WASHINGTON (AP) - Americans’ confidence in the economy fell to a new low, dragged down by worries about mounting job losses, record-high home foreclosures and zooming energy prices.

According to the RBC Cash Index, confidence dropped to a mark of 29.5 in April, down from 33.1 in March. The new reading was the worst since the index began in 2002. It marked the fourth month in a row where confidence has fallen to an all-time low.

“Consumers are very pessimistic,” said Mark Vitner, economist at Wachovia. “There are not a lot of happy campers out there.”

Over the past year, consumer confidence has deteriorated significantly. Worsening problems in housing, harder-to-get credit, financial turmoil on Wall Street and lofty energy prices have put people in a much more gloomy mind-set. Last April, confidence stood at 85.4. The index is based on results from the international polling firm Ipsos.

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Consumer Confidence Falls to New Low

More airlines either file for bankruptcy or Chapter 11 protection, Frontier Files for Bankruptcy Protection, the price of gas is through the roof, Gas Prices Could Hit $4.00 Per Gallon, and I guess this could be looked at as a sort of bright spot, Oil prices ease back from $112-a-barrel peak but today the stock market, the Dow, is off by over 250 points, NASDAQ is off by 61 points and the S&P’s are down 27, so, maybe it’s not that good a news story or the economic stimulus we need…

Meanwhile, home loans are almost a thing of the past, Home loans are harder to get, and this, Overextended U.S. home loans, and automobile owners are defaulting on their loans at a record pace, Defaults soar on auto loans in pattern likened to mortgage crisis, as the Moron in Chief tells his loyal followers, U.S. is not headed for recession..

Most Americans, something like 70% of ALL Americans, are not stupid, we see what’s happening to our dollars and this nation, and we’re not falling for the BS coming from the Bush White House, most of us I say because then there’s folks like the one in the following, a reader that told me recently, “The House and the Senate are to blame for Bush’s light tread, I think. He was put in a terrible position, and he has been a strong leader in the face of the rudest and meanest Congress a President could have. He has had little loyalty, including from McCain.”..

And to that I have to ask, what planet are YOU living on?!?!

Bush may not be to blame for ALL the ills of America, but to claim that he is the victim of a “rude and mean” Congress is nothing more than outright lunacy, and an attempt to deflect blame away from your hero, this has ALL happened on the Bush watch, Bush had a DREAM setup in the House and Senate and HE turned that dream into a nightmare, he had a Republican House and Senate, a Conservative majority SCOTUS as well as huge U.S. and world support for the actions in Afghanistan, so what does he do next??

The Moron in Chief takes us into his Debacle in Iraq, an action that we had NO business engaging in, and by doing so he lost focus on the REAL battle in the War on Terror, Afghanistan, not to mention the fact that his approval ratings and support level fell to all time lows, both domestically and world wide…

What Bush has done for the American people is this; he has taken the USA and it’s citizens to the very brink of financial disaster, we are all but bankrupt, we are owned by the Chinese, for crying out loud folks, we have to borrow money from other nations to pay OUR debts, yet we continue to spend BILLIONS of dollars in Iraq, a venture that has not, and quite likely will NEVER yield any financial gain to us, in any way…

But Mr. Bush says we’re not heading into a recession, so, it must be true, just ask any Bush Bot…

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NEW YORK (AP) - Oil prices soared to $100 a barrel Wednesday for the first time ever, reaching that milestone amid an unshakeable view that global demand for oil and petroleum products will continue to outstrip supplies.

Surging economies in China and India fed by oil and gasoline have sent prices soaring over the past year, while tensions in oil producing nations like Nigeria and Iran have increasingly made investors nervous and invited speculators to drive prices even higher.

Violence in Nigeria helped give crude the final push over $100. Bands of armed men invaded Port Harcourt, the center of Nigeria’s oil industry Tuesday, attacking two police stations and raiding the lobby of a major hotel. Word that several Mexican oil export ports were closed due to rough weather added to the gains, as did a report that OPEC may not be able to meet its share of global oil demand by 2024.

Light, sweet crude for January delivery rose $4.02 to $100 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, according to Brenda Guzman, a Nymex spokeswoman, before slipping back to $99.48.

Crude prices, which have flirted with $100 for months, have risen in recent days on supply concerns exacerbated by Turkish attacks on Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq and falling domestic inventories. However, post-holiday trading volumes were about 50 percent of normal Wednesday, meaning the price move was likely exaggerated by speculative buying.

Full Story Here:
Oil Futures Rise to $100 a Barrel

Why we are so reliant on foreign oil is no secret, up until now it was cheaper and the government didn’t have to piss off the tree huggers but we are now in a position that drilling and refining in America is an urgent issue…

We have oil, plenty of oil, but the environmentalists have all but stopped offshore drilling, and have severely curtailed onshore drilling as well, and in the process, are holding America hostage to these oil producing nations that are run by militant insurgencies and Islamic moonbats, and we are making them mega-rich…

Domestic oil production can and must be increased, we have huge resources off the coasts of California and Florida, and the east coast as well, we can produce oil here, in the USA, for many years to come, and maybe during that time a viable alternative will be found, and speaking strictly for me, taking money away from the Nigerians, the Arabs, Chavez, Mexico and a few others isn’t a bad idea…

Do you think we’ll ever have a POTUS and Congress with the balls to get that job done??

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WASHINGTON - Growing numbers of blacks say they’re worse off than five years ago and don’t expect their lives to improve, a study released Tuesday shows. Black pessimism about racial progress in America, according to the study, is the worst it’s been in more than two decades.

The survey by the Pew Research Center, a Washington-based research organization, paints a mixed picture of race relations following Hurricane Katrina and the Jena Six case, in which six black teens were charged with beating a white student at a high school in the town of Jena, La.

It found that just one in five blacks, or 20 percent, said things were better off for blacks compared with five years ago; that is the smallest percentage since 1983, when 20 percent also made that claim. In-between, the percentage of blacks who said things had gotten better had grown, only to drop back to 20 percent.

Another 29 percent of blacks said things had gotten worse as opposed to staying the same, the largest number since 32 percent made that claim in 1990.

In addition, fewer than half of all blacks, or 44 percent, said they expected their prospects to brighten in the future. That’s down from 57 percent in 1986, during the height of the Reagan administration when the Justice Department actively sought to curtail affirmative action in favor of race-neutral policies.

Full Story Here:
Study: Black pessimism at 20-year high

I am of the opinion that this is going to become a highly inflammatory piece before it’s all over because I am going to speak of some things that are going to be offensive to some people, like that’s ever stopped me before…

The first thing I am going to address is this, today we ALL pretty much have the same advantage at schools, jobs and ultimately, success, and I don’t buy the excuses I read in the papers, especially the New Orleans paper where everyone is either a racist or is being ‘kept down’ by the system and it’s all done to them simply because they’re black, nothing is happening to them because they are ANY particular color, it’s happening to them because they let it happen and they don’t have the drive or motivation to pull themselves up to a higher level of life, and I personally believe that being kept down is not something the system does to anyone, I believe that it’s something that individuals do to themselves…

I know a guy that got into trouble with the law when he was 22, he had done 3 years in the Army in Germany but when he came home he got into some trouble and he did 5 years in the Florida State Penitentiary, and it was likely the best thing that ever happened to him, he gained a degree, he took some business courses, he got out and did a complete turn around with his life and became a successful businessman, a valuable part of his community and has stayed out of trouble for 25 years now…

Then there’s another buddy of mine that was raised in the worst neighborhood in Ft. Wayne Indiana, a really rough neighborhood, and yeah, it WAS, and still is a black neighborhood, and yeah, as a matter of fact, the guy IS black, but he pulled himself up by the bootstraps and today is a business professional and grosses over $200K a year, personal income, and if this guy can pull it off, anyone can, he was thought to be a lost cause 30 years ago, if the drugs and booze weren’t going to kill him, the gang lifestyle or the cops would, but NO, he took his life and HE turned it around and became a very successful man in the transportation industry…

Then there was this kid I knew, he was severely abused, both physically and mentally, he was beaten, nearly to death on one occasion, he was whipped and beat regularly for little or no reason, mostly because it was easy for his father to do, he had to take his anger and hostilities out somewhere, and he was a little kid too, not very strong but pretty good in school, except in the area of deportment, conduct, his behavior was a bit disruptive simply because he was bored by school, they couldn’t keep him busy so he was a bit of a clown, and never mind that he brought home A’s and B’s in everything, every subject except conduct, and conduct really isn’t a subject, it’s an opinion, anyway, he was beat senseless because he had D’s for a grade in conduct…

He was abused like that until he was 16 years old and he suddenly shot up to 6′1″ and about 215 pounds, he developed an attitude and he made himself a promise that he would never be abused or beat again and he pulled himself out of his situation, he left that abusive home and continued his education, becoming a fairly successful businessman, all this after years of physical and mental abuse, but he rose above it all to make something good of his life…

Then there was this other guy that had the world by the tail, had a very profitable trucking business, a lot of new equipment, a new home on 15 acres out in the country, a lot of cash flow and roll over, he put a ton of money back into his business, new equipment and so forth and then one day he had a heart attack, and had to have emergency heart surgery, he went back to work in about 8 weeks and for a while things were pretty OK, until he had another heart attack and a 2nd emergency heart surgery, and this time, because of severe diabetes he was left in a condition where he couldn’t keep doing what he was in business to do, he was labled as disabled, but that didn’t stop him, he sold his business and new home, got a smaller and less expensive place in town and has other enterprises in the works, all because he never gave up…

I don’t care WHO your are, where you come from or what color you are, if you think you’re a failure, you ARE, if you think the whole world is against you, IT IS, if you think you’re being held back because of your skin color, quite likely you ARE, and I am going to tell you WHY you are, because YOU are the one holding yourself back, the limits are in your mind, the racism is in YOU…

There are people in this world that wouldn’t raised a hand to shoo a fly, they would expect someone else to do it for them, they are the welfare and entitlement people, you could offer them a full boat ride at LSU and guarantee them a $120K a year job IF they would apply themselves for 4 years and get their degree, but they’d turn you down cold because to do so, to actually be forced to work and apply themselves, would break the chain of dependence and entitlement…

Blacks, or ANY race for that matter, that claim to be less privileged or given less opportunity have no one to blame but themselves, we ALL have opportunities in this life, some folks aren’t afraid to step out and try to grab that brass ring and make the most OF an opportunity, and then there are others that wouldn’t throw a bucket of water if their house was on fire…

Pessimism?? The pessimism is in YOU, and unless YOU are willing to actually DO something to change your life, other than sit on your ass and complain, nothing in your life will EVER change for the better, and as long as you think you’re a loser and a failure, then that is exactly what you’ll always be…

None of us are OWED anything, you either get out and earn what you want from life or you sit on your ass and draw welfare while you cry about how that mean ‘man’ is just a keepin’ me down, or you become a street thug and a gang banger, and then, with any luck, you’ll get killed by some other thug and not a decent cop that has to live with YOUR death in his mind for the rest of HIS life…

Are my words too brutal or too painfully truthful?? Some will say they are and of course there will be those that cry racist, but we already know the ignorance that ilk possesses…

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NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The view from Kinh Nguyen’s front door these days is nothing like the “abandoned cemetery” she saw upon returning to her New Orleans neighborhood two months after Hurricane Katrina.

Gone are the blue tarps and plywood boards that covered storm-damaged homes in Village de l’Est, a mostly Vietnamese-American neighborhood. Nguyen’s lawn, which turned dark brown after briny floodwaters killed her grass, is now a lush green. Streets once littered with storm debris are as clean and pothole-free as any in the city.

“They’re all back,” Nguyen, a 45-year-old mother of four, said of her neighbors. “Every home looks nicer, newer.”

Village de l’Est’s rebound has been a remarkable success story in this misery-stricken city. At the same time, for better or worse, the hurricane has brought profound political and cultural change to the community.

Amazing, simply amazing, the work that can be done, the stride that was taken, the initiative shown and the accomplishments these folks realized, in New Orleans of all places, a city that was inundated by Katrina, a city that for the most part, still sits in ruin, many sections a veritable ghost town…

But the Vietnamese community is clean, fresh, attractive and thriving, doesn’t that strike you as a wonderful picture of the Great American Success Story?? It does me and I tip my hat to those folks for their hard work and proud spirit…

Language and cultural barriers long kept Vietnamese-Americans on the sidelines of the city’s civic scene after they began flocking to New Orleans upon the fall of Saigon in 1975. Since Katrina, however, they have been emerging as a force in a city where politics is customarily viewed in black-and-white terms.

“In a short period of time, they’ve had a major impact in the community,” said Jefferson Parish Councilman John Young, who represents a New Orleans suburb with a significant Vietnamese population.

The Vietnamese can and do adapt to a new environment quite well, and in rapid fashion, they work in a fluid situation better than any group of people I have ever seen and I am guessing that they are going to become a force to be reckoned with in the New Orleans and Orleans parish government in the near future, and I have to say, I think that’s a wonderful emergence of community and dedication on their part…

An estimated 90 percent of the 25,000 Vietnamese-Americans who lived in southeastern Louisiana before Katrina had returned within two years of Katrina’s onslaught, according to community leaders. They were among the first to start rebuilding their homes and reopening their businesses, and their community is recovering much more rapidly than some other parts of New Orleans.

Like many of her neighbors, Kinh Nguyen didn’t wait for the government’s help to repair her home, a modest, ranch-style house. She moved her family back in in March 2006, about 18 months before she received a federal housing grant.

And now I have to ask the really big question, WHY in the HELL haven’t the CHOCOLATES in New Orleans done the same thing??

You’ll need to read the rest of this story to see for yourself what the Vietnamese people of New Orleans have done to help themselves and see how they did it, and in MY opinion, if they can do the job that they have done, with minimal federal help, without the BILLIONS that the CHOCOLATES believe that they are owed and entitled to, then anyone that WANTS TO can do the same thing, IF they have the initiative and motivation in them…

But the CHOCOLATES that inhabit New Orleans don’t have that drive and determination, the CHOCOLATES of New Orleans are professional welfare slugs, the CHOCOLATES of New Orleans wouldn’t throw a bucket of water if their house was on fire, but the CHOCOLATES of New Orleans will sit back and complain about how the federal government ignores them because they are CHOCOLATES, well, that’s not the truth of it, the feds have ignored New Orleans because of WHAT it is, corruption incarnate, and that corruption is not all because of New Orleans being a CHOCOLATE city, New Orleans was corrupt long before any CHOCOLATE came to power, but if they didn’t help the Vietnamese rebuild and the Vietnamese were able to rebuild on their own, bigger and better in many cases, WHY can’t the CHOCOLATES in New Orleans get off of their lazy CHOCOLATE asses and do the same??

Anyone?? Bueller??

And for damn sure, the CHOCOLATES can’t say it’s because the Vietnamese are rich, white and Republican, it’s because the CHOCOLATES aren’t going to do anything other than be CHOCOLATES, that’s all they know how to be…

Full Story Here:
Vietnamese Rebound in New Orleans

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NEW ORLEANS — Louisiana’s new governor-elect, Bobby Jindal, vowed to clean up corruption and embraced his image as a bureaucratic, methodical leader on Sunday, one day after voters here made history by electing the first Indian-American governor in the USA.

“If I go down as one of the more boring but effective governors, I’ll take that as a great compliment,” Jindal said at a news conference Sunday. “Our people don’t want to be amused by our politics anymore. We don’t want to be entertained.”

Jindal, born in Baton Rouge to Indian parents, won a crushing victory over 11 other candidates Saturday in the crowded race for governor, avoiding a runoff by winning more than 50% of the vote. At 36, Jindal, a Republican, is the state’s first ethnic minority governor since Reconstruction and will be the youngest current-serving governor in America.

At his acceptance speech late Saturday in the ballroom of a Baton Rouge hotel, Jindal said he will call the Legislature into a special session to address ethics reform and go after those “feeding at the public trough.”"They can either go quietly or they can go loudly, but either way, they will go,” Jindal said to raucous cheers.

Full Story Here:
Jindal pledges to end La. corruption

I want to extend my congratulations to Bobby Jindal on his victory, he faces a daunting task and I wish him much luck in this endeavor…

As many know, I am a native of Louisiana and I have never held back on my criticism of it’s corrupt politicians, and the way it corrupts every facet of business in Louisiana, that was the major reason I left the state 25 years ago and made Texas my adopted home…

Perhaps Jindal can get this under control and can instill a sense of RIGHT in Louisiana and the inherently corrupt politicians that have made Louisiana the laughing stock of American politics, it WILL help encourage legitimate business to think about returning to a state that is populated by a good hearted bunch of people, the folks that live in Louisiana simply need a good example set for them, they’ll figure it out for themselves if they actually see HONEST government in action…

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