Union In Wausau Backs Down

This isn’t the end of the story. There will be more to come Monday, rest assured. The Unions have shown no regard for Law, civility, propriety or respect for others. So, expect the Unions to do what they have been doing constantly since this whole thing blew up in their faces: riot, break the law, intimidate, threaten, vandalize property, disrupt, etc. It’s what they know; it’s what they do.

What am I talking about? I’m talking about the story I wrote about yesterday. Union leaders (thugs), in their “infinite wisdom,” decided to punish Republicans by telling them they were not welcome at the Wausau Labor Day parade. The mayor of Wausau gave the Union Overlords an ultimatum: Re-invite the Republicans, reimburse the city, or there will be no parade.

I asked a question yesterday that, even with this Union caving in to reality on this one point, still goes unanswered for the most part.

Are the Union thugs going to continue to act like the spoiled brats they are and decide “if we can’t have it the way we like it, nobody can have it” or are they going to act like adults and permit the Labor Day parade to continue being non-partisan as it ever was? I would like to think the Union thugs would be adult for a change, but I’m not so sure they’re even capable of adult behavior anymore.

Ed Morrissey apparently concurs with my contention, a common sense contention given the Unions’ inability to behave themselves.

Well, they didn’t want to foot the bill for the parade, as Mayor Jim Tipple warned would happen yesterday if the MCLC turned it into a partisan event. It’s only a temporary end to the controversy, though. If Republicans like Rep. Sean Duffy do take part in the parade, you can bet your bottom dollar that protesters will disrupt it with high-profile hijinks in order to get on the local news. Stay tuned on Monday for more on this story.

Thank you, Yorkshire, for the heads-up.

The Washington Post and biased reporting

Ever since he announced that he was running for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, Governor Rick Perry (R-TX) has been the target of our friends on the left, including the professional media. From The Washington Post:

Rick Perry holds the record on executions

By Robert Barnes, Published: August 23

Texas Gov. Rick Perry brings to the presidential race a law-and-order credential that none of his competitors can match — even if they wanted to.

In his nearly 11 years as the state’s chief executive, Perry, now running for the Republican presidential nomination, has overseen more executions than any governor in modern history: 234 and counting. That’s more than the combined total in the next two states — Oklahoma and Virginia — since the death penalty was restored 35 years ago.

Note the phraseology: Governor Perry “has overseen more executions than any governor in modern history.” To “oversee” means “to watch over and direct; supervise.” If you stopped reading the article at the point at which I ceased quoting, and you understood the definition of the word “oversee,” you would believe that Governor Perry had somehow scheduled and directed the 234 executions which have occurred in the Lone Star State since he took office eleven years ago.

But, if you read further, ten paragraphs further — something Patterico has referred to as The Power of the Jump™¹ — you’ll learn:

Texans and their representatives give governors little room to slow down the process.

Decisions to seek the death penalty are made by local prosecutors. Unlike in some states, the governor does not sign death warrants or set execution dates. The state constitution prohibits the governor from calling a moratorium on executions and allows clemency only when the Board of Pardons and Paroles recommends it, which is rarely.

Emphasis mine. I wonder: just how does an official who has no authority to schedule executions, and no authority to stop them (he does have the power to issue a single thirty-day stay) actually “oversee” executions?

The Post story accurately noted that Governor Perry supports capital punishment, as do all of his “main competitors,” including President Obama, and that his support has been active, vetoing a bill which would have made mentally retarded murderers ineligible for capital punishment,² and sharply criticizing Roper v Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005), a Supreme Court ruling that juveniles were not eligible for the death penalty.

And the Post also noted the execution of Cameron Todd Wil­lingham, in 2004. There is a lot of speculation that Mr Willingham was innocent of the murders for which he was convicted, and executed, with the claim being that very faulty forensic evidence was used in his trial to convict him. In the month prior to his execution, appeals for clemency and a new trial were received and reviewed by Governor Perry, the Texas Court of Criminal appeals and the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole, and none saw any reason, from what they had in the appeals they received, to delay Mr Willingham’s execution. But, if your only source of information on the case was the story in The Washington Post, you wouldn’t know that the Court of Criminal Appeals or Board of Pardons and Parole had reviewed the case, only that Mr Perry had an unspecified “role in the 2004 execution of Cameron Todd Wil­lingham.”

Do you like the chart at the right? That is also from the Post, accessible from the sidebar to the main story linked, under the following headline and blurb:

Executions in Texas

Texas Gov. Rick Perry has overseen more executions than any other governor in the nation since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. Of the five governors who have overseen the most executions, three are from Texas.

Yup, there’s the loaded, but wholly inaccurate, verb, “overseen,” again. Who knows, maybe Governor Perry wishes that he had more authority in the execution process and really could claim that he has “overseen” 234 executions, but it doesn’t matter if he wishes it or not: he does not have it. If the good citizens of Texas elected the Pope to be their next Governor, it still wouldn’t matter: capital punishment would proceed in Texas anyway. The editors of The Washington Post know that, yet still chose to use inaccurate words and descriptions to slant the article.

Why did I write this article? It’s simple: I already knew that the Governor of Texas did not have the power to grant pardons or commute sentences on his own, and I knew that death warrants in Texas were signed by judges, not the Governor. Yet I’ve seen several references to Governor Perry “signing a death warrant,” the most recent one in a comment on the Delaware Liberal, and I realized that we cannot count on fairness or unbiased reporting from the professional media on this subject. Our host on this site may prefer former Governor Sarah Palin (R-AK) to Mr Perry for the Republican Presidential nomination, but he knows just as well as I do that neither Mr Perry nor Mrs Palin nor any other Republican candidate can ever expect unbiased coverage from the professional media.

_________________________________
¹ – “‘The Power of the Jump’™ is a semi-regular feature of this site, documenting examples of the Los Angeles Times’s use of its back pages to hide information that its editors don’t want you to see.” With this Patterico is referring to editing which reports facts which are inconvenient to the liberal mindset on the second page of the story, rather than with the headlined section.
² – Atkins v Virginia, 536 U.S. 304 (2002), held that executions of mentally retarded criminals are “cruel and unusual punishments” prohibited by the Eighth Amendment.
_________________________________
Cross Posted on Common Sense Political Thought.

Wausau Mayor To Union Overlords: Cut The Crap Or No Parade

The city of Wausau, Wisconsin has an annual Labor Day Parade, and the city spends a good chunk of change and uses a good chunk of man-hours in support of the Labor Day Parade. Well, the Union leaders decided to disinvite Republicans from the event this year, due to all the activity in Wisconsin this year.

Since the city of Wausau spends money on the parade, it is a sponsor of the parade and as such, the parade is required to be non-partisan. And the Union thugs (that’s all they are) decided to use the city’s dime to make the parade hyper-partisan. Well, the Mayor of Wausau gave the Union thugs an ultimatum: Either refund all of the city’s costs or re-invite the Republicans to the event, else the parade will be cancelled.

As Ed Morrissey notes, the Unions spent tens of millions of dollars on failure after failure after failure this year alone in Wisconsin. They likely don’t have all the “walking around” money necessary to just pay the city off, so their option truly is: Invite the Republicans or kill the Labor Day parade.

My question: Are the Union thugs going to continue to act like the spoiled brats they are and decide “if we can’t have it the way we like it, nobody can have it” or are they going to act like adults and permit the Labor Day parade to continue being non-partisan as it ever was? I would like to think the Union thugs would be adult for a change, but I’m not so sure they’re even capable of adult behavior anymore.

My Wish List

There are just a couple things on my wish list.

And the ammunition that goes with it.

Perry Hood: There Are States That Don’t Count

Perry Hood made this comment over at Common Sense Political Thought:

I think the American people will see through your propaganda and reelect him in large numbers in the states that really count!

Not to be confused with Texas Governor and Presidential candidate Rick Perry (R), Perry Hood is a far-Left commenter on Common Sense Political Thought and the administrator of the hilariously named “Bridging the Gap” who makes the equally laughable false claim that he’s somehow a centrist.

I responded to his remark over there.

Here’s the issue with Perry’s absolutely elitist proclamation:
1) It’s as purposely vague as a horrorscope;
2) It’s elitist because, by definition, “the states that really count” means there are states that don’t count;
3) Whatever states that Obama wins in large numbers in 2012 will then turn out to be the only states that really count.

Let me add a number 4: “Large numbers” is also hopelessly vague as it can be defined after the fact. Whatever the numbers turn out to be, they can then be defined as “large numbers” thereby fitting the prediction. But let’s look at some histo-facts, shall we? Let’s look at two chunks of data.

First off, the 2008 Presidential election state-by-state results as provided by US Election Atlas.org.

The states that RINO squish John McCain won and, by definition, do not count:
Alaska
Montana
Idaho
Wyoming
Utah
Arizona
North Dakota
South Dakota
Nebraska
Kansas
Oklahoma
Texas
Missouri
Arkansas
Louisiana
Kentucky
West Virginia
Tennessee
Mississippi
Alabama
Georgia
South Carolina
(22 states)

The states Obama won but got less than 50 percent of the vote thereby, by definition, not states that count:
Indiana
North Carolina

The states Obama won with less than 53 percent of the vote, thus not a large margin, and don’t count:
Florida
Virginia
Ohio

Thus, by Perry Hood’s definition and based on the 2008 election results, there are 27 states (out of 50? 57? 60?) that don’t count. If you live in the South, chances are your state doesn’t count. If you live in the bread basket, chances are your state doesn’t count. If you live in the energy producing states, chances are your state doesn’t count.

Let’s look at that second histo-fact dataset: Job Production. Dana Pico introduced a pie chart showing only nine states added jobs between June 2006 and June 2011. In the past three election cycles, New York was the only job-producing state that went Democrat. The other eight states went Republican-Republican-Republican in the last three election cycles. Only New York, the worst job producer of the nine in total jobs added and jobs added per capita, went Democrat. That means, by Perry Hood’s metric, New York was the only state that counts among the job producers.

So to recap, if you live in a job-producing state or a southern state or an energy-producing state or a bread basket state, chances are your state doesn’t really count. If you live in one of 27 states (and there really are only 50), your state doesn’t really count. As the elitist snob (who claims to be for the everyman) radical Leftist (who claims to be a centrist while using every derogatory Leftist meme to smear Republicans and Conservatives, the TEA Party included) gap builder (who claims to be a gap bridger) set down in his defining statement.

Know What You’re Reading

When I wrote my article proving that Christians are indeed required to judge, I of course provided multiple scripture verses to back up my proof, one of those being “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. ” (2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV*)) It is important that you not only study the words of any given text but also study to determine the validity of the texts you happen to be reading. Studying is of limited or no use if you don’t care about accuracy or if what you’re studying is unconcerned with accuracy.

I pointed out that I prefer the NIV* Bible (1980s version) for its readability but that the KJV Bible is the more accurate. Also of note is the NIV does not capitalize personal pronouns referring to Providence but the NASB* does, which is rather important to me. There’s a reason I pointed to the year for NIV, and that’s because the newer NIV versions are bastardized. And in the comments on my judging article, Dana Pico stumbled into guiding me to one section of NIV’s bastardization. (All scripture quotes from Bible Gateway unless otherwise noted.)

1 Timothy 3:1-13
From the NIV:

1 Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task. 2 Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect. 5 (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?) 6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. 7 He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.

8 In the same way, deacons are to be worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine, and not pursuing dishonest gain. 9 They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience. 10 They must first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons.

11 In the same way, the women are to be worthy of respect, not malicious talkers but temperate and trustworthy in everything.

12 A deacon must be faithful to his wife and must manage his children and his household well. 13 Those who have served well gain an excellent standing and great assurance in their faith in Christ Jesus.

From my 1985 Zondervan NIV Study Bible:

1 Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task. 2 Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. 5 (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?) 6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. 7 He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.

8 Deacons, likewise are to be men worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine, and not pursuing dishonest gain. 9 They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience. 10 They must first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons.

11 In the same way, their wives are to be women worthy of respect, not malicious talkers but temperate and trustworthy in everything.

12 A deacon must be the husband of but one wife and must manage his children and his household well. 13 Those who have served well gain an excellent standing and great assurance in their faith in Christ Jesus.

KJV:

1This is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.

2A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;

3Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;

4One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;

5(For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)

6Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.

7Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

8Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre;

9Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.

10And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless.

11Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things.

12Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.

13For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.

As you can see, the newer NIV has altered and most definitely weakened that section of scripture. It is possible for a person or sect to explain how a man can be faithful to four wives at once without violating the newer NIV scripture, but it is impossible for a person or sect to explain how a man can have four wives when the scripture says very clearly and absolutely “the husband of one wife.” The only benefit for the newer versions of the NIV is for those who do not wish to be held to the much higher and much clearer and much more absolute standards of the older, more accurate translations. This is why many people and denominations say “KJV only.”

And for those who wish to claim I only gave one instance of a bastardization of scripture, I ask this: How much bastardization of Providence’s Word can you accept and still be obedient to Providence?

Now, the Jehovah’s Witnesses — who claim to be Christian but are decidedly not — have their own unique version of the Bible which nobody else uses (NWT*). Bible Gateway has a great many translations but not the NWT, and for good reason, I suspect. The NWT doesn’t even attempt to be accurate.

John 1:1-14
NWT:

1 In [the] beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god. 2 This one was in [the] beginning with God. 3 All things came into existence through him, and apart from him not even one thing came into existence.

What has come into existence 4 by means of him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light is shining in the darkness, but the darkness has not overpowered it.

6 There arose a man that was sent forth as a representative of God: his name was John. 7 This [man] came for a witness, in order to bear witness about the light, that people of all sorts might believe through him. 8 He was not that light, but he was meant to bear witness about that light.

9 The true light that gives light to every sort of man was about to come into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world came into existence through him, but the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own home, but his own people did not take him in. 12 However, as many as did receive him, to them he gave authority to become God’s children, because they were exercising faith in his name; 13 and they were born, not from blood or from a fleshly will or from man’s will, but from God.

14 So the Word became flesh and resided among us, and we had a view of his glory, a glory such as belongs to an only-begotten son from a father; and he was full of undeserved kindness and truth.

NIV (1984):

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning.

3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood[a] it.

6 There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9 The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.[b]

10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent,[c] nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only,[d] who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

KJV:

1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2The same was in the beginning with God.

3All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

4In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

5And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

6There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

7The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.

8He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

9That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

10He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

11He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

12But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

13Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

14And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses and their “Bible” deny Jesus is God, the very Son of God, but rather claim Jesus was merely “a god”. Proof that not only are Jehovah’s Witnesses not Christian but the NWT is most definitely a complete rejection of Providence’s Word.

Again, study to show yourself approved. And that means know what you’re reading and the accuracy of the source.

The same can be said of secular works. If you want to have a much more accurate understanding of history, it is important to get as much information as you can from sources written prior to the counter-culture devolution of the 1960s. Because the historical revisionism and rejection of truth is much stronger with the counter-culture 1960s crowd writing it.

Know what you’re reading.
________
*
NIV – New International Version
NASB – New American Standard Bible
KJV – King James Version
NWT – New World Translation

John Farmer Is A Dishonest Journalist

Hot Air Headlines has this John Farmer quote:

If the CBS/Times study has it right, the tea party participation is principally a Southern phenomenon. More than a third “hail from the South, far more than any other region,” it found, and that has important implications for the GOP next year and perhaps beyond.

Ooooh, scary! TEA Party demographics show more than a third are from the south! The south is taking over the Republican Party! And we all know how raaaaacist and backward those in the south are! Horrifying! Run away! Run awaaaay!

Yeah, let’s check the population totals in the US, shall we? According to the US Census, the south contains 37.1 percent of the US population, or approaching 40 percent. And since “approaching 40 percent” is a greater measure than “more than one third”, that means the south is underrepresented in the TEA Party, right? Okay, not necessarily, since I used another lamestream media tactic: dissimilar units of measurement to provide a storyline that fits a pre-ordained agenda.

I would compare like with like but John Farmer, in his ultimate wisdom, failed to provide a link to the New York Times/CBS poll. So I can’t see the demographic breakdown of the polling. So let’s just say the TEA Party’s southern demographics aligns with the US’s population dispersal. In other words, John Farmer had an ax to grind and a story to tell and he wasn’t going to let the facts get in his way.

If It’s Job Creation You Want

Then you might want to look to where job creation has occurred. Dana Pico posted a pie chart I found very interesting. It shows only 9 states plus Washington DC added jobs from June 2006 to June 2011. (Washington DC is most likely all government jobs, so it doesn’t really count.) While the pie chart focused on the Texas job creation, I wanted to do a little number crunching myself. And of course, the numbers are very interesting.

The pie chart says “with roughly 8 percent of the nation’s population, Texas added 73.4 percent of the nation’s new jobs.” I decided to look at the US as a whole, Texas, and Alaska. Here’s the data I used:

According to the 2010 US Census,
The US population was 308,745,538
Texas population was 25,145,561
Alaska population was 710,231

According to the pie chart,
Texas added 537,500 jobs (73.4 percent of total)
Alaska added 11,500 jobs (1.6 percent of total)

US Job Growth (in thousands)

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the 61 months from June 2006 through June 2011,
US lost 4,818,000 jobs

Now for some number crunching.
Alaska has 0.2 percent of the US population and of the 9 states plus DC that added jobs, Alaska accounts for 1.6 percent of the added jobs.
Texas has 8.1 percent of the US population and of the 9 states plus DC that added jobs, Texas accounts for 73.4 percent of the added jobs.

Alaska added 1,619 jobs per 100,000 population.
Texas added 2,138 jobs per 100,000 population.
US lost 1,561 jobs per 100,000 population.

Subtracting out Alaska and Texas population and job growth,
US lost 5,367,000 jobs total or 1,897 jobs per 100,000 population.

To recap, Alaska and Texas combined for 549,000 new jobs or 2,123 jobs per 100,000 population while the rest of the US lost 5,367,000 jobs or 1,897 jobs per 100,000 population. I suggest Sarah Palin and Rick Perry are both better qualified to create an atmosphere where jobs can be created than either George W Bush or Barack Obama; however, if you look at the BLS chart, the US didn’t start shedding jobs (other than one month in 2006 and two months in 2007) until 2008, and since the new Democrat Congress — both the House and the Senate — was sworn in in January of 2007, George W Bush might, just might get a pass.
——–
UPDATE: Linked by Texans For Sarah Palin

I’m sure that this is just a coincidence!

Sometimes the stories on America Online can be a bit overhyped — is that a redundancy? — but I looked through this story, The 10 States Where No One Wants to Buy a New Home. You can look through the Gallery, to see the reasons, but, looking at the list, one thing jumped out at me:

1. Rhode Island Rhode Island Rhode Island
2. West Virginia West Virginia West Virginia
3. Illinois Illinois Illinois
4. Michigan Michigan Michigan
5. Connecticut Connecticut Connecticut
6. Ohio Ohio Ohio
7. Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts
8. New York New York New York
9. Maine Maine Maine
10. Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Pennsylvania

I’m sure you can guess what the color codes mean: the 2008, 2004 and 2000 Presidential elections, and whether the state was carried by the Republican or Democratic candidate. And with the notable exception of West Virginia, one of our poorest states, and one in which the land itself makes homebuilding much more difficult than normal, what I noted was a rather marked tendency toward a more Democratic Party, more liberal posture.

Of course, I’m sure it was all just a coincidence.
_______________________________
Update: While referring to this graph, in writing this comment, I noticed another “Top Ten” list of “states”, the top ten states in job creation:

1. Texas Texas Texas
2. Louisiana Louisiana Louisiana
3. North Dakota North Dakota North Dakota
4. District of Columbia District of Columbia District of Columbia
5. Oklahoma Oklahoma Oklahoma
6. Nebraska Nebraska Nebraska
7. Alaska Alaska Alaska
8. Wyoming Wyoming Wyoming
9. South Dakota South Dakota South Dakota
10. New York New York New York

Yup, another coincidence!
_______________________________
Cross posted on Common Sense Political Thought

Shocker: Second Quarter GDP Revised Downward

Okay, that’s not a shocker to anyone who’s actually paying attention. It wasn’t even a shocker to the supposedly expert economists upon which America’s Leftists depend — this time. But, while those “experts” expected a downward revision to 1.1 percent growth, the downward revision came in at an even more anemic 1.0 percent growth. And that after the Q1 GDP was revised downward to a flat-line 0.4 percent growth.

Ed Morrissey notes:

The change mainly came from inventories, which the previous estimate overshot. Real final sales of domestic goods — GDP less inventory adjustments — remained at 1.2%, making it a rare quarter in the last two years where this measure outstripped the topline GDP growth rate. Most of the GDP reports have been amped up by inventory expansions. Another bright spot is a revision in consumer spending, which increased 0.4% rather than the initial 0.1% estimate. However, exports got downgraded to a 3.1% increase from an initial estimate of 6.0%. [emphasis mine]

Common Sense Political Thought‘s radical Leftist commenter, Perry (who runs the laughably named Bridging the Gap blogsite), has made numerous claims that businesses aren’t producing or expanding because they want Barack Obama to lose his re-election bid. In Perry’s mind, businesses hate Obama more than they like their own bottom lines. But let’s continue to examine Perry’s delusion, shall we? According to Perry, Conservatives hate Obama because he’s black and we’re raaaaacists. So we want Obama to fail because we’re raaaaacists. And businesses are refusing to expand and hire because they hate Obama. So, that means all these businesses are raaaaacists. Which of course means the radical Leftist Perry doesn’t even have to engage his brain to think. (Barack Obama is 50 percent Caucasian and less than 50 percent black. My grandson is 50 percent black and less than 50 percent Caucasian.)

Let’s look at the facts, shall we? “Most of the GDP reports have been amped up by inventory expansions.” That means businesses have been producing more product in the US than they have been able to sell for most of the quarters since the recession began. Businesses have laid off large numbers of people but still have been outproducing demand. Despite all the layoffs and closures, businesses cannot sell everything they produce as it is. It would be foolish for businesses to expand in that environment. If a business cannot sell what it produces, the business needs to reduce its production, not expand it.

An overproduction (despite a spate of layoffs) can be acceptable and harmless in the short-run. Once purchases return to levels greater than production, the amassed inventory can be dwindled down to normal size again without the need for overtime or a too-quickly expanded work-force. But the longer a business overproduces demand, the more harm comes to the business. Doubly so in some states, which still levy an inventory tax on all the goods the business has warehoused.

Since most quarterly GDP numbers have been inflated by businesses outpacing demand and building up inventory, and some states levy an inventory tax, it would behoove businesses in those states to go on another spate of layoffs to reduce their tax burden and remain profitable, or at least lose less money. And since most quarterly GDP numbers have been inflated by businesses outpacing demand and building up inventory, the radical Leftist Perry’s claims that businesses are refusing to expand because they hate Obama is a verifiably false conspiracy theory.

Oh, by the way, third quarter GDP prospects appear no better than the first 6 months. It seems over-taxing and over-regulating and budget-busting spending does exactly what Conservatives said it does, and exactly the opposite of what radical Leftists like Perry (and the useless Paul Krugman) claim.

You know, when we had kids, no one ever told me that they’d grow up and leave home!

Well, daddy’s baby girl is leaving home, matriculating at York College today. It’s a smaller school, but York is very highly rated as both a good buy and providing a first class education:

“A First Class Education at a Price You Can Afford” according to Barron’s Best Buys in College Education

York College is also:

• ranked among only 198 “Best Buys in Higher Education” by Barron’s Best Buys in College Education

• ranked #13 among the “Best Regional Colleges in the North” by U.S.News Best Colleges

• ranked among the top third of “100 Colleges Worth Considering” by The Washington Post

• included in the Princeton Review’s Best Northeastern Colleges

• ranked among the “Top 10 Best Value Private Colleges and Universities” by parentsandcolleges.com

• among 284 colleges and universities committed to help low-income, first-generation students according to College Access & Opportunity Guide

• among the top 15 percent of colleges, universities, and trade schools embracing America’s veterans as students according to militaryfriendlyschools.com

Naturally, I’m more worried about her leaving for college than I was when she left for basic training! Fortunately, York is very military friendly, because she’ll already miss a day of classes on Friday, September 9^th, because she has to report to her Army reserve unit at 1100, for a three-day weekend drill.

Economics 101: If you raise taxes, they will leave

Governor Rick Perry (R-TX) has presided over the state with the greatest job growth since the start of the recession, and almost half of all American jobs since June of 2009. President Obama and the Democratic partisans will do everything that they can to diminish the Texas record, telling us that the figures are phoney, that the jobs created weren’t good ones, that if there were jobs created, Governor Perry had nothing to do with it, &c, &c, &c.

Well, there has been a state which has followed the economic prescriptions of our friends on the left, and increased taxes. How has that worked out for them?

Jeff Carter

Obama’s Illinois Imploding

I don’t know if you saw this with all the news yesterday. Illinois lost 89,000 jobs since enacting the largest tax increase in the history of the state, as reported by the Illinois Policy Institute.

It was the largest job loss of any state in the nation.

Democrats will blame it on a poor economy. The truth is, higher taxes change behavior. Combine that with the fact that Illinois pols have given tax waivers to some large companies. John Deere ($JD), Motorola Mobility ($MOT, $GOOG), Sears, and others have gotten roll backs on the tax. So, like most tax levies it falls on small businesses and medium size companies.

Motorola Mobility promised to hire people for the tax rollback. Now that they have been purchased by Google, that promise goes out the window. Say goodbye to those jobs.

There is no doubt, other companies are exploring a move from Illinois. Recall that the Democratically controlled Illinois legislature didn’t just raise the corporate income tax, but they killed internet businesses too.

One major company, $CME, that actually has to pay it’s taxes said on the latest earnings call that they have had discussions with other states. I wouldn’t blame CME one bit for leaving. They can increase their earnings 9% simply by moving. I am one shareholder that endorses the move.

Hat tip to Gretchen. But this was not all that difficult to predict. Duffy noted, on his site,:

Even Illinois which is Democrat down to dogcatcher is facing reality. Motorola is threatening to leave the state. The taxes are too high and the cost of doing business has made staying untenable. So what did Illinois do? They offered $100MM in tax breaks. One Hundred Million Dollars not to leave.

They have been forced to face the reality that they can only bleed so much from corporations before they leave. Motorola is not a small outfit and moving is going to be expensive. That said, I don’t think they’re bluffing. They’ve run the numbers and staying long term isn’t prudent.

Similarly, Sears the icon of Illinois is pulling up stakes. Think of what it says that the company with the most iconic tower in the midwest is thinking of leaving Illinois. How bad is the business climate? So bad, they’re considering New Jersey. They are also considering Texas which is unsurprising to anyone who’s been paying attention.

John Hitchcock said, explicitly, last March:

So the Democrat legislators already added another layer of taxes this year, and that added layer of taxes will decimate some Illinois businesses and send some Illinois businesses out of state. Yes, Illinois is busily butchering the goose that laid the golden egg, having already killed it.

And even earlier, last January:

Will businesses leave the state because of this? Yes. Will other businesses which cannot leave fail because of this final straw? Yes. Will The New York Times ever understand it’s not a revenue problem but rather a spending problem? No, of course not.

And I wrote, also last January:

Either the people of Illinois will wind up having to pay more money for the same goods — after having lost 2% of their net pay to taxes — or the companies which don’t believe they can raise prices will have lower profits, and at least some people will lose their jobs; actually, it’ll probably work out to some of both.

Now, some of our friends on the left disagreed that raising taxes was a bad idea. The Kiwi Kommenter wrote:

Why are productive people fleeing the Pyrite State? With a marginal tax rate of 9.55% over $47,055 of income, you are talking thrice the income tax rate in Pennsylvania.

Well then – tax businesses. If they flee, that just opens uop a niche for other people to sell to the people of the State.

Wonder just how that’s working for the people of Illinois? Look at Mr Carter’s chart again: despite the recession, the number of people who were employed in Illinois was growing, right up until the time that the lame-duck Democratic legislature increased taxes. Now, it would be a post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy to state that the tax increase was the cause of the loss of jobs, but it certainly could have been, and it seems that the predictions made by the conservatives here were the ones which turned out right.
_____________________________
Cross posted on Common Sense Political Thought.

Who’s who?

A little light lunchtime reading, confirms that there is always something new in the world of science.

This is because the science fact of yesterday, which replaced the science fact of the day before, is now jettisoned in favor of the science fact of today.

So, Whoooo are You …

From the BBC:

DNA study deals blow to theory of European origins

“A new study deals a blow to the idea that most European men are descended from farmers who migrated from the Near East 5,000-10,000 years ago.

The findings challenge previous research showing that the genetic signature of the farmers displaced that of Europe’s indigenous hunters. …The extent to which modern Europeans are descended from these early farmers versus the indigenous hunter-gatherers who settled the continent thousands of years previously is a matter of heated debate.

The results vary depending on the genetic markers studied and are subject to differing interpretations.
Family tree

The latest study focused on the Y chromosome – a package of DNA which is passed down more or less unchanged from father to son.

The Y chromosomes carried by people today can be classified into different types, or lineages, which – to some extent – reflect their geographical origins.

More than 100 million European men carry a type called R-M269, so identifying when this genetic group spread out is vital to understanding the peopling of Europe.”

Hunter killer, or peaceful farmer?

“R-M269 is most common in western Europe, reaching frequencies of 90% or more in Spain, Ireland and Wales.

The latest research leans towards the idea that most of Europe’s males trace a line of descent to stone-age hunters.

But the authors say more work is needed to answer this question. …”

The matter above of course is widely recognized as an unsettled issue (no pun intended). Other questions of origins and development however, have generally been considered as more or less put to rest.

However, if the assertions contained in the following link are correct, all you horse fanciers may find your accepted narrative subject to a rather radical revision too.

Saudi Arabia discovers 9,000 year-old civilization

Just in case there are any city dwelling youth who might stumble across this blog and be uncertain regarding the concept of a horse, from Wiki:

Also: “Early horse domestication in Neolithic Arabia (?)“

I’ve Got A Little List

Actually, a notebook.  It’s got a lot of lists in it, though.

I picked up a bread machine at a yard sale for ten bucks a few months back, and the book that came with it is…er… somewhat less than helpful. The recipes work just fine, it’s just that they all assume you’ll only be baking with powdered milk. Before Kit came around, that would have been a safe enough bet, although I prefer to keep canned instead of powder as an emergency staple; since both child and husband drink the horrible white stuff, though, it’s silly for me not to buy it in the bladder, and so I look for recipes that use it instead….

These go into my recipe notebook.

 Simple, old spiral notebook, first page is Nancy Cookies because I’d rather have a paper notebook than my laptop computer, and I was making a big batch for then-Fiance-Elf.  (They are great because if you put them in zipper-bags and ship them to the other side of the world, they still taste fresh when they get there, and for about a month after.)

  It probably won’t ever turn into the great packs of notecards that my grandmothers had.  Unlike theirs I’ve tried to put in every trick that I use to get results that I like– theirs were a memory aid so they knew the basic route, then their skill turned the variable ingredients into what they wanted; since my ingredients are of incredibly consistent quality and I don’t have anything like the skills they did, there are a lot of notes like “add a little extra water if they don’t look flat enough.”  I’ve got real recipe books as well, including the classic Better Homes and Gardens from the 70s or so. (Since I got it at the Base’s thrift store, it’s also stuffed with clippings from magazines…I still end up getting most of the information I need from the internet, since most of the time I just can’t remember how hot the oven should be for a pork roast, or if I’m supposed to put foil on the bird until the last ten minutes, or not do it until then….)

Adding a recipe to my little list is a sort of big deal for my cooking– there’s a ton of scrap paper around the kitchen, from a scribbled tamagoyaki recipe taped to the microwave to a scribbled list of what I need to prepare for fishstick tacos.  I have to try a recipe several times, get consistent results and really like the results for something to be added.

This is one that made it (although I still need to scribe it….)
It Came From The Bread Machine: Son of Cinnabon

The night before:
Get two gallon ziplocks and a sandwich bag.
Draw a line down the middle of one side of the bags.
On one side of the first one, write:

• 4 1/2 cups bread flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast

go to the other side, and write:

• 1 cup warm milk
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1/3 cup margarine, melted

Put the dry ingredients in that bag, seal, mix a bit if you feel like it, and set aside.

Get the second large bag and, on the same side you wrote the dry ingredents for the one above, write:

• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

On the other side, write:

• 1/3 cup butter, softened

Put the sugar and cinnamon in, seal, mix a bit if you feel like it, set with the flour bag.

Get the little bag, and write:

• 1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

On the other side, or below, write:

• 1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Put in the sugar and salt, seal, put with the other bags. Pull out a stick of butter to soften overnight. Get a microwave safe bowl– soup bowl works fine– and put 1/3 cup margarine and 1 cup milk in it; put it in the fridge beside your eggs.

Put tinfoil on your cookie sheet, clear a space on the counter near the bread machine and go to bed.

When you stumble down stairs to turn on the coffee machine next morning, put the milk and margarine in the microwave for about 30 seconds. Put the eggs under running hot water, or– if you’re a desert kid like me– give the milk mix an extra ten or so seconds and make sure the eggs are mixed in well in the bread machine. Pour in bag #1, set the machine to “dough,” and go have your coffee. (Or go back to sleep for an hour, if you’re the sort who can; if not, when you’re done with your coffee and email, refill the bag.)

When the dough is done, dump it on to the counter and leave it there for about ten minutes. (Good time to rinse the bread machine and refill the ziplock, if you didn’t already.)

Roll it out to a 16×21′ rectangle– that’s “about a hand bigger on every side than the big cookie sheet” for me; you’ll find a shorthand that works for you. Cover with the butter that’s been softening overnight. Make sure that bag #2 is well mixed, then sprinkle as evenly as you can over the buttered dough. Roll it, so you end up with a dough tube that’s nearly two feet long.

Slice into even rolls– I used two and a half fingers to “measure,” do whatever trick so you end up with about a dozen, even-ish rolls. The ends will be ugly; it doesn’t really matter….

Put on the sheet, and put aside until they’re about double in size. (~30 minutes, depends; my first batch took nearly an hour, because I was enjoying the cool morning air and the room was about 60*….)

Set oven to 400*F.

Get a little mixing bowl and empty the third bag into it. (At least three times the size of a soup bowl was the smallest that worked for me.) Put the cream cheese and butter in the bowl you used for the milk mix earlier, microwave 10-20 seconds so it’s soft, mix into the sugar mix with the vanilla. Clean off the beater and put the bowl over the exhaust for your oven. (usually the back right burner– this will make it really easy to pour)

Clean up and re-fill any bags that are still empty. (This really does make it a lot nicer.)

Put the doubled rolls into the oven for about fifteen minutes, so they’re golden brown.

Pull out, dribble frosting over them– I find it easiest to do a bare dribble circuit, let it soak in a bit, and then do one or two more so that I don’t run out of frosting or make a mess. You might even want to have one or two without frosting, although I suggest either putting butter on them or eating them fresh if you do.

These taste like the best cinnabon you’ve ever had, and even two days later they were better than the worst I’ve had. (And the whole batch costs less than just one!)

Leftist Class Envy (Commandment Ten Violation)

I worked eight years for a manufacturing firm that had both hourly employees and piece-rate employees. The top hourly employees could expect to earn 25,000 a year plus any overtime, whereas the top piece-rate employees were earning as much as 40,000 a year plus overtime.

There was a lady who worked hourly who had been there for five years, so she was at the top of the hourly pay-scale. She was very offended that she was earning 12 dollars an hour while other employees were earning as much as 20 dollars an hour (me, for one). Her solution: Cut the pay of the top earners so theirs would be closer to hers. Understand, cutting the top would not add a dime to her pay, but she thought it only fair that the top not get paid as much since she didn’t.

She could’ve bid onto a piece-rate job, but she did not want that job. There was no hourly rate, unless equipment was broken. All the money had to be made by actually producing product. And at 14 to 23 cents per piece for the vast majority of the product (4 to 8 cents per piece of pipe, more for other items), it was very hard, demanding, fast-paced work to get up to 20 dollars per hour working piece-rate. And rating out her product that she was paid hourly for, her actual piece-rate would have been well below 10 an hour instead of the 12 an hour she earned.

She didn’t want to do what it took to earn the higher pay; she just wanted to take that higher pay away from those who did earn it. And yes, it was much more important to her that the top get chopped than the bottom like her (remember, she was the top hourly rate, not the bottom like she had in her mind) get more. After all, it was only fair to violate the Tenth Commandment and be envious of the pay of other Union members in the same Union shop.

And that’s how it is with the American Leftist agenda. They are all about cutting the top and violating the Tenth Commandment. They aren’t, in actuality, about raising the bottom. “There’s a point when you’ve made enough money” has absolutely nothing with raising the bottom and absolutely everything with cutting down the top and the Envy of Your Neighbor’s Possessions. Where were all the stories about the suffering, starving, poor Americans when Bill Clinton was President? Where are all those stories now? They only show up when a Republican is President. It’s not really about raising the bottom; it’s all about maintaining a victim class that will permanently vote Democrat and advancing the violation of the Tenth Commandment.

And like that woman who was actually the top of her classification and not the bottom, the American Left and their Class Envy are also at the top of the World Poverty classification. Bill Whittle shows very clearly that America’s poor aren’t all that poor.

And most of America’s poor are better off than Europe’s, Africa’s, Asia’s middle class. How did America’s poor become so well-off? Traditional American values, which run afoul of American Leftists’ values. A strong work ethic, a belief that if you work hard enough and smart enough, there is no limit to what you can achieve or have. But the Left, both in the US and in the world (see United Nations) absolutely believe there is a point where you can make or have too much, a most definite limit.

Over 3 billion people would absolutely love to be “poor” like America’s poor. But the world’s Leftist Elite are more interested in pushing Class Envy, being envious of and jealous of their neighbor’s possessions, than in actually lifting up the condition of the world’s poor.