Interesting thing happened yesterday that got me thinking about the Smart-Grid efforts by our utility companies, the government and President Obama, et al.

A friend's Internet connectivity went down for nearly 18 hours... Not common place, but it does happen on occasion and can effect hundreds of people depending on where and what is the problem. No Internet communication can be a troublesome, but not deadly issue...

Then I started thinking... How exactly is our electric "Smart-Grid" going to talk back and forth? Information has to be transmitted and received and commands must be issued in both directs, just like an Internet connection.

So, if the Smart-Grid uses our ISP, poof... no communication... not saying we could lose our power, but if the computer "SYSTEM" cant talk and regulate.. what happens?

If the Grid doesn't use our ISP (for those without an ISP) and uses some NEW technology, is it going to be more stable than the Internet? (Boy would that be nice, especially if our ISP can use this new more stable communication)

What about those who don't get a steady or poor quality link? Will they have power issues or have to PAY MORE?

Technology is a wonderful thing, and I work with it everyday, but it is only as good as programmers and engineers and does rely on hardware that does fail from time to time.

I am not saying that we will be so stupid to place our entire house's electric supply on the Grid and be at the mercy of the SYSTEM, but many are talking about it going that direction... Here are some points to consider...

• If your electric cuts off, like your Internet, what will happen to you?
• What about long-term care facilities or hospitals?
• Air conditioning in the hot areas or Heat in cold climates?
• Food spoiling because our fridge won't turn on or can't talk to the SYSTEM...

People should be asking these questions BEFORE we pass some Bill or Invest BILLIONS in something... The "How are you going to do it?" questions... Research is important, but the actual impact on the consumer should be really well thought through before we commit HUGE sums of money...

The United States Department of Labor... Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is "fudging" the numbers and NOBODY is reporting it! What will happen Next Month? Adjusting an additional 50,000 lost jobs in June and July and nobody said a word...

Here is the paragraph half way down the monthly Employment Situation Report for reference:

"The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for June was revised from -443,000 to -463,000, and the change for July was revised from -247,000 to -276,000."

So, already bad numbers, get worse and everyone is kept in the dark... 50,000 worse than reported... Now statistically this number is not that significant unless you really get into rounding rules and significant digits, but if the 14.9 million plus these new would create a rounding to say 15 million... NOW the rate jumps and THAT is bad news (Do we really want to know JUST HOW BAD THINGS ARE?) Let's put that in perspective... another 20,000 to 30,000 in the wrong direction means 9.7 becomes 9.8!

It appears that BLS is changing number fairly regularly and so far this year to the tune of 59,000 worse than initially reported month over month. Now in the grand scheme of things what does this really mean:

They report a NUMBER for August of un-employment at 9.7% the media reports that, Wall Street reacts, Obama says he "saved or created" yadda, yadda, yadda...

Let us forget that the average number of weeks un-employed has been over 20 since March 2009 and is now at 25 (7 weeks longer than last year and the highest level since at least 1999)

Discouraged Workers added takes us to 10.1
Discouraged and marginally attached added takes us to 11.0
Discouraged, marginally attached and part time is a whopping 16.8 (OMG!)

Here are a few ideas:

• DONT REPORT A NUMBER until you can stand behind it
• Stop sugar coating
• Stop placing this information so far down the page or other links we cant find it in 5 seconds
• Report each of the above percentages in a single table for ease of reference...

Like this:

Official	Official + DW	Official + DW + MA	Official + DW + MA + PT
9.7%	10.1%	11.0%	16.8%

I have a better IDEA! I am going to create a forum thread that will report this FOR YOU! (You can subscribe to our RSS feed to get it or bookmark this link to view the updated information each month after they release new numbers! (4th day of the month usually)

I wanted to get some background, so I went back to review the entire year of 2009 an here is what I found:

Jan 2009:

"The total nonfarm employment level or March 2008 was revised downward by 89,000 (17,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis). The previously published level for December 2008 was revised downward by 172,000 (311,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis)."                          

-261,000 (-328,000 seasonally adjusted) (2008)

Feb 2009:

No data changes reported...

Mar 2009:

No data changes reported...

Apr 2009:

"The change in total nonfarm employment for February was revised from -651,000
to -681,000, and the change for March was revised from -663,000 to -699,000.
Monthly revisions result from additional sample reports and the monthly recalculation of seasonal factors."

-60,000

May 2009:

No data changes reported...

Jun 2008:

"The change in total nonfarm employment for April was revised from
-504,000 to -519,000, and the change for May was revised from -345,000
to -322,000."

+8,000 (WOW this was at least a positive number!)

Jul 2009:

"The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for May was revised
from -322,000 to -303,000, and the change for June was revised from -
467,000 to -443,000."

+43,000 (WOW another positive number! - But why adjust an adjusted number for May?)

Aug 2009:

"The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for June was revised
from -443,000 to -463,000, and the change for July was revised from
-247,000 to -276,000."

-50,000 (With June adjusted yet again, back to almost were it was before... odd)

2009 to Date Changes

-59,000 NET to date changes

The latest SPIN on Health Care is that everyone must have coverage. Just like auto-insurance if you drive a car. How is that working out for our nation of drivers today?

President Obama was pressed by ABC's "This Week" about people calling Health Reform a tax increase. His response was predictable and the follow-up we all should have gotten an answer to was "How well are auto-insurance requirements working out?" But ABC gave the President a pass and allowed him to build his case and move on...

A few things I take an issue with here in this comparison:

1. Employers don't provide us with low-cost auto insurance. Does this mean that Obama wants employers to stop offering insurance and rely on us individually to be responsible for that? I have to say based on reports thus far, YES he does. Employers will offer less and less in the way of funded health insurance and it will fall more on us as individual if this bill passes.

2. In the many states that "REQUIRE" auto-insurance be carried, there are a number (a big number) of people who get around that and don't carry insurance and drive anyway. (Canceled policies, lapses in payment, or some other issue) How is our Health Reform going to apply any kind of rules to that?

If you try to make Health Insurance JUST like Car Insurance, then what happens when an un-insured goes to the doctor? Do they get a ticket? Do they lose their right to go to the doctor?

I have had first hand (bumper-to-bumper) experience with a driver in a state with mandated auto-insurance participate in an accident, be at fault, not have insurance and the NET result is my insurance premiums went up and I am the one who has to pay all the bills. I don't see this analogy working out well for Health Care if the Media really took a close look at the talking points...

OK, it is not a TAX... It is a cost we will all be required to pay, the NET result is less money in our pocket and lots of people skimming the system until they get caught. Then what happens? Perhaps a few media outlets could spent some time on that scenario before falling in love with the bill...

Glenn Beck called the mainstream media the fringe media earlier this week. Saying "You can't call them mainstream any more". I usually start my day with a cup of coffee and the news from various feeds delivered to my home page. I scan the headlines to try to find the things I care to dig deeper on, like many people I suspect.

I no longer consider myself Republican or Democrat and haven't for some time now and only get feeds from CNN, MSNBC, CNET, Dallas Newspaper, WSJ, Research Hound and FOX to get a sampling of what is being reported across the media outlets. I don't pay for my news except for my Research Hound Feed, which aggregates some news for to save time. Here is what I found today that raised my eyebrows a bit:

"Obama scraps Bush-era missile defense for new plan". (http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/09/17/missile.defense.shield/index.html?eref=rss_politics) Factual is turns out if you take the time to read the story, nothing really wrong with the title unless you really read the article...

Missile defense has been around for decades with various administrations focus and flavor. That is not news. In 2007 prior President, George Bush spoke of the European Missile Defense Program. 2 years ago, the threats from missiles were much different from today and I am sure most will agree that plans often to be changed to meet the needs of current and ongoing threats. But that is NOT what I am writing about today...

This story could have been titled many things... Europe Needs Updated Defense, Obama Targets Missile Defense Upgrade or Iran Forces Obama to Strengthen Missile Defense Strategy, Obama Saves Money by Updating European Missile Defense Plans...

CNN however, decides to include former President Bush in the headline... I for one am a bit tired of seeing every political, policy or economic issue tied to someone who no longer "OWNS" the issue or is responsible for fixing it! The finger pointing at previous political figures HAS TO STOP PEOPLE! Get over Bush and his policies, his actions and his left-overs!

Media keeps looking backwards and trying to lay blame instead of looking at the NOW and how the people responsible for anything TODAY are dealing with things. Here are some un-needed pre-Obama references for you to review and ask yourself, "Are these really needed for this to be news-worthy?"

Here is a picture from the WSJ depicting Iran Missile Threat abilities:


Directly From the CNN article referenced above:

"Earlier Vice President Joe Biden refused to confirm that the Bush-era plan was being shelved." - Really? a change in where and what will be placed "instead of" is NOT shelving a plan, it is simply updating it.

"The Bush administration had cited the perceived nuclear threat from Iran as one of the key reasons it wanted to install the missile shield in Eastern Europe." - And is the threat stated here still not real today? The article points out that technology and systems have improved that change what can be deployed at a lower cost and higher effectiveness.

"The U.S. reversal is likely to please Russia, which had fiercely opposed the plan." - Russia, really? A reversal is hardly what this is. This is NOT an opposite direction (look up reversal in the dictionary) but a change in a plan that is still needed.

The article goes on to mention Poland and Czech Republic officials stating that the program should be suspended, but then counters with a one line blurb... "This is catastrophic for Poland" - What? This article is all over the map trying to tie 2 year old Bush with Obama just throwing out the old and coming in to save the day with a "reversed" plan.

This presidency is not about Bush-Bashing anymore, the election is over and Bush can no longer fix anything. Obama now OWNS everything, is responsible for "change" being applied to what he now is ultimately responsible for. PLEASE, CNN, stop using BUSH references and get with the program change America wants to see... Facts, investigative journalism and current topics so we visit your web site, watch your channel and lend our valuable time to your reporting.

For those who took the time to comment on the article:
Stop showing your ignorance by Bush bashing and taking everything backwards, PLEASE! Everyone in today's administration OWNS this stuff, they are the ones who need to update, fix or create the things we need or don't need. BUSH cant do anything to fix it! Referring to Bush or his administration as "crooks" or anything else is so childish. There are crooks in government TODAY! Let's focus on them for a bit and MAYBE the media will catch on that we need to MOVE FORWARD instead of living in the past.

UPDATE

Wall Street Journal Covers the same topic with a different spin but same substance:
"U.S. Changes Course on Eastern European Nuclear-Missile Shield" (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125317801774419047.html?mod=igoogle_wsj_gadgv1&)

While this article does take 3 separate paragraphs to focus on Bush-era plan, they go into more details about what is currently being done and why. This article would be so much better if they would just STOP referring back to Bush and focus on the NOW.

The last time I checked, it was OK to disagree with people no matter what the color of their skin.  But now, it appears that the media has taken a full gainer to their collective heads and now are calling anybody that disagrees with the President, racists.  It is so easy for the media to throw out the race card at will to demonize anybody and not debate the substance of the argument.

Now how can we have civil disagreement with each other without the media calling everybody racist.  It really frightens me that to think one of the reasons race is still so prominent in the discourse is because the media keeps it alive.  And any journalist covering an issue needs to really take that step back and check all the facts before tossing out the race card in the future.

Please let people discuss issues and have civil discourse on subjects that matter to them without injecting race into a discussion where it does not belong. We as a nation need to be able to discuss issues open and freely without the fear of being demonized by the press.