What’s ironic about the Catholic outrage is not that they don’t agree with Sebelius on this issue but, the lack of consistency on the part of the Catholic Church when it comes to government involvement and dictation of our lives.

A little over two years ago, in the heat of the Obamacare battle, Catholic Bishops wrote letters supporting Obamacare. While they seemed to like the idea of forcing everyone onto a government mandated healthcare system, they somehow held out hope that they would escape requirements that they found objectionable.

the Church had a similar conundrum when Illinois decided to remove its support unless it agreed to allow homosexual couples to adopt via its programs. They were happy as the the government supported their efforts. However, when the government decided that it’s social agenda didn’t align with that of the Catholic Church, well, things became difficult.

The Catholic Church has been in support of social change via taxation for the past several years. In 2009, as cap and trade legislation was being debated, US Catholic Bishops came out in support of the Waxmen/Markey bill which was one of the core bills for implementing cap and trade in the U.S.

More recently, President Obama has been calling for increasing taxes on the rich. Not coincidentally, progressive Catholics have fallen in line claiming that tax increases were required so that “fairness” and support for needed social programs could continue.

The Catholic Church’s recurring embrace of big government programs while expecting them to respect the teachings of the church is something akin to the Church being subject to Stockholm syndrome. Worse, it takes only a grade school education to understand the risks in putting your life in the risk of the hands of one who would rather see you done in.

The story of the frog and the crocodile is taught as a lesson against succumbing to the creep of temptation. The Catholic Church teaches a lot about the perils of temptation. I wonder if they ever see the institution of the Church succumbing to it?

I had resisted the conservative push to mark the 1,000+ days since the Senate last passed a budget, mostly because the budget they passed on April 29, 2009 was for FY2010, which ended on September 30, 2010, and they weren’t legally required to pass any succeeding budget until April 15, 2010. However, The Only Member of Congress That Matters, Sen. Dingy Harry Reid (Dingy-Nevada), just uttered that the Senate will not take up a FY2013 budget either. From The Hill:

Senate Democratic leaders said they don’t expect a fiscal 2013 budget to reach the floor this year because spending levels were set last summer under the debt-ceiling agreement.

“We do not need to bring a budget to the floor this year — it’s done, we don’t need to do it,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters on Friday, echoing previous statements from his office.

I could have swore I predicted when the debt deal was passed last year, this would happen. Thanks to The Dingy One and his sidekick Charles “Don’t call me Chuck” Schumer (Dunce-New York), that prediction came true:

Reid and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) argued that the debt-limit agreement in August directs spending for the next year and that Senate Appropriations Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) has already asked the heads of the subcommittees to write their appropriations bills for fiscal 2013.

Let’s do some math:

• The next Congress will be seated on (or about) January 3, 2013. Even if the Senate passes a budget that day, it will be 1,345 days after they passed the prior budget, and 994 days after they were required to pass the FY2011 budget on April 15, 2010.
• Unless said budget covers the remainder of FY2013, the Senate will have gone 1,096 days between the expiration of the last passed budget (for FY2010) and the start of the next adopted budget (for FY2014).

By the way, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the federal debt will have increased by $3,252,000,000,000 in the three full fiscal years Congress has operated without a budget. It took over 200 years to reach the first $3,252,000,000,000.

On a seasonal basis, the 141,637,000 employed is lower than it was in February 2009, and indeed the last time prior to that point it was that low was May 2005. On the other side of the equation, the 12,758,000 officially unemployed (i.e., they didn’t have a job and looked for one in the 4 weeks prior to the mid-January survey) is higher than any point prior to February 2009. Worse, the 6,319,000 who want a job but were not counted as “unemployed” because they had not looked for work in the previous 4 weeks was higher than any point between May 1994 (the fifth month this stat was recorded) and December 2010, and over 1 million higher than any time between one month prior to Bill Clinton’s re-election (October 1996) and Barack Obama’s election in November 2008. Zero Hedge noticed a record 1.2 million departing the labor force on a seasonal basis (or if you prefer unseasoned numbers, Ed Morrissey noted it as nearly 1.6 million on an unadjusted basis).

Others have used different modifiers. ShadowStats uses a proprietary method to add in what it sees as “long-term discouraged workers” to the U-6 rate, while AEI’s James Pethokoukis uses the labor-participation rate as it was in prior years.

The absolute simplest definition of the unemployment rate is to divide the number of people who want a job but don’t have one by the sum of that number and the number of people who have a job. Unfortunately, since that number is often embarrassing to those in public office, it is never publicized, and indeed, has only been able to be accurately calculated since 1994. Think of the chart below as “U-5Plus”, as it takes everybody who is unemployed and wants a job and divides it by that number plus those who want a job.

Click for the full-size image.

The 11.9% of the potential labor force who want a job but do not have one is higher than any month prior to March 2009. Worse, the Congressional Budget Office doesn’t see the future as too bright. They don’t see the number of employed returning to the first-quarter 2008 high of 146 million until the first quarter of 2015.

Campaign Carl Cameron is reporting the Newt Gingrich campaign is planning on challenging Florida’s winner-take-all primary scheme because it held said WTA primary prior to April 1. Florida actually violated two provisions of RNC Rule 15(b), which governs the timing of primaries, caucuses and conventions:

RULE NO. 15
Election, Selection, Allocation, or Binding of Delegates and Alternate Delegates

(b) Timing.* (Revised language was adopted by the Republican National Committee on August 6, 2010)

(1) No primary, caucus, or convention to elect, select, allocate, or bind delegates to the national convention shall occur prior to the first Tuesday in March in the year in which a national convention is held. Except Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada may begin their processes at any time on or after February 1 in the year in which a national convention is held and shall not be subject to the provisions of paragraph (b)(2) of this rule.

(2) Any presidential primary, caucus, convention, or other meeting held for the purpose of selecting delegates to the national convention which occurs prior to the first day of April in the year in which the national convention is held, shall provide for the allocation of delegates on a proportional basis.

So, what are the penalties? Rule 16 specifies them:

RULE NO. 16
Enforcement of Rules

(a) If any state or state Republican Party violates The Rules of the Republican Party relating to the timing of the election or selection process with the result that any delegate from that state to the national convention is bound by statute or rule to vote for a presidential nominee selected or determined before the first day of the month in which that state is authorized by Rule No. 15(b) to vote for a presidential candidate and/or elect, select, allocate, or bind delegates or alternate delegates to the national convention, the number of delegates to the national convention from that state shall be reduced by fifty percent (50%), and the corresponding alternate delegates also shall be reduced by the same percentage. Any sum presenting a fraction shall be increased to the next whole number. No delegation shall be reduced to less than two (2) delegates and a corresponding number of alternates.

(Sections b-d, which deal with the timing of the notification of the penalty and the procedures to follow if the chair does not enforce the rule, omitted for space)

(e) If a state or state Republican Party isdetermined to be in violation:

(1) No member of the Republican National Committee from the offending state shall be permitted to serve as a delegate or alternate delegate to the national convention.

(2) After the Republican National Committee members are excluded from being part of the offending state’s delegation to the national convention, the state Republican Party shall determine which of the state’s remaining delegates (and corresponding alternate delegates) are entitled to serve as part of the state’s reduced delegation to the national convention.

(3) In addition to the penalties provided for in paragraphs (e)(1) and (2) of this rule, the Standing Committee on Rules may impose additional sanctions relating to the offending state’s hotel location at the national convention, guest privileges and VIP passes at the national convention, and seating location in the national convention hall.

(f) A state or state Republican Party shall have no appeal from either a finding of a violation against it or a penalty imposed upon it under this rule.

Because the RNC halved the Florida delegation because they jumped the first Tuesday in March (3/6) date, the Republican Party of Florida changed their allocation from a total of 54 delegates (2 per district) awarded to the winner of each Congressional District and the other 45 (42 “at-large” and the 3 RNC members) awarded to the statewide winner to all 50 of the remaining delegates being termed “at-large” and awarded to the statewide winner. The RNC also reportedly applied the other sanctions.

The RNC does contemplate a contest of “at-large” delegates (see Rules 22 and 23). However, as long as the Committee on Contests feels bound to the RNC rules, this situation cannot end well for Gingrich. It is unlikely that the sole available penalty under RNC rules, a second halving, will be applied. The convention is in Florida, after all, and Florida is a key state for the GOP’s chances of winning the White House. Even if it were applied, the reduction of Mitt Romney’s delegates from the 50 he claimed as the statewide winner to 25 would almost certainly not affect his chances of getting the nomination (he would have to finish with more than 1,144 but less than 1,156 before a second FL chop to affect that).

Worse, it would open the door for somebody to contest South Carolina’s winner-take-all scheme on the basis of it taking place prior to the “protection” of the February 1 date South Carolina, Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada enjoy (with all but Nevada and Iowa leaving said protection). As Gingrich claimed 23 of the once-halved 25 delegates, a second halving would take away 11. That, in a tight race for Next-In-Line™ status and thus, should Romney lose in November, the 2016 nomination, could cost Gingrich.

There is no basis for the “proportionality” “solution” allegedly being sought by Gingrich, and if my eyes weren’t deceiving me, Rick Santorum. While it would likely give Gingrich 16 delegates in Florida, if the “floor” to receive any delegates were set at 10%, it would also give Rick Santorum, Gingrich’s main competition for Next-In-Line™, 6 delegates. If the same “proportionality” rules were applied to South Carolina, Gingrich would lose 5 of his 11 “at-large” delegates with Santorum picking up 1, Romney picking up 3, and Ron Paul picking up 1.

Similarly, there is no basis to force Florida to modify their original WTA-by-district-and-statewide plan to fit 50 delegates (no, it wouldn’t work if a second halving took place because there would be fewer delegates than Congressional districts, much less leaving enough delegates to allow at least 1/3rd to be “at-large”). While it would have the benefit (at least for Gingrich) of not opening the door to either making South Carolina delegate allocation proportional or further reduce South Carolina’s delegation (due to the inability to further reduce Florida’s delegation), it would only likely net Gingrich, depending on the Congressional breaks, 10-15 delegates.

That minor gain by the Gingrich campaign would likely be wiped out by the ill effects in the 46 45 (oops, Gingrich isn’t on his home state’s ballot) states plus various territories left on the schedule caused by taking the strategy the Gore/Lieberman team took in Florida in 2000. It would serve the Gingrich and Santorum campaigns better to pick up the pieces, learn from what went wrong in Florida, and work in the remaining states on their schedules instead of using lawyers to chase after less than a dozen delegates.

Since the last debate there has been media wrestling by the candidates or their spokespeople over who the real Reagan protege is. Is it:

Newt – “I taught Reagan about Reganomics”
or
Mitt – “I didn’t like anything about Reagan when he was President but he’s dead now.”
or
Paul – “Reagan should have left the Soviet Union alone. They never did anything to us!”
Or
Santorum – “Reagan? Yeah, I think I’ve heard of him.”

Once again, join Steve and me as we make fun out of these four candidates and the people who pose as intelligent enough to ask inane questions.

• $1,680,817,192,540.69 - The average 52-week debt increase between 1/19/2010 (actually extending back to 1/20/2009 and Obama’s inauguration) and 3/4/2011 (the first CR from the current Congress).
• $1,293,934,755,020.23 - The average 52-week debt increase between 3/7/2011 (actually extending back to 3/8/2010 because it hasn’t been 12 months) and yesterday.
• $1,045,531,781,579.60 - The lowest 52-week debt increase of the Obama administration, between 8/2/2010 and 8/1/2011. Not coincidentally, 8/1/2011 was the last full day of the several-month-long debt-ceiling fight, during which the federal government was pretty much unable to borrow additional money for several months.
• $1,216,937,631,311.90 - The latest 52-week debt increase, between 1/11/2011 and 1/10/2012 (the last date debt data was availalbe).
• $769,700,000,000.00 - The record yearly increase in nominal (current-dollar) gross domestic product, in 2005.
• $830,400,000,000.00 - The record seasonally-adusted-and-annualized increase in quarterly-reported GDP, between the second quarter of 2005 and the second quater of 2006.
• $570,000,000,000.00-$600,000,000,000.00 - The expected increase in nominal GDP for 2011.

Why, it’s “wonderful” news that, instead of increasing debt at nearly 2 3/4 times the growth of GDP, we’re “only” increasing it at just over twice the growth of GDP. As Monty over on the daily DOOM threads over at Ace of Spades HQ would say, “Welcome the newest senior member of the Loyal Order of the Terminally Boned.”

Since last we gathered….Michelle, I’m a tax attorney and, and GARDISIL!, Bachmann has dropped out.

That leaves the following line up for a debate that may not be quite Thunderdome, but will likely have just as many bloody noses.

Mitt, How’s my air? Does my hair look ok?, Romney continues to lead by default.

Ron, Just because lots of whackos follow me doesn’t mean I’m a whacko, Paul moved into the top tier of candidates with an Iowa third place finish.

Rick, Pork, it’s not just the other white meat, Santorum

No more Mr. Nice guy Newt Gingrich, Rick, why can’t the whole country be like Texas, Perry and Jon, I supported Obama until I wanted to run for President, Huntsman will also be on board for tonight’s festivities.

Join Steve and me…sober or otherwise, for fun. One of us should get here by about 7:45 Central or so.

And, as an added bonus, Steve has committed to cover the Hair of the Dog debate tomorrow morning while I travel with the Things to another wrestling match.

- Jackass of the Year, 1/3
- Thank You for Existing, 1/4
- Dumbest Thing Said, 1/5
- News Story of the Year, yesterday

For historical sake, here’s the 2009 and 2010 nominees for Person of the Year. Now, on with this past year’s nominees:

Paul Ryan (from realdebate) – While Washington D.C. regulars offer band-aids and kick the can down the road one man offers actual solutions instead of rhetoric. Time after time that man is Paul Ryan. The left hates him and his own party doesn’t understand him but Paul Ryan continues to articulate the issues in a clear, concise fashion. Why is this the exception instead of the norm?

Scott Walker (from BadgerBlogger) – Governor Walker’s steadfast support of common sense changes that were needed to save Wisconsin from its self, even in the face of the vitriol heaped upon him by teachers and other public employees and their unions, makes him, my Person of the Year. Honorable mention goes to the Republican legislators that have had the courage to follow our Governor.

Steve Jobs (from Shoebox) – I think one could argue that not since Thomas Edison has a single individual had a greater influence on how we work and play over the past 30 years. Computers, software, movies, music, communications are amongst the industries where Jobs had significant influence and caused or led major change. Some might argue that Jobs himself wasn’t the creative spark like Edison but rather a catalyst that unleashed creative talent in others. Either way, Jobs was transformative and should have been Time’s person of the year as well.

Jenni Lake (from Kevin Fischer) – She stopped her cancer treatments o avoid aborting her pregnancy. She died 12 days after she gave birth to her son. Selflessly, courageously, she chose her baby’s life over her own. Jenni Lake was 17.

Dan Kapanke (from steveegg) – As Patrick pointed out, Scott Walker couldn’t change the dynamic of the taxpayer-to-public-employee relationship, or fix the damage done to the state finances, without the Republican legislature. Kapanke was from the most-liberal of the seats held by Republicans to start the year – indeed, his home was targeted for vandalism when Assembly Bill 11, what was ultimately to become Act 10, was introduced. He had to know that it was quite possible that, once the talk of recalling state Senators began, that he would lose his seat. He went forward anyway, not backing away from his votes in the recall election that ultimately cost him his Senate seat.

- Jackass of the Year, 1/3
- Thank You for Existing, 1/4
- Dumbest Thing Said, yesterday
- Person of the Year, tomorrow

For historical sake, here’s the 2009 and 2010 nominees for News Story of the Year. Now, on with this past year’s nominees:

The killing of Osama Bin Laden (from realdebate) – Obama got one thing right, he gave the right order.

“The Empire Strikes Back”, or “Unionistas, Occupiers, Democrats Unite, Create Chaos” (from steveegg) – It all started when Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R) first lived up to his campaign promise to balance the budget not on the backs of the taxpayers. The unionistas, who had grown fat and powerful over the last couple of decades, screamed bloody murder and unleashed the template for the wider Occupy movement.

Meanwhile, the pitched fit the Senate Democrats threw by fleeing for 6 weeks in, ultimately, a failed attempt to protect the golden pigs was, sadly, rewarded with two of the three pickups they needed to wrest control of the Senate from the duly-elected Republicans, and they’re back for another bite of overturning the watershed 2010 election. In other states, such as Ohio, they were more successful.

Operation Fast and Furious (from Phineas) – This wasn’t one story, but a series of revelations over the course of 2011 about a monumentally stupid law-enforcement operation that supplied thousands of guns to Mexican drug cartels (by coercing legitimate US gun dealers into breaking the law), with no capability of or recovering them until they were found at crime scenes. As a result, over 200 Mexican soldiers, civilians, and federal agents are dead, as is US Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, killed by cartel gunmen in Arizona with an OF&F firearm. It has exposed incompetent and probably criminal behavior at the DoJ and its agencies, and has the potential to be the biggest story of 2012, too.

The dysfunctional GOP Presidential field (from Shoebox) – After Barack Obama has done nearly everything he could, short of putting the Whitehouse keys under the front mat, to cause his eviction from the Whitehouse, the GOP fields what is arguably the most dysfunctional group of candidates ever seen.

In a year where GOP voters are looking for some level of, let’s call it “purity” on issues related to spending, government size/influence on our lives or social issues, we get a rag tag bunch, of which none of the leaders can put the whole package together. To make matters worse, the folks who may have some ability in the purity category, have shown themselves to be either stark raving mad or having the presentation skills of a third grader.

Following the 2010 elections, most conservatives entered 2011 enthusiastic and optimistic about the 2012 Presidential elections. As we leave 2011, I dare say most conservatives are at best concerned and at worst, pessimistic about the chances of sending Obama back to Chicago in 2013.

Scott Walker and legislative Republicans produce a balanced budget that erases a $3.6 billion deficit without raising taxes. (from Kevin Fischer) – The budget also provides much-needed property tax relief in Tax Hell, USA.

The Green Bay Packers win the Super Bowl! (from BadgerBlogger) I fully expect to repost this next year too.

- Jackass of the Year, 1/3
- Thank You for Existing, yesterday
- News Story of the Year, tomorrow
- Person of the Year, 1/7

For historical sake, here’s the 2009 and 2010 nominees for Dumbest Thing Said. Now, on with this past year’s nominees:

“We know our decision to split our services has upset many of our subscribers which we don’t take lightly, but we believe this split will help us make our services better for subscribers and shareholders for years to come,” Netflix letter to shareholders on 9/15/11 (from Shoebox) – Netflix thought that by sheer force of its brand it could pass through a 60% price increase, make its product more difficult to use for its subscribers and experience only minimal blow back from its customer base. In the same letter noted above, Netflix thought that the result of their actions would cost them approximately 1 million of its 25 million customers. A loss of 4% of its customers but a price increase of up to 60% on the 96% remaining sure sounded like a financial home run. The problem is, that’s not how it worked. The blowback was so severe from the implementation of the change that Netflix not only back tracked on the product split, it also back tracked on the price increase. The net result is no new revenue for Netflix and as of early December, already 800K fewer customers.

Yes, I know this isn’t a political quote however it exemplifies a problem that not only Netflix has/had but that we see throughout politics. Just look at one example such as Obamacare and see how Big Government behaves just like Big Netflix i.e. jamming things down our throats. The only difference is that in the case of Netflix, consumers have the option to tell Netflix to “pound sand” and Netflix has the option to respond…oops, mea culpa. When was the last time you remember Big Government saying “oops, we screwed up and we’ll change it back?”

“Here is your pink slip!”, Miles Kristan throwing a pink slip at Robin Vos at the Racine County Lincoln Day Dinner (from realdebate) – Vos auctioned the garment off at my suggestion to raise money for the party. That same pink slip was later sold on E-Bay to raise money for Scott Walker & Robin Vos.

“No one is scrutinizing Hu Jintao’s words in Tahrir Square,” unnamed Obama administration official quoted by the New York Times (from steveegg) – This perfectly illustrates the fecklessness of the Obama administration. This was offered up by an official trying to defend Barack Obama’s desire to be the leader of a Communist country in the middle of the Egypt portion of Arab Spring. No explanation is required, or possible.

“That is not true,” said by DNC Chair and Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz went told that unemployment had gone up sharply under President Obama. (from Phineas) – Oh, really?

“I look forward to bringing new blood to the Supreme Court and focusing my energy on the important work Wisconsin residents elect Supreme Court justices to do.”
–JoAnne Kloppenburg, from her “victory” speech… Before she lost.
(From BadgerBlogger)

(From Kevin Fischer) There were so many, but I managed to narrow the field down to three:

1) “What kind of person celebrates death? It’s amazing how people can HATE a man they have never even heard speak. We’ve only heard one side…” Rashard Mendenhall of the Pittsburgh Steelers on the night Osama bin Laden was killed

2) “Do you think this Constitution-loving is getting out of hand?” Joy Behar

3) “I just want to tell you a little bit about what it’s like to not have Planned Parenthood. You have to add water to the formula to make it stretch. You have to give your kids Ramen noodles at the end of the month to fill up their little bellies so they won’t cry.” Gwen Moore

- Jackass of the Year, yesterday
- Dumbest Thing Said, tomorrow
- News Story of the Year, 1/6
- Person of the Year, 1/7

For historical sake, here’s the 2009 and 2010 nominees for Thank You for Existing. Now, on with this past year’s nominees:

The Occupiers (from realdebate) – Never have so many whined so loudly about something so undefined. Anarchy fails again. Special kudos to the left wing media that ignored the abhorrent behavior of this human refuse while at the same time denigrating the TEA party.

Marco Rubio (from Phineas) – One of the few politicians to truly understand America and her potential. His speeches, values, and life story are inspiring, and he reminds us of the best of our immigrant tradition. I think there’s little doubt that he will be president, one day.

The SEALs who killed Osama bin Laden (from steveegg) – I still remember September 11, 2001 like it was yesterday. The SEALs who went after and ultimately killed the man responsible for ordering the attacks on that day shouldn’t have to pay for drinks the rest of their lives. They undertook a very difficult (for diplomatic reasons) mission, adapted when one of the helicopters failed, and achieved their objective with extreme prejudice.

Our brave, courageous military (from Kevin Fischer) – From the mouthes of babes, or in this case, 8-year-old Cody Jackson, comes wisdom and patriotism beyond his years.

Our men and women in uniform (from Shoebox) – From members of Seal Team 6 to the most recently enlisted individual, our country would not have the freedom it does without the sacrifices of these individuals and their families. The sad part is that after the sacrifice of nearly 4,500 US lives and countless more injuries, President Obama dishonored that sacrifice by allowing his own arrogance to give Iraq to Iran.

#Occupy (from Aaron) – The cluelessness of the left was exposed by #occupy. None of them knew what they were protesting. The just wanted to complain that their own lives suck because everyone else is rich.

Scott Walker (from BadgerBlogger) – Wisconsin should thank their lucky stars that a man of such uncommon common sense has taken the reigns of Wisconsin and brought fiscal sanity back to the Badger State. We were headed, full speed into the financial abyss that other states, like California and Illinois find themselves in, and Scott Walker has reversed direction, and I believe he will be a great governor for many years to come. Recall, indeed…

The rest of the NRE Awards schedule is:

• Thank You for Existing, which will be announced on 1/4.
• Dumbest Thing Said, which will be announced on 1/5.
• News Story of the Year, which will be announced on 1/6.
• Person of the Year, which will be announced on 1/7.

And the nominees are…

Miles Kristan (from steveegg) – If there’s a face for the Occupier/Unionista/Democrat Axis, Miles is it. He started off the year throwing a pink slip at Rep. Robin Vos, and his obsession with both female clothing and Vos only worsened from there. While he was wearing a pink dress, he harassed a MacIver News Service intern trying to film a protest he was a part of. A few months later, he proved he is a subject of the Kingdom of Dane rather than a resident of Wisconsin by pouring a beer on Vos’s head in a Madison bar.

Former Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-NY) (from Kevin Fischer) – To not select former NY Congressman Anthony Weiner would be hard, pun intended. The cocky, married Democrat engaged in several inappropriate relationships with six different women over three years, providing fodder for bloggers and comedians to this day and beyond.

His illicit behavior involved a pattern of sending inappropriate and at times explicit photos and messages to women he met over the Internet. He lied about it, then fessed up (“I take full responsibility for my action. The picture was of me, and I sent it”), but refused to exhibit the decency of resigning immediately. His lame defense was that he broke no laws.

Meagan Broussard, a 26-year-old single mother from Texas who provided dozens of photos, emails, Facebook messages and cell phone call logs that she claimed demonstrated an extremely sexually-charged relationship with Weiner said, “I thought for sure, ‘why would someone in that position be doing this?’”

No kidding. What a jackass.

The Obamas (from Shoebox) – Oh, I’m sure I could have thought about this more and come up with something more creative but why? It seems impossible that Barack Obama has not been purposely running for this award throughout the year. Let’s see….Lecturing the GOP on demagoguing, immediately followed by accusing them of scaring seniors regarding social security or, claiming that his administration, when it came to foreign policy and legislative accomplishments, his administration was probably 4th best of all time…even as he cedes Iraq and every other Middle Eastern country to the Mullahs in Iran.

Finally, it’s not only Barack; this is the first time this prize should go to a jackass duo. Michelle is equally a jackass. Note only Michelle’s African safari that cost over $400k and which she listed her daughters as “Senior Staff” to avoid having to pay for any part of the trip personally!

Now that I think about it, call the Obama’s jackasses give jackasses a bad name. When it comes down to it, this pair is clearly amongst the most self-entitled, out of touch persons ever to live in the Whitehouse. On that account, I would definitely put the Obamas in the top four administrations!

Madison Justice (from realdebate) – From Judge Sumi ignoring obvious conflicts of interest to old left-wing Shirley leaking a false story about Justice Prosser, the most biased D.A. in the state ignoring charges against left-wing nuts to the Capital Police Chief that ignored horrid behavior on his watch, the entire Dane County Judiciary has shown themselves to be leaning heavily on the left side of the scales of Lady Justice. If you are a liberal in Dane County you can get away with just about anything. (Can you give a parking ticket to a Segway?)

President Barack Obama (from Phineas) -  Prior to our military intervention in Libya, the president authorized the evacuation the evacuation of American citizens and their dependents from the war-torn country. There were three hitches, though. First, his administration rented a civilian ferry instead of sending the US Navy. (The British sent in the SAS to rescue their people.) Then, when people got to the designated evacuation point, they had to have been thrilled to discover it was an open pier, water on three sides, and no one there to protect them should any rebel or loyalist goon squads show up. Finally, they were expected to reimburse the United States for their evacuation. Yep, you want to get out of a war zone, cough up the dough. The protection of US citizens and their dependents overseas is one of the president’s jobs; indeed Jefferson went to war against the Tripolitanian (Libyan) pirates to protect American lives and property. For the way he handled his duties, I think Barack Obama richly deserves “Jackass of the Year.”

- Jackass of the Year
- Thank You for Existing
- Dumbest Thing Said
- News Story of the Year
- Person of the Year

We’ll start out tomorrow with Jackass of the Year. Looking over what the rest of the gang sent in, there might be a surprise or two.

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem, the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Have a blessed Christmas.

That reminds me of Rep. John Nygren’s (R-Marinette) epic failure to get onto the recall ballot for the right to face Sen. Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay). He turned in over 440 signatures, saw that number reduced to 424 on the Government Accountability Board’s initial review, and saw the GAB, at the urging of the Democrat Party of Wisconsin, strike another 26 to leave him 2 short.

For those of you wondering whether the 10,000 threshhold is so strenuous, nobody but the best-funded candidates can make the grade, do note tha the candidates could start collecting signatures back on July 1, and thus had over 5 1/2 months to get to 10,000. Further, there were 6 candidates on the 2008 Republican and 6 candidates on the 2008 Democrat Virginia primary ballots, including Dennis Kucinich on the Democrat side.

The kicker is there is no such thing as a write-in candidate in a Virginia primary, which makes the Gingrich campaign’s call for a write-in campaign moot. That is different than Wisconsin, where a write-in candidate can get a spot on the general ballot in a recognized party’s spot (Republican, Democrat and Constituion Parties) if he or she gets 5% of the number that voted in the most-recent gubernatorial election and almost immediately after the primary complies with registration requirements.

The next bits of actual news (barring somebody shoving his or her foot in the mouth, or a successful court challenge from the Perry or Gingrich campaigns) in the Presidential campaign will be on January 3, and there is a Wisconsin component. Not only is that the day of the Iowa caucus, but it is the day the Wisconsin Presidential Preference Selection Committee meets. This group, consisting of the Republican and Democrat party chairs, a national committeeman and national committeewoman from the two parties, the Assembly speaker and minority leader, the Senate president and minority leader, and a chair selected by the 10 aforementioned, will choose who they believe should be on Wisconsin’s primary ballot on April 1.

There is a way for those not chosen by the party bosses to get on the ballot – collect 1,000 nomination signatures from each of the 8 Congressional districts between 1/3 and 1/31.

The first visit, as told by Luke, was to the father of John the Baptist, Zechariah. The angel came to tell Zechariah that his wife Elizabeth, would bear a son. Zechariah and Elizabeth were both advanced in years so it was hard for Zechariah to believe that his wife and he would become parents. Zechariah was so incredulous at the thought of becoming a father that he actually argued with the angel:

Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.” Luke 1:18

The third appearance is on the night of Jesus birth. This appearance occurred to shepherds who were working outside of Bethlehem:

8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Luke 2:8-12

This angelic interaction was characterized by Luke as “terrifying.” If we think about it, it’s not hard to understand why the shepherds may have felt “terror.” Imagine standing out in the country, a long way from any population or roadways. Suddenly, not only does someone appear out of nowhere but that someone has an aura or other appearance around them that makes them look unlike any person you’ve ever seen before. It’s not hard to understand how at least the initial response, might be terror.

The other angelic appearance was to tell Mary that she was going to be the mother of the prophesied Savior:

26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Luke 1:26-28

Initially, we are told Mary was “troubled” by the Angel’s statements but the visit ends with Mary’s confident statement of trust in God’s provision:

38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her. Luke 1:38

About now you’re asking why you’re reading this and why I’m reprinting Luke for a post.

My Bible study looked through these chapters of Luke over the past few weeks. As we looked through the passages it hit me how different, even though each of the angels were bringing a message directly from God, the reaction to each of the three angelic visits were. The Priest, the person who you could argue should have been most comfortable with the idea of an angel acting on behalf of God, argued with the angel. The Shepherds, arguably the bravest of those visited by the angels, were terrified. The young girl who was just told that she would be pregnant out of wedlock, an offense for which she could have been stoned to death, responded with complete confidence in the Angel’s statement and God’s plan.

As I contemplated these chapters, I thought about how my reactions to God are so much like those of the people visited by angels those many years ago.

There are many times where I argue with God. Oh, I don’t yell or shake my fist. By my actions, my thoughts and words, there are numerous times where I show or indirectly tell God that I’m not happy or satisfied with the plan He has for me. Can’t he move faster, why can’t XXXX happen, I need answers…NOW are all ways that I argue with God.

There are other times where I am terrified of God. Yes, I’m a Christian and yes, I know the saving grace of Jesus. But, regardless of the veneer of “a pretty good life,” I’m a sinner, and as Paul said “… the worst sinner.” I guess it is this recognition that confirms my Christianity but it is also this recognition that at times, leaves me terrified when my faith slips a bit and leaves me exposed to what my future would be without the saving grace of Jesus.

Finally, there are times when I can respond as Mary and say, “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Times when I am at peace and have confidence in the promises God has made to me as a believer. Admittedly, there have not been many of those times as of late. I won’t bore you with the details, let’s just say that a reason to be anxious seems to hide around nearly every corner I have turned the last few months.

Christmas is nearly here; the day when we celebrate the birth of Jesus and the promise of a different life if we believe and take him as our Savior. It’s also the time of the year where most of us spend time thinking about the year. I think about the blessings I’ve had and begin the process of gearing up for the new year.

After looking at the passages I’ve listed and doing some contemplating this past week, I know I have a choice to make as I enter the new year. I can chose the path Zechariah took and continue to argue with God about the things He has allowed in my life or, like the shepherds, I can chose to be terrified of things that don’t fit into my paradigm of how things should work. Or, like Mary, I can CHOOSE to exert my faith more and trust the God who has never left me and has fulfilled every promise He has ever made.

2,000 years ago, Mary made her choice as to how she would respond to God’s calling on her.

This Christmas, as we hear the Christmas story and reflect on our year, each of us will get a chance to choose how we will respond to God’s desire to be in our life.

I know how I will respond.

How will you respond?

If you’re in Wisconsin, unless you’ve been in a cave the last several months, you’ve heard of the practice of double-dipping, as various state and local employees “retired” and then returned to state/local employment, sometimes to their old jobs in a pre-planned move a month later, collecting both the salary of the job and the pension. Indeed, the situation has become so far out of control that Rep. Duey Stroebel (R-Saukville) introduced a bill to limit the practice among those who “retire” and subsequently come back to work at least half-time at a position.

According to the Texas Tribune, Texas governor, and candidate for the Republican Presidential nomination, Rick Perry one-upped that back in January. After an official with the Texas Employee Retirement System contacted him to tell him that he was eligible to do the career politican version of the double-dip, telling him that he “would be rather foolosh to not access what (he had) earned”, Perry did so, adding a gross pension payment of $7,698 per month to his $11,083 per month salary as governor.

The pension is being paid out as though Perry was a member of the “employee class”, despite Perry being an elected official for the entirety of his service to the state of Texas and continuing to serve as governor with no “sit-out” period. How? Let’s walk through it:

• Generally, elected state office-holders can choose to participate in the Texas ERS on the “elected class” track. That gives, upon departure from office (and only as long as one isn’t in a state elected office), a pension equal to the number of years of service (including military service) times 2% of the district judge salary (currently $208.33 1/3 per month), not to exceed 100% of the district judge salary ($10,416.66 per month).
• Non-elected state office-holders and employees automatically participate in the Texas ERS on the “employee class” track. One can qualify for a pension with no reduction if one is at least 60 years old and one’s age and length of service (including military service) equals or exceeds 80 years. For those who entered the “employee class” track after August 2009, that is the average of the 48 months of highest salary (it used to be 36) times 2.3% times the number of years of service.
• Elected officials can transfer the entirety of their service (including military service) to the “employee class” track. Since the two tracks are “separate”, one can “retire” as an “employee”, collect a pension as a “retiree”, and still remain in elected office.

While Perry may not have been responsible for the abusive system, he is responsible for fully-participating in the abusive system.

The big news is from Rasmussen, which has the current NotRomney experiencing the almost-inevitable bust after the boom. It has Mitt Romney leading at 23%, up from 20% and second last month, Newt Gingrich at 20%, down from the leading 32%, Ron Paul at 18%, up from 10% and fourth (behind the departed Herman Cain last time), and Rick Perry at 10%, up from 6% and a multi-way tie for fifth.

As always, you’re on your own for liquor; between the bells and the blue-light words you’re going to need it. Shoebox and I will once again be using CoverItLive, so you don’t need to refresh to keep up. Do feel free to comment in the window below; unless we get too many people, once we see you there, we’ll probably auto-approve you (unless we have no clue who you are). If, for some reason, you don’t see the window, you should mash here.

To review, back in the beginning of October 2010, $65.89 billion of the $72.59 billion spent on old General Motors, new Government Motors, old Chrysler, new Chrysler/UAW Motors/Fiat, Chrysler Financial, and GMAC/Ally (more-correctly called Government Bank), including $0.04 billion in notes taken out by new Chrysler I was previously unaware of, was still outstanding. Since then, the Treasury has recovered:

• $13.50 billion from the sale of some of its common stock in GM between 11/18/2010 and 11/26/2010, leaving it with a 32.04% stake.
• $2.14 billion from the early buyback by new GM of all the Series A preferred stock held by the Treasury.
• $0.11 billion of the $0.99 billion in loans that remained at old GM, paid to the Treasury on 3/31/2011, 4/5/2011 and 5/3/2011 as old GM was liquidated.
• $5.46 billion from new Chrysler to “fully” extinguish the TARP loans, including the previously-undisclosed notes, on 5/24/2011. However, $3.5 billion of that repayment appears to have come from an Energy Department loan program meant for modernization of assembly plants dedicated toward fuel efficient/”clean” vehicles.
• $0.56 billion from Fiat for the remaining 6.6% stake (plus the rights to “excessive” proceeds from the sale of the UAW’s share of new Chrysler) the Treasury held in new Chrysler on 7/21/2011.
• A bit under $0.01 billion ($9.67 million) as the last bit of cash was wrung out of the remains of old Chrysler, credited on 12/29/2010.
• $2.67 billion from Ally for the extinguishing of the Trust Preferred Securities held by the Treasury on 3/2/2011.
• $0.79 billion in dividends on preferred stock in Ally between November 2010 and November 2011.

The $25.24 billion recovered over the past 13 months brings the amount still outstanding from the bailout of the auto industry down to $40.65 billion. The Treasury also converted 110 million of the nearly 229 million perferred shares it held in Ally to 531,850 common shares to give it control of 73.8% of the common shares.

The remaining claims on assets the Treasury holds are:

• 500,065,254 common shares of new GM. At yesterday’s close of $19.47 per share, the Treasury would get about $9.73 billion (give or take brokerage fees) if they were able to sell their 32.04% stake.
• $0.88 billion in loans still owed by old GM, which will likely never be recovered.
• A continuing stake in whatever assets can still be liquidated from old Chrysler, likely to be very minimal.
• 118,750,000 Series F-2 Preferred shares in Ally Financial, which if Ally does not pay $5.94 billion plus any outstanding dividend (9% annual dividend, or $0.53 billion per year) to extinguish the preferred shares, will be converted to, at the present value, 513,000 common shares in Ally at the end of 2016. The dividend through the end of 2016 would net the Treasury $2.67 billion.
• 981,971 common shares in Ally, which represents 73.8% of the outstanding common shares in the privately-held company.

Last year’s estimate of $17 billion down the UAW hole once all the dust settles still seems quite operative, assuming the government is willing to let go of both GM and Ally. If it’s not willing to let its seizures go, then far more money will have gone down the UAW hole.

Let’s compare that to the UAW take. I previously covered the all-but-guaranteed $28.39 billion in post-bankruptcy payments from GM (not counting anything from the sale of the UAW’s stock in GM, currently worth $3.12 billion) on $20.36 billion in pre-bankruptcy liabilities from GM the UAW VEBA will get, and except for the dividend payments that have now made UAW’s profit official, nothing has changed. I hadn’t covered the UAW’s recovery schedule of the $10.5 billion owed it by old Chrysler as, up until earlier this year, it had not fulfilled its (voluntary) promise to file reports with the SEC. Now that it is filing the reports, that can be tracked.

Much like it did from GM, the UAW received the cash set aside by old Chrysler pre-bankruptcy for the VEBA. In this case, it was about $1.5 billion. For the remaining $9 billion in unsecured claims against old Chrysler for its VEBA, the UAW received what is currently a 44.7% stake in new Chrysler (after various options exercised by Fiat diluted its initial 67.7% stake) and a $4.59 billion unsecured note carrying an effective 9% annual interest rate and maturing in July 2023. While the repayment schedule is back-loaded, payments did begin in 2010, with a $315 million payment in 2010 and a $300 million payment in 2011. Assuming all the payments are made, the UAW will get $9.16 billion.

That does not include any money it might get from the liquidation of its stake in new Chrysler. That is limited to $4.25 billion (plus 9% compounded annually starting from 2010, or about $5.05 billion if Chrysler goes public in January 2012 and the UAW sells its entire stake) with any excess going to Fiat after Fiat bought the Treasury’s rights to that excess for $60 million and the Canadian government’s rights to that excess for $15 million. Fiat also holds a call option to buy up to 40% of the original UAW stake between mid-2012 and mid-2016 for, depending on whether Chrysler has gone public, either the going stock price or a formula.

Join us, sober or drunk. This one is sure to be a lot of fun!

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In case you forgot what to do while listening to the Blues Brothers, share links to some kick-ass stories in the comments.

The sad news is that the survivors, just like the larger group of World War II veterans, are dying due to old age, and the memories and lessons of that day and that war are in large part being lost. From the Times article:

Since the 1950s, Mr. Davis and others have kept their legacies alive through the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association, but the group will disband at the end of the year. Its members are nearing 90 years older, and many have serious health problems.

“It was just getting to be too much for them. The youngest survivors are 88 years old,” said Carol Gladys, the daughter of a Pearl Harbor survivor and secretary of Sons and Daughters, Pearl Harbor Survivors Inc. It’s been in existence since the 1970s, but now will play a much larger role in ensuring the stories aren’t forgotten.

“I think we have a lot of work ahead of us. You walk up to a lot of younger people and ask them what the USS Arizona was, and they have no idea,” Ms. Gladys said. “The younger generation, they have no idea what happened in Hawaii.”

Another indication of that is what is featured, or more-properly, not featured, on the front pages of the three major search engines. Much like what was noted two years ago, neither Google nor Yahoo did anything special for today. Indeed, nothing related to Pearl Harbor is listed among the “trending now” topics on Yahoo as of 8:20 am CDT. Fortunately, Bing picked up the slack, featuring the USS Arizona Memorial.

Revisions/extensions (12:06 pm 12/7/2011) - Allan Bourdius recognizes the sixteen who earned the Medal of Honor 70 years ago today.

• Over the last 22 months, the economy added 3 million private-sector jobs.
• Over the last 21 months, the average private-sector job gain was around 160 thousand.
• Both numbers were significanly better than the George W. Bush record.

It took a bit longer than I thought because I wanted to be a lot more thorough than the Labor Secretary, but it isn’t exactly all that Solis claims.

The first bit is the closest to the truth. Using the Current Establishment Survey (the part of the jobs report that differentiates between the non-farm private-sector jobs and the government jobs), the economy did gain 2,926,000 jobs between January 2010 and November 2011. While it is a bit of a stretch (like Ford’s stretch of the 302 V-8 into “5.0L”), it’s close enough for government work.

Unfortunately, the 21-month recovery in private-sector jobs, from February 2010 to November 2011, saw an average gain of 140,333 jobs per month. I don’t call overestimating reality by over 14% close, especially when the CES covers roughly a third of all workers (or somewhere just north of 40 million).

The last item on the list requires a rather lenghty bit of explanation. I could go the very-cheap route and point out that for the entirety of the Obama administration (starting with the change from January 2009 to February 2009 as the January surveys are taken before the Presidential inauguration), the private sector lost an average of 37,120 jobs per month, while over the 8 years of the Bush administration (again starting with the January 2001-February 2001 change and ending with the December 2008-January 2009 change), the private sector lost just an average of 6,800 jobs per month despite a full recession and 2/3rds of a second. That would be way too easy, however.

I could also compare the first 21-month stretch of unbroken private-sector job growth under Bush to the current streak under Obama (average of +152,860 jobs/month to +140,333 jobs/month), but Bush’s streak began far later than Obama’s. In fact, it was exactly one year later into the recovery, August 2003, that the jobs market stopped producing CES private-sector losses.

Using the CES numbers, the private sector added 705,000 jobs between July 2002 and April 2004, for an average of +33,570 per month. The private sector added 2,947,000 jobs between February 2010 and November 2011, for the aforementioned average of +140,333 per month. However, if the 22-month time frame is narrowed down to the last 6 months, the Obama recovery (May 2011-November 2011) lags behind the Bush recovery (October 2003-April 2004), with an average of +132,830 per month compared to an average of +144,500 per month.

The bad news is the CES, while it covers an estimated 1/3rd of the labor force, double-counts those who hold multiple jobs and pretty much misses those who are either self-employed or working at a start-up. The Current Population Survey, though it is far smaller than the CES because it covers “only” 60,000 people each month, is still an order of magnitude bigger than your typical political survey, counts multiple job-holders only once and covers the portion of the survey who are self-employed.

The CPS chart that comes closest to the non-farm private payroll CES is the private wage-and-salaried non-farm workers chart. Between July 2002 and April 2004, 1,987,000 more people found private-sector wage/salaried work (an average of +94,620 per month), while between February 2010 and November 2011, 3,103,000 more people found private-sector work (an average of +147,760 per month).

However, that still doesn’t include the self-employed. While 299,000 more people were self-employed between July 2002 and April 2004, 364,000 fewer people were self-employed between February 2010 and November 2011.

Adding the two together nets 2,286,000 more people either self-employed or employed by a private entity between July 2002 and April 2004 (an average of +108,860 per month), and 2,739,000 more people either self-employed or employed by a private entity between February 2010 and November 2011 (an average of +130,430 per month). The same “last-6-month” metric shows the same lag for the Obama recovery – +111,170 self-employed/private employed per month between May 2011 and November 2011, and +132,830 self-employed/private employed per month between October 2003 and April 2004.