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Translation: After receiving billions in federal subsidies ($100 billion from the stimulus program alone), “green” jobs account for only 2.4 percent of the nation’s employment.
When President Obama signed his economic stimulus plan into law on February 17, 2009, he promised it “includes help for those hardest hit by our economic crisis,” and “As a whole, this plan will help poor and working Americans.”
But the newest data on how the stimulus money was given out across the 50 states and the District of Columbia shows a perverse pattern: The states hardest hit by the recession received the least money. States with higher bankruptcy, foreclosure, and unemployment rates got less money. And lower-income states also received less.
Rather than helping out those in the toughest shape, it looks like Democrats ended up helping their supporters, including unions and many very wealthy supporters.According to the Obama administration’s Recovery.gov, a total of $504 billion of federal contracts, grants, and loans to states and territories were awarded between February 17, 2009, and December 31, 2011. The amounts vary a lot across states, with the very lowest at $978 per capita in Virginia and the highest at $2,495 per capita in Alaska. The District of Columbia is the real winner at a whopping $7,603.
Depending on the number of contestants, three or four shuckers will compete at a time during the ninth annual competition, scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. at the West Ocean City Greene Turtle. The shucker(s) who cleanly open the most oysters in each three-minute round move on.
More than 3,000 oysters were shucked and eaten last year. Tom Creveling, representing Harrison’s Harbor Watch, won the 2010 and 2011 events. Last year, he narrowly edged out Jeb Vetock, also of Harrison’s Harbor Watch. Creveling shucked 61 oysters in the final round, while Vetock opened 59.
“That was the closest it’s ever been,” said Chad Rogers, Greene Turtle West general manager and contest organizer.
Both shuckers are set to participate this year, Rogers said.
The new movie “Hunger Games” seems destined to be a big hit. Yes, “Games” is a challenging story--a dystopian future in which an oppressive government forces young people into gladiator-type battles-to-the-death--but it’s getting good buzz and good reviews. One critic described “Games” as “like ‘American Idol’ with a body count.”
So c’mon folks! Head down to the ‘plex, buy your ticket, plunk down another $10 for soda and popcorn, and watch good-looking actors and actresses exchange longing glances as they kill each other.
The boy raised his hand, eager to answer the question. "What would you know about it?" exclaimed the teacher dismissively. "You're not our race."
This was not dialogue from a Hollywood movie. According to a woman named Melissa Coon, it was what a teacher at East High School in Kansas City told her 13-year-old son, Allen, when he attempted to answer a question during Black History Month. Coon identifies that teacher as Mrs. Karla Dorsey, who is black; Allen is white.
As has already been reported, Allen was a victim of a vicious racial attack last week in which two older black teens doused him with gasoline and set him alight, saying, "This is what you deserve. You get what you deserve, white boy." Not surprisingly, Coon has pulled her son out of East High and, concerned about further racial violence, intends to leave the K.C. area.
While this crime is making headlines, Coon states that it was merely the horrible culmination of continual racial harassment her son had to endure at East High. Moreover, after conducting an investigation that included extensive interviews with parents and students, I've learned that Coon's son is not alone. Other white students also report a pattern of racial harassment at the high school at the hands of their peers -- and, shockingly, their teachers.
A federal judge on Thursday ordered regulators to start proceedings to withdraw approval for the use of common antibiotics in animal feed, citing concerns that overuse is endangering human health by creating antibiotic-resistant "superbugs".
U.S. Magistrate Judge Theodore Katz ordered the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to begin proceedings unless makers of the drugs can produce evidence that their use is safe.
If they can't, then the FDA must withdraw approval for non-therapeutic use of those drugs, the judge ruled.
The FDA had started such proceedings in 1977, prompted by its concerns the widespread use in livestock feed of certain antibiotics - particularly tetracyclines and penicillin, the most common. But the proceedings were never completed and the approval remained in place.
Since when did we start treating courtrooms like our living rooms?
While members of the bar did not commit many of the aforementioned offenses, I’ve seen lawyers come to court in business casual, deposit garbage on the floor and chew bubble gum at trial table.
Put it all in the blender and it creates an environment where it feels OK to say and do whatever you want without consequences. Worse, it gives the impression that the courtroom and those occupying it don’t deserve respect. It becomes abundantly apparent when people curse during victim impact statements, refer to the judge by just her last name and loudly snicker at opposing counsel that we are not in Kansas anymore.
The officer carried the silk banner home to Maine as a souvenir, and it stayed in his family for three generations in a box along with a handwritten note: "To be return to Savannah or Atlanta sometime."
Nobody knows for sure why the late Maj. William Zoron Clayton wanted his Civil War trophy flag returned to the South. But after 148 years, his wish has been honored.
“Mountains of data point to the connection between traditional marriage and religion to civil order and economic prosperity,” Parker said. “Yet, we are here today, because our times necessitate that we defend both sexual integrity and religion from the onslaught of the same big government and social engineers that gave us the sexual revolution and the war on poverty.
“No more should my auto insurance cover your tune up, should my health insurance cover your sex life,” Parker said. “Not your Viagra, not your condoms, not your birth control devices, not your abortions.”
A separate Gallup survey, meanwhile, shows that Americans who attend religious services at least once a week are also less likely to approve of the job Barack Obama is doing as president.
The Gallup survey on the emotional disposition of religious and non-religious Americans was based on interviews with 329,152 adults conducted throughout 2011.
WASHINGTON — Sales of U.S. new homes fell in February for the second straight month, a reminder that the depressed housing market remains weak despite some improvement.
The Commerce Department said Friday that new-home sales dropped 1.6 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 313,000 homes. Sales have fallen nearly 7 percent since December.
While a mild winter and three months of strong job growth have lifted re-sales, those conditions haven’t benefited the new-home market. The current pace is less than half the 700,000 that economists consider to be healthy.
Economists cautioned that the housing market is a long way from fully recovering.
