Free Republic

A record-breaking 49.7 million Americans--one in six--now live below the federal poverty line, newly revised 2012 census data shows. The new figures, which take into account medical and living expenses, are three million higher than the government's official number. The Obama Administration instituted the new metric two years ago but has not replaced the original methodology, which has been used for over a half-century. Only Congress could change the government's official calculation method. "When so many citizens are worse off year after year, with food insecurity and health care insecurity, there's no way you can say that's a successful economy,"...

Democrats Dispirited About Voting in 2012 Republicans' enthusiasm for voting matches 2004 and exceeds 2008 PRINCETON, NJ -- In thinking about the 2012 presidential election, 45% of Democrats and independents who lean Democratic say they are more enthusiastic about voting than usual, while nearly as many, 44%, are less enthusiastic.This is in sharp contrast to 2008 and, to a lesser extent, 2004, when the great majority of Democrats expressed heightened enthusiasm about voting.Democrats' muted response to voting in 2012 also contrasts with Republicans' eagerness. Nearly 6 in 10 Republicans, 58%, describe themselves as more enthusiastic about voting. That is nearly...

Temp jobs were down 12,000 in June and have dropped for three straight months — by 19,000 in all since April, according to the Labor Department. Temp help is often a leading indicator of broader labor market trends. Companies tend to cut temp workers before they start cutting permanent workers. The deceleration seen in the past few months is potentially a very troubling development if it portends a new round of layoffs of permanent workers. At the same time, if the shocks that hit the economy earlier this year — rising oil prices, Japan’s natural disasters — were truly transitory...

The unemployment rate increased to 9.2% in June, the Labor Department reported, but if the recession hadn’t pushed so many people out of the labor market it would have been much worse. The duration of unemployment continues to increase and sat at an average of 39.9 weeks in June. More than four million people who want jobs, or nearly a third of the unemployed, have been out of work for more than a year. Those are the people are hanging in and looking for work, but a large number have given up altogether. The share of the population in the...

Fed up with rising prices — on everything from groceries to gas — thousands of ordinary Americans are silently protesting the Obama administration at supermarkets and gas pumps with sticky notes. From the group’s Facebook page: Purchase a pad of large sticky notes. Write on each one, “How’s that Hope & Change working out for you?” Every time you stop to fill your vehicle with gas, place your sticky note somewhere on the pump before you drive away. DO NOT be destructive in ANY way! Place your sticky note somewhere, so as not to impede the next customer‘s ability to...

it’s bad enough with all the crises going on around the world that could benefit from a little leadership from the Leader of the Free World, and Jughead is giving us his basketball picks. But, it gets worse! Or maybe it just reflects how seriously he takes catastrophes that don’t affect him personally. At :48 in the video: “Obviously we are going through incredible changes all around the world. Most recently…Japan…” Change?? Uh, yeah, Barry. Some “change” goin’ on over there in Japan! What an oddly inadequate word to describe thousands of deaths, hundreds of thousands homeless and billions of...

EAST POINT, Ga. - Video showed chaos unfolding in the city of East Point on Wednesday morning as hundreds of people waited for their chance to get federal housing assistance. Aerials from above the East Point Housing Authority showed a large group of people congregating around police cars and causing a scene as several people handed out applications. Mobs of people surrounded police cars, and FOX 5 has learned workers were handing out applications to the crowd, but they would only do so with police presence. Those in the crowd would receive an application, then fill it out and wait...

<p>Two people were charged Saturday in "very disturbing" drug-related killings of two young children and two adult relatives outside Washington D.C.</p> <p>Darrell Lynn Bellard, 43, of Dickinson, Texas, and Tkeisha Nicole Gilmer, 18, of Texas City, Texas were taken into custody Friday and charged with first-degree murder, police in Prince George's County, Maryland, told CNN. More charges are being considered.</p>

MADISONVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A Monroe County deputy has been suspended in connection with the investigation into the case of an election official whose body was believed to be found in the trunk of a burning car. The Knoxville News-Sentinel reported Tuesday that Kenny Hope was placed on administrative leave with pay. The newspaper said Monroe County Sheriff Bill Bivens would not discuss the reason for the suspension or details of the case, in which a body believed to be that of county election commission chairman Jim Miller was found in the burning car Saturday night.

Nasa has begun to wind down construction of the rockets and spacecraft that were to have taken astronauts back to the Moon — effectively dismantling the US human spaceflight programme despite a congressional ban on its doing so. Legislators have accused President Obama’s Administration of contriving to slip the termination of the Constellation programme through the back door to avoid a battle on Capitol Hill. Constellation aimed to build upon what was arguably America’s greatest technological achievement, the first lunar landing of 1969, by launching new expeditions to the Moon and to Mars and worlds beyond. Mr Obama proposed in...

In mid-February 2008, fresh from winning a bunch of Super Tuesday primaries, Barack Obama granted an interview to "60 Minutes" correspondent Steve Croft. "When you sit down and you look at [your] resume," Croft said to Obama, "there's no executive experience, and in fact, correct if I'm wrong, the only thing that you've actually run was the Harvard Law Review." "Well, I've run my Senate office, and I've run this campaign," Obama said. (...) snip Obama ignored Palin's experience as governor of Alaska, which was considerably bigger than the Obama campaign. But his point was clear: If you're worried about...

TTP Leader Hakimullah Mehsud Declares: 'From Now On, the Main Targets of Our Fidaeen [Suicide Bombers] Are American Cities' The first, which the YouTube page titled "Hakeemullah Mehsud is Alive and Healthy and Delivering news about Attacks on USA," is 2:17 long, and shows a still satellite image of North America with a still image of Hakimullah Mehsud. Speaking in Urdu, he states that the date is April 19, 2010 and threatens bombings in U.S. "states & cities"; as he speaks, explosions are shown taking place across the map. (To view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/2463.htm. NOTE: You...

Even after the best jobs report in more than four years, the suddenly-volatile markets swung between modest gains and losses Friday morning as Wall Street struggles to regain its footing in the wake of one of its most turbulent days in history

SFGate/SF Chronicle wants linking and excerpt only - check link for article.

Maricopa County lost the second highest number of jobs among U.S. counties between second quarter 2008 and 2Q 2009, according to federal labor data released Tuesday. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said Tuesday Maricopa County lost 149,900 jobs between 2Q 2008 and 2Q 2009. Only Los Angeles County lost more jobs during the same time period — 256,700 jobs. The Phoenix metro area lost more jobs than Cook County in the Chicago area as well as New York City. The Phoenix area has been hit hard by the pullback in consumer spending, tourism, housing prices and the construction sector....

California lost far more jobs last year than the state initially reported, according to a new report that provides an early glimpse into statewide employment trends. That would translate into 292,000 more lost jobs. "If it comes to that number, it would be one of the biggest revisions ever," said Paul Wessen, an economist with the state EDD. "I can't remember a revision this big since the early 1990s, when we lost a lot of aerospace jobs."

At 18, Ben Taber soaked up the stadium-size vibe of Barack Obama's nomination with a sense of wonder as he joined an unprecedented wave of young voters that would help carry their candidate to the White House. By the time he turned 20 this week, that emotional and philosophical bond with the president had been tempered by a steep learning curve about governance, and a stern reality check about the scope and pace of hope and change. "For the most part, the general tenor of this administration is something I like," says Taber, who worked as a U.S. Senate intern...

A sign reading "Welcome to Obamaville Colorado's Fastest Growing Community" appeared at a homeless tent city in Colorado Springs this week. You probably didn't hear about it because outside of two Colorado television stations nobody found this newsworthy. By contrast, when word got out in March of a tent city in Sacramento, California, news media couldn't get enough of the story. Is it because that happened so soon after Inauguration Day that it could easily be blamed on George W. Bush, and that given the name given to this area that's no longer possible?

Where were all the prognosticators?

The Ebony Fashion Fair -- a catwalk show that traveled across the country, Canada and the Bahamas bringing designer fashion from around the world to predominantly black audiences -- has put its fall 2009 schedule on hiatus. The reason? The economy. -snip- The cancellation is also a big financial blow in West Palm Beach, where Delta Sigma Theta Sorority produced the show to raise money for its college scholarship program for local high school students. ``This was by far one of the largest fundraisers for us,'' said Charice Robinson, the president of the West Palm Beach Alumnae Chapter. ``It will...