Life's Little Mysteries, or, What's The Matter With Indiana?

The Times puzzles over why the good people of the great state of Indiana aren't giving Obama credit for the economic recovery:

Obama Gets Scant Credit in Indiana Region Where Recovery Was Robust

Eventually they get to the obvious answer (Spoiler - they're racist haters! Ahh, you'd already guessed...) but they have a few stumbles along the way:

Billboards proclaim, “Hiring: Welders. Up to $23/hour,” but for all the progress, many people here — like Americans elsewhere — harbor unshakable anxiety about stagnant wages, their economic future and the erosion of the middle class generally. Antigovernment resentments over past bank bailouts linger, stoked by candidates in both parties (though taxpayers got their money back, with dividends). And social issues such as abortion, gun rights, same-sex marriage, the Affordable Care Act and immigration loom larger than any other for some voters.

Uhh, immigration is a social issue now? It surely represents a mix of cultural sensitivities and economic vexation, but even Team Obama notes that there is a strong economic current flowing through the discussion. And even the Times editors have given space to the notion that importing unskilled workers depresses the wages of the native unskilled. But today it is just another social issue like abortion.

More puzzlement:

For Mr. Obama, pondering his legacy and hearing how it is debated in the contest for his successor, the dearth of credit is plainly vexing. “We avoided a Great Depression,” he interjected during an onstage interview last month in Austin, Tex., adding sardonically, “Thanks, Obama.”

Please applaud.

Few people here are thanking him for their recovery, despite benefits from the administration’s $800 billion stimulus package — Mr. Obama came here in August 2009 to personally announce one grant — and from the rescues of the auto and financial industries.

The rescue of the financial industry? Let's nod to the Fed with their multiple QE programs and put The Times reporters among the group that is hazy as to whether TARP was a Bush or Obama program. Of course the GM bailout was begun under Bush as well, but Obama really did take ownership of that, and the company.

As expected, the Times is bringing people together:

Brian A. Howey, publisher of the Howey Politics Indiana newsletter and once a reporter in Elkhart, sounded stumped, even allowing for the state’s conservatism: “I’m a lifelong Hoosier. I’m just amazed that not only do people not appreciate what happened in ’09, but there’s a lot of hostility toward Obama. I think part of it is racial and a lot of it is political.”

President Tee Time doesn't get the credit he deserves because of the haters. Whatever.

Comments

[common man]

Oh Yeah first again

[lyle]

Yeah, you wingnutz. Barry is only half black. One can barely envision the h8 if his momma wuz black as well.

[Destiny Ignatz]

Let's see; Barry isn't getting credit for the stupendous recovery.
There are two basic reasons this might be;
1. Barry, for whatever reason, isn't getting proper credit.
2. It's stupendousness is not such that he deserves credit but rather scorn.

Hmm, our lefty perceptions about the inherent stupendousness of all things lefty can never be in doubt so we'll go with racism for a thousand Alex.

[henry]

Gee, the wonderful nitwits running Illinois should take a bow... They drive companies out of IL into Indiana (thank Daniels & right to work) and Wisconsin (Walker and right to work). All the IL machine does is raise pensions and taxes. The doofus in the beltway does slow things down everywhere though.

[daddy]

how many JOMers does it take to change a light bulb? :)

7.

1 to carefully twist the old one it out of the threads.
1 to carefully twist the new one into the threads.
1 to Lauren the threads, and...

[daddy]

and 4 to Scroll on by.

[Threadkiller]

A Bulber thread?

::groan::

[lyle]

"Lauren the threads"?

[henry]

A typo on a Larwin... that's a twofer.

[Stephanie]

Cheerleader, answer to your question two threads back...

Are you interested in an Oracle db, an access database or housing the entire thing in Excel?

That size db is not very large, so I would recommend the latter two.

Is the database stored as a single flat file? If so, do you want to run reports on the file? In that case, I recommend storing it as an Excel spreadsheet and using form tools to do the reports.

email me at [email protected] if you want to take this offsite to discuss.

[daddy]

...and another 3 to comment on spelling [email protected]#$%^

[daddy]

What's The Matter With Indiana?

So Miss Marple is officially a racist now?

Good. Thanks for that, TM.
I was sweating that she was going to remain only a quasi-racist.

Congratulations Miss M!

Did you ever swap spit with Robert Byrd?

[Threadkiller]

A Byrder thread??

::double groan::

[henry]

Strange crossing of streams. High winds in Indiana blow concrete block wall onto car.... watch to the end and see it was a Chipotle sign before it blew over. One way to stop food poisoning.

[I mighta misspelled it, too]

Larwyn, and where is she?

[Momto2]

Q: How many Democrats does it take to change a lightbulb ?

A: None. "Why should we impose our values on the lightbulb ? If it wishes to be a lightbulb of no light, we should respect its uniqueness and individuality."

[[email protected]]

odd that Obama carried Indiana in the 08 general.

iirc Indiana was the world headquarters of RV builders and when gas went to 4-ish/gal the bottom dropped out of the RV market and the MRAP build helped but not enough. Did they benefit from the fracking boom?

should just read the article since TM posted about it.

[narciso]

hey rich how have you been,

yes, details left out of the story,

[daddy]

None. "Why should we impose our values on the lightbulb ?

Winner! Well done Mommato2! Or should I pronounce that "Mo may toe?"

[Wish you could bottle her essence.]

Heh, now I seem to recall that Larwyn misspelled her own name sometimes.

[Momto2]

That means a lot coming from you, daddy!
Wish it was original but hey - I figure I get some points for stealing a joke that made us smile. So much political angst gives me a headache.

I'll stick with Momma or Mom :)

[[email protected]]

Obama just gets no respect...

>>>Mr. Obama sought to help the county diversify, with $39 million from the stimulus money to develop electric trucks at a former R.V. factory. But the effort fizzled, the owners sold the plant and now it is back to making R.V.s exclusively.<<<

[[email protected]]

and all the details I mentioned were in the article, surprisingly.

23/hr for a skilled welder seems on the low end though even for Indiana.

all is well narciso. made some "gourmet" hamburgers tonight (still working off the cart from the other day)...

ground beef 1/2 lb patties
seasoned with some salt, pepper, oregano
topped with provolone, bacon, French fried onions

[narciso]

good to know,

caution rocket surgery at work

https://twitter.com/BiellaColeman/status/716679045887315968

[Gentlejim]

The trades can offer all the wages they want. They can't get applicants that can pass a simple math test much less a drug screen. If they manage the first two they don't have a valid driver's license.

[[email protected]]

what's even more interesting is that Bush carried Indiana by 20 in 2004 and McCain lost it by a point in '08. Romney righted the ship and won in by 10 in '12. Goes to show what sort of a dog campaign McCain ran.

[jimmyk]

“We avoided a Great Depression,” he interjected

He could have also said, with as much relevance:

"We avoided the bubonic plague."

"We avoided invasion by aliens (at least the kind from outer space)."

"We avoided nuclear armageddon."

"We avoided attacks of killer tomatoes."

Thanks, Obama.

[Gentlejim]

Narc,
We now know one more person that was out for recess when brains were handed out.

[jimmyk]

She's the "Wolfe Chair in Scientific and Technological Literacy" at McGill, so what does that tell you?

[jimmyk]

Goes to show what sort of a dog campaign McCain ran.

More like how many got swept up in Obama fever in '08, realized they'd been duped in '12. Why the latter wasn't 100% of the former is a an everlasting mystery.

[[email protected]]

she should have an editor for her tweets ... couldn't make a lick of sense out of what she wrote.

I also hear that Krugman is disappointed about Obama avoiding the space alien invasion.

[lyle]

Why should we impose our values on the lightbulb?

Don't get me started on the "privilege" of the higher watt bulbs vs the lower watt bulbs. Or the the "three way" bulbs. Thank Gaia for the great equalizer: the rheostat or the dimmer switch...

[Porchlight]

I believe there was some "help" from Chicago peeps for Barry in Gary in '08. WI wasn't going to be a problem so they had extra flunkies to send in the opposite direction. Still, a 21-point swing in four years - ugh.

[[email protected]]

jimmyk-

millions stayed home just so they wouldn't be called racist. and was the alternative really all that appealing.

an election question: how many times in US history has a winning candidate won re-election with fewer votes in his second run?

[narciso]

A link heavy post, I put together, for the heck of it,

[[email protected]]

Porchlight-

Indiana was one of the stranger election stories of 2008.

[daddy]

On catch-up it strikes me how many times Repubs and the Right in general are clobbered over things that are untrue or nonexistent, whereas the Left gets away with so much stuff that actually does exist.

For instance The big Indiana story about the Pizza or Cake shop that, in response to a hypothetical Media Question, they probably would not have baked a cake for the Gays.

Or the Duke LaCrosse rapes.
Or the UVA Fraternity House/Rolling Stone rapes.
Or Mattress Girl.
Or the Matthews to Trump question, "If abortion was illegal..."
Or the Michelle Fields, "he almost pulled me down."
Or Sarah Palin's non-existent intentional targeting of Gabby Giffords for shooting.
Or the violent protesters at all the Tea Party rallys.
And at the Trump Rally's.
And our racist Dog Whistles.
Or the Dan Rather/Mary Mapes "lets type some 1970's Bush slurs on 2004 typewriters.
Or Rove/Cheney put out a hit on Valerie Plame.

Yet on the Dem side,

Rahm Emanual hides the videotape.
Sandy Berger steals the documents.
Chuck Schumer steals Michael Steeles SSN's.
Bagdad Jim McDermott illegally leaks illegally recorded phone tapes and lies about it.
Hillary and the FBI files, or the Rose Billing Records, or Cattle Futures, or the unsecured E-mails, or "it was a Muhammed video regardless what I texted my daughter and the Egyptian foreign minister guy.
Bill never had sex with that woman, Ms Lewinsky, not a single time.
Or Jon Corzine and the missing $1.5 Billion.
Or Holder lying under oath to Congress.
Or Lois Lerner and Koskinen and the IRS.
Or selling fetal tissue baby parts on video-tape.
Or Michelle's $350,000 non-existent Hospital job.
Or Obama's Tony Rezko loan.
Or Michael Mann and the Climate-Gate non-data.
Or "No controlling Legal Authority Gore.
Or "That's not me, Anthony Weiner, in that picture"
Or "I,Barney Frank, had no idea that was pot growing in my back yard?
Or the UniBomber's favorite Book
and on and on and on...

Amazing how much hypothetical fictitious crap clobbers one side of the ledger, and how much honest to goodness real criminality matters not one bit to the other side of the ledger.

[lyle]

Nice compendium, daddy. Maddening nonetheless.

[Destiny Ignatz]

--"Lauren the threads"?--

lyle,
Larwyn was a sweet former commenter who had an amusing habit of not closing tags so often her name became a verb; "to Larwyn".

[narciso]

I was reminded of this little detail that timmerman put in shadow warriors,

http://biglizards.net/blog/archives/2006/02/saddams_wmd_mor.html

[lyle]

Ah...thanks for clearing that up...Destiny. :)

I vaguely remember her. Makes daddy's joke funnier.

[Miss Marple]

All gains in Indiana done despite Obama. Daniels was still governor here the first 4 years of Obama. Won despite losing state in the presidential which I thought fishy.

Daniels sold the Indiana toll road to some Spanish consortium in his first term. Got a bucketload of money and the Dems howled.

That money he got went for roads and bridges which gave a lot of peopl jobs when the crash came. Also, we had a rainy day fund when tax revenue went down

Hoosiers aren't stupid. We knew who saved this state from disaster, and it wasn't Obama. As someone said, all you have to do is look at Illinois.

[daddy]

Lyle,

Sadly, we could probably double the size of both lists in about 5 minutes of pondering.

[sbw]

the rheostat or the dimmer switch...

I thought you said dhimmi switch.

[lyle]

Sad, indeed.

[[email protected]]

that was a depressing list ...

[narciso]

maybe he really is luthor,

http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2016/04/facebook-investigates-decides-blood.html

[[email protected]]

yikes!

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/04/03/lagarde-dismisses-claim-that-greece-is-being-pushed-to-default.html

[narciso]

and yet I see a Kraken rising out of the Aegean, how curious?

[narciso]

it's like a game of twister,

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4786354,00.html

[lyle]

Too good, sbw.

[[email protected]]

>>>Der Spiegel reported that the BND was spying on the US Department of the Interior<<<

???

[narciso]

so my wag, the panama papers, is a svr leak,
directed through this ictj front like assuange,
yes they mentioned volodya, but only roldugin,
is any name anyone knew, they nabbed several figures from the gulf, cameron pere, the new
leader in argentina, a very good omninet,

[narciso]

of austria, belgium and the uk, as well as israel,

so how's that for an informed speculation,

[[email protected]]

that's gotta be either DHS or Justice (FBI) ... unless they were scoping out for a good deal at Yellowstone.

[daddy]

Just got to Captain Hate's post from 2 threads back and it is so good I think it deserves reposting, but feel free just reading the bolded if you need to save time:)

I think I've decided to cheer for the Holes tomorrow night mainly because Roy will exceed Saint Deanie's championship total in a much shorter period of time. Then there's a reasonable chance that the NCAA will subsequently vacate the title because of massive academic fraud over time which would set off a second civil war in Hole nation, since there's a certain segment of the fanbase that doesn't think that anything wrong happened and if you feel otherwise you're a jealous inbred who belongs at NC State. Go Pussy Blew!

Posted by: Captain Hate

I will drive up to Eagle River, about 40 miles distant, and watch the game with my niece Tarheel Amanda and her 3 young'un's, 5, 3 and 4 months. Momma told me I could forego the dog walk and go but I have to take the Christmas presents we've had sitting around for them for the last 3 months. That tickles me. Momma Fedex's Xmas presents to everybody around the world, but the guys just up the road we can drive to we always hose, and then I wind up delivering them about 3 months late. Ha!

Does that happen to you guys?

To the dogs.

[[email protected]]

narciso-

was thinking similarly ... who benefits?

[Miss Marple 2]

daddy,

I do stuff like that all the time. Because my family is close, I go off to some event and invariably forget the birthday card, present, whatever.

I have had a baby gift sitting around here for two months that I bought for my great-nephew who lives in Cincinnati. I could ship it but I keep thinking I will give it to my brother to take when they go over.

So of course, on Easter I left it here and then there they wee at my sister's with the baby! Grrr.

[Miss Marple 2]

Heading to bed.

Good night, all!

[narciso]

it has the hydra angle, son of nazi goes into banking with the main enemy (cia) of course, it's not a coincidence the guardian, who carried assuange and the snowden was on board, just as that squirrel stopped being useful, the targets are the tipoff,

[narciso]

tough crowd,

http://www.steynonline.com/7503/live-in-toronto-steyn-farage-vs-arbour-schama

[lyle]

"Mamma Fedex's Xmas presents to everybody around the world"

Wait. What? :)

[sbw]

I'm reaching here. So much today is stretching my language capabilities.

When people who should know better say idiotic political things for which there is no cogent logical response, I need socially acceptable substitutes for “Dumb f*ck!” and “F*ck you!”

[narciso]

as I say, there are no german, french, venezuelan,
I am sure I could think of other curious omissions,

[boris]

socially acceptable: Do re mi fa Q

[Gentlejim]

sbw,
As far as I'm concerned those responses are perfectly acceptable when dealing with idiots. Of course, I'm socially unacceptable and lean toward asshole so I might be wrong.

[Destiny Ignatz]

Former DOD Sec Gates; Obama double crossed me.
General Flynn; “I think he [Obama] sees the military actually as something that is more dangerous to the world. I think that he looks at the United States military and sees it as a threatening application around the world, than actually as a useful tool.”

[narciso]

the brazilian angle from my fishwrap,

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article69729372.html

[narciso]

(redacted)http://babalublog.com/2016/04/02/fox-news-bill-oreilly-chooses-apartheid-cuba-as-vacation-getaway/

[Frau Flitzebogen]

Can DNA be obtained from a shoe?
Asking for a friend.

[Gentlejim]

Frau,
Tell your friend absolutely it can.
Do they have Frank Marshall Davis' for comparison?

[Threadkiller]

Probably has 9-layer Odor-Eaters, Frau.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Calling all SMODs;
Trudeau to Strip For Gay Magazine
Canada was obviously tired of their southern neighbor sporting the biggest dumbass on earth these last several years.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

April Fool's joke. That it was believable is sadder than it being true in some ways.

[daddy in talk radio hell]

When people who should know better say idiotic political things for which there is no cogent logical response, I need socially acceptable substitutes for “Dumb f*ck!” and “F*ck you!”

" I was not aware you Graduated from Duke." usually works OK.

[narciso]

yes, a conventional story, does not get play in australian, irish, indian papers all over the world, this volodya winding up the wurlitzer against most adversaries like the gulf states,
some in western europe, south america, and a few client states, that have worn out their welcome,

[jorod]

Most poverty program funds never get to the people it is supposed to help. They are eaten up by administrative costs. They should be called full employment programs for federal workers.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

The previously sane Peter Hitchens decides to follow his late brother down the road to socialism.
The dark magic of the left is its ability to first strangle free markets and then blame free markets when people can't breathe, leading to formerly sensible people begging for the left to squeeze our necks just a little tighter to make it all better.

[narciso]

is it a full moon, or ehf, granted 'creative destruction is in the eye of the beholder, but that is craziness on stilts,

[narciso]

it probably is the ehf,

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/04/03/meyohas-brothers-poised-to-buy-tata-steels-struggling-scunthorpe/

[Dave (in MA)]

Ignatz Ratzkywatzky | April 03, 2016 at 11:19 PM, I expected April Fools at the end.

[Frau Flitzebogen]

gentlejim - you read my friend's mind.

G'nytall. As JiB often sez, Sleep tasty.

[jimmyk]

Former DOD Sec Gates; Obama double crossed me.

Shorter version: I'm a gullible fool.

[buccaneer morgan]

No, we concluded he was a knave after his memoir was published.

[Bet he's not on the list of miscreants.]

The Open Society Foundation, yes, Soros, is one of the charitable foundations supporting the ICIJ, the group behind the release of the Panama Papers.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

--I expected April Fools at the end.-

So did I, Dave, but when I linked it Hinderaker reassured it wasn't.
Right after that he updated that it was.
I'm looking into my legal options.

[jimmyk]

Wait, Dave's comment seemed to refer to the Hitchens piece linked at 11:19, not the Trudeau thing.

Anyway, regarding Hitchens, since it's late at night, dare I say that the first part of it sounds rather similar to sentiments expressed by more than one JOM contributor?

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Jimminy, right you are jimmy.
Obviously I need some sleep.

[Miss Marple 2]

Good morning!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3521830/Tax-havens-world-s-rich-famous-revealed-huge-data-leak.html?ito=social-twitter_mailonline

[Miss Marple 2]

http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/04/03/britain-forgetting-history-blasts-new-zealand-pm-asks-penalised-uk-eu/

[Miss Marple 2]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3521384/King-Felipe-Queen-Letizia-Spain-reveal-surprising-gifts-ve-received.html?ito=social-twitter_mailonline

Why is this interesting? Because in this article we discover that when the King and Queen of Spain visited the White House, they were given a JIGSAW PUZZLE OF BO THE DOG WHICH OF COURSE HAS PICTURES OF OBAMA ON IT!!!!

(Sorry. Went into Gus mode, but really, those people are such an embarrassment.)

[Miss Marple 2]

http://nypost.com/2016/04/02/a-fascinating-peek-inside-anna-wintours-secretive-met-ball-planning/?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=NYPTwitter&utm_medium=SocialFlow

This is of no interest to anyone who isn't interested in Vogue, the fashion industry, and the staging of lavish events. Anna Wintour is horribly fascinating to me, as she wields so much power in the fashion industry.

[Miss Marple 2]

http://dailycaller.com/2016/04/03/cnn-commentator-david-gregorys-wife-is-the-attorney-for-hillarys-ex-aides-in-email-investigation/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

[Miss Marple 2]

Looks like primary campaign is starting in Indiana. Ted Cruz's father will be speaking in Kokomo this week. (Just popped up on Twitter.)

[henry]

Yes Miss M, the crazy train leaves WI tomorrow.

[Miss Marple 2]

henry,

We don't usually have much primary campaigning here. In fact, the last time we were this important was in 1968, when RFK campaigned here.

I expect breathless coverage from local media for the next month, as they will want exposure to the national media.

The worst will be the phone calls.

[Miss Marple 2]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/obama-administration-pushes-banks-to-make-home-loans-to-people-with-weaker-credit/2013/04/02/a8b4370c-9aef-11e2-a941-a19bce7af755_story.html

Apparently he intends to leave as he came in, with a mortgage crash.

[Miss Marple 2]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/beverly-cleary-on-turning-100-kids-today-dont-have-the-freedom-i-had/2016/04/02/7a63e92c-e6d4-11e5-b0fd-073d5930a7b7_story.html?postshare=7161459766941677&tid=ss_tw

Nice interview. My children and grandchildren read her books when they were in grade school.

[clarice]

Some sad news this morning. Janet's mother passed on Friday. Janet is expected to return home on Wednesday in case you care to send her a note of sympathy.

[Miss Marple 2]

Oh, how sad.

Thanks for letting us know, clarice.