Former Reagan adviser endorses Obama
From CNN's Adam Levy
(CNN) — Former Reagan chief of staff Ken Duberstein told CNN's Fareed Zakaria this week he intends to vote for Democrat Barack Obama on Tuesday.
Duberstein said he was influenced by another prominent Reagan official - Colin Powell - in his decision.
31 October 2008
Dubai’s Moving Skyscraper “Dynamic Tower” Planned For 2010
An Italian architect said he is poised to start construction on a new skyscraper in Dubai that will be “the world’s first building in motion,” an 80-story tower with revolving floors that give it an ever-shifting shape.
The spinning floors, hung like rings around an immobile cement core, would offer residents a constantly changing view of the Persian Gulf and the city’s futuristic skyline.
A few penthouse villas would spin on command using a voice-activated computer. The motion of the rest of the building would be choreographed in patterns that could be altered over time.
Speaking at a news conference in New York on Tuesday, the building’s designer, David Fisher, declared that his tower will revolutionize the way skyscrapers are made — a claim that might strike some as excessively bold.
An Italian architect said he is poised to start construction on a new skyscraper in Dubai that will be “the world’s first building in motion,” an 80-story tower with revolving floors that give it an ever-shifting shape.
The spinning floors, hung like rings around an immobile cement core, would offer residents a constantly changing view of the Persian Gulf and the city’s futuristic skyline.
A few penthouse villas would spin on command using a voice-activated computer. The motion of the rest of the building would be choreographed in patterns that could be altered over time.
Speaking at a news conference in New York on Tuesday, the building’s designer, David Fisher, declared that his tower will revolutionize the way skyscrapers are made — a claim that might strike some as excessively bold.
She's Gunning for 12
The Republican ticket cannot even get on the same page. One wonders if any of those people in the audience who are moaning at Palin's mention of Democrats' desire to cut spending will bother to educate themselves to learn that her running mate wants to cut spending as well. But, even if they did research the issue, those people will not vote for Barack Obama anyway. So, does any of it matter? It is similar to all the talk on MSM of the "undecided" voters. There are no undecided voters at this point. Really. Who are they kidding?
A Journey
Looking for Simpler Life, Lawyer Burns Harvard Law Diploma
Posted Oct 28, 2008, 03:11 pm CDT
By Molly McDonough
Ever want to ditch the rat race? Burn your diploma and take a vow of simplicity?
If you thought about it, but could never quite muster the courage to strike a match, you can live vicariously through "Jack," a Washington, D.C., a 30-something lawyer who announced on his blog in June that he is giving up his $300,000-plus annual salary and opting for a simpler life.
In Adventures in Voluntary Simplicity, Jack blogs about his excesses and exit strategies. Then on Oct. 27, he took a key symbolic step in that direction. He burned his Harvard law diploma and posted a video on YouTube for all the world to bear witness.
"I’ve been thinking about doing this, in one way or another, for a while now. But I was never really sure if I would be doing it for the right reasons. Not to mention how silly it sounded whenever I brought it up to people. But this weekend it all came together: the weather was beautiful, the trails were inviting and freedom seemed just around the corner. So I went for it," Jack writes.
"This is NOT a knock against Harvard. Or a calculated criticism of legal education. Or even a rejection of elitism, per se. Sometimes you just need to say goodbye to your past in order to move forward."
In the end, he concludes, "it was just a piece of paper."
I, too, have realized over the last year and a half of unemployment and being stuck in Vermont that I had placed a great deal of my self-worth on the fact that I was a law graduate. Actually, I realized that at nearly every point in my life I had identified myself and my value by something-some title, position, status label, other people with whom I associated-and so when I was no longer in law school, graduate school, or employed at some place I deemed valuable, I was lost. This has definitely been a journey for me that continues today, and hopefully I will emerge, no I will emerge, a stronger and more solid person than I could ever have been otherwise. Sounds cliche, but it's my story; I'm the one who has lived this some days nightmare other days enlightening journey for which I am grateful.
The Harvard grad's blog is: http://adventuresinvoluntarysimplicity.blogspot.com/.
Posted Oct 28, 2008, 03:11 pm CDT
By Molly McDonough
Ever want to ditch the rat race? Burn your diploma and take a vow of simplicity?
If you thought about it, but could never quite muster the courage to strike a match, you can live vicariously through "Jack," a Washington, D.C., a 30-something lawyer who announced on his blog in June that he is giving up his $300,000-plus annual salary and opting for a simpler life.
In Adventures in Voluntary Simplicity, Jack blogs about his excesses and exit strategies. Then on Oct. 27, he took a key symbolic step in that direction. He burned his Harvard law diploma and posted a video on YouTube for all the world to bear witness.
"I’ve been thinking about doing this, in one way or another, for a while now. But I was never really sure if I would be doing it for the right reasons. Not to mention how silly it sounded whenever I brought it up to people. But this weekend it all came together: the weather was beautiful, the trails were inviting and freedom seemed just around the corner. So I went for it," Jack writes.
"This is NOT a knock against Harvard. Or a calculated criticism of legal education. Or even a rejection of elitism, per se. Sometimes you just need to say goodbye to your past in order to move forward."
In the end, he concludes, "it was just a piece of paper."
I, too, have realized over the last year and a half of unemployment and being stuck in Vermont that I had placed a great deal of my self-worth on the fact that I was a law graduate. Actually, I realized that at nearly every point in my life I had identified myself and my value by something-some title, position, status label, other people with whom I associated-and so when I was no longer in law school, graduate school, or employed at some place I deemed valuable, I was lost. This has definitely been a journey for me that continues today, and hopefully I will emerge, no I will emerge, a stronger and more solid person than I could ever have been otherwise. Sounds cliche, but it's my story; I'm the one who has lived this some days nightmare other days enlightening journey for which I am grateful.
The Harvard grad's blog is: http://adventuresinvoluntarysimplicity.blogspot.com/.
Law Firm Consultant Issues ‘Grimmest Ever’ Forecast
Posted Oct 27, 2008, 02:46 pm CDT
By Martha Neil
The situation likely will get worse for many law firms struggling to cope with the economic firestorm before it gets better, a well-known legal consultant predicts.
In a Hildebrandt International client advisory described by director James Jones as "the grimmest one I've ever written," he says layoffs can be expected at a number of law firms, reports the National Law Journal.
Joyce also predicts flat law firm profits, at best, and a drop of as much as 15 percent in profits at some partnerships. "We see 2009 being a tough year," he tells the legal publication. At the earliest, the economy won't begin to turn around until the end of the year, he says.
There is a little good news, however: countercyclical practices, such as bankruptcy and litigation, as well as regulatory work, are starting to pick up.
Posted Oct 27, 2008, 02:46 pm CDT
By Martha Neil
The situation likely will get worse for many law firms struggling to cope with the economic firestorm before it gets better, a well-known legal consultant predicts.
In a Hildebrandt International client advisory described by director James Jones as "the grimmest one I've ever written," he says layoffs can be expected at a number of law firms, reports the National Law Journal.
Joyce also predicts flat law firm profits, at best, and a drop of as much as 15 percent in profits at some partnerships. "We see 2009 being a tough year," he tells the legal publication. At the earliest, the economy won't begin to turn around until the end of the year, he says.
There is a little good news, however: countercyclical practices, such as bankruptcy and litigation, as well as regulatory work, are starting to pick up.
Joe The Plumber And Those Damned Liberals
Joe gets up at 6 a.m. and fills his coffeepot with water to prepare his morning coffee. The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards. With his first swallow of water, he takes his daily medication. His medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to ensure their safety and that they work as advertised.
All but $10 of his medications are paid for by his employer's medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance - now Joe gets it too.
He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs. Joe's bacon is safe to eat because some girly-man liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.
In the morning shower, Joe reaches for his shampoo. His bottle is properly labeled with each ingredient and its amount in the total contents because some crybaby liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained.
Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some environmentalist wacko liberal fought for the laws to stop industries from polluting our air.
He walks on the government-provided sidewalk to subway station for his government-subsidized ride to work. It saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees because some fancy-pants liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.
Joe begins his work day. He has a good job with excellent pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some lazy liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe's employer pays these standards because Joe's employer doesn't want his employees to call the union.
If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed, he'll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some stupid liberal didn't think he should lose his home because of his temporary misfortune.
It is noontime and Joe needs to make a bank deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe's deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some godless liberal wanted to protect Joe's money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the Great Depression.
Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae-underwritten mortgage and his below-market federal student loan because some elitist liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his lifetime. Joe also forgets that his in addition to his federally subsidized student loans, he attended a state funded university.
Joe is home from work. He plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive. His car is among the safest in the world because some America-hating liberal fought for car safety standards to go along with the tax-payer funded roads.
He arrives at his boyhood home. His was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers' Home Administration because bankers didn't want to make rural loans.
The house didn't have electricity until some big-government liberal stuck his nose where it didn't belong and demanded rural electrification.
He is happy to see his father, who is now retired. His father lives on Social Security and a union pension because some wine-drinking, cheese-eating liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn't have to.
Joe gets back in his car for the ride home, and turns on a radio talk show. The radio host keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. He doesn't mention that the beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day. Joe agrees: "We don't need those big-government liberals ruining our lives! After all, I'm a self-made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have.
30 October 2008
T.I. gets to vote, even though he's going to jail. A loophole in the law in Georgia states that one is not a felon until he is formally sentenced. So, even though he was recently found guilty on felony weapon charges, he can vote because he is not scheduled to be sentenced until next year. I say you go boy.
This Video Worth Seeing...Equal Coverage
What an amazing man, Ron Clark. I wish I had a Ron Clark when I was in middle school. The energy and enthusiasm he brings to teaching seems amazing. If more of our schools emulated this model, maybe things would improve in this country by producing more above average, thinking intellectuals.
http://www.ronclarkacademy.com/default.aspx
Exxon Mobil Managed to Profit
They've been getting a bailout...by all of us.
Exxon Mobil: Biggest profit in U.S. history
Largest U.S. oil company surges past analyst estimates to post net income of $14.83 billion.
Exxon Mobil: Biggest profit in U.S. history
Largest U.S. oil company surges past analyst estimates to post net income of $14.83 billion.
Unemployment Woes...I Can Relate
The Bad News About Your Job: Why the unemployment rate is artificially low.
What About Us?
Wall Street's problems have captured the attention of Congress, the White House and the media. But on the country's Main Streets, worried workers, struggling small business owners and cash-strapped families are wondering if anyone is paying attention to them. A look at how Americans are coping with the economic crisis.
It's hard to overstate the poor numbers coming out of Wall Street in recent months. But could it be that we're overstating the gravity of the situation? As job losses have mounted and consumer confidence has plunged, policymakers, news organizations, econo-pundits, and even some of my NEWSWEEK and Slate colleagues have noted that the unemployment rate, which rose to 6.1 percent in September, seems to be at a nonrecessionary, noncatastrophic, low level. The unemployment rate is still below where it was in 2003; and between September 1982 and May 1983, the last very deep recession, it topped 10 percent. (Go here for a chart and historical data).
But maybe the employment data are much worse than they seem. In the past year, the two key measures of employment-the unemployment rate and the payroll jobs figure-have been poor but not awful. The unemployment rate has risen from 4.5 percent a year ago to 6.1 percent. And in the first nine months, 760,000 payroll jobs were lost. This is unwelcome but not catastrophic. So why do things feel so bad? It's not because, as Phil Gramm suggested, we're a nation of whiners. And it's not a matter of columnists and spin doctors shading the numbers to make things look worse.
Rather, these two figures are undermeasuring the weakness in the labor market. By some measures, in fact, the job situation is worse than it has been at any time since 1994.
Here's why. Back in the 1990s, the Bureau of Labor Statistics recognized that in a changing economy, in which outsourcing, self-employment, and contracting were becoming more commonplace, the traditional methods of measuring unemployment and job growth might not accurately portray the economic situation. And it knew its methodology had some quirks-the unemployment rate doesn't account for people who have given up looking for jobs, or who have taken themselves out of the work force. So since 1994, the BLS has been compiling alternative measures of labor underutilization. There are many different varieties of labor underutilization. There are marginally attached workers: "persons who currently are neither working nor looking for work but indicate that they want and are available for a job and have looked for work sometime in the recent past." There are discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached crowd, who have "given a job-market related reason for not looking currently for a job." There are people who work part-time because they can't find-or their employer can't provide-full-time work. There are people who have left the work force entirely. Neither the unemployment rate nor the payroll jobs figure captures the plight of many of these folks.
And the alternative labor underutilization measures show a lot of stress. The data on people not in the work force show the number of people not looking for work because they're discouraged about finding jobs has risen from 276,000 in September 2007 to 467,000 in September 2008-up 70 percent. The percentage of people unemployed for more than 15 weeks stood at 2.3 percent in September 2008, up from 1.6 percent in September 2007, a rise of nearly 45 percent. But the most troublesome is the U6. The U6 is sort of the summa of job angst, a shorthand tally for the aggregate of job-related frustration. (Moneybox covered some of this terrain back in 2004 .) To compile the U6, the BLS takes the number of unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers, plus all of those employed part-time for economic reasons, and then calculates that total as a percentage of the sum of the entire civilian labor force plus marginally attached workers.
The U6 in September rose to 11 percent, its highest level since the data series started in 1994 and significantly higher than it was in the last recession, in 2001. The ratio between the U6 and the official unemployment rate has remained relatively steady over the last several years. But that means that as the unemployment rate has risen, so too has the portion of the population suffering from other types of work deficits. Three years ago, when the unemployment rate was 5.1 percent, an additional 3.9 percent of the labor force fell into one of those other underutilized categories. Last month, with the unemployment rate at 6.1 percent, an additional 4.9 percent of the labor force was underutilized. (See charts comparing the unemployment rate and the U6 rate.) Add it up, and more than 10 percent of American workers are essentially not contributing full-time to their families' well-being and to that of the economy at large. The unemployment rate may still be historically low, but the underutilization is historically high.
What About Us?
Wall Street's problems have captured the attention of Congress, the White House and the media. But on the country's Main Streets, worried workers, struggling small business owners and cash-strapped families are wondering if anyone is paying attention to them. A look at how Americans are coping with the economic crisis.
It's hard to overstate the poor numbers coming out of Wall Street in recent months. But could it be that we're overstating the gravity of the situation? As job losses have mounted and consumer confidence has plunged, policymakers, news organizations, econo-pundits, and even some of my NEWSWEEK and Slate colleagues have noted that the unemployment rate, which rose to 6.1 percent in September, seems to be at a nonrecessionary, noncatastrophic, low level. The unemployment rate is still below where it was in 2003; and between September 1982 and May 1983, the last very deep recession, it topped 10 percent. (Go here for a chart and historical data).
But maybe the employment data are much worse than they seem. In the past year, the two key measures of employment-the unemployment rate and the payroll jobs figure-have been poor but not awful. The unemployment rate has risen from 4.5 percent a year ago to 6.1 percent. And in the first nine months, 760,000 payroll jobs were lost. This is unwelcome but not catastrophic. So why do things feel so bad? It's not because, as Phil Gramm suggested, we're a nation of whiners. And it's not a matter of columnists and spin doctors shading the numbers to make things look worse.
Rather, these two figures are undermeasuring the weakness in the labor market. By some measures, in fact, the job situation is worse than it has been at any time since 1994.
Here's why. Back in the 1990s, the Bureau of Labor Statistics recognized that in a changing economy, in which outsourcing, self-employment, and contracting were becoming more commonplace, the traditional methods of measuring unemployment and job growth might not accurately portray the economic situation. And it knew its methodology had some quirks-the unemployment rate doesn't account for people who have given up looking for jobs, or who have taken themselves out of the work force. So since 1994, the BLS has been compiling alternative measures of labor underutilization. There are many different varieties of labor underutilization. There are marginally attached workers: "persons who currently are neither working nor looking for work but indicate that they want and are available for a job and have looked for work sometime in the recent past." There are discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached crowd, who have "given a job-market related reason for not looking currently for a job." There are people who work part-time because they can't find-or their employer can't provide-full-time work. There are people who have left the work force entirely. Neither the unemployment rate nor the payroll jobs figure captures the plight of many of these folks.
And the alternative labor underutilization measures show a lot of stress. The data on people not in the work force show the number of people not looking for work because they're discouraged about finding jobs has risen from 276,000 in September 2007 to 467,000 in September 2008-up 70 percent. The percentage of people unemployed for more than 15 weeks stood at 2.3 percent in September 2008, up from 1.6 percent in September 2007, a rise of nearly 45 percent. But the most troublesome is the U6. The U6 is sort of the summa of job angst, a shorthand tally for the aggregate of job-related frustration. (Moneybox covered some of this terrain back in 2004 .) To compile the U6, the BLS takes the number of unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers, plus all of those employed part-time for economic reasons, and then calculates that total as a percentage of the sum of the entire civilian labor force plus marginally attached workers.
The U6 in September rose to 11 percent, its highest level since the data series started in 1994 and significantly higher than it was in the last recession, in 2001. The ratio between the U6 and the official unemployment rate has remained relatively steady over the last several years. But that means that as the unemployment rate has risen, so too has the portion of the population suffering from other types of work deficits. Three years ago, when the unemployment rate was 5.1 percent, an additional 3.9 percent of the labor force fell into one of those other underutilized categories. Last month, with the unemployment rate at 6.1 percent, an additional 4.9 percent of the labor force was underutilized. (See charts comparing the unemployment rate and the U6 rate.) Add it up, and more than 10 percent of American workers are essentially not contributing full-time to their families' well-being and to that of the economy at large. The unemployment rate may still be historically low, but the underutilization is historically high.
Sculpture represents nation's economic meltdown
The economy is melting -- literally.
Two artists on Wednesday installed a 1,500-pound ice sculpture that spelled the word "Economy" in Manhattan's financial district.
The "Main Street Meltdown" was to remain in Foley Square until it melted -- about 24 hours. By Wednesday evening, the E and the C had already thawed and vanished.
The backdrop to the sculpture, the wide stairs and row of pillars fronting the state Supreme Court building, is instantly recognizable to millions of viewers of TV's "Law & Order."
"To see the word 'economy' melting down is representational of an extreme time," artists Nora Ligorano and Marshall Reese said on their Web site.
The artists said the sculpture, which is 5 feet tall, 15 feet wide and sits on a pedestal, was installed on Oct. 29 because it is the 79th anniversary of the day in 1929 when the stock market crashed, precipitating the Great Depression.
"Economy" is the fourth in a series of political ice sculptures Ligorano and Reese have created. Earlier this year, they carved blocks into the word "Democracy" and allowed them to melt during the Republican and Democratic conventions.
Insanity
Seriously, what has happened to our society that some random dude known as Joe the Plumber, who McCain invoked at the debate and then preceded to blame Obama for all the invasive press coverage, is being sought out by news orgs (well, Fox, and that's up for debate), and asked for his opinions on foreign policy issues to which the anchor on Fox, again-anchor on Fox, was so frustrated and had to issue a disclaimer after Joe finished his rambling about Obama being the death to Israel?
29 October 2008
A Beautiful Story
The incredible story of a lion cub bought over the counter at Harrods in London, reared as a pet in a furniture store by two young Australians, who was then freed into the wild in Kenya, has become an internet sensation. Paul Eccleston reports.
And film footage more than 30 years old of Christian the lion emerging from the wild and being movingly reunited with his former owners has been seen by millions of people.
Christian, born to a pair of captive lions at Ilfracombe Zoo, was sold to the Knighsbridge store at a time when exotic pets could easily be bought.
The 35lbs cub was bought in 1969 for 250 guineas by two young Australians - John Rendall and his friend Ace Bourke - who were living in west London.
For a year he was at the heart of ’swinging’ London in Chelsea’s Kings Road living in a furniture store and lavished with care and attention by his two owners who spent £30 per week providing him with four meals per day together with vitamin supplements.
A kindly local vicar allowed Christian to exercise in a graveyard, he was taken to fashionable local restaurants, travelled in a Bentley and even featured in an advertising campaign for iconic ’60s fashion store Biba.
Christian, placid and loving to everyone he met, became a local celebrity and was often on show lying in the front window of the shop. In 1970, when local side Chelsea beat Leeds in the FA Cup Final replay, the store received a call from a policeman who said: ‘The football fans are going to be boisterous, so you’d better get your bloody lion out of the window or they’ll smash it in.”
John Rendall, who has now written a book telling Christian’s story, said the lion had his own living quarters in the basement complete with a litter tray which he unfailingly used: “He had a beautiful musky smell that was very distinct,” he said. “But he was clean.
“He was a lot of work. It took all four of us - me, my then girlfriend Jennifer Mary, Ace Bourke and an actress called Unity Jones - to look after him.”
The pet lion grew quickly and within a year weighed 185lbs and was developing his distinctive mane.
His owners knew that something had to be done about Christian’s future when Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna - stars of the hit 1966 film Born Free - walked into the shop. The film told the story of a lioness who was successfully reintroduced to the wild in Kenya.
The two stars suggested that pioneering wildlife conservationist George Adamson and his wife Joy - whose work formed the basis of the Born Free film - could help Christian begin a new life in the wild in the Kenyan bush.
Within a year, in 1972, Christian - accompanied by owners John and Ace - was flown in a specially designed crate from London to Nairobi and then by light plane close to Adamson’s camp at Kora.
Adamson, a controversial and often aloof figure, warned that Christian was unlikely to survive the transition but warmed to the two young men when they demonstrated the understanding that had developed with their boisterous pet.
“I think George Adamson got quite a shock when he met us,” said Rendall. “Straight from the King’s Road, in all our gear - flares from Granny Takes A Trip, and with hair everywhere.
“We looked rather different from everyone else in Nairobi. But then so did Christian. He’d come from winter in England, so had a very thick coat - he was almost as hairy as we were.”
Adamson was won over when during the Land Rover journey to Kora he was persuaded to stop - against his better judgement - to allow Christian to answer a call of nature. The lion hopped out warily for the first time onto the hot and dusty Kenya soil, did what he had to do, and then obediently jumped back into the vehicle.
“I got back in the car, too, shut the door and George Adamson turned round and said to me, ‘That is quite remarkable. You may call me George’.”
At the makeshift camp where Adamson carried out his pioneering work with lions Christian was quickly integrated with two other animals, a male called Boy and a female, Katania. The three would walk out into the Kora Reserve with the rifle-carrying Adamson gradually learning about their environment.
The biggest threat Christian and Boy - who became inseparable once Christian had accepted that Boy was boss - would face was from wild lions as they attempted to set up their own territory. Tragically Boy had to be shot by Adamson after he mauled and killed an African chef called Stanley who had left the safety of the compound. When he stumbled on Boy the chef fled in panic - the worst thing he could have done - and was instinctively chased and brought down by the lion.
As Christian settled into his new surroundings Rendall and Ace Berg returned to London but continued to visit Kenya to check on their former pet’s progress.
In 1974 Adamson wrote to them to say Christian had carved out his own territory and established his own pride and the two replied to say they would make one last visit to say goodbye to Christian.
Adamson said they would probably be wasting their time as Christian had not been seen for nine months but uncannily - the day before they arrived back at Kora - the now full-grown lion suddenly reappeared accompanied by his females and cubs.
And the moment when the two young men were reunited with the lion was captured on film. They call to the lion who immediately stands up and begins walking towards them? Would he remember them? Would he be friendly? Was he now a dangerous wild animal?
The outcome never seems to be in doubt. The lion is clearly deliriously happy to see them both again, bounds towards them and standing on his hind legs and throws his giant paws around their shoulders.
Rendall remembers the touching scene: “He ran towards us, threw himself on to us, knocked us over, knocked George over and hugged us, like he used to, with his paws on our shoulders.
“Everyone was crying. We were crying, George was crying, even the lion was nearly crying.”
“The lionesses were far from pleased. There was a lot of growling and spitting.
George said: ‘This isn’t safe - we’d better go.’ So we each put a hand on Christian’s back and he walked with us back to camp.”
After spending the night with his unlikely former owners, the male lion returned to his pride.
“We watched him go back to the two lionesses, who were not at all happy with this man, smelling of nicotine, whisky and humans,” said Rendall.
“He just walloped the two of them with his paw, then collapsed.”
That was the last time Christian was seen.
Adamson - like his wife Joy - was eventually murdered in the bush by poachers. But the film of the encounter has now been revived and is being used by the Born Free Foundation to raise funds for the work they continue to do with lions.
Born Free Foundation Founder and Trustee Virginia McKenna said: “Millions of people have been moved by the amazing affection between Christian the lion and his human friends, John and Ace.
“As Elsa the lioness, all those years ago, awoke a respect and fascination for lions so, I believe, Christian can be another ambassador for these wonderful animals. Now so critically reduced in numbers, across Africa.
“If you can help us to help them - join us, adopt a lion, buy the “Christian the Lion” DVD, made by my husband Bill Travers, we would be so grateful.”
Videos of the meeting and details of the book can be found at http://www.bornfree.org.uk/
via telegraph.co.uk
Her Name Is Charlotte...
She belongs to a friend of a friend. I think she is so cute! Enjoy the fabulous pics.
The NEXT Crisis...
Credit Cards?
First came trouble with mortgages, then home equity loans and commercial real estate. Now, banks are starting to worry about credit cards.
As the economy slows and unemployment rises, consumers are defaulting on credit-card payments more often. And though that trend is unlikely to create a crisis in line with the mortgage fallout, it's still a headache for banks that are already hurting.
U.S. banks charged off 5.47 percent of all credit card loans in the second quarter, according to the Federal Reserve, representing some $50 billion that they'll likely never collect. That's up from 3.85 percent the year before, and that is a movement that's on the radar of Ken Lewis, chief executive of Charlotte's Bank of America Corp.
First came trouble with mortgages, then home equity loans and commercial real estate. Now, banks are starting to worry about credit cards.
As the economy slows and unemployment rises, consumers are defaulting on credit-card payments more often. And though that trend is unlikely to create a crisis in line with the mortgage fallout, it's still a headache for banks that are already hurting.
U.S. banks charged off 5.47 percent of all credit card loans in the second quarter, according to the Federal Reserve, representing some $50 billion that they'll likely never collect. That's up from 3.85 percent the year before, and that is a movement that's on the radar of Ken Lewis, chief executive of Charlotte's Bank of America Corp.
What A Surprise
Top Mac aides say Palin knew nothing about national and international issues. The aides' choice was to either make Palin look like a scripted robot or an unscripted ignoramus.
I guess they have finally realized what a stupid decision it was to pick a woman who knew nothing but would "appeal" to the "base."
27 October 2008
The Party of Yesterday
Op-Extra Columnist
Two years ago, a list of the nation’s brainiest cities was put together from Census Bureau reports — that is, cities with the highest percentage of college graduates, which is not the same as smart, of course.
These are vibrant, prosperous places where a knowledge economy and cool things to do after hours attract people from all over the country. Among the top 10, only two of those metro areas — Raleigh, N.C., and Lexington, Ky. — voted Republican in the 2004 presidential election.
This year, all 10 are likely to go Democratic. What’s more, with Colorado, New Hampshire and Virginia now trending blue, Republicans stand to lose the nation’s 10 best-educated states as well.
It would be easy to say these places are not the real America, in the peculiar us-and-them parlance of Sarah Palin. It’s easy to say because Republicans have been insinuating for years now that some of the brightest, most productive communities in the United States are fake American — a tactic that dates to Newt Gingrich’s reign in the capitol.
Brainy cities have low divorce rates, low crime, high job creation, ethnic diversity and creative capitalism. They’re places like Pittsburgh, with its top-notch universities; Albuquerque, with its surging Latino middle class; and Denver, with its outdoor-loving young people. They grow good people in the smart cities.
But in the politically suicidal greenhouse that Republicans have constructed for themselves, these cities are not welcome. They are disparaged as nests of latte-sipping weenies, alt-lifestyle types and “other” Americans, somehow inauthentic.
If that’s what Republicans want, they are doomed to be the party of yesterday.
Not only are we becoming more urban as a nation, but we’re headed for an ethnic muddle that could further shrink the party of small-mindedness. By 2023, more than half of all American children will be minority, the Census Bureau projects.
Ronald Reagan was lashed by liberals for running a “Morning in America” campaign, but he knew this country, at heart, was always tomorrow-looking — and he fared very well in educated cities as well as small towns. “Whatever else history may say about me when I’m gone,” said Reagan, “I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears.” Barack Obama, who brings that music to the stage, leads by 30 points on the “hope and optimism” question in polls.
Spurning the Reagan lesson, John McCain made a fatal error in turning his campaign over to the audience of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. In so doing, he chose the unbearable lightness of being Sarah Palin, trotted out Paris Hilton and labeled Obama a socialist who associates with terrorists.
At a recent Palin rally, the crowd started chanting, “We want Fox!” McCain has given them just that. But how isolated and out-of-touch is this audience? At the end of each debate, a sure-fire way to decide who won was to look at the Fox viewers poll — typically showing a landslide for McCain. Within a day, scientific surveys found big wins for Obama.
Whether Americans are real or fake, they can see through Palin, a woman who couldn’t correctly answer a third grader a few days ago when asked to explain the duties of vice president. Somewhere, between the shuffling to costume and accessorize Palin with a $150,000 wardrobe, her handlers never handed her a copy of the Constitution.
Republicans blow off the smart cities with the counterargument that they win the exurbs — the frontier of new homes, young families and the fresh middle class. And it’s true, in 2004, George Bush won 97 of the 100 fastest-growing counties in America.
That will not happen this year. Polls show McCain is losing 20 percent of self-described moderate Republicans. And new registration figures and other polls indicate that Obama will likely win such iconic exurban centers as Washoe County, Nev., Loudoun County, Va., and Wake County, N.C.
But in the kind of pattern that has held true since McCain went over to the stupid side, his brother recently referred to suburban northern Virginia as “communist country” and a top adviser, Nancy Pfotenhauer, said it was not “real Virginia.”
Here in Seattle, it’s become a one-party city, with a congressman for life and nodding-head liberals who seldom challenge a tax-loving city government. It would be nice, just to keep the philosophical debate sharp, if there were a few thoughtful Republicans around.
That won’t happen so long as Republicans continue to be the party of yesterday. They’ve written the cities off. Fake Americans don’t count, but this Election Day, for once, they will not feel left out.
Timothy Egan writes Outposts, a column at nytimes.com.
26 October 2008
If You Receive A Call From A Black Ghetto Voice...It's A Nasty GOP Trick
This guy served prison time for nasty tricks used to throw an election.
There are many ways to lose a presidential election. John McCain is losing in a way that threatens to take the entire Republican Party down with him.(Full article here).
24 October 2008
Is It Socialism That Taxpayers Are Paying For Palin's Accoutrements?
Palin's make-up artist is Mac's highest paid staffer in first half of October. I find that really impossible to believe. Amy Strozzi, from So You Think You Can Dance, made $22,800 for the first 2 weeks of Oct.
Barack Obama's suits cost $1500, and has paid for them himself. (See here and here).
23 October 2008
22 October 2008
Bachmann Black Balled
GOP Pulls Ads From Bachmann's Congressional Race
Five days after Rep. Michele Bachmann went on a McCarthy-esque rant suggesting Barack Obama was unpatriotic and urging the major newspapers of the country to investigate anti-American sentiment in Congress, the national Republican political parties are running for cover.
Two sources aware of ad buys in Minnesota say that the National Republican Congressional Committee is pulling its media purchases from Bachmann's race. If true, it is a remarkable fall for a congresswoman who, until recently, seemed relatively safe in her predominantly conservative district. The race had become closer in recent days -- the NRCC had transferred funds from Rep. Erik Paulsen (MN-03) to Bachmann a little over a week ago.
In the days following her appearance on Hardball, however, Bachmann has watched as her challenger, El Tinklenberg raised more than a million dollars off her incendiary remarks. That surge in fundraising put Bachmann's re-election in a far less certain position. Bachmann tried to stem the bleeding by telling the press she was sorry for her remarks. But with the national party now apparently pulling the plug, the situation has gone from bad to worse.
By: Sam Stein
I Thought This Interesting
"I don't care about his beer, I care about his intelligence."
"We've had many democratic presidents, and we will still have our guns."
"He is brilliant. And he's not an elitist, though he has the education to be."
-Tony Viessman, Co-Founder - Rednecks for Obama
Commentary: Republican attacks show fear and desperation
By Roland Martin
CNN Contributor
(CNN) -- Watching Sen. John McCain and top Republicans swing wildly in their attempts to slam Sen. Barack Obama, with less than two weeks ago to go before Election Day, is like watching an old fighter --clearly out of gas, his legs turned to rubber, and all he can do is grab, hold, punch behind the back, just anything to try to win.
McCain's campaign is no longer about issues. He and his supporters want to bring up anything and everything to derail Obama, and nothing is sticking, so they just keep returning to their old bag of tricks.
In the past two weeks, we've seen Minnesota Republican Rep. Michelle Bachmann make one of the most audacious statements ever, suggesting that Obama holds anti-American views, that other members of Congress have the same views, and that the media should launch a widespread investigation to ferret them out.
No, seriously, she said that on MSNBC's "Hardball."
It didn't take long for the folks on the left to get ahold of her comments. After the video spread like wildfire, Democrats across the country pumped $700,000 into the campaign coffers of her opponent. The normally talkative Bachmann is now on lockdown, not granting any interviews, as she has to work hard to hold onto her seat.
Then you have former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, who was caught suggesting that if Obama wins, he is going to put in place the policies of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Now, Gingrich has absolutely no clue what policies Wright advocated, but he wants to scare the dickens out of voters by literally making stuff up about Obama.
Cindy McCain, who has barely moved her lips during this campaign, is now accusing the Obama campaign of running the dirtiest campaign ever, and lighting up the New York Times and others for their viciousness. Never mind what's happening in her own backyard with all of the false and outlandish comments coming from her husband, his running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin, and their supporters.
They are now in full blame-the-media mode.
Then you have both McCain and Palin slamming Obama for essentially being a socialist. We shouldn't be surprised that it's come to this because we already had radio hosts like Lars Larson, Glenn Beck and others trying to paint Obama for months as being a Marxist. Now the junior senator from Illinois is a student of Lenin!
This has totally gotten out of hand, but instead of trying to castigate Obama and tar and feather him, the Republicans should look inward and look at how their actions have seriously harmed this nation.
The Republicans ran Congress for six years. The Republicans have held the White House for the last eight years. The Republicans have advanced the deregulation agenda that played a major role in creating the financial mess we are currently in.
The Republicans have led the foreign policy we have in place that has destroyed the moral authority we once held. Their president is one of the most unpopular in history, so bad that he and Vice President Dick Cheney can't even come out of the White House to campaign on behalf of McCain because they are so reviled by Americans.
Can someone please remind these folks of this?
Every campaign says they want the election to be about the issues, but when McCain's campaign manager Rick Davis made it clear that they want it to be about character and not issues, well, we should have realized we would get to this point.
That's why we're hearing so much about Bill Ayers. That's why they've spent more time blasting out statements about ACORN than real policy points.
It's pretty sad, really. It's sad that instead of making it about a vision for America, they want it to be about the castigating of a good man. It's sad that McCain can't fully articulate an economic plan that encompasses all Americans, instead of redistributing income upwards to the super rich.
It's sad that his only answer to the economy is tax cuts, when we need a much broader answer.
Much can happen over the next 13 days. I've seen campaigns won and lost with less time on the clock.
McCain will continue to throw jabs, swinging wildly, ignoring the game plan he came into the fight with, hoping something -- anything -- connects against the jaw of his younger, more fluid opponent. And like any aging fighter, as the rounds tick away, he could get even more desperate and fearful. So hold on to your seats. Lord knows what will come out of the GOP side over the next 13 days.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Roland Martin.
CNN Contributor
(CNN) -- Watching Sen. John McCain and top Republicans swing wildly in their attempts to slam Sen. Barack Obama, with less than two weeks ago to go before Election Day, is like watching an old fighter --clearly out of gas, his legs turned to rubber, and all he can do is grab, hold, punch behind the back, just anything to try to win.
McCain's campaign is no longer about issues. He and his supporters want to bring up anything and everything to derail Obama, and nothing is sticking, so they just keep returning to their old bag of tricks.
In the past two weeks, we've seen Minnesota Republican Rep. Michelle Bachmann make one of the most audacious statements ever, suggesting that Obama holds anti-American views, that other members of Congress have the same views, and that the media should launch a widespread investigation to ferret them out.
No, seriously, she said that on MSNBC's "Hardball."
It didn't take long for the folks on the left to get ahold of her comments. After the video spread like wildfire, Democrats across the country pumped $700,000 into the campaign coffers of her opponent. The normally talkative Bachmann is now on lockdown, not granting any interviews, as she has to work hard to hold onto her seat.
Then you have former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, who was caught suggesting that if Obama wins, he is going to put in place the policies of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Now, Gingrich has absolutely no clue what policies Wright advocated, but he wants to scare the dickens out of voters by literally making stuff up about Obama.
Cindy McCain, who has barely moved her lips during this campaign, is now accusing the Obama campaign of running the dirtiest campaign ever, and lighting up the New York Times and others for their viciousness. Never mind what's happening in her own backyard with all of the false and outlandish comments coming from her husband, his running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin, and their supporters.
They are now in full blame-the-media mode.
Then you have both McCain and Palin slamming Obama for essentially being a socialist. We shouldn't be surprised that it's come to this because we already had radio hosts like Lars Larson, Glenn Beck and others trying to paint Obama for months as being a Marxist. Now the junior senator from Illinois is a student of Lenin!
This has totally gotten out of hand, but instead of trying to castigate Obama and tar and feather him, the Republicans should look inward and look at how their actions have seriously harmed this nation.
The Republicans ran Congress for six years. The Republicans have held the White House for the last eight years. The Republicans have advanced the deregulation agenda that played a major role in creating the financial mess we are currently in.
The Republicans have led the foreign policy we have in place that has destroyed the moral authority we once held. Their president is one of the most unpopular in history, so bad that he and Vice President Dick Cheney can't even come out of the White House to campaign on behalf of McCain because they are so reviled by Americans.
Can someone please remind these folks of this?
Every campaign says they want the election to be about the issues, but when McCain's campaign manager Rick Davis made it clear that they want it to be about character and not issues, well, we should have realized we would get to this point.
That's why we're hearing so much about Bill Ayers. That's why they've spent more time blasting out statements about ACORN than real policy points.
It's pretty sad, really. It's sad that instead of making it about a vision for America, they want it to be about the castigating of a good man. It's sad that McCain can't fully articulate an economic plan that encompasses all Americans, instead of redistributing income upwards to the super rich.
It's sad that his only answer to the economy is tax cuts, when we need a much broader answer.
Much can happen over the next 13 days. I've seen campaigns won and lost with less time on the clock.
McCain will continue to throw jabs, swinging wildly, ignoring the game plan he came into the fight with, hoping something -- anything -- connects against the jaw of his younger, more fluid opponent. And like any aging fighter, as the rounds tick away, he could get even more desperate and fearful. So hold on to your seats. Lord knows what will come out of the GOP side over the next 13 days.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Roland Martin.
The News Is Quite Depressing
Merck cutting 7200 jobs.
Yahoo is cutting 1500 jobs.
6000 Ohioans applied for unemployment after job cuts in September.
Linens n Things is going out of business.
Small businesses at risk of going out of business.
Dow ends down 514 points due to recession fears.
People are committing suicide under all the pressure.
Okay, I think that is enough to drive the point.
21 October 2008
OMG-that really does say snow...already...get me out of here
Tonight
Oct 21
Rain / Snow
N/A
36°
Wed
Oct 22
Snow to Rain
(high)42°
(low) 24°
Oct 21
Rain / Snow
N/A
36°
Wed
Oct 22
Snow to Rain
(high)42°
(low) 24°
Yup, Gotta Pay if You Want That Rape Crime Investigated-You betcha
No matter what one thinks about any particular political candidate, this position of making rape victims pay for their own evidence gathering kit is vile.
Reminds Me of Folks Back Home
Among the hardy Republicans
The citizens of Abilene, Texas, voted overwhelmingly to reelect Bush in '04. We've all done dumb things.
By Garrison Keillor
Oct. 22, 2008 | Spent a weekend in Abilene, Texas, a town that voted 75 percent for the Current Occupant in 2004, and nothing bad happened to me at all, they were as friendly as could be. Any time I sat down, they put food in front of me, and all in all they were witty and well-spoken and good to be around. So it would've been rude to ask them, "Why did you vote to reelect that dope?" But I thought it.
Not that I haven't done dumb things myself. I have. And intend to keep on doing some of them. But the Current Occupant has slept through his own presidency. He has no idea what went wrong. He knows less about governance than a cat knows about a can opener. He cut taxes during a costly war and made serious debtors of our grandchildren and he has ignored the future as if it doesn't exist. He is now about as popular as wet socks and deservedly so. And here were the people who spawned him and we got along pretty well.
Of course it helped that I only stayed two days.
These Republicans are hardy people not given to endless self-examination of the sort that we liberal elitists practice (Why did I agree to come to Abilene? Why did I allow that woman to force that prime rib on me and the au gratin potatoes and the pecan pie? Should I have talked to her about torture?), and they stick with a position once taken and don't admire people who waver and hedge their bets and cover their butts. Abilene, Texas, would appear rather bleak to most people, a big khaki-colored desert with some oil wells and windmills and shopping malls and not much happening after dark, but people here are fiercely loyal to the place, and their loyalty is a great civic asset.
In a cohesive community like Abilene, so much business can be done on trust. A truck pulls up to the gate and the rancher herds 20 steers off to be slaughtered. He doesn't count them or weigh them. Pure trust. A handshake and a wave. A week or two later, he gets a check from the buyer, whoever that may be. No IDs are checked, no bonds posted, no 10-page contract signed and notarized. You simply are part of a culture that trusts a person unless he proves untrustworthy. This can be quite astonishing if you're from the city, but it's fundamental to a place like Abilene.
Probably Abileneans wouldn't really need a national government or a Constitution or a judicial system, they could do OK on their own as semi-nomadic Bedouins, defending themselves, keeping order, managing their herds, enduring primitive healthcare, educating their kids, making the best of their earthly sojourn, and looking to the next life as the real deal. They are a hardier strain and for them the urban America that most of us live in is laden with non-necessities. Public transportation, for example. In Abilene, people would be happy to give you a ride if you needed one. Why wait for a bus?
My fellow liberal elitists are more dependent on other people. I am, that's for sure. I need other people to fix my car, raise my vegetables, build bookshelves, launder my shirts and clean my house, and since I need those people, I should take some passing interest in the schools their children attend and the sort of medical care available. I don't believe in indentured servitude, and so I want to live in a society in which the women who launder and fold my shirts get a fair deal. I don't want my breakfast sausage to come from a packing plant like the one in Iowa that employed undocumented Mexicans and treated them like medieval serfs. So I'm a Democrat. It's the party that has a better record of looking after the interests of people who earn less than a hundred grand a year.
But it's good to be among the opposition and know them as fine upstanding people. At the dinner where I was forced to eat the prime rib, we all sat around afterward and sang "I'll Fly Away" and "God Bless America" and "How Great Thou Art" and "Home on the Range" and a dozen other songs we all knew, and it was a lovely evening a couple weeks before a big election. We still do know some of the same songs, we Americans. Deep down, we are loyal to each other. And the truth is marching on.
(Garrison Keillor is the author of a new Lake Wobegon novel, "Liberty," published by Viking.)
The citizens of Abilene, Texas, voted overwhelmingly to reelect Bush in '04. We've all done dumb things.
By Garrison Keillor
Oct. 22, 2008 | Spent a weekend in Abilene, Texas, a town that voted 75 percent for the Current Occupant in 2004, and nothing bad happened to me at all, they were as friendly as could be. Any time I sat down, they put food in front of me, and all in all they were witty and well-spoken and good to be around. So it would've been rude to ask them, "Why did you vote to reelect that dope?" But I thought it.
Not that I haven't done dumb things myself. I have. And intend to keep on doing some of them. But the Current Occupant has slept through his own presidency. He has no idea what went wrong. He knows less about governance than a cat knows about a can opener. He cut taxes during a costly war and made serious debtors of our grandchildren and he has ignored the future as if it doesn't exist. He is now about as popular as wet socks and deservedly so. And here were the people who spawned him and we got along pretty well.
Of course it helped that I only stayed two days.
These Republicans are hardy people not given to endless self-examination of the sort that we liberal elitists practice (Why did I agree to come to Abilene? Why did I allow that woman to force that prime rib on me and the au gratin potatoes and the pecan pie? Should I have talked to her about torture?), and they stick with a position once taken and don't admire people who waver and hedge their bets and cover their butts. Abilene, Texas, would appear rather bleak to most people, a big khaki-colored desert with some oil wells and windmills and shopping malls and not much happening after dark, but people here are fiercely loyal to the place, and their loyalty is a great civic asset.
In a cohesive community like Abilene, so much business can be done on trust. A truck pulls up to the gate and the rancher herds 20 steers off to be slaughtered. He doesn't count them or weigh them. Pure trust. A handshake and a wave. A week or two later, he gets a check from the buyer, whoever that may be. No IDs are checked, no bonds posted, no 10-page contract signed and notarized. You simply are part of a culture that trusts a person unless he proves untrustworthy. This can be quite astonishing if you're from the city, but it's fundamental to a place like Abilene.
Probably Abileneans wouldn't really need a national government or a Constitution or a judicial system, they could do OK on their own as semi-nomadic Bedouins, defending themselves, keeping order, managing their herds, enduring primitive healthcare, educating their kids, making the best of their earthly sojourn, and looking to the next life as the real deal. They are a hardier strain and for them the urban America that most of us live in is laden with non-necessities. Public transportation, for example. In Abilene, people would be happy to give you a ride if you needed one. Why wait for a bus?
My fellow liberal elitists are more dependent on other people. I am, that's for sure. I need other people to fix my car, raise my vegetables, build bookshelves, launder my shirts and clean my house, and since I need those people, I should take some passing interest in the schools their children attend and the sort of medical care available. I don't believe in indentured servitude, and so I want to live in a society in which the women who launder and fold my shirts get a fair deal. I don't want my breakfast sausage to come from a packing plant like the one in Iowa that employed undocumented Mexicans and treated them like medieval serfs. So I'm a Democrat. It's the party that has a better record of looking after the interests of people who earn less than a hundred grand a year.
But it's good to be among the opposition and know them as fine upstanding people. At the dinner where I was forced to eat the prime rib, we all sat around afterward and sang "I'll Fly Away" and "God Bless America" and "How Great Thou Art" and "Home on the Range" and a dozen other songs we all knew, and it was a lovely evening a couple weeks before a big election. We still do know some of the same songs, we Americans. Deep down, we are loyal to each other. And the truth is marching on.
(Garrison Keillor is the author of a new Lake Wobegon novel, "Liberty," published by Viking.)
Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures
Monthly job losses cut across 41 states
More than 80% of states reported jobs disappearing in September, with Michigan suffering the highest losses, according to a government report.
By Lara Moscrip, CNNMoney.com contributing writer
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The number of states suffering monthly job losses more than doubled in September, with Michigan losing the greatest number of jobs, according to a government report released Tuesday.
Private sector and government jobs fell in 41 states and the District of Columbia last month, the Labor Department said. By comparison, only 18 states reported monthly job losses in August.
The widespread job losses are a sign of a recession, said Bob Brusca, an economist at Fact and Opinion Economics in New York.
"You expect to see job losses across the board, across the country," Brusca said.
The numbers released Tuesday underline the grim condition of the nation's job market.
Earlier this month, the Labor Department reported that net payrolls nationwide declined by 159,000 in September, the ninth straight month the U.S. economy has lost jobs. The unemployment rate remained unchanged from the prior month at 6.1%.
Eleven states reported jobless rates higher than the national average. Rhode Island posted the highest at 8.8%, an increase from 8.5% in August. Michigan had the second highest rate, 8.7%, which fell from 8.9% the month before.
Michigan lost 28,300 jobs in September and has lost 77,900 jobs in the past year. Georgia lost the second greatest number of jobs - 22,300 - down 61,100 over the past year. Louisiana shed 17,500 jobs in September, a figure not 'substantially' affected by Hurricane Ike, according to the report.
Michigan, home to the country's auto industry, has reported job losses as auto manufacturing plants close and automakers discuss mergers. Just last week, General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) announced that it would close a metal stamping plant near Grand Rapids, Mich., by the end of next year, costing about 1,340 hourly jobs.
Brusca said it's not surprising that Midwestern states have shed a high number of jobs.
"The Midwest has been having more trouble with jobs, that's where manufacturing industries are concentrated," Brusca said. "With the treacherous situation with the auto industry, it'd be surprising if they didn't report job loses," he said.
Nine states posted job gains. Missouri, the state reporting the largest monthly increase in employment, added 3,800 jobs. It was followed by Nebraska, Wyoming, West Virginia and Virginia.
Photographic Proof : Powell Endorsement ABOUT RACE!
by Jimmy Crackcorn
Poor Rush Limbaugh. He just can't get over the fact that Colin Powell thought that Barack Obama was a better man to be President than John McCain. In Rush Limbaugh's eyes, the only reason that Powell could have possibly endorsed Obama was because they share the same skin color.
Yesterday Rush has this to say:
Now, back to General Powell. I just want to button this up, because the Drive-Bys had a tizzy over my allegation that his nomination was about race. Well, let me say it louder, and let me say it even more plainly: It was totally about race! The Powell nomination or endorsement was totally about race.
I have some news for Rushbo. Many other prominent Conservative African Americans have also endorsed Barack Obama for President. Let me name a few other Republicans who are also voting for Obama because they are black:
Son of the National Review's founder Christopher Buckley is voting for Obama because he's black.
Granddaughter of the 34th President Susan Eisenhower is voting for Obama because she's black.
Neocon Kenneth Adelman is voting for Obama because he's black.
Read the rest of the article illustrating 7 other conservative "black" supporters of Barack Obama.
Poor Rush Limbaugh. He just can't get over the fact that Colin Powell thought that Barack Obama was a better man to be President than John McCain. In Rush Limbaugh's eyes, the only reason that Powell could have possibly endorsed Obama was because they share the same skin color.
Yesterday Rush has this to say:
Now, back to General Powell. I just want to button this up, because the Drive-Bys had a tizzy over my allegation that his nomination was about race. Well, let me say it louder, and let me say it even more plainly: It was totally about race! The Powell nomination or endorsement was totally about race.
I have some news for Rushbo. Many other prominent Conservative African Americans have also endorsed Barack Obama for President. Let me name a few other Republicans who are also voting for Obama because they are black:
Son of the National Review's founder Christopher Buckley is voting for Obama because he's black.But that was—sigh—then. John McCain has changed. He said, famously, apropos the Republican debacle post-1994, "We came to Washington to change it, and Washington changed us." This campaign has changed John McCain. It has made him inauthentic. A once-first class temperament has become irascible and snarly; his positions change, and lack coherence; he makes unrealistic promises, such as balancing the federal budget "by the end of my first term." Who, really, believes that? Then there was the self-dramatizing and feckless suspension of his campaign over the financial crisis. His ninth-inning attack ads are mean-spirited and pointless. And finally, not to belabor it, there was the Palin nomination. What on earth can he have been thinking?
Granddaughter of the 34th President Susan Eisenhower is voting for Obama because she's black.Given Obama's support among young people, I believe that he will be most invested in defending the interests of these rising generations and, therefore, the long-term interests of this nation as a whole. Without his leadership, our children and grandchildren are at risk of growing older in a marginalized country that is left to its anger and divisions. Such an outcome would be an unacceptable legacy for any great nation.
Neocon Kenneth Adelman is voting for Obama because he's black.Primarily for two reasons, those of temperament and of judgment.
When the economic crisis broke, I found John McCain bouncing all over the place. In those first few crisis days, he was impetuous, inconsistent, and imprudent; ending up just plain weird. Having worked with Ronald Reagan for seven years, and been with him in his critical three summits with Gorbachev, I’ve concluded that that’s no way a president can act under pressure.
Second is judgment. The most important decision John McCain made in his long campaign was deciding on a running mate.
That decision showed appalling lack of judgment. Not only is Sarah Palin not close to being acceptable in high office—I would not have hired her for even a mid-level post in the arms-control agency. But that selection contradicted McCain’s main two, and best two, themes for his campaign—Country First, and experience counts. Neither can he credibly claim, post-Palin pick.
Read the rest of the article illustrating 7 other conservative "black" supporters of Barack Obama.
Bear found dumped at WCU with Obama signs
CULLOWHEE – A dead bear was found dumped this morning on the Western Carolina University campus, draped with a pair of Obama campaign signs, university police said.
Maintenance workers reported about 7:45 a.m. finding a 75-pound bear cub dumped at the roundabout near the Catamount statute at the entrance to campus, said Tom Johnson, chief of university police.
“It looked like it had been shot in the head as best we can tell. A couple of Obama campaign signs had been stapled together and stuck over its head,” Johnson said.
University police called in N.C. Wildlife Resources officials to remove the body and help in the investigation. Bear season is currently under way in Western North Carolina.
“This is certainly unacceptable,” Johnson said. “Someone was wanting to draw attention to the election. If we find out who they are, we’ll make sure they’ll get some attention themselves.”
"Western Carolina University deplores the inappropriate behavior that led to this troubling incident," said Leila Tvedt, associate vice chancellor "We cannot speculate on the motives of the people involved, nor who those people might be. Campus police are cooperating with authorities to investigate this matter."
Maintenance workers reported about 7:45 a.m. finding a 75-pound bear cub dumped at the roundabout near the Catamount statute at the entrance to campus, said Tom Johnson, chief of university police.
“It looked like it had been shot in the head as best we can tell. A couple of Obama campaign signs had been stapled together and stuck over its head,” Johnson said.
University police called in N.C. Wildlife Resources officials to remove the body and help in the investigation. Bear season is currently under way in Western North Carolina.
“This is certainly unacceptable,” Johnson said. “Someone was wanting to draw attention to the election. If we find out who they are, we’ll make sure they’ll get some attention themselves.”
"Western Carolina University deplores the inappropriate behavior that led to this troubling incident," said Leila Tvedt, associate vice chancellor "We cannot speculate on the motives of the people involved, nor who those people might be. Campus police are cooperating with authorities to investigate this matter."
20 October 2008
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