• Animation of the rise of unemployment since 2007
  Very interesting to watch. And yes, it has only gotten worse since Obama got elected.

It was this past week in which Barack Obama said that deficit spending could cause a double dip recession. Nonetheless, a “New Consensus Views Stimulus as Worthy Step.” That, at least, is the headline in the New York Times as it tries, on its front page above the fold, to push for a second stimulus.

But things are not as they seem.

Remember, Obama says more deficit spending is bad. Then there is this:

Now that unemployment has topped 10 percent, some liberal-leaning economists see confirmation of their warnings that the $787 billion stimulus package President Obama signed into law last February was way too small. The economy needs a second big infusion, they say.

No, some conservative-leaning economists counter, we were right: The package has been wasteful, ineffectual and even harmful to the extent that it adds to the nation’s debt and crowds out private-sector borrowing.

The Times goes on to say that “more dispassionate analysts [have] reach[ed] a consensus that the stimulus package, messy as it is, is working.” But concedes that only “a quarter of the stimulus money [has gone] out the door after nine months.”

If all of this is above the fold in the New York Times, particularly the last bit, why the heck do we need a second stimulus? Only one quarter of the first stimulus has been used and unemployment continues to rise.

Go here and enter your zipcode. You’ll get a quick talking point and the local office number of your United States Senators.

Tell them to vote NO on cloture.

I’ll be on Sean Hannity’s Great American Panel tonight at 9:30 with Gov. Bob Ehrlich and Rev. Jacques DeGraff.

It’s going to be a really good panel tonight, so I hope you’ll tune in to it.

Consider this an open thread.

Got this from a high level source:

I just came from dinner and recognized the voices beside me. It was Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and three other Democrats. I knew the other faces but names escape me.

They were strategizing on how to raise the gas tax. Congressman Blumenauer said he knew a way to get at least 20 Republicans on board a gas tax increase. The place was loud and that’s about all I could make out. They talked about other times when they manages to split us. It was not fun nor easy to hold back.

Call your Senator right now. Use this link to bypass the congressional switchboard.

Tell your Senator to vote NO on cloture for the motion to proceed to debate.

If the health care legislation goes to debate, Harry Reid will start offering amendments to pick off votes.

Call your Senator right now. Tell them both that a yes vote on cloture is a vote for the health care bill. The Congressional Research Service’s latest study proves that.

Roger Hedgecock has the top story at Human Events today.

Though private fraud gets the bigger headline (think Bernie Madoff), fraud in federal government programs is now so pervasive that even the Obama press is taking notice. The scope of fraud in all federal programs dwarfs the corruption in the private sector the media loves to sensationalize.

Consider the fraud in the Wall Street bailout. Here’s just one example.

This past week, the Inspector General for the TARP $700 billion bailout reported that taxpayers will “almost certainly” lose money on their investments in the “too big to fail” financial institutions.  One reason, it’s safe to say, is contained in Neil Barofsky’s revelation that he is conducting 65 separate investigations of possible fraud involving TARP funds.

• Olympus BioScapes Competition Winners (9 Images)
  Fascinating.

RedState Morning Briefing
For November 20, 2009

Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get
the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge.

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There is a study out today that is damaging to the Democrats efforts to pass health care in the Senate.

On Saturday, when constituents cannot contact their Senators’ offices because they’ll be closed, the United States Senate will vote on a cloture motion to debate the health care legislation.

This is important — a vote in favor of cloture on the motion to proceed (a parliamentary issue) is, in effect, a vote for the health care legislation. Why? Because Harry Reid has enough votes to pass the health care legislation by a simple majority, but he does not have the 60 votes necessary to proceed to debate, any Senator voting for cloture is voting for the health care plan.

Roll Call reports that according to the Congressional Research Service, “[a] study of Senate voting patterns shows the chamber has approved more than 97 percent of all bills subject to a cloture motion to begin debate — a finding that could undercut Democratic efforts to paint a key health care vote on Saturday as procedural.”

In fact, “since 1999 the Senate has approved 97.6 percent of all bills when lawmakers first voted to begin debate.”

Some Senators, like Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, want the health care legislation to pass, but know politically she would lose if she voted for it. So unless pressure is brought to bear on her and others, she may vote “yes” on cloture for the motion to proceed and then try to hide behind a no vote later.

We cannot let that happen. Call your two Senators all day today and demand they vote no on the motion to proceed. The phone number to call is 202-224-3121.

At 2:00 the Senate will take up Judge David Hamilton’s nomination. Between now and then, call 202-224-3121 and tell your senator to vote no on his nomination.

As I’ve mentioned before, he is a terrible nominee who should be defeated.

Call 202-224-3121 and tell your Senator to vote NO on Hamilton.

It is now the House of Representatives’ turn to further enable Obamacare. Later today, the House will vote on a $210 billion “doc fix” that is not paid for and would dramatically add to the deficit. Similar legislation was blocked in the Senate by a vote of 47 to 53 after Redstate readers took to the phones to stop it. 13 Democrats joined with all Republicans in standing with taxpayers.

Here is a refresher. The bill is a payoff to a powerful lobbying group—a $210 billion package for the American Medical Association. The funding is not offset and would dramatically increase the deficit. Democrats are betting that the bill will prove politically impossible for most Congressmen, including Republicans, to oppose as it addresses the number one priority for most doctors over the years—the fact that Medicare doesn’t reimburse them enough. By considering the “doc fix” apart from overall healthcare reform, Democrats remove a major cost to that package. As Senator McConnell said when the bill was before the Senate, “This is so transparent. They’re taking this issue out of health care, suggesting that we spend a quarter of a trillion dollars, not pay for it, so that they can then argue, the very next week potentially, that this trillion-dollar health care bill is paid for.”

The strategy is simple. Payoff the docs, make your bill appear to cost less, and force Republicans to choose between their doctors and the fiscal health of the nation.

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RedState Morning Briefing
For November 19, 2009

Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get
the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge.

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There is still much to learn about the Senate health care plan, but we know a few things already.

The Senate bill does not have a price tag. The Democrats are touting a cost of $849 billion, but that number is a fabrication.

From Please click here for the rest of the post.Roll Call we learn that “one Senate Democratic leadership staffer acknowledged that the cost estimate did not even represent an official preliminary score from the CBO but was a representation of “preliminary feedback” that Reid has gotten from the nonpartisan Congressional agency.”

In other words, we do not know how much it will actually cost.

We also know that the Senate has severely weakened the pro-life language of the legislation. It comes no where close to the Stupak amendment language.

We also know that the legislation purports to cut the deficit. How? By massive and painful tax increases, including raising the payroll tax on medicare.

Finally, we know that now some Democrats are leaning against a vote on the “motion to proceed.” Any Senator who votes for the motion to proceed is, in effect, voting for the legislation. Harry Reid needs all sixty of the Democrats.

One of the very few states in the nation to have a budget surplus right now is Mitch Daniels’ Indiana. As Governor, Daniels actually went into office, raised sales taxes, cut property taxes, fixed his budget problems, then slashed the beejeezus out of tax rates, including the aforementioned sales tax. The state is thriving.

He’s an attractive choice to challenge Obama. I think a governor, not some congressman, is going to have to be our pick. Daniels fits the bill.

Here he is from the other night at the Indiana Republican Party’s Fall Dinner, using just notes, no prepared text or teleprompter:

Key bit in a transcript below the fold.

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Here is today’s top story at Human Events.

One of the most revealing things about liberals is their insistence that only they can define a “real” minority or a “real” woman. In the eyes of the left, Clarence Thomas, Ken Blackwell and J.C. Watts will never be “real” black men. Likewise, Michele Bachmann, the smiling firebrand conservative congresswoman from Minnesota, and Sarah Palin, the popular former governor of Alaska, will never be “real” women.

How can they be? After all, these women don’t support abortion. In fact, Palin actually had the audacity to give birth to a baby with Down Syndrome. As one embarrassed liberal wag put it during last year’s presidential campaign, “If abortion isn’t for that, what is it for?”

These female leaders believe that marriage is a sacred bond between one man and one woman and anything else is a counterfeit. In the case of Bachmann and Palin, they have lived out their values by staying married to the same men for decades.

RedState Morning Briefing
For November 18, 2009

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the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge.

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Congress could be working on boosting job growth, figuring out where Arizona got 99 additional congressional districts, restoring the F-22 cuts, etc. but Rep. Emanuel Cleaver has a better idea.

He wants a “complaint free Wednesday.”

From: The Honorable Emanuel Cleaver
Bill: H.Con.Res. 155
Date: 11/17/2009

Dear Colleague:

Please join me in co-sponsorship of a resolution, H. Con. Res. 155, to designate the day prior to Thanksgiving as Complaint Free Wednesday.

From time to time, we all experience anxiety, frustration, stress, and regret. And often, we respond to these feelings with a criticism or a complaint. Regrettably, complaining keeps people stuck on current problems, inhibiting them from thinking constructively to find solutions. Research has also shown that complaining can be harmful to one’s emotional and physical health; relationships; and can limit professional career success.

In the spirit of hope, optimism, and postivity, and in honor of its efforts to encourage people to look forward, not backward, the group a Complaint Free World is to be recognized. A Complaint Free World’s goal, in fact, is to motivate 1% of the global population (about 60 million people) to become complaint free.

This timely and constructive (and revenue neutral) resolution would reaffirm the meaning of Thanksgiving by designating the Wednesday before as Complaint Free Wednesday. Surely Complaint Free Wednesday will be a meaningful and powerful reminder to prepare for a day of gratitude.

If you would like more information or would like to sign on as a co-sponsor, please contact Mary Petrovic of my staff. . . . I hope you have a pleasant and complaint-free day.

Warmest regards,

Emanuel Cleaver

Member of Congress

I just had a terrific interview with Governor Sarah Palin this afternoon. Her new book, Going Rogue, came out today. I’d like to say we talked a lot about her book, but I did not get it until 10:00 a.m. and had family stuff to take care of. I gave it a quick thumbing through, but largely asked questions based on readers submissions via twitter etc.

Up front, I asked Governor Palin what she wanted people to take away from her book. She said policy should be a take away. She wants people to read about what she thinks should be done to get the country back on its feet and help “everyday ordinary Americans,” a group she referred to repeatedly during our time together.

We spent a lot of the conversation talking about various policy issues.

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