Associated Press has an economic epiphany
This entry was posted on 4/7/2008 3:58 PM and is filed under Crappy Economy Redux, National media at large.
The odious Associated Press (AP) has an article discussing the lame economy. The little "gloom-and-doom" vignette has been making the rounds to the various newspapers. It is not the economy I am about to rip to pieces - it is the omnipotent AP.
Oh thank God the AP has validated the current miserable economy. Us working stiffs have only been complaining about it since the first year of Bush's Presidency. But, this past weekend, the mighty AP has had an economic epiphany.
I fear it is not that they care about the economy, but rather they are benevolently allowing us to now read about what we average schlubs knew for seven years - The Bush/Cheney economy sucks!
The AP dug up some 20-something white female yuppie from a trendy Milwaukee suburb. Poor 20-something has had to take a second job as a....my God, a waitress. Great gnashing of teeth Batman! Anyway she is having to buy used furniture for her sparcely furnished digs. Hey sweetheart, and nitwit AP - welcome to being single in your 20s.
The AP piled on - gasoline prices going through the roof; 80,000 jobs lost last month; comparisons to the '73 Arab Oil Embargo; Watergate era government distrust fatigue; inflation; poor retail sales; credit card debt; people resorting to second hand clothing shops; growing your own food; mending your own cloths; resisting conspicuous consumer temptation; and, turning off the air conditioner for the summer (nice global warming innuendo); and in case we have forgotten our recession angst...FEAR! Be afraid people, be very affraid.
And oh yeah, don't forget you could drown in the kitchen sink; the sky is really falling this time; and last but not least - we are all going to fuck'n die!
Stupid pop culture, media-complex, distraction-from-reality story
I see the main stream pundits are still up to their old tricks more than ever while I was gone to Iraq. So, I am thinking, each day I should continue to jot down the stupidest news story that is foist upon us by the big-media-complex as a distraction from the reality that has become America. So here we go - welcome to today's "Stupid Pop Culture, Media-complex, Distraction-from-reality Story."
The war in Iraq languishes on; the dollar collapses; gas prices have us working stiffs deciding between filling our car tanks and buying necessities; and, Washington apparently continues to be run by two-party paradigm lunatics. Good God but wait there is more! The nanny-state America that has become the real-time world of Orwell is collectively livid! The already shaky institution of American marriage has taken another hit. Newly weds from Vallejo, California were Tasered and tossed in the brig when their wedding reception took a turn for the worse. "'Til death do we part" oh blissful ones - or, at least until Officer Taser breaks up the party - dudes. Now there is some real God damned news!
Wisconsin military service person of the week
Private First Class Kyle M. Hemauer, 21, formally of Chilton, Wisconsin and most recently of Manassas, Virgina, died May 23, 2005, in Afghanistan. Hemauer was assigned to the Army National Guard's 3rd Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division based in Manassas, Virginia. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel mentioned Kyle grew up in Chilton, Wisconsin and played foot ball for the Chilton High School Tigers where he receive all-conference status. He is a 2002 graduate of Chilton, a city of about 3,800 in Calumet County, Wisconsin. He later played punter for the Northrop Grumman shipyard Apprentice School at Newport News, Virgina. There he studied sheet metal apprentice. He was named to the second offensive team of the All-Atlantic Central Football Conference. Hemauer is one of three brothers. Private First Class Kyle Hemauer was Wisconsin's second soldier to die in the Afghanistan War.
82,693 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
8,145 Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
4,023 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
488 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
309 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
294 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
29,628 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
1,912 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
87 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
10 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
127 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
15 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
Soldier of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; washingtonpost.com; thehighground.org; Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs; iraqbodycount.org; and, icasualties.org.
