It's national election season, which means perspective on the economy is badly needed. Thanks to Rossputin for highlighting this article from economists Brian Wesbury and Robert Stein. Read the whole thing for yourself, but interesting tidbits are that family income last year hit its first all-time high in 7 years, income inequality declined faster than at any point in the previous 45 years, and the poverty rate stayed below its pre-1999 norms. Yes, economic growth has lagged, causing the country to flirt with recession. But according to Wesbury and Stein, "these figures bolster the case that the underlying fundamentals of the US economy were sound in 2007, before the Federal Reserve decided to try to inflate our way out of financial … [Read more...]
Peoples Press Collective: Grassroots Coverage of the DNC in Denver
For more of the latest coverage of Denver's Democratic National Convention (Mon, Aug. 25 - Thur, Aug. 28), bookmark the Peoples Press Collective (PPC). My boss Jon Caldara explains on his blog:They are a team of Colorado bloggers who will be armed to the teeth with point and shoot cameras, video cameras, and live streaming cell phones to document all the shenanigans, beat downs, hippie love-fests, and wacky protests going down in the streets. Basically anything the mainstream media won’t be around for, they will. Some pretty big time Colorado bloggers like the Rocky Mountain Right, Rossputin, Slapstick Politics, and Drunkablog have already signed on. They’ve got some cool features on their site like a quick 1 minute DNC preview video, a … [Read more...]
From the Front Pages of the Lefty Political Playbook
Here's a little insight for the day ... Recently, I posted at the Schaffer v Udall blog a response to the latest trumped-up faux controversy heaped against the Republican U.S. Senate candidate. Rossputin followed it up at Politics West with an even abler and more thorough refutation of the charges - using relevant facts and evidence. I got a chuckle today when my friend pointed out to me the first comment added to Rossputin's post:when are you going to stop dodging my question about your work for the Heartland Institute? "DeGrow points out a few subsequent articles which show the attack to be erroneous as well as discussing how two of the "big names" leading the attack, former high-level diplomats, are now Democratic activists and at … [Read more...]
Support for Congress Matches Belief that Astrology is “Very Scientific”
Public confidence in the U.S. Congress has never registered lower than it does today under the leadership of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid:The percentage of voters who give Congress good or excellent ratings has fallen to single digits for the first time in Rasmussen Reports tracking history. This month, just 9% say Congress is doing a good or excellent job. Most voters (52%) say Congress is doing a poor job, which ties the record high in that dubious category. The level of cynicism is stunning across the board (only 13% support from Democrats, 8% from Republicans, 3% from unaffiliated voters). Based on what Townhall columnist Jon Sanders pointed out last year when Congress' approval rating was 14 percent, as many Americans believe that … [Read more...]
Setting the Record Straight
I saw this post from The Colorado Index earlier in the week. Busy at the time, I just shook my head and moved on. But when Rossputin - the subject of the post - brought it to my attention again, I decided it was worthy of a quick response. A watcher is entitled to his opinions and to the manner of delivering those opinions, but a couple factual corrections are in order: 1. A watcher wrote: "'Blogger Extraordinaire' Ross Kaminsky - the self promoter who admits he doesn't read conservative Colorado blogs...." Fact: The implication behind the use of "Blogger Extraordinaire," which was used twice in this post, was that it was a title Ross chose for himself. In fact, it was the Samsphere promoters who devised and used the label. To my … [Read more...]
Rebutting Huckabee Redux
Rossputin has reposted a comment I left in response to some incoherent pro-Huckabee remarks made on his site. Here's how I concluded:I'm writing to implore GOP primary voters to think seriously about their decisions. If you're going to support Huckabee, fine, but only if you at least got there by coming to grips with his record and having given some thought to a couple broad questions: 1) What would his foreign and domestic policy prescriptions really mean for our country? and 2) What are the odds he could actually win a general election? Writing as a Baptist born-again Christian, let me remind you we are electing a President, not a pastor. Go ahead, and read the whole thing. … [Read more...]