Suitably Flip

And Then There Were 59

So long, Obamacare. See you in 2010 (maybe).

“Climategate just got much, much bigger."

But the underlying science is still good. It just has to be.

Barry Officially Least Popular Modern President

No other has matched the public antipathy he's secured by December of his first year in office.

As the year comes to a close, he's still in positive territory, but not by much. The latest survey, taken Friday through Sunday, puts the president's approval at 49%-46%. That is Obama's narrowest margin of the year, with his approval matching his low point in early October and his disapproval matching his high point later that month.

In comparison to the approval ratings for modern elected presidents in December of their first year in office, Obama's standing is the worst, though he's close to Ronald Reagan. In December 1981, Reagan's approval rating was also 49%, though his disapproval rating was a bit lower, 41%.

Gallup Poll ratings for the others: George W. Bush was at 86%, in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks; John Kennedy at 77%; the elder George Bush at 71%; Dwight Eisenhower at 69%; Richard Nixon at 59%; Jimmy Carter at 57%; and Bill Clinton at 54%.

Gitmo Terrorists Welcomed To Land of Lincoln 11-Day Prison Sentences For Violent Offenders

Via Jawa, the President's home state, having been tapped to import - um - undocumented jihadists, is having trouble keeping its own civilian prisoners behind bars.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Critics heaped scorn on Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn on Monday over a secret prison program that allowed hundreds of inmates — some violent offenders — to be released early, including some who only spent 11 days behind bars.
An Associated Press report released Sunday showed that more than 850 inmates — including repeat drunk drivers, drug users and even people convicted of battery and weapons violations — were released early under the program since September.

This happened because the Corrections Department abandoned a policy that all prisoners serve at least 61 days and gave inmates months of good-time credit upfront.

Quinn ordered a "top-to-bottom" review of the practice on Sunday after seeing the AP report. The Democrat would not say on Monday whether Corrections Director Michael Randle told him about the unpublicized practice, which is separate from an early release program of 1,000 inmates Quinn announced in September to save money in a budget crisis.

Obama Year-One Report Card: It's a B+!

A "good solid B+" no less. A mere rounding error from an A-.

I'm not wholly convinced of the neutrality of the grader though...

President Barack Obama, in an interview that aired Sunday, gave himself "a good solid B-plus" grade for his first year in office.

Speaking with fellow Chicagoan Oprah Winfrey, the president claimed progress on economic and international fronts.

Indeed. On unemployment alone, he scores a perfect 10.0, where his abject failure of a predecessor averaged a mere 5.3.

(HT: Ace)

Update: Helluva curve. B+ apparently now begins at 44%.

Millions At Least 3 Jobs Created Or Saved

While professional services types and blue collar workers in insufficiently politically palatable industries remain unstimulated, it's boom time for road pavers, solar panel installers and... Democratic pollsters.

Nearly $6 million in stimulus money was paid to two firms run by Mark Penn ... Hillary Clinton’s pollster in 2008.

Federal records show that $5.97 million from the $787 billion stimulus helped preserve three jobs at Burson-Marsteller, the global public-relations and communications firm headed by Penn.

(HT: JWF)

Conflict-Escalating Warmonger To Accept Peace Prize as "War President"

As much as it pains me to say it, good on Barry. We know it tears at the fiber of his being to contemplate a non-cloying non-placation of the euro-weenie crowd that's counting on him to formally acknowledge the hideous imperialist bloodlust that informs American foreign policy.

There’ll be no effort by Barack Obama to disguise or obscure the fact that he’s a war president when he accepts the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on Thursday…

The judges said they selected Mr. Obama to honor “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”

But asked specifically if Mr. Obama will be accepting the Nobel Peace Prize as a war president, spokesman Gibbs was unambiguous. “Exactly,” he stated bluntly.
...
He can be expected to argue that the U.S. is escalating in Afghanistan in the cause of peace.

(HT: Allah)

Where Am I?

Busy, as it turns out. Sorry for the radio silence here over the last many days. I know it's tricky to navigate the day's affairs without benefit of my insights and biting cynicism.

I read in someone's cockamamie and self-indulgent "blogging best practices" post shortly after launching this site back in 2005 that you should never apologize for posting lapses. You should just get back to posting. Alas, I'm unable to do so in any meaningful way at the moment, but it shouldn't be much longer. Stop in on Monday and we'll see what we can do.

Still, at the risk of angering the God of Blogging Best Practices, I thought I'd at least offer up a mea culpa and a stay-tuned in the meantime.

D'oh: ObamaCare Now 2 Points Less Popular Than HillaryCare

As we noted back in July, Obama's health care takeover (then sporting 41% support) had slipped to within a point of the doomed and politically devastating HillaryCare debacle.

Today, as more Americans catch wind of its true cost and fecklessness, support for the rank idiocy redux has slipped to a paltry 38%, a number which appears to have fallen further still in the days since this weekend's party-line Senate vote.

Just 38% of voters now favor the health care plan proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats. That’s the lowest level of support measured for the plan in nearly two dozen tracking polls conducted since June.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 56% now oppose the plan.

Half the survey was conducted before the Senate voted late Saturday to begin debate on its version of the legislation. Support for the plan was slightly lower in the half of the survey conducted after the Senate vote.

Picture Of the Week

Gold.

"Mike's Nature Trick"

This is how global warming science gets "settled."

Obama Holds Press Conference To Announce Plans To Have Meetings To Think About How To Create Jobs. You're Welcome, America.

Could the Nobel for economics be far off?

Obama's Toxic Coattails

The White House has adamantly disavowed blame for Creigh Deeds' gubernatorial loss in Virginia, noting that the President didn't do much to help the hapless candidate (nor did he, at least compared with the abundant and visible support thrown behind Jon Corzine in New Jersey).

And for that comparative snubbing - it turns out - Deeds should be grateful. Any more "help" from the erstwhile Mr. Popular, and McDonnell might've run up the score on Deeds even worse.

We tested the impact of the Obama endorsement — 24% said they were more likely to vote for Deeds, while 32% were less likely. The minus eight increment on that can not be encouraging to the White House.
...
Finally, we tested a simple agree/disagree: “Creigh Deeds’ policies are too close to the policies of President Barack Obama.” Fully 52% agreed and only 30% disagreed. By intensity, 30% strongly agreed and only 9% strongly disagreed. Revisionists on the left are blaming Deeds for not embracing Obama enough, but Virginia voters did not agree. Among Independents, it was 52% agree/28% disagree.

The Bottom Line

Obama was not the deciding factor in the Virginia campaign. However, he certainly was MUCH more than a non-factor. Concern about his policies overreaching permeated to a gubernatorial campaign and helped widen the size of McDonnell’s win. It allowed the campaign to focus on issues that hadn’t been working in recent years for Republican candidates. Concern about Obama’s policies on spending, taxes, and jobs allowed McDonnell to thoroughly dominate those issues. The checks and balances message is a key one, but the bigger lesson about Obama’s impact on Virginia is that his policies have put fiscal and economic messages back into play for Republicans.

The Na Na Na Na, Hey Hey Hey List

Courtesy of DKos, these are the nearly 40 red-district-dwelling Democrat Congressmen who Speaker Pelosi conned into committing political suicide with their populace-defying healthcare votes (ranked by the swiftness with which their constituents will be inclined to bounce them).

District	Representative	PVI
ND-AL	Pomeroy, Earl	R+10
WV-01	Mollohan, Alan	R+9
AR-01	Berry, Marion	R+8
IN-08	Ellsworth, Brad	R+8
PA-10	Carney, Chris	R+8
OH-18	Space, Zach	R+7
SC-05	Spratt, John	R+7
AZ-01	Kirkpatrick, Ann	R+6
IN-09	Hill, Baron	R+6
WV-03	Rahall, Nick	R+6
AR-02	Snyder, Vic	R+5
AZ-05	Mitchell, Harry	R+5
CO-03	Salazar, John	R+5
VA-05	Perriello, Tom	R+5
AZ-08	Giffords, Gabby	R+4
TX-23	Rodriguez, Ciro	R+4
KS-03	Moore, Dennis	R+3
MI-01	Stupak, Bart	R+3
NY-19	Hall, John	R+3
PA-03	Dahlkemper, Kathleen	R+3
FL-08	Grayson, Alan	R+2
IN-02	Donnelly, Joe	R+2
MI-07	Schauer, Mark	R+2
NC-02	Etheridge, Bob	R+2
NY-24	Arcuri, Mike	R+2
OH-06	Wilson, Charlie	R+2
TX-27	Ortiz, Solomon	R+2
WI-08	Kagen, Steve	R+2
CA-11	McNerney, Jerry	R+1
IL-08	Bean, Melissa	R+1
IL-11	Halvorson, Debbie	R+1
IL-14	Foster, Bill	R+1
MN-01	Walz, Tim	R+1
NY-23	Owens, Bill	R+1
PA-12	Murtha, John	R+1
NH-01	Shea-Porter, Carol	R+0
NY-01	Bishop, Timothy	R+0
TX-28	Cuellar, Henry	R+0

October Unemployment Report Confirms: Obama Saved 89.8% of Americans' Jobs

10.2%.

Welcome to double-digit unemployment, Mr. President.

The jump in joblessness puts us within sight of the 1982 high of 10.8%. Reagan found a way to snuff out high unemployment (creating, not mysteriously "saving" but actually creating, 16 million jobs) while simultaneously reining in Carter's malaisey inflation and ushering in a generation-long growth spurt in American productivity and prosperity.

It, um... wasn't what we're doing now.

That may help explain why - after the rate seemed to plateau in the mid 9's earlier this year - we're now back to a second derivative problem (accelerating worsening) in employment.

Geoff at Innocent Bystanders updates his increasingly hilarious overlay of actual data over Obama's own with-or-without-stimulus unemployment forecast.

Deadly Shooting at Fort Hood Military Base (Update: Shooter ID'ed As Major Nidal Malik Hasan, Still Alive)

Developing...

At least seven people are dead and 12 wounded in a shooting at Fort Hood in Texas, the base's public affairs office told NBC News on Thursday.
The official would not give his name nor additional details. It was unknown whether victims are soldiers or civilians. One gunman was reportedly in custody and another was on the loose, NBC News said. A third shooter may be involved, according to NBC News affiliate KCEN, which said the person had opened fire on the SWAT team at the base.

Reports say as many as 30 may be wounded. Local schools are on lockdown. The Killeen, Texas facility houses service members being readied for deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Allah notes similarities to the "Fort Dix Six" Islamic terrorist plot of 2007.

Update: Two separate shooting locations - one at the "Soldier Readiness Processing" center, the other at a theater.

Update: More, via Allah...

[The shooting] apparently began minutes before a graduation ceremony was to begin at a base sports complex, Pentagon officials said.

Details of the events were sketchy, but officials said the shooting involved two men with M-16 rifles and began about 1:30 p.m. Central time at Howze Theater on the base, then moved to the sports complex, where the graduation ceremony was scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. It was not immediately clear who the ceremony was honoring.

Update: FBI sources tell Fox News that "no terrorism nexus" is involved. They must already have extracted some details from the surviving, detained shooter to make that statement.

Update: ...the two surviving, detained shooters.

The President will give an address at 5:00 pm Eastern.

Update: The toll is up to 9 dead, 27 injured.

Update: Make that 12 dead, 31 injured, per Lt. Gen. Bob Cone's on-site briefing.

The two in custody are U.S. soldiers. One shooter (also a U.S. soldier) was shot and killed.

Update: Via Drudge, the dead shooter has reportedly been identified as Major Nidal Malik Hasan, an army psychiatrist who was upset about being imminently deployed and the possibility he might have to kill fellow Muslims.

Unexpected update: Dead gunman still alive.

Stimulus Job Creation Data Literally a Bunch Of S#!&

Obama math: 0 jobs now + 5 jobs in a few months = 100 jobs!

About $7.3 million of federal money will flow to the Parkland Sanitary District in Douglas County to replace its sewer system, a project listed as creating or saving 100 jobs even though work won’t start until this spring, federal recovery data shows.
But that number is inflated by 95 jobs, Parkland Sanitary District treasurer Eric Shaffer admitted.

From Ed Morrissey:

You have to love the example of the Parkland Sanitary District data being part of the White House claims. They took credit for 100 jobs that don’t even exist, at least 95 of which they overstated when the jobs really do begin. They took a 1900% markup on five phantom jobs — for a sewage project. If anyone doubted that the White House numbers were crap, this should utterly convince them.

Jobs Created Or Saved Or Saved

With such heroically creative accounting, you'd think they'd be able to gross up the "created or saved" number to something a little more impressive than 640,000 (at a total cost of $215 billion, more than $330,000 per "job").

President Barack Obama's economic recovery program saved 935 jobs at the Southwest Georgia Community Action Council, an impressive success story for the stimulus plan. Trouble is, only 508 people work there.

The Georgia nonprofit's inflated job count is among persisting errors in the government's latest effort to measure the effect of the $787 billion stimulus plan despite White House promises last week that the new data would undergo an "extensive review" to root out errors discovered in an earlier report.

About two-thirds of the 14,506 jobs claimed to be saved under one federal office, the Administration for Children and Families at Health and Human Services, actually weren't saved at all, according to a review of the latest data by The Associated Press. Instead, that figure includes more than 9,300 existing employees in hundreds of local agencies who received pay raises and benefits and whose jobs weren't saved.
...
At Southwest Georgia Community Action Council in Moultrie, Ga., director Myrtis Mulkey-Ndawula said she followed the guidelines the Obama administration provided. She said she multiplied the 508 employees by 1.84 — the percentage pay raise they received — and came up with 935 jobs saved.

"I would say it's confusing at best," she said. "But we followed the instructions we were given."

Counting a not-lost job in your ostensible job creation? That takes moxie. Counting each one more than once? That takes Obama.

Nature Picking Up Obama's Slack

See? We don't need additional (human) troops to fight terrorists. McChrystal's such a drama queen.

A bear killed two militants after discovering them in its den in Indian-administered Kashmir, police say.

Two other militants escaped, one of them badly wounded, after the attack in Kulgam district, south of Srinagar.

(HT: JWF)

Only the Federal Government Could Spend $24,000 On a $4,000 Subsidy

Nice job with the cars, boys. Now try your hand at health care.

The Cash for Clunkers program gave car buyers rebates of up to $4,500 if they traded in less fuel-efficient vehicles for new vehicles that met certain fuel economy requirements. A total of $3 billion was allotted for those rebates.

The average rebate was $4,000. But the overwhelming majority of sales would have taken place anyway at some time in the last half of 2009, according to Edmunds.com. That means the government ended up spending about $24,000 each for those 125,000 additional vehicle sales.