Extended debt-limit ceiling in the House?

Failed.

WASHINGTON – The House of Representatives on Tuesday defeated a bill to raise the debt limit in a vote staged by Republicans to strengthen their push for deep spending cuts in negotiations with the White House.

By a vote of 318-97, the chamber overwhelmingly rejected President Barack Obama’s call to increase the $14.3 trillion debt limit without conditions. Even some Democrats supporting Obama’s position voted against it.

“I’m going to advise my members that they not subject themselves to the demagoguery that is sure to follow” if they vote for the measure, chief Democratic vote-counter Steny Hoyer said before the vote.

Polls show the public does not support a further increase in borrowing authority even as the Treasury Department scrambles to avoid a default that could push the country back into recession and rattle markets across the globe.

The world — if the debt ceiling is not raised astronomically, say the Demorats — will suddenly stop rotating on its axis and all Life as we know it will be killed.

BZ

Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Schultz said last week (May 26th):

(CNSNews.com) – Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D.-Fla.), chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, denounced Republicans last week for believing illegal immigration “should in fact be a crime.”

Newsflash: illegal immigration is just that: please note the predominant word utilized, namely, “illegal.” Ten dollars invested for a paperback dictionary would be well-spent, I submit.

To continue:

At the same Christian Science Monitor breakfast, Wasserman Schultz said, “If it were up to the candidates for president on the Republican side, we would be driving foreign cars; they would have let the auto industry in America go down the tubes.”

The Hill newspaper quickly reported that Wasserman Schultz owns a 2010 Infiniti FX35, a Japanese car whose parent company is Nissan. The newspaper cited Florida motor vehicle records.

Inanity and incomprehensibility, thy name is Demorat.

BZ

From the Washington Examiner.com:

As megablogger Glenn Reynolds, aka Instapundit, has noted with amusement, the word “unexpectedly” or variants thereon keep cropping up in mainstream media stories about the economy.

“New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly climbed,” reported CNBC.com May 25.

“Personal consumption fell,” Business Insider reported the same day, “when it was expected to rise.”

“Durable goods declined 3.6 percent last month,” Reuters reported May 25, “worse than economists’ expectations.”

“Previously owned home sales unexpectedly fall,” headlined Bloomberg News May 19.

“U.S. home construction fell unexpectedly in April,” wrote the Wall Street Journal May 18.

Those examples are all from the last two weeks. Reynolds has been linking to similar items since October 2009.

Mainstream media may finally be catching up. “The latest economic numbers have not been good,” David Leonhardt wrote in the May 26 New York Times. “Another report showed that economic growth at the start of the year was no faster than the Commerce Department initially reported — ‘a real surprise,’ said Ian Shepherdson of High Frequency Economics.”

Which raises some questions. As Instapundit reader Gordon Stewart, quoted by Reynolds on May 17, put it, “How many times in a row can something happen unexpectedly before the experts start to, you know, expect it? At some point, shouldn’t they be required to state the foundation for their expectations?”

One answer is that many in the mainstream media have been cheerleading for Barack Obama. They and he both naturally hope for a strong economic recovery. After all, Obama can’t keep blaming the economic doldrums on George W. Bush forever.

Just as it is incredibly critical that the debt ceiling be raised to an unlimited fashion so that the universe does not come to a crashing end, so sayeth the Demorats. Amen.

TAPS

Day is done, gone the sun,

From the lake, from the hills, from the sky;
All is well, safely rest, God is nigh.

Fading light, dims the sight,
And a star gems the sky, gleaming bright.
From afar, drawing nigh, falls the night.

Thanks and praise, for our days,
‘Neath the sun, ‘neath the stars, neath the sky;
As we go, this we know, God is nigh.

Sun has set, shadows come,
Time has fled, Scouts must go to their beds
Always true to the promise that they made.

While the light fades from sight,
And the stars gleaming rays softly send,
To thy hands we our souls, Lord, commend.

BZ

“I’ve made it to Arlington.”