Thursday, February 12, 2009

Byron Dorgan for Commerce Secretary


U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) is flanked by (l-r) Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) at a Capitol Hill press conference where they announced they will push for new requirements in future trade agreements that will measure whether those agreements are working in America's interest.

Does Tom Daschle Deserve A Second Chance? (click here)

February 10, 2009

Susan Elaine Wheeler

...On one hand we have wide spread corruption that is taking hundreds of billions of dollars to stabilize. In Daschle´s case, an issue that is being blown out of proportion because he was on President´s Obama´s team. The hypocrisy and double standards need to stop, so we can find our way out of this economic mess and focus on what the best people can achieve....

So what is Georgie up to? My guess. He is proposing more Carbon Sources in Canada.

Anybody up for demonstrations?

...But for his own reasons Sen. Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has proposed a "truth and reconciliation commission" to get at all the wrongs of the George W. Bush years, which, of course, began with his winning the 2000 election.... (click here - thank you)



Bush to give speech at private event in Canada (click title to entry - thank you)
11:12 PM CST on Wednesday, February 11, 2009
By LORI STAHL / The Dallas Morning News
lstahl@dallasnews.com
Former President George W. Bush's first confirmed speaking engagement since leaving office will take him from Crawford to Canada.
Invitations to the event, billed as "a conversation with George W. Bush," say that the former president will "share his thoughts on his eight momentous years in the Oval Office" during a March 17 speech in Calgary, Alberta.
The event is not open to the public, and organizers declined to say whether Bush will be paid a fee. A spokesman for the newly formed Bush presidential office in Dallas declined to comment.
But the Canadian firm organizing the lunch has paid sizable fees to Lance Armstrong, Rudy Giuliani, Colin Powell and Alan Greenspan. Former President Bill Clinton was paid $150,000 for a March 2006 speech in Edmonton, according to a Canadian newspaper.
Political experts say the speech may be a safe and lucrative way for Bush to venture out....

Where there can be cooperation regarding Climate Change between the USA and China there can be cooperation in limiting 'potential' to terorist arms.



China and the US - the road to rapprochement on climate change (click here)

In a new report released by the Asia Society's Center on US-China Relations and the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, a group of more than 50 experts on China, politics and business aim to provide Barack Obama's new US administration with a policy roadmap for cooperation with China. Common Challenge, Collaborative Response: A Roadmap for US-China Cooperation on Energy and Climate Change was produced by the Initiative for US-China Cooperation on Energy and Climate Task Force, co-chaired by John L Thornton, professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing, and by Steven Chu, prior to his nomination as US secretary of energy. Here, Banning Garrett and Jonathan Adams introduce the report. The full document can be downloaded in both languages here....

Richard Holbrooke and the Clinton State Department. I believe this focus is critical.

There was a time when the USA competed for diplomatic relations by bolstering military armaments of nations such as Pakistan. We are at that juncture and Richard Holbrooke is bringing home a 'wish list' from the current leadership of Pakistan.

The problem is that China is entering the picture and very well could cause problems leading to greater tensions among world powers at a time when the USA is attempting to hit the 'reset' button and Russia is opening up to 'partnering' with us again.

China and its 'interest' in power over a global view to defeat terrorist networks is creating the 'Old World' competition for arms and escalating the 'potential' for anarchic Pakistani military complex to become out of control, endangering NATO's troops and allowing for increased terrorist elements within the region of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kashmir and India.


While the China visit by the Pakistani President seems benign, there is every reason to believe 'arms' will be a focus as well. China has a history of arming Pakistan, especially with American money. It would be best to jointly 'deal with' China and Pakistan in any future negotiations to limit the migration of arms to terrorists. The USA State Department under Clinton has its hands full.


Pakistani president to visit China's Hubei, Shanghai (click here)
www.chinaview.cn

2009-02-12 18:00:57
BEIJING, Feb. 12 (Xinhua)-- Invited by the Chinese government, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari will pay a visit to China's Hubei Province and Shanghai from Feb. 20 to 23, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu announced Thursday.
"We attach great importance to this visit," Jiang said at a regular press conference here, noting Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo will meet with Zardari in Hubei on behalf of the Chinese government.
Zardari was scheduled to observe China's development in areas including water conservation, agriculture as well as finance. And this will promote bilateral cooperation in the above areas, Jiang said.
China believed the visit would "consolidate" China-Pakistan all-weather friendship and deepen all-round cooperation, Jiang said.
This visit would be Zardari's second China visit. He paid a state visit to China last October.
Bilateral trade volume between China and Pakistan reached 6.9 billion U.S. dollars in 2008, demonstrating a 1.3 percent year-on-year increase.

US jobless claims above 600,000 in week

THE "THING" IS THIS:

The USA is losing its tax base. To begin, just because the jobless CLAIM rate might be slowing doesn't mean that is optimistic news.

Just like the number of bankruptcies might be slowing doesn't mean there is an economic recovery on the way. There are just so many people that are going to lose their homes and there will be finite bankrupcies filed. Same thing with unemployment claims. There will be finite workers in the USA that will lose their jobs, but, that doesn't mean a 'topping' off of the unemployment rate is an indication of a recovery.

People are entering unemployment and NOT finding new jobs, not only that, but most states allow any claimant to decide to pay federal and state taxes or not. That really should not be an option unless the amount received on unemployment automatically places the claimant below any tax level. The federal guidelines for extension of benefits need to include automatic deductions of umemployment income.

But, for a word of assurance and why the stimulus package is so important.

The witnessing of the loss of OLD WORLD USA is an interesting phenomena from my stand point. More men than women are losing jobs and families are finding out that women actually are paid less then men. But, that is nearly besides the point. It is where the job losses are occurring and why they are occurring is a focus of interest.

The USA has been an economy built around manufacturing that eventually lead to a service economy. The manufacturing has growly been lost in the USA and needs to return, however, American consumers have been very moral folks for the most part, deciding to favor 'environmental' vigilance over abuses. Until this past administration, the USA has always had a conscience when it comes to children and child labor and environmental safety for citizens while insuring the future for our children and grandchildren.

The RETURN of the sanity of the USA after so many years of poorly conceived and wrongly deployed Republican priorities means there is going to be a gross deterioration of jobs, especially in areas where abuses have occurred. The housing circumstances of the country is primarily what is blamed for the economic depression of the country, but, more over, it is the conscience of the people that have come to a pinnacle.

By electing a President with as much hope and desire for change in the USA as the majority of the country has, we have decided to change our futures and the hope of our children. The economic stimulus package focuses heavily on new energy venues, a brand new electric grid to accommodate the demands of electric cars and environmental stewardship including new venues of personal transportation. All that is vital to surviving the ravages of Climate Change and bring hope for our future and the beauty of the natural world we long to leave our children.

To make a long statement short, we are TRANSITIONING, and the stimulus package put together by President Obama is exactly the focus the country has demanded and longed for, we deserve a NEW START and the stimulus bill before the House and Senate facilitate it. It will create jobs and return income to the nation's treasury.

I rarely get political from the stand point of asking people to 'act' to insure a political focus, but, today I am asking that anyone caring about these issues write and encourage others to write to their US House and Senate representatives to pass the bill and begin to recover the USA for the hope of its future and that of our children. It is the right thing to do and we all need to be involved.



Job seekers queue to speak with prospective employers at a job fair in Chicago

Initial Claims More of the Same (click here)
Last Update: 12-Feb-09 08:50 ET
Initial claims for the week ending Feb. 7 dipped 8,000 to 623,000, but remain at 26-year highs. The four-week moving average jumped to 607,500 from 583,500. Continuing claims rose 11,000 to 4.81 million while the four-week moving average moved up to 4.75 million from 4.67 million.
The headline number for initial claims was slightly worse than the 610,000 consensus estimate.
Altogether this claims report stayed true to form, offering a clear reminder that the labor market is weak and that it remains difficult to find a new job.

Jobless Claims Slip, But Trend For Layoffs Remains Higher (click here)

2/12/2009 9:44 AM ET

(RTTNews) - The number of people filing for first-time unemployment benefits dipped last week, though the moderation was less than expected and statistics showed that the pace layoffs were still trending higher.The report is a key real-time glimpse at the health of the labor market, an important topic not just because it is central to overall economic performance, but because it is a key political issue as well.The U.S. Labor Department revealed Thursday that initial jobless claims came in at 623,000 for the week ended February 7, down 8,000 from the previous week's revised total.

Economists had expected claims to drop to a level around 610,000.

However, the 4-week moving average for initial claims, a statistic that flattens out week-to-week fluctuations in the data, continued to rise in the month, climbing above the 600,000 mark....