The Failed Presidency.

There can be no loss of life in a conflict where combat has been over for five months. The casualties were all self inflicted..really...what else could be the answer....Oh, wait I know, they were training accidents, yeah, that must be it.

One MORE indicator of economic recovery has been added to the growing talley of such. True, one uptick is not a trend, but it could indicate the employment picture is in line with the rest of the trends. I suspect this will prove the case.

Now timber, I do respect your opinion more than some of the "respected" economists but I think anyone predicting what the economy will do in even the next year is suspect of consulting the Taro cards. Let's see if providence is kind to Dubya (otherwise, perhaps he's not praying enough?)

The fact is that there has been lots of positive economic news this year, forcing doomsayers to hang their hopes for a continued downturn on employment numbers. Now that we have signs of life in jobs, we're told its a blip.

Come on, wake up and smell the recovery.

This is a failed presidency -- and will undoubtedly be viewed by history that way.

The so-called economic recovery is little more than wishful thinking on the part of some knee-jerk conservatives whose eyes are sealed shut and who look positively ridiculous telling others to wake up!

Hey, that doesn't make them bad people.

There have always been sycophants around willing to rationalize away anything the king does. They are probably a necessary part of society -- just as pig sties are.

'Slime and Defend'
October 3, 2003
By PAUL KRUGMAN

On July 14, Robert Novak published the now-famous column in which he identified Valerie Plame, the wife of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, as a C.I.A. "operative on weapons of mass destruction," and said "two senior administration officials" had told him that she was responsible for her husband's mission to Niger. On that mission, Mr. Wilson concluded - correctly - that reports of Iraqi efforts to buy uranium were bogus.

An outraged President Bush immediately demanded the names of those responsible for exposing Ms. Plame. He repeated his father's statement that "those who betray the trust by exposing the names of our sources" are "the most insidious of traitors." There are limits to politics, Mr. Bush declared; Mr. Wilson's decision to go public about his mission had embarrassed him, but that was no excuse for actions that were both felonious and unpatriotic.

Everything in the previous paragraph is, of course, false. It's what should have happened, but didn't. Mr. Bush took no action after the Novak column. Before we get bogged down in the details - which is what the administration hopes will happen - let's be clear: we already know what the president knew, and when he knew it. Mr. Bush knew, 11 weeks ago, that some of his senior aides had done something utterly inexcusable. But as long as the media were willing to let the story lie - which, with a few honorable exceptions, like David Corn at The Nation and Knut Royce and Timothy Phelps at Newsday, they were - he didn't think this outrage required any action.

And now that the C.I.A. has demanded a Justice Department inquiry, the White House's strategy isn't just to stonewall, Nixon-style; as one Republican Congressional aide told The New York Times, it will "slime and defend."

The right-wing media slime machine, which tries to
assassinate the character of anyone who opposes the right's goals - hey, I know all about it - has already swung into action. For example, The Wall Street Journal's editorial page calls Mr. Wilson an "open opponent of the U.S. war on terror." We've grown accustomed to this sort of slur - and they accuse liberals of lacking civility? - but let's take a minute to walk through it.

Mr. Wilson never opposed the "war on terror" - he opposed the war in Iraq precisely because it had no obvious relevance to the campaign against terror. He feared that invading a country with no role in 9/11, and no meaningful Al Qaeda links, would divert resources from the pursuit of those who actually attacked America. Many patriots in the military and the intelligence community agreed with him then; even more agree now.

Unlike the self-described patriots now running America, Mr. Wilson has taken personal risks for the sake of his country. In the months before the first gulf war, he stayed on in Baghdad, helping to rescue hundreds of Americans who might otherwise have been held as hostages. The first President Bush lauded him as a "truly inspiring diplomat" who exhibited "courageous leadership."

In any case, Mr. Wilson's views and character are
irrelevant. Someone high in the administration committed a felony and, in the view of the elder Mr. Bush, treason. End of story.

The hypocrisy here is breathtaking. Republicans have repeatedly impugned their opponents' patriotism. Last year Tom DeLay, the House majority leader, said Democrats "don't want to protect the American people. . . . They will do anything, spend all the time and resources they can, to avoid confronting evil."

But the true test of patriotism isn't whether you are
willing to wave the flag, or agree with whatever the
president says. It's whether you are willing to take risks and make sacrifices, including political sacrifices, for the sake of your country. This episode is a test for Mr. Bush and his inner circle: a true patriot wouldn't hesitate about doing the right thing in the Plame affair, whatever the political costs.

Mr. Bush is failing that test.
•
Correction: Many people, including Paul Bremer in recent testimony and myself in my Sept. 30 column, have linked Churchill's remark about the "most unsordid act" to the Marshall Plan. In fact, Churchill was referring to an earlier program, Lend-Lease. But one suspects that he wouldn't have minded the confusion.


http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/03/opinion/03KRUG.html?ex=1066183598&ei=1&en=5ef80cfa258034e4

An opinion piece which echoes a particular sentiment merely reinforces the preconceptions of those enamored of that sentiment. Personally, I am not much swayed by opinion pieces, Left or Right. I prefer to form, state, and support my own opinions, as opposed to climbing onto somebody else's bandwagon, no matter how catchy the tune that band may be playing. Facts and figures influence me far more than does rhetoric ... or jingles.

But the left has to portray everything as gloomy as possible so they will appear to be the savior with all the answers.

Puts me in mind of doctors: They spell out all the risks and challenges, making certain the patient is aware of the "Worst Possible Case" scenario.
Should the patient die, he was not misinformed of the potential consequences. Should the patient fail to die, it is soley due to the extraordinary skills and heroic efforts of the doctor.

It's getting kinda deep in here, excuse me while I go get my waders on!!!!! (chest high to make sure, vile stuff floating around)

Timber
The patient is not dead but the situation is extremely grave and the DR has misdiagnosed the illness.

Called it hemorrhoids when it was really delusions of grandeur. Operated and preformed a partial lobotomy by mistake!!!

Updated: 02:19 PM EDT
Unexpectedly Good News on Unemployment
By Glenn Somerville, Reuters

The number of workers on U.S. payrolls outside the farm sector grew by 57,000 last month, the first time since January that jobs were created and sharply contrary to Wall Street economists' forecasts for a 30,000-job loss.
The gain was not big enough to bring down the unemployment rate, which was unchanged at 6.1 percent in September, but analysts said it was encouraging after seven straight monthly declines in jobs.
Investors snapped up stocks up on hopes the data meant a slow-paced recovery from the 2001 recession might be ending and that corporate profits will soon pick up.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up about 155 points in early afternoon trading while the technology-laced Nasdaq composite index was ahead more than 50 points.
Bond prices suffered as money shifted to equities, with the 30-year U.S. Treasury bond off more than 2 full points to yield 5.11 percent on signs a long and deep job drought was at least easing.
JOBS, JOBS, JOBS
Since President Bush took office in 2001, about 2.6 million non-farm jobs have been lost. The White House Friday said the September report was encouraging but "the president is not satisfied," spokesman Scott McClellan said.
The dollar vaulted higher on news of the jump in jobs, which implied U.S. economic performance was outpacing other major regions and that investments would flow to America.

The U.S. Federal Reserve has cut interest rates to 45-year lows to try to jump-start more vigorous growth and are likely to keep rates down until it sees a more solid recovery. Several U.S. central bank representatives have expressed concern about weak job creation and signaled they are in no rush to raise rates.
"Until we actually book a couple of quarters of solid output growth and see the beginning of an employment rebound, there will be some doubts in my mind whether we are, at last, out of the woods," Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Michael Moskow said Thursday.
Analysts were heartened by the report, but cautioned the economy still has a great deal of slack to take up.
"It's not a strong number, but at least it's an increase. It's too early to conclude that the jobless recovery is now becoming a job recovery," said economist Hugh Johnson of First Albany Corp. in Albany, New York.
Separately, the Institute for Supply Management reported Friday its index of non-manufacturing activity -- basically services -- eased to 63.3 in September from 65.1 in August.
That still represents a sixth straight month of expansion, since the index remained over 50, but its employment index component weakened to 49.1 from 51 in August, which indicates some service businesses began laying off employees.
Millions of jobs have been shaved from payrolls in the past few years, but there were nonetheless a few promising signs in the September employment report.
While 29,000 more manufacturing jobs were lost -- the 38th straight month in which factory jobs were cut -- it was the smallest monthly decline since 25,000 in July 2002.
NOT SO BAD
The Labor Department also revised its estimate for August job performance to show 41,000 jobs were lost instead of 93,000.
"It's a relief," said economist John Silvia of Wachovia Securities in Charlotte, North Carolina.
"It's very important that finally the employment numbers are kicking in and suggesting we are getting moderate employment growth, certainly not of the size of a typical economic recovery, but we are getting job growth," he added.
The average workweek in September was unchanged at 33.7 hours, but in U.S. factories the workweek increased to 40.4 hours from 40.2. In another indication that factories might be growing busier, overtime hours were expanded to an average 4.2 a week from 4 in August.

Timber, You will note that the experts are not sure whether it is a hiccup or the start of a weak recovery.

I note that, au, and I note much the same was said as The Stock Market began its climb from its year-ago lows. I note too that the market dip this spring was met in some quarters with unrealized expectations of vindication of their proposition that recovery was illusory. The Bears have little occaision for cheer of late. Corrections and fluctuations are to be expected, but many, myself included, read the indicators as evidencing clear, accellerating, and sustainable growth. Things simply not only are not as bad as would be convenient to some, things clearly are improving nicely, even if not at a pace that would satisfy some.

Timber
I for one will with hold judgment until I see sustainable economic growth and positive job growth not a one month blip where it's good news when increased unemployment is less than anticipated.

The economy is the least of Bush's failures, and, in fairness, there's only so much a president can do. Still, Bush is responsible for the deficits created by his tax cuts for the rich who have clearly not re-invested their refunds.

Bush's presidency is a failure for plenty of other reasons. He ran as a moderate looking to work with "both sides of the aisle" to bring the country together. He sold out to the extreme right wing big time, however, e.g. Ashcroft, stem cell research, faith-based charities, unilateral-not-multilateral militaristic foreign policy, oil interests, denial of human rights for gay Americans, complete ignoring of education and health care issues, etc., etc., etc. ad nauseam.

There's a difference between conservatives and right-wing extremists. Bush has time and time again deferred to the latter.

57,000 increase in jobs in one month is nice, but that's less than 2 percent of the jobs lost in the past three years. Jumping to conclusions that our economy is finally growing jobs is short-sighted at best. Let's watch for the positive trends during the next several months. Anybody know where that 57,000 job growth was? It certainly was not in Northern California.

Wherever the jobs were located, apart from a September increase of 57,000, the August Job Loss was revised downward over 30,000 ... for a true increase of nearly 90,000. The talley for this-quarter-so-far over last is a net gain of 16.000. Some certainly were entry-level jobs, but many were in construction, administration/clerical, and technical fields.
It may be a blip ... but previous positive indicators have proven not to have been blips. We shall see.

"We shall see" is right!

Handcuffed to the Economy