It's worse than Democrats think

Mitt Romney has been hounded by Democrats for most of 2012 because he had not released enough of his previous years' tax returns. Romney fulfilled the promise he'd made to release his 2011 return. Predictably, Democrats jumped on the fact that although Romney contributed over $4 million to charity in 2011, he only claimed about $2 million of it as deductions. Democrats howled that Romney did this so that his tax rate would match what he's said it was in the past. (Yes, that claim is as ridiculous as it seems. A politician's actions matched his words, and Democrats criticized it.)

However, this serious violation of all things good goes deeper.  There are stories that Romney has tried to keep from the public. Lurid tales of Romney helping charities and individuals out financially -- then asking them to keep it to themselves. Not only that, but he has also physically helped people with his time and his efforts.  John Hawkins has discovered the truth about Romney, and exposes Romney in his column "7 Incredible Personal Stories About Mitt Romney That You May Not Know."

Other people say smart stuff, too - Part XXXVI

Derek Hunter wrote a powerful new column titled "The Media's Rape of Reality." In it he articulates the points (and more) that I've made about how much the in-the-bag media covers for Obama. After one of the worst weeks in his term of office -- and there have been many -- this week we saw:

• the storming of American embassies,
• the killing of an American ambassador and some of his staff,
• more killings of American soldiers by supposed Afghan allies,
• another downgrade of America's credit rating,
• the snub of the Israeli Prime Minister while Iran threatens to nuke his country,
• gas prices nearing the $4 mark again,

and what does the media cover? Mitt Romney’s statement about the embassy attacks and Obama’s foreign policy.  Read Hunter's column.

Spinning, Spinning

In what must be the bravest attempt ever by the media  to spin a story that I've ever read, the AP and Yahoo News headlined a story "Foreign policy at forefront is a Romney hurdle."

The disasters in foreign policy of the last week, and it's Romney's hurdle?? Not only the actual events themselves, which highlight the failure of Obama's softness toward Islamic extremism, but then the administration's response(s), which included a veiled condemnation of free speech. Add in the purposeful snub of Israel's Prime Minister at a time when Iran is on the verge of developing and deploying nukes toward that country. (These two aspects go together; if America were still perceived as a strong Israel ally, Iran's bravado might not be as blatant.)   

If anything, this past week should destroy anything that could possibly be perceived as Obama's foreign policy "expertise."  Consequences of his policies and actions ought to matter. Yet AP and Yahoo News spin it 180° so that -- once again -- Obama's blunders are invisible. 

Which is a more apt description, a comparison to "The Emperor's New Clothes" or "Don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining"?

Obama's unemployment

The U.S. Labor Department announced today that the unemployment for August was 8.1%, down from 8.3% in July. However, that number is lower only because more people have given up looking for work, and only those looking for work are considered "unemployed." 

"The truth is, it will take more than a few years for us to solve challenges that have built up over the decades," Obama said in his speech at the Democrat National Convention last night. However, the increasing number of people not looking for work (and not counted as "unemployed,") is not a decades-old problem. 

Labor Force Participation Rate

As you can see, under Obama the "labor force participation rate" -- the percentage of the working-age population who are either working or looking for work -- started its sharp decline when Obama took office. The latest number is 63.5%, down from 63.7% in July and 65.7% in January 2009.  It is not a longtime problem that every President has had to deal with, nor a common occurrence. 

However, this horrible participation rate has occurred before, in our lifetimes.  The last time the participation rate was this low was in September 1981, as Reagan brought America out of the Carter recession.  At that time the participation rate was on its way up. Today, it's on its way down.  Four years of Barack Obama's policies have moved more and more people out of the workforce. 

We've heard it all before

Wow.

The media, esp. NPR, are the Liars

The media have piled on Paul Ryan for his speech at last week's Republican National Convention.  While analyses of such a speech are to be expected, a large number of journalists have done everything but use the word liar to describe Ryan.  This fact was rammed home as I was driving last Saturday.  I happened to tune in to an NPR talk show/roundtable featuring Washington journalists. The host made the statement (paraphrased): "Never has a vice presidential candidate made a speech with so many things that are factually untrue."

I already addressed the Janesville GM plant. The rest of their points centered around nothing that was "factually untrue." Not a single thing. Not one. This is how their arguments went:

RYAN:  "You see, even with all the hidden taxes to pay for the health care takeover, even with new taxes on nearly a million small businesses, the planners in Washington still didn't have enough money. They needed more. They needed hundreds of billions more. So, they just took it all away from Medicare. Seven hundred and sixteen billion dollars, funneled out of Medicare by President Obama."
NPR:  "So does Ryan's plan."  (Note: They never disputed the fact that Ryan stated. They merely equated it with Ryan's Medicare proposal.)

RYAN: "He created a new bipartisan debt commission. They came back with an urgent report. He thanked them, sent them on their way and then did exactly nothing."
NPR: "Paul Ryan was a member of the Simpson-Bowles Commission and he voted no on that report." (Note: They once again don't dispute the fact that Ryan states, but instead mention how he, one member, voted. And his vote would have made no difference.)

RYAN: "The first troubling sign came with the stimulus. It was President Obama's first and best shot at fixing the economy, at a time when he got everything he wanted under one-party rule. It cost $831 billion – the largest one-time expenditure ever by our federal government...What did the taxpayers get out of the Obama stimulus? More debt. That money wasn't just spent and wasted – it was borrowed, spent, and wasted."
NPR: "Ryan himself asked for stimulus funds shortly after Congress approved the $800 billion plan." Ryan did write letters requesting stimulus funds for Wisconsin entities. Here's his explanation: "After having these letters called to my attention I checked into them, and they were treated as constituent service requests in the same way matters involving Social Security or Veterans Affairs are handled.”  One of his aides said it better: “If Congressman Ryan is asked to help a Wisconsin entity applying for existing Federal grant funds, he does not believe flawed policy should get in the way of doing his job and providing a legitimate constituent service to his employers.” (Final note: Once again, NPR indicates no point of Ryan's statement which can be called "factually incorrect.")

The stance of NPR and the rest of the media -- "Well, we can't actually show anywhere that Ryan actually lied, but nonetheless he lied."