Well, Some Folks Are Just Slow

Bit of a Retention Problem

Dismal Truth Behind Obama's Recovery Hype and Spin

In addition to the dreadful employment statistics to which a link is supplied in the August 22 Real Economic Snapshot, hereinbelow, the purported economic recovery is embittering even fully employed though nonetheless suffering Americans and their families.  The devastating facts are set forth in this report.

Comfortable With Protectors Like This ? ? ? ?

Anyone feeling warm and cozy about the protection we're getting from the Department of Homeland Security ("DHS") might want to take a look at how one DHS staff member spends his time when he's not on the job, as set forth in this report.

Real Economic Snapshot

America's economy, once the most robust in the world, is shrinking.  That's a fact but it is largely unrecognized because the reality is masked by inflationary data that are constantly jiggered.  See the cold hard truth here.

Also, the past week's unemployment numbers came out this morning and the number of jobless rose more than had been anticipated.  The number also is higher than last week's even after the prior week's number had to be adjusted upward from what had been reported previously.   

Are You Okay?

Just Checking To Be Sure

Whither the Withering Work Ethic?

Jurisprudence Can Be Fun

At its 1994 annual awards dinner of the American Association for Forensic Science (AAFS), its President, Dr. Don Harper Mills, amused his audience with the legal complications of a absurdly bizarre death. Here is the fictional story that since then has ben circulated as a factual Associated Press Report: 

On March 23, 1994, the medical examiner viewed the body of Ronald Opus, and concluded that he died from a shotgun wound to the head.

        

Mr. Opus had jumped from the top of a ten-story building intending to commit suicide.

He left a note to the effect indicating his despondency.

As he fell past the ninth floor, his life was interrupted by a shotgun blast passing through a window, which killed him instantly.

Neither the shooter nor the deceased was aware that a safety net had been installed just below the eighth floor level to protect some building workers and that Ronald Opus would not have been able to complete his suicide the way he had planned.  

The room on the ninth floor, where the shotgun blast had emanated from, was occupied by an elderly man and his wife. They were arguing vigorously and he was threatening her with a shotgun!

The man was so upset that when he pulled the trigger, he completely missed his wife, and the pellets went through the window, striking Mr. Opus.  When one intends to kill subject 'A' but kills subject 'B' in the attempt, one is guilty of the murder of subject 'B.'

When confronted with the murder charge, the old man and his wife were both adamant, and both said that they thought the shotgun was not loaded.

The old man said it was a long-standing habit to threaten his wife with the unloaded shotgun. He had no intention to murder her. 

            

Therefore the killing of Mr. Opus appeared to be an accident; that is, assuming the gun had been accidentally loaded.  

The continuing investigation turned up a witness who saw the old couple's son loading the shotgun about six weeks prior to the fatal accident.

It transpired that the old lady had cut off her son's financial support and the son, knowing the propensity of his father to use the shotgun threateningly, loaded the gun with the expectation that his father would shoot his mother.  

Since the loader of the gun was aware of this, he was guilty of the murder even though he didn't actually pull the trigger.

The case now becomes one of murder on the part of the son for the death of Ronald Opus.

Now comes the exquisite twist.

Further investigation revealed that the son was, in fact, Ronald Opus. He had become increasingly despondent over the failure of his attempt to engineer his mother's murder.

This led him to jump off the ten-story building on March 23rd, only to be killed by a shotgun blast passing through the ninth story window. The son, Ronald Opus, had actually murdered himself.

So the medical examiner closed the case as a suicide.  

New York Limerick

There once was a pervert named Weiner,

who had a perverted demeanor.

Forced from the Hill for acting like Bill,

now Congress is one weiner leaner. 

Stasi State Addendum

As has been pointed out by a reader objecting to the October 14 post on the subject, the Stasi State of America is not [yet] as oppressive as the East German original which is brilliantly depicted in the superb film, The Lives of Others, the viewing of which is recommended to one and all.

The East German regime had one Stasi agent for every 65 or so citizens. Furthermore, each agent was expected to, and did have anywhere from a half dozen to a dozen snitches helping him oversee the lives of their neighbors to enable the regime to quickly snuff out any sign of opposition.

The response to this objection is that the U.S. Stasi State, notably, still is a work in progress, one that is under continuing development.  Furthermore, the East German’s lacked both the modern technology and the multiple agencies – NSA, IRS, CIA, Secret Service (ironically the SS), FBI, EPA, TSA, HHS, etc. – that the U.S. can and does unleash in coordinated and disabling attacks against those threatening political opposition to the ruling regime.

Meanwhile, the powers that be in the U.S. have been ludicrously inconsistent in their defense of the NSA surveillance programs.

Their defense began with the mantra that the programs were key in preventing numerous terrorist attacks.  But that defense quickly  crumbled once they were called upon to provide specifics and/or asked where all the thwarted  terrorists were or when and where they had been brought to trial.  Furthermore, neither Fort Hood’s murderous “workplace violence” major nor the Boston Marathon bombers were thwarted even though they had long engaged in electronic communications with know radical Islamist leaders in the Middle East and numerous other advance warnings and warning signs about them.

Then, the mantra was that the NSA tracked only the existence, duration, and destinations of Americans’ electronic communications but not the content of those communications.  For that we have the assurances of those involved in the program, which is noteworthy for being headed by an official who lied about its existence when testifying to congress.  So, ignore that every fish rots from the head and trust the perjurer and his underlings.

Next, we were treated to the President assuring us that our privacy was safe because surveillance programs were overseen by the judicial branch through a star chamber ersatz body that is called a court and the legislative branch through responsible congressional oversight committees. Oops, two more embarrassing pratfalls.

 Members of the congressional oversight committee promptly came forward to say that numerous obstacles blocked their ability to effectively oversee the NSA’s surveillance program, according to this report. 

A few days later, as reported here, the chief judge of the star chamber faux  court that purportedly provides judicial oversight issued a similar statement, pointing out his body’s lack of ability to meet its  supposed responsibilities.

Finally, we have our golden-throated orator-in-chief coming out to claim that the privacy of Americans is being protected, preserved, and protected by his administration and its intelligence apparatus while the NSA, at almost the same time ,was issuing this report on thousands of instances annually in which privacy of Americans had been infringed.  Most of those infringements, according to the perjurer-led agency’s internally generated report, were inadvertent and accidental.  Furthermore, it was claimed that the infringing agency’s investigation of itself was leading to the establishment of safeguards against further infringements going forward. 

It all sounds like and is reminiscent of what the pikers in the Nixon administration referred to as a modified limited hangout.

Thanks to Uncle Snowden Obama Now Wants Debate on Government Surveillance

More on Special Rules for Our Oh So Special People

If a regular citizen makes $100,000 a year working for a private company and loses his insurance because of ObamaCare, he must pay out of his pocket for the insurance he will be forced to purchase from the exchanges.

However, if you are a sainted congressional staffer earning $100,000 a year and enter the exchanges, guess who picks up the tab for your new insurance plan? That's right, your employer, the federal government, the lowly taxpayer.

In other words, under ObamaCare, the only people forced into the exchanges whose insurance will still be paid for by their employer will be members of Congress and their staff.

. . . On Exempting Congress from ObamaCare

By Charles Hurt in The Washington Times