Kirk e-mails to note Jude of Iddybud today. Kirk wants everyone to know that there's a great piece on John Edwards and he also found this of interest:
At the One America website, Cate Edwards has blogged about a new organization which was started by Adrian and Devin Talbott after the last election. It's called Generation Engage, and it is a non-partisan group geared towards getting young people involved in the world of politics. Generation Engage allows its members to become a part of something bigger, a national movement of engaged young people committed to ensuring that their voices are heard. Young people have been unable to unite or coalesce behind a single issue or organization, as other age groups and demographics have. Generation Engage hopes to create a network that defines itself by inclusion, a community that welcomes and joins all young people in a national political discourse.
Shawn e-mailed to highlight RDF at Corrente:
I'm trying hard to make sense of the economic news. Granted, I'm no economist, and I'm lousy at capitalism, but I'm reasonably intelligent and should be able to figure this out. Unless the idea is to make it so complicated that nobody can figure it out.
First, jobs were added in April, but mostly from what I can tell, McJobs in the "retail and service sectors," while manufacturing is still tanking. So, jobs that don't pay well or carry benefits are being added.
Yet, "consumer confidence" is down, and unemployment remains the same.
The logic of this defies me. If consumers aren't buying, how in the hell are jobs being added in retail and services? Unless we're talking about dollar stores and Waljobs (which is like a job, but not really). And how does unemployment stay the same when jobs are being added? It must be a numbers game. Especially when I hear about all of these massive layoffs.
Economic growth is dropping, but productivity is up. So, more people are working harder to produce more, but that doesn't translate into growth. Huh? And, in my simple mind, if the jobs that are mostly available are in retail or service, what the hell are these workers producing at a greater rate? Ten McBurgers a minute instead of five? Five shoe sales an hour instead of three?
Melissa e-mails to note that at Big Brass Blog, Pam's been "covering the Jim West story from the start." Melissa notes this from Pam today:
Well folks, I am still in the thick of things gathering the facts about our lovely homo-bigot mayor. In the meantime, I thought I would post some comments from his peers in the area.
Sen. Jim Honeyford, R-Sunnyside, said from what he's read, "it's a pretty sad situation for Jim ... It will be very difficult for him, if these allegations are true."
Honeyford, a Republican leader in Olympia, said he and his party oppose issues such as gay marriage because, he said, homosexuality is immoral.
He said West "must have kept his personal life separate from his political life." If West is gay, Honeyford said, he would be at odds with GOP values.
"For the Republican mainstream I would say, yes, probably it would be incompatible."
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
