Obama’s is the Worst Economic Recovery in History

Obama’s is the Worst Economic Recovery in History (Graph, GDP Data)

Posted by FactReal on February 16, 2013

“Obama has presided over the worst multi-year recovery in American history since the end of World War II,” CNSNews found using public economic data. During Obama’s so-called economic recovery, the economy grew only 7.5% while other post-recession periods saw double-digit growth from 11.7% to 51.2%. “From the end of the last recession in June 2009 until the fourth quarter of 2012, the economy grew only 7.5 percent, increasing from $12.7 trillion to $13.6 trillion,” explains CNSNews. We prepared graphs and tables to illustrate how weak Obama’s economic recovery has been. (Sources: Gross Domestic Product (GDP) since 1949 and NBER’s List of U.S. Recessions.)

RECESSION PERIODS (A recession/contraction is a period between a peak and a trough — see graph below.) Officially, the last recession lasted from December 2007 to June 2009.

Start (Peak) End (Trough) Duration (# months) 1948 Nov 1949 Oct 11 1953 July 1954 May 10 1957 Aug 1958 Apr 8 1960 Apr 1961 Feb 10 1969 Dec 1970 Nov 11 1973 Nov 1975 Mar 16 1981 July 1982 Nov 16 1990 July 1991 Mar 8 2001 Mar 2001 Nov 8 2007 Dec 2009 June 18

RECOVERY/POST-RECESSION PERIODS (An expansion is a period between a trough and a peak — see graph below.) Obama’s economic recovery is the worst multi-year recovery when compared with double-digit growth in other post-recession periods. During Obama’s economic recovery (from the second quarter of 2009 until the fourth quarter of 2012), the economy grew only 7.5 percent, increasing from $12.7 trillion to $13.6 trillion.

Start (Trough) GDP ($ Billions) 1949-10-01 $1,838.7 1954-04-01 $2,306.4 1958-04-01 $2,534.5 1961-01-01 $2,816.9 1970-10-01 $4,253.0 1975-01-01 $4,791.2 1982-10-01 $5,866.0 1991-01-01 $7,943.4 2001-10-01 $11,370.0 2009-04-01 $12,701.0 End (Peak) GDP ($ Billions) 1953-07-01 $2,351.8 1957-07-01 $2,616.6 1960-04-01 $2,832.0 1969-10-01 $4,259.6 1973-10-01 $4,948.8 1979-10-01 $5,884.5 1990-07-01 $8,052.6 2001-01-01 $11,287.8 2007-10-01 $13,326.0 2012-10-01 $13,647.6 % Economic Growth Duration (# months) 27.9% 45 13.4% 40 11.7% 24 51.2% 106 16.4% 36 22.8% 58 37.3% 92 42.1% 120 17.2% 62 7.5% 42

NOTE The early 1980s post-recession period lasted just 12 months (from July 1980 to July 1981.) SOURCES ●Obama’s economic recovery the worst multi-year recovery since WWII ●Real Gross Domestic Product (1949 – 2012) National Bureau of Economic Research ●http://www.nber.org/cycles/cyclesmain.html Bureau of Economic Analysis ●http://www.bea.gov/iTable/iTable.cfm?ReqID=9&step=1#reqid=9&step=1&isuri=1

The Scariest Climate Change Graph Just Got Scarier

—By Tim McDonnell

| Thu Mar. 7, 2013 12:05 PM PST

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Average global temperature over the last ~2,000 years. Note the massive uptick on the far right side. Courtesy Science/AAAS

Back in 1999, Penn State University climate scientist Michael Mann released the climate change movement's most potent symbol: The "hockey stick," a line graph of global temperature over the last 1,500 years that shows an unmistakable, massive uptick in the 20th century, when humans began to dump large amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. It's among the most compelling bits of proof out there that human beings are behind global warming, and as such has become a target on Mann's back for climate denialists looking to draw a bead on scientists.

Today, it's getting a makeover: A study published in Science reconstructs global temperatures further back than ever before—a full 11,300 years. The new analysis finds that the only problem with Mann's hockey stick was that its handle was about 9,000 years too short. The rate of warming over the last 100 years hasn't been seen for as far back as the advent of agriculture.

Marcott's team used ocean records to reconstruct global climate further back in time than ever before. Courtesy Science/AAAS

To be clear, the study finds that temperatures in about a fifth of this historical period were higher than they are today. But the key, said lead author Shaun Marcott of Oregon State University, is that temperatures are shooting through the roof faster than we've ever seen.

"What we found is that temperatures increased in the last hundred years as much as they had cooled in the last six or seven thousand," he said. "In other words, the rate of change is much greater than anything we've seen in the whole Holocene," referring to the current geologic time period, which began around 11,500 years ago.

Previous historic climate reconstructions typically extended no further back than 2,000 years, roughly as far back as you can go by examining climate indicators from tree rings, as Mann did. To dig even deeper, Marcott's team looked at objects collected from more than 70 sites worldwide, primarily fossilized ocean shells that have been unearthed by oceanographers. Existing research has shown that certain chemical tracers in the shells link directly to temperature at the time they were created; by studying oxygen isotopes in the fossilized plankton shown below, for example, scientists can deduce that it formed its shell at a time when Greenland was fully without ice. Marcott's task was to compile enough such samples to represent the whole planet over his chosen timeframe.

"There's been a lot of work that's gone into the calibrations, so we can be dead certain [the shells] are recording the temperature we think they're recording," he said.

Today's study should help debunk the common climate change denial argument that recent warming is simply part of a long-term natural trend. Indeed, Marcott says, the Earth should be nearing the bottom of a several-thousand year cool-off (the end-point of the rainbow arc in (B) above), if natural factors like solar variability were the sole driving factors. Instead, temperatures are rising rapidly.

Fossilized ocean organisms like this plankton, the size of a grain of sand, keep a chemical snapshot of the climate at the time they first formed their calcium-carbonate shells. Courtesy Jennifer McKay, Oregon State

Mann himself, who literally wrote the bookon attacks on climate scientists, said in an email to Climate Desk that he was "certain that professional climate change deniers will attack the study and the authors, in an effort to discredit this important work," especially given the close ties between the two scientists' research. "It will therefore be looked at as a threat to vested interests who continue to deny that human-changed climate change is a reality."

Marcott admitted he was apprehensive about charging into the fully mobilized troll army, but said he was grateful scientists like Mann had "gone through hell" before him to build a support network for harassed climate scientists.

"When Michael came along there was a lot more skepticism about global warming, but the public has come a long way," he said. "I'm curious to see how the skeptics are going to take this paper."

http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2013/03/new-hockey-stick-graph-scarier

Delhi rape accused found dead in prison

11 March 2013

Delhi rape accused found dead in prison A suspect in the abduction, rape and murder of a student in the Indian capital, Delhi, has been found dead in prison, his lawyer has confirmed. Senior police officers told news agencies that Ram Singh had hanged himself in Tihar jail, Delhi.

 Ram Singh was one of five men being held in the case. They all deny the charges. The brutal attack on the student in December outraged India and triggered a debate about the treatment of women. A sixth suspect is being tried by a juvenile court.

 Ram Singh's lawyer, VK Anand, told the BBC he was informed about his client's death by police. "This is shocking news. There were no circumstances to suggest that he would commit suicide. He was happy with the trial, it was going on smoothly," Mr Anand told the Times Now news channel. Tihar jail spokesman Sunil Gupta told the BBC that an inquiry had been ordered into the incident. He said Ram Singh's body would be taken for a post mortem examination later on Monday.

 Mr Singh's death comes as a huge embarrassment for the authorities who are already under enormous pressure over the case, the BBC's Sanjoy Majumder reports from Delhi. The website of Indian news channel NDTV, quoting jail officials, said Ram Singh had hanged himself at around 05:00 local time on Monday (23:30 GMT Sunday). A lawyer representing the other accused in the case told the BBC that he had met Ram Singh on Friday during a court hearing and found him in a "happy state of mind".

 "He looked happy. He had his dinner last night. Why should he commit suicide?" Vivek Sharma said. Ram Singh and the four other adult defendants - his brother Mukesh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma and Akshay Thakur - have been on trial in a fast-track court. They face 13 charges, including murder, gang-rape, kidnapping and destruction of evidence.

If found guilty they face the death sentence. The maximum sentence the juvenile would face if convicted would be three years in a reform facility. The 23-year-old rape victim, who was not named for legal reasons, was with a male friend when she was attacked on a bus and thrown from the vehicle. She died in a Singapore hospital on 29 December from massive internal injuries.

 Ram Singh was accused of being the driver of the bus. Tihar prison, which authorities claim is the largest in Asia, is India's most high-security prison. The 55-year-old jail houses more than 12,000 inmates although it has an official capacity of about 6,000. The complex includes nine separate prison facilities. Media reports quoting the chief of Tihar prison Vimla Mehra say there were 18 deaths in Tihar prison last year, of which two were cases of suicide.

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21737748

Mexico ex-mayor killed after surviving two attacks

Mexico ex-mayor killed after surviving two attacks The former mayor of a town in western Mexico, who had survived two earlier assassination attempts, has been beaten to death.

 The body of Maria Santos Gorrostieta, 36, was found in a ditch with a blow to the head three days after her family had reported her missing. When she was mayor of the town of Tiquicheo she was twice shot at by gunmen, who also killed her husband. Mexican officials have increasingly become targets of drug cartels. 

There have been calls for the federal government to do more to step up their security. 'Clear conscience' Ms Gorrostieta was the mayor of Tiquicheo, in western Michoacan state, from 2008 until 2011.

 Unidentified gunmen ambushed her in October 2009 as she was travelling in a car with her husband Jose Sanchez. Mr Sanchez died of gunshot wounds sustained during the attack.

 Three months later Ms Gorrostieta was seriously injured in a second ambush. After being released from hospital following the second attack on her life, she said she did not know why she was being targeted. "I have a clear conscience, I have never had any issues of any kind, be it money, family or crime related, and I have never had any fights with any neighbours or residents of my town, or any other town," she said. She also published pictures of the scars she had sustained in the two attacks in her local newspaper with a message thanking her family and supporters and vowing to "continue fighting, true to my ideals and my convictions, convinced that the truth will make us free".

 About two dozen mayors have been murdered since President Felipe Calderon declared war on drug traffickers six years ago. While police say the motives behind the killings are not always clear, most attacks on local officials have happened in small and medium-sized towns in regions disputed by rival drug gangs. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-20381395

Maria Santos Gorrostieta Dead: Former Mexico Mayor Found Tortured, Murdered In Michoacan

Maria Santos Gorrostieta Dead: Former Mexico Mayor Found Tortured, Murdered In Michoacan
Posted: 11/26/201

 Earlier this month, Maria Santos Gorrostieta, a former small-town mayor in the drug-trafficking western state of Michoacan in Mexico, was reportedly kidnapped in broad daylight in front of her young daughter. A few days later, her body was found by the side of a road in the southern part of the state. It is believed that the woman was tortured before she was killed, the Los Angeles Times reports.

 orrostieta had previously survived two assassination attempts, the LA times adds. The first, in 2009, had claimed the life of her husband, Jose Sanchez, another former mayor of the town; while the second, three months later, had left her badly wounded. The newspaper continues: Gorrostieta had been mayor of Tiquicheo, a remote town in the so-called hotlands of Michoacan, farmland firmly under the thumb of drug-trafficking cartels.

She had denounced traffickers; she also had to confront accusations that her late husband was involved in criminal business. Gorrostieta, whose mayoral term ended in 2011, reportedly knew that her life was constantly in danger. Yet, even after her husband was murdered and the second attempt on her life left her riddled with bullets and "in constant pain," Gorrostieta refused to give in, the Christian Post notes. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/26/maria-santos-gorrostieta-dead-mexico-mayor-tortured-killed_n_2193219.html

 According to the BBC, Gorrostieta had published photographs in her local newspaper of the scars she had sustained in the two assassination attempts with a message promising to "continue fighting, true to my ideals and my convictions, convinced that the truth will make us free."

(Credit: YouTube/Grillonautas2) "I have had to bear losses that I would not wish on anyone, and have had to accept them with resignation and with the knowledge that it is our Lord's will, and have gone on, even with a wounded soul," she once said, according to the Christian Post.

 "Despite that, and despite my own safety and that of my family, what occupies my mind is my responsibility towards my people: the children, the women, the elderly and the men who break their souls every day without rest to find a piece of bread for their children," she continued. "I will get up however many times God allows me to, to keep on searching, scratching, negotiating plans, projects and actions for the benefit of all of society, but in particular, for the vulnerable ones. This is who I am." Hailed by some as the "heroine of Mexico,"

Gorrostieta was reportedly abducted on Nov. 12. The Daily Mail, citing Mexican newspaper El Universal, reports that the 36-year-old was "ambushed by a car" as she was driving her daughter to school in the city of Morelia, located in the north central part of the state of Michoacan. She was allegedly "hauled from her vehicle and physically assaulted as horrified witnesses watched," the news website reports. She is also said to have "begged for her child to be left alone" before entering her abductors' car "willingly." The woman's body was finally found later that week in another part of the state.

 Spanish international news agency EFE writes: According to local media, Gorrostieta had suffered wounds on her knees and two apparently fatal blows to the back of the neck. She also bore marks indicating she had been handcuffed. Authorities did not indicate any possible suspects in the homicide, but said it was likely the work of organized crime.

 Michoacan's forests and mountains are "used by drug traffickers to grow marijuana and produce synthetic drugs," according to EFE. Several drug gangs, including the prominent La Familia Michoacana, have been active in the region. According to the BBC, about "two dozen mayors have been murdered since President Felipe Calderon declared war on drug traffickers six years ago." 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=w5avRfAfpCk

Getting Ugly

Getting Ugly
 If China wants respect abroad, it must rein in its hackers
 Feb 23rd 2013 |

From the print edition FOREIGN governments and companies have long suspected that the Chinese hackers besieging their networks have links to the country’s armed forces. On February 19th Mandiant, an American security company, offered evidence that this is indeed so. A report, the fruit of six years of investigations, tracks individual members of one Chinese hacker group, with aliases such as Ugly Gorilla and SuperHard, to a nondescript district in residential Shanghai that is home to Unit 61398 of the People’s Liberation Army. China has condemned the Mandiant report.

 On February 20th America announced plans to combat the theft of trade secrets. Mandiant claims that hackers at Unit 61398 have stolen technology blueprints, negotiating strategies and manufacturing processes from more than 100, mainly American, companies in a score of industries (see article). Its report does not name the victims, but a related New York Times investigation has found evidence that hackers targeted a company providing internet security for American spooks.

 The hackers also gained access to the systems of an American defence contractor. Perhaps most worrying, they broke into networks of a company that helps utilities to run North American pipelines and power grids. Nobody knows how many billions of dollars cybercrime costs businesses. But pretty much everyone has come to believe that China is the most egregious offender. America is not an innocent in the world of cyber-spying. It does plenty itself, and acknowledges that these operations are a legitimate part of national security. At the same time, however, it should do more to promote the idea that everyone would gain from “cyberarms control” to set the rules of engagement.

 The Mandiant report shows China’s definition of national security includes outright theft. One lesson is that all companies need urgently to upgrade their defences. President Barack Obama has announced measures for greater co-operation between American firms and government agencies to share information. Many companies have been too scared to admit they have been hacked, for fear of alarming clients and investors. In their own interests, they need to open up. America also needs to make it clear to China that state-sponsored crime is unacceptable. Until now the United States has tended to complain about China’s cyberthieves behind closed doors in discussions with Chinese officials. But with more evidence emerging of China’s flagrant abuses, more naming and shaming should be considered. Control, Alt, Delete There are lessons for China’s new leader, too.

 Xi Jinping has come to power suggesting that China must embrace reform and show more respect for the rule of law. Now he has the chance to demonstrate that he really means this. China claims the Mandiant report is flawed and lacks “technical proof”. That is a missed opportunity. Though it goes against every instinct of the secretive Communist Party, Mr Xi could acknowledge that cybercrime emanates from state-sponsored entities and that his government will now rein them in. If he does not, China will be taken less seriously when it decries the West’s talk of a “China threat”.

And Chinese companies will continue to be treated with suspicion when they seek to buy or work with businesses abroad. China should bring its army of thieves to order. http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21572200-if-china-wants-respect-abroad-it-must-rein-its-hackers-getting-ugly?spc=scode&spv=xm&ah=9d7f7ab945510a56fa6d37c30b6f1709

Palace backs moves to update gun laws

Palace backs moves to update gun laws (The Philippine Star) | Updated January 6, 2013 - 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang is supporting moves to have the country’s antiquated gun laws modified as it seeks a debate on gun policies and not on President Aquino, a known gun enthusiast. “Perhaps it would be better if we talk at the level of policy (of gun control) and not on the personal preferences of the President,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said over radio station dzRB yesterday. Valte said the country’s gun laws were outdated. There were growing calls for stricter gun laws following the shooting rampage in Kawit, Cavite that left eight dead and 12 others wounded on Friday. “When it comes to stricter penalties, that is a question for legislation. We have several laws in place that address, for example, the alarming scandal. The penalty is P200 and you have to remember that the Revised Penal Code was enacted in 1901, so it really has to be updated,” Valte said. She said the Department of Justice (DOJ) was working on updating the Revised Penal Code. Headlines ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Valte said the total gun ban during holidays would still be discussed with President Aquino. “Even the Gunless Society was not proposing a total gun ban, but all these proposals will have to be discussed with the President,” she said. To date, there are 20 bills on gun control pending in Congress amid rising deaths and injuries from firearms. House to review gun laws The House of Representatives will review the country’s gun laws in the wake of recent violent incidents involving the use of firearms here and abroad. Last Thursday, a man suspected to be using illegal drugs went wild in Kawit, Cavite, killing seven persons, including two children, before policemen shot him to death. On New Year’s Eve, seven-year-old Stephanie Nicole Ella was hit by a stray bullet in Caloocan City and died a few days later. Two lawmakers have sought tighter firearms control. Leyte Rep. Roger Mercado has filed House Bill 6783, which seeks to ban civilians from possessing, carrying or using guns. Mercado said the recent fatal shooting of 27 schoolchildren in Connecticut “has warned all of us on the dangers of allowing ordinary citizens to acquire or possess firearms.” Mercado’s bill is entitled “An Act prohibiting the use or possession of guns or firearms of any kind by ordinary citizens other than law enforcement personnel and members of the Armed Forces.” Those allowed to possess or keep firearms under the bill are members of the national police, Army, Navy and Air Force, licensed security guards, and personnel of other agencies as determined by the President, the Speaker and the Senate president. The Department of the Interior and Local Government would be tasked to issue the implementing rules and regulations. The bill does not provide for penalties for violations of the firearms ban. Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo, on the other hand, said the Kawit bloodbath and the Connecticut massacre should prompt Congress and the administration to impose tighter gun control measures. Castelo said immediate measures like revoking firearm carrying permits and checking the background of gun owners like those involved in Kawit and the New Year firearm discharge in Caloocan City can be done by the PNP or Malacañang. He proposed that civilians be prohibited from owning assault rifles and gun ownership and carrying should be strictly regulated. He said only those with real and verified threats to their lives should be permitted to carry short firearms, provided that they pass strict psychological and psychiatric tests. Suspend permit to carry firearms Meanwhile, Sen. Panfilo Lacson urged the PNP to consider a suspension of all permits to carry firearms outside residence (PTCFOR) to prevent more firearm-related incidents in the future. Lacson, former PNP chief, said only uniformed police personnel on active duty should be allowed to carry firearms. This would also exclude the intelligence operatives of the PNP, who Lacson said should not be carrying firearms “since their mission calls for covert operations anyway.” “The misplaced perception that one seen with firearm tucked in his waist could be a law enforcer instead of a criminal element out to commit a crime must be reversed,” Lacson said. While Lacson’s approach may be considered as too drastic by some sectors, especially those that advocate the right to carry firearms, two other senators proposed more practical ways to address the recent shooting incidents. Sen. Francis Pangilinan emphasized the need to go after the suspects in the Kawit and Caloocan shootings and ensure that they are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Sen. Francis Escudero, for his part, said there are existing regulations that have to be implemented and enforced to trace the perpetrators and prevent such incidents from happening again. He cited the ballistic data of all registered guns, which could be used by the authorities to trace where the bullet that hit Ella came from. Vice President Jejomar Binay also asked the PNP to double its efforts in the campaign against irresponsible use of firearms. He said the PNP should go after owners of loose firearms. Binay made the call as he condoled with the family of Ella, who died after being hit by a stray bullet in the head on New Year’s Eve. “A stricter enforcement of gun laws is badly needed. I challenge the PNP to exert all efforts to bring those responsible to justice,” he said. Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma supported calls to study the policy on implementing a total gun ban to avoid deaths caused by indiscriminate firing. Palma said the Aquino administration should conduct a thorough study on the pros and cons of extending the gun ban after the election period. The Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) yesterday challenged the Aquino administration to review policies on gun ownership and gun control. VACC chairman Dante Jimenez asked the government to come up with tougher laws on gun control and impose death penalty on heinous crimes. – With Jess Diaz, Marvin Sy, Jose Rodel Clapano, Evelyn Macairan http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2013/01/06/893740/palace-backs-moves-update-gun-laws