During the Bush administration, we were repeatedly told that though unemployment was down, they were all "low-quality" jobs--stocking shelves, wiping butts, waiting tables, you know, unskilled labor positions. Unemployment was below 6% but everyone was hurting and the economy was in horrible shape, and it was All Bush's Fault.
We're not hearing that now, of course, from anyone in the mainstream media. Oh no! Now it's all about the numbers, and if you question them it's probably because you're a racist. Even if nearly all the new jobs are part-time, and the unemployment rate's drop is primarily coming from a shrink in the workforce, it's still a sign that we're in the middle of a robust economic recovery.
Because, after all, there's a Democrat in the White House.
* * *
Newt wants to be President, and I gotta haul out the Yotsuba pic again.
That link explains why, and I don't need to amplify it; I'm just going to blockquote the same text they do:
o far, he’s angered the conservative intelligentsia with an ostentatious defense of ethanol subsidies, botched the announcement of his exploratory committee, bombed on explanations for his repeated adultery and three marriages, been seen as flip-flopping three times on Libya within a month and awkwardly warned about a future atheist America dominated by Islamic radicals.He was a great Speaker of the House while it lasted, but he's just not President material. Sorry, Newt.
* * *
Sarah Palin on Obama's energy policy. A worthy read. Now that is what Presidential material looks like.
* * *
Alan Caruba on idiots who hate oil.
* * *
Advice Goddess gives us yet another sharia horror story. There are plenty to go around.
People in the "moral equivalency" crowd like to talk about the horrors that Christianity perpetrated on people during the Medieval era, and say that it's therefore no better than islam.
One difference: islam did the same kind of things way back then...and still do them today. Christianity does not. Europe underwent this little thing they call "the Renaissance" where logic and reason began to outweigh superstition and even religion...and back when it was still called "natural philosophy" people realized that science and religion weren't incompatible, that you could have faith in the divinity of Jesus while accepting that the Earth revolves around the Sun. It was a bit of a struggle, but the Church finally realized that scientific fact cannot do anything to faith, and Europe went on to conquer the world. Its openness is its strength.
But the koran doesn't allow islam to follow a similar path. The koran is supposed to be the literal word of God and any deviation from it at all--any whatsoever--is punishable by death, because deviating from it is apostasy and apostasy carries a minimum punishment of death.
So islam remains rooted in the 12th century, and it kills 14-year-old girls for the crime of being raped by older, married men.
* * *
Would you like to live to be 200 if you had to be bright yellow to do it? I don't mean some weird racist way of saying "happy asian", either; I mean literally bright yellow. Like a lemon.
Wow.
* * *
"Kristy Mergenthal, reporter" really needs to learn grammar and punctuation.
I'm not kidding; look at this howler:
"The chemical, Hydrofluorosilicic acid is used to add fluoride to the plants water."
SIC, I say, SIC.
Corrected: "The chemical, hydrofluorosilicic acid, is used to add fluoride to the plant's water."
Also SIC:
"As plant employees evactuated, crews began suiting up, working quickly to stop the leak that had begun eating through concrete."
"Evactuated"? WTF does that mean? Hey Kristy--ever heard of spell check?
Jesus Christ.
* * *
Speaking of lowered unemployment, I got a note today from #2, and they've decided they want to try me out for two weeks.
It's not a solid job offer as such; it's more of a kind of trial period. I'd wager that Og talked me up a bit too much and they want to see if there's anything behind the hype. *sigh*
I realized that I was kind of dreading this. I can't be fussy about jobs; I need one and here's one that's virtually fallen into my lap--and it's a career, not just making burgers or putting boxes on shelves. It's robotics and CNC machines and serious portable skills that will only be in greater demand as time goes on, because labor certainly ain't gonna get any damn cheaper any time soon.
Fuck--it's also R&D, is what it is, figuring out how to use robots to do things that are currently done by hand.
But it's a long way from the bunker; and I can live very cheaply here, at least until the place is sold. There are logistical issues with having a job that far away, serious ones, and all the solutions for those issues revolve around spending lots of money--probably the majority of my paycheck will go into making it possible for me to work there.
Still, it's a job, and it's a good job, and beggars can't be choosers. So I've got to take the offer, and I've got to do my damnedest to make it work, because there simply is no other path forward.
Well, I'm not afraid of hard work and I'm not afraid of learning new things, and those traits will serve me well. WTF am I worried about?