The Peanut Gallery

Statements, comments and forecasts that have no substance, but just might turn out to be relevant. 


1.What is U6 unemployment rate in the US? The U6 unemployment rate counts not only people without work seeking full-time employment (the more familiar U-3 rate), but also counts "marginally attached workers and those working part-time for economic reasons." Note that some of these part-time workers counted as employed by U-3 could be working as little as an hour a week. And the "marginally attached workers" include those who have gotten discouraged and stopped looking, but still want to work. The age considered for this calculation is 16 years and over. PG: The rate at end of January is 15%. That is the real unemployment rate in the US today. This rate has recently been as high as as 17%. So there is some improvement.
http://portalseven.com/employment/unemployment_rate_u6.jsp

2.Reports now indicate that thousands of armed Tuareg tribesmen who previously served in Gadhafi's military have returned home to Mali. The influx of this large number of well-armed and well-trained fighters, led by a former Libyan army colonel, has re-energized the long-simmering Tuareg insurgency against the Malian government. In mid-January, they began a military campaign to free three northern Mali regions from Bamako's control. PG: We wonder how many people have to die before the elite media understands their role in this upheaval. 


3.Russia and China vetoed on Saturday an Arab and Western-backed resolution at the UN Security Council calling for Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down over his bloody crackdown on a popular uprising. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Saturday it had not been possible to work constructively with Russia ahead of the vote, even though military intervention in Syria - fiercely opposed by Moscow - had been absolutely ruled out. 


4.From a previous Posting (Shadow wars): With all of this as background, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, on Thursday, openly admitted the US had encouraged protests in Russia after Vladimir Putin's United Russia party held on to power in the most recent elections. "Human rights is a part of who we are. And we expressed concerns that we thought were well founded about the conduct of the elections," she said. The unfortunate timing of these public comments when she has the possibility of expressing her displeasure through other channels, certainly adds a little more spice to the brew. PG: Wonder why it was not possible to work constructively with the Russians? One might be forgiven for wondering why she doesn't  flap her lips at the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia?


5.WSJ: Remember when the United Nations was going to be the new global venue for "collective security"? The place where the Obama Administration's faith in diplomacy and willingness to lead from behind would pay off in world solidarity against dictators and thugs?So much for that. On Saturday, Russia and China vetoed a U.S.-backed Security Council resolution supporting an Arab League plan to ease Syria's Bashar Assad from power. This is what happens when a U.S. Administration sees the world as it would like it to be, not the way it is. The surprise is that the U.S. should be so surprised.


6.Six key players in the Arab world, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, announced Tuesday that they have recalled their ambassadors from Syria. The six, which are members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), also expelled Syrian envoys stationed in their capitals. PG: The chasm between Shiites and Sunni's is becoming more transparent every day.


7.Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's strategist provided the legal and religious justification for the annihilation of Israel and the Jewish people, in a document published on conservative Farsi website Alef. The document, written by strategy specialist Alireza Forghani, outlined the reasons why, "In the name of Allah, Iran must attack Israel by 2014." PG: This is a good news/bad news story. The good news is that 2014 will definitely arrive. The bad news is that our friend Forghani will be unemployed, possibly hunting around for virgins who will be in short supply on this date.


8.Fatah and Hamas agreed that future Palestinian resistance to Israel will utilize popular and peaceful means, rather than military moves, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared Saturday. "The solution is the establishment of a state in the 1967 borders, and Hamas agreed to that, as well as to holding the elections on May 5, 2012." PG: According to Abbas, Hamas have now grown wings and converted to Buddhism. Next we will hear that Abbas has been appointed as official Hamas spokesman simply because  he has the stronger ability to deceive the english language media. In arabic, they both tell the truth.


9. The Iranians are openly threatening Israel with annihilation by year 2014. This appears on official websites and is stated openly by Iran's leaders in any language you might wish to hear it. Many in the elitist far left media insist that Iran's nuclear plans are peaceful. While Iran threatens another holocaust, her ally Syria is perpetrating the mass genocide of thousands. Meantime these intellectuals continue to write books, articles and interview each other in the media. In the dormitories of our esteemed learning institutions it is quietly whispered that Israel, the Apartheid State is to blame and it's okay to be anti-Israel as long as one is not anti-semitic. A message from the Peanut Gallery: To threaten the survivors of the holocaust with another holocaust barely 70 years later, is clearly the act of unhinged madmen. And they are unhinged not because of the threat, but because of the possible reaction of those threatened. 



Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds - Albert Einstein