A special prayer to our men and women who awaken on different soil in the name of Freedom.
Casualty Count
-Pending Confirmation 4039. – Confirmed 4036. -Pending Confirmation 2
U.S. Dept of Defense visit for on the spot information.
…coming back to American soil:
America the Jobless? The number of people unemployed because they lost jobs climbed to 4.2 million; that figure has grown by almost one million in a year.
U.S. Jobless Claims Climb (excerpts from AP)
Labor Department Reports Unemployment Filings At Highest Level
The number of new people signing up for unemployment benefits last week shot up to the highest level in more than two years, fresh evidence of the damage to a national economy clobbered by housing, credit and financial crises.
The Labor Department reported Thursday that new applications filed for unemployment insurance jumped by a seasonally adjusted 38,000 to 407,000 for the week ending March 29.
The latest snapshot of labor activity was worse than economists had anticipated. Meanwhile, the number of people continuing to collect unemployment benefits rose by a sharp 97,000 to 2.94 million for the week ending March 22, the most recent period for which that information is available.
The economy is suffering from a trio of mighty blows – a housing collapse, a credit crunch and a financial system in turmoil. That’s causing people and businesses to hunker down, crimping spending, capital investment and hiring. Those things in turn further weaken the economy, in a vicious cycle.
For the first time, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke acknowledged on Wednesday said the country could be heading toward a recession. Many other economists and the public believe it’s already there.
The nation’s unemployment rate, now at 4.8 percent. The jobless rate could climb to 5.5 percent or higher by the end of this year, according to some analysts’ projections.
To bolster the economy the Fed has been cutting a key interest rate to induce people and companies to boost their spending. Many analysts still predict another reduction to that rate when the central bank meets later this month, although Bernanke didn’t tip his hand about the Fed’s next rate move.
America the Poor? *excerpts by by Dr. Amy K. Glasmeier
The same old remedy of tax cuts, not only is too little too late even for the rich and upper middle classes, but is inexplicable folly in the face of the current negative cascade of economic news. What is more tragic though is the continuing blindness of this President to the lived experience of almost 75 million Americans who don’t own stocks and who don’t work in jobs that pay living wages. How is it that he can remain simultaneously oblivious and yet informed of the fact that the plummeting economic numbers hurt the economically insecure in ways so obvious and so embarrassing that our international partners around the world are openly wondering what kind of a nation we are becoming.
America the Homeless? Here are some recent headline news captions:
Defense shifts blame in death (By Victoria Kim)
Attorney says client’s daughter plotted with codefendant to kill homeless man.
April 15, 2008
Accused killer, 75, was duped, attorney says (By Victoria Kim)
Olga Rutterschmidt didn’t know Helen Golay planned to kill homeless men for their insurance, public defender tells jury.
April 12, 2008
Homeless man pleads not guilty in son’s death (By Jack Leonard and Richard Winton)
The 3-month-old was found dead in a Monterey Park motel room in 2005.
April 8, 2008
Witness says he feared accused killers (By Victoria Kim)
He testifies that he nearly fell victim to two women on trial in the deaths of homeless men.
March 29, 2008
Robot reports for security duty in Atlanta (By Richard Fausset)
Bar owner Rufus Terrill has built what he calls the Bum Bot 2000, a remote-controlled device to chase loiterers away. Homeless advocates object.
March 23, 2008
Jurors view car allegedly used to kill homeless man (By Victoria Kim)
Prosecutors say the Mercury station wagon was the murder weapon two elderly women used in a life insurance scheme.
March 22, 2008
Daisy Says: A weak soul has not much to offer. A weak soil has not much to offer.
Changing with a nation. *sigh
“‘My country, right or wrong,’ is a thing that no patriot would think of saying. It is like saying, ‘My mother, drunk or sober.'” (Gilbert K. Chesterton)