Video: Umeployment spread like a zombie apocalypse outbreak since 2007

I'm positive I've shown this video before on here, but alas I can't find that old post and this one has been updated anyway (via Insty):

From ReasonTV:

According to the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are nearly 31 million people currently unemployed -- that's including those involuntarily working parttime and those who want a job, but have given up on trying to find one. In the face of the worst economic upheaval since the Great Depression, millions of Americans are hurting. "The Decline: The Geography of a Recession," as created by labor writer LaToya Egwuekwe, serves as a vivid representation of just how much. Watch the deteriorating transformation of the U.S. economy from January 2007 -- approximately one year before the start of the recession -- to the most recent unemployment data available today.

But... didn't the stimulus save the economy?

http://theblogprof.blogspot.com/2010/08/video-umeployment-spread-like-zombie.html

Border Patrol Joins ICE Agents In Condemning the Obama Administration

On the heels of the unprecedented move within Homeland Security where Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) agents  258-0  voted "no confidence" in their superiors, U.S. Border Patrol Agents are slamming the Obama administration and Attorney General Eric Holder, in particular.

Via Family Security Matters -

"We are receiving reports… that Eric Holder and DOJ have signaled that they [will continue to] challenge SB1070. If this development wasn't so sad, it would be funny," according to the membership of the National Border Patrol Council Local 2544, which represents U.S. Border Patrol agents in Tucson, Arizona.

While lamenting the disinterest in the Obama Administration for border security and immigration enforcement, Local 2544 officials said in a statement,

"Now, [Attorney General Eric] Holder and DOJ [Department of Justice] apparently have found resources to challenge SB1070. This is an obvious political ploy, and Americans should be outraged [that] they actually go after a state for trying to do something about the out-of-control illegal immigration mess."

"How many times have Americans heard lawmakers, mayors, governors, and immigration advocates when asked about Arizona enforcing immigration law, claim that their police officers aren't authorized or trained to enforce immigration laws?" asks a career law enforcement officer from New York.

"Well, either these government leaders are too ignorant to hold office or they're out-and-out lying to the American people," said former NYPD detective Sid Franes.

The Immigration and Nationality Act includes section 287(g), added in 1996, that grants local and state jurisdictions the ability to enforce immigration law with proper training and supervision by federal authorities. In 2003, Alabama became the second state in the nation to participate in the program by signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Department of Homeland Security. Florida was the first state to participate, in 2002, and later Arizona's Sheriff Joe Arpaio sent his deputies for training.
While many politicians claim their police officers are not allowed to enforce immigration laws, their excuse for ignoring illegal aliens is a canard. Too few police agencies are taking advantage of the training offered by ICE and DHS.

"Partnerships with our state and local law enforcement colleagues have always been essential to our fight against illegal immigration," said Paul Kilcoyne, Immigration and Customs Enforcement's deputy director for investigations.

"This innovative and cooperative effort allows our state troopers to become force multipliers for America's border security mission. We always welcome those who enter our country legally, but we won't stand idly by and do nothing when we catch illegal aliens, some who have committed crimes like armed robbery, rape and drug smuggling, in our state," he said.

During a little publicized recent border security conference at the University of Texas-El Paso, UTEP, Obama Border Czar Alan Bersin announced that it would take Thirty Years to Secure the Border. That's right, THIRTY YEARS! Even though the Obama administration admitted they've yet to find a "clear definition" on what "secure the border" means, they have come up with a "30 year plan"?  The Obama administration believes it will take the U.S. thirty years to secure the border and fight Mexico's organized crime and the drug cartels.  Unreal.

There's more…
Via Death By 1000 Paper Cuts -

Attending the conference, two Obama Czars, Border Czar Alan Bersin, Commissioner U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Drug Czar R. Gil Kerlikowske, Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Question: Do you feel we are adequately securing our border?

Obama Drug Czar R. Gil Kerlikowske, Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy:

"That's a difficult question to ask. I've spent a lot of time now flying, driving, being on the border then talking to a lot of people on the border. It's incredibly difficult when you don't have a clear definition of what secure the border means."

Another tidbit we learned: Border Czar Alan Bersin telling the conference attendees:

Our people are the key, bi-nationally as well as each of our countries. The challenges to leave behind, the old ways of seeing the border, to stop thinking in the past. Stop thinking that the Federal government is going to come and pay for all the projects. Rather, it is devise business solutions that provide the private capacity to make these things work. Whether it is crossing the border in a safe, secure facilitated entry but to do it with private initiative rather than waiting for government handouts. What the government has to do is be responsive to a community that takes its future into its own hands. Yes, we on the regulatory side will respond appropriately but you've got to do this and not look to the government to do it.

Government handouts for a "safe, secure facilitated entry"? "Private initiative"?

Wait a minute!  Isn't protecting our borders the federal government's JOB?  Isn't Arizona showing "initiative"?  This administration is guilty of talking out of both sides of its mouth.

Is it any wonder that our federal, state and local law enforcement is losing confidence in this administration?   These hard working, patriotic man and women who put their lives on the line every day protecting our country and its borders deserve our support and the support of our government.

Is it any wonder that  the American people are losing confidence in this president and his administration?

h/t Rachel P

http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2010/08/border-patrol-joins-ice-agents-in-condemning-the-obama-administration/

Video of DNC Chair Tim Kaine: No Controversy if a "Synagogue or Church" Wanted to Build Near Ground

Reheheheeaaallllllyyyy.... I guess he didn't hear that the same officials that fast-tracked mosque at ground zero won't approve rebuild of Christian church detroyed in attack

From my prior post above:

Greek Orthodox leaders trying to rebuild the only church destroyed in the Sept. 11 terror attacks expressed shock this week after learning, via Fox News, that government officials had killed a deal to relocate the church.

The St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, once a tiny, four-story building in the shadows of lower Manhattan, was destroyed in 2001 by one of the falling World Trade Center towers. Nobody from the church was hurt in the attack, but the congregation has, for the past eight years, been trying to rebuild its house of worship.

...Though talks between the church and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey stalled last year, church leaders say they've been trying to kick-start discussions ever since. But amid debate over whether a proposed Islamic community center should go forward near Ground Zero, government officials threw cold water on the prospect of any deal with the church -- telling Fox News the deal is off the table.

Care to revise that statement, Mr. Kaine? For a relevant flashback, here's the radical imam that will be running the mosque blaming the US for the 911 terror attack:

Here's Rush putting what he calls the Hamaosque (heh) into perspective:

Lastly here's Bob reacting to Pelosi giving a thumbs up to the mosque issue and wanting opponents investigated:

http://theblogprof.blogspot.com/2010/08/video-of-dnc-chair-tim-kaine-no.html

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Now Democrats Want Another $34 Billion to Bailout Teamsters Pension

-By Warner Todd Huston

When will Obama's gifts to unions (at the expense of the taxpayers) ever end? On the heels of a $26.1 billion teacher union bailout, now Democrats are attempting to get Congress to give $34 billion of the taxpayer's money to the Teamsters because that union has mishandled its pension funds.

Senators Robert Casey (D., Pa.) and Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D., N.D.) are now pushing the bill that will bailout the Teamsters pension fund by altering the U.S. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. which currently charges insurance rates to the funds it helps to solvency. Under new rules the help the PBGC offers troubled pension funds will now just end up coming out of federal funds.

As Kevin D. Williamson of National Review informs us, as the PBGC law stands now the obligations that PBGC takes on to help "orphan pensions" are not obligations of the U.S. government. "Casey-Pomeroy would reverse that," Williamson tells us, "mandating that "'obligations of the corporation that are financed by the [fifth fund] shall be obligations of the United States.'" Yep, another gigantic bailout.

This new plan will make it easier to take further steps to directly begin bailing out both private unions and public employees unions which, combined, are trillions in the red.

And that is the truly worrisome part: Casey's bill would allow for the transfer of money from the "fifth fund" to other PBGC funds. In other words, we could end up paying for the whole thing. "It takes a couple of leaps," Vernuccio says, "but, long term, you can see this being a backdoor bailout of PBGC." There is no statutory limit on the amount of taxpayer money that could be committed to bailing out union pensions under the Casey bill. Taxpayers already have an unlimited commitment to bailing out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — do we really want to offer a bottomless well of public money to the Teamsters, too?

This is all of a piece with Obama's constant payoffs to unions. Not only has the president been at the fore of handing unions billions in bailout money, he has also been a leading advocate for rolling back rules that were passed in order to bring transparency to union finances.

http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2010/08/now-democrats-want-another-34-billion-to-bailout-teamsters-pension/

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The Disaster Continues… Obama’s Gulf Drilling Moratorium Has Cost At Least 23,000 Jobs

In May, Barack Obama, the worst jobs president since the Great Depression, announced that he would limit new oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. The Obama Administration fudged a report to support their drilling moratorium in the Gulf.

Now we find out his moratorium has cost at least 23,000 jobs.
The AP reported:

The deepwater drilling moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico costs at least 23,000 jobs, according to a federal document that weighed the economic impact and alternatives to the drilling ban.

A six-month suspension would directly put 9,450 people out of work and indirectly affect nearly 14,000 other jobs, according to a memo from Michael Bromwich, the nation's top drilling regulator. The July 10 memo to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar outlined several options regarding the suspension of offshore drilling.

Salazar issued a moratorium in June, but it was struck down by a federal judge in New Orleans after oil and gas drilling interests said it wasn't justified following the Gulf oil spill.

The Obama administration issued a new moratorium July 13 — three days after the memo — that stressed new evidence of safety concerns. The White House hopes the revised ban will pass muster with the courts.

The moratoriums were put in place following the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion April 20 that killed 11 people. Millions of gallons of oil spilled into the Gulf after the rig sank.

Some energy experts, engineering consultants and Gulf Coast leaders have joined Big Oil to ask Salazar to change his mind. Drilling was safe before the BP spill, they said, and Gulf communities that depend on the industry were suffering unfairly.

Obama's oil drilling moratorium will cost this country tens of thousands of jobs and may take years to recover from.

http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2010/08/the-disaster-continues-obamas-gulf-drilling-moratorium-has-cost-at-least-23000-lost-jobs/

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Fwd: NYTimes.com: Obama: Man of the World

OPINION   | March 06, 2007 Op-Ed Columnist:  Obama: Man of the World By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF What sets Barack Obama apart is the way his training has been at the grass-roots rather than in the treetops. Copyright 2010  The New York Times Company | Privacy Policy

Fwd: Stacy, the EIB Insurance Expert

> http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_082010/content/01125110.guest.html
>
>

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Obama’s Union Bailout: A Good Crisis Going to Waste

-By Warner Todd Huston

Even the New York Times can't ignore the fact that Obama's latest union bailout cash isn't going to help anyone keep their jobs, and The New York Times is really good at ignoring things that make Democrats look bad.

A few weeks ago Nancy Pelosi called the House of Representatives back into a special session because there was a crisis in education, don't you know. It was a crisis that she didn't want to go to waste, naturally. As Speaker of the House she had the power — one likely to evaporate with the 2010 elections — to help Barack Obama give his union pals another $26.1 billion of the taxpayer's money and she couldn't resist the urge to fill pockets with other's people's money at least one more time.

Early in August, Pelosi triumphantly announced on her Twitter feed, "I will be calling the House back into session early next week to save teachers' jobs and help seniors & children."

We're helping old people, it's for the children, we are saving teacher's jobs. It's a crisis that we can't ignore, darn it! Yes, Rahm, it's also a crisis that we can't let go to waste.

So pass it Pelosi did. Now the feds are sending an additional $26.1 billion to "help" the aged, to save the children and to "save" teachers from being fired.

Only we aren't. At least we aren't saving many teacher's jobs for according to the NYT in most cases those that have been fired will stay fired and those that have been fired won't be rehired.

One problem with this bailout is that the money won't be ready for distribution until well into September, up to a month after many schools have already resumed for the new semester. And even for those that won't have started school yet, administrations are reluctant to just willy-nilly start rehiring teachers that they won't be able to continue paying after the bailout money runs out next year.

Many administrations just don't see the point of merely putting off the agony for a single season. School administrators are saying that they see big deficits looming for next year's budget, so they'd rather save the bailout cash for next year instead of rehiring teachers this year. And administrators also know that the money they've been used to so liberally spreading around is not going to be there next year.

"It's a real double-edged sword," Michael Drewniak, a spokesman for New Jersey Governor Chris Christie ,told the Times. "This money will not be there next year, and we're not going to get back up to the funding that they had previously been used to."

It is not much different in California.

"We're also looking at a pretty bad budget, so we may decide to hold all or some of the money for the next year," said Steve Horowitz, assistant superintendent of personnel services at the Pomona Unified School District. He added that the money might be used for bus drivers or custodians, or to roll back five furlough days for teachers.

Unassailable logic that.

So, as it happens this newest gigantic bailout is not going to save any teachers jobs, it is not going to go to re-hire recently laid off teachers, and further more it will just be used by school administrators to pad their budgets for next year causing them to put off the sort of budget reassessments that are much needed.

So why was this done? Because they unions told Pelosi that if she didn't give them this $26.1 billion bailout they might not work so hard for Democrats in this 2010 election cycle.

Just picture the scene: a thick lipped, broken nosed union "organizer" arrives in Pelosi's Capitol Hill offices and says something like, "I'd sure hate to see youse guys lose dis election, wouldn't youse? Gee, it might be swell if we got about $26.1 billion in an envelope this month to help us decide if we's gunna help youse win, eh? I tink you know what I mean?"

So, to the tune of the Sopranos theme song, Pelosi dutifully fired up her Twitter feed and began stuffing envelopes with your cash.

What a racket, eh?

http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2010/08/obamas-union-bailout-a-good-crisis-going-to-waste/

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