Oh Wonderful….: The Economy is screwed to hell, worse than originally thought!

Hope and Change……and Unemployed:

The recent unemployment numbers have undermined confidence that we might be nearing the bottom of the recession. What we can see on the surface is disconcerting enough, but the inside numbers are just as bad.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics preliminary estimate for job losses for June is 467,000, which means 7.2 million people have lost their jobs since the start of the recession. The cumulative job losses over the last six months have been greater than for any other half year period since World War II, including the military demobilization after the war. The job losses are also now equal to the net job gains over the previous nine years, making this the only recession since the Great Depression to wipe out all job growth from the previous expansion.
Here are 10 reasons we are in even more trouble than the 9.5% unemployment rate indicates:
– June’s total assumed 185,000 people at work who probably were not. The government could not identify them; it made an assumption about trends. But many of the mythical jobs are in industries that have absolutely no job creation, e.g., finance. When the official numbers are adjusted over the next several months, June will look worse.
– More companies are asking employees to take unpaid leave. These people don’t count on the unemployment roll.
– No fewer than 1.4 million people wanted or were available for work in the last 12 months but were not counted. Why? Because they hadn’t searched for work in the four weeks preceding the survey.
– The number of workers taking part-time jobs due to the slack economy, a kind of stealth underemployment, has doubled in this recession to about nine million, or 5.8% of the work force. Add those whose hours have been cut to those who cannot find a full-time job and the total unemployed rises to 16.5%, putting the number of involuntarily idle in the range of 25 million.
– The average work week for rank-and-file employees in the private sector, roughly 80% of the work force, slipped to 33 hours. That’s 48 minutes a week less than before the recession began, the lowest level since the government began tracking such data 45 years ago. Full-time workers are being downgraded to part time as businesses slash labor costs to remain above water, and factories are operating at only 65% of capacity. If Americans were still clocking those extra 48 minutes a week now, the same aggregate amount of work would get done with 3.3 million fewer employees, which means that if it were not for the shorter work week the jobless rate would be 11.7%, not 9.5% (which far exceeds the 8% rate projected by the Obama administration).
– The average length of official unemployment increased to 24.5 weeks, the longest since government began tracking this data in 1948. The number of long-term unemployed (i.e., for 27 weeks or more) has now jumped to 4.4 million, an all-time high.
– The average worker saw no wage gains in June, with average compensation running flat at $18.53 an hour.
– The goods producing sector is losing the most jobs — 223,000 in the last report alone.
– The prospects for job creation are equally distressing. The likelihood is that when economic activity picks up, employers will first choose to increase hours for existing workers and bring part-time workers back to full time. Many unemployed workers looking for jobs once the recovery begins will discover that jobs as good as the ones they lost are almost impossible to find because many layoffs have been permanent. Instead of shrinking operations, companies have shut down whole business units or made sweeping structural changes in the way they conduct business. General Motors and Chrysler, closed hundreds of dealerships and reduced brands. Citigroup and Bank of America cut tens of thousands of positions and exited many parts of the world of finance.
Job losses may last well into 2010 to hit an unemployment peak close to 11%. That unemployment rate may be sustained for an extended period.
via Average length of unemployment highest since 1948. – WSJ.com.

So much for “The One” fixing the economy. Oh, right; he misread it. Looks like this Blogging gig get might be my only job for a long time to come. The Left is now spinning saying it will never recover.

Here’s ol’ Floppy ears talking about it:

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Respected University Group in Iran: The Iranian Election was a fraud

Now this is a very interesting twist to this story:

An important group of religious leaders in Iran called the disputed presidential election and the new government illegitimate on Saturday, an act of defiance against the country’s supreme leader and the most public sign of a major split in the country’s clerical establishment.
A statement by the group, the Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qum, represents a significant, if so far symbolic, setback for the government and especially the authority of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose word is supposed to be final. The government has tried to paint the opposition and its top presidential candidate, Mir Hussein Moussavi, as criminals and traitors, a strategy that now becomes more difficult.
“This crack in the clerical establishment, and the fact they are siding with the people and Moussavi, in my view is the most historic crack in the 30 years of the Islamic republic,” said Abbas Milani, director of the Iranian Studies Program at Stanford University. “Remember, they are going against an election verified and sanctified by Khamenei.”
via Leading Clerics Defy Ayatollah on Disputed Iran Election – NYTimes.com.

My Friend Ed Morrissey says:

This puts Khamenei in a corner. He has repeatedly claimed that the election results were divinely authored, putting his religious credibility on the line to silence opposition. Khamenei has, through surrogates, accused Mousavi and other protesters of being foreign agents, enemies of the Islamic Republic that he claims authority from Allah to run. If the religious clerics that support that divine authority suddenly switch sides and accuse Khamenei and his Guardian Council of imposing illegitimate results on the nation, what does that do to his authority?

I would assume that the Government of Iran will do, what they’ve been doing ever since this story broke. Continue to kill those who rise up against them. Although, I highly doubt; at this point, that the Government will be able to quell the whole entire situation.

Andrew Sullivan, who provided, I felt, the best coverage of the entire Iran election says this:

This is not over. It is just beginning.

Indeed, and I look forward to covering it. 🙂

Report: North Korea has fired three missiles

With the news of Michael Jackson and the news of Sarah Palin this story is being ignored by the American Media. This causes a part of me to wonder; was it done intentionally?

Anyhow, here is the story.

First video via CNN:

The Story via CNN:

North Korea fired three short-range missiles toward the Sea of Japan, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported Saturday.
Quoting a South Korean government official, the agency said the missiles were apparently Scud-type missiles, estimated to have a range of about 500 km (310 miles). South Korean intelligence estimates that North Korea has about 700 such missiles in its arsenal.
Pyongyang test-fired four such missiles off the east coast on Thursday, Yonhap reported.
North Korea had issued a warning to mariners to avoid an area in the Sea of Japan at certain times between June 24 and July 9 because of a "military firing exercise," according to a U.S. military communication about the warning provided to CNN.
The recent firings come amid heightened tensions on the Korean peninsula. North Korea conducted a nuclear test in May, fired test rockets and threatened U.S. and South Korean ships near its territorial waters.
Earlier this week analyst Daniel Pinkston said the reported test might be training for a future test but it could also just be a routine military exercise.
"It is worrisome to some degree, but it is different from a ballistic missile launch," said Pinkston, of the International Crisis Group in Seoul, South Korea.
It’s part of military training, but there seem to be no movements of troops or anything that would suggest preparations for military operations.
"So yes, people are watching it, the military is watching it here, but I don’t think it’s related to any plans or operations to attack anyone."
Russia had a low-key reaction to the tests. Russian military experts are carefully studying the reports but the launches will not change the political situation, a spokesman for Russia’s Foreign Ministry said.

This should be a clear cut message to the Obama Administration that the sort of “Carrot and Stick” approach to North Korea is not working. It is time for action President Obama, what will you do? Of course, seeing what we are dealing with for President; I do not expect much of a change.

Don't believe the hype on the Coup in Honduras

That is what Octavio Sánchez is saying, and he should know; he’s there:

Tegucigalpa, Honduras – Sometimes, the whole world prefers a lie to the truth. The White House, the United Nations, the Organization of American States, and much of the media have condemned the ouster of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya this past weekend as a coup d’état.
That is nonsense.
In fact, what happened here is nothing short of the triumph of the rule of law.
[….]
Under our Constitution, what happened in Honduras this past Sunday? Soldiers arrested and sent out of the country a Honduran citizen who, the day before, through his own actions had stripped himself of the presidency.
These are the facts: On June 26, President Zelaya issued a decree ordering all government employees to take part in the “Public Opinion Poll to convene a National Constitutional Assembly.” In doing so, Zelaya triggered a constitutional provision that automatically removed him from office.
Constitutional assemblies are convened to write new constitutions. When Zelaya published that decree to initiate an “opinion poll” about the possibility of convening a national assembly, he contravened the unchangeable articles of the Constitution that deal with the prohibition of reelecting a president and of extending his term. His actions showed intent.
Our Constitution takes such intent seriously. According to Article 239: “No citizen who has already served as head of the Executive Branch can be President or Vice-President. Whoever violates this law or proposes its reform [emphasis added], as well as those that support such violation directly or indirectly, will immediately cease in their functions and will be unable to hold any public office for a period of 10 years.”
Notice that the article speaks about intent and that it also says “immediately” – as in “instant,” as in “no trial required,” as in “no impeachment needed.”
Continuismo – the tendency of heads of state to extend their rule indefinitely – has been the lifeblood of Latin America’s authoritarian tradition. The Constitution’s provision of instant sanction might sound draconian, but every Latin American democrat knows how much of a threat to our fragile democracies continuismo presents. In Latin America, chiefs of state have often been above the law. The instant sanction of the supreme law has successfully prevented the possibility of a new Honduran continuismo.
The Supreme Court and the attorney general ordered Zelaya’s arrest for disobeying several court orders compelling him to obey the Constitution. He was detained and taken to Costa Rica. Why? Congress needed time to convene and remove him from office. With him inside the country that would have been impossible. This decision was taken by the 123 (of the 128) members of Congress present that day.
Don’t believe the coup myth. The Honduran military acted entirely within the bounds of the Constitution. The military gained nothing but the respect of the nation by its actions.
via A ‘coup’ in Honduras? Nonsense. | csmonitor.com.

But yet you have idiot douche bag Communist Liberals, like Hillary Clinton, Like President Obama and the U.N. trying to tell the people in Honduras; that this man was right for doing this. I guess Senator McCarthy was right after all. The Democratic Party has been taken over by the Socialists, who are basically Communist light. So, to this writer; is no big surprise that President Obama and his right hand lady Hillary Clinton took sides with the Communists.

Honduras Arrests and tosses it's President

Fausta over at Fausta’s blog is doing a one heck of a bang up job of following this situation down there.

From what I have been able to extract from the various news reports is that the President of Honduras got this bright idea that He was going to start running that Country like Venezuela’s President runs his, and the Courts over there said, “Oh no you don’t!” and ordered him arrested and tossed out of the Country.

So…. It looks like that Country is going to be finding a new President. AllahPundit Predicts that there will be military action from Vanezuela’s President, thus making headaches for President Teleprompter. Eh, I say ol’ floppy ears wanted the damn job bad enough; enough to ruin peoples lives, and lie about his citizenship; So, let him deal with the headaches.

As always Memeorandum has the roundup.

Change?: President Obama ready to sign order to Executive Order to Allow Indefinite Detention of Terror Suspects

This broke last night and the Liberal Blogosphere about went nuclear.

Via The Washington Post:

Obama administration officials, fearing a battle with Congress that could stall plans to close the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, are crafting language for an executive order that would reassert presidential authority to incarcerate terrorism suspects indefinitely, according to three senior government officials with knowledge of White House deliberations.
Such an order would embrace claims by former president George W. Bush that certain people can be detained without trial for long periods under the laws of war. Obama advisers are concerned that an order, which would bypass Congress, could place the president on weaker footing before the courts and anger key supporters, the officials said.
After months of internal debate over how to close the military facility in Cuba, White House officials are increasingly worried that reaching quick agreement with Congress on a new detention system may be impossible. Several officials said there is concern in the White House that the administration may not be able to close the prison by the president’s January deadline.
White House spokesman Ben LaBolt said that there is no executive order and that the administration has not decided whether to issue one. But one administration official suggested that the White House is already trying to build support for an order.
“Civil liberties groups have encouraged the administration, that if a prolonged detention system were to be sought, to do it through executive order,” the official said. Such an order could be rescinded and would not block later efforts to write legislation, but civil liberties groups generally oppose long-term detention, arguing that detainees should be prosecuted or released.
The Justice Department has declined to comment on the prospects for a long-term detention system while internal reviews of Guantanamo detainees’ cases are underway. One task force, which is assessing detainee policy, is expected to complete its work by July 21.
In a May speech, President Obama broached the need for a system of long-term detention and suggested that it would include congressional and judicial oversight. “We must recognize that these detention policies cannot be unbounded. They can’t be based simply on what I or the executive branch decide alone,” he said.

Shall we start calling him President George W. Obama? It sure sounds like it. When the Conservatives AND Liberals are calling this plan a disaster; something is dreadfully wrong.

Should be interesting to follow.

As always Memeorandum has the round up.

Two before I go to bed….

Possibly one the funnier titles of an article in a while.

Iranian leaders will always believe Anglo-Saxons are plotting against them. by Christopher Hitchens

*snort*

That might be because sometimes they are Chris. 😉 😛

and then, there’s this….: (H/T The Corner @NRO)

Mohammad: Excuse me, sir. I have a message for the international community. Would you please let me tell it?

Roberts: Yes, go ahead.

Mohammad: Americans, European Union, international community, this government is not definitely — is definitely not elected by the majority of Iranians. So it’s illegal. Do not recognize it. Stop trading with them. Impose much more sanctions against them. My message…to the international community, especially I’m addressing President Obama directly – how can a government that doesn’t recognize its people’s rights and represses them brutally and mercilessly have nuclear activities? This government is a huge threat to global peace. Will a wise man give a sharp dagger to an insane person? We need your help international community. Don’t leave us alone.

Chetry: Mohammad, what do you think the international community should do besides sanctions?

Mohammad: Actually, this regime is really dependent on importing gasoline. More than 85% of Iran’s gasoline is imported from foreign countries. I think international communities must sanction exporting gasoline to Iran and that might shut down the government.

Oy. Wake me up when the nightmare is over, Please. 🙄

Good night to you all and God Bless.

Iran's election showdown begins; Neo-Conservatives continue to goad our President

It appears that the Iranian Islamic powers that be are beginning to clamp down on the dissent in that Country. The New York Times Reports:

TEHRAN — In his first public response to days of mass protests, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, sternly warned opposition supporters on Friday to stay off the streets and raised the prospect of violence if the defiant, vast demonstrations continued.
Opposition leaders, he said, will be “responsible for bloodshed and chaos” if they do not stop further rallies.
He said he would never give in to “illegal pressures” and denied their accusations that last week’s presidential election was rigged, praising the officially declared landslide for the incumbent, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as an “epic moment that became a historic moment.”
He spoke somberly for more than an hour and a half at Friday Prayer to tens of thousands of people at Tehran University, with Mr. Ahmadinejad in attendance. His sermon was broadcast over loudspeakers to throngs in the adjoining streets, and the crowds erupted repeatedly in roars of support. Opposition supporters had spread the word among themselves not to attend.
“Street challenge is not acceptable,” Ayatollah Khamenei said, according to a rendering by the BBC. “This questions the principles of election and democracy.”
There was no immediate response from opposition leaders.

The article continues on and I personally encourage you to read it. This is all shaping up, just as I thought it would. Iran’s supreme leader is calling the shots; as always. This is why I basically removed the green from my twitter account. Because I knew it was pointless to support the protesters in Iran. The will of the people is just not respected in that country, the will of the Islamic Government is.

Meanwhile, the Wilsonian, Warmongering, and now highly discredited wing of the Republican Party still continues to goad our President in to entering the fray in Iran. The recently sold Weekly Standard continues it’s pandering to the Zionists abroad:

Fourth, now, today, is another opporunity for President Obama to speak. Mousavi has been threatened, as have the thousands of protesters. The ayatollah offered no conciliatory language for the protesters or the West. There was no talk of redoing the stolen election, or giving Mousavi a seat at the table. Obama has gone out of his way not to “meddle” in this affair, thinking that America’s “meddling” may compromise efforts to negotiate with the Iranian regime going forward.
What has been the reward for America sidelining itself? More condemnations from the regime that Obama wants to negotiate with. That same regime may be on the verge of an even more violent convulsion.

That quote up there is why the American people voted the Neo-Conservatives out of power and put in a outright socialist President. Because of that nonsense quoted up there. As a I said in my Blog entry/column that I sometimes write, America should stay out of the affairs of Iranian Government:

I have noticed that some of my Neo-Conservative counterparts have been goading the President of the United States for not taking a more vocal stance against the Iranian Government and by proxy, the Islamic leaders of that Country. In case that sounds a bit familiar, these people are the same people played cheerleader to President Bush’s decision to go into Iraq. Hence my reasoning for disliking the Neo-Conservative wing of the Republican Party; Not because of some idiotic Hatred of the Jews; but because of the Wilsonian, warmongering stance of those types of Conservatives.
As a Paleo-Conservative, my feelings about Iran are this that the United States of America should stay out of the affairs of the Iranian Government. If the Iranian people want to overthrow that Government, let them do it. If the Iranian people want to topple that Islamic regime, let them do it. The less the United States becomes involved in that situation, the better. The same kind of meddling with the affairs of other Governments has gotten us into other situations in the past. The list is quite long — Korea, Vietnam, Both Iraq Wars, World War I, and so on.

After I wrote that entry, I realized that I had not stated well enough as to why we should not get involved with the situation in Iran. The answer simply is this; say the Iranian people do overthrow the Islamic Government in that Country, an anti-Islamic Revolution, if you will; then there is a Democratic or Parliamentary Government established there. If at anytime that Government is overthrown and an Islamic Government is placed back into that Country; guess who will get the blame for overthrowing the previous Islamic Government? The United States will; that’s who! The Neo-Conservatives, in their blind and quite foolish desire to go to war with every country that rejects their foolish Zionist agenda; have forgotten one thing, Arabs hate us already, and they will really hate us, if the United States is seen to be meddling in their internal affairs. It is too bad that this Country, and more specifically the Republican Party and it’s Wilsonian, Neo-Conservative wing have not learned that lesson. Had they learned it long ago; those trade center towers would still be standing.

Others: BBC, Telegraph, MoJo Blog Posts, Wall Street Journal, The Lede, The Cable, Democracy in America, Maggie’s Farm, Michelle Malkin, New York Magazine, Jihad Watch, Hot Air, democracyarsenal.org, Washington Post, Wonk Room, Outside The Beltway, Wolf Howling, The BLT, A Blog For All, Salon, On Deadline, The Daily Dish, The Washington Independent, ATTACKERMAN, Gateway Pundit, FP Passport, Danger Room and The Huffington Post and more via Memeorandum

Video: Something to make you think

This an excellent video: (Via True Conservatives on Facebook)

The Iran Situation Part III

Looks like this situation is a bit worse than we thought. The American Freedomist Blog Reports:

The Freedomist has learned from our sources that what is happening in Iran may indeed be the beginnings of a COUP attempt within the ruling Mullah elites themselves and that Khameni’s allegiance to Ahmadinejad is causing a good number of them to consider REMOVING the Supreme Leader himself!
This possible revolution is NOT directed at Ahmadinejad, it is directed at THE SUPREME LEADER! US News is off base and inaccurate, the People are demanding an END to the rule of the Mulllahs, they want Democracy and seem willing to FIGHT!
Local sources are reporting via Twitter and opposition websites violence that is being resisted actively by young people who are IN THE THOUSANDS on roof tops singing the old Iranian national anthem, some are reporting from inside buildings that Hezbollah troops, NOT the Iranian police, are conducting clearing operations using civilian vehicles to plow into protestors and randomly shoot anyone on the street.
It is becoming more apparent that elements of the ruling class and the police and military are not deemed to be reliable, hence the use of foreign Hezbollah fighters to help enforce the edicts of the regime.
[…]
Meanwhile, we have at least three reports from different sources that Rafsanjani called for an emergency meeting of the Majles Khobregan, the Assembly of Experts which could result in an open rift between himself and the present Supreme Leader. Rafsanjani is questioning the certification of the election, according to these reports.

I do believe that this situation is going to a bit more hairier before it gets any better.

Update: Seen on Twitter, a retweet of a retweet….:

RT @ProgrssvWitness: RT @Radlein: Hey, Ahmadinejad, Khamenei? Congratulations. As of now, you ARE the Shah. #iran #iranelections

Update #2: Michael J. Totten does another one of his great dispatches from Iran. One it this gem pops up:

According to our private phone conversations with people in Tehran, hundreds of parents have gathered by a police station in Yousef Abad, now known as Seyyed Jamal Aldin Asad Abadi, with their hands raised to the sky saying “Obama, please help us, they are killing our young children.”

Oh boy…. This should quite interesting.

Consider this a somewhat live Blog, update to come as new info arrives.