Saturday Morning

Bring it on.

Comments

[Daddy]

Last weeks China">http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2009-05/07/content_7751249.htm">China Daily had this story of a Panda Bear killing a wild cat. I'm in favor of that.

This">http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?S=10332858">This video of local Alaskan Zoo Bears destroying garbage cans in front of schoolkids to test which garbage can is "bear-proof" is worth another glance.

And today's ADN">http://www.adn.com/news/environment/warming/story/788308.html">ADN carries this story saying some Bush Admin Polar Bear ruling won't be changed to completely destroy every industry in Alaska, so the Dem's will have to do that thru different legislation.

I suppose you could say I'm Bullish on Bears, but what with last weeks Canine post I didn't want this place going completely to the Dogs.

And can you bear to find out how many 'Fingers'">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sesamoid_bone#Panda_anatomy">'Fingers' a Panda Bear has?

[pagar]

Apparently, one cannot mock the one's request for Dijon mustard.

Far Left Outraged That Hannity Mocked Dear Leader's Mustard

[TCO]

I'll bring it, you little RINO Goldman sucker:

Here's some more Goldman Sachs conflict of interest.

http://michellemalkin.com/2009/05/08/government-sachs-impudent-ny-fed-chairman-resigns/

"Friedman — former chair of Goldman Sachs — resigned from the NY Fed yesterday...“Government Sachs” dominated the Bush Treasury and continues to dominate the Obama Treasury."

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

I warned you RINOs about this when you were defending the Bush bailouts and approving openeing the tap of bailouts and nationalizatrions.

Silly billies like Charlie and kim insisted that abondoning free market principles was nescessary to stem a crisis. But there is zero evidence or theory to back them up. And in fact we see the workout continuing. And we also see that Republicans have lowered the hurlde such sthat nationalization is now accepted.

And these actions did not stem a crisis...what they really did was create a chilling effect for the markets as investors, consumers and companies all stand on the sidelines because there is no more rule of law for investments than a banan republic. If you had let the bankruypticies happen. Let the markets clear. LEt the bad debts get ratikonaliuzed and those who made derivative bets take their losses...all this would be over...and the free market would have been preserved.

The danger of allowance of nationalizations, of shakedowns by Blue State Goldman guys is far worse than "a crisis".

[boris]

"banan republic. If you had let the bankruypticies happen. Let the markets clear. LEt the bad debts get ratikonaliuzed"

Drunk already TuCO?

[hit and run]

TM:
Bring it on.

And don't ever let it stop.

[Jane]

Oh good, it's just me and the fabulous JOM men - and that rude interloper who I shall ignore. Good morning guys!

[cathyf]

Wrong, Jane! I'm getting the girl up and off to track & field sectionals this morning, so you won't be allowed to hog all the guys this time!

[hit and run]

What event(s), Cathy?

And Good Morning Jane

[Stephanie]

I haven't claimed dibs... I just plan on stealing them from y'all. I have cream puffs.... :grin:

If you watch nothing else this weekend, watch this....

CURRAHEE!!!!!

LUN

[TCO]

women on message boards are such whores.

[It's 2009, now TCO. Wake up and throw out last night's bokay.]

Oh, sure TCO, blame the Pubs. No question this is their fault. Why don't you go whack Tamino?

[He's hot.]

Dibs on TCO.

[narciso]

Alright, TCO that calls for a banning right there, I was getting used to your stupid Paulian talking points, but when Ann, & Jane, and Maybee & Cathyf, well that means War. As I was pointing out, in the previous thread, guess whose court position was reaffirmed by the Interior Department, and who had two more 'ethics complaints' thrown out; I put those in quotes, because I see them as ultimately unethical.

[clarice]

pagar--here's why:
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/05/the_nutroots_doesnt_know_obama.html>dijongate explained

[Stephanie]

I was overlooked in that declaration of war by narciso... hmmph.. I've been defamated.

and to the idjit who called dibs on TCO, well, that 1 minute tussle would be way overpriced at "free" and I'm sure the critters you picked up for the effort would appreciate the improvement in hosts but "save the crabs" isn't even on PETA's list of things to do...

[She's hot!]

Dibs on Stephanie.

[boris]

Dibs on a cream puff.

[Jane]

I'm getting the girl up and off to track & field sectionals this morning, so you won't be allowed to hog all the guys this time!

Bummer, I spoke too soon. My BFF and I are about to embark on a duck tour.

Wish you all were here.

[narciso]

Of course, I meant you Stephanie, and I left out Clarice, there go the pistolas, blame it on my inability to hit preview; when I go into a full rant. Bloomberg, pointed out the nature of the proliferation of trolls, they focused on the netroots, but the maximalist right has more than a few.

[centralcal]

From Clarice's link to AT:

This void in Obama's story leaves the Democratic hold on power vulnerable. One disastrous photo-op, open mike, or tape recorder left running, could puncture the Democratic bubble.

Left out of the vulnerable list I think is O's very thin skin and his inability to hide his quick temper/anger. I have often wondered if even one or two in the media really start to press, if he won't rapidly unravel before our very eyes. I am convinced the media know this and do everything in their power to avoid such an incident.

[clarice]

Okay, JOM:Let's puncture that bubble!

[Underneath the facepaint, he's an angry black man.]

Actually, I think Obama has a thin skin, but a very advanced ability to hide his quick temper/anger. Remember when he talked of never letting anyone see an 'angry black man'.

The press of events will unravel him eventually. I find the episodes in which his mask has fallen to be very educational. For instance: 'I've already answered seven questions' and the 'I do not stand with them' in regard to the recalcitrant secured debtors in the Chrysler matter. He'll blow up eventually, and it won't be pretty.

I think it will be about some matter of his past being revealed, that he's kept hidden so far. Like his foreign student status at Occidental.

[Stephanie]

Alls forgiven.. cream puffs for all!

Off to Party City for fixins for the golf banquet (both boy's and girl's teams finished 12th at state) and then off to the club for 18... even if it does look like rain.

And Elliott.... go Tiger! (it's in the hole)

Doncha just want to strangle the guy who screams that on the tee on a par 5?

[centralcal]

How, Clarice? Got any good ideas?

[Uncle BigBad]

TCO is no ordinary troll; he's an agent provocateur.

[Danube of Thought]

I suppose it shouldn't, but for some reason this pleases me no end:

"Reporting from Sacramento -- California could run out of money as soon as July, the Legislature's chief budget analyst warned Thursday, as a new poll showed voters poised to reject five budget-related measures on the May 19 ballot.

"If the propositions do not pass, the state could find itself as much as $23 billion short of the money it needs to pay its bills over the next year, according to a new forecast by Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor. The poll, from the Public Policy Institute of California, found that even as voter interest in the ballot measures rises, all are trailing except the sixth one -- Proposition 1F, which would bar pay hikes for lawmakers in deficit years."

I very much want this state to go bankrupt. (I don't know exactly what would follow from that, but I'm willing to find out.) The California Legislature--with an assist from this ridiculous girly-man of a governor--has simply made a mockery of what used to be known as the Golden State. It is now, by any measure, a Failed State. I really don't know of any feasible house-cleaning that could turn it around, but I'm willing to see anything attempted.

Good mornin', Jane, and good mornin' to the rest of you magnificent ho's.

[Captain Hate]

Actually, I think Obama has a thin skin, but a very advanced ability to hide his quick temper/anger. Remember when he talked of never letting anyone see an 'angry black man'.

I don't believe that for a second; he's been getting nothing but softball treatment from the media toolboxes so why would you ever see it? I think it would be pretty funny anyway: Urkel with an attitude.

You started to see his unraveling happening when Palin was jabbing him about the community organizer garbage; plus McCain was also scoring points before that idiot remembered that he enjoys sticking it to conservatives more than he does moronic commies. Plus McCain's performances in the debates was pathetic; I had to hold my nose and vote for Palin because "none of the above" wasn't an option.

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

The truth is, that Hannity is an idiot. Stupid stuff like what mustard Obama likes is ridiculous in light of the huge repurcussions of the Chrysler bankruptcy abrogation of contract (secured creditors made junior to politicezed unions).

Besides, Dijon mustard and plum jam make a great cheeseburger topping. And, I'll bet Clarice already knows that.

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

'I very much want this state to go bankrupt. (I don't know exactly what would follow from that, but I'm willing to find out.)'

I don't see any other hope. California, and its municipalities, simply have to get out from under their public employee contracts.

Especially the ones that have allowed police and firemen to retire at age 50, on 90% of their final year's pay. In many cases, that being over $100k. No way is that sustainable, but the legislature isn't going to fix it.

[matt]

camera roll:

Presidential motorcade drives down Connecticut Avenue, lights flashing, sirens howling....flash glimpse of Washington Monument, Capitol, Lincoln Memorial.....poor Joe Wurzelbacher is stuck at traffic light in his late model Chrysler, engine dead.

Presidential Zil limousine pulls up next to Joe, rear passenger window rolls down, showing President Barack Obama, close focus as he says "have you any Grey Poupon, comrade?". Fade to black.

[Thomas Collins]

Rest in peace, Chuck Daly. See LUN.

[narciso]

Come on now, I have my hangups about Hannity, mostly his 'dialed up to eleven'
delivery, but that was such a minor point, in his litany. Gitmo, the takeover of everything, the slashing of defense programs rates higher, but it ticked off the nutroots that's the important thing.

[Thomas Collins]

Rest in peace, Dom DiMaggio. See LUN.

[PD]

"Far Left Outraged That Hannity Mocked Dear Leader's Mustard"

The reaction on the left to Hannity's piece is telling. They seem to believe that no act by our President, no matter how small, shall be deemed anything less than historical.

But, having seen Hannity's piece, I thought while watching it that he was just playing into the hands of those who claim that nothing he says is legitimate because he is unable to look at *anything* Obama does without finding fault with it. You can see this tactic being uses occasionally on his panel segment when a guest will ask him, "Is there Obama has done that you agree with? It doesn't matter what he does, you will criticize him for it." The mustard segment validates these criticisms.

[Thomas Collins]

Whoops! Here is the LUN for Chuck Daly.

[Jim Miller]

Here's a graph showing Rasmussen's generic Congressional vote for the last 11 months. I think nearly everyone here will find it interesting, and most of you will find it encouraging.

(For computer geeks, even part time ones like me: I've just started experimenting with the stat language, R, and that's a first effort. Not the first, because I did a little bit with it before, but then forgot almost everything I had learned. The next graph will probably show the relative unimportance of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.)

[Jim Miller]

Oh, and I should add that the ladies of JOM are a delightful group. (But I liked smart girls when i was a boy and have liked (and sometimes loved) smart women as got older.)

[clarice]

"How, Clarice? Got any good ideas?"

Keep your eyes and ears open for every gaffe and spread it as far as you can--Sooner or later the media will be unable to ignore more 57 states, Eau Claire one of them, bow to the King, etc etc.

He's an empty suit. We know it. As soon as the teleprompter is out of sight it shows. Suit up, bet ready, FIRE whenever you can.

[cathyf]

What event(s), Cathy?

She's running (ok, jogging) the 100 and the 4x100. She is only in 5th grade, and this is 7th & 8th grade competition, and they only allow 2 kids from each school in an event at sectionals. This is small school, and there are lots of 5th and 6th graders "playing up", but of course priority is given to the real 7th and 8th graders. And, of course, she's a lot smaller than the older girls, too.

But this was her first year, so she was learning. She really likes the field events more, and her goal was just to get better. She started throwing the shot about 9 feet, and by the end of the season was at 15, and the discus about 20 feet and by the end was at 40.

[Rick Ballard]

Jim,

As the green shoots of March which Bernanke justifiably noted continue to wither (and payroll tax receipts say that they are withering badly), I would expect your chart to express a steepening slope of decline for the Dems. Carville's "It's the economy, stupid." is really going to resonate with the full "responsibility" in the hands of one party. If the oily sheiks of OPEC are successful in driving oil to their $70 target, we should see the Presidential approval rating slip significantly - far beyond what the growing awareness of his obvious total incompetence has done to it so far.

[hit and run]

That's awesome, Cathy...

[Thomas Collins]

What is the poundage on the shot at that age, cathyf? Is "throwing" now the term used with the shot? In my day, it was "putting" the shot and "throwing" the discus.

At that age, do they use the skip and thrust with the shot, or can they actually do the circular motion?

[clarice]

Osn't it enough that Cathy's kids are probably brilliant--they have to be Olympians, too. Gee. So un-fa-ir.

[cathyf]

I tried to post this link a couple of days ago, and typhuspad ate my html. Insty linked to it, and it's an interesting discussion of the bankruptcy reforms of the New Deal, and how the Chrysler travesty is actually a return to the bad old days. I'll try to link it inline, Why the Chrysler Deal Would Horrify a New Dealer.

...and LUN.

[cathyf]

...actually, my kids are the opposite of athletes. (I'm afraid that they take after their parents that way...)

I was kind of surprised that my daughter wanted to do track. The coaches are really enthusiastic and all about the kids having a good time, and they had 34 kids go out for track out of 60 total in 5th-8th grades. All 5 girls, and 6 of the 11 boys in the 5th grade went out.

As for actually throwing the shot and discus, well, they don't have much in the way of form. We had one quite hilarious meet a couple of weeks ago. We drove an hour and a half to this gorgeous little town overlooking the Mississippi. The football field was up on the top of the hill and it had been levelled off. Right at the edge of the track there was a steep slope, and then another level section where they had the shot and discuss set up. It rains A LOT here in April (2/3 of our meets and practices got shifted around because of rain) and it had been raining for days and was drizzling on and off during the meet. The ground under the shot and discus was totally soaked with a couple of inches of standing water. By the time the girls started it was a giant mud pit. There were two high school students who were helping out (measuring) and they were dressed like they were going to muck out a barn -- knee-high rubber boots, and carhartts streaked with mud. Fortunately my daughter's shoes went through the washer and dryer because they had another meet the next day!

[clarice]

Well, in that case I will never challenge them to a mud wrestle..

[Porchlight]

Jim Miller, I really enjoy your blog. Wish you'd come around here and hang with the JOM gals more often. :)

[bad]

good mornin' to the rest of you magnificent ho's.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[Elliott]

Get it out and tune it up, the world's smallest violin is needed: Obama's rich supporters fear he's a class warrior.

Has Hot Air used this yet?

[centralcal]

Jim - thanks for sharing the graph!

[Jim Miller]

Rick -- I'll be updating that graph in about a month. (Once you have figured out how to make one graph, it is usually quite easy to make another just like it.) And I plan to update it regularly, probably once every month, because I think it shows something interesting. So we will both have chances to check our hypotheses.

Porchlight - Thanks for your kind words. I'm here regularly, but often find that others have said what I might.

centracal - You're welcome. And it isn't copyrighted, so you are welcome to share it, though I do like to get credit when my work is passed along.

[Pofarmer]

More green shoots. Just talked to one of my land lords. He's in Pharma sales. His employer is laying off 40% of their sales force Monday.

[DrJ]

What company, Po? The old line is that when Pharma sneezes, biotech catches a cold.

My wife and I are both in biotech...

[Rick Ballard]

Jim,

I'm in the process of scraping daily tax receipt data for FY 08 and 09. When I get done I'll shoot you the data file. The daily gas price data is already available in Excel format. It will be interesting to see which correlates more strongly with diminishing Dem popularity.

For those scoring at home:

Tax receipts for JFM YoY were -7%,-14% and -4%, respectively. The -4% March figure was the "green shoot". April came in at -9%. May at the 25% mark is worse than April. If FMA were considered a quarter it would have been significantly worse than the JFM Q1.

[pagar]

Clarice, I wanted to thank you for the American Thinker link. I should learn to go over there before I comment at JOM, not afterwards.

PD, If some one asked me ""Is there Obama has done that you agree with?" My answer would have to be NO. I think his presidential bid should have been ended by the fraud that prevailed doing the Iowa caucas and we should have never heard another word about him and his non presentable birth certificate.

[daddy]

Narciso,

Positive news!

Andrew">http://www.alaskadispatch.com/tundra-talk/9-talk-of-the-tundra/1173-halcro-why-im-quitting-my-blog-and-talk-radio">Andrew Halcro has just quit his Radio Show and Blog. That's a guaranteed 3 hours less Sarah Bashing Monday thru Friday, which can only be positive.

Of further interest, our new Mayor, Fiscal Conservative Dan Sullivan, just walked into the coffee joint I'm sitting at typing, and he ordered a mocha from the gals behind the counter. I congratulated him, and he returned a good handshake and sincere thanks, and walked out looking casual and confident and normal. Cool.

[JM Hanes]

Jim M.

"Here's a graph showing Rasmussen's generic Congressional vote for the last 11 months."

Very interesting indeed! This is the first time I've seen the generic ballots graphed out, and I think you're right that those are much more useful numbers than the presidential approval numbers, or even the party registrations we usually see. The post inauguration stats are particularly fascinating, and I would love to see an extended chart pegged to specific events. I found an Obama Timeline which includes pix and events for each of his 1st hundred days, but only had time to make a superficial pass at it -- when I should have been prepping for a major week of work! It was like trying to resist a siren song.

The pre-inaugural trend lines suggest that Obama had picked up most of his support by July, while McCain started making steady headway in mid-August -- it's clear that Palin was good for his campaign! It's not surprising that interest generally dropped off across the board between the election and the inauguration, at which point the trend lines resume their normal mirror image trajectories.

When you start plugging in later events, it begins to look like Team Obama may be using the generics too. The post-inaugural slide for Dems and the rising Republican trend lines were about to converge when Obama gave his first prime time presser in February. I didn't try to track the economic roller coaster, but passing the stimulus package served Obama pretty well for a week or so. The trend lines had actually crossed in favor of Republicans by the time he rebuked AIG for their bonuses. After that near death experience his numbers were definitely looking up by Presser #2.

The most gratifying phenom was the precipitous drop in Dem numbers tied to Obama's European jaunt. America does not like apology tours! The lines converged again -- Obama released the torture memos. Generic Republicans shot upward -- Obama preempted the airways to congratulate himself on his 100 days . That would be the 100 days that Gibbs had called a non-event.

Do you know whether the waxing/waning tracks the strength of Republican and Democratic approval/disapproval, or whether it represents movement among independents or undecideds? It's a fascinating snapshot in any case. Thanks for the link -- and for putting it together, of course.

[Pofarmer]

What company, Po?

IMLAY? I think he said? I know he had some diabetic stuff with him the other day when we had a rent meeting. Said they were going from 500 or so in sales to around 300.

[DrJ]

IMLAY?

Ixnay on the epsray? Sorry, that does not ring a bell.

Pharma reps these days are about half contract hires, and the other half are employed directly by the company. It changed to this when Hillarycare! was afoot.

It also makes a huge difference if the layoffs are from Pfizer, or from a second-tier (or lower) player like Forest.

In diabetes there are a few biggies, like J&J, Abbott, Bayer and Medtronic. And not many smaller ones.

FWIW, hiring for sales people in the biotech laboratory research marketplace has been holding up well. At least so far.

Admittedly this is a small segment.

[clarice]

JMH--I think esp so soon after the inauguration people are not paying a great deal of attention so these sound bites and cameo appearance type things (gardening with the kids, walking the dog) is more likely to control the presidential ups and downs that policy.

[richard mcenroe]

Mainstream Conservative Pundit Condemns Offend-A-Feminist Week

[richard mcenroe]

danube -- California has to be driven into bankruptcy as soon as possible. The government in Sacramento is completely incapable of any meaningful change. It's like legislative Alzheimers.

[clarice]

****JMH--I think esp so soon after the inauguration people are not paying a great deal of attention so these sound bites and cameo appearance type things (gardening with the kids, walking the dog) ARE more likely to control the presidential ups and downs thaN policy.
**

[PD]

"Obama's rich supporters fear he's a class warrior."

I guess they didn't listen to what he was saying during the campaign. Seemed pretty clear from the get-go that he was playing on class envy and that he wasn't going to view "the rich" or the successful very favorably.

[PD]

"PD, If some one asked me ""Is there Obama has done that you agree with?" My answer would have to be NO."

I would have to think hard, too. But Hannity's giving the appearance of actually seeking out even the smallest thing to go after Obama for, which trivializes his own efforts. He's shooting hisself in the foot.

Next he'll be criticizing Obama for being left-handed.

[PD]

re: Pharma rep layoffs, we'll know it's serious when Burton Guster gets laid off.

[DrJ]

I had to look that one up. Never seen the show, so I'll take your word for it.

[Jim Miller]

J. M. Hanes asked: "Do you know whether the waxing/waning tracks the strength of Republican and Democratic approval/disapproval, or whether it represents movement among independents or undecideds?"

I can look at some of that, but to do it right, I would need the cross tabs, and Rasmussen charges for those.

And I would caution everyone about over-interpreting little movements from week to week, since you have to expect a little statistical jitter in the results. (And if you don't see it, the poll is probably rigged.)

Glad you liked the graph. You can expect to see more of them on my site, now that I have learned a little about using R.

[JM Hanes]

JIm M:

"And I would caution everyone about over-interpreting little movements from week to week"

That's really why I think expanded charting would be interesting too. On the one hand, you can read trends, on the other you can get closer to causes and effects. It's just difficult to do both at once.

[Neo]

I believe it was Arlen Specter who said ..
“These people looked deep within my soul .. and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined”

Oh … Sorry … that was Homer Simpson