Jack Cashill's article "Early Obama Letter Confirms Obama's Inability To Write"

It has gone absolutely viral on American Thinker.  Jack Cashill's post "Early Obama Letters Confirms Obama's Inability to Write" should be required reading:

On November 16, 1990, Barack Obama, then president of the Harvard Law Review, published a letter in the Harvard Law Record, an independent Harvard Law School newspaper, championing affirmative action.
Although a paragraph from this letter was excerpted in David Remnick's biography of Obama, The Bridge, I had not seen the letter in its entirety before this week.  Not surprisingly, it confirms everything I know about Barack Obama, the writer and thinker.
Obama was prompted to write by an earlier letter from a Mr. Jim Chen that criticized Harvard Law Review's affirmative action policies.  Specifically, Chen had argued that affirmative action stigmatized its presumed beneficiaries.
The response is classic Obama: patronizing, dishonest, syntactically muddled, and grammatically challenged.  In the very first sentence Obama leads with his signature failing, one on full display in his earlier published work: his inability to make subject and predicate agree.
"Since the merits of the Law Review's selection policy has been the subject of commentary for the last three issues," wrote Obama, "I'd like to take the time to clarify exactly how our selection process works."
If Obama were as smart as a fifth-grader, he would know, of course, that "merits ... have."  Were there such a thing as a literary Darwin Award, Obama could have won it on this on one sentence alone.  He had vindicated Chen in his first ten words.
Although the letter is fewer than a thousand words long, Obama repeats the subject-predicate error at least two more times.  In one sentence, he seemingly cannot make up his mind as to which verb option is correct so he tries both: "Approximately half of this first batch is chosen ... the other half are selected ... "
Another distinctive Obama flaw is to allow a string of words to float in space.  Please note the unanchored phrase in italics at the end of this sentence:
"No editors on the Review will ever know whether any given editor was selected on the basis of grades, writing competition, or affirmative action, and no editors who were selected with affirmative action in mind."  Huh?
The next lengthy sentence highlights a few superficial style flaws and a much deeper flaw in Obama's political philosophy.

I would therefore agree with the suggestion that in the future, our concern in this area is most appropriately directed at any employer who would even insinuate that someone with Mr. Chen's extraordinary record of academic success might be somehow unqualified for work in a corporate law firm, or that such success might be somehow undeserved.

Obama would finish his acclaimed memoir, Dreams from My Father, about four years later.  Prior to Dreams, and for the nine years following, everything Obama wrote was, like the above sentence, an uninspired assemblage of words with a nearly random application of commas and tenses.
Unaided, Obama tends to the awkward, passive, and verbose.  The phrase "our concern in this area is most appropriately directed at any employer" would more profitably read, "we should focus on the employer." "Concern" is simply the wrong word.

 Read the rest of the story here.

Rush Limbaugh on President Obama "No legitimate President would do this"

Radio Icon Rush Limbaugh on President Obama wanting to address a Joint Session of Congress the same day of a Republican Presidential Debate in Iowa:

Oh no - not again: Tropical Storm Katia

soon to be Hurricane Katia is churning in the Atlantic Ocean.  The latest on TS Katia...

Tropical Storm / Hurricane Katia Tracking Cone

Hurricane Katia computer models:

Video: Dick Cheney on "Hannity"

Sean Hannity interviewed former VP Dick Cheney Tuesday Night about his experiences as George Bush's Vice President.

Audio: Sean Hannity interviews Governor Rick Perry

During the 4 PM segment Sean Hannity interviews Texas Governor Rick Perry.  The theme of the interview was Perry's intelligence and listen to how Perry turns this around.  Brilliant!

"How smart do you have to be to let the economy get this bad?"

Update: 10 things about Perry that will make liberals foam at the mouth

10 Minute Ticker:

War games?
Israel sends two warships to the Egyptian border

And it not even over!
August 2011 deadliest month ever for US forces in Afghanistan

Hot Air.com
Hey how about some extra protection for Ugly People!

Kim Kardashian Video:
The racy video Kim doesn't want you to see


Michael Vick:
Philadelphia Eagles QG to sign a $100 million deal

9/11 - "Not only about us"
White House guidelines on observing 9/11

Tropical Storm Katia
Storm track of the newest Atlantic Tropical Storm

Video: "Compared to what?"

Michelle Malkin lays out the double standard when it comes to frontrunner Rick Perry and the treatment the State Controlled Media has concerning President Obama:

"You mean compared to the economic genus in the White House?"

Governor Rick Perry and 'The Texas Record':

Texas Governor Rick Perry is leading the GOP field so far for the Republican Presidential nomination.  Part of the reason is the fact that Texas is leading the nation in job creation:

Texas has been the home of the last two Republican presidents. With Governor Rick Perry now in the fray, we’re fixin’ to find out if Texas can make it three in a row.
When examining what makes Texas the benchmark conservative state, the best place to start is the size of its government. Back in 1987, total state and local expenditures in Texas were about 18 percent of private gross domestic product (GDP), versus a national average of just over 19 percent. In 2008, Texas was still at about 18 percent, while the national average had risen to over 22 percent. Spending in California, our biggest competitor, grew during that period from about 19 percent to more than 25 percent of private GDP.
Stats about where Texas ranks in taxes and spending tell the same story. The Tax Foundation says that Texas ranks 45th in state and local tax burden. StateHealthFacts.org ranks Texas 47th in total state spending. And the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau has Texas 42nd in education spending.
Of course, these figures are used by liberals to pillory some state officials — including Governor Perry — as uncaring. Texas conservatives, though, are quick to point out the connection between low spending and taxes and what Texas is providing Americans that no other state in the country can match: jobs.
Texas is the country’s leading job creator and has been for more than a decade. Between June 2006 and June 2011, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that Texas added 537,500 non-farm jobs — almost more than 10 times that of the next state, Louisiana.
Additionally, five Texas cities are in the top six nationally of newgeography.com’s 2011 Best Cities for Job Growth. Ten Texas cities are in the top 20, and only one falls outside the top half of the rankings.
At a time of anemic economic growth nationally, Texas is keeping Americans employed.
Texas’ job creation performance over the last decade is truly amazing and would have surely gathered much more prominence were it not so inconvenient to the proponents of big government.
In fact, our economic record has become such an inconvenient truth that people try almost anything to undermine it. One critic tried this approach: “Take a tech-oriented region like Greater Boston or the Bay Area, subtract out a housing collapse and add in an energy boom, and I suspect you’ve covered most of the discrepancy in performance” between Texas and other states.
Perhaps it is true that if Texas’ housing and energy markets had collapsed, our economy might look a lot like Massachusetts’ or California’s. But they didn’t. And it doesn’t.
Other critics point to Texas’ 8.2 percent unemployment rate — 26th in the country and slightly higher than New York’s — as evidence that Texas is not doing so well. But they overlook the fact that Texas’ unemployment rate stands at 8.2 percent after a net inflow of 1.78 million job seekers and their families in the last 10 years. New York, on the other hand, lost 847,000 people during the same period.

 Read the rest of The Texas Record here.

Video: George W. Bush - The 9/11 Interview

National Geographic on Sunday aired George W. Bush The 9/11 (September 11) Interview:

Part 1:  George W. Bush - The 9-11 Interview

Part 2:  George W. Bush - The 9-11 Interview:

Part 3:  George W. Bush - The 9-11 Interview

Part 4:  George W. Bush - The 9-11 Interview:

Part 5:  George W. Bush - The 9-11 Interview:

Our Sister Site - The Internet Radio Network

Free Streaming Radio over the Internet:

Some of our COMMON CENTS readers may be not be aware of the fact that we have a sister site:  The Internet Radio Network. At the IRN you can listen to over 80 of your favorite Talk Radio Shows via Free Streaming Audio. These shows include Politics (Rush, Sean, Levin, Beck), Religious Programing, Investing, Sports and much, much more - all via Free Streaming Audio:

Studies show that the Talk Radio Audience has successful upscale demographics and usually:

• have an income over $75,000 (vs. median US income of $48,200)
• have graduated college
• own their residence
• are likely to use the Internet
• are 25-65 years old (with the numbers of women listeners steadily increasing)

You can visit The Internet Radio Network here.

Video: Hurricane Irene 8AM Updates:

Hurricane Irene 8AM Updates:
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Video of Hurricane Irene in New York City:

Hurricane Irene: 7PM Update:

7 PM Hurricane Irene Updates:



ADVISORY... DISCUSSION... STATS... CONE... SATELLITE... RADAR...

Weather Channel Video:

Hurricane Irene - 1PM Update

Hurricane Irene - 1PM Update:

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Obama's Record:

President Obama has asked to be judged on his record.  Recently Johathan Alter wrote a column asking for proof that President Obama had been a failure.  Peter Wehner of Commentary Magazine answers the challenge:

“Tell me again why Barack Obama has been such a bad president?” Jonathan Alter writes in his column.
Alter tells us he’s not talking here about Obama as a tactician and communicator, and he’s not interested in hearing ad hominem attacks or about people’s generalized “disappointment.” (Neither am I.) He wants to know on a substantive basis why Obama should be judged to have failed so far.

In Alter’s words, “Your mission, Jim [or anyone else for that matter], should you decide to accept it, is to be specific and rational, not vague and visceral.”
Consider the mission accepted.
In one sense, the answer to the Alter challenge is obvious: Obama has failed by his own standards. It’s the Obama administration, not the RNC, that said if his stimulus package was passed unemployment would not exceed 8 percent. It’s Obama who joked there weren’t as many “shovel-ready” jobs as he thought.
It’s Obama who promised to cut the deficit in half. It’s Obama who said if we passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the health care cost curve would go down rather than up. It’s Obama who promised us recovery and prosperity, hope and change. What we’ve gotten instead is the opposite.
What makes Alter’s challenge particularly delicious is during the Bush years he spoke out about the importance of a “reality-based” presidency (as opposed to a “faith-based” one). “They [Republicans] could end up winning in November by distorting the argument,” Alter said in 2006. “But on credibility and the facts, they’ve lost.”
With Alter’s devotion to credibility and facts in mind, let’s take an empirical, reality-based look at economic life in America during the Age of Obama:
* Under Obama’s stewardship, we have lost 2.2 million jobs (and 900,000 full-time jobs in the last four months alone). He is now on track to have the worst jobs record of any president in the modern era.
* The unemployment rate stands at 9.1 percent v. 7.8 percent the month Obama took office.
* July marked the 30th consecutive month in which the unemployment rate was above the 8 percent level, the highest since the Great Depression.
* Since May 2009 — roughly 14 weeks into the Obama administration — the unemployment rate has been above 10 percent during three months, above 9 percent during 22 months, and above 8 percent during two months.
* Chronic unemployment is worse than during the Great Depression.
* The youth employment rate is at the lowest level since records were first kept in 1948.
* The share of the eligible population holding a job has declined to the lowest level since the early 1980s.
* The housing crisis is worse than in the Great Depression. (Home values are worth roughly one-third less than they were five years ago.)
* The rate of economic growth under Obama has been only slightly higher than the 1930s, the decade of the Great Depression. From the first quarter of 2010 through the first quarter of 2011, we experienced five consecutive quarters of slowing growth. America’s GDP for the second quarter of this year was a sickly 1.0 percent; in the first quarter, it was 0.4 percent.
* Fiscal year 2011 will mark the third straight year with deficits in excess of $1 trillion. Prior to the Obama presidency, we had never experienced a deficit in excess of $1 trillion.
* During the Obama presidency, America has increased its debt by $4 trillion.
That is to say, Obama has achieved in two-and-a-half years what it took George W. Bush two full terms in office to achieve — and Obama, when he was running for president, slammed Bush’s record as being “unpatriotic.”
* America saw its credit rating downgraded for the first time in history under the Obama presidency.
* Consumer confidence has plunged to the lowest level since the Carter presidency.
*  The number of people in the U.S. who are in poverty is on track for a record increase on President Obama’s watch, with the ranks of working-age poor approaching 1960s levels that led to the national war on poverty.
* A record number of Americans now rely on the federal government’s food stamps program. More than 44.5 million Americans received Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, a 12 percent increase from one year ago.
There is more that can be said, but you get the point.

 You can read the rest of this column here.

Hurricane Irene - 8AM Updates:

Local News updates on Hurricane Irene

Hurricane Irene Updates:

ADVISORY... DISCUSSION... STATS... CONE... SATELLITE... RADAR... 

Overhyped? "The storm cannot master its own strength"

This post is making news online.  Posted by Dr. Simon Atkins he makes the case that Hurricane Irene is extremely over-hyped.  Maybe.... just  maybe.....

o    The demise of Irene has already begun. There is no visible eye. The storm intensity is down to 99 mph. This would be a low-end category 2 or a strong category 1 storm, while 36 hours ago some predicted a catastrophic category 4 storm. Air Force Reserve aircraft have found that Irene's eyewall has collapsed, and the central pressure has risen -- rising pressure means a weakening storm.
o    The reduction in storm intensity likely confirms that this storm is not going to be as monstrous as it has been publicly forecast to be.
o    Yes, it will be windy. However, north of Delaware most hurricane force winds will very likely be gusts, not sustained winds.
o    At Advanced Forecasting Corporation, we are concentrating on the surging waters which typically cause over 85% of the loss of life in hurricanes. We have modeled the following predictions:
                   1)    There will be wind damage over eastern-most North Carolina as well as some storm surge flooding up the Pamlico Sound. Some houses in the Hamptons will be flooded and destroyed. Flooding might occur in New York's Battery Park Subway station and on the FDR Drive since the city could get up to 8 inches of rain. There may be some New England neighborhoods submerged due to rivers overflowing.
                    2)    With 90% confidence, we predict a total damage bill below $1 billion. Unless there is an unexpected secondary or tertiary event, this is not going to be a huge-loss storm.

 Hurricane Irene Over-hyped?

Hurricane Irene: 8PM Update

MYRTLE BEACH, SC -- WBTW News13's Frank Johnson outlines Hurricane Irene's position and status and storm track as it moves north along the East Coast.

Hurricane Irene - (Updated)

Storm Tracker - Latest Information on Hurricane Irene

Weather.com:

Hurricane Irene - Current Status and Forecast

Hurricane Tracker - Projected Path

Weather Underground:

5 Day Tracking Map

Tropical Update:

NOAA:

National Hurricane Center

Public Advisory

More:

Hurricane Irene Computer Models

Hurricane Irene 5 PM EST Updates:

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Dick Cheney: "In My Time"

Hat Tip to Drudge Report.  Vice President Dick Cheney's tell all book is out. 

  "In My Time" promises to rattle some cages and shock the Political World.

**Exclusive**

Here he comes...

Dick Cheney offers no regrets about his controversial role as one of America’s most influential vice presidents or his 40-year career.

'This is not an apology tour. It's the book of a proud conservative. He's not looking to kiss and make up with the NEW YORK TIMES set, or for that matter, some of his former Bush administration colleagues,' declares a source close to Cheney.

MORE

Now only the DRUDGE REPORT can reveal some of the revelations from this fall's most anticipated book:

·In a chapter entitled, SETBACK, Cheney is blunt about failures in Bush Administration foreign policy, especially in the second term. He criticizes 'concessions delivered' to North Korea 'in the naive hope that despots would respond in kind,' and says the president was badly served by his State Department, including through advice that was 'utterly misleading.'

·Cheney excoriates Colin Powell for standing by silently, knowing that his deputy Richard Armitage was responsible for leaking Valerie Plame's identity to the press.

·Says that it's not Guantanamo Bay that hurts America's image abroad but rather critics like Barack Obama who 'peddle falsehoods about it.'

·Says that Attorney General John Ashcroft approved the controversial Terrorist Surveillance Program that tracked terrorist communications no less than 20 times before his deputy, James Comey, objected. In a briefing delivered by Cheney and NSA Director Mike Hayden, Democratic congressional leaders Pelosi, Daschle, Harman and Rockefeller unanimously agreed the program should continue and that the administration should not seek any further authorization from Congress. 'The view around the table was unanimous... They feared, as did we, that going to the whole Congress would compromise its secrecy.' When it did leak in the NEW YORK TIMES, Cheney writes that the NEW YORK TIMES clearly violated the law by printing information about classified communications intelligence programs.

·Unrepentant on Iraq. Even in hindsight, Cheney asserts it was the right decision, even taking into account mistakes on intelligence. Says those Democrats, like John Kerry, who supported the war and then flipped for political expedience and accused the president of 'peddling untruths' are guilty of just that themselves.

And all that is before breakfast!

Video: President Bush remembers 9-11

A quick teaser from National Geographic Television of President Bush talking about September 11, 2001.  Graphic video at the end of the 2nd pleane hitting the World Trade Center.

President  Bush Remembers September 11.

Video: Marco Rubio at The Reagan Library?

Conservative Rock Star - Senator Marco Rubio spoke yesterday at the Ronald Reagan Library in California:

DC Earthquake:

5.8 Magnitude earthquake hits Washington DC

Video: Glenn Beck in Israel: "Restoring Courage"

Glenn Beck spoke yesterday in Jerusalem in solidarity with the Jewish people as part of his "Restoring Courage" series of speeches.

Storm Tracks - Hurricane Irene

Hurricane Irene is gaining strength and is on a track to intercept the United States this weekend.  The computers models for Irene have been nudging eastward recently and the latest tracking models show it largely missing Florida.   The latest:

Hurricane Irene Tracking Cone:

Hurricane Irene Computer Models

More:
NOAA Public Advisory

Google News - Hurricane Irene

Hurrican Katrina - What really happened...

Later this month we will mark the sixth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.  Perhaps no event in modern American history is more misunderstood and the facts so little known as Hurricane Katrina.  The left, along with their allies in the State Run Media, have forever used the tragedy of Katrina to denigrate and insult President Bush.  Remember, that disaster relief has always been a local  matter - never a Federal Matter.  The reality about Katrina is more than a little different than what we have been told for 6 years now.  Please read this little fact sheet about Katrina and pass it on...

Popular Mechanics recently had a fantastic story titled Myths about Katrina.  COMMON CENTS brings you the highlights:

Facts vs. Reality - Myths about Hurricane Katrina

Myth #1: “'The aftermath of Katrina will go down as one of the worst abandonment's of Americans on American soil ever in U.S. history.’—Aaron Broussard, president, Jefferson Parish, La., Meet the Press, NBC, Sept. 4, 2005”  - For those that have forgotten, Broussard is the man that cried on Meet the Press the Sunday after Katrina hit, claiming that a co-worker’s mother died in New Orleans as a result of the delay in the rescue effort. Broussard’s claims were later thoroughly discredited. In addition, Broussard was responsible for dismissing all of the pump operators in Jefferson Parish before the storm arrived, and is in the middle of a lawsuit filed by parish residents that claim this decision was largely responsible for the flooding.

That said, PM didn’t agree with Broussard’s assertions regarding this matter either:

“Bumbling by top disaster-management officials fueled a perception of general inaction, one that was compounded by impassioned news anchors. In fact, the response to Hurricane Katrina was by far the largest—and fastest-rescue effort in U.S. history, with nearly 100,000 emergency personnel arriving on the scene within three days of the storm’s landfall.”

Certainly, it seems hard to categorize 100,000 workers as an abandonment. Unlike many in the media that make such bold statements without verification, PM backed up its position with actual facts. How refreshing:

“Dozens of National Guard and Coast Guard helicopters flew rescue operations that first day—some just 2 hours after Katrina hit the coast. Hoistless Army helicopters improvised rescues, carefully hovering on rooftops to pick up survivors. On the ground, ‘guardsmen had to chop their way through, moving trees and recreating roadways,’ says Jack Harrison of the National Guard. By the end of the week, 50,000 National Guard troops in the Gulf Coast region had saved 17,000 people; 4000 Coast Guard personnel saved more than 33,000.”

As the proof is often in the pudding, PM bolstered its view on this myth with the following conclusion:

“While the press focused on FEMA’s shortcomings, this broad array of local, state and national responders pulled off an extraordinary success—especially given the huge area devastated by the storm. Computer simulations of a Katrina-strength hurricane had estimated a worst-case-scenario death toll of more than 60,000 people in Louisiana. The actual number was 1077 in that state.”

It’s amazing how quickly the press forgot their own highly publicized casualty estimates in the tens of thousands, and saw no victory in that number coming in 90 to 95 percent less than they had advertised.

Myth #2: “'This is a once-in-a-lifetime event.’—New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin, press conference, Aug. 28, 2005”  - Regardless of how this storm was being hyped at the time, we now know that Katrina’s wind-strength significantly diminished in the final hours as it approached New Orleans. As PM put it:

“Though many accounts portray Katrina as a storm of unprecedented magnitude, it was in fact a large, but otherwise typical, hurricane. On the 1-to-5 Saffir-Simpson scale, Katrina was a midlevel Category 3 hurricane at landfall. Its barometric pressure was 902 millibars (mb), the sixth lowest ever recorded, but higher than Wilma (882mb) and Rita (897mb), the storms that followed it. Katrina’s peak sustained wind speed at landfall 55 miles south of New Orleans was 125 mph; winds in the city barely reached hurricane strength.  “By contrast, when Hurricane Andrew struck the Florida coast in 1992, its sustained winds were measured at 142 mph. And meteorologists estimate that 1969’s Category 5 Hurricane Camille, which followed a path close to Katrina’s, packed winds as high as 200 mph.”

The reality is that had the levees held there would have been comparatively little damage to New Orleans as a result of this storm. However, in PM’s view, there is another issue raised by this disaster that has gone largely ignored:

“According to the National Hurricane Center in Miami, the Atlantic is in a cycle of heightened hurricane activity due to higher sea-surface temperatures and other factors. The cycle could last 40 years, during which time the United States can expect to be hit by dozens of Katrina-size storms. Policymakers-and coastal residents-need to start seeing hurricanes as routine weather events, not once-in-a-lifetime anomalies.” 

Myth #3: “'Perhaps not just human error was involved [in floodwall failures]. There may have been some malfeasance.’—Raymond Seed, civil engineering professor, UC, Berkeley, testifying before a Senate committee, Nov. 2, 2005”  - There’s been a lot of second-guessing and finger pointing concerning the levee design, and who was responsible for their failure. According to PM, these were all built according to specifications:

“Most of the New Orleans floodwall failures occurred when water up to 25 ft. high overtopped the barriers, washing out their foundations. But three breached floodwalls-one in the 17th Street Canal and two in the London Avenue Canalshowed no signs of overtopping. Accusations of malfeasance were born after the Army Corps of Engineers released seismic data suggesting that the sheet-pile foundations supporting those floodwalls were 7 ft. shorter than called for in the designa possible cause for collapse. In December 2005, PM watched Corps engineers pull four key sections of the 17th Street Canal foundation out of the New Orleans mud. The sections were more than 23 ft. long-as per design specifications. ‘I had heard talk about improper building before the sheet-pile pull,’ the Corps’ Wayne Stroupe says. ‘But not much since.’”

Myth #4: “'They have people … been in that frickin’ Superdome for five days watching dead bodies, watching hooligans killing people, raping people.’—New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Sept. 6, 2005”  -  Some of the most pathetic and shameful reporting on Katrina dealt with the supposed violence occurring in both the streets and at the Superdome. As PM declared, almost all of these reports turned out to be similar to the rubbish that piled up around New Orleans:

"Both public officials and the press passed along lurid tales of post-Katrina mayhem: shootouts in the Superdome, bodies stacked in a convention center freezer, snipers firing on rescue helicopters. And those accounts appear to have affected rescue efforts as first responders shifted resources from saving lives to protecting rescuers."

In reality, although looting and other property crimes were widespread after the flooding on Monday, Aug. 29, almost none of the stories about violent crime turned out to be true:

"Col. Thomas Beron, the National Guard commander of Task Force Orleans, arrived at the Superdome on Aug. 29 and took command of 400 soldiers. He told PM that when the Dome’s main power failed around 5 am, ‘it became a hot, humid, miserable place. There was some pushing, people were irritable. There was one attempted rape that the New Orleans police stopped.’”

What were some of the other numbers?

“The only confirmed account of a weapon discharge occurred when Louisiana Guardsman Chris Watt was jumped by an assailant and, during the chaotic arrest, accidently shot himself in the leg with his own M-16.  “When the Superdome was finally cleared, six bodies were found—not the 200 speculated. Four people had died of natural causes; one was ruled a suicide, and another a drug overdose. Of the four bodies recovered at the convention center, three had died of natural causes; the fourth had sustained stab wounds.”

Some mayhem, huh? And how about the supposed anarchy in the streets, or snipers shooting at rescue operators?

“‘The vast majority of people [looting] were taking food and water to live,’ says Capt. Marlon Defillo, the New Orleans Police Department’s commander of public affairs. ‘There were no killings, not one murder.’ As for sniper fire: No bullet holes were found in the fuselage of any rescue helicopter.”

Myth #5: “‘The failure to evacuate was the tipping point for all the other things that … went wrong.’—Michael Brown, former FEMA director, Sept. 27, 2005”  -  This myth is particularly delicious given the press’s newfound adoration of Brown, even though their complaints about his performance in September got him fired. Regardless, when you look at the arithmetic and the facts, this really was a very successful evacuation. PM agreed:

“When Nagin issued his voluntary evacuation order, a contraflow plan that turned inbound interstate lanes into outbound lanes enabled 1.2 million people to leave New Orleans out of a metro population of 1.5 million. ‘The Corps estimated we would need 72 hours [to evacuate that many people],’ says Brian Wolshon, an LSU civil engineer. ‘Instead, it took 38 hours.’”

Another myth in this regard was that the only people that didn’t evacuate were those that couldn’t. Not so according to PM:

“Later investigations indicated that many who stayed did so by choice. ‘Most people had transportation,’ says Col. Joe Spraggins, director of emergency management in Harrison County, Ala. ‘Many didn’t want to leave.’ Tragic exceptions: hospital patients and nursing home residents.”

Myth #6: “‘We will rebuild [the Gulf Coast] bigger and better than ever.’—Haley Barbour, Miss. Gov., The Associated press, Sept. 3, 2005”  -  There’s been much discussion in the media concerning what should be done with New Orleans after its destruction. PM offered a bold view in this regard. Its premise was that the current National Flood Insurance Program rewards people who live in coastal areas subject to floods, with some making multiple claims for very large sums of money:

“Just 1 to 2 percent of claims were from ‘repetitive-loss properties’-those suffering damage at least twice in a 10-year period. Yet, those 112,000 properties generated a remarkable 40 percent of the losses-$5.6 billion. One homeowner in Houston filed 16 claims in 18 years, receiving payments totaling $806,000 for a building valued at $114,000.  “Just as significantly, the five Gulf Coast states accounted for half the total of repetitive-loss costs nationwide. Taxpayers across the country are paying for a minute number of people to rebuild time and time again in the path of hurricanes.”

By contrast, the government doesn’t view tornado or earthquake damage with anywhere near as broad a scope:

“Folks in Tornado Alley and along the San Andreas fault don’t get federally backed insurance, so why should taxpayers subsidize coastal homes, many of them vacation properties?”

Great question. So, what’s the answer that PM offered which few media would have the guts to espouse?

“Before we start rebuilding ‘bigger and better,’ Congress should reform the flood insurance program. A good start: Structure premiums so the program is actuarially sound and clamps down on repetitive claims.”

Myth #7: “‘You have a major energy network that is down … We could run out of gasoline or diesel or jet fuel in the next two weeks here.’—Roger Diwan, managing director, Oil Markets Group, PFC Energy, Business Week, Sept. 1, 2005”
Probably not unintentionally, PM saved the best myth for last. Some of the worst media reporting surrounding this hurricane was directly related to energy prices. In fact, we quickly heard how this was going to cause massive job cuts around the country, lead to a recession, send gasoline to $5 per gallon, and kill the Christmas shopping season.  Much like most economic predictions from the media, none of these prognostications materialized. And, according to PM, the media were all wet regarding how much damage was done to the nation’s energy complex:

“Initially, the pictures from the gulf looked bleak: oil rigs washed up along the coast, production platforms wrecked. In truth, Katrina inflicted minimal damage to the offshore energy infrastructure. Only 86 of the gulf’s 4000 drilling rigs and platforms were damaged or destroyed, and most of those were older, fixed platforms atop unproductive wells.”

Read the entire story here.

Video: Shade Illusion:

This illusion -- from YT illusion master Brasspup -- drew over 3 million views this weekend. 

Shade Illusion:

Video: Working in America - Top 5 Companies hiring NOW!

WORKING IN AMERICA - What are the 5 Top Companies hiring right NOW?

Working in America - Where are the jobs? (5 more companies hiring right now)

Video: Rebel forces capture Tripoli. Celebrations begin!

No doubt this is a historic day for the Libyan people.  Tripoli, the nation's capitol, has fallen to the rebels and Gadaffi's son is captured!

Tropical Storm Irene: Storm Tracks (w/ updates)

Tropical Storm Irene - soon to be Hurricane Irene has the State of Florida in its cross hairs.  Look out Florida and Southeastern USA.

Tropical Storm Irene Computer Models

Tropical Storm Irene Tracking Cone:

Weather.com Hurricane Central


NOAA:  National Hurricane Central

Video: Live Action's Lila Rose featured on CNN

Pro Life Undercover Activist Lila Rose is featured in this surprisingly fair CNN segment.  Lila is dedicated to ending the practice of abortion and is going undercover to do it.  Lila has founded a Pro Life group called Live Action. 

Live Action's Lila Rose on CNN

Video: Operation Fast and Furious

Fox News William La Jeunesse played this outstanding video on the coverup concerning Operation Fast and Furious the gun running scandal in Arizona. 

Friends of Common Cents:

Light blogging today (or at least this morning).  In the meantime check out these outstanding sites:

Newsbusters

Coordinated Illumination

Voting Female

Confessions of a Street Pharmacist

The Elector Retards

Hobo Road

American Football Topics

Moonbattery

Riehl World View

Verum Serum

Sarah Palin Video: "Iowa Passion"

Awesome video by SarahPac of Governor Sarah Palin making the rounds at the Iowa State Fair.

Governor Perry and the Texas Jobs Miracle:

The State Controlled Media is and will be working overtime to debunk the Texas jobs explosion that has taken place under for Governor Bush and currently under Governor Perry.  IBD puts some of these lies to rest...

As the result, they've been throwing anything and everything at the wall — no matter how tenuous — hoping something will stick.
Texas' job-growth story is a myth. Time magazine's Massimo Calabresi claims, "Texas has done worse than the rest of the country since the peak of national unemployment in October 2009." And besides, its unemployment rate is "only" a point below the national average.  Fact is, Texas kept its unemployment level below the national average despite a huge influx of people. And from June 2009 to June 2011, Texas accounted for more than half of all net jobs created in the country, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

But they were all government jobs. U.S. News & World Report's Rick Newman claims that official employment data for Texas show "virtually all of those new jobs are in the government sector, not in private enterprise."  But since the recession ended two years ago, government jobs accounted for just 44,000 of the 298,600 net new jobs in Texas, according to the BLS. Also, private jobs in Texas are up 3% since June 2009 compared with a piddling 0.9% nationwide.

Well, they were mostly minimum-wage jobs. Critics in the press point out that the state has a lot of workers drawing low income. "The miracle is that anyone would call minimum-wage jobs a miracle," opined Huffington Post reporter Jason Cherkis.We'll leave it to liberals to explain why minimum-wage jobs are worse than no jobs at all. In any case, job growth in Texas has been widespread. In the past year, construction jobs grew more than 5%, professional services 4.5%, hospitality 3%. Plus, as our National Issue story pointed out this week, wages in Texas have climbed faster than the national average since May 2008 — 7.4% vs. 5%.

So what? Perry didn't have anything to do with the Texas job growth machine. "From Gov. Ann Richards to Gov. George W. Bush to Gov. Rick Perry, the state has exploded in population and jobs," says NPR's Wade Goodwyn.  This is an odd critique — blame Perry for continuing business-friendly policies that encourage companies to come, stay and grow. You'd think if these policies have worked in Texas for two decades, that would be all the more reason to adopt them nationally.

Perry is a spendthrift. Aman Batheja of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that government spending under Perry climbed faster then under Bush's governorship, which is presumably meant to undermine his credentials as a fiscal hawk.

No, wait, he's a heartless budget cutter. "The state made massive across-the-board cuts to state agencies — including $4 billion in public school cuts over two years," claims the Huffington Post's Cherkis.

In any case, he isn't spending enough on liberal priorities. To hear reporters tell it, Texas doesn't devote enough tax dollars to education, anti-poverty programs, health care, etc. Typical is Washington Post columnist Harold Meyerson, who laments that "Perry seems quite comfortable with the state's lagging performance in what we might term the pursuit-of-happiness index," and who compares Texas to a Third World country.
So, according to Meyerson, the half-million people who moved to Texas from other parts of the country in just the past few years are, what, idiots?  Fact is, Texas has done remarkably well over the past two years, despite Obama's oppressive economic policies.  No wonder journalists are having such a hard time agreeing on why Perry's Texas record is actually bad news.

Wow! Huge Dust Storm envelopes Phoenix, AZ again!

Amazing video of a compilation of videos showing the Aug 18th Dust Storm or Haboob that buried Phoenix, AZ again!

Too Good To Be True: Latest miracle weight loss product is...

Wine.  It appears that a glass of wine, besides its many medicinal qualities can actually help you to lose weight!

A glass of wine a day can actually stop people from getting fat and may even help people to lose weight, say scientists.  Alcohol has always been thought to trigger weight gain because of its high sugar content, but new research suggests a glass a day could form part of any diet plan.
Looking at past studies they found that, while heavy drinkers do put on weight, those who drink in moderation can actually lose weight. A spokesman for the research team at the Navarro University in Spain said: 'Light-to-moderate alcohol intake, especially of wine, may be more likely to protect against, rather than promote, weight gain.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2027284/A-glass-wine-day-stop-people-piling-pounds-help-LOSE-weight.html#ixzz1VQktYADH

Gov. Rick Perry: "I love my country more than I care about Obama's feelings"

Outstanding campaign speech by Texas Governor Rick Perry:

WOW: Now an Illlinois Farmer confronts Obama!

Just doing the job the State Controlled Media refuses to do.

An Illinois farmer confronted Barack Obama today at Wyffels Hybreds in Atkinson, Illinois. The farmer was upset with the increase in the amount of burdensome rules and regulations under the Obama regime. The farmer told Obama, “Please don’t challenge us with your rules and regulations from Washington DC. We would prefer to start our day in a tractor cab or combine cab rather than filling out forms and permits to do what we like to do.”

The best editorial page you will find:

is Investor's Business Daily.  IBD compiles easy-to-read editorials that show the benefits of free market capitalism.

Big Government:  The lie at the heart of the European Union has been exposed this week as its leaders, worried about a monetary collapse, have pushed a new plan to make its government even bigger and more centralized.

Economy:  Stubbornly high unemployment isn't the only thing ailing this recovery. Inflation keeps rising even as growth stagnates, raising the specter of 1970s-style "stagflation."

California:  Taking a break from leading his city down the path of economic decline, the mayor of Los Angeles lectures the state on how to squeeze more tax revenue out of business.

Scandal:  As guns funneled by the ATF into Mexico continue to show up at crime scenes, three key supervisors of an operation that resulted in the deaths of two U.S. agents get moved up instead of fired.

Unions:  An Ohio contractor was wounded by gunfire Wednesday by a shadowy man vandalizing his SUV with union threats. Where's Washington's outrage at such lawlessness?

Economy:  With the Obama stimulus fully exposed as a failure of galactic proportions, columnist Paul Krugman has unveiled his Plan B: space aliens. Too bad White House policy also remains on another planet.

Racism:  Across the U.S., mobs of black youths are organizing on Facebook to loot stores and beat whites. Yet none dare call the "flash mob" attacks hate crime, least of all the attorney general.

Scandal:  The Cook County Assessor's office appears to have no record of any tax being paid on a property transfer between a future convicted felon and a future president in possible violation of Illinois law.

Failed Policy:  The Obama administration's jobs plan was based on a greening of the economy. But the green jobs aren't materializing, a fact driven home by the recent bankruptcy of a solar power company.

Video: Rep Maxine Waters vs. President Barack Obama:

Is President Obama losing his base?  You know things are getting bad when Rep Maxine Waters takes on Barack Obama:

The Examiner has more.

During a sometimes-raucous session of what’s being called the “For the People” Jobs Initiative tour, a key member of the Congressional Black Caucus told an audience in Detroit Tuesday that the CBC doesn’t put pressure on President Obama because he is loved by black voters. But at the same time, Rep. Maxine Waters said, members of the CBC are becoming increasingly tired and frustrated by Obama’s performance on the issue of jobs. Even as she expressed support for the president, Waters virtually invited the crowd to “unleash us” to pressure Obama for action.

“We don’t put pressure on the president,” Waters told the audience at Wayne County Community College. “Let me tell you why. We don’t put pressure on the president because ya’ll love the president. You love the president. You’re very proud to have a black man — first time in the history of the United States of America. If we go after the president too hard, you’re going after us.”

The problem, Waters said, is that Obama is not paying enough attention to the problems of some black Americans. The unemployment rate for African-Americans nationally is a little over 16 percent, and almost twice that in Detroit. And yet, Waters said, the president is on a jobs-promotion trip through the Midwest that does not include any stops in black communities.

Ron Paul "The one who can beat Obama"

Ron Paul Video:  "The one who can beat Obama"

"Powerful"

Wisconsin Recall Elections (Results)

Wisconsin Special Election Results.  Tuesday there are two recall elections in Wisconsin for the Democrat Senators who fled the state in the Spring: Senator Jim Holperin and Senator Robert Wirch.

Wisconsin Secretary of State:
Wisconsin Special Election Result:

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Wisconsin Special Election Results:

Wis Politics.com

Live Blog of Aug 16 Special Elections:

"You're a gutsy guy": Fox News' Neil Cavuto interviews man who confronted Obama

Fox's Neil Cavuto talked with Tea Party leader Ryan Rhodes who confronted President Obama about VP Biden calling Americans who disagree with him "Terrorists"

Tea Party Member to Pres Obama "Why is VP Biden calling us 'Terrorists?'"

Awesome video from Hannity.  President Obama confronted by a Tea Party member about his own VP calling Tea Party Members "Terrorists".

Video: John Stossel: "The Road To Serfdom"

Fox News John Stossel "The Road To Serfdom"

Chart of the Day: Over 95% of all jobs being created are in Red States!

Or more properly Right to Work States.  If you add the 74.3% jobs that Texas has created to the other "Red" States:  Louisiana, North Dakota, Alaska, South Dakota, Wyoming you get about 96% of all new jobs are being created in the "Red" States.  Among the Democratic "Blue States" only D.C. and New York have created any net jobs since 2006!  Of course, don't rely on the State Controlled Media to pass this on!

Indiana State Fair Stage Collapse - Sugarland Concert:

Kind of blurry at times and very intense.  Watch the stage collapse at the Indiana State Fair.  "Only" 5 people have died so far:

Rick Perry: "Time to Get America Working Again"

Texas Governor Rick Perry's Presidential campaign just released this video.  Could he be the next President??

Gov Rick Perry "Time to Get America Working Again":

Iowa Straw Poll Results:

Results from the Iowa Republican's Straw Poll held in Ames, Iowa.  As you probably already know Tim Pawlenty has dropped out after this disappointing result.

And the 2nd Tier of candidates from the Iowa Straw Poll (Results):

Wisconsin Recall Elections:

There are two more recall elections scheduled for Tuesday.  Wisconsin voters signed petitions to have recall elections for Sen Jim Holperin and Sen Robert Wirch.  Both of these fleebaggers ran off to Illinois insteading of debating the 2012 budget.  They stayed there for several weeks while Republicans debated and passed a budget.  Could you get away with running away from your job for weeks at a time?

These two Democrats are being faced by Republicans Kim Simac and Jonathan Steitz.

Two of their campaign videos are below:

Video:  Steitz for Wisconsin State Senate:

Video:  Kim Simac for Wisconsin State Senate:

Texas Governor Rick Perry anonunces he is running for President in 2012:

TX Governor Rick Perry " I Declare My Candidacy For Presidency of the United States:

Need a job? Looking for a job or career??

Is anyone out there looking for a new job or career?  We here at Common Cents sincerely hope that this list of job sites helps you find that next job or career.  Good luck to you!  The Number One way people find jobs is by Networking.  Tell EVERYONE you know you are looking.  Expand your circle of friends and acquaintances.  Strike up conversations with strangers!! 

The number two method to find a new job is via online job postings.  With that in mind we bring you the following list of sites that will help you in your job search:

• Monster.com is the largest internet job search site.  If your resume is not posted here you are wrong.
• Idealist.org - Over 4,500 Not For Profit jobs posted!
• CareerOneStop.org- Your one-stop-shop for all things careers!
• WorkTree claims to be scans MILLIONS of jobs in seconds! View jobs from thousands of online sources INSTANTLY! 50,000+ links to job sites, recruiters, employers and more!
• Job.com is another very large job search site. Registration and resume posting is free and this job search site always ranks as one of the top career sites on the Internet.
• Beyond.com - You can do it all at Beyond.com.  Currently there are thousands of Jobs Posted.
• SnagAJob.com is America’s largest hourly job website, featuring more than 100,000 active job postings in industries including: restaurant, retail, office and more.
• Indeed.com claims to have 877,363 jobs in the last 7 days.  Search job sites, newspapers, associations and company career pages.
• Simply Hired.com claims to have over 5,204,117 jobs are posted right now!!!
• Execu-Search.com specializes in jobs for Executives
• The Ladders.com search for jobs paying $100,000 and up at The Ladders.com!!
• The Federal Government is always hiring!
• Resume Mailman.com - emails your resume to 1000s of recruiters
• Resume Zapper.com emails your resume to thousands of recruiters!
• Hot Resume.com - post your resume here for free!
• Conservative Jobs.com - The name says it all!
• Salary.com - Find out how much you should be paid for your job!!
• Hoovers.com - Get all the up-to-date information on your company and others

Other money making ideas:

• Craig's List  - has thousands of jobs available in every sector.  Free to use, free to post and no charges for anything.
• The Day Job Nuker - is a easy to navigate site dedicated to showing you how to make a living online - written by someone who is doing it!!!
• Need to make money now?  - These companies will pay you to turn your car into a traveling billboard by covering it with advertising!  Interesting idea...
• Very Easy money -  Make money selling used golf balls.

Good News: US to face British riots in 15 years!!

What is really behind the riots in the UK and what could it mean for the US? Some say social inequality and police targeting minorities has provoked the uprising in the UK. Sally McNamara from the Heritage Foundation gives us some insight on what could be the real issues. McNamara also grew up in Nottingham where rioters have attacked the local police department.

Follow Lauren on Twitter: http://twitter.com/LaurenLyster

BREAKING: Federal Judge Rules ObamaCare Unconstitutional!

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta ruled today that President Obama's signature achievement "Obama Care" is Unconstitutional:

A federal appeals court in Atlanta ruled Friday that a provision in President Obama's health care law requiring citizens to buy health insurance is unconstitutional, but the court didn't strike down the rest of the law.
The decision is a major setback for the White House, which had appealed a ruling by a lower court judge who struck down the entire law in January. But given that another appeals court, in Cincinnati, has upheld the law, it is increasingly clear that the Supreme Court will have the final say.  he majority also said that a basic objective of the law is to "make health insurance coverage accessible and thereby to reduce the number of uninsured persons." Without the individual mandate, the majority said, the law "retains many other provisions that help to accomplish some of the same objectives as the individual mandate."
The decision is a review of a sweeping ruling by a Florida judge, who not only struck down a requirement that nearly all Americans carry health insurance, but he also threw out other provisions ranging from Medicare discounts for some seniors to a change that allows adult children up to age 26 to remain on their parents' coverage.
The states urged the 11th Circuit to uphold U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson's ruling, saying in a court filing that letting the law stand would set a troubling precedent that "would imperil individual liberty, render Congress's other enumerated powers superfluous, and allow Congress to usurp the general police power reserved to the states."
The Justice Department countered that Congress had the power to require most people to buy health insurance or face tax penalties because Congress has the authority to regulate interstate business. It said the legislative branch was exercising its "quintessential" rights when it adopted the new law.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/08/12/us-appeals-court-rules-against-obamas-health-care-law/#ixzz1UrclmW2p

Republican Presidential Debate:

GOP Presidential Debate.  Thursday night Fox News hosted a Republican Debate in Ames, Iowa.  Iowa holds the first Presidential Caucus in January 2012.  Here are some highlights from the Republican Debate:

GOP Presidential Debate:

Cable TV Ratings: Fox News continues to dominate:

TV NEWS RATINGS: TOTAL VIEWERS (L +SD)
5 pm	The5 1606	Blitzer 641	Matthews 708	Special 304
6 pm	Baier 2009	Blitzer 659	Live 609	Prime 416
7 pm	Shep 1622	King, USA 498	Matthews 760	Issues 578
8 pm	O’Reilly 3250	Cooper 398	O’Donnell 909	Grace 806
9 pm	Hannity 2418	Morgan 634	Maddow 1039	DrDrew 679
10 pm	Van Susteren 2020	Cooper 610	Schultz 783	Behar 514
11 pm	O’Reilly 1429	Cooper 408	O’Donnell 439	Showbiz 381
TOTAL DAY	1258	428	460	334
PRIME TIME	2566	547	911	657

Sad But True: Please read this...

The Daily Mail:  Years of liberal dogma have spawned a generation of amoral, uneducated, welfare dependent, brutalized youngsters

Please take the 10 minutes it takes to read this.  It's from The Daily Mail and is just superlative.  The author is writing about the youth who are rioting in Britain.  Is this where we are heading in America?

A few weeks after the U.S. city of Detroit was ravaged by 1967 race riots in which 43 people died, I was shown around the wrecked areas by a black  reporter named Joe Strickland.
He said: ‘Don’t you believe all that stuff people here are giving media folk about how sorry they are about what happened. When they talk to each other, they say: “It was a great fire, man!” ’
I am sure that is what many of the young rioters, black and white, who have burned and looted in England through the past few shocking nights think today. It was fun. It made life interesting. It got people to notice them. As a girl looter told a BBC reporter, it showed ‘the rich’ and the police that ‘we can do what we like’.

If you live a normal life of absolute futility, which we can assume most of this week’s rioters do, excitement of any kind is welcome. The people who wrecked swathes of property, burned vehicles and terrorised communities have no moral compass to make them susceptible to guilt or shame.  Most have no jobs to go to or exams they might pass. They know no family role models, for most live in homes in which the father is unemployed, or from which he has decamped. They are illiterate and innumerate, beyond maybe some dexterity with computer games and BlackBerries.  They are essentially wild beasts. I use that phrase advisedly, because it seems appropriate to young people bereft of the discipline that might make them employable; of the conscience that distinguishes between right and wrong. They respond only to instinctive animal impulses — to eat and drink, have sex, seize or destroy the accessible property of others.

Their behaviour on the streets resembled that of the polar bear which attacked a Norwegian tourist camp last week. They were doing what came naturally and, unlike the bear, no one even shot them for it.

It gets better:

Every firm in the land knows that an East European — for instance — will, first, bother to turn up; second, work harder; and third, be better-educated than his or her British counterpart.Who do we blame for this state of affairs?
Ken Livingstone, contemptible as ever, declares the riots to be a result of the Government’s spending cuts. This recalls the remarks of the then leader of Lambeth Council, ‘Red Ted’ Knight, who said after the 1981 Brixton riots that the police in his borough ‘amounted to an army of occupation’.  But it will not do for a moment to claim the rioters’ behaviour reflects deprived circumstances or police persecution.  Of course it is true that few have jobs, learn anything useful at school, live in decent homes, eat meals at regular hours or feel loyalty to anything beyond their local gang. This is not, however, because they are victims of mistreatment or neglect. It is because it is fantastically hard to help such people, young or old, without imposing a measure of compulsion  which modern society finds  unacceptable. These kids are what they are because nobody makes them be anything  different or better.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2024284/UK-riots-2011-Liberal-dogma-spawned-generation-brutalised-youths.html#ixzz1Uf63xaFf