Click here to see a rolling timeline of how unemployment has spread by county since January of 2007. It ends in September 2009 with a national unemployment rate of just 8.5%, so it doesn’t even include October’s number of 10.2%.
Very sobering.
Thanks to commodore over at HotAir for putting up the link in one of their threads.
Via Breitbart:
Influential US lawmakers on Thursday called for levying a new income tax to pay for the war in Afghanistan, warning its costs pose a mortal threat to efforts like a sweeping health care overhaul.“Regardless of whether one favors the war or not, if it is to be fought, it ought to be paid for,” the lawmakers, all prominent Democratic allies of Obama, said in a joint statement on the “Share The Sacrifice Act of 2010.”
Proving that the Democrats never miss an opportunity to create yet ANOTHER tax, they think YOU are not paying enough when it comes to financing the war in Afghanistan. Whether you support it or not, the war needs to be paid for and the Democrats think taxing you more is the way to go.
You know, if this gets passed and provides another stream of taxpayer dollars to Washington, the Democrats might NEVER want to leave Afghanistan.
I’ve seen this poll in a couple of places in the last two days. The AP is now reporting that Americans think the “rich” should be taxed higher amounts to finance health care reform and the public now favors government health care.
Both of these reports emanate from the same poll which was conducted by Stanford University and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation over the time period between Oct. 9 – Nov. 8.
What the articles don’t tell you is that in the results, the breakdown of participants by political party gives an 8% advantage to the Democrats. 45% of the participants classified themselves as anywhere from leaning Democrat to strong Democrat, while 37% classified themselves anywhere from leaning Republican to strong Republican. This uneven sampling can have a large effect on the outcome of your poll results, giving the impression that more people favor the Democrat stance when the results are just due to more Democrats being polled. Of course, this breakdown is NOT reported by the AP in either stories.
To read the results of the poll yourself, click here. The political breakdown of respondents can be found on page 39.
Many polls lately are using uneven samples of Democrat vs. Republicans with the higher number favoring Democrats.
Ed Morrissey over at Hot Air has the information on the Washington Post/ABC poll which reported results from a poll with a 14% difference between Republicans and Democrats.
In this heated political battle on health care reform it seems many polls are being used to DRIVE public opinion rather than report it.
From Congressional Quarterly Politics:
In a move underscoring the Democratic push to pass a health care overhaul this year, House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer issued a revised legislative calendar Wednesday scheduling possible roll call votes almost to Christmas Eve.
I guess that Mr. Hoyer is an eternal optimist. This schedule adjustment signals that he thinks the Senate will actually be able to get a bill voted on in the next few weeks. How likely this is to happen is unclear.
If a bill does make it out of the Senate, it would still have to be reconciled with the House bill and brought up for a final vote before sending it to President Obama to sign.
In the past, I would have thought this was a “Mission Impossible” situation, but the public option has made it into the bills despite decreasing popularity among voters, so it might not be impossible for a reconciled bill to be passed a few days before Christmas when very few are watching.
If so, President Obama will be able to meet his wish of passing health care reform by the end of the year.
Merry Christmas.
It was announced today that President Obama will be considering yet another strategy for what to do in Afghanistan. From the Wall Street Journal:
President Barack Obama on Wednesday will consider a new compromise plan for adding troops to Afghanistan that would deploy 30,000 to 35,000 new forces, including as many as 10,000 military trainers, over the next year or more.
The new scenario combines reinforcements for fighting Taliban insurgents with trainers aimed at rapidly increasing the size and capabilities of Afghan troops to take on more operations themselves. It wouldn’t aim to eliminate the Taliban, but weaken it until Afghan forces can secure major population centers themselves.
This new plan will be considered alongside three other recommendations already made to President Obama by General Stanley McChrystal. One of the recommendations McChrystal made would request up to an additional 80,000 troops be deployed to the area. The other scenarios request less troops, anywhere from an additional 10,000 to 40,000. Although President Obama has had McChrystal’s requests for additional troops for over 2 months now, the president hasn’t seem to want to act on any of them. Claiming that he doesn’t want to make any rash decisions, the President Obama has instead, opted for a deliberate, thought-out strategy before committing to any additional troops.
But as time goes on, it seems as if the president doesn’t want to make any decision at all. He is caught between his own campaign rhetoric about Afghanistan being a war of necessity, General McChrystal’s request for more troops, and the waning support by his own party to keep our troops there:
The issue of troop levels has put Mr. Obama in a difficult position. Gen. McChrystal has argued that tens of thousands of additional troops are needed to successfully curb the Taliban’s resurgence. But many Democratic lawmakers have signaled they don’t support such a buildup, and the American public’s support for the war has waned.
So what we get instead of a decision are trial balloons floated about possible additional troop numbers in the media, only to have to the White House insist that no numbers have been decided upon. In essence, the administration makes it look like they’re deliberating and close to making a decision without having to make a decision at all. Not wanting to alienate his base, from which he needs support to pass health care reform, Obama doesn’t commit to any additional troops, but still seems to be taking action, in some form, to keep critics at bay.
The scenario is akin to a child at the dinner table who doesn’t want to eat his vegetables. He will push his peas around the plate, separating them, mashing them, etc…. in order to make it look like he’s actually eaten some without having done so. The child hopes that if he is convincing enough, he may be pardoned from the table without having to eat any of the vegetables he finds so distasteful.
But in this scenario, a decision left unmade long enough, will be a decision in itself as the country of Afghanistan seems to slip slowly back towards Taliban control.
The president needs to make a decision and eat his vegetables.
For Whom the Bell Tolls? It’s looking like it tolls for Mr. Grahamnisty (as he is called) unless he gets back to his conservative roots. That is, if he has any.
Article at Breitbart.
From the article:
Republicans have moved ahead of Democrats by 48% to 44% among registered voters in the latest update on Gallup’s generic congressional ballot for the 2010 House elections, after trailing by six points in July and two points last month.
The Republicans’ gain is due almost entirely to Independents:
In the latest poll, independent registered voters favor the Republican candidate by 52% to 30%. Both parties maintain similar loyalty from their bases, with 91% of Democratic registered voters preferring the Democratic candidate and 93% of Republican voters preferring the Republican.
While the economy is seen as the most important issue to most Americans, the Democrat-controlled House and Senate continue to persue health care reform as their top priority with President Obama pushing both houses as much as he can. This comes after the “cash for clunkers” program and the hurried stimulus bill which both now are seen to not have improved the economy substantially.
This has led to some disillusionment with independent supporters who once thought Obama could actually deliver on the lofty promises he gave during his campaign. These independents are leary of the massive spending increases with no firm projection of increased jobs and economic recovery.
The Democrats need to harken back to Clinton’s campaign mantra and realize it’s STILL the economy, stupid.
Excerpts from the Los Angeles Times:
At least 11 people have died from the H1N1 virus in the capital, Kabul. The government has declared an emergency and launched an education campaign.
Afghanistan’s first reported death from the flu — that of a 35-year-old engineer from the capital, Kabul — was announced Oct. 28. Since then at least 10 more people have died in Kabul, said the minister of public health, Dr. Mohammad Amin Fatemi, on Monday. Cases have also been reported in outlying provinces.
The ministry has declared a state of emergency, shutting down schools, universities and public restrooms for three weeks. Sports clubs and wedding halls also have closed their doors. And people wearing blue surgical masks are suddenly everywhere in Kabul: in bazaars, on bicycles, in tea shops and taxis.
The Health Ministry has distributed antiviral medicine to 34 Kabul hospitals and clinics, but there are only about 50,000 doses, whereas up to 300,000 patients could potentially require treatment, Health Ministry spokesman Ahmad Farid Raaid said. He is optimistic that international donors will provide more medicine, but there is still no vaccine in the country.
WHO administers a global vaccine donation program, and it will provide Afghanistan with 500,000 of the first 11 million doses it receives. But because of worldwide production delays and huge demand, WHO has not received any of the promised doses yet, Graaff said.
A government-sponsored TV and radio campaign advises anyone with a fever to stay home, and those with mild symptoms to avoid shaking hands or embracing each other. When they go to mosque, they are told to pray outside if possible, or put on a mask.
But in a land of swirling rumors, it is hard to persuade people to follow such rules when they still think that the disease is spread from animals to humans. Graaff said there were reports of patients being beaten because it was thought they had eaten pork, which is forbidden by the Islamic faith.
Maybe the Taliban gang will catch it before the vaccines arrive.
Barbarians strike again. From the San Francisco Examiner.
The group had pulled him out of a vehicle and dragged him away three weeks ago. They had been asking for a $42,000 ransom. Six other teachers have been kidnapped this year, but all were released.
Jonah Goldberg: Sometimes, an extremist really is an extremist
November 10, 2009 — desertgardensIf it looks like an extremist, walks like an extremist, preaches like an extremist, hates like an extremist, and kills like an extremist……..it’s an extremist.
Click here to read.