I’m kinda of surprised it was finally admitted given the past few days of politicians and pundits claiming unemployment would not pass 10%. Unemployment rate jumps to 10.2 percent — DailyFinance

Anyone still trying to claim the recession is over really now needs to shut the hell up because they obviously don’t know what they’re talking about. Especially with the bogus (tax payer funded pseudo) growth of 3.5% of July-September and the more than $300,000/per job spent on “creating” temporary jobs from the disastrous stimulus bill.

Official results won’t be until Friday but here are some of the obvious and expected results.

In Phoenix, Sal DiCiccio won a runoff with Dana Kennedy for District 6 and Bill Gates won District 3 for City Council seats. Congratulations to both. Now help get our city’s budget under control.

Budget overrides passed in Mesa, Scottsdale Unified, and Paradise Valley school districts. Higley defeated their override.

Unfortunately for me Osborn overrides were approved, much to my disgust. At least Phoenix Union’s override was defeated. I wouldn’t mind so much if the schools were half decent and not so extremely hostile to the residents who don’t have children and businesses of the district. That and the kids seem to be dumber than stumps when you ask them a simple question.

The problem is we have so many ignorant people in the city that  are convinced throwing money on a failing system will some how fix it. It won’t. They’re going to continue to drive away tax paying property owners with the constant budget overrides. Get a budget and stay on that budget. Period. If you can’t afford it, then cut the useless programs that have the least benefit to the kids like bilingual education for K-6. How about larger class sizes until the tax base improves when the economy gets better. I was in large class sizes and went on to become an engineer so I don’t buy into the class size equate success crap being tossed around by lazy school officials.

Honestly, the system needs to change. It’s unsustainable and driving away businesses, jobs, and residents with each new increase or extension of taxes for which people see no gain. Perhaps a tuition system needs to be put into place or a pay-go plan that seem to be the love of so many politicians now. But perhaps most importantly we need administrators and teachers who will do their jobs and hold themselves, parents, and kids accountable for their failures. Get the basics fixed first for a solid educational foundation and everything else will naturally build upon that.

My thoughts go out to the people killed and  injured in today’s shooting at Ft. Hood.

I won’t speculate on the possible motives of the shooter, reportedly a U.S. Army Major. That will likely come out in the days to come. I’m just glad the shooter was stopped and another two suspects caught before even more people died or were injured than already occurred.

Fair warning that I’m pretty pissed at the garbage going on in our country and I make my displeasure pretty clear in this post.

Well as wel all know the Tuesday elections came and went. Not surprisingly the GOP ousted two Democrats, largely due to their corruption and/or inability to govern. The elimination of corrupt or ineffective officials I applaud. I’m also pleased to see the Conservative Party candidate lost in New York. The Conservative Party’s hardline agenda is not what this country needs and pushing further to the right will only guarantee their failure in the future, as was the case in NY when they effectively forced out a moderate.

But then you have clueless asshats in the GOP trying to say moderates are the problem, so obviously the Republican Party is on the continuing path to failure. Maybe if these idiots would adopt moderate views, the American people wouldn’t view the party in general with such contempt.

Steele to GOP-ers Who Support Health Care, Stimulus: ‘We’ll Come After You’ | TPM LiveWire

And it’s stupid statements like this that continue to destroy America. Morons like Steele, Palin, Pelosi, Reid and their ilk think they can take over their political parties and cram their views on the moderate public. They simply don’t friggin’ get it that Americans are tired of the crap both parties are slinging. Americans don’t want Christian right-wing nutbags forcing their religious social agenda on them anymore than they want the neo-socialist agenda of the looney leftwingers. They just don’t get that Americans are tired of being screwed over by corrupt government officials who don’t care one bit about this country beyond how they can dominate it and profit for themselves and their associates.

America is moderate whether the conservative or liberals like it or not. They better get used to that fact as it seems the American people have finally woken up and realized just how manipulative and corrupt our government has become. Will it amount to anything? I don’t know, but I do know people are pissed and spoiling for a fight against those who think they have the right to interfere with people’s lives, bailing out companies with the American people’s money, tax them without consultation, attack their constitutional rights, chase away jobs, refuse to enforce “inconvenient” laws like immigration, and trying to impose sweeping legislation that will cripple their ability to have a high standard of living and quality of life let alone pursue that quality.

Pelosi pushing for a vote on health care reform on Saturday. Fortunately whether it passes or not it’s likely to die on two separate fronts: the Senate and the State’s now starting to invoke nullification measures that should they pass guarantee the federal laws become useless paper tigers.

Not surprisingly Obama Announces Endorsements for Health Care Bill – The Caucus Blog – NYTimes.com. That was a given. But I bet his showing up had more to with propagandizing than anything else given the Health-care protest at Capitol draws thousands – washingtonpost.com. He’s so full of himself it’s pathetic. He sees someone dare express a differing opinion and he has to grandstand. Whiner. Go do something like make an actual decision on Afghanistan.

Provisions of the so called health care bill (H.R. 3692) that are unacceptable to me:

• Create a new government insurance plan. Government funded means government control. You don’t let the foc guard the henhouse or a bakrobber guard a bank, right?
• Create government funded coops. If the government insurance plan is so wonderful, why the need for coops? Obviously a scam to take over 1/6 the U.S. economy.
• Adult up to age 27 can stay on their parent plan. No, they’re adults. They need to act like it and take responsibility for themselves not burden their parents. This one smells like a pathetic ploy to buy off the youth vote. Th same youth who will ultimately be screwed over the most when they inherit a destroyed medical systems rife with greed, graft, corruption, and over billing in a decade or so on top of unbearable taxes from all the other tax and spend programs being pushed by Obama.
• Individuals required to obtain healthcare coverage or taxed 2.5% penalty tax. I’m not property so F-off. Should this legislation become law I will defy it just on that principle alone.
• Employers required to pay 72.5% of premium for individuals and 65% families. Why? This one stinks on several counts: screwing over families, screwing over businesses, setting the stage to allow companies to interfere in personal lives under the juxtaposition of lowering their health costs, and ultimately driving everyone into a government system as companies decide they can’t afford to pay anymore. I won’t even get into the loss in jobs that will likely occur. Especially given the payroll tax on those not providing insurance i smuch less than the cost of those who follow the requirements.
• Imposing punative taxes on the wealthy ($500,000+/yr individuals, $1 million+/yr on couples). You do something innovative and become successful the Obama government is going to punish you.
• Imposing 2.5% tax on medical devices. You know things like diagnostic equipment, surgical instruments, catheters, pacemakers, etc. Things that make it possible to get quality treatment. Things that make can make people productive citizens where otherwise they would not be. Basically punishing people because they get ill or injured while crippling the medical professionals capabilties to give quality care. Better start saving for your “medical vacation” if this passes, because you won’t be getting quality treatment in the United States afterwards. I hear Bangkok is good and affordable. Maybe Costa Rica too.
• Expand Medicaid coverage, which sounds good and normally I’d support. The problem is that Medicaid is already going bankrupt so adding more people will only hasten its demise further screwing over the American people, particularly the elderly.
• Reduce Medicare Advantage program. Another screwing over of the elderly who can afford better than simple Medicare.
• Allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices. With whom? Big Pharma had been essentially given monopoly over the U.S. by the Obama administration earlier this year with guarantees to stop foreign or generic drugs. Monopolies don’t negotiate. They’ll do just enough to buy off their pet legislators and try to dupe the American people with false advertising into thinking everything is fine. That or try to blame…wait for it…wait for it….you got it…the insurance industry.

I’m certain that lying, useless, waste of space Respresentative from AZ-4 will vote for it. And I hope he gets his ass handed to him in the 2010 elections for being such a sellout. If nothing else I’m certain this dumbass bill will guarantee Arizona’s nullification efforts will be successful and leave the Feds unable to do anything about it.

On the flip side the G.O.P.’s pathetic offering was only mildly more tolerable in that it doesn’t resort to ordering people that have to have insurance or be taxed in addition not taxing everything in existence. It’s problem was that would do practically nothing to get more people insured, wouldn’t stop denials, and would limit malpractice awards even when such awards and punitive damages are genuinely warranted. Basically they allow the status quo to continue. That is equally unacceptable as Pelosi and Obama’s extreme neo-socialist plans.

And in closing, if you believe that unemployment is only 9.9% as the Fed is likely to claim tomorrow, consider this: the Fed claims about 500,000 new unemployment claims a week. Those numbers don’t jive when you do the math. That’s not even going into the people currently unemployed or dropped off the roles, just new claims. That’s probably why the Legislature passed legislation Extending Jobless Benefits and Home Credits – NYTimes.com.

But let’s be even more honest here. The real unemployment rate which counts all unemployed not just those on the government roles at something like 17% per the Bureau of Labor statistics. You don’t see the MSM going on about that do you? You can even check it youself: Table A-12. Alternative measures of labor underutilization (Note that on several occasions the database came back with an error, fyi, supposedly to update the information. Maybe that 17% will change, but I’ll be highly suspicious if it does change drastically.)

Health Care Bill to Include Public Option, Reid Says

Sorry, I still opposed to it as it is presented right now with its oppressive government imposition of taxes, increased debt, lack of cost control methods, undermining medical device companies, labs, medical professionals and insurance companies, punishing citizens that are able to afford so called “Cadillac” plans, punishing retirees who supplement their insurance, and mandating what American citizens have to buy with their hard earned money in the first place. (What next, mandating Americans can only by American products when a certain industry is having low profits?) Of course, Congress exempts itself from all of the provisions of this proposed legislation which is another good reason to oppose it. I’m betting right now that there will be no health care “reform” passed this year simply on the grounds that what the government is trying to foist on the American people is any but reform and the American people know it.

Regardless, Reid and his ilk are just ensuring the Health Care Freedom of Choice Act proposal will pass in Arizona’s 2010 elections with its provisions like prohibiting fines or penalties against those purchasing health care directly and overruling anything that tries to prohibit private health insurance in the state.

Mesa aerospace institute ready for liftoff | Mesa Arizona News – Mesa News – Mesa AZ news | eastvalleytribune.com

I hope this is successful because Arizona is doomed to perpetual mediocrity so long as our state economy is focused on tourism and service industries with their inherent low wages for workers instead of being focused on science, technology, and manufacturing industry to create well paying jobs. This is perhaps a step in that direction.

U.S. decision can’t wait for Afghan legitimacy: Gates | Reuters

The overriding question is not, “how many troops you send, but do you have a credible Afghan partner,” Emanuel said, adding it was important the election outcome be seen as legitimate and credible.

An interesting comment that highlights Emanuel’s silly statist notion that the government are more important than the people. That and proving he’s an idiot for trying to blur the truth about Afghanistan: it’s a war against the Al-Qaeda and their allies, the Taliban. Besides I think there’s actual progress in Afghanistan since Karzai agreed to a new round of elections, something that would not have happened under Afghanistan’s many assorted dictators of the past generations.

House panel redraws credit agency bill | Politics | Reuters

Draft legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives to rein in credit rating agencies has been redrawn to drop a provision mandating across-the-board repeal of U.S. laws requiring the use of credit ratings.

Just more proof on the complete failure and corruption of our government. Why does the repealed language have to be reinstated into a bill after it was stripped out if there was not anything wrong with it in the first place? Just typical games and corruption. The whole credit ratings system has become one giant scam.

NATO a corpse, fumes former Canada military boss | International | Reuters

At least it’s still somewhat more relevant than say…the United Nations. Not that the General doesn’t have a point about NATO’s problematic members that want all the benefits but none of the responsibility nor the burden such responsibility entails.

Vatican welcomes Anglicans into Catholic church – CNN.com

Interesting though I can not help but wonder if Roman Catholics are going to start questioning why these new “converts” will be allowed to operate under a different set of rules for Anglican priests regarding marriage versus Roman Catholic priests. Seems odd, but the RCC will work it for themselves.

Iran threatens U.S. and Britain after Guard bombing | Reuters

The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards vowed on Monday to “retaliate” against the United States and Britain after accusing them and neighboring Pakistan of backing militants who blew up six Guards commanders.

Seems to shoe is now on the other foot, eh? Not that I support terrorism in any form. Just noting a islamic terrorist supporting regime complaining about muslim terrorism and the irony is claiming that non-muslims are responsible for the terrorist actions of other muslims. Got to love the mullahs twisted logic.

Karzai set to announce decision on Afghan run-off | Reuters

Hopefully Karzai will be smart and agree to a runoff. Though Obama’s an idiot to try and tie American security concerns (i.e. whether he sends more troops or not) based on another nation’s election. That’s obvious waffling and trying to put off a decision instead of being a decisive President .

Honduras de facto government scolds Zelaya, cools talks | International | Reuters

Why do I suspect the Honduran government is giving Zelaya the rope he needs to hang himself? Starting an insurrection would certainly do the trick.

U.S. eases stance on medical marijuana – washingtonpost.com

Strange as it may sounds to some I support the Obama administration’s decision to not prosecute medical marijuana use cases. But then those who known me know that I have always supported medical marijuana use so long as it wells regulated and monitored to prevent criminal activities.

The one aspect I don’t like in the whole thing is the refusal of the administration to enfiorce federal laws. But that’s been symptomatic for many administrations on other issues, like illegal immigration. I would rather the government enforce a law until it is changed than have laws become a matter or socio-political convenience only to be enforced on the whims of politicians.

The Arizona Medical Marijuana Policy Project appears on track to getting enough signatures to be put on the November 2010 ballot. It also seems to have a lot of public support so it could very well pass adding Arizona to the list of medical marijuana states.

Obviously I’m bored tonight. Not that I particularly care about the ongoing fued between some asshats in the White House (i.e. Emanuel, Axelrod, Dunn) and Fox News…

White House Advisers Say Fox News Is Not News

By the reasoning provided in the article MSNBC, CNN, nor any of the major networks can be called legitimate news networks either. Funny, I don’t hear any whining from the Hill about them. Americans cannot trust any major news network anymore. There is no journalistic integrity left on the major netowrks and certainly no independent thought. Just saying…

All that aside I’m of the opinion this little “war” is due to Fox News as I understand outing Van Jones as a lefty fringer (i.e. communist, 9-11 truther, et al.) and Van Jones’ comrades are hoping to gain a little revenge. Sadly, they blindly do not see how they hurt themselves.

CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time Blog Archive – Emanuel explains White House’s view of Fox News « – Blogs from CNN.com

Ehm, what reasonably intelligent person listens to Rahm Emanuel or David Axelrod let alone thinks the these two particular political thugs ever knows what they are talking about? Do these guys have nothing better to do except make the current administration look like a bunch of fools at best and thugs at worst?

Eh, I’m off to read something interesting.