Sunday, April 4, 2010

Will Feds Use Letter Sent by Sovereign Citizen Group to Stage False Flag?

Following sensational news stories claiming the Guardians of the free Republics threatened state governors around the country in letters demanding they leave office or be removed, the FBI has today warned police around the country that the letters “could provoke violence,” according to the Associated Press.

Investigators do not consider the letters threatening or see threats of violence in the Guardians of the free Republics message. However, according to the Associated Press, the FBI believes the organization’s call for removal of top state officials in its Restore America Plan may lead others to act out violently.

“While there does not appear to be a credible or immediate threat of violence attached to the letters, we’re working with state and local authorities to continue to assess the matter,” said FBI Special Agent Joseph Dickey of Las Vegas. The letters are from a “sovereign citizen extremist group” and that those groups “reject all forms of government authority,” said Dickey. He said those groups don’t believe they have to pay taxes or obey federal, state or local laws.

“As of Wednesday, more than 30 governors had received letters saying if they don’t leave office within three days they will be removed, according to an internal intelligence note by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security,” the Associated Press reports.

An individual identifying himself as D. Merlin Campbell contacted the Nevada Appeal earlier in the week and denied that the Restore America Plan intends to use violence to accomplish its objectives. According to Mr. Campbell, the letter received by the governor of Nevada and other state officials around the county

is actually a Declaration from a lawful Grand Jury of 26 people in each state which is endeavoring to re-establish the true Republic in a peaceful and lawful manner. It does not represent a “threat” from an “extremist” (as is commonly associated with “terrorist” in the media today) group but instead it is a real, legally binding document which is presented by a Grand Jury of regular people which declares that the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, controller and treasurer all must have lawful oaths of office in order operate in their respective positions. The bonds which they all operate under have been effectively seized and noticed to be null and void. The package includes the following; Declaration, Warrants, Orders to the Governors, General orders to the military. It is not a threat, it is a truth that must be complied with or there will be consequences, not of violence, but legal recourse.

A comment posted on the Appeal’s website describes the Guardians of the free Republics plan as “a bold achievable strategy for behind-the-scenes peaceful reconstruction of the de jure institutions of government without controversy, violence or civil war.”

Is it possible the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security will exploit the Restore America Plan in order to stage a false flag event that will be subsequently blamed on the patriot movement?

It is now almost certain the FBI set-up the Hutaree group in Michigan by inserting agents provocateurs who encouraged violence. The corporate media then orchestrated a hysterical campaign designed to insinuate that the Tea Party movement shares the Hutaree’s anti-government philosophy. The sensationalized raid in Michigan followed a week of corporate media propaganda claiming racist Tea Party activists had assaulted Democrats in Washington as they prepared to vote for the Obamacare bill in Congress.

As Infowars.com and others have demonstrated, the accusations had absolutely no basis in fact. The effort was part of a larger campaign designed to portray the patriot movement as extremist and potentially violent. For months now, CNN, MSNBC, and the corporate media at large – taking their talking points from the SPLC and the ADLhave argued that opposition to Obama and the unconstitutional expansion of the federal government represents the ascension of a dangerous white supremacist and militia movement in the United States.

The Department of Homeland Security under the leadership of both Bush and Obama set the stage for the current hysterical campaign with its now notorious report on “rightwing extremism.” Missouri and Virginia contributed to the effort in separate reports characterizing Ron Paul supporters and other patriots as potentially dangerous domestic terrorists.

In addition, it appears the government plans to use anarchists to disrupt Tea Party demonstrations on April 15. Agents provocateurs masquerading as anarchists have disrupted peaceful anti-war and anti-globalist demonstrations in the past (most notably in Ottawa where they were exposed as police infiltrators and rabble-rousers). The pattern is now familiar – anarchists engage in minor property damage and other theatrical acts and this provides riot police with an excuse to brutally attack peaceful demonstrators. It is uncertain if this tactic will work with the Tea Party demonstrations.

It also remains to be seen if an “extremist” group under the control of government agents provocateurs will exploit the Guardians of the free Republics letter in order to engage in violence. A red alert, however, should be issued and members of the patriot movement need to be on the outlook for suspicious activity within their ranks.

It is certain, however, that the government is looking for the right situation in order to crack down on the patriot movement. The establishment is infamous for staging fake terror and criminal events as a pretext to take drastic action against those who oppose their plans.

Finally, Obama publicly named two of his more prominent enemies on CBS today. This is highly unusual. Presidents never mention their foes by name as this has a tendency to lend credence to them. Not even Nixon named his enemies in public. Obama’s comments may mean nothing. On the other hand, he may have issued a warning to those who oppose him. It is interesting to note he mentioned Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, who are in essence shills for the establishment. The breach of etiquette, however, should be taken as a warning to those Obama does not name but are generally associated with the patriot movement and often linked to Beck and Limbaugh, however erroneously, by the corporate media.

Vatican reinstates priest put on leave in '02

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests was outraged by the ruling.
CINCINNATI (AP) -- A Roman Catholic priest suspended in 2002 over allegations of sexual misconduct has been reinstated and will return to active ministry, the Archdiocese of Cincinnati said.
The archdiocese announced the decision by the Vatican to reinstate the Rev. James Kiffmeyer on Friday. The archdiocese has not decided where Kiffmeyer will serve.
Two students had accused Kiffmeyer, who previously taught at Elder High School in Cincinnati and Fenwick High School in Middletown, of abusing them in 1990 and around 1986, respectively, but didn't report the allegations until 1997 and April 2002.
Cincinnati Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk placed Kiffmeyer on paid administrative leave later in 2002.
Another accusation
Kiffmeyer also was accused of providing alcohol to the students, but both students were at least 18 at the time of the alleged offenses, according to the archdiocese. In Ohio, an 18-year-old person is legally an adult but must be 21 to drink alcohol. Kiffmeyer denied the allegations.
While on administrative leave, Kiffmeyer could not celebrate the sacraments, including saying Mass, or perform other clerical duties. Kiffmeyer appealed to the Vatican, which ruled the students waited too long to report the allegations.
A spokeswoman for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests was outraged by the Vatican's ruling and Kiffmeyer's reinstatement.
"Kiffmeyer was removed because of an allegation that the archdiocese found to be credible," said SNAP spokeswoman Christy Miller. "I don't understand how he could be allowed to return to ministry after that."
The archdiocese said Kiffmeyer was reinstated after receiving counseling.
Under church law, people have a five-year time limit for making such allegations, the archdiocese said.
"After a number of years, it can be very difficult to establish the truth," said Dan Andriacco, spokesman for the archdiocese.

The problem of empty office space

Even as other parts of the economy show signs of life, the commercial real estate market in Boston will remain depressed, with a vicious cycle of falling rents and foreclosures preventing construction of new buildings that would create jobs.

The ongoing slump threatens to keep a broader recovery in check, as the industry is a significant contributor to the overall economy. New buildings bring additional property taxes to beleaguered municipalities, income to vendors that provide construction materials or office supplies, and wages that construction workers in turn cycle through the economy.

“It’s going to be a long process for the market to come back,’’ said Gus Faucher, director of macroeconomics with Moody’s Economy.com. “The economy can still plug along if commercial real estate doesn’t turn around right away, but it’s certainly going to be a big drain on growth.’’

The markers point downward. Rents for office space have dropped five quarters in a row. Average asking prices in Boston’s down town business district have fallen by nearly a third since the start of 2008 and are at $42.46 per square foot, according to CB Richard Ellis, a real estate services firm. Landlords are struggling to fill large empty spaces created by steep job losses during the past two years.

A survey released by the financial advisory firm Deloitte this week found that nearly 75 percent of real estate executives believe rents and property values will continue to fall in 2010. Most predicated a full recovery in two to three years.

Lower office rents make it harder for commercial developers to justify the costs of large building projects that would create jobs in the battered construction industry. Unemployment in the building trades is as high as 35 percent in some categories, and is unlikely to improve much during the next year, economists said.

Landlords are also struggling to collect enough rent to make their mortgage or debt payments. Long-term vacancies and falling rents lead to loan defaults and foreclosures. The foreclosure rate on commercial properties in the region has increased sharply during the past year, to 0.43 percent last month from 0.17 percent in March 2009, according to Reis Inc., a real estate research firm.

And many in the industry expect the number of foreclosures to increase later this year, as loans come due on buildings that were purchased in the rising real estate market in 2005 and 2006.

“You’ll see a lot of distressed properties coming on the market in mid to late 2010,’’ said Robert Griffin, president of the New England region for Cushman & Wakefield. “The maximum exposure will be in high vacancy areas along [Interstate] 495, but you’ll also see that activity along Route 128 and in Boston.’’Continued...

But Griffin added that while the leasing market struggles, sales of commercial buildings are beginning to increase after two years of inactivity.

His firm this week closed on the sale of IBM’s 490,000-square-foot campus in Littleton, which was purchased by Wells Real Estate Funds for $94 million. Griffin said competition for the property was high, as pension funds, private equity firms, foreign buyers, and real estate investment trusts expressed interest. “There is as much demand as there has been in 30 years,’’ he said.

On the leasing front, however, the amount of empty space is growing. Lincoln Property Co. said the percentage of vacant office space in Boston and nearby suburbs jumped to 14.5 percent in the first quarter of 2010, compared with 11.7 percent the same period last year. And Lincoln predicted that number will continue to rise, with large chunks of space scheduled to be vacated at One International Place and other large downtown towers.

“Through the first quarter, it is still trending down and it feels like the market is going to hit the bottom in middle of this year,’’ said Mike Edward, senior vice president for Lincoln. “The real question everybody has is, how long will it take to come back? But I don’t think anyone really knows.’’

Ted Oatis, a partner at the firm that owns One International Place, the Chiofaro Co., was much more optimistic about his company’s chances of leasing the space coming vacant.

“The space coming available in 2011 is the best there is in Boston, and we have active proposals out that would more than fill it,’’ Oatis said. “We expect to have a large portion of the space leased before the end of the year.’’

Much of the vacancies in the downtown market are due to job cuts at big financial services firms. Other parts of the Boston-area market have fared better because they have concentrations of health care and biotechnology companies, which have avoided significant job losses. In Cambridge, for example, the rate of vacant space dipped to 10.4 percent last quarter, compared with 10.8 percent at the end of 2009.

“Nationally, Boston still looks pretty good,’’ said David Fitzgerald, of CB Richard Ellis, noting that the vacancy rate in Seattle is up to 20 percent. “But the market here is still heading down, and there is too much negative momentum to change that in the near term.’’

Casey Ross can be reached at cross@globe.com.

Layoffs Ahead for DC Workers

Hundreds of layoffs in Mayor Fenty's spending plan


D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty's spending plan includes hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts. He presented his 2011 budget proposal to the City Council Thursday morning. D.C. workers should brace for major layoffs.

"There probably will be in excess of five to six hundred positions that will be eliminated in the government. That's just the types of tough decisions you have to make, not just in an economy but when you're running a government the size of the D.C. government. And that's what I was elected to do," Fenty said on his weekly Connecting With the Mayor segment on News4.

The District is facing an estimated $555 million budget gap. Under the budget proposal, local spending will go down by 2.8 percent. Some social programs will be scaled back. District workers may also see pay freezes.

Fenty said the District will still provide quality services to its residents.

Thursday morning's budget briefing was the first face-to-face encounter between Fenty and Council Chairman Vincent Gray since Gray announced he would run against Fenty for mayor in November. Their meeting was very cordial.

Fenty will testify before the D.C. Council on April 12.

The Manufactured Menace From Michigan, Take Two

When the stranger materialized a few years ago, nobody really knew much about him. He seemed like a suitably sympathetic figure and quickly ingratiated himself by offering whatever help he could. No task was too menial for him, and he had a way of finding just what the group needed right when it was required.

Most importantly, he seemed to share the group's antipathy toward the government. If anything, he was just a bit more emphatic than the rest in denouncing official corruption and endorsing violent "direct action" against the state. He seemed eager to shepherd the group in a more militant direction, eagerly out-bidding every expression of outrage and hostility. One of his favorite recurring themes was the idea that a criminal state could only be fought through the use of criminal means.

When the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) staged an armed raid to arrest several members of the group, the helpful stranger was nowhere to be found. He did leave a parting gift, however, in the form of detailed allegations recorded in a federal indictment alleging that the group he had infiltrated on behalf of the JTTF was involved in extensive criminal activity – most of which was either suggested or directly facilitated by him – and an ambitious plot to wage war against the United States Government.

In broad outline, this is what most likely happened within Michigan's Hutaree militia during the past couple of years, a period during which – as federal authorities now admit – the group was infiltrated by both an undercover FBI agent and a "cooperating witness."

One of the FBI's plants, significantly, "posed as someone who could provide the group with custom-made explosives," observes the Detroit News.

That revelation is critical, since it means that the alleged plot to manufacture of improvised explosive devices – referred to, with hysterical hyperbole typical of the Regime's pronouncements, as "weapons of mass destruction" – was quite possibly instigated by the FBI's informant/provocateur.

The "Hutaree Conspiracy" was the second installment in the FBI's ongoing Homeland Security Theater in Michigan. The Bureau's campaign against the Masjid Al-Haqq mosque in Dearborn followed almost exactly the same script. The final act of that earlier melodrama was an October 28, 2009 FBI raid against several of the mosque's adherents that ended with the death of its imam, Luqman Ameen Abdullah.

Initial reports claimed that Abdullah was killed in a "shootout" or "exchange of gunfire" with the Feds in a warehouse allegedly containing stolen goods. The word "execution" might be a more appropriate description in light of the fact that Abdullah was shot at least twenty times, including an entry wound in his back and an oddly specific grouping in and around the genital region.

The imam allegedly provoked the federal fusillade by shooting one of the FBI's "K9 agents." Significantly, the official autopsy report – a document actively suppressed by the Dearborn Police Department for more than three months – describes a series of "lacerations" (also described by Wayne County Chief Medical Examiner Carl Schmitt as "puncture wounds") that are consistent with being mauled by a dog.

It's possible Abdullah shot the dog to protect himself. It's also possible that he never fired a shot, and the dog stepped in front of one or more round intended for Abdullah. The official FBI narrative is that "Freddy," the Belgian Malinois killed during the raid, "gave his life in the line of duty" on behalf of "his team." The dog was buried in a solemn ritual and his name was added to the FBI's "memorial wall."

We'll never know the exact circumstances of "Freddy" death. This much has been clearly established, however: Abdullah bled to death with his hands cuffed behind his back while the FBI took the time to arrange an emergency medical airlift for their attack dog.

The most favorable construction one can put on this set of facts is that the feds handcuffed a helpless man who had been perforated by at least twenty gunshots. A grimmer possibility is that he was handcuffed before he was shot. In either case, this juxtaposition – a handcuffed man bleeds to death while his assailants arrange emergency medical treatment for their dog – reeks of some malodorous combination of depraved indifference and concentrated malice.

Despite the fact that both the investigation of the mosque and the raid were conducted by the local Joint Terrorism Task Force, no terrorism-related charges were filed against any of the ten men listed in the criminal complaint. The charges include "conspiracy" counts arising from an alleged plot to receive and sell "goods that defendants believed were stolen from interstate shipments"; one count of mail fraud; three counts related to possession of firearms or body armor by a felon; and tampering with automobile VIN numbers.

Attendees of Abdullah's mosque included many men who had served time behind bars. As a younger man, Abdullah was convicted of assault. Like many of his followers and countless thousands of others scattered across the country, Abdullah was converted to radical Islam within the world's largest and most lavishly funded madrassa – the federal prison system. His friends and supporters insist that Abdullah, despite his criminal history, was a caring, pious, and generous man. The mosque ran a soup kitchen and was involved in other forms of charitable outreach to the economically blighted neighborhood.

Abdullah was expansively hostile toward the government and deeply suspicious of the police – what rational person isn't? – but those who knew him well insist he consistently rejected aggressive violence of any kind.

"My father was a sharp-tongued individual," recalls Omar Reagan, a Los Angeles-based comedian and motivational speaker. "He would talk about his dislike of government – about how law enforcement wasn't protecting and serving the people. But speaking his emotions and acting on his emotions are two different things."

The "evidence" presented in the criminal complaint unsealed after Abdullah was killed shows that he encouraged his followers to acquire the skills to employ defensive violence to protect themselves from both private and government-employed criminals. He also explicitly and repeatedly refused to condone aggressive action against anyone.

FBI Counter-Terrorism Agent Gary Leone, the author of the affidavit, hurls speculative allegations with the exuberant glee of a caged monkey flinging feces at spectators.

In substantive terms, his criminal complaint deals with a small fencing operation. However, where "anti-government" groups are concerned, the FBI appears to suffer from an institution-wide case of Munchausen by proxy syndrome; this may be why the bureaucratic incentives under which Leone operates dictate that every molehill be described as if it were of Himalayan proportions. Accordingly, Abdullah and his followers are portrayed as nothing less than hardened, battle-ready shock troops of the global jihad:

"The investigation has shown that Luqman Ameen Adbullah, Imam of the Masjid Al-Haqq ... is a highly placed leader of a nationwide fundamentalist Sunni group consisting primarily of African-Americans.... Their primary mission is to establish a separate, sovereign Islamic state ('The Ummah') within the borders of the United States, governed by Shariah law..... [Abdullah] regularly preaches anti-government and anti-law enforcement rhetoric. Abdullah and his followers have trained regularly in the use of firearms, and continue to train in martial arts and sword fighting.... Abdullah preaches that every Muslim should have a weapon, and should not be scared to use their weapon when needed."

Even if every word of that summation were accurate, none of what is described above constitutes a crime – a fact Leone tacitly acknowledged by declining to file terrorism or sedition charges.

Furthermore, the inflammatory dicta in Leone's complaint (which consumes 29 of the document's 45 pages) artfully misrepresents Abdullah's views regarding the legitimate use of violence, as those views were summarized by Leone's snitches within the mosque. The most striking example of Leone's dishonesty deals with an attempt by one of his assets to entrap Abdullah into endorsing terrorist violence.

"Confidential Source S-2," a JTTF plant who allegedly recorded conversations with Abdullah, admits that he offered $5,000 to instigate some kind of criminal violence during the 2006 Super Bowl in Detroit. According to Leone's own summary of the incident, "Abdullah said he would not be involved in injuring innocent people for no reason."

"Confidential Source S-3" alleges that Abdullah described how Abdul Samoor, one of his followers, "printed out several things from the internet including Al-Qaeda training camp materials. Abdullah said he told Saboor to throw them away and cautioned him not to look at things on the internet." This – like most of the "evidence" assembled by Leone – was hearsay, but it actually works against the FBI's interest by underscoring Abdullah's refusal to endorse Islamic terrorism.

"S-3" also describes a conversation during a trip to Alabama in which Abdullah commented that he "didn't agree with bombing civilian targets such as buses, which occur in Israel and the West Bank, but said it is fine to bomb police stations."

The awkward diction here suggests that Abdullah was referring specifically to actions taken by Palestinians and drawing a distinction – for whatever it might be worth – between terrorist attacks on helpless civilians and what he perceived as defensive insurgent warfare against armed personnel carrying out a military occupation.

One of the most critical disclosures offered by "S-3" deals with a reported conversation on June 19, 2009, in which the imam told an associate that he knew someone in his mosque was "working for the FBI.... Abdullah said that he is hopeful that anyone who is working for the Feds will come to the mosque often to pray, will see the error of his ways, and admit he has been working with the Feds."

Abdullah's conciliatory remarks came on the same day he supposedly said that he would kill anybody "trying to gather information on him." Leone accounts for this contradiction by claiming that the wily imam knew he was being "listened to and targeted by law enforcement so he intentionally [made] conflicting statements in order to protect himself."

How can we tell which reported statements are sincere? Ah, this is easy, Leone would insist: We should dismiss anything that appears moderate and responsible as posturing, and assume that anything incendiary and self-incriminating represented Abdullah's genuine intentions.

The problem here is that all of the "consensually recorded" comments that are directly quoted in the criminal complaint are entirely innocuous. It is only when one of the confidential informants is paraphrasing Abdullah that we are barraged with shockingly detailed references to alleged criminal acts and criminal plots.

Furthermore, the "direct" quotes are not complete: Nearly all of them contain strategically placed ellipses indicating the removal of potentially critical details. Presenting them as direct evidence would be tantamount to perjury through selective editing. And as we've seen, even the accounts provided by Leone's pet provocateurs contain compelling evidence that Abdullah – whatever he may have planned or done – was not an aspiring terrorist.

Abdullah was infuriated by the wars of aggression being waged by the Regime in Afghanistan and Iraq. He was also convinced that the FBI was an enemy of American Muslims. Notwithstanding his passionate outrage, and despite Leone's efforts to depict him as an exponent of aggressive jihad, Abdullah – as described in the complaint – endorsed violence only for defensive purposes.

"They [are] smashing the Muslims all over the world and then we sit here like everything is all right," stated Abdullah in an October 10, 2008 conversation surreptitiously recorded by "S-3." "'Just leave us alone.' I mean, no. Everything isn't all right. Matter of fact, you better get up from over there and leave them people alone, man. You [are] wrong. It's no threat from the Muslims here. The Muslims here are saying, you know, 'Hey, just let us live here and [unintelligible], that's the only thing they [are] worried about.... That's no good, man."

For Leone, the take-away here is that Abdullah maintained "it is not all right to simply get along with kuffars," or non-Muslims – the insinuation being that Abdullah endorsed militancy and revenge. But Abdullah's discursive remarks actually read like a plea for Washington to desist from its aggression against Muslims abroad, and respect the wishes of American Muslims to be left alone. Those are the sentiments of someone weary of armed violence, rather than someone eagerly courting confrontation.

Abdullah's desire to be left in peace was captured in recorded comments recorded by "S-3" on November 30, 2008. The conversation dealt with the activities of federal agents, who – according to Abdullah – were "just terrorizing the people."

"It's a whole organized effort," he asserted. "Organized effort to betray you. But not just you, other people too. It's not just, just Muslims"; it's also people like "McVeigh and them" – meaning, apparently, non-Muslim "anti-government extremists" targeted for infiltration and manipulation by the FBI.

"It's no question about, he [McVeigh] was involved in getting that stuff done," Abdullah continued. "Even though they [McVeigh and "others unknown"] did what they did, they probably was irked on, and supported in everything, by the FBI." After all, he pointed out, the "first World Trade Center bombing was the FBI."

Bear in mind that Abdullah was describing the FBI's documented history of orchestrating terrorist plots to an FBI informant-provocateur. I'm just cynical enough to suspect that this is what got him killed.

Within a few weeks of that conversation, FBI undercover operatives began a series of ten clandestine operations intended to entice members of Abdullah's congregation into a plot to steal and fence stolen property.

All of those staged pseudo-crimes were instigated by the FBI's assets, who also arranged for the "stolen" goods to be stored at a Dearborn warehouse that was rented by the FBI.

It was in that warehouse that Luqman Ameen Abdullah, a man once known as Christopher Thomas, an ex-con who understood how the FBI's infiltration and provocation racket worked, was shot at least twenty times before bleeding to death with his hands cuffed behind his back.

Although nobody was killed when the FBI rolled up the Hutaree militia, the Bureau's campaign against that "Christian militia" was struck from the same template used against Abdullah's followers. Several of the Hutaree militiamen were seized at an FBI-controlled warehouse where they had gathered – unarmed – to attend what they had been told was a "memorial service."

The FBI's investigative accomplishments are criminally overrated, but in arranging ersatz terrorist plots it displays choreography skills that put the late Bob Fosse to shame. Recent events in Michigan suggest that the Bureau is staging a revival of its Hoover-era production, COINTELPRO. Don't feel left out; the chances are pretty good that the Bureau's touring troupe of provocateurs will visit your hometown sometime soon.

Unemployment. The UNREPORTED TRUTH! Get Informed at Inflation.US

Click this link ...... http://eclipptv.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=11110

Bill Murphy of GATA Reveals Whistle-Blower in Gold Price Suppression

Click this link ...... http://eclipptv.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=11108

What is Brzezinki whispering to Obama?

Click this link ..... http://eclipptv.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=11107

What Do the New Unemployment Numbers Mean?

What do the new BLS numbers - 162,000 nonfarm jobs added in March - mean?

Barry Ritholtz provides a very useful summary:

Let’s break down the highlights into the good and bad:

Negatives
• Average Hourly Earnings of all employees NFP fell by 2 cents, or 0.1%.
• Unemployment rate is unchanged at 9.7% (no improvement this month)
U6 Unemployment, the broadest measure, rose to 16.9% –that’s off of the December 2009 peak of 17.3, but higher than January (16.5%) and February (16.8%) of 2010.
• Long-term unemployed (jobless for 27 weeks+) increased by 414,000 to 6.5 million. (bad)
• 44.1 percent of unemployed persons were jobless for 27 weeks +. (Also very bad)
• Involuntary part-time workers increased to 9.1 million in March. (This remains a stubborn problem area)

Positives
• +162k is the best report since March, 2007.
• Average workweek was up by 0.1 hour to 34.0 hours in March.
• Temp help services added 40,000 jobs in March. That’s a cumulative add of 313k since September 2009.
• Census added “only” 48,000 workers — far below the 100-150k consensus. This pushes their hiring out into the rest of the year.
• Civilian Labor Force Participation Rate at 64.9% edged up in March
• Manufacturing continued to trend up (+17,000); Mfr added 45,000 jobs in Q1.
• Revisions: January 2010 data was revised upwards 40k (from-26k to +14k); February was revised up 22k (from -36k to -14k).

Stone-McCarthy points out that - if we subtract the temporary hiring of census workers, better weather and birth-death model adjustments - we're left with a netloss of 67,000 jobs.

Indeed, Goldman Sachs attributes the job gain as "due mainly if not entirely to census hiring and weather rebound", finds "little underlying improvement", and says that "productivity gains have diminished sharply".

Mish gives a detailed analysis on the jobs report, concluding:

The official unemployment rate is 9.7%. However, if you start counting all the people that want a job but gave up, all the people with part-time jobs that want a full-time job, all the people who dropped off the unemployment rolls because their unemployment benefits ran out, etc., you get a closer picture of what the unemployment rate is. That number is in the last row labeled U-6.

It reflects how unemployment feels to the average Joe on the street. U-6 is 16.9%.

Looking ahead, there is no driver for jobs. Moreover, states are in forced cutback mode on account of shrinking revenues and unfunded pension obligations. Shrinking government jobs and benefits at the state and local level is a much needed a