Wednesday Funny

ADP : 23,000 private-sector jobs were shed in the U.S. in March. Expectations were for a gain of 50,000

Hope springs eternal as do the "Green Shoots"

Following the data, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures dropped 29 points, while Standard & Poor's 500-share futures fell 4 and Nasdaq Composite futures lost 5. Prior to the report, Dow futures were down 2, while S&P futures edged down less than one point and Nasdaq futures slipped 4. Changes in futures don't always accurately predict early market moves after the opening bell.

In March, the U.S. private sector lost 23,000 jobs, according to an estimate from payroll giant Automatic Data Processing. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had expected to see private payrolls increase by 50,000. In February, private-sector employment decreased by only 20,000. Many investors had been hoping to see positive numbers on Wednesday, two days ahead of the government's key non-farm payroll report.

Home Prices Down Again

Considering that home value/equity is by far the greatest constituent of personal wealth in this country, this is very bad news.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The market seems to have pulled the rug out from under housing industry hopes for a sustained early recovery.

After a five-month run-up in home prices starting last spring, prices have now fallen for four consecutive months, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index of 20 cities, a gauge of market values, released Tuesday.

In January, prices were down 0.4%, compared with December and have fallen 0.7% from a year earlier.

"The rebound in housing prices seen last fall is fading," said David Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor's. "Fewer cities experienced month-to-month gains in January."

Tuesday Funny

Story nHERE.

Jarrett on Health Care: ‘Business Will Come Out Way Ahead’

Funny that business doesn't feel that way.

The White House’s chief business liaison defended the new health-care law against corporate complaints over.

White House senior adviser and business liaison Valerie Jarrett said Sunday that the more than $2 billion in writedowns announced by companies anticipating higher benefits costs “is nothing compared to the enormous financial benefits to those very same companies by health insurance reform.” Speaking on ABC News’s “This Week,” Jarrett said the administration is “taking a number of measures that will dramatically reduce the cost [to] business. So on balance, business will come out way ahead, and that was one of the president’s objectives.

Quote of the Day

Conservative columnist Andrew Breitbart disputed accounts that tea party activists in Washington shouted racial epithets at black members of Congress amid the health care debate, although he didn’t provide any evidence.” – AP.

WTF?

Wishing You a Joyous Palm Sunday

Dems Threaten Congressional Show Trials After US Companies Leak Real Damage of Obamacare

Late last week several US corporations leaked how the democrat’s health care bill will kill their businesses. The radicals in Congress were not pleased that these corporations would go public with this devastating information. In response, democrats threatened to call for Congressional show trials to publicly humiliate these corporations. The Wall Street Journal reported:

It’s been a banner week for Democrats: ObamaCare passed Congress in its final form on Thursday night, and the returns are already rolling in. Yesterday AT&T announced that it will be forced to make a $1 billion writedown due solely to the health bill, in what has become a wave of such corporate losses.

This wholesale destruction of wealth and capital came with more than ample warning. Turning over every couch cushion to make their new entitlement look affordable under Beltway accounting rules, Democrats decided to raise taxes on companies that do the public service of offering prescription drug benefits to their retirees instead of dumping them into Medicare. We and others warned this would lead to AT&T-like results, but like so many other ObamaCare objections Democrats waved them off as self-serving or “political.”

Sensitive aren't they.

Separated at Birth?

By now everone knows the story of Bill Sparkman. You remember, the nutcase who was found dead in a secluded rural cemetery with the word “Fed” scrawled on his chest and a rope around his neck. The liberal media went crazy blaming every conservative news source imaginable for "inciting this terrible hate crime. Well, inevitably it was proven that he had killed himself and concocted this "hate crime" hoax as part of an insurance scam to benefit his surviving son.

Well, one thing that has seemed to fly under the radar....his amazing resemblance to Glenn Beck, weird.

Friday Funny

Story HERE.

Florida unemployment reaches 12.2 percent

I don't think this was the "change" they were hoping for.

Florida's unemployment rate jumped to 12.2 percent in February, the highest since the state began tracking such data in 1970.

The previous record of 11.9 percent was set in May, 1975 in the aftermath of the '73-'74 recession. Economists believe that unemployment was far higher for the state during the Great Depression, when the national jobless figure reached as high as 25 percent.

Personal Income Drops Across the Country

Doesn't bode well for increased tax revenues.

Personal income in 42 states fell in 2009, the Commerce Department said Thursday.

Nevada's 4.8% plunge was the steepest, as construction and tourism industries took a beating. Also hit hard: Wyoming, where incomes fell 3.9%.

Incomes stayed flat in two states and rose in six and the District of Columbia. West Virginia had the best showing with a 2.1% increase. In Maine, Kentucky and Hawaii, increased government benefits, such as unemployment insurance and Social Security, offset drops in earnings and property values.

Nationally, personal income from wages, dividends, rent, retirement plans and government benefits declined 1.7% last year, unadjusted for inflation.

Castro lauds US health care reform passage

Perhaps the best indicator yet of the huge folly that has transpired.

It perhaps was not the endorsement President Barack Obama and the Democrats in Congress were looking for.

Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro on Thursday declared passage of American health care reform "a miracle" and a major victory for Obama's presidency, but couldn't help chide the United States for taking so long to enact what communist Cuba achieved decades ago.

"We consider health reform to have been an important battle and a success of his (Obama's) government," Castro wrote in an essay published in state media, adding that it would strengthen the president's hand against lobbyists and "mercenaries."

Initial jobless claims drop more than expected

WASHINGTON — New claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week as layoffs ease and hiring slowly recovers.

But most of the drop resulted from a change in the calculations the department makes to seasonally adjust the data, a Labor Department analyst said. Excluding the effect of those adjustments, claims would have fallen by only 4,000.

All told, more than 11.1 million people are claiming unemployment benefits, the department said.

More smoke and mirrors.

February new-home sales at 308,000 annual rate

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Sales of new homes in the U.S. fell slightly in February - the fourth straight monthly drop - to yet another record low. New-home sales slipped 2.2% to an annual pace of 308,000, seasonally adjusted, which is the lowest rate since the government began tracking the data in 1963, according to the Commerce Department.

And folks like myself who are the ones who buy new homes and have been buying their own health insurance for years are now going to be paying double. That oughta help.

It is and Always Has Been about Control

Rep. Dingell Says ObamaCare Will Eventually ‘Control the People'

Scary Video HERE.

January existing home sales drop 0.6 percent

The non-recovery recovery...

Sales of existing homes fell for a third straight month in February, pushing sales down to the lowest level since last July. There is concern that the fragile housing rebound could falter, making it harder for the overall economy to recover.

The National Association of Realtors said Tuesday that sales of previously occupied homes dropped 0.6 percent in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.02 million.

The weakness in sales depressed prices with the median home price dropping almost 2 percent from a year ago to $165,100.

Soros Eyes Secretaries

Just remember, if it isn't close they can't cheat.

History's most notorious Georgian-turned-Russian, the politically astute Joseph Stalin once remarked, "The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything."

The lesson has not been lost on the increasingly notorious Hungarian-cum-American George Soros.

A group backed by Soros is gearing up to steal the 2012 election for President Obama and congressional Democrats by installing left-wing Democrats as secretaries of state across the nation. From such posts, secretaries of state can help tilt the electoral playing field.

Read the whole thing, it's a worthy read.

Bad news for Obama in CNN weekend survey results

The price we pay for being a Republic as opposed to a straight Democracy. Had it been the latter, Obamacare would have never passed. That being said, a democratically elected representative republic is still the best system yet devised on this earth. If we as citizens are pi$$ed off enough we can kick the ba$tards out in a short 7 months and I happen to believe that our memory is barely long enough to do just that. Pandora's box has been opened, but unlike it's mythological Greek counterpart, this one can be closed, and with extreme prejudice.

CNN's Opinion Research surveyors were hard at work over the weekend during the final hours of the successful push to win House approval of the Senate version of Obamacare. The results of the CNN/OR survey are out and they point to the most vivid reality of the Obamacare victory - 219 House Democrats were willing to flout the clear majority of Americans on this issue.

Here are the major initial points of interest in the CNN/OR results:

· 59% oppose the Democrats’ health care bill, while only 39% favor it.

· 70% say the federal budget deficit will go up under the Democrats’ health care bill; only 12% believe it will go down.

· 56% say the bill creates “too much government involvement in the nation's health care system,” 28% say about the right amount, while 16% say not enough.

· 62% say they'll pay more for medical care under the Democrats’ health care bill.

· 47% say they and their families will be worse off under the Democrats’ health care bill; 33% say things will be about the same, and only 19% think they’ll be better off.

Unemployment Rate at 20%

And if you think Obamacare won't confound this fact, I've got some prime land in the Florida Everglades to sell you.

According to a recent Gallup survey of underemployment (the "true" unemployment number) via Zerohedge, we are now at 20% underemployment and heading higher if this chart is indicative of anything. Apparently Gallup surveyed 20,000 people over 30 days and this is what they came up with.

Regardless if it's not consistent with the Department of Labor's official numbers, it's nonetheless quite frightening.

Bad Day

Nuff said.

Obama Bats 1000...Negatively

Like Jimmy Carter, Obama is the perfect reverse barometer.

Ask the Kansas Jayhawks, Obama’s curse continues. As if anyone cared to begin with Obama made a show of filling out another NCAA tournament bracket this year; he picked Kansas to win it all, Kansas loses in the second round to Northern Iowa. The man has quite a string going when it comes to driving the death nail into someone’s coffin.

I’m sure this will be pointed out to death, but first we had the failed bid for the Olympics in Chicago. The media was sure that the Obama factor would weigh heavy on the Olympic committee’s mind, it did, it just had the opposite affect from what most thought would happen. Obama flies to Copenhagen to wrap up the bid for Chicago and they get ousted in the first round. Strike One.


Then came the stuff that really mattered, elections; two governor’s races in Obama territory and newly founded Obama territory. Obama made campaign appearances in both New Jersey and Virginia; the GOP takes home the prize in both races. Strike two and three. Hey, shouldn’t he be out?

Yet Another New Low

23% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-four percent (44%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -21. That matches the lowest Approval Index rating yet recorded for this President.

Overall, 43% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President's performance. That also matches the lowest level yet recorded for this President. Fifty-six percent (56%) disapprove.

Obama's past "abyssal" rating low was at 0. It now resides at -1.

The abyssal rating as you remember is the Presidents total approval (43%) compared to his strong disapproval (44%).

Acorn on Brink of Bankruptcy, Officials Say

Devil by any other name...

BALTIMORE — The community organizing group Acorn, battered politically from the right and suffering from mismanagement along with a severe loss of government and other funds, is on the verge of filing for bankruptcy, officials of the group said Friday.

Acorn is holding a teleconference this weekend to discuss plans for a bankruptcy filing, two officials of the group said. They asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak to the news media.

Over the last six months, at least 15 of the group’s 30 state chapters have disbanded and have no plans of re-forming, Acorn officials said. The California and New York chapters, two of the largest, have severed their ties to the national group and have independently reconstituted themselves with new names. Several other state groups are also re-forming outside the Acorn umbrella, and will not be affected if the national organization files for bankruptcy.

Obama the Neo-Com

While reflecting on the fact that Obama now has a higher "strongly dissaprove" number a year after being sworn in than Bush had at the end of his Presidency (44-O/43-B); A term that the MSM used irreverently to describe the Bush administration came to mind. That was was neo-con, a term meaning new conservative.

Well since we can't depend on anyone in the MSM to apply the same scrutiny to the Obama administration, I've got one . It's NEO-COM. If you haven't figured out already it means new communist and it's a perfect fit.

Pass it on.

Friday Funny

Obama Hits Yet Another Unprecedented Low

For the first time in his young Presidency, Obama has crossed over into negative territory in the Real Clear Politics approval poll average.

RCP Average 3/3 - 3/17 -- 47.3 47.8 -0.5
FOX News 3/16 - 3/17 900 RV 46 48 -2
Gallup 3/15 - 3/17 1547 A 46 48 -2
Rasmussen Reports 3/15 - 3/17 1500 LV 45 55 -10
Pew Research 3/10 - 3/14 1500 A 46 43 +3
NBC News/Wall St. Jrnl 3/11 - 3/14 1000 A 48 47 +1
Associated Press/GfK 3/3 - 3/8 1002 A 53 46 +7

Rules Panel Dem To Vote Against Bill

Obama picks one up yesterday loses one today....

A key House Dem has begun informing party leaders he plans to vote against health care legislation both on the House floor and in the rules committee, on which he sits.

Rep. Michael Arcuri (D-NY), a sophomore Dem who had a tougher-than-expected re-election bid in '08, has told the Dem caucus he will vote against the bill.

He becomes the 3rd member, along with Reps. Joe Donnelly (D-IN) and Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), to have switched from supporting the first bill, in Nov., to opposing the Senate version.

Black people must leave, NJ Walmart announcer says

WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) -- A Walmart store announcement ordering black people to leave brought chagrin and apologies Wednesday from leaders of the company, which has built a fragile trust among minority communities.

A male voice came over the public-address system Sunday evening at a store in Washington Township, in southern New Jersey, and calmly announced: "Attention, Walmart customers: All black people, leave the store now."

Shoppers in the store at the time said a manager quickly got on the public-address system and apologized for the remark. And while it was unclear whether a rogue patron or an employee was responsible for the comment, many customers expressed their anger to store management.

I'll lay odds this was either a disgruntled employee, a race baiter, or some other liberal twit with a grudge attempting to harm Walmart.

Conyers gets court-appointed lawyer for appeal

Getting something for nothing is the psychological underpinning of the liberal mentality.

DETROIT — Former Detroit councilwoman Monica Conyers is relying on a court-appointed lawyer to pursue an appeal of her prison sentence for corruption.

That means the public will pick up the tab, even though Conyers' husband John is a Michigan congressman who's paid $174,000 a year.

Monica Conyers signed an affidavit declaring she can't afford a lawyer. Steve Fishman, the attorney who negotiated her guilty plea, says she has no money.

An appeal of her 37-month prison sentence has been assigned to Douglas Mullkoff of Ann Arbor. Conyers was sentenced last week for a bribery conspiracy.

Rasmussen: Generic Congressional Poll

Republican candidates have now stretched their lead over Democrats to 10 points in the Generic Congressional Ballot, their biggest lead ever in nearly three years of weekly tracking. The GOP has been leading on the ballot for months.

The new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 45% would vote for their district’s Republican congressional candidate while 35% would opt for his or her Democratic opponent. Voter support for GOP congressional candidates increased slightly from last week, while support for Democrats fell two points.

If this doesn't scare the crap outta the Health Care fence sitters, nothing will.

Hoyer: Americans don't care about process of health care legislation

What this Democrat hack as well as many of his fellow Domocrats fail to understand is THE PROCESS IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE SUBSTANCE.

Do you think any American is going to make the distinction [between process and substance of the bill]? I don't think that any American...any real American out there will make the distinction between the two," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D - MD) told reporters today when asked if he was concerned of a voter backlash should Democrats follow through in using the "self-executing" rule on the House floor that would "deem" the Senate version of the health care legislation passed in the House without members actually voting on the actual health care bill but a rule instead.

Mr. Hoyer took a Machiavellian tone this afternoon to explain that he believes Americans care more about the fact that a health care bill passes than the procedural motions that are used to get it passed.

Pic of the Day

"US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (L) talks with new mothers and their babies during a healthcare reform event on March 15, 2010 on Capitol Hill in Washington.

This is one little girl that knows.

"Alice" Rocks, "Green Zone Bombs"

Alice in Wonderland" easily wins weekend race, earning $116M, "Green Zone" not so much.

"Green Zone" is the last drama set to be released by a major studio related to the Iraq war, and Hollywood is undoubtedly grateful for it after the picture, directed by Paul Greengrass and starring Matt Damon, opened to just $14.5 million domestically and $9.7 million overseas.

It's the latest in a string of flops that include "Body of Lies," "The Kingdom" and "Stop-Loss." Even "The Hurt Locker," while not a major disappointment given its low budget, is the lowest- grossing best picture Oscar winner in recent history.

U.S., U.K. Move Closer to Losing Rating, Moody’s Says

Drunken sailors tend to this problem...

March 15 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. and the U.K. have moved “substantially” closer to losing their AAA credit ratings as the cost of servicing their debt rose, according to Moody’s Investors Service.

The governments of the two economies must balance bringing down their debt burdens without damaging growth by removing fiscal stimulus too quickly, Pierre Cailleteau, managing director of sovereign risk at Moody’s in London, said in a telephone interview.

Under the ratings company’s so-called baseline scenario, the U.S. will spend more on debt service as a percentage of revenue this year than any other top-rated country except the U.K., and will be the biggest spender from 2011 to 2013, Moody’s said today in a report.

"Insulted" by Israel, U.S. scrambles to save talks

"I'll take how can we pi$$ off another strategic ally for $2000 Alex."

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel's relationship with the United States, a defining feature of the troubled Middle East, was under severe strain as diplomats scrambled on Saturday to save newborn U.S.-brokered peace talks with the Palestinians.

A senior U.S. official predicted "a dicey period here in the next couple days to a couple of weeks" as Palestinians demanded the reversal of a new Israeli settlement plan and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition, which includes pro-settler parties, reacts to unusually blunt criticism from Washington.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Israel's behavior "insulting" after it approved 1,600 new homes last week at a settlement in the Jerusalem area on the very day Vice President Joe Biden was there to set a seal on relaunched negotiations.

Biden told Reuters on Friday he believed Netanyahu was

sincere in seeking a deal to give the Palestinians a state and that the premier understood that Israel had "no alternative."

Pic of the Day

Stupak Slams His Own Democratic Party

Posturing or principle? We shall see.

According to Stupak, that group of twelve pro-life House Democrats — the “Stupak dozen” — has privately agreed for months to vote ‘no’ on the Senate’s health-care bill if federal funding for abortion is included in the final legislative language. Now, in the debate’s final hours, Stupak says the other eleven are coming under “enormous” political pressure from both the White House and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.). “I am a definite ‘no’ vote,” he says. “I didn’t cave. The others are having both of their arms twisted, and we’re all getting pounded by our traditional Democratic supporters, like unions.”

Stupak says he also doesn’t trust the “Slaughter solution,” a legislative maneuver being bandied about on Capitol Hill as a way to pass the Senate bill in the House without actually voting on it. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me,” he says. “I don’t have a warm-and-fuzzy feeling about what I’m hearing.”

Stupak notes that his negotiations with House Democratic leaders in recent days have been revealing. “I really believe that the Democratic leadership is simply unwilling to change its stance,” he says. “Their position says that women, especially those without means available, should have their abortions covered.” The arguments they have made to him in recent deliberations, he adds, “are a pretty sad commentary on the state of the Democratic party.”

Pelosi faces ethics probe over potential Massa coverup

Kinda hard to clean up the swamp when your knee deep in muck yourself.

House Republicans are pushing hard for an investigation into Speaker Nancy Pelosi's handling of accusations that ex-Rep. Eric Massa sexually harassed a male staffer, putting Democrats in a politically dangerous position.

The House voted 402-1 to refer to the ethics committee a demand put forward by GOP leaders that the panel ask Democratic leaders about how they responded to sexual harassment allegations against Massa.

The move came a day after the ethics panel quietly dropped its probe into Massa, a freshmen New York Democrat. Massa resigned Monday amid allegations he groped male staffers in his office. In interviews Massa said aides had misinterpreted tickling and other horseplay. The ethics panel closed the case because it has no jurisdiction over former members, but the GOP wants the 10-member, bipartisan committee to start a new investigation into the Democratic leadership's handling of the matter.

Record budget deficit

Preview of coming attractions.

WASHINGTON, March 11 (UPI) -- The U.S. government in February spent $211 billion more than it took in, setting a record budget deficit for a month.

The U.S. Treasury released data Wednesday saying figures from last month indicate the federal government will probably pass the annual deficit record of $1.4 trillion set in the last fiscal year.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told a House of Representatives subcommittee the deficit spending is aiding economic recovery efforts but also is "unsustainably high."

Obama Revisits Low Water Mark

The harder he pushes, the more intense the pushback...

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Wednesday shows that 22% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-three percent (43%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -21. That matches the lowest Approval Index rating yet recorded for this President.

Overall, 43% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President's performance. That, too matches the lowest level yet recorded for this President. Fifty-six percent (56%) disapprove.

Idiotic Quote of the Day

Nancy Pelosi commenting on Obamacare:"We have to pass the Healthcare Bill so you can find out what is in it." Video HERE.

66% Of Independents Say Obama Is To Their Left

He better hope this improves significantly as no one has ever come close to winning with these kind of numbers.

Independents:
Oppose Obama's handling of the economy by 2-to-1. Among those with strong opinions, disapproval soars to 6-to-1 — 30% vs. 5%.
On health care, 53% disapprove vs. 23% who approve. 35% say Obama’s doing an unacceptable job vs. just 9% who give him an A.
55% have a dim view of Obama on the budget. Just 17% who like his work. They strongly disapprove 34%-6%.

Cleaver: Obama doesn't have the votes to pass health care reform

No surprise as "The One" wouldn't be out busting the bushes if he had the votes.

Congressman Emanuel Cleaver said today on KCUR's "Up to Date" that President Barack Obama doesn't have the votes to pass health care reform in the U.S. House.

"We're not at 217," Cleaver said, referring to the number needed to pass the bill.

Later, the three-term Democrat from Kansas City said the passage number could be 216 given vacancies in the House.

The count today, Cleaver said, is about 201 health care supporters.

Obama’s New ‘Poverty’ Measurement

One thing at which the left absolutely excels, creating and maintaining a permanent poverty class.

This week, the Obama administration announced it will create a new poverty-measurement system that will eventually displace the current poverty measure. This new measure, which has little or nothing to do with actual poverty, will serve as the propaganda tool in Obama’s endless quest to “spread the wealth.”

Under the new measure, a family will be judged “poor” if its income falls below a certain specified income threshold. Nothing new there, but, unlike the current poverty standards, the new income thresholds will have a built-in escalator clause: They will rise automatically in direct proportion to any rise in the living standards of the average American.

The current poverty measure counts absolute purchasing power — how much steak and potatoes you can buy. The new measure will count comparative purchasing power — how much steak and potatoes you can buy relative to other people. As the nation becomes wealthier, the poverty standards will increase in proportion. In other words, Obama will employ a statistical trick to ensure that “the poor will always be with you,” no matter how much better off they get in absolute terms.

Cool Pic of the Day

This image of a "crying glacier" is from a melting glacier in the Arctic ice cap of Norway. Even though it's more than a year old, I had not seen it before so I thought many of my readers had not either.

It is no more culturally significant than "seeing" an image of the Virgin Mary in your Raisen Bran, but, is nonetheless pretty neat.

Saturday Funny

Congressional estimates show grim deficit picture

The administration can tweak the employment figures to reflect a somewhat less bleak picture than reality. Thankfully for the CBO they can't do much to blue sky the deficit numbers.

WASHINGTON -- A new congressional report released Friday says the United States' long-term fiscal woes are even worse than predicted by President Barack Obama's grim budget submission last month.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicts that Obama's budget plans would generate deficits over the upcoming decade that would total $9.8 trillion. That's $1.2 trillion more than predicted by the administration.

The agency says its future-year predictions of tax revenues are more pessimistic than the administration's. That's because CBO projects slightly slower economic growth than the White House.

Victoria Jackson Knows

Can't believe I missed this but thanks to Jawa I found it.

Worth watching. Video HERE.

Three States Sue EPA Over Global Warming Ruling

Time is on our side and AGW proponents know it. The longer this can be dragged out the better chance that the truth will be exposed. And like Obamacare, they're doing everything in their power to ram in down our throats post haste.

The bitterly contested fight in Washington over global warming and pollution is also taking hold at the state level.

The Environmental Protection Agency, which is threatening to regulate carbon emissions if Congress won’t, is facing legal heat from states that say new regulations will kill jobs at the worst possible time.

Texas, Alabama and Virginia, all led by Republican governors, have filed petitions since December, when the EPA ruled that greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide endanger human health, clearing the path for the agency to issue mandatory regulations to reduce them.

As the EPA grapples with the lawsuits, Congress is trying to block the agency from acting without congressional approval. Sen. John Rockefeller, D-W.Va., introduced legislation Thursday calling for a two-year suspension of potential EPA regulations.

Broader U-6 Unemployment Rate Increases to 16.8% in February

And now the real story.

The U.S. jobless rate was unchanged at 9.7% in February, following a decline the previous month, but the government’s broader measure of unemployment ticked up 0.3 percentage point to 16.8%.

The comprehensive gauge of labor underutilization, known as the “U-6″ for its data classification by the Labor Department, accounts for people who have stopped looking for work or who can’t find full-time jobs. Though the rate is still 0.6 percentage point below its high of 17.4% in October, its continuing divergence from the official number (the “U-3″ unemployment measure) indicates the job market has a long way to go before growth in the economy translates into relief for workers.

The 9.7% unemployment rate is calculated based on people who are without jobs, who are available to work and who have actively sought work in the prior four weeks. The “actively looking for work” definition is fairly broad, including people who contacted an employer, employment agency, job center or friends; sent out resumes or filled out applications; or answered or placed ads, among other things.

Roberts Retirement....Even Drudge Scammed

Many of you regulars are now well aware of the shoddy blogmanship by Radar Online. I neglect to give them a highlight because they don't deserve the deference.

This article, however, does.

The fact here is the absolute HUGE and SERIOUS (spelled correctly) ramifications of this story had it been factual.

There is no single retirement, bar Obama himself, that would have the national repercussions of this story had it been true.

The soul of any great rumor is the magnitude of it's import, in that respect this was a gem. Blame only those that perpetuated it and not those that were initially concerned.

Stark Raving Mad (UPDATED and Bumped)

This ought to provide some pretty decent entertainment.

California Rep. Pete Stark — a controversial lawmaker who has a history of volatile comments about Republicans — is now chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, automatically moving up from the second slot after New York Democrat Charles Rangel relinquished his gavel Wednesday morning.

It would take an affirmative action of the House to remove Stark and replace him with another member of the Ways and Means Committee, according to aides familiar with House operations.

Stark, one of the chamber's most liberal, partisan and pugnacious members, has had his own recent run-in with the ethics committee, exhibiting bizarre behavior during an investigation that ultimately cleared him of any wrongdoing.

Update:Second Ways and Means boss ousted; Levin replaces Stark

This the second time in as many days that I've had to recant previous posts because the Democrats (ie. Pelosi) can't get their sh!t together. Heaven help us.

Hurricane Katrina victims to sue oil companies over global warming

Any judge worth his salt should dismiss (terminate) this suit with extreme prejudice and fine the plaintiffs and attorneys for bringing this nonsensical turd in the first place.

The class action suit brought by residents from southern Mississippi, which was ravaged by hurricane-force winds and driving rains, was first filed just weeks after the August 2005 storm hit.

"The plaintiffs allege that defendants' operation of energy, fossil fuels, and chemical industries in the United States caused the emission of greenhouse gasses that contributed to global warming," say the documents seen by the AFP news agency.

The increase in global surface air and water temperatures "in turn caused a rise in sea levels and added to the ferocity of Hurricane Katrina, which combined to destroy the plaintiffs' private property, as well as public property useful to them."

Update: Judge Rules Lawsuit Brought by Hurricane Katrina Victims Against Oil Companies For Causing "Global Warming" Can Move Forward. Well, so much for that shot at Judicial lucidity.

Tuesday Funny

Crazy Uncle Charlie Won't Budge

I hope he stays, you can't buy this kind of negative publicity.

Pelosi spoke to The Hill after Rangel denied reports he would leave his perch at the top of one of the House's most powerful committees.

As he emerged from the meeting, Rangel was asked whether he is still chairman. His response: "You bet your sweet life!"

He then said Pelosi told him not to say "a damn thing" about the meeting.

Update: Or NOT.

Now It's NASA Fudging the Numbers

Great way to screw up a stellar reputation.

The "Climategate" scandal, which broke in November 2009, revealed what many skeptics had privately suspected. Prominent climate scientists at the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit (CRU) had collaborated to keep data out of skeptics' hands, subverted the peer review process, and used questionable methods to construct the temperature record on which the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel Climate Change (IPCC) based its recommendations.

Now a new "Climategate" scandal is emerging, this time based on documents released by NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in response to several Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) suits filed by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI). The newly released emails further demonstrate the politicized nature of climate science, revealing a number of questionable practices that cast doubt on the credibility of scientific data provided by NASA.

Obama's Drop

Barack Obama now has a negative approval rating in every state he flipped from the Bush column to his in 2008. In each of those places his level of support is now in the 44-46% range. It's probably a good thing he doesn't have to run for reelection this year. He can only hope things start turning around for him once the midterms are in the rear view mirror, much as they did for Bill Clinton.

Not to mention several Red states.

McCain Being Mcain

Video of McCain refusing to comment on whether Obama is or is not a Socialist.

Monday Funny