October’s Official Numb-ers: Caution, there will be math!

You all know that in our 2+2=5 world, numbers are the bane of our existence.

Butt sometimes you just have to tackle them anyway, so here goes, in no particular order:

Healthcare.gov enrollees: So far we are reporting somewhere between 40-50,000 signed up. That’s a little (97%) below our target number.

It’s still a bit unclear at this point who’s getting counted in these numbers because, unlike free market accounting, in Obamacare accounting “liking” is the same as buying. Butt I understand our official direction is to count any low hanging chads.

It’s a little bit fuzzy right now how those choosing the completely free option of Medicaid will be treated in our numbers, butt my guess is we count them twice. Because, as Fancy Nancy advised us, welfare, like unemployment, returns $2 in economic activity for every $1 in benefits doled out. Anyway, the fact that we’ve enrolled just 3% of our first month target number is not really a big deal - everyone knows the website wasn’t working! So we’re just a little behind the 8-ball. 

h/t El Rushbo via Newsbusters

Oh, and by the way, that number of enrollees is offset by the 4.8 million Americans who have lost their healthcare insurance (so far) even though they wanted to keep it.

JOBS JOBS JOBS report: despite fears of a “Government Shutdown Slowdown” 204,000 new jobs were created (unexpectedly!) in October. Don’t get too excited though, since most of them were low-paid service jobs, probably filled by illegal aliens. I wonder what’s causing such a surge in the demand for bartenders?

Maybe Hillz knows

Anyway, despite the schtrong jobs number, it wasn’t enough to keep up with the number of citizens who reached “adult” age last month, so we’re still in the hole. This is where the numbers get really tricky, so stay with me here: despite creating 204 thousand new jobs, we had 213 thousand new adults entering the workforce and 932 thousand(!) Americans “unexpectedly” leaving the labor force (no longer looking for work) last month; which means the overall number of Americans with a job fell by – 735 thousand!! Yikes! That brings the total number of Americans no longer “in the workforce” to 92 million!

The good news, of course, is that with nearly 92 million people officially “not looking for a job” our “official” unemployment rate remains firmly locked in Carter 1.0 territory at a very reasonable 7.3%. And think of all the increased economic activity those new 2-4-1 welfare benefits will generate!

Butt, 92 million, that’s nearly a third of us!!! How can we afford that? Just ask Nancy! No wonder Big Guy wants to raise taxes on everybody who has a non-welfare income “on the wealthiest Americans.” How else are we going to pay for all those Healthcare.gov subsidies we’ll be handing out to the millions of unemployed Americans?

And wait: more good news! The stock market is up 105 points! Butt since I’ve probably made your head spin with all these numbers, I’ll save the discussion on how our QE-Forever monetary policy has created spiraling inflation that more than offsets any increases in the stock market for a later date.

Instead of focusing on negatives, let’s move on to something positive: like Lady M’s improvement in selecting appropriate Veteran’s Day attire.

I realize I posted this yesterday in the comments, butt its not easy finding positive things to report on around here.

Note: 2013 over 2009 performance reflects a huge improvement butt past performance is no guarantee of future results

Also note that Lady M is wearing one of the coats from the military collection that I selected for her future Veterans Day appearances back in my 2010 Lady M’s Fall Fashion Notebook.

Big Guy has been a little more hesitant to embrace my recommended military uniform look; not because he doesn’t like it butt because it’s a little too, uh…shall we say, obvious?

How many former FOBs (Friends Of Barry) can you ID?

Linked By: Larwyn’s Linx on Doug Ross@Journal, and Clarice Feldman, and Abby L Call, Mireille Buser on facebook, and That old debbil on JustOneMinute, and BlogsLucianneLoves, and NOBO2012 on Free Republic, Thanks!

Cross-Posted on Patriot Action Network

Veteran’s Day: Remembering Why We Fight

Happy Veterans Day to one and all; and a special, humble, thanks to the over 23 million Americans who have served, and are now serving, in uniform to make the world safe for democracy. While the face of freedom’s enemy morphs over time, we must remain forever vigilant against its eternal malignancy. Lest we forget.

Auschwitz

I know this was posted by robert anthony in yesterday’s comments, butt since today is Veteran’s Day, it’s a good opportunity to repost Weasel Zippers Fun Fact of the Day, via an email from Bill in Kentucky to Bret Baier:

“Putting things in perspective: March 21st 2010 to October 1 2013 is 3 years, 6 months, 10 days.  December 7, 1941 to May 8, 1945 is 3 years, 5 months, 1 day.  What this means is that in the time we were attacked at Pearl Harbor to the day Germany surrendered is not enough time for this progressive federal government to build a working webpage.  Mobilization of millions, building tens of thousands of tanks,  planes, jeeps, subs, cruisers, destroyers, torpedoes, millions upon millions of guns, bombs, ammo, etc. Turning the tide in North Africa,  Invading Italy, D-Day,  Battle of the Bulge, Race to Berlin – all while we were also fighting the Japanese in the Pacific!!  And in that amount of time – this administration can’t build a working webpage.”

Also in less time than it took the Wizards of Smart to build a website, two titans of American industry - car builder William Knudson and shipbuilder Henry J. Kaiser - transformed America’s industrial strength in 1941 into the “Arsenal of Democracy” that propelled our Greatest Generation and our Allies to victory in WWII. (see Freedom’s Forge; it’s an amazing story)

When Detroit was great: Willow Run B-24 Bomber plant, home of Rosie the Riveter, during WWII. Now scheduled for demolition, like most of Detroit

Sometimes our Vets face mortal combat, (from the top: WWI, WWII, Korean War, Vietnam War, Gulf War 1, Iraq War, Afghanistan War)

  

 

 

And sometimes they just stand as centurions at the gate:

Until such time as the gates are taken down

Fall of the Berlin Wall

by wise men with a vision for the world much larger than themselves:

“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

Men more concerned with freedom than with their place in history:

Candidate Obama in Berlin, 2008: “I love you back, world!”

Because of such men, and because of the men and women they led, these remains of the  Berlin Wall are just artifacts today, reflecting in a pool somewhere outside Berlin.

 Saturday marked the 24th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

So Happy Veterans Day to everyone who is serving, has ever served, has a family member who served, or who just has heartfelt gratitude for all of our veterans who have helped preserve the last best hope of the world. And I’m not talking about the Won.

"You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children's children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done."

P.S. Upon finally reading Richard Fernandez’ excellent article, as recommended by Fausta yesterday, I strongly advise you to do so as well, if you haven’t. It is very apropos of which we speak today: The Three Deceits

AN UPDATE FROM CARLYLE FOR EVERYONE WHO HAS BEEN WORRIED AND WONDERING  HOW SHE’S DOING: She is currently in the hospital following surgery. She is quite weak, slowly mending, and promises to be back with a complete update when she is able. I’m certain she would greatly appreciate your prayers.

Linked By: Larwyn’s Linx on Doug Ross@Journal, and Janet Moorhead, Abby L Call on facebook, and BlogsLucianneLoves, and NOBO2012 on Free Republic, Thanks!

Cross-Posted on Patriot Action Network

Obamacare: “Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

 

George: he gave cynics a good name

Yes sir, here’s another one of Barry’s throw away lines that we HOPED would stay down that  old Obamacare memory hole:

“If you misrepresent what’s in this plan, we will call you out.” - Barack Obama, 2009

click to watch     

Ditto, this part of the same speech, where Big Guy looked Congress and the American people in the eye and dismissed these “bogus claims” about Obamacare as lies:

1. that there would be “death” panels: (there will be)
2. that Obamacare would cover illegal aliens: (mostly a lie; although it’s “complicated”) – note:  while the term “illegal aliens” has been banned at Berkeley, it’s still ok in those parts of the country where the First Amendment is recognized.
3. that Obamacare would not fund abortions (do you mean technically, or practically?)

So in case you were beginning to worry that Big Guy gets all of his information the same way you do, on television, here are several documented things that he knew before he ever even said it on TV.

So today I’m launching a new game show based on contradictory Democratic Talking Points: I’m calling it “Reconcile This!”

The object of the game is to find a fun way to explain away two seemingly mutually exclusive positions taken by the same side/person. The first person to do so on the Sunday Morning shows wins.

Here’s an example:

H/T Gateway Pundit - twice

So…here’s the dilemma: the fact that 10 million people will lose their healthcare coverage under Obamacare is something else Big Guy did NOT learn by watching the news. He knew about it when he was talking to Eric Cantor way back in 2010. And yet, he continued to make that promise right up till the moment that he “was burned by a website?”

How on earth do you “Reconcile This?”

For conundrums of this magnitude, we must return to the source document of the rabbit hole conspiracy: Chapter 5, Wool and Water, to be precise:

Alice laughed. "There's no use trying," she said: "one can't believe impossible things."

"I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day.’

Nothing is impossible, dude, if you dream big.

“Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

Sure you can keep your healthcare plan, now can I just eat my waffle?

Whoo-hoo! I win! Welcome aboard the Obamacare Rabbit Hole; we hope you enjoy your flight!

“ And after we put everyone into this healthcare hole, we’ll just shrink everything down so its one-size-fits-all.” “OK, boss”

 

The shop seemed to be full of all manner of curious things -- but the oddest part of it all was, that whenever she looked hard at any shelf, to make out exactly what it had on it, that particular shelf was always quite empty.

It’s like that with socialized medicine too

So remember, no matter what your government tells you, don’t take the brown acid!

If you do, you’re just going to end up with the blue pill instead.

Linked By: MadJack on iOwnTheWorld, and Abby L Call, Dennis Denton, Sandy Peterson, Clint Counts, Diane Marshack, David P Cummings on facebook, and BlogsLucianneLoves, and NOBO2012 on Free Republic, Thanks!

Cross-Posted on Patriot Action Network

Fairy Tales Can Come True, That’s the Bad News

Lady M beckoned and Hollywood’s heavy weights responded: they showed up at the White House yesterday for a workshop on how to get a job in the movies. Practical advice in the age of Obama.

Drama ensued.

'I don’t know about you guys, but I was listening backstage, and I just wanted to put my ball gown on and twirl and twirl.' – Michelle Obama

 

I think we could use a little travelling music about now: (Click button to play)

Young At Heart: Frank Sinatra

Fairy tales can come true, it can happen to you
If you're young at heart

For it's hard, you will find, to be narrow of mind
If you're young at heart

You can go to extremes with impossible schemes

You can laugh when your dreams fall apart at the seams

 

 

And life gets more exciting with each passing day
And love is either in your heart or on it's way

 

Don't you know that it's worth every treasure on earth
To be young at heart

 

 
For as rich as you are it's much better by far
To be young at heart

 

And if you should survive to 105
Look at all you'll derive out of being alive

 

 

Then here is the best part, you have a head start
If you are among the very young at heart

 

And if you should survive to 105
Look at all you'll derive out of being alive

 

Then here is the best part, you have a head start
If you are among the very young at heart

 

Twerking: only for the young, or young at heart.

 

You’re welcome. Now get out there and have a nice weekend.

H/T: Frank Sinatra - Young At Heart with Lyrics by Carolyn Leigh

Linked By: Larwyn’s Linx on Doug Ross@Journal, and Clarice Feldman, and Abby L Call, Donna Schandera Staas, Charlotte Crain, Candace Crider, Fred Hopkins on facebook, and BlogsLucianneLoves, and NOBO2012 on Free Republic, Thanks!

Cross-Posted on Patriot Action Network