Hodge-podge Page

Fill in the blank: 'Jobless claims rise more than _____________.'

Rick Moran

You win a lifetime free subscription - or, at least until they go out of business - for the New York Times, if you guessed the missing word is "expected."

Reuters:

New claims for unemployment benefitsrose more than expected last week, a government report showed on Thursday, suggesting little improvement in the labor market this month after employment stumbled in May.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits climbed 9,000 to a seasonally adjusted 429,000, the Labor Department said. The prior week's figure was revised up to 420,000.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims to edge up to 415,000 from a previously reported count of 414,000.

The claims report covers the survey period for the government's closely watched data on nonfarm payrolls for June.

Claims increased 15,000 between the May and June survey periods, implying little or no gains in nonfarm payrolls this month after a modest 54,000 increase in May.

Obama's pathetically sad gaffe at Fort Drum

Rick Moran

t's easy to get mad at Obama for something like this, but I just feel an enormous amount of sadness for America that we are saddled with this clueless git for another year and a half. And a sadness for the parents of Medal of Honor winner SFC Jared Monti who must have been stung by the president's misstatement. Here's Blackfive reporting on thepresident's appearance at Fort Drum addressing the famous 10th Mountain Division:

"First time I saw 10th Mountain Division, you guys were in southern Iraq. When I went back to visit Afghanistan, you guys were the first ones there. I had the great honor of seeing some of you because a comrade of yours, Jared Monti, was the first person who I was able to award the Medal of Honor to who actually came back and wasn't receiving it posthumously."

As we all know, SSG Sal Giunta, of the 173rd Airborne, was the first living recipient (2011) of the MOH who fought in Iraq/Afganistan. SFC Jared Monti, 10th Mountain Division, was KIA in Afghanistan in 2006. He was posthumously awarded the MOH by Obama in 2009. 

How does the Commander-in-Chief mix these heroes up? He put that medal around Giunta's neck and he stood with Monti's parents as they grieved. These fallen heroes leave such a great legacy, and we should know all their names. The ironic part of the speech, and this comes after the announcement of the politically pressured drawdown of troops in Afghanistan, was Obama's closing remark, "Know that your Commander-in-Chief has your back."

It shouldn't take a teleprompter for the C-in-C to get it right.

No, it shouldn't. Absolutely inexcusable. It might be understandable for a tired man to say there are 57 states but to screw up the names of Medal of Honor winners?

Why Obama is MIA in Deficit Talks

Neil Braithwaite

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor left the White House deficit talks, sighting the absence of President Obama from the negotiations, while Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell asked the Senate body, where's thepresident? Good question - easily answered.

The real reason President Obama does not engage directly in bipartisan policy talks is not that he has confidence in his negotiating team, it's because he has no clue of how anything actually works. And because Obama is genuinely clueless, he will never put his incompetence on display for the people to see. It's as simple as that.

I call it arrogant incompetence. The president talks a good game, but articulating an actual plan and being able to explain and define how it works is, to quote the president, "above his pay grade." 

Fortunately for America, it's getting harder and harder for emperor Obama to cling to his tattered rags of rhetoric to try and cover the naked truth of his incompetence.
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Reason.tv Reporter Arrested at D.C. Taxicab Commission Hearing

by MARC SCRIBNER on JUNE 22, 2011

Reason.tv producer and reporter Jim Epstein was arrested this afternoon at a hearing held before the D.C. Taxicab Commission. Nick Gillespie, editor-in-chief of Reason.com and Reason.tv, writes:

I regret to announce that Reason.tv producer and journalist Jim Epstein is being held by US Park Police for video recording an incident at a District of Columbia Taxicab Commission hearing taking place at the US Park Police Building in Anacostia Park. Our attorney is on the scene and reports that Epstein, who was attending the hearing as part of an upcoming story on plans to introduce a medallions system to D.C.’s taxi industry, should be released very shortly.

This is very unfortunate, but not exactly surprising given the current state of ethics (or lack thereof) among the D.C. taxicab industry, its regulators, and D.C.’s elected officials. We hope this situation resolves itself soon in Epstein’s favor.

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Barney Frank and Ron Paul Introduce Marijuana Legalization Bill

By Stephen Reader

Representatives Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Ron Paul (R-Texas) introduced a bill Thursday that would end federal prohibition of marijuana production, distribution and possession.

The unlikely pair teamed up to support the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act, which would leave it up to states to make their own laws regarding the drug and, if enacted, would redefine the federal government's War on Drugs, which turned 40 last week.

"The legislation ... focuses federal law enforcement on violent criminals and organized crime instead of marijuana offenders, and saves taxpayer money," said Bill Piper, Director of National Affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance.

Washington would only be charged with ensuring that marijuana doesn't illegally enter the country or cross state lines where it has been made or kept illegal.

Proponents of the bill say it's the first of its kind to be considered at the federal level, and liken it to the 18th Amendment, which repealed alcohol prohibition and gave states regulatory authority. They also point to increased tax revenue from the legal sale of marijuana, as well as the high cost of imprisoning people for possession.

Barney Frank is optimistic the bill is a step in the right direction. It's also a gutsy move for a Republican presidential candidate to make, but Ron Paul has long supported legalization, which is also popular among his enthusiastic base.

New York has already decriminalized marijuana possession up to 25 grams.

Greek showdown

Hugh de Payns

June 28th is a date to watch as the vote on the Greek austerity plan takes place.

Unions are already mobilized and one suspects that a meaningful chunk of that nation will be on strike.  It should make for terrific theatre -- especially since the vote is going to be so close.

It is not certain that the austerity plan will even work as it contains a lot of assumptions and has some real problems.  The US market is a bit unnerved.  Between the Greece Fire, the horrific unemployment numbers coming out this AM, and the Bernanke's speech Wednesday, this makes sense.

Now we are hearing that the Greek finance minister Venizelos is trying to re negotiate and amend the terms of the plan at this late hour.  It makes one think that the nation will not be able to hold to the financial covenants built in to the agreement and he knows it.  On the other hand, there is the news that some nations in Europe are wanting to refuse any further modifications or concessions.  A take it or leave it, Mr. Venizelos, approach.

The euro might take a pounding, that is a given.  But there is something else:

Between the irrepressibly poor mathematics, and the dysfunctional psychology and the dynamics of denial, the real lesson here is that this just one possible future that we ourselves may be facing in the next ten years when "other people's money" runs out.

James Hansen, Government Employee, Climate Scientist on the Take

Henry Percy

Meet Dr. James Hansen, one of the founders of the religion called Anthropogenic Global Warming, more accurately denominated We're-So-Smart-We-Know-What's-Good-for-You.

Dr. Hansen has been an employee of the federal government for 30 years, at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, where he is now director, making $180,000 per year (plus lavish benefits) courtesy of the US taxpayer. One of his projects is to have the CEOs of large fossil fuel companies put on trial "for high crimes against humanity andnature." Is this a great system or what, where public "servants" get paid, handsomely, to advocate for political policies?

Now we learn that the good doctor has "earned" an additional $1.2 million or more in the past four years from "the very environmental organizations whose agenda he advocated." These fees and prizes are legal for a government employee, if he files the appropriate forms before taking the money. NASA says those forms do not exist.

Where are the left's activists to lecture us on the corrupting influence of money? Are they worried that all these fees, and gifts thinly disguised as "prizes," will affect their hero's objectivity? Isn't the man supposed to be a scientist?

All these "prizes" are just a means of keeping him on the reservation should his slumbering conscience prod him into engaging in real science.

One item is particularly intriguing:

$720,000 in legal advice and media consulting services provided by The George Soros Open Society Institute. Hansen said he did not take "direct" support from Soros but accepted "pro bono legal advice."

Three-quarters of a million dollars from our old friend Georgie for "pro bono legal advice"? Dr. Hansen apparently makes a distinction between direct and indirect bribes. I am reminded of Samuel Pepys, the seventeenth-century English diarist who served as Secretary to the Admiralty. Pepys describes taking envelopes from contractors but refusing to open them in his office. Imagine his delight on going home at night and discovering money inside. No bribery there!

Back to Dr. Hansen. Why the need for so much legal advice? Sure, he has been arrested a couple of times for demonstrating against the coal industry, but those were misdemeanor charges. Has he been charged with a serious felony? Or is he planning one, like urging Congress to steal trillions from the American public through cap and trade and other regulations on energy?