Despite all-around giddiness by the stock market investors and speculators, and the lemmings in the media January's unemployment numbers are much worse than reported. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, which ought to be referred to as the Ministry of Propaganda, said that non-farm payrolls added 243,000 jobs and the unemployment rate dropped from 8.5% to 8.3%. This comes as no surprise as we are in an election year and the incumbent needs good economic news to increase his likelihood of re-election. The devil...
They're at it again -- again, that is, for those of us who remember the Falklands War of 1982. British and Argentine leaders are pounding on their chests, screaming defiance over a bunch of rocks in the South Atlantic most of you have probably never heard of. Yet it's shaping up to be a big deal in the U.K. -- or at least a major distraction from the EU, the euro, and the Scots' referendum on independence. There were questions in Parliament this...
In America today there is a new fad called Designer Christianity. Cherry-picked Christian ideology has zero to do with God's Word and everything to do with the moral relativism that now pervades modern philosophy. It is a pick-and-choose brand of religion where a person selects exactly what they want to believe, misinterprets and takes Scripture out of context, and then labels those who object to that sacrilege as mean-spirited, un-Jesus-like, and anti-Christian. It's a mentality that says a personal interpretation of Scripture trumps...
It's good news all around for the jobless. It appears that the employment picture is indeed brightening and those who have been unemployed for a long time are finally getting back to work. Every economic sector saw job growth. And beyond that, manufacturing enjoyed a 14 year high in weekly hours and a big bump in overtime worked. Bloomberg: The 243,000 increase in payrolls was the most since April and exceeded all forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey, Labor Department figures showed in...
The Republican Jewish Coalition reports a seismic shift in Jewish voters party affiliation: In an analysis released today (Thursday), the Pew Research Center noted: Even Jewish voters, who have traditionally been and remain one of the strongest Democratic constituencies, have moved noticeably in the Republican direction; Jewish voters favored the Democrats by a 52-point margin in 2008 but now prefer the Democratic Party by a significantly smaller 36-point margin. SOURCE: http://www.pewforum.org/Politics-and-Elections/Trends-in-Party-Identification-of-Religious-Groups.aspx Republicans have also seen gains among Jewish voters, who have long been...
David Ignatius: Panetta believes there is a strong likelihood that Israel will strike Iran in April, May or June - before Iran enters what Israelis described as a "zone of immunity" to commence building a nuclear bomb. Very soon, the Israelis fear, the Iranians will have stored enough enriched uranium in deep underground facilities to make a weapon - and only the United States could then stop them militarily. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doesn't want to leave the fate of Israel dependent...
One of the mainstream media's favorite doomsday scenarios for Israel is its supposed isolation on the world stage. According to this narrative, Israel is on a path to becoming the black sheep of the international community. The most common assumption is that Israel is turning itself into a pariah state, with fewer friends across the globe, because it somehow isn't willing to give Palestinians their due. A closer look at Israel's interaction with countries near and far, as well as with international institutions,...
The book Game Change about the 2008 Presidential campaign noted that Barack Obama's campaign staffers had a nickname for him: the black Jesus. They may not be too far off. We know Obama talked about his election leading to the end of the rise of the oceans.Now he is justifying his share the wealth agenda, and ObamaCare -- and other policies-as being motivated by his Christian faith. That is-he in a way is equating himself with Jesus as in "What Would Jesus Do"....
President Obama said in the Rose Garden, "If we're going to make spending cuts, many of which we wouldn't make if we weren't facing such large budget deficits, then it's only right that we ask everyone to pay their fair share." Obama is positing the wrong dictate. The rich are already paying their fair share, but more importantly they are earning their fair share. They have businesses and jobs that support the entire country. They work. It works. They contribute. What Obama should...
Former DNI General Michael Hayden, writing an opinion for CNN, barely suppresses his glee in describing the irony, and the schadenfreud likely delighting the Intelligence community, at Attorney General Eric Holder's current predicament arising from the Fast and Furious scandal. Schadenfreude -- joy at the misfortune of others -- is a bad thing. So I've been trying to resist temptation these past months as I watch Attorney General Eric Holder deal with public and congressional reaction to the "Fast and Furious" scheme, the...
Supporters of Planned Parenthood are furious about the recent decision by Susan G. Komen for the Cure to cease funding the abortion giant. I have to admit that Planned Parenthood-with help from the mainstream media-has done a masterful job over the years of drastically downplaying its abortion business while at the same time portraying itself as a leader in women's health, which supposedly includes providing breast cancer screenings. Not so fast. From a Feb. 2 article at LifeSiteNews.com: Although Planned Parenthood often used...
Ah, Paris in the springtime. How delightful. It was so good to leave my Washington office to go to France for lunch yesterday. I teased my colleagues about heading out to Le beau Pays for a meal and conversation. "The Concorde's been grounded," one of my friends jabbed back. Actually, I was in France. That's because we recognize the French Embassy in Washington as sovereign French territory. And the January weather was spring-like on Reservoir Road. Under international law, developed in no small...
With such a catchy name as The Millionaire's Tax, who would oppose such a tax? No one I know, that's for sure and that's the point. The tax is designed not to raise revenue, but to get Republicans into a high profile media fight to protect those "millionaires and billionaires" with whom the Obama administration wants the public to associate them. This is nothing new. President Obama has been playing the class warfare game for months but we have to look only at...
It is understandable when people, as Rick Moran did in his February 2, 2012, AT blog post, compare boondoggles such as the Chevy Volt to the Edsel. But the Volt is not comparable the Edsel.The Edsel certainly had its problems. Edsel is a bizzarre name that potential buyers associated with animals or dead batteries. Its commode-like front grill was strange. The Edsel line confused customers since it was priced like comparable cars from Ford and Mercury. The marketing was horrendous and the line...
A few months back I wrote a piece for AT speculating that Israel was behind the many mysterious explosions at Iranian nuclear facilities. Because of the laughable attempts by the Iranians to explain away every one of these baffling blasts as accidents, I entitled the article, "De-Nuking Iran One Bagdadbobbian Blast at a Time." That reference was, of course, to the ludicrous Iraqi general who insisted that Saddam's forces were destroying the American forces even as a news split screen showed our tanks...
Pour some coffee and pass the pancakes because a bare knuckled constitutional conservative kerfuffle is upon us! Conservative hot button heroine Ann Coulter has been called on the carpet by Constitutional conservative champion Mark Levin over RomneyCare. While the intellectual battle has only begun, the winner will be a sharpened conservative argument against government intrusion into healthcare at all levels. Boldly going where conservative angels fear to tread is Coulter's forte. Her masterful defense of Joe McCarthy ought to shame those who let...
The London School of Economics [LSE] Student Union has passed a motion effectively making it impossible for students on campus to criticize Judaism. Students at the London School of Economics forced through a motion denouncing "Judeaophobia" which was defined as a form of racism expressed through the hatred or fear of Judaism, Jews, or Jewish culture, and the stereotyping, demonization or harassment of Jews, including but not limited to portraying Jews as money-grubbing, blood sucking terrorists, or attacking the Torah as a manual of...
The Nevada caucuses kick off next Tuesday, February 4 and polls show Mitt Romney with a large lead. CBS: The former Massachusetts governor wins the support of 45 percent of Nevada Republicans who say they plan to caucus on Saturday, according to a survey from the Las Vegas Review-Journal and CBS affiliate 8NewsNow. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich wins 25 percent support, while former Sen. Rick Santorum wins 11 percent and Rep. Ron Paul garners 9 percent. Romney has two primary victories under...
With 74 dead and more than 1000 injured in a preventable soccer riot in Port Said on Sunday, Egypt's activists took to the streets of Cairo and other cities, using the tragedy as an excuse to protest against military rule. Reuters: Addressing angry lawmakers in parliament, the military-appointed prime minister said senior security chiefs in Port Said and the city's governor had been suspended and the soccer federation's board had been sacked. But he disappointed those seeking tougher steps, such as sacking the...
Last year, there were almost 8 million new cars sold in America. About 7,700 of them were Chevy Volts. Even that number was below expectations. GM expected to sell 10,000 units last year and 45,000 this year. Alas, the company failed to hit that target last year and have already nixed the 45,000 target for this year. Detroit News: General Motors extended-range electric Chevrolet Volt had its worst sales month since August, as negative publicity over fire risks hurt vehicles sales in January....
Punxsutawney Phil, the Groundhog who possesses the most famous shadow in the world, emerged from his burrow at 7:25 this morning stretched his little paws to the sky and looked behind him. There, to the disappointment of the large crowd that gathers annually in this rustic hamlet, Phil glimpsed his spectre thus assuring us 6 more weeks of winter. The Washington Post breathlessly reports: If Phil's forecast is right, it signals a dramatic reversal from the mild weather pattern affecting much of the...
You're too stupid to know what to eat, but fortunately your betters are about to prevent you from harming yourself by eating stuff that you like. Welcome to the new America, where people who think they are smarter than you get to run your life. CBS News reports: A new commentary published online in the Feb. 1 issue of Nature says sugar is just as "toxic" for people as the other two, so the government should step in to curb its consumption. The United Nations announced...
Attention SCOTUS: Arguments against Obamacare start and end with the notion that if it becomes a permanent law, government will have license to meddle in American's daily lives beyond anything previously imagined. Case in point; sugar. Since we have a health problem with obesity (and we do), the argument is being advanced that government must take control of dispensing sugar because so much of our excess weight is due to the fact we consume more sugar per capita than any other nation in...
It's an important endorsement for Newt but not a game changer. The Donald has that celebrity aura as well as some support among the GOP faithful. Chances are, a lot of Donald supporters were already going with Newt. Still, it's good for Gingrich because it generates positive headlines and gives him a lot of free media. The Hill: Reality show host Donald Trump is set to endorse Newt Gingrich Thursday in Las Vegas, according to a report by the Associated Press. Trump, who...
Chicago mayor and Democratic Party powerhouse Rahm Emanuel is giving the nation a good overview of ruthless Democrat-style politics in the redrawing of ward boundaries for the Chicago City Council. Crain' Chicago Business reports: Anyone hoping that Mayor Rahm Emanuel would follow through on campaign promises of openness and transparency in Chicago government has to be disappointed in the ward remap fiasco that unfolded earlier this month. We certainly are. (snip) even by Chicago's considerable historic standards of backroom back-scratching, this latest effort...
Just when Romney seems poised to leave the field in the dust, the candidate said something so stupid that even his supporters are questioning whether he has what it takes to be president. "I'm not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there," Romney said in an interview with CNN's Soledad O'Brien this morning. "If it needs repair, I'll fix it. I'm not concerned about the very rich, they're doing just fine. I'm concerned about the very heart of the...
Former DNI General Michael Hayden, writing an opinion for CNN, barely suppresses his glee in describing the irony of Attorney General Eric Holder's current predicament arising from the Fast and Furious scandal, and the schadenfreude likely delighting the Intelligence community. Schadenfreude -- joy at the misfortune of others -- is a bad thing. So I've been trying to resist temptation these past months as I watch Attorney General Eric Holder deal with public and congressional reaction to the "Fast and Furious" scheme, the failed...
The family of murdered Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry has filed a $25-million lawsuit against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, claiming "negligence" and "a violation of ATF's own policies and procedures" resulting in the death of their son. A separate lawsuit against The Lone Wolf Trading Company stated that "but for defendants' negligent and illegal sales ... Brian Terry would not have been murdered." Terry was killed when his unit was ambushed near the Arizona-Mexico border on the night of...
Obama was served a subpoena to appear in a hearing last week in Georgia over his eligibility to appear on the state's ballot. Obama's attorney, Michael Jablonski, immediately filed a motion to quash the subpoena, which was denied by OSAH Judge Michael Malihi. In his denial, Judge Malihi seemed to leave open the possibility for a quash, if Jablonski had only offered appropriate legal authority in support. The judge asserted that "Defendant's motion suggests that no President should be compelled to attend a...
If you loved Climategate, you will swoon over Plumegate, the upcoming trial in Federal Court in New Orleans regarding the BP oil spill! Aside from the minor squabbles that have taken place so far, we are approaching the main event, featuring the administration of 2009 Nobel Peace Prize-winner President Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. (former Vice President Al Gore is so 2007!). The prize will be determining the size of the environmental fines to be paid by BP and/or its contractors Transocean and Halliburton....
