Politics
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Unemployment Rate – Democrats wrong again
The always insightful Aparna Mathur of the American Enterprise Institute explains why they’re wrong (my emphasis): Despite the steady positive news in the monthly jobs report, a recent talking point, oft-repeated, is that too many people are holding two or three jobs in order to make ends meet. Rep. Tim Ryan brought this up during the recent Democratic debate arguing that “the economic system…now force(s) us to have two or three jobs just to get by.†In the earlier debate, Senator Kamala Harris suggested that the low unemployment rate is not cause for celebration since for many Americans, this still meant working “two or three jobs†in order to make…
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Today at Chautauqua – Children’s Parade and Jim Lehrer
Today at Chautauqua: Children’s parade around Bestor Plaza in the morning, followed by the 10:45AM lecture by Jim Lehrer. The rain held off for the parade, but interrupted the beginning of Jim Lehrer’s talk. Quite a downpour – but people braved the weather to attend the lecture. The rain had stopped by the time the lecture ended (~12:00) and we had to pickup the kids from the Children’s School schoolbus. This is the first time I’ve heard Jim Lehrer speak outside of the News Hour show; he is an extremely engaging speaker, and a lot of fun. Some of the anecdotes he told about Presidential debates and interviews with candidates…
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Chautauqua – Lectures by Bruce Riedel and Geffrey Kelly
In line with the Topic for Chautauqua this week (Week Three [July 10-16, 2011] — American Intelligence: Technology, Espionage, and Alliances), this morning the lecture in the Amphitheater was by Bruce Riedel, senior fellow, Brookings Institution, former CIA officer. The title of his talk was: “The Intelligence War with al-Qaida.†While I was familiar with a fair bit of what he said, I greatly enjoyed the outline he gave for the history of al-Qaida, as well as Pakistan’s role (past and current) regarding that terrorist organization. He is a very dynamic speaker, and gave a quiet engaging talk. Made me reconsider whether we should pick the Pakistan-themed week next year.…
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Cheney led into traveling crate
This is an hysterical news brief from The Onion: A team of nine specially trained handlers have successfully lured outgoing vice president Dick Cheney into a reinforced steel traveling crate in order to transport him back to his permanent enclosure in Casper, WY, official sources reported Monday. “He’s a smart one. Once he sees the crate, he gets pretty nippy, but we’ve learned a few tricks over the years,” chief VP wrangler Ted Irving breathlessly said while applying pressure to a deep gash on his forearm. “If we break a rabbit’s legs and throw it in there, he will eventually go in to finish it off. Doesn’t work with dead…