Truthiness Indeed

Demonstrating that it takes one to know one, Paul Krugman calls out Eric Cantor, among others, for lies and deceit:

Moment of Truthiness

By PAUL KRUGMAN

We all know how democracy is supposed to work. Politicians are supposed to campaign on the issues, and an informed public is supposed to cast its votes based on those issues, with some allowance for the politicians’ perceived character and competence.

But with lying liars everywhere, how can truth possibly find its boots, let alone put them on?

But is even this modified, more realistic vision of democracy in action still relevant? Or has our political system been so degraded by misinformation and disinformation that it can no longer function?

Well, consider the case of the budget deficit — an issue that dominated Washington discussion for almost three years, although it has recently receded.

You probably won’t be surprised to hear that voters are poorly informed about the deficit. But you may be surprised by just how misinformed.

I will be surprised if this surprises me...

In a well-known paper with the discouraging title, “It Feels Like We’re Thinking,” the political scientists Christopher Achen and Larry Bartels reported on a 1996 survey that asked voters whether the budget deficit had increased or decreased under President Clinton. In fact, the deficit was down sharply, but a plurality of voters — and a majority of Republicans — believed that it had gone up.

We will come back to that. But history is repeating itself:

I wondered on my blog what a similar survey would show today, with the deficit falling even faster than it did in the 1990s. Ask and ye shall receive: Hal Varian, the chief economist of Google, offered to run a Google Consumer Survey — a service the company normally sells to market researchers — on the question. So we asked whether the deficit has gone up or down since January 2010. And the results were even worse than in 1996: A majority of those who replied said the deficit has gone up, with more than 40 percent saying that it has gone up a lot. Only 12 percent answered correctly that it has gone down a lot.

Am I saying that voters are stupid? Not at all. People have lives, jobs, children to raise. They’re not going to sit down with Congressional Budget Office reports. Instead, they rely on what they hear from authority figures. The problem is that much of what they hear is misleading if not outright false.

Ah, well. Another problem is that the national debt has been rising steadily even though the annual deficit has been falling, so casual obervers get confused.

Eric Cantor is eventually cited as one of the misleading authority figures:

The outright falsehoods, you won’t be surprised to learn, tend to be politically motivated. In those 1996 data, Republicans were much more likely than Democrats to hold false views about the deficit, and the same must surely be true today. After all, Republicans made a lot of political hay over a supposedly runaway deficit early in the Obama administration, and they have maintained the same rhetoric even as the deficit has plunged. Thus Eric Cantor, the third-ranking Republican in the House, declared on Fox News that we have a “growing deficit,” while Senator Rand Paul told Bloomberg Businessweek that we’re running “a trillion-dollar deficit every year.”

In yet another low self-awareness moment Krugman bemoans the loss of credibility of the mainstream media:

Still, aren’t there umpires for this sort of thing — trusted, nonpartisan authorities who can and will call out purveyors of falsehood? Once upon a time, I think, there were. But these days the partisan divide runs very deep, and even those who try to play umpire seem afraid to call out falsehood. Incredibly, the fact-checking site PolitiFact rated Mr. Cantor’s flatly false statement as “half true.”

Really? And why might they have rated a "flatly false" statement "half-true"? PolitFact is not known as a friend of the right. Let's see what Cantor and PolitFact said.

Cantor said, "What we are trying to do is fund the government and make sure also that we take away the kinds of things that are standing in the way of a growing economy (and) a better health care, and all the while keeping our eye focused on trying to deal with the ultimate problem, which is this growing deficit."

There’s one problem: The federal deficit isn’t "growing." At least not now.

"Not now" is the key caveat:

And the CBO projects that the deficit will continue to go down for two more years...

If CBO is on target, then by 2015, the deficit will be roughly a quarter of what it was in 2009.

In other words, Cantor is wrong about what has been happening to the deficit, and what is projected to happen in the near future.

After 2015, however, Cantor has a point -- the deficit begins growing again, according to CBO projections...

"The current baseline has deficits growing again in 2016, and even with his proposed tax increases, deficits are set to begin growing again in the out-years under President Obama’s own budget proposals," said Rory Cooper, Cantor’s spokesman. Cantor, he said, "is equally concerned with this long-term deficit trend" as he is with the shrinkage of the deficit in recent years.

So rather than take comfort in the nearly inevitable decline in the reduction of the deficit as the economy recovers from a dreadful recession, Cantor remains worried about the long term projections of a growing deficit (even as a percent of GDP). And this is irresponsible, deceitful leadership?

The Politfact ruling:

Cantor said that the federal deficit is "growing." Annual federal deficits are not growing right now, and they are not projected to grow through 2015, a point at which the deficit will have shrunk by three-quarters since 2009. By this standard, Cantor is wrong. However, unless policies are changed, deficits are projected to grow again in 2016 and beyond, according to the CBO. On balance, we rate his claim Half True.

So literalists and partisan pundits will claimn Cantor is wrong; folks actually evaluating our current path will have cause to worry about growing deficits.

ABOUT 1996: Let's flash back to 1996; this CNN story is from a few days after Derek and Mariano's first triumph together:

NEW YORK (CNN) White House officials announced on Monday that the budget deficit for the 1996 fiscal year was $107.3 billion, the smallest since 1981.
...

Administration officials have predicted that beginning next year the deficit will start to rise again. They cannot predict the exact figure but previously had estimated the 1997 deficit would be $144 billion.

In fact the deficit eventually turned to surplus, but survey respondents as of 1996 might have made the same argument Cantor is making today - the national debt was still rising and the long term outlook was for rising deficits.

TACKLING THE TOUGH ONES: Mariano, r u nutz? The Yankees had the best closer in baseball but never the best shortstop. But we won't go to WAR over this.

Comments

[Ignatz]

--The outright falsehoods, you won’t be surprised to learn, tend to be politically motivated.--

Is that better or worse than a guy whose veracity is politically motivated and motivated by how big a check Jeff Skilling mails him?

[Captain Hate on an iPhone]

Kruggers versus Cantor? Is there a third choice?

[narciso]

The Landler piece on the press conference was equally absurd.

[Clarice]

what difference does it make? No matter what Congress does, by executive fiat this Administration will just rewrite the laws to suit themselves. Does Krugman have anything to say about that not so small glitch?

[12_666_cathyf_hates_typepad_72]

As any grownup who has had to manage a household budget knows, the deficit is the proximate concern, while the debt is the ultimate concern.

When pollsters get cute (technically the government runs a surplus from April 10-20 every year!) the surveyed frequently will answer the question that the pollsters are obviously avoiding.

The only reason to pay any attention at all to the deficit is what it sums up to in debt. Just because Obama is no longer spending in drunken-sailor mode doesn't mean that we don't still owe all the money he borrowed, and that government deficits at any level will be more problematic in the future because of the overhanging debt from Obama's spending.

A frightening thought that I think very few Americans appreciate: the Italian government is bankrupt, while at the same time it has no current deficit. Yes, they have a huge debt that they cannot afford, but it is ALL from paying off OLD deficits. This is America's future, where our children tax themselves enough to pay everything that THEY spend, but are still broke because of everything OBAMA spent.

Krugman is a liar because he uses the deficit number, which is a snapshot which starts at zero every year. The number that matters is the change in debt from the beginning of term to the end. Yes, you can point to the drunk and say, "well he used to drink 2 fifths of gin a day and be drunk 24/7, but now he only drinks 1-1/2 fifths and now he's STILL drunk 24/7." Sure, you can say that the number is going in the right direction, but after he's dead of liver disease it really doesn't matter.

[Dublindave]

Bottom line: the deficit is shrinking.

"Oh no, it's going to rise again IN THE FUTURE". Yeah, yeah, yeah and in the future a giant meteor will hit the earth, robots will gather themselves into an army and Aliens will land in Boise, Idaho.

The deficit is shrinking. You don't need to worry your pretty little head about anything else America. Here,have a pretzel and shut the fuck up.

[pagar1]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323477604579000933006361834.html

"The Budget Sequester Is a Success"
-----------------------------------------------"This is America's future, where our children tax themselves enough to pay everything that THEY spend, but are still broke because of everything OBAMA spent."

Amen! We need cathyf writing the truth for the NYTs. Paul Krugman's articles are a complete waste of space, IMO.

The worst thing about the mess future generations will have to suffer to pay back is that neither we nor our children will have gained from anything the Obama regime has spent the money on, IMO.

[Ranger]

The same standards of "Truthiness" are being applied to the situation in Egypt apparently. Less then 20% of the population supports the Brotherhood, and after they stole the presidential election, they could only get 17% of the population to vote for their new constitution. But when the general population gets tired of their efforts to completely transform Egypt into an islamist state, and begs the Army to step in, everyone in DC heads for the fainting couches. Perhaps it's because that 17% number is roughly aligned with the number of Americans who consider themselves "Liberals" or "Progressives". Maybe the entrenched bureaucracy and the American political class, who are pretty much all Progs at their core feel a real kinship with the Brotherhood, as fellow members of a minority outlook trying to ram things down a country's throat.

[Ranger]

BTW, the BBC reports today that "Hundreds of people gathered at a mosque in Ramses Square on Friday, after the Muslim Brotherhood, of which Mr Morsi is a member, appealed to its supporters to join a "march of anger"."

That's right, hundreds of people, in a country of 44 million, and it's supposedly a national crisis for Egypt. Now, these hundreds did go out promptly and attack a police station, with earned them some of the promised lived rounds in return, but very, very well short of the huge crowds that peacefully protested to demand that the Morsi regime be removed.

[txantimedia]

Isn't boasting about the rate of increase in the debt (lower deficits) sort of like boasting about getting fatter slower? Gee, I've reduced my weight increase by 3 pounds this month. I'm down to only gaining 7 pounds a month now.

I guess when you have nothing to brag about you find something to brag about.

Sort of like, we cut the budget by 15% meaning we reduced the increase by 15% to only 25% instead of 28%.

In the end it's only words, right?

[Account Deleted]

"In the end it's only words, right?"

Not exactly. The deficit reduction is achieved by the blood sucking IRS leeches ripping any hope of economic growth right out of our pockets in order buy Ms Jeantel her fourth BOzophone.

[Jim Miller]

I have often wondered whether Paul Krugman would understand you if you said to him this one word: "Projection."

I suspect not.

[DrJ]

No, the federal budget has gotten smaller (Moore, WSJ):

Consider the numbers: According to the Congressional Budget Office, annual outlays peaked at $3.598 trillion in fiscal 2011. After President Obama's first two years in office, many in Washington expected that number to hit $4 trillion by 2014. Instead, spending fell to $3.537 trillion in fiscal 2012, and is on pace to fall below $3.45 trillion by the end of this fiscal year (Sept. 30). The $150 billion budget decline of 4% is the first time federal expenditures have fallen for two consecutive years since the end of the Korean War.

[bgates]

Senator Rand Paul told Bloomberg Businessweek that we’re running “a trillion-dollar deficit every year.”

Whereas the CBO reports the actual deficits for 2009-12 as follows (in billions of dollars):
-1,412.7
-1,293.5
-1,295.6
-1,087.0

-so he's clearly understating the problem. In fact, the federal government would be averaging a trillion dollar deficit each year of Obama's presidency if the deficit this year were zero.

[NK]

RickB-- it's even worse than that, much worse. The $7TRILLIOB, that's right TRILLION Obummer's added to the Debt, every bond Obummer generated with a term of 5 years or less has been or will need to be refied. And in the past 6 months we have begun the great interest rate rise-- so all future refis will be from artificially low rates (per Ben B's QE) to ever higher rates. That's right we will perpetually be refiing the current $17TRILLION debt with ever INCRASING rates. I shutter what our annual interest blll will be in 3-4 years. Debt is a civilization killer-- Obummer's debt will kill American civilization. But Herr Doktor Krugman says "all is kinda well". What an effin' disgrace.

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

Paul says we're in a Golden Age of Economic Discourse, thanks to the internet. Guess this proves him right.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/15/the-good-web/?_r=0&gwh=8A24E13022A95797A9F3CC901E4835BF

[Clarice]

Tie the Obama's to the WH and reduce their horde of tax paid fluffers and watch the federal budget shrink a lot more.

[bgates]

No, the federal budget has gotten smaller

Spending fell in the period 2011-12 from $3.598T to $3.537T - a 1.7% decrease - after rising in the period 2008-11 from $2.982T to $3.598T - a 17% increase. It's Obama's version of the old joke about making a small fortune in real estate by starting with a large fortune. He makes the deficit problem slightly better by first making it much worse.

[Clarice]

Yeah, bgates but don't forget he ADDED 7 states.

[DrJ]

bgates, that's right: the (very modest) federal budget decline is measured from a high starting point. But it is not right to say simply that the rate of growth is slowing -- the actual spending is down too.

[GMax]

Remember being told how horrible the sequester was and how there was going to be horrible consequences? Your federal government at work:

The Homeland Security Department spent $600,000 apiece to build houses in Arizona that would have gone for less than $100,000, according to a report in the Arizona Republic that’s raising questions in Congress.

“This type of spending is irresponsible as our nation faces significant budget deficits and the men and women in the Border Patrol face cuts in overtime that are essential to their mission,” Rep. Ron Barber, the Arizona Democrat in whose district the homes were built, said in a statement Friday.

The Republic said Homeland Security built 21 homes and bought 20 other mobile homes for $15 million. Comparable homes go for between $70,000 and $100,000, the paper said. The homes were build to be rented to border agents and officers.

[Rob Crawford]

Dangit, my earlier comment got lost:

"Why do we pay attention to what the unindicted Enron co-conspirator Krugman says?"

[centralcal]

Yes, tie the Obamas to the WH and spare us scenes like this:

good grief

[34_666_cathyf_hates_typepad_61]

Ok, I'll try a few lines at a time...

[34_666_cathyf_hates_typepad_61]

In order to more honestly count the deficit, you should also take out the TARP and TARP-like programs if they have been paid back. So take it out of the deficit (make the deficit smaller) the years that the money went out, and take it out of the deficit (make the deficit bigger) during the years that it came back. I have never seen any attempt to do the arithmetic that way (and I'm not sure where to go find the data), but I have this sneaking suspicion that we would see the 2009-2010-2011 numbers get a lot flatter.

[Account Deleted]

"the actual spending is down too"

DrJ,

I find slightly different numbers when looking at the CBMagic8Ball projections cited by TM. Yes, total spending will drop (maybe) by $82B in '13 but IRSVampire Inc. is projected to suck an additional $363B from the arteries of the productive as well.

[NK]

CC-- how can a skinny guy look so stupid on a bicycle? Put some black road pants on, a no advert white drywick shirt, a reasonably priced carbon framed american made bike, proper sport shades... done. Hit the road; Get the heart rate up... enjoy... even if you have to eat a bit of asphalt and the photogs catch it. What is up with this guy.

[GMax]

Any reduction of the deficit that does not result in an annual surplus, is by definition spending money we dont have ( borrowing ).

Any positive we are seeing right now, however slight is solely because congressional republicans insisted that the sequester go into effect, Bozo ran around the country like Chicken Little screaming the sky was falling and then in a childish snit shut the White House to public tours when he did not get his way.

I say we sequester again, starting with Obamaphones and Homeland Security...

[Ignatz]

--The deficit is shrinking. You don't need to worry your pretty little head about anything else America.--

Didn't it start shrinking about the time the Republicans took over the House? I believe it did.

-- shut the fuck up. --

Short expiration date on that promise.

[NK]

GMax-- well, as RickB points out FY '13 tax receipts are up significantly--primarily from the restored payroll taxes and payroll taxes from more jobs than 2012. The higher marginal top/cap gains rates are bad for the economy as RickB points out. Your overall point is of course right-- the $700B deficit THIS YEAR is a disgrace. Half of it results from Obummer's/Dem 2009-2010 orgy of spending. The bumped up 'baseline' the expanded MediCaid spending, the wide open 'SSA Disability' and SNAP spending. Those have added hundreds of billions to spending EVERY Year. Cut that spending to ZERO-- then freeze spending at that actual level until tax collections catch up. Borrowing more is a disater and immoral for the next generation.

[bgates]

That's right, hundreds of people, in a country of 44 million, and it's supposedly a national crisis for Egypt.

Egypt's population is over 80 million.

[Ranger]

Good catch bgates. Was working from memory and that's what it was quite a while ago when I first started studying the area. That's what I get for not double checking before posting.

[Porchlight]

I never realized how knock-kneed he looks on that bike. Sheesh.

[JIB]

NK,

Are you saying in your1:50pm post that Trek is not an American made bike? Made in Wisconsin. I have had a Trek bike since 1976. My latest one is from 1999. Sweet!

But I refuse to buy Nike anymore and go New Balance for tennis and fitness. Just got a new Babolat racket and Frederick and I went to hit balls the other day and it is the best racket I have ever used in the modern era.

[Some Guy]

AP – Doctors today reported that the total number of brain cells dying in Paul Krugsman head everyday have declined. When asked for comment, Krugman declared, “my brain cell deficit is falling, and anyone who says otherwise is a liar”. The Associated Press reached out to numerous individuals, but was unable to find anyone who would comment on the record whether or not Dr. Krugman had any brain cells.

[Janet]

cc,
Is that pic from the vacation he's on now?
What a doofus! Oh my goodness...

How ANYONE ever thought he was cool is beyond me.

[Account Deleted]

Porchlight,

Look at a few photos showing the position of his feet on the pedals when actually riding. He didn't learn to ride as a kid and I'd love to watch him on a steep dirt downhill, preferably with a lot of trees next to a tight trail.

I wonder who was charged with releasing him from his locker at the end of his typical school day?

[Account Deleted]

Porchlight,

Look at a few photos showing the position of his feet on the pedals when actually riding. He didn't learn to ride as a kid and I'd love to watch him on a steep dirt downhill, preferably with a lot of trees next to a tight trail.

I wonder who was charged with releasing him from his locker at the end of his typical school day?

[NK]

Trek is a wonderful american company-- I am not a bike expert -- I know my Specialized, was assembled in the USA (Shimano gears/brakes of course)-- don't know how much Trek assembles in the USA at this point-- but a Trek road bike for Obummer would be fine.

My wife and I play Babolat racquets, and NB shoes as well. This year the 'hot' tennis shoe in Ct. was ASICS, those actually fit my toe box as well, I might go with them for indoor.

[Janet]

Wearing helmets while riding a bike on a rural bike trail kills me too. It's ridiculous....

[NK]

RickB-- I will never EVER criticize anyone for Mountain trail riding form. I went out trail riding for the first time in Ireland, with BIL#! expert 'technical' trail rider, BIL#2 novice and 20yo Nephew Novice-- the tour leader was a BRIT retired SAS grunt who had duty in North Africa in the 90s. I BAILED on the treeless training hill, everything was backwards from road biking, and I didn't want an Irish Wake (and slow the group down). So I rode the Golf Course cart paths and roads around the resort--on an Austrian mountain bike. At least the weather was nice. 3 hours later the group came back-- lotta crashes, fair amount of blood, the 20yo went over the handle bars, and a stone wall, and novice BIL had a near miss with a baby pram. They loved it, but I made the right call for me. I'll stick to the smooth road thank you.

[NK]

Any POTUS should always wear headgear on any bike, anywhere, all the time, IMO.

[Porchlight]

I'd love to watch him on a steep dirt downhill, preferably with a lot of trees next to a tight trail.

Rick,

Somewhat like this?

[Ignatz]

--Look at a few photos showing the position of his feet on the pedals when actually riding.--

Somebody get the dumbass some toe clips.

[NK]

Thanks Porch-- I admire GWB even more now for learning how to trail ride at his age. I know I can't hack it.

[NK]

Ignatz-- TOE CLIPS? what is this 1977 in the movie "Breaking Away". SPDs please.

[Stephanie]

Why doesn't Obama wear bike shorts?

Hell who wears pants on any bike? Any novice rider can tell you about the pitFALLS of pants and bike chains. Idiot.

[Abadman]

I thought during the Clinton Years the Total Debt still rose. Looking at both income tax and SS receipts made the cash flow positive, but we still wrote IOUs to the SS trust fund that raised the total debt. How can this be viewed as a surplus?

Also with the FED buying mortgages from Fannie and Freddie at what, 40 billion a month, how much of the money Fannie and Freddie repaid us came out of our own pockets?

[daddy]

Here's how I know that the Racism/Sexism charges flung around by the Left in this country are bogus.

UPS crashed a jet a few days back in Birmingham. It has turned out now that the Captain was a Black guy and the co-pilot was a Woman.

At AirlinePilot Central, a no holds barred forum for blabber mouthed, loud mouthed, pompous pilots to comment to their hearts content, in 22 pages of comments there have been zero comments blaming the accident on the fact that the pilots are a Black and/or a Woman.

In the racist/sexist society that the Left constantly keeps trying to tell us exists just below the surface here in the States, slurs of incompetence and of "Equal Opportunity hires" would have been slung around as casually as they were slung around last month with the Korean Asiana Pilots (Sum Tin Wong, Wi Too Lo, etc.)

Blacks and Women make up an extremely small portion of the pilots in this country. US Pilots are overwhelmingly (probably 85 to 90 percent) White males, many of whom are former Military macho boys with relatively strong opinions about their competence as related to everybody else in society. That after 22 pages of comments I've yet to find a single one of those pompous jackasses blaming the UPS crash on Blacks, Women, or Rodeo Clowns, tells me this society is doing just fine in the Racism/Sexism department.

[Porchlight]

Yes, NK, GWB is the guy. Here he is helping push a fellow rider up a hill in Palo Duro during the annual Wounded Warrior 100K:

I wouldn't fault Obama so much for being a wuss if he didn't make himself out to be the world's gift to athletics. GWB is better at everything (on and off the field) and yet modest. The contrast couldn't be starker.

[NK]

Daddy-- your reference to 'this society' i assume means the pilot community. I have no doubts THAT community is doing just fine. Our political class and Media Elites howver are very sick people and a very sick society.

PS: You be safe Daddy, too many cargo crashes recently for my taste.

[Stephanie]

BTW it's 65 degrees in Atlanta today. In August.

I was gonna go play golf but I'd have to go up into the attic and find my winter golf clothes.

IN AUGUST.

[Ignatz]

--Any POTUS should always wear headgear on any bike, anywhere, all the time, IMO.--

In my lifetime I can only think of one or two presidents who wouldn't have been noticeably improved by at least one forceful impact to the cranium, unimpeded by a helmet or any other safety device.

[Janet]

The Sierra Club needs to be investigated.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/08/15/Former-Obama-EPA-Head-Contacted-Lobbyist-from-Private-Email-Account

"According to the Competitive Enterprise Institute's report, Alison Taylor, a vice president for Siemens who was a lobbyist for the company, "emailed Jackson's 'Richard Windsor' account in December 2009 asking if Jackson 'might be able to spare a few minutes to meet with Siemens' global sustainability officer (who is my boss) Barbara Kux.'"

"She'd like to meet you and to express her support for your good work on climate," Taylor wrote.

Jackson, according to records, sent a second email in which she wrote: "P.S. Can you use my home email rather than this one when you need to contact me directly? Tx, Lisa."

CEI discovered that "Siemens spent more than $5 million lobbying the federal government, including the EPA, in 2009."

Jackson also sent emails to a Sierra Club executive director from her personal Verizon account."

[NK]

GWB had many political faults. But he is a better man and Christian than I am. Like I said, learning how to trail bike well at his age, just amazes me after my epic fail trying to trail bike for the first time, and using trail bikeing for good works is fantastic.

Back to Obummer-- in that photo, whaddaya think, Obummer is cranking maybe 40RPM and 5MPH? maybe?

[centralcal]

Yes, from his current vacay, Janet. Michelle is all decked out this year, too, in white pants, white tank top and what appears to be pearl earrings, with her hair down and not pulled back into a "nub."

[Porchlight]

It rained here in central TX last night, Stephanie. Middle of August. Mr. Porch's band's outdoor show got canceled - no one could even believe it.

Nice to have the dust washed away before October, though.

[centralcal]

Here you go - a link to the biking photos and a short video (quite giggle and snort worthy) of the Tour de Martha's Vineyard by the Obama family.

[Stephanie]

It's rained here most of the summer. Went to see Banks and Shane at an outdoor venue a few weekends ago and got wet. Thought you Texans were tough. :D

My tan sure sux this year, though.

[NK]

Obummer is peddling with his arches? Oi--

stephanie-- are you the rosd rider? still riding?

[Ignatz]

--SPDs please.--

I still prefer toe clips.

Of course I also prefer this;

to this;

[NK]

Road rider....

[NK]

Ignatz with the leather helmet... an Homage to Eddie Merckx!! (sp)

[GMax]

Friend of mine, Marty, who is a big mountain bike enthusiast was telling me the tale of his downhill ride on a steep trail with his first go at some brand new toe clips. Hits brakes at some point and cant seem to disengage from the bike. I ask, "What did you do?" He laughs. "Well it was pretty much Marty, bike, Marty, bike, Marty, bike, Marty, bike the rest of the way down the hill."

Did not seem to deter him, other than I think he got different toe clips...

[NK]

The idea of clipping into pedals on a mountain bike, and riding DOWN a trail, terrifies me.

[Ignatz]

The NYT provides the Muslim Brotherhood with a soapbox to denounce the evil Egyptian military for imposing their own coup upon the MB's.
Wonder if the NYT archives have a guest editorial by Hess denouncing the peaceful Hitler's unjust arrest after the Beer Hall Putsch.

[Dave (in MA)]

Hell who wears pants on any bike?

Well, if I didn't, people would probably call the cops.

[Ranger]

The BBC's live feed today is interesting, as you can see the Brotherhood attempting to establish their "narrative" in the Western media. They are trying to convince everyone who will listen that this is a massive suppression of the will of the Egyptian people. But, there are a couple of interesting posts that slip through the narrative construction apparatus:

Shams el Adaliagi, Bagshot, UK emails: My sister and her children live in very close proximity to the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque. My sister is one of many residents who submitted a complaint to the courts to evict the demonstrators from this densely populated area. The Nasr city residents have lived in hell the past few months. I have few friends of mine who were members of the party. They all left the party due to the extreme views held by the party hardliners.

...

1615: Hugh Sykes BBC News reports: On road away from Ramses, there is a rough barricade with men with iron bars at a crossroads, who say they will attack any Muslim Brothers they see. There are many people around here who regard themselves as devout Muslims but who object to the Brotherhood's brand of political Islam. The situation is very unpredictable - what will the authorities do if crowds stay on the streets past the curfew?

...

1657: Ahmed Maher BBC Arabic, Alexandria tells BBC World: There are two different views from the Corniche, the vast coast road lined with military tanks. On the beach there are families enjoying themselves, who say they are fed up of politics and life must go on, while to the east there is a large protest rally by the Muslim Brotherhood.

...

1655: It is not just the security forces who are armed. This image, also supplied by AP, reportedly shows a Morsi supporter with a pistol in Ramses Square in Cairo:

I suspect the Brotherhood itself thinks they have a lot more support then they actually do at this point, but I suspect the people of Egypt for the most part are very willing to let the Army teach the Brotherhood a very overdue lesson.

[NK]

The Military BETTER win in Egypt.

[matt]

"Obama is better looking than Boosh. He iss a better dresser than Boosh. He had more hair! He told funnier jokes! And he can dance the pants off of Boosh!..."

Valerie Jarrett

A buddy of mine had a life threatening crash on a mountain bike a number of years ago. I don't see how I could wear clips. I always had pretty good form.

I just can't stand the spandex wearing fruits these days riding in herds blocking traffic, crowding Starbucks wearing those clickety clackety shoes acting as if they are in the peleton from Arras to Urspincter.

Here in CA every sport requires the right uniform right down to you Lance Armstrong licensed neoprene jockstrap. I liked GWB's style the helping that kid up the hill. Old school rules!

[narciso]

And Al Jazeera starts broadcasting on 48 milllion homes, next Tuesday, their giring of Soledad among others, is a sign they are trawling the LIVs

[Ignatz]

In Hollywood, if you believe in building secret alien space cathedrals and landing pads you are loved and rewarded handsomely whereas if you believe in crazy stuff like the constitution you may find yourself blacklisted.

[narciso]

Well the puppetmaster strings were too apparent;

http://minx.cc/?post=342567

[Dave (in MA)]

Far be it from me to defend the JEMF, but I don't see the need for toe clips, spandex pants and "dry wick" shirts for toodling around on vacay.

[Threadkiller]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COmLAYFwzQE

[centralcal]

I agree Dave (in MA). It is not what Obama is wearing (well, the socks are a little dainty) that gives me the giggles, it is how poorly he does whatever athletic thing he is doing. Poorly, poorly, poorly - yet the media all swoons.

Me, I just snort, giggle, and roll my eyes.

[NK]

DaveMa-- you don't happen to wear cut off jeans and high top Jordans to play tennis do you?

[Threadkiller]

Or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baOsltOKtEU

[Stephanie]

Road biker? Not me. That's Janet if you are talking hogs.

My foray on a motorized bike has been to drop a scooter in Key West. In traffic. Burned my daughter's leg lots of cuts and bruises to us both AND lost a sapphire tennis bracelet and a diamond tennis bracelet which I think must have broken when I hit the ground with my hands and I didn't notice for about an hour that they were missing. VERY expensive accident. I have hence been banned from all two wheeled conveyances.

[Thomas Collins]

I am going to defend our POTUS. Obama the biker is positively Tour de France-like as compared with Obama the baseball pitcher!

[Frau Wilhelm Tell]

Janet, both the Sierra Club and Greenpeace depend on useful idiots to keep the donations rolling in for their carpy agendas--just as crazy as the LaRoucheans. These parasites camp outside banks and Trader Joe's markets.
Pfui!

My husband observed that the preezy is required to *execute* the laws of the land and not *kill* them. When will Congress call him on it? Ever?

[polly]

Well, even though O is at Martha's Vineyard, work goes on at The WH! Solar panels are being put up. Jimmy Carter did this, RR took down, and now they are going up again. Money for that and yet, still, no WH tours. Pitiful.

[rub-a-duck]

"Deficits don't matter" Trick Cheney.

Oh, wait. Now they do !

[NK]

Debt can be a useful tool for public finance, especially for capital projects that benefit public amenities and commerce--
TRUE

Insane levels of Debt used to pay day-to-day expenses such as Medicaid fees paid to immigrant doctors, SNAP funds for Mountain Dew for obese pre-teens, ObamaPhones and useless solar panels at 1600 Penn Ave, is a disaster-- ALSO TRUE

[GMax]

Here for the eternally dense Dana Ward, I will pull this from that great conservative blog "DAILY KOS":

What Cheney meant was that the deficit didn't matter to the electorate, which voted in Republicans, despite having been told throughout the nineties that "balancing the budget" and reducing the National government's deficit was the holy grail.

Too stupid to be a professor, but hey not too stupid to be a "retired professor".

[Dave (in MA)]

NK, last time I played I probably had on non-cutoff jeans and store brand multi-purpose athletic shoes of some kind.

[NK]

The Deficit, the Debt and Interest on the Debt -- long-term interest rates continue their alomost 4 continous month rise. The USA is like the OWS kid who took out $100K in student debt for a useless Art History degree. the kid's real problem isn't whether the rate is 4% or 6%, it's the $100K nut and the fact it was debt for a useless degree thatgot him a 29hr job at sam's Club-- the higher the rate though , the worse it is. Obummer has used the USA's credit card to buy $7TRILLION of USELESS NOTHING; now we have $17TRILLION in Debt, and almost 3% 10 year interest, and rising, on that debt. We'll be paying $1TRILLION/year in interest before you know it. Disaster-- there'll be some kind of USA default, outright or inflation. One or the other, it matters not.

[NK]

Dave@4:49-- heh.

[daddy]

From Breitbart we learn that Clarice is a "he", not a "she."

HISTORIAN DIANA WEST SHAKES UP COLD WAR NARRATIVE

American Thinker published another broadside attack on West’s work written by Clarice Feldman. Feldman claimed that he does not normally write about feuds between authors and writers but that in this case he is doing so “not to attack West whose work I have not read, but to point out the dangers of demagogic writers...

[rse]

I have been too busy the last few days to catch up on all the threads. Has anyone put up this response?

http://frontpagemag.com/2013/john-earl-haynes-and-harvey-klehr/was-harry-hopkins-a-soviet-spy/

Hello everybody.

[Danube on iPad]

How far are you from the Brazos, Porch?

[daddy]

Any POTUS should always wear headgear on any bike, anywhere, all the time, IMO.

Rare disagreement. We are raising a nation of pussies. I will not wear a Bicycle helmet ever. If I'm President I'm going helmet-less, regardless if it's PC or not.

[rub-a-duck]

Revisionist Reactionary;

No link? Me either. But this is plastered all over the web, fyi

"The president had promised to cut taxes, and he did. Within six months of taking office, he pushed a trillion dollars worth of tax cuts through Congress.
But O'Neill thought it should have been the end. After 9/11 and the war in Afghanistan, the budget deficit was growing. So at a meeting with the vice president after the mid-term elections in 2002, Suskind writes that O'Neill argued against a second round of tax cuts.

"Cheney, at this moment, shows his hand," says Suskind. "He says, 'You know, Paul, Reagan proved that deficits don't matter. We won the mid-term elections, this is our due.' … O'Neill is speechless."

"It was not just about not wanting the tax cut. It was about how to use the nation's resources to improve the condition of our society," says O'Neill. "And I thought the weight of working on Social Security and fundamental tax reform was a lot more important than a tax reduction."

Did he think it was irresponsible? "Well, it's for sure not what I would have done," says O'Neill.

The former treasury secretary accuses Vice President Dick Cheney of not being an honest broker, but, with a handful of others, part of "a praetorian guard that encircled the president" to block out contrary views. "This is the way Dick likes it," says O'Neill."

Dicks gotta be dicks.

[daddy]

In my lifetime I can only think of one or two presidents who wouldn't have been noticeably improved by at least one forceful impact to the cranium, unimpeded by a helmet or any other safety device.

Iggy,

Your comment reminded me of this somewhat famous snark delivered by Huxley concerning the death of a famous Darwin opponent:

The single most famous religious confrontation in his lifetime was a public debate in which Bishop Samuel Wilberforce asked Darwin’s supporters (Darwin was not there himself), “Was it from your mother’s side or your father’s side that you were descended from an ape?” The reply from T.H. Huxley, as reported and polished up by himself, was one of the best retorts ever: “If the question is whether I would rather have a miserable ape for a grandfather or a man of means and influence who uses these gifts to introduce ridicule into a grave scientific discussion, I unhesitatingly affirm my preference for the ape!” Years later Wilberforce fell off his horse, landed on his head and was killed. Huxley’s comment on the event was, “For once, reality and his brain came into contact, and the result was fatal.”

[Extraneus]

Obama lied, government spied.

[Extraneus]

Obama lied, privacy died.

[Account Deleted]

Ranger,

I believe the rotten stench of the progressive failure known as Arab Spring is keeping things quiet in the Googleplex. Kinetically unfriending a couple of journos on day one was helpful to the Egyptian military PR effort and I'm seeing reports (with photos) of MB terrorists firing on medical first responders.

The Green Helmet photos from the mosque/morgues are unconvincing and I believe the MB is breaking Mahometan rules by littering mosques with corpses for more than 24 hours. Isn't there a "plant 'em by sunset" rule?

Shouldn't Facebook be highlighting black bordered home pages in support of those who have given their last tweet for the MB?

[Threadkiller]

Obama lied, TK gets the chide.

[narciso]

Some interesting doubleunplusgood details;

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324139404579015061439067186.html

[Threadkiller]

The first rule of "Mahometan rules" is "there are no rules".