In breaking news, Michael Jackson's condition remains stable at this hour.

Posted by: Slublog at 05:46 AM | Comments (1)
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Better late than never... more...

Posted by: Open Blog at 06:43 PM | Comments (1)
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What a relief. Prosperity is just around the corner. A chicken in every pot. The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Now go fetch me a juice box you denialist haters. 150,000 - how's my ass taste now bitches?

...Since Obama signed the stimulus bill in February, the economy has shed more than 2 million jobs. Unemployment now stands at 9.5 percent, the highest in more than a quarter century.

Robert L. Nabors II, deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, testified that 150,000 jobs had been created from stimulus spending. With the stimulus spending, he said the nation is moving down the right path...

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 04:09 PM | Comments (1)
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One month ago, NY Republican senators wrested control of the chamber away from Democrats by enticing to defectors to join them. The next day one of the Democrats went back across the aisle leaving the Senate deadlocked. Usually the Lieutenant Governor would break ties but NY doesn't have one because Eliot "Client Number 9" Spitzer resigned making the then Lt. Governor, David Paterson Governor.

There's no provision in the NYS Constitution to fill a vacancy in the office of Lieutenant Governor. So being a Democrat, Paterson just invented one based on the state's Public Officers Law..

Gov. David Paterson has selected veteran businessman and public servant Richard Ravitch to be New York's lieutenant governor, making history and ensuring controversy.

...Senate Democratic leaders Malcolm Smith and John Sampson praised the governor's move in a joint statement. "Extraordinary times call for extraordinary action. ... Today, the constitutional issue of succession to the office of Governor has been settled, removing a major stumbling block to our negotiations," they said.

Senate Republican Leader Dean Skelos, in a videotaped response, briefly dismissed the governor's move as unconstitutional -- and didn't even mention Ravitch's name -- before moving on to a broad-based attack on what he described as Democrats' free-spending, high-taxing ways.

The only small problem is pretty much no one, including state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, thinks this is constitutional.

The concept was quickly shot down as "not constitutional" and a "political ploy" by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo - a potential Paterson rival in next year's Democratic primary.

"Contrary to the proponents' goal, we believe it would not provide long-term political stability but rather the opposite by involving the governor in a political ploy that would wind through the courts for many months," Cuomo said.

Cuomo's concerns were echoed by Democratic Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli this morning after a meeting with Mayor Bloomberg.

Just when it seemed New York couldn't become more of a joke, it has.

Thanks Dave!

NY Trivia: There are 6 statewide offices total between the state (Governor, Lt. Governor, Comptroller, and Attorney General) and federal (two Senators). Right now only 2 are the people who were elected to the positions (AG Cuomo and Senator Schumer), Paterson inherited the office and the other 3 were appointed to fill a vacancy.

Nice, right?

Posted by: DrewM at 03:24 PM | Comments (5)
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Then they got themselves arrested.

"Doing what it takes to solve global warming demands real political courage," Greenpeace USA deputy campaigns director Carroll Muffett said in a statement. "I think we have to go all out. I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody's part."

"And we're just the guys to do it," echoed another activist.

Might have gotten that last bit wrong. Seems right though.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 03:19 PM | Comments (5)
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You tell me how to read this:

. A majority of young people still approve of Obama's job performance, but a majority of seniors over 64 now don't (54%). Maybe they'll die before the next election.

Maybe LATimes blogger Andrew Malcolm will die of AIDS-related pneumonia in six months. Just saying -- could happen.

You never know.

Thanks to Arthur K.

Posted by: Ace at 01:00 PM | Comments (2)
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A caller to his show suggests this, and he says it's "interesting" and that he'll "put it out" there (to see if anyone has confirmation) and that he doesn't know if it's true or not.

Grievance politics and conspiracy theories are like chocolate and peanut butter, and Al Sharpton isn't going to stand in the way of any kooky stuff his listeners might dream up.

That would be sellin' out to whitey.

Thanks to Edward R.

Posted by: Ace at 12:55 PM | Comments (3)
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Not exactly their chart -- FoxNews tarted it up with garish colors and made it ugly as hell.

But the same chart. With "by InnocentBystanders.net" at the bottom of the screen.

Bonus: I was looking for the chart but found this NSFW story.

A teacher, one Mrs. Defanti, prepared a DVD for her students, meant to contain pictures of them through the school year.

Cute idea.

Execution?

Well, she probably should have avoided including the shot of her giving herself manual pleasure, apparently in front of a webcam. (Link finally fixed.)

Posted by: Ace at 12:10 PM | Comments (1)
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Huh?

I thought that article said that the a new Guinness World Record had been set for vagina lifting, but I must have read that wrong.

42 year old Tatiata Kozhevnikova broke the record by lifting a 31 pound (14 kg) glass ball. According to local media, Tatiata has been exercising her vagina for fifteen years....

Just in case you haven’t tried lifting weights with your vagina before, Tatiata recommends it to all women who want to improve their sex life. “It’s enough to exercise your vagina five minutes a day, ladies, and in just one week you’ll be able to give yourself and your man unforgettable pleasure in bed,” she said.

Plus you can have both hands free while bowling.

Note: They do much reassuring that "yes, this is all quite real, seriously" but do not ever get around to providing anything resembling an outside citation. Read into that what you will. I read into it "prank, where we note right up front the suspicion it's a prank and therefore reassure you that's not a prank."

Thanks to JasonF.

Ahem: I already thought this was a prank. But now I'm wondering about the specification that a "glass ball" was lifted.

Why glass? This isn't porno; we don't need to see.

And this would tend to suggest that "vagina lifting work-out balls" are available (in glass) in various staged weights; so you can, I guess, trade up from a three pounder to a five pounder as with small dumbbells.

And, um, vary the weight, depending on whether you're going for pure power or, uhh, definition.

A goofy detail to include in a prank.

Correction: The lascivious strumpet LauraW tells me Kegel weights are real.

But she doesn't say they are available in competitive vag-lifting weight stages.

Update: Flenser founds some Content-Warning-But-Not-As-Bad-As-You'd-Think pictures which seem to establish this is all too real.

Posted by: Ace at 10:50 AM | Comments (1)
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Which is why it was important, if it were to be done at all, to do it right the first time, and use the stimulus on real, genuine stimulus, such as cutting payroll taxes for a year.

As I argued back then:

For the cost of Obama's $1.2 trillion "stimulus," we could give employers a 2 1/2 year payroll tax holiday. Encouraging them to hire new workers by reducing their actual costs.

Over 2 1/2 years, that's 2.8 million new jobs, based on standard economic assumptions. Nevermind the additional jobs "preserved" (in Obama's weak promise) due to the fact it would now be cheaper to keep staff in place.

If this is all about jobs, jobs, jobs, and we want a sharp sudden impact for our dollars, why not consider this route?

Alternately... To mollify the public (Hey, why are my employers getting a tax cut and I'm not?!!), one could give employers and employees both a half reduction for 2 1/2 years. Or both a full, complete holiday for 1.25 years.

Numbers crunched by Flip.

Instead, we have taken the one bullet in our stimulus gun and fired it futilely into the air. We're out of ammo now.

Democrats own this abortion. There is absolutely no Republican influence here at all, save the Maine Twins' eleventh-hour fussing over a billion here or there. (The other Senatorial turncoat is now an official Democrat... until he loses in November.)

They ignored all advice. They were drunk with power and determined to indulge their nasty little ids and do harmful things just to prove they could do them, like poorly-raised teenagers misbehaving when their parents are called away on business.

"I won," Obama explained.

Yeah, you won. Past tense.

Democrats who control the levers of power in Washington are divided over whether to push for more deficit spending to end the recession and stem job losses, complicating the possibility of a second stimulus bill.

“We need to be open to whether or not we need further action,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, told reporters yesterday. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada countered that “there is no showing to me that another stimulus is needed.”

President Barack Obama underscored the dilemma by addressing both sides of the argument. In an interview with ABC News yesterday, he said unemployment approaching 10 percent is something “we wrestle with constantly.” He added that spending more borrowed money is “potentially counterproductive.”

He then offered his opinion that Tastycakes Butterscotch Krumpets are "potentially delicious when soaked in milk."

The split reflects two major challenges facing the Democrats: Record budget deficits that make additional spending much tougher to pass and a 26-year-high unemployment rate of 9.5 percent that is expected to rise to double digits.

“They’re between a rock and a hard place,” said Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report in Washington.

The U.S. economy lost 467,000 jobs in June, exceeding economistsÂ’ forecasts, while the federal budget deficit is projected by the Congressional Budget Office to top $1.8 trillion this year and $1.4 trillion in fiscal 2010. ThatÂ’s provoked criticism of the $787 billion stimulus bill passed in February as either wasteful or not large enough.

Enjoy the admission contained herein from big-wig Democratic advisor Laura Tyson:

The U.S. should consider drafting a second stimulus package focusing on infrastructure projects...

Wait, I thought the last one was focused laser-like on infrastructure projects? Apparently, not so much. Tyson concludes her thought nonsensically:

The U.S. should consider drafting a second stimulus package focusing on infrastructure projects because the bill approved in February was “a bit too small,” said Laura Tyson...

The last one didn't focus on infrastructute because it was "too small," or because Pelosi didn't focus it on infrastructure? "Too small" can only mean that infrastructure could not be properly addressed because the money was being spent on other things and infrastucture was not a priority.

Because, if the last one had been bigger, apparently we would have gotten around to those infractructure projects.

Here's some positive messaging for you:

...

The Obama administration may have to stick with that argument, as more spending is unlikely in the face of record deficits, said Stan Collender, a former House and Senate budget analyst.

“Adding additional spending or tax cuts right now would be very difficult,” Collender said. He added, however, that if the economy deteriorates, another bill to juice the economy may become possible.

“Right now it doesn’t seem to be justified,” said Collender, managing director of Qorvis Communications in Washington. “Come September, it might be.”

If the economy gets bad enough, he says, then what would in other circumstances be considered unthinkable becomes quite thinkable. A man who's doomed and dying anyway is less afraid of an extremely dangerous experimental surgery, isn't he?

And when is the patient looking like he might die? September, it seems.

More on this: Democrats frazzled as "stimulus" fizzles.

Five months after Congress approved a massive package of spending and tax cuts aimed at reviving an ailing economy, the jobless rate is still climbing and the White House is scrambling to reassure an anxious public that President ObamaÂ’s prescription for economic recovery is on the right track.

Yesterday, Obama took time out of his first presidential trip to Moscow to defend the $787 billion stimulus package, arguing that the measure was the right medicine at the right time. “There’s nothing that we would have done differently,” he told ABC News.

Stop the tape, as Rush says. His own Vice President admitted "We misread the economy." (Way to stay on-message, Joe!)

Bush was castigated for not admitting any errors about a war in which soldiers were (and still are) dying. Stubborn and self-serving, yes, but at least he had the pretext of not wishing to reduce morale to partially justify that.

What's Obama got justifying his refusal to admit error?

"ThereÂ’s nothing that we would have done differently." Get that ready for 2010 campaign commercials.

Back in Washington, senior Democrats on Capitol Hill were nervously contemplating whether additional government stimulus spending may be needed to pull the nation out of the worst recession since the 1930s. Senior administration officials acknowledged that the effects of the stimulus package have been overshadowed by an unexpectedly sharp drop-off in employment since the measure passed in February. But they reported that only about $100 billion has so far been spent and that as increasingly large sums flow out of Washington, the program is on pace to save or create 600,000 jobs over the next 100 days.

Remember how the media always added "It has been x days since George Bush declared the end of major operations in Iraq" every time they ran a story about troops or Iraqi civilians dying?

If they are providing "context" like that, then they are required to provide "context" to Obama's claims of "saving or creating jobs," too. Like so:

There is no statistically sound basis to verify Obama's claims of "saving" jobs. Furthermore, no president in history has ever sought, nor was ever granted, credit for allegedly "saving" jobs in an economic downturn.

Utterly factual, too.

I'd add:

If such credit for "saved" jobs had been awarded previously, the doomed presidencies of Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush, often considered "failures," might have been rescued by such ill-defined and self-serving statistics. All presidents have previously been evaluated, in terms of job-creation performance, only according to the statistically rigorous and verifiable figures of jobs lost and jobs created. Until now there has been no suggestion from anyone of a third category, jobs "saved."

But then, I'm a partisan.

How's the market reacting to this talk of a second stimulus?

Ten week low in the markets. And they're our most commonly cited leading indicator of what the economy will look like six to nine months down the road.

Posted by: Ace at 10:41 AM | Comments (14)
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