point in time

Signs are pointing to us entering the dreaded double-dip recession:

Friday's news on GDP shows the double dip has arrived — an expansion of only 1.3 percent and consumer spending up 0.1 percent in the second quarter. Astonishingly low by any account. The debt ceiling trouble and lack of a longer term resolution to the deficit will make it worse.

The U.S. has entered a second recession. It may not be as bad as the first. Economists say that the Great Recession began in December 2007 and lasted until July 2009. That may be the way that the economy was seen through the eyes of experts, but many Americans do not believe that the 2008-2009 downturn ever ended. A Gallup poll released in April found that 29 percent of those queried thought the economy was in a “depression” and 26 percent said that the original recession had persisted into 2011.

And with unemployment inching higher again, the economic future of this country is in peril.

Sounds pretty bad - huh? Well it doesn't get any better. There was only one other point in time when the government cut spending during such economic turmoil was during the great depression. Those cuts made the depression far worse and things didn't turn around until the government started pumping out more money. The new debt deal promises to revisit this horrible mistake in our history. From Greg Sargent:

One way to understand the debt ceiling deal that passed the House last night and will almost certainly pass the Senate today is this: It represents the current bipartisan capitulation on the idea that government can do anything to create jobs and fix the economy taken to its logical and ultimate conclusion.

From Crawford’s blog:

For those who might be interested - and you have every reason not to be - I am no longer with MSNBC. Three months short of my current contract I sent the following to the boss, Phil Griffin:  "Phil, Just wanted to give you the heads up that my situation with MSNBC has become so unrewarding for me that I've decided to move on. -- Craig"

Short, sweet and to the point. But it doesn’t stop there. Mediaite, the site ran by former MSNBC host Dan Abrams, got even more info out of Crawford:

But he really expanded on the reasoning in the comments:

i simply could not any longer endure being a cartoon player for lefty games, just gotta move on to higher ground even if there’s no oxygen

i have never and never will forgive Chris for calling me a racist after the West Virginia primary (the last time I will ever go on air with him). Probably should have resigned then and there, but better late than never.

We asked Crawford what he was referring to regarding Chris Matthews, and to expand on why he left the network. He responded by email:

I haven’t felt like a good fit for MSNBC since the presidential campaign, and the hard turn toward point-of-view programming. No particular event brought this on, just my desire to try other outlets and have more fun. As far as Chris is concerned, on Morning Joe after the West Virginia primary he accused me of always defending Clinton and what he claimed to be her racially motivated campaigning. That’s the problem. Trying to be fair became seen as bias in the new thinking over there. But I do wish my many pals at MSNBC nothing but good things.

Sarah Palin's constant talk about being the mother of a special needs child needs to stop. She has spent only 5 months in this role and right now she is at the best times. Growing up with a brother who is autistic, and was diagnosed at a time when the word autism was foreign to a majority of the population, I can tell you she has no idea what's to come.

I have spent enough time in my life with lots of special needs children. From autism to retardation, I have seen it all. I have been involved in a special needs Scout troop and worked he Special Olympics. I know tons of parents of special needs children and they all concur that she is at the best point in time of her parenting.

Either she has no idea what's to come, or she is exploiting Trig's Down's Syndrome. And why was her 5 month old baby brought out on stage at 11 at night? She is showing she has no concern for the child - he is just a tool for her campaign. That's really sad and gives you more insight into her parenting style. If "Joe six pack" or his wife did the same thing, they would most likely get a visit from family services. Some how its fine for her to do this though.

Well it looks like the Pentagon has an excuse for spying on peace activists:

The Pentagon said on Wednesday a review launched after revelations that it had collected data on U.S. peace activists found that roughly 260 entries in a classified database of possible terrorist threats should not have been kept there.

But the review reaffirmed the value of the so-called Talon reporting system on potential threats to Pentagon personnel or facilities by international terrorists, said Bryan Whitman, a senior Pentagon spokesman. He said the Pentagon was putting in place new safeguards and oversight intended to prevent improper information from going in the database.

Whitman said "less than 2 percent" of the more than 13,000 database entries provided through the Talon system "should not have been there or should have been removed at a certain point in time."

So why were they listed in any database in the first place? Is our government now in a practice of keeping tabs on those who do not agree with their policies? If that is the case then every Republican should be listed in there from the Clinton years.

This is a problem with the cyber age - it is too damn easy to place blame on others. It can be a computer error or a data entry error. It doesn't matter which excuse they want to use the question still needs to be asked - If they were in the wrong database then what database should they have been in?

Sadly last night, the House approved CAFTA. The bill only
passed by two votes. This means it will be official once Bush signs it.

This is truly sad for the American working class. This bill
is guaranteed to send more jobs over seas. Instead of buying sugar or cotton
grown right here in the United States, it will be from Central America. Now that
we have effectively exported our jobs, there is not much left for the working
class except for McDonalds or Wal-Mart.

The saddest part is that this bill was passed to “thank”
Central American countries for supporting democracy. We thrive upon saying
democracy is the greatest thing, yet we look like the pimps of democracy. Why in
fact should we pay these people of for becoming democratic when the joys of
democracy should be reward enough?

 If we continue to export our jobs and force American
workers to live off lower wages while inflation soars, then it will come a point
in time when we will have to look to other nations for economic support. Our
government is systematically destroying the working class while paving the way
for richer and more powerful corporations – the ones that stand to profit from
this bill. We also are going to exploit the workers in Central America by paying
them wages that are a small percentage of what would be paid to an American
worker doing the same job. Thanks Bush!