Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 243,000 in January, and the
unemployment rate decreased to 8.3 percent!

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

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Dec. unemployment rate lowest in nearly 3 years

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/story/2012-01-06/december-unemployment-report/52410436/1

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Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in December for the 29th consecutive month.

http://www.ism.ws/ismreport/mfgrob.cfm

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Leading Economic Indicators in U.S. Rise More Than Forecast

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-12-22/leading-economic-indicators-in-u-s-rise-more-than-forecast.html

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Unemployment rate falls to 8.6% in November

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/story/2011-12-02/unemployment-rate-november/51577788/1

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The private sector added a seasonally adjusted 206,000 non-farm jobs in November

http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/30/news/economy/jobs_challenger_adp/

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Resolution by the Democratic Club of Long Beach Island, New Jersey, Regarding Recent Police Reaction to Peaceably Assembled Protestors

 

November 28, 2011

The Club hereby adopts the following resolution:

Whereas; The First Amendment to the Constitution (the Bill of Rights) requires that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances,

Whereas; these rights have been extended by settled case law to apply to State and Local Governments;

Whereas: the federal government, through Department of Homeland Security grants to local police, has funded the purchase of advanced weapons and devices,

Whereas; a number of recent events have occurred in the country where police have used force against peaceably assembled protestors, in some cases using these advanced weapons and devices,

Whereas; the unprovoked and repeated pepper spraying of defenseless, sitting protestors at the University of California Davis Campus clearly illustrates this excessive police behavior,

Whereas; local city governments and institutions have exercised their health and safety authority to remove protestors from public areas based on unknown or unclear criteria, and

Whereas; collectively, these actions may threaten and intimidate citizens from protesting, thereby potentially abridging their first Amendment rights.

 

Therefore, be it resolved that the survival of our Democracy demands prompt corrective action, in the form of clear policy and procedure governing public assemblies, and perhaps new legislation. Therefore:

1.The federal Department of Homeland Security must clarify and make public its anti-terrorist and disaster response authorities to fund resources for state and local police, and the criteria under which weapons and devices thus provided shall or shall not be deployed in public assemblies,

2. State and local government and police must review what resources they purchase with federal anti -terrorist and disaster response funding and the appropriateness of the use of those resources in public assemblies, and make public their findings,

3. State and local police must adopt procedures, after public comment, governing the control and use of force procedures, weapons and devices that they wish to employ during public assemblies,

4. State and local governments and affected institutions must adopt criteria, after public comment, defining the health and safety conditions that warrant the removal of peaceful protestors from public areas, and

5. State and local governments should make public under what legal authority and criteria reporters and journalists have been prevented, and in some cases arrested, for covering public assemblies on public or  on private property, and

6. Since federal funding of police resources and federal rights are involved, federal elected representatives are obligated to make known their views on the appropriateness of federal funding of weapons and devices employed at public assemblies, and on associated, unfolding police practices; and initiate controlling legislation as required.

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Washington Lobbyists Crafted $850,000 Secret Plan For Bank Lobbyists To Undermine Occupy Wall Street

http://thinkprogress.org/special/2011/11/21/373143/washington-lobbyists-occupy-wall-street/

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RollingStone: How the GOP Became the Party of the Rich
 http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/how-the-gop-became-the-party-of-the-rich-20111109#ixzz1dsSMEcos

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