No Economy is an Island, Entire of Itself

Arrival on the Rock, c. 2010

I know you’ve been suffering LMWS (Lady M Withdrawal Syndrome), and there’s been speculation about Lady M undergoing, ahem, cosmetic “enhancements” while she’s been out of sight. As is often the case in these situations, our imaginations are far more interesting than the truth.

MO’s just been busy. Last week was spent on the normal pre-vacay preparations: chelation, detox, manicure, pedicure, waxing, buffing and shining. Then there was the always difficult and complicated process of selecting an appropriate new vacation wardrobe from the gear sent over by our designers. And of course, we needed to choose a few trinkets from our favorite jewelers that might be appropriate for vacationing amidst millionaires and billionaires who can afford to pay a little more.

In short, Lady M was doing her bit to stimulate the economy. With all that stress, when do you suppose she had time to undergo cosmetic surgery procedures? Other than the Botox and Restylane I mean?

We’re going to make the most of this vacation, because Pluff-Daddy has already advised the Wons that, if they want to stay the Wons, they won’t be vacationing on the Vineyards next year ahead of the elections. He’s thinking of Frontier Days in Cheyenne instead.

So, since we’ll be doing a whole bunch of sacrificin’ from now on, we’ve got a lot of luxuriating to squeeze in ahead of Big Guy getting back to D.C.. Once he announces his jobs plan to create or save millions more American jobs in order to avoid ANOTHER worldwide recession, it will be work, work, work.

 All worldwide recessions worth their salt begin at home

You will be happy to know that Lady M and the Wee Wons arrived here on Martha’s Vineyard yesterday afternoon – and guess what! Little Bo got to come last night with Big Guy! Don’t worry, I’ll look out for him and make sure he doesn’t eat any dead water fowl.

So, just to carry you over until we get a few snaps from this year’s happy family, here are a few memories from  previous years’ island adventures with the Wons:

Above, we have a candid shot from one of last year’s ice cream runs: Lady M is sporting the backwards-forward look that we pioneered. Big Guy later adopted that approach for his economic program. Although I’m not sure either of them can actually claim to have invented the concept.

Below, we donned casual gear for a biking workout around the island.

Lady M’s wife beater biker look, c. 2010

This look, ironically, is one that both Big Guy and Lady M have been known to sport:

He: single white wife beater. She, double white wife beaters. Let’s not have a “best guns” contest.

Leaving the Rock, 2010

And here’s the adorable little baby doll dress that we wore to dinner at the Sweet Life Café that sparked one of those perennial “baby mama” rumors. As if.

BTY, there were two fundraisers held for Big Guy last night butt he didn’t go to either of them. What did they expect though, they were only charging $1000 a head. What with all the pressures facing us right now, Big Guy can’t afford to show up for anything under $10,000.

Well, that will have to do for now. I’ve got to run, Lady M wants to try on some new gear that just arrived from our favorite designers, “on loan,” of course.

Big Guy will be playing a round today at Mink Meadows (don’t you just love that name?) before getting back to save the world from the pending alien invasion. No, not Islamo-terrorists, silly. And no, certainly not Mexican drug dealers or day workers “willing to do the work Americans won’t do” either. We’re talking serious aliens, like in the Matrix or something:

Bad news from NASA: If we don’t reduce carbon emissions, the aliens might come and kill us.

So don’t think that Big Guy is just “vacationing” here on the Rock. He’s busy with his newest economic advisor (Paul Krugman) planning the next World War. Because sometimes you have to destroy the economy in order to save it.

poster credit: BKeyser. Click to embiggen

“ If we discovered that, you know, space aliens were planning to attack and we needed a massive buildup to counter the space alien threat and really inflation and budget deficits took secondary place to that, this slump would be over in 18 months.”

We’re definitely not in Kansas any more. “You know?”

“And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”

Linked By: Larwyn’s Linx on Doug Ross@Journal, Thanks!

Obama’s BBB Tour: Was That a Good Idea?

A wrap up of the “Big Black Bus” tour. Lessons learned: they’re still bitter, still clinging.

Our Rock Star tour turned into the “Between Barack & a Hard Place” tour

He said it was “listening tour” butt then they expected Big Guy to listen to them.

Sit down and shut up!

He heard them say they wanted jobs for Americans, butt then they got all wee-weed up about which Americans he found jobs for.

We had to contend with terrorists in the midst of the crowds:

Big Guy told the terrorist to get over it. That he, himself, has been called bad names in the past: once he was even accused of being a socialist... as if that was a bad thing.

As I recall, he rather embraced the concept at the time.

Then Big Guy gave us a peek at his “new” economic plan, to be rolled out after “Labor” Day (kind of ironic) which includes all the usual suspects, including having the rich pay a little bit more. Butt now it even looks like that plan might have a few holes in it:

Source: WSJ

Yikes! Where are all our millionaires and billionaires who can afford to pay a little more going? 39% reduction in people making $1 million or more? WTF? How’s that going to work? Bueller? Anyone?

And then, our stop at Wyffels Hybrids didn’t go as well as the handlers had hoped. First, Big Guy got the place mixed up with the Waffles House. Then, when he found out it was actually Wyffels Hybrids, he assumed it was one of his car companies. It was a little embarrassing when he found out we were talking about real plants: hybrid seeds. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, some farmer guy respectfully complained about government regulations getting in the way of them growing corn and soybeans.

Oh, sorry. You’ve already seen farmer-guy, haven’t you?

Well, by that point, Big Guy was really getting tired of hayseeds, and he sort of blew him off. Because he just wanted to eat his waffle.

And while the Big Black Bus was cruising the Heartlands, Maxine Waters was cruisin’ in Detroit, asking her homies if it’s time to go after Big Guy for not delivering on his promises to give them a bunch of free stuff. The response was, in 2 words, “Hell yes!” Not good news. Apparently even the homies are getting tired of his excuses.

Not my fault! via Gateway Pundit

Thank goodness we’re going to the Vineyard this afternoon, where we are still idolized and we can put this Big Black Bus tour and all those flyover hicks, bitterly clinging to their guns and religion, behind us.

It will be good to feel the love again.

Whoops! That was from Detroit.

Our International Big Black Bus Tour Continues, eh?

“ You can’t lead from behind. Leading is not a political strategy. It’s a moral strategy.” Chris Christie

 

Here’s Big Guy, leading  his entourage (in the BBB) on our Win The Future (WTF) tour: 2 Big Black Buses, 15 police cars, 1 Ambulance and 22 SUV’s/vans.

Unfortunately, someone outed the outsourcing of Big Guy’s Big Black Bus (Fox, I think): it was built and outfitted in Canada. That doesn’t mean that it’s not American. North American anyway, and we’re all citizens of the world.

Butt let’s stay on non-campaign message here:

Adorable Dogs, and kids

 

and ice cream

Vanilla? Isn’t this jobs tour white enough, already?

Oh yes, and we need to get politicians to stop putting their selfish political interests ahead of the good of the country.

While Big Guy and his team are working round the clock trying to figure out how to make this economy sound robust. His Ag Secretary, Tommy Vilsack, tried to do his part by explaining how food stamps are one of the best jobs stimulators there ever was.

Here’s the first thing you learn in political economics school about putting country ahead of politics: if your administration’s policies don’t hand you a vibrant economy that you can boast about, then boast about the vibrant welfare programs you’re providing in response to your non-vibrant economic policies.

Credit where credit is due for this strategy: Former historic House Leader, Nancy Pelosi, first introduced us to the the welfare dollar multiplier. Soon thereafter, every supportive MSM commentator discovered this new economic principle on their own, and have been spreading its wisdom with religious fervor ever since.

The beauty of this theory is that you don’t need even a passing grasp of basic arithmetic to understand it’s appeal, and it makes perfect sense to collectivists progressives.

I sure don’t want to rain on Big Guy’s rural jobs parade, butt I’m just wondering if anyone in his camp realizes that this theory flies in the face of our zero-sum game approach to all things economic. Not that logical consistency is a pillar of progressive politics, butt still…it’s awkward.

Let’s evaluate: in the zero sum consumption game, if one person makes a lot of money, someone else necessarily makes less. If one person consumes more energy, that leaves less energy for someone else.

Butt when you switch to government largesse, the zero sum metric  reverses itself. Now, if someone gets a little bit of your money, it’s automatically multiplied by the number of hands it passes through. This is where the math gets a lot more complicated. I think I might just be too dumb to be a Progressive.

Here’s how I think it works: if you earn a dollar and spend it, it’s only worth $1. If you earn a dollar and Big Guy takes 50 cents of it and gives it to someone else, then the impact is $2. It’s called transmogrification. Not to be confused with transubstantiation. He’s not making that claim yet, although this whole scheme does remind me of the miracle of the loaves and fishes.

If, like me, you’re still having trouble grasping the basics of Obamanomics, try this. It’s a little exercise Pluff-Daddy came up with for Big Guy so he could explain it on his bus tour:

You will be Obama’s American economy. Put $2.00 in your “RIGHT” pocket. That’s your money. You earned it. Next take one of the dollars and transfer it to your “LEFT” pocket. That’s Big Guy’s stash. And SHAZAM! The American economy just doubled its money!  Simple, isn’t it?

So cheer up: we’re in good hands! I’ll even give you a little scoop about Big Guy’s jobs program that I’m not supposed to tell anyone about yet: he’ll be announcing after our Vineyard family vacation a new training program for former auto workers in how to replace broken windows.

London shop owner surveys damage following riots

And if you think broken windows create jobs…

London is burning. This could be a huge economic stimulus too.

Buh bye, Heartland. Hello Martha’s Vineyard!

Linked By: sowsear1 on NoQuarter, Thanks

The Big Black Bus “Planes and Votes and Grains” Tour of America Rolls On: All Aboard!

Day Two of our non-election year, non-campaign Barry O’Bama Road Show and Big Black Bus Tour rolled through heartland yesterday to mostly rave reviews.

 

 

The pies received especially high marks:

 

Homemade? Really? I’ll take one for Michelle.

 

 

Multi-million dollar Winnebago, check. Multi-billion dollar plane, check. All we need now is that multi-zillion dollar high-speed train to nowhere to complete our journey.

 

The usual bus load of partisan sycophants supporters were present at all scheduled stops. However, someone forgot to check credentials closely enough and we wound up with a few Tea Party terrorists on the rope line asking inappropriate questions.

Butt allow me to start at the top with a recap of yesterday: Cannon Falls, no problem.

Bucolic BO: on the river of tranquility

Can you believe it! That backdrop - it’s real! Not from central casting. Cannon Falls. Who knew there was such a thing in nature?

Then lunch at the local deli: Would you look at the size of that turkey? The sandwich, I mean.

As it turns out, the sighting of wild turkeys yesterday was a bad omen.

Decorah however was not quite as, uh… decorous. Just look at those angry white tea partiers badgering Big Guy! I might have expected such behavior in Wisconsin, butt not Iowa.

Angry White Mob. And they look like racists too. You can tell because they’re wearing jackets. And Big Guy’s not.

Sheesh, Big Guy can’t even work a rope line any more without being accosted by these people. No wonder they keep getting accused of being terrorists. Just because we said this is a non-campaign listening tour doesn’t mean Big Guy actually wants to listen to their nonsense. What he meant was, he talks, you listen.

The rest of the exchange in Decorah, at the Seed Savers, went much smoother. Big Guy was sooo in his element with the hayseeds and the barn.

Big Guy, planting the seeds of CHANGE at the Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, IA

In fact, he even started to look like our American Idol again, don’t you think?

Just a little bit country…

 



So anyway, Bo took the opportunity to let people know in no uncertain terms that he was going to present an economic plan of his own – sometime in September. After the vacay. And after he gets his economic band back together. And when he has enough time to squeeze in a meeting to brief them on his plans.

Actually, whether you’ve noticed or not, Big Guy’s pretty much completed his economic “blueprint for America.” He’s decided to set up a taxpayer funded infrastructure bank (to build GE’s high-speed train and off-ramp-to-nowhere), extend the payroll tax holiday(one of the “Bush tax cuts”), extend unemployment benefits, and increase taxes on the wealthiest Americans, like him, who can afford to pay a little more.

Since he’s already got his blueprint, his assignment is finished! When BO gets back from the Vineyard all he has to do is hand it off to Congress who naturally won’t pass it so he came blame them for the inevitable cascading depression. It sounds like we’ve got our election strategy wrapped up too: “find someone’s ass to kick.”

At the Cannon Falls meeting, Obama reiterated recent themes blaming economic problems in part on turmoil in the Mideast, debt problems in Europe and the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, but he said the biggest problem was intransigence in Washington, particularly among Republicans unwilling to accept any tax increases to help solve the nation's budget problems.

Boy, good stuff like that just never gets old.

Today: we’re on to Peosta, Iowa. Big Guy will be meeting with members of the White House Rural Council - that he created in June to report on the economic climate in rural America. That’s bound to be good for a laugh. And maybe another turkey sandwich.

I’m looking forward to more pictures from the road today. Yesterday’s BBBT Map produced a priceless retro-gem for the Big White Big Black Bus Tour scrapbook:

Of course, the Secret Service took the signs down while doing their security sweep. Some people thought it was treasonous.
 

Linked By: Promethia on NEO-NEOCON, and sb on Weasel Zippers, Thanks!

Test Post and Road Video

Here’s Big Guy’s video from yesterday’s road warrior show.

Raj and I continue to trouble shoot the problems preventing me from publishing anything with photos embedded.  Text and videos, OK. Pictures – everything crashes. It has something to do with Picassa. If anyone has a clue, please let me know.

We take our economic show on the road! WTF?

NOTE: UNABLE TO POST TODAY’S ROAD REPORT (8-16-11) FOR SOME REASON. RAJ IS INVESTIGATING. HOPEFULLY WILL BE RESOLVED SHORTLY. 11:35

 

We’ve barely rolled the bus off Air Force Won, and already with the criticism! The R-words are saying Big Guy stole the idea for a bus tour from Sarah, butt I’ve got news for them – our inspiration predates her bus tour by years!

No; I said “years” not decades

Lady M got the bus tour idea from Jim O’Conner, one of her many Food Network friends:

He had a very popular TV show in which he traveled around America in his RV eating at local food festivals.

“Wide open road” imagery, small town American sensibilities and unlimited greasy food. Perfect! We went into production immediately. Oh yeah, and jobs, jobs, jobs!

Some people are criticizing Big Guy’s trip as nothing more than a sideshow. Butt they’re missing the point: this is the main event. Campaigning, it’s what we do around here.

“Who’s got pie?”

Lady M decided to take a pass on this leg of the trip when she heard that one of the first stops on our “food-on-a-stick” tour was Decorah, a large Norwegian community in Iowa. It’s not that she has a problem with blonde haired, blue-eyed Scandinavian Iowans, it’s just that she remembers the food we were served in Oslo when Big Guy went to pick up his Nobel Prize for Readership back in 2009. If I may quote: “enough with the stinky fish, already!”  So we’ll just be here at the Big White, getting in training for our Martha’s vacay.

Butt back to Big Guy’s campaign to persuade America he’s working on that 3-letter word: JOBS.  On our first trip out, we’ll be hitting towns Big Guy’s never even heard of in Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois. In fact, until his historical presidential run in 2008, he hadn’t even heard of Minnesota or Iowa.

Butt now, here he is, playing President-in-Chief, holding town hall meetings in places like Cannon Falls MN. Is this a great country or what? And BTW, the handlers, in order to make sure this is an upbeat outing,  picked two towns that are economically "vibrant” for our first few stops. They still remember all the blow back we got last year from improperly vetted supporters in our back-yards-of-America-tour. Awkward!

Any hoo, we are being much more careful during our getting-out-of-Washington trip this year. We’ve got an entire advance team clearing the road ahead of the tour bus.

Some consider wild turkeys a bad omen

So I think it’s going to be a great week. And just wait until Big Guy tells Lady M about the size of those famous Iowa pork sandwiches!

Wow! That’s a really big pork sandwich! Can I get some fries with that?

Oh yeah, babe! Pork fat rules!

After our well deserved vacation, Lady M will sooo be on board for the next Iowa campaign/jobs bus tour. That’s just what we do around here. Campaign, eat, tour, eat, campaign. WTF.

Be sure to follow The Barry O’bama Road Show with us all week:

Fixing What’s “Wrong With Our Politics” on November 6, 2012!

Big Guy’s theme for the week ahead was first teed up at the green battery factory that we bought in Holland, Michigan on Thursday where he told the workers:

“There is nothing wrong with this country; there is something wrong with our politics,”

It might be the lefty politics

“We know there are things we can do right now that will help accelerate growth and job creation.”

O-kaay…

Maybe we could do some of them then?

“The (credit rating) downgrade could have been entirely avoided if we had willingness to compromise in Congress. It didn't happen because we didn't have the capacity to pay our bills. It's because they don't have the capacity to get together and get things done. It was a self-inflicted wound.”

Agreed. Ouch!

Then on Friday, he practiced his swing in Harvey Weinstein’s basement at a fundraiser co-hosted by Anna Wintour:

"What was remarkable was to see outside of Washington, the enthusiasm, the energy, the hopefulness, the decency, of the American people. What I said to them is you deserve better than you have been getting out of Washington over the last two and a half months, for that matter for the last two and a half years,"

 Uh, maybe there would be a better way to word that?

"Here is the good news, as frustrating as the past couple of months have been. Washington reached a low water point. The public suddenly realized . we are going to have to get engaged."

"If that energy is harnessed and tapped I am absolutely convinced this country is going to be on the upswing in the next couple of years."

 

Big Guy loses to…generic Republican!?

Then he addressed our debt situation:

"I don't know if you noticed when the stock market went down.” (trust me: everyone in Harvey’s Greenwich Village basement noticed.) “What did everybody buy after the downgrade ? US Treasuries."

"Everybody understands that the United States still has the greatest economic potential.The market voted with its feet."

Yes, people have been known to do that.

Vote with their feet, I mean

"People understand that this country is going through a fundamental change .."

Um, I think that’s why they voted with  their feet.

Hard to believe, butt Big Guy, didn’t even have TOTUS with him for these remarks! He “spoke at the bottom of the stairs, without notes, or a microphone in the small room.” Wow! Off the cuff! We’re ready to hit this puppy out of the park now, if you’ll pardon my mixed metaphors.

So on to Big Guy’s weekly radio address: like I said, right out of the park:

So while there’s nothing wrong with our country, there is something wrong with our politics, and that’s what we’ve got to fix.  Because we know there are things Congress can do, right now, to get more money back in your pockets, get this economy growing faster, and get our friends and neighbors back to work.

He’s right, butt, unless Mama Grizzly Bachmann becomes Speaker, I think impeachment is off the table, and the election’s not until 2012.

(BTW, this is a good spot to announce that Little Mo and Little Bo have stocked the shelves of my fabulous boutique with the first item in my new fashion forward “Mama Grizzly” gear line! Stop by the shop if you’re in the Big White, or check them out online if you’re in flyover country!) UPDATE: Please note comment below re. "Other Products You Might Like" There’s been a hacker in the MOTUS store.

But we can no longer let partisan brinksmanship get in our way – the idea that making it through the next election is more important than making things right.  That’s what’s holding us back – the fact that some in Congress would rather see their opponents lose than see America win.

So you’ve got a right to be frustrated.  I am.  Because you deserve better.  And I don’t think it’s too much for you to expect that the people you send to this town start delivering.

Thanks Big Guy, butt I clearly requested Krispy Kreme's. Don’t you ever listen to us? Dufus.

And there is every reason to believe we’ll get through this storm to a brighter day.

Thanks for listening, and have a nice weekend.

You’re welcome. And we’ll try.

So I think we’re ready to hit the road with our American Heartland WTF tour tomorrow. See you from the road!

Faster, please

PS. Scamper on over to American Thinker for “Clarice’s Pieces” today. An excellent analysis of why WE may get CHANGE WE can BELIEVE in on 11-06-2012.