Another month of growth, but of the disappointing kind.

On the other hand, the March-to-March figures were revised upwards by 236,000:

Labor also said that, according to preliminary estimates, the economy added about 236,000 more jobs than previously thought in the year ended March 2004 and it will incorporate the change into benchmark revisions it issues next February.

As a result after including the projected change, it appears that about 585,000 jobs have been lost since President Bush took office in January 2001.

A better number than 913,000, to be sure. But since Kerry and the Democrats continue to allege over a million jobs lost, don't expect them to also revise their numbers.

Posted by: Ace at 04:37 AM | Comments (8)
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Kerry's position -- that he is against gay marriage, but we can't lift a finger to actually make that the law -- is incoherent, as usual.

If you're against gay marriage, there is no other way to maintain one-man-one-woman marriage. Because state courts are unrelentingly hostile to laws prohibiting gay marriage, and even state constitutional amendments prohibiting them.

Andrew Sullivan is disingenuous when he claims, as most liberals do, to be against an amendment but in favor of "leaving the question up to the people." The people express their preference on this issue time and time again, but the people who actually make the decisions -- judges -- ignore them every time.

They will continue claiming the federal constitution prohibits one-man-one-woman laws and state constitutional amendments until the federal constitution specifically and expressly states that nothing within it demands gay marriage or gay civil unions.

And even then-- there will be liberal jurists willing to argue that the Constitution itself has become unconstitutional, and parts of it need to be ignored.

Sound crazy? It's not. That's exactly what liberal judges did in Nevada, when they decided that raising taxes was so imperative -- sorequired by the emanations and penumbras of the Nevada constitution -- that an explicit constitutional amendment requiring a two-thirds legislative vote to raise taxes could be disregarded as contrary to the constitution.

When even the actual constitution can be disregarded by partisan judges as "unconstitutional," what precisely is left of the theory of constitutional democracy at all?

Posted by: Ace at 06:36 PM | Comments (12)
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To be fair, the Bush Administration has raised expectations itself. Still, I find it curious that the media likes to play up expectations of a good jobs report, and yet doesn't seem eager to report actual good jobs reports. They had a lot to say about the lackluster summer jobs numbers, and yet had little remark about the big numbers posted in late winter and early spring.

Interesting points, with a cute little button:

The precise relationship between pocketbook issues and presidential elections is impossible to pin down, but that does not stop economists from trying. A well-known model developed by Yale economist Ray Fair, based largely on economic growth and inflation figures, projects that Bush will win 59 percent of the two-party vote.

A similar model unveiled this week by Patrick Anderson of Anderson Economic Group added a variable for unemployment and still concluded that Bush would win, but only by 0.2 to 1 percent.

“(Bush) can say the economy is growing, income is growing, the economy is creating jobs, unemployment is falling — all these things are true,” Anderson said. “And with those conditions, the model says the incumbent should be re-elected.”

Of course it is entirely possible that the economy will not be the decisive factor in the first presidential election of the post 9/11 era.

“I think Iraq trumps all of it,” said Diffley. He called Iraq the most important “swing state” of all.

Posted by: Ace at 06:46 AM | Comments (4)
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I sorta want to buy the Star Wars trilogy on DVD, even though the trilogy was almost ruined by the prequels.

But Lucas, determined to "improve" the originals until they suck just as bad as the prequels, has inserted Hayden "Manniquin Skywalker" Christiansen into the end of RotJ, replacing the "Force ghost" of old Annikin with young, annoying Annikin.

I also understand that not only does Greedo shoot first, but now, before he shoots, he says "Captain Solo, I am going to go cut down acres of virginal rainforests as soon as I am done killing you by shooting at you from close range (and yet missing by a good half yard). You would certainly be well-justified in drawing out your gun furtively and giving me what's what right in the chest! And furthermore, no children younger than 6 years of age should get the idea that you would be behaving dishonorably by doing so!"

Yeahp.

It's kinda like the J. Giles Band's Centerfold, except with droids and muppets. But it hurts even worse, because, nudy pictures or not, Angel was still hot.

Oh no, I can't deny it. Oh yeah, I guess I gotta buy it.

Update: Sort of an interesting discussion there, if you're a geek for such things. Pressing question: Did Lucas really intend Leia to end up with Han from the get-go? Did he always envision Luke and Leia as twin siblings?

If so, why does one of the spin-off "novels" feature Luke and Leia making out?

A bit kinkier than we've come to expect from George "My Kids Wanted More Jar-Jar, So I Gave Them More Jar-Jar" Lucas.

Urgent Update! I'm not the only one pissed off and crazed over this incident.

Apparently Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith, is so distraught he's taken to mugging pizza-delivery men. Armed with what is either a blaster "set to stun" or just a conventional stun-gun.

Don't believe me? I find your lack of faith... disturbing.

Thanks to AndrewF for that.

Posted by: Ace at 06:45 AM | Comments (9)
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There's just too much amazing stuff posted at NRO's KerrySpot. As the man says, just keep scrolling.

Or, as the man also says: "Heh."

Posted by: Ace at 06:07 AM | Add Comment
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Dopey partisan professor cries "Uncle" and whines about having his character "assassinated." Maybe he should have thought of that before writing a disingenous partisan "proof" that the obviously-sham Rather forgeries were real.

Wizbang is mentioned prominently.

Posted by: Ace at 06:04 AM | Comments (5)
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Kinda crazy, but a website is now getting pre-release buzz from the LLM.

Unfortunately, there's no link yet to the new cartoon at JibJab.com. It's going to premier on the Tonight Show tonight. And, get this, they're being paid an "undisclosed amount" for "premier rights."

In related news, I'm proud to announce that I just got a google-hit off of the keywords "John Edwards cocoa-butter handjob."

So don't worry about me. I'm doin' a-ok myself.

Posted by: Ace at 05:33 AM | Comments (4)
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...is digested nicely by Instapundit.

Some news hurts Bush-- it turns out Saddam didn't have stockpiles of WMD's, and I think that it's time I actually wrapped my head around that. Due to both political bias and actual bona-fide expectations that Saddam did have WMD's -- as everyone thought, including, apparently, top officials in his regime -- I have long clinged to the hope we'd find stockpiles of Iraqi WMD's, whether in Iraq or in Syria or Lebanon. At this point I give up the ghost on that.

But other news undeniably helps Bush and/or hurts Kerry. Saddam deliberately retained the infrastructure for creating WMD's, and intended to begin churning them out the minute the sanctions regime ended-- and of course it was crumbling.

And it seems that the "allies" Kerry claims could have and should have been brought into a "Grand Coalition" against Saddam were already in a Grand Coalition-- a corrupt coalition to keep Saddam in power, in perpetuity:

Although they found no evidence that Saddam had made any WMD since 1992, they found documents which showed the "guiding theme" of his regime was to be able to start making them again with as short a lead time as possible."

Saddam was convinced that the UN sanctions - which stopped him acquiring weapons - were on the brink of collapse and he bankrolled several foreign activists who were campaigning for their abolition. He personally approved every one.

To keep America at bay, he focusing on Russia, France and China - three of the five UN Security Council members with the power to veto war. Politicians, journalists and diplomats were all given lavish gifts and oil-for-food vouchers.

Tariq Aziz, the former Iraqi deputy prime minister, told the ISG that the "primary motive for French co-operation" was to secure lucrative oil deals when UN sanctions were lifted. Total, the French oil giant, had been promised exploration rights.

Iraqi intelligence officials then "targeted a number of French individuals that Iraq thought had a close relationship to French President Chirac," it said, including two of his "counsellors" and spokesman for his re-election campaign.

They even assessed the chances for "supporting one of the candidates in an upcoming French presidential election." Chirac is not mentioned by name.

A memo sent to Saddam dated in May last year from his intelligence corps said they met with a "French parliamentarian" who "assured Iraq that France would use its veto in the UN Security Council against any American decision to attack Iraq."

All of these revelations are newsworthy. Which one do you think the liberal legacy media will report at the top of their broadcasts? Which ones do you think the LLM won't bother to report at all?

Update: And of course the globetrotting leftist Friend to Dictators George Galloway was one of those who stood to benefit personally from the continuation of the oil-for-WMD's scheme-- and from Saddam's perpetual tyranny.

Update: The report's author says the world is better off without Saddam.

Posted by: Ace at 05:00 AM | Comments (25)
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Booyah:

WASHINGTON - The number of new applications filed last week for unemployment benefits fell sharply, offering a hopeful sign that the recovery in the job market may be gaining some steam.

The Labor Department (news - web sites) reported Thursday that the number of new people signing up for unemployment insurance benefits dropped by a seasonally adjusted 37,000 to 335,000, the lowest level since the beginning of September. In the prior three weeks, claims had gone up.

The latest snapshot of the layoffs climate was better than economists were expecting. They were expecting claims to decline to around 355,000.

Claims had risen recently in part because of the impact of hurricanes that pummeled Florida and elsewhere, wreaking damage and disrupting commerce.

The more stable, four-week moving average of claims, which smooths out week-to-week fluctuations, rose by 4,250 last week to 348,500. That compares with 394,250 a year ago — showing improvement has been seen over the past year.

The number of people continuing to draw unemployment benefits declined by 1,000 to 2.86 million for the week ending Sept. 25, the most recent period for which that information is available. A year ago, the number stood at 3.57 million.

Small cowbell for reduced jobless claims:

Posted by: Ace at 04:52 AM | Comments (3)
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The consensus estimate for Semptember's jobs number is pretty low:

Wall Street economists surveyed by Reuters on average forecast that 148,000 new jobs were created last month -- too few to shrink a relatively low 5.4 percent jobless rate and barely enough to absorb new entrants to the workforce.

No one, except the White House, is quoted on an estimate as regards the yearly revisions.

Posted by: Ace at 12:18 PM | Comments (15)
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