ProPublica’s Michael Grabell examines the top seven “truisms” you hear about the economy and the now-ended stimulus program — and finds that most of them are false.

I just found out that when PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) gave Bill Clinton their Person of the Year Award nine months ago, they estimated that his new vegan diet spared the lives of 200 animals a year. So, put another way:  Are they saying that Bill Clinton ate 200 animals a year? I mean, I know the guy had an appetite, but this seems preposterous. I’m wondering if someone over there did inhale. And did any press, then or now, question this? This is roughly one animal every other day. That’s a lot of animals, so they must have been small. Was he picking robins out of their nests? Tossing baby chicks into his mouth like popcorn? What’s the deal with this?

This video from Jon Stewart reveals again the herd mentality that is the press and the professional talking-points circuit. They’ve all anointed a troika atop the GOP nomination sweepstakes — Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann, and Rick Perry — but it takes a TV comedian to remind us that Romney and Perry have won nothing, and that someone else — someone they ignore or mock — came within about 150 votes of winning. That guys name is Ron Paul (the name they shall not mention). While I generally disagree with Congressman Paul, he has more integrity than the other three put together and squared.

“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did, and it never will. Find out just what people will submit to, and you have found the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them.”

So here’s the question:  How come I know this quote from Frederick Douglass and, apparently, Barack Obama doesn’t? Because I have to think if he knew it, he’d heed it, instead of hoping to get along with people powerfully opposed to him.

Last night when I got home, I found that I’d received a fundraising letter from Barack Obama’s re-election campaign committee. I opened it, scribbled a message on the reply card, and mailed it back. Here was my message:  “Learn how to fight, and I’ll send a check.” Given that the envelope had paid return, the president’s campaign will be paying 76 cents for my registration of fury.

All of my liberal friends have this to say:  “I think he has the hardest job of any president in history.” (Actual quote from a lunch meeting yesterday.) I agree. That’s why we need him to do a better job at it. That’s why we need him to show more spine. They also say  that Republicans won’t give him a break. What I don’t understand is why they ever thought they would; only a fool would have thought that. Politics isn’t about going along to get along (except, evidently, in Mr. Obama’s mind).

Twice in the last two weeks, I had the sinking feeling that I’d made a grievous error, that Hillary Clinton, whom I’d never liked, was the stronger candidate. (The actual thought running through my mind:  She’s got more balls than he does.)  The first time was during the debt-ceiling debacle. Re “a balanced approach” that “includes new revenues” (his words, both times), he said, “I will not yield.” (That’s a direct quote.) On the day he said that, I posted on my Facebook page, “I predict yielding.” That didn’t soften the blow, though, of a disastrous deal that restricts spending precisely when we need it, a proposition that — hold onto your hat — even the Wall Street Journal has now decided that it opposes. And then, after Standard & Poor’s downgraded the U.S. and Wall Street got a closer look at the European debt crisis and ran for cover, the president came out looking very much like Jimmy Carter, plaintively wailing that We Are a Special People, and We Will Always Be AAA, and Our Future Is Bright, and I couldn’t find one person online or in person who was buying a word of it.

The comparison to Jimmy Carter is especially painful to make. I lived through the Carter presidency, and it felt like the world was coming to an end. (Nuclear saber-rattling with the Soviets; boycotting the Olympic Games to prove some point that wasn’t made; a grain embargo that didn’t hurt the Soviets but did hurt American farmers; inflation that drove costs up with every breath; and a failed rescue mission for the hostages that symbolized everything about the administration:  good intentions, bad results.)

I never thought that Mr. Obama’s job would be easy, but I did hope he would fight. He won a number of victories early on in his presidency — when he had a Democratic Congress and it was easier — but I haven’t seen a fight out of him in quite a while now. He caved on eliminating the Bush tax cuts; he caved on every significant point in the completely concocted debt-ceiling drama; he has caved on the general GOP notion that what we need to do is cut spending and further reduce taxes. At this point, I’m not sure what he’ll stand up for. Political power redounds not just from popularity, but also from fear and intimidation. Right now, no one — no one — is afraid of Barack Obama. He hasn’t given them any reason to be. As a former fan and currently reluctant supporter, I encourage Obama the book-lover to pull “The Prince” down off his shelf and read it again.

How did Obama blow the debt-ceiling negotiation? Maybe he just wasn’t crazy enough.

Here’s an ad some nutjob named Ladd Ehlinger, Jr cooked up against Janice Hahn, who is running for Congress here in Southern California in a special election.

A lot of people were offended. (I know I was: Stupidity is offensive to the commonweal.) Here was his response:

“The DCCC and Janice Hahn demand that the video come down and that I apologize! My answer: No! I didn’t kill anyone. I didn’t even enable anyone to kill anyone. And… oh yeah: suck it! The ad’s funny. It makes me laugh. So if, for some reason, it’s pulled by YouTube, a thousand will be launched in its place all over Algorez’ Internetz. Because you’re only drawing more attention to your past of supporting criminals, Janice, and forcing policemen out of their jobs for doing their duty. So there you go. Claim victimhood all you like, but how many people were victimized by your coddling? There’s a reason Mayor Villaraigosa took the program away from you. He’s a Democrat. So are you. Think about it.”

Paraphrasing Lloyd Bentsen, let me say that I know Janice Hahn, that Janice Hahn is an acquaintance of mine, and that Janice Hahn is not a ho’ gunnin’ and runnin’ wif gangstaz. What she is is a successful city councilwoman, member of one of LA’s most storied political families, and almost assuredly her district’s future Congresswoman.

That said, why am I sharing this video? Because I still like to think that if you expose stupidity for what it is, most people will laugh it away. Not to overstate the case, Mel Brooks said that the best weapon against Hitler would have been ridicule, if only someone had used it. I don’t think this ad is going to get any traction (except on behalf of Hahn), but in the meantime it does make me laugh and it reminds me to be grateful for actual public servants.

Here’s the latest in a line of spoofs of the musical Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark. Setting aside for a moment my thoughts about the well-documented travails of that show (documented here and here and here and here and here and here and even here and now I’m thinking maybe this subject should have a tag all its own), let’s discuss something else I’m on about:  PBS.

Because I’m still trying to figure out why public tax monies are supporting, for example, Dr. Wayne Dyer.  And I remain unclear how Antiques Roadshow and its ilk serve any public need, especially given that shows very much like it are on commercial stations. But now I find that I’m turning against Sesame Street, too, because while I enjoy the clip below, I can’t find any educational justification for it. In what way is this different from things on the commercial networks Sprout or Hub? Why does it somehow make more sense to fund television programming than, for example, public education? Anyone?

Just for the record: I don’t care what Arnold Schwarzenegger does with his private parts — that’s his business. It’s the public-policy hypocrisy that’s galling, because that’s our business. For example: vetoing gay marriage because it might somehow ruin the sanctity of his own. (And this from a guy who made his millions in gay-friendly Hollywood, too.) Even worse was the fiscal state he left California in, as detailed here by George Skelton. Please click and read that and then do some basic math:  by cutting the vehicle license fee, which was purely an election move, Schwarzenegger created a budget hold of $4 billion that grew into $6 billion annually. Multiply that by seven years and you get about $35 billion. Now, what was the size of California’s budget hole? About… $35 billion. So what did we get for our $35 billion? Enormous cuts to programs and services (most ruinously to our educational systems, especially the higher-education system that was once the pride of the world). Oh, and enormous ego gratification for the movie star who made it all happen.

Hm. Donald Trump, Newt Gingrich, and Ron Paul. Makes it really hard to decide which one I’d most like to see them nominate.