First off, it was 106F here in Fabulous Las Vegas. So, if I seem grouchy, I will take the liberal line and blame it on global warming. Let's look at Friday's news. My comments, of course, will be in Navy Blue.
U.S. Employers Add 246,000 Jobs in May
By LEIGH STROPE, AP Labor Writer
WASHINGTON - U.S. employers added almost a quarter million jobs in May, extending a nine-month hiring spree and accommodating enough job-seekers to hold the unemployment rate steady at 5.6 percent of the labor force.
Payrolls swelled by almost 1 million in the last three months alone, the Labor Department (news - web sites) said Friday. Employment figures for March and April were revised up to reflect the addition of 353,000 and 346,000 jobs respectively.
But because tens of thousands of jobless are renewing their search for work in the wake of an improving labor market, the overall, seasonally adjusted civilian unemployment rate did not improve from April's 5.6 percent figure.
Great news! The economy continues to create more jobs. Tax cuts do work. Of course Kerry and the Dems had this to say:
Kerry Campaign Tries to Throw Cold Water on Job Recovery Numbers
By Melanie Hunter
CNSNews.com Deputy Managing Editor
June 04, 2004
(CNSNews.com) - Despite the addition of about one million jobs in the last three months, including 248,000 jobs in May, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's campaign blamed President Bush for losing 1.9 million private-sector jobs.
"Any step forward in the job market is good news for workers but America is still in the worst job recovery since the Great Depression," said Allison Dobson, spokesperson for Kerry, in a statement issued Friday.
Some one want to explain to me how a 5.6% unemployment rate was wonderful news under Clinton, but the very same unemployment rate is terrible under Bush? Oh yeah, a Republican is in the White House.
Anti-War Group Enlists Father of Beheaded American
By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Morning Editor
June 03, 2004
(CNSNews.com) - The group organizing an antiwar rally in Washington on Saturday has openly expressed support for Palestinian terrorism, a watchdog group says.
On June 5, International A.N.S.W.E.R. says "thousands of people will march from the White House to Rumsfeld's house to say: 'Bush and Rumsfeld -- guilty of war crimes.'"
The group said Michael Berg, the father of civilian Nicholas Berg who was beheaded in Iraq, will be a speaker at Saturday's rally. In a statement on International A.N.S.W.E.R.'s website, Michael Berg says, "I am hoping that everyone who cares about peace in this country will join us."
A.N.S.W.E.R. is a Stalinist front group, of which Michael Berg was already a member of. No news there, other then he is going to use the tragic death of his son for political purposes.
Michigan judicial pick held up for 20th time
By Charles Hurt
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Sen. Carl Levin stopped a Bush nominee to the federal appeals court yesterday in a continuing effort to reserve the seat for the wife of his first cousin.
Michigan Judge Henry W. Saad was nominated to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals more than three years ago, but has been stalled by Democrats on the Judiciary Committee at the behest of Mr. Levin, Michigan Democrat.
Seems nepotism is alive and well in the Dem party. The Dems continue to put their self interest above the good of the Nation. No surprise there either.
Bush picks ex-Sen. Danforth for U.N. post
Washington, DC, Jun. 4 (UPI) -- The White House said Friday the president has tapped former U.S. Sen. John Danforth, R-Mo., to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Since 2001, Danforth has served as President Bush's special envoy for peace in Sudan. From 1976 to 1995, he represented Missouri in the United States Senate and was, before that, the state's attorney general.
An ordained member of the clergy, Danforth will, if confirmed by the Senate, will take over at the U.N. for Ambassador John Negroponte, who was recently confirmed by the Senate to be the U.S. ambassador to Iraq.
Danforth is a fine choice, though I would have preferred Rudy Guilliani. Then again, Hilary has to be sweating as 2006 looms and Rudy is available to run against her.
Kerry Campaigns for Veterans' Vote
Fri Jun 4,11:22 PM ET
By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer
MINNEAPOLIS - Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (news - web sites) issued a call Friday for his fellow military veterans to support his presidential campaign because "what we fought for is still at risk."
If Kerry can persuade veterans to vote for him, it could be an important boost to his campaign. Veterans have traditionally leaned toward voting Republican, but Kerry hopes his service in the Vietnam War combined with anger over Bush's handling of Iraq (news - web sites) and veterans benefits at home will attract those who have served.
Kerry formally kicked off his campaign for veterans Friday. Volunteer coordinators in all 50 states will try to recruit current and former soldiers. The goal is to sign up 1 million veterans to help get out the vote for Kerry in what officials say would be an unprecedented veterans organization in a presidential campaign.
"We're here because we understand that what we fought for is still at risk," Kerry said during a rally at the University of Minnesota. "We're here because we know that the story of America is an evolving story and that every generation gets its opportunity to be able to write a part of our history. We're here because right now this country needs to be put back on track, to change direction and begin to work again for everybody."
An estimated 26.4 million people, or better than one in seven voting-age Americans, have served in the U.S. military, according to 2000 Census figures analyzed by the Department of Veterans Affairs (news - web sites). Bush got more than half, 54 percent, of the veterans' vote in a CBS News poll released last week while Kerry had the support of four in 10 veterans.
In a two-way matchup in the poll, conducted May 20-23, Kerry was ahead 49 percent to 41 percent.
A Gallup Poll found that, in an almost inverse of the population at large, veterans prefer Bush over Kerry 50 percent to 41 percent.
The Bush campaign also has a band of volunteers to seek out veterans. Dozens of veterans backing the president held their own rally and later marched across the University of Minnesota campus to protest outside the Kerry event.
Former Navy Lt. Kimani Jefferson said Kerry is waging a "frantic attempt to win the veterans vote."
"This is a man whose whole career is based off hypocrisy," Jefferson said, noting that the Kerry campaign plays up his heroism in Vietnam but seldom mentions his anti-war activism upon his return. He also criticized Kerry for missing a vote this week on a bill providing $25 billion for U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan (news - web sites). The bill passed 95-0.
The Bush administration has increased benefits, veterans' enrollment in VA health care and spending overall for that department, but also has found places in the system to save money. In one, the government barred new enrollment of higher-income veterans in the VA health care system unless their medical problems were directly related to their military service.
Kerry, although light on specifics, insists he would do better for veterans on their health care, pensions and more. For example, he has pledged to let all veterans who receive disability payments collect their full retirement pay.
Congress recently took steps toward ending the system of reducing military retirement pay by $1 for every dollar received in disability compensation, and Bush says he supports that goal. But critics argue that the plan would still penalize several hundred thousand veterans.
Regardless of who wins the Nov. 2 election, a 1998 decision to open VA health services to all veterans has left the government struggling to accommodate the demand for VA facilities.
I will let the Army set the tone for a reply to Johnny boy.
A Texas Soldier's Letter to Senator John Kerry
By Michael Connelly
FrontPageMagazine.com | June 4, 2004
Dear Senator Kerry,
Since it has become clear that you will probably be the Democratic nominee for President, I have spent a great deal of time researching your war record and your record as a professional politician. The reason is simple, you aspire to be the Commander in Chief who would lead my sons and their fellow soldiers in time of war. I simply wanted to know if you possess the necessary qualifications to be trusted in that regard.
You see, I belong to a family of proud U.S. veterans. I was a Captain in the Army Reserve, my father was a decorated Lieutenant in World War II; and I have four sons who have either served, or are currently serving in the military.
The oldest is an Army Lieutenant still on active duty in Afghanistan, after already being honored for his service in Iraq.
The youngest is an E-4 with the military police. His National Guard unit just finished their second tour of active duty, including six months in Guantanamo Bay. My two other sons have served in the national guard and the Navy.
In looking at your record I found myself comparing it not only to that of my father and my sons, but to the people they served with. My father served with the 87th Chemical Mortar Battalion in Europe. They landed on Utah Beach and fought for 317 straight days, including the Cherbourg Peninsula, Aachen, the Hurtgen Forest, and the Battle of the Bulge.
You earned a Silver Star in Vietnam for chasing down and finishing off a wounded and retreating enemy soldier. (A violation of the Geneva Convention)
My father won a Bronze Star for single handedly charging and knocking out a German machine gun nest that had his men pinned down.
You received three purple hearts for what appears to be three minor scratches. In fact, you only missed a combined total of two days of duty for these wounds.
The men of my father's unit, the 87th, had to be admonished by their commanding officer because it had been brought to his attention that some men were covering up wounds and refusing medical attention for fear of being evacuated and permanently separated from their organization...
It was also a common occurrence for seriously wounded soldiers to go AWOL from hospitals in order to rejoin their units.
You, however, used your three purple hearts to leave Vietnam early.
My oldest boy came home from Iraq with numerous commendations and then proceeded to volunteer to go to Afghanistan, and from there back to Iraq again. My sons and father have never had anything but the highest regard and respect for their fellow soldiers.
Yet, you came home to publicly charge your fellow fighting men with being war criminals and to urge their defeat by the enemy. You even wrote a book that had a cover which mocked the heroism of the U.S. Marines who raised the flag on Iwo Jima.
Our current crop of soldiers has a philosophy that no one gets left behind; and they have practiced that from Somalia to the battlefields of the Middle East.
Yet, as chairman of a Senate committee looking into allegations that many of your fellow servicemen had been left behind as prisoners in Vietnam, you chose to defend the brutal Vietnamese regime.
You even went so far as to refer to the families of the POWs and MIAs as Professional malcontents, conspiracy mongers, con artists, and dime-store Rambos.
As a Senator you voted against the 1991 Gulf War, and have repeatedly voted against funds to supply our troops with the best equipment, and against money to improve our intelligence capability.
I find this particularly ironic since as a Presidential candidate you are highly critical of our pre-war intelligence in Iraq. However, you did vote to authorize the President to go to war, but have since proceeded to do everything you can to undermine the efforts of our government and our troops to win. Is this what our fighting men and women can expect of you if you are their Commander in Chief? Will you gladly send them to war, only to then aid the enemy byundermining the morale of our troops and cutting off the weapons they need to win?
Our country is at war Senator, and as has been the case in every war since the American Revolution, a member of my family is serving their country during the war. Now you want me to trust you to lead my sons in this fight.
Sorry, Senator, but when I compare your record to those who have fought and died for this nation, and are currently fighting and dying, the answer is not just no, but Hell No!
Sincerely,
Michael Connelly
February 14, 2004
Dallas, Texas
Hell no is right! Well said Army, I salute you, Captain Connelly.
Well I have mused enough for now. The A/C is working wonderfully well and it is cool enough to get some rack time in. Before I go, let me leave you with this quote from Billy Clinton:
Clinton, whose presidency was bracketed by George H.W. Bush the father and George W. Bush the son, said he liked Bush senior although they had their disagreements.
He offered muted criticism of his successor.
"If you go back and read what (Bush) said in the campaign, he's just doing what he'd said he'd do. You've got to give him credit for that... No one has the whole truth," Clinton said. Imagine that, a politician doing what he said he would do! - Sailor
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