As US Moves Far Left, Europe Moves Right

The Wall Street Journal reported today that the economic recession should have meant easy votes for Europe's left-wing movements, longtime critics of unchecked capitalism.

Yet as Europe goes to the polls, left-leaning parties across the continent are looking likely to falter. That's true both for those in government, such as in the U.K. and Spain, and in the opposition -- such as France, Germany and Italy.

Read it.

What Stimulus? Unemployment Rises to 9.4 Percent, 25 Year High

The unemployment rate jumped to 9.4 percent in May, the highest in more than 25 years.

However, the Pravda-press will try to spin the report by saying the pace of layoffs eased, with employers cutting ONLY an additional 345,000 jobs.

If laid off workers who have given up looking for new jobs or have settled for part time work are included, the unemployment rate would have been 16.4 percent, the highest on records dating to 1994.

The Labor Department said a total of 14.5 million people were unemployed in May.

However, news outlets will premise this story with the notion that somehow the story is good news, as if cutting a half million jobs a month is normal. I seem to recall the same news outlets echoing the story that unemployment was rampant and the the economy in the tank when the jobless rate was 4 percent and the Dow was at 14,000.

The number of jobs lost last month is equivalent to the total population of an average U.S. city like Cincinnati, Tampa or St. Louis.

Obama's Job Saved Claim Flat Out Bullcrap

Tony Fratto, former White House Spokesman for President Bush, on CNBC has used a nice word -- "deception" -- to say that President Barack Obama is lying about his claims that his "stimulus" efforts saved any American jobs.

Not only does Fratto destroy the administration's claims to have saved jobs, but he rightfully points out that the Obama enamored media is letting Obama get away with the lie.

Fratto calls the jobs-saved rhetoric a "breathtaking deception" and is stunned at the "gullibility of the Washington press corps" for reporting Obama's claims with a straight face and a complete lack of curiosity.

Fratto says:

Here's an important note to my friends in the news media: the White House has absolutely no earthly clue how many job losses have been prevented because of the stimulus bill. None. Not Christina Romer. Not Jared Bernstein. Not Austen Goolsbee.

Each of these distinguished economists would have failed Statistics 101 for making such a laughable claim. But we see them now repeating these assertions to reporters who have seemingly abandoned all skepticism.

[. . .]

You only need to know this: the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) - thousands of the most professional and rigorous counters and analyzers of labor data in the history of mankind - makes TWO revisions of employment data for their ESTIMATE of the PREVIOUS month! And even then the reports are mere estimates - an annual benchmark survey is required to reset the nation's payroll baseline.

That is, the best employment statisticians the world has ever known, people whose lives are dedicated to employment data, conducting labor surveys and research, constantly refining their complex models, have a difficult time telling you how many jobs were created in the PAST!

[. . .]

If I -- or even my predecessors in the Clinton Administration -- had tried to pull off this ridiculous gimmick we would have been run out of town. I don't even believe it's possible to look back and accurately measure the "job-saving" impact of Bush or Clinton Administration policies, let alone to measure in real time, or project into the future.

On Friday the BLS will release its estimate of May job losses. They will also report their revisions for March and April. And White House officials will once again gear up the spin machine on how many jobs have been "saved."

A self-respecting press corps would vigorously question the White House on their claims. We'll see if we have one.

Undocumented Journalist: Brian Williams of NBC News

In an effort to expose those working in the field without documentation, I will identify whether or not a journalist holds a degree in journalism or communications.

Why is this important?

It is important on two levels.

First, a formal education in journalism or communications lays the foundation for all work performed in the field. Lack of preparatory education in the field calls into question the validity of all work in the field, no matter how expansive and lauded that work may be.

Second, documented journalists have been taught in college to not only cover the who, what, where, when, why, and how of news, but they have also learned the reason why the Framers of the Constitution protected the press from the government in the First Amendment, and the role the press plays as the Fourth Estate by providing final checks and balances over the political process in the United States.

Journalist malpractice can thus be exposed through training or lack thereof.

Simply put, it is not a reporter's role to help the government succeed. It is not the job of the press to be the whore of an administration. It is not the job of a journalist to hold one political party more accountable than another. It is not the role of the press to become part of the news it covers.

It is the job of the press to objectively and ethically report the truth.

Brian Douglas Williams (born May 5, 1959) is the anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News, the evening news program of the NBC television network.

After high school, Williams attended Brookdale Community College, before transferring to George Washington University, and then to The Catholic University of America. He did not graduate. Instead, Williams took an internship with the administration of President Jimmy Carter.

Williams was awarded an an honorary Doctor of Journalism degree from Ohio State University in 2008. However Williams is an undocumented journalist as he has not completed the required coursework to hold a degree in journalism or communications.