Listing to Rush while I’m at lunch. He played a clip of President Obama that is just astounding in it’s cluelessness. I will find the actual quote as soon as possible, but here is my take.

The president placed the blame for joblessness on business, ignoring the role government plays. His basic premise is that businesses are interested in making a profit at the expense of creating jobs. Really? The purpose of a business is to give people jobs? He. Doesn’t. Have. A. Clue.

UPDATE: Here’s the actual quotes from the White House web site.

But despite the progress we’ve made, many businesses are still skittish about hiring. Some are still digging themselves out of the losses they incurred over the past year. Many have figured out how to squeeze more productivity out of fewer workers, and that cost-cutting has become embedded in their operations and in their culture. That may result in good profits, but it’s not translating into hiring. And so that’s the question that we have to ask ourselves today: How do we get businesses to start hiring again? How do we get ourselves to the point where more people are working, and more people are spending, and you start seeing a virtuous cycle and the recovery starts to feed on itself?

I’m not an economist nor a business owner, but from what I observe, the answer to how do we businesses to start hiring again is get government out of the way.

Now.

Tweet

Driving into work this morning I saw a radiator shop’s truck. On the tailgate was their slogan:
“The Best Place to Take a Leak”

Well, it made me laugh.

Tweet

The powers of a man’s mind are directly proportioned to the quantity of coffee he drinks. ~ Sir James Mackintosh

Captain’s Quarters (Ed Morrissey) Could Ahmadinejad Be In Serious Trouble?

For a man who came out of near-oblivion to the presidency of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appears to face serious restlessness among his subjects. Despite having the backing of the hardliners in the Guardian Council who arranged his victory, or perhaps because of that support, Ahmadinejad has become the center of widespread scorn and dissastisfaction among Iranian students, a volatile and powerful force for radical change in the nation.

Blue Crab boulevard (Gaius) The Poor Family Farmer

The Washington Post points out that the massive amounts of Federal money being spent to subsidize the “family farmer” turn out to be going to larger and larger farm operations. Instead of protecting family-owned farms, the subsidies are effectively destroying that way of life.

Tweet

Here’s some stuff for a relatively slow Sunday Morning:

Blogads — You can purchase blogads here at bRight & Early. They’re not expensive, and I could use the help.

Update Your Blogroll — Have you changed the url for bRight & Early on your blogroll? I know most of you have, but some (Matt) still have not.
Of course if you haven’t added bR&E to your blogroll, a slow Sunday morning would be the perfect time to do so.

Florida Bloggers — Are you a conservative Florida blogger? You’re invited to join the Red State Floridian blogroll.

Blogs4Blogs — This blogroll is for those who think that our free speech, particularly our political speech on our blogs, is protected by the Constitution and should not be regulated by the FEC or the government. To join just drop me an email with your blog information.

Frappr Map — Why haven’t you stuck a pin in our Frappr Map?

Getaway ‘N Go Travel — Part of today will involve some site updates at Getaway ‘N Go Travel. Included will be the ability to book your travel online. If you’re making travel plans consider using Getaway ‘N Go Travel. You’ll get competitive prices and personalized service. You’ll also be helping a conservative entrepreneur and blogger.

Coming to Florida? — This is sort of a side note to my blog friends. If you’re planning on visiting the Florida Mouse or any destination in Central Florida, and you don’t let me know, I’m going to be most upset! Spring break and summer vacation are both approaching fast. Come on down!

Have a great Sunday.

Linked with the Sunday Morning picnic at basil’s blog.

Tweet

Breaking news regarding the DPW terminal operations deal:

A Dubai-owned company said Thursday it is giving up its management stake in some U.S. ports, a move made as congressional leaders warned President Bush that both the House and Senate appeared ready to block the takeover.
It was not immediately clear whether the announcement would be enough to cool widespread sentiment in Congress to pass legislation blocking the deal, which has become a burdensome election-year problem for Republicans.

Sen. John Warner, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, took the Senate floor to read to colleagues a company press release disclosing its new stance.

“Because of the strong relationship between the United Arab Emirates and the United States and to preserve that relationship, DP World has decided to transfer fully the U.S. operation of P&O Operations North America to a United States entity,” DP World’s chief operating officer, Edward H. Bilkey, said in the statement that Warner relayed to other senators. The announcement did not specify which American company would be involved.

[...]

DP World said it will transfer all interest in U.S. port operations to an American-based company, but it was unclear immediately how DP World would manage the divestiture. The company indicated that details of the surprise deal were still being worked out.

Warner said that Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum, prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, “advised the company … that this action is the appropriate course to take.” Dubai is in the emirates.

More on this as time allows

Tweet

There is a story by Michael Barbaro in the NYT today with the headline Wal-Mart Enlists Bloggers in Its Public Relations Campaign. I clicked over there because my blog buddy Brian of Iowa Voice is heavily quoted in the story. I’ve read the piece — three times — trying to get an idea of where Mr. Barbaro was trying to go with the article. What I took away was probably not the same thing that he was trying to convey.

Let me give you a quick overview, not of the article, but of the larger story as I see it.

Wal-Mart wants people to have a positive image of their company. They sent positive stories about their company to some bloggers. Those bloggers used that information and wrote some blog posts. The bloggers did not always say where the information originated.

I’ve sat for several minutes now looking at the previous paragraph wondering if there is anything else I need to add. No, that’s pretty much it.

I’m hardly surprised by the posts Brian has written painting Wal-Mart in a positive light. They are in line with his beliefs as I read them. One of his co-bloggers, Daniel M. Harrison, put it this way.

OF COURSE right wing blogs have written the odd piece trumpeting Wal Mart – the company stands at the very centre of modern capitalist ideology. You wouldn’t have to pay a Republican to trumpet what Wal Mart stands for: that’s as ludicrous as suggesting left wingers have been paid to write kind pieces about Hilary Clinton.

You can read Brian’s reaction to the article here.

DISCLOSURE: Neither Brian (who can’t afford it) or Wal-Mart (Who surely can) paid me anything to write this post. In fact, if Wal-Mart paid me a hundred dollars per word we still wouldn’t be even.

UPDATE: Looking back at the post I noticed that I totally left off a key point I wanted to make. One of the impressions I took from the NYT article was that Barbaro wasn’t happy that Wal-Mart was using bloggers to get their message out — the job of TOM. I may be wrong, but that’s what I read.

Linked with the daily picnic at basil’s blog.

Tweet