLITAIRE PHOTO IDENTIFIED

September 1, 2009 (Hartford Courant) - A photo of two Democratic legislators playing solitaire has ignited controversy at the state Capitol and in the blogosphere.

The Associated Press picture has appeared in any number of venues, and it shows two lawmakers sitting in the back row of the historic Hall of the House in Hartford during the lengthy debate over the two-year, $37 billion state budget.

On the left is Rep. Barbara Lambert, a freshman Democrat from Milford who won her first legislative election in November 2008. She replaced longtime Milford Democrat James Amann, who ended his legislative career as the House Speaker and is now running for governor against Republican M. Jodi Rell.

Lambert is playing spider solitaire in the photo, while Rep. Jack F. Hennessy, a Bridgeport Democrat who has served in Hartford since 2005, is playing regular solitaire. They both voted in favor of the Democratic-written budget, while Cafero voted against it.

During the long debates at the state Capitol, legislators often work on their laptop computers - as seen in the photograph. Sometimes they are answering e-mails from constituents, while other times they are researching important information on pending bills. Other times, they are playing solitaire.

At right an unidentified legislator watches streamed baseball.

The Democrats currently hold a two-thirds super-majority in both houses of the Connecticut General Assembly. No need to pay attention to the business before them. Why read bills? Why perform due diligence? [Hard sigh.] Vote them out.

[Hat tip: Michelle Malkin]

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

UPDATE 09.04.09:

Our members have discussed and debated the state budget for seven months, culminating in yesterday’s marathon, 13 hour budget session. With little new ground being broken, and the results of the upcoming vote a reasonable certainty, a momentary diversion is understandable. Both representatives insist there was no intent to disrespect the minority leader during his presentation.

Doug Whiting,
Communications Director, Connecticut House Democrats,
excusing the boredom of the ruling class
September 2, 2009 (Michelle Malkin)

Try this excuse at work. Employers are sympathetic to disingenuous self-excusing for dereliction on their dime. Be sure to assure your boss there was "no intent to disrespect". Employers also like open hypocrisy in their hires. Let us know how things work out.

NYC Letter: Gaea, Terrorist

Day 224 of CHOPE

On August 6, 2001, President George W. Bush famously received an intelligence briefing entitled, "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S." Thirty-six days later, al Qaeda terrorists did just that.

... The truth is that the threat we face is not an abstract concern for the future. It is already upon us and its effects are being felt worldwide, right now. Scientists project that the Arctic will be ice-free in the summer of 2013. Not in 2050, but four years from now.*

Make no mistake: catastrophic climate change represents a threat to human security, global stability, and — yes — even to American national security.

... Unfortunately, not everyone in Washington appreciates the stakes. It's tragic that we live at a time when if one were to dismiss the threat of terrorism, you'd be sent home in the next election. But there are no similar political consequences if you dismiss the science or the threat of climate change.

John "Sent Home" Kerry (D-MA),
alerting us to the world's biggest terrorist threat
WASHINGTON August 31, 2009 (HuffPo)

Of course, more famously Al Qaeda struck the Khobar Towers on June 25, 1996, killing 19 American servicemen, the American embassies (sovereign American territories) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya on August 7, 1998, killing 12 Americans, and the USS Cole on October 12, 2000, killing 17 American servicemen. And more famously still, here is Mr. bin Laden in an interview published in the January 11, 1999 issue of Time Magazine:

Q: What can the U.S. expect from you now?

bin Laden: Any thief or criminal or robber who enters another country in order to steal should expect to be exposed to murder at any time. For the American forces to expect anything from me, personally, reflects a very narrow perception. Muslims are angry. The Americans should expect reactions from the Muslim world that are proportionate to the injustice they inflict.

Q: America, the world's only superpower, has called you Public Enemy Number One. Are you worried?

bin Laden: Hostility toward America is a religious duty, and we hope to be rewarded for it by God. To call us Enemy Number One or Two does not hurt us. Osama bin Laden is confident that the Islamic nation will carry out its duty. I am confident that Muslims will be able to end the legend of the so-called superpower that is America.

All of this famously took place on Mr. Clinton's watch, well in advance of the less famous intelligence briefing Mr. Kerry references. And Mr. Kerry's "criminal nuisance" approach to terrorism is largely why he was "sent home" in 2004.** (Oh, and this.)

But Mr. Kerry's opening is just a splenic incontinence, something he can't control (and this and this). It is irrelevant to his larger message. Mr. Kerry reveals the world's greatest terrorist --

the PLANET!

Yes. [Pause.] Gaea. Mother Earth, her very self.

And Mr. Kerry is not alone.

WWF PRINT AD
View Full-size Here.

The caption (upper right) reads:

THE TSUNAMI KILLED 100 TIMES MORE PEOPLE THAN 9/11.
The Planet Is Brutally Powerful. Respect It. Preserve It.

This bizarre print ad*** by the ad agency DDB Brazil† has been disowned by its client, the World Wildlife Fund (via Hot Air):

WWF strongly condemns this offensive and tasteless ad and did not authorize its production or publication. It is our understanding that it was a concept offered by an outside advertising agency seeking our business in Brazil. The concept was summarily rejected by WWF and should never have seen the light of day. It is an unauthorized use of our logo and we are aggressively pursuing action to have it removed from websites where it is being currently featured. We strongly condemn the messages and the images portrayed in this ad. On behalf of WWF, here in the US and around the world, we can promise you this ad does not in any way reflect the thoughts and feelings of the people of our organization.

Fight the terror!

Or, as the ad suggests, knuckle under and let the terrorist win.

CHOPE.

Taking on the world's biggest terrorist.

------------------------------------
* Huh (and huh again)? Mark your calendars for this nonevent. We imagine four years from now Mr. Kerry will identify new boogeymen.

[Hat tip: Michelle Malkin]

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

UPDATE 09.02.09: Busted. At some level WWF approved the print ad:

Sergio Valente, president of DDB Brasil, said the ad was presented to the WWF in Brazil in December 2008 and approved; it then ran once in a small local paper.

"When I saw it, I said, 'Stop running that ad,'" Mr. Valente said.

Running an ad once is often a tactic to make it awards-show-eligible, and "Tsunami" somehow ended up among a bunch of the agency's submissions to this year's One Show in New York. Mr. Valente said that an American blogger apparently unearthed the ad in the One Show's online archive and posted it on his blog.

... After the WWF appeared to initially deny approving the ad, DDB Brasil and the WWF hammered out a statement posted in Portuguese on both groups' Brazilian websites Wednesday afternoon apologizing for the ad and attributing it to "the inexperience of some professionals on both sides, and not bad faith or disrespect toward American suffering."

The statement continued, "WWF-Brasil and DDB Brasil reaffirm that the ad never should have been created, approved or run. They deeply regret that this happened, and apologize to everyone who has been offended."

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

UPDATE 09.03.09: Not bad enough. There is an unclaimed video version of the ad. Both WWF and DDB deny any connection. [Pause.] Like little Topsy, it just growed.

UPDATE: Whoa! YouTube: "This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by DDB BRASIL."

How can DDB Brazil have a copyright claim if it didn't create the video? Uh-huh.

UPDATE: You can still see the video here.

NYC Letter: The Cellophane Administration, Part III

Day 223 of CHOPE

Back in March Mr. Obama issued a memorandum restricting telephone and in-person pitches by lobbyists for stimulus funds and requiring government officials to quickly, fully, and publicly report any contacts with lobbyists, oral or written.

Sec. 3. Ensuring Transparency of Registered Lobbyist Communications. (a) An executive department or agency official shall not consider the view of a lobbyist registered under the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, 2 U.S.C. 1601 et seq., concerning particular projects, applications, or applicants for funding under the Recovery Act unless such views are in writing.

... (c) All written communications from a registered lobbyist concerning the commitment, obligation, or expenditure of funds under the Recovery Act for particular projects, applications, or applicants shall be posted publicly by the receiving agency or governmental entity on its recovery website within 3 business days after receipt of such communication.

(d) An executive department or agency official may communicate orally with registered lobbyists concerning general Recovery Act policy issues; provided, however, that such oral communications shall not extend to or touch upon particular projects, applications, or applicants for funding, and further that the official must contemporaneously or immediately thereafter document in writing: (i) the date and time of the contact on policy issues; (ii) the names of the registered lobbyists and the official(s) between whom the contact took place; and (iii) a short description of the substance of the communication. This writing must be posted publicly by the executive department or agency on its recovery website within 3 business days of the communication.

Aside from First Amendment issues, the directives were decried as unrealistic and not constructive. In July Mr. Obama relaxed the contact restrictions but left the reporting requirements intact.

WHITE HOUSE EASES STIMULUS LOBBYIST RESTRICTIONS

July 25, 2009 (The Hill) - In a significant change, the Obama administration will now allow lobbyists to meet and have telephonic discussions with government officials regarding economic recovery projects.

... Now, the just-revised rules will allow government personnel to accept meetings and calls from federally registered lobbyists on the implementation of stimulus projects.

... Agency officials are required to promptly disclose on the Internet all oral and written communications with lobbyists concerning policy or projects funded under the recovery act. They also have to disclose any written communications with lobbyists regarding pending applications for competitive funding.

But like much of this administration's CHOPE (and this and this and this and this and this and this and this, to link but eight), there is no real change.

BUSINESS AS USUAL
Nothing To See.

U.S. MEETINGS WITH LOBBYISTS GO UNREPORTED

August 31, 2009 (WaPo/AP) - President Obama ordered federal officials to disclose their contacts with lobbyists trying to influence how the government doles out money to jump-start the economy. Yet few such communications have been reported even though lobbyists say they are busier than ever with the multibillion-dollar stimulus.

Since the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed in February, federal agencies have reported 197 contacts with lobbyists about stimulus grants.

In August, the entire government reported only eight such lobbying contacts. The Pentagon, which controls about $7.4 billion in stimulus spending, reported just one lobbying contact so far this year. The Homeland Security Department, with at least $3 billion to spend, reported none.

... When disclosures are made, the reports vary widely.

The Education Department described 19 encounters, including Secretary Arne Duncan's meetings with the NAACP and other groups, some with detailed descriptions of the discussions. Energy Department reports include barely legible scrawls as well as 159 pages of public comments on a transmission infrastructure program.

The departments of Homeland Security, State and Veterans Affairs, and smaller agencies such as the Smithsonian Institution have made no such reports.

... U.S. officials have to disclose only their contacts with lobbyists, not others interested in the stimulus money like corporate executives or trade groups. But new rules bar conversations with lobbyists and others once an application for money is submitted.

That means before an application for money is in the pipeline, people who are not registered lobbyists can still make their pitches without those meetings being publicly disclosed by government officials. Dave Wenhold, president of the American League of Lobbyists, says that does not promote the transparency Obama promised because registered lobbyists are still the only ones whose contacts are disclosed. Mr. Wenhold:

At least if you're having a meeting with a lobbyist it's written down. There's $787 billion out there and you're telling me no one is lobbying for it? It's a whole lot of spin.

CHOPE.

Demanding reporting requirements. Near-zero compliance. Ho-hum.

NYC Letter: The Superlative Congress, Part I

Day 222 of CHOPE

The American people voted to restore integrity and honesty in Washington, D.C., and the Democrats intend to lead the most honest, most open and most ethical* Congress in history.

Nancy Pelosi (D-CA, 8th),
soon-to-be-Speaker, amusing us with her bomphiologia
WASHINGTON November 7, 2006 (WaPo)

Here is Charlie Rangel (D-NY, 15th) -- an exemplar of Ms. Pelosi's Congressional superlatives: most honest, most open, most ethical.

RANGEL FAILED TO DISCLOSE $500,000 IN ASSETS FOR ’07

August 25, 2009 (NYT) - United States Representative Charles B. Rangel, whose personal finances and fund-raising are the subject of two House ethics investigations, failed to report at least $500,000 in assets on his 2007 Congressional disclosure form, according to an amended report he filed this month.

Among the dozen newly disclosed holdings revealed in the amended forms are a checking account at a federal credit union with a balance between $250,0000 and $500,000; three vacant lots in Glassboro, N.J., valued at a total of $1,000 to $15,000; and stock in PepsiCo worth between $15,000 and $50,000.

The updated forms report that Mr. Rangel’s total net worth is between $1,028,024 and $2,495,000 — about twice the amount listed in the original disclosure statement, filed in May 2008, which declared assets totaling between $516,015 and $1,316,000.

Mr. Rangel declined to discuss the matter, saying he did not want to comment publicly while the investigations continue.

Who among us hasn't lost track of a loose $500,000 around tax time? Who hasn't made a rounding error of 50% estimating net worth? [Pause.] Easy error. Common mistake.

RANGEL FAILED TO DISCLOSE MORE INCOME
AND ASSETS, FORMS SHOW

August 28, 2009 (NYT) - Representative Charles B. Rangel failed to report hundreds of thousands of dollars in income and assets on his financial disclosure forms for 2002 through 2006, including tens of thousands of dollars in rental income from a Harlem brownstone he sold in 2004, according to records filed this month with the clerk of the House of Representatives.

Mr. Rangel, who is facing investigations by two House subcommittees into his personal finances and fund-raising, filed amended financial disclosure forms on Aug. 12 acknowledging that he had omitted an array of assets, business transactions and sources of income. They include a Merrill Lynch Global account valued between $250,000 and $500,000; tens of thousands of dollars in municipal bonds; and $30,000 to $100,000 in rent from a multifamily brownstone building he owned on West 132nd Street.

... A spokesman for Mr. Rangel, a Democrat who has represented Harlem since 1971, issued a written statement saying the errors were inadvertent.

Mr. Rangel declined to discuss the latest revelations about his finances, which were reported on Friday by The New York Post.

[Mr. Rangel is the chair of] the Ways and Means Committee, which writes the tax code and is involved in shaping major policy, from the financial bailout to the health care plan.

Mr. Rangel is at the helm of the nation's finances. Spending your money obviously leaves him little time to keep track of his own.

CHARLIE'S MORTGAGE BARES HOME UNTRUTH

WASHINGTON August 29, 2009 (NYPost) - Rep. Charles Rangel claimed on mortgage papers that a Harlem brownstone was his principal residence -- even though he was living elsewhere at the time, The Post has learned.

When the Democrat -- who is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee -- took out the mortgage in 1990, he said the property on West 132nd Street was his "principal residence," records show.

But Rangel has been living since the 1970s in Harlem's Lenox Terrace apartment complex, where he improperly amassed four rent-stabilized properties.

... Last November, Rangel and five other members of Congress took a junket to the Caribbean with $100,000 from Citigroup [Citibank is Mr. Rangel's mortgage lender] -- just weeks after Congress bailed out banks with $700 billion in taxpayer funds.

... Newly filed financial-disclosure reports show Rangel has understated his annual earnings, his assets and his business dealings by millions of dollars since 2002, The Post has reported.

This is not the first time Rangel has gotten into trouble claiming property as his primary residence. Last year, The Post reported that Rangel had been claiming a "homestead" tax break in Washington, DC, while claiming primary residency in New York.

Meanwhile, Rangel again refused to answer any questions yesterday.

Dizzy? Can't keep Mr. Rangel's lapses straight? Here's a scorecard.

CABINET MATERIAL
Talents For Misreporting And Underestimation
Would Be Assets (And This) At OMB
[Graphic source: NY Post/William Farrington]

More on Mr. Rangel here.

CHOPE.

The most negligent. The most deliquent. The most venal. In history!

------------------------------------
* And this. And this. In the old pre-most-ethical-Congress Democrats used hard-to-explain-away cold cash.

NYC Letter: Trust Team Barry, Part X

Day 221 of CHOPE

I have unequivocally prohibited the use of torture by the United States, and I have ordered the prison at Guantanamo Bay closed by early next year. (Applause.)

Mr. Obama,
delivering the terrorist applause line
and reassuring terrosrists worldwide
that American detention will not go beyond
three squares a day and a team of lawyers
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
ON A NEW BEGINNING
CAIRO UNIVERSITY, CAIRO June 4, 2009 (White House)

HOW A DETAINEE BECAME AN ASSET
Sept. 11 Plotter Cooperated After Waterboarding

August 29, 2009 (WaPo) - After enduring the CIA's harshest interrogation methods and spending more than a year in the agency's secret prisons, Khalid Sheik Mohammed stood before U.S. intelligence officers in a makeshift lecture hall, leading what they called "terrorist tutorials."

In 2005 and 2006, the bearded, pudgy man who calls himself the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks discussed a wide variety of subjects, including Greek philosophy and al-Qaeda dogma. In one instance, he scolded a listener for poor note-taking and his inability to recall details of an earlier lecture.

Speaking in English, Mohammed "seemed to relish the opportunity, sometimes for hours on end, to discuss the inner workings of al-Qaeda and the group's plans, ideology and operatives," said one of two sources who described the sessions, speaking on the condition of anonymity because much information about detainee confinement remains classified. "He'd even use a chalkboard at times."

URGENCY AND SCALE
What To Do When The Bad Guys Won't Talk?

These scenes provide previously unpublicized details about the transformation of the man known to U.S. officials as KSM from an avowed and truculent enemy of the United States into what the CIA called its "preeminent source" on al-Qaeda. This reversal occurred after Mohammed was subjected to simulated drowning and prolonged sleep deprivation, among other harsh interrogation techniques.

"KSM, an accomplished resistor, provided only a few intelligence reports prior to the use of the waterboard, and analysis of that information revealed that much of it was outdated, inaccurate or incomplete," according to newly unclassified portions of a 2004 report by the CIA's then-inspector general released Monday by the Justice Department.

Everyone wants to be on the right side of the torture question, but what side is that? [Pause.] Liberals believe no torture as an absolute injunction is the right side. [Pause.] Except in Cuba, which gets a pass because it is a progressive revolutionary republic or something.* [Pause.] And China (and this) because human rights are bad for business.

Mr. Obama keeps trying but can't quite manage to transform Mr. Bush's war on terror into a John Kerry criminal nuisance. (For examples, here and here and here and here and here.) It is not that Mr. Obama is not a liberal, but he realizes what every liberal knows in his secret heart -- there is no credible liberal alternative to extract critical information from a terrorist in a reliable and timely manner.

The liberal approach to the likes of Mr. Khalid is to appeal to some hidden human goodness; if that fails, to cajole, to coax, to ask pretty please-with-sugar-on-top; if these fail, to pout or sulk, to sting with accusations of hurt feelings. And, should all else fail, the soft cushions! The comfy chair!

Ximinez: Now, old woman -- you are accused of heresy on three counts -- heresy by thought, heresy by word, heresy by deed, and heresy by action -- *four* counts. Do you confess?

Wilde: I don't understand what I'm accused of.

Ximinez: Ha! Then we'll make you understand! Biggles! Fetch...THE CUSHIONS!

[JARRING CHORD]

[Biggles holds out two ordinary modern household cushions]

Biggles: Here they are, lord.

Ximinez: Now, old lady -- you have one last chance. Confess the heinous sin of heresy, reject the works of the ungodly -- *two* last chances. And you shall be free -- *three* last chances. You have three last chances, the nature of which I have divulged in my previous utterance.

Wilde: I don't know what you're talking about.

Ximinez: Right! If that's the way you want it -- Cardinal! Poke her with the soft cushions!

[Biggles carries out this rather pathetic torture]

Ximinez: Confess! Confess! Confess!

Biggles: It doesn't seem to be hurting her, lord.

Ximinez: Have you got all the stuffing up one end?

Biggles: Yes, lord.

Ximinez: [Angrily tosses the cushions] Hm! She is made of harder stuff! Cardinal Fang! Fetch...THE COMFY CHAIR!

The hard truth -- the unbearable truth for liberals -- is that there is not an all-purpose "right" side to the torture question. The urgency of circumstances and the scale of the threat that pit a detained terrorist's rights against the rights -- murder being a violation of the first and most fundamental American right -- of tens or hundreds or thousands or just one innocent justify torture. This is a crude formulation. However to pretend that civil entreaties or clever subterfuges are sufficient to obtain crucial information from terrorists is not merely irresponsible, it is dishonest. To remove torture from the national security arsenal, as Mr. Obama has recklessly done, is to hearten terrorists everywhere.

In a Gore-Kerry-Obama post 9.11 America, Mr. Khalid would have had nothing to say. [Pause.] Maybe some giggles with Lynne Stewart.

CHOPE.

The magic CHOPEy word for obtaining secret terrorist info -- Please, please, please.

------------------------------------
* UPDATE 08.30.09: Also see here.

NYC Letter: Pants On Fire IX

Day 220 of CHOPE

Five-alarm Conflagration Edition.

The liberal press that pretends to journalism has its infatuations* around which it re-fashions facts and gushes its goo-goo-eyed commentary. The unabashed liberal press goes one better and simply lies. [Pause.] Outright knowingly lies. Case in point -- Rathergate. [We stare at the wall.] Vicious lies.

A “LOST” FACT IN THE “RATHERGATE” MESS

August 25th, 2009 (bernardgoldberg.com) - [J]ust 55 days before a very close presidential election, Dan Rather and his producer Mary Mapes put a story on the weekday edition of 60 Minutes that brought on the media equivalent of World War III.

... The story was about how the young George Bush got preferential treatment during the Vietnam War; how he wangled his way into the Texas Air National Guard back in the 1960s to avoid service in Vietnam; and how he was able to do it because his father was a big-shot, a United States Congressman from Houston. The story portrayed the Bush as a slacker. Others have said it portrayed him as a “cowardly draft dodger.”

And to bolster their story, Rather and Mapes got their hands on “never-before-seen” documents (as Rather put it in his story) that supposedly backed up their months (and in Mapes’ case, years) of reporting.

... Until now, the controversy over the Rather/Mapes story has centered almost entirely on one issue: the legitimacy of the documents – a very important issue, indeed. But it turns out that there was another very important issue, one that goes to the very heart of what the story was about – and one that has gone virtually unnoticed. This is it: Mary Mapes knew before she put the story on the air that George W. Bush, the alleged slacker, had in fact volunteered to go to Vietnam.

Who says? The outside panel CBS brought into to get to the bottom of the so-called “Rathergate” mess says. I recently re-examined the panel’s report [scil., The Thornburgh-Boccardi Report] after a source, Deep Throat style, told me to “Go to page 130.”** When I did, here’s the startling piece of information I found:

Mapes had information prior to the airing of the September 8 [2004] Segment that President Bush, while in the TexANG [Texas Air National Guard] did volunteer for service in Vietnam but was turned down in favor of more experienced pilots. For example, a flight instructor who served in the TexANG with Lieutenant Bush advised Mapes in 1999 that Lieutenant Bush “did want to go to Vietnam but others went first.” Similarly, several others advised Mapes in 1999, and again in 2004 before September 8, that Lieutenant Bush had volunteered to go to Vietnam but did not have enough flight hours to qualify.

[Emphasis in the original.]

Ed Morrissey at Hot Air comments:

[Mapes' reporting] goes beyond being hoaxed by Bill Burkett and the mythical “Lucy Ramirez” and running a story with no corroboration. It indicts Mapes and by extension Rather (who apparently couldn’t be bothered to check on the documents or story on his own) in a plot to deliberately conduct a character assassination from a broadcast booth, in an explicit attempt to manipulate an election.

Truth will out.

------------------------------------
* Hard-hitting hagiography, and this and this and this and this.

** Page 140 in the linked PDF.

NYC Letter: Department Of Nonevents, Part I

Day 219 of CHOPE

Remember this?

CHANGE YOU CAN CONCEIVE IN
Could Euphoric Obama Fans Be Sparking A Baby Boom?

November 14, 2008 (Newsweek) - In the hours and days since Obama's victory, many of his exhilarated supporters have been, shall we say, in the mood for love. And though it's too soon to know for sure, experts aren't ruling out the possibility of an Obama baby boom.

So. Where are all those cute-as-a-button Obama babies?

OBAMA BABY BOOM TURNS OUT TO BE A BUST
Rumors Of Election Conceptions
Don't Result In Actual Rise In Bundles Of Joy

August 6, 2009 (MSNBC) - After Barack Obama won the presidential election on Nov. 4, 2008, supporters around the country celebrated in bars, in parks — and maybe, in the bedroom. Bloggers wrote about champagne and hope, and noting that voters of child-bearing age tended to go Democratic, predicted a baby boom.

... In fact, most reports of baby booms tied to one-night events such as an election, blackout or a snowstorm usually turn out to be merely anecdotal rather than backed by real statistics, experts say.

These, of course, are a better class of experts than those cited by Newsweek.

Eileen Cabalo, associate clinical director of obstetrics for Cooper University Hospital in New Jersey, said they haven't noticed anything unusual in the birth rate. Nurses and obstetricians in Seattle and even Chicago — ground zero for Obama celebrations — say they haven't noticed a rise in the number of babies born either.

Still, even if rumors of a baby boom don't result in actual bundles of joy, people think the idea that it might be possible after a dramatic event is a nice notion, experts say.

These must be the Newsweek experts again.

CHOPE.

Hype on the pill.

NYC Letter: Ted Kennedy Is Dead

Day 218 of CHOPE

De mortuis nil nisi verum dicendum est

Mr. Kennedy was neither bright nor true. He sought power and enjoyed privilege. He is now beyond our reproaches. And we will leave it at that.

EDWARD MOORE KENNEDY
February 22, 1932 - August 25, 2009
[Photo source: CBS News/AP Photo/Kenneth Lambert]

The Christian thing is to pray for Mr. Kennedy's soul and for his family.

NYC Letter: Trust Team Barry, Part IX

Day 217 of CHOPE

We are back.

Mr. Obama couldn't push his junk health care reform through a Democrat-controlled Congress before its August recess -- turning slow-news August into all-news August. We will have several stories to back-file.

Where to jump in?

Let's start back in March.

$1 TRILLION DEFICITS SEEN FOR NEXT 10 YEARS

WASHINGTON March 20, 2009 (CPD/AP) - President Barack Obama's budget would produce $9.3 trillion in deficits over the next decade, more than four times the deficits of Republican George W. Bush's presidency, congressional auditors said Friday.

The new Congressional Budget Office figures offered a far more dire outlook for Obama's budget than the new administration predicted just last month -- a deficit $2.3 trillion worse. It's a prospect even the president's own budget director called unsustainable.

... By CBO's calculation, Obama's budget would generate deficits averaging almost $1 trillion a year of red ink over 2010-2019.

Worst of all, CBO says the deficit under Obama's policies would never go below 4 percent of the size of the economy, figures that economists agree are unsustainable. By the end of the decade, the deficit would exceed 5 percent of gross domestic product, a dangerously high level.

White House budget chief Peter Orszag said that CBO's long-range economic projections are more pessimistic than those of the White House, private economists and the Federal Reserve and that he remained confident that Obama's budget, if enacted, would produce smaller deficits.

Even so, Orszag acknowledged that if the CBO projections prove accurate, Obama's budget would produce deficits that could not be sustained. Mr. Orszag:

Deficits in the, let's say, 5 percent of GDP range would lead to rising debt-to-GDP ratios that would ultimately not be sustainable.

And just to press the point.

OBAMA’S DEFICIT PROJECTIONS OFF BY $2.3 TRILLION,
CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE SAYS

March 24, 2009 (CNS) - The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says that President Obama’s budget and deficit projections are too low. The president’s budget will incur $9.3 trillion in federal deficits between 2010 and 2019 --$2.3 trillion higher than Obama had originally claimed.

... By 2019, the CBO said, a whopping 82 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) will go to pay down the national debt. This means that in future years, the government could owe its creditors more than the goods and services that the entire economy can produce.

White House budget chief Peter Orszag, in a March 20 conference call, admitted that deficits in the range of 5 percent of GDP are not sustainable. The CBO analysis, however, said the Obama budget would incur a debt-to-GDP ration of 5.3 percent for the Fiscal Year 2010 to Fiscal Year 2019 period.

Who to believe? Mr. Orszag?

Again, I don't know what spiraling debt you're referring to, but we're inheriting a budget situation that is a mess, and that we're working our way out of. And under both budget resolutions, the deficit is reduced in half -- by more than half by 2013, and actually then is either stable or declining between 2013 and 2014. So I guess I just -- I take issue with the conjecture that we're -- you know, there's spiraling debt here.

Q: Well, I was referring to your original proposal.

Sorry?

Peter Orszag,
Director, Office of Management and Budget,
clueless on his handiwork quadrupling the deficit
this year and compounding deficits into the distant future
PRESS CONFERENCE March 25, 2009 (NYT/White House)

[Pause.] Or the CBO?

Notwithstanding Team Barry's feeble budget-cutting headlines (and here and here and here and here), the CBO proves out.

OBAMA TO RAISE 10-YEAR DEFICIT TO $9 TRILLION

WASHINGTON August 21, 2009 (Reuters) - The Obama administration will raise its 10-year budget deficit projection to approximately $9 trillion from $7.108 trillion in a report next week, a senior administration official told Reuters on Friday.

The higher deficit figure, based on updated economic data, brings the White House budget office into line with outside estimates and gives further fuel to President Barack Obama's opponents, who say his spending plans are too expensive in light of budget shortfalls.

The White House took heat for sticking with its $7.108 trillion forecast earlier this year after the Congressional Budget Office forecast that deficits between 2010 and 2019 would total $9.1 trillion. The senior administration official:

Our budget projections are now in line with the spring and summer projections that the Congressional Budget Office put out.

That's a 28.5% beep-up. By Team Barry standards of miscalculation that may not seem like much, but the percentage masks the sheer enormity.

It's a good guess Team Barry's Obamacare estimates are just as competent.

Q: At what point do we run out of money?

Well, I mean, we're out of money now.

Mr. Obama,
Spender-in-chief, answering the $24 trillion question
INTERVIEW May 23, 2009 (C-Span)

CHOPE.

Getting it right. After the fact.

NYC Letter: "I'm Not Ready To Die" Redux

Day 210 of CHOPE

Not ready to die?

If you are a veteran, the government thinks you probably are.

THE DEATH BOOK FOR VETERANS
Ex-soldiers Don't Need To Be Told They're A Burden To Society.

OP-ED August 18, 2009 (WSJ) - If President Obama wants to better understand why America's discomfort with end-of-life discussions threatens to derail his health-care reform, he might begin with his own Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). He will quickly discover how government bureaucrats are greasing the slippery slope that can start with cost containment but quickly become a systematic denial of care.

Last year, bureaucrats at the VA's National Center for Ethics in Health Care advocated a 52-page end-of-life planning document, "Your Life, Your Choices." It was first published in 1997 and later promoted as the VA's preferred living will throughout its vast network of hospitals and nursing homes. After the Bush White House took a look at how this document was treating complex health and moral issues, the VA suspended its use. Unfortunately, under President Obama, the VA has now resuscitated "Your Life, Your Choices."

Who is the primary author of this workbook? Dr. Robert Pearlman, chief of ethics evaluation for the center, a man who in 1996 advocated for physician-assisted suicide in Vacco v. Quill before the U.S. Supreme Court and is known for his support of health-care rationing.

"Your Life, Your Choices" presents end-of-life choices in a way aimed at steering users toward predetermined conclusions, much like a political "push poll." For example, a worksheet on page 21 lists various scenarios and asks users to then decide whether their own life would be "not worth living."

... This hurry-up-and-die message is clear and unconscionable. Worse, a July 2009 VA directive instructs its primary care physicians to raise advance care planning with all VA patients and to refer them to "Your Life, Your Choices." Not just those of advanced age and debilitated condition—all patients.

... If President Obama is sincere in stating that he is not trying to cut costs by pressuring the disabled to forgo critical care, one good way to show that commitment is to walk two blocks from the Oval Office and pull the plug on "Your Life, Your Choices." He should make sure in the future that VA decisions are guided by values that treat the lives of our veterans as gifts, not burdens.

Team Barry has already shown its disdain for veterans (and here). Why are we not surprised that Democrat hostility toward the military should manifest itself as end-of-life counseling with an afterlife bias?

CHOPE.

Thanks for your service. Now be a patriot and remove yourself from the entitlement rolls.

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

UPDATE 08.27.09: The Obama administration pushes end-of-life counseling on veterans -- what could go wrong?

VA CHANGES PROCEDURES AFTER MORE THAN 600 VETERANS
WRONGLY TOLD THEY HAD ALS

CHARLESTON August 27, 2009 (LAT/AP) - The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs now estimates that more than 600 veterans erroneously received letters telling them they had been diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease, VA spokeswoman Katie Roberts said Thursday.

As a result of the panic the letters caused, the agency plans to create a more rigorous screening process for its notification letters and is offering to reimburse veterans for medical expenses incurred as a result of the letters.

"That's the least they can do," said former Air Force reservist Gale Reid in Montgomery, Ala. She racked up more than $3,000 in bills for medical tests last week to get a second opinion. Her civilian doctor concluded she did not have ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

ALS [amyotrophic lateral sclerosis] is a rapidly progressive disease that attacks the nerve cells responsible for controlling muscles and typically kills people within five years.

Since acknowledging the mistake, the VA has increased its estimate on the number of veterans who received the letters in error. Earlier this week, it refuted a Gulf War veterans group's estimate of 1,200, saying the agency had been contacted by fewer than 10 veterans who had been wrongly notified.

We're completely confident Obamacare
will be just this good.

NYC Letter: The Stimulus Trickle

Day 206 of CHOPE

Most of the money we're investing as part of this plan will get out the door immediately and go directly to job-creation, generating or saving* three to four million new jobs. And the vast majority of these jobs will be created in the private sector.

Mr. Obama,
pitiching his stimulus plan
WASHINGTON January 28, 2009 (White House)

Money out the door immediately directly for job creation. [Pause.] Uh-oh.

STIMULUS AID TRICKLES OUT,
BUT STATES SEEK QUICKER RELIEF

May 12, 2009 (NYT) - Nearly three months after President Obama approved a $787 billion economic stimulus package, intended to create or save* jobs, the federal government has paid out less than 6 percent of the money, largely in the form of social service payments to states.

The bossling step in.

BIDEN SAYS STIMULUS PACKAGE WILL PICK UP PACE

June 5, 2009 (Boston Globe) - Responding to the latest unemployment numbers, Vice President Joe Biden said today that he and President Obama will announce Monday plans to "ramp up" the pace of projects from the $787 billion economic stimulus plan. ... He did not offer more specifics about the Monday announcement.

The boss steps in.

OBAMA PRESSES CABINET TO SPEED STIMULUS SPENDING

WASHINGTON June 9, 2009 (WSJ) - President Barack Obama said Monday he was "not satisfied" with the pace of the economic-stimulus effort and called for cabinet members to accelerate the spending in the weeks ahead, countering criticism of his economic strategy.

The White House offered no new details Monday on how it would speed up spending from the $787 billion stimulus package, and in many ways the administration is limited by the gradual pace set out in the law passed earlier this year.

OBAMA SAYS STIMULUS SPENDING MUST PICK UP

WASHINGTON June 23, 2009 (MSNBC/AP) - Amid rising public impatience with an economy now under his watch, President Barack Obama on Tuesday said his administration needs to push money out faster to initiate a recovery and conceded that unemployment would rise above 10 percent.

“People are going through a very tough time right now,” Obama said at a White House news conference. “And I don’t expect them to be satisfied.”

For the second time in a month, Obama voiced unease over the results of a $787 billion economic stimulus that he pressed Congress to pass as one of his first acts as president.

Uh-oh.

PACE OF STIMULUS

SPENDING PLUMMETS

August 14, 2009 (WT) - Stimulus bill spending has slowed to a trickle, despite President Obama's June order to his Cabinet to speed it up.

The average stimulus spending per week has dropped severely, to just $4.2 billion over the past month from $9.7 billion during the prior four months. The government spent $2.9 billion in the week ending Aug. 7.

Taxpayer groups say the numbers show spending decisions are random and prove that the $787 billion stimulus program has had no effect on the economy.

... The spending has slowed despite Mr. Obama's declaration in June that he was "not satisfied" with its pace, and his demand that his Cabinet secretaries accelerate the distribution of stimulus funds.

The White House said the rate doesn't matter, and that the key is whether Mr. Obama's overall targets will be met. Stimulus spokeswoman Elizabeth Oxhorn:

Week-to-week measures are irrelevant. We remain on track to meet the ambitious goal that the president set in June: speeding the Recovery Act's pace, so that $225 billion is obligated by the act's 200th day.

Mr. Obama calls for the rate to be quickened. Instead the rate average falls off by 43%. The White House explains it all by announcing "the rate doesn't matter". [We stare at our shoes.] Team Barry thinks you are this stupid.

CHOPE.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

------------------------------------
* There is no metric for "saved" jobs (and this).

NYC Letter: The Accidental Truth III

Day 205 of CHOPE

Now, the only thing that I have said is that having a public option in that menu would provide competition for insurance companies to keep them honest.

Now, I recognize, though, you make a legitimate -- you raise a legitimate concern. People say, well, how can a private company compete against the government? And my answer is that if the private insurance companies are providing a good bargain, and if the public option has to be self-sustaining -- meaning taxpayers aren't subsidizing it, but it has to run on charging premiums and providing good services and a good network of doctors, just like any other private insurer would do -- then I think private insurers should be able to compete. They do it all the time. (Applause.)

I mean, if you think about -- if you think about it, UPS and FedEx are doing just fine, right? No, they are. It's the Post Office that's always having problems. (Laughter.)

Mr. Obama,
letting slip the bright prospects
of government-run health
HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM TOWN HALL
PORTSMOUTH, New Hampshire
August 11, 2009 (White House)

Mr. Obama makes a telling but hardly reassuring comparison. The government oversees, bankrolls, and regulates the U.S. Postal Service. [Painful long pause.] The USPS is on the verge of bankruptcy.

U.S. POSTAL SERVICE’S STICKY SITUATION
To Privatize Or Not?

WASHINGTON August 12, 2009 (Epoch Times) - The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently announced that the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is at risk of financial insolvency.

The post office made GAO’s list of government operations that are considered costly and "high risk."

... The last year USPS reported income from its operations was in 2006. Beginning in 2007, its fortunes soured and it began to report significant losses: $5 billion at the end of fiscal year (FY) 2007 and $3 billion in FY 2008, according to its annual financial report. On June 30, 2009, the third quarter of its fiscal year, the USPS reported a staggering $4.7 billion net loss.

... The culprit is a combination of economic realities, increased reliance on e-mail, and the USPS’s inability to address problems effectively and efficiently, according to the GAO. GAO High Risk Series release:

USPS urgently needs to restructure to address its current and long-term financial viability. USPS has not been able to cut costs fast enough to offset the accelerated decline in mail volume and revenue—particularly costs related to its workforce, retail and processing networks, and delivery services.

... Experts have called for privatization and point to Japan, whose parliament privatized Japan’s postal services in 2005. In 1995, Germany’s Deutsche Bundespost privatized its postal service and is often cited by privatization proponents as a major success story.

The USPS pleads the government that oversees and funds it also meddles, overregulates, and inflates costs.

“We are subject to Congressional oversight, regulation by other government agencies, and also oversight by various other organizations and the public," USPS said in their annual report. “If we cannot successfully address their various, and sometimes competing, concerns, we may be subject to greater regulation, which could increase our costs or otherwise place additional burdens on our operations,” USPS warned regulators in the annual report.

[Hat tip: Hot Air]

We would also point out that the government oversaw, bankrolled, and regulated Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, both bankrupts. It also bankrolled the bailout of GM, which went bankrupt. It also authorized $787B in spending to stimulate the economy and create or "save"* 3-4 million jobs, but there was no stimulation and a net three million jobs lost.

Obamacare will be this good.

CHOPE.

As good as the Post Office.

------------------------------------
* There is no metric for "saved" jobs (and this).

NYC Letter: Because You Asked III

Day 204 of CHOPE

Look, it's not for me to -- I can't tell you why somebody believes, despite all preponderance of the evidence, that the President was born here and not somewhere else. I've stopped trying to explain that.

Robert Gibbs,
WH spokesperson, baffled by those who believe --
contrary to evidence known to him -- Mr. Obama
was born in the United States
PRESS BRIEFING
WASHINGTON August 12, 2009 (White House)

Um, OK. [Pause.] So. Where was he born (or made)?

CHOPE.

Baffled by the evidence.

NYC Letter: Because You Asked Redux

Day 199 of CHOPE

Mr. Obama admits he is an alien; insists he was made in Hawaii.

ALOHA, AMERICA!
Made In The USA
(Union Certified: Some American Content)
View Video Here

Joe "Constitutional Scholar" Biden reread his Constitution Cliff Notes and says everything's legit. He thinks. [Pause.] Pretty sure.

Good news! Nothing to the vampire or Sacha Baron Cohen allegations.

Original post here.

CHOPE.

Presidential material. Assembly required.

NYC Letter: Overwhelmed By Awesomeness, Part VIII

Day 198 of CHOPE

Having spoken carelessly, Mr. Obama changes the subject with his conciliating "beer summitry".

Recognizing the stunt's success, a thirsty Mr. Obama has applied his solo "beer and sympathy" diplomacy to other thorny disputes.

BEER SUMMITRY
Take A Seat
View Video Here

Elsewhere, Team Barry can't figure out if a rigged election produces an illegitimate government. Sadly, no beer summitry here. [Pause.] Plan B, Zam Zam summitry.

CHOPE.

"Teachable" moments.

NYC Letter: Reverse-O-Bama, Part V

Day 197 of CHOPE

Featuring Robert "Eggshells" Gibbs.

HARD TO SAY
Legitimate. Illegitimate. He's Our Guy.

Q: But does the administration recognize Ahmadinejad as the legitimate President in Iran?

He's the elected leader.

Robert Gibbs,
WH spokesperson, affirming the administration's
accedence to Iran's rigged elections
PRESS BRIEFING
WASHINGTON August 4, 2009 (White House)

One day later the White House can't say for sure what it said plainly the day before.

Q: Do you have any reaction to the swearing-in of President Ahmadinejad in Iran today?

Well, let me correct a little bit of what I said yesterday. I denoted that Mr. Ahmadinejad was the elected leader of Iran. I would say it's not for me to pass judgment on. He's been inaugurated, that's a fact. Whether any election was fair, obviously the Iranian people still have questions about that and we'll let them decide that. But I would simply say he's been inaugurated and we know that is simply a fact.

Q: Do you recognize him as the leader, elected fairly or not?

It's not for -- it's not for me or for us to denote his legitimacy, except to acknowledge the fact.

Q: Does the White House believe the election was fair?

That's not for us to pass judgment on. I think that's for the Iranian people to decide, and obviously there are many that still have a lot of questions.

Robert Gibbs,
WH spokesperson, affirming the administration's
lack of judgment on Iran's rigged elections
PRESS GAGGLE
AIR FORCE ONE August 5, 2009 (White House)

This administration just cannot bring itself to say the obvious: The Iranian presidential election was rigged. Here is Joe "Foreign Policy Expert" Biden's tortured exchange mincing Mr. Ahmadinejad's legitimacy, July 5, 2009:

Q: Let me turn to Iran. We're three weeks out from their election.

Yes.

Q: Do you have any doubt it was stolen?

Well, look, what I don't want to do is play into the hands of the supreme leader and Ahmadinejad like they're blaming the British now. You know, there -- that the reason why there was unrest is outside influence.

Q: They're saying they have confessions from reformers saying that.

Well, you know, they say a lot of things. That's simply not true. The -- I think the dust hasn't settled yet in terms of [unintelligible].

Q: Still, three weeks ago.

Well, no, now here's what I think. I mean, I think it's clear that the consequences of the way the election was conducted and the way that the election was declared -- who was declared the winner and how, is going to have a rippling effect.

What that effect will be, I don't know. I think we have to wait to see how this settles out and -- before we can make a judgment.

Q: But there's no doubt now that they responded violently to the election.

So. [We peer into the dark of Mr. Biden's mind.] When things "settle out", the administration will make a judgment. [Tortured pause.] If Team Barry waits any longer for things to "settle out", Iran will be into its next rigged election cycle. (You may recall this administration was not so deliberative in making a call on Honduras.)

Alas, Team Barry's tippy-toe diplomacy does not just dispirit besieged reformers, it also manages to insult the illegitimate government, the object of its conciliating equivocations.

MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD LAMBASTS WESTERN SNUB
AS VIOLENCE RETURNS TO IRAN

August 5, 2009 (Telegraph) - The United States refused to send Mr Ahmadinejad a customary note to congratulate him for his controversial victory in June's election, although it stopped short of refusing to recognize him as Iran's legitimate president.

... Visibly angered by the slight, Mr Ahmadinejad struck a characteristically defiant note despite hundreds of protesters chanting "death to the dictator" almost within earshot. Mr Ahmadinejad, in an acceptance speech before the Iranian parliament:

We heard that some of the western leaders have decided to recognise but not congratulate the new government. Well, no-one in Iran is waiting for your messages. The Iranian nation neither values your scowls and threats, nor your smiles and greetings.

[Hat tip: Hot Air]

CHOPE.

Loving the "smart power". Works like a charm.

NYC Letter: "I'm Not Ready To Die"

Day 195 of CHOPE

SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE
Patriotic Options: Pay Taxes Or Die.

Earlier we noted that Obamacare -- where life and death decisions belong to the government -- will ration health care based on costs, statistical ROI, and the countervailing benefit to the state. Of necessity it will marginalize health care for the very young, the very old, the very sick, the poor. Initially there is nothing intentionally sinister about the government's plan. [Pause.] However, Obamacare is chock-a-block with inevitable evils.

The below story from last year recently resurfaced and prefigures one such evil, pushing death as the preferred alternative to expensive health care.

Intro: The Oregon Health Plan says "No" to chemotherapy and "Yes" to assisted suicide. In a letter to a Eugene cancer patient, the state explains it will not cover the costs of her chemo but will pay for doctor-assisted suicide.

Video: Barbara Wagner has one wish -- for more time.

Ms. Wagner: I'm not ready. I'm not ready to die. I've got things I'd still like to do.

Her doctor offered hope. In this bottle. The new chemotherapy drug Tarceva. ... that hope shattered with this letter from the Oregon Health Plan telling her "we were unable to approve" the cancer treatment. It will pay for comfort care including "physcian-aid-in-dying" better known as assisted suicide.

We took our concerns to Dr. Som Saha, chairman of the commission that sets policy for the Oregon Health Plan.

Q: She's says to say to someone "we'll pay for you to die but not pay for you to live" is cruel.

Dr. Som Saha: I don't think anyone is saying that. I don't think anyone is saying that. That's, ah, I think maybe an unfortunate, ah, interpretation of the letter.

Assisted suicide critic [Dr.] William Tofler [Physcians For Compassionate Care] calls the message "disturbing". ... And he says the state has a financial incentive to offer death instead of life. Chemotherapy drugs like Tarceva cost $4,000 a month. Drugs for assisted suicide cost less than $100.

Q: Is it cheaper to pay for somebody to die than help them live?

Dr. Saha: That [Slight pause.] is, ah, not a question we think about. Ah, um, we don't think about, ah, um [Bemused pause.] we don't think about investing our health care dollars in that way.

But, of course, as the good doctor goes on to explain that is exactly the way the state thinks about investing its health care dollars. Ed Morrissey of Hot Air writes:

The doctor [scil., Dr. Saha] interviewed by the news station seems offended at the suggestion that Oregon would decide to save a few bucks by denying expensive health care and offering a case of hemlock in its place. However, saving money was the raison d’etre of single-payer systems, and the incentives all drive towards that decision. Single-payer systems have to handle medical services as a shortage market, rationing them by using “comparative effectiveness” paradigms to determine who gets medical attention, and who gets “physician-aid-in-dying” instead of it.

In an earlier post Mr. Morrissey scoffed:

Oregon’s state-run health care plan won’t cover a new drug that could extend her life — which is, after all, the entire point of health insurance and health care — but will gladly pay the bill if she decides to stop costing the state more money. What’s next — a Logan’s Run option for “renewal” at 30?

Here's the kicker.

Fortunately, Wagner got rescued from her own state government. Who played the hero? The evil pharmaceutical company that produces the drug she needs, who gave it to her for free out of disgust.

CHOPE.

If you are very sick, die. The rest of you, get back to work.

NYC Letter: Reverse-O-Bama, Part IV

Day 193 of CHOPE

As Mr. Obama emerges from his cocoon of hype, even his adulators must be disappointed at what a conventional politician he is. Mr. Obama hasn't ushered in a promised new era of principled governance. From the get-go he has employed the conventional politics of promises, excuses, and blame. He has botched nominations (and this and this and this). He has minced inviolable promises. He has set his performance bar ridiculously low. He has overpromised and undelivered.

The only thing unconventional about Mr. Obama is the speed with which he stumbles along.

SPEED
Take Debate Out Of The Equation.

Then:

When you rush these budgets, that are a foot high and nobody has any idea what’s in them and nobody has read them –

Interviewer: Fourteen pounds, it was.

Yeah, it gets rushed through without any clear deliberations or debate, then these kinds of things happen. And I think that this is in some ways what happened to the Patriot Act. I mean, you remember there was no real debate about that. It was so quick after 9/11 that it was introduced that people felt very intimidated by the administration.

Mr. Obama,
advocating for deliberative thoughtful legislating
November 22, 2004 (Hot Air/Naked Emperor News)

Now:

This progress should make us hopeful, but it can't make us complacent. It should instead provide the urgency for both the House and the Senate to finish their critical work on health reform before the August recess.

Mr. Obama,
pushing for passage of a complicated, poorly conceived,
badly written health care entitlement before
the Congressional August recess
July 16, 2009 (The Hill)

(A) Well, here's what I've said. We cannot delay any longer. If people keep on saying "what's the rush? We've been debating this for fifty years. ... And I think the time for talk is through. It's time for us to go and act.

(B) Q: Will people be able to keep their insurance and will insurers be able to write new policies even though H.R. 3200 is passed?

You know, I have to say that I am not familiar with the provision you are talking about.

Mr. Obama,
(A) ending debate on 1,000+ page health care legislation
(B) clueless on a major provision of the bill
he wants rushed through Congress
July 20, 2009 (C&L/THF)

A Democrat congressman last week told me after a conversation with the president that the president had trouble in the House of Representatives, and it wasn’t going to pass if there weren’t some changes made … and the president says, "You’re going to destroy my presidency."

Charles Grassley (R-IA),
invoking disaster if the House doesn't pass
its ruinous deficit bloating health care bill
by the August recess
July 22, 2009 (nationaljournal.com)

It's more important to pass entitlement legislation -- regardless of its economic soundness or the benefit to the commonweal -- than to debate its merit or read its provisions in their entirety or even to be clued on the highlights. [Pause.] Had Mr. Obama read the 1,079-page $787B "stimulus" bill before signing it into law, he (and Mr. Biden) might today have a clear idea about just what it was meant to accomplish.

CHOPE.

Pass it. Spend it. Sort it out later.

NYC Letter: Reverse-O-Bama, Part I Redux

Day 192 of CHOPE

Let’s look at the record. I’ve been in office six months. So far my only tax policy has been to cut taxes for 95% of working people. I haven’t signed a bill that’s raised taxes yet.

Mr. Obama,
conveniently forgetting that his newly inaugurated
government programs are not funded by pixie dust
July 29, 2009 (BW)

TAXES? WHAT TAXES?
Forgettable Taxes.

Slipped his mind.

22 MILLION NEW SMOKERS NEEDED:
FUNDING SCHIP EXPANSION WITH A TOBACCO TAX
July 11, 2007 (THF)

OBAMA SIGNS INTO LAW EXPANSION OF SCHIP
HEALTH-CARE PROGRAM FOR CHILDREN
Passage Of $33 Billion Bill Marks Historic Shift In Washington's
Political Landscape And Provides The White House
Its Biggest Victory Since Obama Took Office
WASHINGTON February 5, 2009 (Chicago Tribune)

CHOPE.

The record up in smoke.

NYC Letter: The Accidental Truth Redux

Day 191 of CHOPE

Our critics, who have a lot of reason to go out there and say in four months, we haven't remade the world and -- and -- and corrected this recession, which was eight years in the making, or maybe longer -- I ask them, What would you do? What would you do, those of you who don't like the Recovery Act? Would you not help maintain and hire new police officers? Would you not fund unemployment insurance? Would you not build these roads and highways and bridges and sewer systems? What would you do? Would you walk away?

I don't think that's a rational option. Would you not give 95% of the American people, who are in desperate shape already, a bit of a pay cut [sic], I mean a, a, ibba, ibba, a cut in their withholding tax* so they'll pay less taxes.

Joe "Misunderstood" Biden,
letting slip the truth of the eventual outcome of Obamanomics
PHILADELPHIA July 28, 2009 (FNC)

* A big $10 a week. Smaller and more useless than Mr. Bush's 2008 tax rebate.

Indeed, critics of Team Barry do "have a lot of reason to go out there and say in four [sic, Team Barry has been in place for six+ months, the stimulus in force for five+] months" the world remains unremade. Team Barry over-promised and woefully underdelivered.

FIGURE 1
[Graphic Source: Job Impact Of The American Recovery
And Reinvestment Plan, January 9, 2009]

The answer to Mr. Biden's question is not "nothing" or the sillier "walk away". The answer is various critics have various remedies. What the critics remain in agreement on is that they would not do what Team Barry did, which is to say they would not sign unread a massive deficit-busting "stimulus" bill end-running the normal processions of Congressional appropriations with spending cynically backloaded to take effect in the run-up to mid-term elections -- coincident with the natural petering of the recession.

With their "stimulus" a bust, only now does Team Barry think to ask "what would you do?", having earlier shut out Republicans from its signature legislation.

By his own admission no economist, yet even Mr. Biden can fathom his critics' disappointment in a "stimulus" bill that does not stimulate.

CHOPE.

"What would you do?" "I won."

NYC Letter: Operation "Not Victory"

Day 190 of CHOPE

So I want the American people to understand that we have a clear and focused goal: to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and to prevent their return to either country in the future. That's the goal that must be achieved. That is a cause that could not be more just. And to the terrorists who oppose us, my message is the same: We will defeat you.

Mr. Obama,
being clear about defeating Ameria's enemies
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT ON A NEW STRATEGY
FOR AFGHANISTAN AND PAKISTAN
WASHINGTON March 27, 2009 (White House)

Or maybe not.

OBAMA: 'VICTORY' NOT NECESSARILY GOAL IN AFGHANISTAN

July 24, 2009 (FNC) - President Obama has put securing Afghanistan near the top of his foreign policy agenda, but "victory" in the war-torn country isn't necessarily the United States' goal, he said Thursday in a TV interview. Obama to ABC News:

I'm always worried about using the word 'victory,' because, you know, it invokes this notion of Emperor Hirohito coming down and signing a surrender to MacArthur.

[Hat tip: Gateway Pundit]

The worst imaginable hazard of war is a commander-in-chief with cringing "notions" about war.

Mr. Obama is too sensitive to commit the United States to victory. [Impatient pause.] Then what exactly constitutes the enemy's defeat in Mr. Obama's delicate worldview? An apology from Al Qaeda? A posey from Mullah Omar?

Forget that Emperor Hirohito didn't "come down" to sign his country's unconditional surrender,* [Impatient pause.] just what is wrong with such a "notion"? [Impatient pause.] At the time Japan was a world power that needed to be conclusively beaten, its ambitions destroyed, its military broken, its military class excised, its political class upturned.

Mr. Obama's grasp of WWII history is as willfully ignorant as his grasp of the Cold War.

Like President Medvedev and myself, you're not old enough to have witnessed the darkest hours of the Cold War, when hydrogen bombs were tested in the atmosphere, and children drilled in fallout shelters, and we reached the brink of nuclear catastrophe. But you are the last generation born when the world was divided. At that time, the American and Soviet armies were still massed in Europe, trained and ready to fight. The ideological trenches of the last century were roughly in place. Competition in everything from astrophysics to athletics was treated as a zero-sum game. If one person won, then the other person had to lose.

And then, within a few short years, the world as it was ceased to be. Now, make no mistake: This change did not come from any one nation. The Cold War reached a conclusion because of the actions of many nations over many years, and because the people of Russia and Eastern Europe stood up and decided that its end would be peaceful.

Mr. Obama,
explaining how the Cold War wasn't won
GOSTINY DVOR, MOSCOW July 7, 2009 (White House)

This is a narrative few, if any, in Hungary, the former Czechoslovakia, Poland (and this), Bulgaria, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Ukraine, or Georgia -- or Russia itself (and this) -- would recognize. Former deputy assistant secretary of state Liz Cheney debunks Mr. Obama's fanciful Cold War.**

There are two different versions of the story of the end of the Cold War: the Russian version, and the truth. President Barack Obama endorsed the Russian version in Moscow last week.

... The truth, of course, is that the Soviets ran a brutal, authoritarian regime. The KGB killed their opponents or dragged them off to the Gulag. There was no free press, no freedom of speech, no freedom of worship, no freedom of any kind. The basis of the Cold War was not "competition in astrophysics and athletics." It was a global battle between tyranny and freedom. The Soviet "sphere of influence" was delineated by walls and barbed wire and tanks and secret police to prevent people from escaping. America was an unmatched force for good in the world during the Cold War. The Soviets were not. The Cold War ended not because the Soviets decided it should but because they were no match for the forces of freedom and the commitment of free nations to defend liberty and defeat Communism.

It is irresponsible for an American president to go to Moscow and tell a room full of young Russians less than the truth about how the Cold War ended. One wonders whether this was just an attempt to push "reset" -- or maybe to curry favor. Perhaps, most concerning of all, Mr. Obama believes what he said.

Mr. Obama believes America can defeat its enemies while he spares them the embarrassment of defeat, because, you know, "victory" is mean-spirited. [Thoughtful pause.] In a crowded field (and here and here), Mr. Biden may no longer be the most ridiculous person in this adminstration. With Team Barry, asininity is top-down.

CHOPE.

Wrong. Mealy-mouthed. Irresponsible.

------------------------------------
* Japanese envoys Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu and Gen. Yoshijiro Umezu signed the surrender treaty. Oh-ho, here's a kicker.

** Former U.S. attorney general and adviser to President Ronald Reagan, Edwin Meese III, also contests Mr. Obama's fairy tale Cold War, detailing five specific policies pursued to win the Cold War and defeat the Soviet Union.

NYC Letter: Passé, Democracy In Cuba

Day 189 of CHOPE

US SWITCHES OFF PRO-DEMOCRACY BILLBOARD IN CUBA
The Obama Administration Has Turned Off An Electronic Billboard
At The US Diplomatic Mission In Havana, Cuba, Which Displayed
Pro-Democracy And Human Rights Messages.

July 28, 2009 (Telegraph) - The State Department said the sign on the fifth floor of the American Interest Section in the Cuban capital, was shut down amid the administration's efforts to engage with Cuba's leadership that has already seen some US sanctions eased.

Since the sign was first erected in 2006, the Cuban government had taken steps to obscure it from view and questioned whether it was serving its original purpose. Ian Kelly, spokesman:

We believe that the billboard was really not effective as a means of delivering information to the Cuban people. It was evident that the Cuban people weren't even able to read the billboard because of some obstructions that were put in front of it.

He said President Obama's decision in April to allow US telecommunications companies to do business with Cuba would do more to boost the flow of information to the island.

DISPARAGING
New Smart Power Approach: Lights Out

The sign, which frequently displayed quotes from leading human rights activists and pro-democracy supporters, outraged Cuban authorities who had in 2005 erected billboards outside the mission emblazoned with photographs of US. soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners and a huge swastika overlaid with a "Made in the USA" stamp. Mr. Kelly:

And we just felt that these duelling, disparaging - well, disparaging is the wrong word - but these duelling billboards, if you will, were not serving the interests of promoting a more productive relationship.

Mr. Obama -- in addition to being the post-racial, post-free-market president -- is now the first post-democracy American President.

CHOPE.

No more disparaging Communisim.

NYC Letter: Quote Of The Day: John Conyers

Day 188 of CHOPE

I love these members, they get up and say, "Read the bill". What good is reading the bill if it’s a thousand pages and you don’t have two days and two lawyers to find out what it means after you read the bill?

John Conyers (D-MI, 14th),
House Judiciary Committee chair and know-nothing lexist,
wondering aloud why legislators should feel obliged to read
dense tortuous legislation before voting on it
NATIONAL PRESS CLUB LUNCHEON
WASHINGTON July 27, 2009 (CNSNews.com)

He's serious. No, really. [Pause.] Serious. Another brilliant Democrat.

Of course he's not alone in thinking binding incumbrous law is best left unread.

DEMOCRATIC LEADER LAUGHS AT IDEA
THAT HOUSE MEMBERS WOULD ACTUALLY READ
HEALTH-CARE BILL BEFORE VOTING ON IT

WASHINGTON July 8, 2009 (CNSNews.com) - House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Tuesday that the health-care reform bill now pending in Congress would garner very few votes if lawmakers actually had to read the entire bill before voting on it. Mr. Hoyer:

If every member pledged to not vote for it if they hadn’t read it in its entirety, I think we would have very few votes. [Laughs.] I’m laughing because I don’t know how long this bill is going to be, but it’s going to be a very long bill.

And this.

DEMOCRATIC SENATOR PREDICTS
NONE OF HIS COLLEAGUES 'WILL HAVE THE CHANCE'
TO READ FINAL STIMULUS BILL BEFORE VOTE

February 18, 2009 (CNSNews.com) – Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) predicted on Thursday that none of his Senate colleagues would "have the chance" to read the entire final version of the $790-billion stimulus bill before the bill comes up for a final vote in Congress.

... When CNSNews.com asked members of both parties on Capitol Hill on Thursday whether they had read the full, final bill [reported here as 1,071 pages], not one member could say, "Yes."

And only one--Voinovich--volunteered that he had actually read the version of the bill that had passed the Senate.

... Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.), President Barack Obama's successor in the Senate, seemed baffled by the thought of actually reading the entire bill--as did his press secretary.

How can they not see their dereliction?

CHOPE.

Clueless and smug.

NYC Letter: Reverse-O-bama, Part III

Day 187 of CHOPE

Featuring Joe "Misunderstood" Biden.

IT'S NOT STIMULUS, IT'S SUPPORT.
We Are Fooled Again

Team Barry sold their massive stimulus plan as a jobs bill, but it has produced no net gain in jobs. Since it was signed into law 3,362,000 jobs have been lost while Team Barry brags on 150,000 undocumented jobs "saved* or created".

When it became apparent that the stimulus was a jobs flop, Team Barry pooh-poohed job losses as a lagging indicator in a recovery. Employment may lag, but it is not some incidental indicator. It is a crucial recovery component. No jobs, no recovery.

But Team Barry wants you to believe we are in the midst -- or on the threshold -- of a recovery of their making. That Team Barry has put the economy "on the right track", that things are "moving in the right direction". [Pause.]

Today Joe "I'm No Economist" Biden reinvents the stimulus -- again -- in the congenial op-ed pages of the NYT. Our comments are intercalated and bracketed in [red].

WHAT YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT THE RECOVERY

WASHINGTON July 26, 2009 (NYT) - Six months ago, when President Obama and I took office, we were confronted with an economic crisis unparalleled in our lifetime. The nation was hemorrhaging more than 700,000 jobs a month, the housing market was in free fall, and the fate of the financial system hung in the balance. ... The actions we took — passing the Recovery Act, stabilizing the banking system, pressing to get credit flowing again and helping responsible homeowners — brought us back from the precipice.

["Hemorrhaging more than 700,000 jobs a month" is a further enlargement of Mr. Obama's fictive "losing an average of 700,000 jobs per month". As we explain here:

Prior to Team Barry taking office between the start of the recession in December 2007 and January 2009, the largest monthly decline in nonfarm payroll...was 598,000 in December 2008. The only months the job loss number was over 600,000 were February and March of this year -- after the stimulus was in force.

Team Barry apparently doesn't know the difference between the BLS's Current Population Survey (CPS), or "Household Survey", which calculates the number of unemployed/employed persons, and the Current Employment Statistics survey (CES), or "Payroll Survey", which calculates the number of lost or created (not "saved"*) jobs. We will post further on Team Barry's dishonest "700,000" jobs lost number.]

Monthly job losses are down, financial markets are improved, and economic contraction has slowed. We still have a long way to go, but clearly we are closer to recovery today than we were in January. The Recovery Act has been critical to that progress.

[Here is Mr. Biden just last month:

"Less bad" is not how we're going to measure success -- we're going to measure success here in the White House.]

Notwithstanding this progress, the nature of the Recovery Act remains misunderstood by many, and misconstrued by others: critics have suggested that the entire $787 billion is being spent on pet programs. As the person leading the administration’s efforts to put the Recovery Act into effect, I want to set the record straight.

[We would contend that the stimulus is not so much misunderstood as it was poorly conceived. Mr. Biden two weeks ago:

The truth is, we and everyone else misread the economy. The figures we worked off of in January were the consensus figures and most of the blue chip indexes out there. ... And so the truth is, there was a misreading of just how bad an economy we inherited. Now, that doesn't -- I'm not -- it's now our responsibility.

Properly understood the stimulus is a flop.]

The single largest part of the Recovery Act — more than one-third of it — is tax cuts: 95 percent of working Americans have seen their taxes go down as a result of the act. The second-largest part — just under a third — is direct relief to state governments and individuals. The money is allowing state governments to avoid laying off teachers (14,000 in New York City alone), firefighters and police officers and preventing states’ budget gaps from growing wider. ... As for the final third, the act is financing the largest investment in roads since the creation of the Interstate highway system; construction projects at military bases, ports, bridges and tunnels; long overdue Superfund cleanups; the creation of clean energy jobs of the future; improvements in badly outdated rural water systems; upgrades to overtaxed mass transit and rail systems; and much more.

[Hhmmm. Thirds is not what was sold. Mr. Obama, January 28, 2009:

Most of the money we're investing as part of this plan will get out the door immediately and go directly to job-creation, generating or saving three to four million new jobs. And the vast majority of these jobs will be created in the private sector.

The stimulus was intended as a jobs bill with state aid tied to job creation or preservation, not shoring up state deficit spending.]

... The care with which we are carrying out the provisions of the Recovery Act has led some people to ask whether we are moving too slowly. But the act was intended to provide steady support for our economy over an extended period — not a jolt that would last only a few months.

[Mr. Obama, November 24, 2008:

But I think the most important thing to recognize is that we have a consensus, which is pretty rare, between conservative economists and liberal economists, that we need a big stimulus package that will jolt the economy back into shape and that is focused on the 2.5 million jobs that I intend to create during the first part of my administration. We have to put people back to work.

Mr. Biden, March 28, 2009:

The Recovery Act, as we call it, provides a necessary jolt to our economy to implement what we refer as "shovel-ready" projects, meaning projects that were on the books that were needed in the municipalities and the states that would improve the quality of life for our constituents, the competitiveness of our businesses, but were unable to be funded.

Again Mr. Biden, June 2, 2009:

And, of course, we also came forward with what we're going to talk about today, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, an initial big jolt to give the economy a real head start.]

... But the way I see it, our balanced approach recognizes that there is no silver bullet, no single thing, that can address the many and complex needs of America’s vast economy. We need relief, recovery and reinvestment to cope with our multifaceted crisis — and only 159 days after it was signed by President Obama, the Recovery Act is already at work providing all three.

["At work", just nothing much to show for it.]

[Hat tip: Hot Air, The Corner, and Swamp Politics]

Had the stimulus achieved a modicum of its intended purpose Mr. Biden would be spared his feeble op-ed pretending the stimulus is misunderstood not misconceived.

CHOPE.

Not lying. Just misunderstood.

------------------------------------
* There is no metric for "saved" jobs (and this).

NYC Letter: Reverse-O-bama, Part II

Day 186 of CHOPE

It took us a couple of days [to comment] because I like to know what I'm talking about before I speak, you know? (Laughter.)

Mr. Obama,
explaining why he doesn't rush to judgment
NEWS CONFERENCE
WASHINGTON March 24, 2009 (White House)

WHO NEEDS FACTS?
Stupid Is As Stupid Does

Well, I should say at the outset that "Skip" Gates is a friend, so I may be a little biased here. I don't know all the facts. ... They're reporting -- the police are doing what they should. There's a call, they go investigate what happens. My understanding is at that point Professor Gates is already in his house. The police officer comes in, I'm sure there's some exchange of words, but my understanding is, is that Professor Gates then shows his ID to show that this is his house. And at that point, he gets arrested for disorderly conduct -- charges which are later dropped.

Now, I don't know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played in that, but I think it's fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; number two, that the Cambridge Police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home...

[Mr. Gates was not arrested for being in his own home, he was arrested for disorderly conduct "after being observed exhibiting loud and tumultuous behavior, in a public place, directed at a police officer who was present investigating a crime in progress".]

...and number three, what I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there is a long history in this country of African Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately. That's just a fact.

Mr. Obama,
calling the Cambridge police stupid for doing what they should
and characterizing an arrest as racial profiling
all without basis in fact
NEWS CONFERENCE
WASHINGTON July 23, 2009 (White House)

Having spoken rashly, having commented without knowing the facts, Mr. Obama doubles down.

OBAMA DEFENDS CRITICISM
OF CAMBRIDGE POLICE IN ARREST OF GATES

July 23, 2009 (ABC News) - President Obama today stood by his comments that the Cambridge, Mass., police department acted "stupidly" in its arrest of Henry Louis Gates, telling ABC News that the Harvard University professor should not have been arrested. Mr. Obama:

I have to say I am surprised by the controversy surrounding my statement, because I think it was a pretty straightforward commentary that you probably don't need to handcuff a guy, a middle-aged man who uses a cane, who's in his own home. ... I think that I have extraordinary respect for the difficulties of the job that police officers do. And my suspicion is that words were exchanged between the police officer and Mr. Gates and that everybody should have just settled down and cooler heads should have prevailed. That's my suspicion.

Suspicions can be as good as facts. For example, we suspect Team Barry is clueless about its ruinous fiscal policies -- and that's a fact!

WHITE HOUSE DEFENDS BLUNT WORDS
ABOUT CAMBRIDGE POLICE

SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio July 23, 2009 (NYT) - The White House said Thursday that President Obama does not regret saying that the police “acted stupidly” in their arrest of the Harvard scholar, Henry Louis Gates Jr., last week in Cambridge, Mass., a dispute that has touched off a discussion about racial profiling in America. Robert Gibbs, White House press secretary:

Let me be clear: he was not calling the officer stupid, O.K.?

Ah, O.K. [Pause.] But that's not the issue. Our post-racial president characterized the issue as racist. By his own admission he didn't know the facts. Sometimes it isn't racism.

He said the president was simply saying that "at a certain point the situation got far out of hand, and I think all sides understand that."

COP WHO ARRESTED BLACK SCHOLAR IS PROFILING EXPERT

CAMBRIDGE July 23, 2009 (AP) - The white police sergeant criticized by President Barack Obama for arresting black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. in his Massachusetts home is a police academy expert on understanding racial profiling.

Cambridge Sgt. James Crowley has taught a class about racial profiling for five years at the Lowell Police Academy after being hand-picked for the job by former police Commissioner Ronny Watson, who is black, said Academy Director Thomas Fleming. Mr. Fleming:

I have nothing but the highest respect for him as a police officer. He is very professional and he is a good role model for the young recruits in the police academy.

BLACK OFFICER AT GATES HOME DURING ARREST
SAID SCHOLAR ACTED STRANGE, SUPPORTS ARREST

CAMBRIDGE July 24, 2009 (AP) — A black police officer who was at Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s home when the black Harvard scholar was arrested says he fully supports how his white fellow officer handled the situation.

Sgt. Leon Lashley says Gates was probably tired and surprised when Sgt. James Crowley demanded identification from him as officers investigated a report of a burglary. Lashley says Gates' reaction to Crowley was "a little bit stranger than it should have been."

Asked if Gates should have been arrested, Lashley said supported Crowley "100 percent."

POLICE UNION ASKS OBAMA TO APOLOGIZE
Union Backs Officer In Gates Incident

Next up -- Mr. Obama, who feels compelled to stumble through a non-apology.

I wanted to address you guys directly because over the last day and a half obviously there's been all sorts of controversy around the incident that happened in Cambridge with Professor Gates and the police department there.

... And because this has been ratcheting up -- and I obviously helped to contribute ratcheting it up -- I want to make clear that in my choice of words I think I unfortunately gave an impression that I was maligning the Cambridge Police Department or Sergeant Crowley specifically -- and I could have calibrated those words differently. And I told this to Sergeant Crowley.

[Mr. Obama said the "Cambridge police acted stupidly". If he was not maligning the "Cambridge Police Department or Sergeant Crowley specifically" just what was meant by saying the "Cambridge police acted stupidly"? To which Cambridge police was Mr. Obama referring -- "specifically"? Mr. Obama here cannot man-up to his own speaking stupidly.]

The fact that it has garnered so much attention I think is a testimony to the fact that these are issues that are still very sensitive here in America. So to the extent that my choice of words didn't illuminate, but rather contributed to more media frenzy, I think that was unfortunate.

... My hope is, is that as a consequence of this event this ends up being what's called a "teachable moment," where all of us instead of pumping up the volume spend a little more time listening to each other and try to focus on how we can generally improve relations between police officers and minority communities, and that instead of flinging accusations we can all be a little more reflective in terms of what we can do to contribute to more unity. Lord knows we need it right now -- because over the last two days as we've discussed this issue, I don't know if you've noticed, but nobody has been paying much attention to health care. (Laughter.)

Mr. Obama,
regretting banjaxing his health care press conference
but not apologizing for misspeaking
WASHINGTON July 24, 2009 (White House)

Of course, knowing what he was talking about before he spoke would have spared Mr. Obama his non-apology. [Pause.] You know?

CHOPE.

Facts not included.

NYC Letter: Reverse-O-Bama, Part I

Day 185 of CHOPE

(A) Let me be absolutely clear. If you are a family making less than $250,000 a year, you will not see your taxes go up. Not your capital gains tax, not your payroll tax, not your income tax. No taxes.

Your taxes will not go up.

(B) I can make a firm pledge: Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase, not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes.

(C) If your family earns less than $250,000 a year, you will not see your taxes increased a single dime.

I repeat: not one single dime.

(D) What I’ve said is, and I have stuck to this claim, I don’t want to see additional tax burdens on people making $250,000 a year or less.

Mr. Obama,
forswearing new taxes on the middle class
(A) SPRINGFIELD, Missouri July 30, 2008 (CNN)
(B) DOVER, New Hampshire September 11, 2008 (RCP)
(C) ADDRESS TO JOINT SESSION OF CONGRESS
WASHINGTON February 24th, 2009 (White House)
(D) INTERVIEW
WASHINGTON July 21, 2009 (NBC Today)

If you make less than $250,000 a year,* by now you probably believe Mr. Obama is not going to raise your taxes. [We turn to snort.]

CAMPAIGN SHINOLA VS. VISIONARY TAXES
Are You Going To Point Fingers OR Be A Patriot?

Politicians typically run on a promise to curb, cut, or contain taxes. They also promise lots of free candy. When elected they suddenly realize that candy isn't free -- or in the case of Democrats, that the rich haven't been punitively taxed enough -- and tax promises are junked.

Remember Bill Clinton's middle-class tax cuts? [Pause.] No. Neither do we.

GAMBLING THAT A TAX-CUT PROMISE
WAS NOT TAKEN SERIOUSLY

February 18, 1993 (NYT) - In selling his economic plan, President Clinton is gambling that voters never took seriously his campaign promise to lower the tax burden of the middle class and will respond favorably to an aggressive pitch based on equal measures of hope, fear and class revenge.

After months of polling and research, Mr. Clinton's top political advisers say they are convinced that middle-class voters will support higher taxes. The advisers say the voters will see the new taxes as the price of great improvements in Government service and as inflicting a just punishment on the rich who profited during the Reagan and Bush Administrations. Stanley Greenberg, Mr. Clinton's chief poll taker:

Voters never believed in the middle-class tax cut, because they have never seen anyone get a tax cut. They always believed their taxes would go up whether Bill Clinton became President or George Bush was President.

They voted for Bill Clinton because they believed he was going to submit a program to change the direction of the country, to improve the economy and to create jobs. They will be mad as hell if their taxes go up and there's no genuine commitment to change. But if there is, they will be willing to contribute.

"It is critical," Mr. Greenberg said, that the rich be seen as punished most by Mr. Clinton's tax increases.

... The first challenge in selling Mr. Clinton's plan to raise taxes on the middle class would seem to be overcoming the voluble history of his many specific promises to the contrary.

Sound familiar? That's because Democrats always campaign that they will find the money to spend by taxing the top 1% or 2% of the wealthiest earners. They believe America should be a nation of -- if not low earners -- modest earners. But as high-profile Democrats constantly remind us, taxes are for the little people** (and here and here and here and here, to link but five).

Mr. Obama has already raised taxes on many middle- and lower-class workers by raising the federal tax on tobacco. A regressive tax. He plans to tax you through your energy utility and again through the ripple-out of higher prices. Another regressive tax. Now Mr. Obama must pay for his massive nationalization of health care.

The one commitment that I’ve been clear about is I don’t want that final one-third of the cost of health care to be completely shouldered on the backs of middle class families who are already struggling in a difficult economy. And so, if I see a proposal that is primarily funded through taxing middle class families, I’m going to be opposed to that because I think there are better ideas to do it.

Mr. Obama,
preparing us for the reverse-O-bama on taxes
NEWS CONFERENCE
WASHINGTON July 22, 2009 (White House)

Uh-oh!

Well, I mean, we're out of money now.

Mr. Obama,
spender-in-chief, giving America's account balance
as he prepares to spend $1.5 trillion
nationalizing health care
INTERVIEW May 23, 2009 (C-Span)

CHOPE.

The taxman cometh.

------------------------------------
* Or possibly $200,000 or $150,000 or $120,000.

** More on this here. Also related, here.

NYC Letter: Team Barry Tackles The Deficit, Part V

Day 184 of CHOPE

THE WASHINGTON CHAINSAW MANICURE
They Have Chainsaws! They're With The Federal Government!

Remember this?

So one of the things that -- messages that I delivered today to all members of the Cabinet was: As well as you've already done, you're going to have to do more. I'm asking for all of them to identify at least $100 million in additional cuts to their administrative budgets.

Mr. Obama,
President and Penny-pincher-in Chief,
announcing $100M in collective penny-pinching
from a cabinet collectively authorized to spend $3.4 trillion
WASHINGTON April 20, 2009 (White House)

Mr. Obama charged his cabinet secretaries to find three one-hundreths of a percent in budget savings in 90 days. This Tuesday day 90 came and went.

WHITE HOUSE MISSES DEADLINE
TO ANNOUNCE BUDGET CUTS

July 21, 2009 (FNC) - Your World With Neil Cavuto

Neil Cavuto: The president gave them 90 days to do. Well, here it is, the 90th day, and no cuts, no proposed cuts, no Cabinet secretary announcing proposed cuts, nothing, nada, zip, zilcho.

When we asked the White House today what the deal was, we got this response — and I quote:

The recommendations have been gathered by the Cabinet secretaries, who will [be] reporting them to the president shortly.

... This was not even a tough assignment. I have had professors in college give me tough assignments. This is — this is like, Neil, can you breathe tonight and report back tomorrow what it was like?

I mean, $100 million, and these Cabinet secretaries combined are responsible for budgets approaching $2 trillion. So, someone could find some change underneath the — you know, the couch cushions here. So, what the heck?

Remember this?

Q: You know the numbers, $1.7 trillion debt, a national deficit of $11 trillion. At what point do we run out of money?

Well, I mean, we're out of money now.

Mr. Obama,
Spender-in-chief, giving an account
of his administration's spending
INTERVIEW May 23, 2009 (C-Span)

Follow Team Barry as they rip couch change from the budget here, here, here, here, here, and here.

CHOPE.

Small change. So, what the heck?

NYC Letter: Because You Asked

Day 183 of CHOPE

BIRTH CERTIFICATE TRUTHERS DEMAND ACTION
FROM GOP CONGRESSMAN
July 20, 2009 (Hot Air)

Joe Biden's seen it. [Dramatic pause.] Here it is.

OFFISHAL BIRTH CERTIFICAT
Look's Like He's One Of Us

Now stop asking.

CHOPE.

Mystery solved. Everything's legit. Believe.

NYC Letter: The Accidental Truth

Day 183 of CHOPE

The reforms we seek would bring greater competition, choice, savings, and inefficiencies [sic] to our health care system, and greater stability and security to America's families and businesses.

Mr. Obama,
letting a little, not all, of the truth slip out
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT ON HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON July 21, 2009 (White House)

Also in the same speech, Mr. Obama calculated 85,000 as almost twice 50,000, rounding up 170% to 200%. [Pause.] Close enough for government work. No wonder the White House needs more time to check his summer budget numbers.

[Hat tip: Hot Air]

CHOPE.

Some of the truth, some of the time.

NYC Letter: The Cellophane Administration, Part II

Day 182 of CHOPE

Transparency promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what their Government is doing. ... My Administration will take appropriate action, consistent with law and policy, to disclose information rapidly in forms that the public can readily find and use.

Mr. Obama,
bragging on his cellophane administration
MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS
OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES
WASHINGTON January 21, 2009 (White House)

OBAMA BUDGET PREDICTIONS
FACE REALITY NIGHTMARE

July 20, 2009 (Examiner) - Obama's once up-beat predictions about the economy are hitting reality and going splat. The summer update will show higher deficits and unemployment and slower growth than what the President projected in February and update in May 2009.

But, but...but isn't the stimulus working "as intended"?

TRANSPARENCY CONSISTENT WITH A POLICY
OF DELAY
Nothing To See. Move Along.

OBAMA DELAYS MID-SESSION BUDGET REVIEW
TO MID-AUGUST

July 20, 2009 (Bloomberg) - President Barack Obama is delaying by about a month the annual mid-year White House review of economic and deficit forecasts, amid wrangling with Congress over the cost of his health-care and energy agendas.

While Republicans accused the administration of trying to get bad economic news out while Congress is on recess, a spokesman for the White House budget office said postponing the review from mid-July until mid-August isn’t unusual during a president’s first year in office. Robert Gibbs, White House press secretary:

The notion that this is somehow motivated by anything other than a transition from one administration to the next is a little on the silly side.

Mr. Gibbs went on to point out both Presidents Clinton and GWB delayed their first-term summer budget assessments. [Pause.] Yet, Mr. Obama asked us to expect more of his administration.

I ran for President pledging to change the way business is done in Washington and build a government that works for the people by opening it up to the people. And that means restoring responsibility and transparency and accountability to actions that the government takes.

Mr. Obama,
reminding us what people will say to get elected
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT ON EARMARK REFORM
WASHINGTON March 11, 2009 (White House)

CHOPE.

Confidence and trust in the same-old same-old. Not so much.

NYC Letter: Pants On Fire VIII

Day 181 of CHOPE

Then:

(1) [American workers] are looking to Washington for action – bold and swift. ... (2) Most of the money we're investing as part of this plan will get out the door immediately and (3) go directly to job-creation, generating or saving three to four million new jobs. (4) And the vast majority of these jobs will be created in the private sector – because, as these CEOs well know, business, not government, is the engine of growth in this country.

Mr. Obama,
emphasizing the swiftness of the stimulus spend
and its primary goal of job creation
WASHINGTON January 28, 2009 (White House)

Now:

In a little over one hundred days, this Recovery Act has worked as intended. ... (1) But, as I made clear at the time it was passed, the Recovery Act was not designed to work in four months – it was designed to work over two years. (2) We also knew that it would take some time for the money to get out the door, because we are committed to spending it in a way that is effective and transparent. ... (3) It has already extended unemployment insurance and health insurance to those who have lost their jobs in this recession. It has delivered $43 billion in tax relief to American working families and businesses. (4) Without the help the Recovery Act has provided to struggling states, its estimated that state deficits would be nearly twice as large as they are now, resulting in tens of thousands of additional layoffs.

Mr. Obama,
redefining his stimulus to fit its fizzle
WEEKLY ADDRESS: PRESIDENT OBAMA
PRAISES RECOVERY ACT PROGRESS
WASHINGTON July 11, 2009 (White House)

The stimulus has NOT worked as advertised.

1. The clear expectation was that the stimulus would have an immediate positive effect on the economy. In January Mr. Obama's designated chair for the Council of Economic Advisors advertised that the stimulus would hold unemployment to 8%. Unemployment for June was 9.5%, for May 9.4%, for April 8.9%, for March 8.5%, for February 8.1%.

FIGURE 1 (A)
[Graphic Source: Job Impact Of The American Recovery
And Reinvestment Plan, January 9, 2009]

2. The government has spent about 7% or $55B five months into a "bold and swift" two-year program, where the conservative expectation would be 15%-20%. The promise was that "most of the money" would "get out the door immediately", not "take some time".
3. Transfer payments do not "go directly to job-creation", because transfer payments do not create jobs. The conservative expectation five months into a "bold and swift" two-year program to create or "save"* 3 to 4 million jobs would be 625,000-833,000 jobs. Team Barry claims 150,000 undocumented jobs created or "saved"* against a loss of 3,362,000 jobs since the stimulus was signed into law.
4. Shoring up state budgets -- where most of the stimulus money has gone -- does not "save"* much less create any jobs in the private sector.

Mr. Obama continues his strategy of effectively stymieing his critics by overwhelming them with falsehoods. These are not interpretive retellings or simple errors of fact or little fibs. Mr. Obama is going for broke.

For example, here is Mr. Obama during his recent Weekly Address:

First, the same folks who controlled the White House and Congress for the past eight years as we ran up record deficits will argue – believe it or not – that health reform will lead to record deficits. That’s simply not true.

The "folks" who controlled the Congress since January 2007 were the Democrats. Here is the change Democrats delivered less than two years after becoming the majority party in both houses.

Also these are not the same "folks" who argue – "believe it or not" – that health reform will lead to record deficits. It is the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the official scorer of the cost of legislation:

Under questioning by members of the Senate Budget Committee, Douglas Elmendorf, director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, said bills crafted by House leaders and the Senate health committee do not propose "the sort of fundamental changes" necessary to rein in the skyrocketing cost of government health programs, particularly Medicare.

On the contrary, Elmendorf said, the measures would pile on an expensive new program to cover the uninsured.

CHOPE.

Promises. Results. Lies.

------------------------------------
* There is no metric for "saved" jobs (and this).

NYC Letter: Chappaquiddick Quadragennial

Day 180 of CHOPE

Mary Jo Kopechne
July 26, 1940 – July 18, 1969*

Forty years ago today,* Mary Jo Kopechne was killed when Senator Edward Kennedy drove his Oldsmobile Delmont 88 off the Dike Bridge into the channel waters of Poucha Pond. Mr. Kennedy escaped the car and surfaced. Ms. Kopechne did not and drowned.

Subsequent events are a hash. If you are unfamiliar with the hash, here is a serviceable account. Several damning indictments of Kennedy are beyond dispute:

1. At several points Kennedy failed to use available telephones (e.g., Dike House, Lawrence Cottage, Shiretown Inn, the Chappaquiddick ferry crossing payphone) to notify authorities.

2. Later that morning, from the ferry crossing payphone (he was calling friends for advice) Kennedy observed that the car had been discovered. Only then, some ten hours after the fact, did Kennedy report his involvement to authorities.

3. The written statement Kennedy gave the police differed significantly from the facts eventually established. The most mendacious differing being his claim:
   When I fully realized what had happened this morning, I immediately contacted the police.

4. John Farrar, the diver who recovered Ms. Kopechne's body testified:
   Had I received a call within five to ten minutes of the accident occurring, and was able, as I was the following morning, to be at the victim's side within twenty-five minutes of receiving the call, in such event there is a strong possibility that she would have been alive on removal from the submerged car.

Kennedy pled guilty to a charge of leaving the scene of an accident after causing injury. He was sentenced to the statutory minimum -- two months jail time -- which was concurrently suspended. At the time sentencing judge James Boyle said Kennedy "has already been, and will continue to be punished far beyond anything this court can impose." [Pause.] That is a very low order of justice.

Chappaquiddick is thought by many to have forever queered Kennedy's presidential hopes. [Pause.] That is a higher order of justice.

Why bring all this up now? Kennedy submitted to the courts and justice was meted. That should be the end of it. [Pause.] But it is not. There remains an enduring sense of injustice. There is the improper deference of the court and its officers to a powerful politically connected family. There is Kennedy himself whose remorse never convincingly extended beyond the inconveniences to his career. And finally there is the long slow diminishing of Mary Jo Kopechne in the press.

When admirers of Kennedy refer to Chappaquiddick as a "Kennedy tragedy", they do not bemoan Ms. Kopechne's death. They bemoan the straitening of Ted Kennedy's political ambitions.

In January 5, 2003, Boston Globe writer Charles Pierce wrote:

If she had lived, Mary Jo Kopechne would be 62 years old. Through his tireless work as a legislator, Edward Kennedy would have brought comfort to her in her old age.

Ted Kennedy killed Ms. Kopechne in her youth, making Kennedy bestowals in her old age the emptiest of speculations.

Earlier New York Times reporter Adam Clymer had written:

Yet his achievements as a Senator have towered over his time, changing the lives of far more Americans than remember the name Mary Jo Kopechne.

Oh! Don't spoil Mr. Clymer's adulation by moping over Ms. Kopechne.

We remember the name Mary Jo Kopechne.

------------------------------------
* Though the date of her death is given as July 18, the settled timeline and the conclusions of the inquest suggest that she expired sometime after midnight, that is, on July 19.

NYC Letter: The Cellophane Administration, Part I

Day 180 of CHOPE

(A) Transparency promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what their Government is doing. ... My Administration will take appropriate action, consistent with law and policy, to disclose information rapidly in forms that the public can readily find and use.

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

(B) Because I firmly believe with Justice Brandeis that sunlight is the best disinfectant, and I know that restoring transparency is not only the surest way to achieve results, but also to earn back that trust in government without which we cannot deliver the changes the American people sent us here to make.

Mr. Obama,
bragging on his cellophane administration
(A) MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS
OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES
WASHINGTON January 21, 2009 (White House)
(B) WASHINGTON January 28, 2009 (White House)

Government you can see through.

'PUT NOTHING IN WRITING,' BROWNER TOLD AUTO EXECS
ON SECRET WHITE HOUSE CAFE TALKS

July 8, 2009 (Washington Examiner) - Carol Browner, former Clinton administration EPA head and current Obama White House climate czar, instructed auto industry execs "to put nothing in writing, ever" regarding secret negotiations she orchestrated regarding a deal to increase federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards.

Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-WI, is demanding a congressional investigation of Browner's conduct in the CAFE talks, saying in a letter to Rep. Henry Waxman, D-CA, that Browner "intended to leave little or no documentation of the deliberations that lead to stringent new CAFE standards."

Federal law requires officials to preserve documents concerning significant policy decisions, so instructing participants in a policy negotation concerning a major federal policy change could be viewed as a criminal act.

TRANSPARENCY CONSISTENT WITH A POLICY
OF COVERING THE ADMINISTRATION'S ASS
Nothing To See. Move Along.

When there is no physical record, you avoid destroying information through "inattention", as Ms. Browner learned while tidying up her tenure with the Clinton administration.

EPA IN CONTEMPT FOR DESTROYING FILES

WASHINGTON July 24, 2003 (WaPo) - A federal judge yesterday held the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in contempt for violating his court order by destroying computer hard drives and deleting e-mails of the agency's top officials in the final days of the Clinton administration and beyond.

U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth ruled that agency officials -- through a mixture of ignorance and "egregious" inattention -- failed to comply with his January 2001 restraining order that the agency preserve and protect its records concerning environmental rules written in the final months before President Bill Clinton was to leave office.

... Then-EPA Administrator Carol M. Browner had her computer hard drive destroyed on the same day the order was issued, the judge found, and deputy administrator W. Michael McCabe deleted e-mails in the days right after. Then general counsel Gary S. Guzy did not alert top officials or staff about the order, nor did the U.S. Attorney's Office, though it was handling the case.

The AP picks up the story:

Browner had testified she asked a technician to delete her computer files the same day Lamberth ordered them preserved.

The former EPA administrator said she usually didn't use her computer for work or e-mail, hadn't been notified about the court order, and had just wanted to remove some computer games her son had installed on her work computer.*

CHOPE.

Sshhh.

------------------------------------
* We wonder why Ms Browner didn't use a government-issued computer for her government work -- did she not do much work? More mystifying, how is it her son had administrative (to install) and recreational access to a government computer belonging to a cabinet secretary?

NYC Letter: Joe On The Job VIII

UPDATE 07.22.09: This goes a way toward explaining the diminished spontaneous assembly for Joe "I'm Humbled" Biden.

OBAMA'S POPULARITY DIPS IN VIRGINIA

July 10, 2009 (Virginia Pilot) - Results from a Public Policy Polling survey released this week indicate that 48 percent of Virginians approve of the job Obama is doing while 46 percent disapprove.

... Last year, Obama became the first Democratic presidential candidate to carry Virginia in 44 years en route to the White House.

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

Day 179 of CHOPE

What's humbled me, as you walk out, I mean, everywhere I go, crowds spontaneously assemble. ... People stand up and clap. I mean, it's humbled me.

Joe "Hi-Q" Biden,
VP and humbled crowd magnet,
spontaneously bursting into self-adulation
GOOD MORNING AMERICA
April 30, 2009 (ABC)

AT J. SARGE, BIDEN DEFENDS STIMULUS PACKAGE

RICHMOND, Virginia July 16, 2009 (RTD) - Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. strongly defended the economic stimulus package today, telling an audience at J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College that it has saved the economy.

"I'm absolutely, positively confident we are on the right track," he said of the $787 million package.

Biden addressed a crowd of about 140 community college students and invited guests.

SPONTANEOUS ASSEMBLY REQUIRED
Star Power.

Richmond proper has a population of some 200,000. The greater metropolitan area is estimated to be a million two. Team Barry carried Richmond with 79.85% of the city vote and flipped the traditionally red state with 53.63% overall. Less than 9 months later, Mr. Biden can barely draw an audience on a college campus. [Pause.] Consider the message. Consider the messenger.

At least this beats Wattsburg.

CHOPE.

No growth. No jobs. No money. Right on track.

NYC Letter: The Obama Economy, Part IV

Day 179 of CHOPE

I love these folks who helped get us in this mess and then suddenly say, well, this is Obama's economy. That's fine. Give it to me. (Applause.) My job is to solve problems, not to stand on the sidelines and harp and gripe. (Applause.)

So I welcome the job. I want the responsibility.

Mr. Obama,
blaming persons unknown for Mr. Obama's economy
WARREN, Michigan July 14, 2009 (White House)

Mr. Obama here boldly affirms responsibility for his economic policies. [Pause.] He just doesn't affirm the results.

THE ECONOMY IS EVEN WORSE THAN YOU THINK

OP-ED July 14, 2009 (WSJ) - The recent unemployment numbers have undermined confidence that we might be nearing the bottom of the recession. What we can see on the surface is disconcerting enough, but the inside numbers are just as bad.

• June's total assumed 185,000 people at work who probably were not. The government could not identify them; it made an assumption about trends. But many of the mythical jobs are in industries that have absolutely no job creation, e.g., finance. When the official numbers are adjusted over the next several months, June will look worse.

• No fewer than 1.4 million people wanted or were available for work in the last 12 months but were not counted. Why? Because they hadn't searched for work in the four weeks preceding the survey.

• The number of workers taking part-time jobs due to the slack economy, a kind of stealth underemployment, has doubled in this recession to about nine million, or 5.8% of the work force. Add those whose hours have been cut to those who cannot find a full-time job and the total unemployed rises to 16.5%, putting the number of involuntarily idle in the range of 25 million.

• The average work week for rank-and-file employees in the private sector, roughly 80% of the work force, slipped to 33 hours. That's 48 minutes a week less than before the recession began, the lowest level since the government began tracking such data 45 years ago. Full-time workers are being downgraded to part time as businesses slash labor costs to remain above water, and factories are operating at only 65% of capacity. If Americans were still clocking those extra 48 minutes a week now, the same aggregate amount of work would get done with 3.3 million fewer employees, which means that if it were not for the shorter work week the jobless rate would be 11.7%, not 9.5% (which far exceeds the 8% rate projected by the Obama administration).

• The average length of official unemployment increased to 24.5 weeks, the longest since government began tracking this data in 1948. The number of long-term unemployed (i.e., for 27 weeks or more) has now jumped to 4.4 million, an all-time high.

... Can we find comfort in the fact that employment has long been considered a lagging indicator? It is conventionally seen as having limited predictive power since employment reflects decisions taken earlier in the business cycle. But today is different. Unemployment has doubled to 9.5% from 4.8% in only 16 months, a rate so fast it may influence future economic behavior and outlook.

How could this happen when Washington has thrown trillions of dollars into the pot, including the famous $787 billion in stimulus spending that was supposed to yield $1.50 in growth for every dollar spent? For a start, too much of the money went to transfer payments such as Medicaid, jobless benefits and the like that do nothing for jobs and growth. The spending that creates new jobs is new spending, particularly on infrastructure. It amounts to less than 10% of the stimulus package today.

Of course, one of the "folks who helped get us in this mess" is Mr. Obama himself.

CHOPE.

Pwned.

NYC Letter: Obamanomics 107

Day 178 of CHOPE

Obamanomics, high-rolling creates prosperity.

And folks look, AARP knows and the people working here today know, the president knows, and I know, that the status quo is simply not acceptable. It’s totally unacceptable. And it’s completely unsustainable. Even if we wanted to keep it the way we have it. It can’t do it financially.

We’re going to go bankrupt as a nation.

Now, people when I say that look at me and say, ‘What are you talking about, Joe? You're telling me we have to go spend money to keep from going bankrupt?"

The answer is yes, I’m telling you.

Joe "I'm No Economist" Biden,
arguing how owing trillions will prevent
a bankruptcy owing billions
AARP TOWN HALL
ALEXANDRIA, Virginia July 16, 2009 (CNS)

[Pause.] No, we don't get it.

MR. BIDEN EXPLAINS OBAMANOMICS
Spend Till You Prosper

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) doesn't get it either.

Under current law, the federal budget is on an unsustainable path, because federal debt will continue to grow much faster than the economy over the long run. ... Measured relative to GDP, almost all of the projected growth in federal spending other than interest payments on the debt stems from the three largest entitlement programs—Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. ... In CBO’s estimates, the increase in spending for Medicare and Medicaid will account for 80 percent of spending increases for the three entitlement programs between now and 2035 and 90 percent of spending growth between now and 2080. Thus, reducing overall government spending relative to what would occur under current fiscal policy would require fundamental changes in the trajectory of federal health spending. Slowing the growth rate of outlays for Medicare and Medicaid is the central long-term challenge for fiscal policy.

Having been warned, Team Barry and Democrats rush to do the very opposite.

LAWMAKERS WARNED ABOUT HEALTH COSTS
CBO Chief Says Democrats' Proposals
Lack Necessary Controls On Spending

WASHINGTON July 17, 2009 (WaPo) - Congress's chief budget analyst delivered a devastating assessment yesterday of the health-care proposals drafted by congressional Democrats, fueling an insurrection among fiscal conservatives in the House and pushing negotiators in the Senate to redouble efforts to draw up a new plan that more effectively restrains federal spending.

Under questioning by members of the Senate Budget Committee, Douglas Elmendorf, director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, said bills crafted by House leaders and the Senate health committee do not propose "the sort of fundamental changes" necessary to rein in the skyrocketing cost of government health programs, particularly Medicare. On the contrary, Elmendorf said, the measures would pile on an expensive new program to cover the uninsured. ... His remarks suggested that rather than averting a looming fiscal crisis, the measures could make the nation's bleak budget outlook even worse.

Elmendorf's blunt language startled lawmakers racing to meet Obama's deadline for approving a bill by the August break.

CHOPE.

Spend. Spend. Spend.

NYC Letter: The Obama Economy, Part III

Day 178 of CHOPE

We need desperately to get this economy moving. We've got to create more jobs now.

Joe "Hi-Q" Biden,
then-VP-elect and soon-to-be stimulus policeman,
emphasizing the Obama presidency's top priority
December 23, 2008 (FNC)

With respect to the employment issue, obviously I don't have a crystal ball. ... Now, this has been a more severe recession than we've seen since the Great Depression, so how employment numbers are going to respond is not yet clear.* My expectation is, is that we will probably continue to see unemployment tick up for several months.

... The last recession that we had, the recovery was termed a "jobless recovery." We can't repeat that approach.

Mr. Obama,
venturing a guess on unemployment without a crystal ball
five months after signing his massive stimulus into law
WASHINGTON July 14, 2009 (White House)

I'm absolutely, positively confident we are on the right track.

Joe "I'm No Economist" Biden,
absolutely, positively confident you are this stupid
RICHMOND, Virginia July 16, 2009 (RTD)

IF there is a recovery going on that we have somehow missed, it is a jobless recovery. [Pause.] Because there are no jobs.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics preliminary estimate for job losses for June is 467,000, which means 7.2 million people have lost their jobs since the start of the recession. The cumulative job losses over the last six months have been greater than for any other half year period since World War II, including the military demobilization after the war. The job losses are also now equal to the net job gains over the previous nine years, making this the only recession since the Great Depression to wipe out all job growth from the previous expansion.

Unemployment has increased 125% since Mr. Obama took office, 117% since Mr. Obama signed his stimulus. Team Barry sold the stimulus as a jobs bill, but it has produced a scant 150,000 undocumented jobs "saved** or created" against a loss of 3,362,000 jobs since the stimulus was signed into law. Whatever Team Barry thinks its stimulus has wrought, it has not wrought jobs.

In the teeth of last month's job losses Mr. Obama claimed "we're moving in the right direction". Mr. Biden spotted "encouraging signs". They are back this month bereft of predictive power but reassuring us nonetheless that Team Barry is "absolutely, positively on the right track". Other than its own dishonest cheerleading, what can Team Barry show for its $787B stimulus? [A long hard pause.]

Here is what Team Barry promised: enacting their stimulus, unemployment to peak at 8%.

FIGURE 1 (A)
[Graphic Source: Job Impact Of The American Recovery
And Reinvestment Plan, January 9, 2009]

Here are their results.

FIGURE 1 (B)

CHOPE.

Joblessness. Cluelessness. Shamelessness.

------------------------------------
* No crystal ball required. Mr. Obama signed his stimulus into law on February 17 of this year. The BLS gives the following seasonally adjusted numbers for job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs (Table A-8) since then:

** There is no metric for "saved" jobs (and this).

NYC Letter: Joe On The Job VII

Day 177 of CHOPE

Q: While we've been here, some pretty grim job numbers back at home -- 9.5 percent unemployment in June, the worst numbers in 26 years. How do you explain that? Because when the president and you all were selling the stimulus package, you predicted at the beginning that, to get this package in place, unemployment will peak at about 8 percent. So, either you misread the economy, or the stimulus package is too slow and too small.

The truth is, we and everyone else misread the economy. The figures we worked off of in January were the consensus figures and most of the blue chip indexes out there.

Everyone thought at that stage -- everyone -- the bulk of...

... Well, look, we're much too high. We're at 9 -- what, 9.5 [unemployment] right now?

And so the truth is, there was a misreading of just how bad an economy we inherited. Now, that doesn't -- I'm not -- it's now our responsibility. So the second question becomes, did the economic package we put in place, including the Recovery Act, is it the right package given the circumstances we're in? And we believe it is the right package given the circumstances we're in.

We misread how bad the economy was, but we are now only about 120 days into the recovery package. The truth of the matter was, no one anticipated, no one expected that that recovery package would in fact be in a position at this point of having to distribute the bulk of money.

Joe "Hi-Q" Biden,
VP, stimulus policeman, and economic punter,
explaining how Team Barry (A) got the economy wrong
but (B) magically got their plan right
even as (C) things continue to worsen
THIS WEEK INTERVIEW
IRAQ July 5, 2009 (ABC News)

Mr. Biden hopes you are this stupid.

BELIEVE IT
Joe Biden Knows Stupid

CHOPE.

Double-talk. Double-double-talk. Everything doubleplusgood.

NYC Letter: Joe On The Job VI

Day 163 of CHOPE

What's humbled me, as you walk out, I mean, everywhere I go, crowds spontaneously assemble. They start to cheer, whether I go to a play on Broadway or I'm going home to Wilmington, Delaware. I walk on the train. People stand up and clap. I mean, it's humbled me.

Joe "Hi-Q" Biden,
VP and crowd magnet,
spontaneously bursting into self-adulation
GOOD MORNING AMERICA
April 30, 2009 (ABC)

BIDEN FAILS TO DRAW CROWD IN ERIE

WATTSBURG, Pennsylvannia July 1, 2009 (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) - Vice President Joe Biden visited a small town on the outskirts of Erie today to talk to rural folks about federal stimulus money that can be used to expand broadband access to the Internet for rural areas that typically have poor connections.

Apparently stimulus money and broadband are not all that interesting to the local folk here: Only around 100 or so people have showed up so far to hear Biden talk at noon at Seneca High School off Route 8 in Wattsburg.

The room looked so sparse that about 30 or so chairs were removed by volunteers to give the illusion of a full house.

The effect didn't exactly work.

SPONTANEOUS ASSEMBLY REQUIRED
More Humbling
[Picture source: Houston Style Magazine]

Just a reminder, the greatest danger to America is the president dying in office. Keep Mr. Obama safe in your prayers until you vote him out.

CHOPE.

Can't give it away.

NYC Letter: The Obama Economy, Part II

Day 162 of CHOPE

I still hold out hope it will be a V-shaped recovery. It might not be the most likely scenario but it is not as unlikely as many people think.

Christina Romer,
Chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers,
CHOPE-ing against hope
INTERVIEW
June 28, 2009 (FT)

The V recovery graphs as a decline that quickly rebounds once it hits bottom. The American economy is believed to have bottomed March 6, some three months ago.

Ms. Romer here clings to the same misplaced CHOPE that misinformed her earlier forecast of the magic of stimulus spending. What is the likelihood of Ms. Romer's fabulous V recovery? [Pause.] With few major indicators showing sustained rebounds, not very likely at all.

FORGET THE V-SHAPED RECOVERY: EXPERTS
May 15, 2009 (CNBC)

V-SHAPED RECOVERY IS OVERLY OPTIMISTIC
May 18, 2009 (CNBC)

V-SHAPED RECOVERY OUTLOOK IS IN VAIN
First Pacific Advisors: The Bulk Of The Economy's
Credit Problems Are Still To Come.
June 3, 2009 (Barron's)

KRUGMAN SAYS NO SIGNS
OF ‘V-SHAPED’ ECONOMIC RECOVERY

June 5, 2009 (Bloomberg) - Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman said the world’s economy is showing "not a hint" of a "V-shaped" recovery marked by a swift decline and revival.

The economy is "stabilizing, not recovering," Krugman, an economics professor at Princeton University in New Jersey, said today at a conference in Dublin. Mr. Krugman:

Things are getting worse more slowly.

... Service industries in the U.S. shrank at a slower pace in May while job losses mounted, indicating that any economic recovery will be slow to develop. Mr. Krugman:

The euro zone, like the United States, I fear, could be facing kind of a lost decade.

RECOVERY REALITY CHECK: NOT SO FAST...
Don't Cheer Fewer Job Losses

NEW YORK June 5, 2009 (CNNMoney.com) - The May jobs report, which showed the lowest level of cuts since September, sent stocks slightly higher Friday on more hopes that the economy may soon be on the upswing.

... Let's put things in perspective. Employers still cut 345,000 jobs last month.

In case that didn't sink in, I'll repeat it. Employers still cut 345,000 jobs last month. That's a big number. But in some of the media's coverage of the jobs report, journalists had the unmitigated gall to say that only 345,000 jobs were lost.

Only? It is downright insulting to the average American to use such a modifier.

Yes, the job market is a lagging indicator. That means it may be the last part of the economy to recover.

But with unemployment now at a 26-year high, it's hard to imagine how there can be a robust rebound until companies actually feel comfortable to start hiring again.

US: ISM* MANUFACTURING − NO "V" SHAPED RECOVERY
July 1, 2009 (FXstreet.com)

Ms. Romer tries to wish results into being, dutifully peddling Team Barry's cheery CHOPE. We will be lucky if this recession graphs as a U, where the economy trolls along the bottom before sloping up. [Pause] Or Team Barry may just spend-and-tax us into an L recovery with the bottom lingering for years.

CHOPE.

Cheery forecasts. Dreary results.

------------------------------------
* Institute for Supply Management

NYC Letter: The Obama Economy, Part I

Day 161 of CHOPE

Q: When should we judge the stimulus package -- whether it's working or not?

Well, I think we should judge it, ah, we should begin to judge it now, ah...

Q: To judge it now?

Absolutely!

Robert Gibbs,
WH spokesperson, officially retiring the GWB economy
WASHINGTON June 29, 2009 (MSNBC/YouTube)

Finally! It's here. The Obama economy. [We briefly jubilate.] OK. Let's start judging.

JUNE FEDERAL RECEIPTS: THE DIVE CONTINUES,
AS DOES MEDIA NEAR SILENCE

June 30, 2009 (bizzyblog.com) - As we near the end of June, which is supposed to be one of the four biggest months for federal tax collections (January, April, and September are the others), it is clear that the serious receipts shortfalls are not only continuing, but have caused the March 20 projections of the administration and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) outdated.

Federal tax receipts were down 34% this April compared to a year ago.

[A]s we approach the end of the month, June 2009 receipts from economic activity are down 25% from last year. It’s clear from last year’s results that it would be unreasonable to expect a high level of receipts from other than withholdings in the final two days of this year.

Detailed analysis worth the full read.

GLOOMY U.S. CONSUMERS CLIP HOUSING RECOVERY HOPES

WASHINGTON June 30, 2009 (Reuters) - U.S. consumer confidence took an unexpectedly steep slide in June, figures released on Tuesday showed, suggesting the 18-month-long recession had yet to loosen its grip on the economy.

... Major stock market indexes fell after the Conference Board's consumer confidence index showed households felt gloomier about their current situation and less optimistic about what the coming months might bring.

HOUSING IN PERIL AS OBAMA FAILS TO GET BREAKTHROUGH

June 29, 2009 (Bloomberg) - Four months after President Barack Obama pledged $275 billion to shore up home sales, the engine that powered every U.S. recovery since 1960 is stalled. Bankers’ reluctance to finance buyers who won’t live in properties is one barrier to a turnaround. Stricter qualifying rules and a rise in the cost of residential loans to 5.42 percent have impeded new mortgage lending, which is at a 13-year low. An inventory of 2.1 million unoccupied houses on the market, created by the fastest foreclosure pace in history, may be a drag on a revival.

The $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit in the U.S. economic stimulus package and a government program to subsidize some mortgage payments have had little effect, according to Eric Belsky, executive director of Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

... Existing U.S. home sales in May rose 2.4 percent to an annual rate of 4.77 million, lower than forecast, and the median price was down 16.8 percent from the same month in 2008, according to the Chicago-based National Realtors Association.

There’s little chance the turnover will increase enough this year to end the housing recession, said Andres Carbacho- Burgos, an economist with Moody’s Economy.com in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

Housing typically leads American recoveries.

RECORD UNEMPLOYMENT RATES IN EIGHT STATES

June 19, 2009 (calculatedriskblog.com) - From the BLS: Regional and State Employment and Unemployment Summary

Michigan again reported the highest jobless rate, 14.1 percent in May. The states with the next highest rates were Oregon, 12.4 percent; Rhode Island and South Carolina, 12.1 percent each; California, 11.5 percent; Nevada, 11.3 percent; and North Carolina, 11.1 percent. Six additional states and the District of Columbia recorded unemployment rates of at least 10.0 percent. The California, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, and South Carolina rates were the highest on record for those states. Florida, at 10.2 percent, and Georgia, at 9.7 percent, also posted series highs.

Many news media skip the lack of improvement and dress up Mr. Obama's economy with upbeat headlines declaring declines less than the running forecasts. But, gentle skimmer, the running forecasts long ago surpassed the working forecasts used to sell the stimulus.

A FORECAST WITH HOPE BUILT IN

WASHINGTON June 30, 2009 (NYT) - In the weeks just before President Obama took office, his economic advisers made a mistake. They got a little carried away with hope.

To make the case for a big stimulus package, they released their economic forecast for the next few years. Without the stimulus, they saw the unemployment rate — then 7.2 percent — rising above 8 percent in 2009 and peaking at 9 percent next year. With the stimulus, the advisers said, unemployment would probably peak at 8 percent late this year.

We now know that this forecast was terribly optimistic. The jobless rate has already reached 9.4 percent. On Thursday, the Labor Department will announce the latest number, for June, and forecasters are expecting it to rise further. In concrete terms, the difference between the situation that the Obama advisers predicted and the one that has come to pass is about 2.5 million jobs.

... There are two possible explanations that the administration was so wrong. ... The first explanation is that the economy has deteriorated because the stimulus package failed. Some critics say that stimulus just doesn’t work, while others argue that this particular package was too small or too badly constructed to make a difference. ... The second answer is that the economy has deteriorated in spite of the stimulus.

... It’s not fair to expect Mr. Obama’s economists to be clairvoyant. But they did make one avoidable mistake that led directly to their overoptimism. They relied on the same forecasting models that had completely failed to see the crisis coming.

Amidst all the bad news, not everyone is cheerless.

ROMER UPBEAT ON US ECONOMY

June 28, 2009 (FT) - The US economy will feel a substantial boost from the Obama administration’s emergency spending package over the next few months, says Christina Romer, a senior White House official, who has warned against tightening monetary and fiscal policy before recovery is well established.

Not to put too fine a point on this, but we expected something more from $787B of "emergency" spending than a 3-6 or 9-month downstream boost. Ms. Romer's lagging boost just happens to coincide with consensus opinion on a non-stimulus recovery. [Pause.] Damnedest thing.

Ms Romer, chairman of the US president’s council of econ­omic advisers, told the Financial Times in an interview she was “more optimistic” that the economy was close to stabilisation.

Ms Romer said stimulus spending was “going to ramp up strongly through the summer and the fall”.

Oh, good. Another "ramp-up" promise from Team Barry.

“We always knew we were not going to get all that much fiscal impact during the first five to six months. The big impact starts to hit from about now onwards,” she said.

Apparently Ms. Romer was only fooling back in January when she published the administration's stimulus expectations captured in the chart below.

FIGURE 1 (A)
[Graphic Source: Job Impact Of The American Recovery
And Reinvestment Plan, January 9, 2009]

That didn't pan out. Not only did Team Barry completely guess wrong on the stimulus, they spectacularly guessed wrong on the recession itself.

FIGURE 1 (B)

Ms. Romer:

I still hold out hope it will be a V-shaped recovery. It might not be the most likely scenario but it is not as unlikely as many people think.

For Team Barry CHOPE springs eternal.

CHOPE.

The Obama economy. Not what you were told. Not what you were sold.

NYC Letter: Political Science 101

Day 159 of CHOPE

Transparency promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what their Government is doing. Information maintained by the Federal Government is a national asset. My Administration will take appropriate action, consistent with law and policy, to disclose information rapidly in forms that the public can readily find and use.

Mr. Obama,
bragging on his cellophane administration
MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS
OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES
WASHINGTON January 21, 2009 (White House)

Here is the administration you can see right through in practice.

EPA MAY HAVE SUPPRESSED REPORT
SKEPTICAL OF GLOBAL WARMING

June 26, 2009 (CBS News) - Less than two weeks before the agency formally submitted its pro-regulation recommendation to the White House, an EPA center director quashed a 98-page report* that warned against making hasty "decisions based on a scientific hypothesis that does not appear to explain most of the available data."

The EPA official, Al McGartland, said in an e-mail message to a staff researcher on March 17:

The administrator and the administration has decided to move forward... and your comments do not help the legal or policy case for this decision.

So Team Barry after soliciting an endangerment finding and not getting it, simply does without the finding.

TRANSPARENCY CONSISTENT WITH A POLICY OF PHONY SCIENCE
The Expected Findings Are The Findings To Be Found

The e-mail correspondence raises questions about political interference in what was supposed to be an independent review process** inside a federal agency -- and echoes criticisms of the EPA under the Bush administration, which was accused of suppressing a pro-climate change document.

Alan Carlin, the primary author of the 98-page EPA report, told CBSNews.com in a telephone interview on Friday that his boss, McGartland, was being pressured himself. Mr. Carlin:

It was his view that he either lost his job or he got me working on something else. That was obviously coming from higher levels.

E-mail messages released this week show that Carlin was ordered not to "have any direct communication" with anyone outside his small group at EPA on the topic of climate change, and was informed that his report would not be shared with the agency group working on the topic.

Well, the EPA's protestations notwithstanding, there seems to be little "may have" to the above headline.

The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) comments:

CEI is submitting a set of four EPA emails, dated March 12-17, 2009, which indicate that a significant internal critique of EPA’s position on Endangerment was essentially put under wraps and concealed. The study was barred from being circulated within EPA, it was never disclosed to the public, and it was not placed in the docket of this proceeding. The emails further show that the study was treated in this manner not because of any problem with its quality, but for political reasons.

From the suppressed report's preface (p.4):

We have become increasingly concerned that EPA and many other agencies and countries have paid too little attention to the science of global warming. EPA and others have tended to accept findings reached by outside groups, particularly the IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] and the CCSP [Climate Change Science Program],** as being correct without a careful and critical examination of their conclusions and documentation.

… We do not maintain that we or anyone else have all the answers needed… Our conclusions do represent the best science in the sense of most closely corresponding to the available observations that we currently know of, however, and are sufficiently at variance with those of the IPCC, CCSP, and the Draft TSD [Technical Support Document] that we believe they support our increasing concern that EPA has not critically reviewed the findings by these other groups.

As discussed in these comments we believe our concerns and reservations are sufficiently important to warrant a serious review of the science by EPA before any attempt is made to reach conclusions on the subject. … The Draft TSD suggests to us that we do not yet have that capability or that we have not used what we have.

The report only argues to get the science right before proceeding. It is policy neutral where the EPA was looking for a pro-policy finding.

It is common among religions to suppress heresies. And the hierophants of global warming do not want their acolytes disturbed by actual science or critical inquiry. Global warmists cannot bear challenges to orthodoxy. [Pause.] The science be damned.

[Hat tips: NewsBusters, Gateway Pundit]

This is what transparent scientific debate refereed by a community organizer looks like.

CHOPE.

Nothing to see. Move along.

------------------------------------
* The report has the windy title, Proposed NCEE (National Center for Environmental Economics) Comments On Draft Technical Support Document For Endangerment Analysis For Greenhouse Gas Emissions Under The Clean Air Act.

** More examples of "independent review processes" under Mr. Obama here and here and here.

*** Recently reinvented as the Global Change Research Program (USGCRP).

NYC Letter: Ceci n'est pas une taxe

Day 158 of CHOPE

Read my lips: no new taxes.

George H. W. Bush,
then-candidate for the presidency, making the promise
that won him his first term and lost him his second term
ACCEPTANCE SPEECH
REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION
NEW ORLEANS August 18, 1988 (presidency.ucsb.edu)

But let me [sic, be] perfectly clear...if your family earns less than $250,000 a year, you will not see your taxes increased a single dime.

I repeat: not one single dime.

Mr. Obama,
repeating the campaign promise
that will lose him his second term
ADDRESS TO JOINT SESSION OF CONGRESS
WASHINGTON February 24th, 2009 (White House)

CECI N'EST PAS UNE TAXE
It's A Jobs Bill! Fooled Us.
[With apologies to René Magritte]

Under my plan of a cap-and-trade system electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket. Businesses would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that cost onto consumers.

Nobody, nobody in this country realizes that cap-and-trade is a tax. And it's a great big one.

John Dingell (D-MI, 15th),
chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee,
calling a tax a tax
WASHINGTON April 24, 2009 (YouTube/C-Span)

I think if you get into the way [the cap-and-trade bill] was written, it's a huge tax and there's no sense calling it anything else. I mean, it is a tax. And it's a fairly regressive tax. If we buy permits, essentially, at our utilities, that goes right into the bills of the utility customers and an awful lot of people in Iowa, in Oregon, and Utah, and places where we are, very poor people are going to pay a lot more money for electricity.

Warren Buffett,
billionaire investor and supporter of
and sometime advisor to Mr. Obama,
calling a tax a tax
NEW YORK June 24, 2009 (CNBC)

In Obamaland, if you don't call a tax a tax, it's not a tax.

PRESIDENT OBAMA ON ENERGY BILL:
"MAKE NO MISTAKE, THIS IS A JOBS BILL"

WASHINGTON June 25, 2009 (ABC News) - Standing in the Rose Garden this afternoon, President Obama called for the House of Representatives to pass the energy bill written by Reps. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Ed Markey, D-Mass., calling Friday's roll call a "vote of historic proportions" that would likely be close because of "misinformation that's out there that suggests there is somehow a contradiction between investing in clean energy and our economic growth."

"Make no mistake, this is a jobs bill," Mr. Obama said, arguing that the bill would "create incentives to spark a clean energy economy."

The government will collect fees for emissions permits forcing up your electric bill. [Pause.] It's a tax. [Hard pause.] And more likely it's a jobs killer.

CHOPE.

Tax rich. Energy poor. And no jobs.

NYC Letter: The Right Place A Shambles

Day 156 of CHOPE

He's not only a leader, but he can lead us to the right place.

Warren Buffett,
billionaire investor and supporter of
and sometime advisor* to Mr. Obama,
revealing where Mr. Obama will lead us
OMAHA August 16, 2007 (Chicago Tribune)

[Fast forward.] Here we -- and Mr. Buffett -- are.

WARREN BUFFETT TO CNBC:
U.S. ECONOMY IN "SHAMBLES",
NO SIGNS OF RECOVERY YET

June 24, 2009 (CNBC) - While the economy is a "shambles" and likely to stay that way for some time, he remains optimistic there will eventually be a recovery over a period of years.

"Over a period of years"? That's not optimism. That's running out the clock for Mr. Obama.

CNBC: The last time we sat down to talk ... you told us that you think we're in an economic war right now. How much progress do you think we've made in that war?

BUFFETT: Well, it's been pretty flat. I get figures on 70-odd businesses, a lot of them daily. Everything that I see about the economy is that we've had no bounce. The financial system was really where the crisis was last September and October, and that's been surmounted and that's enormously important. But in terms of the economy coming back, it takes a while. There were a lot of excesses to be wrung out and that process is still underway and it looks to me like it will be underway for quite a while. In the (Berkshire Hathaway) annual report I said the economy would be in a shambles this year and probably well beyond. I'm afraid that's true.

Hhmmm. This doesn't seem to be the right place at all.

Mr. Buffett the dilettante king-maker has been disabused by Mr. Buffett the professional investor.

WARREN BUFFETT: "NOBODY KNOWS"
IF GOV'T FIXES WILL WORK
January 22, 2009 (USN&WR)

VAUNTED OBAMA MESSAGE MACHINE IS OFF-KEY

WASHINGTON March 10, 2009 (Reuters) - When billionaire investor Warren Buffett says President Barack Obama's economic message is muddled and undermining public confidence, it's worth listening.

Halfway through his first 100 days in office, ace communicator Obama has struggled to find the right tone in talking about the economy, twinning bleak warnings with optimism about the future.

... Buffett, an informal Obama adviser considered a financial seer on Wall Street, told CNBC on Monday the message has to be "very, very clear as to what government will be doing." Mr. Buffett:

And I think we've had, and it's the nature of the political process somewhat, but we've had muddled messages [and this and this and this and this this and this, to link but a heptad] and the American public does not know. They feel they don't know what's going on, and their reaction then is to absolutely pull back.

CHOPE.

Led. Pwned.

------------------------------------
* Here is an example of Mr. Buffet's priceless advice. Mr. Obama:

If you talk to Warren, he'll tell you his preference is not to meddle in the economy at all—let the market work, however way it's going to work, and then just tax the heck out of people at the end and just redistribute it.

NYC Letter: Robust Political Debate IV

Day 153 of CHOPE

To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history, but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist. (Applause.)

Mr. Obama,
delivering applause line to those clinging to power
through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent
INAUGURAL ADDRESS
WASHINGTON January 21, 2009 (White House)

True to his word.

EXTENDING A HOT DOG TO THE CLENCHED FIST OF IRAN
Would You Like Freedom Fries With Your Dog?
[Picture source: AFP]

US SAYS HOT DOG DIPLOMACY STILL ON WITH IRAN

WASHINGTON June 22, 2009 (AFP) - The United States said Monday its invitations were still standing for Iranian diplomats to attend July 4 celebrations at US embassies despite the crackdown on opposition supporters.

President Barack Obama's administration said earlier this month it would invite Iran to US embassy barbecues for the national holiday for the first time since the two nations severed relations following the 1979 Islamic revolution. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly:

There's no thought to rescinding the invitations to Iranian diplomats.

We have made a strategic decision to engage on a number of fronts with Iran. We tried many years of isolation, and we're pursuing a different path now.

But he said it was not clear if Iranian diplomats had accepted the invitations.

Legitimacy isn't the issue. Legitimizing is the issue.

CHOPE.

This Fourth of July: American ideals out, doomed-to-fail make-nice in.

NYC Letter: The Taxman Cometh

Day 150 of CHOPE

In order to save our children from a future of debt, we will also end the tax breaks for the wealthiest 2% of Americans. But let me perfectly clear, because I know you’ll hear the same old claims that rolling back these tax breaks means a massive tax increase on the American people: if your family earns less than $250,000 a year, you will not see your taxes increased a single dime.

I repeat: not one single dime.

In fact, the recovery plan provides a tax cut – that’s right, a tax cut – for 95% of working families. And these checks are on the way.

Mr. Obama,
being perfectly clear as he prepares
to cripple future generations with debt
ADDRESS TO JOINT SESSION OF CONGRESS
WASHINGTON February 24th, 2009 (White House)

Here is the backend of this recent story.

[Mr. Obama] left open the possibility he would have to raise taxes on most Americans to decrease the deficit if growth were too weak. He also indicated he might tax the most-expensive employer-provided benefits to help pay for his health-care revamp. Both would reverse pledges he made during the campaign. Mr. Obama:

If we are growing at a robust rate, then we can pay for the government that we need without having to raise taxes. If we’ve got anemic growth, if we don’t have a strategy for recovery without bubbles, which is essentially what we’ve had over the last couple of recovery cycles, then we’re going to continue to have problems.

The president has repeatedly said he would keep his presidential campaign pledge to cut taxes for 95 percent of working Americans while rolling back tax breaks for households making more than $250,000 a year.

During the campaign, Obama opposed taxing employer-provided health-care benefits, a proposal gaining traction among Senate Democrats to pay for a $1 trillion health-care plan.*

He said he preferred other means** of funding the legislation, including reducing itemized deductions for the wealthiest Americans and focusing on cutting health-care costs.

The classic Democratic approach to goverance is simply to spend. The follow-on is to increase taxes. They have been doing this for decades. This is the extent of Mr. Obama's CHOPE. Spend and tax. That's it. Beyond these Democratic remedies, Mr. Obama is out of ideas.

CHOPE.

Outsized spending. Record Unemployment. Time to tax the remaining life from the economy.

------------------------------------
* Or $4 trillion. Not to worry, it's only money.

** Here's one that doesn't get much press.

NYC Letter: The Mettle To Meddle

Day 149 of CHOPE

It is stupidity to hold talks without any change in US attitude.

Mehdi Kalhor,
Iranian Vice President for Media Affairs,
being candid about dreamy diplomacy
October 13, 2008 (americanthinker.com/INA)

Presto-chango!

Now, it's not productive, given the history of U.S.-Iranian relations, to be seen as meddling -- the U.S. President meddling in Iranian elections.

Mr. Obama,
not meddling with Iran
PRESS AVAILABILITY
WASHINGTON June 16, 2009 (White House)

IRAN BLAMES US FOR
'INTOLERABLE' MEDDLING
ISTANBUL June 17, 2009 (CSM)

Tea party is off. [Pause.] May as well meddle.

FIVE WAYS OBAMA COULD PROMOTE FREEDOM IN IRAN

OP-ED June 18, 2009 (WSJ) - The reform movement in Iran has clearly hit a new level, but the future is uncertain. The key issue is whether spontaneous protests crystallize into sustained dissent that involves the middle class. There are no cracks yet in the Iranian government's domestic security forces -- a common criterion for successful, bottom-up challenges to totalitarian regimes. But the Obama administration can take steps right now and in the months ahead to open a "second channel" to Iran -- this one to its people directly -- and improve the chances of real change

1. Mr. Obama should contact Mr. Mousavi to signal his interest in the situation and Mr. Mousavi's security.

2. Mr. Obama should deliver another taped message to the Iranian people. Only this time he should acknowledge the fundamental reality that the regime lacks the consent of its people to govern, which therefore necessitates a channel to the "other Iran".

   The 2004 Orange Revolution in Ukraine is a model. In that case the West joined Ukrainians in refusing to accept the results of a stolen election. This combined effort helped to force a final run-off vote that reflected the people's will. In Iran, this would mean not only redoing elections but also allowing a full field of candidates to run. As with Ukraine and the Soviet Union before, Mr. Obama could at least make it clear that the U.S. will separate the issues of engagement and legitimacy. Our engagement of the Soviet Union in arms-control talks did not prevent us from successfully pressing human-rights issues and seeking an alternative political structure. So it can be with Iran. Engagement without an effort to talk to the "other Iran" would not only be a travesty but tactically foolish as well.

3. The president should direct U.S. ambassadors in Europe and the Gulf to meet with local Iranian anti-regime expatriates.

4. Additional funding should be provided immediately for Radio Farda, an effective Persian-language radio, Internet and satellite property of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

5. The administration should take steps to give Iranian reformers and dissidents a level playing field with the regime in the battle of ideas. Just as providing photocopiers and fax machines helped Solidarity dissidents in communist Poland in the 1980s, today's reformers need access to the Web and other means of communication.

CHOPE.

Sweet talk. Tippy-toe. Have a nice day.

NYC Letter: Trust Team Barry, Part VIII

Day 148 of CHOPE

OBAMA SEES 10% UNEMPLOYMENT RATE

June 17 (Bloomberg) - The jobless rate will continue to climb from its current 25-year high of 9.4 percent as employers are slow to take on new workers, the president said. “Jobs are a lagging indicator,” he said, while adding that he didn’t have “a crystal ball” to predict when unemployment will start to decline.

In January then-president-elect Obama asked Christina Romer, his designated chairwoman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, and Jared Bernstein, Mr. Biden's Chief Economist and Economic Policy Adviser, to gaze into the CEA "crystal ball" and forecast unemployment. Ms. Romer and Mr. Bernstein dutifully worked up a white paper that argued under Mr. Obama's stimulus unemployment would peak at 8% then trend down to 7% in 4Q10. Without Mr. Obama's stimulus, unemployment would skyrocket to 8.8%. They even thought to provide us a chart (p.5) so there would be no mistaking Team Barry's grasp of the situation and the urgent necessity for Mr. Obama's magic stimulus.

FIGURE 1 (A)
[Graphic Source: Job Impact Of The American Recovery
And Reinvestment Plan, January 9, 2009]

Mr. Obama got his stimulus as he wanted and three months later unemployment is 9.4%, when, if you believed Team Barry, it should be under 8%. In fact unemployment is .6% higher than Team Barry predicted it would be without the stimulus.

FIGURE 1 (B)

This past Sunday on Meet The Press, Joe "Hi-Q" Biden explained. We quote the extensive exchange because we believe it is destined to become a textbook study of the thematic lie. Our comments are intercalated and bracketed in [red].

MR. GREGORY: You are in charge of monitoring the stimulus.

VICE PRES. BIDEN: That's right.

MR. GREGORY: Eight hundred billion dollar stimulus. A hundred days after it was signed, the president said 150,000 jobs had been created or saved.* Can you explain where that number comes from?

VICE PRES. BIDEN: Sure. Yes, look, there's an econometric model that, that economists have been using for decades to correlate the economic circumstances of the nation with the creation of jobs. It is a model known as question, it's a model the Council of Economic Advisers have used to come up with that 150,000 jobs.

[Only last week complex job formularies were above Mr. Biden's "paygrade". Mr. Biden:

I’m sorry I’m not an economist. My background is foreign policy and the constitution. ... I’m a little above my pay grade here as I try to explain in more detail how they count spinoff effects of actual jobs created.

Not that Mr. Biden answers the question here either. He simply omits excusing himself.]

But in fact--and by the way, I think we're going to create 600,000 jobs in the next 100 days, because now this thing is beginning to roll out. We actually have let these contracts, the governors with--who have money for road contracts and so on, they're now just putting spades in the ground, just hiring people. And so I don't know anybody who's argued with the model that we've used.

[Here is an unacquainted disputant. Here is another.]

But the key here for us is not whether or not we're going to argue about how many jobs, you know, there, there are out there, it's whether or not are we in fact producing employment for people? And it's undeniable.

[In fact there is no documentation for Mr. Biden's jobs number. It is disingenuous to say you won't argue "how many jobs" because "producing employment" is the key indicator. Especially since Team Barry -- and Mr. Biden in his next breath -- continues to brag on its 150,000 jobs "saved"* or created. What is undeniable is that 2,198, 000 jobs have been lost since February, at least 1,547 of which since enacting Mr. Obama's stimulus.]

MR. GREGORY: But--well, but that's an important point. You say people aren't arguing about that; in fact, they are. I mean, you're suggesting that this is an accepted model.

VICE PRES. BIDEN: Well, no, I...

MR. GREGORY: Your own economic adviser said this on Tuesday: "[Jared] Bernstein, Biden's economic adviser, said in an interview that the president's citation of [saving or creating] 150,000 [jobs] is `an estimate' based partly on what the economy would look like in the absence of the stimulus package. But Bernstein said he could not break down how many of those jobs were created vs. saved.* `That's a division we're not able to make at a level of accuracy we're comfortable with.' he said." And now you're talking about another 600,000 jobs. Should America just accept that level of progress?

VICE PRES. BIDEN: Look--yeah. No, no, they shouldn't. Look, whether this is, whether this was 147,000 jobs or 158,000 jobs is not the relevant point. Look, let me put it this way. Prior to us taking office, the job loss for the month was over 700,000 jobs. It's been over 600,000. Since we've taken office the job loss has dropped now to 343,000 jobs; below other people's estimates, below the consensus estimate. Can I claim credit that all of that's due, due to the recovery package? No. But it clearly has had an impact.

[Mr. Biden is confused, uninformed, and wrong all at once. Prior to Team Barry taking office between the start of the recession in December 2007 and January 2009, the largest monthly decline in nonfarm payroll -- the 343,000 (sic, 345,000) number Mr. Biden references -- was 598,000 in December 2008. The only months the job loss number was over 600,000 were February and March of this year -- after the stimulus was in force.

Mr. Biden here compares apples and oranges, the BLS Current Employment Statistics survey (CES), which calculates the lost or created (not "saved"*) jobs number (scil., nonfarm payroll), with the BLS Current Population Survey (CPS), which calculates the generally larger unemployed number. An explanation can be found here. The number of unemployed persons increased by 787,000 in May, which is an increase over the two months prior, further banjaxing Mr. Biden's banjaxed claims]

MR. GREGORY: But the point of the stimulus was it would stop the unemployment picture from getting worse, right? Wasn't that the claim?

VICE PRES. BIDEN: And it has.

MR. GREGORY: It has? Well, here...

VICE PRES. BIDEN: It's not getting worse.

[Here is Mr. Biden earlier this month:

And let me be very clear: A lower job rate loss is not our goal. "Less bad" is not how we're going to measure success -- we're going to measure success here in the White House. We will not be satisfied until we're adding jobs on a monthly basis; providing working Americans with a stable job, dependable income; ensuring that everyone who wants to make their way into the middle class has a shot to get into the middle class.]

MR. GREGORY: But here's the reality, and that is...

VICE PRES. BIDEN: Relative.

MR. GREGORY: ...that when this report was issued by your economic adviser...

VICE PRES. BIDEN: Yes.

MR. GREGORY: ...and Dr. Romer from the White House, the assertion was that you could keep unemployment at 8 percent and then it would go down after that. In fact, it's now at 9.4 percent. Was it oversold?

VICE PRES. BIDEN: No, look. No. What we did is we took the econometric models that were used by businesses as well as academics. At the time no one realized how bad the economy was. The projections, in fact, turned out to be worse. But it was--we, we, we took the mainstream model as to what we thought and everyone else thought the unemployment rate would be. But the fact of the matter is the--I don't think anyone can dispute the unemployment rate would be considerably higher, but for--at least 150,000 jobs higher, but for this economic stimulus package.

[Surprise! Mr. Biden is in possession of the very crystal ball that Mr. Obama lacks. Alas, his puny 150,000 saved* or created jobs "in a total employment pool of 140,000,000 is barely more than 0.1%, which is the relative sampling error of the employment survey."]

MR. GREGORY: Right. But the, but this package was sold on the premise that it would in fact keep unemployment at 8 percent. It's exceeded that...

VICE PRES. BIDEN: No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

MR. GREGORY: ...with the recovery plan.

VICE PRES. BIDEN: It wasn't sold on that. It was sold on it would create...

MR. GREGORY: That's what the report said, Mr. Vice President.

VICE PRES. BIDEN: ...or--no, it said it would--what would happen was it would save or create jobs. It's doing that. It is doing that. Everyone guessed wrong, at the time the estimate was made, about what the state of the economy was at the moment this was passed. Now, we're going to recalibrate this in terms of what we've inherited, what in fact is going on out there. But look, the bottom line is that jobs are being created that would not have been there before. All you've got to do is go into New York City. There's 14,000 teachers working who got their, got their notices. Go with me up to New Flyer bus company up in Minnesota, come--I mean, there--it's--throughout the country, it's creating jobs.

[Not everyone guessed wrong. Everyone guessing wrong is hardly the issue. That Team Barry guessed wrong is the issue.]

MR. GREGORY: Regardless, though, the economy is worse off with or without this stimulus plan that this administration expected.

VICE PRES. BIDEN: The economy was worse off when we made the assessment than anyone thought it was. The economy is actually getting better, things are getting better. We have a long, long way to go. But now you see what's happening. We're having a, a situation where housing is starting to improve, where lending is starting to come forward, where we have a situation where we've gained some control of the automobile companies who otherwise would have had to been liquidated in terms of them staying in business and having a prospect of growing. So I think if you ask out there, look--and look at what the, you know, these measures of confidence in the economy are. Everyone feels mildly better about where the economy's going.

MR. GREGORY: One more point about the stimulus, and that is you said when this thing was being debated, most of it would get out the door right away, $800 billion. And yet just this week there were reports about the fact that only 6 percent of that money has been spent so far.

VICE PRES. BIDEN: No, I don't know who said...

MR. GREGORY: Where are the projects?

VICE PRES. BIDEN: ...we're going to get $800 billion out the door in 100 days.

[Here is Mr. Obama, January 28, 2009:

Most of the money we're investing as part of this plan will get out the door immediately and go directly to job-creation, generating or saving three to four million new jobs.]

We have over 2,000 projects approved. We have now a situation where you have people--you're going to see in the next--and let me--this is an important point. You let a contractor build a highway. It's $42 million, like I was just--did one in the state of Kansas, $42 million dollars. Now what's happened? The governor, the governor gets that approval. What's he doing? Puts it out to bid, competitive bid. It took somewhere between a month and three months to get those bids back. Now the spades are in the ground. Now it's working. That's why we're confidently going to predict that we will increase fourfold what went--and now $150 billion--$140 billion has been obligated now. But obligation requires, then, the states to go forward and get the contracting done according to the rules that they have within the state for competitive bidding.

CHOPE.

No crystal ball. No jobs. Relative.

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* There is no metric for "saved" jobs (and this).