From Rasmussen:

Heading into the final weeks of the congressional election season, 62% of Likely U.S. Voters believe that no matter how bad things are, Congress can always make them worse…

Gloriam in excelsis Deo! The people are fully awake.

How’s that old Summer of Recovery working out for ya?

Projected U.S. economic growth for the rest of this year and next was revised down for a third month in a row by a panel of about 50 economists.

The latest Blue Chip Economic Indicators report on Thursday said the weaker outlook for second-half 2010 growth stemmed from lower expectations for consumer spending, business investment and private construction.

“Growth in the current quarter now is expected to be little better than the disappointingly soft advance registered last quarter,” the survey said. Gross domestic product grew at a meager 1.6 percent annual rate in the second quarter, less than half the first quarter’s 3.7 percent rate…

Of course, being “experts” there has to be a rosy scenario in there somewhere…so, they expect the second half of 2011 to start showing some improvement. Keep in mind, though, that they originally thought the second half of 2010 would be pretty good. How they are deciding that things will get better later is beyond me – there are zero signs of improvement, so all predictions would have to be of flat or negative economic activity…until some sort of policy change comes along.

Unless, I guess, they are expecting a GOP win in November and thus counting on some rationality in government policy?

NRO’s The Corner links to a new ABC poll on how Americans view Islam:

…A quarter of Americans (26 percent) admit to feelings of prejudice against Muslims, and just 37 percent express a favorable opinion of Islam overall — the fewest in ABC/Post polls dating to October 2001 (albeit by just 2 points). Forty-nine percent view the religion unfavorably — essentially the same as in the spring, but well up from its lows in 2002, when many were undecided.

Just 54 percent call Islam a peaceful religion, while a substantial minority, 31 percent, thinks mainstream Islam encourages violence against non-Muslims. This view has held steady since 2003, after doubling from 2002.

Unfamiliarity is part of the picture. Fifty-five percent say they lack a good, basic understanding of the teachings and beliefs of Islam. Half say they do not personally know anyone who is a Muslim. At the same time, familiarity with Islam has grown by 18 points since 2002, and personally knowing a Muslim is up by 8 points since ‘01…

It is hard to have a favorable view of Islam – after all, the only real contact most American have with Islam is either in the form of videotaped diatribes from Moslems against America, or when we see Moslems blowing people to bits.

Part of this lack of positive news on Islam is the fact that from about mid-2002 on, the MSM gave short shrift to any reports from the Moslem world indicating support for either American policy, or for an end to terrorism (it didn’t fit the narrative – the actions of Bush were supposed to be inflaming Islam in to implacable hatred of the United States…so, when millions voted in Iraq for a non-Islamist way of life, it just couldn’t be fit in all that much). Even today, with the screwball in Florida who wants to torch a Koran, we’re still being fed the “Americans inflame Islam” meme…with no notice being taken of the fact that in Iraq and Afghanistan, tens of thousands of Moslems fight daily alongside our troops.

As I’ve said elsewhere, I’m tired of walking on eggshells around Islam. I’m tired of playing a game which has no end and, really, no point. If there is one more debate on whether or not Israel causes the conflict or whether Bush’s policies got us in to this fix, I’m going to shout. Its all so utterly worthless, such debates.

What do I want out of Islam? I want it to be that Moslems stop killing non-Moslems. We can do this two ways, in my view – kill them all, or get rid of the people who are forever inciting Moslems to go out and kill. Killing them all is out of the question for a Christian (I guess our Progressive friends could try to convince them to abort themselves out of existence, as they’ve been diligently doing to the Europeans, but I doubt Moslems are dumb enough to fall for that), so I’m left with the second alternative.

In service of this goal, it is time for a bit of reality to be injected here. A bit too much nonsense has been spread about Islam. Anti-Islam nonsense as well as pro-Islam nonsense. The most important bit of reality we can and must grasp is this: Moslems are people. Regular, old human beings.

What this means is that they are just as likely, man for man, to be as horribly screwed up, or as noble, as anyone else you’re likely to meet. Perhaps they do, to a man, despise us in the West – heck, they have good reason to do so…given how many sniveling cowards we’ve got and how we’re awash in a sea of moral depravity. But whether they do or don’t does not determine whether a fanatic will blow himself at a Western target. An action such as that is not determined by Moslem attitudes towards the West – it is determined by whether or not someone bids the terrorist to act, and whether or not we in the West do what is necessary to stop such attacks.

And so, they are trying to con their way in to power and wealth for themselves. So, they cook up stories of alleged grandeur of the past and how it was all taken away by a wicked conspiracy…but that Moslems are inherently superior and if they’ll just show their devotion by blowing themselves up, eventually the great times will return. Of course, it should be noted that the Islamist leaders never strap on a bomb and blow themselves to smithereens. No, that is for the dupes – the people who are the mere raw material for the con artists to gain power and wealth for themselves.

When we say that burning a Koran will inflame the Moslem world, we should really understand it to mean that it will be used by sharp operators to stir up fools (and, remember, Islam is not alone in having a good supply of people who can be fooled – think of the number of Americans who were convinced, unto death, that David Koresh and Jim Jones were god-like…the difference is that in America there is a better chance that a scam will be found out…thanks to our unwillingness to tackle the real problems in Islam, the people of that area of the world have much fewer chances of exposing a lie).

All that you see – all the talking heads on TV; all the calls for inter-religious and/or inter-cultural dialogue; all the hand wringing over “Islamophobia”…all of that is just so much dross. And like such things as building the mosque at Ground Zero, it just plays in to the hands of the Islamist leaders who are delighted that people in the West are willing to go along with the con.

We shouldn’t be having a controversy over the mosque – the immediate answer to the suggestion should have been, “no”, and then move on to investigate those behind it because clearly they are part of the problem. But we don’t do that – because we’ve been suckered nearly as much as the fools who blow themselves up. We’re seriously debating whether or not it really matters – that it will really effect the outcome if we prohibit the mosque! If it wasn’t the mosque, it would just be something else – it doesn’t matter what the enemy thinks. Whatever it is, it will always and ever be geared towards gaining the maximum advantage over us.

Our proper job is not to worry about whether we’ll hurt the feelings of the people of the Moslem world. We’re trying to stop a selection of them from killing us – by the time someone has been convinced to put on a suicide bomb, what we do vis a vis a mosque won’t change the outcome. Our job is to erect defenses proof against the fools who would blow themselves up at the bidding of others, while carefully identifying those who set the bombers in motion – and then kill or capture them, regardless of where they are (and, yes, this means we must work to destroy the Iranian government, among other things). Don’t get side tracked in to absurd stories that some how it was the Crusades of the 11th century which caused the problem. Don’t fall for the scam that it was European colonization which set red flames to the Moslem world. Understand that a whole complex series of events, aided and abetted by people in the West who are quite stupid and ignorant (we’re looking at you, post-modern, revisionist “progressives”), which built up a whole network of people who want power and wealth but don’t want to either work for it, nor offer the sort of leadership which convinces solid majorities to go along (and if the leaders really believe the garbage they peddle? Then there was never any way we would get them to stop – so, the policy would still be the same…find them and kill/take them).

We can’t and won’t all become scholars of Islam – we have neither the time nor inclination for such studies. But we can swiftly understand that we’re dealing with people in Islam – and some of them are wicked, and some of them are good and the overwhelming majority are caught in a web of deceit and cowardice which prevents a true development of Moslem thought and action. But they are still people – and as such, they probably want what most people want…to be left alone to live their lives as they see fit. If we will see what we’re really faced with and deal with the actual problem, then the broad masses of the Moslem world will be able to take charge of their own destiny…and even if they continue to have contempt for the West, we’ll almost certainly find they don’t have time to strap bombs on their sons and daughters to trouble us.

From Rasmussen:

For the third week in a row, just 29% of Likely Voters say the country is heading in the right direction, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey taken the week ending Sunday, September 5…

Man, you gotta be the biggest kool aid drinker in the world to figure we’re on the right path. Heck, even if you’re a dyed in the wool liberal, you can’t figure we’re on the right track because Obama still isn’t being socialist enough, right? So, who is thinking we’re on the right path?

It could be important for us to figure out – after all, by discovering just what set of circumstances allow a person to think high unemployment and national bankruptcy are good signs we can come up with ways to counteract it. I know that the immediate thought is that a 2×4 upside the head would probably be a good idea – even if it doesn’t cure idiocy, it’ll sure help rational people get their frustrations out.

But that really won’t do – outside of the personal injury lawsuits we’d all be hit with, denting a perfectly good 2×4 on a numbskull’s head is just plain and simple wasteful. But there still might be something we can do – we could start a foundation…the National Institute for Teaching Whackjobs Intelligent Thought, and hope that one day all Americans will know the difference between s*** and shinola.

From the Washington Post:

The last major GE factory making ordinary incandescent light bulbs in the United States is closing this month, marking a small, sad exit for a product and company that can trace their roots to Thomas Alva Edison’s innovations in the 1870s…

Why is the factory closing down? Because the government has mandated an end to such bulbs no later than 2014. Where are the replacement, CFL bulbs being made? Overseas – mostly in China.

Who is pleased by this? GE, which still gets to make big profits. Environmentalists who get another victory for their insane creed. Chinese oligarchs, who get to sell goods to the United States to pay for the weapons they hope one day to turn on us. The only losers – the United States of America and the American working man.

This must change.

New for 2010: the Rise of the Black Republican.

Poll: Fiorina has a slight lead in the California Senate race.

The Other McCain has a good run-down on the possibility that Murkowski will turn on the GOP.

Ed Morrisey takes a look at the Delaware Senate race and the difference between a Dem/RINO and a Dem/TEA Party match up. Jim Geraghty also looks at the race – and especially RINO Castle’s record. Me? I’d rather lose with the TEA Party than win with Castle…we’ve still got enough RINOs in the Senate in case we get lonely for them.

Obama won’t extend the Bush tax cuts. Bad news for America – but it will help simplify matters for 2012.

Obama is not a dog.

A new poll from Rasmussen:

Most New Jersey voters continue to approve of new Governor Chris Christie’s job performance despite the continued finger-pointing over who’s to blame for a mix-up that appears to have cost the state $400 million in federal education funds.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in New Jersey finds that 57% approve of the job Christie is doing as governor. Forty-three percent (43%) disapprove…

Faced with one of the more liberal electorates of the nation in a State with a bloated government sector and thus a massive, built-in constituency for Big Government, Christie has shown that if you stick to your guns, do what is right and fight hard, then the people will swing behind you. For decades we’ve been told that the people only want other peoples’ programs cut, but not their own…Christie is showing that the people are not as stupid and greedy as Ruling Class pundits would have us believe. When faced with hard times and when they have leadership which tells the truth, the people come through.

Now, if we could just be sure the whole GOP is paying attention and will do the right thing in 2011…

From Bloomberg:

Stocks slid, while Greek, Portuguese and Irish bonds tumbled, gold rose to a record and the yen surged to a 15-year high versus the dollar on concern Europe’s debt crisis will worsen. U.S. and German bonds rallied…

The European Union put a borrowed-money band-aid on the Greek bond crisis (as well as a few other weak sisters in the EU) and that got them past the crisis of the Spring…but the only actual fix, short of default, would be a massive creation of new wealth in Greece and the rest of the European Union. Problem – all that debt, and especially the issuance of new debt to cover the old, ensures that no matter what else happens, wealth creation will slip (you see, when the government borrows money, it means that much less money for the private economy to expand and create new business…I know this bit of info will shock our liberals, but the truth has to be faced eventually, even by them…).

We can expect over the next few months – and it might end up being the next few weeks, depending on how bad thing really are – that the EU will try expedient after expedient to bridge the gap. But the problem will just remain – too much debt being serviced by too little wealth. Eventually, it all has to come crashing down – eventually, that is, Greece and a few other EU nations (Spain, Ireland, Portugal and, perhaps, Italy) will have to default on all or part of their debt. And that will be all she wrote for the European economy for at least a few years as capital dries up and governments are forced to severely pare back spending.

Our problem is this – we’re only a few years behind Greece in this debacle. We have until about 2015 to get our own house in order. If we do, then we’ll still have a hard time, but not a complete collapse. If we don’t, then we’ll have national bankruptcy and some form of default – and a ten year period of economic pain which will make the 30’s look like a picnic in comparison. We can dodge the worst of it – if we do the right thing.

Now, will we?

From the AP:

A week after conceding the tight GOP primary to Joe Miller, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski says she’s not a quitter and is “still in this game.”

Murkowski told The Associated Press on Tuesday that she’s been inundated with calls and e-mails from supporters and overwhelmed by people just coming up to her, asking her not to leave the race. She said she had been ready to consider her future outside the Senate on Aug. 31, when she conceded, but has been humbled by the outpouring from Alaskans, is listening and weighing her options…

Yeah, I’m sure you’ve got a flood of calls, Senator – after all, the people of Alaska just can’t get enough of political barnacles who don’t know when its time to leave. That’s why you went from 40 points ahead to a narrow loss in a battle with a man nobody knew a month ago.

What we’ve got here is a member of the Ruling Class who can’t believe that the party is over – and, of course, she’s going to be easily played by Democrats…who know that if she runs as a Third Party, she’ll either split the GOP vote and allow a Democrat to squeak in (thus possibly saving the Senate for the Democrats), or she’ll manage to pull it off, and thus start caucusing with the Democrats (once again, just possibly saving the Senate for them). All she’s have to do is sell her soul – take all that support and devotion she’s received from the Republican party over the years and throw it in the toilet…

She can do as she wishes. I’m betting that, in the end, the people of Alaska would see right through such a move and still elect Miller. But if it comes out otherwise (Democrat or turncoat winning), then that is ok, too – we’ll change the result in 2016, and one political barnacle hanging on this November won’t change the march of revolutionary change. It is precisely this sort of cynical, political gamesmanship that we’re all disgusted with – having someone prove it to us and provide us a poster child about it will just make it all the better, in the long run.

As our Democrats won’t fight against it (because they benefit from it), people have taken a hand in getting the laws enforced:

As the saying goes: if you want a job done right, you have to do it yourself. If Americans don’t want dead and ineligible felons participating in elections, they will have to clean up the mess themselves, as Attorney General Eric Holder won’t do his job by enforcing the integrity protections in the “Motor Voter” law passed in 1993…

The author, J. Christian Adams, points out that Holder’s “Justice” Department has decided not to enforce “Section 8” of the Motor-Voter law – the part that deals with keeping the voter rolls clear of dead and otherwise ineligible voters. Why would this be? Because Obama’s people are not interested in clean voter rolls – such things make it hard to stuff ballot boxes and thus hard to steal elections (as they did in Washington State in 2004 and in Minnesota in 2008…and almost did in Florida in 2000).

Adams has notified 16 States that they are not in compliance with the provisions of Motor-Voter – and thus sets the stage for legal action to force them to obey. This is vital – a democratic form of government can only work when people have faith in the voting process. Democrats don’t care about such things – being only interested in protecting their power and wealth, they don’t care how they get in to power…nor do they think about the future…only victory right now matters. If the system collapses, they are more than happy to take advantage of that, too…the nation can die, as long as Democrats win one more election.

We, the people, must back these grass roots efforts to clean up our electoral system – the future of American liberty hangs in the balance. Additionally, if we are awarded power by the people this November, we must make investigation of voter fraud a high priority – as well as enacting laws to require picture ID at polling places, as well as other means to ensure that only eligible voters cast ballots.