(Note: This is an update from a column first written in February of 2005. This column, and a couple hundred others, is also on my website.)

As the McCain campaign's ... let's call them "inaccuracies" ... mount up, they are certain to turn again to that old Republican standard, "values." The argument will be that the "liberal" Barack Obama and his "liberal" running mate are out of touch with American values, while the veteran McCain and his "hockey mom" running mate are perfectly in line. This will be expanded to claim, once again, that the entire Democratic Party is out of touch and the entire Republican Party represent American values incarnate.

This begs the question, is the values claim as inaccurate as the rest of McCain's statements and advertisements?

Congressional Quarterly quotes Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA) calling the Obamas "uppity."

Spread the word.

Am I the only one who wants to smack those asshole right-wingers who keep talking about the "Democrat Party" instead of "Democratic Party" -- and those wimpy-ass Democrats who just roll over and let them get away with it?

Just curious.

No, I'm not referring to the Obama/Clinton battle; I'm talking about the other side.

The press is going on and on about how Mike Huckabee can't get enough delegates to win. But that's only because they're short-sighted and stupid. Huckabee can't win a majority of delegates by the end of the primary/caucus season, but he can catch John McCain -- and prevent McCain from getting a majority.

Which brings us to the 278 delegates controlled by Mitt Romney. Keep in mind, he didn't withdraw, he merely "suspended" his campaign, so he gets to keep those delegates. What is he planning to do with them?

Huckabee/Romney -- remember, you heard it here first.

Mark Twain said there are lies, damn lies and statistics and his adage applies to unemployment measurement. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) publishes six unemployment metrics monthly, each referred to in ascending order of inclusiveness of the unemployed as U-1, U-2, etc.

The measure reported by the media as the unemployment rate that severely undercounts the unemployed is referred to as U-3. The U-3 rate is obtained by dividing the narrowest definition of the unemployed by the work force.
The U-3 definition does not include whom the BLS calls discouraged and marginal workers, those who want a job but have given up the search because market conditions and personal experience indicate the process is futile.

U-6 Unemployment counts the marginal and discouraged plus those seeking full time employment but can only find part time work. The Federal Reserve tracks what it defines as the Augmented Unemployment rate, which I’ve read is equivalent to U-6 less part time workers. I couldn’t find any Augmented Unemployment releases on the Fed site and despite major data inclusion differences, some bloggers have used U-6 and the Fed’s stat interchangeably.