Economists define a recession as two or more quarters of negative GDP growth. Larry Elder, writing in the Washington Times, correctly states that "... since the recovery began in President Bush's first year in office, we have had zero quarters of negative economic growth, let alone consecutive ones."

The US News & World Report writes about The Recession that Wasn't:

It's not just the 1Q number that gives me hope. The jobs numbers—both initial unemployment claims and monthly payroll numbers—are also way below levels commonly seen during recession. Plus, corporate profit growth outside of financials and housing remains strong. Simply put, the recessionistas—to borrow a classic Kudlow zinger—are running out of time with both monetary and fiscal stimulus (bleh!) kicking in gear and the credit markets on the mend. If 2Q isn't negative, then what quarter will be negative, if any? Even the NBER doesn't declare recessions when the economy never actually has a single down quarter.

Journalist Greg Wilcox says that we could be out of this recession before we're in it:

[Richard A. Weiss, chief investment officer and executive vice president at City National Bank] said that, historically, once consumer confidence hits bottom, the economy begins its recovery.

Guess what? The Baltimore Business Journal reported Friday that the new Consumer Attitudes and Spending by Household Index survey showed that consumer confidence hit 39 this month, up from its record low of 29.5 in April.

Bloomberg wonders, What Recession?:

"Why, if it's a recession, are all the economically sensitive stocks leading the market?'' said James Paulsen, the Minneapolis-based chief investment strategist at Wells, which oversees about $220 billion. "They were priced for consumer death, and now we're finding out not only are they not going to die, but it may not be all that bad.'' . . .

Companies aren't expressing "gloom and doom,'' Barton Biggs, a former Morgan Stanley strategist who now manages $1.5 billion at Traxis Partners in New York, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. "Things are not as bad as you would believe from listening to the press and some of the Wall Street commentators.''

Even Paul Krugman of the New York Times writes a headline reading, Bad news: No recession. Of course, it takes an ultra-liberal like Krugman to put a negative spin on tens of thousands of Americans actually keeping their jobs.

One thing to keep in mind is that economic numbers are often revised months after the initial numbers come out. That's because all the data just can't be collected that fast. For instance, it wasn't until President Bush had been in office for almost a year before economists finally admitted that the recession began Clinton's watch.

But for now, there is no recession and we have the numbers to prove it. Even a Democrat congress couldn't undo the effectiveness of the Bush tax cuts.

One final note: I remember how Democrats and their MSM mouthpieces castigated Bush for talking about how the economy was in recession during his debates with Gore, speaking about "self fulfilling prophecy". Yet now that a Republican is in the White House they don't seem to have a problem talking about a "looming recession", runaway inflation and even the crash of the dollar.

I guess it's OK to scare the voting public if it will scare them into voting for an inexperienced, naive junior Senator who just happens to be a Democrat. Let's hope the American public isn't that gullible come November.

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Bloggers and main stream media alike have been having a bit of fun with Obama's little mistake. My favorite is from Suitably Flip, which has come up with a special 57-star American flag lapel pin in Obama's honor.

Given the internet and email rumors that have plagued the Obama campaign about his refusal to wear an American Flag pin on his lapel, this bit of humor is particularly droll.

Of course, if George W. had of made this mistake, there would no end to the declarations of further proof of his lack of intelligence and it would join the long list of "Bushisms" that have become so popular among the left-leaning elitists.

But far more frightening than this slip of Obama's tongue took during his victory speech for the North Carolina primary, when he made the outrageous claim that Roosevelt, Kennedy and Truman all talked to our enemies:

Real Clear Politics has an excellent article by Jack Kelly in which he destroys this historical misrepresentation clearly, concisely and pithily. Money quote:

The closest historical analogue to Sen. Obama's expressed desire to meet with no preconditions with anti-American dictators such as Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is the trip British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and French premier Eduoard Daladier took to Munich in September of 1938 to negotiate "peace in our time" with Adolf Hitler. That didn't work out so well.

And so I will not join those poking fun at Obama's slip. He obviously meant to say 47 states, with "one more to come". No, what I find most curious about this clip is when he states that he "really wanted to go" to Alaska and Hawaii, but couldn't because his staff "couldn't justify it".

Obama, who is running your campaign? If I ran for president I would listen to my staff, but if I "really wanted" to do something, I would do it. If they convinced me otherwise, then I would say that I had decided that it would not be in the campaign's best interest. In other words, it would be my decision.

But not Obama. He does what his handlers tell him. He came right out and told us so.

And this is the man that wants to run the most powerful nation in the history of the world?

I just can't justify voting for this history-ignorant, no-experience puppet.

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Then again, "tits" means something else entirely to the bird-watching population of England:

Of course, this is actually a very good lesson for the Gorebal Warming alarmists. As the natural temperature variations occur across geologic ages, different species are affected differently. What is bad for some is very good for others.

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The vision statement of Trinity United Church of Christ is based upon the systematized liberation theology that started in 1969 with the publication of Dr. James Cone’s book, Black Power and Black Theology.

James Cone defines the theology as thus:

Black theology refuses to accept a God who is not identified totally with the goals of the black community. If God is not for us and against white people, then he is a murderer, and we had better kill him. The task of black theology is to kill Gods who do not belong to the black community ... Black theology will accept only the love of God which participates in the destruction of the white enemy. What we need is the divine love as expressed in Black Power, which is the power of black people to destroy their oppressors here and now by any means at their disposal. Unless God is participating in this holy activity, we must reject his love.

When Wright was interviewed on Hannity and Combs in 2007 he repeatedly asked Sean Hannity, "How many of Cone's books have you read? How many of Cone's book have you read?"

Cones is a racist and a Marxist and Wright has wholeheartedly adopted his theology and has for the entire 20 years that Obama was in his church.

Entire post submitted by non-blogging Fourth Horseman. For more quotes from James Cone, read this post from Deus Decorus Est.

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So far, he has failed to meet this obligation to voters, even though he is now the presumed Republican nominee.

The Times claims McCain should reveal this information for two reasons. First, in this era of modern medical science and extended life spans, McCain could be the oldest man ever to become president. Second, he once had skin cancer -- even though he beat cancer and today is cancer free, as evidenced by his lack of stops at hospitals for radiation treatments during the rigorous months on the campaign trail.

The Red Rag goes further, declaring:

No presidential candidate should get to the point that he has locked up his party’s nomination without public vetting of his health.

And where was the NY Times when half the voting population was demanding Kerry's medical records from the Vietnam war? Ah, perhaps the Times thinks that sick people can't lead while character is unimportant.

What am I thinking? Of course they don't believe character is important. Did they even read Obama's book? I'm talking about his first one, in which he reveals his true self.

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Fifty degrees outside at 9 am on a Sunday morning.

Global warming my ass. Pray that the next sunspot cycle kicks into gear because if it doesn't, you'd better get ready for the next ice age.

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The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act was designed to protect the gun industry from frivolous prosecution by liberal big-city mayors as they attempt to blame the device, rather than the socio-economic factors of their failed policies that create a rich source of criminals.

New York City attempted to undermine federal law by saying gun manufacturers were creating a "public nuisance" because they failed to monitor retail dealers in order to keep their wares out of criminal hands:

The essence of the complaint was that the suppliers failed to monitor: gun shows where non-licensed sellers sold weapons; private or "kitchen table" sellers who are not required to conduct background checks or keep records required of Federal Firearms Licensees; "straw purchases" by qualified handgun purchasers for those who are not qualified; multiple sales of guns; intentional illegal trafficking by corrupt licensees; theft from licensees with poor security or false reports of theft; and, in general the oversupply of guns to markets in jurisdictions that have lax gun regulations.

In other words, once the gun manufacturer had created the gun and transferred ownership of the merchandise to a legal owner, they failed to follow the gun through it's lifetime and make certain that each transfer was to a legal owner. This is absurd on the face of it.

But that won't stop Mayor Bloomberg from continuing his fight against evil inanimate objects. He will continue suing gun dealers across state lines, saying:

Regardless of this ruling, we will continue our fight against illegal guns full-bore — in the courtrooms, on the streets, and in Congress.

Big city liberals, driving up the prices of mid-America's beloved hobbies by abusing the justice system in pursuit of political gain. How stereotypical of them.

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You may be a Taliban if...

1. You refine heroin for a living, but you have a moral objection to beer.
2. You own a $3,000 machine gun and $5,000 rocket launcher, but you can't afford shoes.
3. You have more wives than teeth.
4. You wipe your butt with your bare left hand, but consider bacon "unclean."
5. You think vests come in two styles: bullet-proof and suicide.
6. You can't think of anyone you HAVEN'T declared Jihad against.
7. You consider television dangerous, but routinely carry explosives in your clothing.
8. You were amazed to discover that cell phones have uses other than setting off roadside bombs.
9. You've ever uttered the phrase, "I love what you've done with your cave."
10. You have nothing against women and think every man should own at least one.
11. You bathe at least monthly whether necessary or not.
12. You've ever had a crush on your neighbor's goat.

And one more, which I got from commenter Pistolero over at Ace of Spades HQ:

1. You may be a Taliban if don't think the saying 'punishing the one eyed cleric' is a euphemism for male masturbation.

Now that's funny, I don't care who y'are.

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(DragonLady on May 1, 2008 7:46 AM) LOL! Yep, that's funny right there. :-)

It’s not what I want. The presidency is the only job in town that’s worth going through what you’ve got to go through to get it. And that includes the vice presidency and all of the rest of them, as far as I’m concerned.

And I thought I had an opportunity to do some things a different way. And if I was successful, I could lead in a different way. That didn’t work out. I’m interested in absolutely nothing else other than doing what I can to help those who are trying to help this country, and be a good citizen and do those things that I can do now in the private sector to help these kids and grandchildren.

But that does not involve, you know, going to state funerals in faraway places.

And that last statement is why I love Fred.

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(Mickey on Apr 26, 2008 7:46 AM) Fred LOST give it up man! Ed Bryant Lost give it up man! Neither are conservative and both LOVE THE UNITED NATIONS.

All four agencies that track Earth's temperature (the Hadley Climate Research Unit in Britain, the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, the Christy group at the University of Alabama, and Remote Sensing Systems Inc in California) report that it cooled by about 0.7C in 2007. This is the fastest temperature change in the instrumental record and it puts us back where we were in 1930. If the temperature does not soon recover, we will have to conclude that global warming is over.

Chapman admits that one year of cooling does not a trend make, but then he turns to sunspot activity. According to SOHO, the latest cycle of sunspots (No. 24) failed to begin on schedule (sometime shortly after March of last year).

The first sunspot appeared in January this year and lasted only two days. A tiny spot appeared last Monday but vanished within 24 hours. Another little spot appeared this Monday. Pray that there will be many more, and soon.

The reason this matters is that there is a close correlation between variations in the sunspot cycle and Earth's climate. The previous time a cycle was delayed like this was in the Dalton Minimum, an especially cold period that lasted several decades from 1790.

Northern winters became ferocious: in particular, the rout of Napoleon's Grand Army during the retreat from Moscow in 1812 was at least partly due to the lack of sunspots.

Again, Chapman admits that there may not be a causal connection between last year's precipitous temperature drop and No. 24's late start. But given the grim consequences of another mini-ice age, he warns us to start planning now. Lack of action could prove fatal:

The interglacial we have enjoyed throughout recorded human history, called the Holocene, began 11,000 years ago, so the ice is overdue. We also know that glaciation can occur quickly: the required decline in global temperature is about 12C and it can happen in 20 years.

The next descent into an ice age is inevitable but may not happen for another 1000 years. On the other hand, it must be noted that the cooling in 2007 was even faster than in typical glacial transitions. If it continued for 20 years, the temperature would be 14C cooler in 2027.

By then, most of the advanced nations would have ceased to exist, vanishing under the ice, and the rest of the world would be faced with a catastrophe beyond imagining.

Australia may escape total annihilation but would surely be overrun by millions of refugees. Once the glaciation starts, it will last 1000 centuries, an incomprehensible stretch of time.

Global warming we could deal with. In fact, it would open up more farm land and expand the habitable area on the Earth.

But an ice age is another thing altogether.

So please, for the future of humanity, everyone go out and buy a huge (non-hybrid) SUV and fire up the smudge pots. In the meantime, I think I'll invest in some acreage on the equator. Hmm, I wonder what a small plantation in the Brazilian rain forest goes for these days.

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That is the question asked by a cute poll over at Swarm, in which you can vote by clicking here.

Now that's funny, I don't care who y'are.

The thing is, for a lot of people it's actually true. Which is why RINO McCain will be our next president.

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Fat people who exercise regularly are better off health wise, and have lower mortality rates, than thin people who don't.

Now there's a truth that you won't hear too often. That's because weight loss has been so politicized that it is hard to ferret out the what is known from what is conjecture from what is outright lies designed to get you to buy more books, diet pills, exercise equipment, sports bras, and so on.

Salted throughout the show are examples of just how little we really know about health and how to improve it. Penn addresses this in a somewhat unique way:

500 years ago, the plague was blamed on the wrath of God. It wasn't until 1847 that some Hungarian nut-doctor in Vienna suggested doctors wash their hands before delivering a baby. As late as the 19th century, cutting someone open and sucking out half of their blood was a standard medical practice. 25 years ago a couple of Australian doctors demonstrated that almost all peptic ulcers were not caused by stress, but by a bacteria. Some recent studies suggest - suggest - that obesity might also be caused by a bacteria. We don't know for sure yet, though.

And our pal, Marvin Minsky, who pioneered artificial intelligence at MIT, says, "I don't work out because we don't know yet enough about the long-term effects. It appears that each hour of exercise may add two hours to one's life - but I don't know of any evidence that this leads to getting better ideas."

Better ideas, fuck! Yeah, and you can bet your fat ass what we're doing today will look incredibly stupid in 30 years.

Exactly.

The bottom line is that activity level is more important than weight. If you have a "weight problem", my advice is to throw away the scale and join a baseball team. Or maybe just buy a Wii.

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(Mickey on Apr 22, 2008 9:25 PM) Hey, you have errors on your www blog page. There is Nothing below this last post here. WAKE UP Fred lost, Ed Lost..

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"Condi Rice has been actively, actually in recent weeks, campaigning for this," Senor said.

The party strategist said Rice could represent an ideal vice presidential candidate when paired with the Arizona senator, who is the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

"What the McCain campaign has to consider is whether or not they want to pick a total outsider, a fresh face, someone a lot younger than him, a governor who people aren't that familiar with," Senor said. "The challenge they're realizing is that they'll have to have to spend 30-45 days, which they won't have at that point, educating the American public about who this person is.

"The other category is someone who people instantly say, the second they see that announcement, I get it, that person could be president tomorrow. Condi Rice is an option."

As far as cutting-edge, minority-rights politics goes, Republican black woman on the ticket trumps either of the Democrat nominees. Particularly one that grew up in the conditions that she did, and one that is as brilliant as she is.

And to have someone who actually believes in the Second Amendment is a dream worth thinking about. Not to mention that the up-at-4am-to-stay-in-shape angle will play well with the soccer moms.

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(mickey on Apr 7, 2008 7:33 AM) Condi is a reason to vote for McCain? Why would you vote for the Anti-Constitution McCain just because CFR Rice is on the ticket? You, Alfa Patriot, are part of the problem.

(Max on Apr 7, 2008 10:13 AM) No matter how good id McCain or Obama really they are investing hell of money in campaining.

He was the hawk.

He soared. In fact, everything about him soared. His shoulders soared, his cheekbones soared, his brows soared. Even his hair soared. . . .

Later in his life, he took that stance into politics, becoming president of the National Rifle Association just when anti-gun attitudes were reaching their peak. Pilloried and parodied, lampooned and bullied, he never relented, he never backed down, and in time it came to seem less an old star's trick of vanity than an act of political heroism. He endured, like Moses. He aged, like Moses. And the stone tablet he carried had only one commandment: Thou shalt be armed. It can even be said that if the Supreme Court in June finds a meaning in the Second Amendment consistent with NRA policy, that he will have died just short of the Promised Land -- like Moses.

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