Truth First, Then Opinion

Obama Has the Next Debate Wired!

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Peterson) — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 01:21:00 +0000

Courtesy of Politifake.org

The Obama Deficit Lie

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Peterson) — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 17:41:00 +0000

The chart below (Congressional Budget Office) has scored the growth of deficits from the last years of the Clinton administration, all of the Bush administration, and the current Obama administration.

This chart demonstrates concretely that Obama's excuse for his gigantic deficits were Bush's spending in Iraq and Afghanistan. Obama's claim is patently and objectively false.

Here is the relevant timeline and the conclusions (click to enlarge):

In 2004 the deficit was $400 billion.
In 2005 and 2006, when Republicans held two of the three branches of government, the deficit declined by 50%.
In 2007 Democrats take control of both House and Senate and ramp up spending.
At the end of 2008 the housing bubble breaks and Wall Street tanks. In response, Bush and the congressional Democrats pass the first stimulus bill and the deficit jumps to $400+ billion.
In 2009, with all three branches of government firmly in Democrat control (a veto proof congress), spending skyrockets. At the end of 2009, the deficit ($1.3 trillion) is 3 times the highest deficit recorded by the Bush administration (2004 - $0.400 trillion).
In 2011 the deficit remains stuck at $1.3 trillion.
So far, 2012 shows a decline in the deficit to $1.1 trillion.

4 Million New Jobs Under Obama?

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Peterson) — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 02:05:00 +0000

The Dems have been touting the creation of over 4 million "new" jobs since Obama took office.

First, I don't know from where these job numbers come and would appreciate knowing. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not seem to have a statistic called "jobs", so I used the BLS Employment Tables instead.

So, how do Obama's three years stack up with Bush's?

Recall that, like President Obama, Bush inherited a recession. During the first year of Bush's term (2001), the economy lost 173 thousand jobs. During the first year of Obama's term, the economy lost 421 thousand jobs. The magnitude of this job loss reveals just how severe the recession was. No question. But, now things get really interesting.

By the end of Bush's first three years, the economy under Bush saw a net 1.64 million jobs recovered or created. By contrast, the economy under Obama lost a net 174 thousand jobs during his first three years in office. 1.64 million jobs created or restored under Bush compared to -0.174 million jobs lost under Obama.

If you want to run these numbers yourself, go to BLS Top Picks and check the employment level box.

I Wanna Be a Crony When I Grow Up

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Peterson) — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 13:11:00 +0000

Why be a tax payer when you can be a tax spender?

Where's the Love? In Utah -- Mia Love

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Peterson) — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 03:55:00 +0000

Yet another outstanding candidate.

Men: The 5 Rules of Happiness

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Peterson) — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 17:12:00 +0000

I do not know whether this is true or not, but a man named Russell J. Larsen (pictured below) evidently won an award (postumously) for the "Coolest Headstone". On his headstone he had engraves the 5 rules of happiness for men:

It's important to have a woman who helps at home, cooks from time to time, cleans up, and has a job.
It's important to have a woman who can make you laugh.
It's important to have a woman who you can trust, and doesn't lie to you.
It's important to have a woman who is good in bed and likes to be with you.
It is very, very important that these four women do not know each other or you could end up dead like me.

Democrats Who Have Praised Paul Ryan's Policies

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Peterson) — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 13:56:00 +0000

In the video below, President Obama advances a serious response to Paul Ryan's Budget and, more specifically, Ryan's Medicare/Medicaid proposal.

This is the kind of policy discussion we should be having. I like the tone and I like the clarity of argument. It's more than disheartening that this video is only interesting because it stands completely alone among the responses from the Left.

Well, maybe the last sentence above is a little extreme. Here is a list of 7 other prominent Democrats who have praised Paul Ryan for his policy proposals:

Sen. Ron Wyden (Ore)
Erskine Bowles, architect and co-chair of President Obama's deficit commision.
Rep. Dan Boren (Okla.)
Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.)
Sen. Joe Lieberman (Conn.)
President Bill Clinton

Don't Want to be Hacked? Please, Take This To Heart

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Peterson) — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 15:12:00 +0000

Don't let this happen to you...

How Apple and Amazon Security Flaws Led to My Epic Hacking

I'm serious. If you have trouble understanding some of the technical jargon used in the article, find a friend who knows this stuff and can help you learn from this guy's experience. You need to avoid the author's mistakes.

Note that he thought he had taken all the correct precautions, yet he lost his digital life. Thank God the hackers didn't get to his bank accounts.

Wanna Watch a Sexy Video...

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Peterson) — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 04:27:00 +0000

Put the kids to bed. Close the curtains. Ladies and gentlemen I give you limax maximus ... The Leopard Slug

Not All of Obama's Failures End Badly

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Peterson) — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 04:08:00 +0000

Rush Limbaugh famously said he hoped Obama would fail. Heads on the Left exploded. Even many on the right were shocked, shocked I tell you, at the blatancy of Limbaugh's statement. But, given the outcome of the latest U.N. international arms-trade treaty negotiations (they collapsed and rigor has set in), Limbaugh may have been right to hope for failure.

Remember, in 2009, Obama chose to participate in this boondoggle after Presidents before him had previously refused. Anyway, the talks failed and his critics on the Left had this to say:

“This was stunning cowardice by the Obama administration, which at the last minute did an about-face and scuttled progress toward a global arms treaty, just as it reached the finish line,” said Suzanne Nossel, the executive director of Amnesty International USA. “It’s a staggering abdication of leadership by the world’s largest exporter of conventional weapons to pull the plug on the talks just as they were nearing an historic breakthrough that would have required all nations to deny arms export licenses where there was an overriding risk that the weapons would be used to facilitate serious crimes against humanity.”

So, thank God Obama has, once again. failed. At least not all of his failures end up badly.

Send a Chick-Fil-A post card to your favorite Lefty

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Peterson) — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 21:21:00 +0000

Both pictures courtesy of Instapundit

Condoleeza Rice: "America Is Not Just Any Country"

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Peterson) — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 00:09:00 +0000

Condoleeza Rice almost gets it right. Where she misses the mark is her argument that human flourishing is achieved best through democratic systems of government.

She is wrong! For example, she writes,

In the Middle East we must patiently use our aid, expertise and influence to support the creation of inclusive democratic institutions. The fundamental problem in the region is the absence of institutions that can bridge the Sunni-Shia divide, and protect the rights of women and minorities. Even as we make necessary immediate choices – including arming the Syrian rebels – we must insist upon inclusive politics. The US cannot afford to stand aside; regional powers will bring their own agendas that could exacerbate confessional divisions.

Her thesis hinges on 'inclusiveness' and her distrust of 'confessional divisions'. But, it's not up to governments to bridge cultural, theological, or political divides. And anyway, democracies are no better than tyrannies in this respect. As a matter of fact, tyrannies are probably better for minimizing differences (indeed, in Sadaam Husein's Iraq, divisions were eliminated by murdering those who differed). And, just how many Jews live in Iran and Saudi Arabia? Tyrannies work wonders if you worship at the shrine of homogeneity and order.

The American system of government, as a matter of fact, was designed to protect the existence of such divisions.

John Adams recognized the inherent danger in democratic government and coined the phrase "The Tyranny of the Majority" in 1788 to capture precisely that danger. America's founders went to great lengths to obviate Adam's fear. Indeed, the fear of such tyranny informs our government's separation of powers and the later promulgation of the Bill of Rights.

President Bush, a man I much admired, was wrong to push 'democracy' in the middle east as a means to peace. If peace is the goal, then liberty must be the objective. But unfettered liberty is dangerous as well. Liberty must be constrained by checks and balances incorporated into an infrastructure of moral institutions whose powers are limited by those they would rule. This limiting principle is called the "consent of the governed" by political theorists.

Whether a state is governed by a parliament, a democracy, or a monarchy or theocracy is unimportant to human flourishing. What is required is a government whose institutions are tightly constrained and whose duties are ordered to the protection of those rights that governments would usurp. It is precisely the limits placed on the American government that make America the great, unique and, yes, exceptional country that it is.

What So Proudly We Hail

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Peterson) — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 03:51:00 +0000

A Great new blog. Especially if you're interested in learning more about American Exceptionalism rightly understood. Give it a read.

The Face of Tyranny? Thy Name is Leftist

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Peterson) — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 03:44:00 +0000

Read this post if you're of the mind that Leftists and Liberals are open-minded:

Chick-fil-A: if you’re not sure, this is how fascism works

Minor point: the word 'fascism' is incorrect, though its use surely invokes the right emotional response. What the article actually describes is not an economic model (vis communism, socialism, capitalism) but simple tyranny - specifically, the tyranny that springs from the intolerance of the Left. By what moral calculus do these people order their lives?

"It's a Girl"

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Peterson) — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 03:36:00 +0000

The three deadliest words in the English language

The Bikini Gun Babe

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Peterson) — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 23:15:00 +0000

...An argument against concealed carry?

Courtesy of HaAretz, by way of the New York Daily News.

The Myth of "Sensible" Gun Control

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Peterson) — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 00:54:00 +0000

Let's examine why those who would allow gun ownership - provided gun ownership and use were sensibly controlled - are deeply confused.

First, gun violence, with few exceptions, is greatest where it is the most strictly controlled (think Chicago, New York City, and Washington D.C.). If a complete and total ban on guns is ineffective, then to what kind of "sensible" regulations are these people referring?

So, let's reflect more deeply on what might have happened had someone else in the theatre been armed. The New York Times answers that one for us when they write,

"That sort of call to vigilante justice is sadly too familiar, and it may be the single most dnagerous idea in the debate over gun ownership"

Vigilante justice?

This is a pernicious idea and, sadly, one held by people who think of themselves as thoughtful, well-meaning sorts -- not the firebrand Left- or Right-wing nutjob. Here's why.

A few months ago an armed man began shooting up an Aurora church (yup, the same Aurora) killing the pastor's wife. An armed man in the congregation (an off-duty policeman) pulled his gun, shot, and killed the murderer. Now, some of you probably think that this is not the same as allowing any citizen to carry a gun because, in this case, the guy was a law-enforcement officer.

But who the guy is and the extent of his training do not matter because the shooting was not an act of justice - vigilante or otherwise. For example, does any reasonable person believe that the off-duty policeman thought to himself, "Well, I guess I better punish this guy". This killing was an act of protection. The officer's actions were manifestly defensive, not juridical. Justice? Had the killer dropped his gun and attempted to surrender only to be "punished" by the officer, the officer would have been [rightly] arrested for murder.

I can not explain why otherwise good, kind, wonderful people have brains that go blank when the topic of guns arises (other than New York Times, of course).

Oh, by the way, not only does Aurora Colorado have some of the strictest (sensible?) gun-control laws in the state, the particular theatre in which the massacre took place had a strict no-weapons policy that, oddly enough, did not deter the shooter any more than Colorado's laws against murder did.

Obama: His Economic Ignorance Knows No Bounds

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Peterson) — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 01:44:00 +0000

In response to Bank of America charging a fee for Debit Card users, President Obama said this to ABC News:

This is exactly why we need this Consumer Finance Protection Bureau that we set up that is ready to go," Obama said. "This is exactly why we need somebody whose sole job it is to prevent this kind of stuff from happening. ... You can stop it because if you say to the banks, 'You don't have some inherent right just to - you know, get a certain amount of profit. If your customers - are being mistreated. That you have to treat them fairly and transparently.'"

Keep what stuff from happening? Companies raising their prices to cover the increasing costs of regulation?

Is Obama serious when he claims that companies "don't have some inherent right to ... get a certain amount of profit". They damn sure do have that right and if you, the consumer don't like the prices, then you're welcome to shop elsewhere.

Then theres the last sentence - "you have to treat them [customers] fairly and transparently". What is unfair about banks charging fees for their services? And what is transparent about publically and widely advertising the $5.00 debit card fee?

As John Hideraker observes, "Obama's ignorance of economics is impressive in its comprehensiveness".

Amanda Knox Aquittal: Justice Prevails

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Peterson) — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 14:13:00 +0000

John Hinderaker's thoughts
<http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2011/10/my-thoughts-on-amanda-knox.ph
p> . Very much worth the read. We're so fortunate to live in a country where
the law is practiced largely objectively.

What the Media Hath Wrought

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Peterson) — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 00:01:00 +0000

This, from, The National Post <http://www.nationalpost.com/> ,

...the press gave the great American republic an untried,
unknown and, it is becoming more and more frighteningly clear, incompetent
figure as President. Under Obama, America's foreign policies are a mixture
of confusion and costly impotence. It is increasingly bypassed or derided;
the great approach to the Muslim world, symbolized by the Cairo speech, is
in tatters. Its debt and deficits are a weight on the entire global economy.
And the office of presidency is less and less a symbol of strength.

Read the whole article
<http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2011/09/17/rex-murphy-the-medias-love-a
ffair-with-a-disastrous-president/> - I dare you.

Best Bumper Sticker Ever!

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Peterson) — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 23:27:00 +0000

Here's the bumber sticker for the 2012 Republican Voter. Get one here for $5.50.

The People Have Spoken -- The Bastards!

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Peterson) — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 00:44:00 +0000

From the Powerline Blog
<http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2011/09/the-people-have-spoken-the-ba
stards.php> :

"President Obama's approval rating of the American public
has fallen to an all-time low, according to a new Gallup survey ofWhite
House residents and employees.

Fewer the one in 10 Americans earned the president's favor,
according to..."

Hilarious. You really need to read the whole thing.

Green Jobs Are Like Breeding Unicorns to Sell to Chinese Millionaires

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Peterson) — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 00:34:00 +0000

Yeah, I think James Delingpole
<http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100102917/green-jobs-wot-
green-jobs-pt-242/> has it just about right.

Military Helicopter Flight Training

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Peterson) — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 20:54:00 +0000

A friend of mine from my unit in Vietnam sent this U.S. Army training film of Helicopter Flight Training. When I went through, the program was 12 months beginning at Ft. Wolters, Texas and finishing at Ft. Rucker, Ala.

Boy, does this bring back memories. Some observations:

When one solos for the first time the other candidates really do throw you in a pool. In this case, the pool was at the local Holiday Inn. I was the 6th candidate in my class to solo (after 9 hours of flight time). Everything about that first flight is etched forever in memory because, when my instructor, Marshall Heckaman, told me to "take it around", we had just completed the day's lesson, but I had been thinking that I was going to be flunked out. The damn thing was impossible to control (or so I thought). I honestly had no idea I had been flying the aircraft virtually the whole time. Those instructors were sneaky.

Instrument flight training was really, really hard. It made me sick because I could not see the horizon and the instructor (knowing this, I think) would throw the aircraft out of trim forcing me to reorient the damn thing. I did well, though and was one of only three guys to get a full instrument flight rating.

Flight training was pretty scary sometimes, but the really scary parts were also the most exhilarating. As you might imagine, we all hungered for the low-level gun runs. In this film, they do a great job of illustrating what it looks like from inside the aircraft. My instructor screamed at me if I ever got above 15' above the ground. Believe me, at 140 knots, 10 feet off the deck with the M60s blazing -- it's like nothing you could imagine.

Third, the eight day exercise was really cool -- especially the night navigation part. You'll see a bit of it toward the end when a guy runs out and lights up a small landing area with 5 or 6 torches. But note that the landing area is illuminated ONLY AFTER the pilot is on close final (i.e., just about to land). Prior to that, we were looking for a light no brighter than that given off by a match flare.

I count those two years (1 year of flight school and my tour in Vietnam) as possibly most formative ones of my life.