Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day, all.  

I don't follow golf closely, but it doesn't look as if Tiger will be winning the US Open today. That frees up the afternoon.

Comments

[windansea]

forget Tiger

Go Rory!

[Melinda Romanoff]

Happy Father's Day, all!

[Jane]

Wanna see the first pitch? It was a strike, right down the middle!

[Chubby]

((Happy Father's Day, all.))

Yes, even non-daddies should be happy on Father's Day.

My dad was from Columbus Ohio. He chose geology as his career because he loved the outdoors. He did quite well and traveled widely. We were not close, but I still miss him and his wonderful qualities of unsparing honesty and justice.

[Danube of Thought]

Just heard John Bolton state an extraordinary fact: Ban Ki-Moon is the first Secretary General to have come from a treaty ally of the US in the history of the United Nations.

[pagar]

TM does an excellent job of summing up the entire game of golf.
--------------------------------------------DOT, Obama will make sure that never happens again.

http://legalinsurrection.com/2011/06/defund-dismantle-the-u-n-human-rights-council/

IMO, every penny spent on the UN is 100% wasted.

[Jane]

I totally agree about the UN. I wish someone would run on getting them out of the US and defunding them.

[Jim,MtnViewCA,USA]

Forget Tiger.
How's the golfer-in-chief doing?

ps. the Legal Insurrection blog has moved, LUN.

[peter]

I totally agree about the UN. I wish someone would run on getting them out of the US and defunding them.

John Bolton would make a terrific president. And clean Obama's clock in the debates. If we are stuck with Romney as candidate, would at least hope he names Bolton as veep nom.

Happy Fathers' Day to those who were lucky enough to have good fathers, and to those unlucky ones with bad fathers, indifferent fathers, and no fathers, my prayers.

[Stephanie]

Rumors are that Obama may show at Congressional. GAG!

If so, I hope he runs into Feherty in an elevator...

[hit and run]

So the Golf Summit was yesterday. Word is that Obama-Boehner beat Biden-Kaisch on the 18th hole. They won $2 each for their efforts.

And Elliott probably already knew this,but I didn't. Like Obama,Boehner golfs left-handed.

But most importantly,when you consider the participants in the Golf Summit yesterday,we were one fateful mishap away from . . . President Daniel Inouye.

And since I just discovered this thread,I'll repost this from the last one...

W throws out the first pitch at the College World Series.

Note the cheers.

He's still got it,though it was a little high and wide.

[Jane]

And since I just discovered this thread,I'll repost this from the last one...

Well then I'll repost Megan's first pitch that got at least that many cheers!

[narciso]

Happy father's day, all.

[Danube of Thought]

Somebody help me out: I just heard Bill Burton say "two point one million jobs have been created during this administratio." You hear that rather frequently, and it goes unchallenged, as it did just now with Burton.

What, exactly, does that mean? Isn't it true that there are fewer people employed now than there were two years ago?

[Frau Vatertag]

Thanks, hit. Just seeing Dubya makes me smile.

[Frau Vatertag]

DoT - it must be voodoo accounting. Remember, the great increase in *government* jobs? Also, we had the part-time census workers counted and recounted not to mention the Recovery Act signs made and then painted (probably by union workers who had *not* lost a job but were given a new job.) Is Barry taking credit for the scamming opportunities (not you, clarice) created by the housing debacle?

[henry]

Danube, maybe the 2 million jobs are all stimulus funded government work. The private sector does not matter to these people so why would they track any stats about it?

[Danube of Thought]

Well, there stats published periodically by (I think) the BLS, and the simply cite the total number of people with jobs. I think the number now is lower than it was two years ago. If that's true, then I'm simply stumped. (Maybe I'm in error about the numbers.)

[henry]

Danube, the reduction in employment is hidden by the greater reduction in workforce participation rates so they can point to "improved" unemployment rates and hide reality. You are not confused.

[Rick Ballard]

DoT,

You're not in error.

BLS Jan 09 (Inauguration)

Employed = 142,099,000

BLS May 09 (2 years ago)

Employed = 140,570,000

BLS May 11

Employed = 139,779,000

I'm afraid your Martini ration is going to have to be increased from 5 to 3 as a result of your raising this question.

[Danube of Thought]

"Just seeing Dubya makes me smile."

Me too. A genuinely gracious, courageous, principled gentleman. The kind of man Barack Obama simply cannot comprehend.

[Old Lurker]

Pagar, I would suggest you are too generous at 1:1. I would guess that every dollar we spend on the UN costs us more than a dollar in damage to US interests around the world and when that damage is added to the dollar spent it would be about as good an investment as, say, wind energy.

[Old Lurker]

Thanks Rick. I dug out those exact numbers last week when I heard Obama himself talk about the two million jobs he had created. Nobody ever challenges it.

[PD]

OL nails it. A dollar spent on the UN is worse than wasted, it's detrimental to our interests.

[Danube of Thought]

Very reassuring, Rick.

So: how to explain what they're saying? If asked, surely they would say something other than "OK, you got us--we were lying, but we just didn't think anyone would catch us." But what might it be?

[hit and run]

Rick:
I'm afraid your Martini ration is going to have to be increased from 5 to 3 as a result of your raising this question.

JOM Exclusive:
An Inside Look At The Hit And Run Blogging Command Center

For DoT:

Complete With Martini

[RichatUF]

"OK, you got us--we were lying, but we just didn't think anyone would catch us."

Even Obama's Chief of Staff has called the Obama Administration's economic policies indefensible. If only the GOP had some ruthlessness...

[Danube of Thought]

You're really onto something re the debates, Clarice. (FWIW, I haven't watched one in about twenty years.)

I think the GOP should arrange their own debates, moderated by a person who does not seek to be part of the show, and let the networks bid for the right to telecast them.

All questions should be pre-screened to eliminate all the fluff and garbage, and more important to eliminate all surprises and "gotcha" questions. In other words, the debate should be a forum in which candidates are allowed to disclose and defend their differing views on a range of deadly serious issues.

I am not hopeful. We have really gone along way toward becoming a vulgar, trashy, unserious nation.

[narciso]

And much the same can be said of the Foreign
Service, in the LUN, pagar:

ttp://messageboards.aol.com/aol/en_us/articles.php?boardId=87893&articleId=604932&func=6&channel=People+Connection&filterRead=false&filterHidden=true&filterUnhidden=false

[glenda]

Happy Father's Day men of JOM :)

TC..belated congrats on your youngest child's graduation..Smiling Big and Waving to your family!

[Threadkiller]

Don’t know which is the hot thread so I will post this here.

--“TK-
I saw the video and if it's any comfort to you -- McClintock is the best president the US will never have.”--

Thanks glasater! It is at least a comfort that anyone is watching the videos. McClintock is a threat to the government we have become used to.

DoT, McClintock answers your jobs question in one minute.

Happy Fathers Day!

[Threadkiller]

Is there a stat they use to determine employers seeking employees?

I seem to remember that being a number that was lower than expected, but I am not sure now.

[Threadkiller]

I should have said: A stat derived from...

[Ignatz]

--So: how to explain what they're saying? If asked, surely they would say something other than "OK, you got us--we were lying, but we just didn't think anyone would catch us." But what might it be?--

What they say is, without our policies there would be 2 million fewer jobs than there are; the whole saved or created schtick.
Orwell was prescient.

[hit and run]

I posted W throwing out the first pitch at the college world series on a couple of threads.

And Jane linked to her post with Amy's daughters throwing out the first pitch at the Worcester Tornadoes game (really? they're called the Tornadoes?)

Well,in what can only be described as an effort that would make Obama proud,here is NBA player John Wall throwing out the first pitch at the Nationals game.

Would actually be a pretty good bowl in cricket. I like cricket. Cricket has cheerleaders (hat tip: daddy).

[hit and run]

TK:
Is there a stat they use to determine employers seeking employees?

Here was Obama in Durham last week:

Right now, there are more than four job-seekers for every job opening in America. But when it comes to science and high-tech fields, the opposite is true. The businesses represented here tell me they’re having a hard time finding high-skilled workers to fill their job openings.

Wouldn't mind seeing someone follow up on that last remark...

By the by -- I really really really want to find a video of that speech. It's the speech where Obama said:

"for a lot of our friends and neighbors, that change has been painful."

Dang that needs to be made into an ad -- interspersed with any "hope and change" moments in 2008 Obama campaign speeches.

I've found the video at CNBC and C-Span -- but my feeble video grabbing skills are limited to getting stuff off of youtube,and I can't find that speech on youtube.

[hit and run]

Old p-shop:

"for a lot of our friends and neighbors, that change has been painful."
--stuff Obama said

[Threadkiller]

Thanks Hit. Check this out.

USA Jobs has this posting for “Automotive Mechanic” for the Border patrol with “Many vacancies - Throughout the Nation”

The list includes every station/sector the patrol has, but the fine print says:

“Although this announcement is advertised for multiple organization components, duty locations, and grade levels, it is not intended to convey any expectation that positions will be filled at all organizational components, duty locations, or grade levels.”

I wonder what other Gov agencies are posting “help wanteds” for positions that are not available? This is a hell of a way to inflate a number.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

When I think of HOPE, I think of hoping my kids will grow up healthy and happy with their life choices, I hope that I'll be able to still live an active life up to the day I die, I hope for love, etc. I never think of hope as something I do to ward off disaster. I don't hope I won't be worse off than last year, I hope I'll be better off, I don't hope to be less unhappy, I hope for happiness and contentment, I don't hope my health and pain won't get any worse, I hope I'll get better and better.

Unfortunately, Impotus's hope is a hope things and life won't get worse, not hope it will get better.

Most of all I hope that every Daddy here is treated like the special person being a Daddy is and that they get plenty of pampering AND LOVE today.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

[Danube of Thought]

None of my hopes has ever involved any legitimate business of the government.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

I was watching the cSPAN coverage of the book fair at the Roosevelt library that was on last evening. Would it surprise anyone that FDR waited until late July to announce he was running in 1940? Why are we acting as if the election is tomorrow? Why should campaigns last any longer than 3-4 months? When did it become necessary to start campaigning almost 2 years out?

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

None of my hopes has ever involved any legitimate business of the government.

Exactly!

[Danube of Thought]

Thanks, TK. McClintock was great as usual, but it still doesn't answer my question: are they actually claiming that there was some date on which there were 2.1 million fewer Americans employed than there are today, or is this just more "saved or creared" bullshit, as Iggy suggests?

It seems that it can't be anything other than the latter, in which case it should be not only challenged but mocked each and every time the claim is made.

[Frau Vatertag]

"Why are we acting as if the election is tomorrow? Why should campaigns last any longer than 3-4 months? When did it become necessary to start campaigning almost 2 years out?"

More *exactly*!

[Melinda Romanoff]

DoT-

I think they're just adding up all the Non-Farm Payroll figures (seasonally adjusted), which is a bit like putting a hundred pieces of penny candy in a bag and declaring that you have a dollar.

From Maxwell Smart-"Missed it by that much."

[hit and run]

Strange thought of the day. Just got a message on FB from my niece. Daughter of mrs hit and run's sister.

Love her. Like she was my own daughter.

mrs hit and run's sister is 9 years older than her -- and had her kids really young. So Niece of My Heart is not even really young enough to be my daughter.

But mrs hit and run's sister had three failed marriages. Now,divorce is something I would never,ever,in-a-million-years consider. But,then again,I found mrs hit and run. And my view is based upon a faith that Sister-in-Law does not share.

But Sister-in-Law married a some real creeps. Husband one was a druggie,and the second a business scofflaw. In both cases she needed to get out. The third was just a bad bad bad decision she made trying not to live life alone. I wish she never would have married that pathetic man.

She has now found the love of her life. They are great together. Love love love my new Brother in Law.

But it makes me think of Niece of My Heart and Nephew of the Jesus-Like Hair and how they both grew up without a father in their lives (Nephew's dad was husband one,Niece's was husband two).

Sister-in-Law had to be not only the mother but the father in their lives. I don't know how she did it.

It is easy to see how it affected both Niece and Nephew in ways that are not at all positive. But those darn kids have adapted and matured into adults I can respect. Not every decision they make -- the good Lord knows they make some dumb decisions -- but on the whole,they're good people.

Sounds weird -- but I think Sister-in-Law is more deserving of a Happy Father's Day than I am. She had much greater odds to overcome -- and by any rational measure,she overcame them.

I love love love my mrs hit and run family.

[Threadkiller]

Hit, if I were sober, I would have a better contribution.

Since I am not, all I can offer is a “stay away from” list I have prepared for my daughters.

[jimmyk]

I think they're just adding up all the Non-Farm Payroll figures

I suspect that's right, but while I haven't had a chance to check the data, I suspect they are strategically choosing their starting point. In any case, while the payroll figures are probably more accurate month-to-month, the household survey (the one Rick gave numbers for) is probably better for this, because it includes self-employed, household help, etc.

It's really worse than those numbers, since the baseline should grow by about 1.5 million a year, so they're down about 5 million.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Hit: There are lots of military wives/mothers out there that probably deserve a happy father's day wish too. Today's round-robin deployments mean Dad's (or serving Moms, but it is a day for Dads) time at home is limited and Mom's carry all the burden. In our own family, we once went 3 years with only seeing Dad/hubby 31 days in that time.

[Chubby]

hit's post about his s-i-l's family brought tears, which TK's link quickly antidoted

[hit and run]

Niece of My Heart is an artist. Surf art. Not necessarily my thing -- but if it's yours,it's worth your time to check out.

[Rick Ballard]

I don't believe they're adding up monthly changes in Nonfarm Payrolls. The numbers don't work regardless of starting point.

If forced to guess an explanation, I would go with modeling based upon the amount of money poured down the rat hole. Dumping $1T had to have some effect upon employment and I could spin up a nice spreadsheet model showing 2 million jobs to be the result in about 10 minutes. A fully credentialed moron would probably want $5 million and 3 months to arrive at a value between 1 million and 3 million with 2 million falling closest to "expectations" (based upon assumption pulled from the nether regions).

[centralcal]

Hi all. Hope all of our JOM Dad's had a great day (or depending on time zones) still are.

Happy JOM Father's Day.

[Clarice]

Have I ever said that Iove, hit. He is so full of loving kindness, he balances out so much of the quotidian dreck in this world

[hit and run]

Rick:
(based upon assumption pulled from the nether regions).

Leading from (pulling stuff out of your) behind.

[glasater]

The first line from Hit's Obama in Durham link at 2:28 was:

" THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody! (Applause.) Thank you."

Now why in the world would "applause" be left in Zero's speech transcript.

And Hit's story of his sis in law and her children very touching and just the icing on the cake for those of us thinking of the "Dad's" who have been in our lives.

[daddy]

Great story Hit about Sis in Law.

For a Father's Day gift I just asked my oldest to please give me 2 minutes and 24 seconds of her undivided attention.

She did, and loved it.

[Threadkiller]

Holy Cow! Nice catch glasater!

Type

applause site:whitehouse.gov

into your search engine.

Good greif.

[Extraneus]

Here's what he must be talking about, taking Jan 2010 as a starting point. (Here's a link if the chart gets cut off.)

[hit and run]

Just got off the phone with Papa hit and run.

What a man. What a gread dad. He'd be the first to tell you that he came up short in a lot of ways,but I call hogwash on that.

He grew up in a very different time,with a very different dad.

I loved grandad -- but he passed away when I had barely become a teenager.

He was the stern,quiet type. The don't-say-I-love-you-out-loud type. The guy who would literally lay down his life for you in a heartbeat without thinking about it -- but wouldn't outwardly show any affection.

That was something my dad really tried to overcome by . . . telling us he loved us. You could tell he felt awkward doing it sometimes -- but he did it because he felt it was important.

It made a difference.

Best memory of my dad's dad. I think I've told it before,but google says no,and who am I to question the all-powerful,all-knowing google.

We're sitting in my grandparents house in Ft. Worth. I was maybe 10. We're watching baseball. My granddad says,"those negros really have become some good pitchers."

[Awkward silence]

I mean,what do you say in response to the racist sentiments of your granddad?????

After the seemingly endless silence,someone says something about then-Ranger Fergie Jenkins.

Then granddad cocks his head with a "what the hell are you talking about look" and says . . . "No. The Niekro brothers. Phil and Joe. Who woulda thought a knuckle-baller could be successful in the majors."

A good time was had by all.

I miss the red beans and rice and squash casserole my grandparents made. Don't get me wrong -- at the time I made all sorts of funny faces at the thought of eating . . . vegetables! But now? I could eat those two dishes for score and twenty fortnights and not grow tired of them.

[Threadkiller]

grief

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Daddy: One of my most vivid memories regarding my Dad is just being with him as he went about his daily routine and chores. I loved watching him shave, I loved watching and helping him wash the car or to hand him tools (proving to him and myself that I knew what each one was) when he was working in his basement workshop, and I especially loved when he would tell a neighbor or a friend, she's my little helper, I don't know how I got along without her before. I always felt so special when I'd hear him say things like that.

Of course, my Dad died just a couple months after I became a teenager. I seriously doubt that our relationship would have been quite the same, once I got interested in boys. But I'm lucky that my memories are all those of a child and my Dad made childhood a delight. He loved to have fun, had a child-like sense of good-hearted mischief, and a marvelous sense of humor. He'd wake me up on a Sat. morning and say, "What kind of adventure shall we have today?"

My Aunt told me once that I should be happy he died before I started dating or I would have ended up hating him as much as she did as a teenager in high school and he, being six years older had just come home from college and decided he would put himself in charge of regulating her social life. She said my boyfriends would have been just as intimidated by a 6'4" 280 lb linebacker Dad as her dates were of my Dad, her brother, standing guard at the door.

[daddy]

The "Niekro" Brother's! Ha!

Great story Hit. LOL.

In future please don't be so niggardly about sharing Grandpa Hit stories:)

[rse]

Happy Fathers Day everyone.

Thanks for the prayers and good thoughts sent our way this week. Red is starting to walk better when we go for a house stroll but is still mostly asleep. She had her brother download the Lord of the Rings trilogy on audiotape that she keeps going as background noise. Nothing like hearing about the Orks at 3 am.

Again it was comforting to read the good wishes as I waited last Monday. Read The Rational Optimist:How Prosperity Evolves.

Has anyone else read it? Very timely refutation that it is govt that creates prosperity and innovation.

[Extraneus]

"those negros really have become some good pitchers."

I don't see what's racist about this statement, even thought it's not what he said. The man probably started watching baseball when it was all white players. What if we began to see a bunch of kick-ass pitchers from India in our day? How else would we say it?

[daddy]

Sara,

I just shared Threadkiller's "Mullet Link" from above with my oldest.

Big funny "ewwwww's"

The valuable Fathering tips I learn at this place are oft' times spectacular.

[(Another) Barbara]

For a Father's Day gift I just asked my oldest to please give me 2 minutes and 24 seconds of her undivided attention.

Thanks, daddy. I've watched that at least 50 times in my life and the 51st time was every bit as thrilling as all the previous ones.

You are bringing up your daughter well. Better than I did with mine obviously. I took my then 30-some year old daughter on an NR cruise, and one day the two of us got to eat breakfast with Milton and Rose. (There were no empty tables so they kindly asked us to join them when they saw us wandering around). My daughter didn't know who they were so most of the breakfast was spent with my kid showing Milton and Rose photos of her dogs and all of us talking about pets. The Friedmans were charming and actually seemed to enjoy the conversation. (In truth I was relieved because I was so intimidated by the great man's presence that even talking about owning dogs got me all tongue tied.)

On my headstone I intend to have engraved: "Had breakfast with Milton and Rose Friedman."

[daddy]

Wonderful story Another Barbara.

I'm gone to the dogs.

[Threadkiller]

"THE PRESIDENT: But over the last two years, thanks to the outstanding work of Janet and Alan and everybody who’s down here working at the border, we’ve answered those concerns. Under their leadership, we have strengthened border security beyond what many believed was possible. They wanted more agents at the border. Well, we now have more boots on the ground on the southwest border than at any time in our history. (Applause.)

The Border Patrol has 20,000 agents -- more than twice as many as there were in 2004. It’s a build-up that began under President Bush and that we’ve continued, and I had a chance to meet some of these outstanding agents, and actually saw some of them on horseback who looked pretty tough. (Laughter.) So we put the agents here.

Then they wanted a fence. Well, the fence is --

AUDIENCE: Booo!

THE PRESIDENT: The fence is now basically complete.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Tear it down!

THE PRESIDENT: Then we’ve gone further. We tripled the number of intelligence analysts working at the border. I’ve deployed unmanned aerial vehicles to patrol the skies from Texas to California. We have forged a partnership with Mexico to fight the transnational criminal organizations that have affected both of our countries. (Applause.) And for the first time -- for the first time we’re screening 100 percent of southbound rail shipments to seize guns and money going south even as we go after drugs that are coming north. (Applause.)

So, here’s the point. I want everybody to listen carefully to this. We have gone above and beyond what was requested by the very Republicans who said they supported broader reform as long as we got serious about enforcement. All the stuff they asked for, we’ve done. But even though we’ve answered these concerns, I’ve got to say I suspect there are still going to be some who are trying to move the goal posts on us one more time.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: They’re racist!

THE PRESIDENT: You know, they said we needed to triple the Border Patrol. Or now they’re going to say we need to quadruple the Border Patrol. Or they’ll want a higher fence. Maybe they’ll need a moat. (Laughter.) Maybe they want alligators in the moat. (Laughter.) They’ll never be satisfied. And I understand that. That’s politics.

But the truth is the measures we’ve put in place are getting results. Over the past two and a half years, we’ve seized 31 percent more drugs, 75 percent more currency, 64 percent more weapons than ever before. (Applause.) "

Whitehouse.gov

Lets hear some applause JoM!

[Jane]

I don't see what's racist about this statement,

Me neither. At that time black people were known as negroes and there was nothing the least bit disparaging about it.

[Jane]

Actually, I guess I don't really know what "that time" was.

[hit and run]

You called people negroes in the 80s?

[hit and run]

Shoulda hit refresh. It was around 1980-81.

[Extraneus]

Aren't they still actually Negroes? Is that not a word anymore? I know they went to "blacks" at one point, then African Americans, even for those who aren't African or American, but these are chosen names, based on terms preferred by American civil rights leaders, and not really precise as relates to race.

Wikipedia:

The usage was accepted as normal, even by people classified as Negroes, until the later Civil Rights movement in the late 1960s. One well-known example is the identification by Martin Luther King, Jr. of his own race as 'Negro' in his famous 1963 speech I Have a Dream.

During the American Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, some African-American leaders in the United States, notably Malcolm X, objected to the word, preferring Black,[3] because they associated the word Negro with the long history of slavery, segregation, and discrimination that treated African Americans as second class citizens, or worse.

The term "Negro" is still used in some historical contexts, such as in the name of the United Negro College Fund [4][5] and the Negro league in sports.

Modern language has been using since the late 1960s: Black; additionally, Black African for people native to the African continent, and Afro-American until from the late 1960s to 1990, and African American after 1990 for people in U.S.A..

"Negro" superseded "colored" as the most polite terminology, at a time when "black" was more offensive.[6]

The United States Census Bureau announced that Negro would be included on the 2010 United States Census, alongside "Black" and "African-American," because some older Black Americans nevertheless self-identify with the term.[7][8][9]

I'm not picking on your excellent and moving post, hit. I just hate this PC b.s. where real words can no longer be spoken in polite society. Here's the most ridiculous example, of course.

nig·gard·ly [nig-erd-lee] –adjective

1. reluctant to give or spend; stingy; miserly.

2. meanly or ungenerously small or scanty: a niggardly tip to a waiter.

[glasater]

I see TK-

Whitehouse.gov transcribes the speeches from the events themselves. Guess I don't visit the web site often enough to know;)

[Danube of Thought]

Nice find, Ext. How to reconcile that chart with the BLS figures?

[Extraneus]

No idea, since that's a BLS chart, too. If it's accurate, you probably can't argue with Obama's claim of 2.1 million jobs created, except to quibble with the starting point for the calculation.

[glasater]

Got a great postcard from our Janet in yesterday's mail.
She's having a great time in Kingsville TX visiting her family and says her husband is a saint for putting up with all the talking.
She also put me in charge of looking after JOM while she's traveling-heh!

[glasater]

Another thing that drives me nuts about liberals is that they maintain no jobs were created under GW.
Now how can unemployment be under five per cent using such logic.

Great to hear from you rse and great news about Red!

[Rick Ballard]

The chart that Ex found is from the Establishment survey rather than the Household survey. The Establishment increase of 1.762 million is not supported by HI contributions data. In fact, SSA data won't support an an actual increase of more than about 800K jobs over that period. That's using BLS average wage data for calculation purposes. It's really back of the envelope work but there's no way that the number of employed can increase by 2 million without a corresponding increase in the amount of Hospital Insurance (Medicare) contributions by a reasonably commensurate amount.

[Extraneus]

Based on the chart I linked (and don't see anymore in the comments), Bush could have claimed 8 million jobs created between Jan, 2001, and and Jan, 2008, when the last recession started.

If you use the presidential terms' starting and ending dates, the picture gets much more depressing for Obama, who would have to claim ~3 million jobs lost so far. The trend is up, though. Can't argue with that based on the BLS chart.

It may be inaccurate, but I don't think it's unreasonable for a president to use the trough of the curve to claim that that's the point when his policies started to work, since it appears that employment continued to degrade for months after the last two recessions before starting to recover.

[Threadkiller]

No matter how I sliced it, it was still too long of a post. There are a lot of highlights from this speech:
April 16, 2009

JOINT PRESS CONFERENCE WITH PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA
AND PRESIDENT FELIPE CALDERÓN OF MEXICO

A little lead-in and the premonition to give you some idea of the content:

"PRESIDENT OBAMA: what we've focused on is how we can improve our enforcement of existing laws, because even under current law, trafficking illegal firearms, sending them across a border, is illegal. That's something that we can stop.
And so our focus is to work with Secretary Napolitano, Attorney General Holder, our entire Homeland Security team, ATF, border security, everybody who is involved in this, to coordinate with our counterparts in Mexico to significantly ramp up our enforcement of existing laws. And in fact, I've asked Eric Holder to do a complete review of how our enforcement operations are currently working and make sure that we're cutting down on the loopholes that are resulting in some of these drug trafficking problems.

PRESIDENT CALDERÓN:
Only in my administration, in the two years and four months, we have been able to see -- or rather we have seized more than 16,000 assault weapons. And in the efforts we have made to track their origin -- and President Obama has referred to that -- we have seen that nearly 90 percent of those arms comes from the United States -- those weapons come from the United States. There are about 10,000 sales points in the U.S.-Mexico border -- only at the border.

One more thing -- one more thing I forgot to mention. One other thing we can do is to track the weapons that we have in Mexico. If we manage to detect weapons sold illegally in the United States in violation of this law on the control of weapons exports, or if, in the United States, they can have -- probably move forward on a good registry of armament or on the prohibition of certain massive sales of weapons, for example, to a hunter or to a common citizen -- we know that these people do not usually buy hundreds of rifles or assault weapons or grenades -- if we can move forward in those areas, I do believe that security both of the United States and Mexico will improve because those weapons are pointing against Mexican people and Mexican officials today.

But crime is not only acting in Mexico. It is also acting in the United States. Organized crime is acting in both countries. And I do hope that those weapons that are sold today in the United States and are being used in Mexico, I hope the day will never come in which they will also be used against the North American society or against U.S. officials, just like they are now being used in Mexico."

Who would have thought.

[Extraneus]

Thanks, Rick.

I don't claim to know what's behind that chart, but the numbers on it look close enough to explain what Obama is trying to take credit for.

[Danube of Thought]

It looks to me as though there was a net loss of 2+ million while Bush was in office.

[Extraneus]

NBC apologizes for cutting “under God” from Pledge of Allegiance before U.S. Open

They edited it out?

“We began our coverage of this final round just about three hours ago and when we did it was our intent to begin the coverage of this U.S. Open Championship with a feature that captured the patriotism of our national championship being held in our nation’s capital for the third time. Regrettably, a portion of the Pledge of Allegiance that was in that feature was edited out. It was not done to upset anyone and we’d like to apologize to those of you who were offended by it.”

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

I didn't hear it Ext, but from Twitter reports, they cut out, "under God, indivisible."

[Rick Ballard]

Extraneous,

You certainly did find a data series from which the President's claim might be extrapolated but there is no confirmation in the SSA tax data which support his contention. OTOH, there is ample evidence from hours worked and lack of conversion from part time to full time employment that the President was lied to by his Magic 8 Ball concerning which direction to take on inauguration day.

On the much brighter side - now that the President has taken full responsibility for the condition of employment we'll certainly know where to look as we edge just a bit further beyond the precipice.

[hit and run]

we’d like to apologize to those of you who were offended by it

Just apologize for f'n cutting it out,whether anyone is offended or not.

I'm much more offended by a weasel non-apology than I am by the edit in the first place.

Just for that I'm not going to watch NBC for a week.

Maybe a month.

Or several years.

Why break my network tv fast now?

[hit and run]

I'd "like" to say Obama is a great president.

I'd "like" to say I've suffered no hair loss in the past 10 years.

I'd "like" to say that 5 martinis make me more irresistable than 4.

[Extraneus]

It looks to me as though there was a net loss of 2+ million while Bush was in office.

From that chart, which doesn't go back to Jan, 1999, there were around 132.5M jobs in Jan, 2001, and around 134M in Jan, 2009. A net gain of 1.5 million. I didn't find the data from Jan, 1999. Maybe it was higher than in Jan, 2001, but that seems doubtful.

[Extraneus]

I'd "like" to say Obama resigned in June of 2011.

[henry]

Ext, the dot com bubble burst around then. Employment may have been higher in 99 than 00 or 01.

[jimmyk]

The chart that Ex found is from the Establishment survey rather than the Household survey.

The establishment survey doesn't count exactly the same things that the household survey counts, so they can go in different directions. For example, it doesn't count self-employed people and household help. It double counts people with two jobs. The "2 million created" clearly comes from cherry-picking both the statistic that looks best, but also from the starting date that makes the number the biggest. But even that 2 million is pathetic given how far below the peak we are.

[Melinda Romanoff]

jimmyk-

And I hate to say it, the next tune of the dance is about to begin with the EU's banking problems coming back to the fore.

Barclay's and Std Chartered pulling cash will speed the process.

And I would encourage an increase in cash-on-hand.

[Ignatz]

--"Negro" superseded "colored" as the most polite terminology, at a time when "black" was more offensive.--

Until the NAAColoredP changes its name I'm not gonna worry about it.

[Danube of Thought]

How many remember "nigra?" Back when MLK et al. were using "negro," the Klansters and George Wallace types used to say "nigra" as an unassailable way of using the undoubted malicious insult while reserving the defense that they were just saying the same thing King said, but with an ol' boy accent.

Kind of funny, actually.

[(Another) Barbara]

the Klansters and George Wallace types used to say "nigra" as an unassailable way of using the undoubted malicious insult,

I rarely think you're incorrect, DoT, but this time I do. What you write as "nigra" was generally pronounced "neegra," among southerners I knew, and although I can't say what's in anyone's heart, I don't think it should be assumed that was a slur, even when bringing up George Wallace's name and Klan members makes it seem so.

This PC bidness drives me nuts. That hit's grandfather was thought, even momentarily, to be making a racist remark by saying "negro" is astonishing. Until I was 25 years old or so, that was the proper word for the race (and as far as I know, still is). Somewhere in my 30s,"colored" became the new preference. After that "black" emerged for a decade or so, and was finally followed by "African American." If I take my vitamins and live into my 80s, I may see African-American superseded by another term, which could make all previous ones "racist," I suppose.

We are all so politically correct now that I feel I must defend myself by informing that my husband is a dark-skinned Filipino, and that our much-adored grandchilden's heritage encompasses nearly every race and ethnicity extant. When even JOMers start improperly accusing others of racism I feel things are pretty hopeless.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

(A)B: We were taught there were 5 races - Caucasian, Negro, Mongolian, Indian, and Oriental. Our housekeeper/nanny described herself as, "One damn fine Negress." (She could have doubled for Mammy in Gone with the Wind.) When she referred to others of her race, she called them "the colored people or people of color."

Somewhere along the line, Oriental was replaced by Asian, I'm not sure what Mongolian became, Caucasian became white and Negro became African-American (which is used whether the person came from Africa or Timbuktu), and Indian became Native American. Also, somewhere along the line, ethnicity became interchangeable with race in academia. When I was growing up, there was no such thing as Hispanic. There were Mexicans, Guatemalans, Spanish, French, Colombians, etc. Those primarily of European/British Isles descent were considered Caucasian. This included Spain, Italy, etc. So Mexicans were considered Caucasian or mixed Indian and Caucasian.

What makes me so mad about the whole racism charge is that they make it so often against people who would never deliberately want to offend someone. We were brought up to be respectful of all races, ethnicities, and religions. We learned that it was bad to use pejorative names such as k!kes, Sp!cs, etc. and we never ever would use such terms. So we try to use the proper terms, only to find out that someone changed the rules and somehow that makes us bad persons. It sucks.

[Extraneus]

Via Ace...

[Agent J. (formally known as "J"..]

AB & Sara, I am so with you, while growing up Negro was a respected name for a respected race..then came colored, and now A-A..I told wife last night that they all carry a great image until you get the A-A..cause they are the ones that they talk about on the news that robbed, car jack or killed someone..you noticed no Negro's or Colored people do that..