CHESSNOID

We are now in July 2009 and the recession that started in officially in December 2007 is still here despite many economists, financial experts and analysts, and the federal government agencies stating it would end soon for the last 18 months.  What’s funny is that most of these people prior to December 2007 did not even see the recession coming.

Now that Obama has been in office for 6 months, reality is setting in that he did not have the plan to make things better.  Forget about all those polls who still think he is doing a great job for the level of experience he has.  Those polls are useless and the sampling too small.  Read the headlines to determine where the economy is, talk to your family and relatives and see if they are worried about their jobs, and watch as many states struggle to balance their budget without success.

According to this Yahoo AP article:

However, the rise in the unemployment rate from 9.4 percent in May wasn’t as sharp as the expected 9.6 percent. Still, many economists predict the jobless rate will hit 10 percent this year, and keep rising into next year, before falling back.

All told, 14.7 million people were unemployed in June.

If laid-off workers who have given up looking for new jobs or have settled for part-time work are included, the unemployment rate would have been 16.5 percent in June, the highest on records dating to 1994.

14 million people unemployed in the month of June is a number that the media and government seem to ignore, but that number is real. I wish hope would be enough to bring the economy out of the recession, but success would come easier if they put a plan in that would work. President Obama is a more eloquent speaking Democrat version of President Bush. No one can demonstrate that the US is in a better situation now after Bush left.

Even the media have started to do their jobs and begin to examine what is and isn’t working under the administration.

NY Times:

In the weeks just before President Obama took office, his economic advisers made a mistake. They got a little carried away with hope.

To make the case for a big stimulus package, they released their economic forecast for the next few years. Without the stimulus, they saw the unemployment rate — then 7.2 percent — rising above 8 percent in 2009 and peaking at 9 percent next year. With the stimulus, the advisers said, unemployment would probably peak at 8 percent late this year.

We now know that this forecast was terribly optimistic. The jobless rate has already reached 9.4 percent. On Thursday, the Labor Department will announce the latest number, for June, and forecasters are expecting it to rise further. In concrete terms, the difference between the situation that the Obama advisers predicted and the one that has come to pass is about 2.5 million jobs. It’s as if every worker in the city of Los Angeles received an unexpected layoff notice.

There are two possible explanations that the administration was so wrong. And sorting through them matters a great deal, because they point in opposite policy directions.

The first explanation is that the economy has deteriorated because the stimulus package failed. Some critics say that stimulus just doesn’t work, while others argue that this particular package was too small or too badly constructed to make a difference.

The second answer is that the economy has deteriorated in spite of the stimulus. In other words, the patient is not as sick as he would have been without the medicine he received. But he is a lot sicker than doctors realized when they prescribed it.

To me, the evidence is fairly compelling that the second answer is the right one. The stimulus package does seem to have helped. But its impact has been minor — so far — compared with the harshness of the Great Recession.

The bailouts have not worked unless you are the CEO of one the companies. Cha Ching! The stimulus packages haven’t worked. The extreme deficit spending to continue funding the wars is not working. At this point, all the Obama administration or Congress has to do is say NO to wasteful bailouts, NO to wasteful stimulus packages, and bring the troops home. We don’t have to police the world especially when our own house is not in order. All these actions will help contribute to balance the budget. Yes, these are all Ron Paul ideas.

Yes, they are still together judging by this Good Morning America video. Molly didn’t really look that into Jason or she was just bored on the show, at least when he was talking about his website for single parents. Originally, I thought he was going to be on ABC to announce wedding plans or a baby on the way deal.

Here’s the link to the video.  Forgive me, I couldn’t embed the video.

Jason & Molly Marriage? ‘Absolutely Someday’

Enjoy!

I was surprised to see Wes made it to the final four. At first I thought what the heck is Jillian doing.  One bachelor Tanner says a guy here has a girlfriend but won’t name him.  A second bachelor Jake comes back after being rejected and claims Wes has a girlfriend.  After all the drama and meeting Wes’ family, Jillian is convinced that those 2 bachelors she let go are wrong about Wes.

We the audience see that during the show, Wes is saying this or that and it really makes him look bad. How bad can ABC make the edit on someone? I just finished going to Reality Steve’s website and he gave some insight from a radio interview Wes did in their hometown.  I thought it was very good and changed my mind about Wes.  Maybe he isn’t a dog and everything he did say was taken out of context.

Reality Steve:

-So how did Wes get screwed on the editing? Well, lets just call it a case of “Frankenbite” (I will explain later). As mentioned earlier, Wes did a radio interview last Tuesday with some station here in Dallas. I’ll put up the link to the site so you can listen for yourself (it’s about 5 minutes long), but here are the two most important pieces to what he said.

In regards to him talking about being able to “taste the fame”, here’s what he said verbatim:

“But I can tell you that a lot of what was said was either taken out of context or it was edited in with voice overs, on different subject matters. For instance, like last night when I said, ‘I can taste the fame, I can feel it’, when I heard that, I almost fell on the floor and had a heart attack.

What I was talking about was, they (the producers) asked me a question, ‘What’s it like Wes when you’re writing a song?’ And I said, ‘Well, it’s kinda strange. Sometimes I can write a song in five minutes sometimes it takes me a few days, but, when it comes to me, it’s like I can feel it, I can taste it, it comes inside of me, and then it comes out on pen and paper.’ So, basically they can just take what I say, and take different sentences and put them together.

And in talking with the rest of the guys about “being here six episodes”, here’s what he had to say:

“They play the middle part of my conversation but they don’t play the beginning or the end. I was talking to the guys and I was saying, ‘You know guys, I understand there’s people that think I’m here for the wrong reasons. Well, I do have a CD coming out, I do need to be back home working. I said look, if I was just here for the fame and publicity, I’ve already made six shows, I’ve already got the publicity, but I’m still here, and I’m still here because I choose to be here. I want to be here for the girl, I want to see if anything happens between me and Jillian. I was definitely there for Jillian.’”

Listen to the actual Wes  Hayden interview here.

Then I found this article on the girl that was mentioned from the Hollywood Gossip:

Her name is Laurel, Jake told

Jillian and millions of viewers. Wes denied he is dating her. Jake ratted him out anyway. Laurel Kagay sat in shock at home.

“I was like, ‘What?’” Laurel told People in an interview today. “There was this pause before he said my name - and then he said it quite a few times.”

Laurel Kagay, owner of Peach Body Boutique in Austin, would like to clear the air on this topic, which has dominated the contrived Bachelorette for weeks.

She dated Wes Hayden for three years, but they are broken up, and have been for quite a while now. The two became strictly friends a year ago, she said.

“I’m absolutely not with Wes, nor would I be with Wes if he were going on a show to be with another girl,” she says. “That’s absolutely crazy.”

So how did Jake Pavelka get things mixed up?

“I think he was paid by the producers to come on the show and confront Wes definitely upset about not being on the show anymore,” Laurel theorized.

“And I think Wes did say something about his ex-girlfriend. Maybe he said he still cares about me or whatever. Maybe Jake blew that into something else.”

However, Laurel Kagay admits, “We are really good friends and we do go out to lunch together, so I could see how people could think we’re together.”

Oddly enough, Laurel is also linked to another famous name in The Bachelor franchise - Brad Womack, the Texan who chose no one on his season finale.

Laurel Kagay has also dated Collin Evans, who was briefly a contender on The Bachelorette’s third season with Jen Schefft. Sounds like she has a type!

As for Wes Hayden, who The Bachelorette has presented as the ultimate bad boy, Laurel says, “They have not shown Wes’ real personality at all. He’s so funny. When we were together, we were always laughing and having fun.”

“I never worried about him cheating on me.”

“She seems to have fun and has a good personality,” Laurel says of

Jillian Harris, “and he’s really fun and funny. Too bad all this craziness had to go down.”

OK, the real weird thing is Laurel has dated 3 bachelor contestants, Wes, Laurel, and Colin. Does everyone know each other in Texas?

Apparently, you have a better chance of getting on the Bachelor/Bachelorette show if you date this girl.