Obama's Stimulus Saved Our Jobs, Right?

The Black Hole of Democracy

The Debt Car

More "Change" from the Obama Administration

Forced abortions. Mass sterilization. A "Planetary Regime" with the power of life and death over American citizens.

The tyrannical fantasies of a madman? Or merely the opinions of the person now in control of science policy in the United States? Or both?

These ideas (among many other equally horrifying recommendations) were put forth by John Holdren, whom Barack Obama has recently appointed Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, and Co-Chair of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology -- informally known as the United States' Science Czar. In a book Holdren co-authored in 1977, the man now firmly in control of science policy in this country wrote that:

• Women could be forced to abort their pregnancies, whether they wanted to or not; • The population at large could be sterilized by infertility drugs intentionally put into the nation's drinking water or in food;

• Single mothers and teen mothers should have their babies seized from them against their will and given away to other couples to raise;

• People who "contribute to social deterioration" (i.e. undesirables) "can be required by law to exercise reproductive responsibility" -- in other words, be compelled to have abortions or be sterilized.

• A transnational "Planetary Regime" should assume control of the global economy and also dictate the most intimate details of Americans' lives -- using an armed international police force.

The above was all taken from this page, which is a post inspired from this article. I suggest reading the post in it's entirety, as it contains scans of pages of the book in order to properly quote Holdren. Reading some/all of the authors' conclusions/suggestions is just scary, plain and simple. How someone with these radical views came into such a position of power within on political system is equally as scary. Is this the "change" everyone voted for? It certainly doesn't look like it with Obama's approval rating dropping to 51%, down from a high of 65%, and falling steadily. It seems the more people find out about their chosen one, the less they like him. Also, and this is just anecdotal, but this is the only president I know of that people in America are actually scared of - literally scared. We've had other presidents that were either poor leaders, or appeared stupid, or people just didn't like for whatever reason, but I've never talked to so many people who are "scared" of their own president.

This is What's Wrong With Our Planet

From the London Telegraph:

Only the election of President Barack Obama to the White House eclipsed the the death of the 'King of Pop' at the age of 50, research by Global Language Monitor (GLM) found.

Jackson's death received more coverage than the Iraq War, 9/11 and the global financial meltdown, last year's Beijing Olympics, Hurricane Katrina, the death of Pope John Paul II and the Tsunami.

In the 72 hours after his death, the Jackson story generated twice as much web news as coalition troops entering Iraq did in the same period.

It has also become the ninth biggest story in global print media since the start of 2000, according to GLM.

GLM recorded trends in word usage of the top 5,000 print and electronic media sites worldwide for the study, tracking news stories within the first 72 hours after the event.

What's Behind Cap & Trade? (It ain't pretty)

Fire Congress

Jobless Claims Drop!

From MarketWatch:

Continuing U.S. jobless claims took a big drop in the latest week, the Labor Department reported Thursday, in a sign that fewer people are having trouble finding employment.

Continuing claims fell by 148,000 to 6.68 million during the week ended June 6, the lowest level in about a month. The four-week average of continuing claims rose, however, by 2,250 to 6.75 million.

It was the first time continuing claims fell since early January.

The continuing claims drop "convincingly ended the 19-week string of new all-time highs, and may suggest that the more general rate of gain for these figures is diminishing," said analysts at Action Economics. "This slower rate of climb may signal that the uptrend in the jobless rate may soon slow as well."

BUT, that's not the whole story. There is a very significant reason for the drop in continuing claims. Yahoo Finance reports:

On the surface, the government seemed to signal Thursday that more Americans are finding jobs: The number of people receiving unemployment aid fell for the first time since early January.

But that doesn't necessarily mean more companies are hiring. Fewer people are receiving jobless aid largely because more of them have exhausted their standard unemployment benefits, which typically last 26 weeks.

Government figures, in fact, show the proportion of recipients who used up their jobless benefits averaged 49 percent in May, a record.

"It is unlikely that new hiring has picked up in any meaningful fashion," Joshua Shapiro, chief economist with MFR Inc., a consulting firm, wrote in a note to clients.

So, a record number of people have unemployed so long, they are simply ineligible for further benefits. It's likely that continuing claims will continue to fall in coming months, but that doesn't necessarily mean people are finding jobs, just losing their source of income. That, in turn, does mean that credit card and mortgage companies will see an increase in delinquencies and defaults. Not such a rosy picture afterall.

Below is an interactive map from Slate showing the state of unemployment across the country through March. (tip: it's gotten worse since then).