Sunday, March 6, 2011
Obama's chief of staff: Libya requires global response - The Oval: Tracking the Obama presidency
"The president knows that the ultimate decision he has to make, at times, is to put men and women in harm's way, and you do that only with great consultation with your allies," Daley said on NBC's Meet The Press. "You can do that in a way that can protect those young men and women."
Daley echoed comments by Defense Secretary Robert Gates by noting that creating a no-fly zone would require military action to knock out Libyan anti-air defenses. "Lots of people throw around phrases of 'no-fly zone,' and they talk about it as if it's just a ... video game or something. Some people who throw that line out have no idea what they're talking about," Daley said.
The U.S. and its allies have been talking for weeks "to try to have a coordinated effort to bring pressure" on Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
"As the president said, all options are on the table," Daley said. "But this has to be an international effort. It cannot be done by one country."
Saturday, March 5, 2011
- Saudi Arabia - forbids any protest demos, marches
Saudi Arabia on Saturday banned all protests and marches, state television on Saturday cited the Interior Ministry as saying after Saudi minority Shi'ites staged small protests in the oil-producing eastern province.
Security forces would use all measures to prevent any attempt to disrupt public order, state news channel al-Ekhbariya said in an alert without giving details.
Saudi Shi'ites held two small protests in the kingdom's oil-producing east on Friday, demanding the release of a cleric and other prisoners, witnesses, human rights activists and Shi'ite sources said.
More than 100 protesters marched through the city of Hofuf to demand the release of Shi'ite cleric Tawfiq al-Amir who was arrested after calling for a constitutional monarchy and a fight against corruption, witnesses and human rights activists said.
Santelli: 'Good' Jobs Report Has Dark Side — CNBC, CNBC.com Market and Economy News - CNBC
We created 192,000 headline jobs in the February employment report. It’s not enough, but it certainly is welcome news and it is heading in the right direction — although too slowly.
We also learned from the February report that the unemployment rate finally trended below the psychologically important 9 percent mark. This is a very big development, considering the rate was pushing the 10 percent level several months ago.
Upon closer scrutiny though, there is another factor contributing to the drop that is not necessarily good news: The official size of the U.S. labor force is shrinking.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes the “Labor Force Participation Rate” each month, along with a litany of other metrics that are used to give us the headline jobs number and the unemployment rate.
The government's definition of the labor force is all individuals 16 years of age and older, who are employed or seeking employment. It does not include students; retirees; anyone with unreported income, or "discouraged" workers.
The participation rate is the comparison of the "labor force," those looking for work or employed, and everyone else. That ratio is currently 64.2 percent seasonally adjusted, and 63.9 percent non-seasonally adjusted, the same level as last month. Both of those percentages are currently running at 27-year lows, meaning the percentage of Americans not working or even trying to join the work force is at a near three-decade high.
The last time the participation rate was above 66 percent — the 10-year average — was in August 2008.
It is imperative that we continue to monitor this relationship in order to determine if an improving unemployment rate means that American workers are finding jobs, or have just given up looking.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Arizona Senate passes bill allowing guns at public events | The State Column
The Arizona State Legislature has passed a bill allowing individuals to carry guns at public events. The bill’s passage comes less than two months after Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot during a public event in Tucson, Arizona.
The Arizona Senate passed the bill, which now heads to the Arizona House for consideration. It remains unclear whether Arizona governor Jan Brewer would sign the bill into law.
Debate over the proposal was, at times, emotionally.
Read more: http://www.thestatecolumn.com/articles/arizona-senate-passes-bill-allowing-guns-at-public-events/#ixzz1FfEzKCad