In September we heard the news that President Bush’s economic and tax policies not only brought us out of the Clinton Recession (started Nov/Dec 2000), but have also led to the 49th consecutive month of job growth – a new record for the longest uninterrupted expansion of the U.S. labor market.

It is almost hard to believe now that in the aftermath of the 9/11/2001 attacks the economy took at least an $83 billion hit and over 1 million jobs were lost.

Well, folks the Bush ”Goldilocks” Economy (credit to Larry Kudlow) rolls on….

Economy Logs Brisk 3.9 Percent Growth – Associated Press

The economy picked up speed in the summer, growing at a brisk 3.9 percent pace, the fastest in 1 1/2 years and an impressive performance even as a credit crunch plunged the housing market deeper into turmoil.

The latest snapshot of the country’s economic health, released by the Commerce Department on Wednesday, suggested that the economy is demonstrating much resilience and thus far holding up well to the strains in the housing and credit markets, which had intensified during the third quarter and rocked Wall Street.

A second report from the department showed construction spending rose 0.3 percent in September, the best showing in four months.  All-time high spending in both commercial construction by private builders and government projects more than offset weakness in home building.

For the entire July-to-September quarter, individuals ratcheted up their spending.  U.S. businesses sold more goods abroad and boosted some investment at home.  Those were some of the main factors helping to push up overall economic activity during that period.

The third quarter’s growth rate was up slightly from a 3.8 percent pace logged in the second quarter.  It marked the strongest showing since the first quarter of last year.

I’m presuming this news will lead all three major network news programs tonight, as it would have between 1993 and 2000.   Right Katie, Charlie & Brian?

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

This may take a bit to set up…. so bear with me.

Two weekends ago, our friends Mark & Cory from Philadelphia (my hometown) came to visit. PatriotPartner (John) and I decided to surprise them with a pre-Halloween cake.

For those of you not following news from The City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia’s murder rate has skyrocketed in 2007 and is at an all time high. On Friday, October 19th Philadelphia’s death count due to murder hit Number 323. Thus, the cake marking the occasion for our visiting Philadelphia friends.

We didn’t really celebrate, but instead derided Philadelphia Mayor John Street for his complete lack of leadership from the New Orleans-esque crime wave to economic development issues. You may recall earlier this year that as the murder rate shot up, Mayor “Nero” Street stood in line for his iPhone.

I figured it was appropriate to post this cake photo today since last night Philadelphian’s got an even worse scare by all of these folks showing up to waste the precious air of the city by sucking it in and exhaling hotter air to replace it.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN, PHILADELPHIA! Scarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

I have been happy to support the efforts of Bob Owens at Confederate Yankee to expose the fraudulent stories of Scott Thomas Beauchamp since the first items from his fiction piece, “Shock Troops”, were published by The New Republic.

Since TNR refuses to retract the story and stands by the made-up lies about our troops from Mr. Beauchamp, I am now happy to join Bob in urging that those who advertise at TNR feel the pressure.  That’s what the marketplace of truthful ideas is all about.  Bob sums it up well.

The New Republic doesn’t have an obligation to support the troops, or support the war in Iraq. It does have an obligation to retract stories for which they can provide no support.

Canwest MediaWorks, the Canadian company that owns The New Republic, does not have an obligation to decide the editorial policies of The New Republic, but it does have an obligation to discipline all editors who have refused to act ethically, who have misled readers, and who have attacked the military for defending itself from proven falsehoods and gross exaggerations (email Canwest Global CFO John McGuire at jmaguire@canwest.com, and be polite but firm).

We cannot force The New Republic to behave honorably, but we can make their dishonesty come at a price.

Here is the list of TNR advertisers.  I join Bob in asking anyone affiliated with these organizations to urge their management to pull advertising from The New Republic.