A new report showing a net loss of 125,000 jobs adds to the growing avalanche of evidence the $1 trillion stimulus has failed to boost the economy as promised, according to a chorus of economic experts.
Democrats had been planning to herald this as the Summer of Recovery, expecting a peak in stimulus spending. But the dreary economic news is contributing to a rising chorus of complaints from conservative economists that the stimulus spending binge has failed to deliver as promised.
"Yeah, I think we can say the stimulus was a bust," Stephen Moore, a Wall Street Journal editorial board member and the newspaper's senior economics writer, tells Newsmax. "The real problem is that the president has no plan B. We've had plan A, that was spend a trillion in stimulus. That didn't work. We've lost 2.2 million jobs since we started that spending, and all the president wants to do is add more stimulus. That's what's so disappointing."
Friday's Bureau of Labor Statistics report was a mixed bag. Unemployment dropped to 9.5 percent, but the dip was primarily because more people gave up looking for work. Although private employment rose, there was a 225,000 drop in jobs because of the loss of temporary census employment.
Portland police have reopened the investigation into allegations that former Vice President Al Gore attempted to sexually assault a massage therapist in 2006. The two sentence announcement gave no indication why police are taking a closer look at the claims made by a Portland masseuse. The statement says because this is now an open case, police will have no further comment.
What a difference a week makes. When the National Enquirer first reported the allegations last week, Portland P.D. said the case was closed for lack of sufficient evidence. A spokeswoman said the department would reopen the investigation if new details emerged.
Kalee Kreider, a spokeswoman for Mr. Gore, issued a statement which read, 'Further investigation into this matter will only benefit Mr. Gore. The Gores cannot comment on every defamatory, misleading and inaccurate story generated by tabloids. Mr. Gore unequivocally and emphatically denied this accusation when he first learned of its existence three years ago. He stands by that denial.'
More than two years after the alleged incident, the accuser read investigators a detailed account complete with references to Gore as a 'crazed sex poodle.' She alleged Gore groped her repeatedly during an hour and a half massage.
The 54-year old woman also claims to have saved the stained pants she wore that night in a bank safe only removing them to have a $35. DNA test done on them. She told the Enquirer the test results were inconclusive.
TMZ has confirmed ... Mel Gibson is caught on tape, screaming at his baby mama Oksana Grigorieva, "You look like a f*king pig in heat and if you get raped by a pack of ni**ers it will be your fault."
The tapes were secretly recorded by Oksana in the midst of their nuclear breakup and custody battle.
We've also confirmed Mel is heard on tape calling Oksana a "whore" and a "c**t."
The tapes have been submitted to the judge in their custody battle and are under seal. Sources say the tapes were recorded prior to May, when Mel and Oksana reached a custody agreement with a mediator.
And TMZ has learned ... Mel sent Oksana a number of incendiary emails that she kept.
TMZ broke the story in 2006 when Mel went nuts on a cop after being busted for DUI, saying, "F**king Jews ... The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world."
From the Ku Klux Klan, to a 14-hour, 13-minute filibuster against the 1964 Civil Rights Act. former Sen. Robert C. Byrd's life was filled with controversy.
"I realize that people make mistakes when they're young ... I think we've all done things we've regretted ... these are one of the things I know he regretted," Coston Davis, President, Charleston Branch of NAACP said.
Byrd was elected to the U.S. House in 1952. His involvement in the Klan splashed across headlines. He said he joined because of its anti-communism.
He joined with Southern Democrats in filibustering the Civil Rights Bill, a move that would haunt him for the rest of his political career.
"I do know the he filibustered the civil rights for a minute and at that point there was a transformation and change and he actually became a champion of civil rights," Davis said.
For all that's been said about Elizabeth Edwards, she's now taking her turn.
In a frank and far-reaching interview with PEOPLE in this week's issue, Edwards, 60, opens up about husband John's infidelity scandal and details what her and her children’s relationships with him are like now, the summer vacation they'll take together (including the sleeping arrangements), and her thoughts on him dating again.
"John's conduct through this whole thing was terrible and it makes people want him to pay for it," Elizabeth says. "On a personal level, he's paid a lot."
She also shares how her cancer has gotten worse, with tumors in her legs, spine and skull: "It's less frightening than you think; it can't migrate to your brain," she says.
Shanna Moakler refuses to let her beef with "biblically correct" beauty queen Carrie Prejean die down -- and TMZ has learned she's gonna send the anti-same sex marriage poster child a wedding present ... with a big, gay twist.
Keith Lewis -- co-director of the Miss California USA pageant along with Shana -- tells us they bought Carrie the Waterford Crystal picture frame from her wedding registry.
But in pure cat fight fashion, we're told they're going to fill the frame with a picture from Shanna's photo shoot for "No H8" ... the campaign dedicated to fighting the ban on same-sex marriage.
Lewis also tells us the people from the pageant "know Carrie 'very intimately' ... if you know what we mean ... and we didn't want her special day to be forgotten."
Carrie Prejean, whose grammatically mangled disapproval of gay marriage during the 2009 Miss USA pageant turned her into a conservative hero, is planning to give "opposite marriage" a go.
E! News confirmed that the fallen beauty queen plans to wed her NFL quarterback beau, Kyle Boller, this Friday in San Diego.
An employee for the Grand Del Mar Hotel says that the couple has blocked out a bunch of rooms at the resort for what's expected to be a lavish wedding this weekend (the group rate is $295 a night).
Prejean, 23, and Boller, 29, got engaged this February. The footballer plays for the Oakland Raiders and hails from Burbank, California.
President Barack Obama’s nomination of Gen. David Petraeus has put some Democrats in a politically awkward position.While Senate Democrats are expected to rally behind Petraeus to replace Gen. Stanley McChrystal as the top commander in Afghanistan, they must also ask tough questions about when the U.S. will withdraw troops from the war-torn country.
Many on the left are impatient with the Afghanistan war, and some Democrats are nervous much of their base may not show up to vote in this year’s midterm elections.
Meanwhile, Republicans who are looking to drive a wedge between Democratic leaders and the liberal base have pointed to critical statements Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and other leaders made about Petraeus a couple of years ago.
During the 2007 surge in Iraq, anti-war Democrats — most notably MoveOn.org — strongly criticized Petraeus.
Liberal advocacy groups and senators at the time accused Petraeus of misrepresenting the success of the surge of nearly 40,000 troops.Two years later, the four-star general is widely credited for turning around the war in Iraq and holds strong respect among Republicans. And Obama’s decision to replace McChrystal was made easier by his selection of Petraeus, who is expected to be confirmed swiftly.
The Second Amendment provides Americans a fundamental right to bear arms that cannot be violated by state and local governments, the Supreme Court ruled Monday in a long-sought victory for gun rights advocates.
The 5 to 4 decision does not strike down any gun-control laws, nor does it elaborate on what kind of laws would offend the Constitution. One justice predicted that an "avalanche" of lawsuits would be filed across the country asking federal judges to define the boundaries of gun ownership and government regulation.
But Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., who wrote the opinion for the court's dominant conservatives, said: "It is clear that the Framers . . . counted the right to keep and bear arms among those fundamental rights necessary to our system of ordered liberty."
The decision extended the court's 2008 ruling in District of Columbia v. Heller that "the Second Amendment protects a personal right to keep and bear arms for lawful purposes, most notably for self-defense within the home." That decision applied only to federal laws and federal enclaves such as Washington; it was the first time the court had said there was an individual right to gun ownership rather than one related to military service.
Monday's decision might be more symbolic than substantive, at least initially. No cities have laws as restrictive as the handgun bans in the District and in Monday's case from Chicago and its suburb of Oak Park. Although the court's decision did not specifically strike down those laws, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley said it will make the city's 28-year-old law "unenforceable."
Team Weigel rejoice – it didn’t take Dave Weigel very long to land on his feet after he resigned last week from The Washington Post.
Tonight at the end of Countdown, Keith Olbermann introduced new “MSNBC contributor” Dave Weigel.
Olbermann teased an announcement regarding Weigel throughout the program, and when he finally introduced his guest around 8:55pmET, he said, “We are very proud to announce is, as of like, I don’t know, 20 minutes ago, an MSNBC contributor. Welcome Dave…and you thought last week was fun, wait until you see what this week holds for you.”
Weigel’s segment was about an interview he did with Rick Barber (the guy behind this ad). Olbermann closed the interview by reiterating, “MSNBC contributor Dave Weigel, great thanks, as always, and good luck with this.”
Thanks to a lamestream media dominated by liberal journalists, Robert Byrd's record will be distorted and rectified to make him look like a good guy who had a few flaws early on in his life. But the facts are simply the facts. When he was a young man Robert Byrd joined and became heavily involved in a hate organization with a history of raping, abusing and killing black people and decades later he joined with other Democrats to filibuster the Civil Rights Act of 1964. I don't take any glee in Senator Byrd's passing, but anyone who takes part in distorting his record to make him look like a good guy is an idiot.Robert C. Byrd, who used his record tenure as a United States senator to fight for the primacy of the legislative branch of government and to build a modern West Virginia with vast amounts of federal money, died early Monday. He was 92.
His office said he died about 3 a.m. at Inova Hospital in Fairfax, Va. Senator Byrd, who lived in McLean, Va., had been admitted to the hospital late last week with symptoms of heat exhaustion and severe dehydration as temperatures in the Washington area approached 100 degrees. Though he was initially expected to be released after a few days, his condition deteriorated. He had been in failing health for several years.
Mr. Byrd’s death comes as Senate Democrats are working to pass the final version of the financial overhaul bill and win other procedural battles in the week before the Independence Day recess. In the polarized atmosphere of Washington, President Obama’s agenda seemed to hinge on Mr. Byrd’s health. Earlier this year, in the final days of the health care debate, the ailing senator was pushed onto the Senate floor in his plaid wheelchair so he could cast his votes.
Governor Joe Manchin III, a Democrat, will appoint an interim successor to Mr. Byrd.
Two GOP lawmakers seemed to echo talking points from Fox News host Glenn Beck about a deal made by investor George Soros..
Reps. Dan Burton (R-Ind) and Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) questioned whether Soros, who backs a number of liberal causes and Democratic candidates for office, had invested in a Brazilian oil company, Petrobras, with the knowledge that President Barack Obama might temporarily ban deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.
"We don’t need to be spending Mr. Soros's money in Brazil, so he can make more money by doing offshore drilling with our taxpayer’s money," Burton said.
Burton's implication was that Soros, an investor with Petrobras and a major Obama campaign donor, profited from a loan made by the U.S. Export-Import bank to Petrobras.
Gohmert made a similar point later during a congressional special orders speech.
"This country, apparently standing for two billion dollars to help Brazil do deep exploration — and that’ll make hundreds of millions for Soros, happy dream, they make lots of money — but sometimes people in this body are torn between their constituent service, or being a part of a powerful team," he said.
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