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Note: This column went up at Pajamas Media and was teased here at BizzyBlog on Wednesday.

Thanks to Real Clear Politics for linking to the PJM column.

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If the ad agency that produces those MasterCard “Priceless” commercials ever wrote a commercial that critiqued government spending, it would go something like this:

• Annual salary and benefits of Bell, California’s former city manager: Over $1.5 million.
• New 4,200 K-12 school complex in Los Angeles for 4,200 students: $578 million.
• One earmark for a “near-zero emissions coal power plant in Illinois that the (U.S.) Dept. of Energy (had previously) defunded because the project was inefficient”: $2 billion.
• Spending appetite of government at all levels: Bottomless.

The above recitation illustrates that as bad as the Bell and LA examples are, it’s the federal government that can waste money like no other entity ever seen on Planet Earth. Fiscal restraint has of course been a problem for decades, but the spending that has occurred under congresses controlled by Democrats since 2007 has taken this country to the edge of a fiscal and economic precipice.

A little-known fact is that federal spending rose by only 2.8% during fiscal 2007 under the final budget passed by a Republican Congress. I know, 0% would have been preferable, and it was way too little and too late for a bunch that had let spending grow way too quickly during the previous five years.

Then came the Democrats. Spending during the fiscal year that ended in September 2008, the first full budget year under the control of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, increased by 9.1% to almost $3 trillion. That percentage increase was greater than any Republican Congress under George W. Bush.

They were just warming up. Fiscal 2009 brought the beginning of the $787 billion (before interest) “economic stimulus plan.” All but those in serious denial acknowledge that it has failed to revive the economy, which economist David Rosenberg described on August 25 as already being in a depression. Despite representations to the contrary, the stimulus plan had 9,000 earmarks, including that $2 billion Illinois energy debacle. More generally, entitlement and other spending went into overdrive. Fiscal 2009 ended with a reported deficit of $1.416 trillion.

Recently, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the deficit for fiscal 2010 will be a bit lower, predicting a figure of $1.342 trillion (see page three at this large-PDF report) after the dust settles. Wowee zowee.

The problem is that both last year’s and this year’s numbers are fudged. Even before considering the off-budget baloney and the Fed’s massive “quantitative easing,” each of which would require at least an additional column to treat properly, Uncle Sam’s real 2009 deficit was $115 billion lower than reported, while the 2010 deficit, assuming no additional non-cash adjustments, will be higher by the same amount.

This situation is not the CBO’s fault, as it follows the accounting rules implemented by the administration. The problem is with one of those accounting rules.

Beginning in April 2009, the Treasury Department began reporting its “investments” under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) using what is known as “Net Present Value” accounting. As I noted in a May 2009 column, this was a major departure from the cash-in, cash-out reporting people had come to previously expect, and which most believe still occurs.

Here in capsule form is how it works, and what occurred that has distorted reported results:

• The government no longer treats the money “invested” in propping up banks, other financial institutions, car companies, and other businesses as “outlays.” Similarly, it doesn’t recognize principal repayments as receipts.
• If (more like when) it becomes clear that the government isn’t going to get all of its money back, Treasury estimates how much those losses will be, and includes that estimate in “outlays.” This is a highly judgmental calculation that is vulnerable to political manipulation. During fiscal 2009, Treasury write-downs amounted to hundreds of billions of dollars.
• But in March 2010 (shazam!), Treasury decided that it had overestimated its fiscal 2009 TARP losses. It arbitrary revalued its TARP investments upward by $115 billion, thereby reducing reported 2010 “outlays” by the same amount.

Here was my plain-English summary of that $115 billion adjustment when it occurred:

… the administration pushed as much “bad news” (asset writedowns) as it could into last year’s financial reporting, since last year was going to be a disaster no matter what. But since they overdid it with the writedowns last year (”Gosh, how did that happen?”), they can make this year look better than it really has been.

After adjusting for the $115 billion non-cash item just noted (and wryly noting that TARP somehow is treated as “mandatory spending”), and assuming that there are no more surprise TARP writedowns or writeups before the end of the current year, here’s how things really turned out last year, and how they will end up this year if the CBO’s estimates are otherwise accurate (all figures are in billions; numbers that changed from CBO’s original are highlighted):

Well, well. While the administration and CBO will claim that spending and the deficit started to head downward in fiscal 2010, the reality is that fiscal 2010 will be significantly worse on both fronts.

One look at Table 3 in the July 2010 Monthly Treasury Statement confirms that there has been no letup in spending in most areas of the government. There’s a lot of competition for the most offensive increase, but my nominee would be the Department of Education, which through July had spent almost $81 billion compared to “only” $42 billion as of the same time last year. It would be nice to think that nearly doubling federal spending and building Taj Mahal schools with local tax dollars have made American students twice as smart. Dream on.

The administration’s accounting shift cleverly masks what it has really been up to during its nineteen months in office: Creating a permanently high spending structure that will become ever more difficult to reduce to a decent size when (or if) sanity finally prevails. A year ago, Victor Davis Hanson called this the “Gorge the Beast” strategy. Its aim is to justify tax increases and enhance the power of the ruling class over everyone else.

It must be stopped. A massive change in Congressional representation in Washington is a prerequisite, but it will only be a start.

• As noted yesterday, ADP’s employment report showed 10,000 private sector jobs lost.
• Also as noted yesterday, the Wall Street Journal carried a prediction that “the unemployment rate is “expected to creep up to 9.6% as U.S. employers drop another 110,000 people off the payrolls.” Just in time for the disengaged to start paying attention.”
• Here’s the Associated Press, as of early Thursday evening: “The Labor Department is forecast to report Friday that private businesses added a net total of only 41,000 jobs last month, the fourth straight month of anemic hiring. When government jobs are included, total payrolls are forecast to drop by 100,000 – based mostly on about 115,000 temporary census jobs ending. The jobless rate is projected to rise to 9.6 percent from 9.5 percent, according to Thomson Reuters. Many economists expect growth to proceed at such a weak pace that the unemployment rate could top 10 percent by next year.”
• I haven’t previously commented on the government’s productivity report released yesterday. While manufacturing productivity ticked up nicely at an annualized +4.1% during the second quarter (meaning an actual 1.02%), productivity everywhere else fell by an annualized 1.9%. The AP’s interpretation of this is that companies might be forced to hire people whether they really want to or not. I don’ think so. If manufacturing stays flat, those entities will be able to get by with the people they have. In services, if topline revenues aren’t increasing, companies won’t be able to afford extra people, and will try to work those on board harder, especially those who are salaried (the second quarter result may indicate that such efforts have diminishing returns).

This Month’s Benchmark

Readers here know that yours truly likes to look at the actual numbers (i.e., before seasonal adjustment). Last month, I was an outlier in saying that the July 2010 Employment Situation Report wasn’t as bad as seasonalized, er, advertised. In fact, the 91,000 private-sector jobs added on the ground in the real world was the best July performance since 1999. Unfortunately for Team Obama, it got a bad break when the seasonalizers took over and turned the best July on the ground in over a decade into a mediocre seasonally adjusted +71,000. By contrast, in July 2006, BLS converted a 79,000 on-the-ground job loss in the private sector into a 158,000 seasonally adjusted gain. C’mon.

Seasonal, schmeasonal. The first 18 or so months of the POR (Pelosi-Obama-Reid) Economy (i.e., June 2008 through November 2009) are going to make the seasonally adjusted calculations screwy for a long time to come. Why others don’t or won’t recognize this point is beyond me.

Anyway, here are the on the ground private sector numbers for the past 7-1/2 years:

Treating August 2003-2007, which had average job additions of 90,000, as “typical,” and given how good last month really was, I would suggest that an acceptable August on-the-ground performance would be 75,000 or more jobs added. Anything below that will indicate that July might have been a favorable blip, and nothing more. I’m benchmarking on a curve, as a repeat best-in-a-decade performance would require 214,000 net job additions. Also be on the lookout for possible downward adjustments to the June and July on-the-ground figures, and for excessive additions in the Birth/Death model.

Heaven knows how BLS will seasonalize all of this, but I hope the point that the seasonalization exercise has become divorced from reality is starting to sink in. The law of averages would seem to dictate that Team Obama might get an upward break in seasonalization this time around, and a PR boost heading into Labor Day.

The August report will appear here at 8:30 a.m.

Here’s the first paragraph:

Nonfarm payroll employment changed little (-54,000) in August, and the unemployment rate was about unchanged at 9.6 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Government employment fell, as 114,000 temporary workers hired for the decennial census completed their work. Private-sector payroll employment continued to trend up modestly (+67,000).

That looks like a “beats expectations,” but the proof will be in the actuals.

Here’s more (keep in mind that all figures are seasonally adjusted, so take with large amounts of salt):

… The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) increased by 331,000 over the month to 8.9 million. These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job.

… Manufacturing employment declined by 27,000 over the month. A decline in motor vehicles and parts (-22,000) offset a gain of similar magnitude in July as the industry departed somewhat from its usual layoff and recall pattern for annual retooling.

Within professional and business services, employment in temporary help services was up by 17,000. This industry has added 392,000 jobs since a recent employment low in September 2009.

… The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for June was revised from -221,000 to -175,000, and the change for July was revised from -131,000 to -54,000.

Those are nice prior-period revisions in the right direction totaling 123,000.

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UPDATE: Those looking for an Obama bash are going to be a bit disappointed for a second straight month. The actual result in the private sector beat the threshold by a lot:

If there’s a qualifier, it’s that 115,000 of the BLS’s estimate of 131,000 jobs added on the ground came from the Birth/Death Model, and I do think that Birth/Death is generally being overestimated (otherwise, I don’t think we would have seen the comprehensive 900,000-job writedown that occurred in February).

But even if you cut Birth/Death in half, the result would have been +73,500 (131,000 minus half of the 115,000 Birth/Death number). That’s barely short of the +75,000 threshold set in advance.

August was also the second month during which more people were working than were during the same month a year ago, following a 27-month losing streak.

Thus, on balance, while August’s on-the-ground number compared to previous normal-economy Augusts isn’t nearly as good as July’s compared to previous Julys, it’s acceptable, but needs to accelerate in the coming months to be convincing.

All of this was deliberately written without reference to what media reports are saying, so it will be interesting later today or this evening to note the contrast, if any.

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UPDATE 2: As to the unemployment-related data, the unemployment rate went up primarily because (on a seasonally adjusted basis) more people started looking for work, and weren’t particularly successful at finding it. Again on a seasonally adjusted basis, 290,000 more people were working in August than were in July. This result, plus the positive prior-month adjustments in the Establishment Survey noted above, may mean that there’s more job growth occurring than the Establishment Survey is picking up. Let’s hope so, for the sake of both the unemployed and the taxpayers who are funding their extended benefits.

Sep 2, 2010 / 10:04 pm

During a visit to Cuba, two officials from Spain’s Socialist Party expressed gratitude to the Catholic Church for its “important role” in securing the release of several political prisoners.

Leire Pajin and Elena Valenciano from the Socialist Party, praised the release of political prisoners in Cuba and announced that six more newly-freed dissidents will be arriving in Spain tomorrow.

The six will follow in the footsteps of the 20 political prisoners released earlier this summer who were also immediately sent to Spain. The Cuban government announced last June its intention to free the 52 dissidents arrested in 2003. …

Go here for the rest of the story.

First, August sales results were disappointing. Second, it become known today that GM will attempt to go public on November 18, a later than originally hoped post-election date chosen to hopefully allow for another reported quarterly profit to boost investors’ appetite for its shares.

As so often has been the case during Democratic administrations when unfavorable developments arise, the UK press has seen potential problems with the IPO, while the Associated Press has been acting as if all is well.

In two separate items, AP reporters couldn’t even bring themselves to tell readers what the company’s real August sales decline was.

In a report yesterday on the industry’s awful August, reporters Dee-Ann Durbin and Tom Krisher were appropriately gloomy overall, but they massaged GM’s reported result (bolds are mine throughout this post):

Americans nervous about the drumbeat of bad economic news stayed away from auto showrooms. Automakers nervous about their bottom lines didn’t offer deals to lure them in.

As a result, it was the worst August for U.S. auto sales since 1983, when the country was at the end of a double-dip recession. General Motors, Toyota, Honda and Ford all reported declines from the month before and from a year earlier.

The bleak results were a reminder that, for all the good news about the turnaround of the Detroit automakers, the market for cars and trucks in the United States remains frail. Initial data showed sales came in at about 997,000, down 5 percent from July, according to AutoData Corp.

“Coming in below a million units is eye-opening for August,” said Paul Ballew, a former chief economist for GM. “I never thought I’d see that. That’s a tepid month for August, which is supposed to be one of the top months of the year.”

… “We know it’s going to be a modest recovery. It’s going to be bumpy,” said Don Johnson, GM’s vice president of U.S. sales. “What we don’t want to do is get back to putting incentives in the marketplace to keep the plants running.”

… Overall, sales at Ford were down 5 percent from July and 11 percent from last August. At GM, sales of its four remaining brands were down 7 percent from a month ago and 11 percent from a year ago.

For the year so far, sales are up 5 percent at GM, which is preparing for an initial public offering of its stock that could come as early as next month.

We learned today that the “next month” part concerning the IPO isn’t going to happen. In her report today, Durbin’s massage was more thorough:

Analyst: GM plans to sell shares on Nov. 18

General Motors plans to start trading shares again on Nov. 18, timing that allows the company one more quarter of earnings to build its case to investors, a firm that researches initial public offerings said Thursday.

Scott Sweet, the managing partner of IPO Boutique, said GM plans to price the shares on Nov. 17 and begin selling them the next day. He said the automaker wants to start a two-week a road show to drum up investor interest on Nov. 3, the day after the midterm congressional elections.

It’s unclear if the IPO dates have been finalized. Two people with knowledge of the process say the automaker’s board hasn’t approved a date for the IPO but is expected to meet next week to discuss the issue. GM is in a “quiet period” before an IPO, so no one is authorized to discuss the process publicly.

… Sweet said his information comes from multiple people on Wall Street but declined to name them. He says the company hasn’t yet established a price for the shares, but hopes to raise $15 to $20 billion with the initial public offering.

The timing could disappoint some Democrats who supported the government’s $50 billion bailout of GM last year and wanted to point to a successful IPO before the elections.

… But one more quarter of earnings could help the automaker establish that it is healthy and capable of making sustained profits. GM earned $2.2 billion in the first half of 2010 despite depressed U.S. auto sales, but it lost $3.4 billion in the fourth quarter of last year.

GM also hopes the U.S. auto market sees some modest improvement this fall. On Wednesday it said its U.S. sales fell 5 percent from July and 11 percent from last August, when they were boosted by the Cash for Clunkers program.

The fact is, as seen in this Wall Street Journal compilation, that GM’s August 2010 sales were 24.5% lower than August 2009. For Dee-Ann Durbin’s and Tom Krisher’s benefit, that’s the result you get when you go to the WSJ link and compare the 185,105 vehicles sold in August 2010 to the 245,066 sold in 2009, and divide the difference (59,961) by 245,066. Yes, according to the company, sales of the company’s four remaining brands were down “only” 11% from a year ago. But it’s your job to report the full story, not merely to parrot the company’s press release.

The folks at the Financial Times understand that, and also see how a company reporting declining sales in its largest market might encounter a bit of difficulty foisting its shares on the investing public. Reporter Bernard Simon also managed to find space for the actual year-over-year sales decline in yesterday’s coverage (link requires free registration):

GM Sales Dip Casts Shadow Over IPO

General Motors’ sales in its core US market sagged in August, potentially complicating its bid to drum up investor support for its forthcoming public share issue.

Sales were a quarter lower than in August 2009, when demand was bolstered by the Obama administration’s cash-for-clunkers scrappage incentives. GM has also eliminated four brands since then.

More worrying, however, was a 7.2 per cent decline from July. Low-margin sales to car rental operators and other fleet owners climbed to 28 per cent of the total, from 25 per cent in July. “August was definitely what we call ‘one of those months’,” said Don Johnson, GM’s head of US sales operations.

Mr Johnson said that consumers remained cautious amid an unexpectedly slow revival in employment. In the longer term, however, he forecast that there was “pent-up demand building” that would “eventually be released when the economy gets a firmer footing”.

… GM filed a bulky draft prospectus for an initial public offering with US and Canadian regulators last month. The US and Canadian governments hold 72 per cent of GM’s equity.

The document warns that in spite of a pick-up in demand since late last year, “many of the economic and market conditions that drove the [earlier] drop in vehicle sales, including declines in real estate and equity values, increases in unemployment, tightened credit markets, depressed consumer confidence and weak housing markets, continue to impact sales”.

If the recent revival falters, the prospectus warns, “our results of operations and financial condition will be materially adversely affected”.

It’s hard to fault Mr. Johnson for his optimism, but if he thinks the revival in employment has been “unexpectedly slow,” he’s been reading too many happy-talk missives from Team Obama.

Durbin at the AP and an unbylined Reuters article both report that GM will conduct its IPO “road show” during the two weeks after the November elections. Reuters says that “The final value of the IPO has not been set but one source said early plans for the IPO envisioned selling $12 billion to $16 billion in common stock and $3 billion to $4 billion in preferred stock that would convert to common stock under a mandatory provision.” That’s $15-$20 billion of the $50 billion (really more) the government “invested” in return for a 61% stake during the company’s emergence from bankruptcy. Even if the IPO flies, it will still be Government Motors.

Both Reuters and the New York Times correctly noted GMs 25% year-over-year August sale decline. Since AP couldn’t bring itself to do so, the graphic at the top right of this post, which may have seemed a bit over-the-top when it appeared a few weeks ago, is more appropriate than ever.

Cross-posted at NewsBusters.org.

In a short item about a Democratic Governors Association election complaint about Ohio GOP gubernatorial candidate John Kasich, the Associated Press’s Julie Carr Smyth showed that she is willfully ignoring Buckeye State reality, or has been living a hermit’s existence for the past few months.

In describing Kasich’s standing against Democratic incumbent governor Ted Strickland, Smyth claimed that Kasich “is keeping pace with Strickland in polls and fundraising” (a picture of the relevant paragraph is here).

As you can see, that’s sort of like a baseball writer claiming that “The Cincinnati Reds are keeping pace with the Chicago Cubs this year”:

For those who aren’t following baseball closely, the Reds have a 21-1/2 game lead on the Cubs with less than 30 games remaining.

Who do you think you’re foolin’, babe?

(Answer: Relatively disengaged voters who need to given the impression that the sinking Strickland campaign is really on track to victory, instead of heading towards the first defeat of an incumbent governor in the Buckeye State in 36 years.)

Democrats are upset that Kasich appeared on Fox News and was able to give out the name of his web site and encourage viewers to donate to his campaign during Bill O’Reilly’s show on August 18. Awwww.

The election complaint is carried at a Huffington Post item courtesy of Sam Stein, a former NewsWeak (spelled that way on purpose) reporter. Two years ago, Stein claimed that Republican presidential nominee John McCain couldn’t possibly have vetted VP pick Sarah Palin because no one had visited her town’s local newspaper and looked through its archives. Well Sam, that just might be because the paper’s archives going back a decade were available online, and contained hundreds of entries. This Internet thing is pretty cool when you have a clue about how to use it.

Ben Smith at Politico, who is not being linked because of his outfit’s outrageous attempt to shut down the College Politico, seems to think that this complaint has as much validity as Stein’s unproven claim against Team McCain two years ago:

It seems to hinge on a chyron and, to my eye, is more in the great tradition of thin, high-profile election-year litigation than about winning in court.

Speaking of “in-kind contributions,” maybe Julie Carr Smyth can estimate how much value favoring Strickland we should place on her demonstrably false claim in a national news story that Kasich is only “keeping” pace with him, when the fact is that Kasich has an averaged-out double-digit lead.

Cross-posted at NewsBusters.org.

Here are quick looks and quick takes on what’s come in thus far.

ISM Manufacturing

As announced yesterday, it went up to 56.3 in August from 55.5 in July, indicating very strong expansion (any reading above 50% indicates expansion). The stock market really liked it.

This is at least the third month in a row where purchasing manager optimism as expressed in the ISM report is out of sync with hard manufacturing data originating elsewhere, which has been mostly flat and sometimes declining. I don’t think that any of the data from any source is necessarily “wrong”; it’s just that ISM appears to have a large-company and surviving-company bias that has never really been important until the full weight of the POR Economy was felt. I think what’s happening is that those who are still around are pretty fired up and have picked up market share from others who were either not surveyed or who, having given up, have dropped out of the survey.

Update: Giving equal time to the doubters, David Rosenberg calls the ISM’s report “likely a huge headfake,” and predicts that it will drop into contraction within three months. If it turns out this way, it’s going to make the questions raised here (especially Question 4) seem more legitimate, whether or not there really is any conflict of interest.

ADP Employment

The payroll and employee benefits giant’s Wednesday report went negative for the first time in six months:

Private sector employment decreased by 10,000 from July to August on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the latest ADP National Employment Report® released today. The estimated change of employment from June to July was revised down slightly, from the previously reported increase of 42,000 to an increase of 37,000. The decline in private employment in August confirms a pause in the recovery already evident in other economic data. The deceleration in employment was evident in the major sectors and by size of business. This month’s decline in employment followed six monthly increases from February through July. Over those six months the average monthly gain in employment was 37,000 with no evidence of acceleration.

This would appear not to bode well for Friday’s Employment Situtation Report.

Vehicle Sales

Ouch: Overall sales were less than a million, the worst performance since 1983, down 21% from a year ago and 5% from July. The fact that last year had Cash For Clunkers doesn’t come close to excusing away the extent of the drop.

Specifically:

• Government/General Motors was down 24.5% from a year ago (11% in surviving brands), and down 7.2% from July. FT.com legitimately writes that this weak performance is “potentially complicating its bid to drum up investor support for its forthcoming public share issue.” Well, at least an IPO that doesn’t involve coercing Wall Street into swallowing stuff it doesn’t want.
• Ford was down 11%, Chrysler was up 6%, and the dips at the three major Japanese makers averaged over 30%.

Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims

They came down 6,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis, a few thousand more than expected.

*  *  *  *

The Wall Street Journal is carrying a prediction that the unemployment rate is “expected to creep up to 9.6% as U.S. employers drop another 110,000 people off the payrolls.” Just in time for the disengaged to start paying attention.

The implication that Obama and his administration would be have no ability to curb gun rights once in power has been proven false in the past few weeks.

First, there was the proposed ban on lead ammunition that floated out of the EPA. Yes, it was hooted down by public comment (a proposed ban on fishing sinkers is still possible), but it’s evidence that “creative” types in federal agencies and gun-grabbing groups are lying awake at night thinking about what they and cooperative bureaucrats can do to make gun ownership more expensive and impractical.

Second, there’s this (HT Volokh):

Obama Administration Reverses Course, Forbids Sale of 850,000 Antique Rifles

The South Korean government, in an effort to raise money for its military, wants to sell nearly a million antique M1 rifles that were used by U.S. soldiers in the Korean War to gun collectors in America.

The Obama administration approved the sale of the American-made rifles last year. But it reversed course and banned the sale in March – a decision that went largely unnoticed at the time but that is now sparking opposition from gun rights advocates.

A State Department spokesman said the administration’s decision was based on concerns that the guns could fall into the wrong hands.

… But gun rights advocates point out that possessing M1 rifles is legal in the United States — M1s are semi-automatics, not machine guns, meaning the trigger has to be pulled every time a shot is fired — and anyone who would buy a gun from South Korea would have to go through the standard background check.

… According to the ATF Guidebook on Firearms Importation, it would normally be legal to import the M1s because they are more than 50 years old, meaning they qualify as “curios or relics.” But because the guns were given to South Korea by the U.S. government, they fall under a special category that requires permission from the State Department before any sale.

… The White House referred questions on the issue to the Pentagon, which referred questions to the U.S. Embassy in South Korea, which deferred back to the State Department.

Episodes such as these show why the NRA and Buckeye Firearms Association endorsements of Ohio Governor Ted Strickland are complete betrayals of their memberships, and of the Constitution itself.

Strickland at first vigorously supported State Department head Hillary Clinton for President in 2007 and early 2008. He then switched to vocal support of Barack Obama for President when it became clear that he would win the nomination. He lodged no objections that I am aware of or could find to Obama’s Supreme Court nominations of Sonia Sotomayor or Elena Kagan, even though each has a history of hostility to Second Amendment rights.

How could the NRA or the BFA not realize the obvious fact that Strickland, who also as I understand it has an at-home track record of appointing gun-grabbing judges, cannot possibly be a strong or even legitimate supporter of Second Amendment rights while vigorously backing two of the most rabid gun control advocates ever to hold political office — people who are now working hard to curb those rights by any means necessary?

Update: According to Wiki, Strickland-appointed Ohio Chief Justice Eric Brown “served 11 years as an Assistant Attorney General for Ohio Attorneys General Lee Fisher and Betty Montgomery, where he worked as both a lawyer and as a manager.” Both Fisher and Montgomery are not big fans of the Constitution’s self-evident Second Amendment rights. Any info on Brown’s Second Amendment positions would be welcome.

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I meant to note Major Garrett’s departure from Fox News for a print journalism gig when it was announced a week ago:

Fox News Channel chief White House correspondent Major Garrett said Wednesday he’s leaving the network after eight years to join the National Journal as a congressional correspondent.

Garrett, who worked at the Washington Times, U.S. News & World Report and CNN before joining Fox in 2002, said it was a return to his roots in print journalism.

… “All I ever tried to do, whether I was at CNN or U.S. News or Fox, was to do the best reporting I can and let that speak for itself.”

What one can say about Garrett is really what one can say about Fox’s hard-news team: He and they only appear to lean right because their contemporaries at the other networks are soooo far to the left.

My best memory of Garrett is how he pushed candidate Barack Obama on Jeremiah Wright in March 2008. Read the transcript. He allowed Obama to hang himself with open-ended questions, and then zoomed in with “yes or nos” to highlight obvious inconsistencies. Fair, balanced, and persistent. Well done, sir.

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From Rasmussen (HT Ace):

The number of Republicans in the United States grew in August while the number of Democrats slipped a bit and the gap between the parties fell to the smallest advantage for Democrats in five years.

In August, 35.0% of American Adults identified themselves as Democrats. That’s down nearly half a percentage point from a month ago and is the smallest percentage of Democrats ever recorded in nearly eight years of monthly tracking.

Imagine how much better the situation would be if the GOP, especially in Ohio, were running more sensible, Constitution-based conservatives.

Which reminds me … I suspect that the folks at ORPINO (the Ohio Republican Party In Name Only) are really impressed with themselves right now, given that their coasting candidates are in the lead in most if not all statewide races.

Just imagine where they’d be if they had actually tried to do something about this (from Gallup on July 26):

Ohio’s 7-point Dem advantage in July was the same as Pennsylvania, one point greater than Wisconsin’s 6-point advantage, and three points more than Minnesota’s 4 points (!). Bashing Ted and screaming about jobs lost will probably work this time — but that will be in spite of ORPINO, not because of it.

For decades, Ohio voters who are relatively disengaged, the large majority of whom are instinctively sensible conservatives, haven’t been offered any kind of meaningful philosophical alternative. What you see above is the result of a moribund, hidebound, go-along get-along party that has consciously chosen to stand for nothing.

Aug 31, 2010 / 11:57 am

The Knights of Columbus in Mexico have expressed their solidarity with the country’s bishops for their courageous, firm and respectful opposition to the Mexican Supreme Court’s recent rulings on abortion, same-sex “marriage” and adoption by gay couples.

“Mexico is a free, plural and democratic country where persons and institutions have the right and duty to express their opinions on issues that have to do with national public life,” the Knights said in a statement.

They noted that the Catholic laity make up the vast majority of the Mexican people and that they enjoy civil rights such as freedom of expression.

They also reaffirmed their defense of religious freedom, the unborn, the family based on traditional marriage and the right of adopted children to have a father and a mother. …

Go here for the rest of the story.

How to know you’re an American (or, what American culture is).

60 ways to increase your influence online.

The Notorious PhD has insightful articles about culture–like this one–on his blog.

CEOs who cut jobs got paid more, according to one (liberal) policy think tank report.

Job descriptions that don’t really describe anything are all too common on job boards. This week’s #2 and #5 are cases in point:

1. Indiana: Presto Heater/Costco Merchandiser

Seasonal Part-Time Job. Check “Presto Heater Display” twice daily in local Costco store. Light merchandising of display required. Must have excellent people skills and be able to work with Costco store management. A perfect P/T job for retiree or housewife.

Big hair and flammable sweaters not recommended.

2. Alaska: Discovery toy Rep: Discounted Colorful Fun Education

Throwing parties, selling toys. or you could simply get a discount on toys. Either way you will be joining U.S.A. leading sales TEAM, for Discovery Toys If you are motivated, earn your own SUV or even a Jet!

AAA batteries and miniature pilot for jet not included.

3. Alaska: Airline Ramp

Want to enjoy the short summer months outdoors as much as possible?? Than this is right up your alley. Work outside, stay in or get in great physical condition, and use travel benefits to go fishing, hunting, vacation.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
• Fueling of A/C and ground equipment
• Operation of ground support equipment according to company policy
• Assist with aircraft towing
• Loading & unloading of aircraft
• Other duties as assigned

You may lose your hearing and inhale cancerous benzene particles—but hey, you’re outdoors!

4. Montana: Leisure Agent for Travel Agency

POSITION: Leisure Agent
REPORTS TO: Office Manager
HOURS: Full Time

QUALIFICATIONS:
•1- 2 years previous leisure travel experience preferred, domestic and international
•Friendly, outgoing personality
•Excellent customer service skills
•Team player
•Bilingual preferred but not required

Expressing dedication to leisure by wearing velvet bathrobes to work, having your pedicurist file your toenails underneath your desk, and constantly nibbling on miniature quiches a plus.

5. Ottowa: Seeking Motivated Woman and Men

Fast growing Home Base company looking for new associates in the local & surrounding areas, to deliver valuable information either by telephone or email to people waiting to hear from us regarding our IN-DEMAND digital products and business packages.

BENEFITS:

* $1,000 – $2,500 weekly Guarantee
* NO selling, explaining or cold calling
* Unlimited training and company support
* Flexible hrs – lucrative benefits package

Reply Now or Call Larry to learn more!

The work, according to Larry:

You call.
They cuss you out, then hang up on you.
You try again 235 times.
Someone buys a package.
Larry takes a 75% cut, then encourages you to attend a motivational seminar (only $59.99, plus tax) to boost your chances of success.
You cry.

Happy Friday!