You’re going to hear a lot about the fact that 290,000 people were hired in April. The administration is touting the number as evidence of the overwhelming success meeting their policies. Unfortunately, as usual with Obama’s numbers, all is not as it seems.

First of all, 66,000 of those jobs are temp jobs created by hiring census workers, leaving about 230,000 new hires in the private sector. That’s all well and good, but the unemployment rate actually rose two points in April, from 9.7% to 9.9%. Why? Well, it seems that some of those people who had previously stopped looking for work, and were no longer receiving unemployment benefits, have run out of cash and are resuming their job search.

So, while 230,000 new jobs were created, there are now more people fighting for them. In fact, the actual unemployment rate (the one that includes people who have given up on their quest for work) has now risen to a whopping 17.1 percent.

So, here’s hoping America is enjoying the “new normal” presented by the Obama administration.  As the actual unemployment rate continues to creep skyward, remember, it’s all just part of ”spreading the wealth around.”

- Robert Laurie

In the old days, when there was an Earthquake, Al Gore’s environmental crowd was there to tell us how it was caused by pollution – an obvious afront to Gaia.  Then, insane Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez revealed that the U.S. military was causing them with its Earthquake Gun.

Scientists stayed on the sidelines of the debate, but remained in their labs, working feverishly to determine which theory an ignorant populace would be willing to buy.

Now, thanks to the logic provided by a senior Iranian Muslim cleric, we may have a definitive answer.  It is neither God nor machine that is rattling the planet.  It’s sexy chicks.

“Many women who do not dress modestly … lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society,” senior cleric Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi told the Iranian media, ”which increases earthquakes.”

It seems so obvious when he says it.

In his Friday sermon, Sedighi suggested that if women don’t cover up, we’re all headed for big trouble.  “What can we do to avoid being buried under the rubble?  There is no other solution but to take refuge in religion and to adapt our lives to Islam’s moral codes.”

So ladies, you heard the man.  No more “immodest” clothing.  Burn the Victoria’s Secret card and all of your bathing suits because, if you don’t, the world will not be able to withstand the effects of your hotness. 

Repent, and God may protect you, however.

“If a natural earthquake hits Tehran, no one will be able to confront such a calamity but God’s power, only God’s power. … So let’s not disappoint God.”

Wise words from a man who is clearly, very, very smart.

- Robert Laurie

Keith Olbermann’s head may just explode, because now he’s got two networks to rant about! 

Later this summer, we’ll see the launch of the “Right Network,” a station designed to drive the hate filled MSNBC crackpots over the edge. 

Here’s a couple of launch videos,  one featuring the station’s frontman, Kelsey Grammer….

- Robert laurie

I don’t know if you’ve heard, but there’s something fishy about Barack Obama’s birth certificate.

In 2008, he didn’t want to release it.  After being pressed, he released a “Certificate Of Live Birth” – a document that is not a birth certificate.

The media lapped it up and moved on.

Birthers, those folks who think Barry was born in Kenya, thereby making him ineligible for the presidency, maintain that there’s a conspiracy.

Me?  I think we’ve seen enough cagey birth-cert related behavior to suggest that something’s amiss and, if this was a Republican President, the press would NEVER stop investigating it.  Am I convinced that the birthers are right – that the great and powerful Obama is not a natural citizen?  No, and until I see some evidence to the contrary, I’m going to accept the official story.  Obama was born right here in the good ‘ol U.S. of A.

Maybe if there was someone close to the President making the Kenya claim – someone in a position to know – maybe I’d think differently.

Fortunately, there’s not, and as far as I can tell, there never will be.

This recently discovered video is from 2008.  Obviously, the notion that Obama’s home country is Kenya can be written off as a slip of the tongue or teleprompter error, right?  I mean, it couldn’t have been a Freudian slip, could it?  Of course not.

Note to Michelle.  When you’re trying to squash a rumor, this is not the way to go about it.

- Robert Laurie