Phantom Stranger

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Posts by Phantom Stranger

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  242

  USA Election 2004

  by Simon in

  1. social
  2. current

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  may the best man win !.

  ... and that means not bush

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  Phantom Stranger

  In America, if you don't have a job, it sucks to be you.

  Americans Drop Out of Labor Force, Posing Risks for Bush, Fed (excerpts from http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aEUT7DAoLUZ8&refer=us)

  March 8 (Bloomberg) -- Anthony Whitmore lost his job as a die press operator at Midland Steel Products in Cleveland 10 months ago and holds little hope of finding work. In Chester, Pennsylvania, Chris Rabzak, a former aerospace engineer with a law degree, is stretching out his master's program in business administration rather than jumping into the labor market.

  ``Every month some economist comes out and says that next month or next year things will get better -- I don't believe them anymore,'' said Rabzak, 36. ``In this economy, I'm not optimistic about finding a job,'' said Whitmore, 40. Rabzak and Whitmore are among the 1.6 million Americans who have dropped out of U.S. workforce in the past year. The percentage of those working or looking for jobs has skidded for four years and fell in February to 65.9 percent, a 16-year low, the Labor Department said Friday in Washington. Last month, 588,000 people left the labor force as the economy created just 21,000 jobs, a sixth of the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of 65 economists.

  Job growth averaged just 60,000 a month since September, and the U.S. has shed 2.3 million positions since Bush became president in January 2001, according to Labor Department statistics. To keep up with population growth, the U.S. needs to create 150,000 jobs a month, according to Fed estimates.

  After growing at a 6.1 percent annual rate in the second half last year -- the fastest six months since 1984 -- the world's largest economy may expand 4.6 percent this year, based on the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey last month. ``If we get 4 percent growth this year and the participation rate is declining, it means we are far below potential,'' said James Glassman, senior economist at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. in New York, in an interview Friday.

  The situation is ``very astonishing,'' said Lyle E. Gramley, a former Fed governor and now a senior economic adviser with Schwab Soundview Capital Markets. ``Here it is, two-and-a-quarter years into the recovery, and we're still having trouble creating jobs. My confidence about when the job pickup is likely to begin is waning.''

  The U.S. added 21,000 jobs in February, just one sixth of the 130,000 media forecast of economists polled by Bloomberg News, the Labor Department reported Friday. The results fall short of what would be needed to raise this year's average nonfarm payroll by 2.6 million jobs to the 132.7 million level predicted by the White House last month. Bush and his advisers have since declined to back that target.

  The exodus of workers from the labor force may mean the nation's unemployment rate of 5.6 percent in the past two months looks better than it really is. Returning discouraged workers to the labor market and adjusting the participation rate back to the long-term trend would increase the unemployment rate last month to 7.1 percent, said Ian Morris, chief U.S. economist at HSBC Securities USA Inc. in New York, in an interview Friday.

  ``The unemployment rate is really understating the lack of job availability,'' said Harry Holzer, a former chief economist at the Labor Department who is now a professor of public policy at Georgetown University in Washington, in an interview Friday. ``The drop in the participation rate is telling us that the labor market is weak.''
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  Abstinent teens no safer from STD's later

  by Phantom Stranger in

  1. social
  2. relationships

  study: teen abstinence no help to later std rates incidence same for those who pledge no sex, those who don't

  philadelphia, pennsylvania (ap) -- teens who pledge to remain virgins until marriage have the same rates of sexually transmitted diseases as those who don't pledge abstinence, according to a study that examined the sex lives of 12,000 adolescents.

  those who make a public pledge to abstain until marriage delay sex, have fewer sex partners and get married earlier, according to the data, gathered from adolescents ages 12 to 18 who were questioned again six years later.

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  Phantom Stranger

  Study: Teen abstinence no help to later STD rates Incidence same for those who pledge no sex, those who don't PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (AP) -- Teens who pledge to remain virgins until marriage have the same rates of sexually transmitted diseases as those who don't pledge abstinence, according to a study that examined the sex lives of 12,000 adolescents. Those who make a public pledge to abstain until marriage delay sex, have fewer sex partners and get married earlier, according to the data, gathered from adolescents ages 12 to 18 who were questioned again six years later. But the two groups' STD rates were statistically similar. The problem, the study found, is that those virginity "pledgers" are much less likely to use condoms. "It's difficult to simultaneously prepare for sex and say you're not going to have sex," said Peter Bearman, the chair of Columbia University's Department of Sociology, who co-authored the study with Hannah Bruckner of Yale. "The message is really simple: 'Just say no' may work in the short term but doesn't work in the long term." Data from the study, to be presented Tuesday at the National STD Prevention Conference, was taken from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. That study was funded in part by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Once the data from the early findings study have been reviewed by peers, they will be submitted for publication, Bearman said. Sex education benefit? Critics of abstinance-only education saw the findings as evidence that adolescents benefit from sex education. "It's a tragedy if we withhold from these kids information about how not to get STDs or not to get pregnant," said Dorothy Mann, executive director of the Family Planning Council, an organization dedicated to reproductive health services. The study found that the STD rates for whites who pledged virginity was 2.8 percent compared with 3.5 percent for those who didn't pledge. For blacks, it was 18.1 percent and 20.3 percent. For Asians, 10.5 percent of virginity pledgers had STDs compared with 5.6 percent of non-pledgers. For Hispanics, it was 6.7 percent and 8.6 percent. Bearman said that from a statistical point of view the numbers were the same. Overall rates combining all races wouldn't be valid, he said. "The point is, substantively, that if you knew someone who pledged, and you knew someone who didn't pledge, you had no basis for thinking that one of them would have an STD over the other," he said. The study also found that in communities where at least 20 percent of adolescents pledged the STD rates for everyone combined was 8.9 percent. In communities with less than 7 percent pledgers, the STD rate was 5.5 percent. "It is the combination of hidden sex and unsafe sex that creates a world where people underestimate the risk of STDs," Bearman said. The study's other findings: 59 percent of males who did not pledge abstinence used a condom during sex; only 40 percent of male pledgers used a condom. 28 percent of female non-pledgers were tested for STDs in the previous year, compared to 14 percent of female pledgers. 99 percent of non-pledgers and 88 percent of pledgers have sex before marriage.

  Find this article at: http://www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/parenting/03/09/abstinence.study.ap/index.html
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  24

  Soccer!!!

  by Badger in

  1. social
  2. physical

  ole, ole ole ole..... 1) the h.s.

  team i coach is on a four game unbeaten streak (3w-0l-1d-13gf-5ga).

  2) mls starts soon...dallas!.

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  Phantom Stranger

  See, that was my point earlier - not defending the position, but Americans are drawn to higher-scoring sports. An American would never have come up with this rule, and that's why US indoor soccer leagues don't use it.

  This is part of hockey's struggle to make it big, and to a degree explains baseball's declining popularity. A 1-0 soccer, hockey, or baseball game could be a jewel, an almost perfect contest - to a purist. But it doesn't translate to SportsCenter well.

  A recent study of Little League batting averages showed that they are lower than ever before - because every time the kids make contact now, instead of sprinting outta the batter's box, they drop that bat and do a home run pose they've seen on SportsCenter. No kidding - that was the official explanation.

  We as a culture want to keep score - the beauty of witnessing a well-played game is unvalued...
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  23

  any published writer out there?

  by rekless in

  1. jw
  2. friends

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  i am writing a book called yesterday's dreams, about my thirty five years of life in the borg as well as how i lost one child and my wife due to policies brought forth by the fds and my ignorance.i need a literary agent or publisher.. i have not any idea how to publish or market it.. any help will be appreciated.. thanks

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  Phantom Stranger

  You will be well served to write up a chapter or passage as an article for a magazine (you need to identify the magazine). It is useful when selling your business proposition, which is what you are doing - it demonstrates that there is an audience for your work.

  You may be interested in these workshops... the book (How to Write a Book Proposal, MIchael Larsen) is very good.

  http://www.writersonlineworkshops.com/viewworkshop.asp?workshopid=1020
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  68

  Bush Ads & 9-11

  by ThiChi in

  1. social
  2. current

  passing this on, i agree 100%:

  can you imagine abraham lincoln running without mentioning his leadership during the civil war?

  can you imagine fdr running without mentioning his accomplishments during world war ii?

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  Phantom Stranger

  In Interviews, Iraqis Profess Ignorance About Law's Details

  (Since TC brought it up, I thought this was relevant )

  By Sewell Chan, Washington Post Foreign Service

  BAGHDAD, March 8 -- They knew that a national constitution was being drafted. They had heard vaguely about disagreements among the officials writing it. But for many ordinary Iraqis, the details and the significance of the document, which was signed Monday and billed as a framework for self-rule, remained largely a mystery.

  In several interviews in Karrada, a crowded commercial district in the Iraqi capital, the dominant theme was ignorance of the interim constitution's basic features, even among those who said they watch and read the news regularly. Those who were familiar with the outline of the new law said they doubted it would produce political stability and democracy after the U.S. civil occupation officially ends on June 30.

  Most Iraqis interviewed could not name any of the constitution's 63 articles and did not know that they included a bill of rights or provided for a federalist and republican form of government.

  "We must read it first, before we know what to think about it," said Ahmed Hassan, 35, who runs a small perfume shop.

  Hassan said the local news media have provided little information about the constitution. His wife, Khadijah Radhi, 30, agreed. "It wasn't on television or in the paper," she said. "Until now, we didn't know what were the points of disagreement."
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  242

  USA Election 2004

  by Simon in

  1. social
  2. current

  .

  may the best man win !.

  ... and that means not bush

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  Phantom Stranger

  (CNN) -- Presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry leads President Bush in the latest CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll, although the race appears to be fluid and remains close.

  The poll, released Monday, found that among likely voters, Kerry was the choice of 52 percent and Bush 44 percent in a two-way matchup, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

  In a three-way race with Independent candidate Ralph Nader, Kerry had 50 percent, Bush 44 percent and Nader 2 percent.

  Among registered voters, Kerry's lead over Bush narrowed from 8 percentage points to 5 points in a two-way race and from 6 points to 2 points in a three-way race.

  That is because Democratic voters are indicating they are more likely to vote than the overall electorate -- something that has rarely happened in past elections and may be fueled by the interest in the recent Democratic primaries.

  The president's job approval rating in the poll was 49 percent, with 48 percent saying they disapproved of his performance.

  That is a slight dip from February, when Bush's approval numbers were in the low 50s. The 50 percent threshold is considered important for an incumbent seeking re-election.

  Despite Kerry's lead and Bush's approval numbers, 52 percent of those polled thought Bush will win in November, compared to 42 percent who thought Kerry will prevail.

  The president also held leads over Kerry when potential voters were asked who would do a better job handling terrorism, Iraq and world affairs.

  Asked which candidate was more likely to change his mind for political reasons, 49 percent said Kerry and only 37 percent said Bush.

  But Kerry held leads over Bush when voters were asked who would better handle health care, the budget deficit, Social Security and the economy.

  And a bare majority of voters -- 51 percent -- said the economy was more important to their vote than terrorism. Forty-two percent said terrorism.

  An equal slice of voters -- 57 percent -- each said they thought Kerry and Bush have the personality and leadership qualities a president should have.
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  19

  Other Gods.

  by Englishman in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  so who are these other gods, then?.

  the societies literature is full of references to false gods, other gods, no gods before me, ad nauseum.. the kingdom squalidies also make frequent referals to "other gods".

  "feared above all gods is he....".

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  Phantom Stranger

  The OT Israelites lived among various polytheists... and as I recall the WT used these warnings as an anology about caring about anything besides the WTS.
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  28

  Were You Considered A Spiritual Person In The Congregation?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  one of the biggest reasons many can't get over the fact that my wife, daughter and i left the "truth" is because we were considered "spiritual models" in the hall as well as circuit.

  we knew everybody from cos and bethel heavies to "prominent" elders and families within the organization.

  we were on many circuit parts and i had the "privilege" (

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  Phantom Stranger

  You were probably playing cards and he cheated!
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  68

  Bush Ads & 9-11

  by ThiChi in

  1. social
  2. current

  passing this on, i agree 100%:

  can you imagine abraham lincoln running without mentioning his leadership during the civil war?

  can you imagine fdr running without mentioning his accomplishments during world war ii?

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  Phantom Stranger

  As opposed to this guy, who must be some sort of stiff, I guess:

  http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/170291p-148587c.html

  Firefighter Tommy Fee in Rescue Squad 270 in Queens was appalled.

  "It's as sick as people who stole things out of the place. The image of firefighters at Ground Zero should not be used for this stuff, for politics," Fee said.
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  17

  Hey, Pagans, what's your plans for Spring Rites 2004?

  by talesin in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  spring equinox is soon upon us, w/e of march 19-21. i plan to head out to the country, join with a bunch o pagan friends for some home-grown music, food and general celebration of the season's change.

  hoping the weather cooperates .... what's your plans?.

  talesin

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  Phantom Stranger

  You mean the guy who wrote "Two Little Savages"?