The number of jobs the American economy needs to create in order to return to the pre-recession unemployment rate of 5 percent. The source of this data is the Economic Policy Institute and reported in Newsweek dated 11/29/10.
Last week’s Bureau of Labor Statistics weekly report indicated that Weekly Initial Job Claims were 407,000. Weekly claims were in the 360,000 to 380,000 range when unemployment was last at 5 percent.
She iz smart, and we layk her. She is just layk yu and me. She makes good joke all the time and we layk her. Pliz dont be min to her. Sam time she make mistake but everione duz, so we need to help her. If america does not vote for her prezident, then canada shud make Palin prezident of canada so she can teech us mani things. Posted by Robsden on the Toronto Star web site.
Palin is famously no stranger to foreign policy blunders, having been quoted in 2008 as saying Alaska is ‘right over the border from Russia’.
From the Daily Mail in the UK: She could run for president in 2012 but Sarah Palin may want to brush up on her geography after confusing a major US adversary for an ally.
Speaking to CNN’s Larry King alongside her husband George HW Bush, Barbara Bush appeared to advise Palin to stay out of national politics. ‘I sat next to her once. Thought she was beautiful,’ Mrs Bush said. ‘And she’s very happy in Alaska, and I hope she’ll stay there.’
Palin claimed Michelle Obama’s anti-obesity showed she ‘cannot trust parents to make decisions for their own children, for their own families in what we should eat’.
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From mediaite.com
The scrambled tongue moment–as that’s surely what Palin will say it was–does bring up a charge made in John Heilemann and Mark Halperin’s book, Game Change, which portrays Palin as dangerously uninformed–a candidate for the vice presidency who didn’t understand that Korea was divided. A quote from that book:
“She knew nothing. She had to be taken through World War I, World War II, the Cold War, and Palin was not aware there was a difference between North and South Korea. She continued to insist that Iraq was behind 9/11; and when her son was being sent off to Iraq, she couldn’t describe who we were fighting.”
Happy Thanksgiving!
Thank you for your continued support!
This United States needs a focus on something that will make our country thrive in the 21st century. We need a mission. We need to be focused on the future. That is what companies do and this nation’s leaders should adopt that philosophy from private enterprise. Defeating Al-Qaeda should not be our national mission. That course would be surrendering to terrorism.
I am prompted to this idea by two occurrences and one interview. First the mass NASA layoffs at Cape Canaveral in Florida that Businessweek recently described as amounting to an astonishing 9,000 people. That layoff will disperse the people who can help this country go to new heights that only the likes of Gene Roddenberry and Ray Bradbury could imagine. Second an article in today’s Los Angeles Times titled “Astronauts send home a whole new worldview” describing “Earthlings are seeing their planet in a whole new light…”
The interview was presented by Diane Sawyer of ABC News on her trip to China this past week. She interviewed Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, China’s largest e-commerce website. Ma said he believes that American ingenuity is a model for the Chinese. “Innovation is a culture. When I see the American culture, the American culture is very innovative,” Ma said. “To have a culture of innovation takes about two or three generations.” Further in the interview Ma said “Always think about the mission, and the mission drives you.”
The rest of the world is advancing while the United States is arguing about budget cuts, high unemployment, airport security, and other less important issues. We need a vision. We cannot afford the loss of two or three generations. Remember it was President John F. Kennedy who enunciated the goal of putting a man on the Moon within ten years. We did it and we opened new technologies that were only dreams back on May 25, 1961.
We can and must do it again!
DWTS is shorthand for Dancing with the Stars. Sadly it appears that there is something happening when Brandy, who was either the number one or number two dancer this season, was eliminated last week. I have been a fan of this program since its inception but that was a miscarriage of honest judgment.
In the last season there was Kelly Osbourne. She was not graceful but she is the daughter of a famous father. She made it into the finals. What was that all about? Just maybe the decision had to do with ratings.
If Bristol Palin wins I won’t be watching any more.
The Republicans should be ashamed of themselves for denying extension of jobless benefits. They believe extending Bush tax cuts to millionaires is appropriate but too bad for the unemployed. Their idea of let them figure it out for themselves reminds me of that famous queen who said, “Let them eat cake.” Is this the “second amendment moment” Sharron Angle was talking about?
Unemployment insurance runs out on Nov. 30 for 2 million jobless Americans. There is no argument that this program is expensive but the consequence of this action will mean thousands of people with no place to turn except food pantries. Yes, the extended benefits are costly – another year’s worth would cost about $65 Billion. However, when it comes to helping the economy, unemployment benefits deliver far more bang for the buck than holding down the top marginal tax rates.
Barack Obama does not understand the needs and wants of most Americans. He misunderstood the meaning of his celebrated election. Americans were proud of the fact that they had risen above race in electing their president. His Race was not the reason he was elected. He does not understand the reason he won the election. Here are some things he and his advisers do not understand.
1. Mr. Obama wanted to believe most Americans had read his books and supported his views. Most did not read his books. Most people did not know the meaning of “change.”
2. He and his advisers neglected to consider his opponent, John McCain. If elected the senator would have been 72 years old at his inauguration. That fact alone was a concern to many people. Added to that issue was the concern most people had about Sarah Palin becoming President. Many conservative journalists voiced this view. Among them was Kathleen Parker.
3. His speeches in Europe, prior to his election, seemed well received, but they were not given to Americans. American views of the world are considerably different from those of Europeans. Most Europeans do not view significant involvement in other country’s affairs an appropriate foreign policy.
4. As a consequence of the 9-11 World Trade Center attack Americans want to insulate themselves to the extent that there will never be another attack in this country. Compare that view with the calmer behavior of Europeans after attacks in London and Madrid. The Eiffel Tower has been evacuated at least twice this year and there was little hysteria surrounding those incidents. Mumbai, India was the victim of a terrorist attack in 2009. In each of those instances those nations did not display the hysterics that has been so prevalent in the United States. Consider the American reaction to the Detroit Bomber, the Times Square bomber, and the shooting at Fort Hood.
5. The financial crises has impacted almost every family in America. Despite that, Mr. Obama has marched to a different drummer. He saw his mandate as clear. Change is what he promised and that was what he has determined to carry out.
Instead of listening to James Carville’s famous words, “It’s the economy, Stupid”, Mr. Obama has decided to stay the course. Howard Fineman of the Huffington Post reported on the Chris Matthews show that David Axelrod indicated there will be no consequential changes to the Obama Whitehouse. Nancy Pelosi and her entire team will be the face of the Democratic Party.
Unless there is a change of course there will be a Republican president elected in November 2012.
Every president of the United States wants to be remembered as one of the best that ever lived. So it’s no wonder that George W. Bush has written an autobiography that conveys that message. To sell the book and his place in history as one of our best presidents he has appeared on some widely watched television shows including Oprah Winfrey and a special hosted by Matt Lauer.
I am quite certain that most Republicans will praise him as a great leader. The facts do not support that opinion. Neither his religion nor his good intent is in question. What is questionable is his judgment. He surrounded himself with people whose motives are very questionable. He doesn’t regret taking the country into a war in Iraq that was based upon faulty information. He sees no error in his decision to limit the troop build up in Afghanistan and the limited search for Osama bin Laden. He sees nothing wrong with the Federal response to the Katrina Hurricane that devastated New Orleans. He blocked the use of Federal dollars for stem cell research. Finally at the end of his presidency he promoted the bailout of Wall Street bankers and poorly managed commercial banks.
He wants to be remembered as the president who prevented another terrorist attack like 9-11 which did happen while he was president. He had been warned of the possibility of such an attack by the Clinton administration. He went to extremes to ensure there would not be another attack that resulted in the Patriot Act which many people believe is an infringement of individual rights guaranteed by the Constitution. He instituted the Department of Homeland Security that has had questionable success. He opened a prison at Guantanamo Bay that denies its prisoners the right to a speedy trial and instituted water boarding.
There are too many other things his administration did that were clearly extreme and possibly illegal. I wrote about some of them back on September 17, 2008.
So I am stuck trying to determine what happened during his presidency that would qualify him to be considered even a good president let alone a great president.
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November 12, 2010: Now to add even more to this obviously flawed book is a report on Huffington Post that some of the information he imparts was lifted from advisers books. Copies are now in Costco at less than $23.00.
For those of you who think your life is rough in the San Fernando Valley or other comfortable middle class neighbourhoods try taking an innocent drive to the Flower District in Downtown Los Angeles. My wife wanted to go to Moskatel’s Craft store on San Julian Street. I did not know that street between 6th Street and 7th Street is Skid Row. One drive down that block will convey the horror of homelessness. Everyone reading this should give thanks that they are not part of those poor people.
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Back when we were married, 41 years ago, my bride to be decided to help defray the cost of wedding flowers at each table by making the settings herself. We went to downtown Los Angeles to the flower district. There we found Moskatel’s Craft store on San Julian Street. While I knew it was in the skid row area we never saw any homeless people on the streets.
My wife has been a crafts person all of her life. Yesterday the idea came to her to return to that store. “Just for fun” she said, “Lets go down there and then go out to lunch.” I found the store address on the internet. They do not have a website but the name and address were easily identified.
We exited the Harbor Freeway onto 6th Street and drove to San Julian Street without incident. The right turn onto San Julian brought the horror of skid row right into our faces. That first block was lined with homeless people sitting on curbs and leaning or sleeping against the walls of the buildings. I drove carefully and slowly down the narrow street stunned by the obvious despair. Surprisingly the next block was totally clear of homeless people. This was the block that housed Moskatel’s and we saw the sign over the entrance to the store.
I circled the block looking for parking. Along the way my wife saw another craft store she wanted to visit. We found parking in a structure that adjoined the store. Once inside the structure that led us into the store I felt safe. Inside we found the variety of crafts supplies greater than any Michael’s (they now own Moskatel’s) or JoAnn’s.
Then my wife announced she wanted to walk over to that other store she had seen just a block and a half away. That store was back towards skid row but one block over on the corner. It was a frightening walk past people sitting on the sidewalk, laying on the sidewalk, and one individual who was starting to approach us. He (perhaps she) was wrapped in a blanket as he was starting towards us. The traffic light changed to green and we quickly walked across the street and back to our car.
Lunch was just a few block away at Lawry’s in a new entertainment center that is part of L.A. Live. Included in the center is Staples Center, Nokia Theater, the Grammy Museum and two new hotels. The parking attendant, had never heard of Moskatel’s, and was obviously oblivious to what we had just seen.
California really is an independent state. The official flag name is “The Bear Flag” but the text on the flag tells the real story, CALIFORNIA REPUBLIC. For 26 days during the Mexican American War there was a group that claimed independence for California. Californians, like Texans, have always considered their state something different. Perhaps it was the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Mojave Desert that separates us from the rest of the nation that has always given us a different perspective.
So while the most other states voted Republicans into office, Californians continued to support most of the Democrats and liberal/progressive initiatives. As it stands now every state wide candidate appears to have won their election. The State Attorney General position appears to be a cliff hanger. All the others have been conclusively decided.
I have mixed emotions about this situation. On the one hand I like the idea that we have an extraordinarily progressive (yes, liberal) point of view because we want to be an inclusive society looking to improve everyone’s life. On the other hand our laws and regulations have driven many businesses out of the state and that has resulted in too many homeless and unemployed people. If we were an independent country, we would be the Greece of America. Our next governor, Jerry Brown, will have to make some very difficult decisions.
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