Reuters: Private Sector adds 162,000 new jobs

An interesting report from Reuters:

(Reuters) – Private employers added 162,000 jobs in September, topping economists’ expectations, a report by a payrolls processor showed on Wednesday.

Economists surveyed by Reuters had forecast the ADP National Employment Report would show a gain of 143,000 jobs.

August’s private payrolls were revised down to an increase of 189,000 from the previously reported 201,000.

If the best that the economists are shooting for is 150-160K jobs per month; that is setting the bar awful low.

What happened to all the jobs that were supposed to be created by the President’s stimulus program? I thought that when a Democrat was elected into the White House that all of the World’s problems would end for everyone? That the oceans would rise and the World would come together as one?

I guess not. 🙄

Anyone that votes for this President again, is a dad-blasted idiot. I mean, what the hell has he honestly done for the unemployed in this Country? I mean, the only people who have made out like bandits, and I do mean quite literally there; are the damned unions and special interest groups. (READ: Minorities, Green Energy and the like…)

It is a damned disgrace; which is why I am casting my lot with Romney. Neoconservative or not, I am voting for him. Because we can do better than this nimrod who is in there now.

Hope and Change, my fat white ass! 😡

I’m Back!

Please note: When reading this, try to imagine someone speaking in a slight southern accent; like I do. It will help to make it sound funnier.

—

As I told you all, I went out with my Dad today. I went with him to his retirees meeting at the UAW Local that he is a member of. It is in Southwest Detroit, where I grew up; a bit closer to downtown Detroit, than where I lived. However, because I want to continue to live in this house, I will not get into the specifics of what happened down there.

What I can tell you is this:

It rained. As in, it rained hard; by the time we got to the union hall, I thought we were going to have to ditch the truck and grab a canoe! My Dad was nice enough to drop me and Dad’s friend Irvin off at the door; and you should have seen me come out of that truck! I come out of that truck, like a lost cat that realized that he had wandered into the dog section of the animal pound —- around lunchtime. Yes, it was like that. Ever watch Scooby Doo? You know, when he stumbles upon a ghost and get the wits scared out of him? Yeah, like that. It came complete sound effects too, with “ooh’s eek’s and aah’s.” Oh, it was a wonderful time. I also, when I made it inside, kindly informed the people in the office that whomever was doing the rain dance, really needed to stop. Because the rain was here, in buckets!

So, finally the meeting was over. My Dad stopped at Vernor Coney Island and picked up some Coney Dogs for lunch for Him and Me and rest of the family here. So, I grabbed me a Diet Pepsi out of the fridge, came back down here to what my Mother calls my dungeon, and proceeded to devour me a couple of coney dogs and catch up on what was happening in the political world, while I was out cavorting with the organized labor movement. (Please Note: When I say cavorting, I don’t mean screwing. Hell, they were a bunch of grey-headed old people. Mostly men, and I do not swing that way, sorry. 😉 I mean hanging around them. It is an attempt at humor. Please, laugh. 😀 )

So, anyhow; I ate my dogs and fiddled around, and putted around and read a little here and little there. The next thing I know, an hour had passed and I realized that I was getting rather tired. So, I figured I would grab me a little nap; and nap I did….:

For Six Long Freaking Hours!

I woke up, and rolled over at looked at the iPod touch and said aloud, “7 o’clock?!?!” I got up, and stumbled around; and went up stairs. Mom was fixing TV dinners. My Father, ever the funny man; greeted me with the normal greeting: “Well, Hello there, Sleeping Beauty!” I grinned, mumbled a little and went to the bathroom. Six hours of sleeping adds up to lot of urine storage. (Yes, I know, yuck. But, hey, it’s all true.)

So, there you have it. What I have done for most of the day. I hope you have enjoyed this rather funny story, as much as I have writing it. It is all true; my parents will verify it. I like going out with my Dad and his friend Irvin, I could write a book, about those two, when they get together. As well, as the funny stuff that goes on, when my Dad and his fishing friends, get together. Someday, I might write about that stuff. now, I live here, and I do not really want to get sued.

Till next time!

-Pat

Why Scott Walker Won and the Democrats in Wisconsin lost

I was going to try avoid writing about this, but I am seeing some rather silly stuff being written about this win; So, I thought I would offer my thoughts as a former Democratic Party voter. Update: Greg Sargent over at The Washington Post hits the post a bit, but fails, as most progressives do; to see the full picture.

Putting it plain and simple, The Democrats in Wisconsin picked a fight that they could not win. — They were outspent, out-organized, and out-boxed; the Democrats had zero chance of winning this recall election at all. But yet, they still decided to fight for a recall election. They should have taken their cues from Michigan and left well enough alone. The Democrats in Michigan tried unsuccessfully to get Governor Snyder recalled here twice and both times they failed horribly. This is because residents of Michigan knew that the former Governor of Michigan was a incompetent moron who could not Govern worth a damn and they did not want a Democrat back in office again. Thus, the Democrats wisely dropped the issue and decided to try and win the 2012 election. Wisconsin should have followed their lead, but they did not and decided to try and force their hand and failed.

Mother Jones has some good ideas as well:

1) Campaign Money is King

Walker crushed his Democratic opponent, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, in the political money wars. The governor raised $30.5 million while Barrett pulled in $3.9 million—a nearly 8-to-1 advantage in candidate fundraising. Walker banked on in- and out-of-state donors, including heavyweight GOP contributors such as Houston homebuilder Bob Perry and Amway heir Dick Devos. Walker was able to raise so much money because of a quirk in state law that lets candidates potentially facing a recall raise unlimited funds for their defense. (The normal limit for individual donors in $10,000.) Barrett did not get to raise unlimited funds in his recall campaign—which placed him at a great disadvantage.

All that money helped Walker pound Barrett in the ad wars. An analysis by Hotline On Call found that Walker and his GOP allies outspent Barrett and his backers 3-to-1 on TV ad buys in the three months before Tuesday’s recall. The dark-money-peddling Republican Governors Association itself spent $9.4 million to keep Walker in office.

Just as the political money advantage proved crucial to labor’s win last year in repealing Ohio’s anti-union SB 5 law, campaign cash appears to have played a pivotal role in the GOP’s Wisconsin wins .

2) The Candidate

Filing nearly one million signatures to trigger a recall election, Democrats and union leaders and members had their sights trained on the governor. The recall election’s Democratic primary forced them to take their eyes off the prize. A primary fight between Barrett and former Dane County executive Kathleen Falk splintered the labor movement. The major unions endorsed Falk early on, sometimes over the opposition of their own rank-and-file. Several other unions held out until late March, when Barrett entered the race, and then endorsed the mayor. This primary drama knocked the anti-Walker effort off course for weeks, if not a month, in a race where every single day counts. It divided a unified movement into Barrett supporters and Falk supporters.

3) No New Ground

Democrats and labor unions touted their massive get-out-the-vote operation, which was supposed to tip the scales in their favor. Turn-out was way up in the elections, at 2.4 million, but the left failed to win over the types of people who elected Walker in 2010. As the Milwaukee Journal Sentinelnotes, Walker’s Tuesday win is a mirror image of his 2010 victory—just with more voters. He won men and lost women; won independents and lost moderates; and won suburban and rural voters but not urban voters.

More notably, Walker won 38 percent of votes from union households—an increase of 1 percent from 2010. Remember, union members or their spouses didn’t know in 2012 that Walker planned to target them after the election with his anti-union “budget repair” bill curbing collective bargaining rights. Yet 16 months after Walker launched his attack on unions, just as many people in union households voted for him. The unions failed to rally their own ranks.

My thoughts on the Unions — One of the main reasons why the unions failed; not because of a lack of members or money. The unions failed because for the following:

They over played their hand, by storming the capital building and occupying it. This made them look like total buffoons in the eyes of the people, not mention the heavy handed tactics that were on par with communist gulags.
The second reason is a rather simple one; not all union members are on board with the progressive movement, just because someone has a union card, does not necessarily make him a Democrat. Some union members are free thinkers and some of them resent being culled in together with the socialist crowd.
The last reason is this; some union members are just not happy with the Democratic Party and with Obama. I believe Obama fatigue played a big part in the loss in Wisconsin. I believe it will also play out in November as well.

Needless to say, Scott Walker won big and the Unions and Democrats lost big. The results of this will be far-reaching and the Democrats in Wisconsin would be wise to lay low and try to hang on in 2012. But if they do not, they should learn the lessons of the massive over-reach that took place in Wisconsin and with the Democratic Party as a whole. However, knowing Democrats like I do; they will not learn a thing from this.

Video: We Will Remember

(H/T HotAir)

Sign the Pledge at We Will Remember.

Stupid: General Motors plays a shell game

Here’s one for the “Stuck on Stupid” file that seems to be getting bigger and bigger by the day.

AP Headline: Gas in the tank: GM repays $8.1B in gov’t loans

Quote:

WASHINGTON – Fallen giant General Motors Co. accelerated toward recovery Wednesday, announcing the repayment of $8.1 billion in U.S. and Canadian government loans five years ahead of schedule.

The Obama administration crowed about the “turnaround” at GM and fellow bailout recipient Chrysler LLC, saying the government’s unpopular rescue of Detroit’s automakers is paying off.

Much of the improvement comes from GM slashing its debt load and workforce as part of its bankruptcy reorganization last year. But the automaker is a long way from regaining its old blue-chip status: It remains more than 70 percent government-owned and is still losing money — $3.4 billion in last year’s fourth quarter alone. And while its car and truck sales are up so far this year, that’s primarily due to lower-profit sales to car rental companies and other fleet buyers.

Chrysler, now run by Italy’s Fiat Group SpA, said Wednesday it lost almost $200 million in the first quarter. But it said it boosted its cash reserves by $1.5 billion, reducing the likelihood that it will need more government aid.

“This turnaround wasn’t an accident of history,” said White House economic adviser Larry Summers. “It was the result of considered and politically difficult decisions made by President Obama to provide GM and Chrysler — and indeed the auto industry — a lifeline, if they could demonstrate the will to reshape their businesses.”

Vice President Joe Biden said President Barack Obama “took a lot of heat” to keep GM alive. “And this has even exceeded our expectations.”

Everything is happy yappy and yippie skippy right?

Wrong.

Jamie Dupree dishes the straight dope on this little shell game: (H/T Q & O)

General Motors will make a big splash in the news today by announcing that the automaker will repay several billion dollars loans from the federal government earlier than expected. But it’s not really coming out of the GM wallet.

The issue came up yesterday at a hearing with the special watchdog on the Wall Street Bailout, Neil Barofsky, who was asked several times about the GM repayment by Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE), who was looking for answers on how much money the feds might make from the controversial Wall Street Bailout.

“It’s good news in that they’re reducing their debt,” Barofsky said of the accelerated GM payments, “but they’re doing it by taking other available TARP money.”

In other words, GM is taking money from the Wall Street Bailout – the TARP money – and using that to pay off their loans ahead of schedule.

“It sounds like it’s kind of like taking money out of one pocket and putting in the other,” said Carper, who got a nod of agreement from Barofsky.

[….]

Most of Uncle Sam’s bailout money that was given to GM has now been turned into stock in the U.S. automaker.

“The assumption is that, over time, hopefully the value of the stock will appreciate,” said Carper.

Long term that could prove to be a money-making investment for the feds – or if things go the wrong way for General Motors – a big, fat loss for Uncle Sam.

As most of you know, my Father is a 31 year veteran of the General Motors company. I find this little idiotic shell game right here to be just plain immoral. I mean, how in the hell are you going to use money from the Government to pay off the Government? That is basically taking money out of one pocket and putting into another. That is not paying off your debt; that is nothing more than a shell game. The reason why this is so upsetting to me is; that it is just going to hurt my Father. Because sooner or later, this company is not going to be able to pay my Dad’s pension.

As the son of a General Motors worker, I want to see G.M. succeed; but I want to see them succeed the right way and honestly. Not by playing a dirty, underhanded shell game, and that my friends is what this is, a dirty shell game to fool the American people and the workers at G.M. into believing that they are on to the road to recovery, when in all honesty, they are not.

The American Taxpayers, The workers and retirees for General Motors; deserve better than this.

Shame on General Motors for their deceptive tactics and shame on the White House and Yes, the President for aiding and abetting in this little scam.

The real cute part is that not a word of this, has been said in the media, as to just HOW this loans are being paid back. That my friends is a damned human tragedy.

Others: Questions and Observations, Mish’s Global Economic …, TigerHawk, Sweetness & Light, JammieWearingFool and The TrogloPundit

Update: Not surprisingly, Ed Morrissey Agrees with me.

Movie: Just in case anyone has forgotten

Just remember, Ron Paul believes in negotiating with these bastards. Therefore, he is a terrorist supporter. So are Democrats.

More Socialist Liberal Union Thuggery

Go Read.

I wonder if the MSM will cover this? (Yeah right! 🙄 )

Remember this come 2010 and 2012.

(H/T to Glenn)

About that mine tragedy in West Virginia

I just wanted to post something here to all my readers. I noticed that not too many Bloggers on my side of the political fence have said anything about this.

Well, once again, I will be the one to do it.

Politics is one thing, real life is another.

Losing someone to a tragedy such as this, is unimaginable. Unlike some on the left, I will NOT bring my personal politics into this. But I will say that I personally feel for this people. Mining is in my family too; sort of. My Father is from Middlesboro, Kentucky. Back when he was a young man, he drove a tri-axle dump truck down in his home town. He worked out of a strip mines down in that town. Oh, the stories he would tell, about Hazards of driving those trucks. Some of the stories were side splitting tales, some were quite scary.

Anyhow, my heart goes out to these people during their time of loss. This is where I will also deviate from my normal hard line Conservative stance, and say the following; which most likely will not do anything for my Conservative creds. Not that I quite honestly give a damn about that anyhow.

It would be a crime, if I did not mention the fact that this mine was, in fact, a non-union mine. Because of that, the safety record of this mine, was, in fact, terrible. Unions; for all their short-comings and horrible politics, are the best defense against companies who want to cut corners and allow their employees to work in unsafe conditions. I honestly believe that if the union that my Father was represented by at G.M. had not been there, my Father would have been dead ages ago. For those who are just passing through, my Father is a retired G.M. Worker and is represented by the U.A.W. The Union forces the big business owners to a very high standard of safety and if the companies do not adhere to them, they simply will not allow their employees on the job. Which I feel is a very good thing. Equipment can be replaced —- Human Lives cannot.

There are some possibly of the right, that might say my bringing this up is morbid or something silly like that. Well, too bad. As they say, all politics is local; and this my friends is a local, personal issue for me. One of the nicest things I read, was the fact that even though this mine was non-union, the President of the Union miners was sending a team of people up to the site, to offer their assistance. Because it is the human and responsible thing to do. That is what normal, sane, rational Americans do, when their fellow man is hurting. They put partisan differences aside and come together. I bet some in the world of Political Blogging could learn something from that; on both sides of the aisle.

Again, my and my family’s prayers go out to the people of MONTCOAL, W.Va. tonight.

Update: Video confirming what I wrote above:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

HotAir.com's Ed Morrissey Honored by Rush Limbaugh

I agree 100% with AllahPundit, Ed Morrissey is highly deserving of this honor:

I will admit it, I have not always agreed with Ed. In fact, I have been known to jump his butt, when I thought he needed it. I’ve even flamed him a good one in e-mail once, because I thought he was being unfair, and a bit hypocritical. But, as always, Ed always handled everything with class. I will also make a stunning admission. For a Detroit native former Democratic party voter. I agree with a good 90% of what Ed writes.

Ed Morrissey is one of the more saner voices in the Right Wing Blogosphere. He does not go for the paranoid, shrieking headlines, that grace such places as, maybe, WorldNetDaily and some of the other Right Wing sites out there. He goes for the truth; and the my friends is a rarity on our side of the fence. It all boils down to a simple thing that is not found in Journalism or even politics much anymore. That simple thing is integrity. This is why Ed’s work is better than most, the man has integrity. Even if you do not agree with his political point, that he might be trying to score —- you do have to admit that he does speak the truth. That my friends goes a long way in writing, in blogging and in life in general.

So, yeah, Ed’s a good man. But the next time he writes something stupid about G.M or the unions — Oh, It’s on baby. 😉 😛 😀 😆

UAW Local 2244: The Other Side of the Story

Recently, there were a series of videos that were shown on the website Big Government.com, they were of a union boss by the name of Javier Contreras, cursing at the union rank and file. Here are the videos in question:

One of the persons who commented on the videos, ID’ed himself as the old gent in the second video, that the union boss swore at, the older guy with the red jacket. Anyhow, I contacted him and asked him to give his side of the story. Here is what he wrote back:

Hello, Yes I really am the guy that Javier swore at. Back in June of last year Old Gm told us that they were getting out, and did so in 2 weeks. Gm gave us nothing, just left. Then in August of last year Toyota announce that they would be leaving too, but they are still here, still employing us, providing pay checks, overtime, vacation, holidays and medical insurance. NUMMI ( toyota) has been trying to reach a retention/ severance agreement with our union since then, but our union leaders have been very uncooperative with NUMMI in the process. Thus, We the workers have been enduring months of not knowing what is happening, what is going to happen. The union has been out of touch with the workers, telling us nothing specific. We live in a whirlwind of rumors, generally all bad. We are losing our jobs in two months, and still we do not have a deal with the company, and haven’t even been told why. I ask my commiteeman regularly, ” What’s up, what’s happening”, and always get the same answer, ” I don’t know”. The union leadership are supposed to be elected representives of us the membership. The union leadership has become what I see as a dictatorship, with Javier as the dictator. The union leaders do not ask us what we feel, think, believe or want.

The union leaders tell us what they are going to do, and what we will get from them. The union complains about the retention package that has been offered to us from the company, but the union has not offered us any type of severence package of their own. The members have been paying union dues into the union for 25 years, some say totaling up to $72 million. Why does the union not offer some sort of package? The union wants to demonize Toyota. The union is running a petition against Toyota. NUMMI ( Toyota ) is still employing us providing pay and benefits. The problem came from GM leaving. Why doesn’t the union petition GM? The UAW international now owns 18% of the NEW GM. The UAW international has an investment that they are not about to create trouble for, so the international instucts our local union to run a petition against it’s former partner. Toyota is not the problem here, GM and the UAW international, which is one in the same now, they are the problem. Our local 2244 union leaders have aligned themselves with the international, doing their bidding.

They are supposed to be our elected representitives, doing our bidding, answering to us. The union is run like a dictatorship, with Javier as the dictator. Javier needs to set down from his office, and whom ever takes his place needs to listen to us, the membership. In closing, I would like to apologize to everyone in attendance that day for the ruckus that evolved from it all. It has been a very difficult time for all of us here at NUMMI, as well as most everyone else here in this country in it’s current economic condition.

Stress is running high with this very uncertain time, facing a devistating change to our lives. It would be nice if our leadership could provide us with some sort of facts and certainty. perhaps then we may be able to plan a course of action for our selves. Let’s all take a look at the devistation of Haiti, and then try to put ours in perspective to that. Thank God we are living in California, USA.

Take care and god bless you all.

I wrote him back and asked him if it were okay if I published this, this is what he said:

Yes, please do. No action has been taken yet as far as I know, but I’m considering suing Javier, Surgio and the UAW. I’m a union supporter to the extent that they do some good for the person who is paying dues to them. But these guys collect dues to fund free vacations for them, family and friends. If the Union was earning the dues taken, then way am I and all the rest of the union workers losing their jobs. If you pay for services, then you should receive the services that you pay for, one of which should be continuing to work. I’m a conservative as well, I feel that if I work for my money I should be able to keep it in my pocket and decide for my self how to spend it, not have the government help them delve to it, because they feel they know better than I how to spend it. The working man and woman is getting screwed by everyone around them. There is a new slave in this country, the working class people.

Nothing in the replies was edited, changed or modified. Except for some misspellings and grammar errors, which I fixed for him.

As the late great Paul Harvey would say……”and now; you know the rest of the story…..”