steve_potocin

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/03/business/economy/03jobs.html?th&emc=th

Joblessness Hits 9.5%, Deflating Recovery Hopes
By PETER S. GOODMAN
The pace of job losses quickened last month with the
American economy shedding 467,000 jobs, as unemployment
rose to its highest level in 26 years.

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HAHAH....Where is your Messiah now???

So do the Leftards still want to claim the Stimulus worked? Where is the improvement! Where??? We spent 800 Trillion dollars for nothing....We told you the New Deal was a colossal failure in the 1930s and it will fail again in the 2000s.....yet none of you Leftards want to listen to people who understand Economics!!!!

How many times do we have to tell you? Socialism Doesn't Work.

In the words of Thomas Sowell, an actual SMART Black Man who UNDERSTANDS ECONOMICS: "When I see the worsening degeneracy in our politicians, our media, our educators, and our intelligentsia, I can’t help wondering if the day may yet come when the only thing that can save this country is a military coup."
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YmU0NGQ0ZTQzZTU4Zjk4MjdjZWMzYTM4Nzk2MzQ0MGI=
 

weswilson

At the opening of Monday's hearing, Sen. Dodd asked Sen. Enzi (R-WY), the ranking Republican on the committee, if he would agree to accept by unanimous consent a total of 64 Republican amendments. After a whisper from an aide, Enzi, a little perplexed and not a little embarrassed, refused to allow the 64 Republican amendments to be accepted, lowering his voice to mumble, "I think some of our members want votes on some of those." Dodd's visible exasperation and disbelief is priceless.

Sen. Enzi's pitiful performance here is visual proof of the aim of Senate Republicans - which is not to have their amendments heard, voted on, and accepted, but rather to drag out the legislative process as long as possible on health care reform. And they have many reasons to want to do so, as Brian Beutler at TPM notes:

weswilson

I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life.

When a case comes before me involving, let's say, someone who is an immigrant -- and we get an awful lot of immigration cases and naturalization cases -- I can't help but think of my own ancestors, because it wasn't that long ago when they were in that position.

When I look at those cases, I have to say to myself, and I do say to myself, "You know, this could be your grandfather, this could be your grandmother. They were not citizens at one time, and they were people who came to this country."

When I get a case about discrimination, I have to think about people in my own family who suffered discrimination because of their ethnic background or because of religion or because of gender. And I do take that into account.

I believe, Senator, that I can make a contribution, that I can bring something different to the Court, that I can walk in the shoes of the people who are affected by what the Court does.

In any case, 60 percent of the cases the Supreme Court has reviewed is not a particularly high number. In any given term, the Supreme Court normally reverses a higher percentage of the cases it hears. During its 2006-2007 term, for instance, the Court reversed or vacated (which, for our purposes here, mean the same thing) 68 percent of the cases before it. The rate was 73.6 percent the previous term.

achrilock

   Several major news outlets recently reported that the United States government exposed shocking weaknesses in federal security as part of an exercise designed to verify the integrity of government installations. Sources also reported, often within a few minutes of relaying the federal security report, that U.S. technological assets suffered a massive cyber attack beginning July 4^th. Many government-operated and private financial systems within the U.S. (and incidentally South Korea) experienced substantial slowdowns resulting from the attacks.

   One of these events alone would cause significant and justified concern. Two of these stories breaking on the same day, often within the same news broadcast, constitute a shameful and contemptible lapse in performance on the part of the executive branch of the U.S. government.

telemann

Sarah Palin makes Mark Foley, the congressman who sent filthy emails to pages look almost normal. She makes David Vitter, the senator who was hanging out with hookers, look almost boring. She makes Larry Craig, caught hitting on a cop in a men's room, look almost stable. She makes John Ensign, the senator who was having an affair with a staffer, look almost humdrum (and compared to the rest of the GOP whack-jobs, he is). And she makes Mark Sanford, the governor with the Latin lover, look positively predictable.

It was an almost impossible mission, but in resigning from office with 17 months to go in her first term, Sarah Palin has made herself the bull goose loony of the GOP. Let's stipulate that if there is some heretofore unknown personal, medical or family crisis, this was the right move. But Gov. Palin didn't say anything like that. Her statement was incoherent, bizarre and juvenile. The text, as posted on Gov. Palin's official website (here), uses 2,549 words and 18 exclamation points. Lincoln freed the slaves with 719 words and nary an exclamation; Mr. Jefferson declared our independence in 1,322 words and, again, no exclamation points. Nixon resigned the presidency in 1,796 words -- still no exclamation points. Gov. Palin capitalized words at random - whole words, like "TO," "HELP," and "AND," and the first letter of "Troops."

Gov. Palin's official announcement that she is resigning as chief executive of the great state of Alaska had all the depth and gravitas of a 13-year-old's review of the Jonas Brothers' album on Facebook. She even quoted her parents' refrigerator magnet. (Note to self: if one of my kids becomes governor, throw away the refrigerator magnet that says: "Murray's Oyster Bar: We Shuck Em, You Suck Em!") She put her son's name in quotations marks. Why? Who knows. She writes, "I promised efficiencies and effectiveness!?" Was she exclaiming or questioning? I get it: both! And I don't even know what to make of a sentence that reads:

*((Gotta put First Things First))*

Ponder the fact that Rupert Murdoch's Harper Collins publishing house is paying this, umm, writer $11 million for a book. Ponder that and say a prayer for Ms. Palin's editor. I'm no latter-day Strunk & White, just a guy who was struck by Palin's spectacularly rambling and infantile prose. It bespeaks a rambling and infantile mind. But perhaps not. Perhaps this is all a ruse. Perhaps Gov. Palin wants us to believe she's an intellectual featherweight who is slightly shallower than an actor on High School Musical. Maybe she's trying to throw us off the trail.

Naah. A lot of people thought that about George W. Bush. He couldn't be so block-headed, they said. He couldn't be as childish and churlish as he came off. Oh yes he could. And so, too, might Ms. Palin be as vapid and puerile as her inane statement suggests.

We will know. In the fullness of time (and I predict, not much time) we will know. Again and again in her statement, Gov. Palin returned to the nettlesome ethics inquiries that have been visited upon her since she signed on to be John McCain's running mate. No doubt they are annoying. But does anyone believe that's why she's resigning? No, there's more to this story. And Ms. Palin's resignation only increases the chances that we will all know the rest of the story soon. Or, as she might put it: We will all KNOW the "rest of the Story" *((SOON!))*

ikilled007

Ben Bernanke got a vote of confidence from the person who will decide if the Federal Reserve chairman gets to keep his job. President Barack Obama, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal this afternoon, praised Mr. Bernanke, though he wouldn’t say whether he is inclined to reappoint him for a second four-year term. "Ben Bernanke has handled his position extraordinarily well under extraordinary circumstances," Mr. Obama said when asked about reappointing the Fed chairman. "But I’m not going to make news on that right now."

Mr. Bernanke’s term as Fed chairman ends January 31, 2010, four years after he succeeded Alan Greenspan. Lawrence Summers, currently the head of the National Economic Council, is widely regarded as a contender for the Fed post. Mr. Bernanke's star has been rising in recent weeks as the economy and financial markets have shown signs of stabilizing. In a Wall Street Journal story in April, the White House also offered Mr. Bernanke high grades, saying President Obama had enjoyed a "positive and productive" relationship with him, calling his advice on the crisis "invaluable" and his broader efforts "critical to the country."