“Read my lips: I’m ‘agnostic.’”

Bloomberg:

President Barack Obama said he is “agnostic” about raising taxes on households making less than $250,000 as part of a broad effort to rein in the budget deficit.
 ...
“The whole point of it is to make sure that all ideas are on the table,” the president said in the interview with Bloomberg BusinessWeek, which will appear on newsstands Friday. “So what I want to do is to be completely agnostic, in terms of solutions.”

The man can’t decide whether he wants to be Jimmy Carter or Bush I.

Via: Insty.

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 16:48:05 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Vote Republican and Pray For Snow!

The Caucus (via The Corner):

With snow quickly accumulating around the Capitol again Tuesday night, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, gave up on his hope of advancing a jobs-creating bill by the end of this week.

Paul Krugman (via Todd via Warren via Mark):

...a vote for a Republican, no matter what you think of him as a person, is a vote for paralysis.

Well, we can always hope...

Later:  Tam chimes in:

I’ll be clearing a path from the back door to the garage again this morning and sweeping the roomie’s car clear of snow, but I’ll do this with a smile on my face every day from now ’til the Fourth of July if it keeps all those bloodsucking midgets in DC from doing any more legislatin’.

More:  RNC says, “Thanks, Paul”? (via IP):

...In the latest ABC News poll ... Republicans are in a dramatically improved position for the midterm elections, and are competitive with Democrats and President Obama on whom the public trusts to handle key issues.

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 15:41:47 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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I agree with NJT

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 14:55:49 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Blargh!

Dr. Weevil:

If FNMA is pronounced ‘Fannie Mae’ and FHLMC is pronounced ‘Freddie Mac’, shouldn’t IPCC be pronounced ‘Ipecac’?  Reading about the IPCC and its chairman has much the same effect on me as drinking syrup of ipecac.

Spotted by C.G.Hill (who also supplied the links).  He sez (no doubt while ducking and running), “Well, somebody had to bring it up.”

Related:

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 19:59:38 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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More reasons to homeschool your children

Round 1:

Round 2:

How about zero-tolerance for stupid administrators?


UPDATE 100205 21:15:  ...and you won’t be whined at for wearing pajamas, either.

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 19:12:42 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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An “inadvertent” truth?

The Hill quotes the President, speaking to Senate Democrats:

“We’ve got to make sure that our party understands that, like it or not, we have to have a financial system that is healthy and functioning...”

Via Glenn Reynolds, who wonders, “Who wouldn’t like a ‘healthy and functioning’ financial system?”

TelePrompter must have been off.

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 19:21:31 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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In which Roberta X demonstrates that she remains a nicer person than I

(And yeah, what is it about no-money Februaries?)

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 16:52:00 GMT | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Armey gets it

Dick Armey’s advice to House Republicans, quoted by The Hill:

In 1994 all we had to say to America was “trust us, we aren’t them, and nobody ever remembered being disappointed in us in the majority.”  Now we have to say, “trust us, we’re not them and we’re not the guys that broke your hearts a few years ago.”
...
This is not an easy sell job.  When we did the Contract, we had a marvelous phrase: “If we don’t do this, throw us out.”  The fact is, they did that...

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 18:58:35 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Governments’ priority: “Stimulating” more government

USA Today:

Despite warnings about steep budget cuts, state and local governments maintained level spending in 2009 as federal stimulus money came to the rescue...
...
...Overall state and local spending inched up 0.1% to $2.2 trillion in 2009, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reports.  [States’] Revenue [(Includes federal stimulus funds.)] increased 0.9% for the year.

The federal stimulus package made the difference, pumping enough money into states, cities and school districts to offset a sharp drop in tax revenue.  The fourth quarter was the best of the year as revenue climbed 2.6% because of a rush of stimulus money and a slowdown in tax declines.

One “economic sector” that’s “turned around”...

Related:

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 17:20:03 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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