More unemployment

"First-time claims for jobless benefits increased more than expected last week, a sign employers are reluctant to hire and the job market remains weak."

http://www.miamiherald.com/business/story/1262397.html

Expect to see double digit unemployment in the next report.

And, remember, the real unemployment rate is at least one third higher, because the official number doesn't count "discouraged workers" who are no longer looking.

Ouch

"In a vote of high drama, the bustling Brazilian carnival city of beaches, mountains and samba beat surprise finalist Madrid, which got a big helping hand from a very influential friend. Chicago was knocked out in the first round -- in one of the most shocking defeats ever handed down by the International Olympic Committee. . . . . "I'm shocked" Gosper said . . . "To have the president of the United States and his wife personally appear, then this should happen in the first round is awful and totally undeserving" . . . Obama had held out the enticing prospect of a Chicago games helping to reconnect the United States with the world after the presidency of George W. Bush."

http://www.miamiherald.com/416/story/1263443.html

Maybe people are getting tired of Obama always talking about how bad America was before January, 2009. I am.

More devolution

A few days ago, I wrote about the devolution of public morality from the death of Michael Jackson to the death of Ted Kennedy to the arrest of Roman Polanski.

http://farrightdemocrat.blogspot.com/2009/09/devolution.html

I ended by asking, "What's next?" Today, we found out.

"Late-night host David Letterman acknowledged on Thursday's show that he had sexual relationships with female employees and that someone tried to extort $2 million from him over the affairs. CBS says an employee has been charged with attempted grand larceny in the case."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,558902,00.html

It's a tale of "sexual relationships" (plural) with "female employees" (plural), and Letterman's telling of the story got a big laugh on his show.

I guess if he's a big enough television star, an older married man is allowed to establish a harem among his staff at work.

You do remember that this is the guy who was offended by Palin's daughter's promiscuity.

Stopgap spending bills

"The House passed legislation on Friday to head off a government shutdown next week by temporarily extending spending on most federal programs at current levels. The bill also increases the budgets for lawmakers’ offices by more than 8 percent. The one-month stopgap measure, approved on a 217-to-190 vote, is needed because Congress failed to complete work on any of the 12 annual spending bills required to keep the government running."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/26/us/politics/26cong.html?_r=1

When Republicans were in control, this type of "continuing resolution" was front page news, and cited as proof that the Republican Congress couldn't do the job. Remember?

Bigger news in the old days? Congress "extends spending" "at current levels" but "increases the budgets for lawmakers’ offices by more than 8 percent". That would have required condemnation on the editorial page of every newspaper.

Hope, change and Arlen Specter

"The seesaw 2010 Senate race in Pennsylvania tips to Republican Pat Toomey, who has 43 percent to recently converted Democrat Sen. Arlen Specter's 42 percent, too close to call, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. This reverses a 45 - 44 percent tip to Sen. Specter July 22 and wipes out a 20-point Specter lead May 4, in the flush of Specter's switch from Republican to Democrat to escape a primary battle with Toomey. President Barack Obama's job approval rating in the Keystone State has dropped to a new low, 49 - 42 percent, the first time he has been under 50 percent in the state, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds."

http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x1327.xml?ReleaseID=1379

Specter's conduct at the Thomas confirmation hearings was a national disgrace.

Specter's name then became a national punchline in the movie "JFK" (and by extension in Seinfeld's Keith Hernandez / "magic loogie" episode).

Recently, Specter's party switch (and his embrace by and of Obama) became the classic example of cynical, careerist, political opportunism. Further, it proved that "change" was an empty promise, if change meant another six years of Specter in office.

I'm not surprised Specter and Obama are bringing each other down.

New rules

"Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson of Orlando has taken the heated rhetoric over healthcare reform to a new pitch by accusing Republicans of offering this as their healthcare plan: "Don't get sick" but if you do, "die quickly." . . . Grayson apologized Wednesday in a second floor speech, but it was not the one his critics wanted. He apologized to the dead and invoked the Holocaust. Citing a study showing thousands of Americans each die because they lack health insurance, Grayson said: "I call upon the Democratic members of the House, I call upon the Republican members of the House, I call upon all of us to do our jobs for the sake of America, for the sake of those dying people and their families. I apologize to the dead and their families that we haven't voted sooner to end this holocaust in America."

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation/story/1260570.html

So, what's the rule - - can you or can't you use "You're a Nazi!" rhetoric in the healthcare debate? Or, does it depend on who uses it?

I always thought that no one was supposed to.

Ugly American?

"Michelle Obama is ready for "a battle." She told White House reporters she sat next to Brazil's first lady during a G-20 economic summit dinner in Pittsburgh. "I adore her," Michelle Obama said. "But I said, 'I'm going to hug you now and then I'm going after you in Copenhagen.' And she said, 'You too.' So the gloves are off."

http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/story/1260580-p2.html

If Barbara or Laura Bush did that, it would be further proof that the First Lady was an arrogant, over bearing, "ugly American". Why isn't it now?