It’s Tamara of the G.U.P.!

We need a new political party in Washington, to get the checkbook away from the 537 people who have been kiting checks like a runaway teenager who boosted mom’s purse.  Not the G.O.P., because they’re part of the problem.

We will call ourselves the G.U.P.: the GrownUp Party, and our motto will be “No we can’t!”

Posted by: Old Grouch in Linkage at 15:45:47 GMT | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Spin, spin, spin...

“Edward Von Bear”:

I recall in 2002-2004, during the “jobless recovery”, whenever claims filed would drop, that was treated as a bad thing by the MSM, because they decreed, ipse dixit, that that was because disspirited workers had just given up looking for work.

Ditto for the productivity index. An increase in that was spun as no big deal, since so few people are working, blah blah blah.

Now, not so much. Suddenly, this drop in claims is heralded as something good by the MSM.

So, I look at the L[os] A[ngeles] T[imes] site, and guess what their headline is:

Jobless rate hits 9.4% in May; layoffs slow

Then, this paragraph was priceless:

But the employment figures, which the Labor Department reported this morning, offer hope that the worst of the economic downturn could be over: The number of lost jobs was the lowest since September, and it was only half of the average monthly job losses in the last half-year.

Geez, it’s almost as though the MSM is trying to spin bad news as good based upon who is in the White House.

Ya think?

Meanwhile:
First “jobless recovery” headline spotted in The Wall Street Journal:

Economists, on the average, think nonfarm payrolls shed 525,000 jobs, following a 539,000 loss in April, which would push the number of jobs lost... to 6.3 million, the worst since the 1930s...
...
The labor market is no longer cratering, but its recovery may come slowly, and that isn’t good news for the economy...

Elsewhere:
The Rhetorican (via Ace):

The LAT discovers the Happy Unemployed...

Funny how stories like this one never surface during Republican administrations...

Posted by: Old Grouch in The Press at 15:06:27 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Truer words...

S.Weasel:

“I do get tired of every fucking thing being a learning experience.”

Posted by: Old Grouch in Linkage at 03:55:54 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Balance of coverage?

Brent Baler, Fox News^[1]:

In the media, [the killing of Dr. George] Tiller was a top story for almost three days. Several liberal analysts blamed pro-life groups for inciting the murder.  In contrast, there has been relatively little coverage about the killing of Army Private William Long and the wounding of Private Quinton Ezeagwula outside the recruiting center in Little Rock, despite the fact that the alleged shooter was a convert to Islam who police say probably had political and religious motives for the attack.

But it’s not just the legacy media.  Consider Little Green Footballs:


To date: 14 “Tiller” stories, 3 “Long” stories.  Missing from LGF’s “Long” items (although possibly linked by commenters) are Tuesday’s revelations that Long’s confessed killer, Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, had already drawn the attention of the FBI’s Terrorism Task Force, and that the killing is now being investigated as part of a wider plot.

Of course Charles can select whatever stories he wants, and I not only respect his past performance in the fight against Islamofascism and MSM dishonesty, I also understand his efforts to insulate the legitimate right from its racist, anti-scientific, and religious fringes.

But if his beliefs are sincerely held, so are the those of many who oppose abortion.  For them it’s about the sanctity of life.  And there are others, those who accept abortion in general but remain disturbed by the late-term procedure of which Tiller was an exponent.  This is an issue that is not going away: It will only be accommodated (not “settled”) through uncomfortable compromise.  In a sense, abortion is the right’s “gay marriage.”

But compromise we must.  Or we will waste our time arguing about the “dangers” of the anti-abortionists while other forces work to bring the world down around us.  For as Ann Coulter notes:

...In a country with approximately 150 million pro-lifers, five abortionists have been killed [in the 36 years] since Roe v. Wade...

Meanwhile, fewer than 2 million Muslims live in America and, while Muslims are less murderous than abortionists, I’m fairly certain they’ve killed more than five people in the United States in the last 36 years.  For some reason, the number “3,000” keeps popping into my head.

So in a country that is more than 50 percent pro-life -- and 80 percent opposed to the late-term abortions of the sort performed by Tiller -- only five abortionists have been killed.  And in a country that is less than 0.5 percent Muslim, several dozen Muslims have killed thousands of Americans.

Related:

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Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 03:26:25 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Mission creep

It’s long been said that one way to distract people from your lousy performance at your assigned duties is to noisily take on additional stuff:

“I consider it part of my responsibility as President of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear.”

O RLY?

(I guess negative stereotypes about the U.S. don’t show on his radar.)

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 15:20:03 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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And considering the ones they hang around with...

“Ragspierre,” in a comment at Malkin’s place:

I have never known a real Leftist male who was not…at his core…either afraid of women or secretly hated them.

(I prefer the Heinlein type, myself: Smart and sexy.  But then smart ones wouldn’t be lefties, would they? )

(Loosely) related:

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 17:07:01 GMT | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Sites linked- May 2009

47 posts in May, down 12 from April.  Hoped to do more, but the end of the month got screwy.  Have two or three rants waiting, so beware!
 
May’s linklist will appear below the break shortly...

Posted by: Old Grouch in Meta at 16:29:50 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Well, THAT was fun...

Service will resume shortly. Meanwhile, here’s a picture:

Posted by: Old Grouch in Dear Diary... at 16:25:08 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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