Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Reason Enough to Vote for Romney
The fact that Chinese media (state controlled, as is most everything there) is bashing Mitt Romney at this stage of the election process suggests (a) that they think he has a good chance of being elected and, (b) they would very much prefer to deal with Obama.
Now, why might that be?
This seems like an attempt to influence the American presidential election by a foreign power. Not cool.
Any such behavior by China, Russia, Venezuela, Cuba and/or Iran is sufficient, in my view, to require voting for the candidate they disfavor. Especially after Obama's little tete-a-tete with Medvedev. Who knows what similar conversations he might have had with other foreign leaders that weren't captured on tape?
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Now, why might that be?
This seems like an attempt to influence the American presidential election by a foreign power. Not cool.
Any such behavior by China, Russia, Venezuela, Cuba and/or Iran is sufficient, in my view, to require voting for the candidate they disfavor. Especially after Obama's little tete-a-tete with Medvedev. Who knows what similar conversations he might have had with other foreign leaders that weren't captured on tape?
Friday, August 24, 2012
A Real Commander-In-Chief ...
... would know the difference between a general and an admiral.
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Thursday, August 23, 2012
That Word Again
Fox Business Online is running a story with a Reuters byline headlined, "Weekly Jobless Claims Unexpectedly Rise".
"Unexpectedly"!!
Sooner or later, it seems to me, the left-leaning media are going to figure out that constantly using that word (as they do) casts grave doubts on the competency of the BLS or whoever "expects" something different. I mean, how many times can you say "I was blindsided" before people start thinking you have no clue?
I believe we now are in the vicinity of 60 consecutive weeks in which the previous week's jobless claim number was adjusted upward. That kind of trend indicates a bias in the system somewhere. If the estimation algorithm were unbiased, some weeks would be adjusted up and some down, in about equal numbers. Also, the upward adjustment always seems to be (based on my faulty memory) somewhere between 3,000 and 4,000 new claims. That consistency also suggests a bias in the system.
I'm sure those analysts in the BLS are well-paid (recent stories give lie to the old assumption that government jobs don't pay as well as private sector jobs do). What are we getting for our hard-earned tax dollars?
Mind you, I'm not accusing the BLS of consciously cooking the books. What I am saying is that they are using bad technique and ought to devote some serious effort toward getting it right.
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"Unexpectedly"!!
Sooner or later, it seems to me, the left-leaning media are going to figure out that constantly using that word (as they do) casts grave doubts on the competency of the BLS or whoever "expects" something different. I mean, how many times can you say "I was blindsided" before people start thinking you have no clue?
I believe we now are in the vicinity of 60 consecutive weeks in which the previous week's jobless claim number was adjusted upward. That kind of trend indicates a bias in the system somewhere. If the estimation algorithm were unbiased, some weeks would be adjusted up and some down, in about equal numbers. Also, the upward adjustment always seems to be (based on my faulty memory) somewhere between 3,000 and 4,000 new claims. That consistency also suggests a bias in the system.
I'm sure those analysts in the BLS are well-paid (recent stories give lie to the old assumption that government jobs don't pay as well as private sector jobs do). What are we getting for our hard-earned tax dollars?
Mind you, I'm not accusing the BLS of consciously cooking the books. What I am saying is that they are using bad technique and ought to devote some serious effort toward getting it right.
Sunday, August 19, 2012
A Real Man of the People
Thanks to Instapundit for the link to this story.
For those of you who don't bother, it's about an incident in Iowa that shows how politically tone-deaf and elitist The One is, involving a little girl, her lemonade stand, and the President.
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For those of you who don't bother, it's about an incident in Iowa that shows how politically tone-deaf and elitist The One is, involving a little girl, her lemonade stand, and the President.
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Obama to Romney: "Let's Make A Deal ..."
The headline in the paper was that
Obama is playing “Let's Make A Deal” over Romney's tax returns. Sounds desperate to me.
In response I'd like to see Romney's team insert
something like the following into Romney's and Ryan's stump speeches
and the surrogates' talking points:
“It appears that President Obama thinks that how much Governor Romney did or didn't pay in taxes over the last 7 years (he's already made public the 2 years' returns required by law) is the most pressing issue facing the United States today.”
“Really? ... Really??!!”
“Here are a few other topics that the folks would probably rather hear about:
What about the economy?What about jobs (that famous “3 letter word” according to Joe Biden)?What about the $ trillion-plus deficit every year?What about the $16 trillion dollar (and climbing) national debt?What about taxes and the “fiscal cliff” that we're going to go over on New Year's Day?What about Medicare and Social Security going broke within the next 15-25 years?What about national defense—the primary obligation of the federal government? What to do about Iranian nukes? What to do about China? Syria? Israel? Egypt?What will the government do if the Eurozone collapses?”
“That's just a start. We've got ideas about all of those, and a lot more. So what have you got to say, Mr. President? Are you really going to keep talking about tax returns all the way to Election Day? That's fine with us.”
Oh, by the way, Obama's “deal” is a total sham—after all, the Obama
campaign “can't coordinate” with his super-pacs so his “promise”
not to raise the issue ever again means next to nothing, if it means
anything at all.
Wednesday, August 08, 2012
White House told authorities not to crack down on 'Occupy' protesters
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