Obama Irish?
by Augur • Feb 28th, 2008 at 8:57 pm • 8 comments
My buddy Ryan just sent me this link to an Obama St. Patrick’s Day shirt. This shirt is a fantastic celebration of St. Patty’s Day, and the Obama’ campaign’s sense of humor. And how much is it, you ask? $20.08.
Keep this in mind if you’re on campus at the University of Illinois for Unoffical St. Patrick’s Day, UIUC’s lovely liberal ladies will love this shirt.
I want to trademark calling Unofficial St. Patricks Day: “The University of Illinois’ Proudest Remaining Tradition.”
Warning for those visiting the University of Illinois for Unofficial: Stay out of the dorms, or Chancellor Richard Herman will drink your blood. Ok, maybe not, but he does look a lot like a vampire and none of us at the Agora have ever seen him outside.
Comment by kofi the it doesn't look like freedom to me on 28 February 2008 at 9:21 pm:
is that the right font?
Comment by kofi the it doesn't look like freedom to me on 28 February 2008 at 9:21 pm:
is that the right font?
Comment by kofi the it doesn't look like freedom to me on 28 February 2008 at 9:21 pm:
is that the right font?
Comment by Brian on 28 February 2008 at 9:48 pm:
Damn, Kofi’s right. I got the knees cut out from under me quickly on that one. Man.
Comment by J. Prescott on 28 February 2008 at 10:23 pm:
Dem Myths Collide with NAFTA Reality
By Steve Chapman
Obama makes a special theme of blaming this and other trade agreements for setting off a race to the bottom that destroys American jobs. “In Youngstown, Ohio,” he said in a Texas debate, “I’ve talked to workers who have seen their plants shipped overseas as a consequence of bad trade deals like NAFTA, literally seeing equipment unbolted from the floors of factories and shipped to China.” Why NAFTA would induce a company to move production to China is a puzzle, but you get the idea.
His campaign claims a million jobs have vanished because of the deal. That sounds devastating, but over the last 14 years, the American economy has added a net total of 25 million jobs — some of them, incidentally, attributable to expanded trade with Mexico. When NAFTA took effect in 1994, the unemployment rate was 6.7 percent. Today it’s 4.9 percent.
But maybe all the jobs we lost were good ones and all the new ones are minimum-wage positions sweeping out abandoned factories? Actually, no. According to data compiled by Harvard economist Robert Z. Lawrence, the average blue-collar worker’s wages and benefits, adjusted for inflation, have risen by 11 percent under NAFTA. Instead of driving pay scales down, it appears to have pulled them up.
Manufacturing employment has declined, but not because we’re producing less: Manufacturing output has not only expanded, but has expanded far faster than it did in the decade before NAFTA. The problem is that as productivity rises, we can make more stuff with fewer people. That’s not a bad thing. In fact, it’s essentially the definition of economic progress.
Comment by tet on 29 February 2008 at 11:08 am:
What about the average white-collar worker’s salary and benefits, Prescott? If the number of blue-collar jobs have been reduced, it would seem that the new standard would be for the white-collars.
It’s obvious that the trades are doing pretty well–if I was counselling a young person right now, I’d tell them to become an electrician or a plumber rather than bother with college. I wonder though, what percentage of the boost to the blue-collar workers came from the housing boom and how are they doing right now?
Tom Trumpinski
Comment by kittent on 29 February 2008 at 11:12 am:
I saw this and just freaking giggled.
Comment by tet on 29 February 2008 at 12:46 pm:
I’m liking Unofficial more and more. I got flashed by a co-ed in a rose-colored Victoria’s Secret push-up bra while I was driving down First Street.
Maybe there’s something to this after all….
Tom