A Victorious Ending For The Honduran People – New President Takes Office – Deposed Zelaya Returns to Exile

New Honduran president takes office; ex-leader goes into exile

As a new Honduran President, Porfirio Lobo, took office, disgraced and deposed former President Manuel Zelaya flew into permanent exile in the Dominican Republic this past Wednesday. An agreement, brokered earlier in the week, allowed Zelaya to return to exile and avoid a criminal trial for some of the charges that led to his ouster by the military last summer.

Zelaya, accompanied by his wife, two children and President Leonel Fernandez of the Dominican Republic, left Honduras just hours after Porfirio Lobo was sworn in as president.

Under an arrangement brokered by President Fernandez, Zelaya agreed to abandon the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa, where he had hid since this past September, and to leave the country as President Lobo took his oath of office.

“We’ll be back,” Zelaya shouted before boarding the plane. Zeleya’s comments seemed hollow as there is little support for his return in Honduras.  

Lobo, a conservative rancher elected in November, escorted Zelaya to the airport in a long caravan, according to Honduran television. 

“We leave the past behind now and look toward the future,” President Lobo said after being sworn in. “But you cannot advance to the future without healing the wounds of the past.”

Lobo’s first act as president was to sign a decree granting political amnesty for Zelaya. The measure, approved a day earlier by the Honduran Congress, does not grant amnesty for embezzlement charges that the former president may face.

The Honduarn Supreme Court exonerated six top military officers, including the military chief of staff, ruling that they did not act with malice when they rounded up Zelaya on June 28 and flew him to Costa Rica. The ruling had been expected as the military officers had been acting on instructions from the Supreme Court and the Honduarn Congress. The Honduran Supreme Court ruling repudiates the claims made by Zelaya in the international press.

Later Zelaya, under cover of night and with the assistance of the Brazilian Government, snuck back into Honduras and hid in the Brazilian Embassy.  Zelaya’s embarrassing bid to reclaim his office proved fruitless.

This past summer the Honduran Supreme Court ordered Zelaya’s arrest for abuse of power, treason and other charges after he refused to drop plans for a referendum that had been ruled illegal and that the Honduran Congress said was aimed at helping him stay in power beyond the one-term limit mandated by the Honduran Constitution.

At the time the Democratically elected Government of Honduras agreed with the Honduran Supreme Court and refused to reinstate Zelaya to office despite international complaints. 

Inexplicably, the United States cut off aid to Honduras and yanked the visas of some Honduran officials working in the interim government, a government led by interim President Roberto Micheletti. Despite the fact that Micheletti, the second ranking member of Zelaya’s political party, a party that turned against the deposed leader and supported his ouster, was acting in a Constitutionally appropriate manner, the Obama Adminsitration sided with Zelaya and cut off aid to one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere.

Diplomatic pressure against Honduras waned even before President Lobo won election, an election that was scheduled long before Zelaya’s arrest for illegal conduct.

There were signs Wednesday that the some of the world would soon normalize relations with the new government. In the United States, public outrage against the Obama Adminsitration’s stance in support of Zelaya had tied the Administrations hands and prevented any meaningful support for the deposed Dictator.

Obama’s ally, Dictator Hugo Chavez of Venzuella, had threatened an invasion of Honduras to restore Zelaya to power.

The leftist president of El Salvador, Mauricio Funes, did not attend the inauguration but has said he would restore diplomatic ties once President Lobo took office.

President Lobo said Tuesday that he expected the United States would soon restore millions of dollars in humanitarian aid.

A senior State Department official said although the U.S. government views the first moves of the new Honduran government as “positive,” no decision has been made on aid. 

(CONTACT CONGRESS HERE AND DEMAND THAT HONDURAN AID BE REINSTATED NOW: http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml )

 

Just How Bad Was The Bush Economy – 2% Unemployment – April 10, 2005

Those “Bad Old” Bush Days – Unemployment Rate 2% – April 10, 2005

Posted on April 14, 2009 by mcauleysworld | Edit

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UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending April 30, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 333,000, an increase of 11,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 322,000. The 4-week moving average was 321,500, a decrease of 2,000 from the previous week’s revised average of 323,500.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.0 percent for the week ending April 23, unchanged from the prior week’s unrevised rate of 2.0 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending April 23 was 2,589,000, an increase of 38,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 2,551,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,606,500, a decrease of 24,250 from the preceding week’s revised average of 2,630,750.

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 288,626 in the week ending April 30, a decrease of 12,249 from the previous week. There were 283,236 initial claims in the comparable week in 2004.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.0 percent during the week ending April 23, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,570,929, a decrease of 41,651 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.3 percent and the volume was 2,915,357.

Extended benefits were available in Alaska during the week ending April 16.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 974 in the week ending April 23, a decrease of 132 from the prior week. There were 1,974 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 242 from the preceding week.

There were 14,361 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending April 16, a decrease of 17 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 26,320, an increase of 661 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending April 16 were in Alaska (5.1 percent), Puerto Rico (4.1), Michigan (3.5), Oregon (3.1), New Jersey (3.0), Pennsylvania (3.0), Wisconsin (2.8), Massachusetts (2.7), Vermont (2.7), and California (2.6).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending April 23 were in Massachusetts (+5,534), Kentucky (+4,080), California (+3,257), Texas (+2,974), and Connecticut (+2,396), while the largest decreases were in Minnesota (-2,801), Tennessee (-2,201), Wisconsin (-880), Pennsylvania (-865), and South Carolina (-707).

http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/ui/eta20050796.htm

UPDATE: June 10, 2009 – The uneployment rate now stands at 9.4%. Pending the 12 weekly upward revision of unemployment data the percentage of unemployed may surpass 10%. At the time of Obama’s election in November 2008 the unemployment rate was 6.5%. For every 2 people out of work when Obama was elected we know have 3 people out of work.

Update: 01/30/2010 – The Democrats took control of Congress in January 2006 and have retained control ever since. Why not blame Bush …..

ClimateGate Saga Continues – Climate Chief Hid Knowledge Of Bad Data Until After Copenhagen Summit

January 30, 2010

Climate chief was told of false glacier claims before Copenhagen

THE TIMES (of LONDON) ONLINE

The chairman of the leading climate change watchdog was informed that claims about melting Himalayan glaciers were false before the Copenhagen summit, The Times has learnt.

Rajendra Pachauri was told that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment that the glaciers would disappear by 2035 was wrong, but he waited two months to correct it. He failed to act despite learning that the claim had been refuted by several leading glaciologists.

The IPCC’s report underpinned the proposals at Copenhagen for drastic cuts in global emissions.

Dr Pachauri, who played a leading role at the summit, corrected the error last week after coming under media pressure. He told The Times on January 22 that he had only known about the error for a few days. He said: “I became aware of this when it was reported in the media about ten days ago. Before that, it was really not made known. Nobody brought it to my attention. There were statements, but we never looked at this 2035 number.”

Asked whether he had deliberately kept silent about the error to avoid embarrassment at Copenhagen, he said: “That’s ridiculous. It never came to my attention before the Copenhagen summit. It wasn’t in the public sphere.”

However, a prominent science journalist said that he had asked Dr Pachauri about the 2035 error last November. Pallava Bagla, who writes for Science journal, said he had asked Dr Pachauri about the error. He said that Dr Pachauri had replied: “I don’t have anything to add on glaciers.”

The Himalayan glaciers are so thick and at such high altitude that most glaciologists believe they would take several hundred years to melt at the present rate. Some are growing and many show little sign of change.

Dr Pachauri had previously dismissed a report by the Indian Government which said that glaciers might not be melting as much as had been feared. He described the report, which did not mention the 2035 error, as “voodoo science”.

Mr Bagla said he had informed Dr Pachauri that Graham Cogley, a professor at Ontario Trent University and a leading glaciologist, had dismissed the 2035 date as being wrong by at least 300 years. Professor Cogley believed the IPCC had misread the date in a 1996 report which said the glaciers could melt significantly by 2350.

Mr Pallava interviewed Dr Pachauri again this week for Science and asked him why he had decided to overlook the error before the Copenhagen summit. In the taped interview, Mr Pallava asked: “I pointed it out [the error] to you in several e-mails, several discussions, yet you decided to overlook it. Was that so that you did not want to destabilise what was happening in Copenhagen?”

Dr Pachauri replied: “Not at all, not at all. As it happens, we were all terribly preoccupied with a lot of events. We were working round the clock with several things that had to be done in Copenhagen. It was only when the story broke, I think in December, we decided to, well, early this month — as a matter of fact, I can give you the exact dates — early in January that we decided to go into it and we moved very fast. 

(Just to busy to stop and say …. “geez our data is wrong, it has been falsified” …… where is that Grant check ? … gotta get to the bank before they stop payment on it ! …..)

“And within three or four days, we were able to come up with a clear and a very honest and objective assessment of what had happened. So I think this presumption on your part or on the part of any others is totally wrong. We are certainly never — and I can say this categorically — ever going to do anything other than what is truthful and what upholds the veracity of science.”

Dr Pacharui has also been accused of using the error to win grants worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article7009081.ece

The supporting data was falsified to begin with ….. the release of the raw data was witheld for months until the  release of the data was forced by way of subpeona and Freedom of Information Requests.

Shame On You Mr. President – Obama Administration Tosses “saved or created” job count – New Job Counts Complete Fiction

Many of the third world countries who are ruled by dictatorships lie anbout their economic prowess … there is no hunger in these countries, no one is unemployment, these countries are a paradise for the workers or a “worker’s paradise”. Heath Care for all. Of course the truth has nothing to do with these exaggerated claims … the people wait in long lines for hours to buy poorly made shoes – when there are any shoes to be had at all, food – when it is available – is always short on quality and quantity …. health care is available – for the rich and privledged. The “leaders” of these Countries propagandize – they never admit the truth ……. Such was the case in the old Soviet Union and the Eastern Block countries. Such is the case in Cuba and Chavez’s Venezuela today, Venezuela where electrical power is shut off to the people for up to 4 hours a day ….. Venezuela, one of the world’s leading oil exporters can’t provide electrical power to it’s own people … power that the people had before Chavez took over the Country …… http://cbs4denver.com/wireapnational/Venezuela.announces.rolling.2.1420607.html

Sadly, the Obama Administration has adopted the tactics of these Countries and their oppressive leaders. Propaganda ….

I’m stunned that the Adminstration believes the American People will be duped by it’s most recent actions and claims. A fundamental element of Democracy is the ability of the people to believe, is some part, what its leaders say ……..

Opinion polls show that we, The American People, overwhelming reject the Administrations claims of “stimulus related” job creation. We, The People, reject these claims because every independent organization to review the Adminstration’s claims have rejected the accuracy of those claims.

Even ABC News, one of Obama’s strongest supporters and the the first news organization in what is referred to as the Main Stream Media to endorse Obama, has noted that the stimulus spending has, to date, done nothing to curb unemployment.   http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=9527995  

ABC News, commenting on a story by the Associated Press noted, “President Barack Obama’s first stimulus has had no effect on local unemployment rates, raising questions about his argument for billions more to address an “urgent need to accelerate job growth.”” “With the nation’s unemployment rate at 10 percent and expected to rise, Obama wants a second stimulus bill from Congress including billions of additional dollars” …….. “But AP’s analysis, which was reviewed by independent economists at five universities, showed the strategy of pumping transportation money into counties hasn’t affected local unemployment rates so far.”There seems to me to be very little evidence that it’s making a difference,” said Todd Steen, an economics professor at Hope College in Michigan who reviewed the AP analysis. And there’s concern about relying on transportation spending a second time. “My bottom line is, I’d be skeptical about putting too much more money into a second stimulus until we’ve seen broader effects from the first stimulus,” said Aaron Jackson, a Bentley University economist who also reviewed AP’s analysis.

“For the analysis, the AP reviewed Transportation Department data on more than $21 billion in stimulus projects in every state and Washington, D.C., and the Labor Department’s monthly unemployment data to assess the effects of road and bridge spending on local unemployment and construction employment. The AP’s analysis found there was nearly no connection between stimulus money and the number of construction workers hired or fired since Congress passed the recovery program. The effect was so small, one economist compared it to trying to move the Empire State Building by pushing against it.  “As a policy tool for creating jobs, this doesn’t seem to have much bite,” said Emory University economist Thomas Smith, who supported the stimulus and reviewed AP’s analysis. “In terms of creating jobs, it doesn’t seem like it’s created very many.”

“It would be unlikely that even $20 billion spent all at once would be enough to move the needle of the huge decline we’ve seen, even in construction, much less the economy. The job destruction is way too big,” said Kenneth D. Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America.

“Few counties, for example, received more road money per capita than Marshall County, Tenn., about 90 minutes south of Nashville. Obama’s stimulus is paying the salaries of dozens of workers there, but local officials said the unemployment rate continues to rise and is expected to top 20 percent soon. The new money for road projects isn’t enough to offset the thousands of local jobs lost from the closing of manufacturing plants and automotive parts suppliers.“The stimulus has not benefited the working-class people of Marshall County at all,“ said Isaac Zimmerle, a local contractor who has seen his construction business slowly dry up since 2008. That year, he built 30 homes. But prospects this year look grim.”

So what is the Administration’s answer …. the same as always …. as we are learning …… this Adminsitration is a “one trick pony” – spend more, tax more and increase the deficit ….. Focus on “temporary work” created by Government spending and funnel our tax dollars to corrupt poltical cronies  ……

This is not new – this doesn’t represent CHANGE ….. we will get the same old results ……

The Administration has now moved …. not to improve the economy but to change how the Adminstration counts the ficticious jobs  created under the first stimulus package …. you remember the laughable “jobs created or saved” reports – you know, where the Administration claimed to have created jobs in fictious zip codes and in Congressional Disticts that did not exist, claims that inlcuded the creation of 50 jobs by buying one lawn mower at a cemetery that employed only 20 people ……  The “created or saved” system needed to be eliminated. That system had two fatal flaws – flaws that the Adminsitration could no longer live with. The first flaw, the American People found it to be laughable – no one believed the numbers. The second flaw of the system, the phoney numbers being claimed were not “BIG ENOUGH” …… they needed a bigger lie … because they want more money to throw down this same rat hole. The spurious claim that 640,000 jobs had been created by the first stimuls, simply would not support a call for a second stimulus package.

Why actually put people back to work if all you need do is tell a bigger lie ……

In the dark of night this past weekend the “most transparent of all Adminstrations in the history of the Country” threw out its old “jobs saved or created” methodology and replaced it with a new means of “fudging the job count”. This slight of hand was reported by the  USA today online here:   http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2010-01-12-stimulus-counting_N.htm?csp=34 .

 

Stimulus: White House changes job-count rule 

 

The White House has abandoned its controversial method of counting jobs under President Obama’s economic stimulus, making it impossible to track the number of jobs saved or created with the $787 billion in recovery money.

 

Despite mounting a vigorous defense of its earlier count of more than 640,000 jobs, to the stimulus, even after numerous errors were identified, the Obama administration now is making it easier to give the stimulus credit for hiring. It’s no longer about counting a job as saved or created; now it’s a matter of counting jobs funded by the stimulus. That means that any stimulus money used to cover payroll will be included in the jobs credited to the program, including pay raises for existing employees and pay for people who never were in jeopardy of losing their positions. http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2010-01-12-stimulus-counting_N.htm?csp=34

How shameful …… giving lavish pay raises to Government employees, both in Congress and out, at a time of economic crisis like this and then classifying the pay raises as a “new” or “saved” stimulus job. 

 

“Recipients of recovery money no longer have to show that a job would have been lost without the stimulus help, and they no longer are required to keep an ongoing tally of jobs saved or created. The new rules allow stimulus recipients to limit the job tally to quarterly reports, making it impossible to avoid double-counting a job that was created in one quarter and continued into the next.” http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2010-01-12-stimulus-counting_N.htm?csp=34

 

Please note that the USA Today article cited in this post (above) was published yesterday, Sunday, January 12, 2010. USA Today, long a supporter of President Obama, cited the Administration’s claim of 640,000 jobs created by the stimulus …. and now …. for the miracles of miracles …. an article from this morning …… Monday, January 13, 2010 ….

 

Associated Press: White House credits stimulus with up to 2 million  jobs.

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is trumpeting a new White House estimate that his top economist calls “stunning”. His stimulus plan has already created or saved up to 2 million jobs.

The analysis is part of the administration’s quarterly report to Congress on the controversial $787 billion package of spending and tax cuts he signed weeks after taking office.    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100113/ap_on_bi_ge/us_obama_jobs

Stunning is an understatement …. when we went to bed last night the most incredibly optomistic estimates produced by the Administration, the estimates loaded with jobs in fake zip codes and non-existent Congressional Districts was set at 640,000 and now, presto chango …. nothing up my sleeve …… in less than 24 hours ….. we now have 2 Million Stimulus related jobs …………

This is beyond shameless …. lying about the success of a failed program, lies that won’t put people back to work, put food on tables or prevent even one additional foreclosure …. lies intended to boost the approval ratings of the politicians in the next set of opinion polls ….lies aimed at funneling more money into corrupt Government spending programs ……

Mr. President, frankly I didn’t expect much from you … I hoped for your success if your success was going to be good for our Country…….. I can only imagine how disappointed your supporters must be ….. especially those who thought that by voting for you they were voting for a positive change.

Mr. Presdient we are not stupid …. all we need do is look around to see the truth …… when you send someone out to lie on your behalf the lie still attaches to your reputation ……. take a look at your poll numbers – we are not buying your political double talk any longer ……. November is just 10 months away and we are counting the days ………… 

Stop the lies ….. stop the back room dealing ……. and keep your promises ….