Come, gentlemen, I hope we shall drink down all unkindness.
-- William Shakespeare
The proper behavior all through the holiday season is to be drunk. This drunkenness culminates on New Year’s Eve, when you get so drunk you kiss the person you’re married to.
-- P.J. O’Rourke
One of the big advantages that President Obama has, as he plays “chicken” with congressional Republicans along the “fiscal cliff,” is that he is a master of the plausible lie, which will never be exposed by the mainstream media — nor, apparently, by the Republicans.There is a serious lack of common sense and leadership at the top levels of the republican party, but that's a whole different problem. Let's just stick with obama for today.
A key lie that has been repeated over and over, largely unanswered, is that President Bush’s “tax cuts for the rich” cost the government so much tax revenue that this added to the budget deficit...
What is remarkable is how easy it is to show how completely false Obama’s argument is. That also makes it completely inexplicable why the Republicans have not done so.
The official statistics that show plainly how wrong Barack Obama is can be found in his own “Economic Report of the President” for 2012, on page 411...Of course, it would help if we had anything remotely approaching a 'fair and balanced' media. God forbid they should do any reporting that includes an unbiased presentation of the facts.
... (1) Tax revenues went up — not down — after tax rates were cut during the Bush administration, and (2) the budget deficit declined, year after year, after the cuts in tax rates that have been blamed by Obama for increasing the deficit...
The bottom line is that Barack Obama’s blaming increased budget deficits on the Bush tax cuts is demonstrably false.
...despite all the melodrama about raising taxes on “the rich,” even if that is done, it will scarcely make a dent in the government’s financial problems. Raising the tax rates on everybody in the top 2 percent will not generate enough additional tax revenue to run the government for ten days.
All the political angst and moral melodrama about getting “the rich” to pay “their fair share” is part of a big charade. This is not about economics, it is about politics. Taxing “the rich” will produce a drop in the bucket when compared with the staggering and unprecedented deficits of the Obama administration.As the chart below shows, even if the government confiscates every single penny from everyone who earns more than $1 million, it would only cover about half the current deficit. (click to embiggen)
No previous administration in the entire history of the nation ever finished the year with a trillion-dollar deficit. The Obama administration has done so every single year. Yet political and media discussions of the financial crisis have been focused overwhelmingly on how to get more tax revenue to pay for past and future spending.As so many others have said, we don't have a revenue problem - we have a spending problem.
The very catchwords and phrases used by the Obama administration betray how phony this all is. For example, “We are just asking the rich to pay a little more.”Obvious lies and staggering incompetence, aided and abetted by his accomplices in the media. We've seen it for the past four years. Why should we expect anything else over the next four?
This is an insult to our intelligence. The government doesn’t “ask” anybody to pay anything. It orders you to pay the taxes it imposes, and you can go to prison if you don’t.
I've had to borrow money from a friend several times in the past few years, money I've always paid back.Here's the 'money' quote.
But recently when I asked "Alan" for a loan, he refused. [Whiny self-centered reason why she needs the cash here.]
Since I've always repaid Alan, isn't he wrong to refuse me the money?Can you believe the gall of that
'Someone else has money that they worked for and I need. Therefore they should give it to me when I ask.'Thankfully the people dispensing advice basically told the
A dentist acted legally when he fired an assistant that he found attractive simply because he and his wife viewed the woman as a threat to their marriage, the all-male Iowa Supreme Court ruled Friday.
The court ruled 7-0 that bosses can fire employees they see as an "irresistible attraction," even if the employees have not engaged in flirtatious behavior or otherwise done anything wrong. Such firings may be unfair, but they are not unlawful discrimination under the Iowa Civil Rights Act because they are motivated by feelings and emotions, not gender, Justice Edward Mansfield wrote.
"These judges sent a message to Iowa women that they don't think men can be held responsible for their sexual desires and that Iowa women are the ones who have to monitor and control their bosses' sexual desires," said attorney Paige Fiedler. "If they get out of hand, then the women can be legally fired for it."
Knight fired Nelson and gave her one month's severance. He later told Nelson's husband that he worried he was getting too personally attached and feared he would eventually try to start an affair with her.And that's grounds for firing her? GMAFB.
A frisky businesswoman injured having sex in a hotel is looking forward to a bumper payout after winning her battle for industrial compensation.Enthusiastic wench, wot?
The civil servant was making love to a friend during a work trip when a glass light fitting was torn from its mount above the bed.
She was taken to hospital in the town of Nowra, 100 miles south of her hometown of Sydney, Australia, for treatment and later suffered depression which forced her to give up her job.Unlike the U.S. government, which screws its employees and citizens at every opportunity.
Her claim for worker's compensation for her physical and psychological injuries was initially approved by government insurer Comcare, then rejected after further investigation.
A tribunal agreed with Comcare that her injuries were not suffered in the course of her employment, saying the government had not induced or encouraged the woman's sexual conduct.
The tribunal also found the sex was "not an ordinary incident of an overnight stay" such as showering, sleeping and eating.I used to travel on business quite frequently. I can testify that sex was not an ordinary part of my overnight stays, no matter how much I wished otherwise. However...
That ruling was overturned in the Federal Court, when Judge John Nicholas rejected the tribunal's findings that the sex had to be condoned by the government if she were to qualify for compensation.I don't pretend to understand Australian law, but it beggars common sense that an intensely personal act such as intercourse -- especially outside of normal business hours and away from one's place of employment -- can be considered as grounds for worker's compensation. Suppose I was on a business trip, stayed too long in the hotel bar, and tripped and fell on my way back to my room, injuring myself. Would I then be eligible for worker's comp?
Some 300 people had to evacuate from a Spanish brothel after masked men left a car bomb at its parking lot.First of all, I live in the Bible Belt. We have megachurches down here, not megabrothels. I didn't even know such things existed. (Well, except for the Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, which was was just down the road a ways. But that's a special case. Go to the link and read the real story, not that fictionalized Hollywood crap.) Second of all, I simply can't conceive of such an establishment so large that 300 people could patronize it at one time.
People were evacuated from the building as the police bomb squad found and disarmed the explosive device. Spain’s Europa Press agency says it consisted of two butane gas tanks, around a kilogram of TNT and dynamite, with a fuse attached, citing sources close to the investigation.I won't even venture a comment on the symbolism of a brothel being located near a tunnel...
People living in La Jonquera believe the incident to be part of a turf war between gangs.
Paradise was opened in October 2010, and its 200 sex workers serve clients from both Spain and France. It’s located just next to a tunnel entrance, which goes under the Pyrenees Mountains linking the two countries.
With Congress spending all its time trying to avert the fiscal cliff, a slew of other legislative matters are going unattended. One of them is the agriculture bill which, if not addressed, could lead to a doubling of the price of milk early next year.We have two teenagers in the house who go through milk like I go through Shiner. A gallon of milk lasts two days around here. If the price doubles, we'll be spending between $21-$28 per week on milk alone. And that doesn't even include ice cream!
...the law states that if a new bill isn't passed or the current one extended, the formula for calculating the price the government pays for dairy products reverts back to a 1949 statute. Under that formula, the government would be forced to buy milk at twice today's price -- driving up the cost for everyone.It should be noted that increases in food and dairy prices were triggered several years ago by federal policies mandating increased use of ethanol as a fuel. Most ethanol is produced from corn, which also happens to be a feedstock for cattle and poultry. In fact, since 2007 food prices have increased at twice the rate of inflation, in large part due to diversion of corn from the table to the gas tank.
"Consumers are going to be a bit shocked when instead of seeing $3.60 a gallon for milk, they see $7 a gallon for milk. And that's going to ripple throughout all of the commodities if this thing goes on for an extended period of time," (U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom) Vilsack said.
Using current numbers, this year's ethanol mandate would theoretically require 44% of this year's corn crop.Even the U.N. has urged the U.S. to ease up on its ethanol fuel requirements.
Alcohol is corrosive and attracts moisture, properties that can threaten mechanical parts.And ethanol is absolutely devastating to small engines, like those in lawn mowers, weed eaters, or chain saws.
Alcohol has a high-octane rating, and engines designed to exploit that can produce significant power. But alcohol also has considerably less energy content than gasoline or diesel fuel, so mileage drops as alcohol content rises.
In smaller engines, ethanol can create a chain reaction of events that end up clogging valves and rusting out small metal parts — including, crucially, carburetors.I started off talking about how congress has screwed up dairy prices, and somehow got off into a rant about ethanol. So to bring this discussion full circle, here's what the congresscritters need to do.
“When you mix ethanol with your fuel, you’ve now put a chemical substance in there that’s going to attract moisture, which is going to promote a quicker deterioration of the fuel that you have,” said Bob Magnotti, owner of Magnotti’s Small Engine Service in Roanoke, Va.
In effect, said Doug Ryms, a mechanic at Como Mower Service in Columbus, Ohio, “the alcohol actually dissipates the oil. So on a two-cycle engine, you’re lubricating the engine, but the oil is being pushed away, so it’s actually not lubricating the engine.”
To prevent the price spike, Congress either needs to extend the current bill, pass a new bill, or enact some provision to keep the 1949 law from taking effect.Of course, another option is for our elected idiots to entirely do away with price subsidies and ethanol mandates, and embrace free market principles.
Given the current state of the fiscal cliff talks and Congress' inability to get things done in general, dairy lovers might want to stock up now.
President Barack Obama used the funeral for Hawaii senator Daniel Inouye to talk about himself. In the short 1,600 word speech, Obama used the word "my" 21 times, "me" 12 times, and "I" 30 times.Obama Golfing in Hawaii With Pal Arrested in Prostitution Sting
Taking a break from the fiscal cliff negotiations, President Obama is spending the first day of his holiday vacation golfing with friends and aides, including longtime pal Bobby Titcomb, who was arrested last year on suspicion of soliciting a prostitute.Talk about a target-rich environment. But I'm going to go with this story. With all the hoopla about the fiscal cliff and the Newtown shootings, it slipped in under the radar. IMO it hasn't received the ridicule it deserves.
In an interview with Univision 23 on Thursday, a Spanish station based in Miami, the president was asked about the perception among some Americans that he has a socialist vision for the country.Yeah, right. I get obama and Reagan mixed up all the time. In fact, I could have sworn the following quote was from obama. Imagine my surprise when I found out it was actually from Ronnie...
“The truth of the matter is that my policies are so mainstream that if I had set the same policies that I had back in the 1980s, I would be considered a moderate Republican,” he said.
Every mass shooting has three elements: the killer, the weapon and the cultural climate. As soon as the shooting stops, partisans immediately pick their preferred root cause with corresponding pet panacea. Names are hurled, scapegoats paraded, prejudices vented. The argument goes nowhere.Krauthammer then goes on to discuss each in greater detail. He explains why gun control laws are pragmatically impossible ("Unless you are prepared to confiscate all existing firearms, disarm the citizenry and repeal the Second Amendment, it’s almost impossible to craft a law that will be effective.").
... While law deters the rational, it has far less effect on the psychotic. The best we can do is to try to detain them, disarm them and discourage “entertainment” that can intensify already murderous impulses.Do yourself a favor and read the entire piece. It's a breath of fresh air and common sense in an environment of toxic debate and emotion-laden tirades.
But there’s a cost. Gun control impinges upon the Second Amendment; involuntary commitment impinges upon the liberty clause of the Fifth Amendment; curbing “entertainment” violence impinges upon First Amendment free speech.
Actually reducing the number of military-style weapons owned by civilians in this country would probably involve confiscating guns that had been legally obtained; involuntary commitment to mental hospitals for possibly dangerous people will necessarily involve imprisoning people who have committed no crime yet; restricting video games and movies is all kinds of banning speech among consenting adults who are not harming anyone. Essentially, innocents pay the price in all of these scenarios...And while you're reading Krauthammer's article, give a listen to an old Grand Funk Railroad song: "Don't Let 'Em Take Your Gun" (unearthed by kerrcarto over at GGDF - good job, bro.) Here's where the connection to Krauthammer comes in:
My daddy told me "son, don't let 'em take your gun.Yep, the 2nd, 5th, and 1st Amendments are all at risk here.
That's what they tryin' to do.
Son, don't let 'em take your gun.
They're takin' your bill of rights away from you."
Clinton also unveiled the $60-million fifth round of funding for "COPS in School," a Justice Department program that helps pay the costs of placing police officers in schools to help make them safer for students and teachers. The money will be used to provide 452 officers in schools in more than 220 communities.But when the same thing is proposed by the NRA it is ridiculed.
"Already, it has placed 2,200 officers in more than 1,000 communities across our nation, where they are heightening school safety..."
The Obama administration and lawmakers on Capitol Hill have joined in a chorus to call for action in the wake of the atrocities committed last week in Newtown, Conn. But, over the past few years, the administration and Congress actually slashed millions of dollars in federal funding for school safety. In 2011 and 2012, for example, Justice Department programs that provided $200 million to schools for training, security equipment, and police resources were not renewed.Where are the howls of protest from the leftists over that?
The Obama administration also eliminated funding for an Education Department program intended to help schools prepare for mass tragedies...
Another victim from attacks on U.N.-backed anti-polio teams in Pakistan died on Thursday, bringing the three-day death toll in the wave of assaults on volunteers vaccinating children across the country to nine, officials said.Where's the outrage from the liberals in this country? Talk about a literal 'war on women.' And what about the children? Thanks to these ignorant cowardly attacks thousands -- perhaps even hundreds of thousands -- of children will be condemned to a miserable, wretched existence. Even more miserable and wretched than what they might have experienced without contracting polio.
Since Monday, gunmen had launched attacks across Pakistan on teams vaccinating children against polio. Six women were among the nine anti-polio workers killed in the campaign, jointly conducted with the Pakistani government.
...Islamic militants accuse health workers of acting as spies for the U.S. and claim that the vaccine makes children sterile.
The U.N. suspended the (vaccination) drive until a government investigation was completed.The only thing more ignorant and cowardly than the SOBs that perpetrated these attacks are the hypocritical leftists in this country who haven't uttered one peep of condemnation. They're too busy gearing up for their anti-gun campaign in response to the Newton shootings.
The suspension was a grave blow to efforts to bring an end to the scourge of polio in Pakistan, one of only three countries where the crippling disease is endemic.
...mass shootings have not increased in number or in overall body count, at least not over the past several decades.
Based on data extracted from official police reports to the FBI, the figure below shows annual incident, offender and victim tallies for gun homicides in which at least four people were murdered. Over the thirty-year time frame, an average of about 20 mass murders have occurred annually in the United States with an average death toll of about 100 per year.
Without minimizing the pain and suffering of the hundreds of who have been victimized in senseless attacks, the facts say clearly that the has been no increase in mass killings, and certainly no epidemic. Occasionally, we have witnessed short-term spikes with several shootings clustering close together in time.In fact, the deadliest massacre of schoolchildren occurred in 1927. No firearms were involved. Rather, the weapon was dynamite.
The recent shootings in Newtown, Conn., have led many people to characterize school violence as a modern affliction, a byproduct of our national obsession with guns and media violence. But the deadliest school-related massacre in American history happened in 1927, at an elementary school in Bath, Mich. A school board member named Andrew Kehoe, upset over a burdensome property tax, wired the building with dynamite and set it off in the morning of May 18. Kehoe’s actions killed 45 people, 38 of whom were children.And recent attacks at schools in China show that any weapon -- or even a common tool such as a hammer -- can be used to kill or injure.
A series of uncoordinated mass stabbings, hammer attacks, and cleaver attacks in the People's Republic of China began in March 2010. The spate of attacks left at least 21 dead and some 90 injured. Analysts have blamed mental health problems caused by rapid social change for the rise in these kind of mass murder and murder-suicide incidents.Ignoring all of the above, the left reacted to the Newton shootings with knee-jerk predictability, immediately exploiting the deaths of innocents to press for increased gun control. I realize that I'm for the most part preaching to the choir here, but there is little to no correlation between firearms and homicide rates.
...there is no relationship between rates of gun ownership and homicide. Countries like Russia and South Africa have murder rates that dwarf ours, with a tiny fraction of the gun ownership. Countries that have relatively high levels of gun ownership, like Switzerland, Italy, Canada and Norway, also have very low homicide rates. There just isn’t any correlation, as the linked article demonstrates with statistical precision.There are, however, factors other than gun ownership at play.
In most of Africa, homicide rates are sky-high, as much as five to ten times America’s rate. The homicide rate in Brazil is around five times that of the U.S. And here in the United States, according to the Department of Justice, the murder rate among African-Americans is almost eight times the murder rate among whites.If not firearms ownership, then what might explain the different homicide rates in different locales? One possible answer lies in a recent study (Segal, 2011), which determined that socio-economic, demographic and other social factors have the strongest association with state homicide rates.
“Our mental health system has completely failed individuals with severe mental illness and their communities,” said Doris A. Fuller, executive director. “We have emptied the nation's hospitals, gutted state and local mental health programs, and turned involuntary treatment into a debate point instead of using it as a viable option to prevent tragedy involving those too ill to help themselves.”That same organization provided the following statistic: out of 100 rampage murders committed in the U.S. over the 50-year period between 1949 and 1999, "The study found that 48 killers had some kind of formal [psychiatric] diagnosis..."
Recent video games reward players for killing innocent bystanders, police, and prostitutes, using a wide range of weapons including guns, knives, flame throwers, swords, baseball bats, cars, hands, and feet. Some include cut scenes (i.e., brief movie clips supposedly designed to move the story forward) of strippers. In some, the player assumes the role of hero, whereas in others the player is a criminal.So if we are serious about preventing future shootings, it would make sense to consider mental health issues related to those shootings. Here's one proposed starting point.
Some studies have yielded nonsignificant video game effects, just as some smoking studies failed to find a significant link to lung cancer. But when one combines all relevant empirical studies using meta-analytic techniques, five separate effects emerge with considerable consistency. Violent video games are significantly associated with: increased aggressive behavior, thoughts, and affect; increased physiological arousal; and decreased prosocial (helping) behavior.
Many school systems rely on 'passive' systems like locking exterior accesses, 'limited' access after specific times, or camera systems. The 'rationale' is they don't want to 'scare' the children by having armed 'police' on campus.One thing that should be patently obvious is that rampage murders almost always take place in gun-free zones. The perpetrators may be crazy, but they're not stupid. If you want to kill as many people as possible, go someplace where no one can shoot back. There's a reason why none of these wackos attack police stations, or NRA meetings, or biker bars. The folks in those places would make short work of anyone trying to do them harm.
A few school systems use School Resource Officers (SROs) who are either retired LEOs or are LEOs specifically hired to work in schools both for security. those SROs are armed, have full police powers and are directly connected to the local police departments via radio if they need assistance/backup.
Many were funded under programs from the Federal Government after Columbine...
However, those programs were de-funded by the current administration. Full article HERE...
It took place at a university in Virginia. A student with a grudge, an immigrant, pulled a gun and went on a shooting spree. It wasn’t Virginia Tech at all. It was the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, not far away. You can easily drive from the one school to the other, just take a trip down Route 460 through Tazewell.Do yourself a favor and go to the link. In fact, do us all a favor and spread it around. You'll find more information there about how armed response stops violent incidents. But what's equally telling -- and more disturbing -- is the documentation of how the media has totally ignored that aspect of the incidents.
It was January 16, 2002 when Peter Odighizuwa came to campus. He had been suspended due to failing grades. Odighizuwa was angry and waving a gun calling on students to “come get me”. The students, seeing the gun, ran. A shooting spree started almost immediately. In seconds Odighizuwa had killed the school dean, a professor and one student. Three other students were shot as well, one in the chest, one in the stomach and one in the throat.
Many students heard the shots. Two who did were Mikael Gross and Tracy Bridges. Mikael was outside the school having just returned to campus from lunch when he heard the shots. Tracy was inside attending class. Both immediately ran to their cars. Each had a handgun locked in the vehicle.
Bridges pulled a .357 Magnum pistol and he later said he was prepared to shoot to kill if necessary. He and Gross both approached Odighizuwa at the same time from different directions. Both were pointing their weapons at him. Bridges yelled for Odighizuwa to drop his weapon. When the shooter realized they had the drop on him he threw his weapon down.
The media, though it widely reported the attack, left out the fact that Bridges and Gross were armed. Most simply reported that the gunman was jumped and subdued by other students. That two of those students were now armed didn’t get a mention.A few brave souls, wading against the tide of public hysteria, have offered what I consider to be common-sense solutions: permitting selected school personnel to be armed, similar to how airline pilots were allowed to arm themselves after 9-11.
...“A Lexus-Nexis search revealed 88 stories on the topic, of which only two mentioned that either Bridges or Gross was armed.” ... “This was a very public shooting with a lot of media coverage.” But the media left out information showing how two students with firearms ended the killing spree.
St. Louis County Police Chief Tim Fitch says it is time to talk about arming civilian school personnel following Friday’s massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, comparing it to arming airline pilots after September 11, 2001.A Texas state legislator will introduce a bill to do something similar.
“I see it no differently,” he said. “Pilots have been armed now for many many years, we’ve not had another hijacking and the issue is, for the bad guy, he doesn’t know which airplane he’s getting on, if the pilot is armed or not.”
Fitch said the killing will not be stopped by legislation or laws. “If there’s somebody that’s really hellbent on doing something like this, they’re not going to care what the law is.”
Dallas Republican Jason Villalba said Tuesday he will file a bill in the state Legislature that would allow armed marshals at Texas schools.The governor of Virginia is also getting in on the act.
The bill, which will be filed in the Texas House this week, calls for “trained ” marshals to carry concealed weapons at schools in order to protect children and teachers.
On Tuesday, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell said discussions about arming school officials need to be had and suggested that the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre may have been prevented if the principal had been trained and armed with a gun.Some school districts aren't waiting for politicians to get off the pot.
Lawmakers and educators in Texas say the way to guard against school shootings like last Friday's at a Connecticut elementary school is to make sure teachers can shoot back.I love the quote by Superintendent Thweatt about "we don’t have to be police officers and learn about Miranda Rights and related procedures. We just have to be accurate.” That pretty much sums things up nicely. This country would be so much better off if more people had such common sense.
...David Thweatt, superintendent of the 103-student Harrold Independent School District in Wilbarger County, said his teachers are armed and ready to protect their young charges.
Thweatt is the architect of “The Guardian Plan,” a blueprint for arming school staff, including teachers ...
“We give our ‘Guardians’ training in addition to the regular Texas conceal-and-carry training,” Thweatt, whose school is about three hours northwest of Dallas, told FoxNews.com. “It mainly entails improving accuracy…You know, as educators, we don’t have to be police officers and learn about Miranda Rights and related procedures. We just have to be accurate.”
Thweatt said there have been no incidents since October 2007, when his district adopted the plan giving an unspecified number of teachers and school staff -- dubbed "Guardians" -- authority to carry concealed weapons on school premises. Participating staff are anonymous and known only to Thweatt and the school board, which must approve each application for an employee to become a Guardian. They receive a small stipend annually.
“We’re 18 miles and 30 minutes from the nearest police station," Thweatt said. "So we are our first responders. If something happened here, we would have to protect our children. You know, police officers are true, everyday heroes in my book, but one of them once told me something very revealing. He said, ‘Ninety-five percent of the time, we get to the scene late.’
We have a massive system of drug control laws. Yet, the Left is the first to argue that the war on drugs has been a failure. And whether or not one deems it a failure, the war on drugs surely hasn’t prevented tens of millions of Americans, including teenagers, from obtaining drugs illegally. Why, then, does the Left believe that a war on guns would be any more effective than the war on drugs?Two:
Liberals talk about banning guns as if it's the same as banning murder and banning evil.Three:
After a shooting spree, they always want to take the guns away from the people who didn’t do it.
According to New Jersey's fertilizer law, as of November 15 residents cannot apply fertilizers containing nitrogen or phosphorus to their lawns until next spring (March 1).As if that's not bad enough, all 'lawn care professionals' have to
Please be advised that as of January 5, 2012, all lawn care professionals must be certified in order to apply fertilizer in New Jersey. Rutgers University is administering the online training and certification program. Online training information is available and lawn care professionals can register to take the test.
The fees to become certified or trained are as follows:
Certified Fertilizer Applicator:
$75 fee for the first year (training and testing)
$25 annual fee for the subsequent three years
Trained Fertilizer Applicator:
$25 annual fee
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
Everything you ever wanted to know about the Obama economy is in a single sentence about the Federal Reserve Board's latest attempts this week to deal with unacceptably high unemployment.And to celebrate the Christmas season, we have this image, from one of my favorite web sites.
"Fed officials projected that the jobless rate, now at 7.7 percent, would not reach 6.5 percent until near the end of 2015 at the earliest," The Washington Post reported in its lead front page story Thursday morning.
If there's anyone out there -- besides Barack Obama's top advisers and diehard allies in Congress -- who think his economic policies, or lack thereof, will restore a weak economy to its full vigor in his second term, they've got a long wait.
