Monday, November 10, 2003
Till Crash! the Cruel Coulter Past
No entry today. We just recalled that line from Burns and got a new kick out of it.
Friday, November 07, 2003
Once again, A.P. to the rescue
143,000 Give up Job Search, Go to work at Wal-Mart.
Just kidding--of course that isn't the headline. This is:
Unemployment Continued to Fall in October
And here are the first two paragraphs:
Now skip down to paragraph 12:
In other words, not only were all the gains last month service-sector jobs, but an additional 17,000 jobs previously lost somewhere else went to the service sector. And more than 23% of the 143,000 were temp jobs.
This is good news?
On what planet?
Just kidding--of course that isn't the headline. This is:
Unemployment Continued to Fall in October
And here are the first two paragraphs:
Filed at 9:26 a.m. ETGot it? 126,000 new jobs last month. Thus the headline (theirs, not mine).
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The nation's unemployment rate dropped to 6 percent in October as companies added thousands of new jobs for the third straight month, new evidence of an improving labor market.
The Labor Department reported Friday that payrolls grew by 126,000 last month, significantly more than the 50,000 new jobs that economists had predicted. That followed a revised 125,000 new jobs in September, which initially was reported at 57,000.
Now skip down to paragraph 12:
The service sector added 143,000 new jobs last month, the largest increase in nine months. That included a 33,000 gain in temporary employment services, which have added jobs for the last five months.The "service sector" added 17,000 more jobs than were added overall last month, 33,000 of which were temporary (read: no benefits) jobs.
In other words, not only were all the gains last month service-sector jobs, but an additional 17,000 jobs previously lost somewhere else went to the service sector. And more than 23% of the 143,000 were temp jobs.
This is good news?
On what planet?
Wednesday, November 05, 2003
Really, this stuff just writes itself
From today's New York Times:
Senate Sends Spending Bill for War Costs to PresidentYup, that sure was some strong bipartisan support. A whole 6 out of 100 Senators slunk in to vote for it.
[paragraph 2]
The Senate's action came on a voice vote with only six members present, meaning that the decisions of individual members on the administration's vision for Iraq were not recorded. Not voting on the record appealed to both Republicans nervous about explaining the amount to their constituents, and Democrats who did not want their patriotism questioned for opposing the bill. On Friday, the House voted 298 to 121 in favor of the bill. The bill now goes to the president for his signature.
[paragraph 6]
In a statement issued by the White House on Monday night, Mr. Bush said, "The strong bipartisan show of support for this bill underscores that America and the world are united to prevail in the central front in the war on terror by helping build a peaceful, democratic and prosperous Iraq."
Shlock the Vote
The experts advising Kerry, Edwards and Gephardt to attack Howard Dean for saying, "I still want to be the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks" are making a big blunder.
No one believes Dean is a racist or that the remark "condoned" the Confederate flag, and everyone knows that, strategically speaking, Dean is right: The GOP had divided and conquered working and middle-class southerners by race, and the Democratic Party needs to do something about it besides writing those votes off. So the attacks sound like nothing more than campaign grandstanding.
Bottom line: the accusations won't stick; the story just has no legs.
On a personal note, we have given generously to one of the three candidates who are making this mistake, and we shook our heads at the ineffectual and bogus-sounding assaults. All they accomplished was to 1) distract all the candidates from getting their messages out clearly, and 2) make the accusers look like shallow pols.
¥ ¥ ¥
Bob Somerby at The Daily Howler will undoubtedly get a kick out of remarks by CNN's Candy Crowley immediately following last night's Democratic debate. The words of the candidates were still echoing in Faneuil Hall when Crowley said that General Wesley Clark's answer to a question on gays in the military left "confusion".
As Somerby has been pointing out, that is the script the media have been ceaselessly jamming into every comment on Clark no matter how clearly he expresses himself. The Howler archives have a dozen or so examples of this top-down media approach to submarining Clark with voters, but until last night we'd never seen it happen in real time. Crowley literally could not get the words out fast enough.
Needless to say, there was no confusion in Clark's answer, and fortunately he was able to set the record straight with CNN anchor Paula Zahn shortly after Crowley implausibly squeezed the GOP script into her 15 seconds of air-time.
It was obvious from his answer that General Clark clearly sees the trap that's been set for him; the way he pounced on and demolished the notion that his position was "confusing" suggested he was ready for it.
No one believes Dean is a racist or that the remark "condoned" the Confederate flag, and everyone knows that, strategically speaking, Dean is right: The GOP had divided and conquered working and middle-class southerners by race, and the Democratic Party needs to do something about it besides writing those votes off. So the attacks sound like nothing more than campaign grandstanding.
Bottom line: the accusations won't stick; the story just has no legs.
On a personal note, we have given generously to one of the three candidates who are making this mistake, and we shook our heads at the ineffectual and bogus-sounding assaults. All they accomplished was to 1) distract all the candidates from getting their messages out clearly, and 2) make the accusers look like shallow pols.
¥ ¥ ¥
Bob Somerby at The Daily Howler will undoubtedly get a kick out of remarks by CNN's Candy Crowley immediately following last night's Democratic debate. The words of the candidates were still echoing in Faneuil Hall when Crowley said that General Wesley Clark's answer to a question on gays in the military left "confusion".
As Somerby has been pointing out, that is the script the media have been ceaselessly jamming into every comment on Clark no matter how clearly he expresses himself. The Howler archives have a dozen or so examples of this top-down media approach to submarining Clark with voters, but until last night we'd never seen it happen in real time. Crowley literally could not get the words out fast enough.
Needless to say, there was no confusion in Clark's answer, and fortunately he was able to set the record straight with CNN anchor Paula Zahn shortly after Crowley implausibly squeezed the GOP script into her 15 seconds of air-time.
It was obvious from his answer that General Clark clearly sees the trap that's been set for him; the way he pounced on and demolished the notion that his position was "confusing" suggested he was ready for it.
Monday, November 03, 2003
Bush League
Q Mr. President, if I may take you back to May 1st when you stood on the USS Lincoln under a huge banner that said, "Mission Accomplished." At that time you declared major combat operations were over, but since that time there have been over 1,000 wounded, many of them amputees who are recovering at Walter Reed, 217 killed in action since that date. Will you acknowledge now that you were premature in making those remarks?
THE PRESIDENT: Nora, I think you ought to look at my speech. I said, Iraq is a dangerous place and we've still got hard work to do, there's still more to be done. And we had just come off a very successful military operation. I was there to thank the troops.
The "Mission Accomplished" sign, of course, was put up by the members of the USS Abraham Lincoln, saying that their mission was accomplished. I know it was attributed somehow to some ingenious advance man from my staff -- they weren't that ingenious, by the way.
THE PRESIDENT: Nora, I think you ought to look at my speech. I said, Iraq is a dangerous place and we've still got hard work to do, there's still more to be done. And we had just come off a very successful military operation. I was there to thank the troops.
The "Mission Accomplished" sign, of course, was put up by the members of the USS Abraham Lincoln, saying that their mission was accomplished. I know it was attributed somehow to some ingenious advance man from my staff -- they weren't that ingenious, by the way.
