Nightly Ramble:JAF Edition

Welcome, one and all to the most intense nightly read anywhere on the ‘sphere: The BitsBlog Nightly Ramble

This is the JAF Edition. (Just Another Friday)

• Unemployment is up: To the shock of nobody, unemployment is up. This morning’s commerce Dept figures show unemployment at 9.4%. That’s the highest it’s been in over 25 years. Hope and change, you know. At some point, Obama’s not going to be able to blame Bush anymore. The American people have already started to see that the massive spending on the ‘stimulus’ didn’t work. The myth of big government spending being the panacea is broken at last. And when the pain starts showing up, they’re going to know who to blame. I take no celebration in that statement. I merely observe.
• Merkel knows what’s what:  On waking, this morning, I was greeted by the specticle of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, under a full scale schmooze assault from Obama.  It’s not working. It was hard watching it, not to laugh; She’s clearly not impressed by him. Then again, she’s spent most of her life with socialists just a few miles to the east, and knows better than most the damage they can cause a people.
• Cheny more popular than Pelosi?  According to Gallup, yes.
• Fish in a Barrel At least three bits of mail in my box this morning, incuding one from The Huddle” reports chatter on Sonia Sotomayor coming down in a a lot off her rulilngs, to the right of David Souter. What they fail to mention of course is that Fidel Castro could do the same.
• Obama left of Castro? Well, that’s what crazy Uncle Hugo is saying. Give the boy credit. Seems he’s not totally disconnected from reality after all. He knows a socialist when he sees one. Our own press does as well. The difference is, Chavez actually admits it.
• D-Day: Tommorow is D-Day. Sixty five years ago tonight, literally millions of men were on boats in the English Channel, ready to tale the short cruise across the channel to several beachs on the shores of France.  It was tonight, when General Eisenhower took to the airwaves to speak to those troops:
  

  Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force! You are about to embark upon a great crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers in arms on other fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle hardened, he will fight savagely.

  But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man to man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our home fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to victory!

  I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory!

  Good Luck! And let us all beseech the blessings of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.

  And I wonder; How many people, 65 years on, now, a mere lifetime away, will even mark the day. I know one who will: Pajamas Media’s Carol Gould.

• Gore to the Rescue:  NORK, as you’ll recall, has kidnapped arrested two “Journalists’ for spying on them. Predictably, Al Gore is going over there to negotiate for their release. Yes, predictably.  You see, they work for Gore’s “Current” propaganda TV channel. (Quick… someone in ATL tell WSB, who totally missed this one.) But there’s a lesson here. I figure the choice of people who work for Al Gore was intentional on NORK’s part; They knew Gore would show up and give them the propaganda value they needed.  Anyone else would ahve brought reps from the US  government, likely with a rather large stick in hand.  The Ever willing to negotiate Gore, the former VP showing up and begging the indulgence of the little gargoyle, on the front page of whatever passes for newspapers there.  NORK is legitimacy starved, as are all tinpot dictatorships. Gore is unique in that he’s among the few stupid enough to give that myopic rodent what he wants.
• Inflation? Here’s your inflation: Seems North Korea has been producing “super note” counterfeit 100-dollar bills which are pretty much indistinguishable from legal tender, for some time, now. Of course it’s no big deal. With Obama running the show the dollar will be worth that much less and thereby NORK won’t get as much from the deal, anyway. It all works out.
• More Czars than a Russian Funeral: Obama’s got two new Czars today. One for (suppsoedly) cleaning up the great lakes, and the other to monitor executive pay.  How much butt need one kiss to get these positions? Unelected, unaccountable, and high pay. Just the thing for restoring a small government. Oh, by the way… what does the czar monitoring executive pay, get paid, anyway? Even the WSJ hasn’t said, that I’ve seen. You can bet it’ll be at a level that wouldn’t pass his own muster.
• A horse is a horse of course of course: The Belmont Stakes, the last of the Triple Crown, is tommrow. Just a reminder.
•  Getting an instant return: Reynolds is posting again, apparently being back from his vacation to someplace where palm trees grow.   Must be nice to have that kinda money. (grump)
• A lesson in government:  We mentioned Gordon Brown having lost the moral auhority of the position he holds. He now tells us he won’t step down. This despite the country tunring so heavily to the conservative party it’ll take decades for Labor to recover, already. The lesson? . it’s not about service to the country.. it’s about power and the maintainance of it.
• Another Lesson in government: Microsoft is moving out of the country if Obama’s tax plan passes.  Gates and Balmer are no right wing dupes, folks. But Obama’s already lost them. The lesson? Increased taxes kill business, thereby killing jobs… and ultimately killing the tax take with it.
• Jobs ready to return?  No, I mean Steve Jobs.  And, yes, that’s the spculation.