Return to Normalcy

It is the economy, stupid!

Report: Nearly Half Of Detroiters Can’t Read

According to a new report, 47 PERCENT OF DETROITERS ARE ”FUNCTIONALLY ILLITERATE.” The alarming new statistics were released by the Detroit Regional Workforce Fund on Wednesday.

WWJ Newsradio 950 spoke with the Fund’s Director, Karen Tyler-Ruiz, who explained exactly what this means.

“Not able to fill out basic forms, for getting a job — those types of basic everyday (things). Reading a prescription; what’s on the bottle, how many you should take… just your basic everyday tasks,” she said.

“I DON’T REALLY KNOW HOW THEY GET BY, BUT THEY DO. ARE THEY GETTING BY WELL? Well, that’s another question,” Tyler-Ruiz said.

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2011/05/04/report-nearly-half-of-detroiters-cant-read/


This is an absolute tragedy. Median compensation for a DPS teacher is $76,000 and Detroit spends the third highest amount of money per student among 76 large cities nationwide. Statewide, Detroit's spending per pupil is in the 91st percentile and DPS teachers are paid at the 96th percentile.  Money obviously is the problem, but there is a big problem!

Jobs: Stock fall on Jobs report

Serious doubts about the health of the job market and the pace of the economic recovery put markets on edge Wednesday.

STOCKS FELL AFTER PAYROLL PROCESSOR ADP SAID COMPANIES ADDED 179,000 NEW JOBS IN APRIL, FAR FEWER THAN ECONOMISTS HAD EXPECTED. That raised worries about what the government's monthly jobs report for April will reveal when it's released Friday.

In a separate report, the INSTITUTE FOR SUPPLY MANAGEMENT SAID ITS SERVICE SECTOR INDEX ROSE AT THE SLOWEST PACE IN 8 MONTHS IN APRIL, as many companies express concerns about higher food and gas prices.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Stocks-sink-after-weak-data-apf-1896629565.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=main&asset=&ccode=

Getting UBL was great news for Obama and the country. The problem is it seems to be the only good news.

Job Claims up

THE NUMBER OF AMERICANS FILING FOR JOBLESS BENEFITS ROSE TO AN EIGHT-MONTH HIGH last week and productivity growth slowed in the first quarter, clouding the outlook for an economy that is struggling to gain speed.

INITIAL CLAIMS FOR STATE UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS ROSE 43,000 TO A SEASONALLY ADJUSTED 474,000, the highest since mid-August, the Labor Department said on Thursday.

Claims were pushed up by factors ranging from spring break layoffs to the introduction of an emergency benefits program.

ECONOMISTS HAD EXPECTED CLAIMS TO FALL TO 410,000.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/New-jobless-claims-jump-to-rb-1852891451.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=main&asset=&ccode=


Not only is UBL dead, but so is Keynes. Someone quickly tell President Obama.



Opposed to Obama? You must be a racist

THERE CAN BE NO DOUBT THAT THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN OF 2012 IS UNDERWAY, for Barack Obama's supporters have begun to ACCELERATE THE RATE AT WHICH THEY CHARGE THE PRESIDENT'S CRITICS WITH "RACISM."

The Racism Industrial Complex has been laboring indefatigably since Obama became a viable contender during the Democratic primaries in 2007 until the present to DISCREDIT ALL CRITICISM OF THE PRESIDENT BY ATTRIBUTING IT TO RACIAL ANIMUS. In spite of all of the hopes for inter-racial harmony that millions of people placed in an Obama presidency -- hopes to which his promises for such unity gave rise -- NOT ONLY HASN'T ACRIMONY BETWEEN THE RACES ABATED; TO JUDGE FROM THE SOUND OF HIS SUPPORTERS-including and especially his more prominent black supporters like Tavis Smiley and Whoopi Goldberg -- MATTERS ARE WORSE NOW THAN BEFORE OBAMA WAS ELECTED.


But those of you -- including those of you who should have known better -- who placed your hopes and dreams for a color-blind world in Obama should take heart. As far as race relations are concerned, things are really neither worse nor better than they were in 2008. The Anti-Racists among us -- i.e. Obama supporters -- just want for us to think that they are so…

… CONTRARY TO THE CONVENTIONAL WISDOM AMONG REPUBLICANS, 2012 IS NOT GOING TO BE ALL ABOUT THE ECONOMY. IT IS GOING TO BE ABOUT RACE.

This is what the Democrats are counting on….

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/05/the_next_election_and_race.html


They can’t run on their record, so this does make sense. Will it work? I doubt it. The problem is that the tactic is so transparent.



Beleaguered Atheists

Ramesh, those poor-me atheists are especially annoying given that the best social-science data we have indicate that PREJUDICE AGAINST RELIGIOUS “FUNDAMENTALISTS” IS A FAR MORE POWERFUL FORCE IN OUR SOCIETY THAN IS PREJUDICE AGAINST SECULARISTS — OR JUST ABOUT ANYBODY ELSE. About a fifth of white voters identify themselves as holding an extraordinarily hostile attitude toward their more religious countrymen, and THE PREJUDICE AGAINST THEM IS MUCH STRONGER THAN, SAY, WHITE PREJUDICE AGAINST BLACKS, OR WHITE HOSTILITY TOWARD ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS. It is a remarkable phenomenon. Perhaps some of our beleaguered atheist friends would care to read “A Prejudice for the Thinking Classes,” one of the more interesting treatments of the subject.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/266461/beleaguered-atheists-kevin-d-williamson

It appears blind prejudice is not simply a feature of the less educated.

CNN Poll: Americans Oppose Public Funding of Abortion 61% to 37% (CORRECTED)

A new CNN poll "indicates that 61 PERCENT OF THE PUBLIC OPPOSES THE USE OF PUBLIC MONEY FOR ABORTIONS FOR WOMEN WHO CAN NOT AFFORD THE PROCEDURE, WITH 37 PERCENT IN FAVOR OF ALLOWING THE USE OF FEDERAL FUNDS."

How much stronger must opposition to public funding of abortion be in states like Byron Dorgan's North Dakota and Blanche Lincoln's Arkansas?

What's really remarkable is that A MAJORITY OF AMERICANS OPPOSE PRIVATE INSURANCE COVERAGE OF ABORTIONS….

….While it's remarkable, opposition to private insurance coverage of abortion is hardly surprising. The CNN POLL REPORTS THAT 55 63 PERCENT OF AMERICANS WANT ABORTION TO BE ILLEGAL IN ALL BUT A FEW CIRCUMSTANCES. It's not shocking that they don't want public funds or private insurance to pay for something they believe to be so unjust that it should be generally banned.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2009/11/cnn_poll_americans_oppose_publ.asp


The reason we don’t hear a lot about abortion in political campaigns is that it isn’t a winning proposition for either side. But clearly, the tide has turned against the “abortion as a Constitutional right” crowd.



New Study: Beyond Blue and Red

THE METAPHORICAL THREE-LEGGED STOOL OF THE REPUBLICAN BASE -- NATIONAL SECURITY ADVOCATES, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONSERVATIVES -- LOOKS MORE LIKE A UNICYCLE TODAY. IN OTHER WORDS, CONSERVATIVES ARE MORE UNIFORMLY CONSERVATIVE. Yet the wider GOP coalition continues to disagree on an array of issues, from whether it will require any tax hikes to resolve the deficit to how rapidly the U.S. should withdraw forces from Afghanistan. So reports the Pew Research Center in a seismic new study of the American electorate.

DEMOCRATIC BLOCS CONTINUE TO FRACTURE ON ISSUES RANGING FROM THE IMPACT OF ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS ON JOBS TO WHETHER IMMIGRATION "STRENGTHENS SOCIETY." Pew also concluded that Barack Obama unites Republicans significantly more than the tea party movement, much as George W. Bush once unified Democrats….

…. The Conservative Convergence

The "most visible shift in the political landscape" over the past half-decade is the increasing cohesion of the conservative coalition, Pew reports. "THE LONG-STANDING DIVIDE BETWEEN ECONOMIC, PRO-BUSINESS CONSERVATIVES AND SOCIAL CONSERVATIVES HAS BLURRED…..”

…..Obama Unites the Right

This ideological opposition explains why Pew concluded: "While the tea party is a galvanizing force on the right, STRONG DISAPPROVAL OF BARACK OBAMA IS AN EVEN MORE POWERFUL UNIFYING FACTOR AMONG FERVENT CONSERVATIVES….."

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/05/05/pew_study_captures_electorate_beyond_red_vs_blue.html


I’m sure to strong leftists, the fact that disapproval of BHO unifies conservatives simply proved to them that Conservatives are racists. Any liberal disapproval of Obama is because of policy differences.

Intelligence experts race to use UBL data

U.S. INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES ARE RACING TO EXPLOIT A TROVE OF DOCUMENTS AND COMPUTER FILES THAT U.S. NAVY SEALS COLLECTED FROM OSAMA BIN LADEN'S COMPOUND IN PAKISTAN before other Al Qaeda groups or leaders can change their communication methods or move their safe houses.

Many of the files are written in multiple languages, and some appear in code, U.S. officials said.

"AT FIRST BLUSH, THERE APPEARS TO BE SOME VALUE," SAID REP. MIKE ROGERS (R-MICH.), CHAIRMAN OF HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE, WHO WAS BRIEFED ON THE EFFORT WEDNESDAY.

The CIA has created a special task force in Afghanistan to analyze Bin Laden's material for clues to ongoing terrorist plots, the location of other Al Qaeda leaders, funding streams and other fresh intelligence.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-bin-laden-intel-20110505,0,1702862.story

This is probably more important than killing Bin Laden was.



Does Bush deserve credit?

But the bridge connecting the two administrations has also led Obama to the same contested legal terrain over how to fight against stateless enemies and whether values should be sacrificed in the pursuit of security.

“WE IN THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION ABSOLUTELY BENEFITTED FROM AN ENORMOUS BODY OF WORK AND EFFORT THAT WENT INTO UNDERSTANDING AL-QAEDA AND PURSUING BIN LADEN,” said Ben Rhodes, the deputy national security adviser for strategic communications.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/in-bin-laden-victory-echoes-of-the-bush-years/2011/05/03/AFz4eQsF_story.html?hpid=z1



Top Green Admits: “We Are Lost!”

GEORGE MONBIOT OF THE LEFT-LEANING BRITISH NEWSPAPER THE GUARDIAN HAS A MUST-READ COLUMN IN WHICH HE ADMITS THAT BECAUSE OF A WHOLE SERIES OF INTELLECTUAL MISTAKES, THE GLOBAL GREEN MOVEMENT’S POLICY PRESCRIPTIONS ARE HOPELESSLY FLAWED.

Read the whole piece for a thoughtful and brutally clear expose of the intellectual bankruptcy of the green movement from one of the smartest people in it. This is what I’ve been getting at for more than a year here: regardless of what is happening to Planet Earth, the green movement does not have coherent and workable solutions.

Greens like to have it both ways. They warn darkly about “peak oil” and global resource shortages that will destroy our industrial economy in its tracks — but also warn that runaway economic growth will destroy the planet through the uncontrolled effects of mass industrial productions. BOTH DOOMSDAY SCENARIOS CANNOT BE TRUE; ONE CANNOT SIMULTANEOUSLY DIE OF BOTH STARVATION AND GLUTTONY.

http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2011/05/03/top-green-admits-we-are-lost/

Here’s the article he is referring to. I highly recommend you read it.

THE PROBLEM WE FACE IS NOT THAT WE HAVE TOO LITTLE FOSSIL FUEL, BUT TOO MUCH. As oil declines, economies will switch to tar sands, shale gas and coal; as accessible coal declines, they'll switch to ultra-deep reserves (using underground gasification to exploit them) and methane clathrates. The same probably applies to almost all minerals: we will find them, but exploiting them will mean trashing an ever greater proportion of the world's surface. We have enough non-renewable resources of all kinds to complete our wreckage of renewable resources: forests, soil, fish, freshwater, benign weather. Collapse will come one day, but not before we have pulled everything down with us.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/may/02/environmental-fixes-all-greens-lost

An interesting look from the green point of view. I don’t buy it (at least the part of about the collapse), but it makes you think.