State of the Union: Shitty
I've heard a lot of the talking heads refer to much of Bush's acceptance speech at HateFest 2004 (RNC) as something like a State of the Union address. Well, for what it's worth, here's my little shadow State of the Union.
1. The economy sucks for just about everyone but corporate America.
From alternet:
No matter how you slice it, most US workers are worse off than they were at this time last year.
The average real wage – that is, adjusted for inflation – has actually fallen over the past year. This is in spite of the fact that the economy has grown by 4.7 percent. In other words, even when the economy is growing, most of the people who make it grow aren't getting anything out of it.
And, from USAToday:
Jobs in lower-wage industries and regions are growing at a faster pace than higher-wage jobs, suggesting job growth is less potent for the economy because the majority of new work isn't accompanied by fat paychecks
And from The Detroit Free Press:
Frank Gloster's pay hasn't gone up in three years. The 60-year-old grandfather of two, a grinder for a Westland gear and machine parts maker, is frustrated, feeling he was better off years ago, if not decades ago.
"It's an awful feeling. I looked into a 401(k) and realized I didn't have the money for it," Gloster said, leaning into his workbench. "I had more spare money when I made $7 an hour back in the 1970s."
Numerous studies by the government and business bear out that sinking feeling: Wages have indeed been falling or stagnating across America during the last three years. The Labor Department, IRS and the Census Bureau, various economists and employee-compensation firms have all come to a similar conclusion.
During the last three years, total U.S. compensation, including wages and benefits, has been growing eight times slower than normal, according to one new study.
Employees and economists have come up with a new term for this current trend: A joyless recovery.
2. Iraq is a fuck up of truly epic proportions.
From The Age:
A massive car bomb exploded on the outskirts of the Iraqi city of Fallujah, killing seven United States Marines and wounding several others, a US military official said.
The attack 15km north of Fallujah - a stronghold for Sunni insurgents - destroyed two Humvees, witnesses said.
In Baghdad, three US soldiers were wounded in a roadside bombing. The explosion was one of three separate attacks on coalition forces within an hour.
The force of the car bomb outside Fallujah sent the vehicle's engine "a good distance" from the site, a military official said on condition of anonymity.
US forces have not patrolled inside Fallujah since April, when US Marines ended a three-week siege. The city has since fallen into the hands of insurgents who have used it as a base to manufacture car bombs and launch attacks on US and Iraqi government forces.
And from The Daily Star:
KIRKUK, Iraq: A pipeline supplying gas to a major electrical plant south of the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk was attacked Monday, a local police official said.
"This morning at 07:25 GMT, unknown attackers set fire to a gas pipeline in the Taza region" some 20 kilometres south of Kirkuk, police colonel Ali Mustashar al-Obeidi said.
Sabah Shaku, an official from the Northern Electricity Co, said that the attack "had serious consequences for the Bayji electrical plant which produces 400 megawatts per day and supplies the whole of northern Iraq."
And This:
Insurgents in Iraq have kidnapped more than 100 people in their campaign to drive out coalition forces and hamper reconstruction:
HOSTAGES KILLED
Twelve Nepalese workers. One beheaded and 11 shot in the head and killed in a video posted on an Islamic Web site Aug. 31. The men worked for a Jordan-based construction company.
Murat Yuce, of Turkey. Shot and killed in video made public Aug. 2. Worked for Bilintur, Turkish company providing laundry service for Jordanian firm in Iraq.
Raja Azad, 49, engineer, and Sajad Naeem, 29, driver, both Pakistani, working for Kuwaiti-based firm. Slain July 28. Group calling itself Islamic Army in Iraq said they were killed because Pakistan considering sending troops to Iraq.
Georgi Lazov, 30, and Ivaylo Kepov, 32, Bulgarian truck drivers. Militants loyal to Jordanian terror suspect Abu Musab al-Zarqawi are suspected of decapitating both men.
U.S. Army Spc. Keith M. Maupin, 20, of Batavia, Ohio. He disappeared April 9. Arab television reported June 29 that he was killed but the U.S. military could not confirm that.
Kim Sun-il, 33, South Korea translator. Beheaded June 22 by al-Qaida-linked group.
Hussein Ali Alyan, 26, Lebanese construction worker. Found shot to death June 12. Lebanese Foreign Ministry says killers sought ransom, not political goal.
Fabrizio Quattrocchi, 35, Italian security guard. Killed April 14. Previously unknown group, the Green Battalion, claimed responsibility.
Nicholas Berg, 26, American businessman. Beheaded by al-Qaida-linked group after being kidnapped in April.
Enzo Baldoni, Italian journalist. Reported killed Aug. 26 by militants.
And this from the SFGate totally underscores the point that these idiots don't know what the fuck they're doing:
The Bush administration is preparing to seek congressional approval to divert $3.3 billion earmarked to rebuild Iraq's shattered infrastructure into programs focused mainly to establish law and order.
The move comes against a backdrop of steadily deteriorating public security in the country as it approaches a crucial first round of elections set for January.
Those working on the changes said the proposed reallocation amounts to nearly one-fifth of the $18.4 billion Congress approved last November to rebuild Iraq. They said the shift would delay vital electricity, water and sewage projects -- all crucial to restoring Iraq's economy and building public support for the country's struggling interim government.
Instead, the money would go to an array of other programs, including $1.8 billion to strengthen the government's shaky security organizations and additional funds to soak up unemployment. In a country where idle men with little hope for work make easy recruits for a virulent insurgency, job creation is closely linked to improved security.
In part, the changes reflect a reordering of priorities after the June 28 transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqis from the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority that administered the nation after the fall of Saddam Hussein. That shift left U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte, rather than CPA administrator Paul Bremer, the highest-ranking American in the country.
Oh, yeah...don't forget this either:
This Sucks!
More to come...I just can't take anymore. But I will leave you with this final thought: Looking at the poll numbers I've come to the realization that Bush may get elected, although I can't understand what the motivation is behind this decision. I'm reminded of the old P.T. Barnum saying, "You'll never go broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public". I think he might be right here, and I'm tempted to just live with the fact that this country is overfilled with narrow-minded dipshits that are going to regret this decision..but the hard way. I'm tempted to tell these assholes that they get what they ask for, and then watch the ship sink. The only problem is that I'm on board.
1. The economy sucks for just about everyone but corporate America.
From alternet:
No matter how you slice it, most US workers are worse off than they were at this time last year.
The average real wage – that is, adjusted for inflation – has actually fallen over the past year. This is in spite of the fact that the economy has grown by 4.7 percent. In other words, even when the economy is growing, most of the people who make it grow aren't getting anything out of it.
And, from USAToday:
Jobs in lower-wage industries and regions are growing at a faster pace than higher-wage jobs, suggesting job growth is less potent for the economy because the majority of new work isn't accompanied by fat paychecks
And from The Detroit Free Press:
Frank Gloster's pay hasn't gone up in three years. The 60-year-old grandfather of two, a grinder for a Westland gear and machine parts maker, is frustrated, feeling he was better off years ago, if not decades ago.
"It's an awful feeling. I looked into a 401(k) and realized I didn't have the money for it," Gloster said, leaning into his workbench. "I had more spare money when I made $7 an hour back in the 1970s."
Numerous studies by the government and business bear out that sinking feeling: Wages have indeed been falling or stagnating across America during the last three years. The Labor Department, IRS and the Census Bureau, various economists and employee-compensation firms have all come to a similar conclusion.
During the last three years, total U.S. compensation, including wages and benefits, has been growing eight times slower than normal, according to one new study.
Employees and economists have come up with a new term for this current trend: A joyless recovery.
2. Iraq is a fuck up of truly epic proportions.
From The Age:
A massive car bomb exploded on the outskirts of the Iraqi city of Fallujah, killing seven United States Marines and wounding several others, a US military official said.
The attack 15km north of Fallujah - a stronghold for Sunni insurgents - destroyed two Humvees, witnesses said.
In Baghdad, three US soldiers were wounded in a roadside bombing. The explosion was one of three separate attacks on coalition forces within an hour.
The force of the car bomb outside Fallujah sent the vehicle's engine "a good distance" from the site, a military official said on condition of anonymity.
US forces have not patrolled inside Fallujah since April, when US Marines ended a three-week siege. The city has since fallen into the hands of insurgents who have used it as a base to manufacture car bombs and launch attacks on US and Iraqi government forces.
And from The Daily Star:
KIRKUK, Iraq: A pipeline supplying gas to a major electrical plant south of the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk was attacked Monday, a local police official said.
"This morning at 07:25 GMT, unknown attackers set fire to a gas pipeline in the Taza region" some 20 kilometres south of Kirkuk, police colonel Ali Mustashar al-Obeidi said.
Sabah Shaku, an official from the Northern Electricity Co, said that the attack "had serious consequences for the Bayji electrical plant which produces 400 megawatts per day and supplies the whole of northern Iraq."
And This:
Insurgents in Iraq have kidnapped more than 100 people in their campaign to drive out coalition forces and hamper reconstruction:
HOSTAGES KILLED
Twelve Nepalese workers. One beheaded and 11 shot in the head and killed in a video posted on an Islamic Web site Aug. 31. The men worked for a Jordan-based construction company.
Murat Yuce, of Turkey. Shot and killed in video made public Aug. 2. Worked for Bilintur, Turkish company providing laundry service for Jordanian firm in Iraq.
Raja Azad, 49, engineer, and Sajad Naeem, 29, driver, both Pakistani, working for Kuwaiti-based firm. Slain July 28. Group calling itself Islamic Army in Iraq said they were killed because Pakistan considering sending troops to Iraq.
Georgi Lazov, 30, and Ivaylo Kepov, 32, Bulgarian truck drivers. Militants loyal to Jordanian terror suspect Abu Musab al-Zarqawi are suspected of decapitating both men.
U.S. Army Spc. Keith M. Maupin, 20, of Batavia, Ohio. He disappeared April 9. Arab television reported June 29 that he was killed but the U.S. military could not confirm that.
Kim Sun-il, 33, South Korea translator. Beheaded June 22 by al-Qaida-linked group.
Hussein Ali Alyan, 26, Lebanese construction worker. Found shot to death June 12. Lebanese Foreign Ministry says killers sought ransom, not political goal.
Fabrizio Quattrocchi, 35, Italian security guard. Killed April 14. Previously unknown group, the Green Battalion, claimed responsibility.
Nicholas Berg, 26, American businessman. Beheaded by al-Qaida-linked group after being kidnapped in April.
Enzo Baldoni, Italian journalist. Reported killed Aug. 26 by militants.
And this from the SFGate totally underscores the point that these idiots don't know what the fuck they're doing:
The Bush administration is preparing to seek congressional approval to divert $3.3 billion earmarked to rebuild Iraq's shattered infrastructure into programs focused mainly to establish law and order.
The move comes against a backdrop of steadily deteriorating public security in the country as it approaches a crucial first round of elections set for January.
Those working on the changes said the proposed reallocation amounts to nearly one-fifth of the $18.4 billion Congress approved last November to rebuild Iraq. They said the shift would delay vital electricity, water and sewage projects -- all crucial to restoring Iraq's economy and building public support for the country's struggling interim government.
Instead, the money would go to an array of other programs, including $1.8 billion to strengthen the government's shaky security organizations and additional funds to soak up unemployment. In a country where idle men with little hope for work make easy recruits for a virulent insurgency, job creation is closely linked to improved security.
In part, the changes reflect a reordering of priorities after the June 28 transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqis from the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority that administered the nation after the fall of Saddam Hussein. That shift left U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte, rather than CPA administrator Paul Bremer, the highest-ranking American in the country.
Oh, yeah...don't forget this either:
This Sucks!
More to come...I just can't take anymore. But I will leave you with this final thought: Looking at the poll numbers I've come to the realization that Bush may get elected, although I can't understand what the motivation is behind this decision. I'm reminded of the old P.T. Barnum saying, "You'll never go broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public". I think he might be right here, and I'm tempted to just live with the fact that this country is overfilled with narrow-minded dipshits that are going to regret this decision..but the hard way. I'm tempted to tell these assholes that they get what they ask for, and then watch the ship sink. The only problem is that I'm on board.
posted by Barwise at 3:36 PM
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