U.S. Unemployment Rate Increases Again

President Obama and two financial dudes at the White House

The U.S. unemployment rate once again shows signs of destabilization, as it was announced today the economy has shed more jobs. The fluctuating numbers reveal, the economy is no where near out of the woods, even with the current spending initiatives to boost nationwide sales. The White House and U.S. Congress have been spending unnecessary billions, in a misguided effort to minimize the effects of the recession-turned-depression.

With a record number of banks still going under, the current Obama Administration is accepting bailout repayments (T.A.R.P.) from a few of the nation's leading financial institutions. It is good that some banks have repaid the taxpayer loans they were issued to help them stay afloat.

However, new spending initiatives by the White House and Congress, with a price tag of over $1.1 trillion, shall cancelled out the repayments and create more debt. As such this should be an item of concern.

There is too much room for error, waste and mismanagement, when spending that much money. As illustrated by numerous instances of job creation fraud, where misleading and erroneous numbers were submitted, massive spending initiatives can lead to additional financial trouble. Here's hoping more fraud does not occur regarding the $1.1 trillion spending package.

New jobless claims rise unexpectedly

Dec 17, 8:42 AM (ET) - WASHINGTON (AP) - The number of newly laid off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week as the recovery of the nation's battered labor market proceeds in fits and starts.

The Labor Department said Thursday that the number of new jobless claims rose to 480,000 last week, up 7,000 from the previous week. That was a worse performance than the decline to 465,000 that economists had expected...

http://apnews.myway.com

Obama's Attractive Assistants

First Lady Michelle Obama and President Barack Obama

U.S. President Barack Obama's secretary, Katie Johnson and his personal assistant, Reggie Love, are two young, attractive people. It is good that he has employed people of all ages.

Reggie Love

Why is it every time we see Obama's assistant ("body man") Reggie Love, he always has a mountain of stuff in his hands. Dude, you need an assistant. Tell them slavery is over and to stop working you so hard (just kidding).

U.S. President Barack Obama and his secretary Katie Johnson

President Obama's secretary is attractive as well. Most wives are not comfortable with their husbands employing a young, attractive woman, but clearly Mrs. Obama feels confident about it. Not trying to start any rumors, just hoping to out a fire before it sparks or starts.

President Obama needs a rough looking secretary, you know, something like this that will scare him first thing every morning he walks into the office:

Pictured above is crazy Madonna

Lieberman vs. Franken

Jewish People Fighting

"Video: Lieberman-Franken Exchange" - C-SPAN

This site has run tasteful articles such as "Megan Fox Is A Pothead" and "Rihanna Has Herpes" and other little literary gems with subheadings such as "Black people fighting" and "White people fighting." Pure class, baby! You won't find that kind of indignity and grace or liability in the pages of the New York Times. Therefore, it's only fair we include Jewish people too.

Jewish senators Joe Lieberman and Hollywood actor turned Congress guy, Al Franken, exchanged icy stares and semi-harsh words today during a health care debate.

It's too bad they didn't go gangsta rap. That would have made for higher ratings and hospital bills.

Franken shuts down Lieberman on Senate floor

WASHINGTON — Democratic Sen. Al Franken took the unusual step Thursday of shutting down Sen. Joe Lieberman on the Senate floor.

Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, currently is the target of liberal wrath over his opposition to a government-run insurance plan in the health care bill.

Franken was presiding over the Senate Thursday afternoon as Lieberman spoke about amendments he planned to offer to the bill. Lieberman asked for an additional moment to finish — a routine request — but Franken refused to grant the time...

http://www.google.com

Britain's Benefits (Part 2)

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown

Several news outlets continue to report, Britain is still mired in a recession, yet once again, there are numerous articles regarding wasteful benefits (welfare) spending by the government.

The Judiciary Report published an article on this topic on January 1, 2009, stating benefits should be be scaled down, to help the British economy emerge from the recession at a faster pace, as it was revealed some families are clearing $150,000 to $250,000 per year in government assistance payments. One can feed dozens of families for a year on $150,000 to $250,000.

There are still reports of families receiving large six figure sums each year in benefits checks, while many that work for a living make nothing near that figure. Some will reason it is better not to work and as a result unemployment will rise.

The government needs to cross-reference files to ensure there is a cap on how much each household can receive. It's not fair to the working class, when the unemployed are receiving more in government welfare, than they are earning on salary at their jobs.

There is a difference between charity and largesse. By all means, financially help the needy and struggling, but there should be financial limits within what the nation can afford, lest you bankrupt the country, then everybody sufferers.

It is particularly relevant in light of the fact, in was recently reported, the British government has been looking into selling off billions of dollars worth of national assets, such as landmarks and government run companies, to tackle the deficit. If the government reduced exorbitant benefits checks, this would not be necessary.

Furthermore, privatizing a government company, such as those involved in the transport industry, could be dangerous, as has been shown in other nations, when corporations ill-equipped to handle the day to day tasks involved, run them into the ground and the quality of a public service drastically deteriorates.

RELATED ARTICLES

Britain’s Benefits

Something In The Water

Japanese researchers have been issuing the international recommendation that all nations put the alleged mood stabilizing drug Lithium in public water systems. They are of the belief it will help the crime rate. I disagree with the idea of mass drugging.

Not only is it a drastic approach, there are many things to consider, such as how Lithium in the water would interact with other medications people are taking, allergic reactions and the potentially serious side effects for babies, children and even adults.

Fox News Covers Mass Drugging of Society with Lithium

Wednesday, December 16, 2009 - In the remarkable Fox News report posted below, Dr. Archelle Georgiou, described as a well-recognized physician leader who “helps consumers make better health care decisions,” argues the case for adding lithium to the water supply. Georgiou is affiliated with the Center for Health Transformation, an organization founded by the notorious neocon Newt Gingrich.

Georgiou is also a “medical expert” for Fox News 9 in Minneapolis where she commented on a proposal to drug people during a segment on “Health Care Innovations 2009.”

“Lithium in the Water Supply: America has been adding fluoride to its public water supplies for decades to help prevent reduce tooth decay. Now researchers from Japan suggests expanding the list to lithium,” is how how Fox News 9 describes the segment.

Georgiou does not explicitly call for adding the mood-stabilizing drug to the water system, as suggested by Japanese researchers, but she does not denounce the proposed practice. Instead, she says the draconian proposal is a “very interesting concept.”

Japanese researchers, according to Georgiou, are “investigating whether trace amounts of lithium can just change the mood in a community enough — in a really positive way without having the bad effects of lithium — to really affect the mood and decrease the suicide rate.”...

http://www.prisonplanet.com

Woman Claims Tiger Woods Fathered Her Child

Elin and Tiger Woods

A 49-year-old Windermere woman, Theresa Rogers, has reportedly retained Los Angeles lawyer, Gloria Allred, seeking a $3,000,000 settlement, claiming golfer, Tiger Woods, fathered her 8-year-old daughter.

The story is somewhat confusing, as she claims she tried for years to get pregnant for Woods without his knowledge, believing it would cure all her "financial problems."

Theresa Rogers and daughter when she was a baby

Now, without a DNA test, she has proclaimed Woods the father, though she was seeing a basketball player as well and married another man. Reports indicate the 8-year-old girl "looks Caucasian" yet Woods' two children with his Swedish wife, look Asian.

22 Million Deleted George W. Bush Emails Recovered

LOL!

First Lady Michelle Obama and President Barack Obama

In news that is sure to make former Vice President, Dick Cheney, want to "pepper" cousin, Barack Obama, 22 million emails the former administration thought they'd deleted have been recovered (grin).

Technicians find 22 million missing e-mails from Bush years

Dozens more days’ worth still haven’t been recovered

December 15, 2009 - WASHINGTON - Computer technicians have found 22 million missing White House e-mails from the administration of President George W. Bush, and the Obama administration is searching for dozens more days’ worth of potentially lost e-mail from the Bush years, according to two groups that filed suit over the failure by the Bush White House to install an electronic record-keeping system.

The two private groups - Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, and the National Security Archive - said yesterday they were settling the lawsuits they filed against the Executive Office of the President in 2007...

http://www.boston.com

Another White House Security Breach

Tareq and Michaele Salahi, the party crashers that showed up to U.S. President Barack Obama's first stated dinner uninvited, was not the first such security breach.

Two weeks prior to that incident, a Georgia couple, Harvey and Paula Darden, showed up to the White House a day early for a standard tour that is open to the public, only for the Secret Service to usher them into a private room for breakfast with President Obama. They too were able to shake his hand. Mr. Darden is a veteran.

These security lapses are not good. The first two known incidents did not result in tragedy, but this pattern cannot continue, as it is compounded by the fact, the incumbent is the most targeted President in American history. It is simply not sound judgment and extremely dangerous.

Uninvited tourists' surprise breakfast with Barack and Michelle Obama

Wednesday 16 December 2009 13.20 GMT - When Harvey and Paula Darden, an Obama-supporting couple from Georgia, turned up at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue last month, they were expecting a quick nose around the White House as part of a tour organised by their congressman.

But after arriving 24 hours early – on Veterans Day – they found themselves the surprise guests at an invitation-only breakfast with Barack and Michelle Obama. And the president's aides again found themselves forced to defend the White House's admissions policy.

The Dardens' inadvertent upgrade took place two weeks before the Virginia socialites Tareq and Michaele Salahi crashed the Obamas' state dinner for the Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, embarrassing their hosts and raising serious security concerns...

"The further we got into the White House, the more surprised we were," said Darden. "My wife looked at me, and I looked at her, and I said, 'You know, I don't know if we're in the right place.'"

He said he felt "kind of funny" after finding himself in the middle of a formal event with 200 others: "I was the only man in the room that wasn't dressed in a coat and tie," he said. "I was just a plain tourist."...

The only thing he and his wife regretted, he added, was that they had yet to receive a copy of their picture with the Obamas.

http://www.guardian.co.uk

Silvio Berlusconi Targeted Again

Silvio Berlusconi

A man has been apprehended outside the hospital room of injured Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi and was subdued by his security detail. This marks the second incident in a week, regarding someone seeking to get too close to the Prime Minister, with the first resulting in the head of state, sustaining a broken nose and the loss of two teeth during an assault.

Considering the mafia has been making statements about him, claiming they did a deal with the Prime Minister, right before he entered office, these incidents are bizarre.

Silvio Berlusconi: intruder overpowered outside hospital room

Police have overpowered and arrested a young man outside Silvio Berlusconi's hospital room.

Published: 12:19PM GMT 16 Dec 2009 - The 26-year-old man, from Turin, parked his car in the underground car park of the Milan hospital where Mr Berlusconi has been recuperating since he was assaulted on Sunday.

At around 2am, he took the lift to the eighth-floor ward where the prime minister has been treated for a broken nose, two smashed teeth and cuts to his face. He was stopped and searched by police, who said he was not carrying a weapon. Officers found several hockey sticks in his car.

“He was coming out of the lift when bodyguards and police immobilised him immediately,” a police spokesman said. Officers said the man, who has not been named, appeared to be suffering from “psychological problems”. They said he wanted to talk to the prime minister.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk

Friends Send Tiger Woods Their Support

"A Little Help From My Friends"

Tiger Woods and wife Elin

The friends of beleaguered golfer, Tiger Woods, want to send him a message, "We love you." In the wake of the unrelenting blizzard of bad stories in the press and events seemingly seeking to destroy him, Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan, have tried to contact him, but were unsuccessful in this endeavor.

Fellow athletes Ron Artest and Clinton Portis also sent words of support, as did politician Rudy Giuliani. Here's hoping Woods and his family can work things out.

His wife was seen around Orlando, Florida twice this week and she is clearly refusing to let the negative stories get her down. She is resuming her life, taking her children out to lunch and ignoring the paparazzi. That's good. Keep your chin up.

ARTICLE SOURCES:

http://www.sportingnews.com

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com

http://content.usatoday.com