From Mish’s:

Tack on another month of no progress with weekly unemployment claims. The 4-Week moving average is still hovering around the 450,000 to 460,000 level where it was in mid-December 2009…

…Last week’s improvement in claims is an outlier primarily related to seasonal discrepancies in auto manufacturing workloads. The 4-week moving average smooths out such fluctuations and is still hovering above 450,000,

The numbers are consistent with an economy that is losing jobs.

The Obama Administration congratulates itself – and gives credit to the stimulus – that we are not losing 700,000 or so jobs per month, as we were in the worst part of the financial crash…but that is utterly meaningless: the jobs were lost and they are not being replaced. At best, we’re treading water. It is very likely, though, that we are actually still declining – such decline masked merely by the manner in which the BLS calculates employment (and its not a conspiracy – the BLS admits that its models are going to be inaccurate during a down economy).

Now, if the economy does go south in the second half of 2010 – as more and more people are expecting – then we might start to see towards the end of the year a sharp spike in job losses. Adding to this is the fact that cash-strapped State and local governments are starting to reduce their workforces. Unemployment might end 2010 significantly higher than we’ve seen in the past 12 months. 11 or 12% is easily possible, and its not out of the question for it to be much higher than that.

Dodging and weaving, the Obama Administration and the Federal Reserve are doing what they can do delay the crash until after the mid-terms – we’ll see if they can pull it off. But in the end, the crash must come – there is too much debt which simply cannot be paid back. Some sort of default is inevitable in State and local governments unless Uncle Sugar comes to the rescue with a bail out – and even that just moves the disaster to the federal level and increases its ultimate scope.

80 years of economic idiocy has to be paid for – the bill has come due, and we’re stuck with it.

Jindal in Louisiana, Haley in South Carolina – and now Vijay Kumar in Tennessee:

I am Vijay Kumar, and I am running for the 5th District Congressional seat presently held by Jim Cooper. I am an immigrant from India who has lived in Nashville for twenty-one years, and when I ran in the last election, I was blessed with winning almost a third of the vote.

I am running again because Congress has failed to take leader- ship on the issues of illegal immigration, taxation, English as our official language, our economy, healthcare reform, abortion, and the War on Terror, and I hope you share my belief that it is time for new leadership.

Did I miss a memo? Someone call a meeting of the V,RWC and not tell me? I thought we were working for Likud/Israel? I realize that I’ve been busy with the sub-plot where the descendants of Thomas Francis Patrick Noonan will take over the world, but I don’t think I’m that far out of the loop.

So, what gives? I mean, its cool – I, for one, welcome our Indian-American overlords if they’ll get rid of Obama and cut taxes.

Charlie Rangel in the hot seat:

A House investigative committee on Thursday charged New York Rep. Charles Rangel with multiple ethics violations, a blow to the former Ways and Means chairman and an election-year headache for Democrats.

The committee did not immediately specify the charges against the Democrat, but sources who could not discuss the allegations publicly said they include Rangel’s misuse of official stationery, his use of rent-subsidized New York apartments and failure to publicly disclose financial information as required…

Which is all pretty much par for the course for anyone who read Caucus of Corruption. The big question – by what means will the House Democrat leadership try to white wash all this? Its clear there is a lot in the case – had to be, or Democrats would have been able to kill it. But they certainly don’t want a lot of bad revelations coming out between now and November. So what will they do?

Probably the happiest outcome for the Democrats is a Rangel announcement that he’s going to retire. There is still time for that – the New York primary isn’t until September 14th and I’m sure the Democrats can bend whatever rules are necessary to get a replacement candidate. This move might be just that – a way to pressure Rangel; to let him know that the party is over and the Democrats need him to fall on his sword.

No matter how this particular case turns out, it is just the very tip of the iceberg. Corruption is endemic in the Democrat party and only a complete investigation from top to bottom will give us a chance to clear the rot out.

The House Minority Leader lays out some governing ideas in the New York Times:

…In a 40-minute interview, Mr. Boehner pledged to “run the House differently than it was run in the past.” He said bills would be posted on the Internet three days in advance of debate, so lawmakers could adequately study the legislation. He said he would open Rules Committee meetings and allow cameras inside, providing a greater sense of transparency and whittling away at what he called a secretive and closed system.

“This is not the Congress of old,” Mr. Boehner said…

All of us rank-and-rile conservatives/Republicans have our complaints about the Congressional GOP – and while much has been forgiven, nothing has been forgotten. If the Republican Party wins a House majority in November, then that is just a first step – and a very small step, at that.

So far here in 2010 the House GOP has shown itself far more willing to listen to the people than the Senate GOP – and, of course, vastly more willing than the Democrats to lend an ear to what the people want. But, even so, we know that in the House GOP caucus there those who just want a seat at the trough and don’t really care about America – and we’re bound to elect a few new ones in November (people who will play the outsider game to get elected, and then rush to get on their knees to the Ruling Class). Boehner has done good work, as have many others – but if the GOP wins, that will be the time when we’ll have to start exerting maximum pressure.

Let what has happened to our liberals be our warning – rank-and-file liberals really thought that they were getting Hope and Change…with Obama in the White House and Pelosi in the Speaker’s chair, all was accomplished. They turned a blind eye and now their leaders have loused it up – perhaps making Democrats toxic for a generation. We daren’t do that – pressure, pressure and then some more pressure must be exerted…and primary challenges must be ready to go at the drop of a hat.

It is our government – it is supposed to be there for us, not for the elite, the rich and the well-connected. But if we don’t stand up and be counted, nothing will change, ever.

This just gets worse and worse for the left by the day – these are the supposedly unbiased people who will just bring us the facts:

LAURA ROZEN: People we no longer have to listen to: would it be unwise to start a thread of people we are grateful we no longer have to listen to? If not, I’ll start off: Michael Rubin.

MICHAEL COHEN, NEW AMERICA FOUNDATION: Mark Penn and Bob Shrum. Anyone who uses the expression “Real America.” We should send there ass to Gitmo!

JESSE TAYLOR, PANDAGON.NET: Michael Barone? Please?

LAURA ROZEN: Karl Rove, Newt Gingrich (afraid it’s not true), Drill Here Drill Now, And David Addington, John Yoo, we’ll see you in court?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, THE NEW YORKER: As a side note, does anyone know what prompted Michael Barone to go insane?

MATT DUSS: LEDEEN.

SPENCER ACKERMAN: Let’s just throw Ledeen against a wall. Or, pace Dr. Alterman, throw him through a plate glass window. I’ll bet a little spot of violence would shut him right the (Expletive Deleted) up, as with most bullies.

JOE KLEIN, TIME: Pete Wehner…these sort of things always end badly.

ERIC ALTERMAN, AUTHOR, WHAT LIBERAL MEDIA: (Expletive Deleted) Nascar retards…

The leftist bias of the MSM has been so pronounced for a couple decades now that only leftists and MSMers were willing to deny it with a straight face. At this point, however, you just have to be stupid to not admit it.

And the thing is, if they would just admit it, the issue would go away – what bothers people about the MSM is not the bias, but the pretense that there is no bias. As usual, the cover up is worse than the underlying crime.

No more moratoriums. No more outsiders telling the people of Louisiana what to do. No more welfare check. Governor Jindal and his people want to get back to work – and Obama stands in their way.

This is gonna leave a mark:

A year after President Barack Obama’s political honeymoon ended, his job approval rating has dropped to a negative 44 – 48 percent, his worst net score ever, and American voters say by a narrow 39 – 36 percent margin that they would vote for an unnamed Republican rather than President Obama in 2012, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today…

Ouch! That that’s a sharp slap to the face – and quite gratifying to see it happen. The people are fully awake, now, to the terrible error we made in November of 2008.

One of our frequent commenters here at Blogs for Victory (Tfmo) has started doing a radio show – please check it out and give him your feedback.

The Village Voice is displeased with me. I guess I should feel bad about it, but I don’t.

Was yesterday’s extension of unemployment benefits the last bit of stimulus we’ll see? It could be – going to be very hard to shove through a lot of additional spending next year, even if Democrats do manage to hold on.

City bankrupt? Then privatize everything. Everything? Yes, everything. Guess what? The world does not come to an end when you do… (H/T: Mish’s)

Sarah Palin, victim of MSM smears, takes note of the Journolist scandal. It is quite juicy, you know? Just exactly what we’ve been on about for years in MSM bias.

Good riddance to the establishment GOP.

‘Rat’s deserting the sinking ship – from Jason Emby at Statesman.com:

…As I reported last night on the Postcards blog, Democratic sources say President Barack Obama will be in Austin and Houston on Aug. 9 for a pair of fundraisers. And Democratic gubernatorial nominee Bill White doesn’t plan to be there.

Said White spokeswoman Katy Bacon, “That week is jam packed, and he’s not scheduled to be in Houston or Austin at all except for the night of the 12th. In August, Bill will be talking with Texans about the future of our state, laying out his plans for the same.”…

This is the President of the United States – there is always room in the schedule for him…unless he’s become political kryptonite in your State.

It took 18 months for Obama to wreck himself. That has got to be some kind of Presidential record.