Cain Able to Slap Down Made Up Scandal

As to the question does Herman Cain survive the alleged sexual misconduct incident the answer is yes and deservedly so. I have not been especially kind to the Cain campaign and cannot rate its performance above a "C". One comes away from the Politico piece with no less respect for Herman Cain and considerably less respect for the law. Perhaps it is time to look at that statute and the American Disabilities Act as both being little more than a make work projects for tort lawyers.

Speaking to Greta Van Susteren, Cain states that one of the woman he knew only vaguely and that their offices were on the same floor and once he said she was about the same height as his wife. Cain can't recall anything about the other woman in the case. Aside from a sense of outrage at these two nameless hags there is nothing to take away from the story. There are hardly any facts, names, dates, or locations coming from Politico - just a headline. To judge the political damage to Cain one should remember that he has already peaked and started to decline marginally in the latest polls. His run up in the polls is simply to fast to sustain so when he declines it might be attributed to this incident rather than the normal statistical ebb and flow. Cain came into the race a long shot and has hugely exceed everyone's expectations. His success against long odds engender feelings of warmth sort of like Nancy Grace does when she Dances with the Stars and his followers have every right to demand that he be judged on his campaign not on some imagined injustice. As usual Charles Krauthammer has a discerning insight.

Teachers: where are your pension funds invested?

  That teachers are out protesting with the sleazy occupiers is abhorrent. They claim to want to protect "the children," but what they really want to protect is their pensions and their salaries. The teacher in this video claims we need to "invest" in education, but what she really means is that the monetary compensation for teachers is now unsustainable.
  What is wrong with these people? They are protesting banks; they are protesting capitalism; they are protesting Wall Street.
  Where do they think their pension funds are invested? What do they think will happen if Wall Street DOES collapse?
  As usual, they aren't being logical or reasonable.
 

Happy Halloween from the writer of The Exorcist

  I made the mistake of seeing The Exorcist opening night, midnight show. I thought I had a strong enough faith and that, since I believed so strongly in God and salvation, that such a movie wouldn't faze me.
  The movie theater held a certain chill, a sense of anticipation not usually present in most movies, even opening night. I am no longer a fan of the horror genre and have since learned that sleepless nights can result from exposure to unspeakable acts.
  It should be remembered that this was the first of a genre; kids nowadays laugh at The Exorcist. They don't think it's frightening at all; their vision and consciousnesses have been so seared with violent imagery and language that this historic early horror flick is amusing to them.
  It wasn't to the people who saw it in the theater in those early days. The tension was almost palpable.
  Now Blatty reveals a secret, that he thought he was writing a book of faith, one that would bolster belief in God. From Fox News, he reveals:

When I first heard, in 1949, of an actual case of demonic possession and an exorcism going on nearby while I was a junior at Georgetown University, I remember thinking, “Someday, somebody’s got to write about this, because if an investigation were to prove that possession is real, what a help it would be to the struggling faith of possibly millions, for if there were demons, I reasoned, then why not angels? Why not God?" 

While there was one particularly striking and constantly repeated paranormal phenomenon in the 1949 case, plus a letter from the exorcist in the case assuring me that the case “was the real thing; I had no doubt about it then and I have no doubt about it now,” I in fact did not base my novel on the 1949 case, but rather what my research made clear; namely, that in every period of recorded history, and in every culture and part of the world, there have been consistent accounts of possession and its symptoms going all the way back to ancient Egyptian chronicles, and where there is that much smoke, my reason told me, there is probably fire – and a lot of it, if you get my meaning. Do you? My faith is strong.

  Here's the background for the film at Wikipedia, and here and here is background for the real case.
  Here's the movie in 30 seconds done by bunnies.
  And, if you're brave, some "real" cases are here.

BEST is Bogus

Dr. Judith Curry

Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature (BEST) rushed forward last week with the bold news that global warming was alive and well. The BEST study was widely cited as the final word on climate change. Yes, the earth was getting warmer and it was mankind's fault. The New York Time, the Washington Post, and especially the Atlanta Journal Constitution editorialized that the facts were now in. Settled science. End of subject. Skeptic generally withheld comment noting that they had never denied that the earth had warmed .7 of a degree over the last hundred years then they noted it was unusual for a study to be published before it was peer reviewed. Since everyone important agreed the peer review process was a mere formality imagine the angst when the co-author of the study announced that global warming had stopped. Stopped dead! As everyone knows but always seems to forget, the starting point is of paramount importance when graphing a trend. The upper chart shows the historical warming that is undisputed as the earth emerged from the "little ice age". The second graph shows global warming has flat lined for ten years.

Prof Judith Curry, who chairs the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at America’s prestigious Georgia Institute of Technology, said that Prof Richard Muller’s claim that he has proven global warming skeptics wrong was also a ‘huge mistake’, with no scientific basis. Dr. Curry was once very much a global warming believer. In the past few years skeptics have viewed her as an honest scientist. It appears she is just that. As for the true believers; the BEST of times might be the worst of times.

Anonymous women accuse Cain of.....

  So here we go. The knives are out for Herman Cain. He's been accused of racism and sucking up to white people.
  They accused him of not being prepared to deal with foreign affairs or taking the race seriously.
  They can't accuse him of incompetence because he's good at everything he does.
  So naturally what is he accused of?
  Sexual harassment. Of course. The hot accusation to hurl at Black Republican since Clarence Thomas.
  Politico, the Democrat talking machine, has "anonymous" sources. 

But one source closely familiar with Cain’s tenure in Washington confirmed that the claims related to allegations of sexual harassment – behavior that disturbed members of the board who became aware of it, as well as the source, who otherwise liked Cain.
“I happen to know there were sealed settlements reached in the plural. I think that anybody who thinks this was a one-time, one-person transgression would be mistaken,” this source said.

  So none of these people will come forward. The unnamed "source" who started this says that board members who were aware of it were disturbed by it.
  But the end of the article says indicates that "unanimous" support was given to Cain:

Cain’s treatment of women was “the same as his treatment of men. Herman treated everyone great,” said Mary Ann Cricchio, who was elected to the board of the restaurant group in 1998. She said Cain left such a good impression on the organization that when he spoke at a group event in January of this year, as he was considering a presidential bid, “he had unanimous support in the room." 

Revelations about the settlements come as members of the association’s board planned to meet this month to talk about ways to use the organization’s clout to boost Cain’s campaign. 

Ideas to be discussed included making a donation to Cain from the organization’s political action committee, which typically doesn’t contribute to presidential campaigns, and, more significantly, organizing a fundraiser for his campaign

  And no doubt Politico is trying to stop that support, right? And no doubt the women who were "harassed" will come forward, in case this little article doesn't work, right?
  You know, it really is tiresome the way the press treats their opposition. 
  If this treatment were equal, it'd be a different story. But it never is. There're always trumped up charges, like a woman claiming that some guy said something about a pubic hair on a coke can, something the guy can't prove and therefore any hopes he has a future should be dashed, even though she followed him from job to job.
  I mean, seriously.
  The liberal president can request fellatio of a twenty something intern and that's just being who he is. 
  And another liberal president, currently POTUS, can be accused of actually having an affair and other nasty stuff but I bet you never heard of that, did you?
  Now this will be clucked all over the MSM tomorrow.
  For Republicans, it doesn't matter if it's true or not. It will just be the topic of every conversation. 
  The fact that they were paid off means nothing. The fact that they were 5 figure deals means nothing. Organizations, including state and federal organizations, find it cheaper to get rid of the pests rather than drag out litigation.
  The women, who are UNNAMED, were "offended" by things they said Cain did.
The description of what he did is "conversations allegedly filled with innuendo or personal questions of a sexually suggestive nature," and "physical gestures that were not overtly sexual but that made women who experienced or witnessed them uncomfortable and that they regarded as improper in a professional relationship."
  And the leftists' dirty laundry will remain hidden as long as they can hide it.
  Or until the law catches up with them.
  This is becoming a regular thing for the press, kinda like a Sunday night news dump. Of course, for the White House that would be a FRIDAY night news dump, which the press would dutifully not cover then.
  But this is fodder for the week to start, of course.
AFTERTHOUGHT: I should have added when I wrote this that this particular "leak" has the hallmarks of RINOs. Who benefits this early in the primary in knocking out Herman Cain? Not necessarily the left. The MSMs behavior in all this is despicable, however. 
  That said, one has to wonder what a "physical gesture" that was not "overtly sexual" looks like and why this would make someone uncomfortable. 
  The heated accusations of sexual harassment by women and so-called feminists began with Thomas, but somehow ended politically with...Clinton. Now they're back again. 
  Cain said he was ready for the "high tech lynching."

I don't wanna work!

Attack dogs are out and they aren't all male

  Not only is Joe Biden (plagiarist) out there screaming invectives against conservatives, not only is the POTUS out there doing the same, but the First Lady is too.
  I'm sorry, but this really bites. 
  Who elected her?
  It's bad enough that we have to hear it from the other two, but the FLOTUS? Is there no indignity to which these people will not sink?
  And why so partisan? Why so nasty? Why so divisive?
  And, above all, why not model what you seek from others?
  We're pretty tired of hearing about sacrifice when we can see that none of them are.
  NRO Hanson, who reminds us that Obama had complete control of both houses for 2 years, and yet now the bunch is going around complaining they didn't have enough time and Republicans are all to blame anyway. About Queen Michelle:

And when Ms. Obama charges, “Will we be a country where opportunity is limited to just the few at the top? Who are we?” one wonders, why, then, in the past three years of hard times, did she insist on vacationing, in iconic fashion, at Vail, Martha’s Vineyard, and Costa del Sol, the tony haunts of “the few at the top”? In these rough times, surely a smaller staff, less travel, and budgetary economies would have enhanced her populist message of some at the top enjoying perks at the expense of others.

  FLOTUS. 
  Please.
  Act like a lady. 

Occupy Wall Street's Anti-Semitism

Since it kicked off in New York last month, OWS has styled itself as a populist campaign. In its own mythology, it represents the voiceless “99 percent” against the ostensibly rich and greedy Wall Street executives in the top “1 percent.” Considering that the top 1 percent already bear the largest share of the country’s tax burden, this class warfare-driven charge never quite stuck. Harvard professor Elizabeth Warren has claimed maternity of this movement. No less than four members of Ohio's congressional delegation, Representatives Fudge, Kucinich, Kaptur and Sutton have expressed support for the OWS. While Wannabe Senator Warren and the four Representatives are quite fluent when expressing disdain for America's troubled past they seem perfectly content to swim in the cesspool of anti-Semitism that is the Occupy Wall Street movement. Lonnie Nasatir is director of the Anti-Defamation League in Chicago. Nasatir says ADL officials across the country are monitoring the protests.

"It was appalling to see this stuff in the public marketplace of ideas...It's the age old stereotype of Jews and money," said Nasatir. "In this situation, what we're seeing is...our country is in significant economic straits, and unfortunately are looking for who they can blame. And it's sometimes easy to blame Jews because there's this misconception that Jews control banks and Jews control Wall Street and Jews control the media and all the rest."

 

OWS full of contradictions

    It's remarkable how when the ows occupiers need the help of people they don't like, they'll use them. 
  Like, for example, the homeless, whom they do not want to feed and complain about but, when winter starts to move in, they appeal to for help in understanding the difficulties of finding the warmest free place to hunker down to wash your pits and hunch over a toilet instead of a bucket.
  They hate the 1% rich,right?
  But when rich Russell Simmons comes around handing out $20 bills like Santa Claus they have their fat little hands out faster than you can say *twinkleup.*
  Russell Simmons, part of the 99%, is in spiritual solidarity with them, so that's okay. He doesn't see any problem in handing out cash to the children of ows. It's not demeaning or anything because, after all, Russell Simmons is fabulously wealthy and these beggars occupiers want money; it's a natural symbiosis.
  Overfed Michael Moore waddles in to commiserate and the occupiers rush toward him like he's a rich star in the upper crust of society or something; later Moore claims on tv that he ISN"T a millionaire, contrary to his income tax returns, but it doesn't faze the occupiers, who still listen attentively to his down home 99% speech, twinkling in ecstasy, apparently oblivious to the condescension of the 1% star who later paid thousands to fly across the country from NYC to Oakland in order to inform the "99%" they need to keep up the good work in their tents and poop buckets. 
  He'll fly home to his mansion after the speech, thank you very much.
  No one sees any of this as a contradiction to the occupiers' rejection of "consumerism."
  The occupiers like their fancy meals, so while much of America eats weenies and burgers, the occupiers eat salmon with dill sauce and then gripe when it's replaced with pb & j. 
  This isn't elitism or consumerism.
  They're stinker thinkers, after all, not worried about contradictions or cognitive dissonance.
  They get 87% positive coverage from the press, something the Tea Partiers NEVER got, but that doesn't make the OCCUPIERS part of the liberal elite 1% who get favorable treatment from the press, does it? 
  In some cases the money collected has been stolen or misplaced, just like in any flawed organization, but when the NYC occupiers collected $450,000 in cash by begging on the street from people who actually have money because they WORK, they not only keep begging for MORE money, because you can never really have enough money, right?
  Don't you think you got ENOUGH money?
  I mean, they might have to BUY MORE STUFF cuz there's no STUFF at the homes from which they originated.
  What do they do with all their newly begged/bagged money?
  Why, they put it in BANKS, of course!
  It all begins to make sense. Any natural evolution of society provides strata: some rich, some not, some to keep the finances, some to steal, some to cook...we need to buy stuff to survive, be happy or be greedy.
  Some people are honest and some people steal.
  That's just the way of the world.
  Except, perhaps, in Shangri-La.
  Otherwise known as lalaland.
  Maybe someday they'll figure out who the real problem is.

Occupiers don't exactly like being "exposed"

  As of this writing, the OWS Exposed website is now down again. Since its launch, it has been up and down over the course of the days since it was initially launched.
  What does this say about all these "free speech" advocates?
  It says they want free speech for themselves but they'd shut YOU up as fast as they could, repeatedly and with great effort.
  The Google tagline owsexposed is this:

  Learn the truth about the 'occupiers' and their movement.

 From their actions, one can only infer that learning the truth about their movement is the LAST thing they want you to do.
  Learn about the carefully orchestrated origins of the group here.
  Oop. Back up again.
  Keep up the good fight, brothers and sisters in arms at owsexposed.com.

Senate Candidate-Fast and Furious Ad

I was wondering when the Republican presidential hopefuls would, if ever, mention the Fast and Furious scandal. David Dewhurst and Ted Cruz are locked in a dead heat for the Republican nomination in the Texas Senate race to replace Kay Bailey Hutchinson. This Dewhurst ad smokes! It's a broadside at on Obama and it does mention Fast and Furious. The last line is a killer!

Subpoenas Going to White House in Solyndra Scandal

Subpoenas will be going to the White House. Congressman Cliff Stearns, chairman of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight told CNN's John King "After eight months of investigations we have a right ... to say, 'what about the internal communications inside the top advisers to the White House? Let's see them." At issue is the role White House administration officials played in securing the DOE loan guarantees and the subordination of that loan to the Kaiser Fund, headed by Obama campaign fund bundler George Kaiser.

"Subpoenaing the White House is a serious step that, unfortunately, appears necessary in light of the Obama administration's stonewall on Solyndra," said a statement issued earlier by Stearns and Rep. Fred Upton, R-Michigan, chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

"What is the White House trying to hide from the American public? It is alarming for the Obama White House to cast aside its vows of transparency and block Congress from learning more about the roles that those in the White House and other members of the administration played in the Solyndra mess."

The Origins of Occupy Your City

Unlike the rest of the mainstream media Chicago ABC affiliate, WLS channel 7 has done some investigation of the Occupy Wall Street movement. The Occupy Wall Street domain was registered on June 9th in Vancouver, British Columbia by Adbuster founder, Kalle Lasn. Anarchist Lisa Fithian (see our post here) spent a full week in Chicago coaching the demonstrators. The Occupy Chi domain is owned by a La Porte, Indiana man, Andrew Smith, so all that Chicago has furnished is the "useful idiots". All the worldwide protests link to Occupy Together, another domain owned by Kalle Lasn. Visitors to the Occupy web sites will notice that they all use the Occupy Fill-in-the-city. org addresses. They also like the same block letter graphics with plenty of red and black but graphic are the only example of originality in this movement. This whole thing looks like it is the work of a small worldwide network of anarchists, a monkey see, monkey do sequel to the Arab spring.

 

Occupy Madison Shut Down Over Public Masturbation

Occupy Madison has lost its street use permit. Among other reason for the refusal to renew the permit was the issue of public masturbation. You hardly ever see that at Tea Party events!

A neighboring hotel's staff alleged voiced concerns about having to recently escort hotel employees to and from bus stops late at night due to inappropriate behavior, such as public masturbation, from street protesters.

Maybe they could find some other activities in lieu of this entertainment. Drums might give them something else to do with their hand. But to give credit where it's due we should remember it was Elizabeth Warren who said relative to the Occupy movement; “I created much of the intellectual foundation for what they do,”

Fisker Karma Is A Subcompact

The EPA has rated the Fisker Karma as a sub compact. The rating won't change the Karma's lamentable mileage rating. The MPGe-the rating used for electric cars by computing the electricity to charge a drained batter is 20 mpg or about the same as a 10 year old Ford F150. As we noted before Henrik Fisker is an auto designer who has never manufactured so much as Ronco Salad Shooter. He was able to extract a $529 million loan from the Department of Energy. Al Gore's venture capital firm is an investor in Fisker Motors which manufactures its cars in Finland.

And its only $97,000

Ohio Democratic Party Targets Local Companies

The Ohio Democratic Party has reached a new low. Well, maybe not when compared to the national organization that has a clear and documented history of making common cause with every fringe group from the Weatherman to the Klu Klux Klan, from the American Communist Party to Occupy Wall Street. The Ohio Democratic Party is now targeting private companies that support ballot question 2. Big Government captured the tweets pictured above.

Richmond Tea Party Demands To Be Treated Same As OWS

The Richmond, Virginia Tea Party has billed the city $10,000. In the past three years, the Tea Party has held tax day rallies in Kanawha Plaza and has paid for permits, fees, and other expenses totaling that amount. For the past two weeks Occupy Richmond has used the same space and paid nothing. The mayor and police commissioner have looked the other way in spite of that group's ordinance and code violations. It should be expected that other Tea Party groups in other cities that have had to purchase permits, pay cleaning fees, rent portable toilet and so forth will soon do the same. The courts are quite clear on this subject. A city cannot treat one group differently than another because of the message.

Why do protesters want to destroy pensioners' income?

  Do all those union thugs, marxists, socialists, celebrities, loons, basement dwellers and college students and their professors want to destroy the incomes of pensioners who rely on the stock market to maintain their portfolios?
  Have these people thought through what they are doing? 
  Have these protesters understood that if they collapse the system, as they have repeatedly demanded and as they are hoping to accomplish November 5 with the help of George Soros who has a reputation for doing this very thing in other countries, they will collapse the pensions (sometimes inappropriately huge) of all those firefighters, teachers, city and state workers?
  Hey!
  How stupid are you?
  If your pension is tied up in any stocks at all, you ought to get your a$$ off that street, wherever it is, and back to work.
  How stupid are you?
  Or do you just want to be as poor as the private sector is right now?

Ohio Ballot Question Could Go Either Way

The Washington Post is reporting that public polls predicting a sizable labor win in the Ohio battle over collective bargaining are just flat-out wrong. So wrong in fact that Question 2 could go either way.

An internal memo from a key labor-backed group in the state is flatly warning that the polls are “flawed” and that a big win for labor is not even “remotely possible.” It adds that the right’s messaging has “worked,” and that there’s good reason to suspect that a “massive amount of voter confusion remains,” suggesting the fight could still go either way.

“Those predicting a blowout for our side are basing their analysis on flawed public polling samples,” reads the memo, which was circulated to labor and political operatives involved in the fight by Brian Rothenberg, the executive director of Progress Ohio, which is partly bankrolled by labor. It was forwarded my way by a source.

The memo goes on to note that off year election turnouts are hard to model and that neither the Quinnipiac or Public Policy Polling used the wording on the ballot in their polling. It further noted that ballot question polling has been off by wide margins in the 2004 same sex marriage ban, the 2005 election reform initiative, and the 2009 measure to build casinos.“Bottom line: It’s nearly impossible to develop a reliable likely voter model for ballot initiatives,” the memo says, adding: “there are simply too many unknowns to believe these numbers are credible or even remotely possible."

Was the polling just a trick to make Mitt Romney too scared to take a side?

OWS EXPOSED

  OWS protesters speak. (Caveat: this is SATIRE from the Globe and Mail.)

Looking back, I can't believe what we achieved in a few incredible days: government-funded health care, a well-regulated banking system, and a cap on corporate political donations. Our work is done.” – Tracy, 20 

“The day after Occupy, I used an ATM and the same old message came up saying you will be charged $1 for this transaction or whatever. But it felt different, somehow. You could tell the ATM felt embarrassed, that it knew it was just another pawn in this charade we call capitalism. I felt sorry for my robot brother.” Alex, 23

[SNIP] 

“I have taken to doing the human mic as an act of conscientious citizenry. I went home to have dinner with my parents and when my mother would speak, I would repeat it so that my dad could hear at the other end of the table. At one point, she says 'pass the potatoes' and I shout 'pass the potatoes' and then my dad just freaks out. He starts laying into me and then tells me I'm a pathetic loser.” – Russell, 26 

“It’s weird protesting on Bay Street. You get there at 9 a.m. and the rich bankers who you want to hurl insults at and change their worldview have been at work for two hours already. And then when it's time to go, they're still there. I guess that's why they call them the one per cent. I mean, who wants to work those kinds of hours? That's the power of greed.” – Jeremy, 38

  Okay, enough of a break. Let's get to the real OWS, which is bad enough. Great new website called OWS EXPOSED!
UPDATE: It looks like OWSEXPOSED has been hacked and is currently offline.

”We Are Ohio” Relies on Questionable Research

Those of you who been following the Senate Bill 5 debate and ballot question 2, at some point have seen the “We Are Ohio” union front group refer to studies written by Rutgers University professor, Jeffrey Keefe, for the Economic Policy Institute. Of course a study by an impartial professor, finding in effect, that public sector union members are not over compensated as compared to private sector employees is just the sort of facts the public needs to make an informed voting decision. Unless the professor is a shill who makes no bones about not publishing anything that conflicts with the union's position. Listen to the video and decide if this professor is someone you can trust. Thank God for Project Veritas.

 

Failed Democrat Sues Critics Over Election Loss

Former Cincinnati Congressman Steve Driehaus has slipped from being just a loser to being a bad loser. Driehaus like my former Congressman Brad Ellsworth was turned out of office after only one term. Actually Ellsworth saw quite early that his chances of winning reelection were slim to non existent and chose to run for Senator where his chances were merely slim. Bart Stupak, from Michigan's upper peninsula and ring leader of the Stupak amendment crowd that eventually caved to the demand of Speaker Pelosi had the good sense to retire. The Stupak amendment to Obamacare would have specifically forbidden any public spending for abortion. Maybe it's just something about German voters. I don't know the ethnic breakdown in Stupak's district but Driehaus and Ellsworth had to face the wrath of largely German electorates who have some old fashion ideas about keeping one's word. In any event "former" over shadows "congressman" in all three's present job descriptions.

Probably Ellsworth and Stupak just tied one on and got over it but Driehaus went to court. He is suing the Susan B. Anthony List for " loss of livelihood." The thought of giving a member of the political class the right to sue when he is turned out of office brings new meaning to the term "political elite". Driehaus claims that the Susan B. Anthony List's public statement that he had voted for federal funding of abortion was untrue therefore he is entitled to compensation. Okay, then why the big push on the part of Obama and Pelosi to deep six the Stupak amendment? Regardless of the truth of this particular issue, the notion that a jury is supposed to fact check everything said during a political campaign is ludicrous and contrary to everyone's except Driehaus' interpretation of the first amendment. Everyone except Driehaus and the federal judge that is. The judge, Timothy S. Black, an Obama appointee and a past president and director of Planned Parenthood Association of Cincinnati ruled the case could go forward. How can anyone not question the judges' ability to be impartial in this case? Imagine if a judge who had served as a National Rifle Association director were assigned a case dealing with a key second amendment issue. Someone on the House Judiciary Committee should investigated how this judge was assigned this case. We can go after judges like this. Short of impeachment the Congress can refuse to fund their functionaries. Let a judge hold court without a court reporter, a bailiff, or a clerk.

Media shills for Obama's class warfare rhetoric

  What does it mean to be poor in America?
  The latest thing is to cry about the income gap between wealthier Americans and middle class Americans.
  From ABC:

The income of the richest 1 percent in the U.S. soared 275 percent from 1979 to 2007, but the bottom 20 percent grew by just 18 percent, new government data shows.

  Shocking, eh?
  This income disparity means that those poor people don't have as much money as the rich people. Huh.
  Now if the growth, which takes into account all factors such as inflation, had been 65% as it was for 20% of the wage earners, the commenters would be shocked! shocked that the bottom only grew 5%. IOW, it's all relative to what the top makes.
  Class warfare is difficult in a country so prosperous as this has been so let's look at what it means to be "poor" in America.
  Here's a description from Heritage of what living below the poverty line means in America:

As scholar James Q. Wilson has stated, “The poorest Americans today live a better life than all but the richest persons a hundred years ago.”[3] In 2005, the typical household defined as poor by the government had a car and air conditioning. For entertainment, the household had two color televisions, cable or satellite TV, a DVD player, and a VCR. If there were children, especially boys, in the home, the family had a game system, such as an Xbox or a PlayStation.[4] In the kitchen, the household had a refrigerator, an oven and stove, and a microwave. Other household conveniences included a clothes washer, clothes dryer, ceiling fans, a cordless phone, and a coffee maker. 

The home of the typical poor family was not overcrowded and was in good repair. In fact, the typical poor American had more living space than the average European. The typical poor American family was also able to obtain medical care when needed. By its own report, the typical family was not hungry and had sufficient funds during the past year to meet all essential needs.

  You can read more over there but it becomes obvious that again the media are shilling for Obama's reelection campaign strategy of creating envy between income earners.
  Why should you care how much someone else's style of living increased in the last 20 or 30 years if yours increased greatly?
  It's all about the posturing.

Classist protesters resent feeding the poor

  Yesterday the kitchen staff at OWS (NYC) revolted; apparently they feel that they work hard and are not appreciated for what they do so they refused to cook the usual gourmet meals they've been serving. At the core of the problem are the convicts and homeless people who've been mooching off the efforts of the kitchen staff.
  Wait.
  People mooching off the efforts of others?
  The protesters resent moochers?
  Now that's the pot calling the kettle.
  The NY Post has the story:

Unhappiness with their unwelcome guests was apparent throughout the day.
“We need to limit the amount of food we’re putting out” to curb the influx of derelicts, said Rafael Moreno, a kitchen volunteer. 

[SNIP]

Many of those being fed “are professional homeless people. They know what they’re doing,” said the guard at the food-storage area. 

Today, a limited menu of sandwiches, chips and some hot food will be doled out -- so legitimate protesters will have a day to make arrangements for more upscale weekend meals. [SNIP]

Organizers took other steps to police the squatters, who they said were lured in from other parks with the promise of free meals.
[SNIP] 

“We’re not going to let some members of this community destroy the whole movement,” a volunteer said.

  So the protesters resent the poor homeless who "know what they're doing" by mooching and wanting to be fed. The protesters feel they are BETTER than the riff raff homeless? Isn't this the very classism they decry?
  Isn't the point of their movement that everyone's equal and no one should have any more than anyone else?
  I mean, they want OUR stuff but they don't want to give away THEIR stuff?
  So the protesters have become so accustomed to "upscale" gourmet food, much documented, that they need to make arrangements to keep supplementing their diets so they won't have to eat, um, pb & j like the rest of us?
  Through the mouths of the very protesters, the truth emerges.
  See, protesters, "we're not going to let some members of this community destroy the whole movement" of capitalism.
  Now maybe you know how we feel.

Put The Keystone XL Pipeline in Perspective

The most controversial environmental battle making news these days is the Keystone XL pipeline. The State Department will probably approve its construction, upsetting the greens but keeping labor happy. A $7 billion project would create a lot of jobs. There are claims made, this time by Democratic lawmakers, of conflict's of interest and the State Dept has been hit by FOIA requests but the fall back position is, as always, concern for the environment. Supposedly it will cross an aquifer and a rupture could contaminate billions of gallons of precious water. Not too likely. The aquifer is several hundred feet underground and most pipeline lie about 4 to 5 feet underground. It will destroy thousands of acres of farmland. Not true. Once it's completed the farmer can go back to using his land just as before except he'll be getting a monthly rental check. Pipeline right of ways, usually 50 or 100, feet wide are almost always leased; not bought.

How much environmental impact will there be? That's an unknown so far, but as far as visibility goes quite a bit less than a silly wind farm. Put the proposed 1700 miles into perspective. There are already some 55,000 miles of crude oil pipeline in the lower 48 states. Refined product lines, that carry the end products of the oil industry — gasoline, jet fuel, home heating oil, diesel fuel, and so on make up another 95,000 miles. Then there is the largest network of them all- the natural gas pipeline network as pictured above containing 305,000 miles of pipe.

If the argument was put honestly to the American public it would be; Do we want to import oil from Canada's tar sands? and the answer would be "Hell yes". The public is entitled to an honest debate on this issue.

Richard Epstein Defends Inequality

Richard Epstein provides the intellectual underpinning for what many of the Tea Party feel intuitively. Why don't we see more of this from NPR?

Watch Does U.S. Economic Inequality Have a Good Side? on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.

 

How does a presidential candidate NOT KNOW about Issue 2?

  Everybody's been crabbing about Cain's waffling and uncertain statements but now we have Romney claiming he doesn't know much about the Ohio Issue 2, which represents the first major realignment of union power in the United States since Wisconsin and into which millions of dollars are being poured by the Obamites.
  How can you not know about this? And if you did, why are you walking it back now?
  Fox:

"I am not speaking about the particular ballot issues. Those are up to the people of Ohio. But I certainly support the efforts of the governor to reign in the scale of government. I am not terribly familiar with the two ballot initiatives. But I am certainly supportive of the Republican Party's efforts here."-- Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney walking back his prior support of a new Ohio law that restricts the collective bargaining power of state worker unions.

  People are human; they make mistakes. They're not always well informed when they're presidential candidates running around the country.

  But what's good for the goose is good for the gander; if Perry and Cain are called clowns for making booboos, then so is Romney.

  None of em compare to what we have in office now. Any leader of a country who claims the opposition wants to let old ladies die and dirty air is a disgrace.

  I'm talkin' to you, Powerline.

Perry Backs Kasich on Ballot Question

At least John Kasich can depend on Rick Perry for support for ballot question 2.

"As a true conservative, I stand with Gov. Kasich in promoting S.B.5 for fiscal responsibility and job creation in Ohio," Perry said in a statement to CNN. "Gov. Kasich and the Republican leadership of Ohio are to be commended for their efforts."

Added Perry, "My record as a pro-jobs governor is clear and you don't have to wonder where I stand."

ACORN active in OWS, running it and collecting for it

  So we find that ACORN operatives are trawling for money, working the OWS receiving $10 an hour or $100 a day.
  Now we find that many ACORN operatives and higher ups are involved in trying to crash the banks on November 5, in their stated attempt to bring down this country, capitalism and the structures that make this country function.
  Big Government:

The involvement of ACORN’s successors in the Occupy movement is yet another sign of the true, radical nature of the demonstrations. 

Given President Barack Obama’s past links to ACORN, the fact that ACORN is playing so large a role in continuing Occupy protests raises questions about whether Occupy enjoys a level of political protection far higher than the local politicians who recently pressuredthe owners of Zuccotti Park not to clear out the demonstrators.

  And over at Fox News:

Current staff members at NYCC told FoxNews.com the union fundraising drive was called off abruptly last week, and they were told NYCC should not have been raising money for the union at all. 

Sources said staff members also collected door-to-door for NYCC’s PCB campaign — which aims to test schools for deadly toxins —but then pooled that money together with cash raised for the teachers union and other campaigns to fund Occupy Wall Street. 

“We go to Freeport, Central Islip, Park Slope, everywhere, and we say we’re collecting money for PCBs testing in schools. But the money isn’t going to the campaign," one source said. 

  Naturally some really unsavory types are heading straight over there to Wall Street, adding to the stink and feces. In fact, the convicts and druggies are attracted to the free wheeling drugs, partying and good food. NY Post:

Newly sprung ex-cons and vagrants rousted from other parks are crashing the Occupy Wall Street protest, where gourmet meals are free and boozy, drug­fueled parties are on tap, the movement’s leaders griped yesterday. 

“They’re telling people who leave prison to go to Zuccotti Park,” lamented Daniel Zetah, a leader of the OWS community-relations group. 

Volunteer Lauren Digioia, 26, said, “We have drug dealing going on here, gang activity, public intoxication. There are a lot of instigators. There are a lot of vulture. 

“Everyone knows we give out free food and sleeping bags, and it’s a perfect opportunity for squatters.”

  Good luck with that, y'all. 

Conservative Blackwell endorses Perry

Wow.

Another loon surfaces

  So everybody's got this loony tune threatening the cops at Oakland so I thought I'd share with y'all. Mom's got pretty good furniture for a basement.
 Do I make myself clear?

To save public pensions, support Issues 2 & 3

  UPDATE: Quinnipiac says it may be a blowout against 2. Virtually NO television or paper ads have been running supporting 2. Hundreds of thousands of union dollars have been blown into the state as unions see this as a monumental issue that will influence other states' referenda.  In fact, DC unions are at the basis of most of the money. From That Hero:

We Are Ohio isn’t a pro-union Ohio group getting a boost from outside the state: We Are Ohio isa front group for D.C. unions, regardless of how many National Education Association bigwigssend mailers from beyond Ohio’s borders. Note the humorous typo at PolitiFact, listing “We Are Ohio” as “None From Ohio” – it’s nearer the truth than the unions would have you believe.

  In fact, of all the ads running in Ohio almost $6 million comes from outside unions. Support ads for Issue 2 are virtually nil. 
  By now you've seen some of the hundreds and hundreds of paper and television ads, the signs in the yard suggesting you strike down Issue 2 as a voter.
  Issue 2, regardless what unionists say, will make the state of Ohio healthier by giving back to the people the ability to determine salaries.
  If you're thinking of voting against Issue 2 because you're a union member and you feel it will take power away from you in your job, consider this. Schools, cities and state employees have pretty much busted the bank. There's no more money.
  These public employees (you) make 43% more than the public sector; it's good to remember that...there's no more money. School districts won't pass more levies for salary increases; pension plans will go bust.
  If you're a taxpayer in the private sector, you'd better vote for Issue 2 or you'll be paying more for years, no matter how much money you make.
  If you're a worker in the public sector, you'd better vote Issue 2 if you expect to keep any benefits before the whole system goes belly up.
  Don't believe? Check out this pdf. Perrysburg Schools will be $20 million IN THE HOLE by 2015.
  From Buckeye Institute here:

STRS admits two points that Buckeye has been making for years. First, STRS retirees are living longer than expected and are collecting benefits for a longer period of time. With increases in life expectancy, it is entirely possible for STRS members to spend more years drawing retirement benefits than actually teaching in the classroom. For instance, a teacher who begins teaching at age 23 would be eligible to retire at 53 with full pension benefits that will increase three percent annually until death. With many individuals living well into their 80s and 90s, these long-living retirees would draw pension benefits for 30 years plus, with total benefits well exceeding $1 million. 

The second problem STRS admits is the growth in teacher retirements. As retirees enter the retirement rolls at an increasing rate, the total pool of pensioners grows and greater payouts must be made to cover the larger number of beneficiaries. The money is pouring out faster than it can be put back in. 

What’s left is exactly what we have now. A failing pension system, buried beneath nearly $40 billion of its own liabilities, admitting that without significant changes, it will eventually be unable to pay benefits. 

Romney To Do Fund Raiser With Solyndra Lobbyist

Mitt Romney will be doing a fund raiser in Washington with a dozen or so lawmakers and a former lobbyist for Solyndra. The list of attendees includes Alex Mistri, managing director of The Glover Park Group. In the third quarter of this year, Mistri was one of a group of Glover Park lobbyists Solyndra hired to help with congressional outreach. Romney won't back John Kasich on ballot question 2 but can pal around with a Solyndra lobbyist. Maybe he's in the wrong party. In the related video below emails reveal Treasury expressed concern about DOE's plan to modify the Solyndra loan agreement.

Utica Shale Play Has Already Pumped $1 Billion into Ohio

The infant Utica Shale boom has already pumped $1 billion into Ohio's economy. As recent as a few years ago a land owner could expect to lease his land for $500 per acre and receive a royalty payment of 12.5 percent of the value of the gas or oil produced from the lease. Now land owners are getting as much as $5000 per acre against 19.5 percent of output revenues as competition for leases heats up. Needless to say some lease holders are overwhelmed by their new found affluence. From the Plain Dealer;

"I was on a farm in Harrison County for completely unrelated reasons," said Mike Hogan, an Ohio State University Extension service educator for Harrison and Jefferson counties. "The farmer had a check for $1.2 million. I said, 'What is your tax management strategy? He said he would buy a pickup truck by the end of the year."

Do the math. If a farmer leases 240 acres for $5000 he would receive $1.2 million. If the well only produced a hundred barrels of oil per day and sold at $90, about the current price of WTI crude, that would yield $9000. If the farmer's share was only 12.5 percent he would receive $1,125 per day or $410,625 per year. Better still, he can still farm all but a few acres.

Per Capita Energy Use Has Been Unchanged For 40 Years

For all the moaning from the political class about how the masses waste energy one would think energy use rose every year like health care cost or college tuition, two things that can be traced to policy decision of the political class. Not so. Per capita energy use is about the same as when James Earl Carter was president. There are a number of reasons for this and none of them have to do with banning the incandescent bulb. There has been a population shift toward warmer climates which somehow makes one wonder about the real cost of global warming. Many home appliances use electronic as opposed to the older mechanical controls. Also the country has gutted its manufacturing base and there is no need to light empty and abandoned factories.

Be careful: the street lights are watching

  I usually don't link to items on the Drudge Report because they become memes so quickly and I usually don't link to Infowars/Prison Planet because of the whole paranoia thing, but the Intellistreet story Drudge has linked to is really something to be seen. 
  Reminiscent of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, the new way to light streets is using computerized street lights that include speakers, cameras and motion sensors, all aided through government funding in the interest of "Homeland Security." 
   Particularly spooky are the LED banners hung from lampposts that change to whatever signal they get; the image projected as an example is an Amber alert. The child's image is featured in a rotating message. 
   Imagine a scene such as Fahrenheit's Burning Bright scene, where the protagonist Montag is pursued by the police; his image is projected on every TV and, of course, everyone has their televisions on, his scent is tracked by a mechanical hound and even the radio projects the GPS tracked location of the runaway. 
  This is a summary from Spark Notes of the passage: 

Montag is able to watch the Hound track him by glancing through people’s house windows into their TV parlors. Literally everybody is watching the televised chase. Montag sees the Hound hesitate when it gets to Faber’s house, but it quickly runs on. As Montag continues to run toward the river, he hears an announcement on his Seashell radio telling everyone to get up and look out their doors and windows for him on the count of ten. He reaches the river just as the announcer counts to ten and all the doors in the neighborhood start to open. To keep the Hound from picking up his scent, he wades into the river and drifts away with the current. He avoids the searchlights of the police helicopters, and then sees them turn and fly away. He washes ashore in the countryside.

 Later when they can't find Montag, an "anonymous scapegoat" is murdered to make the audience think that the police community has done its job.
  It's all very clinical, very personal and very vicious because law enforcement officials are swollen with their own importance, pride and power.
  Who's to say this isn't happening now? Who's to say where this will lead?
  The most interesting part of this video is in the last 2 minutes. Homeland Security is only mentioned once.
  Infowars has more on the xray scan technology being developed to see through clothes looking for "weapons." It's not like we haven't seen that before at the airport and now the streets of this country. 

Occupiers need to value education, not money

  So we have young people, demographically 65% white males, often with trust funds, occupying Wall Street in protest of the loans they accrued in making their way through college.
  We've all heard that. What you may not have heard is there are jobs waiting to be filled, but that many of today's young applicants are unwilling to do what is needed to be hired.
  This article at the NY Post is disturbing. As one HR director says, it's really frightening for this country if this is the quality of the candidate submitting resumes to companies:
  Numerous examples of improper behavior, a sense of entitlement and a failure to follow directions are offered by HR directors of several companies.

  One young man wore casual clothes to an interview at a work place that required suits. Why? He was planning on cavorting with his friends after the interview and didn't feel like changing.

  Another commented on the "hotness" of the interviewer's photographed wife.

  Many don't bother to spellcheck, or submit resumes with phrases using text language like "u r" instead of "you are."

  Others don't bother to research the company or to completely fill out the application.

  All of this conflicts with the "poor me I can't get a job" mentality that we are seeing from the "occupiers" but certainly coincides with the feeble 24% graduation rate from New York City schools.
  Much of our educational system is failing us. If we concentrate more on building self esteem than skills, businesses will continue to be swamped with failing, entitled incompetent applicants.
  But then, many of those applicants H8T Wall Street anyway, right?
  Sort of a natural outgrowth of such an attitude, doncha think?

  

Police Use Tear Gas at Occupy Oakland

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan said that city officials decided to bring the two-week-long protest to an end because of health and public safety issues. Sure, and the fact that there is a recall petition being circulated had no bearing on that decision.
Critics of the mayor filed a notice yesterday of their intent to try to recall her from office .Things got pretty rough with reports of two police officers being wounded and 80 demonstrators being arrested. Police used tear gas to end the occupation.

OWS Drummers Hit a Discordant Note

Who would have thought the Occupy Wall Street movement could be imperiled by a group of rogue drummers? Apparently the disagreement between the drummers and the general assembly might actually threaten the movement. From their own web site:

For weeks, occupiers, working groups, individuals from the community board, and neighbors have approached the drummers on the west side of Liberty Square in an effort to involve them in conversations revolving around their constant presence. The drummers have been asked to stop drumming during quiet hours, to not drum during GA, and to allow other music to enter the square. The drummers, who feel that they are bringing rhythm to the revolution and have a voice that must be heard have felt disrespected and disparaged. The situation has been heated. A division grew within the square as well as with our neighbors. On Oct 13th, the General Assembly of Liberty Square passed a resolution to limit drumming times to 2 hours a day, between the hours of 11 and 5 as part of a good neighbor policy. Many drummers rejected this. A group of mediators began to work with the drummers and reached an agreement that they would instead drum for 4 hours per day, from 12pm - 2pm and 4pm - 6pm. The OWS Community Relations team, drummers, mediators, and several local residents from the community board spent weeks listening, building trust, and figuring out ways for drummers to work in solidarity with the occupation. As a result, drumming dropped from consistent 10 + hours a day, but is occurring more than the 2 hours consensed to by the General Assembly, and more then the 4 hours consensed to by the drummers.

In the spirit of consensus and community, mediation is still in process. The working group Pulse has been formed by the drummers and is working to bring forward proposals to the General Assembly of Liberty Square. This issue has been talked about in the park, at the General Assembly, on forums, and emails for weeks. This is an example of how we as a community share space and how we mobilize together to build consensus between all members of a conversation. Drumming has a loud voice in Liberty Square. Pulse is an important piece of our movement - they are integral to marches, morale, and the general mood of energy we have created. But many within Liberty Square feel as though their voice is being drowned out by the drumming, that it has become difficult to have the conversations that they think are important. We have created a small, vibrant and diverse community within the Square - it is natural that some issues would and will arise, but we hope to work together and continue to effect positive change in this place and in this world.

Cain Tries to Explains His Smoking Ad

To begin, I haven't much liked the Herman Cain ads with his campaign manager, Mark Block delivering the message. The up close images, the almost black and white format remind me of some B movie from the sixties. Why the hell the campaign manager is forced to, I assume produce, and narrate web ads maybe says something about the finances of the campaign. Some commenters on the web think it's bold and good and some sort of push back against political correctness. My own opinion is it could not have been worse if it began with "I am not a witch." In the audio Cain defends the ad with an awkward laissez-faire platitude about letting Mark Block be Mark Block. Damn it! The campaign is not about Mark Block, his personality, and his smoking habits. We are supposed to be picking a future president not a new man from Marlboro. Is Herman Cain another Ross Perot without the bad haircut and the third party ego? Is the Republican electorate tolerating Cain out of some compulsion to follow political correctness? Are we destined to have a Chauncey Gardner to show up in every election? This add would have killed any other candidate aside from Ron Paul who is fawned over like a senile uncle. Is that what Cain supporters think of him? Yes, he's affable and funny and he doesn't cause me to fidget as Gary Johnson does, but his remarks of late range from uninformed to appalling.

After he appeared on CNN his position on abortion remains unclear. In that murky "what if area" of rape and incest Cain seems to think that an incestuous parent would exercise better judgment than some government bureaucrat. Probably we will be getting to this subject early and often in the next debate. Next, Cain shocked everyone with his answer to another "what if" foreign policy issue and would he trade all the prisoners in Gitmo for one American soldier. Then we had the electric fence episode which he explains was just a joke. Lastly, the candidate who must harbor a deep political death wish, laughs off his lack awareness of world leaders with " “When they ask me who's the president of Ubecky-becky-becky-stan, I'm gonna say, 'I don't know." To cover his deficiency in foreign policy experience Cain promises to listen to his advisors but the only visible advisor Cain has shown so far makes dumb ads and smokes. In the audio below Cain explains the need to let Mark Block be Mark Block.

Obama: Let's do an academic Cash for Clunkers

  So here we are again, about to start another huge bailout, only this time, lucky us! we're going to bail out those losers at OWS. How it's exactly going to work is not yet ascertained but it will be soon.
  Obama's going to use an executive order to pay for all of it (he says it won't cost anything!!!!!! Just like Obamacare!!!!!!) , although I sure don't understand how that works. What's balance of power for? Doesn't the Congress control the purse strings?
  Somebody needs to explain this to me because I sure don't get it.
  When Obama did the Cash for Clunkers debacle, terrible things happened. Perfectly good, some fairly new, used automobiles were destroyed for no reason other than...it's fair. CNN Money figures it cost $24,000 per car.
  Even Goolsbee, Obama economic advisor, admits Cash for Clunkers was a total waste, good for yuk-yuks like the whole "shovel ready jobs" was good for yuk-yuks.

Former Obama administration economic adviser Austan Goolsbee said Thursday that if given a second chance he would not have backed the Cash for Clunkers program or the home buyer tax credit passed in 2009 to stave off further economic distress.

  Even as we see that Obama is encouraging people to refinance their homes at more than 125% of their value, which means if you are underwater that much or MORE, you can refinance. Whoopee. And the taxpayers will guarantee it.
  It was said today that only the homeowner gets to say what he/she thinks the home is worth and that an official home evaluation will not be required.
  Now we hear that Obama is spending more of HIS money (because it's obviously not ours since we have no say in it) to buy the target demographic voter between the ages of 18-24 by giving them free money to pay off their stupid $200,000 loans for art degrees. 
  Commentary Magazine says this about the proposal:

ncreasing the number of student loans that will be forgiven without full repayment is both a moral hazard (by encouraging risky borrowers to enter the system) and an additional burden on taxpayers. It’s also another step toward total forgiveness of student loans, which is one of the top demandsfrom Occupy Wall Street activists. That idea doesn’t go over as well with most Americans, who oppose the deal by 66 percent, according to a Rasmussen poll out today.

  According to the WSJ, default rates are running at 8.8%; this will only increase motivation to get a job because no payments will be required of the unemployed or those making under $16,000 a year.Obama will move up the change in loan structuring to his election year rather than the originally planned 2014; students will be required to repay 10% of their income yearly but after 20 years the loan will be forgiven.
  Of course, if you serve in "public service," the whole thing can be forgiven. Considering that "public service" now means that you'll be paid 43% more than the private sector, have a pension and health plan that surpasses anything you'll get in the private sector, that's a pretty good deal. From Understanding Obama Student Loan Forgiveness (which is registered to some joker in Bahamas):

Individuals who spend ten years in public service positions become eligible to have their loans forgiven at that point rather than having to wait the full twenty years. This means that their debt is forgiven in half the time and their debt reduced significantly sooner.
It is also a part of the plan that monthly payments be capped at a level of 10 percent of the money that left over when all taxes are paid and basic necessities taken care of. This cap has been at 15 percent, which takes a lot more money out of the pockets of citizens and out of the economy.
There are also programs in place that allow teachers to work for just five years in elementary or high schools that have been designated as low income schools by the Dept. Of Education. This applies to FFEL loans and to Direct loans.

  AND, if you're a union rep and you want to get in on THREE pensions, especially if you only have to work ONE day as a substitute, then, HEY! It's a great deal!
  Heritage:

Increases in federal subsidies give students increased purchasing power, which incentivizes colleges to raise tuition, in turn leading students scrambling for more student loans. It’s a vicious cycle that does nothing to mitigate the cost of attending college.
Instead of increasing federal subsidies or forgiving student loans, reforms like limiting the number of years a student is eligible for federal subsidies—or even encouraging state universities to put more course content online—would go a long way in popping the higher ed “bubble.”

  Rather than putting pressure on colleges to keep tuition low rather than increase at 5 1/2% every year, by subsidizing student loans and encouraging students to take out such huge loans with no hope of repaying them because there are not enough jobs for people who write dissertations in Barbie; rather than encourage colleges to create majors that there's not only a market for but serve some practical purpose in society; rather than urging students to be realistic in life choices and not just banning potatoes from the cafeteria, this administration is making a blatant appeal to its base and all those losers Occupying Everything.
  They've been cheated, willingly, it's true, of a real education for the same Marxists who are sharing tents with them down there on OWS.
  That is, in between running back and forth to their tenured, pensioned, sinecured university jobs.
  That, indeed, is Cash for Clunkers all over again.