NC unemployment claims increase second highest in nation, July 26, 2012, 11948 claims, Second only to CA, NC Labor force decreased and jobs lost
“The United States economy has lost more jobs than it has added since the recovery began over a year ago.”…NY Times Sept. 20, 2010.
“Guilford (Large NC County) appears on it’s way to a third consecutive year with annual jobless rates in double digits. Economists say that likely hasn’t happened since the Great Depression.”…Greensboro News Record December 2, 2011
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.”…George Orwell, “1984″
Remember this article from the Greensboro News record reported here on July 20, 2012?
From Doug Clark of the Greensboro News Record July 20, 2012.
“North Carolina loses or gains jobs in June, depending on which state numbers you believe, if any”
“North Carolina lost nearly 8,000 jobs in June from the previous month, the state’s Commerce Department reports this morning.”
“The unemployment rate held at 9.4 percent, but that was because the labor force decreased.”
“Note: There are two sets of numbers in the report. You will see some media reports stating the state gained 16,690 jobs in June.”
“Please weigh in on the credibility of these numbers.”
“The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending July 14 were in California (+26,244), North Carolina (+11,948), Georgia (+8,372), Alabama (+4,148), and Oregon (+3,019)”
July 21, 2012 Obama economy and jobs bleak, 27 states recorded unemployment rate increases, Black unemployment up 1.4 percent in 2 months, NC rate suspect
“The United States economy has lost more jobs than it has added since the recovery began over a year ago.”…NY Times Sept. 20, 2010.
“Guilford (Large NC County) appears on it’s way to a third consecutive year with annual jobless rates in double digits. Economists say that likely hasn’t happened since the Great Depression.”…Greensboro News Record December 2, 2011
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.”…George Orwell, “1984″
The Obama camp is using every opportunity to divert attention away from the dismal economy and jobs situation. Even the mainstream media has made note of the lies Obama has told about Mitt Romney. The stated unemployment rate in NC is 9.4 percent and that looks suspect, even accounting for historic low labor participation rates.
Doug Clark of the Greensboro News Record of the Greensboro News Record stated yesterday:
“North Carolina loses or gains jobs in June, depending on which state numbers you believe, if any”
“North Carolina lost nearly 8,000 jobs in June from the previous month, the state’s Commerce Department reports this morning.”
“The unemployment rate held at 9.4 percent, but that was because the labor force decreased.”
“Here’s a BLS explanation (sort of) of smoothing. Obviously, this statistical maneuvering makes a significant difference. In the state’s numbers, we either have fewer people working but are gaining jobs, or have more people working but are losing jobs.
Please weigh in on the credibility of these numbers.”
On Thursday, July 19, 2012, the US Labor Department reported initial claims were up 34,000 from the prior week to 386,000. 20 states had an increase of 1,000 or more. NC was one of those states.
On Friday, July 20, 2012, the US Labor Department Regional and State Employment and Unemployment Summary reported:
The national jobless rate, at 8.2 percent.
Twenty-seven states recorded unemployment rate increases.
“In June 2012, 11 states recorded statistically significant over-the-month changes in employment, 8 of which were increases and 3 of which were decreases. The largest statistically significant job gains occurred in California (+38,300), Ohio (+18,400), and North Carolina (+16,900).”
Note from the Greensboro News Record report:
“North Carolina lost nearly 8,000 jobs in June from the previous month, the state’s Commerce Department reports this morning.”
Citizen Wells: I smell a rat. A NC Democrat Convention rat.
Also significant from the report are the following unemployment increases from April to June 2012.
North Carolina loses or gains jobs in June depending on which state numbers you believe if any, July 20, 2012, Greensboro News Record Doug Clark
“The United States economy has lost more jobs than it has added since the recovery began over a year ago.”…NY Times Sept. 20, 2010.
“Guilford (Large NC County) appears on it’s way to a third consecutive year with annual jobless rates in double digits. Economists say that likely hasn’t happened since the Great Depression.”…Greensboro News Record December 2, 2011
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.”…George Orwell, “1984″
From Doug Clark of the Greensboro News Record July 20, 2012.
“North Carolina loses or gains jobs in June, depending on which state numbers you believe, if any”
“North Carolina lost nearly 8,000 jobs in June from the previous month, the state’s Commerce Department reports this morning.”
“The unemployment rate held at 9.4 percent, but that was because the labor force decreased.
These are “smoothed” seasonally adjusted numbers.
The picture is more positive year over year, according to the Commerce news release:
“Since June 2011, Total Nonfarm jobs gained 37,000 with the Service Providing sector increasing by 38,600 and the Goods Producing sector decreasing by 1,600. The largest over-the-year increase of major industries was in Government at 13,000, followed by Education & Health Services, 12,100 and Trade, Transportation and Utilities, 9,400.”
In case you missed it, the largest increase in employment was in government … Contrary to claims of public payroll slashing.
Unfortunately, a gain of 37,000 jobs in the past year is anemic. And now we’re slipping. Obviously, this is not an encouraging report for our state.
Note: There are two sets of numbers in the report. You will see some media reports stating the state gained 16,690 jobs in June.
The news release contains these statements:
“Seasonally adjusted Total Nonfarm industry employment, as gathered through the monthly establishment survey, increased by 16,900 to 3,963,100 in June.”
And:
“The number of people employed (smoothed seasonally adjusted) decreased by 7,909 to 4,216,644 over the month …”
Here’s a BLS explanation (sort of) of smoothing. Obviously, this statistical maneuvering makes a significant difference. In the state’s numbers, we either have fewer people working but are gaining jobs, or have more people working but are losing jobs.
Please weigh in on the credibility of these numbers.
Addendum: Please see economist Dave Ribar’s helpful explanation in the comments below.”
UNCG more college graduates will boost economy, UNCG UNC schools increased tuition and health care, Other people’s money mentality, College graduates cannot find jobs
“Guilford (Large NC County) appears on it’s way to a third consecutive year with annual jobless rates in double digits. Economists say that likely hasn’t happened since the Great Depression.”…Greensboro News Record December 2, 2011
“…and Socialist governments traditionally do make a financial mess. They [socialists] always run out of other people’s money. It’s quite a characteristic of them.”…Margaret Thatcher
“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command. His heart sank as he thought of the enormous power arrayed against him, the ease with which any Party intellectual would overthrow him in debate, the subtle arguments which he would not be able to understand, much less answer. And yet he was in the right! They were wrong and he was right. The obvious, the silly, and the true had got to be defended. Truisms are true, hold on to that! The solid world exists, its laws do not change. Stones are hard, water is wet, objects unsupported fall towards the earth’s centre. With the feeling that he was speaking to O’Brien, and also that he was setting forth an important axiom, he wrote:
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.”…George Orwell, “1984”
More PP, pedagogy platitudes from the Obama crowd, the folks who thrive on spending other people’s money.
From the Greensboro News Record July 8, 2012.
“Success comes down to a matter of degrees”
“UNCG officials say helping more people finish college will boost area’s economic vitality”
“Guilford County needs more people like Greta Germino . Lots of them.
Next spring, Germino — a 33-year-old single mom who dropped out of college at 19 — will finally graduate.
Getting a nutrition degree should help Germino financially.
“I decided to go back because I value education and I know you need a degree in this economy,” she said. “I could always make more money. Who couldn’t?”
Germino’s return to college also will help the local economy, provided that thousands of other Guilford residents join her in completing degrees they started but never finished.
Increasingly, economists, educators and business leaders have focused on the link between a community’s economic vitality and its college attainment rate.
Research shows that for every 1 percent a region improves its attainment rate, its per capita income jumps $763.
“It’s all about skills — who has them and who doesn’t,” said Dewayne Matthews , a vice president at the Lumina Foundation for Education in Indianapolis. “A lot of people knew that skills mattered, but it was not something that people focused on.”
Since the onset of the recession, that has changed.
And now that focus has come to Guilford County.
A group of UNCG officials want to significantly boost the county’s college attainment level in the coming years, a move they believe will significantly help the area’s struggling economy.
On Sept. 11 , they will call together 40 to 50 government, education and foundation leaders to look for ways to encourage people like Germino to go back to school and get their degrees.
“This is an economic thrust to help this community thrive,” said Steve Roberson , UNCG’s dean of undergraduate studies , who pushed the idea of the gathering. “We have to become known as a destination city for economic development. I don’t know any better way to do it.””
“Winners include such places as the Raleigh metro area, where 41 percent of residents have a college degree. The Charlotte region has a rate of 32.2 percent , which is about the national average for all metros.
But the Greensboro-High Point metro area, a three-county area that includes Guilford, Rockingham and Randolph counties, comes in at just 25.6 percent , well behind the rate for the nation and its two largest neighbors.”
“Initially, UNCG officials want local leaders to focus their efforts on Guilford County, which has a college attainment rate of nearly 42 percent , slightly above the national average.
Guilford’s rate far outpaces those of its metro partners, Randolph (22.3 percent) and Rockingham (21.8 percent).”
“Currently, Guilford has more than 67,000 people who started degrees but never finished college. That’s about 21 percent of the work force.”
More college graduates will boost the economy of UNCG & other colleges. I am in favor of reality based education with real world based goals. However we are fundamentally funding college degree, ideological indoctrination mills.
What we need is less government and more entrepreneurs to create jobs.
The argument put forward in this article is flawed on several levels. First, and most hypocritical is their concern for people getting an education while they have spent like drunken sailors in recent years and raised both tuition and healthcare costs. I spoke to a UNCG student this morning who was just hit with the large healthcare cost increase on top of the tuition increase. He works and uses student loans to support his family. This is creating a hardship.
From Citizen Wells February 12, 2012.
“Amid chants of protest from about 100 students, the UNC Board of Governors this morning approved President Tom Ross’ proposal for tuition and
fee hikes over the next two years.
Ross’ plan would raise tuition by an average of 8.8 percent across the system and keeps increases below 10 percent on every campus.
UNCG’s in-state undergraduates would see a $423, or 7.5 percent, increase in tuition and fees under Ross’ plan. Trustees had sought an increase of 7.8
percent.”
“The state mandates that at least 25 percent of the money from the tuition dollars go toward financial aid for needy students. Some board members recently have spoken out about that requirement, saying it essentially calls for students, who themselves may be struggling, to subsidize the education of other students.”
“Welcome to the world of socialism, redistribution of wealth. In a way I am glad this is happening. A real world example of taking from the “rich” and giving to the “poor.””
“Obama spoke recently at UNC, The University of NC, and presented more of his Orwellian lies about education costs and helping students.
Obama and the Democrats have a problem in NC.
UNC system schools recently announced tuition increases.
The unemployment rate in NC is among the highest in the nation. Those about to graduate face bleak prospects.
And despite Obama’s lies about Obama Care reducing the cost of health care, UNC students just found out that their health care insurance is increasing significantly.”
“On top of rising tuition and fees, those UNC system students who buy the university-sponsored health insurance plan will face steep premium increases in the next academic year.
The cost of health insurance will climb from a range of $61 to $77 monthly to a range of $118 to $133 monthly, according to a memo sent from UNC President Tom Ross to the UNC Board of Governors. On an annual basis, most students will pay about $500 to $700 more in 2012-13, depending on the campus.”
UNCG officials are urging people to graduate from college to boost the local economy. How does that square with the following.
From the Greensboro News Record June 18, 2012.
“It’s not often that our part of the world comes in first in anything . But economist Don Jud has found an example. And it’s a biggie.
In recent months, Jud says, the Greensboro-High Point metro area has far outpaced state and national averages for employment growth in goods production.
That means companies in Guilford, Rockingham and Randolph counties, which make up the local metro area, are hiring people to make stuff.
“That’s the best news I know,” Jud said.
But there’s just one problem: Jud and others can’t say with any certainty why we’re doing so much better than everyone else.
“I think I have spotted a trend,” said Jud, who defined goods-producing jobs as those in construction and manufacturing. “Why it is ongoing and how likely it is to continue, I really don’t know.”
Jud said that from April 2011 to April 2012, goods-producing employment in the area increased 6 percent. That compares to a 1.8 percent growth rate nationally and just 0.2 percent for North Carolina.
During those 12 months, Jud said, employment in the local metro has grown by 5,200 jobs, with more than 75 percent of that coming from the goods-producing sector.
Area people involved in economic development welcomed the surge.”
Chief Justice Roberts decision that of Washington Insider, John Roberts in DC too long, John Hammer Rhino Times, Greensboro Obamacare truth in print
“Nobody who makes under $200,000 a year will see their taxes go up as long as I’m president.”…Barack Obama
“I absolutely reject that notion [mandate is a tax].”…Barack Obama
“It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is. Those who apply the rule to particular cases, must of necessity
expound and interpret that rule. If two laws conflict with each other, the courts must decide on the operation of each.”…Marbury vs Madison
From John Hammer of the Rhino Times, in print in Greensboro, NC, July 5, 2012.
“Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court John Roberts threw everybody for a loop last week.
Both Fox and CNN reported on the Supreme Court ruling on Obamacare wrong the first time around. Which is understandable because days later pundits are still trying to make sense of what happened.
One of my favorite pieces so far is by Thomas Friedman of The New York Times, who, of course, praises Roberts for putting his country above partisan politics by using creativity and “finding a way to greenlight Obama’s Affordable Care Act.”
Friedman credits Roberts with putting partisan politics aside and doing what was best for the country. It is such an arrogant, closed-minded liberal world view it would be funny if it weren’t such a serious issue. Shoot, it is funny. According to Friedman the liberal view is what is best for the country. This is a fact. So Roberts is to be congratulated for putting his conservative ideals, which are by definition bad for the country, aside and figuring out a way to twist the law into a pretzel that says Obamacare is constitutional. To believe Friedman you have to accept his premise that what conservatives believe is not and cannot be good for the country, and when conservatives can put aside their own beliefs they can sometimes manage to work for the good of the country. You either have to laugh or cry. I choose laughing.
Here’s an explanation I haven’t read anywhere, but it seems possible. The problem is that Roberts has spent too much time in Washington. People talk about getting inside-the-Beltway syndrome, and maybe Roberts has been in Washington for so long he believes that the extreme left-wing views that dominate Washington are the norm for the nation. Or he doesn’t believe it, but like living in a town with a paper mill, after a while you think stench is normal. It’s tough for conservatives living in Washington because it doesn’t matter how big a majority the Republicans have in Congress, in Washington conservatives are a tiny minority of the population that usually dash to Capital Hill and then back to Reagan National Airport and somewhere more normal.
Maybe Roberts has been in Washington so long, he believes that the opinions you hear in restaurants, coffee shops and on the metro are the norm. Of course, it’s hard to imagine Roberts in a coffee shop or on the metro, but it could happen.
Look at President George Walker Bush. He was convinced that people wouldn’t be that upset about a tax increase. It’s hard for a president to get out and mingle, but he should have been told that the rest of the country didn’t like the idea of a tax increase from a president who had been in every corner of the country saying, “read my lips, no new taxes.” In Washington, it was considered par for the course. There are politicians everywhere in Washington and nobody except someone straight in from the countryside believes anything they say. The voters in Washington elected Marion Barry after he had been convicted of possession of cocaine. It’s a different world.
On the good side of the Roberts’ judicial reasoning is that it has now been established without a doubt that Obamacare is being paid for with a tax. It is also definitely a tax on the middle class, and President Barack Hussein Obama has promised over and over he would not raise taxes on the middle class. According to some estimates this represents by far the largest tax increase in history and will result in over $1 trillion in new taxes.
Imagine how much more power it gives to the federal government to take an additional $1 trillion out of the private economy and decide where and how it will be spent.
The other parts of the ruling really are good news. Finally there is some check on the federal government forcing the states to do whatever it wants by withholding funds. The federal government might have to use reason or compromise in the future. One state legislator has told me that North Carolina won’t be able to afford the new Medicaid provisions, and North Carolina is not alone.
One of the most interesting articles to come out of the Supreme Court decision is by Jan Crawford of CBS News, who evidently has great sources inside the Supreme Court. She reports that Justice Anthony Kennedy was relentless in his pursuit of Roberts, attempting to get Roberts back in the conservative fold.
Those on the outside had figured that Kennedy would be the conservative judge to vote with the liberals, but according to this report, which seems to be generally accepted as true, Kennedy was the one who wouldn’t accept the fact that Roberts had changed sides.
Here is another theory about Roberts. This was his one attempt at being a wild and crazy guy. Some men have a midlife crisis and go after younger women and some buy a red convertible. Perhaps some very conservative chief justices of the Supreme Court who, from reading their bios, never really did anything fun in their lives, decide to try something “Crazy, man, crazy” and vote with the liberals on a big case.
Human beings are very strange creatures and anything is possible.”
Alamance County NC Sheriff Terry Johnson, US Justice Dept. lawsuit, Thomas E. Perez Assistant Attorney General, 2008 voter fraud concerns, Latino bias or USDOJ retribution?
“Those who cannot remember the past, are condemned to repeat it,”…George Santayana
“We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.”…Abraham Lincoln
“Our Constitution is in actual operation; everything appears to promise
that it will last; but nothing in this world is certain but death and
taxes.”…Benjamin Franklin
It is fitting and proper that I present this article to you on July 4, 2012, the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
Many of you are aware of battles and patriotic activity leading up to and during the American Revolution in NC. The Tryon Resolves were signed in August 1775, just west of Charlotte, NC. A Mecklenburg Declaration was apparently signed around the same time but no copy survives.
Perhaps less well known is the Battle of Alamance. Alamance County is just a few miles east of Greensboro, where the Battle of Guilford Courthouse took place and the birthplace of Dolley Madison. The Battle of Alamance took place on May 16, 1771, 5 years before the official start of the American Revolution.
From the Alamance Battleground Historic site.
“On this site in 1771, an armed rebellion of backcountry farmers — called Regulators — battled against royal governor William Tryon’s militia. Visitors can tour the 18th-century Allen House and battlefield monuments. These features, together with the visitor center’s DVD orientation program, offer a vivid account of this colonial battle, as well as the oppressive British colonial policies that sparked the revolt.
“He gave the Regulators a choice — to return peacefully to their homes or be fired upon. They had one hour to decide. After the hour was up Tryon sent an officer to receive their reply. ‘Fire and be damned!’ was their answer. The governor then gave the order, but his men hesitated. Rising in his stirrups, he shouted, ‘Fire! Fire on them or on me!’ The militia obeyed, the Regulators responded in kind, and the battle of Alamance was on.””
“During the years leading up to the American Revolution many North Carolina people became strongly discontented with the way the provincial government was handling the colony’s affairs. However, their quarrel was not with the form of government or the colony’s laws but with abuses by government officials.
Grievances affecting the daily lives of the colonists included excessive taxes, dishonest sheriffs, and illegal fees. Scarcity of money contributed to the state of unrest. Those living in the western part of the province were isolated and unsympathetic with the easterners and it was in those frontier counties that the War of the Regulation began.”
History does repeat and today there is another controversy involving a sheriff in Alamance County NC and the US Justice Department.
From News 14 June 24, 2012.
“Alamance County, Sheriff, Sheriff’s Office sued by Justice Dept.”
“After months of attempting to work with the Alamance County Sheriff’s Office, the United States Department of Justice says it’s now filing suit.
In a complaint, the DOJ states it’s currently conducting an investigation into whether there’s a pattern of biased policing against the Latino community by the Alamance County Sheriff’s Office and that some employees fear retaliation against themselves or family members if they speak with federal investigators.
But on Friday afternoon Sheriff Terry Johnson said that’s not so.
“The allegations that the Alamance County Sheriff’s Office has denied access to personnel is not true. Neither myself or the command staff have forbidden any personnel from speaking with the United States Department of Justice,” Sheriff Johnson said.
At the heart of the lawsuit, whether the Sheriff’s attorney should be in the room while Justice Department investigators interview employees. The DOJ says the attorney should not be there. It’s a move Sheriff Johnson says violates his personal rights.
“The Department of Justice, has been made aware that the Sheriff’s attorney has a right to be present during questioning of deputies, since deputies through their acts of omission can bind the Sheriff,” Johnson added.
The Department of Justice says they’ve been trying since July of last year to get the Sheriff’s Office to voluntarily comply, and decided to sue when all other measure had failed.
But Johnson says he and his personnel have made repeated attempts to meet with the Department of Justice most recently on May 23, offers he says they declined.
“The Alamance County Sheriff’s Office has always welcomed constructive dialogue with the United States Department of Justice, and continues to seek ways to resolve this dispute,” Sheriff Johnson said.
According to the complaint, the Department of Justice initially opened a preliminary inquiry into allegations that the Sheriff’s office was engaged in discriminatory law enforcement activities back in November of 2009.
“The Justice Department filed a lawsuit today against the Alamance County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO), Alamance County and Alamance County Sheriff Terry Johnson seeking a judicial declaration that department attorneys may interview particular ACSO personnel outside the presence of ACSO’s counsel.”
““It is unfortunate that the department was forced to resort to litigation when the applicable ethical rules are so clear in this instance,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “A judicial decision will allow the department to move forward with the investigation.””
I do not have all the facts in this case. I hope to find out more soon. However, this is what I do know.
From Citizen Wells November 2, 2011.
“The following controversy in NC received brief national attention in 2008.
From the Alamance County Sheriff’s Ofice, Alamance County Health Department Investigation, 2008.
(Alamance County is just east of Greensboro)
“On Monday June 23rd, 2008 the SBI initiated an
investigation into allegations that employees of the
Alamance County Health Department specifically Dr.
Kathleen Shapley-Quinn and Nurse Karen Saxer were
knowingly and willingly falsifying patient medical
records.”
“At the request of some patients, Alamance
County Health Department provided work
notes and prescriptions in alias names.
Providing these services would assist illegal
aliens with maintaining assumed or stolen
identities, which may be a violation of state, or
federal law. (Identity Theft, Fraud, etc.)”
“The staff was divided with some believing the practice of writing
work notes (utilizing aliases) to suspected illegal aliens was wrong
and therefore they refused to do so. Subsequently they reported
feeling pressured or feared repercussions.
Others, particularly Shapely-Quinn and Saxer believed the
guidance they had sought and received was vague at best, but
believed their actions did not violate the law and they were
providing care for their patients. Furthermore, according to
them, an illegal alien can not be refused medical care.”
“On more than one occasion Nurse Karen Saxer at the
direction of Dr. Shapley-Quinn prepared or made
health related employer work notes for patients under
alias names, knowing that the names on the documents
were in fact not the birth name or legal name of the
patient.”
“Veronica Arias, of Texas, reported on May 2nd, 2008 to
the ACSO that someone in Swepsonville, NC had
stolen her identity and was using same to be employed.
Maria Sanchez was arrested on May 6, 2008 by
investigators of the Alamance County Sheriff’s Office
for stealing and using the identity of Veronica Arias.
Sanchez used the name, SSN, DOB, of Veronica Arias
who is a living resident of Texas.”
Thomas E. Perez, the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division who is taking the action against the Alamance County Sheriff. Where have you heard his name before?
From Judicial Watch September 20, 2010.
“Records Contradict Testimony by Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez”
“Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has forced disclosure of the existence of documents from the Department of Justice (DOJ) indicating Democratic election lawyer Sam Hirsch was involved in the DOJ decision to dismiss its voting rights case against the New Black Panther Party for Self Defense. The records, described in a Vaughn index produced pursuant to a Judicial Watch Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, contradict sworn testimony by Thomas Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, who testified before the U.S. Civil Rights Commission that no political leadership was involved in the decision (Judicial Watch v. Department of Justice (No. 10-851)).”
“The New Black Panther case was the simplest and most obvious violation of federal law I saw in my Justice Department career. Because of the corrupt nature of the dismissal, statements falsely characterizing the case and, most of all, indefensible orders for the career attorneys not to comply with lawful subpoenas investigating the dismissal, this month I resigned my position as a Department of Justice (DOJ) attorney.”
“Based on my firsthand experiences, I believe the dismissal of the Black Panther case was motivated by a lawless hostility toward equal enforcement of the law. Others still within the department share my assessment. The department abetted wrongdoers and abandoned law-abiding citizens victimized by the New Black Panthers. The dismissal raises serious questions about the department’s enforcement neutrality in upcoming midterm elections and the subsequent 2012 presidential election.”
“The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has opened an investigation into the dismissal and the DOJ’s skewed enforcement priorities. Attorneys who brought the case are under subpoena to testify, but the department ordered us to ignore the subpoena, lawlessly placing us in an unacceptable legal limbo.
The assistant attorney general for civil rights, Tom Perez, has testified repeatedly that the “facts and law” did not support this case. That claim is false. If the actions in Philadelphia do not constitute voter intimidation, it is hard to imagine what would, short of an actual outbreak of violence at the polls. Let’s all hope this administration has not invited that outcome through the corrupt dismissal.
July 4, 2012, Declaration of Independence, John Adams speech, Our Lives our Fortunes and our sacred Honor, Tryon Resolves
“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”…Declaration of Independence
“the painful necessity of having recourse to arms in defense of our National freedom and constitutional rights, against all invasions; and at the same time do solemnly engage to take up arms and risk our lives and our fortunes in maintaining the freedom of our country whenever the wisdom and counsel of the Continental Congress or our Provincial Convention shall declare it necessary; and this engagement we will continue in for the preservation of those rights and liberties which the principals of our Constitution and the laws of God, nature and nations have made it our duty to defend.” …Tryon Resolves, NC, August 14, 1775
“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.”…Thomas Paine
“John Adams speech before the Continental Congress on Freedom and the reading of The Declaration Of Independence”
IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
My ancestor, John Wells signed the Tryon Resolves in August 1775. His house, begun during the revolution, is still standing.
The Tryon Resolves
“The unprecedented, barbarous and bloody actions committed by British troops on our American brethren near Boston, on 19th April and 20th of May last, together with the hostile operations and treacherous designs now carrying on, by the tools of ministerial vengeance, for the subjugation of all British America, suggest to us the painful necessity of having recourse to arms in defense of our National freedom and constitutional rights, against all invasions; and at the same time do solemnly engage to take up arms and risk our lives and our fortunes in maintaining the freedom of our country whenever the wisdom and counsel of the Continental Congress or our Provincial Convention shall declare it necessary; and this engagement we will continue in for the preservation of those rights and liberties which the principals of our Constitution and the laws of God, nature and nations have made it our duty to defend. We therefore, the subscribers, freeholders and inhabitants of Tryon County, do here by faithfully unite ourselves under the most solemn ties of religion, honor and love to our county, firmly to resist force by force, and hold sacred till a reconciliation shall take place between Great Britain and America on Constitutional principals, which we most ardently desire, and do firmly agree to hold all such persons as inimical to the liberties of America who shall refuse to sign this association.”
Unemployment claims June 21, 2012, Initial claims 387000, Decrease 2000?, Moving average increases 3500, NC increases 3148, 13 states increase over 1000
“The United States economy has lost more jobs than it has added since the recovery began over a year ago.”…NY Times Sept. 20, 2010.
“Guilford (Large NC County) appears on it’s way to a third consecutive year with annual jobless rates in double digits. Economists say that likely hasn’t happened since the Great Depression.”…Greensboro News Record December 2, 2011
“the Times of the nineteenth of December had published the official forecasts of the output of various classes of consumption goods in the fourth quarter of 1983, which was also the sixth quarter of the Ninth Three-Year Plan. Today’s issue contained a statement of the actual output, from which it appeared that the forecasts were in every instance grossly wrong. Winston’s job was to rectify the original figures by making them agree with the later ones.”…George Orwell, “1984″
The Unemployment claims data for June 21, 2012 is just in. Initial claims are 387,000 with a decrease of 2,000 claims. The moving average increased 3,500. However, the big story is the number of states and the amount of increases in claims. NC is one of them.
From the US Labor Department June 21, 2012.
“In the week ending June 16, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 387,000, a decrease of 2,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 389,000. The 4-week moving average was 386,250, an increase of 3,500 from the previous week’s revised average of 382,750.”
STATES WITH A DECREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000
State
Change
State Supplied Comment
None
STATES WITH AN INCREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000
State
Change
State Supplied Comment
CA
+12,987
Layoffs in the service industry.
PA
+7,036
Layoffs in the transportation, entertainment, lodging, food services, educational service, and healthcare and social service industries.
TX
+4,028
No comment.
GA
+3,686
Layoffs in the manufacturing, healthcare and social assistance, administrative service, trade, and construction industries.
NC
+3,148
Layoffs in the nonclassifiable establishments, construction, furniture and fixture, textile, and business industries.
FL
+1,933
Layoffs in the agriculture, construction, manufacturing, trade, retail, and service industries.
SC
+1,845
Layoffs in the manufacturing industry.
MI
+1,838
Modest increase in layoff across most industries.
IL
+1,835
Layoffs in the construction, transportation and warehousing, and administrative service industries.
OH
+1,596
No comment.
NY
+1,561
Layoffs in the manufacturing, healthcare and social assistance, and retail industries.
Greensboro News Record job article misleading, Orwell exuberance or Democrat pressure?, Manufacturing, jobs up in Triad, Economist Don Jud quoted
“The United States economy has lost more jobs than it has added since the recovery began over a year ago.”…NY Times Sept. 20, 2010.
“Guilford (Large NC County) appears on it’s way to a third consecutive year with annual jobless rates in double digits. Economists say that likely hasn’t happened since the Great Depression.”…Greensboro News Record December 2, 2011
“the Times of the nineteenth of December had published the official forecasts of the output of various classes of consumption goods in the fourth quarter of 1983, which was also the sixth quarter of the Ninth Three-Year Plan. Today’s issue contained a statement of the actual output, from which it appeared that the forecasts were in every instance grossly wrong. Winston’s job was to rectify the original figures by making them agree with the later ones.”…George Orwell, “1984″
Donald Patterson and the Greensboro News Record have done a decent job lately of reporting the facts on the NC jobs situation. However, yesterday, June 19, 2012, the front page headline stated:
“Manufacturing, jobs up in Triad”
and the article quoted economist Don Jud to paint a rather rosy picture of the job situation in the triad (largest city Greensboro). Any good news is welcome but this had too close a ring to Obama touting jobs created while omitting the jobs lost and drop in labor force participation rate.
From the Greensboro News Record June 18, 2012.
“It’s not often that our part of the world comes in first in anything . But economist Don Jud has found an example. And it’s a biggie.
In recent months, Jud says, the Greensboro-High Point metro area has far outpaced state and national averages for employment growth in goods production.
That means companies in Guilford, Rockingham and Randolph counties, which make up the local metro area, are hiring people to make stuff.
“That’s the best news I know,” Jud said.
But there’s just one problem: Jud and others can’t say with any certainty why we’re doing so much better than everyone else.
“I think I have spotted a trend,” said Jud, who defined goods-producing jobs as those in construction and manufacturing. “Why it is ongoing and how likely it is to continue, I really don’t know.”
Jud said that from April 2011 to April 2012, goods-producing employment in the area increased 6 percent. That compares to a 1.8 percent growth rate nationally and just 0.2 percent for North Carolina.
During those 12 months, Jud said, employment in the local metro has grown by 5,200 jobs, with more than 75 percent of that coming from the goods-producing sector.
Area people involved in economic development welcomed the surge.”
Now compare the above to the tone of a June report by Economist Don Jud.
“Tracking the Triad Economy
The recovery from the most recent recession which began in July 2009 has generated a very anemic rate of employment growth over the past 34 months. Nationally, employment is up just 2.2% since the recovery began, which is even slower than the tepid 2.3% pace of employment growth registered during the previous two recoveries. In North Carolina, the employment recovery has been even slower, with employment growing just 2.1%. The pace of the employment recovery in the state is much slower than the average 4.2% increase recorded during the first 34 months of recovery following the previous two recessions.
Since the recovery began, employment is up in 9 of the state’s 14 metropolitan areas, but it is lower in 5 areas. The most rapid rate of employment growth has been recorded in Raleigh, with a gain of 4.6%. It is followed by Burlington and Charlotte with gains of 3.9% and 3.8% respectively. The biggest decline in employment was registered in Durham, where employment is down 1.8% since the start of the recovery. It was followed by Rocky Mount with a drop of 1.3%.
The Triad as a whole (which subsumes the Burlington, Greensboro/High Point, and Winston-Salem MSAs) has recorded a 1.2% rate of employment growth since the onset of the current recovery, lagging both the state and the nation.”
Recently I applauded the Charlotte Observer for presenting factual data on jobs.
“Only 1,400 more people had jobs in April. More than 11,000 people left the labor force in April compared to May, the figures show. More than 21,000 people had joined the North Carolina labor force since April a year ago.”
“North Carolina’s unemployment rate was unchanged last month at 9.4 percent, breaking a four-month streak of declining unemployment rates, state officials said toay.
The total number of unemployed North Carolinians dropped by almost 4,000 people, but the rate remained the same because the size of the work force got smaller.
The rate was previously unwavering at 10.7 percent between July and September, but had been gradually declining since October.
North Carolina’s May unemployment rate is 1.1 percentage points lower than its May 2011 rate. The state fares worse than the national rate, which rose slightly to 8.2 percent in May.
“The NC state economy is continuing to not grow at a sufficient enough rate to put much of a dent in the unemployment rate,” said Harry Davis, professor of banking at Appalachian State University. “We simply are not creating enough jobs to lower the unemployment rate and absorb people entering the labor force.”
The largest job creation was in the Trade, Transportation and Utilities sector, which added nearly 2,000 jobs. Government jobs slightly declined by about 700 positions. Davis noted continued declines in the construction and leisure sectors as particularly problematic.
“It’s not making the comeback needed to get the unemployment rate down very much,” Davis said of the construction industry. “It continues to flounder, and if it wasn’t for apartment buildings there wouldn’t be much going on right now.”
The size of the work force in North Carolina continues to shrink. Nearly 10,000 workers left the labor force between April and May.
“Unfortunately, I believe we’re going to live with an unemployment rate in the 9 percents for quite some time, at least for the rest of the year,” Davis said. “Hopefully, that’s not the new norm.””
My impression was that the News Record article was placed at the top of the front page to prop up the economy and Obama, as a kind of peace offering for telling the truth in previous months. Or perhaps it was just exuberance over good news.
Obama birth certificate and Kenya birth in print in NC, Rhino Times, John Hammer, Obama New Party affiliation, Sheriff Joe Arpaio investigation
“Why has Obama, since taking the White House, used Justice Department Attorneys, at taxpayer expense, to avoid presenting a legitimate birth certificate and college records?”…Citizen Wells and millions of concerned Americans
“I do not know where Barack Obama was born. I do know that he has used taxpayer dollars to keep his records hidden.”…Citizen Wells
“The Solomon Bill, requiring students at Columbia and other colleges to register for the draft and references to Obama being born in Kenya until 2008, explain why Obama did not register for the draft and why Obama’s Selective Service Application was forged.”…Citizen Wells
The results of the Sheriff Joe Arpaio investigation of Obama’s birth certificate, Selective Service Application and other records are beginning to surface and a news conference is expected soon. Press coverage, though often biased is increasing. It is good to see Obama questioned in print in NC.
From John Hammer of the Rhino Times June 14, 2012.
“Finally some reporters are doing some investigation of the life of President Obama. The left has done a great job of making anyone who asks any questions about Obama’s past out to be crazy.
People who just wanted to see Obama’s birth certificate, not anymore than Obama would have to show if he wanted to play Little League baseball, are called “birthers” and are by definition the same folks who see black helicopters hovering over their houses every night. The left has done a remarkably good job of defining people who just wanted to see proof that Obama was born in the United States as nutcases. His Republican opponent in that last election, Sen. John McCain, went to court and proved that even though he was born in Panama, he met the definition of a “natural born citizen.” Obama facing the same challenge went to court and said that he didn’t have to prove that he was a “natural born citizen.”
As it turns out, people had good reason to ask that question about Obama, because for years Obama claimed to have been born in Kenya. He was listed as born in Kenya in his publisher’s biography. That was no doubt done to boost book sales, but it is either evidence that Obama was born in Kenya or evidence that he is not a very honest person. In some of the information about Obama when he was running for the Senate is information that Obama was born in Kenya. Once again it makes him seem more exotic and was supposed to win him more votes, and unless you’re running for president it doesn’t make any difference where you were born.
Now we find out that Obama was a member of the far left-wing New Party. He joined when he ran for the Illinois State Senate. The head of the New Party said the New Party didn’t have members, but according to the party’s own documents, they did have members – and Obama was one of them. Two separate documents confirm that Obama joined the New Party on Jan. 11, 1996.
It should not be startling that Obama was a member of a far left-wing part of the Democratic Party when you consider the church that Obama attended for over 20 years and then tossed off as if he were not really a member of that either.
Obama is way far left, and the longer he is in government the more he proves it. The goal of the New Party was to move the US government toward the European social democracy model. From his actions and statements it appears that is consistent with Obama’s position, although in light of what is going on in Europe right now, it seems he might want to rethink that.
, , ,
Two interesting polls have come out in the past week. One shows that in North Carolina Obama is rapidly losing black voters and the other shows that in New York Obama is losing Jewish voters at a rapid rate. Obama’s support among Jewish voters in New York has dropped 22 points in the past month. Both make sense. Blacks are being hit harder by this down economy than whites, and Obama has treated Israel badly every opportunity he has had.”
Citizen WElls 