Double dip? Economy shrank in 4th quarter

Romney should have won

Economic growth, such as it is, ended in the the fourth quarter last year as Americans reelected President Obama--our gross domestic product shrank 0.1 percent. 

During the Obama presidency, the economy grew, barely, in the two percent range every quarter. A rate less than three percent guarantees a stagnant economy. Now we are not even at that level.

Don't blame me--I voted for Mitt Romney.

A second consecutive quarter of negative economic growth would meet the definition of a recession agreed upon by most economists.

Technorati tags: Obama Barack Obama politics economy gop Mitt Romney Republicanrepublicans elections

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George Ryan now in halfway house: UPDATE--home confinement

Why it's true that there are two former Illinois governors in federal custody, as of this morning only one of them, Democrat Rod Blagojevich, is in prison. Because this morning George Ryan, his Republican predecessor, is now a resident of a West Side Chicago halfway house.

And in another reminder of the pitiful state of the Illinois Republican Party, Ryan was accompanied by another former Illinois GOP governor, Jim Thompson. Yes, he's Ryan's friend and attorney, but Thompson, who rode with Ryan when Ryan reported to prison in 2007, continues to harm the image of the Republican Party in this state.

UPDATE 12:30pm CST:

Actually, George Ryan is now home. His stay at the halfway house lasted only a few hours. He will serve out the rest of his sentence--five months--in Kankakee.

Technorati tags: politics Illinois Politics George Ryan Republican

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Sen. Alexander says NLRB needs sign, "Help wanted: accepting nominations"

Tennessee state line at the Cumberland Gap

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) has a message for President Obama--which can be found on National Review Online.

On Friday, a ruling by a federal court of appeals panel confirmed the worst of what many of us in the Senate have warned about the overreach of President Obama's administration: The court ruled that President Obama violated the Constitution when he used his recess power to appoint three individuals to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in January 2012.

After the ruling, NLRB chairman Mark Gaston Pearce issued a statement saying, in effect, the board is open for business. But the board should take down its "Open for Business” sign and replace it with one that says: “Help Wanted: Accepting Nominations."

As ranking member of the Senate committee with jurisdiction over the NLRB, I am calling on Sharon Block and Richard F. Griffin Jr. to resign immediately. The court's decision means that none of the 219 decisions in which they have participated is valid — and no decision they make in the future will be valid.

In slipping through these so-called “recess” appointments, the president's administration attempted to skirt a constitutionally required step: seeking "the advice and consent of the Senate" for executive and judicial nominations as outlined in Article 2, Section 2, of the Constitution.

The third recess appointment resigned last summer.

As for Obama, he may want to read Alexander Hamilton's Federalist 67, which covers recess appointments.

Oh, I forgot, Obama used to teach constitutional law.

Technorati tags: news labor unions organized labor Obama Barack Obama gop Congresspolitics tennessee tennessee politics lamar alexander

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Ex-SEIU boss convicted of stealing from low-income members

For decades labor bosses have bellowed that they protect "the little guy." Stealing is not protection.

From the Los Angeles Times:

A onetime rising star in national labor circles who headed California's biggest union local was convicted Monday on federal charges that he stole tens of thousands of dollars from his low-income members.

Tyrone Freeman, who represented about 190,000 homecare workers as a leader of the Service Employees International Union, was found guilty on 14 counts after a 10-day trial in Los Angeles.

Jurors deliberated two and a half days before returning their verdict. The trial followed a nearly four-year investigation triggered by a series of Times reports on Freeman's financial practices.

"This was a case about abuse and betrayal," U.S. Atty. André Birotte Jr. said in a statement after the verdict. "Freeman abused his position as leader of the SEIU, and he betrayed the hardworking people whose interests he was supposed to represent."

(Video) Steve Kroft defends softball interview of Obama and Hillary

Two nights ago I watched 60 Minutes--once a hard-hitting show--as Steve Kroft conducted a softball interview of President Obama and Hillary Clinton.

CBS might as well had White House Press Spokesman Jay Carney interview the pair.

On Piers Morgan's little-watched CNN show last night, Kroft defended his loving interview. "But I think it's a question of fairness," Kroft explained. "We have not -- I think he knows that we're not going to play gotcha with him, that we're not going to go out of our way to make him look bad or stupid and we'll let him answer the questions."

In other words, Kroft told Anthony that he is fine letting Obama and Clinton utilize 80 Minutes for an infomercial.

He's a journalist? In September, the day after the deadly Benghazi attacks, Kroft interviewed Obama--and 60 Minutes held back on the release for five weeks parts of that interview that contradicted the initial White House explanation that a Z-list video inspired the murders.

On the other hand, for the last four years the mainstream media has been sending valentines to Obama.

Technorati tags: politics Democrats elections media bias society culture

National School Choice Week 2013 and the Whistlestop Tour

National School Choice Week is back. Among the over 3,500 events is a Whistlestop Tour, which passes through Chicago's Union Station at 6pm tonight. For the rest of the Whistlestop Tour, click here.

And enjoy the video!

Technorati tags: education labor unions politics news Illinois chicago democrat illinois politics chicago politic current events

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Memphis area: Well-paid Teamsters sanitation workers on strike

Teamsters sanitation workers in the Memphis area are on strike in the Memphis area. The walk out effects 200,000 residential customers and 10,000 businesses that use Republic Services to haul their trash. Recycling services are also effected.

The Memphis Commercial Appeal has an interesting take:

The company has said that employees driving its waste trucks in the Memphis area make an average income of about $58,000 a year, about a third more than the median household income in Shelby County. Some of the most senior waste haulers make "upwards of $85,000," the company said.

Four years under Quinn: From Land of Lincoln to America's Greece

Illinois: America's Greece

The Illinois state Senate did the right thing on this day four years ago by removing corrupt Rod Blagojevich from office. But his successor and two-time running mate, Pat Quinn, has presided over four years of rot. Illinois has gone from the Land of Lincoln to America's Greece. Yes, that's what Investors Daily called my home state yesterday, America's Greece. Illinois now has a Standard & Poors A- credit rating, arguably the lowest in the nation, since California, which shares that millstone, has a positive S&P outlook, while Illinois' is negative. And the credit agency is warning that a BBB rating could be next, which is one step above junk.

It's an unhappy fourth anniversary for 12.8 Illinoisans.

Technorati tags: pensions Politics economy news Patrick Quinn pat quinn government illinois politics on this day

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