Net Job Increase under President Obama . . .

The Bureau of Labor Statistics revised the jobs picture through March 2012 showing a 386,000 net additional jobs gained in the U.S. This would seem to show that President Obama has managed a net jobs increase. Perhaps not yet that meaningful for the overall economy, because it is only a beginning of curing the Bush debacle. Still, it should carry some legitimate political weight. My guess: we will hear more about this.

Liona Boyd . . .

middle class voice of reason . . .

some answers don't need specific questions . . . respect

. . . but I won't be worried long . . .

what every girl should know . . .

It is the birthday of Margaret Sanger. A bit from Wikipedia:

In 1921, Sanger founded the American Birth Control League, which later became the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. In New York, Sanger organized the first birth control clinic staffed by all-female doctors, as well as a clinic in Harlem with an entirely African-American staff. In 1929, she formed the National Committee on Federal Legislation for Birth Control, which served as the focal point of her lobbying efforts to legalize contraception in the United States. From 1952 to 1959, Sanger served as president of the International Planned Parenthood Federation. She died in 1966, and is widely regarded as a founder of the modern birth control movement.

Some of What Every Girl Should Know is of the time and we now understand more . . . but the work Ms. Sanger did is without parallel.

Halleluja from Cosenza

traditional arbereshe music (pre-ottoman empire)

the Big Dog says how it really is . . .

We Democrats think the country works better with a strong middle class, real opportunities for poor people to work their way into it and a relentless focus on the future, with business and government working together to promote growth and broadly shared prosperity. We think "we're all in this together" is a better philosophy than "you're on your own."

Who's right? Well, since 1961, the Republicans have held the White House 28 years, the Democrats 24. In those 52 years, our economy produced 66 million private sector jobs. What's the jobs score? Republicans 24 million, Democrats 42 million.

It turns out that advancing equal opportunity and economic empowerment is both morally right and good economics, because discrimination, poverty and ignorance restrict growth, while investments in education, infrastructure and scientific and technological research increase it, creating more good jobs and new wealth for all of us.

Are we better off now than 4 years ago?

I keep reading the question from pundits . . . both right and left . . . (a fair question by the way) "Are we better off than we were 4 years ago?" The answer is simple . . . Bush was still President (Rice was still Secretary of State) . . . we were listing badly (if a sailboat listed so badly it would have sank beneath the waves) but limping toward an election . . . we were in the process of losing three million additional jobs during that quarter . . . the country of our fathers and mothers was unnecessarily bleeding red AND green . . . we were at war in TWO deserts . . . the whole of the financial system was on the verge of collapse . . . and we were desperately pushing for bank bailouts trying to ensure that the system, or some part of it, would stay afloat. That was where we were 4 years ago. Are we better off now? Damn right! though clearly it will take more than President Obama's first four years of wrestling with the Republicans to pin these lying charlatans to the mat . . . but yes, we are better off than 4 years ago before the President took office . . . and clearly more time is needed to correct the listing ship of the nation . . . We cannot entrust this nation to Romney (with all those advisers and "experts" borrowed from the Shrub's (thank you, Mollie Ivins!) backroom cabinet . . .