This morning the spokesmodels for Wall Street on Bloomberg Television were touting the 'better than expected' unemployment claims figures.
They came in at 'only 570,000.'
Wait a minute. That does not seem right. Have another cup of coffee and look up the figures.
The consensus of expectations was 565,000. The actual was 570,000. That's better?
Betty Liu went on to explain, 'they are better than expected because they fell from the week before.' The prior week's figures were revised from 576,000 to 580,000.
In her defense, she just says what they put in front of her. I wonder if the same can be said for Obama.
We're not in Kansas anymore.
Every empire in its official discourse has said it is not like the others, that its circumstances are special, that it has a mission to enlighten, civilize, bring order and democracy, and that it uses force only as a last resort. And, sadder still, there always is a chorus of willing intellectuals to say calming words about benign or altruistic empires, as if one shouldn't one's eyes watching the destruction and the misery and death brought by the latest 'mission civilisatrice.' Edward W. Said