It’s here.

It will go up here at BizzyBlog on Monday morning (link won’t work until then) after the blackout expires.

The central point is in the subheadline: “Of course the president and Congress are after money, but they really want control over your life.”

One of its key assertions relates to the Trojan horse known as the public option:

The “public option” is not about “competition.” It is about elimination. That “the uninsured” receive “coverage” is only incidental.

…. This stack of playing field de-levelers (built into the “public option”) constitutes what the bill’s sponsors call “competition.” It’s really a sick (pun intended) joke.

One of the bigger disappointments in this battle has been the failure of sensible conservatives to point out just how deliberately unfair the alleged “competition” of a “public option” is. I noted the issue of the almost certain built-in advantages of a government-run entity over private insurers way back in June (second item at link). If others have raised it, I’ve missed it. At a practical level, it’s one of the best arguments that can be made against this monstrosity.

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UPDATE: Currently at the top left at Drudge –

Related link is here.

As noted, it’s all about control.

From Budapest, Hungary:

Nov 4, 2009 / 10:01 pm

On October 31, the Church beatified Bishop Zoltán Lajos Meszlényi, a victim of the Communist persecution of the Catholic Church in Hungary. The beatification was scheduled shortly after Pope Benedict approved a decree verifying the martyrdom of the bishop, who died in 1951.

Cardinal Péter Erdő, Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest and Primate of Hungary, presided over the Mass and beatification of Bishop Zoltán Lajos Meszlényi on Saturday at the Basilica of Esztergom. During the Mass, the cardinal emphasized that the “mission of Christians is to announce Jesus Christ even if they are persecuted,” adding that Bishop Meszlényi “is an example of witness by a person fortified by the Holy Spirit.”

Cardinal Erdő explained that Bishop Zoltán Meszlényi’s life and death are exemplary for his time, in which many kept silent for fear of losing their jobs, homes, families, and lives. Blessed Meszlényi’s teaching is still very timely today when we feel “trapped by our individual and common selfishness, short-sightedness, thirst for power, hatred, ’ a trap that we are unable to free ourselves from using our own strength.”

According to Magyar Kurír, a Catholic news organization in Central Europe, Bishop Meszlényi was an exemplary priest who led a life of service to the Church. Having studied in Rome at the Gregorian University as part of his education at the Pontifical German-Hungarian Institute, Blessed Meszlényi became fluent in Italian, French, English, German, Latin and Greek, in addition to his native Hungarian. His studies led him to a degree in canon law as well as diplomas in philosophy and theology.

Despite the excellence of education and his incredible intellect, Blessed Meszlényi was known as a very down to earth man. He did not mind being alone and was very humble, not even considering himself to be a candidate to replace Cardinal József Mindszenty who had been arrested and sentenced to life in prison. He was also known for his strict but loving treatment of the priests in his diocese, encouraging them to always become better, more faithful servants of the Church.

However, Blessed Meszlényi would not back down when confronted by the Communists. The Church in Hungary faced many difficulties when the country gained its independence from the Hapsburg empire, as well as when the borders of many Eastern European countries were re-drawn after WWI, which caused the geographical area of one diocese to be located in two different countries.

The presence of the Communists, as well as Russia’s invasion, which put the country behind the Iron Curtain, also presented the Church with difficulties, as the Communists tried to seize Hungary’s Catholic schools and influence the election of bishops. Blessed Meszlényi quickly became an enemy of the Communists when it became known that he was not afraid of the threat of force. ….

Go here for the rest of the story.

Here’s the official video from the White House itself:

I think NBC Chicago has it right on this one:

Obama’s Frightening Insensitivity Following Shooting

…. After news broke out of the shooting at the Fort Hood Army post in Texas, the nation watched in horror as the toll of dead and injured climbed. The White House was notified immediately and by late afternoon, word went out that the president would speak about the incident prior to a previously scheduled appearance. At about 5 p.m., cable stations went to the president. The situation called for not only his trademark eloquence, but also grace and perspective.

But instead of a somber chief executive offering reassuring words and expressions of sympathy and compassion, viewers saw a wildly disconnected and inappropriately light president making introductory remarks. At the event, a Tribal Nations Conference hosted by the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Indian affairs, the president thanked various staffers and offered a “shout-out” to “Dr. Joe Medicine Crow — that Congressional Medal of Honor winner.” Three minutes in, the president spoke about the shooting, in measured and appropriate terms. Who is advising him?

Anyone at home aware of the major news story of the previous hours had to have been stunned.

You’ll see near the end Obama went back to wrap up his address to the Tribal Conference instead of simply stopping. It’s as if his having to provide a reaction to the Fort Hood massacre was an unwelcome interruption.

Just imagine the reaction if Bush 43 had done something like this in response to a similar incident at a chamber of commerce or business group meeting.

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UPDATE, Nov. 9: Alan Keyes explains it –

There are times when even Obama’s critics seem to have difficulty putting into words their reaction to his strange behavior. I think that’s because they refuse to consider the simple premise that makes sense of it all: He feels no love for the USA. He seems in fact to feel himself to be no part of this country.

Did you know that activist filmmaker James O’Keefe and partner Hannah Giles made only one undercover video showing ACORN employees willing to assist them in illegal and human rights-violating activities?

Absent prior knowledge, that’s the impression you would have upon reading the Associated Press’s coverage of the latest development in the ACORN saga, namely the raid on the organization’s New Orleans office by Louisiana state investigators.

AP writer Cain Burdeau only mentions O’Keefe’s and Giles’s videotaping efforts in Baltimore. The fact is that the pair have thus far presented the results of their efforts in five other locations, and may have more episodes in inventory for other opportune times.

Here are the first five paragraphs of Budreau’s coverage (bold is mine):

Computers, records seized at ACORN offices in La.

State investigators raided ACORN offices on Friday, taking away computer hard drives and documents as part of a probe into alleged embezzlement and tax fraud when the organization’s national headquarters was based in New Orleans.

“This is an investigation of everything – ACORN, the national organization, the local organization and all of its affiliated entities, specifically as it relates to any potential violations of Louisiana law,” Assistant Attorney General David Caldwell said.

ACORN staff on the scene declined to comment, but an attorney for the group said in a statement the raid was prompted by allegations that former ACORN employees had removed or altered electronic documents and may do so in the future.

Attorney Pamela Marple said ACORN was cooperating and called the raid exhaustive, saying investigators wanted “virtually every document in the possession of ACORN and any related entity.”

The raid was the latest development for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. Videotapes released recently showed ACORN employees offering tax advice to two people in Baltimore posing as a prostitute and her pimp. The videos led Congress and state governments to cut funding for ACORN.

For the record, the other locations besides Baltimore where O’Keefe and Giles have shown results of their undercover visits are Washington DC, New York/Brooklyn, San Bernardino CA, San Diego, and Philadelphia.

In an article of over 400 words, Burdeau clearly could have included “and five other cities” in his paragraph that mentioned Baltimore. But he didn’t. There’s no good explanation for this failure other than a conscious effort to minimize the comprehensive nationwide significance of the O’Keefe’s and Giles’s work. It would appear that the AP would rather that as few readers as possible know that the intrepid pair have exposed and organization that from all appearances is corrupt to its very core, from sea to shining sea.

Cross-posted at NewsBusters.org.

Via Geoff at Innocent Bystanders, whose post deserves a full read:

First there’s the update to the now-infamous Obama stimulus promise vs. reality graph:

Then there’s this, with benchmarking points added by yours truly:

The POR (Pelosi-Obama-Reid) Economy began roughly as spring turned into summer of 2008. I identified its onset in early July 2008.

Since we’ve been under their grip, we’ve endured four quarters of contraction, one quarter of largely artificially-induced growth, and an employment environment that is arguably the worst since the Great Depression.

Here’s Geoff’s sum-up:

The (first) graph says that within a couple of quarters, the stimulus package will stop the increase in unemployment and reverse the employment trend. That was the real mission of the stimulus. Stop job loss. Get the private sector hiring again.

So no matter how convoluted and fanciful the “jobs created or saved” numbers get, we just have to remember what the point used to be, and realize how far short we’ve fallen. And whose fault that really is.

See this post for the run-up to the report.

The news:

The unemployment rate rose from 9.8 to 10.2 percent in October, and nonfarm payroll employment continued to decline (-190,000), the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The largest job losses over the month were in construction, manufacturing, and retail trade.

Double-digit unemployment arrives.

My 2008 campaign name for President Obama, Mr. BOOHOO-OUCH (Barack O-bomba Overseas Hussein “Obambi“ Obama – Objectively Unfit Coddler of Haters), has acquired a whole new meaning. I’ll have to work on redoing the acronym’s underlying words to fit the circumstances.

More later.

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UPDATE: The Associated Press’s Chris Rugaber did some homework:

The Labor Department said Friday that the economy shed a net total of 190,000 jobs in October, less than the downwardly revised 219,000 lost in September. August job losses were also revised lower, to 154,000 from 201,000.

But the loss of jobs last month exceeded economists’ estimates. It’s the 22nd straight month the U.S. economy has shed jobs, the longest on records dating back 70 years.

Yikes, and nice job on the advance research.

My, this was quiet: Payroll and employee benefits giant ADP said on Wednesday that “Nonfarm private employment decreased 203,000 from September to October 2009 on a seasonally adjusted basis.”

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My, this was quiet II: The Institute for Supply Management’s Non Manufacturing Index came in at 50.6% in October, barely above the 50% sentiment measurement needed to indicate expansion, and down from September’s 50.9%. Expectations were for a rise to 51.5%.

Further, as noted at MarketWatch, “The employment index fell to five-month low of 41.1% from 44.3% in September. The percentage of companies adding workers fell from 13% in September to a record-low 5% in October, matching the low reached last November.”

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My, this was quiet III: Also at MarketWatch, “The decline in the ISM employment index, along with a sobering ADP report, “suggests downside risk for Friday’s October jobs report,” said economists for Action Economics. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch currently expect a decline of 150,000 in October nonfarm payrolls.”

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As to more updated predictions reacting to the above and other reports this week, here is Seeking Alpha’s Jeff Miller with a round-up of a few of them, including his own:

Our indicators suggest a net job loss of about 140,000, a little better than the Street estimates of -175K.

TrimTabs also uses real time data. Their estimates are based upon tax deposits for salaried employees. They see a net job loss of 284K.

WANTED Technologies, a relatively new entrant in this field, has a model based upon online help-wanted advertising. This is an innovative and different approach to real-time data. They see a net job loss of 224k.

As to the unemployment rate, economists surveyed by the Associated Press see it coming in at 9.9%, as does a Dow Jones survey of analysts. Both surveys predict 175,000 seasonally adjusted jobs lost.

The October report will be here at 8:30 a.m.

From London, England:

Nov 6, 2009 / 12:24 am (CNA).- Members of The Traditional Anglican Church in Great Britain have announced that they will enter into communion with the Vatican under Pope Benedict XVI’s Apostolic Constitution for Anglicans.

According to the group’s website, members met on October 29 for their October 2009 Assembly. They scrapped their initial itinerary for the meeting following the Vatican’s Oct. 20 announcement that an Apostolic Constitution was being prepared in response to requests from groups of Anglican clergy and faithful wanting to enter into full communion with the Church. Instead, the assembly focused on what the news from the Vatican meant for the small group of Anglicans who are part of the Traditional Anglican Communion.

Anglican Bishop David Moyer released a statement describing the October Assembly as “grace-filled,” noting that everyone in attendance became “aware of the movement of the Holy Spirit.”

“The bishops, priests, ordinands, and lay representatives were brought to a place of ‘being in full accord and of one mind,’ as St. Paul prayed for the Church in Philippi,” Bishop Moyer wrote.

During the assembly, Bishop Moyer as well as Anglican Bishops John Hepworth and Robert Mercer fielded questions about the Vatican proposal before the Assembly unanimously passed resolutions written to carefully “and clearly reflect TTAC’s corporate desire and intention.”

The resolutions state that the Traditional Anglican Commuion in Great Britian “offers its joyful thanks to Pope Benedict XVI for his forthcoming Apostolic Constitution allowing the corporate reunion of Anglicans with the Holy See, and requests the Primate and College of Bishops of the Traditional Anglican Communion to take the steps necessary to implement this Constitution.”

Go here for the rest of the story. ….

The August Congressional Budget Office budget forecast for the fiscal year that began last month says that Uncle Sam will take in $2.264 trillion from October 2009 through September 2010. That’s an increase of 7.6% over fiscal 2009′s intake of $2.105 trillion.

Though it won’t be official until Tim Geithner’s crew releases its Monthly Treasury Statement next week, it’s virtually certain that the government’s collections will open the year in a deep hole compared to last year, and probably well behind what CBO expects.

Take a look at this compilation of key items from October’s final Daily Treasury Statement, compared to the actual results from October 2008 and 2007:

This downward spiral continues a trend that began in the summer of 2008, as the public and especially businesses, entrepreneurs, and investors began comprehending the horrid economic implications of a Barack Obama electoral victory (assumes that Oct. 2009 will come in at $135 billion; excludes 2008′s stimulus payments, which the government treated incorrectly in my opinion as reductions of receipts):

In the intervening year since the election, fear and uncertainty have spread to consumers in general, which of course has significantly suppressed economic activity and federal collections resulting from it.

It is ironic to say the least that Congress and the Obama administration are glorifying the idea of a “public option” that would ultimately lead to government-run health care while Treasury receipts continue to shrink. If the private health insurance market disappears, so will its taxes.

To name just one example, Aetna’s recorded income tax expense on its financial statements for 2005-2008 (including state and local taxes) averaged roughly $900 million per year. Put the company’s health insurance segment out of business, and a large portion of those taxes would stop coming in, digging the country’s and various states’ debt holes that much deeper.

The establishment press has paid very little attention to fiscal 2009′s drop of 19.5% in receipts from economic activity, so I expect similar treatment of October’s continuation of the trend. It would appear that they don’t want any unsettling news getting in the way of the statist agenda.

If there’s a reason to believe that this ongoing decline won’t continue as long as the current bunch remains in charge and continues doing what they’re doing, I want to know what it is.

Cross-posted at NewsBusters.org.

Here’s news you can virtually guarantee won’t get noticed by what remains of the establishment media.

Whole Foods (WFMI) announced its financial results for the quarter ended September 30 yesterday. The quarter closed about 50 days after outraged leftists called for a boycott of the grocery chain to retaliate for a Wall Street Journal op-ed written by CEO John Mackey. In that column, Mackey identified “Eight things we can do to improve health care without adding to the deficit,” asserting that:

The last thing our country needs is a massive new health care entitlement that will create hundreds of billions of dollars of new unfunded deficits and move us much closer to a government takeover of our health care system. Instead, we should be trying to achieve reforms by moving in the opposite direction — toward less government control and more individual empowerment.

Well, if there’s so much support out there for statist health care, you would think that the Whole Foods boycott dedicated to punishing an opponent would have had a significant impact on the company’s most recent quarterly results.

You would be wrong:

Whole Foods Market Inc.’s (WFMI) fiscal fourth-quarter earnings soared as revenue climbed and unusual items took less of a bite from the bottom line, leading the high-end grocer to declare that its sales have “officially turned the corner.”

The company expects the sales growth to continue in its new fiscal year, with increases of 5% to 8% in overall sales and 1% to 4% in comparable-store sales. Whole Foods noted that total sales are up 5% in the first five weeks of the fiscal year, with comparable-store sales up 1.6%. Analysts were recently projecting a sales increase of 6% to $8.54 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.

…. With shoppers looking for bargains and grocers engaged in a full-scale price war, Whole Foods has been balancing its upscale image with a value message in its marketing. While it has made progress–offering meals that feed a family of four for $15–the company has still pared store openings and suspended its dividend.

For the quarter ended Sept. 27, Whole Foods reported earnings of $36.4 million, or 20 cents a share, compared with $1.5 million, or 1 cent a share, a year earlier. The latest quarter included a gain of 1 cent a share related to inventory accounting, while the year-ago included a host of charges that brought earnings down about 15 cents.

Revenue climbed 2.3% to $1.83 billion. Comparable-store sales fell 0.9%. Meanwhile, identical-store sales, which exclude eight relocations and two expansions, dropped 2.3%.

Don’t be misled by the dip in same store revenues. The Consumer Price Index fell by 1.3% from September 2008 to September 2009, and any business that is managing to stay ahead of inflation/deflation, especially one that this is used to selling at the high end, is doing just fine.

WFMI is taking a hard hit today, but it has everything to do with dilution of shareholders by an investment group, and nothing to do with the company’s top or bottom lines. Obviously then, it has nothing to do with the press-hyped but clearly ineffective boycott. Even with the plunge, as of 12:15 p.m. WFMI was trading above where it was when the boycott was called.

If the boycott were at all relevant, the Associated Press surely would have mentioned it in its 550-word report on the company’s financial results. But it didn’t, instead telling us that the results “came in just above Wall Street expectations.”

The boycotters and their leftist sympathizers can point to one “accomplishment”: Barack Obama’s, Nancy Pelosi’s, and Harry Reid’s “uncertain economy made some investors nervous about its (the company’s) outlook for the year.” One element of that uncertainty is whether, despite CEO Mackey’s warning, the President and Congress will drag the nation kicking and screaming down the road towards statist health care.

The start of the Whole Foods boycott, which apparently peaked at 23,000 supporters, was covered by the New York Times, the Washington Post, ABC News, and even the BBC. Does anyone think any one of them will do a follow-up on the non-results?

By contrast, the press almost completely ignored the American Family Association’s ultimately successful 2-year boycott of Ford Motor Company that ended in March 2008. That boycott had over 780,000 petition signers and dozens of high-membership supporting organizations, and is the main reason why Ford’s sales results consistently trailed rivals General Motors, Chrysler, and the overall auto market during that time.

It’s impossible not to conclude that the establishment media chooses to cover or not cover boycotts based on their degree of political correctness, and not on their level of participation or demonstrated effectiveness.

Cross-posted at NewsBusters.org.

…. to Ohio blogger and former Wide-Opener Jill Miller Zimon of Writes Like She Talks on her election (scroll about halfway down) to Pepper Pike City Council.

Last night I noted that the Associated Press finally recognized, nine months after yours truly noticed it, that “Ford has benefited from consumer goodwill because it didn’t take government bailout money.”

The general theme of the AP’s overall coverage of October’s auto sales (“Auto sales show industry beginning to stabilize”) is that last month’s annualized volume of 10.5 million vehicles “signaled that some consumers are starting to spend again and the sputtering economy is beginning to pull out of trouble.”

Writers Tom Krisher and Dee-Ann Durbin also included this “interesting” statement:

Analysts said the figures are good for a normally weak October, but they’re still far short of the 17 million annual rates from the late 1990s and early 2000s.

How convenient. Of far more relevance is the fact that sales in 2007 and 2006 were 16.14 million and 16.55 million, respectively, barely short of the wondrous 17 million units sold many years before that. These people can’t seem to help themselves, instinctively believing, or wanting readers to believe, that we had a lousy economy during most of the Bush 43 years.

We didn’t. We’ve had a lousy economy since June-July 2008. That’s when the POR (Pelosi-Obama-Reid) Economy began.

The POR Economy is one where annual vehicle sales “stabilize” at 10.5 – 11 million units, about 1/3 below where they were just two years ago, and the apparatchik press tries to make us believe that’s acceptable, at least for now. Sales will likely stay right there, or barely budge higher, for most of the next 12 months, as long as this administration’s economically ruinous efforts continue. If this bunch gets its way on health care or cap and trade, look out below.

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Do you remember all those grade school videos produced during Bush 43′s administration singing W’s praises? Neither do I, because, appropriately, there weren’t any. There have been 11 such videos (at least) produced since Barack Obama took office, including one at the Barack Obama Elementary School (I’m not kidding; scroll down at link) in Long Island, New York, so renamed after the 2008 presidential election.

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Well, this is interesting — “Lesson learned: NRSC pledges to stay out of contested primaries.”

It would be nice if the folks at ORPINO (Ohio Republican Party In Name Only) would someday decide to do the same. It’s almost too late this time around. Though it’s not a formal thing, ORPINO is clearly behind totally unacceptable Mike DeWine for AG and obviously unfit Jon Husted for Secretary of State at the expense of self-evidently superior sensible conservative competitors Dave Yost and Sandy O’Brien.

An official declaration of neutrality to clear the air would be nice. I don’t expect it. That’s why they’re called ORPINO.