Are We More Unemployed Now?

Short answer: Yes. Unemployment is higher now than it was when Bush was in office.

Long answer: Yes. Unemployment was high when he took office in Januaury of 2009, at 11919 (number in thousands) when Obama took office. The month before was at 11400, and before that 10617. Did Obama get caught in some of Bush's leftovers? Yes, every president does to some degree. Null point.

At the one year mark of his presidency Barrack Obama hit at 14837, an increase 4220 over when he took office. Unemployment jumped from %7.7 to %9.7, an entire %2 in just one year of office, when Bush left office the percent of unemployment was %7.4 and the month before that at %6.9.

Current unemployment percentage is at %9.5, an increase of %.2. During the Great Depression the peak unemployment rate was %24.9, important to note that the unemployment rate today is calculated differently than it was during the Great Depression era. By the Great Depression era's calculation we would have to add 15 to our existing percent giving us %24.5, just shy of the peak unemployment during the Great Depression.

So where are the jobs going? The same place they've been going for decades, overseas.

Click here to see the data used through this report.

Diggers Realm: Los Zetas seize ranches

This story circulated on Sunday the 24th. It hasn't been confirmed by police, local news or really any other credible source. Kimberly Dvorak of Examiner.com confirmed the story later, and later after that another source at the same site debunked the claim.

I'm going to dig deeper, hehe.

Diggers Realm is a site that is hosted through GoDaddy.com, the location through the whois database at GoDaddy.com puts Diggers Realm in Scottsdale, Arizona. The claim is that San Diego minutemen quoted sources within Laredo, Texas police department as credible and pushed the story as true. Diggers Realm was contacted by San Diego minuteman Jeff Schwilk who relayed the story as being a story he can "personally vouch" for I suggest reading the updates on the website, it is quite humorous how easily they all screwed up simple information.

So let's shoot their credibility here to shit, huh?

San Diego is approximately 371 miles away from Scottsdale. San Diego is about 1,115 or so miles away from Laredo, Texas. Scottsdale, Arizona is about 847 miles away from Laredo, Texas. So that means that a minuteman from San Diego, approximately 1,115 miles away from Laredo recieved information from a mystical law enforcement (who only spoke on condition of anonymity) official from Laredo that Los Zetas had taken over two ranches. In turn he notifies Diggers Realm about 847 miles away from Laredo and 371 miles away from himself of this development?

Well, that adds up, doesn't it? Sure, if you are a producer at Fox News (even they didn't report it). So what really happened?

Well, Fox News did report on that. The U.S. State Department issued a statement to stay out of Nogales, Juarez, and Nuevo Laredo (funny that, Nuevo Laredo, Laredo). All of this due to on-going violence between Mexican officials and the Mexican drug cartels. I cannot at this time confirm a report that I found earlier that in fact Laredo, Texas is on lockdown due to the gun battle just beyond the border in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico but I do recall seeing one yesterday.

We're In This Together

A Nine Inch Nails song from one of Trent Reznor's greatest albums, 'The Fragile.' I'm listening to this as I watch my once proud nation fall apart at the seams, like someone didn't stitch it properly the last time they repaired what people before them fucked up. And I'm reminded, they all really do work together, they blend so well with their null arguments that inevitably go nowhere that no one really picks up on it. I picked up on this idea when I watched the first five or so minutes of 'Fall of the Republic' (no, I didn't watch the entire thing, more often than not I can't even make it through five minutes of the political garbage strewn all over YouTube.).

It kind of hit me like a light bulb you would buy at your local grocery store like Target, or Walmart, that's right, not a corner grocer, hell those have all been replaced by 7-11's and Cum-and-Go's. It really is kind of funny actually, to watch our country fall to the same greedy empire it escaped from, fucked up but none-the-less funny. It is kind of like when your parents always told you not to make the same mistakes they did as if it were supposed to reiterate the “don't do it” or something. I always had a thought that if no one was told what 'not-to-do' they wouldn't have the slightest inkling to even bother finding out about it, but because a preferential person tells us “no” we automatically want to dig it up and figure out ourselves.

Kind of like the government, obviously after Bush nailed us all to the marketing failure of a cross we wanted someone new. This is when we heard the word “Change” how prolific at a time when we all thought things needed to “Change.” This is really kind of the fundamental issue with our society, now I'm not on a McCain-Palin trip, because that would have been an awful choice as well. One flaw of our once great society is that we don't really know shit about politics, or those few of us that do are drowned by the millions that saw it on the news. He promised us this and that, he preached change, he can twist words better than a clown can twist balloons.

Debt was a big one, wasn't it? Yes, yes it was, and every Presidential candidate said the same thing “I will get us out of debt.” Which brings me to another song by Nine Inch Nails 'The Great Below' specifically 'and all that could have been.' Fitting, no? I think so and I'm going to roll with it, all that could have been is potentially where we all closed our eyes, or decided to ignore the best choice in light of pretty words on a colorful banner. In a sense this was kind of the last nail in my 'I Used To Love My Country' coffin. When, and exactly how, did so many people in such diverse landscapes suddenly stop learning on their own? I knew the best candidate was Ron Paul, I read what he wanted to do and his plans for the future of our country, I also read Obama and McCain's strategies (and in all honesty, McCain's was a hell of a lot better than Obama's.).

Yet, none-the-less, the majority of this country voted on the issue and it came back with Obama. Why? Well, let's see: Obama - $670 million; McCain - $370 million; Paul - $28 million (suspended in favor of Campaign for Liberty on June 12th, 2008.). And to be honest, McCain blew through a ton of that money pretty quickly and Obama made a killing in on-line donations (main source of contributions). So, what does this mean? We are a money hungry country and people, more money, the more we want it, more pretty words...of course, we want it. Pathetic, really, well, definition-wise it is purely moronic. But we can all watch TV pretty well, so at least we did get something right even if it isn't what we needed to get right in the first place.

Now, I'm not on a high-horse here telling to you go and try to impeach Obama, because that won't happen no matter how hard you click your heels together like Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. All I am saying is try not to make the same damn mistake the next time around, okay? Look into all of your candidates on your own, read into them, look at their past decisions in government (or lack thereof), but most of all...do not let the television educate you on politics, because the news is surprisingly stupider than the population that follows it.

13 Year Old Killer Sentenced In Detroit

Demarco Harris was handed a blended sentence today by Wayne County Judge Sheila Gibson for the murder of Trisha Babcock during a robbery on August 1st, 2009. She was shot to death inside her parked car by then 12 year old Demarco Harris. If Demarco is convicted of a felony while serving his sentence he will automatically be sent to prison as an adult for a life sentence.

Trisha Babcock's father Steven Babcock told reporters with CNN, "I feel he should definitely spend the rest of his life in prison." As well as, "For him to have a chance or opportunity to be set free when he is 21 is not justice for my daughter." As he criticized the sentence as being unfair, adding, "Just because you're 12, 13, 14 doesn't mean you can murder somebody and be set free when you are 21."

Demarcus Harris will be held in a secure juvenile facility for violent offenders until he turns 21. According to Maria Miller, spokeswoman for the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office, Harris will be heavily monitored in this facility.

12 years old when he committed the crime? Have times really changed that much, or is Detroit really that bad today?

BP Has Agreed To $20 Billion Escrow

Apparently BP has agreed to set up a $20 billion fund for compensation for the current oil disaster, as reported by CNN. This comes after repeated attempts to plug the massive oil leak in the Gulf Coast. There is also a $100 million fund put in place for the oil workers that are out of work due to the disaster.

This announcement came after President Obama met with his personal response team and BP chairmen. According to President Obama he told BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg that for the people involved it wasn't a matter of money, it was a matter of accountability. Which is very true, and in some ways a welcomed view from President Obama; BP is to be held accountable for their actions which caused this disaster.

The fund will not be controlled by BP but by an independent third-party. The process for the claims will be handled by attorney Kenneth Feinberg, who oversaw the claims for victims in the September 11th, 2001 World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks.

Thief Of Military Equipment Arrested For Possible Explosives

Military police at Fort Gordon, Georgia arrested a man for impersonating a soldier with possible grenades in his vehicle on the base today. Fort Gordon and Richmond county bomb squads were in to the location after officials searched the vehicle the man was driving and found possible explosives. Among the possible explosives there were apparently other "militarylike" items in the vehicle and I would imagine on the person.

Police believe that the man was possible involved in other thefts of military items in Fort Gordon according to base spokesman Buz Yarnell. A call of a suspicious person in Fort Gordon was what lead to the eventual discovery of possible explosives and other items of the like.

This is all coming after repeated terrorist attack attempts on domestic ground, along with the BP dillema off the Gulf Coast. President Obama has a full plate ahead of him and obviously something needs to be done about securing domestic bases or the next "possible" can become the next "attack."

I used to love my country.

Ronnie Lee Gardner - Death By Firing Squad

Ronnie Lee Gardner, 49, is going to recieve a death sentence by way of a firing squad. Only a handful of states actually practice this type of death sentence, Utah being one of them which is where Gardner will be executed. I knew Utah was a state that still used this method having lived there for most of my life before moving away a few years ago, it is still interesting to hear that it is going to actually be used.

Gardner who is charged with multiple murders stemming from 1985 when he went on a shooting rampage through Salt Lake City, Utah. April 2nd as he entered a courthouse he grabbed a gun that was left by an accomplice and shot and killed an attorney and wounded a guard but not before taking a round into his lung. He was to be in court over a robbery and murder charge a year before. He recieved the death penalty in November of 1985.

The interesting thing is that he has attempted to appeal the death sentence multiple times, almost out of a fear of sorts, but a death sentence handed out by firing squad has to be requested or performed only if lethal injection is seen as unfit. Really interesting read though.