Dying Snakes and Headless Chickens

Well, when I was a kid, I was told that a killed snake won't die until sunset. And I know that chickens with their heads cut off still fly and flop around until they run out of blood. Thus it is with the Republicans.

The past six years has shown the ruling party to be the most arrogant self-serving corrupt group of politicians in American history! Even reasonable moderate Republicans are revolting in disgust because their own party hasn't even tried to live up to its own conservative principles!

This government has lied to us and gotten us into a global mess in Iraq and the rest of the world for the very simple purpose of controlling the 2nd best oil reserves in the world! This is not for the betterment of Americans, but for the wealth of the oil tycoons - our vice president being one of them! That is what all of our problems is about. If it weren't for our aggressiveness to control oil, even bin Laden wouldn't have flown planes into the twin towers on 9/11! We all know that now - the whole thing has become documented fact!

Those of you who actually read Jefferson's state of the union message I posted realize that Jefferson was espousing a fiscal conservatism dreamed of by most true Republicans! Yet the goals of this party now are not only not conservative, they are not even American or of the American tradition wished for by our forefathers! They espouse some new elite economic structure social control by the wealthy and powerful in collusion with a warped hyper-Christianity designed to keep the people under control "In the name of Jesus", no less!

In all honesty, some of this is reminiscent of the 19th century with the various power moguls who dominated the working classes and with virtually no middle class. Everyone but the few were impoverished. It took the labor unions to dismantle the extreme wealth of the barons and create a healthy middle class.

Today, the unions are pretty much a thing of the past - especially with a global economy which they can't (or haven't been able to) control. Thus the pendulum swings back and the evils of poverty, ignorance and loss of personal freedoms are returning.

That is, unless we Democrats, Independents and moderate Republicans force our government to return to fiscal discipline, separation of church and state, and uphold our Constitutional Bill of Rights for all of the people! To do this, we need a Supreme Court with judges who can interpret the Constitution and contradict laws enacted by the legislature which violate Constitutional guarantees.

But just because we had a good midterm election doesn't mean that the snake is dead - far from it! The following post shows that it is still alive - if not well!

Democrats warned not to block judges
By LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated Press Writer Fri Nov 17

WASHINGTON - The Senate's next Republican leader issued a veiled threat to block action on legislation if Democrats refuse to allow confirmation votes on President Bush's troubled judicial nominations.

Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who will become minority leader Jan. 4, told the conservative Federalist Society Friday not to feel bad about the Senate election results because Republicans will hold 49 seats in a body that requires 60 votes to end a filibuster and bring legislation or presidential nominees to a final vote.

If the "Democrats want our cooperation, they'll give the president's judicial nominees an up-or-down vote," McConnell said.

Vice President Dick Cheney told the same group Friday that Republicans' loss of Congress in last week's election won't dissuade Bush from continuing to nominate strict-constructionist judges to the federal bench.

Democrats have used filibusters and the threat of them to block several of Bush's more conservative federal appeals court nominees who had the support of a majority of senators but lacked the 60 pledges needed to force a vote.

Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., became so irked that he brought the Senate to the brink of shutting down by threatening to get a parliamentary ruling forbidding filibusters on judicial nominations.

Only a bipartisan "Gang of 14" senators — seven Republicans and seven Democrats — averted the showdown with an agreement to allow some of Bush's nominees to be confirmed. Democrats subsequently rejected the idea of using filibusters to block Bush's two Supreme Court nominees — Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice
Samuel Alito.

"Senator McConnell wants bipartisan cooperation but that's a two-way street," his spokesman, Don Stewart, said Friday. "You can't expect easy cooperation on issues of importance to them unless they respect issues of importance to us, including the principle that judges deserve an up-or-down vote."

Democrats chalked up McConnell's comments to posturing and plain math.

"The president should stop picking fights and start working with Democrats to pick nominees who can be confirmed," said Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

"When we work together on consensus judicial nominees we can make progress," said Sen. Patrick Leahy (news, bio, voting record) of Vermont, the incoming Democratic chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

Bush did the opposite this week, renominating six judges, four of them vehemently opposed by Democrats. Leahy said the renominations amounted to the White House "taking the bait of right-wing partisan groups."

"Advice and consent does not mean giving the president a free pass to pack the courts with ideologues from the right or left," Leahy said. "The American people want the Senate to be more than a rubber stamp."

Associated Press writer Mark Sherman contributed to this report.

Our Nation in 1801 vs today....

For those cousins who are interested in American history and politics, I found the following website, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index which is designed to contain the papers and speeches of all of our presidents.

From the sidebar at this site I chose the subject of "State of the Union Messages" required of all presidents on a yearly basis. Being interested in Thomas Jefferson, I was curious as to what he said in his 1st message to the Congress and his view the State of Our Nation in 1801.

I found it interesting in that, for example, most Republicans would be pleased by his attitudes toward the size of government and taxation even though Jefferson's philosophies are considered the ideals of the Democratic party. Since it was made prior to the attack by the British in the War of 1812, it provides a somewhat naive approach to military preparedness - relying primarily on State militias for our defense (except for the Navy). He also makes strong statements on immigration which is of very divided interest today.

It is not long and tedious compared with the more recent Presidential speeches to Congress which are accompanied by long periods of applause, factional standing and sitting, etc. so it should be fairly easy reading and give you a feeling for how things have changed over the years... and change they have!

Thomas Jefferson
First Annual Message
December 8th, 1801

Fellow Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:

It is a circumstance of sincere gratification to me that on meeting the great council of our nation I am able to announce to them on grounds of reasonable certainty that the wars and troubles which have for so many years afflicted our sister nations have at length come to an end, and that the communications of peace and commerce are once more opening among them. Whilst we devoutly return thanks to the beneficent Being who has been pleased to breathe into them the spirit of conciliation and forgiveness, we are bound with peculiar gratitude to be thankful to Him that our own peace has been preserved through so perilous a season, and ourselves permitted quietly to cultivate the earth and to practice and improve those arts which tend to increase our comforts. The assurances, indeed, of friendly disposition received from all the powers with whom we have principle relations had inspired a confidence that our peace with them would not have been disturbed. But a cessation of irregularities which had affected the commerce of neutral nations and of the irritations and injuries produced by them can not but add to this confidence, and strengthens at the same time the hope that wrongs committed on unoffending friends under a pressure of circumstances will now be reviewed with candor, and will be considered as founding just claims of retribution for the past and new assurance for the future.

Among our Indian neighbors also a spirit of peace and friendship generally prevails, and I am happy to inform you that the continued efforts to introduce among them the implements and the practice of husbandry and the household arts have not been without success; that they are becoming more and more sensible of the superiority of this dependence for clothing and subsistence over the precarious resources of hunting and fishing, and already we are able to announce that instead of that constant diminution of their numbers produced by their wars and their wants, some of them begin to experience an increase of population.

To this state of general peace with which we have been blessed, one only exception exists. Tripoli, the least considerable of the Barbary States, had come forward with demands unfounded either in right or in compact, and had permitted itself to denounce war on our failure to comply before a given day. The style of the demand admitted but one answer.

I sent a small squadron of frigates into the Mediterranean, with assurances to that power of our sincere desire to remain in peace, but with orders to protect our commerce against the threatened attack. The measure was seasonable and salutary. The Bey had already declared war. His cruisers were out. Two had arrived at Gibraltar. Our commerce in the Mediterranean was blockaded and that of the Atlantic in peril.

The arrival of our squadron dispelled the danger. One of the Tripolitan cruisers having fallen in with and engaged the small schooner Enterprise, commanded by Lieutenant Sterret, which had gone as a tender to our larger vessels, was captured, after a heavy slaughter of her men, without the loss of a single 1 on our part. The bravery exhibited by our citizens on that element will, I trust, be a testimony to the world that it is not the want of that virtue which makes us seek their peace, but a conscientious desire to direct the energies of our nation to the multiplication of the human race, and not to its destruction. Unauthorized by the Constitution, without the sanction of Congress, to go beyond the line of defense, the vessel, being disabled from committing further hostilities, was liberated with its crew.

The Legislature will doubtless consider whether, by authorizing measures of offense also, they will place our force on an equal footing with that of its adversaries. I communicate all material information on this subject, that in the exercise of this important function confided by the Constitution to the Legislature exclusively their judgment may form itself on a knowledge and consideration of every circumstances of weight.

I wish I could say that our situation with all the other Barbary States was entirely satisfactory. Discovering that some delays had taken place in the performance of certain articles stipulated by us, I thought it my duty, by immediate measures for fulfilling them, to vindicate to ourselves the right of considering the effect of departure from stipulation on their side. From the papers which will be laid before you you will be enabled to judge whether our treaties are regarded by them as fixing at all the measure of their demands or as guarding from the exercise of force our vessels within their power, and to consider how far it will be safe and expedient to leave our affairs with them in their present posture.

I lay before you the result of the census lately taken of our inhabitants, to a conformity with which we are now to reduce the ensuing ration of representation and taxation. You will perceive that the increase of numbers during the last 10 years, proceeding in geometric ratio, promises a duplication in little more than 22 years. We contemplate this rapid growth and the prospect it holds up to us, not with a view to the injuries it may enable us to do others in some future day, but to the settlement of the extensive country still remaining vacant within our limits to the multiplication of men susceptible of happiness, educated in the love of order, habituated to self-government, and valuing its blessings above all price.

Other circumstances, combined with the increase of numbers, have produced an augmentation of revenue arising from consumption in a ratio far beyond that of population alone; and though the changes in foreign relations now taking place so desirably for the whole world may for a season affect this branch of revenue, yet weighing all probabilities of expense as well as of income, there is reasonable ground of confidence that we may now safely dispense with all the internal taxes, comprehending excise, stamps, auctions, licenses, carriages, and refined sugars, to which the postage on news papers may be added to facilitate the progress of information, and that the remaining sources of revenue will be sufficient to provide for the support of Government, to pay the interest of the public debts, and to discharge the principals within shorter periods than the laws or the general expectation had contemplated.

War, indeed, and untoward events may change this prospect of things and call for expenses which imposts could not meet; but sound principles will not justify our taxing the industry of our fellow citizens to accumulate treasure for wars to happen we know not when, and which might not, perhaps, happen but from the temptations offered by that treasure.

These views, however, of reducing our burthens are formed on the expectation that a sensible and at the same time a salutary reduction may take place in our habitual expenditures. For this purpose those of the civil Government, the Army, and Navy will need revisal.

When we consider that this Government is charged with the external and mutual relations only of these States; that the States themselves have principal care of our persons, our property, and our reputation, constituting the great field of human concerns, we may well doubt whether our organization is not too complicated, too expensive; whether offices and officers have not been multiplied unnecessarily and sometimes injuriously to the service they were meant to promote.

I will cause to be laid before you an essay toward a statement of those who, under public employment of various kinds, draw money from the Treasury or from our citizens. Time has not permitted a perfect enumeration, the ramifications of office being too multiplied and remote to be completely traced in a 1st trial.

Among those who are dependent on Executive discretion I have begun the reduction of what was deemed unnecessary. The expenses of diplomatic agency have been considerably diminished. The inspectors of internal revenue who were found to obstruct the accountability of the institution have been discontinued. Several agencies created by Executive authorities, on salaries fixed by that also, have been suppressed, and should suggest the expediency of regulating that power by law, so as to subject its exercises to legislative inspection and sanction.

Other reformations of the same kind will be pursued with that caution which is requisite in removing useless things, not to injure what is retained. But the great mass of public offices is established by law, and therefore by law alone can be abolished. Should the Legislature think it expedient to pass this roll in review and try all its parts by the test of public utility, they may be assured of every aid and light which Executive information can yield.

Considering the general tendency to multiply offices and dependencies and to increase expense to the ultimate term of burthen which the citizen can bear, it behooves us to avail ourselves of every occasion which presents itself for taking off the surcharge, that it never may be seen here that after leaving to labor the smallest portion of its earnings on which it can subsist, Government shall itself consume the whole residue of what it was instituted to guard.

In our care, too, of the public contributions intrusted to our direction it would be prudent to multiply barriers against their dissipation by appropriating specific sums to every specific purpose susceptible of definition; by disallowing all applications of money varying from the appropriation in object or transcending it in amount; by reducing the undefined field of contingencies and thereby circumscribing discretionary powers over money, and by bringing back to a single department all accountabilities for money, where the examinations may be prompt, efficacious, and uniform.

An account of the receipts and expenditures of the last year, as prepared by the Secretary of the Treasury, will, as usual, be laid before you. The success which has attended the late sales of the public lands shews that with attention they may be made an important source of receipt. Among the payments those made in discharge of the principal and interest of the national debt will shew that the public faith has been exactly maintained. To these will be added an estimate of appropriations necessary for the ensuing year. This last will, of course, be affected by such modifications of the system of expense as you shall think proper to adopt.

A statement has been formed by the Secretary of War, on mature consideration, of all the posts and stations where garrisons will be expedient and of the number of men requisite for each garrison. The whole amount is considerably short of the present military establishment. For the surplus no particular use can be pointed out.

For defense against invasion their number is as nothing, nor is it conceived needful or safe that a standing army should be kept up in time of peace for that purpose. Uncertain as we must ever be of the particular point in our circumference where an enemy may choose to invade us, the only force which can be ready at every point and competent to oppose them is the body of the neighboring citizens as formed into a militia. On these, collected from the parts most convenient in numbers proportioned to the invading force, it is best to rely not only to meet the 1st attack, but if it threatens to be permanent to maintain the defense until regulars may be engaged to relieve them. These considerations render it important that we should at every session continue to amend the defects which from time to time shew themselves in the laws for regulating the militia until they are sufficiently perfect. Nor should we now or at any time separate until we say we have done everything for the militia which we could do were an enemy at our door.

The provision of military stores on hand will be laid before you, that you may judge of the additions still requisite.

With respect to the extent to which our naval preparations should be expected to appear, but just attention to the circumstances of every part of the Union will doubtless reconcile all. A small force will probably continue to be wanted for actual service in the Mediterranean. Whatever annual sum beyond that you may think proper to appropriate to naval preparations would perhaps be better employed in providing those articles which may be kept without waste or consumption, and be in readiness when any exigence calls them into use. Progress has been made, as will appear by papers now communicated, in providing materials for 74-gun ships as directed by law.

How far the authority given by the Legislature for procuring and establishing sites for naval purposes has been perfectly understood and pursued in the execution admits of some doubt. A statement of the expenses already incurred on that subject is now laid before you. I have in certain cases suspended or slackened these expenditures, that the Legislature might determine whether so many yards are necessary as have been contemplated.

The works at this place are among those permitted to go on, and 5 of the 7 frigates directed to be laid up have been brought and laid up here, where, besides the safety of their position, they are under the eye of the Executive Administration, as well as of its agents, and where yourselves also will be guided by your own view in the legislative provisions respecting them which may from time to time be necessary. They are preserved in such condition, as well the vessels as whatever belongs to them, as to be at all times ready for sea on a short warning. Two others are yet to be laid up so soon as they shall have received the repairs requisite to put them also into sound condition. As a superintending officer will be necessary at each yard, his duties and emoluments, hitherto fixed by the Executive, will be a more proper subject for legislation. A communication will also be made of our progress in the execution of the law respecting the vessels directed to be sold.

The fortifications of our harbors, more of less advanced, present considerations of great difficulty. While some of them are on a scale sufficiently proportioned to the advantages of their position, to the efficacy of their protection, and the importance of the points within it, others are so extensive, will cost so much in their 1st erection, so much in their maintenance, and require such a force to garrison them as to make it questionable what is best now to be done. A statement of those commenced or projected, of the expenses already incurred, and estimates of their future cost, as far as can be foreseen, shall be laid before you, that you may be enabled to judge whether any alteration is necessary in the laws respecting this subject.

Agriculture, manufactures, commerce, and navigation, the 4 pillars of our prosperity, are then most thriving when left most free to individual enterprise. Protection from casual embarrassments, however, may sometimes be seasonably interposed. If in the course of your observations or inquiries they should appear to need any aid within the limits of our constitutional powers, your sense of their importance is a sufficient assurance they will occupy your attention. We can not, indeed, but all feel an anxious solicitude for the difficulties under which our carrying trade will soon be placed. How far it can be relieved, otherwise than by time, is a subject of important consideration.

The judiciary system of the United States, and especially that portion of it recently erected, will of course present itself to the contemplation of Congress, and, that they may be able to judge of the proportion which the institution bears on the business it has to perform, I have caused to be procured from the several States and now lay before Congress an exact statement of all the causes decided since the 1st establishment of the courts, and of those which were depending when additional courts and judges were brought in to their aid.

And while on the judiciary organization it will be worthy your consideration whether the protection of the inestimable institution of juries has been extended to all the cases involving the security of our persons and property. Their impartial selection also being essential to their value, we ought further to consider whether that is sufficiently secured in those States where they are named by a marshal depending on Executive will or designated by the court or by officers dependent on them.

I can not omit recommending a revisal of the laws on the subject of naturalization. Considering the ordinary chances of human life, a denial of citizenship under a residence of 14 years is a denial to a great proportion of those who ask it, and controls a policy pursued from their 1st settlement by many of these States, and still believed of consequence to their prosperity; and shall we refuse to the unhappy fugitives from distress that hospitality which the savages of the wilderness extended to our fathers arriving in this land? Shall oppressed humanity find no asylum on this globe? The Constitution indeed has wisely provided that for admission to certain offices of important trust a residence shall be required sufficient to develop character and design. But might not the general character and capabilities of a citizen be safely communicated to everyone manifesting a bona fide purpose of embarking his life and fortunes permanently with us, with restrictions, perhaps, to guard against the fraudulent usurpation of our flag, an abuse which brings so much embarrassment and loss on the genuine citizen and so much danger to the nation of being involved in war that no endeavor should be spared to detect and suppress it?

These, fellow citizens, are the matters respecting the state of the nation which I have thought of importance to be submitted to your consideration at this time. Some others of less moment or not yet ready for communication will be the subject of separate messages. I am happy in this opportunity of committing the arduous affairs of our Government to the collected wisdom of the Union. Nothing shall be wanting on my part to inform as far as in my power the legislative judgment, nor to carry that judgment into faithful execution.

The prudence and temperance of your discussions will promote within your own walls that conciliation which so much befriends rational conclusion, and by its example will encourage among our constituents that progress of opinion which is tending to unite them in object and in will. That all should be satisfied with any one order of things is not to be expected; but I indulge the pleasing persuasion that the great body of our citizens will cordially concur in honest and disinterested efforts which have for their object to preserve the General and State Governments in their constitutional form and equilibrium; to maintain peace abroad, and order and obedience to the laws at home; to establish principles and practices of administration favorable to the security of liberty and property, and to reduce expenses to what is necessary for the useful purposes of Government.
TH. JEFFERSON

Announcement....

This post is to let you know that my Upstream post of Thursday, October 26, 2006 titled: Trivial Pursuits... was published on Monday, November 6th in the Kingman Daily Miner editorial page - the day before the election!

Scritch-scratch.....

Just to prove what a nit-wit, bleeding heart liberal I am, let me tell the following 'tail'....

For the last month or so, while laying in bed late at night we have heard this rather loud scritch-scratch sound coming from our adjoining bathroom/Jacuzzi tub area. Our manx cat Bunny has been equally interested and has posted herself by the access doors to the tub which are velcroed in place, but most of the sounds have come from the attic above the toilet.

It was a ‘duh' to think that there was nothing up there, but we were somewhat reluctant to try to find out. I did inspect the area outside the house to see if there was any obvious access to the house and there was nothing - except that with a ceramic tile roof with its overlapping tiles, - well, maybe.

Judging by the sounds we determined that they were larger than a mouse but smaller than a racoon (which aren't native around here anyway). I thought it might be a ground squirrel getting ready for a winter nap or maybe - hopefully, it was just the sounds of the hundreds of pigeons who seek refuge on our roof and use our fountain as a toilet.

We feeble, elderly folks mentioned it to son Larry who suggested that we simply take a look to see if there was anything under the Jacuzzi tub. What a brilliant idea!

So our brave son pulled loose the cover to the Jacuzzi area peered inside and proclaimed, "Look!" We did. There was a large nest of insulation material along with a store of cat food between the joists and there were some droppings which certainly looked larger than those of mice!

This revelation certainly set our hearts aflutter as we tried to determine what sort of monster critter could have left such large droppings! And, of course, we worried that our cats were being deprived of their food - the poor uncomplaining kits.

So what do we do now? Obviously mouse traps won't work because the beastie must be larger than that! Larry suggested his 12-gage shotgun and my Betty suggested arsenic but I prevailed and sent them down to the local Tru-Value hardware where they bought a trap (damned thing cost $32!) which would not hurt the poor little beastie whomever he/she was that I knew was only trying to survive the bitter cold winter (after all, life is simply a matter of survival which we all eventually lose) - well, at least those were my sentiments - and being lord of the manor – well....

Larry set and placed the trap with the trip plate smeared with peanut butter under the tub, sealed the door and .....

I was writing an eloquent note to Dennis on the computer suggesting how we together might solve the worlds problems and live in euphoria forever after (in the hands of the Lord, of course) when at about 2AM my Betty pads out and informs me that there is quite a ruckus going on under the tub and that both Bunny and Clementine are standing real serious guard! Perhaps I should come and see for myself!

Reluctantly, I meandered the almost 100 yards from our den to the bedroom area, picking up a flashlight on the way, pulled off the valcroed door and... by golly! - there was a nice plump healthy little rat watching, a bit nervously, through the cage wires!

She? was upset, of course, but I noted she had eaten all of the peanut butter (that is why I know that she is a she and not a he)

Of course, as according to procedure, I took a mug shot and then acting as lord of the manor, banished her forever from living in my home! Thus, I took her, still in her cage, in our car and drove about half a mile away where I opened the cage door and set her free to new adventures in the Mohave desert.

I'm certainly glad that there are very few people awake at 2AM who might have wondered what the hell was going on out in the desert at that time... If and when the police arrived, I was long gone.

The 5th Dimension....

Here we go again! Good thing there are elections because otherwise such information would never get out - right?! (of course the voters in PA have known about it for a long time)

What's with these old geezers!? I hesitate to ask what the two would have in common since Rep. Don Sherwood's over twice her age! Is sex really worth half a million dollars? ...and don't suggest that it is if it is done right - they've written books on that - right?!

It'd be more understandable - in fact, who'd really care? - if he weren't such a strong voice for "family values"! It seems to me that "family values" are the political joke of the century designed to keep the really dumb voters on the straight and narrow!

Wonder if you could change the words to the song, "Age of Aquarius" to "Age of Hypocrisy" has sort of a beat to it, doesn't it? Gives it a New Dimension! (that's a joke folks)...

REP. PAYING EX-MISTRESS ABOUT $500K
You can buy a Hummer for a lot less than that! Hmmmmmmm....
By MICHAEL RUBINKAM, Associated Press Writer

ALLENTOWN, Pa. - A Republican congressman accused of abusing his ex-mistress agreed to pay her about $500,000 in a settlement last year that contained a powerful incentive for her to keep quiet until after Election Day, a person familiar with the terms of the deal told The Associated Press.

Rep. Don Sherwood is locked in a tight re-election race against a Democratic opponent who has seized on the four-term congressman's relationship with the woman. While Sherwood acknowledged the woman was his mistress, he denied abusing her and said that he had settled her $5.5 million lawsuit on confidential terms.

The settlement, reached in November 2005, called for Cynthia Ore to be paid in installments, according to a person who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal is confidential. She has received less than half the money so far, and will not get the rest until after the Nov. 7 election, the person said Thursday.

A confidentiality clause requires Ore to forfeit some of the money if she talks publicly about the case, according to this person and two other people familiar with elements of the case.

It is common in settlements for payments to be made in installments and for the parties to be held to confidentiality.

Sherwood admitted no wrongdoing, a standard provision in such agreements, this person said.

Sherwood, a 65-year-old married father of three who is considered a family-values conservative, had one of the safest seats in Congress until Ore sued him in June 2005, alleging he physically abused her throughout their five-year affair.

Reached by telephone Wednesday, the congressman and successful car dealer said: "I can neither confirm nor deny because this was a private settlement. If I'd like to talk to you about it, I can't."

The Associated Press has been trying for months to find out the terms of the settlement.

According to a police report, Ore called 911 on her cell phone from the bathroom of Sherwood's Capitol Hill apartment in 2004 and reported that Sherwood had choked her while giving her a back rub. Sherwood admitted having an affair with the woman, but vehemently denied ever hurting her, and criminal charges were never filed. But Ore, now 30, sued for damages.

Sherwood's challenger, Chris Carney, has hammered the congressman over the affair in TV ads, calling Sherwood a hypocrite who brought "Washington values" to his rural northeastern Pennsylvania district.

Sherwood responded with his own ad, in which he looked directly into the camera and apologized for his conduct. Last month, his wife mailed a letter to voters that accused Carney of "needlessly cruel" campaign tactics.

Although GOP voters greatly outnumber Democrats in his conservative district, many people have said they would not vote for him again because of the affair.

Even before Ore settled, the congressman tried to keep a tight lid on the case. His lawyer asked a judge to prohibit disclosure of materials from the case, warning that Sherwood's opponents might try to use the information to harm him politically.

The lawyer, Bobby Burchfield, was especially adamant that any videotaped deposition of Sherwood not be released, saying the footage could be used against him in negative political ads.

Ore's attorney, Ning Ye of New York, declined to say where she is living now or how she can be reached.

It is the economy, dammit!

For what it is worth, I'll put my spin on this within the article.

Productivity slows, wage pressures mount
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON - The productivity of American workers slowed to a standstill in the summer, while wages were rising at the fastest clip in more than two decades — a combination likely to raise inflation concerns at the Federal Reserve.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that productivity, the amount of output per hour of work, showed no change in the July-September quarter, while labor costs rose by 3.8 percent. For the past year, wages and other labor costs are up by 5.3 percent, the fastest increase since 1982.

While rising wages and benefits are good news for workers, they raise concerns about inflation especially at a time when productivity is slowing. If companies decide to pass on their higher payroll costs by boosting the price of their products, that could translate into increased inflation.

The above ‘news' is the problem with reporting averages without analysis of how those averages are created. see below.

In other economic news, orders to factories for manufactured products rose by 2.1 percent in September, the biggest increase in six months, but virtually all of the strength came in a surge in orders for commercial aircraft. The Commerce Department said that orders for long-lasting durable goods were up 8.3 percent, offsetting a 4.6 percent drop in demand for food, gasoline and other nondurable products.

I think this is the key to the perceived problem: I was already aware of the huge aircraft sales by the Boeing company months ago. The fact is that without those sales, the GDP would be very negative - not positive. Of curse, that seems to make the problem even worse.

However, Boeing workers and the workers of Boeing's suppliers all enjoy significantly higher pay multiples than the wages of for example the dying building trades and most certainly immensely more than people plodding along in the retail industry - especially the Wal-Marts and K-Marts.

The end result is that you have a spurt of very high paying jobs and a corresponding loss of medium and low paying jobs. The end result is high incomes coupled with higher unemployment. I don't see the segregated high incomes having much to do with inflation, however, because the incomes are not coming from the production of consumer products. For example, I'd be surprised if the Fed raises interest rates anytime soon - despite some inflation caused by gas prices which have lowered, but not returned to pre-Katrina levels.

Read on to see what I mean.

The increase in durable goods, which was revised up from an initial estimate last week of a 7.8 percent gain, reflecting a huge 189.7 percent surge in demand for commercial aircraft. Excluding airplanes and other transportation products, factory orders would have fallen by 2.4 percent. The drop in nondurable goods was attributed in part to lower prices for petroleum products.

In a third report, the number of newly laid off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly shot up last week to the highest level in more than three months. A total of 327,000 fired employees filed benefit claims, up by 18,000 from the previous week.

The Labor Department said that the total number of jobless claims, which are adjusted for normal seasonal variations, was the highest since early July, raising concerns about whether the slowing economy is finally beginning to push companies to lay off workers.

Meanwhile, reports from the nation's largest retailers indicate that consumers may have taken a breather in October after going on a shopping spree in September. But analysts said significant declines in gasoline prices should boost retail sales in the upcoming holiday season as consumers will have more to spend on other items.

Not if they don't have jobs! Workers ARE the consumers - certainly not those of us who are economically comfortable. Our money goes in a tin can burried in the back yard.

Merchants beating expectations for October included Limited Brands Inc. and Bebe Stores Inc., while retailers reporting disappointing results included Costco Wholesale Corp.

The flat productivity reading in the third quarter was the poorest showing since a 0.1 percent decline in productivity in the final three months of last year. Over the past four quarters, productivity has risen by 1.3 percent, the weakest showing since a 1.1 percent rise in early 1997.

The 3.8 percent rise in the cost of labor per unit of output followed even bigger gains of 9 percent in the first quarter and 5.4 percent in the second quarter. Those increases pushed labor costs up by 5.3 percent for the year ending in September, the biggest gain since late 1982.

The Federal Reserve raised interest rates 17 consecutive times in an effort to slow the economy enough to bring inflation pressures under control. The Fed has left rates unchanged for three straight meetings, hoping that it has done enough to slow economic growth.

However, the significant slowing in productivity growth and the continued rise in wage pressures, if not reversed in coming quarters, could prompt the Fed to resume raising interest rates to fight inflation.

Since 1995, the country has enjoyed a decade of strong gains in productivity, which is the primary ingredient needed to lift living standards. Increased output means that companies can pay their workers more without having to raise the cost of their products — increases that push inflation higher.

The argument here is based upon economic generalizations based upon skewed averages. And I think the above assumption is thus wrong despite the textbook logic. One wonders why the present atypical economy is not obvious to these commentators when they report high unemployment at the same time they report high labor costs - it can't be simply the fact that an average CEO receives a 20% annual raise - at the expense of stockholders.

The concern is that with productivity gains slowing over the past year and the cost of labor rising, these trends could make the Fed's job of keeping inflation under control more difficult.

The rise of 18,000 in the level of jobless claims was far above the 2,000 increase that analysts had been expecting. So far, the slowing economy has prompted companies to trim their plans to hire new workers, but they have resisted laying off current employees. However, the severity of the slowdown could be prompting them to start laying off existing workers.

This is already evident in the building trades and their suppliers nationally.

The government will report on the October jobs picture on Friday. The expectation is that unemployment will remain at a low of 4.6 percent and hiring will rebound to 125,000 new jobs, up significantly from the anemic 51,000 new jobs created in September.

I think they're whistlin' in the dark, here, but we'll see!