Obama And Unemployment

Nate Silver crunches the numbers inspired by yesterday's Times article and concludes (quite sensibly) that they are inconclusive.

Comments

[rse]

Good morning everyone.

Rick-

On your point yesterday on pushing all 18 year olds into nondischargeable debt at the global perspectives indoctrination centers, it is dischargeable.

Just do not think about going to work in the private sector that actually produces economic value.

Amount of debt incurred does not really matter as long as you spend 10 years in the govt or "nonprofit" sector. Both of which can pay well. Just pay back 10% of your salary after a living expense base of about $25,000.

How can more college grads increase national wealth as BO alleges if thre are perverse incentives to keep grads out of that sector? Lies. Lies. Lies.

Plus don't get more started on how education radicals see Americorps as fitting into their transformation schemes.

[Extraneus]

Gallup: 71% of Democrats believe in redistributing wealth.

Since that means taking it from the only people who can create jobs, it's also on-topic.

[Jane (sit on the couch or save your country)]

Sorry to change the subject but here are a couple of tornado pix - Amy's back yard.

[Extraneus]

Wow. (Jane, "tornado" is mis-spelled at your site.)

[narciso]

Minitrue, always ready to provide news from the Malabar front

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/us_politics/view/20110603mitt_romney_miscasts_economy_in_gop_debut/

[rse]

Jane-

So glad you are OK.

What a story those kids will have to tell of the day of the Massachusetts tornadoes and how they were alerted to safety via friends on the internet.

[Jane (sit on the couch or save your country)]

LOL EX, Thank you. I'm really tired and about to head out to again so I'm glad you caught it.

Here is the local paper quoting Amy about 2/3rds down.

The press were all over the place yesterday.

[Jane (sit on the couch or save your country)]

RSE,

I'm trying to write a post about all that, but can't quite get it done. Hopefully this weekend when it is far too late.

[Jack is Back!]

Good Morning from car 5241, room N, north bound Auto Train. Just passed Quantico, VA (native american for "by a large steam" - that being The Potomac. We will arrive Lorton early. At least Barry and Uncle Joe make the trains run on time:)

When we passed Fredericksburg, VA young Master JiB said, "they have a town named after me"? Then I told him about Frederick, MD & Prince Frederick, MD. He is now plotting on how can charge those munis rent.

We have a 7 1/2 hr. drive from Lorton to Richfield Springs, NY and our little cabin on the lake.

More later.

Ciao!

[PD]

Unemployment up to 9.1%.

Unexpected!

[narciso]

Wow, Jane, I'm dumbstruck by that sight,

Meanwhile, Beck was apparently on to something, re this new innovation for 'our own good'.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/2011/06/conn-carroll-documents-show-fcc-coordinated-net-neutrality-effort-outside

[PD]

Now all we need is for the admininstration and/or the lapdog media to tell us why the unemployment uptick really is good news in disguise.

3 ... 2 ... 1 ...

[Extraneus]

Maybe they'll put the solicitor general on it, PD.

[Extraneus]

(Link, in case anyone missed that.)

[narciso]

I can't make 'heads or tails,' of this, it's like reading Westlaw backwards:

Judge James Graham, a Reagan district court appointee who is temporarily hearing cases on the appeals court, said, “I hear your arguments about the power of Congress under the Commerce Clause, and I’m having difficulty seeing how there is any limit to the power as you’re defining it.”

Kaytal responded by referencing United States v. Morrison, in which the Supreme Court struck down parts of the Violence Against Women Act, and United States v. Lopez, which struck down gun free school zones. In those cases, Kaytal responded, the Supreme Court set the limit that the Commerce Clause had to regulate economic activities.

[jimmyk]

OT, but a nice story about heroic soldier.

My only question is: If he'd been an American, would Holder have wanted him tried in a civilian court or would he have been content with a military tribunal?

[narciso]

Glenn Kessler having totally missed the story in the Middle East, moves on to fact checking
stateside, he dinged Downer Debbie, so he had to try to balance, and missed the point entirely.

[anduril]

...I don't think people should comment under other people's names.

Posted by: MJW | June 03, 2011 at 12:55 AM

I don't think people should comment under other people's names.

I agree. The sock-pupetting I find more disgusting than the putative original.

Not that anduril should not retreat to his own blog. Be gone from here!

Posted by: DrJ | June 03, 2011 at 01:01 AM

I agree, MJW--I don't think people should comment under other people's names. Even absent the unacceptable language. However, I think we all know what's going on here, DrJ, and we will all be smaller human beings if we acquiesce in it. Reasonable solutions exist--we all know that, too.

[Danube of Thought]

Minus 11 at Raz today.

[Rob Crawford]

Gallup: 71% of Democrats believe in redistributing wealth.

As Lincoln said about a similar impulse: let's apply it to them, first.

[narciso]

Meanwhile, the same economy crushing 'two step' is just 'carrying on:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304563104576357800795837470.html

[Extraneus]

I must say, Drudge chose a fine picture of Obama today.

[PD]

Dr. Kevorkian has died.

I told my sweetie, she replied: "On purpose?"

[anduril]

Charlie Gasparino at NYPost covers all the obvious reasons why employers are unwilling to hire. He also raises the specter of a second Obama administration, due to the weak field of GOPer candidates. I concur. Obama should have zero chance at reelection, but right now that may not be the case.

[Janet]

This is interesting (linked by a liberal FB friend) Koch-Blocked a Coke song parody about the Kochs & the Tea Parties.

What about all the lib trusts, funds, foundations? Soros money? Progressive money?

[Rob Crawford]

What about all the lib trusts, funds, foundations? Soros money? Progressive money?

That money is pure.

Money supporting liberty, on the other hand, is tainted.

[Captain Hate]

LOL @ the most dismissive poster going Amy Vanderbilt/Emily Post on Typhus etiquette.

Here's a good rule of thumb, Junior: Don't be an attention-seeking prick and you won't be socked. I say that as somebody who's received constructive criticism and reacted accordingly.

[narciso]

This is the outfit behind them:

http://other98.com/mission/

[PD]

Hear ye! Hear ye! It's free donuts on National Donut Day.

[narciso]

Looks like the whole NE division of 'Duke and Duke' is miffed:

http://www.stoptheaclu.com/2011/06/03/palin-bus-tour-upsets-gop-elites/

[anduril]

Sydney Morning Herald: Former Mossad head advocates Saudi peace plan.

That would be Meir Dagan, who built up a reputation with his aggressive overseas hit jobs. In a wide ranging interview he levels sharp criticism at recent and current Israeli policies, but also offers his views on a way forward.

[Danube of Thought]

CH, I infer that the sick Jew-hater has weighed in today.

Saved by the Narcisolator.

[Extraneus]

More cupcakes in the news.

[Rick Ballard]

RSE,

The numbers don't work on the government's promise regarding indentured servitude. Two out of three freshman entering indoctrination centers leave without a certificate of morony. They thus become landless serfs with low FICO scores dragging from their collars.

The turnover rate on the government and NGO plantations is roughly the same as in private industry, around 2.5-3% (excluding the military). The government's promise of freedom through indentured servitude cannot be kept and especially not for those unable to obtain their credential.

[DrJ]

OT, but I'm going to be scarce the next couple of days. My step-daughter is marrying a wonderful man today (ceremony near south Lake Tahoe) and tomorrow we have the reception here, in the back yard.

Lots of work, and much to celebrate.

[Clarice]

Best to you and the new couple, Dr J!

[Captain Hate]

DoT, you infer correctly.

narc, there must be a shortage of cold compresses to apply to the fevered brows of the Duke & Duke employees as they await the crop report. I said last year that the primaries were a real eye opener on who you want in the trenches with you and this is just extending things to next year. Those dimwits seem incapable of learning.

[Captain Hate]

Congrats to you and yours, DrJ.

[DrJ]

Thanks clarice and CH -- pray that it won't rain tomorrow! It might, according to the weather report. Must be global warming, since rain here in June is unheard of.

[centralcal]

Have a wonderful two days, DrJ!

[anduril]

Don't [fill in your preference] and you won't be socked.

That reads as a threat/justification. As I said, we all know what's going on. I imagine sock puppetry is a favored technique among all governments/ideologues who seek to disrupt free and open discourse.

[Clarice]

Dr J, If it rains hand out umbrellas. (Buy up a passel of them and if it doesn't rain return them unused.) Tell your guests you specially ordered the rain as a tribute to the Goddess of Rain to watch over the couple.

John Edwards has been indicted. Am I the only one who thinks this is a waste of prosecution funds? A sad commentary on a campaign financing which has overlooked or offered little punishment for violations which certainly had a greater impact on elections..you know like Obama dismantling the online source I.D.s

[boris]

Your misplaced confidence in your intelligence and integrity is only matched by your dedication to disrupting free and open discourse with endless rants of unwelcome bullshit.

[boris]

For those who don't see the N-drool any more my previous post was to it.

[Melinda Romanoff]

DrJ-

If you need a brief respite, go to The Bridge Tender in Tahoe City, on the California side.

Juices down your arms burger joint, with Superior carbonated beverages on tap (I don't want to get hit started too early).

[Army of Davids]

Thomas Donahue, head of the Chamber of Commerce, on the regulations, new taxes, uncertainties and mandates in ObamaCare..."it's a job killer"

[Threadkiller]

That got me started!

[Janet]

Congrats DrJ, and all the best!

[Extraneus]

Boy, I didn't hear Rush take on Krauthammer (and Will) yesterday, but the battle seems to be heating up. (Don't remember where I saw the link. Probably here, but if not: here.)

[Melinda Romanoff]

And congrats, DrJ!

[anduril]

Don't [criticize Bush/Obama/whatever, don't advocate whatever] and you won't be socked.

Of course, we all know that the purpose of the sock puppeteer is to sow confusion and distrust and thus disrupt meaningful discourse. As such, it's an attack on free speech, since the purpose of free speech is precisely to further meaningful discourse. Opposition to sock puppetry is not a personal preference--it's a principle for the maintenance of free speech.

[Thomas Collins]

Great news, DrJ! Let us know how you celebrated after your efforts to get things ready!

[rse]

Rick-

Good point. However, I have been tracking the higher ed reforms worldwide and suspect that will be part of the solution to get the percentage with a diploma up. Let's not forget the determination in numerous government agencies and all businesses they see as their confederates to have a workforce that reflects the population. That all important perspective that is assumed to flow from gender, melanin, birthplace, sexuality, etc.

There's a reason that the new national Common Core K-12 standards required all public colleges and universities to accept all High school grads without putting them into remediation anymore. Turns off alarms there's a problem, stops the no credit but still must be paid for classes, and keeps all classes at a low level if those with low academic skills must be integrated.

This truly is that civilization destroying scenario Hayek worried so much about.

[narciso]

Congratulations, Dr. J.

Of course, Clarice, the Edwards indictment is a joke, seeing as they have not gone after
those campaign irregularities, or the main
players in the subprime mess, like Countrywide
with anything but a slap on the wrist.

[Thomas Collins]

See LUN (via Instapundit) for a report on another politician from an unnamed party who is in trouble for trying to cover up a little hotdogging activity.

[Extraneus]

May 27:

Sarah Palin: Obama’s Strange Strategy: Borrow Foreign Money to Give to Foreign Countries

June 3:

FoxNews: U.S. Offers Foreign Aid to Countries Holding Billions in Treasury Securities

[MarkO]

I think it would be worse to let ole Johnny go "Scott" free. Good Southern boy didn't mean no harm. I lay this at the feet of Cotton Mather.

[Thomas Collins]

Whoops! Looks as if I missed Clarice's report on Johnny boy. In any event, which hot dog will be most prominent in this week's Pieces, Clarice, Johnny's or Tony's? I guess we'll have to tune in Sunday to find out!

[Ignatz]

Boy DrJ,
Looked at my forecast, just down the road from Tahoe, and it doesn't even say "showers" for Saturday, just "rain". Congratulations and good luck, sounds like you may need it.
BTW, when I was a lad we would cut hay in late May and then let it dry in the field and my dad would always be concerned about it getting rained on in early June, which it often did, so it might happen more than you think. You just never had a reason to worry about it before. :)

[Clarice]

TC==I was thinking of skipping both hot dogs, but maybe I'll change my mind. By Sunday the topic may be overused.

[Missy]

Congratulations, DrJ!

[anduril]

From the June 3 link, above:

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., who requested the report, sounded the alarm.

"Borrowing money from countries who receive our aid is dangerous for both the donor and recipient," Coburn said in a written statement. "If countries can afford to buy our debt, perhaps they can afford to fund assistance programs on their own.

"At the same time, when we borrow from countries we are supposedly helping to develop, we put off hard budget choices here at home," he added. "The status quo creates co-dependency and financial risk at home and abroad."

It actually sounds rather like a kickback, doesn't it? Of course, Coburn didn't ask for an historical accounting of this activity--only from 2010 on. It would be nice to know when this activity began. My WAG is that it's been going on for some years, but I'd be happy to be corrected on that.

[Thomas Collins]

I could understand how you might want to skip it, Clarice. I think it would be of interest to your readers to get your take on the exercise of prosecutorial discretion in relation to the Edwards matter.

[narciso]

Well seeing how much of AIG's portion of the TARP was spent on foreign counterpart transactions, as with other firms like Goldman
trying to refloat their investment in the Bank of Libya?

[Ignatz]

--Of course, we all know that the purpose of the sock puppeteer is to sow confusion and distrust and thus disrupt meaningful discourse.--

I don't know that and few others do as well I should imagine.
There are different types of sock puppetry. In the overwhelming number of cases here the puppet master's intent is that others in fact know he is not the undersigned but is ridiculing him with over the top or counterintuitive comments.
Now I wish the foul language weren't used but there is no intent to deceive anyone, quite the opposite. The intent is to ridicule and perhaps introduce a sense of shame to those who seem shameless. By that standard I think we have to admit it's a total failure.

[Rob Crawford]

The intent is to ridicule and perhaps introduce a sense of shame to those who seem shameless. By that standard I think we have to admit it's a total failure.

The shameless cannot be shamed, so I'm not sure it's a valid tactic or yardstick.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Hi IG! (Waving a big fat example!!)

[Extraneus]

I like the sock puppets who are polite enough to fall into the narcisolator with their targets. The changelings, OTOH, show poor manners, no doubt reflecting on their upbringing and mental health.

[anduril]

Waving a big fat example!!

That reads rather like a confession.

No surprise, however, that the usual suspects should defend sock puppetry.

[MarkO]

John Reid, The Lone Ranger.

[narciso]

Well he would think that, wouldn't he:

http://trevorloudon.com/2011/06/ryan-worst-than-al-qaeda-van-jones/

[Ignatz]

--No surprise, however, that the usual suspects should defend sock puppetry.--

Sock puppetry of the nature I described is nothing more than parody and ridicule; which have long and honored (and are indeed correctly constitutionally protected) traditions.
There is no intent to deceive and while it fails at reforming the unreformable it serves the useful purposes of often stating the careful euphemisms of its targets in their unvarnished vulgarity and of making humorless ideologues uncomfortable by exposing them as, well humorless ideologues.

[Danube of Thought]

I think the campaign finance law is very bad legislation, and I think the criminilization of its violation is bad policy.

On the other hand, if there is to be injustice, let it be visited on that low worm.

[anduril]

As I said, it's no surprise, however, that the usual suspects should defend sock puppetry. Nor that they should seek to hide their true intent by confusing or ignoring issues.

One wonders, for example, what was the careful euphemism this example of sock puppetry was exposing:

That ... Palin is always stealing my spotlight.

Not posted by: anduril | June 02, 2011 at 09:43 PM

But enough. We all know what's going on, so let's stop talking falsely.

[matt]

okay, the Great Firewall is not in place yet at the Shangri La Beijing....it was a Chinese fire drill finding it, but the children have arrived safely and off to the Great Wall in the AM.

Did someone as Weiner the Wiener if that was a sock in his pocket?

[matt]

Mao hates Facebook

[Pofarmer]

State of Mo just announced May tax recipts down 1% from a year ago. Recovery, here we come.

[Clarice]

Maybe I'll rethink it TC. Ot maybe as to edwards I'll just blog that view at the Tatler.

[anduril]

Can We Please Stop Pretending The GDP Is Growing?

Charles Hugh Smith, Of Two Minds

The Federal Government borrowed and spent $5.1 trillion to get $700 billion in total GDP "growth" from 2008-2011. In constant dollars, there was no growth at all.

[anduril]

Oh my! Sarah Palin Provides Startling New Take On The Midnight Ride Of Paul Revere.

"He who warned, uh, the…the British that they weren’t gonna be takin’ away our arms, uh, by ringin’ those bells and um by makin’ sure that as he’s ridin’ his horse through town to send those warnin’ shots and bells that uh we were gonna be secure and we were gonna be free…and we were gonna be armed."

[Dave (in MA)]

I tweaked the narcisolator so that it shows me
the troll's name but none of the blather.

[Chubby]

I thought sock puppetry was when a blogger posts a blog and then invents all kinds of commenters --sock puppets--to tell himself how wonderful he is. (or how wonderful *she* is if said blogger is a bloggerette.)

[daddy]

OT,

Don't know if you guys caught this story where the Editors of some Middle School year book in Arkansas included a list of The Five Most Evil People In History.

The 5 are as follows:

1) Adolf Hitler
2) Osama Bin Ladin
3) Charlie Manson
4) George Bush
5) Dick Cheney

Naturally parents are angry and hollering and the good news is that the students didn't vote on who went on the list, the Editors simply stuck it in.

But listening to Dennis Prager this morning on the issue he makes an excellent point. He starts by saying that this list comes from somewhere and we need to find out where.

But then his main point: Who is missing on this list?

Where are Mao, Stalin and Pol Pot? He maintains that in terms of collective evil and intentional human suffering, it should be a list including Adolf Hitler, but it would have to include Mao (50-70 million dead), Stalin (many many millions dead), and Pol Pot.

His point is that the monsters of the Left are specifically left off because he believes that whoever created this list is intent like so many Leftists, on never informing children of the evil of the left, only the evil of folks like Adolf or of folks who can be perceived as
being politically neutral or from the right, never from the Left.

Hope Dennis makes it into a column as it was such a well made point.

[anduril]

"A phony name made up by a user in order to masquerade as someone else on the Internet."

Can be done for various purposes.

[Clarice]

On the plane home from L.A. my husband's seat mate told him that when his daughter told a high school teacher she was head of the Young Republicans, he replied,"It's a good thing you don't vote."

Thoroughly infested.

[Appalled]

Posting under someone else's established handle is just rude. You can ridicule people pretty easily without resorting to that.

Besides, spoofing anduril would take up an awful lot of space, and the narciscolated members of your audience will not get the benefit of your creativity.

[Ignatz]

--His point is that the monsters of the Left are specifically left off because he believes that whoever created this list is intent like so many Leftists, on never informing children of the evil of the left, only the evil of folks like Adolf or of folks who can be perceived as
being politically neutral or from the right, never from the Left.--

Sadly I think it's worse than that.
I'm convinced, in their hearts, a lot of lefties don't think Mao or Stalin were all that evil, if evil at all.

Counterproductive? Maybe.
Bad PR? Certainly.
But is it actually evil to a leftist to try and usher in the left's utopian omelet even if it involves breaking a few hundred million inconvenient and uncooperative eggs? Don't bet on it.

[Ignatz]

--Posting under someone else's established handle is just rude. You can ridicule people pretty easily without resorting to that.--

Should political cartoonists stop drawing likenesses of people and putting words in their mouths?

[henry]

Well, no surprise here. Weiner pulls out of convention speech in Milwaukee.

[Danube of Thought]

"Posting under someone else's established handle is just rude."

On occasion a bit of deliberate rudeness is quite jolly.

[jimmyk]

Sock-puppetry is more akin to using a photograph of the person and writing a fake story in a real newspaper. If done expertly it can be easily recognized as a spoof, but I think it's a bad precedent.

However, to paraphrase DOT: "On the other hand, if there is to be injusticesock-puppetry, let it be visited on that low worm."

[cathyf]

Stalin (many many millions dead)

I've seen estimates for Stalin that put the Soviets higher than the Chinese. If you compare actual population growth from 1900 to 2000 to what would have been expected, it's like 200 million people. (That doesn't just include deaths, but people never born because their parents were killed, and also the Soviet Union had a ridiculously high abortion rate, and after 5-10 abortions lots of women couldn't get pregnant later when they wanted to...)

[Army of Davids]

Where are the 4 million jobs Nancy said ObamaCare would create?

[boris]

"using a photograph of the person and writing a fake story in a real newspaper"

Not IMO. The avatars are an obvious tell.

While avatar sock copy is possible it only seems to be done by and to cleo.

[cathyf]

Posting under someone else's established handle is just rude. You can ridicule people pretty easily without resorting to that.

Not to mention, posting under a (perhaps rude) parody of the parody-target's handle is more clever and doesn't generate confusion.

[Pofarmer]

And continuously high jackng threads with the same dim witted blathr isn't rude?

[glasater]

Boris beat me to it but C/Leo is the only commenter who uses the filthy language "it" does.
And why this go-round of attacks should be directed at Mark Wauk is far beyond my understanding.

[Danube of Thought]

continuously high jacking threads with the same dim witted blather

It's a disturbed, underdeveloped mind seeking attention. It's akin to the juvenile delinquent graffiti artist.

[jimmyk]

The avatars are an obvious tell.

I suppose, though us narcisolators can suppress the avatars without suppressing any particular poster.

The other issue is that for those of us who do use the narcisolator to block out certain posters, we end up getting subjected to all the cross-talk generated by the sock-puppetry without actually seeing the posts.

[anduril]

Posting under someone else's established handle is just rude. You can ridicule people pretty easily without resorting to that.

I think both points are correct. The real reason behind it is that this type of sock puppetry allows the perp to say things that he/she would be ashamed to say in their own persona. A good example would be the one I quoted above, with the expletives deleted.

if there is to be injusticesock-puppetry, let it be visited on that low worm.

IOW, the end justifies the means. Revealing.

Should political cartoonists stop drawing likenesses of people and putting words in their mouths?

An interesting example of deliberate but feigned incomprehension, designed to justify oneself to others who are deemed not so smart. Political cartoonists work under their own names, rather than assuming the identity of others. Thus, they're unable to say--or can be held accountable for saying--disgraceful things that they would be normally ashamed to have attributed to themselves. Obviously, people on this forum feel quite free to call me names or attribute false positions to me--as when they call me an anti-Semite. Virtually all who do so, however, do so in their own established identities and therefore don't descend lower than what is conventionally acceptable here. Which is to say, outright obscenity is rarely condoned, while it is quite acceptable to characterize anyone who questions US ME policy as an anti-Semite, without any other justification than that that other person happens to disagree with the CW of the majority.

Not to mention, posting under a (perhaps rude) parody of the parody-target's handle is more clever and doesn't generate confusion.

I would agree that that might be more acceptable, but for the fact that it leads to one person posting under several personae--again, the problem of lack of accountability for one's views and the possibility that one person will be posting differing views for specific effects. The obvious solution, well recognized around the internet, is for each person to select a persona and stick with it. Or if parody is their goal, the author should take credit for the parody. I've certainly seen many characterizations of my views that I consider to be parodies--some intentional, others unintentional. Almost always misguided.