Paul Craig Roberts

This monster jobs report comes at a good time for Mr. Obama

In his report on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest jobs and unemployment report, statistician John Williams (shadowstats.com) writes:

“The July employment and unemployment numbers published today, August 3rd, were worthless and likely misleading. . . . Suspecting at one time that the jobs numbers were being rigged against him by his own Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), President Richard M. Nixon proposed a new approach to reporting the numbers. Although the proposed changes never were implemented, several decades later the BLS adopted reporting methods that were somewhat parallel to the late president’s thinking.”

I will spare the readers an explanation of Williams’ account of the manipulation that is occurring as it is too arcane for the general reader. Instead, Let’s just apply common sense. According to the BLS, there were 163,000 new nonfarm payroll jobs created in July. This figure is about 13,000 more jobs than is needed to keep pace with population growth. Therefore, the unemployment rate should have declined fractionally. Instead, the unemployment rate (U3) rose from 8.2% to 8.3%.

In case you missed the point, new jobs, a net figure, rose and so did the unemployment rate! Moreover, the alternative, but much less reported, jobs report from the Household Survey found that the economy lost 195,000 jobs in July.

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Adnan Al-Daini

Would Einstein and Newton have made good teachers of physics and mathematics in a school? I very much doubt it.  Being an expert in a particular subject does not necessarily mean you are able to teach it to a class of teenagers; obvious really, but not to Britain’s Education Secretary apparently.

The decision by Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, that Academies - semi-independent state schools that receive funding directly from the government rather than through a local authority - can appoint teachers without formal teaching qualifications - “qualified teacher status” (QTS) - was characterized by the Department of Education as no big deal, and that most teachers will continue to have QTS qualifications.  

But how long will this remain the case?  Presumably, the Education Secretary believes that formal teaching qualifications make no difference to the quality of teaching in the classroom. That being the case why, then, should anyone bother with it in the future?

Academies currently form the majority of secondary schools in England, and with this change the number of qualified teachers will surely dwindle, and before long the majority will be unqualified.  School governing bodies and heads will come under increasing pressure to appoint unqualified teachers to save money.

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Stephen Lendman

Washington considers conflict resolutions unacceptable. Regime change alone matters. War all along was planned. So is subjugating the entire region.

On August 3, The General Assembly ignored rule of law principles. Member states are sworn to uphold them. It passed a non-binding Syrian resolution 133 - 12. Thirty-one nations abstained. Cowardice defines their failure to do the right thing. Saudi Arabia drafted the measure. It partnered with Qatar and perhaps Bahrain doing so. They're regional axis of evil co-conspirators. Compared to them, Assad is saintly.

Russia called the measure "biased and unbalanced." It was that and much more. It ignored reality on the ground. It ran cover for Washington's proxy war. It endorsed daily slaughter and destruction. It ignored Western/Arab League/Israeli responsibility for ravaging another nonbelligerent country. It spurned millions of Syrians. In UN history, August 3, 2012 will live in infamy.

Honest observers won't forget how irresponsible nations acted. At the same time, 12 courageous ones did the right thing. They include Russia, China, Syria, Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Belarus, Myanmar, North Korea and Zimbabwe.

Syria's UN envoy Bashar al-Jaafari condemned the resolution. He called it a hysterical anti-Syrian campaign. Fundamental UN Charter and other rule of law principles were violated. National sovereignty was ignored. Imperial interests alone were served. Syrians were betrayed. Western-sponsored terrorism was endorsed. Doing so ensures greater violence, mass killing and human misery.

"Some countries which waged war under the pretext of fighting terrorism are supporting, directly and indirectly, the acts of these armed terrorist groups, of which is al-Qaeda," al Jaafari said.

He added that resolution sponsors Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain are "despotic oligarchies." They're imperial partners. They're attack dogs for Washington's regional wars. They're lawless rogue states. They persecute, arrest, imprison, torture, and brutalize their own people. They're ruthless against anyone publicly supporting political, economic and social justice. Their regimes have no legitimacy.

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