Nice to see

I've been reading my usual blogs while I'm in WV visiting my parents. Good posts on all of them.

I appreciate the work done on View from Mars. Mario always has excellent pieces about Virgil and the latest one is a great example of his work.

Michael has a good comment on how to help the 5th CD candidates during the upcoming weeks. I encourage everyone who is interested to do something to further this process.

And then there's Waldo's site. I have to admit that it's nice to see other people going out and doing their own research about 5th CD candidates. For a while there, it seemed like I was the only one who had questions. As I've stated all along, there's plenty of information out there--if you care enough to look.

I actually still have the same questions I’ve always had—never did really get an answer to any of them. Pretty soon it will be too late for not only those answers, but also for the fat lady to sing.

Look for the Union Label

After all these years, I can still hear the tune and most of the words that were being sung in the International Ladies Garment Workers Union commercials on TV as I was growing up. Fortunately, the Internet helped me find the lyrics as well as the sheet music:

Look for the union label
when you are buying that coat, dress or blouse.
Remember somewhere our union's sewing,
our wages going to feed the kids, and run the house.
We work hard, but who's complaining?
Thanks to the I.L.G. we're paying our way!
So always look for the union label,
it says we're able to make it in the U.S.A.!

Of course, the union information coming into my childhood home also informed us which manufacturers were union companies and which weren't—and in effect told us which clothes to buy and which to avoid if we wanted to support labor. Just like now with buying from “blue” companies—those companies that are primarily Democratic supporting.

I still look for that union label—also called the “union bug.” Sometimes I find it and sometimes I don’t. I was impressed with the number of campaign signs at the 5^th District dinner in Forest that had the union logo. And, of course, I was not really surprised with the signs that didn’t support unions.

Does your candidate support union printers? Check his (or her) campaign sign for a bug and see.

Inartful? Let's talk inept!

An editorial in today’s print edition of the Richmond Times-Disgrace (RTD) called Goode's "go back to Mexico" remark “inartful,” and claims that “Diplomacy is not the Congressman’s strong suit,” When I looked inartful up online, I came across this colorful definition:

Inartful: The perfect word to use to get liberals off your back. They think you’re apologizing (them being liberals and all), but since it’s not a real word, it doesn’t really count.

I also checked “Inartful” at Dictionary.com and Answers.com and found no definition listed. However, I did find the following link which verified what I had observed:

“…Look up inartful in the dictionary. If you find it, let me know. I couldn't.'' Inartful is in no dictionary because it is not a word.

But this article also goes a step further and says:

An early meaning of artful was ''performed with skill, dexterous”… That meaning of the word has atrophied, however, its function taken over by skillful…What happened to artful? It came to mean ''adroit,'' then gained a more pejorative connotation, almost ''crafty, wily”… If artful now means ''crafty, wily, slippery,'' what would inartful mean? Take disingenuous as an analogy: ingenuous means ''innocent, naive,'' and disingenuous means ''falsely frank, calculating.'' Thus, with artful meaning ''wily,'' inartful would mean ''not wily'' and would be a compliment.”

As that piece goes on to say about its situation, using inartful to mean made a mistake or “goofed'' makes no sense. And it does not make sense in this editorial.

The RTD also claims that Goode raises a good question. No one is denying that he has brought up an issue that is currently dividing the Republican party and people across the nation. However, we do ask that he learn how to talk in public—or use notes to help him look more intelligent. : )

Still confused on Jobs

Last night at the 5th CD Democratic Committee annual dinner, Bern Ewert corrected earlier job figures that he had provided at earlier debates/meetings. Of course, there's still a problem. Bern said that, after going back and looking at the data, there were 16,000 jobs created in Roanoke while he was there as City Manager. The Labor Department figures I have say:

Roanoke City
	Civilian		Annual %
Year	Labor Force	Change	Unemployment Rate
1978	52873	0	6.4
1979	50197	-2676	5.3
1980	50099	-98	5.5
1981	50330	231	7.2
1982	50384	54	8.7
1983	51338	954	7.0
1984	52341	1003	5.1
1985	50861	-1480	5.9
1986	52221	1360	6.0
	Net Loss	-652

The overall change in the size of the labor force from 1978 to 1985 is -2012. I even added 1986—when Bern was not employed by Roanoke City—and there’s still a -652 balance in the labor force.

In the last 15 years (1990 – 2005), the rates for Roanoke City, Salem City and Roanoke County have fluctuated, but not near as much as that of Danville and its surrounding areas.

Annual Civilian Labor Force Data
Year	Roanoke City	Salem City	Roanoke County
2005	45,926	12,793	47,183
2004	45,159	12,622	45,909
2003	45,783	12,774	46,279
2002	47,128	13,197	46,831
2001	46,735	12,897	46,109
2000	46,266	12,854	45,572
1999	48,761	13,411	47,842
1998	49,578	13,751	48,456
1997	49,523	13,923	47,994
1996	49,863	13,982	48,403
1995	51,301	13,836	49,318
1994	50,638	13,592	48,572
1993	50,728	13,293	47,631
1992	50,422	13,148	46,773
1991	49,810	13,135	45,747
1990	48,469	12,680	44,725

Also note that the labor force figures for Roanoke City had fallen by 3752—a loss—from 1986 to 1990. From the data shown in the two tables, the civilian labor force figures have never regained their high of 52,873 in 1978—when Bern became City Manager.

So, how Bern thinks he contributed 16,000 jobs to the Roanoke City labor force I don’t know. Maybe he’s confusing Roanoke and Prince William County. I’ve already posted about the fact that Prince William County added over 20,000 jobs during Bern’s tenure there.

[To check labor figures for yourself, go to this site. Choose the Labor Market Analysis tab, then the Labor Force section. Select the Labor Force, Employment and Unemployment session option and choose your location from the A City or County option drop-down box.]

An email to the Times-Dispatch

To: news@timesdispatch.com

Gee, thanks for printing my comment to the article containing Peter Hardin’s distortion of the quote made by Virgil Goode at yesterday’s immigration news conference in which he changed the wording to reflect better on Mr. Goode. Your failure to print my opinion makes me believe what I heard others say just tonight at a 5^th District Democratic Committee dinner—that the paper is really known as the “Richmond Times-Disgrace.”

I have posted your reprehensible performance on my blog and will be seeking other outlets for it as well.

Lisa